My Wife and Her Camera

Here's some shots from our latest photo expedition. My wife is a great photographer but she's spent a while away from it. So I picked her up a new camera and I'm trying to get her back into it.

Let me know what you think.

Ok... Ok.... Ok!

So I'm struggling getting back into blogging, especially now that I've been introduced to twitter.... that's right, I said twitter. Very busy week back from vacation but a good week.

I've realized a couple things now that I've had a little time off:

1. I love my wife. She is a fun person to be around and hang out with. She is a great conversationalist because she likes to talk and yet is a very good listener. I had a blast just hanging out with her, planning and dreaming and working on some home projects. She is someone you should get to know if you don't already.
2. I love and miss my kids. While it was cool spending time alone with my wife (the first time we were alone in our home for a week in over 12 years), I miss getting to see and hug my kids. They are great kids. Kristen has done well raising them :) They are fun to hang out with and it doesn't hurt that, at least for now, they like to hang out with us too. I know they are having a good time and they are getting a vacation from us as well. Everyone needs a little time away (yes Charlie, I know that's from Chicago).
   

Glad to have had the time off and am trying to be more intentional about doing this more in the future.

Peace.

My wife - An Amazing Mom

My wife, Kristen, is an amazing woman! This last weekend, we continued our series at The Orchard called, That's What She Said, where we've been celebrating and learning from some great women.

Mother's day weekend, we chose to do something different from what we've done in quite a long time. We rolled out a red carpet that ran from the curb inside to the auditorium. We dressed one of our guys in a tux (nice job Jason) and had him host the red carpet by cheering and celebrating the moms and women who came to one of the services. We had their pictures being taken on the red carpet and a live audio/video broadcast feed of the red carpet events being projected on the big screen inside the auditorium so the rest of the Orchard community could celebrate too. We had silk flower petals of various color all over the seats and floor in the auditorium. We also had more of a living room feel on our teaching platform where we got to hear from the hearts of four wonderful moms.

Scott interviewed four moms from The Orchard. Each shared about their struggles and triumphs as a mom. It was a great weekend! The last service of the weekend was packed and the ladies received a standing ovation! It was an incredible thing to be a part of.

I say all that to say that my wife is amazing! She is an incredible wife and mom. I know that she was very nervous about speaking in front of such a large group of people but she did not freeze up. She spoke clearly and intelligently.

I'm so very proud of you Kristen - not because of this event but because of the person you are and because you are my wife. I have to say though, I was beaming at the back of the room during every service you spoke!

If you get a chance, you'll want to check out the podcast here.

Sasquatch Part 2

See the previous post to catch up on this, but dang! I just saw some of the funniest videos I've seen in a while from Brent Hodge (no relation to Scott that I know of) over at Table Rock Fellowship in Oregon.

Looks like they recently did a message series called Urban Legends and put together four videos using the Legend of Sasquatch as the backdrop... HILARIOUS!

Check all four of them out here. I love the A-team feel!

They actually have it filmed over at the Sasquatch trap near their town.
I wonder if they've ever caught one in the trap?

Anyway, thanks for the laughs Brent!
Peace.

Sasquatch

My wife just watched some sasquatch Discovery Channel show and is totally freaked out.

She can't figure out why no one has tranquilized and studied one of these things.

While I love her tremendously, this is the same woman who thinks us landing on the moon is a conspiracy. Let's see... landing on the moon... no. Sasquatch real... yes.

The videos are kind of interesting, AND whether real or not - are they that scary? My wife says yes.

Peace.

My Wife, The Photographer

My wife used to be really into photography when we first started dating 15 years ago. She has kind of given it up since except for pictures of the kids and projects every now and then.

Lately we've been having conversations about her and her photography and I think if she had the right equipment it would help.

So, I'm on a mission to find a good camera for her.

The more we talk about it the more I think she enjoyed the actual developing of the film back then more than she enjoyed taking the pictures, but I think she has a pretty good eye for texture, color and space.

Here are a few pictures she took of me this last week in about 5 minutes outside the mall with our cheesy camera (her idea).

Which do you like the best?
Peace.

Valentine's Day

Yeah.

My kids love this day and look forward to it for some reason, which is odd since they're homeschooled and we don't really do a whole lot for it.

Scott had a nice little blog post about it today for you to check out.

And if you think his is good, you should check out Perry Noble's post... excellent! I love my wife year round and we date each other weekly (or at least every other week), so why should this day be any different. She's my best friend and the person I grow more in love with every day - I pray that I don't show her this only one day out of the year!

Maybe for some relationships, it either helps them get started or is a nice reminder.

ok... I did get my wife a card though :)
Peace.

Lucky Thirteen

I'm not a superstitious person, so the number 13 doesn't bother me... it's the number of years I've been married to my beautiful wife.

This year I wanted to do something that we never get to do. Since our anniversary is on New Years Eve, we have rarely gone out on our actual anniversary date - everyone's partying, it's hard to find sitters for the kids, restaurants are all booked and doing special menus, etc. This year we had some great friends willing to watch our kids for us overnight. I also got some great recommendations for restaurants and hotels in downtown Chicago.

We had a fabulous time together. My wife and I love our kids a lot, but it was great to get to go out on our actual anniversary and celebrate together. We stayed in Hotel 71 and had a room with a great view of the city. The room was nice and the view was excellent. We also got to stay up till about 5 in the morning because of some partying neighbors... maybe I'm getting too old but 5am seemed late to be celebrating the new year.

We had decided to walk to our restaurant from the hotel so we got a little chilled. Fantastic restaurant though! Scott had recommended this place called Aria and I have to give him props! It was one of the best meals we've ever had! It's a bit on the expensive side but the food and environment was incredible. It was more than a meal - it was an experience! The chef at Aria is a freakin' genius with potatoes (Kristen says he's a potato Svengali, which I actually had to lookup as I had only heard it on Seinfeld, but yeah, he's the bomb). My wife and I had great conversation as well. We talked about our memories together and some of the goals we had for this next year. It was a great time together!

After 13 years of marriage, my wife is still my best friend. She is still so fun to hang out with and to just talk with. We've been together for 15 years now counting our dating/engagement time and I still look forward to my time with her. I can't see that ever being something that grows old, even when I do.

Not to mention she's smokin' hot!

Here's some pics we took, though they don't do justice to our experience (photos on the phone), but you get the idea.

Peace.

Found, Etc.

I've been pretty quiet on the blog lately, and a lot has happened this last couple of weeks - a very full couple of weeks.

For one, Kylee was able to recover the missing slipper for her mom. This has been a good thing and was found near the end of Kristen's stint of being sick. I fear I take too much that Kristen does for granted, which was very apparent during her illness.

Myself and a few of the musicians on my team played a party for one of our long time teammates. A lot involved with this but it was totally worth it... the whole thing had been organized as a complete surprise for his 50th birthday! Always proud to have my team rock the house!

Preparing for Christmas at The Orchard. Lots of prep and a lot of things that need to take place over the last week or so before the 24th. It's going to be amazing!

More later.
Peace.

* * WANTED * *

One pink, fuzzy slipper. It's owner has located the left but has been unable to find it's match.

Weight: nearly nothing.
Height: a couple of inches.

Distinguishing marks: let's just say well worn over the last 11 months. It also has (or perhaps now it's only had) white fuzzy trim and pom-poms.

The owner is in dire need of the second slipper due to the recent inclement weather conditions.

It's last known whereabouts include the hall and the local dog's layer. No sign of fowl (or canine) play has been discovered as yet, but nothing has yet been ruled out.

Last seen approximately 11/20/07.

If you have seen said matching slipper, please notify the owner immediately. No reward is currently being offered.

Peace.

United Rocked!

Incredible concert last night! United rocked the house, though I felt my age amongst so many youth! Got to share my experience with my wife, my friends Doug and Joni, and about 3500 others... sold out, standing room only.

Pretty cool that they did some tunes from their new CD (which hit the Billboard charts at #60), but they also did some old favorites, most of which we do at the Orchard.

If you get the chance to see them, I guarantee you will enjoy the experience!
More later.

Peace.

Monday Morning Madness

My wife had a dentist appointment this morning. She is not fond of the dentist office because of her anxiety about having her teeth worked on. I don't blame her, but I combat that by not going.

Since our kids are homeschooled, I got to teach my kids. Never thought grade school would be so challenging. It's not the school work itself, it's corralling the kids and keeping them focused.

Hats off to you teachers, including my wife - you all have got to be some of the most patient people around!

Although my youngest did pray for his mommy to have gas at the dentist office (I know what he meant but considering it was during a prayer the chuckles abounded).

Peace.

Birdie BBQ

Had to do it. They weren't coming back to the nest anymore.
So I torched it.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out my wife's post here, here and here. That should give you the idea :)

BTW, no birds were hurt in the making of this bonfire. I have a short video too for those who want it.

Peace.

Going Down in a Blades of Glory

Ok, so with a little help from my friends, I surprised my wife for her birthday last night and took her out to dinner and a movie. She's got the basic rundown here.

We went with one of my friend's recommendations for restaurants and let me tell you, it was pretty good. You can tell this guy where you are going and what kind of food you're looking for and he'll tell you the best places to go. So far he has been right-on with every place he's sent me to (thanks Scott)!

We went to this place and totally loved it - one of my new favorite places to go in Geneva... good stuff and even somewhat healthy.

I knew my wife wanted go see "Blades of Glory" with Jon Heder and Will Farrell. Since, it was opening night we got our tickets early and got in line early - and got good seats. A couple of things about the movie... you need to know that I think Will Farrell is usually pretty funny. You also need to know that you should be in one of those stupid moods to go see it. I thought it was a good movie, very funny, but I think both of those guys have been funnier. It helped that there was a theater FULL of people laughing at the same stuff I laughed at (tends to amplify things a bit - mob mentality I guess). Don't know if it would have been as funny at home.

Still funny though... and my wife had a blast which made it totally worth it.

Peace.

Now She's Done It

I am so stoked! My wife finally threw her hat into the blogosphere and started a blog Life As I Know It. It's just the beginning but I could not be prouder!

I'm impressed by her blog for several reasons:

1. She did it all on her own. My wife is brilliant... the computer, however, is not her greatest area of expertise.
2. This was created by a woman who only started email about 3 years ago.
3. She considered the computer and the internet of the devil up to that point in time. What's funny is she can't live without it now. Who could?!

She's got some great ideas and insight and I hope her blog does well.

Cheers, sweet girl, and congrats!

Peace.

Happy Anniversary My Bride!

Happy Anniversary Kristen!

You are the most special person in my life. I would not be me without you.

Thanks for the past twelve and the promise of as many more as we have on this earth.

I love you!
Me

He Said, She Said

Today is Kristen and my anniversary! Twelve years ago today she was crazy enough to say she would spend her life with me - through thick and thin (apparently that referred to hair) and in sickness and health. She's done it too - stuck by me no matter what.

We decided to write 20 things we love about it each other and post them on the blog. Scary but we agreed to have a separate list not to share :)

He Said
I love...

1. that she is my best friend.
2. she's my bride - no matter how long we've been married, I will always think of her as my bride.
3. that she is my biggest fan - she is my greatest encourager.
4. that she prays for me.
5. that she is a Christ-follower too.
6. that she loves to cook and bake (and is darn good at it too).
7. that she likes to try new things.
8. that she likes to have fun - we play more card games and board games than any couple I know.
9. that she likes a clean house.
10. that she loves being a mom to our four kids.
11. that she gets this sparkle in her eye and actually gets giddy when she finds a good deal on something.
12. that she does the same when she has a surprise for someone (she can hardly contain herself).
13. that she is creative even though she thinks she isn't.
14. that she is more beautiful today than the day I met her - man is she hot! I've got to be the most blessed man alive!
15. that we can talk for hours about anything (watch movies together or tv shows or just spend time together - it's the highlight of my day).
16. that she puts God before me, but that I'm next in priority before our kids - it's important for our relationship and important for our kids to see (they are close after on the priority scale).
17. how she interacts with each of our kids - naturally pulling on each ones different love language, abilities and interests.
18. that she laughs at my jokes even when they aren't funny (remember when you were in labor with our first baby Kristen? ;)
19. that she is herself - special, unique, beautiful.
20. that she chose me out of all the other guys in the world - what an honor and privilege!

She Said
I love...

1. The way you sleep with your one arm over your head.
2. The way you look at me like you can’t believe that I am your wife.
3. The way you laugh at stupid movies with me over and over and over again.
4. The way perfect strangers will come up to you and tell you their life stories.
5. That when you whisper in my ear you sound exactly like Nicolas Cage.
6. The way you take everything you do totally to heart and do it with all your heart.
7. That you support me in everything I do.
8. That you pray with the kids every night about what you want for them in their lives, and how special they are.
9. That you will eat anything that I make. Good, bad, or horrible.
10. That you try and get me to let you do the dishes after dinner.
11. That you introduced me to my savior and continue to show me His love every day.
12. That you inspire people around you to give excellence to what they are doing.
13. That you aren’t afraid to try something new even if you might fail.
14. That you are doing what God designed you to do.
15. That you will cry at a sad movie.
16. That you will cry with me when I am sad or scared.
17. That you email me during the day just to tell me that I am beautiful and that you love me.
18. The way you could play video games all day with your kids.
19. The way you will eat chocolate frosting no matter how old it is.
20. Lying next to you, and how you are always warm.
    

I think her list is better than mine, but that goes without saying.

Peace.

Seems Like Yesterday...

It's the day before my anniversary. Hard to believe that 12 years ago today I was preparing for my wedding! The time has just flown by.

We were a little on edge with each other the day before our wedding (who doesn't get a bit nervous the day before they get married)!

I actually don't remember a whole lot about our wedding ceremony... a few things here and there. What I remember clear as day is the moment I saw my bride in her wedding gown, walking down the isle toward me. I couldn't believe that a woman so beautiful was willing to marry me! Yet there she was, walking toward me, as beautiful and radiant as ever. I have to say I felt like a million bucks at that moment!

The cool thing is that she is even more beautiful today than she was on our wedding day.

My wife and I have an awesome relationship. I have had the pleasure of watching her grow in her relationship with Christ and it has been inspiring. I look forward to all that God has in store for us together as a team.

Sweet girl, I love you! Thank you for choosing me.

(I know I still have one more day but I can't help thinking about her... it happens when you're in love :)

Peace.