My grandmother is getting older and she LOVES the beach so every year all the women and all the grandchildren load up and take her to Florida for a week. For some reason the men don’t go and that is fine because hanging out with my whole family for a week seems like hell, not a vacation. 
Anyway, I am normally pumped that they get to head to the beach and I am this year as well. They will have a blast! However, this year I am bummed out that they are leaving. I love being married, love being a dad, and love being around my family, so them leaving for a week sucks.
Next week will be a week with a LOT of work and a LOT of frozen pizza.
We ended up taking Ashlyn to the ER last night and they appear to have gotten most of the wood out of her leg. They said the rest should works it’s way out. She seems good today and all is good.
I appreciate the prayers!
It is amazing how freaked out you get when it involves your children.
I would appreciate your prayers for my daughter Ashlyn. She sat down on our front porch steps and somehow a piece of wood went into her leg. At first we just thought she had been stuck by the wood but the swelling never went down and today DeAnna took her to the doctor and there is a 1 inch piece of wood stuck in her skin and the only way to get it out is put her under and cut it out.
She’s five and my little girl so needless to say I am not too happy about someone cutting on her.
She will have the procedure sometime this week. I am freaking out a little so I appreciate you praying for her.
Ashlyn who is 5 has suddenly in the last month started learning and singing songs she hears on the radio like crazy. She LOVES music. It is funny hearing her sing Linkin Park, Maroon 5, and Gnarls Barkley.
Ashlyn will be the pastor of The Stone one day and because of that I know the music will continue to rock!
Do not mess with DeAnna. She can just be a beast about things. I have seen her on the phone with people concerning bills, companies that have screwed up, etc. She always wins!
Today she won the ultimate victory in my opinion. I bought an iPod about a year and a half ago. I saved my cash and at that time it was a huge purchase. Well the thing was junk. It froze up all the time, wouldn’t hold a charge and it just sucked! I took it to the apple store a few times and of course it always worked perfect and they did nothing. The warranty expired and it would work sometimes and sometimes it wouldn’t. I would take it to the store and they wouldn’t do anything.
Well if finally died about a month ago. It wouldn’t even turn on. So DeAnna gets a wild hair today to take it to the apple store and walks in there and even though the warranty has been expired for 6 months, within 5 minutes she has left the store with a brand new iPod.
Yep, that’s my woman.
I have been really convicted lately about the weight I have gained over the last few years. I eat like crap, and work out not very hard. So Tim and I decided to change that this week and the last two days I have worked out twice a day and eaten very good.
Today my whole body literally hurts. I have muscles that I didn’t know I had that are hurting. But I got up this morning and we worked out cardio pretty hard and I feel good.
Several reasons led to me finally deciding to do something about my weight:
1.) That whole your body is a temple thing - Pastors are a fat bunch of dudes. I want to keep the temple fit and honor God by doing that.
2.) My wife is losing weight like crazy - My wife is not a big woman but she has been in workout mode like crazy since January. She is awesome and now she her body is starting to have muscle. I can’t have my wife looking buffer than me. :) Plus I don’t want to die from being fat and some other guy getting to enjoy being married to her.
3.) I want energy to enjoy my kids - I stay tired a lot and I am robbing my kids of hanging out with me and me enjoying it. That ain’t cool.
4.) I want a tattoo - I’ve been wanting one for a while but DeAnna said I could only get one if I got buff so buff it is.
5.) I want to be able to kick the crap out of other pastors….if I felt the need too. - Before giving my life to Christ, I liked to drink AND fight. With my mouth, I was somehow in a lot of situations that required me fighting. It has been a while, but I think I could throw down if I had too but I need to have the energy in case the dude is ripped up like Steven or Perry. That probably seems like a crazy reason but it motivates me.
Today was a great day. I feel back in the game after getting a load off of my chest yesterday morning! I didn’t want to preach that message yesterday and I sure didn’t want to come across as whining but I have been hit up all day by email from pastors telling me how much they can realte to how I was feeling and thanking me for saying what need to be said.
The sad thing to me is not that a lot of pastors go through times like that but that they don’t feel they can share it with their people for fear of what they will think. 99% of the people who left The Stone yesterday left there more excited about the vision of the church then when they came in. 99% of our people saw how much healthier our church is going to be. I know every pastor says this but I pastor what I consider the greatest people in the world. Seriously, I don’t have to be someone I am not to our people. They accept everyone including me no matter what. What a great feeling!
Today was a GREAT day at the office. We went and picked up a bunch of cases and signs that a church gave us, had a great lead team meeting, and had fun talking about the future.
Then tonight I turned into Mr. Surbanite. :) I got home and grilled some chicken and veggies, fixed the lawnmower (okay I actually just duct taped the handle back together), cut the grass, and now I am about to go sit in a rocking chair on the front porch and listen to some tunes and read a book.
Life is good.
I survivied camping out with the kids last night. I didn’t know how they would do but they were awesome. I forgot how awesome it is to sleep outside and look up into the sky and see all the stars.
As crazy as it seems, it was one of the most relaxing nights I have had in a long time.
On top of my enjoying it, the kids had a blast!!!!!
My little girl graduates kindergarten tonight! I can’t believe she is already in school and I am very proud of her BUT I got to admit that I don’t really understand the whole “graduation” thing.
It is kindergarten for crying out loud! What exactly is she graduating from? Seems just like a reason I have to get dressed up for a photo opp.
As much as I don’t understand it, I will be there and I will be happy and proud to be there because even if it is a dumb thing, it will be a dumb thing I will look back on one day and remember and that is something I want to treasure because as fast as she is growing up, she will be gone soon.
Yes, you read that right.
I have a small fever, a headache, a runny nose, and my throat feels like it has razor blades in it!
I’m doing staff meeting and then going home. Pray for me because I ain’t got time to be sick!!!!!
Pray for DeAnna because I am a HUGE baby when it comes to this type of stuff.