The old college try...again...updating and maintaining a blog, Take 2!

Ok, so I find myself staring at the blogger page and realizing I haven't posted anything since May. It's not because I haven't had the thoughts to do so, really. There's been ALOT. The reality is, I'm an undisciplined guy.

I get disciplined quite a bit, but being disciplined is something else.


So I guess I could post the world's longest blog post to try to catch up, or i could just bullet point the highlights to fill the space between then and now. So, here we go!

May 27 - Mark, our preaching guy, goes in for open heart surgery. I actually have the foreknowledge of this fact for about 2 months, so I actually get to prepare to take over a good portion of the preaching reigns, as well as being the go-to-guy in church. This is a new experience for me, as I have previously been a youth ministry guy in churches and basically only good for playing dodge ball and planning lock ins. Just kidding.

May 26 - I taste my last bite of food for 40 days. This was prompted in part by the fact that, despite all the humor, the responsibilities I was getting ready to take on were scaring the dickens out of me, and I was also feeling that this time would be a big transition time for both our church and myself, either a storm we would weather or a spring board that would take us to new heights. I really wanted God to do the latter with us. So I entered into a period of fasting for 40 days, coinciding nicely with the space between memorial day and the 4th of July. I was also prompted by This Book that really put a new perspective on how dependent I am on myself instead of God, and how fasting can really cure me of that rampant independence from God.

June 1- I preach the first of an 8 part sermon series broken into two themes: The Surrendered Heart and The Awakened Heart. The thrust is that we will never be what God desires unless we embrace surrender, and that once we really incorporate surrender into our lives, He can Awaken us to His vision for our lives. I manage to keep it under 40 minutes. :) Just kidding.


June 6 - I get to do Nikki and Dean's wedding. It is cute down to the edges, with crying flower girls (in a very cute way) and the bridal party sashaying in to top 40 music. Lots of fun.


June 20-22 - we do a young pros retreat to Ocean Shores. Our theme is "Recovering our Rest" and we rest a lot. It is without a doubt one of the best retreats I've ever had, complete with beach volleyball, a huge bonfire on Sat. night, and driving on the beach in the Jeep. Oh Yeah!


June 29-July 2 - I direct our 1st and 2nd grade camp in Mark's place. I have tons of our friends involved and it is without a doubt some of the most fun I've had in a while. God also starts revealing during this time that He is beginning to move me into other roles long-term with the youth ministry.

July 4th - After 4 sermons and 40 days, I break fast with about 60 people, most of whom have no idea of the significance, at Lane's house for his Independence Day celebration. I break fast with his tri-tip, and the awesomeness overwhelmes me like a Chuck Norris roundhouse. All the fireworks in the area spontaneously combust and I am immediately transported to heaven. Then they rouse me from unconsciousness. No, really, it was that good! Phil and Scott also teach me how to make a sparkler bomb. This is no less momentus, in my book.

July 28th - My daughter turns 4. Great party, awesome cake, ( I really wanted to hide it in someone's bed like the Godfather), and she is really growing up. Her present? Ballet lessons!

August 3rd - I finish the sermon series, which has grown a couple of weeks as we experienced the reality of "flexible recovery time" with Mark. I don't speak for a whole week, because I have used up all my words and have to refill. God is still working on some of the things we talked about, but He is more than faithful, both in sustaining and supplementing me, and in beginnning changes in our church. Awesome!

August 15th - After much prayer and searching for God's wisdom, Nicole and I decide to pursue adoption to add to our family. We begin the process for state licensed foster care and enrolling in the foster-to-adopt program.

August 19th - Sarah and Kaylee, our "Supplemental family" since April, launch successfully into their own apartment! We rejoice with them, and then realize how quiet a house can get when you suddenly remove half the occupants. It takes the rest of the month to get used to. We still really miss them, yet we're glad things are working out like we all had hoped.

Late August - our friends Chris and Heather come out from Colorado. It's the best friend visit ever. I get my first real body damage in the Jeep on my rear bumper from rock crawling with Chris at Tahuya off-road park.

August 16 - Chris, Tyler and I have a "Man Study Reunion" and what do we do? Go to the Seahawks game and watch them spank Chicago. I think it might be the only game they won. Yea, preseason!

September 20-30 - we head out to New England to see the in-laws. Raegan is especially excited to finally follow in the footsteps of the Pirates who Don't do Anything and "go to Boston in the Fall". The trip is punctuated with both novelty and irony. I get airsick for the first time in 31 years, because I am battling the flu for the first 48 hours of our vacation, including the overnight flight. UGH. It is sunny and 70's in western Washington, while we get to deal with the 12+ inches of rain that hurricane Kyle deposits on my In-Law's lake house in Maine. My interaction with the in-laws revolves mostly around fixing my mother-in-laws exhaust (which, admittedly, broke when I ran over a retread tire that a semi blew out in front of me, but it was WAY rusted out to begin with) and working on my father in law's sump pump so the house doesn't flood. On the flip side, we got to go to the ice cream mecca of the world, Waterbury, VT to the home of BEN AND JERRY'S!. and we did finally get to see Boston in the Fall.


October 1 - after completing numerous paperwork forms, getting our house evaluated top to bottom, and going to some seriously silly classes, and some really good ones, the state certifies us as foster care ready. As of this writing, we are still waiting for Olympia to follow through with the paperwork...

October 11 - After participating in the church camp out at Leavenworth for a night, we head home so Dad can lead worship and teach class to the remnant at the building. What starts as a run of the mill trip home turns exciting when we stop at a local drive in restaurant called Zeke's. the owner notices our infatuation with the family cat (that is to say, Raegan's), and lets us know that she just had a litter of kittens about 8 weeks ago, and they're giving them away for free! It's all downhill from there, and soon, we are driving home with the latest addition to the family, Bonita. Added to Bailey and Bella, we are running out of B names. I need a boy dog so I can call him Bronco, or Buck, or something like that. Frankly, I just need another man in the house. I am now outnumbered 5 to 1 officially. Nicole tries to add in Sammy the Beta fish to help me out, but I maintain that there is no "man connection" since about all he does when he sees me is pound the glass of his bowl with his head. Quite manly, but no connection.

So there we go. Now for maintenance. We'll see how it goes...:)