Wild Hogs

Shiloh and I watched "Wild Hogs" last night. With the exception of the highway patrolman scenes, we both thought it was pretty funny and was a much needed laugh in the middle of our remodeling craziness. William H. Macy's character, Dudley, at one point needed some help with some dance moves. What he said made me laugh, only because it describes me perfectly, just ask my wife, or go dancing with me.

"The music moves me, it just moves me ugly."

Happy 2nd Birthday

Carsen and Kennedy turn 2 today and I am so thankful for the gift that they have been to Shiloh and I. Two years ago today I was freaking out about my ability to be a dad. Funny how you just kinda figure it out as you go. Carsen and Kennedy, I love you both!!!

back to blogging

After an insane last few weeks, I guess it's about time a write again. A quick rundown of the haps:

• Shiloh started working part-time at the Christian school in town two weeks ago and I've been staying home in the mornings to watch the kids.
• One of the elders from the church and our pastor have been helping me do the wiring and plumbing in our house. Wiring is basically done. Plumbing is about halfway.
• Been putting in insulation and hoping that our windows come in this week so we can get those in.
• My wife is a painting machine!
• Youth group started up again for the fall and we've been doing a series called "Living in an iWorld" and talking about slowing down life to see what God has for us.
• Labor day weekend we had church family camp. It was a great time, but as with all great church events, incredibly tiring.
• We took Carsen and Kennedy to the high school football game last Friday. Lander lost, but on Saturday Carsen couldn't stop talking about seeing football. (I'm working on getting him to say, "Go Broncos")
• We had (at least to me) a cool young adult Bible study last night where we sang a bunch and just shared some of what God has been teaching each of us. Good times.
• Kennedy has decided it's fun to "steal" our noses and then put them back on. Hilarious stuff, I'm telling you.

Raising Trees

My parents gave Shiloh and I a tree as a house-warming gift a month ago. We went to our local greenhouse (Sprout's) and picked out our tree, a tartarian maple. Our only other tree is one that a deer decided to root on a couple winters ago and it has never quite recovered. So we are very excited to have a healthy tree on our property. We strategically placed it to give our house some good shade in the summer, the only problem being that it is nowhere near tall enough to provide said shade. And, really, it won't be for quite a while. It is only supposed to grow 6 inches a year, which means when we pay off our 30 year loan, the tree will just be reaching it's full height. But there is nothing to do other than take care of the tree, protect it from deer, prune it and give it enough water in our dry summer heat.
Now, the reason for writing about trees: I think youth ministry, or even following Christ, is a lot like us planting a tree. I always want and hope for students to "get it" right away and become mature disciples of Christ. Often I don't really want to have the patience to go in small steps. I want the 7th graders to get with what's going on and follow Jesus completely by their second week of youth group. But then I think about our tree. It's a process to maturity and it truly takes time and energy to disciple a student. Hurrying it along only creates shallow, flavor of the day Christians. I have 6 years with these kids, I want to make the most of every one of those, not just the first two weeks.
So, here's to a lifetime of deliberate, purposeful, good, rich (and sometimes slow) spiritual growth for me and our youth group.

Pancakes

A word to all of you out there: Getting your tonsils out is not as much fun as everyone made it seem as a kid, even with all the ice cream and jello. After 10 days of tears and mostly just misery, Carsen is feeling better. He's had a good week and is a completely different kid than before the surgery. He acts happier and more comfortable than before. In general, before surgery, he ate like a mouse. If we had pancakes, he maybe would eat half of one. This morning he ate almost four and had some bacon. We're looking forward to his pants starting to fit any day now...

Church Stress

I just read a great post on Dan Kimball's blog about stress among pastor's. Here's a great reminder that he included:

I try never to forget that every volunteer in the church has jobs every day that they commute to, have their own set of pressure and stresses, yet make the time to volunteer in the church in their free time. Volunteers are stuck in commuting traffic in the early morning after a late night out at the church. They don't have the option to stay home a little longer in the morning after a big event or late night out at the church building, as a pastor can choose to do so.

It reminded me to be praying for my volunteer's in our youth ministry and to say thank you to them this week when I see them. Josiah and Daniel (and everyone that helps out when we need food/drivers/a house/kitchen sinks) you are a great blessing to this ministry and to my life. Thanks for all you do and the time you spend investing in students' lives.

A Tornado in Wyoming

Yesterday afternoon Shiloh and I were enjoying a few nice quiet moments while our kids played happily in their room. We assumed they were playing with their legos or maybe reading a book as they usually do. After it was quiet for a little too long, we went to see what was going on. Here is what we found:
For those who want to know, that's all the clothes out of their dresser that they can reach. Right after the picture, they finished pulling down the rest of their books and dumped a bunch of picture cards all over their room. They had out all the stuffed animals they could get to and were just kinda rolling around in it, like when Scrooge McDuck used to swim in the Money Bend. I can't wait until their really capable of making a mess!