I Give Up!

Ok, I give up. I was trying to wait until I had the chance to do this right- captions, editting, etc. Well, apparently that day isn't coming anytime soon, so here are pictures from our recent Knoxville/Asheville/High Point/Greenville trip. It was AWESOME to see the Councils and Stancos. The Discovery folks, too, even though I didn't get any pictures because I had to FedEx my work camera to the Colorado office. Here are the pics!

I Love This Website

Like (I hope) most parents, we try to be careful with what we let Abbey watch. Oh yeah, and what we watch too. Anyway, pluggedin online is an awesome tool for that. When they review a movie, they give you factual information about the content, don't get too "preachy", and allow you to make an informed decision. The elements they review are:

Positive Elements

Spiritual Content

Sexual Content

Violent Content

Crude or Profane Language

Drug and Alcohol Content

Other Negative Elements

Conclusion

We all make our own decisions about where we draw the line on what we allow our kids to watch (or ourselves for that matter). This website is a good tool to help you do that.

I Have Become Claude

After all of the grief I have given Claude about his lack of blogging, it's been over a week for me.

I am ashamed.

Help Save The Planet

I have decided to do my part in the fight against climate change by doing...nothing. Well, as little as possible anyway.

Every day, all over the world, people are exercising by going out jogging, going to the gym, playing sports, etc., and I believe this is bad for the planet. You see, when you exert yourself, you raise your core body temperature. Multiplied by the millions of people exercising, you can see how this can raise the overall temperature of the planet. Also, during exercise you increase your breaths per minute, releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that our rainforest-depleted planet can no longer efficiently turn into life-sustaining oxygen. Furthermore, exercising causes your clothing (especially your shoes if you run) to wear out more quickly. These items then have to be replaced, and their replacements are made in factories that spew the very pollutants into the air that lead to an expansion in the hole in the ozone layer. And not to be indelicate, but many of these same people like to eat "whole" or "raw" foods, which can lead to an increase in, shall we say... personal methane production. All of this leads me to one inevitable conclusion:

Healthy people are responsible for global warming.

Well, I won't stand for it! I feel as a responsible citizen of this planet, I must do my part to fight global climate change. I encourage everyone to exercise less, and generally exert yourself as little as possible in an effort to save our planet. It may seem extreme, and you may be thinking, "Can I really make a difference?". While individual lethargy may not have much of an impact, when millions of people band together to do as little as possible, we can accomplish much. Please join me in my (lack of) effort to save our beautiful planet.

Rough Day

Had a rough day yesterday. My sister Andrea's husband had given us (my other sister and myself) a bunch of her personal items to go through to see if there were things we wanted. These were mainly "pre-marriage" items— photo albums from childhood and teen years, old books, etc.

Frankly, until this weekend I couldn't bring myself to look at the stuff. To many memories. Too many feelings I didn't want to deal with. Looking at things and "remembering when" or seeing something you want to have as a remembrance, but then realizing you have to have it as a remembrance because the person it belonged to is no longer here. Wishing I had been a better brother. Laughing when I showed Abbey an LP and asked her if she knew what it was (not a clue). At least there weren't any 8-Tracks. Glad my wife was there, yet wishing I was alone. Like I said, rough day.

The important stuff we leave behind is the impact we have for Christ on other people's lives. How are we showing the love of Christ to other's? How are we representing Him? Can people see the difference he has made in our lives? How are we serving him? Andrea left a lot of that stuff with me, and it means more than an old book or photo album ever could.

It's Simple Really...

I have to thank Randy Strickland
for bringing this topic up. The Rays are in first place- by 4 games as of today. After so many years of futility (the best they have done in the
past is 4th place) they are winning! And the way they are winning- pitching and defense- bodes well for the rest of the year. The pitching should stay solid, and defense generally doesn't slump. If they can start hitting with consistency...look out.

So, to what do they owe their success? Developing their own players? Yup. Strong defense and an improved bullpen? Sure. A confidence that they are never out of games? Oh yeah. But I wonder if their is something else at play. Something bigger. Something larger. Something more meaningful. This is the year they dropped "Devil" from their name, and they are suddenly experiencing greater success (blessings?) than ever before. Coincidence? Well, yeah. But it's also kinda funny.

GO RAYS!

Would You Trust This Man To Sell Your House?

Well, I'm going to. This is Vaughn Rice, a/k/a Mr. Vaughn, a/k/a Fran's husband, and as of 6pm today, he is my realtor. Shanna and I have been trying to sell our house "by owner" for long enough. Now, we're calling in the professionals. The market here is still...um...sucky, but that's okay; God is in charge. Vaughn is a good, Godly man, and knows his craft.

Please join us in praying that our house will sell quickly and for enough money to pay off the mortgage companies without us having to carry a balance.

Let's Go Vaughn!