Good Morning, Bad start.

well, I ran out to take out the trash before the garbage man arrived at our house. Still in my pajamas, I darted out to the curb. Recycling…check. Garbage can…check. Unlocked door? Locked door…check.
With no cell phone or keys, I couldn’t even ask my neighbor to use their phone. I doubt speed dial two calls my wife on their phone. So … Read Morestanding in my garage all I had was a knife and hammer from my tool kit.
So I started cutting away, right through the dry-wall. I got through the first wall, then had to pull out the insulation then cut through the second wall.
Finally getting enough room to reach through to my door knob. I slide and scrape my arm until I am able to unlock the door and walk in. I was expecting my dog to be standing there with curiosity…Nope! She was upstairs cowering. Not much of a guard dog is she?

The Power of Sunshine.

I am becoming a firm believer in the power of sunshine. I believe that it is possibly one of the greatest gifts that God has given us, after Jesus of course. After surviving 3 winters in the Chicagoland area. I have begun to appreciate it so much more. The truth is, we are not out of the woods yet. It is only March…a snow storm could develop at any moment. We’re still one month way from leaving the danger zone.

But today is a gift…and I will accept it. I think I am going to go to the store so I can grill out tonight.

Funky-Funk?

I feel like I am in a funk right now. I don’t know exactly why. Life has gotten into a pattern. It goes something like this.

RUSH, RUSH, RUSH…

Home life has seemed rushed and relaxing moments are few and far between. I won’t even begin to tell you about work. Having your “love-language” be quality time, isn’t that great…especially when you do not have time. Let alone quality time. I have no time to connect with friends outside of work, I have limited time to connect with my wife, I have small amounts of time to connect with God.

That is a lethal combination. Your soul cannot thrive at such a pace. Another problem with the qualtity time thing is, other people have to give up time as well. Most people who I run with seem to be on the same schedule as me. Thus creating an even more difficult to find time together. Oh, plus…not all of them have the same “love-language” as me. So they look for other things such as: acts of service, words of affirmation, or touch (weirdos).

I know this seems like an odd post. Perhaps it accentuates my funk. I scheduled a hour and a half of solitude on Thursday. I think that will help. Time with the Creator would probably be the most important missing link in my life right now. I’ll keep you posted on any new developments in that department.

On another note:

We just got a new computer at the house for Amanda, it is a MacBook. But not just any MacBook it has a pink polka-dot skin on the shell. She really likes it. We bought it from a friend of a friend, he refurbishes old Macs. We got a really good deal on it. Plus, now we can do our taxes…I’ll keep you posted on any new developments in that department.

On another note:

We went to Medieval Times with Chris and Laura while they were in town. It was more fun being with them than it was going to the dinner and show. We must have had the worst table in the place. If you ever go and they try to give you table 24…run! Get your money back. We sat in the last row and the view was partially obstructed. I don’t know we would ever go again. It is kind of expensive, especially for bad seats. But is was a BLAST hanging out with Chris and Laura all weekend. I hope they return soon…I’ll keep you posted on any new developments in that department.

Well friends…that is 3 blogs in one. It must be your lucky day…or unluckiest?

A Medieval Weekend

My little brother and his wife are coming to town this weekend. I can’t wait for them to get here. It is going to be great. Tomorrow night we are going to Medieval Times. It is a themed restaurant and show. The outside of the building looks like a castle. Every time my brother would drive by it he would say, “someday I am going to go there.” Well I found out a couple of weeks ago it is closing down. So when Chris and Laura decided to come up this weekend, I knew we had go.

So I booked us reservations. It is going to be great. And today at Circuit City, I was able to get a new digital camera for 60% off. So I will take plenty of pictures. So stayed tuned…

Here is a funny video…

The Boys

In the willow world, our weekends tend to be Friday and Saturday, due to the hard work that takes place on Sundays. Well this last Friday a friend name Ernie gave some of us Autoshow tickets (thanks Ernie). None of us are really car guys, but we had a ton of fun going downtown and hanging out. We rode the train down to the city then got day passes for the El. We spent several hours at the car show, we walked off a lot of calories which was good.

It was really cool after a fun day, to sit back and reflect on how God has blessed me with some really good friends. Matt and I have been friends sense almost day 1…well his day 1. I love that he lives up here. Kellen moved up from Georgia to do an internship at Willow. It has been really awesome to get to know him and watch  him grow in amazing ways. Then there is Adam. What can I say about him? He has quickly turned into one of my best friends. My love language is quality time and words of affirmation. But I think the quality time sometimes drives him crazy, because I just love to hang-out, and he likes to be alone. But he seems to accept me as a friend anyway.

When I first moved up to Chicago on June 12, 2006; one of hardest parts was leaving all the people I knew and loved. And although I still love those back in STL (well…most of them). God has really blessed me with some amazing friends. Even though two of the three I mentioned, I supervise at work. They probably have no idea how much I look up to them.

Thank you God for providing for me in way I could have never imagined and blessing me with friends that challenge me to be more like you.

Matt

Adam

Kellen

Do Work!

All I want to do is “do work” but I want to do it well.

It has been at tradition for three years now for our Jr. High ministry to go to a Bulls game together. Typically it is on a Tuesday night. Which you would think doesn’t work too well for families. So this year when I talked to the Bulls they let us do it on a Friday night. Jackpot! We should be able to double our attendance no problem. But due to budgetary restrictions he have to cut our ticket numbers in half. However, we haven’t even been able to sell that much. Nobody is buying tickets. Is it the economy? The timing? The fact the Bulls suck this year? All of the above?

With about 24 hours left before tip-off. I still have 20 tickets to sell…and that adds up to about 400 dollars that is lost out of the, already shrinking, budget. So I guess you take your lumps and move on. And I don’t think we are going to do a Bulls game again next year.

However, it is interesting the Bulls advertising campaign right now is “Love It Live.” Turns out…nobody is loving it at all…let alone live.

The Bulls organization sent me letter head and a pocket schedule saying thanks for purchasing tickets. I found it interesting that both items had the NBA championship trophies and the years they were won printed on the. And yet the motto is “Love It Live”? There is nothing less live than 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, and 1998. Perhaps if they would have vision for the future instead of implying their organization has already peaked, the could win again…and draw attention to themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I loved watching MJ, Pippen, Longley, Armstrong, Rodman, and the gang. But get over it. It is time to move on, it has been 11 years.

But sense they won’t move on my budget to minister to teenagers has taken a hit. Thanks for nothing!

PS. GO BULLS!

BREAKING NEWS!!!

An extraordinary account from a German army medic has finally confirmed what the world long suspected: Hitler only had one ball.

Haha…that made my day!

Click here for the full article

Tisk, Tisk! (Don’t Wag the finger at me)

People get mad at me because I don’t blog enough for their liking. However, I refuse you apologize. So take that! Sure I am a busy man. I have a wife, a dog, a full-time job…amongst other thing that I must tend to. So get over it. Thanks.

A week ago, I was in Colorado with my family for my little brothers wedding. It was definitely the high of my last week. Chris married his beautiful bride Laura. It is an honor to add Laura to our family. She is a great addition. My bro-in-law said at the dinner table, “this is the BEST family ever!” And I have to agree. God has really blessed us with an amazing group of people who seek after Him, and have fun doing it.

While we were there Joe, Jim, Chris and I decided to do some hiking…(um, we all live on flat land at about 500-900 feet. This was a mountain at about 9,000-10,500 feet…so yes there was a lack of oxygen) We didn’t last too long, however we did last loner than I thought we would. We didn’t go up a trail, we just saw the mountain and started walking. We realized this may not be a good idea when we saw the Beaver Creek security guard was looking at us funny. Concidering there are mountain lions, courgars, cheetahs, tigers, bears, blue whales and old rich women (some of the animals mentioned may or maynot exist in that region of the world). Doesn’t sound safe does it? Here is a picture taken of us.

we are the small dots on the side of the mountain.

Viva la Cubbies!

Last night was amazing. I wish you could have been there…unless you are Amanda, Adam, Lori or Brittany …then you were there (sorry K-train). Adam had some free cubs tickets fall into his lap, so we saddled up and took half days off work and made a day of it. It was a blast. We rode the CTA all round until we got to Wrigley, then we went and had dinner at the Cubbie Bear, a resturaunt across the street from the Wrigley Field marquis.

It was a lot of fun. The game went great and Adam and I got on TV (Comcast Sports Net). The Cubs beat the Reds 5-0.  The greatest down fall of public transportation is waiting for the trains. We didn’t get home until after 1:00am. So it was a late night with a full day on Wednesday. But it was great nonetheless.

I have pics on my camera I will try to upload those later.

Summer Movie List.

I thought that  sense it is summer and beautiful outside what better way to spend it than to sit in a dark room and watch a movie. So I decided to post my must see movie list for this summer. Watch one a week until the end of August, even if you have already seen them.

1. Batman: Dark Night (mom you won’t like it) -In Theaters
2. August Rush (changed my life)- Rental
3. Step Brothers (I haven’t seen it, I only assume it is hilarious)- In Theaters
4. UHF (pure hilarity)- Rental
5. Get Smart (so funny)- In Theaters

So there you have it…if you do not see all of these movies, you life is not worth living.