New Picture of Moses & A Quick Update

The most recent report we've received shows that Moses has gained significant weight to get to a healthy spot.  He is all around healthy, and described as a "peaceful" child who loves to play.

We have word that the affidavit has been filed with Ugandan courts.  All that is left is for the probation officer to visit Moses at his care center and file a court date.  We are soooo close, yet there is no telling how short or long it will be for the probation officer to make his/her visit.  We're praying it will be short!

Friday 5s: 5 Current Top 5s

5 Current Favorite TV Shows:

1. Community
2. Conan
3. Chuck
4. The Cape
5. The Mentalist
   *oddly 4 of the 5 start with a "C"

Top 5 Bands/Artists I'm Currently listening to:

1. Gungor
2. He Is We
3. Snow Patrol
4. Jon Foreman
5. Chris Tomlin

Top 5 Current Foods:

1. Chips and French Onion Dip
2. Footlong Chicken Bacon Ranch on Flatbread (at least till March 1)
3. McDonalds Cherry Pies
4. Bruno's Pizza
5. Jimmy John's Subs

Top 5 Current Prayers to God:

1. You are God. I am not. Don't let me get the two mixed up.
2. Teach Katylynn to love You and love others.
3. Provide every need in Moses's life right now.
4. Grant me wisdom and courage
5. Thank you.

Top 5 Current Activities with Katylynn:

1. Singing Songs
2. Reading
3. Dancing
4. Playing Hide and Seek
5. Disciplining her (groan, but reality)

7 Random 7s

Kristy asked me to do this, so I'm now doing it...

7 Songs I've been listening to a lot these days:

• Beautiful Things by Gungor
• The Earth is Yours by Gungor
• One Less by Matthew West
• Kiss it All Better by He Is We
• Happily Ever After by He Is We
• I Refuse by Josh Wilson
• Everlasting God by Chris Tomlin

7 Places in the world I've always wanted to visit:

• Australia or New Zealand - Want to go to all the continents.
• Antarctica - Want to go to all the continents.
• China - To see the underground church in action.
• Uganda - Especially more lately.
• European Backpack Tour - Maybe it will be a family trip in 15 years...
• Fenway Park for a playoff game.
• Alaska on a cruise.

7 Things I've dreamed of doing someday:

• Writing a book.
• Surfing.
• Seeing a person healed.
• Visiting a former student on their foreign mission field.
• Watching my wife give birth.
• Hanging out with Bono for an evening.
• Walking Katylynn down the aisle.

7 Favorite games of all time:

• Basketball.
• Baseball/Softball.
• Football.
• Hide and Seek.
• Risk.
• Settlers of Catan.
• Scattergories.

7 Favorite Verses:

• Matthew 6:33
• Philippians 3:7-9
• Ephesians 2:8-10
• Matthew 22:37-40
• James 1:27
• Isaiah 55:8-9
• I Corinthians 5:17

7 Books I love to read over and over:

• Bible*
• Chronicles of Narnia*
• Lord of the Rings
• Harry Potter Series
• The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus*
• Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster*
• Any Dr Seuss book with Katylynn

7 Books that have deeply challenged me (Starred ones above plus these 7):

• No Compromise by Melody Green
• God on Mute by Pete Grieg
• Red Moon Rising by Pete Grieg
• Season of Life by Jeffrey Marx
• The Freedom of Simplicity by Richard Foster
• Jungle Pilot by Russell Hilt
• What Matters Most by Doug Fields

Just an fyi

Much of my blogging attention has been focused on prepping devotional thoughts for our current Sunday series at NMC.  You can see those posts over at www.godisblank.com

The Finished Project

Hard at Work

 We are working on "Project Mommy." Hoping to finish it up before she gets here.

Youtubesday: Rhett and Link

It's almost guaranteed these guys will make me laugh when I watch their videos.

This is some great advice for the Social Media conscious single guys out there:


This had me grabbing me stomach and almost in tears. There's something about guys laughing at what their own attempts at comedy that gets me laughing.

Some Strong Opinions

• The "terrible twos" are a myth.  
• The "trouble-making threes"* are a reality.
• The time between the Super Bowl and March Madness is the worst sports time of the year.
• The main thing email, Facebook, Twitter, and texting has done is create an impossible singular format to effectively communicate to a group of people.
• Smart phones, as a whole are significantly overrated, and a great way to waste money.
• Justice is a spiritual, not a political issue.
• The promises of God are sweet, assuring and I gotta remember to look to them.
• God's mercies are new every morning, and man I need them every morning.
• There is a some sort of addictive agent included in Dean's French Onion chip dip.
• I'm far from arrived.

God Is _______.

Interested in seeing last Sunday's message?

Go here.

It's the first of a four week series where we simply fill in the blank to God is _________.  Four weeks will clearly not cover all the possible ways you could fill in the blank.  Instead we are picking 4 key aspects or characteristics of God and seeing what the Bible says, and who we outght to be in light of who God is.

To go along with this journey, I'm doing a daily devotional journey to fill in the blank with some of the aspects or characteristics we are not covering on Sundays.  You can check that out at www.godisblank.com

2 years ago Today... A Repost

Remembering today.  Two years ago this date, I received the toughest and most painful news I've ever received.  It was at the end of the darkest 48 hour valley of my life.  Today, I remember an amazing Father and person.  Today, I hurt for a loss on this side of eternity.  Today, I rejoice that it hurt so much to lose a Dad, because he had done so little to hurt me while alive.


Posted February 8, 2009...

Prayer Answered

We've been praying for a miracle. I've (and I know many others) have been asking that miracle be one thing. I've been understanding the miracle could be a different thing.

My father has been pronounced brain dead. As we have spent time with him. He is gone from this earth. As I spent some time with him one on one last night, I sensed this was the case. At the same time, the circumstances left us in a place to continue to "watch and pray".

The miracle came in the form of my dad being reunited with his mom and dad, and more than likely taking on Jesus in a free throw contest (I think Jesus could give him a run for his money).

The other miracle will come over the next couple days as he is being prepared to give the organs he no longer needs in order to give life to those who need them.

We have said goodbye.
Although we are convinced his spirit man is gone, the body (except the brain) continues to function in order to donate his organs.
In the next week, we will continue to be able to say goodbye in multiple formats.

It just stinks in the here and now.
It's freakin' awesome from an eternal perspective.

How do I sum up my dad?

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."
Dad, you batted a thousand.

**I hate communicating this over a blog... it's less than an ideal way to communicate, yet I share this so those who care can hurt and rejoice with us...

UPDATE - Late last night we received word that due to my dad's prostate cancer 7 years ago, all his organs except his eyes (corneas) were not qualified for donation. Our "donation rep" fought hard to the contrary.
As I spent some time saying goodbye to dad yesterday, one of my prayers was that I might be able to see the world the way my dad saw it... as I'm fairly certain that he is the only one to view it the way he did. Well, at least until now. Not only may God grant me that vision, dad's eyes will hopefully be granting that vision to someone else.

Youtubesday: Best Super Bowl commercials

Brilliant and creative:


Hilarious:


By no means an endorsement of the product, but this cracked me up too:


Laughed again:


I found this one to be fascinating and, dare I say, artistic. It made me stop and watch.

My Super Bowl Thoughts

• So Christina Aguilera messed up the lyrics to the National Anthem?  First off, I agree with what Jason Miller tweeted:  Amazing how people who'd pee their pants if they had to sing in front of 10 people criticize Aguilera for fumbling lyrics. She was awesome.  Second, I don't know how many times I've gotten confused with the lyrics to that song in the same spot she messed it up.  I'm one of those people that would prefer to see us change our National Anthem to "God Bless America" or "America the Beautiful" (but that's a rant for another time).
• It was a good commercial year.  My favorites posted on Youtubesday tomorrow. 
• Movies I'm looking forward to:  Super 8 (how do you go with bad with JJ Abrams), Captain America (Avengers fun), Cowboys and Aliens (I like Jon Favreau movies), 
• I found the Black-Eyed Peas to be very entertaining.  I would prefer my halftime show to be U2, Springstein, or some other rock act, but the lit up dancers and dance tunes kept my attention.
• Greatest line of the night by Joe Buck: "There's Alex Rodriguez with Cameron Diaz... and I'm sure Rodriguez is thrilled we put the camera on him at that moment... being fed popcorn."
• Best Tweet of the game by ESPN's Adam Schefter:  Aaron Rodgers is going to enjoy his first championship since 6th grade basketball.
•  Oh, it was a good game as well.

February Sundays at NMC

Each week, we'll fill in the blank.  I've got this week and next.  Excited to share!

25 Random Things

Saw Kristy and Alyssa did this, and it seemed like a decent activity to do while enjoying this snowed-in day of low action.

1. Katylynn's current favorite song: "The Earth is Yours" by Gungor.
2. One of my current favorite activities is coming home from the church and dancing with Katylynn to "The Earth is Yours" by Gungor.
3. Since I put a world map up in my office, I feel like my prayer life has been enhanced.
4. I am fairly addicted to Potato Chips and French Onion Dip.
5. I eat Macaroni and Cheese for a meal at least once a week.
6. We just rearranged our bedroom for the 3rd time since we've been in this house.
7. Our dog has really bad cataracts and we think he's going deaf.
8. I'm currently watching Beauty and the Beast.  It's the first time I've watched the movie in it's entirety.
9. Former NMC student and current friend Adam just got married to my new friend Emily.  Emily just landed the lead role of Belle in the Beauty and the Beast tour.  Way to go Emily!
10. I enjoy shoveling snow almost as much as I enjoy Junior High Girls basketball games.
11. Since starting at NMC, I don't think there's been a full Wednesday where the office was closed and our evening services were canceled. 
12. Watching Dallas frantically try to address 1" of snow in preparation for the Super Bowl is quite humorous.
13. If and episode of the Office or Seinfeld is on TV, I could probably find it entertaining no matter how recently I previously saw it.
14. I've made the switch to a smart phone.  In the end, the switch is saving us $$.  If it wouldn't be helping our budget, I don't think I could justify needing it.
15. I really don't like the NBA.  I'm not a big fan of College Basketball's regular season.  I enjoy watching baseball and playing softball.  I love the NFL.  If you were to ask me to rank my favorite sports, I'd take 1. Basketball  2. Baseball 3. Football. 
16. I think the Steelers will win the Super Bowl by a touchdown.
17. I can do a pretty decent "Kevin" from the Office.
18. I showered at 2 p.m. today.
19. My wardrobe is probably 70% what has been given to me.  Don't include my underwear, and it's more like 85%.
20. On my bucket list, going to every continent, including Anarctica.  I only have Australia and Antarctica left.
21. Also on my bucket list, get a book published.
22. Janelle and often talk about "retiring" in Orlando and working part time at Walt Disney World in some role where we can be a blessing to families who are harried and trying to make the most of their vacation.
23. I probably drink 6-8 cans of diet pop per day. 
24. I probably drink 0 cups of coffee per day.
25. Okay, this wasn't quite as fun as I thought it would be.

Youtubesday: What is the Internet Anyway?

This is from 1994 on the Today Show.  I bet Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric wouldn't mind if this went away...

Thanks to Don Rohrer for the email link.