The Move

this past weekend i we moved to our new home in Andover, IL.  We are still renting, but it is a lot less / month for rent.  I felt guilty asking specifically for help from people so i did just a blanket request via facebook and myspace.  thankfully we had some great help on Saturday and a family from the church let us borrow their truck on Friday so i could run loads to the new place while Amber was at work.  then someone else from the church let us borrow their covered work trailer on Saturday...huge trailer.

Because of such a quick turn around, Amber and i decided to just move all the little things over throughout the week.  We had these plastic bread bins and just kept filling those and then emptying them as we got to the house.  So when it came to Saturday, we had mostly large items and got them all but our grill in one trip.  

Yesterday our new landlords came over and informed us that if we can get our rent in before the 10th of the month, they will shave another $25 off of our rent!!!  super huge blessing.  

so that's about it...  looking forward to the "day of elasticity" on Thursday or as you normal people call it, thanksgiving.  

have a good one.

Informational meeting

I got to meet my new 8th grade girls team yesterday. it was a good time to briefly share what my expectations would be and to inform them of when tryouts will be. they seem to be a neat group of girls that are ready to work hard and have some fun.

the worst part of the meeting was that now i really want to hang out with them and get to know them before the season starts. I made the mistake of not getting their names while at the meeting. but luckily many of them are involved with the boys team so if i go to more games, i’ll get to know them that way.

i can’t wait for the season to begin.


ps...
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i had to create a flyer with the tryout info on it and this is the image that i put on the top of the page. I didn’t have any colored paper and wanted something to catch their attention. the girls loved the flamingo’s and thought it was hilarious. I think i might have to try to re-incorporate this at the end of the year some how.

MercyMe concert

I had the opportunity to take my leadership team to the mercyme concert last Sunday for our Christmas party. It was a good time of fellowship and MercyMe provided a great opportunity for a worship experience. But unfortunately I sat in front a a group of rude, selfish people. As soon as i sat down i knew that this was going to be a rough seat. they were talking loudly through the opening band, trying to squeeze in and out of their isle...just annoying.

As soon as MercyMe came out everyone stood up, so i stood up. No more than 30 seconds later 2 ladies behind me taped me on the shoulder and asked if i could switch seats with my wife because they couldn’t see. here’s my problem with this...

1. i’m extremely self conscious about blocking peoples views and generally try my best to stay in the back or off to the side so i don’t block a view.
2. If i switched with my wife, i would be blocking the view for other people in their row.

So i just grabbed my coat and moved to an open area where no one was behind us for a couple rows. As the concert continued, the entire crowd sat down like a set of dominos. But some of us still wanted to stand up, so we did. then someone from behind us began yelling to sit down and then he actually came and told the guys next to us to sit down. This just added to my frustration and bitterness.

so i sat there during the entire concert trying to figure out what i wanted to say to these ladies that were originally behind me and asked me to move. I wanted them to feel bad for feeding into my insecurity.

Then out of the blue i get a text from 2 of my students who were at the concert with their grandma. one of them wanted to talk and didn’t want me to leave. She wanted to get saved. So i met them in the lobby and talked briefly, prayed with them and gave the young lady some scripture verses to read and what i’d like to see as her next steps might be.

as i walked back to our van, i started to chuckle at God because he knew what i wanted to do and he knew that if He didn’t intercede, i would say something and then regret it later.

All of this to say that God IS Good and He still cares about me.

Starfield Concert

this past Sunday (November 9), i took a small group of students to see a band named STARFIELD. I’ve heard them before and can say that they are one of my favorite bands. they are a great group of guys who love Jesus and write good worship songs. I’ve been struggling as of late and have not been able to just scream at the top of my lungs in an inspired worship opportunity. At the show, most of the students go to the front which left me in the back to spend some quality time in worship.

I’m not saying that I’m completely better, but the night helped me to let go for a brief time and remember how much i Love God and that i am not in control and that no matter where i’m at, what ever i’m doing, God is in control and has me where i’m at for a reason. I just wish he would let me in on it sometimes.

thanks Starfield for your obedience.

Just call me coach

okay, so in my last blog, i know 2 in one day... i’ll explain that to, i told you that i bought a new computer and that i’m SUPER excited about it. well the reason i was able to get it is because i was hired as the new head 8th grade girls basketball coach for Orion Middle school. I’m as excited about the coaching gig as i am the computer...if not more!!! one of my biggest passions is working with students. my other is basketball. i might not play a whole lot any more, but i love being able to teach and work with students at various skills that are needed for this game. Plus, i learned so many life lessons playing the game that i want to pass that on to students.

the other reason i’m excited is because i feel like i can have an impact on a least a small group of students and help them to understand that Basketball is fun and it’s not always about the win column at this age level. Evidently my season begins in December with tryouts and then games begin in January. I’ve got an assistant already and the principle and athletic director seem to be really cool and share my same feelings about this age level and the priority of teaching fundamentals and over emphasizing the win loss column.

now, part 2 of this, my blog frequency. one of the new programs i downloaded is called macjournal. this program will allow me to type an entry and the upload it when i’m in a wireless area. so now i can type and store instead of trying to remember when i’m by a signal. ya macs!

Gadgets

It has been a crazy past couple of weeks as we role through the beginning of November. towards the end of October i took a trip with some other pastors from the Evangelical free church to a conference in Michigan. It was a good experience to get to know some new faces and familiarize myself with the EFCA environment. Plus i didn’t have to drive, so that was almost worth it. Almost because the older i get the less flexible i get, the harder it is for me to climb into the back seat of a church van and sit for 4 hours.

Then on October 29, my son turned 7. Holy Crap! where did 1-6 go? He’s riding a bike, he tied his friends shoes at his party and he is figuring out how to work the Dish remote. good news is that he still needs help wiping his own butt. so we still feel needed from time to time. For his birthday we bought him a refurbished 8 gb itouch so he could listen to music or watch a movie on the bus. I brought a tear to my eye to watch him use it (he is a chip off the old block).

The other exciting thing was that we had a bon-fire for Caleb’s birthday and then invited both of the ministries we worked with over the past years out to catch up and hang out. it was a blast to see people again and to watch the 2 groups interact. all in all, good times!

But the reason for the blog title was because i was able to purchase a new macbook pro laptop for myself and i’m SUPER excited about it. i’ve spent the week transfering items from my old work computer, portable hard drive, and our imac. Now i’m trying to organize them and figure out what programs are out there for my mac. size wise, i got the 15“ because it is still portable, but i don’t have to use a magnify glass to see the screen. did i mention that i’m SUPER excited about it? i’ll explain in another blog how i could afford it... thats exciting also.