This is an awesome video from The Church on the Move called “Dad Life” – Check it out:
Posted by Melanie on Facebook
Popularity: 1% [?]
Spoiled
February 25, 2009 By 2 Comments
I believe Louis CK sums up this generation perfectly! The video is a portion of his interview on the Conan O’brien Show.
Join the Conversation: What do you think?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Octo-Mom versus Grandma: Who’s Right?
February 24, 2009 By 4 Comments
Here is a portion of the video where Octo-mom, Nadya Suleman, gets into a heated argument with her mom, Angela from an interview on Radaronline.com (Click to View Video).
This is post is not an issues or argument about abortion or the killing and preservation of the embryos from Nadya. I want to focus on the attitude of both ladies.
I am shocked and amazed at Nadya’s attitude and tone towards her mom. For those who do not know all of the story, Nadya, and her previous 6 children were already living with Grandma Angela, and now Nadya has added 8 additional children (octuplets). I agree with Nadya that once she had the embryos implanted, it was too late, they were fertilized and were lives living within her, however, I don’t believe she was right by having the procedure done in the first place. She has no job, she has no home, she has no husband, and she has a ton of debt that she is now, basically asking for a bailout on. The procedure for the delivery of the 8 children cost tax payers well over $1 Million Dollars. Personally, I believe she has brought 8 children into a situation that is unhealthy, to provide a temporary fix for her control issues, and she has altered the lives of many others in between, including that of her mother, Grandma Angela.
With every interview, if it is edited, we only hear what we are given, so it is hard to understand the issue in context, however, I am amazed at Nadya’s attitude towards her mom, who provides for her and her now 14 children without any financial assistance from her daughter on behalf of her children. I do not hear an ounce of thankfulness from the part of Nadya. It really is a big mess. Once again, without getting into the issues of Abortion and preserving the Embryos (because that is not the isse) Join the Conversation and tell us who should be more upset and considered “justified” in their frustrations. Octo-mom, Nadya or Grandma Angela?
Popularity: 3% [?]
Family Adventures at 4 a.m.
February 23, 2009 By 4 Comments
Usually you wake up from a nightmare. Last night, I woke up and walked right into one.
I heard some scuffling in the hallway at 4 a.m. and that usually means that Tristan is awake and trying to covertly sneak into our bedroom to get into our bed. Last night, I think God woke me up, because He’s cool like that. Most of the time, Tristan wakes up because his covers have fallen off and he is cold. I can simply take him back to his room (usually from our bed), cover him up and he is fine until his covers fall off again. Last night was a different story.
I walked into the hallway and saw Tristan standing there with a puppy dog look on his face as if something was wrong. The hallway light was off, but the bathroom light was on, giving me just enough glimpse of his face. I said, “Hey buddy, what’s wrong?” Immediately, as I walked towards him I was hit with the worst poop smell I had ever smelled, so I knew he was awake because he pooped in his diaper. So, I asked the question I already knew the answer to, “Did you poopy your diaper?” As he replied with a ‘yes‘ nod, I stepped in something wet. I quickly turned on the light to see a trail of liquid poop all over the hallway floor, and I had stepped all in it!
Nicki is probably tougher than I am. She would have probably let me sleep and taken on the poop monster and his mess alone, but I could see that God was using this moment in our lives to help us build team work. It didn’t take me long to jump into the tub to wash off my feet and get Tristan situated on a towel before I called my teammate in life to give me a hand. I would have hated for us to miss out on this team building exercise straight from God himself! We quickly discovered Tristan’s adventure for us started in his bed with what appeared to be a nuclear explosion, leaked all across his carpet, and then downloaded into the hallway floor and trailed behind him as he made his way towards our room. I quickly became thankful that God #1 woke me up before Tristan made it to our room and climbed into our bed and #2 that we have hardwood floors in our hallway. Nicki and I were able to crawl back into bed around 4:45 a.m. this morning after a bath for Tristan, laundry for the sheets, covers, and towels; and a lovely adventure of cleaning up poop laden carpet and flooring. Why do these things happen when its about an hour to an hour and a half before its time to wake up? Why not midnight? When we have several more hours to sleep? I guess I’ll never understand the timing of the early morning family adventures!
Join the Conversation: What’s one of your favorite early morning family adventures?
Popularity: 2% [?]
What Holds You Back?
February 20, 2009 By 3 Comments
I was at a church training event this past weekend. One of the pastors at the event gave a great morning devotion. He opened by talking about some of the things that hold him back from fully obeying God or fulfilling the call that God has placed on his life. One of the reasons he listed was simply that he knew how messed up he really was. I have to agree with him. Someone can tell me how they think I am going to be successful at an upcoming endeavor and I appreciate the encouraging words, but too often I find myself wanting to hold back and to sit still versus progressing because I get to looking at how messed up I am. After all, I know the thoughts I thought or the attitude towards other people that I had…the people saying the encouraging things don’t see the junk, they only see the shining parts of my life. In the end, I know I have to step out fully trusting that God knows what he is doing by leading me to do anything, but its not always easy!
Join the Conversation: What do you let hold you back?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Conditioned
January 27, 2009 By 4 Comments
I have a battle that wars within me constantly. Its a battle between desiring to be the Christian that Christ wants me to be and to do Christianity the way I was taught to do it.
I believe football has more conditioning and training drills than any other sport. I’ve played all of the major sports in school; football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. I missed out on underwater basket weaving. Football has so many positions and each position has a different function depending on the play, so the training is extensive. If you are an offensive lineman, one play may call for you to run block while the next requires a pass block, then an entire new play may require that you perform a pull block to open a bigger hole for your running back. This process of training is often referred to as “Conditioning.”
When I got out of High School, I held several jobs. One of my greatest closing lines when interviewing was to assure the company that I had the skills to perform the job, but because I had never worked in the specific position or for a competitor, I would do the job exactly the way they trained me to do it, unlike career employees, I was not conditioned in any other method of doing the job, basically I was a blank slate. I was communicating that I had not been programmed to do it any other way, rather I would perform the job only in the manner that they conditioned me or trained me to do it in.
I struggle with this in Christianity. I grew up being programmed that a lot of Christianity was a duty instead of a relationship. Even though I know better, I find myself reverting back to this approach in my faith walk. Don’t get me wrong, some of my Christian conditioning was good for me, and I use the skills all the time, but then there are some areas that are toxic to my relationship with Christ. I don’t want to do Christianity, I don’t want to have a checklist to make sure I am not making God mad. I fight against some of the opinions that were taught to me as ‘fact’ and as ‘the Gospel’. I’m left questioning a lot, is this (particular issue) a non-negotiable or is it a mere opinion of a righteous individual? In the end, I guess God uses this struggle to keep me reliant on him during the times I have this war raging within me. Join the Conversation: Have you been conditioned?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Happy Birthday Gavin!!!
January 9, 2009 By 4 Comments
My little “oldest” son Gavin turns 6 years old today! I must say that I am extremely thankful to God for giving Gavin 6 healthy years of life, for protecting him in ways we’ve known (through a horrible car accident 3 years ago) and in ways that we will never know. I am thankful that the Lord has given Gavin abilities that some children do not have as well as gifts and passions such as art, soccer, and doing anything creative that comes to his mind.
I love my boy. I love how he thinks he is strong enough to beat me up, how he helps his younger brother Tristan, how he hugs me in the morning, before he goes to school, before he goes to bed, and just because. I love that his way of showing me love sometimes is a drawing or doing something out of his passions and gifts. I love to watch him get excited about something and watch his words get scrambled trying to explain what he’s excited about. I love his faith and purity in believing that Iron Man would answer his invite to his birthday party. I love to hear him pray at meals and before bed, especially when he prays for the “sick, the hungry, and the poor” – I think you could understand that I could go on and on all day about all the ways I love Gavin, so I’ll stop here, however…
I have to admit that as I think about Gavin turning 6, it is a little saddening to me as well. I use to hate hearing adults say, “It seems like it was yesterday…” But, the fact is, that is reality, especially once you become a parent. Time flies by, years literally seem like days, and as I reflect back on 6 years with Gavin, I realize that the next 6 years will be here in what seems like a few days. If I had my way, I would not let him grow up anymore. Even though children are challenging to raise, I don’t want to lose what I have with my son where he is now. I will no longer have a 5 year old Gavin, and reality stinks sometimes!
So while I am joyful for the life my child has been blessed with and who he is as a person…I am a little disappointed that I no longer have him at 5. Happy Birthday Gavin!!!
Popularity: 1% [?]
Transitions
January 5, 2009 By 3 Comments
2009 is going to bring some exciting things! I can see some major transitions that will be taking place in the coming months and then I know there are transitions that will surprise me that I do not see coming. Some of the changes and new directions are HUGE and many details still have to be worked out before I can even talk about them with clarity. So today, I’m wondering, when you’ve had a specific upcomign transition, how did you approach it, or how do you approach it? Or, what is something valuable you have learned through a major transition in your life? Maybe it was a change of career, or a major move, a bigger step in leadership, an addition to your family, etc…Join the Conversation, today I want to learn from you…I’m all ears!
Popularity: 1% [?]
2009
January 1, 2009 By 5 Comments
Happy New Year! I am thankful that I have been blessed to live life for another day and hopefully for another year. I am thankful for a healthy and happy family.
I resoluted not to do New Year Resolutions a couple of years ago and that is the only resolution I’ve ever fulfilled, so in keeping with my new found tradition, I will not be making any New Year Resolutions, however I can say that 2009 is going to bring some big things, definitely some changes in the life of my family, and though I cannot share it all now, I am excited about some stuff that is going to be happening later this year…I’ll be talking about it soon, until then, here are a few 2009 goals that I’ve set…I really haven’t thought much about this, but these were on my mind yesterday:
- I want to know my Jesus more
- I want to know my family more
- I want to be more of a blessing to people in need
- I want to create more memories with and for my kids
- I want to keep my 49 pounds off that I lost between late 2007 and 2008
- I want to grow as a leader
Join the Conversation: What are some of your resolutions or goals for 2009?
Popularity: 1% [?]
He Must Be A South Pole Elf
December 24, 2008 By 3 Comments
If I had to rank my three favorite Christmas movies they would have to be (but not necessarily in any order) 1. The Christmas Story 2. Its a Wonderful Life and 3. Elf
I love Elf, its one of those movies I could watch multiple time all year. Here is one of my favorite clips from Elf, I love the part where Will Ferrell asks, “Does Santa know you left the workshop?” Classic! Enjoy this video and then Join the Conversation and tell us what your favorite Christmas movie(s) is? Merry Christmas!
Popularity: 11% [?]