Surgery is over! Yeah

Ok so Anne and Jeff have both come out of surgery and are doing great. I am so glad this is finally done and over. Mom is still here and Sara and I are about ready to throw her out the window! NO REALLY! These little guys are tough. Anne had one pulled, six teeth capped and three fillings. Jeff had eight teeth pulled, three capped and six fillings. No I do not know many adults who would enjoy having this done.

I have been around a lot of children when they come out of surgery and boy sometimes it can be a big ordeal because they are so shocked and afraid. Anne was a trouper even when they took the iv out. I on the hand did not take it very well. In fact, I got a little sick to my stomach just knowing they were doing it. Hey when it comes to needles and that stuff I'm a wimp to the core. Blood makes me pass out. Better yet just the thought of blood makes me get weak in the knees.

I am so proud of them and am excited when they get home and are able to experience what a normal mouth feels like.

Please keep them in your prayers.

The Game

Ok this one is for Justin Key! Thanks I just lost the game!

Many of you who read this know Justin Key and last summer at camp i had the honor of staying in the same cabin as him. He told me about this game that he or someone had came up with and honestly has to be the dumbest game I have ever heard of and here is how it goes.

The object of the entire game is to not think of the game. If you think of the game you lose and have 30 minutes before you can start to play again. When you lose you must let someone else know that you lost the game. They cannot lose when you tell them because they will immediatly think about the game and they are given a 15 minute grace period.

While setting in the hospital room I thought of the game and lost. I have to say that every now and then I lose the game because I think about camp and it reminds me of this really silly game. You are more than welcome to join the game but before warned you will lose!

Just a few more days

Ok can I just tell you how excited I am because in just a few more days we will be leaving for Portland, OR. While it may be a couple thousand miles away I really miss living there. I know that lifestyles can be very different there and life in general is really different there is just something about it that i love.

I want to eventually move back there, do not know when but at some point. I doubt when I do it will be to preach full time. I will probably work with my father-in-law at the congregation for which he preaches.

Not sure if Sara has already blogged about this but we are going to host a VBS for Sara's dad's congregation. I am looking forward to it and am praying for it to be a success. Please pray for us in our tavels and for the success of the VBS.

Loving Others - tougher than it seems!

Jesus was very clear that we are to love God first and second to love our neighbors (Matthew 22:37-39). In addition, Jesus also told us that we are to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). I have always been able to teach that this is the attitude we are to take toward our neighbors and enemies. However, living it has been much harder for me especially today. As Sara has already blogged about, we are in a hospital room waiting on Anne and Jeff to go into surgery. It would be all fine but their mother is here. Ok let me paint the picture for you. (I think Sara has already talked about some of this) She is only in her mid to late 40's but she looks like she is in her late 60's early 70's. She could be a poster child with the caption "This is what drugs can do to you." She treats this children like they are helpless and babies them as if they are infants.

It is hard for me to find it within me to love this woman. When I stop to think of what she has done to these children it lights a fire within my soul that I want to hate her so bad. I believe in forgiveness when it is asked for (go to http://oabs.org/Archives/Lectures/msop2008.htm and listen to the lesson by Dan Winkler on "The Heart that Shows Mercy"). She thinks she has done nothing wrong but DCS and the state have been on her case since 2004 and yet there is no fault on her side (in her eyes). I believe there will be a special place in hell for those who abuse their children (no matter what type of neglect). I know she will have her day when she stands before God.

I experienced the same feeling when we had Alyssa (4yrs old) and her parents had sexually abuse her (do not get me started on what should happen to those people). There is a part of me that wish bad things on her and then I have to remind myself that she has a soul that is precious to God. I have discovered that preaching is easy but the living part is so much harder. There is a part of me that does wish she would change, clean up her life and get right with God but reality tells me that there is a 99% chance she will never do it. I guess because I see her making no change that it makes me want to hate her.

If I have learned any greater lesson from being a foster parent is that it is easy to say we should love our enemies but it is something completely different to actually live in a world and love your enemies. May God help us all to live what we teach and preach.

Elementary Youth Day

Well Sara has already mentioned this and posted pictures on her blog about our Elementary Youth day for the 1st through 6th graders. This is the 4 or 5th one we have done and each time i really enjoy it. While our turnouts are never really large (40 to 60) it has always been about those that do show up. It is unfortunate that more congregations do not do more with this age group since they are the future of the church. It is a blessing to be able to work with them because they can be so much more fun than teenagers. These little guys soak up everything you can throw at them whereas teenagers seem to already know it all. I honestly believe that if we focused more on the younger we could strengthen the church for the future. If you have younger children make a stronger effort to get them more involved or start something where they can be more involved with other children at church. For pictures of our Elementary Youth day view Sara's blog (didn't think it was necessary to post them twice).

Summer is HERE (HELP!)

Ok as a youth minister summer is the craziest time of the year. So even though summer has not offical started it has for me. By the time I finish the summer I will have taught VBS (Walking In Son Light) four times at four different locations. We are taking a few youth down to Indian Creek Youth Camp (hope to see some of you guys there). One VBS we are doing is in Portland, Oregon for Sara's dad and the church for which he preaches. We will also travel to Milledgeville, TN and host a VBS for them. In between all these big activities we have a Timothy Class for th 6th grade and under ever Tuesday (that we are here). Summer is so busy that I usually have take off a week in August to recover. Of course summer is really about the only time I do any actual work. I have to say that I really do love it, I am just not sure how long my body will let me do this. The older I get the hard it is to keep up with the young people. Either I am getting slower or they are getting faster. In all honesty I could not do a great deal of it if it were not for Sara she is such a big help.

By the way, keeping looking back because I will eventually put another blog on here.

Thank You Baby!

Ok as you can see my wife takes really great care of me (even in the blog world). I just wanted to let her know how much I appreciate her updating my blog so people know I'm still alive.