Life is good

I was contemplating on being in this house of mourning and realized something (again, scripture is proven..see ecc 7). I love the life that my kids bring to the house. I love their problems. I love the busyness. I love the love. I love the noise. I love the LIFE. We are living. We are really living. There is a LOT of life in my house and it is a good thing. I too often take it for granted and if anything good can come from a potential miscarriage, it’s helped me to see how much goodness there is in the life of my house. How much good life I have been blessed to be a part of…and continue to be part of. The crying, the laughing, the arguing, the obedience, the learning, the mistakes…it’s good to be alive. Praise God.

Baby status

Well, the doctors think that my wife is having a miscarriage. We can only sit back and watch. It’s a sad time in the house.

Powerful dream

I usually dream. Most of my dreams are pretty weird...very goofy is probably more accurate. However, last night I had an intensely real dream. I dreamed that I was near a coast somewhere and as I looked off into the distance I could see, in great detail, waves collapsing on top of each other. They were taller than mountains. As I crouched behind the window the ground shook ferociously. I wanted to get out of the house in case it collapsed. As I exited the house there was nothing but devastation all around. Huge sinkholes, everything was destroyed.

At this point, I awoke and could not stop thinking of the end times and how things might be once the wrath of the Lord is unleashed. Several people crossed my mind....I prayed.

If you have not considered your eternal destination, I would beg you to do so. God of the old testament, Jesus of the new....they are longsuffering, forgiving and in love with us all. However, there will be a time when they will be done with waiting. I am anxious to answer any questions you might have about this. If I can't answer them, I have close friends and relations, resources that can help. In fact, I work for a Christian university...I would be happy to use these resources to help any way I can.

Bear or Pork?

This is one HAMMY bear:

Can you believe he propped himself up and started SMILING at all of us. He looked across the crowd and kept his smile going. It was hilarious....

Here he is contemplating what's for dinner...maybe that's what he was smilin' about.

I need some help...

There are things in life I understand. There are things that I know are truths and are good. There are things that I know are evil and bad. Paul from the Bible said it best, "why do I do the things I don't want to do and don't do the things I should do?" (paraphrased)

Here are most of the scriptures in proverbs in relation to fools that I feel apply to me in one way or another:
Pr 11:29 - He who troubles his own house will inherit the wind, And the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.
Pr 12:15 - The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise.
Pr 12:16 - A fool's wrath is known at once, But a prudent man covers shame.
Pr 13:16 - Every prudent man acts with knowledge, But a fool lays open his folly.
Pr 14:3 - In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride, But the lips of the wise will preserve them.
Pr 14:16 - A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
Pr 15:7 - The lips of the wise disperse knowledge, But the heart of the fool does not do so.

Here are the scriptures in Proverbs referring to anger:
Pr 15:1 - A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.
Pr 15:18 - A wrathful man stirs up strife, But he who is slow to anger allays contention.
Pr 16:32 - He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
Pr 19:11 - The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression.

Ok, I would say, I get it. I KNOW the answer. That's not the problem. The answer is typically on the other side of each of the proverbs that I "violate". The answers are easy. Or, I should say that the correct way is evident.

So, here's the question. How? How do I claim the correct way? How do I not do what I don't want to do?

I already hear the answers - "Trust the Lord.", "His yoke is easy His burden light", "Have faith.", "Lay your burdens at His feet." I even recall my 2nd oldest daughter reciting 1 Peter 5:7, "Cast your cares upon Him for He cares for you." as a 5 year old in front of an audience of people. Again, I KNOW these things. But, knowledge is only half of it I presume. I can recall times in my life where I figured out how to "turn things over to God". We do that with my wife's womb. Trusting the Lord that He will bless us, won't give us more than we can handle, and that He will provide. That's easy! That's almost like forgetting. Just forget that's an issue and know that it'll be handled. Man, "forgetting", now I can do that. But, what about the things that require an action? Or a change? How do you physically move to "Trust the Lord" on and issue like folly or anger? How is the yoke strapped on to handle those things? I hear more answers - "prayer" and "equip" come to mind.

I have prayed - earnestly as I know how - and often. I feel fairly equipped, I mean, I already quoted the verses that "correct" my predicament. Is there something else? Some have said that it is a lack of faith to pray and then commit the same sin. In fact, I think I've said that a time or two.

So, to be wise I should walk with the wise...this is request from me to you that are wise. Li'l help?
Pr 10:8 -The wise in heart will receive commands, But a prating fool will fall.

I don't know what prating is...but I don't even want to be on that side of the sentence...I await commands in hopes that I will become wise in heart.

Phew...

It's officially over. My vacation, that is. Now I can work on getting some rest.

More Vacation updates

Yesterday (wednesday) we went to Rocky Mountain National Forest Park thing. It was amazingly beautiful and very huge. I took 3 boys and some fishing poles. We caught quite a few fish, saw some elk or mule deer (I can't tell the difference). Drove 4 hours to get there and 2.25 to get home. My sister must have her little navigation thing on the setting SCENIC ROUTE. It took us west on 70, north on 40 to enter the park from the west side. Hum...On the way home I didn't ask her little nav thing for directions, I took 36 to Wadsworth. Even typing that out sounds shorter.

For you animal lovers...you tell me what type of critter this is (you should be able to click on the image to make it a little bigger):

Here are a few more pics:

It has been an exhausting vacation. The other kiddos and my wonderful wife stayed home and relaxed...

River Rafting Fun

My 4 oldest, grandpa, uncle Steve, aunt Mich and nephews went river rafting in Royal Gorge. They had a terrific time! Here they are in preparation for exciting river rafting fun units:

Aunt Mich has a Stinky suit...

Here they are on their first "bumps":

Calm driveby:

Good times!

Vacation activities

This weekend we went to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. I find myself wondering how things must have occurred or how they formed. I realize that many "smart" people think they know. But, primarily, the faith that they have in the people that say or teach those things bewilder me. Tectonic plates, haunted houses and the 1.8 kids per home that this country believes in will surely be our demise. On the way back a funny thing happened...

I am following my dad back from garden of the gods...the sprinklers are on right next to the road. In order to get in the air force academy, you have to clear through a security base. Well, since dads car is new and he doesn't want the water spots on it, he drives in the right lane, then switches lanes right before he arrives at the security gate. I view all of this from the correct lane getting water splashed all over my car.

Security guard - "Did you realize you changed lanes without using your turn signal?"

Dad - (silence until it was awkward, then) - "yes" as he flips out his military identification

Security guard - "That's a moving violation - why did you do that?" (or something like that)

Dad - drives through the gate without explanation....

Security guard - Rolls eyes very sarcastically...

I pull up to the gate right behind them and witness the shrugging of shoulders and rolling of eyes of the security guard. My wife breaks out laughing hysterically.

As I roll down my window and get ready to hand the security guard my id...

Me - "Hi"

Security guard - "Don't worry, I talked to that clown in front of you about cutting in front of you."

Me - "Actually, he was way ahead of me"

Security guard - "Well, he didn't use his turn signal and that's a real pet peeve of mine"

At this point I recognize the security guard from earlier in the day. I had handed him my license and he checked out my car earlier. At that time he had asked if "all those kids are mine"...Sandy, yelled out "they're mine too!" with a big grin. And everyone had a quick little laugh followed by:

Security guard - "I have 7 of my own. All these commies trying to tell us we should only have 2 kids"

Me - "Way to go!"

Security guard - "have a great day!"

So, back to now (or as my dad was driving away.) I attempt to hand the security guard my id and he says:

Security guard - "I remember you" he declines my id and he held out his hand for me to shake.

Me - Shaking his hand - "Thanks!"

Security guard - "Have a good night!"

Me - "you too!"

Ok, at this point you may be asking what the heck is so funny about that. I assure you that this story is definitely location based and you had to be there. So, to break it down for you, my dad (the clown) gets a stern talking to. I get notified that he talked to that clown for me, a handshake and have a nice day...

Monday - we went to Bear Valley Lake park or some name. Fished and rode paddle boats and canoes and such...here's a pic:

The one in front is my oldest nephew and my 2nd oldest daughter. My dad and other nephew are in the background being followed by my oldest son in a kayak.

Afterward, we went fishing and caught nothing, while the people we shared a pier with caught about 17. (I had 7 year old power bait). I'll have to remedy that next time!

More to come! The older kids raft tomorrow.

Trade war orders

Make 1.5 million. Put 500k in the bank.
Max out holds and shields on your craft.
Buy max number of Genesis torpedoes
Locate bad guys and post as comment the sector
Populate the planet. It will tell you when you can't have anymore. We need a citadel, quasar cannon and shields on each planet. Let's get about 6 planets in our sector. We don't want glacial or volcanic. Everything else is ok.

Let's move.

Fyi - placing bounties on red guys increases your points. You need 500 to join federation.

Folks coming to visit

Everyone's excited that my parents are coming for a visit. They will be camping in their luxurious RV in colorado springs. We plan on either camping out there or visiting daily. We are going to play it by ear.

I was telling my dad that the 22nd is my 20th wedding anniversary...he topped me with saying it's their 43rd this year. Pretty awesome.

3 chapters of tagg stuff

The last post where I mentioned our “improve the kids work ethic” idea, it appeared to be failing. I guess you could say I have a tendency to look at something, give it about 20 seconds and make up my mind on whether it’s good or not. This is definitely an area where God is working on me. I NEED more patience.

 

In our last episode, I had stated that I fired the 2 workers that were having some issue with decision making. Since it appeared that true repentance was being displayed, I felt it only appropriate to throw in a little mercy.

 

After the episode, the work around the house has definitely improved. Way to go kids!!

 

Chapter 2 of this blog has nothing to do with the 1^st… Well, except the part where I say “this is definitely an area where God is working on me. I NEED more patience.

 

Here’s the struggle and prayer request. I can NOT seem to get the coach out of me. Every time that I am playing soccer with the kids or watching them, I get frustrated and feel compelled to correct something. I just want to have fun with them but can’t seem to shut up! Any advice in this regard is extremely coveted…prayers always welcome too.

 

Chapter 3 (nothing to do with the others)

 

So, in a controlled burst of anger with the kiddos, I have instituted a change in the home school realm of our day. I have been seriously disappointed with how much of me the kids have adapted into their own lives. (YIKES)… Since the only reason we home school is for them to thoroughly be “workmen prepared” for the Lord, the first hour of their day is to be bible study. Nothing drastic there…but the second half of that time they are to blog what they read about. I am excited about this since it introduces so many challenges for them all at once.  I’ll keep you updated with it’s progress and mine!

 

Have a great day!!!

Weekend

I had a tremenously balanced weekend. Just the right amount of work around the house and just the right amount of play.

Work:
I finished up the trim work around the garage window. When the precious owners of my house finished the garage, the didn't bother covering the windows. My oldest boy spent about an hour cleaning that up. He did a teriffic job. Mayfee and I painted the trim for the outside of the window and sealed it up. He had a lot of fun painting it...I had a lot of fun watching him have fun!

Also, caulked a lot of stuff...when you've got the caulk out, you gotta use the whole tube or you just throw it away (in my experience anyway). Man, I was a caulking fool. Every gap I could find!! Whopee!

Fun:
Team 1: JMT,JDT,Dad
Team 2:LMT,CCT
If you have to ask what we were playing, you need to come and visit my house more. Yes, you probably guessed it...soccer.

The little boys and dad v. Soccer stud and very good sister. Guess who won?

I've noticed something about my boys. My oldest gets more frustrated the better the little ones get. The little ones get better the more frustrated their older brother gets. My oldest made a hilarious statement while we were playing. He said, "man, I hate playing against him" (referring to the second oldest brother. I heard that and wasn't sure if a speech about brotherly love was emminent, so I asked him what he meant. He stated, "he' so unpredictacble"... My heart smiled. I knew that was a compliment. And as I replayed what had happened to cause him to say that, I knew he was being truthful. It was neat.

My little boys were thrilled to be on the winning end and the other 2 lost like champs and were great examples of how to lose a game. They had smiles on their faces...(A lot of excuses too, but we'll work on that). Great time!!

Another episode

It's late, er, rather early. I am sitting here during the maintenance window at 2:25 am. I am waiting for a device to finish converting and an image to finish writing. So, I am waiting.

This evening, right before work, I tried to have a serious talk with the oldest 3 about some of the struggles that have been occurring in the house. It appears that a lot of us are fairly self serving as of late. It seems to me that we are living life "on vacation". Expecting to be able to do our own thing until we return home. The simple fact is, we're home. Colorado is home until we are led elsewhere. IF we are led else where. We really aren't even moved in yet. There are so many things either in boxes or just not 'permanently' setup.

It's hard to explain. So, I made some changes around the house and chores.

The work thing that I posted didn't work so well. I actually told a couple of the kids they were fired. It's not that they did a bad job, they wouldn't "come" to work...they played instead. Don't get me wrong, play is ok, but work is first. At least make an EFFORT, right???

My mind is spinning. I feel like we are under satanic attack. It's something I need to get my arms around quickly.

What a day... :-(

Yesterday was one of those days that, if it were a boxing match me against the day, I was down for the count.

 

At work it was one of the most unintentionally unproductive days since I started. I have a support ticket in with one of our vendors on an issue that should have been implemented a week ago. I find it simply amazing how any support desk that you call is relatively worthless. It seems that it’s the persons job on the other end of the phone to simply prove that your problem isn’t their problem.  I am also working on a workstation image for our multimedia labs. Should have been done a long time ago and it’s something I am relatively solid in. However, for some unknown reason it wasn’t working either.

 

When I got home it didn’t get better… my gate is broken, the pilot light on the water heater just randomly goes off, my pc’s brand new wireless nic is a piece of junk and drops connectivity all the time, one of my kids was caught doing non-good things, I overheard a couple of the kids talking to each other in a very harsh tone. I was seeing reflections of myself everywhere.

 

Yesterday it seemed that the world was collapsing on me. Everything that I built, stood for, or raised seemed to be failing and I was put to the test. I don’t know that I got a passing grade on that test. I was very grouchy and agitated. I would call yesterday a real character builder…if I was wise enough to receive it…

 

Sheesh.

Re-Conviction and other stuff

First I have tremendously wonderful news. We are expecting an additional family member! Yes, my wife (by all indications) is with child!!! This is really a terrific blessing. This is the longest that we’ve gone between babies and we were worried that God had decided that, either we were too old or not worthy… ;-) But seriously, we had been concerned since she wasn’t pregnant as quickly as the other times. That’s a great segue to my next blog point:

Babyest problems – Every baby of ours has had to be trained to sit still and be quiet in church. Babyest (soon not to be “not the babyest” J ) is not an exception. If my memory serves correctly, our 3^rd daughter was the toughest to train in this area. But, this little guy is giving her a run for the title. Needless to say, it’s work. Mostly because of the stress and discomfort of those that have to suffer around us during church. But, we will work through it and babyest will be a better man because of it.

Re-Conviction – This weekend I really felt a prompting from the Lord in areas of my life that I had thought I had a handle on. “But after further review”, it slowly crept up on me. Just like scripture says, I left a foothold…and, a little folding of the hands a little slumber and WHAMO… well, scripture doesn’t use the word Whamo…but, it feels appropriate. It has to do with worldly influences in areas of entertainment. While I understand that this isn’t a conviction for everyone I am always mystified as to why. Probably just a prideful area in my life (a long story for another time). Essentially, I have compromised on so many things…unknowingly… Yikes. It was an insightful time. The whole family sat around the table and we discussed it…it was a great family time. Even though there were tears…it was very real and humbling. Even as I would speak, the Lord was working in me to reveal even more. I really love when I allow God to be so active in my life. It seems He’s just waiting patiently on the side…ready to be included. Knock and He will answer.

Work Ethic – It was my wife’s birthday, we are eating at Olive Garden discussing the boys and worried about their work ethic. It seems they are enthralled with “playing”. They get it from me. I am a big player and often put things off just to play with them doing different things. I struggle with this to some regard, but I’m getting off track. So, we were discussing the boys and their lack of work ethic. We decided that they would need to see the reward of working. Our plan is to hire them to do things around the house, to do things that are projects and have to be done anyway. Pay them hourly, then allow them to use their money to do things like concerts, presents or whatever. That should help them be responsible with money and appreciate their own hard work. It’s a work in progress idea but we’ve had some friends that have implemented similar things with success. I’ll try to keep you posted on how it goes.

Have a great day!!

Men?

What is a man? When is it decided that you are no longer a boy, but now a man? What does it take to be a man?

 

There are so many things in our culture that would define a man like this:

Good with the ladies, excellent at sports, strong physique, confident, unable to be hurt by words, work 60 or more hours a week, be the guy that gets the last word in, life of the party, everyone’s friend. Etc.

 

Is that what our boys are aspiring to become? Who is teaching them that? Has various media  influenced our perceptions about what men are negatively or positively?

 

One of my greatest desires is that my boys will be real men. Men that reject passivity, accept responsibility, lead courageously and expect God’s reward. I learned that phrase from a study I did on authentic manhood. It’s a great desire, but what am I doing about it?

 

Last night everyone that was able to run and kick a ball was in the street playing soccer with me. I kept finding myself critiquing everyone’s play. Especially the boys. I see that they are so driven, so talented and already so good at it that I want to take advantage of every second and every mistake to help them become better. However, in retrospect, to an observer (or worse my son) I must have sounded like a hateful drill sergeant. Am I working toward my goal when I behave like that?

 

In my devotional reading this morning I read about Integrity… not worried about what the world thinks about what I do, but doing it knowing that God knows the truth – always. It may  seem that I think that he is the big mean dad in the sky when I say things like that – but, actually from what I’ve learned about the Lord through; reading, listening, talking with others who love Him and know Him, what I have experienced from Him, talking to Him myself, listening for His voice.. is that He may be that occasionally (when I need it most), but more often He is longsuffering and forgiving, gently reminding me of the way by revelation and encouragement. I hope that I can adopt such mercy in my dealings with all people.

 

If we were to think about it, wouldn’t that be how men do it? Wouldn’t we imitate our Maker?

 

Being a man, it isn’t taught by dads anymore…it’s learned from TV.

 

One of the purposes of this blog is to act as an accountability partner to me. I am working on developing relationships now that will hopefully grow to that level. But, for now, I can only confess and return to this blog to see if I have grown at all. This is a very important topic to me….

 

Expensive!!

Well, soccer is going to cost around 2200 this year just for one boy. I think it's time to look elsewhere..but, where? Any ideas?

Discussion post - Taking each other for granted.

This is a very interesting topic - let's try not to get to heated in our discussions. In addition, as sort of a disclaimer, the wife and I are very comfortable with each others roles...I'm not saying that we both don't need a little correction, but comfortable where God has us and what he is calling each of us to do in our household. There are many that will view what's written here and perhaps what gets put in the comments section as sexist statements. If that's the case, stop reading right now and go get right with God (and I am not just talking to the women). Lose that victim attitude!

I am sure many people have different takes, arrangements, understandings, agreements in their marriage relationships. Some men do dishes, some women mow the lawn, etc... I think in those cases (and most), they have chosen to do something that they enjoy. The word enjoy may be a loose interpretation of what I actually mean. Let's say it this way, they would choose one thing over another because given the 2, they would not hate it as bad as the other. Make sense? For example, typically, I edge and trim the lawn as well as mow (sometimes one of my daughters does mow). I do that for several reasons: 1. It needs to be done. 2. It's laborious and somewhat dangerous and I don't want anyone to get hurt. 3. I don't do dishes. etc. The strange thing is, it is accepted at my home that the weed eater and lawnmower belong to me without ever having to say a word. Just to head off some resentment at my household, my wife has mowed the lawn in the past! To that end, I have also washed dishes! :-) But, back to my point, that duty became mine without agreement, arrangements, etc. It was just mine. Laundry in our house has been a very MAJOR task. We have 11 people getting towels dirty, shirts dirty, pants dirty, you have never seen a bag of mismatched socks as large as ours, etc. Needless to say, the pile is tremendous! EVERYDAY!! We recently bought a new washer and dryer and it's capacity is considerably larger than our last ones. I am sure it helps, but every time I walk by the laundry room, it's FULL of dirty clothes. Poor wife and kids that have that as one of their chores. My point here is that my wife does not expect me to do laundry. I don't expect to have to do it either. I would if I had to, but I don't think there has ever been a crisis in our family that maimed one of the laundry doers to render them unable to do laundry where I had to step in... I just expect that I open the drawers and viola...clean socks (matched nicely at that!)

So, in those scenarios, is anyone taken for granted? Is being taken for granted evil in any of those scenarios?

How about this scenario... The man comes home from work, dinner is on the table. After they eat, he goes to the (fill in the blank with hobby or past time)... meanwhile, the baby is crying, dishes need to be done, laundry is quickly accumulating, the yard is an embarrassment, the house is dilapidated, etc. You know, the scene where the wife is in shambles and the husband is veggin' out on the couch? This scene makes it painfully obvious that the wife is being a sluggard and needs to get with it, right! ;-)

Now that I have you in the right mindset (I think)..let's throw out some discussion points:
1. Why do married couples hate being taken advantage of? Do you feel any of this sentiment would be misguided?

2. Whom do you serve?

3. Where is your treasure?

4. What is your treasure?

5. What are the biblical roles and models in scripture that you base the foundation of your knowledge? Are you in proper context when you are reading them? Is your heart aligned when going over them?

6. What are your expectations of your spouse? Does he/she know them? Are they truly reasonable?

Any additional thoughts?
Here we go...