Great Quote

"We are nearer to God when we are asking questions than when we claim to know all the answers."

-Rabbi Abram Heschel.

A Major Historical Moment

It doesn't matter who you voted for, or whether or not you believe in his policies or agenda - - the fact that Barack Obama was elected President on November 4, 2008 is THE MOST HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT CIVIL RIGHTS EVENT OF MY LIFETIME!!!

The New $1 Bill

Learned more serving today than going to church!

Today was a GREAT day. We all went into DC to serve people at the Convoy of Hope! There were around 10,000 people that showed up for groceries, a hot lunch, barber shop, health screening and care, a kids zone with 8 inflatables, a job fair, a resume writing service, maternity care, and more ... and it was all FREE! It was simply given as an expression of God's love!

It was truly and honor to give to people today! Sammy and Noah personally both bagged hundreds (literally) of grocery bags of food (there were about 10,000 in total bags)! After all the groceries were bagged, they moved over to the food services tent and served free hamburgers, chips, and drinks to anyone who wanted! I could not have been more proud!!!

On the way home, they both expressed such a sense of fulfillment with what they had done! And Sammy said something profound! He said, "I learned more today by serving people than I have ever learned in church!" That's not a bust on church. In fact, it's the opposite! It shows that what really matters, and where you really learn, is by serving people and loving people and showing people the love of Jesus! This is a part of our purpose as people. We were created not only to be loved, but to love others with kindness and service! This is who we are! This is part of why we exist!

Convoy of Hope! Not only did it provide hope to others, but it provided hope to us!

Duck, N.C. (OBX)

I Have An Announcement

Just a Reminder!

Great Thought!

Mark posted this today:

John says in John 1:20: "I am not the Messiah."

I think there are two fundamental questions that drive us: 1) who is God? 2) who am I? And the first question is the key to the second question for a very simple reason. If God knows you better than you know you, then you need to get to know God so you can get to know yourself. Think about it. Half of the "who am I" journey is discovering who you are--gifts, personality, passions, etc. The other half is discovering who you're not. And this is where true freedom is found. It starts with this simple acknowledgment: "I am not the Messiah."I think most of us spend way too much energy trying to be who we're not. But the greatest freedom is having nothing to prove. And I think that is why John was used by God in such a great way. He knew who he wasn't. "I am not." In the process, I think we not only come to terms with things we're not good at. We learn to laugh at them. In fact, the healthiest and holiest people on the planet, in my estimation, are the people who laugh at themselves the most.

Reminder!!!

"Preach the Gospel always and if necessary use words."

-St. Francis of Assisi

Connecting with my boyz!

Connecting with Noah and Sammy is one of the greatest pleasures in my life! I get chances to hang with both of them together, and also times where I get to have some one-on-one. This weekend, Sammy was hanging with his Uncle Matt and Aunt Amanda, getting the royal treatment! So, Noah and I had some time to hang out.

Friday night, we started the night by going to see Batman: The Dark Knight. Very cool movie!!! After the movie, we headed out to grab some dinner at Glory Days and eat some wings, clam chowder, and smoothies! It was so much fun to just be together, answer questions, play table football with the paper football, laugh, order our favorite foods, and decide what to do next.


Than on Sunday, a friend of ours hooked us up with some free tickets to go see Linkin Park at Nissan Pavilion, which is only 5 minutes from our house! We went about an hour b/f they were supposed to come on (since there were about 10 warm up bands)! Linkin Park ROCKED!!! It was so much fun!

But the highlight of the weekend was at one point in the car when Noah looked over at me and said, "Dad, I've really enjoyed spending time together!" WOW! Obviously I love it, but when my tweener echo's my feelings, it takes the experience to a whole new level.

I just want my boys to know that I LOVE SPENDING TIME WITH YOU!!!

Summer Camping

We had so much fun camping! This is the first time we've gone in the dead of summer, and it was great! Usually the leaves are changing, the air is crisp, and the hiking is unbeatable. But this time, it was HOT ... which actually meant one thing: the POOL was open!

Camp Luray had two pools, a water slide, paddle boats, and mini-golf, and we did it all! It was so much fun. We probably did the water slide a good 20 times. We spent hours in the pool. We had a BLAST.

For dinner, we roasted hot dogs over the fire, and than later roasted marshmellows for smores. One of my favorite things was teaching the boys how to play "Chubby Bunnies" with the marshmellows. It was late, and the lighting was horrible, but the video shows Noah's attempt to get 6 marshmellows in his mouth at one time, and say "chubby bunnies, chubby bunnies, chubby bunnies." I also forgot to mention that the boys made me laugh while I was drinking lemonade - - and let me tell you that I have had a lot of beverages come out my nose ... and by FAR, lemonade HURTS the most!!!!!! OUCH!!!!

On our way home, we HAD to stop on Skyline Drive and get a couple pics. You just can't beat the scenery!

Updates, Events, and Memories

Sammy's REAL Birthday (since we had the party a month earlier)

Lighting Fireworks in the driveway

Fourth of July Fireworks (and those white specks are RAIN)

Grandma's Birthday!!!

FACEBOOK

My latest endeavor to be a responsible parent has taken me to Facebook, one of the main networking hubs for the youngsters these days! LOL. That just makes me sound so old!!! LOL.

Anyway, I have heard Noah talk about both Facebook and MySpace, and so I wanted to check them out. In my preliminary research, I have already decided that I like Facebook better, purely b/c I think they have better security features.

The next step was to sign up for an account and check it out. In the process, I have found it to be quite a bit of fun. The biggest reason for me is going to be very different than how my kids use it, I'm sure. But, I've really enjoyed it b/c I've been connecting with old friends from way back when, which I love to do! So far, I like Facebook!

So, hit me up as a friend by clicking here!

Presidents Cup 2005

A friend of mine just found and sent me another picture of "The Day I Could Have Touched Tiger!" :-) I can't believe that was 3 years ago!!! Can you see me? By the way, who's that caddy?

Pictures from Memphis - Visiting Family

Aunt Ashley, Sophia, Aunt Sally and Mom

Noah doing a flip in Grammie's pool

Sammy & Max at Memphis RedBirds game

At the Memphis Zoo

Playing Skeeball at Incredible Pizza

Uncle Ben & Mom after being pushed in the pool

Noah, Max, Grammie, Morgan, Sophia and Sammy

Cousins in the pool ... again

Noah, Sammy and Morgan Jane

Playing Palace with Uncle Andy, Aunt Scottie, and Uncle Ben

Crushing Uncle Ben on the Moon Bounce

After Dinner at Nagasaki - Japanese Steak House

The Moon Bounce Water Slide

Grammie-time

The family at the Memphis Zoo

Cousins at the Children's Museum





Playing football with Noah

Walkin in Memphis

Great Question

Great question by Mark!

I am always evaluating how I am doing as a Dad, but I've never asked my kids this question! I'm definitely going to start. Here is the question:

"... I consistently ask my kids the question: how am I doing as a dad? Healthy question to ask your kids!"

I'm looking forward to our vacation this coming week! I am definitely going to ask my boys how I am doing as a dad. I'm very excited about spending time together, talking, laughing, eating, and hanging by the pool!

Sammy's 9th Birthday - - Early

This year we decided to celebrate Sammy's bday a month early! Since his birthday is in the dead of summer, and most of his friends are here or there, we decided to have them all over this weekend to celebrate!

We grilled, had water balloon fights, squirt gun fights, ate cake, and played on the MOON BOUNCE! It was a great day! Here are some pics, with a video of the Moon Bounce CHAOS at the bottom.

WHO'S BIRTHDAY IS IT?

HOLD UP THE BIRTHDAY BOY!

JIMMY, SAMMY, CONNER, TARIQ, BRIAN, TYLER, NATE, RYAN, NOAH, & BRENDAN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMMY!

TOTAL CHAOS ON THE MOON BOUNCE! CLICK PLAY!!!

5th Grade Graduation

Noah graduated from Elementary School to Middle School this weekend! He was in one of six 5th Grade classes at Bristow Run Elementary School. We had a ceremony at the school on Thursday night, and a Fiesta on Friday to celebrate. They made such a big deal out of it, and it was so much fun! I LOVED IT!!!

5th Grade was definitely Noah's best year yet, and a lot of that was due to his teacher, Mrs Stephens! Great job this year, Noah! We are so proud of you for working so hard in school this year, for being a good friend, for using your creativity in your work, and for continuing to mature into a responsible person who is kind to others and loves God with all your heart!

Watch out Gainesville Middle School ........

First Time in 100 YEARS!!!

The headline on ESPN:

Cubs top MLB on June 1 for first time since 1908

THIS IS OUR YEAR!!!!!!! Go Cubbies!!!!

Future Entrepreneur

Look at this box.






It may only look like a little tupperware box, but it's so much more! It's the creative, entrepreneurial mind of a young 8 year old at work.


This past weekend we had a yard sale, and Sammy participated by selling old video games that he no longer uses, old books he's read, old toys he no longer plays with, and this box. But it's not just an ordinary box. It's a box with a dollar in it! And it could have been yours for only $2.

Memorial Day Weekend!

We came, we played, we laughed, and we ATE good!

Memorial Day was a blast! Mark, Lora, Parker, Summer, Josiah and Mickey Batterson were here. Joel, Nina, and Ella Schmidgall, Grandma Schmidgall, and Cousin Jon Schmidgall (aka "Jersey Jon") all made it out, too!

We played hours and hours of corn hole, the hottest game in America! The kids put together their money making massage and car wash business. And most importantly, we ate like KINGS and QUEENS! BBQ'd ribs, HUGE steak (thx to Grandma), grilled corn on the cob (thx to Joel & Nina), homemade salsa, a bunch of other homemade dips and beans, and than topped it all off with some homemade ice cream w/ homemade chocolate sauce (thx to Battersons)! Can't get any better!

Lots of fun being together with family! Here's 3 pics and a video at the bottom:

Rule #6

Great post by my cousin, Dave. I definitely have moments where I need to be reminded of Rule #6:

I read a lot these days, but I think my retention is quite poor. That's why I love catch phrases. In a recent book I picked up, a title of a chapter was "Rule #6" and began with a story:

"Two prime ministers are sitting in a room discussing affairs of state. Suddenly a man bursts in, shouting and stamping his fist on the desk. The resident prime minister admonishes him: 'Peter,' he says, 'kindly remember Rule #6,' whereupon Peter is instantly restored to complete calm, apologizes and withdraws. The politicians go back to their conversation, only to be interrupted again several minutes later by another person in an outburst. Again, the prime minister kindly says, "Rule #6 Marie." She withdraws with an apology. After the third time, the visiting prime minister is astonished and asks if he would be willing to share Rule #6.

'Very simple, don't take yourself so damn seriously.'"

We live inside our heads more than any other time in history. That causes a tremendous amount of myopia (aka - nearsightedness).

Create The Future, Don't Re-create the Past

The way kids think it so amazing! Their ability to dream, to imagine, to create - - it's just amazing. Sometimes I catch myself laughing or brushing it off as silly, but it really is amazing. And somewhere along the way, we all do that. We try to NOT stick out, and NOT imagine, and NOT create. We want to fit in, and in the process, we lose our imagination. What's bad about this is that our ability to imagine and dream is what brings color to life! It's what brings meaning to every-day moments that otherwise go by unnoticed.

Too often we stop living our lives out of imagination and start living our lives out of memory! We become robotic! We go through the motions. And instead of creating a FUTURE for our kids, we just end up re-creating the PAST.

I want to give my kids a future! I want them to chase dreams! I want them to live out of imagination! But I am realizing that I have to do it myself first!

Switchfoot

Found some footage from the concert on youtube!

This is the song where Jon (lead singer) came out into the crowd and sang. It's almost at the end of the song where he gives me a high five! You can't see me at all, but you can see him giving some dude (that's me) a high five. I have no proof, but I promise it's me! :-)

It's at about the 5:25 mark of the song(just skip ahead), and Jon raises both his hands in the air, looks over at me, and gives me a high five! Check it out!