On June 21st, 1997 Kristen and I got hitched. Hard to believe that we’ve gone a decade and are still going strong.
Since we already had our big anniversary trip, tonight isn’t going to be that special. But if you see her… tell her thanks for putting up with me for 10 years.
10 years? Where did it go? Fast!
I made a big decision for the family this afternoon. I turned on the air conditioning. We had been trying to hold out as long as possible. But with temperatures here in Romeo climbing towards 90 again the ambient temperature in the house is finally too warm to be comfortable.
Up until this point the house has been able to cool off enough at night to last most of the day and stay pleasant. I think we’re at the point where the house is just going to hold the heat now for a while.
I even put the little air conditioner up in Megan’s room and cranked that up. So far… it feels SO MUCH BETTER.
Yesterday the kids finally got their kittens. We answered an ad in the paper and found a family who had a litter from a cat that adopted them. (People in rural areas know how this works!)
So we all went over there and the picking began. At first we wanted two of the same sex. But then the kids negotiated to each get a kitten of their own gender. So we ended up with a female and a male.
Meet Lovely. (lower) Lovely is Megan’s kitten. She has stripes like her mom but a couple white and black patches like her dad. Her most distinguishing characteristic is that she has a white tip to her black tail. She is also quite vocal for a 6 week old.
Meet Explorer. (upper) Explorer is Paul’s kitten. He has markings similar to a milk cow. He is like his name… very curious about his world. Yesterday was his kind of day… he got to wonder all over the living room, dining room, and front porch.
So far Stoney is just curious. He sniffs them a lot and they hiss at him. We’re just hoping that Stoney doesn’t explore a lovely snack if you know what I mean.
Today is Kristen’s birthday. (I’m 5 days older than her)
This may be controversial… but I’m not giving Kristen a gift. I’m not even taking her out for dinner. In fact, I’m leaving her for the weekend!
You see, I just "gave her Ireland." People keep asking me, "What was the best thing about your trip to Ireland?" To me it’s a no brainer… spending 9 days with my wife was the best trip money could buy. I loved showing her some of the places I’d been. And I absolutely adored exploring Northern Ireland with her.
There are a lot of things I could say about Kristen. But it’d get too cheesy, so I won’t.
Happy birthday!
This will come as no surprise to my family, but I am loving our front porch. There is nothing quite as nice as enjoying a cup of coffee/tea on the porch as the morning breeze rolls through or just chillaxing and watching people as the sun goes down.
Plus, I get a great wireless signal. If only there was an electrical outlet, a TV, and a small fridge… I could probably live out here all summer.
As I’ve been documenting, Stoney (our 4 year old yellow lab) is tormented by the many black squirrels who call our backyard home. For months he has been going jogging with Kristen work on his speed and agility so that one day he will catch, kill, and dismember his tormentors. (They are too evil to eat.)
Stoney is in good company. Many people dislike squirrels. They include David Crowder, Gerrard Fess, Barack O’Bama, and Ron Howard are all well-known squirrel haters.
Yesterday was a glorious day! Well, nearly. After an appropriate amount of rest in the house… we let Stoney outside as the family was taking me to the church for MainStreet rehearsal. Instantly he tore off into the yard in hot pursuit. The squirrel near the play structure quickly dove under the fence to safety and Stoney hung a quick left. So quick and agile that the squirrel under the tree froze in amazement. Before the emperor of evil knew what was happening he found himself in the jaws of our heros mouth. The family cheered as Stoney’s dream of ridding the yard of his arch enemy became true. Just then, the squirrel reached into his squirrel pocket and pulled out a nasty potion causing Stoney’s jaws to unexplainably release.
Stoney was obviously disappointed as he never saw the squirrel’s evil pocket before. As the squirrel slithered up the tree and started chattering with his friends Stoney circled the tree and peed on it out of protest.
His day is coming.
It’s now been 2-3 months that our yard has been torn to shreds by our local government. Before the work began we got a nice note letting us know we’d be selected as the lucky ones with the manhole cover in our yard who would have workers camping out in our yard. Kind of like winning the dirt lottery!
Let me clarify, this is utility work and not the sole responsibility of our local government. They are running new gas lines for our neighborhood. It’s valuable work and I am certain that the contractors hired are very skilled people.
A second disclaimer. This isn’t technically "our yard" as it’s part of the easement. The 5 foot clump of grass between the sidewalk and the curb. While it’s not 100% ours, we are responsible for its care and it definitely impacts the way our home is looked at. And right now it looks terrible.
My point is, my yard looks horrible and has looked horrible for months. In talking to the company in charge of the project the secretary assures me that they will level and seed the area when the job is done. "When will the job be done?" "Let me check on that."
In the meantime. My yard looks awful and I have no idea when it will look normal again.
Ppppphhhhffffttttt. BBalalalalalalalabbbbb. That’s kind of how I feel right now.
We got up early this morning to head the Detroit Core training event. Marv Penner did a great job painting the picture for how our ministry should/could better serve hurting kids. I loved the training… though I can see how a training event like that was more discouraging for some new to ministry than they probably thought it was encouraging. He sure painted a very realistic picture of how things are today and how the church "ought to" or "could" respond. I can just see people walking away from the event saying… "I might as well throw in the towel."
For those people let me just say this: "That’s not the primary function of youth ministry." (Neither is fun… your priamry roles are evangelism/discipleship… in my context, it’s mostly discipleship to hurting kids.) There is a lot more to it than just that… but it’s also a lot like real life. We should be prepared to minister during both the fun things and the not so fun things. In all things, youth workers are called to draw people closer and closer to Jesus. So, don’t give up… 90% of youth ministry isn’t that scary or heavy. OK, rant off.
Today is Megan’s 6th birthday! She already had her party but it was fun to celebrate with her a little today as well. She got to spend time with her grandparents while we were at the training event.
Getting kids up early and out of their schedule made for cranky kids. My kids are awesome and flexible… but boy was Paul whiny. Thankfully he slept most of the way back.
And speaking of the way back… it took us 2.5 hours. (It’s a 40 mile drive!) We forgot something and grandma/grandpa’s house. We had to make a potty stop. We hit construction. We got turned around. We had to make another couple stops. 
We ran into more construction. So I’m royally fried for my last action of the day.
Finishing the message for tomorrow morning. I have a tendency to do weird things like sandwiching filling the pulpit between today (Megan’s birthday/Core training event out of town) and Monday. (Leaving for vacation.)
2 days until we leave. Not that I’m counting… and not that I’m not thankful for all the opportunities God brings my way. I’m just tired and ready for some rest and relaxation with the prettiest woman I know.
It took yesterday off. I know, it’s unheard of to sneak in a day off the week before I begin a 10 day vacation. But I needed it.
I’m exceedingly human in that regard. I get tired even though everyone wants me to do "more" from every direction. There was stuff I probably could have done for the church, YMX, or even some of the stuff I do for fun. But I chose to do nothing… to take a break. My brain hurt.
As a result I feel much more prepared for the week. Instead of dreading the things I have to do this week, with a little more rest, I am actually looking forward to this week. It’s jam 
packed with more goodness than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
So, what did I "do" on my day off? Um… nothing. Absolutely nothing worth a squat. But I did rest a lot… and that’s worth something.
p.s. Who told my grass it could grow this fast. I just cut it 4 days ago and it looks as shaggy as Ringo.
A couple of unedited videos grabbed off of Kristen’s camera worth sharing.
Here I am proudly following Paul around the football field at the Easter Egg hunt last month.
Here is Megan at her very first soccer game. She is in training for the 2020 Olympic games. Though, she may be a little too for the 2016 games in Chicago.