Not much time for blogging....

since I joined facebook. I'm going to try to be faithful to this blog at least once a week. But, you might want to check out my facebook page because it's alot easier to upload and edit pictures. But here are a few of Puddin' and mom from this past week. Mom built a fort for Puddin' but Lucy thought it was a great place to take a nap. Puddin' had her keys and purse and checking her weight and when asked where she was going she said "church."

Coming Back to Glenpool

Wow!! That's all I can say about the last three weeks. As many of you know we moved to Stillwater, Ok and was living with our friend Ta-Ta (as Puddin' calls him). After much struggling and praying we are moving back to our home (we didn't move that much, so it's not as bad as it sounds). It's one of those strange times because we felt God telling us to move (first up there, and then back home), so we're not sure what lessons were to be learned, but we are trusting God. We learned alot about our family during that three weeks and dad and mom grew in their communication, and have developed a plan to re-enter ministry (more on that during another post). So, please pray for us. In the process we decided to switch dad's office and Puddin's room. I can't believe how much can be accumulated in five short years or in Puddin's case twenty months. Dad is working hard at home to complete the switch and we will be moving what we took to Stillwater back on Saturday.

Sidewalk Art

Every Thursday night downtown Stillwater they have "Artists on Main Street" for family. Last night that consisted of two artists (I guess the other artist haven't heard they are suppose to be on Main Street yet), a gospel group (who sung "Amazing Grace," to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun"-I'm sure they changed "sun" to "son" in the program), and an area where kids could get chalk and create their own art (which looked better than one of the artists work). So, here are some pictures of Puddin' participating in the art show.

Dad had to show Puddin' what to do, but she quickly figured it out.

Puddin' is busy creating her first sidewalk art

Puddin' is admiring her work that we called "chicken scratch"

Out of the Mouth of Babes

The other night we were eating and when it was time to wash off Puddin's hands and mouth she started crying and waving her arms in the air. Dad came from the other room and asked mom what was going on, Mom replied, "We just finished eating, call me crazy, but I thought it would be a good idea to wash her hands and mouth." Then mom and dad heard Puddin' say "crazzzy." Dad looked at mom and said, "at least she's learning to obey, you said call me crazy."

Fun in the Sun

We went over Su-Su's house for July 4th and Puddin' got to go for her first swim. Or as she called it a bath in the pool-pool. At first she wasn't to sure when everyone was gathered around her, but she got used to the water. And then when she got floaties on she wanted to swim on her own, but not to far from dad. One day I will have to tell Jorja what my dad use to tell me when we had a pool, "Son, don't go to the bathroom in the pool or the chemicals will cause a big red ring to surround you."

God's Will & Making Adjustments...How we got to Stillwater

Experiencing God is one of the most influential studies I have been through. In fact, after going through three of four workbooks I went out and bought a book I can just mark up and reuse it. Two of the principles in the study is that God reveals his way to us and we have to make adjustments (sometimes major adjustments) to join him in his work. I've been praying for a God size task for our family about six months ago.

About two months ago, we received a call from the man who officitated our wedding (we will call him Ta-Ta, his given name by Puddin'). Ta-ta has been a widow for almost a year, has had been through a heart transplant two years ago, and was trying to sell his house. When he called he asked us to pray about moving in with him with a lease to own option on his house that would allow us to purchase the house at a later date.

Now..a side trip from the story. Dad has been praying off and on for about five years that the family could move to Stillwater. Oklahoma State is located there and there is a huge international community, including one of the largest Muslim populations in the state. And he had a desire to minister to the international students on campus. But, God has been silent and the few times dad looked into it the doors were never open.

Now back to the story...When Ta-ta asked us to move in with him, we had to pray about it. Was this the way God was getting us to Stillwater? We would be combining four adults and three dogs into one household. We prayed, we discussed it, we prayed some more.

The orginal agreement Ta-ta gave us was that we should try it out for thirty days and continue to seek God. So, as we prayed some more we figured the best thing was to take a step of faith and move in with Ta-ta and see what God is doing.

So, last week we moved in with Ta-ta, of course, Puddin' instantly adjusted and loves exploring the new house, the dogs just ignore each other, and the three adults are prayerfully walking day by day and seeing what God does next. So, we will keep you posted, but it seems that God has put us on a great adventure and we look forward to seeing what he does trhough us as we make the adjustments (and it is an adjustment, but we have already seen God provide in many ways).

Also, dad is taken up the Hindi language since he has a growing number of Indian clients and hoping God will make this his mission field.

More to come...

Copy Cat

This picture proves that children learn from us even when we don't know it. Puddin' has begin to lean on the wall and fold her arms when she's outside. Dad asked mom one day, "why does she do that?" Mom replied, "Because you do." When we go outside in the front yard, dad will lean against the wall or the tree. Puddin' has even started walking like dad at times (with her arms behind her back). Our prayer is that she won't just pick up our "physical" habits, but she would see Christ in our lives and have a love for him.

Two Signs I'm Getting Old....

The first sign is that in watching the NBA draft I recognized more names of GMs, coaches, and front office people than people getting drafted.

The second sign is by what I did on my birthday, here was the exciting day--worked nine hours, got home ate left over pizza, walked the dogs, gave my daughter a bath, and reput together our bed frame to stop the squeeking.

39th Year of Life

Today, I start my 39th year on this life journey. I've been telling people I'm one year away from a mid-life crisis and somebody informed me that I shouldn't go through a mid-life crisis until I'm 50. I told them I'm impatient and want to get it over with. I always make goals I want to accomplish for the upcoming year on my birthday, and have started praying that no matter what that this year God would give me the grace to know him more deeply, serve him better, and be a better husband and father, but outside those things here are the top five things I want to accomplish before I turn 40.

1. I want to memorize Psalm 119
2. I want to earn my Certified Financial Planner designation.
3. I want to go on a mission trip this year
4. I want to finally write that book I've always said I'll write
5. I want to learn the Hindi language this year.

Stay tuned throughout the year to see how these turn out.

Moving

For the past four years we have been praying about moving to Stillwater, Ok. There are several reasons, but one of the state universities are there and dad has desired to work with the international student population. It has never been feasible, but about two months ago God provided us an opportunity, so this weekend we are moving to Stillwater. Dad will still work for the same company, and we are going to just see where God reveals what He is doing him and join Him in Stillwater. This is definitely an "experiening God" moment, he revealed himself and his purpose and we are making the necessary adjustments to join him and see what happens next. More to come later....

Jesus Love.....

Puddin' has acquired her mom's love for music, and as for as we can tell, also her mom's talents for music. We have been teaching her to sing "Jesus Loves Me" and she has picked up on "so" the two times that it appears in the song and she even extends the last "so" to "soooooo." The other morning mom was working with Jorja during breakfast on maybe learning "me" where it fits in the song. So, as they sang, mom would sing, "Jesus loves ____" and try to get Puddin' to fill in the blank. After a few repeats, Puddin' caught on and when mom sang, "Jesus loves ___, Puddin' sang "pancakes." Which I'm glad because if Jesus loves pancakes surely they will be served in heaven, maybe we will even have pancakes for supper like Hardy Hall used to do once or twice a semester in college.

I felt guilty...

because I haven't posted in about two weeks, but then I discovered this post will tie how many posts we put up in 2007, so we are slowly getting better. Things have been crazy around our house...there will be a longer post in the near future, but we are moving to Stillwater, Ok at the end of this month. God has provided us a house and a new adventure. Dad will stay with his same company, his clients are all over Oklahoma, Illinois, Texas, and one up in New York, and as long as he has his computer he can do his work. He even has some clients in the Stillwater area, but will hope to acquire a few more in the move.

I have a puddin' demanding some daddy time....so this will be updated (with some pictures) when she goes to sleep tonight.

Saturdays Are Great

The best thing daddy has done is quit working on Saturdays and devotes the whole day to the family. There are a few Saturdays he has to work, but not many. 99% of the time he gets to spend the day with his two favorite girls. In the morning mom takes her books and study materials and goes to a local Starbucks and just has some "alone" time. She is blessed to get to stay home with Puddin' but really enjoyes her Saturday mornings to refuel her spirit. Dad gets Puddin' up and fed and they usually watch "Bedbugs" and "Dooley and Friends" together, we're not sure who enjoys them most. Then when mom gets home we usually have an outing for the day. This past Saturday we went to a local park near dad's office and then to the new Wal-mart by our house.

Puddin' enjoyed the park. She got to explore and play on a huge play area just for toddlers. It was her first time to go down a slide. She enjoyed the baby slide she started out on, but had the most fun going down the big twisty slide with daddy. She kept, saying "again, again" as soon as they got to the bottom and we must have went down it about twenty times until dad started getting dizzy. Then it was off to Wal-mart, Puddin' and dad like to play daredevil in the cart and "swerve" around the corners. Puddin' and dad laugh and mom is afraid one day we are going to "swerve" right into some unexpecting lady with a full cart. Then, we came home enjoyed our lunch and dad and Puddin' take naps while mom gets some work done around the house. You can't beat those Saturdays, it sure beats the office any day.

On other notes, Puddin' turned 18 months this past week. It has been so amazing to see her grow in the past few months. She is picking up more signs from her "signing time" videos, saying more words, and even hitting when she gets mad (and then crying when daddy or mommy corrects her), we love her so much and are awed and thankful at this precious little life God added to our family.

From Puddin' To Mommy

"Thanks for being such a good mommy to me!" I know you could be out doing whatever you want to do, but you've chosen to stay home and take care of me; to play w/me; to read to me; to sing to me; to cook for me; to protect me; to feed me; to watch over me; to nurture me; to talk to me; to watch Barney w/me; to clean up after me; to fix my hair and dress me pretty; to teach me about Jesus; to show me Jesus in your own life; to love daddy; to make a happy home for me; to sacrifice for me; to put me before yourself; to pray for me and with me; to teach me all kinds of neat stuff; to show me how to cook; to laugh with me; to cry for me and hurt when I hurt; to stay up at night with me; to hug me and hold me; to discipline me; and to love me all the time. Mommy, your the best Mommy in the whole wide world and I know you're a gift from God just for me!!!!! Happy Mother's Day Mommy"

Another First...This Time A Fat Lip

Last night after dinner Puddin' and dad were playing in the driveway while Granny was watching. Puddin' got a little too fast on her feet and fell and found out the universal principle that if your lip and concrete meet your lip is going to lose. Dad rushed to pick up Puddin' and comforted her and then she touched the lip and the blood came gushing. By the time we got to the kitchen to wash it off. She had blood covering her face. Dad had to reassure mom (who was about to faint) that it was not as bad as it looked. Puddin' is a trooper, within five minutes she was cleaned up, finished crying, and outside playing again. Later that night she wore her band-aid proudly, for about five minutes.

Granny's Visit & Hats

Puddin's granny came from Texas to visit her for a few days. And to cook mom and dad one of her special meals. She enjoyed her trip, Puddin' smiled and laughed when she saw her and if you tell Puddin' to say, "Granny." She will say, "Grunny" and look and laugh at her granny.



This is Puddin' and her dadd having fun before dinner. Puddin' has been learning to sign and can sign "hat." So every evening when daddy comes home Puddin' will find him a hat to wear and if he takes it off she will point and sign "hat" (hand on top of the head) and then laugh when he puts the hat on again. Mom says her favorite noise is hearing puddin' and dad laughing in the evening as they play together.

Welcome to Redneckville

We had a wind storm this week and lost a section of our fence and some shingles off the roof. And a ladder his holding up most of our fence to prevent it from falling down. When dad talked to our neighbor about fixing it, our neighbor suggested that we just get rid of the fence and have one big community yard. Which dad replied, does that mean your son would mow my section of the yard?" But we knew we were in Redneckville last night when mom asked dad, "when are you going to fix the shingles?" And dad replied, "I can't. If I get the ladder the fence will fall down."

A Dog & His Master's Shoe

This is longer than others, but I think it's funny. You have to waith about five seconds for the blue screen to go away and it doesn't really get funny until about 55 seconds into it.

Look At What I Can Do

Look at what Puddin' can do on her own now.

Better Than Management

Puddin' always seems to be on the go...I didn't know there was so much to explore in our front yard.




Here's Puddin' exlporing the rock garden.

I've been thinking about moving up into management at our firm and have been in the management training program for the last nine months. As I told the agency manager yesterday that I want to get out of the program he said something that made me think. He said, "It's a good decision for you, since your a family man..." Today, as Puddin' and I got to explore the front yard and the rock garden I thought about the last few months and some struggles and thought beind a daddy is definitely better than being a manager.

Cooking With Puddin'

A friend gave us a kitchen for Puddin' and now she cooks daddy a meal everyday when he gets home from work.

Dad's New Blog...

is up and running. Visit it at www.discoveringhisgrace.blogspot.com His goal is to updated it two or three times a week. I know you'll believe it when you see it.

Puddin' and Fonzie

Puddin' is developing a taste for music and 50's music seems to be her favorite. The other day, she was going to town with mom and she was sitting in the car enjoying some 50' tunes that mom has put on a cd for her and she was kicking and smiling to the music, until one certain song came on and she began to go "Aggggghhh" and point her finger (much like a caveman's grunt) until mom skipped to the next song. (The funny thing is she always makes the grunting sound on this particular song, so we know it's not a favorite of hers.) So, mom decided that maybe Puddin' was tired of 50' tunes and put in some 80' music-that was the wrong choice-Puddin' began to uncontrollably grunt and point until the 50' tunes were put back on and then she relaxed and smiled and started kicking her feet again. So far, the Happy Days theme song seems to be her favorite.

Puddin's New Favorite Activity & Things To Come

Puddin' has a new favorite pastime...she likes to go out in the front yard and picking weeds that look life purple flowers.

Things to come on our blog:
Dad knows he has done a sorry job of posting this year, but he's determined not to give up. He has a lot of pictures and videos taken for the blog, but I guess it doesn't do our audience any good if it's in the hard drive but not posted...so here are some things you can look foward to within the next week or so...

• More pictures of puddin' (that's the most popular request)
• Video of Puddin' signing (she has two signing time DVDs and is getting pretty good)
• Some dad/puddin' play ideas (what we like to do for fun)
• Pictures of Granny's visit (April 21st) - Puddin' had a reaction to one of her shots Granny's last visit, so pictures weren't posted (she didn't have the measles, but it sure looked like it)
• And dad's new blog on his spiritual journey (I know what your thinking...He's starting a new blog and he can't even keep up with this one. Well he's been preparing and has some neat stuff to share out of God's Word...look for it within the next week or so)

Eb's No Dummy

Lucy hasn't quite figured it out, but Eb knows that Puddin' and a bowl of cheerios means treats. Sometimes she will give them to him, but even if she's not feeling generous it's okay, because she drops enough to make a fulfilling snack.

New Guitar Hero

Dad has always secretly wanted to be in a rock band and play guitar just so he could smash one against the amplifier. Every time he sees it done on television it looks like just a good stress reliever.

Puddin' Help

Puddin' helps her daddy, actually she's eating Cheerios and watching dad do some preperation for an upcoming meeting.

Puddin' Speaks

Last one, this is dad's favorite, see if you can figure out why.

Can you tell it's been a long time since we've posted...we have had the material just not the time to post. This is Puddin' first time using a spoon. She prefers to scoop it with the spoon and then use her hand to get it out of the spoon and put it in her mouth.

The Puddin' Dance

Puddin' started dancing one night, and then when the music stopped she pressed her toy bunny to provide music and kept dancing. This is a little dark, but still worth the look.

Boxes

Puddin' and dad had fun playing with a box Uncle Markie brought us last night. Can you guess who is having more fun?

I Love Pizza

I love pizza and my wife started making it from "scratch" and she has nearly perfected it. Look at this slice and tell me this is not a good pizza.

Puddin's Response To Daddy

Watch how Puddin' responds after dad tells her "no," Ahhhh the fun has started.

Why I Haven't Been Blogging

We have had some struggles in the business over the last few months and dad has had to be working more than usual as of late, but when he's home he doesn't have time to blog because he's chasing after a puddin' These are tough, but blessed times.

The squeaking in the video doesn't mean we have something that needs WD-40, Puddin' has some new shoes that squeaks when she walks around.

Next Great Composer?

The Mad Maestro at work. She has already picked up her mom's love for music. And will stop whatever she is doing when music comes on the television. Right now Switchfoot is her favorite.

Money, Possessions, & Eternity

I have always heard of Randy Alcorn and know a friend who thinks it's evil to read fiction, but about a year ago fell in love reading Randy Alcorn novels. We have three books by Alcorn on our shelves at home and like many of the books we bought with the best intentio we just never get around to reading. (I told Amber I can't buy any books in 2008 because I have about twenty in my office I need to read first). Two books have intigued me about Randy Alcorn, and one is changing my life (and priorities). Over Christmas with some free time I picked up my copy of "Money, Possessions, & Eternity," it has been life changing. It's much more than a money management book (what I was expecting), but it's a challenge for us to think about how we invest in eternity. In all that we do (spending time, money, etc) we are either investing for earthly pleasures or investing for eternity (Matthew 6:19-21). I am ashamed to say that for many years about 90% of my investments have been for earthly treasures where moth and rust do destroy (and it has been destroyed). This year I'm committed to evaluating my time, money, family, relationships, ministry, and business and seek God and make sure I'm living for eternity. I encourage you to visit Rand Alcorns website and blog at www.epm.org. But more than that this new year stop and evaluate if you are living for now or living for eternity. My prayer is that we will all live for eternity.