Halloween and the boys!

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It's getting closer. . . .

Time change is certainly a difficult time for me it seems. My sleep pattern is altered and I seem to want to migrate to the bed sooner! With the longer nights you would think that my tendencies would be to sleep longer but quite the opposite occurs! My beloved insomnia re-appears every year around this time allowing me to wake at 1 or 2 am and feeling like I should be ready to go! It is important for me to have my 6-7 hours of sleep a night; not necessarily for myself, but for those around me. I turn into something that resembles a bear that has had his hibernation disturbed. Irritability sets in along with the short side of patience's! Pulling myself out of the "mood" sometimes is difficult.



I do find myself wondering why I am this way every year. The potion to help myself has been the beginning of the Christmas Holiday Season- my personal favorite (by far) holiday! What has been a drab season with the sun light decreasing, the leaves dieing and nature falling asleep is always brightened up and given new life with the festive lights and decorations that has been donned all around! Granted, the festivities isn't always celebrating the marvelous miracle of the birth of Christ like I would like for them to be; but none the less, in my mind they are! The twinkling of the lights shining bright in the darkness is exciting for me!



This season of the year brings time to reflect on life for me, especially the last couple of years. It reminds me that living isn't the only part of existence but only part of it; dieing is the other. Things in life begins with freshness and excitement of the future! The possibilities are endless and within grasp of the younger mind of optimism. Once, being the new generation, life didn't seem so complex. There was no reason to be concerned about the next season of life as it seemed invincible. But as spring passed and the dwindling of summer in my life rolls around, fall seems to be nearing quickly. Optimism is suppressed, prospectives of life are changing, and concerns of future is thought of for the first time.



Being in the middle of life is an award winning place to be for reflection actually. From this vantage point I can look back at my children and remember that stage (spring) of life and enjoy seeing my loved ones going through that stage. Then I can look forward to generations that are ahead of me and begin to see their concerns in a different prospective. Being the man that my wives says I am, I analyze everything. What could I have done better, what can I do not to be like that, what is the best way . . . . . . .?



It is getting closer- the winter of life. I want to anticipate the winter of my life as I do each year the winter of the seasons. Life is something to be celebrated in every stage, to be cherished as it is a gift from God. I want to be able to see my life through each and every season. I want to celebrate the hard times I have been through; share* those times with people that are experiencing those seasons in their life so that they can have hope and be encouraged by my Lord and understand that He can be their Lord also.


Yes, Christmas and winter is approaching! It's getting closer!

The Dinner for Eight

Being relatively new members of Lenexa Baptist Church, Sandy and I signed up to be a part of the "Dinner for Eight" groupies to endever to get to know more people! For those who don't know, Dinner for Eight is where four couples get together for dinner and fellowship; getting to know each other.

Tonight we went to Dale and Cindy's place for dinner. Our eight was actually six tonight as one couple was unable to attend. We also met John and Allison. Notice there is no last names mentioned, not to hide their identity but because I DON'T ReMeMbEr! ugh! We really had a nice time visiting and learning about each other; undoubtedly last names didn't come up! Dinner was fabulous with lasagna, roasted garlic, bread, 'home-grown' corn, and a salad. Allison brought pecan and brownie pie for desert which was enjoyed along with a cup of hot java! Need to jolt off to get to work dampened the evening but we really had a good time.

Some interesting things about our couples: 1) we are all married 2) we are all pretty close to the same age but different lenghts of time 3) we are the only couple with children 4) we all seem to be animal lovers, to a certain degree 5) we are all employed- two of us the same place and didn't know it 6) we all enjoy traveling 7) none of us are from the Kansas City area 8) the three couples there tonight has been married 10, 20 and 30 years)

We are in hopes that tonight will be the first night of a long relationship with our new friends!

It's a new day.

The long year of anticipation is now over, president-elect Obama is our next president come Jan. 09. The last 3-4 months has been full of speculations, questions and all sorts of rumors on both sides; so much that it is almost like living in a tabloid! My choice, it doesn't really matter anymore. A week ago I would of been more than glad to discuss issues of my concerns and reasoning behind why or why not I wanted either one of the candidates; however, that time has elapsed and now we are moving forward.

As a child I was taught by my mother that the scriptures tell us to pray for things that we want or need but when God answers those prayers; whether it be yes, no, or even maybe, I need to trust God to know what is right. The childhood teaching is very applicable to the last week. God heard my voice and has answered in the way that He knows we need. Our president certainly isn't my savior- this world is only temporary. The man God has Allowed to be president will be used by Him in any means He desires. I am to continue to rest in the arms of the Lord for my salvation and comfort; knowing good and well that God is where I get my peace, but more importantly I am to pray for our leaders of our government. The scriptures specifically say that there is no one in the leadership of government that He hasn't already known would be there. Knowing that, it's all good. I don't agree with a lot of things that our president stands for morally or concerning our military or our government; but knowing that God knows that and He still allowed him to be in the place that he is- I'll trust God to know what He is doing!

Ideally it would seem that things in America would get better; the economy get back on track, the men/women would come home from war, there would be no more threats of terrorism in the world, the stock market would turn around, housing would be on the increase, unemployment would be going down, and medical insurance would be affordable to all without the government having to intercede for those that can't afford it. Wouldn't that be nice?

Right before Christ left this world He was telling His disciples that in this world we will have trials and tribulations but we are to be of good cheer because He has overcome the world. I wonder if that made any sense to those guys at the time. Being on this side of the history we totally see what Jesus was talking about. So it is today for us, we may need to go through some tough economical times, some defeats in our jobs/money markets/ and housing; but our reality as Christians is that no matter, God's got us covered. We draw our comfort and peace from Him. Although times are rough here we are always promised tomorrow. Earth isn't our home, we are merely biding our time till we are made perfect in heaven with Him.

Tomorrow will be interesting, and the next day and the next day. But I can't imagine going it without Christ!

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