September 2, 2011
8:10 am
7lbs
18.5 inches

My Guesses
7lbs 7oz
19.5 inches

PICTURES COMING SOON!

Since I have been gone for so long, I thought I might give you a quick update in our lives!

We have now been living in Oklahoma for 8 months.  It has gone by so fast (despite the constant yearning in my soul to go back to Huntington Beach and California) and we have been so busy!  We are back at our church LifeChurch.tv and working rather often on a fill-in basis.  It seems like almost every week and lots of Wednesdays too!  Since moving back we have been blessed to play and visit 7 different campuses and hopefully will add a couple more in the next few months!

Being unemployed was definitely not my plan.  Like…well…everyone I would have dodged that for sure, but the Big Man Upstairs had something else in mind.  It has been restful, playful, and enjoyable!  I have gotten to stay home and take care of my wife who is pregnant with 2.0 and due in just about a month.  I have gotten to roll around on the ground, climb slides, swim for hours and have living room picnics with my amazing little girl.  It has been absolutely wonderful.

There are plenty of reasons I have neglected this site, but none more important that spending tons of time with my family.  It’s not the life I would have picked for us if you had asked me 9 months ago, but it’s definitely been a huge blessing and an absolute blast!  So what’s next?  Beats me!  Vacation to start August, 2.0 arriving in 5 weeks, lots of family, a little more church and then…???  I guess we will see what God has planned for this soon to be family of 4!

Well that’s gonna have to be all for now.  Gotta go change a poopy diaper and keep a toddler from waking up preggo!

Ever been looking to buy a car and had someone tell you never to buy a brand new car because as soon as you drive off the lot the car immediately loses its value and isn’t worth as much?  Or maybe bought some fruit only to leave it in the fridge for a few days too long?  Taken a look at your retirement recently?  Noticed that the dollar doesn’t quite go as far as it used to?

Well, we have all experienced many of these things and more.  We all know the truth.  Things lose their value. After a given period of time, an item is just not worth what it was before.  Cars, computers, phones, money, equipment.  But one thing that isn’t on this list is people.  Staff members.  Volunteers.  Family.  Friends.

Many times we take for granted the people around us.  We take for granted the things that our staff does.  The enormous work that our spouses do.  The support of our family.  The sacrifice that volunteers give.  Yes, we tend to remember occasionally, on holidays or after big events, but the truth is we probably don’t appreciate those supporting us enough.  And even when we think we do, we still probably don’t appreciate them as much as they deserve!

So if you have volunteers that give up time with their families and lives to help you accomplish something, take care of them.  If you have staff members behind you making you look good, remember that you didn’t do it all on your own.  If your family supports you through thick and thin, love on them.  If you have a spouse that brings home the bacon, raises your kids, cooks, cleans or anything to rock your world, tell them.

Don’t forget that usually you don’t deserve all the credit.  Don’t forget the “little people”!

Halloween and Thanksgiving are over. The candy and turkey is gone. Something has changed in the air. Oh right. I moved to Oklahoma and it’s cold! The decorations are out and all over the place. The tree is up and there are pine needles littered all over the floor (fortunately the baby is still developing the pincher function in the fingers…although this is helping her practice). There are oversized socks hanging above the fire place just waiting to catch on fire and items purchased over the past 30 years hooked onto branches of the fake tree.

Yes it is December. That means that Christmas is basically here! And with the arrival of the time of year preceded with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we each have an opportunity to see Christmas in one of two ways.

• Same ol’, same ol’ Christmas. It’s winter. The fat old man is the most important person. You buy me things.
• A reminder to refocus our lives again on the things that are important. Christmas music Generosity, family, Christ, etc.

A couple days ago (December 1st), my wife and I started the Rediscovering The Christmas Season reading plan and are trying to make sure that we don’t fall into the first category and focus our lives as we should in the second category. How about you?

Wow.  It has been a crazy couple weeks!  We left the beach and moved 1400 miles east back to the heartland.  The boxes have all been moved in and most of them are opened or packed away.  There is floor space in the living room, bedroom and closet!  The dog and baby are adjusting very well and having a blast.  I had a huge opportunity to lead at the biggest campus of LifeChurch.tv and had an amazing weekend.  And to top it off, I get to lead for LifeChurch.tv for the next two weekends as well!

I have come to realize that it is quite difficult to blog while moving.  So I know it has been a while, but God is up to some amazing things!  If you don’t mind saying a prayer for our family we would really appreciate it!  More to come soon and I will get back to the normal blogging very soon!

One of the most important things in life is family. Whether you have a good one or a bad one they play a huge part in your life. They influence you in ways that you usually don’t see until much farther down the road. But for us, we have made a choice to make family a priority.

If there is something scheduled for a night that is a family night for us, we will generally say no to the other thing. This isn’t always a popular decision or always understood. I have been looked down on and gotten “the talk” because I chose my family over other events. Recently our family time has changed significantly with us leaving our church. Sometimes I just sit in amazement that I miss out on all is all the time while at work. It will be hard to adjust to less time with them for sure!

Our family nights involve several different things. We like to play cards, watch tv, go for walks, get yogurt, play on the floor, etc. Some people have structured family nights. Others just make time to hang. I know of one family that rotates and every week a different family member gets to pick what they all do. Sounds crazy and fun!

What do you do for your night with the crazies? Do you make sure you carve out time of your busy schedule or just hope it happens? What’s your favorite event?

Well, the time has come to say goodbye to Alaska.  We are excited to get home and see our dog (who we haven’t seen in like 10 days)!  We are excited to get back to our bed!  We are excited to get back to our beach and weather!

But, we are sad to see the end of vacation.  Sad to say goodbye to all of our family again (still haven’t convinced them all to become Californians yet).  Sad to see me get beat out of the Spades tournament yet again.  Sad that Jessi Girl won’t get to see her aunts, uncles and grandparents for a while.  Sad that I won’t get to see my brother for several months.  Sad that my wife and sisters won’t get to hang out and have girl time (whatever that really is).  Especially sad that I have to use Delta again.

It has been an amazing trip.  I think I have gotten to do everything I wanted to do (except for a few things that need a different time of year).  Alaska is beautiful and fun, but my family is way better.  I can’t wait until family vacation next year!  The location isn’t quite as pretty but it will be hot and there is a lake and boat involved!  I’ll have to teach the little one how to wakeboard (15 months old isn’t too early for wakeboarding is it?).

But for now it is back to our real lives.  We are flying back to Orange County today so please pray for safety and a happy baby (she doesn’t like the descending part).  Family, I love you all.  Thank you so much for another amazing vacation!  Mom and dad, thank you so  very much for everything.  We absolutely couldn’t have done this without you!  Love you guys!

Every year for as long as I can remember, my family has taken a vacation together.  And for as long as I can remember we have taken that vacation with a few other families, recently dubbed the Family Fun Network.  We have been to the mountains, the beach, the lake and many other random places in between.  We board, ski, hike, climb, camp, cook, play Spades, play Hearts, play ladder golf, hang out, make fun of each other and love each other.  Not bad if you ask me.

I didn’t know that this wasn’t normal until college when I started meeting people whose families had never done anything like that before.  I didn’t know how blessed I was to have such a large family around me that would sacrifice time and money in order to get together like that every year.  I’m so thankful that we do since we don’t live near them anymore and don’t get to see them very often.  The families are growing larger and larger and we can barely fit everyone together under one roof, but it seems the more the merrier!

This year in Alaska has been no different than years past.  We are only halfway through our trip and it has been amazing.  I think that if God could pick the model for family community, this would be it.  Totally loving and supporting.  Take some time today to thank God for the family He has placed around you and pray for them.  If you don’t have family around you, pray that He will help you find it.

In the midst of a crazy week that is full of so much work related jobs, tasks and opportunities, I am fighting a battle that I have lost before.  One of the ways that I have struggled in our marriage so far is by working too much.  While working for a church it is very easy to get into the mindset that the work is for God and that it is more important.  Of course I would never agree that my job is more important than my family, but as they say, actions speak louder than words.

For me it isn’t staying out too late or being gone on work trips.  It was much more subtle to me.  I didn’t realize it.  Some of it I wasn’t even seeing as work.  It was just answering emails or playing with graphics or listening to a song on repeat on my iPod.  Yes, occasionally I would bring some more major work home, but it was when that became a regular occurrence.  It was when I would try to perfect something I was working on instead of spending time with my family.  I didn’t realize it, but I was only giving them my emotional, mental and physical scraps.  I was spending so much time thinking and worrying about my work tasks that my brain was consumed with these thoughts and my focus was lacking in the areas it needed to be focused on.

So changes had to be made.  I had to become more efficient with my time in the office so I didn’t have much to bring home.  I had to learn to prioritize my tasks and be ok with not being able to complete everything by the end of that week.  I had to learn to say no to things so that I could say yes to the more important things.  Yes, there are times that we have to get things done and my amazing wife has been great in supporting me when those times come up.

This week is another battle for me.  Fortunately losing the battle doesn’t always mean that the war is lost!  We lose the war when we choose not to fight anymore.  Fight for your family today.  Let your actions be the words that they need to hear.  Tell them you love them and are fighting for them and they will always be more important than work!