what's up? oh, not too much

So here it is, late February, and I'm just now getting around to my first blog post of 2010. Sorry folks. It's not that there hasn't been anything going on to report... in fact, it's probably because of the opposite, too much going on that I haven't found (or made) the time to post.

Here's a little taste... (if nothing else, you can enjoy the pictures)

The kids are big stuff.

Kate has moved up to a "big girl bed" now. When she saw it, she said, "Thank you Daddy for making me a bed." Even though it's passed down from Amy's great-grandmother, she thinks I made it just for her. She so sweet. And on top of that, in the past few weeks, she's even graduated out of pull-ups at night. She really is becoming quite the big girl.

Ben has started taking piano lessons. Not only is he doing great so far, but he also loves it. As my mom can attest, I, however, was not so accommodating when I was a kid. He makes me proud, and I love to listen to him practice.

And Will and I have a new connection. I'm leading the music for preschool chapel, a new initiative with his preschool on Friday mornings. All the preschoolers love it, but I'm still not sure if he thinks it's cool or not that his dad is doing the music.

Also because of the snow-pocalypse of 2010, the kids have now missed ten days of school. But at least we've gotten to enjoy the snow a little bit.

Thanks to the Elswicks, we've had a couple great afternoons of sledding on the slopes in their backyard! Kate loves to push, and Ben and Will really enjoy the sledding. (I think Ben offers the most promise for a snow skiing companion in the near future!)

And then there was the water leak. One Sunday morning as I was getting ready to head out for church, I heard a hissing sound and looked up to see a water stain line across our living room ceiling. We turned off the water into the house and got a plumber to look at it on Monday. He couldn't find it the first time, but when the water had been turned on for a few hours, the water stain came back. The plumber came back and cut a hole in the bathroom closet looking for the leak. Couldn't find it there. So he cut a hole in the living room ceiling where he found the leak in the cold water pipe leading into the bathtub on the second floor. Leak fixed, but now we had a huge hole in the ceiling and closet.

Now, my drywall skills aren't all that great, but I think I did a pretty good job fixing the holes. I got the texture pretty decent but still need to see if I can match the color better with some primer. All in all, I'm pleased with my results.

On top of that, as our Christmas present from Amy's mom, we had all the carpet and linoleum replaced in our house. A very nice upgrade in our home, but it certainly was a lot of work and adjustment to have it installed.

In the midst of the chaos when our carpet was being installed, my cell phone was lost (while our home phone was disconnected because of the work being done). The next day I got online and found that someone had used my phone, and, long story short, I got it back by offering a "reward" and driving to the next town over to get it from a guy who handed it to me with a washcloth because he didn't want his prints on it. Honestly, I'm just glad to get it back.

It's been a very active time in ministry, too.

In January, I had the chance to pray with Faith and Angelica to receive Jesus, and I was blessed to have the opportunity to baptize them during worship. Truly, this is the best part of my job!

We also set some record numbers in 2010. On the 17th of January, we had the highest attended lock-in since I've been at GBC with 58 students. Here's a video with some of the kids dancing to the Nintendo Wii game, "Just Dance." (I think there's some dance footage of me floating around somewhere out there on the internet, too.)

We had a record number attend our annual winter retreat, too. We took 36 people (29 students and 7 adults) to Pigeon Forge a couple weeks ago. We had a great time together with our games and teaching sessions based on Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love. We also had a good time in downtown Gatlinburg, at the Comedy Barn, and at the outlet stores before heading back. It went remarkably smooth for the number of students who went. I have amazing adult volunteers that make this trip so much fun every year. We also collected a record number of warm clothing items for our association's annual Souper Bowl Party where they distribute the clothes to low-income individuals and families in the Lexington area. Last year, we collected probably about 50 or 60 items from our church to donate to the project. This year, the students turned it into a huge competition between the 14 adult Sunday School classes (complete with weekly skits and videos) to see who could donate the most, with the prize being a tasty continental breakfast for the winning class. The competition was fierce, and we ended up collecting almost 1000 items. Our students did a tremendous job, and I'm very proud of their hard work!

And just in this last week alone, we celebrated Chinese New Year (see Amy's blog here), Ben broke his bed by jumping on it (!), our youth group delivered 28 meals to some of our senior adults, and our church staff celebrated Mardi Gras (oh, and Ash Wednesday). And yesterday, because it was yet another snow day, we decided to get the youth together to shovel some snow and then go out to the movies and dinner together. A busy, but fun, week.

Oh, and every time I thought about sitting down to write a blog there was another big distraction--UK basketball!!! What a great season we're having! So, with that acknowledged, I guess you should expect my next update sometime after April 5th :).

camera phone

So I was copying the pictures off my phone and realized there were some highlights from the last few months that I've neglected to share with everyone.

A big one is Kate's first day of preschool. You may remember our first-day-of-school ritual. In the same way, I took Kate out for breakfast on her first day of preschool. It was later because she started later in the year, shortly after her birthday. And, as you can see, she picked a hearty breakfast from McDonalds to celebrate.

Ben and Will also helped our youth group with raking leaves. They had a lot of fun... and literally helped "grab a corner." I'm excited about my kids getting opportunities to be a part of mission projects.

And just last Tuesday, our church took some college students to the Kentucky basketball game. I had an extra ticket at the last minute, so I was able to take Ben with me. He had a great time with his dad and learned a lot about basketball... plus, he got to see John Wall break the UK single game assist record and experience the number one program in college basketball history. Go Cats!

Will's birthday party

This past Saturday we celebrated Will's birthday here at the house (with the swing set, the inflatable pool, sand box, toys and food). He enjoyed being the center of attention for the day. We had lots of guests including the four of us, 5 grandparents, a cousin, 6 friends, and 3 parents of friends. We had a beautiful day and a whole lot of fun! I'm so proud of my big guy :)

Amy once again did a great job on the birthday cake!

School Starts and Tradition Continues

This week was the beginning of a new school year in our house. My oldest son, Ben, began First Grade on Monday. This is his first time going to school all-day, every-day, Monday through Friday. He's a great student and loves school.

And today was the day that my second son, Will, started his second year of preschool. He goes half-day, three days a week. He loves it and is so creative and smart. I know he'll have a great year.

I'm so proud of my kids, and one way I try to show them is by taking them out to breakfast before school on their first day of class. I want to honor their love of school and try to be a part of this milestone in their life by doing something special with them. It was fun listening to them for several days in advance trying to figure out where they wanted to go for the annual "first day of school breakfast." Ben picked Big Boy on Monday, but because it didn't open until 7:00am, we ended up going to Waffle House and getting waffles and bacon. After we dropped off Ben at school this morning, we went to Big Boy and had the breakfast buffet. I look forward to when I get to do this with Kate and continuing the tradition with all of them for many years to come. I'm such a blessed father!

beach pictures

* We all shared our pictures with one another, so most of the good ones were taken by Wendy or Mom!

t-ball

So last week, as I was breaking in the boys' baseball gloves in preparation for t-ball season, it really hit me that with Ben and Will I was moving out of the phase of being "the daddy to these little kids" and was now "the dad of boys"! Somehow breaking in baseball gloves made it real that my boys were growing up (though Will's meltdowns bring me back pretty quick).

Here's a few pictures from Saturday's game (btw, if you know me, how great is it that their t-ball team is named the "Cubs"!). Ben is #6 and Will is #1.

(Ben playing 3rd base)

(Will playing "in the field")

(their biggest fans!)

(after the game, watching Saturday cartoons)

Springtime

Spring is honest-to-goodness finally here, with blooms on the trees, a freshly tilled garden (wish us luck)... and, of course, some pictures!

We had a very nice Easter, too... even if the kids wouldn't sit still for pictures!