Any guesses?

Hey guys, this past weekend I had a chance to spend all day with a really cool family. We had a lot of fun and we shot at a couple of spots. There were some really great photos and this is one of them. We did a "One Last" family shoot, and we also did some maternity work too. I tried to name their baby boy - Robert George - that way I could call him Bobby G - they didn't go for it. That due date is coming up pretty quick - woohoo - and I can't wait to meet him. You may have seen many of the "old standard" maternity shots, but this is one that I wanted to try out - I think it turned out great. I just put them in front of the studio flash and adjusted my aperture setting until I got just a little color, but mostly a silhouette. Thanks for working with me guys.

Ways 2 Go

Hello, it's been a while, but now here's a new post. I just finished doing a photo shoot with an awesomely fun family. We went out last night and in the place that we tried to set up - security came and ran us off - nice. Then we ended up shooting somewhere that you won't be able to tell. We had some fun shots there, but today we went out to a school where we got some really great shots. The wind was crazy and the sun was extra bright, but it worked out great.

June Bug

Hey-o last week from Wednesday night to Sunday afternoon I experienced what was called Umpire Boot Camp. It was some serious training that I went through to be a better umpire. Because of the training, I'll get a number on my sleeve and a logo on my pocket from the group called CCUA. Those two things will act as notification to the coaches that I'm not just someone that came out to umpire for the money. CCUA actually stands for Colorado Collegiate Umpires Association. I don't have any college games lined up right now, but the top graduate (not me) will be the Umpire in Chief at the Colorado High School All Star game this year and it will be held at Coors Field which is where the Rockies play. I was one of the top graduates that was chosen to work some extra games, just not THE top. Our instructors flew in from Florida, Missouri, Canada, and many just came from Colorado. The lead instructors were Bob Jones and Bill Davis. Bob worked in the MLB for a bit in the late 70's and early 80's. He has also been an umpire in 3 of the College World Series. Bill has also umpired in the College World Series and was also a part of the staff during the Olympic games in Atlanta in 96. The other instructors are a little less stellar, but by no means , came out to teach us about umpiring the little league summer games. It was a good experience for me - now I just need to get some more games.

God - Man

Hello - it's been a while. You know, stuff has been happening. I just wanted to talk about God's work for a minute. Maybe you've heard of or been a part of spiritual warfare. Here's the way I see it:
Satan sits around watching the people. If someone gets rambunctious and starts to do something that goes against what he is doing, he gets a little upset. The stuff that he hates to see is God stuff being done - that motivates him to take action. His action can be something that seems cool (David checking out Bathsheba taking a bath) to something awful (Job loses family, home - everything). He is a smart dude (God is smarter). His actions to stop God's work are where the idea of the warfare comes in.
We are free to follow Christ or do nothing and be on Satan's team. That is why he does nothing if we are doing no God Stuff. Now, going to church doesn't necessarily count as God stuff. Many times it ends up just being a place where people can have their consciences soothed by the thought that they had been at the church once this week. Beyond that, at church sometimes lives are changed. Outside those building walls, the church is working in the community shining Christ. That is God fighting back.
Well, we are in a place where there is considerable warfare going on. Our church is small, our income is not quite what it should be to survive, over the past month the people in our church have had some really weird illnesses to some more common, but many in our family have spent time in the hospital. The devil is working hard against what we have going on - or life would be easy. I love that most of our family is committed to seeing God glorified through our meetings and community involvement. I love that as each person is healed or a problem is solved, we can see that it was God at work and not just some stroke of luck.
God rocks and He is rocking in our church family as I write this now. It is hard to see some of the casualties that come from committing completely to God, and it is nerve wracking to follow Isaiah 40:31 and wait on God to be awesome, but He will be - He always is. Our hearts feel nearly torn out because of the struggles, but that last string of nerves, tendons, and muscles that holds each heart in place we tend to see as our best attempt to hold on to God.
Of course there is no way we could hold on without Him--we would just slip and let go - He's the one holding on to us. He is the one that sees the beauty in our struggle. He is the one that loves our efforts. At this point we can begin to fall back on the names of God that have been said for many more moons than I've lived. He is the Comfort! He is the Healer! He is the Patience! He is the Power! He is the Glory! He is the Life! He is the Way! He is the Truth! He is the Hope! He is the Completion!

Movie Night

We are going to be having a movie night at our church on Sunday night. It is a place where people can come and get to know us without being preached or "religionated" It should be pretty fun - we will be watching "The Game Plan" We are having popcorn and sodas (cokes or pop for everyone else) and we will be using one of the projectors to get a giant screen. Well, since it costs money to get the popcorn and drinks - and since we aren't the most loaded of churches, the movie is free, but the popcorn and drinks won't be. This is the poster that I made that has been produced for our movie night. There will not be any 3D glasses, but if someone does come up with $18 I could probably come up with a pair. For Sunday morning, I've made two "radio-style" commercials. You've got to listen to them in order or they won't make sense. I'm all of the voices, except - Miss Chopsticks did her acting role to help the people in the church know that movie night is for families. So during the service these two commercials will be played at least two times. Enjoy - I know I do every time I hear them.

Monster Truck Ad #1
Pumped ad #2

Leprechaun

Today I sent Miss Chopsticks to school. Here She is...

When I went to pick her up, this little leprechaun was all I found.

Welcome

Hey, you know I have the outstandingly, fantastical, unbelievably, superbly, amazing opportunity to lead worship at our church here in Aurora --- www.newdayaurora.com --- Well, I've started having the sound guys record the whole service - including music - so that I can hear what we are doing right and what we are doing wrong as a band. Well, some of the talking that I did struck me as funny - I know that I said it, but it still was pretty funny. So, I thought that I would share it with you. So what you will be hearing is the welcome that I give to the church to get us started. This week we set out tables for most of the congregation to sit at as a new approach to "doing church", but left a couple of rows of chairs for those who didn't want anything to do with the table.The first set of cards that I talk about are Prayer/Info cards that are about 2"x8". The worship folder is a sheet of paper that is folded into thirds. So take a listen and see if you enjoy coming to my church.

CLICKY HERE TO HEAR

Bikes Today

As of today, all three of my kids can ride a bike on their own. Here's proof of that:

I also want to point out something that is interesting to me that the folks from the south may not have ever seen. In the Picture with The Iceman, The Punisher and Miss Chopsticks, do you see anything funny in the background?

Oh, really - uh huh - do you think so? You're so smart.

Well, there is only snow on the right side of the street. If you look at the left side of the street, there is none. Go ahead and tell me why you might think that is and if someone puts the right answer, it's ok to copy and call it your own.


Alrighty, one more weird thing that I've noticed: In the unfinished basement at our house, the way that the walls were set up is unusual to me and I'm not really sure why or how it works. Here, look at these two pictures that I took of two different walls in our basement and tell me if you know the reason why. Again, if someone puts the right answer, it's ok to copy and call it your own.








I'm working on 2 different songs now. One is called Coming Back. It was called Love with You until The Babe gave it the nostril flare of rejection. The other one may or may not be the title song for the album, but it pretty much rocks.


Last part: I am officially an officiant for the game of baseball here in the state of CO. I passed the test to make me eligible to umpire high school baseball - possibly leading to college, or maybe even professional baseball. I now subscribe to the magazine - Officianado (I may be kidding)

I make music too

Alright, listen up! I've been recording like a madman. I have posted 6 songs, but soon there will be more. All you have to do is look down at the bottom of the page and you can click on a song and it will start playing - it's that easy. So, check em out - NOW. If you love them - great. If You don't - well poo poo in your eye - er um - I mean, God bless the wonderful being that he has created in you.

Alright, The Babe showed this to me and if you enjoy the idea of flatulance and flatulating - you will love this video. Isn't God wonderful for allowing us to experience this wonderful sensation!?!

First o' the year

Alright, here are a couple of photos that I thought I'd show and tell a story. The first photo here is a set of church signs next door to each other. Earlier in the day, I believe that the Eastern Hills church only had three then someone said, "Welp, naw-sir we can't be outdone by that other church. I guess we'll just have to have 4 Christmas eve services ourselves." I don't know about you, but doesn't that seem like a little overkill?

Next photo, this a photo of our church building where the church meets on Sunday mornings at 10:10 (just in case you wanted to visit us across the street from the Smoky Hill HS bus barn) We are squeezed in-between a car parts store on the right and a Chinese food restaurant on the left.

New Video

Dang - I know it takes a piece of time for me to post, but again, that's been too long. I put this video slideshow together to show at my church over the Christmas holiday. The song is Welcome to Our World by Chris Rice from the album "Deep Enough To Dream" So take a look my friends - it rocks.

Church Sign

I'm so sorry, that I don't have a photo of it, but I'll try to get one this afternoon and then post it on this blog entry. Anyway, it said something like this:

If you need help
Call on God
Phone 303.555.555

it seems like they might have put their nice little God catch phrase too close to the church phone number. I didn't call because I didn't want them to change the sign - of course I do want to talk to God on the phone - that would be awesome.

lets see - that number is 303 - 555 - 5555 oh man, it's ringing
um, hello - is this really God?

New Days

Alright, here is a pic of my bug that I did today -nice and sunny. I'm still trying to work out a name. My kids called the last bug - Herbie, no surprise. I think that this new blue 1967 bug will be known as Schleigel. I got the black with flames one from a friend in Washington, named Cal and Heather Schleigel - It wasn't black and it didn't have flames (I did that) - it was light blue with some cloud mural things on it. Heather likes to paint and hadn't done it yet, but was planning on turning the whole bug into a nice fantasy mural - instead they had one too many babies to keep the bug and they gave it to me. So in honor of my friends in the Northwest, "Schleigel" - I guess if Schleigel is too much, Cal or Calvin may be the one - Heather just doesn't seem like a car name. If you guys have any ideas, let me know.

Woo-hoo

Alright, here is the photo of the bug that I made today. I've had it for a few days, but if you know me - I had to make it say, "Hey, I'm The Waffle's car!" So I slapped a fresh coat of $5.00 paint job on it and it is looking cool. Sorry that it is covered by that white stuff and you can't get a great look at it, but today is the first day that I was going to take a pic. I'll take another when that white stuff goes away. Alright-sy, I've got to go and lead people in singing love songs to Jesus.

Back from a fantastic session with Jesus at church, and I took this photo on the bottom, right when we got home. I figured all of the snow would have melted because yesterday we were wearing shorts and it was 73 degrees. It doesn't feel real cold here, it just hasn't stopped snowing. That is Cole in the background and they are playing baseball. So, I guess I'm wondering how the World Series will turn out here if it gets crazy like this when the games are in CO?

1967

I'll start driving my new "1967 bug this week. It had a huge hole in the floorboard so I'm having that fixed and I should be picking it up in the next few days. When I do, I'll shoot some photos for you to see. I'll be leading worship for the second week in a row at the church we've been messing around with - New Day. I've had a lot of fun there so I'm glad I'll get to do it. I've talked to a lot of nice people about doing photos, and have had a lot of nice conversations. As everyone checks out what I do, I'm sure that my calendar will be filling up soon. Of course, if it doesn't, it's because they weren't quite ready. Next post should have a photo of the bug - YEAH!

New Video

Alright, these blog posts have been too few so I'll try to do more. Right now, I want you to check out the new video I posted to the right side of this page. I found out that this was done during a conference called Winterfest in Knoxville Tennessee and the song is called "Everything" recoded by Lifehouse. If you've seen the video, you know how awesome it is. If you haven't, you really need to check it out. That's all for now.

Hectic

Hey everybody - I'm still alive. I know it has been a while so let me tell you what has been going on. I made it back safe (15hrs straight) from Wisconsin. I finally procured a bug here in Colorado and currently it is being whipped into shape at the bug shop. (when I get it, I'll post some pics) I have led worship at the church that is interested in having me as their worship leader - that process is still proceeding - even right now, I'm getting ready to go and practice with the worship band. I just got back from Texas yesterday. I drove 13hrs on Wednesday night/Thursday morning to get my truck into the Dallas area to sell. Prayerfully/hopefully that thing will be sold pretty quickly - and I'll let you know when it does. I had a chance to play golf at a course called Sherrill Park on Friday. I'm not sure how well I did, but I did finish on the 18th with a birdie. I had a good time and thanks to my B-I-L MWN I had some clubs to play with. Oh well, it's time for me to head to the church for practice. C-YA

Wisconsin on the 16th

I will be traveling to Wisconsin this weekend and I notice that in Green Bay the Packers will also be in town until the 16th then headed to New York. I wonder if there could be any connection? Maybe they just don't want to see me. Then at the end of this month, I'll be driving my truck down to the Dallas metroplex and try to sell it there. Selling it here doesn't seem like a possibility because every other full size truck in this area is 4x4 and mine is not. I was offered 8,000 for my truck here and that is very unacceptable so I'm bringing it back to Texas then flying home without it. I was told that my truck would be fine 9 out of 10 days, but to get my truck registered here, it is said that it will be about $300.00 - each year. No thank you, I don't drive it that much and I figure I can get a local rental for $20 if I just have to have some lumber.

M C B D

Hey everybody, Miss Chopsticks' birthday is coming soon and today we did some 5-year portraits in our basement which is lovingly known as "The Pit of Despair." Here is one of them now! She didn't have any classes today so after the photos, I took her to a place called Amazing Jakes and we ate and played until it was time to go and pick up her boys from school. On the way to the school, we stopped by the library and picked up some new reading materials. Our library here has DVD's that you can borrow, as many libraries do, but here, I was able to get the A-team - season three - !YES!

Dustin and Joy's wedding storybook is almost complete and it is awesome. There are some fantastic portrait pages mixed in with some very hilarious pages - it is just a great album!
Our house in Texas finally closed today, so - Tha Gooz - we don't have a home in Texas anymore (but our hearts remind us how much we love you and can't wait for you to come and visit!)
The Babe is becoming a Project Manager for a company called Scanner One You can check it online if you wish. Today she went with her colleagues and they had to meet with a few representatives from a hospital in Denver. She wrote up some kind of business report to be able to give them a certain batch of info, but I'm not sure what it is.

I've contacted a church just down the street that is looking for a worship leader. We are supposed to meet on Sunday and have a talk about what they are looking for. So far, I'm pretty excited about it. When I feel sure that it is not a group of crazies that meet to drink elephant tears and brush each others hair with green beans, I might give you their website info.