Guys Night Out

Tonight me, Jace and my little brother Stephen (age 22) hung out tonight while Jamie was at worship practice. We went to Bricktown, Hideaway Pizza and then the Penn Square Mall. It was a fun night and Jace was a very good boy. It was nice to have a guys night out and I'm glad my brother is in town. He got here on Tuesday and is leaving after church on Sunday. I don't get to see him too much because he lives in Indy and is attending Master's Commission in Ft. Meyers, Florida. He is going to suffer for the Lord at the beach :) while he is preparing to be a youth pastor. So I'm pumped he came to visit me in Oklahoma before he goes to Florida and I'm really excited for him to visit People's Church. He is going to love it.

Jace Update

Our little man has turned into a wild man. He is everywhere and talks like crazy. Speaking of talking he has added some new words to his vocabulary. He says juice, oh yeah, yeah and today he said Momma. Jamie was very happy. He also likes to say yeah after we tell him no, which is hilarious. It's hard to give a stern no, when this little voice immediately says Yeah. He also has perfected the judo chop, except he does it a mile a minute like Ehonda off Streetfighter and he shrugs his shoulders. He is also standing on his own more and more but not walking yet. I'm sure he will be there soon so we are cherishing the moments of his speedy little crawl. He's a handsome little fella and I love him a lot. Not a day goes by that I don't feel blessed to have such an amazing son.

The Blog is Back

After a great week at camp and preaching 4 times Sunday the blog is back. We had a great week of camp. The camp was a lot of fun and our students lives were impacted in a powerful way. Our team also won which always leads to a good week of camp. Go Yellow!!! It was very hot in Texas but when I got home I realized it was just as hot in Oklahoma. We have officially hit 100 degrees which I'm not too happy about, but we also have gas for $3.41 which makes me wanna shout Hallelujah, thank you Jesus! Anyway it's great to be back home in my bed because that bunkbed killed my back. I'm also officially back on Operation Meltdown and this time I have some people to kick me in the tail. My goal is to lose 30 pounds by Thanksgiving, so bye bye fast food, sweet tea, soda, frappuccino's, carbs and sweets. Pray for me!

Camp Week

This week I will be at camp so I will be on a little blogging break. I'm expecting God to do some amazing things in our student's lives at camp and am looking forward to a fun week. Please pray for our students lives to be impacted, safe travel and that I won't lose my voice.

Last One, Things You May Not Know About Me Pt. 9

I proposed to Jamie at the garden of the National Cathedral in Washington DC. We love DC and plan to visit their many times in our future.

We found out Jamie was pregnant with Jace on her birthday. It was an amazing day that I will never forget.

I bought Jamie's engagement ring in San Francisco, CA.

I drove from Indy to Chicago, flew to San Francisco, bought Jamie's ring, visited the golden gate bridge, drove down the crooked street in San Francisco, flew back to Chicago and drove back to Indy all within 24 hours.

Jamie and I went on our honeymoon to Cancun, Mexico.

Random but I was very pleased to see gas for $3.59 when I got back to OKC tonight. That's sad but it did make me happy. Go OKC!!

Things You May Not Know About Me Pt. 8

I asked Jesus Christ into my heart when I was 18 years old.

I've gone on overseas mission's trips to Peru, Nicaragua and Argentina.

On the missions trip to Peru I got stuck there because I tried to fly back to the states stand bye. My whole youth group left and I never made it on the flight. I never felt so lonely in my life. I am very thankful that my parents bought me a ticket the next day to get home. Take my advice never try to fly stand bye out of a third world country.

I've gone on state missions trips to the inner city of Phoenix (my first ever missions trip) and 3 to Long Island, NY.

Things You May Not Know About Me Pt. 7

I was at the Colts game where Peyton Manning broke Dan Marino's singe season touchdown record. Unfortunately the Patriots ran the score up on people last year so Brady could break Manning's record.

I was at the Colts game where we had one of the biggest comeback victories in playoff history . The best part was it was against the Patriots and it led us to our Super Bowl Championship. This was a very emotional and stressful game, but by far the best game I have ever been to.

I attended a Colts away game against the Cincinnati Bengals. This was a high scoring game and very fun. I was cussed out, had my sign ripped up and had one guy want to fight me because I made fun of "Who Dey". He was mad we changed it to "Blue Dey". And it was "Blue Dey" because the Colts won.

I have been to at least 7 Colts games with my dad and they won every game. I told him he should have taken me to the San Diego playoff game last year!

Things You May Not Know About Me Pt. 6

I'm a crier when it comes to certain things.

I cried when I gave my life to Jesus Christ and felt his forgiveness for the first time.

I cried at my Dad's graduation when he got his degree. I was very proud of him, he had come a long way.

I cried when I proposed to Jamie and at our wedding.

I cried when I found out we were pregnant with Jace and when he was born.

I cried when my high school choir took 5th place in our state competition.

I cried when Bruce Willis said goodbye to his daughter (Liv Tyler) in the movie Armageddon.

I held back tears when the Colts beat the Patriots to go to the Super Bowl. I was at the game and it was intense.

I've cried during worship, hearing testimonies and while preaching.

Things You May Not Know About Me Pt. 5

I have a 24 year old sister, a 22 year old brother and little brother who is 4 years old.

I drove my mom to the hospital when she was going into labor with my little brother. Not to many people can say that.

I sang a duet with Jamie at her Mom's wedding. I was super nervous.

I have been up the Eiffel tower 3 times. Once with my Pepe (great grandfather), a school trip and with Jamie at night. It was a beautiful sight.

Things You May Not Know About Me Pt. 4

In high school my favorite class was choir.

My choir took 1st place in a national competition in New York.

My choir sang in Carnegie Hall.

My senior year I won the award Most Outstanding Bass Singer.

I was also in my high school play Bye Bye Birdie my senior year.

Things You May Not Know About Me Pt. 3

I've gone to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii three times. Every time my seats were on the 50 yard line between rows 2 and 10.

At the Pro Bowl I walked past Mike Tyson twice. He is a scary looking dude.

I asked Marshall Faulk for his autograph at the airport and he turned his back on me and his homeboy told me I need to know how to do it. What does that mean?! I guess I "didn't know how to do it" so I did not get the autograph, but I certainly laughed when he got pulled aside to be randomly screened and searched.

Leaving the pro bowl I stood behind Bill Cowher in the ticket line and rode the same plane as Tony Gonzalez (Chiefs) and Rich Gannon (Raiders).

The only autograph I ever got from the Pro Bowl was from Ken Dilger who used to play tight end for the Indianapolis Colts, the future 2008-2009 Super Bowl Champs!

Things You May Not Know About Me Pt. 2

I have grandparents who live in Fontainebleau, France.

I have an Uncle and Aunt who live in Brussels, Belgium.

I have and Aunt who lives in Australia.

I have an Aunt and Uncle who live in Waterloo, Belgium.

I have an Aunt and Uncle who used to live in Germany and Holland.

I have visited them all except for my Aunt in Australia.

Things You May Not Know About Me Pt. 1

I enjoyed my pastor's blog on this topic and decided to do my own. Here we go:

1. I was born in Mons, Belgium. For those geographically challenged - Belgium is a small country between Germany and France.

2. When I was 4 years old I spoke French fluently. (I don't speak it fluently anymore)

3. When I was little I had a bruised baby tooth that had to be pulled out.

4. When I was little I hit my uncle in the head with a baseball bat when we were playing hide and seek.

5. As a baby I had colic and drove my parents crazy.

Yankees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm watching the Yankees play the Red Sox and figure I would drop in a blog.

If you didn't know I'm a huge yankees fan. Being a yankees fan has led to many different reactions from different people, here are few:

1. Most people frown and say "I hate the Yankees."

2. Other say, "You're not from New Y0rk." Then I explain how my dad is from Connecticut and my grandpa is from New York and both are Yankees fans.

3. Some say, "You're just a bandwagon fan." Then I explain how I've been a yankees fan since the days of Dave Righetti, Danny Tartabull and Don Mattingly (my favorite player) when they couldn't even make the playoffs. We also haven't one a championship in a while and I'm still supportin them.

4. One guy cussed me out. I was at a Cleveland Indians game and I wore my yankees jersey. After the game was over an Indians fan with a shirt celebrating the Indians 20 run win over the yankees started talkin trash. So I asked him, "how many championships have the Indians won?" After this he cussed at me and said "you weren't alive for them." Well I was at least alive for 4 of them and I think that is still more then the Indians have won ever. Ha!!!

It's fun being a Yankees fan because I enjoy the reactions I get from people and each year I'm confident they will be in the playoffs and have a shot to win the world series. To all the yankees haters, don't hate, celebrate!

This year is looking tough but so did the last few and we still made the playoffs so I'm expecting a major turnaround after the all star break and I will get to watch my team in the playoffs again.

Observations from my travel day

Today as I traveled I was amazed by two things:

1. I'm amazed at how people can be set off by the airline company. This morning the airline company was a little understaffed and most people (like us) arrived only an hour before our flight instead of the recommended 2 hours becasue OKC airport is kind of small. We were in a pretty long line until they called a certain flight and then chaos broke out. Our line turned into a clump of people making random lines. This led to people getting hacked at the ticket counter, pushing, line cutting and some nasty language. I was thankful that the fruits of the spirit patience and kindness were evident in my heart this morning and I kept calm. The funny part is, if we all arrived an hour and half or two hours early everything would've been fine. By the way everyone made their flights and not ticket counter people were harmed :). They also showed an enourmous amount of patience.

2. I'm amazed at how many people were brought a little bit of joy today because of Jace. Through three airports, angry passengers and two planes, Jace lit up many people's faces with smiles. I'm sure most babies do this but it caught my attention today how many people stopped to smile and interact with my son. His smile can light up a room and today it lit up airports, airplanes and angry mob at the ticket counter.

Great Day

Today has been a great day.

1. First off we had an awesome service tonight at Epic. We had a number of salvations and we had at least 15 people at our preservice prayer. God is moving in a powerful way at Epic and I'm super excited about our future. Thank you Lord for the blessings.

2. My vacation starts tonight. I'm going to get to spend time with family, which I'm very excited about. I have a great family that I love very much. We have always been close and always make time for each other. My family consists of my dad, mom, step dad, 24 year old sister, 21 year old brother, 4 year old brother and one niece and nephew. It will be great to see them all.

3. I just found out that the Sonics are moving to OKC. Whoohoo, I will definitely be going to some games. I love professional sports and now I have a team that I can cheer for in Oklahoma. Sorry I can't cheer for OU and definitely not the cowboys! Go Colts baby!

4. I got to have lunch with Jamie and Jace and that is always special. I love them a bunch and we had Chipotle which I love too. I could eat chipotle every day, there burritos are amazing!

5. I love working at People's Church, it's a great feeling when you enjoy going to the office. We have an amazing pastoral and admin staff who work hard and are fun people to work with. It's a great atmosphere and I feel very blessed to be apart of this church.

Jamie Update

1. Jamie just got her hair dyed back to it's original color and it looks great. She also really likes it.

2. She is a stay at home mom and great mom for that. I'm very blessed to have Jamie with Jace everyday. She teaches Jace new stuff every week and he is always in good hands with mommy.

3. She is addicted to the show Bachelorette and I'm embarrassed to say she got me hooked too. Go Jason!

4. Her favorite tv channel is the food network which is great because she is a phenomenal cook. I love reaping the rewards of her love for this channel, although I don't like reaping the pounds I put on lol. My favorite dessert of hers is her strawberry pie (it's amazing).

5. She occasionally leads worship for our youth and does an amazing job. She is an awesome and anointed singer. She is just waiting for the day American Idol comes close to Oklahoma City.

6. She's an amazing wife. She supports me 100%, is my best friend and is the biggest blessing in my life. I'm a very lucky guy and anyone who meets Jamie understands why. My dad always tells me I got a great one with Jamie and that is very true!