Update.

Due to vacation and the holiday I haven't blogged much so here is a little update and with Thanksgiving tomorrow I won't be blogging again until Dec. 1.

1. We arrived in Indianapolis last Thursday and it is freezing over here. It is about 20-30 degrees colder then OKC.

2. Everyone loves Jace. He has spent time with all of our family and they all have said he is handsome, easy to watch and very talkative. He also loves music. He has been playing the guitar and drums a lot.

3. I got to see my grandparents who live in Europe so this was a real treat.

4. Sunday night I hung out with old friends from high school and watched the Colts game, it was a lot of fun especially since the Colts won. It's weird but me and my friends have not talked for months and got together one night and picked up like we've been hanging out every week. These are good friends.

5. Saturday I played flag football in 20 degree weather and just about died. It was fun but I was in pain the rest of the day. I probably will never play sports again in that cold of weather.

6. Jamie and I had a romantic getaway Monday night and it was awesome. It felt great to getaway for a night with my beautiful wife. We had a lot of fun and need to do this more often.

7. My eating has not been as good as I would like so I will have to get it back in gear back in OKC.

8. Trying to make time to visit 4 families is rough but we've made it happen and have enjoyed spending time with all of our family.

9. I have clinched playoff births in three of my fantasy leagues and need a miracle to make it in my keeper league.

10. It's thanksgiving and I have a lot to be thankful for. First I'm thankful to God and all He has done in my life. I'm not worthy and feel very blessed. I'm also thankful for my wonderful wife, she is amazing and I don't know what I would do without her. I'm thankful for Jace who has brought much joy to our lives and I'm thankful for my family, friends, People's Church and the staff I get to work with. Life is good and all of these things are again a product of God's goodness. Thanks Lord!

All I Want For Christmas Is.....

Some clothes that fit! Losing weight has been great and my clothes are now a testimony to how much weight I've lost. This is a good and bad problem. The good is I've lost a lot of weight, the bad is I'm going to have to buy a lot of new clothes. What's also bad is clothes that I really like look horrible on me. For instance, last year I got a new Colts Jersey that fits me well, now it fits me like a dress and doesn't look right at all. I love wearing jerseys and most of them don't fit now. Most of my dress shirts are too big and the once size 38 jeans now look like clown pants on me. I had a shirt picked out for a wedding a few weeks ago that I really liked, I put it on and it looked like I borrowed one of Shaq's shirts, luckily I bought a size large dress shirt that day for $9 at Aeropastle. Speaking of I can't remember the last time I'v bought a large, but it felt good. I'm also enjoying wearing size 34 and wondering if I can get it down to 32? That would be awesome. With all of that I have to say I enjoy having this problem much more then waking up and have something feel too tight, calling myself a fat bag of snacks, blaming Jamie for shrinking my clothes in the wash when I was really gaining weight from all the junk I was eating and then getting in a funk. I did not enjoy those days and could only blame myself. My new problem is much more enjoyable.

Weigh In

On Monday I was 1 pound away from reaching 210 pounds, it seems over the last two weeks I've hovered around 211-214 so I'm pushing extra hard to get to 210. I've found that the more weight I lose the harder it is to lose it quickly, but its slowly coming off and it will be staying. The good thing is I'm not gaining so I'm very happy about that. I also plan to work out a lot during the holiday because it will not be hard to gain 5 to 10 pounds especially since we will be with family during Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving I start working towards my goal of 200. I look forward to meeting 200 pounds.

Jace Update

Here are some Jace updates:

1. Jace is a copy cat. He copies sounds we make, faces we make, his friends in the nursery and if you blow on him he will blow back.

2. Jace loves to give hugs and kisses. There is nothing greater then coming home and having Jace run to me and give me a big hug. I love it! If you ask for a kiss he will give you but beware he's into the open mouth kisses, haha. We'll have to work on that.

3. Jace loves to play outside. If our front or back door opens Jace makes a bee line to get out.

4. Jace is an expert at hiding the remote control. At least once a week we play "where did Jace put the remote?" This last time he put it in his closet.

5. Speaking of remote's Jace loves to play with them and cell phones.

6. Jace loves people and People's Church. Every Sunday he greets as many people as he can as he walks to the nursery. He gives out fives, smiles and flirts with all the ladies.

7. Jace plays football, every week we play catch and after he catches it he spikes it. I think he's trying to throw it back but for now we will call it a spike. And we are working on getting him to say "Go Colts."

Mpact

Mpact is a campus club I help lead for Youth for Christ at John Marshall Jr. High and High School every Friday. The past couple Friday's we have been exposing students to Mpact and preparing them for when we start doing teachings. Well today was our first day to hold a club and it went awesome. We had Mpact during all three lunches at John Marshall and we had at least 75 students in each club. We got to pour into at least 225 students today! Praise God!!! The numbers are awesome but what was more impressive was with 75 students and only 2 leaders in a loud school hallway the students paid attention and were engaged to the entire teaching in all 3 lunches. Now they were also waiting patiently for free pizza but I was still impressed. We are praying that the school will let us use the auditorium in the future which will give us an opportunity to reach even more students with less distractions. I'm excited for this campus club and expecting God to do some great things. Thank you Lord for an awesome club today.

Shame, Shame

Shame, shame on me, I have been a terrible blogger lately and I want to apologize to all who follow my blog. Lately I have been sick and have gotten into the whole twitter craze. With twitter it's easy to drop a statement on my iPhone here and there and blogs can take some time and thought. So blogging has suffered becasue when I'm sick all I do is lay in bed, sleep and I probably whine a bit too. I will admit I'm a big baby when I'm sick. Jamie can testify. Speaking of Jamie, she is an amazing wife. She has a ton of patience with me and treats me well when I'm sick. Matter of fact Wednesday morning she got me some orange juice and DayQuil before she went to work and then made me a yummy grilled cheese when we got home after service. Today I'm feeling much better after receiving some meds and prayer from my doctor on Wednesday. I thought it was real cool that my doctor prayed for me. That's what's been up with me. As for today it's been good, I got to rest, I feel better, I enjoyed Survivor, took Jace to the playplace at the mall with Jamie and the Patriots lost. Tomorrow I'm looking foward to going to work and finishing off the week.

Two

Today I worked on two sermons. Sometimes when I write sermons I have a good flow where everything comes together with ease. With the good flow I get into a groove where it seems like the points and illustrations just fly onto the paper. But then there are times where I feel like I keep running into a wall or banging my head against a wall :). I read over my message and wonder, "Does any of this make sense?" This can be a frustrating place to be but it also causes me to persevere to get the message on point. To me writing a sermon is a form of art and I really enjoy it. Today I had a decent flow and I have both messages about 90% finished.

Busy Week

Wow I only have one blog for this week, that has never happened so here are the highlights of my week:

1. Monday I led the Edmond high school community group and it went very well. We had a discussion, some food and played a game called psychiatrist.

2. Tuesday Jace and I ran errands while Jamie was at worship practice.

3. Wednesday we kicked off a new series called Identity. I spoke about Integrity and it was an awesome service. We also had some of the scariest clouds I have ever seen in my life pass through OKC on Wednesday. It looked like something out of the movie The Day After Tomorrow.

4. Thursday I had lunch with a new pastor friend in OKC, watched Survivor with Jamie and watched the browns vs broncos game. Survivor was awesome, the power players keep getting blindsided and Bob the old guy is a stud.

5. Friday I had Mpact at John Marshall's lunch and at night hung out with Andy Wynn and some of his friends playing Rock Band until 1 am. This is why I personally don't have a game system but I enjoyed singing Eye of the Tiger and watching Andy play the drums, it was hilarious.

6. Today I just found out Penn State lost which means Ohio State can still win the Big Ten and the BCS is gonna be a mess again. I also just saw Alabama beat LSU and am getting ready to watch the Oklahoma State vs Texas Tech game, go Oklahoma State!

7. Jamie is also making French Onion soup and I can't wait to eat it. My wife is an amazing cook, she made chicken curry yesterday that i had for lunch which was very tasty.

8. Jace is only one but today we were playing catch with the football. It's pretty awesome to play catch with him even though he is so young. And when I say catch i don't mean i was putting the ball in his lap, I would toss it and he caught it. What can I say he's a stud!

9. Lastly I am still at 212 pounds I need to lose 2 pounds and keep them off for Thanksgiving. After thanksgiving I'm going for 200 by the end of the year.

Weekend Update

1. Jamie and I enjoyed attending Justin and Rachel Chandler's wedding. We are very happy for them and wish them the best.

2. It felt real good to get an extra hour of sleep Saturday night, especially since we got in a little late from Springfield, MO.

3. This week I went 2-2 in fantasy football and my two losses literally came in the last minute of the football game because of a stupid interception and a 15 yard catch by Chris Cooley. Unbelievable, I have to admit I'm a little bitter right now.

4. On a better note the Colts beat the Patriots and remembering that has brought joy back to my life. We may be struggling but it's always a good season if we beat the Patriots.

5. I can't believe Iverson was traded to the Pistons for Billups, I did not see that coming at all.

6. The Thunder got their first win, whoohoo! Go Thunder!

7. It was good to see some old friends this weekend.

8. It's November and I was wearing shorts today, I love this weather!