WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!

GOD IS SO GOOD! well, after just over 6 years of trying and spending THOUSANDS of dollars on fertility doctors and medications and the doctors finally saying that there wasn't much else they could do, God decided to step in.

Jeanette has a condition that is called PCOS, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. this causes her not to ovulate, therefore making it impossible to get pregnant. over the past couple of years we had been going to a fertility clinic and had spent literally thousands of dollars trying to get pregnant. we have done everything short of spending 13k on IVF for one shot at getting pregnant, we didn't have the means nor the want to gamble on that much money; especially with our luck thus far in the process.

so, we had decided to stop going to the fertility clinic and try on our own. honestly, at this point, we knew more about fertility and getting pregnant than the average 3rd year med student. it has been well over a year since we last went to the clinic and jeanette hasn't been on ANY medications for some time now. about 2 months ago we decided to stop trying for the rest of the year. we wanted to go ahead and enjoy the rest of the year not worrying and stressing out about it. low and behold, this is when GOD decided to step in.

HE waited for US to stop trying before HE started...

memorial day weekend

i am so pumped about this weekend. a bunch of us are leaving today at 3pm to go ATVing today and tomorrow. this is going to be so much fun. the last time i actually got to go on an overnight trip and do this was when me and pastor jeff did it about 7 years ago. we are going to have so much fun. i am going to miss my beautiful, lovely wife however. also, we are leaving after church sunday to go to texarkana to hang out with friends and family for a couple of days. it's not very often that jeanette and i get the same day off, so this is going to be a lot of fun. happy memorial day weekend!

officially in AWE...

nike and apple have teamed up to make an amazing combination. nike is now making shoes that will talk to your ipod nano and tell you how far you've been running/walking, at what pace, and a whole bunch of other statistics. when you start to get tired you can push a button and play your POWERBOOST song to get you pumping again. i like to walk and run and i love my ipod mini. this definitely makes me want to get an ipod nano. nike is a marketing genius! something else that's cool is, whenever you sync you ipod to your computer it logs your running/walking statistics and it tracks you over a period of time to show you your improvements. HOW COOL IS THAT!!!

fun weekend

well, this weekend was a lot of fun. we had graduation friday night and got to see all of our seniors take the stage to receive their diplomas. i must say that i am so proud of all of them.

we also, had tony and erin velasquez in to interview for the children's pastor position. we had so much fun hanging out with them and riding 4-wheelers and taking them to look at houses. they're great people and a lot of fun.

7mins. 8secs.

this is how long david blaine held his breath underwater last week after living in a life-sized fish aquarium for an entire week. he was attempting to break the world record for holding your breath while underwater. the record is 9mins. however, the guy that holds the record didn't live underwater for the full 7 days before that and escape from chains and handcuffs while he was holding his breath. the record itself, is something that i believe that david blaine could break with little effort. it is his desire to do things with style and flamboyance that kept him from breaking the record this time. you gotta give the guy credit though, 7mins. and 8secs. is a really long time to hold your breath. heck, i couldn't even hold my breath long enough to write this blog.

SMASHED

well, i played in the high school dodgeball tournament yesterday and...OH MY GOSH AM I SORE!!! our team went 0-5; for those of you who don't understand sports records, that means we played 5 games and lost every one. we had an absolute blast though!

the first match i literally lasted 3 seconds...NO KIDDING, THAT'S ALL! our team wasn't the most athletic team, we just wanted to get out there and have some fun. however, the first team we played was the most athletic team and they just wanted to get out there and hurt somebody. they succeeded with me. as i ran to the center line to grab a ball with 2 other team mates i reached down and as i'm in a crouching position reaching to grab the ball i look up just in time to see 2 dodgeballs traveling at the speed of sound coming right at my face. as the first one bounced off of my forehead the second one was less than a thousandth of a second behind hitting me square in the mouth.

honestly, i couldn't help but laugh because i could only imagine how funny it was for the several hundred spectators. if they would have given an award for "Most Punished Player", i am very confident that i would have won hands down. i can't wait for next year. maybe i'm just a glutton for punishment, but i really did have a lot of fun. well, i have all year to practice; i guess i need to start dodging wrenches right away.

YOUR MOM

you know, there is a phrase that never ceases to be funny to me. i can be sitting in the most serious conversation and at any point take just about anything that anyone i'm talking to says, and turn it into a mama joke. i know, i know, i am extremely immature and need to grow up. but, your mama jokes never seem to lose their humor. i've heard that there's even a show on MTV devoted to "Your Mama" jokes now. in fact, i use the statement so much, we're going to make a shirt for our youth group that says "Your Mom Goes to Journey Church". HOW COOL IS THAT?! i can tell that some people around my age, 20s and 30s, get preturbed by my uncanny ability to turn anything they say into a "Yo Mama" joke. so, you guys tell me, am i really still that immature or am i justified in admiring a timeless phrase that has been engrained in our culture? seriously, leave a comment, i want to know. if you don't have a blogger account just click on anonymous and put your name at the end of your comment. let's see what everyone else thinks about YOUR MOM, 'cause i know i love her...

Put Things Back Where You Found Them

i started a new series this week entitled "Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten". this is going to be a super fun series to preach. i'm taking some very simple, yet profound, statements that i learned in kindergarten and tying them into the Word of God.

the first message was entitled "Put Things Back Where You Found Them". it's crazy that i still have so many memories from way back in kindergarten. i remember playing with these huge life-sized blocks that we use to make buildings out of and then play King-Kong vs. Godzilla and destroy the entire city. then after playtime was over we all had to put everything back from our station back where we found it. this started to carry over with everthing; we had to put the scissors back where we found them. we had to put the crayons back where we found them. we had to put the glue back where we found it...except for the kid that always ate the entire bottle before we were done with the project. he just got to throw his away.

it was some time later, as i was sixteen, that i remember sitting in my living room late one night reading my Bible that i began to think about how excited i use to be about my faith when i first committed my life to Christ. i remember the feelings that i had after being delivered from a lifestyle of drugs, alcohol, depression, and gangs. i couldn't help but tell everyone that i talked to about how good God was and how he had completely changed my life. yet, as i sat in my living room a couple of years later i was curious as to where that zeal had gone. i had gotten so caught up in school, friends, and even church that my relationship with God had taken a backseat.

i finally realized that, that rule that i had learned in kindergarten applied to more than just putting up some blocks when you were done playing with them. it was applying to me many years later as a teenager in a totally different light. as i sat there that night, i finally realized that i needed to put my relationship with God back where i found it.

Dodgeball

well, it's official, i'm signed up to be on at least one team in the dodgeball tournament at the high school next week. i'm kind of nervous, this could show how old or young i really am now. i can still ride 4-wheelers and do stupid crazy stunts with the rest of them but, this is really going to be a test of athleticism and endurance. and, it's been a long time since i've been involved in anything that required either of those two things. so, it'll be interesting to see how it all turns out. i guess i need to go start practicing. remember, "if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball"...

Muldrow Bottoms

well, seven of us ATV nuts all hooked up yesterday to go riding down in some sand pits that are about 20mins. from us. that is the first time that i've ever ridden in sand, and it was definitely different. i'm use to riding on dirt and this was a totally different experience. once you get use to it, it's not so bad but it was definitely an adjustment. we had an absolute blast! it's cool to be living in an area that has a lot of great places to ride, close to home. that definitely wasn't the case when we lived in dallas or texarkana. we're talking about making a trip down to Wolfpen Gap, just about an hour and a half south of us, sometime next month. i can't wait!

SPRING FEVER!!!

man, the weather has been phenomenal here lately. i can't hardly stay inside. it's not been too hot or cold and the sun has been shining. i have got a major case of spring fever right now. pastor jeff and i have been trying to plan a camping trip for a couple of months now and the weather has finally warmed up enough to go. we're going to try to go down to a river in de queen arkansas that he grew up fishing on for a couple of days. i think he may have a hard time getting me to come back home if the weather stays this good while we're down there. hopefully, i'll be able to talk him into us stopping over at Wolfpen Gap on our way home. that is absolutely my favorite place in the world to ride ATVs. it's over 42 miles of loop trails up in the beautiful hills of arkansas. if you like riding ATVs or dirtbikes like we do, you have got to go there. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

the little things make a BIG difference

well, as you may have read, i went and got my 4-wheeler last sunday and when we got it home and started to ride it, it wasn't performing like i remembered it. which was odd, because the motor had been completely rebuilt recently. so, me and a couple of guys in our youth group, aaron and ryan, started taking things apart and cleaned out the air filter, which was filthy, and changed the spark plug and IMMEDIATELY it was running like brand new again. it's just so amazing to me that the smallest things can make such a BIG difference. it's funny, that the same is true in life. it's the little things, like just spending a little time with God each day and surrounding yourself with great people who lift you up, that can make your life so much better. so, try your best to do a little maintenence that will enhance your life a GREAT deal this week.

On the Look-Out

Well, we are still searching for the right person who is going to be a great fit for our Children's Pastor position at the Journey Church. I just posted a listing on www.churchstaffing.com and hope that it will yield some fruit. We are patient in finding the person that God wants to be here but, we are also anxious to get the right person in here so we can start taking our Children's Ministry to the next level, just as we have with every other ministry in our church. This is going to be a very important hire for us. We believe that this is really going to help take us to the next level in providing top-notch discipleship throughout every age group in our church. Please be praying for the Lord's guidance and wisdom as we search for the right person. This is a very big deal for us, since our staff is such a very tight-knit family, we want to find someone who meshes well with our thinking and our style of ministry. We'll keep you posted!

ATV

well, we had a great weekend. we had a blast with jason and cilla in and had so much fun. on top of that, we had an amazing sunday with 330 in attendance and another great offering. God has truly been blessing us. and, to top it all off, me and my buddy aaron caldwell drove to little rock to get my 4-wheeler from my dad. i have a polaris 400 sport, it's a 2-stroke that will absolutely SCREAM. i haven't gotten to ride it in a few years so, i am so pumped. it's got a newly rebuilt motor and it is ready to. riding ATVs is a passion of mine. there's nothing like going out and having no boundaries and going over, in, and through anything that gets in your way. i can't wait to get this new motor broken in and running hard!

Visitors

well, we are having our first guests to come stay with us since we got here in september. we are so excited to have company come in. Jason and Priscilla Burnett are old friends of ours from texarkana. jason and i grew up together (i was always much cooler than him but, i talked to him anyways)haha. and i've known priscilla since i was about 13 so i pretty much grew up with her too. they are just great people and a lot of fun to be around. we can't wait to drag them around SE Oklahoma and NW Arkansas and show them all our favorite places to go eat and shop. this is going to be a fun weekend for us. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

4 Hour Nap

this week has been completely insane! between doing our youth service, going to schools, baseball games, senior prom and freshman social, helping pastor jeff change over series', going to eat with new members, and having a youth leadership meeting this afternoon i am just completely wiped out. our meeting ended at 6pm this evening and i went straight to bed and was finally awakened by the phone at 10pm. i could've slept until morning but decided to get up for a minute just to stretch. i think i'm going to go finish my nap now...

STOP, DROP, AND ROLL

jeanette and i were driving back from ft. smith tonight, which is about 20mins. east of us and we ran into this huge super cell storm. we were on I-40 and there were times that i had to slow down to 40mph. that was some of the heaviest rain that i have ever driven in. as we were slowed down, i looked over on the side of the road and saw animals starting to line up in pairs...it was really weird. we are officially in tornado season up here and, although sallisaw doesn't normally get tornadoes, there are a lot in the area. which is really weird for us. we're not use to living in tornado ally quite yet. it is nice that we're not the ones getting the tornadoes though. i honestly don't know what i'd do if one did happen. all i remember is the tornado drills at school when we use to STOP, DROP, AND ROLL.

What a Weekend...

wow, what a weekend indeed. we had operation freedom friday night and had 55 teenagers there along with about 20 parents and volunteers. we had some crazy, stupid fun. i swear the adults had as much fun as the youth did. operation freedom lasted until 9pm and then we had Jeff and Kim Livsey, who were interviewing for our Children's Pastor position, come in at about 10:30 that night. after showing them around, talking with them and getting to know them a little we finally left for home at about 1:30am.

naturally, after getting home, my lovely wife wanted to keep me up until 3am asking about every detail from the minute she left the church to my arriving at our front door. we woke up bright and early saturday morning to the sound of the sun rising (it seemed like). then took Jeff and Kim around town showing them rental properties and the rest of Sallisaw. after eating lunch, we had meetings with them and church volunteers until about 5:30pm and dinner at Dr. Rick and Karen Robbins home until about 9:30pm. after which we wisked away to the prom at the high school to have some fun. crashing in bed with my mind still going about 90mph i finally reached REM sleep at about 2am.

Jeff and Kim did both children's services sunday morning, which i sat in on, and did a phenomenal job! we finally got home from church at about 2pm and i immediately crashed until about 6:30pm. after spending all weekend with this couple, jeanette and i have two new great friends. they are amazing people and i really do hope that God allows it all to work out with them coming here. i personally believe that we already have the most amazing church anywhere in the area and they would compliment our church and our way of doing ministry excellently. i am just so excited about all that God is doing here at the Journey Church! I am Living the Dream...

Operation Freedom Part:2

i just had the time of my life tonight. we had a video scavenger hunt that the teens had to go and rescue one of 6 yard gnomes from someone's yard. then, they had 2 pages of objectives that were on a point base value that ranged from 50 points to 1000 points. there were objectives from the gnome working behind a register at a fast food restaurant to driving a car as if in a high speed chase and even dumpster diving for hidden treasure. we had about 55 teenagers show up and their final task that is worth 1000 points is to have their entire team at the same service on sunday morning with their gnome! i had so much stinkin fun tonight! i can't wait to go and watch all of these videos now.

Operation Freedom

we are doing this event tomorrow night that is going to be so much fun. it's called Operation Freedom. this is a very top secret hush hush event. nobody has a clue what it's even about yet. we've been announcing it for about a month and everyone is about to explode in anticipation. due to the secresy of the event, i can't give you any details until after tomorrow night but, i can give you one clue, the whole evening revolves around a roaming gnome. this is going to be so much fun. i can't wait to tell you all about it!