The Life Of My Wife

Anybody who thinks a stay-at-home-mom's life is easy is just an idiot. There's really no nice way to say that so I didn't try. Seriously, my wife is the epitome of a Proverbs 31 woman. You know how the Army used to have a recruiting commercial saying "we get more done before 8AM than most people do all day" or something like that? Well I guess that makes my wife more effective than the US Army! In fact, if I didn't need her here, I'm sure I could send her over to Iraq and Afghanistan and the issues would be solved in a matter of days. But alas, her family needs her more right now (selfish I know, but true)

Anyhow, while I've been working on transferring media files and getting ready to go all Mac, working on the next series and 2008 stuff, my wife has been doing the following (just this morning mind you).

First, she teaches school - yep, that's the classroom.

Then she starts the laundry... which the kids can finish folding when they're done with school.

After that, she heads to the kitchen and cooks a bunch of stuff - some for now, some for later (gotta be prepared right)

And then she'll get to make sure the house is picked up before the kids nap, have quiet time and she.....passes out? NO! Before she starts another project I'm sure.

She tells me all the time that it would be easier to go to work than to stay home. I don't argue. I don't fuss. I just agree, fall on my knees and ask her why she chose me! So if your wife stays home with the kids, don't be an idiot...don't ask her "what she does all day?"...don't make stupid comments. Thank her and shut up.

Any Mac Users Out There?

Alright, about 3 weeks ago, we started making the switch to Mac. Let's just say it hasn't been a seemless one, but I'm still optimistic. So here's what I'd like. If you use a Mac for personal or church work, would you share one or two of your favorite tips? I'd be especially interested in tips from people who've moved their church presentation software from Media Shout to Pro Presenter. I can say I'm really digging the whole "spaces" thing with Leopard.

So what can you share?

Too Fast

Ever feel like things are moving too fast? Like it was yesterday when your kid couldn't even walk and now they're beating you in a race? Or you thought 2008 was a ways a way and now it's only 4 weeks out? I'm feeling like that right now.

Most of the time I love the tension that the speed of things brings....I like having to make decisions quick and figure stuff out on the fly, which is good when you do church in a portable space and have to set up each week. But for some reason, today it seems like things are going too fast. I made breakfast with my kids this morning and dang...they're getting old. I'm working on church stuff for 2008 and dang....it's only a month away. We've got another PARTnership class coming up and dang...it's in 4 days.

I'm reminded of this verse and realize that I'm not in control. There, I feel better already.

Just wanted to share this too. Tadd is a church planter about 2.5 hours from here and somehow got hooked up with NBC nightly news and Tom Brokaw. Amazing story and free publicity for a 12 week old church. You can read about it HERE.

Still Stuffed

So now that the pre-Christmas holiday of Thanksgiving is over, I'm ready for Christmas!

Probably noticed that I took the last few days off for Thanksgiving. My brother and his family were here and so were my parents. Had a great time with them all and really enjoyed eating...way too much and a little too often. Oh well, finished up the leftovers last night so no more turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes for a while.

Do want to mention a few things and people that I'm thankful for (even though it's after Thanksgiving, it's never too late to say thanks!)

• Jesus - he loves me and encourages me when I feel like a failure (and have)
• My wife - I definitely married up....again, thank you Jesus
• My kids - how bored would I be if I didn't have 5 great kids?
• My family - when I look around at all the dysfunction, I realize how blessed I was to grow up with two parents, married to each other, and a brother to fight with over stupid things like who has to haul wood or mow the lawn this week
• Discovery Church - I never knew planting a church could be this good
• Claude and Sheila - don't know if Lora and I would have survived the first year without them
• Davey and Randy - I love the worship atmosphere they create each week
• Todd Wallace and his family - this dude works until 4AM and still comes to church AND stays after with his family EVERY WEEK to help tear down.
• KABC - this is the church I came from and they supported me leaving to start Discovery
• bloglines - I'm constantly challenged by reading blogs about how other pastors are reaching their communities
• Christmas - I look forward to this time more than any other
• A million other little and big things (like more work to do)

Over The River And Through The Woods...

My brother and his wife are driving down here from New Jersey and my parents are up from Florida for Thanksgiving at our house this year.  Lora's parents are still in Florida and her sister is in Ohio (her husband is in Korea) and we'll try and get together with them during Christmas.

Just curious to find out how far people travel for Thanksgiving this year.  Even though we're not going anywhere, we've got family coming from 500 and 700 miles away.  How about you?  How far are you going or how far are people traveling to come to you? 

Off My Chest

Gotta get a few things off my chest before I go to bed...

• Too focused on church today and not focused enough on Jesus
• Hurt my son's feelings by my bad attitude
• Got to play golf after church and started off with a 12 foot drive...it did get better
• Things are definitely more chaotic when Claude and Sheila are gone
• Lora's taking a neonatal resuscitation test for her job tomorrow - she hates tests
• I've got two weeks off of speaking - Dusty is finishing out this series
• Tear down today was awful...had to get to golf and left the place a mess
• Davey might just be my new hero...I think he finished packing up everything after church
• Collected about 60 boxes for Operation Christmas Child
• Our snack at our small group tonight was Dominoes Pizza!
• Had fun playing golf with my dad
• Almost fell asleep praying with Lora when she went to bed
• I'm tired
• Don't know if it was a good idea to watch UFC last night, but it was for Tyler's birthday so who cares?
• I love coming home to my house, my wife and my kids
• I'm excited about how we're kicking off 2008
• The lights in the service this morning looked great (good job Brad)
  
• Really liked going old-school with the hymns this week, next week should be fun...90's worship music
• My new water heater's working great
• It's almost Thanksgiving (and it was mid-70's today in NC)
• Looking forward to seeing my brother and his family in a few days
• I'm tired, gotta go to bed

Tyler's Birthday

Got a quick appointment with someone this morning and then it's Tyler's day all day. Can't believe he's already 11. Time's going way too fast. We'll have our traditional birthday breakfast, give him his gifts and then he wants to go fishing so we'll do that most of the day. He's got a few folks coming over later tonight then for games and a movie and then (he doesn't know this yet) but I think I'll take him to the UFC pay-per-view and we'll watch it at Claude's (he's out of town anyway so he won't mind). Man if I were a boy turning 11, that'd be close to my dream day (that and a puppy, but that's not happening so keep dreaming). Gotta jet.

Happy Birthday Tyler! Guess what? Your Daddy loves you.