things left unsaid

She's better off.. but we aren't.

2010-12-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning, just like any other day, got out of bed and played with my kids kissed my wife and left for work for the day. As soon as I started walking down the street it hit me, I really miss my mom..

You see as long as I can remember, every year around Thanksgiving/Christmas time my mom would become the Christmas guru.. Our house would transform into the winter wonderland. She would throw on old Christmas vinyls from names like Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, and some of the Rat Pack.. and we would decorate the Christmas tree and make cookies, it would be an all day event. After we had the house all decorated we would end up on the couch and watch whatever Christmas movie was on, with our hot chocolate and cookies by the television.

I really miss those times, you know the times when we weren't fighting, we weren't thinking about the cost of things, or what we needed to do next.. Family is so valuable and I really appreciate the family that I came from. They have taught me that no matter where you are at, no matter who you have become, family will always be there for you.. with love.

So as for the title of this blog.. I was thinking on my walk today about my mom and this thought came to me, "she is better off where she is, but we are not better off without her". She changed everyone's life that was around her, and I believe for the better. So as we will continually miss her, we must remember what she showed us while she was here. To be love and share that love.

July 3rd 2009.

2010-07-03T18:08:00.000-07:00

One year ago today my life changed.. It was a really normal day for me and my family. We were over at a good friends house playing board games and just hanging out listening to stories of an old man's childhood and laughing.

Then my phone rings and as I go to pick it up there is no one on the line.. So I looked and saw it was my brother [in Ohio] it was pretty late there.. So I sent him a text message.. "Are you ok?" he texted back.. "I'm not sure yet".. So I continue to hang out for a little bit.. On our way home I called my brother back and he answers, he's crying, he's not making much sense.. and the next words that came from that phone just ruined me.. He says "Mom has been shot!" I continued to ask questions through disbelief, tears, anger.. I was still in the car at this point so I was trying to just figure out what to do. I can't remember exactly what happend next either my cousin Jason or my uncle Gerry got on the phone and just told me we needed to fly out to Ohio ASAP. When we got back to our house I just started freaking out, trying to figure out who I could call what we needed to do.. I called a few people and a few people showed up to help. After I was trying to figure out flights, pack my stuff up, and get ready to go I came to a place where I couldn't move anymore and I just sat in my closet and started to cry, I was just trying to figure out why this could happen, and really just trying to understand that this is real!.. Wow, so after a little while we packed up a car headed to the airport and then to Ohio.. I didn't sleep at all that night.

As I was going through all of this, the questions, the anger, the frustration, the confusion.. The one thing that I kept coming back to was that I have a God who loves me and my family and no matter what happens he will always be there for us.. The song "How He Loves Us" by John Mark McMillian was playing over and over in my head and I was able to actually play it at my Mom's funeral. This song is just a simple reminder of who God is, and how much he cares for each and every one of us, even though we don't deserve it.

This whole tragic experience totally sucks, but God is good, and he will always be good. It sucks that there are people in the world that don't understand or know God's love and that those people have to hurt other people, but that is just the reality of sin. All we can do is learn to love, and learn to experience and know God love. We will all die some day, but how many of us will start to live today.

I love all of you, and I really miss my Mom, and I never thought that she would be taken from us so soon, but I know that she would want us to continue to love life, to share the joy that she most certainly had and to see people the way that God intended.

I know that some people may read this and think that I am a total hippie, but the truth is I just really appreciate what God did for me, my mom, my family, and the world.. He died, so that we can live!

I love you mom, i miss you..

God Bless..

Follow Jesus.

2010-06-15T16:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some images that I created for our new series..

Let me know what you think..

Poll: What has God been showing you in this season?

Fun At the Park.

2010-06-14T12:25:00.001-07:00

The other day I was at the park with some friends and decided to take some fun photos, here is the result click here.. I want to start taking more photos and get a little better at what I am doing. So if you would like to go and shoot sometime, or have some photos taken of you.. Let me know.

Safe Place.

2010-04-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

We live in a special place. When is the last time that you’ve said that? These past few months, I've been realizing how special Redding, CA is.. I mean everywhere in this town there is a sense of God’s presence. I was at Starbucks the other day and realized that there were at least five conversations about Jesus and what he is doing. We live in a special place, but I also realize that some of us, my self included, are wasting our time here in the special place.

This is a safe place. This is a place to train and grow in what we are supposed to do for your entire life. If we can’t do it here, why do we think that we can do it somewhere else?

God has been really showing me that we need to be stepping out in faith in the safe places, so that we can conquer the dangerous ones.

I think that Simpson University has a huge opportunity to equip and empower world changers. I think that practicum, and internships, could be so much more than getting people involved in local churches, it may not all be that way that is just my impression, but it could be challenging students to take leadership of something for a semester, or more, and have some thing to look back on and say, “wow! That was hard, but I really feel that I learned something and helped started something that is going to last”.

I am not saying that I have all the answers, in fact, I am not saying that I have any of the answers.. I would like to start a conversation, and hopefully challenge us to think about where we are at, and that we have been placed here on purpose.

Poll: Do you know why God has placed you here at this moment in time?

Living God's Dreams.

2010-02-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

I have been super busy with life lately and have had little time to socialize.. I have been getting lots of work. I have even had to say no to some projects in order to say yes to some bigger ones.

Here is a design that I created using resources from the web, we didn't use this exact design for the series, it was a bit too kidish, but I wanted to share it still..

What going on in your lives that is worth celebrating?

5 years.

2009-12-17T14:09:00.000-08:00

So Bethany and I got married this day five years ago. It was an amazing day, that was a little unorthodox and not ideal for most couples.. but for us it was perfect!. Bethany looked amazing and a lot of our close were there to witness the moment and pray with us afterward. Times were hard back then, and they are still a little hard.. but we are super happy and very excited about the future. We have two kids [Josiah 2yrs. and Promise almost 1mo.] and we love every minute with them. We are busy, but not too busy for each other. God has been so good to us, and the family that we have here in Redding, CA has been so great! Also our family that lives a little ways away have really been there for us too.

My wife Bethany is so amazing! If you don't know her you should get to know her.. She is beautiful, she is a great mom, and an amazing wife!. She is so chill and calm, perfect for me.. She is my best and closest friend. I love doing life with her.. I love you babe! XxOo..

God, I thank you for such an amazing family. I pray that we just continue to grow closer to each other and to you. Thanks for the years of joy that you have given us.. Amen.

Positive Reading.

2009-12-14T13:04:00.000-08:00

I hardly ever read the news or watch it, because it is most likely bad news.. Well I found this blog the other day that shares a lot of good things that are happening in the world. It shows me that there are good things that are happening all over the world and we can be encouraged by that everyday.. The blog is called majoritymag.com go check it out, be encouraged..

What encouraging things are you seeing happen throughout the world?

To Write Love On Her Arms.

2009-10-28T14:58:00.001-07:00

Jamie Talks Woodie Awards from To Write Love on Her Arms. on Vimeo.

To Write Love On Her Arms.

2009-10-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

The founder of To Write Love On Her Arms was nominated for a woodie!. If he wins it will help the twloha.com movement spread even further and reach more people which will enable more people to be rescued. Please click and vote.

For more information, or to see how else you can help, go to twloha.com

Josiah.

2009-06-18T05:02:00.001-07:00

Bethany and I have the cutest little boy in the whole world.. We are so amazed by who he is and who he is becoming. I can't believe that he will be turning two years old in a few months.. Man how the time flies. You hear that phrase a lot in life, but it really makes more sense, and becomes far more relevant when you start to have kids, and see them grow up right before you eyes..

So.. I just wanted to say that we have an amazing son, and I thank God everyday for him!.

Jesus Culture.

2009-06-18T02:47:00.000-07:00

So a while back Jesus Culture did a live audio/video recording for their new album that should be coming out soon.. I was able to take some photos of all this happening, and so I started editing a few and this is just something I was playing around with..

Let me know what you think.. It's not a new concept, but I think I like the feel of it. I may edit a few more from the event and post them as well..

some of you may know..

2009-06-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

So, some of you may already know, and I apologize to close friends that I didn't get to tell sooner.. but.. we are having another baby!!. We are so excited. We think that we are going to have it sometime late November early December, but we haven't received an official due date as of yet.. So when you see Bethany you don't have guess whether or not she is pregnant, and so now you can congratulate her.. I will try and keep you all posted as to what's happening and what we will need help with, but for now just pray for us and our growing family..

soulpancake.com

2009-05-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

It has been some time since my last blog, and this doesn't really count as one, but I found this site today and I wanted to share.. www.SoulPancake.com

Easter baptism.

2009-05-02T02:52:00.000-07:00

So other people have already put this on YouTube, but I like vimeo better, also I am pretty sure that you can download a copy of this from the place it is hosted on the vimeo website.

Anyway.. This is a video from Easter Sunday of 2009, we had 40+ people baptized in the three different gatherings we had that day! It is amazing what God is doing.

Easter Baptism 2009 from the Stirring on Vimeo.

another year..

2009-04-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was my 29th birthday.. the thing is I don't look any different?

So, We had a ton of people over to the new house and we had a blast!. I am glad that I was able to spend my birthday with my good friends.. If you didn't make it, don't worry there will be lots more partying in this house.

I have been lacking in the posts, due to some internet problems [not having a connection at home], but now things are back to normal.

Thanks to all that left me a note, got me a card, came over to the house, or just said hello to me yesterday..

a little birdhouse in your soul..

2009-03-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so first of all, who of you know what I am making reference to in that title.?
So as some of you know, yesterday I was summoned for jury duty, I had to be there from 8 - 3pm, and I wasn't even picked to serve..

but while in the court room, the very thorough judge said, "not to put too fine a point on it".. My first thought was, "who actually uses that statement in a normal sentence".. Then I immediately, in my head started singing, "..say I'm the only bee in your bonnet, make a little birdhouse in your soul.." They Might Be Giants - "Birdhouse In Your Soul" It was really weird to hear someone use that phrase in a sentence, not relating to that song..

This made me think of a few other weird songs/bands that I used to listen to, like..

The Presidents of the United States of America - "Lump", "Kitty", "Peaches", "Dune Buggy", "Feather Pluckn" [weird songs]..

They Might Be Giants - "Istanbul", "Particle Man"..

Spacehog

Silverchair

POLL: What are some of the weird songs/bands that you used to listen to?

Josiah vs. ice scream?..

2009-03-12T22:19:00.000-07:00

So I came home today and thought, "man I am in the mood for a hot fudge sunday". So I loaded the family into the car and headed to Denney's? Well there really is no good ice cream sunday places around, that I know of.. But we had fun and so did Josiah.. Here are some pictures.

I found this really neat app that make my iphone pics look like Polaroids..

What are your thoughts.. Do you know where a good ice cream place, in Redding, CA is? Another question is what is your favorite dessert?

bandannas and the eatery.

2009-03-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

So I have been wearing a bandanna lately, and I really like it. The reason, is that my hair is getting ridiculously long and thick.. I don't know yet if I am going to continue to grow it out, or call one of the three people that cut my hair..

Which brings me to a thought. I really don't like getting my hair cut. I am not really sure why, but I really feel bad for the people cutting my hair, my usual reaction is that I don't like it.. in reality I do like it, but not for the first day or so. No idea why that is..

I have been spending a lot of time at "The Downtown Eatery".. I really love it here, I like the food, the people, the shows, and the Free Internet. I have been doing a few thing for them, design wise, and soon we will have them printed and you will all be able to take advantage of the great little perks, like drink coupons, lunch deals, and student discounts!. So keep an eye out for them..

Oh, and good news!. We are going to be moving [still in Redding, CA] at the end of the month, finally. Thanks to everyone that prayed for us. We will need help, so I will keep you posted.

free stuff.

2009-03-04T11:47:00.000-08:00

So I was looking around on the internet and I found this blog where this guys has won tons of free stuff. So I pretty intrigued, and started to look around a bit more. I ended up stumbling onto this site called Blingo.. It is a search engine site, sort of like google, except when you use this site you could win prizes!. The blog that I was on has been searching and playing the blingo game for a few years now and has won 140 prizes..

So I thought to myself why don't I give it a shot. Most of the prizes are little like $10 amazon gift cards, and movie tickets, but there are bigger prizes.. $50, $100, and $500 in cash. And even bigger prizes like cars, tv's and computers. So I know that it sounds a little sketchy, but it is owned and operated by publishers clearing house.

The coolest thing is that if you sign up under me, I win the prize that you win, and if you can others to sign under you.. You win what they win, and so do I..

So let's start winning..

You can get started by clicking this button.

new place to live.

2009-02-25T12:12:00.000-08:00

So we have been kind of looking around for a new place to live for about 6 months or so, but now we are ready to move.. So I am asking anyone who might know of a place available, to let us know.. We are looking for a three bedroom, or a two bedroom with a den or something like that.. So if you see or hear of anything..

Life.. Group?

2009-02-04T15:37:00.000-08:00

Ok. So last night at life group we talked about a lot of things, but one thing that we really discussed is this idea that God wants us to work together to accomplish His goal. Christian talked a bit about the tower of babel in his blog a little bit ago.. In this story God is reinstating his plan of having us cover, spread out "be fruitful and multiply".. Some of you have no idea what I am talking about, and all I can say is get into a life group.. Start living this stuff out with other people..

Anyhoo.. back to what I was talking about. We started asking about the differences in other churches, and what is the common ground between them. This got me thinking about why we care so much about others and why we think that our way is better than others.. I made a comment last night that, we all just need to learn how to submit and follow. Why do we have such a hard time doing that? Then I thought that if we were busy doing something then we wouldn't have time to look around and criticize people for what they are doing.. I heard somewhere that there is no spiritual gift of criticism, it is a natural gift.

I don't really have any answers, just thoughts.. I am really starting to learn to see past myself and to be able to swallow my pride and encourage other people in what they are doing.. even if I don't agree with it.

I have a dream that some of us will be able to see that the Christ in us, is the same as the Christ in others..

Any thoughts?.

Poll: What is God teaching you today? In your Life group? In your marriage?

board games.

2009-01-28T12:01:00.000-08:00

My favorite board game right now is, yep you guessed it.. Settlers of Catan. Yeah this game has changed my life. I had heard about it a while ago and that people had been playing it, but I was not really interested.. All I have to say it that you really need to play it before you pass judgment on it.

I love it, it is fun and addictive.. and I think that we are going to try and play at least once a week, so let me know if you want to play, I am sure there will be a game going on, if not two, somewhere..

our trip to Ohio.

2009-01-27T11:36:00.000-08:00

So as some of you know, we took a trip to Ohio last week and spent some time with my family.. It was cold and wet, but it was a lot of fun.. I took a lot of pictures.. I like to tell a story with pictures rather than words..

The first leg of our trip was to the the airport.. We flew out of San Francisco into Cleveland, and then down to Dayton.. We then drove to Cincinnati.. [click on the photo to see more]

After we got off the plane we really hungry and so we stopped at Steak n' Shake.. The food is really good, the shakes are better, but the portions and prices are awful.. [click on the photo to see more]

The next night we went to one of the best pizza places in Cincinnati, LaRosa's.. It is so good.. They have a deep dish or pan pizza that is amazing.. [click on the photo to see more]

After pizza we hung out at my grandma's place.. She has this ceramic leopard statue that Josiah really loved.. [click on the photo to see more]

In the morning we headed to the Union Terminal.. It is an old train station that has been turned into a museum, and it also has an Onimax theater in it (sort of like an iMax).. [click on the photo to see more]

Later that day I had a chance to hang out with some good friends (Jeff, and Darren) we played some music talked a bit, and just plan had a good time together. That night we went to seriously one of my favorite restaurants in Cincinnati, OH. Skyline.. I mean I love this place, it is chili like you have never had chili.. Here in Redding, CA we have some of the seasoning packets, and we try and make it as close as we can, but it is just not the same.. (If you would like to try the Redding-Hardy's version, give us a call sometime).. [click on the photo to see more]

The next morning we had a chance to go to my old church and see what changes have been made, the biggest change is that they now have a healing center, it is not what you would think of when you hear it.. What they do is help people who need help, single moms, kids, and so on.. They collect donations and give away services like oil changes and what not.. They also have, in the same building a Jr. High school.. Good stuff!

After the service we went to a place called Kabuto. This place had a hibachi grill as well as a sushi bar.. What the heck! It was really good and really good priced.. [click on the photo to see more]

After lunch we had a small get together with my family, and it was also my grandma's birthday. Josiah was, of course, the center of attention, but he had some competition with my cousin's little boy Carson (named after the famous Carson Palmer).. [click on the photo to see more]

Later in the week we went to the Cincinnati Art Museum it was a lot of fun and a lot of art.. [click on the photo to see more]
One of the last stops on our trip was to my brother Chris' house.. Josiah met his cousin Jacob and had a blast destroying the house together.. [click on the photo to see more]

All in all it was a good time and it was great getting to show Bethany and Josiah a little more of where I grew up.. It was really cold though and I am kind of glad to be back in California..

the Stirring.

2009-01-27T11:28:00.000-08:00

Like I said I have some catching up to do here.. This group of photos is just me playing with my camera trying to get the lighting right.

I love my church family. I love what God is doing at the Stirring and I am glad that I am here.. Here are some photos of one of the nights. [click on the photo to see more]

I love taking pictures of Josiah, he is super photogenic.. Here are some photos of us just hanging around the house.. [click on the photo to see more]

game night.

2009-01-27T11:05:00.000-08:00

So it has been a while since I have written anything on here, well I am about to remedy that with like 3 or 4 posts in a row.. So here we go.

Well I bought a new lens and a flash for my camera a while back and so I have been taking a lot of pictures [which can be seen on my flickr page].. A little bit ago we had a friend from the recent past stop by and stay the night.. I took some pictures. [click on the photo to see more]

Also that same night we had a game night and invited a few people over to play, I want to start doing this more often.. Not only is it super entertaining to watch people make fools of themselves, but it is great to just hang with good friends. [click on the photo to see more]

P.S.
A few of us have been getting together and playing this really addictive game called Settlers of Catan, it is sort of like Risk, except a lot easier to play and more fun I think.. If you want to get in on this, just let me know.

his first scarf, his second Christmas..

2008-12-24T23:17:00.000-08:00

So it is that time of year again, time for the home projects and decorations.. Well, we don't really do those things around here.. I have, however, been able to learn how to crochet a little bit.. So here is it, Josiah's first scarf..

He loves it.. He has always loved my scarf and I really wanted to make him one of his own, and he just lit up when I gave it to him..

Also, my mom sent some gifts for Josiah which again made our little Christmas look a little bigger..

It is a good thing that she has decided to do this these last few years, because Bethany and I probably won't be the ones to get him tons of gifts on Christmas..

So I hope that you all have a great time with your friends and family!.

working..

2008-12-23T11:35:00.000-08:00

So the last few weeks have been a bit crazy.. but finally things are sort of slowing down. I have been pushing myself to get things down for so long that I forgot what it is like to go at a slower pace.. I want to get used to this.

The other day I was hanging out with my wife and son and just enjoying their company.. I love my family. Bethany and I have been having a hard time these last few weeks, and then last night we had a sort of epiphany.. Things are going a little better now, but we could always use prayer.. This Christmas, for us, is going to be quiet and small.. Just us, and maybe a present or two, but that is it.. I am looking forward to that.

I hope that everyone has a great holiday season and hopefully people remember why we are celebrating and getting together with family.. This is the day (or around the time) that JESUS was born!..

So have a very Happy Christmas!.

P.S.
If you are in Redding, CA come to the Cascade Theatre Christmas Eve @ 5pm or 7pm.. See you there.

four years ago.

2008-12-17T16:31:00.000-08:00

Four years ago I said I do.. It was a small ceremony, but it was a huge step of faith.. God has been so good to us.. I can't even begin to unpack the many many things that we have been through and the things that God has done in these last four years.. We are so grateful for the many people in our lives, friends and family, who have helped us get to where we are today.. Thanks to you all.

I love my wife, and I love our son.. We are so excited to be able to live and grow together.. I was just laying in bed with Josiah the other day trying to get him to sleep and thinking about what a blessing it is to have him as a part of our lives..

God, I thank you for allowing me to be a part of Bethany's life and I pray that you would just protect our relationship.. Help us to make more time for each other and for you.. I pray that you would be the center of our marriage and we thank you that you have been for these last four years.. Amen..

Randy Miller.

2008-11-25T11:22:00.000-08:00

So of you may already know, but for those who don't, watch this video.. Afterward go to this site and then give whatever you can, prayer, money, encouragement.. Thanks.

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
- Matthew 19:26

i need to blog more.

2008-11-12T22:55:00.000-08:00

Wow, I have been hearing this a lot as of late.. Well, there is a new series coming up called "Simple".. I am ready for it.. Things in my life need to be more simple. Today was a great example of the way things have been going lately. It starts out by me having a few things to do for the whole day and then ends with me doing a dozen more things and feeling exhausted at the end of the day..

Weird it never starts that way..

On an entirely different note, I am leading worship this Sunday for the Stirring at the Eureka Way campus.. I am totally stoked, and I have been thinking about doing a few songs that we haven't done in a while. It is going to be fun, God will be there.. Environment..

For the last few years I have really been able to say, I love what God is doing in my church community.. Have you been able to say that?

I just want to say, in case you didn't already know, God has something big in store for those who really want to seek his face.. I love Jeremiah 29:11-13

11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Let's start seeking God out.. He is waiting for us to find him and listen.

Poll: When was the last time that you have found yourself not busy.?

scarves and sweaters.

2008-11-06T09:40:00.000-08:00

Yep. It is that time or year again.. Time to break out the winter wear, the sweaters, the scarves, the beanies, the blazers with the zip-up hoodies underneath.. You know what I am talking about.

I love this time of the year, in fact, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday [turkey, pumpkin pie, family.. what more could you want..]. It is kind of weird here in Redding, CA when it comes to fall and winter. The thing is, it like never snows, it rains a lot, and it is usually warmer longer.. I am just not used to that, but at least it is not slushy like in Cincinnati, OH.

Anyhoo.. I just wanted to let the world know that I am ready for the colder weather!

Poll: Who else out there is ready for the cold? What is your favorite holiday?

Voting..

2008-10-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

I found this make your own poster and thought that it would be a good picture for this post..

So this weekend at the Stirring we are going to be talking about the political elephant.. This topic is really hard for me.. I have never really been into politics, like at all. When it comes to what is going on in and around the White House I have no clue what to talk about. I have never really been involved in intelligent conversations about this either.. When it comes down to it, I really don't want to know anything. I think that we get into too many arguments about things that don't really mater, and to me politics is just one more of those in my life.

I know that there are really passionate people out there that really are on top of things and have really intelligent things to say about the issues, but I just can't get excited about politics.. I love to talk about what God is doing in people's lives, and in my own.. I love to talk about what is going on it the world as well, but i just can't speak intellectually about political issues.

I say all this, not just to start up a conversation, but to let you know that just because I am not going to vote doesn't mean that I will not support whoever is elected. I, by giving up my right to choose, am giving up my right to be angry..

I have always been a huge advocate for praying for our leaders, and people in power.. I know that it must be really hard to be in their position [constantly under the microscope]. Also, they may make mistakes, but they are still human like you and I, and will not be perfect [no matter what we think].. This can be applied to our pastors, teachers, and principals as well.

So as you head to the voting poles please keep in mind, no matter what happens, that the person that you don't like could be elected and think about how you will respond when that happens.. Will you be like the rest of the world and complain and argue [kill] that person, or will you respect, support and pray for that person..

Poll: Who is/isn't voting, why?

worship.

2008-10-26T23:52:00.000-07:00

So I got a chance to lead worship tonight for the first time in about a year. It felt good to be back doing it again.. I have always loved the idea and the practice of worship.

My set:

• Your Love is Everything
• Sing My Love
• From the Inside Out
• Beautiful
• Everything

It was a good night, kind of a long crazy weekend [driving, wedding, driving, in-laws, driving, leading worship] but I really enjoyed it.. I really like what Nate said too about the whole drinking thing.. [if you were not there the podcast should be up soon] It really put the responsibility/decision on us. This particular area doesn't really apply to me, but you can take the same principle and use it in other situations as well.

Poll: What did you think about the night.?

Rhythm..

2008-10-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

So lately I have sort of created a weekly rhythm.. It looks a little like this.

Monday: "Family day/Sabbath" - run errands, hang with family, hang with God, play guitar, life group.

Tuesday: "Staff day" - Start with time with God, then a work meeting at YAKS on bechelli, and then [depending on the mood of the rest of the staff] a meeting either at the same place or at the Downtown Eatery, go home. [family • food • sleep]

Wednesday: "Work day" - Meet with God, work from home for a bit, meeting at Simpson YAKS, work from Simpson, go home. [family • food • sleep]

Thursday: "Work day" - Meetings at Starbucks, time with God, meetings at Simpson YAKS, go home. [family • food • sleep]

Friday: "real Work day" - Start with meeting God, then off to Starbucks or the Stirring office, and where ever I end up I work all day, go home, date night. [sleep]

Saturday: "Family day/Sabbath/catch-up Work day" - Pretty much do either of those things..

Sunday: "Church day" - Start with the Stirring at the new campus across town, and then grab a quick bite and head to the other Stirring campus, go home. [family • food • sleep]

I have learned how to schedule my meetings so that I know where I will be and when.. I also share my calendar with Bethany so that we know what is going on in each others lives. [it is pretty easy, if you would like me to help you with this, let me know] I am trying to create more margin in my life for things to still get done, at the same time have room for the unexpected..

Bethany and I also want to start having people over/go to other peoples houses once a week.. So let us know if you want to do that.

Design 101..

2008-10-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

I have had so many people ask me how to do certain things that I do, like.. How to create a web page, or how to find and or create photoshop brushes, or where to get fonts, or how to edit photos.. Well I think that soon I am going to have a blog on my web page where I answer such questions, and may have some video tutorials.. I will have to see how popular it will be, to know how much time I will want to spend on it.. I will keep you all posted.

Poll: How many of you would look at a blog like this.? What kinds of questions do you have that you would like to have answered.?

my life.. busy..

2008-10-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

I have been really busy lately, but I am really excited about the new work that I have been doing.. Over the next few months I will have some updates along the way.

Here are some of the things that I just finished..

This is a club card flier that I did for an amazing artist that I just met..

This is his website, for right now it is just the coming soon page, but hopefully soon.. I will have a sweet site up..

Poll: What have you been up to lately..?

Josiah's Sugar Rush..

2008-10-08T11:58:00.000-07:00

So lately I have been a bit busy, and I can't apologize for not blogging..
I have been getting more jobs, I have been meeting with more people, I have been trying to get ready for the Stirring church plant [I can't believe that after several years of talking about this we are actually doing it, this weekend.. crazy!], and we also had Josiah's 1st birthday party, some of you were there, and we really appreciated your company.. Here are some pictures of Josiah eating a cupcake.
The funny thing is that Bethany had to show him that he could eat it, before she did he was just smashing it in between his fingers and throwing it.. Afterward we had to hose him off in the water fountain..

God is good, We have been asking God for some things lately and he has been providing them for us.. The next thing that we need is a new place to live. We need a 3 bedroom place..

Josiah's 1st Birthday Party..

2008-09-26T15:36:00.001-07:00

So for allzz youzallzz that don't know.. Josiah is turning one on Tuesday, so we are going to be having a little shindig for him on Saturday the 27th [tomorrow].. All of you are welcome to come.. We will be at Enterprise park [close to the disc golf course, hopefully. We really won't know until we get there.] @ 2pm.. We are going to have two cornhole sets there [so there will be fun] as well as a pinata and some cake.. We are asking that you bring your own meat to cook, and a side to share if you can.. I don't really know what I am doing around a grill, so if someone would like to help me, that would be great. We are going to be getting there around 1:30pm or so.. It should be fun, and I am sure that Josiah will not forget if you don't show up.. See you there.

Josiah.. is walking.

2008-09-19T22:46:00.000-07:00

Some of you know, but for those that don't.. Josiah is walking now. Here is a great video that my wife shot yesterday.

free internet at Starbucks.

2008-09-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, So I have told a few of you, but I wanted to let the rest know.. The other day I was at Starbucks talking with one of the Barista's there and they told me that if you register your Starbucks gift card you can get some free stuff.. And one of those things is free internet [there are limits, like I think it is only for two hours at a time, but hey.. So check it out.. www.starbucks.com.. All you have to do to keep it active is use your card once a month. Pretty sweet, I know it is helpful to me.. because I need to get out of my stuffy home office once in a while.

John & Nessa

2008-09-08T02:08:00.001-07:00

I have kind of decided that I want to be able to shoot some family photos, engagement photos, maybe wedding photos, and the such.. for people that I know.. and also people that I can get to know..
I bought a camera a while back, and have been using it for different things here and there mostly for web stuff and personal family stuff.. But now I am venturing off into unknown territory.. I don't 100% know what I am doing yet, but I want to learn, and grow in this area [I also want to try and teach Bethany to do some shooting as well..] All that to say, if you are a family or an engaged couple, or just need pictures for something.. Please talk to me.. Like I said, at this point I am just growing and learning, so my rates are pretty negotiable..

So this past week I got a chance to take some pictures for John and Nessa.. They will be getting married this winter. It was fun taking their pictures, but it was really hot. If you look at the sweat beads on John's head you can see what I am talking about.. So I definitely learned a few things in this shoot:

1. Don't schedule a photo shoot in the middle of the day in the summer.
2. Don't shoot photos under the shade of the trees [it cast weird shadows, mostly uneven..]
3. Don't stand in the Sacramento river and shoot [the water is really, really cold]..

Here are some of my favorites from the shoot..

Let me know what you think..

God is good.

2008-09-04T23:12:00.000-07:00

Amen!. I could just write that for this blog and be done, but I will expound a bit more.. Although I can't really go into too much detail at this point, hopefully I will be able to soon.. but for now, for the privacy of the people involved, I will just say that God is doing some amazing things right now in my life. I have had a crazy couple of days, and I just wanted to stop and give a "shout out" [that was for you Nate] to God.. Thank you for allowing me to see and go through the stuff that you have me go through..

We are going to be planting a church soon, and we need some money and all other kinds of support.. There are a few of us leaders that have pretty much taken on the world in order to get this thing off the ground, so if you could just pray for us as a staff that would be awesome.. Also we have a group of people that we are calling the "launch team" [we couldn't find a better name, maybe the "blue team"..] that are really excited and willing to do anything to help. I just want to say thank you to all that are putting time and effort in to this.. I believe that this is what God has us on the earth for, planting churches and growing leaders.. I live to teach people how to worship, and these are we I believe two great ways.

We are starting a new series this week called "we love. we make disciples." that is what I want to do.. come hang out for the next few weeks and listen to what God is calling you to give your life to.

reflections.

2008-08-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

So lately Bethany and I have felt a little like we are stuck, in life right now.. I don't know if it is just a feeling, or a reality..

I know that for me I grew up in Cincinnati, OH my whole life and then moved out to CA in the fall of 2003.

Cincinnati is a place that you settle down have a house, get married, and have kids.. but rarely do you ever leave. It is really family oriented, and very very conservative and traditional.. California is a little different, at least for me.. Ever sense I moved out here I have been on the move. I went to school for a year in Redding, and then lived in the Yosemite valley area for almost a month. I then moved to San Diego for the summer for an internship at a church down there.. After the summer I moved up to the San Francisco bay area, kind of looking for direction.. A few months later, I moved back to Redding and have been here ever sense [almost 4 yrs.]..

Bethany has a similar moving story. From Michigan to China to San Francisco to Kyrgyzstan back to San Francisco to Redding to San Diego to Redding again..

So we both have been very mobile, especially in the last few years..

As of now we have been married for almost four years [December 17th].. and have been in the same apartment that whole time. Which would be fine, but we live in a 2 bedroom apartment that holds me Bethany, our son Josiah and my home office.. The neighbors are loud at night, and kids are up way too late into the night. Police are always in our neighborhood [which is good and bad] and lately there have been a few domestic disturbances.

We know that we need to get out of our apartment as soon as we can. We don't know where we are supposed to go, at this point, though.. Please pray for us in this!.

Eugene..

2008-08-22T00:22:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we left Seattle, and headed for home.. On the way we stopped and visited our friends Lacy and Jesse. They live in Eugene, OR and we thought that it would be great to see them as well as not drive the whole way home.

Bethany first met Lacy her first year at Simpson, and then introduced me to her soon after that. We also went to their wedding in Grant's Pass where I met Jesse..

They were super cool!. They cooked us dinner, we played video games, ate milkshakes, and watched the Olympics.. It was a good time.

They also have a son named Byron, and he is about 17mo. Josiah had a good time hanging with him, and Byron did a good job showing Josiah all of his toys and games..

After our time there, we packed up the car and headed home.. and 5 hours, or so later we were home. and then we left again.. We knew that it would be like this, but Bethany planned an event for tonight. It was fun and there were a lot of different desserts.. I also beat Aaron in a game of horse, but Kristen beat both me and Aaron.. Awesome.. Good times.

All in all it was a good trip and we appreciate all the prayer and support. Thanks to everyone that got me either numbers, or a place to stay, or gave ideas as to what to do.. We really appreciated all of that.

Now it is time to process everything that happened and try and recover before Sunday night..

Seattle.. day 2.

2008-08-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

**Sorry for posting pictures so late**

So today was a day of finallys. We final found this park called "Kerry Park", we finally got a chance to go to the troll bridge and get a picture, and it finally stopped raining..

So the first thing we did today was go to "Kerry Park".. This is a park just up the street from where we are staying, and it has an amazing view of the downtown Seattle area.. I took some pictures and we headed out..

This picture was taken by me and the camera was set on a timer.. So after several times of me running back and forth and restarting the timer, someone asks me, "Do you want me to take your picture for you?" to which I responded, "No, I like doing it this way?". I don't really know what I was trying to say, but that worked..

After we hung out at the look out area, we headed down these stairs and found this amazingly weird playground..

All the things for the kids to play on were not normal playground stuff. They did have a rock climbing wall and some great slides. We played for a while and Josiah had some fun..

After playing, we headed back up the stairs, got back in the car and drove to the troll bridge.. I not sure exactly what it is called, but it is the famous sculpture of a giant troll under this bridge, and in his left hand there is an old style bug cemented into the thing.

The plaque said that it was an art project that they voted on and this won. There was a lot of people that helped and some funding as well.. Pretty cool.

QUESTION: Can anyone remember what movies this guy has been in?.

Our next destination was to our old friends Eli & Holly's house. They live about 40 minutes away and they also have a kid, so we planned on going over there pretty early in the day and couldn't play much else to do. So we headed to their house, which was in a town/city called Issaquah. We got there and ate some chili, and home made cornbread.. We also got a tour of their amazing house, we met their child Ethan, and their dog Hobie.. We had blackberry cobbler for dessert, and Holly said that the blackberries grow all over the place there, like weeds. It was good food, good times, with good friends..

After that we went back to the house and Josiah fell asleep on my chest, which made me fall asleep for a bit, and then Bethany came in and woke me up.. I got up and wrote this blog.. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of our trip.. Eugene, OR. Until tomorrow..

Seattle.. day 1.

2008-08-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, so day one in Seattle was very typical, rainy.. but it was fun. We started our day with a short walk up the hill to Starbucks.. I had never used one of those hiking backpacks that you put your kids in, but I tried it and I really liked it, and so did Josiah. When we started walking it wasn't that rainy, but then when we got to the Starbucks it was.. and so we just hung out in there for a while till it slowed down a bit.. After that we headed back down the hill, and Josiah had fallen asleep. It was funny though, becuase when I looked back at him his head was missing.. not really, but it totally looked like it was..

After we finished our hike.. We made lunch and waited for Emily Oril to come over, she came down from a town about an hour north of Seattle to hang with us and show us around..

She got there we ate lunch, and we decided to head out. We wanted to take her car so that we could save gas.. So we got all of our stuff packed into her car and then Bethany pointed out that her back right tire was completely flat. So we rolled it down the hill to a level spot in the road and since I was the only guy in our group, I changed the tire..

Once that was taken care of we hopped into our car and headed down the hill to Pike St. where we witnessed the famous throwing of the fish at Pike's Place Fish Co. The stand looks a lot bigger on T.V., but it was fun and the guys were loud.

I tried to catch one of the flying fish, but my camera battery died right after I shot this..

We also got some mini doughnuts, kind of like the ones in San Francisco. This guy was a little crazy, he would kind of put on a show when getting the doughnuts in the bag, and the last one he throws in the air and catches in the bag.. that is what I have circled in the picture below.

This is a pig that is in Pike Place.. I tried to get Josiah to ride it, but he wouldn't.

Bethany totally bundled Josiah up while we were out, it was a little cold..

We visited the first Starbucks ever. It was really crowded and lots of people were just there to see it and not order anything. I wonder how many regulars that store has.?

Sorry, this picture is a little racy.. The original logo was based on the famous painting, and they changed it to something that was green and had to do with Italy, but in the end they combined them and crated the logo that we all see today. That is why it is not brown anymore..

We walked to the end of the market and I took a picture of this totampole. It was pretty hazy all day.. especially down by the bay..

After that experience, we went back to the house.. for two reasons, I forgot to charge my batteries for my camera, and Bethany forgot diapers. So we ended up staying for a bit and hung out with Jon and his daughter Holland..

After we were recharged we decided to go to the fish ladder called "Ballard Locks", and since the tire place was close we took Emily's car to get fixed as well. The locks were pretty neat, basically the boats come in from either the Sound or the other side, and the water is uneven, so they have to get the boats in to the locks and even out the water so that they can they either enter or exit to wherever they are going.. but because of that, they created a fish ladder to help give the fish a chance to survive, and they had a viewing area so that you can see the fish swimming up the ladder.. It was pretty neat.

Afterward we went back to the tire place and found out that they hadn't even gotten to Emily's car yet, and so we ended up heading out for some dinner. We went to this place called "Tutta Bella".. a Neapolitan Pizzeria. It was good, but a little pricey. The pizza was on a flat bread and there really wasn't much to it at all.. Right after we sat down to eat, Emily got a phone call that her car was done. Weird how that works, now we had to drive all the way back to get her car after we eat..

Here is a crazy wall just down the street from the restaurant with the famous troll drawn on it.. I will get a picture of that troll.. We saw it the first night we were here, but just drove by it.

After getting the car and everything, we said our goodbyes and and headed back to the house for some root beer, cream soda, and cookies.. We watched "The Day After Tomorrow". I had never seen it, and thought that it might be good.. Bethany had seen it, and said that it was good.. I thought that it was ok, and kind of predictable.. Oh well.. Until tomorrow..

Portland.. day 4.

2008-08-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well really this should be called Portland, and then Seattle.. or something, because today we left and headed for Seattle..
This morning we decided to check out Imago Dei church.. I had heard a lot about it, I read "Blue Like Jazz".. and I was intrigued. Though I didn't run into Donald Miller, we still had fun.. The message was pretty powerful. He was talking about the prayers that Jesus prays for us..

After that we headed back tot he place that we were staying, packed our bags and headed to Seattle.. The drive was pretty boring, until we got just outside the city.. We ran into a little traffic, but not too bad. I took some pictures with my laptop camera..

When we arrived at the place where we are staying, it was pretty cool, well really it was still a little warm and humid.. but the people that we are staying with are cool and one of them is an interior designer, so there place looked pretty neat.

Oh I forgot, when we pulled up we went to grab Josiah and found that he had pooped, and it was all over the seat and his clothes.. so we had to pretty much go into the house and give him an emergency bath. After that, we just kind of hung out and unwound a bit.

We then decided that we wanted to go check out Mars Hill and so we found out that it was pretty much down the street and headed there. It was really good.. The church is in a warehouse, and has a really simple yet modern feel to it.. I really thought that this is what the Stirring would look like in a few years.. The kids area was pretty normal, but they give every parent a pager and page them if their kid is melting down.. Of course Josiah was great. The worship music was a little different, they do a lot of there own music. They also did some songs that I recognized, but with their own style to it.. It was good, just different. Pastor Mark was gone, so the normal worship pastor was the one who gave the message, and again it was a good hard message about Jonah and idolatry.. God hates it!.

We left there and headed out for some food, the recommendation that we got was for this Thai place in this little area that reminded me a lot of the San Louis Obisbo area.. I was really good food, and since we really didn't eat much that whole day, we ordered a lot of food. Afterward we walked around for a bit, and for the first time it was pretty cool, weather wise.

Then we came back and ended up watching "Walk the Line" and going to bed.. good day, until tomorrow..

Poll: What is that one movie that you haven't seen that everyone else has, but you just haven't gotten around to it yet?..

Portland.. day 3.

2008-08-16T23:38:00.000-07:00

So today we started off downtown at the Portland Saturday Market.. It was kind of like a big flee market filled with booths of all different kinds of hobby type crafts.. Sort of like a bunch of kids from the same school sat down and decided that they want to have a big festival to showcase their talents. "I can paint", "I can do Caricatures", "I can blow glass", "I can make little outfits for dogs".. Yeah, you can have a booth in the back corner next to the bathrooms..

Also there were a few street performers, kind of like Pier 39 in San Francisco.. There was a guy painted gold, and acting like a robot holding candy.. Yeah, like anyone would walk out to a creepy guy painted like a statue in Michael Jackson's living room and try to take candy out of his hand.. Nice try.

All in all there was a lot of good talent displayed everywhere.. I took a few pictures.

After the market we walked around the downtown area looking for a place to eat.. At one point we stopped and sat down on some stairs in front of a business type building to just rest and eat a little snack that we had packed.. when all the sudden a guy randomly pulled up and yelled out to us, "Hey do you guys want some waters?".. I really didn't hear what he said until after I went over to his car and he pulled out a bottle of water, and two juice boxes from a cooler in his backseat.. and then took off. I came back to Bethany, and handed her the lot, and said, "I think he thought that we were homeless or something" I was embarrassed.. I then said, "Should we give these drinks to some real homeless people?" Bethany responded, "Well I am thirsty"..

We then headed up the street a bit and ended up at Great Harvest Bread Co. We ate some sandwiches and headed out to our next destination.. Powell's.

So we decided to go back to Powell's because it was amazing the first time, and I need to do a little bit of work.. I love free internet. I got some work done, and Bethany took care of Josiah and read a few comic books, and that was most of our afternoon..

After that we were picked up by our old friend Kirstin and whisked away to Beaverton where we ate at an amazing little Italian place called "Nonna emilia bistro". We ordered one veggi style calzone which fed all three of us and Bethany and Kirstin took home left overs, it was huge. The one kind of weird thing about the restaurant was they had this guy walking around playing songs on an accordion.. It wasn't so much that he was just playing this thing, but that he was walking around the restaurant and playing really loud.. well I don't know if you can play the accordion softly, but he sure didn't.. [Just a thought: Nate, you could totally make some extra cash doing this at the Olive Garden.]

After we left there we were driven to an area that resembled Hyde Park in Cincinnati, Ohio.. Seriously, they even had a BW3's..

Anyhoo.. we walked around for a bit and then stopped at a coffee shop called "Bella Espresso" and had gelato and iced coffee.. All around the shop there were amazing hand painted/sculpted pieces of art.. it was like Michelangelo's nephew's first cousin twice removed or something like that..

We talked and hung out for a bit, and then it was time to go back.. good times, old friends, weird crazy people.. that was Portland day 3.. Until tomorrow..

Portland.. day 2.

2008-08-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

So today we decided to head out and take a look at some of the neighborhoods.. We started with Alberta. Someone recommended that we eat at La Bonita, so we tried it.. and we liked it.. good Mexican food for a good price..

Then we traveled down the street a bit, this place is kind of like one of the streets in Berkeley, CA.. There are a lot of little shops and restaurants all along the street. It is also a really long street.

We stopped about half way down at a coffee shop called "Fuel Cafe" and had some coffee. One good thing about Portland is that there are a lot of places that have free internet..It has been a little hard with Josiah crawling now, and the fact that he is a daredevil doesn't help. So we can no longer relax and just have a cup of coffee and read unless he is asleep..

After the coffee shop we walked back down the street to our car and waited for our friend Mary to meet us. It took her like 20 or so minutes, but it seemed like the longest 20 minutes ever.. so hot..

She met us and took us to her house where we stayed for a few hours.. again, people in Portland, OR are not used to the heat so there was no AC.

After we left there we decided that we needed to not be outside for a while, and so we headed to the mall [Loyd Center].. It was a mall like any other mall, with one big difference.. a huge ice skating rink inside.. We walked all over the mall and also sat down a lot, they have a lot of really nice creative setting all around the mall..

We left the mall and headed back to the place that we are staying and did the best thing that you can do it the heat.. cook pizzas. They were good pizzas, we had them last time we ate dinner with the Pecaut's. They are made on pita bread, and cooked in the broiler.. they were good, it was just to hot to use the oven..

After that we sat around and were just really exhausted.. until tomorrow..

Portland.. day 1.

2008-08-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

So today we decided, after a number of different suggestions from our hosts.. to head downtown.. but first we were told to go up to a place called "Rocky Butte". As you can see this place looks out over the entire city, so it's a good place to start or end your trip [those of you taking notes]..
Here in Portland they have this thing kind of like San Francisco's "BART", called "The Max".. We we got to the MAX station, we had no idea what ticket to buy so we got the 2 zone, which i guess means 2 hours.? So we hopped on that and headed downtown.. Well apparently, right now, they are working on the bridge that "The Max" goes over, so we had to get off of that and get onto a shuttle to take us across the river.. Not usually a big deal, but we had to take Josiah in and out of the stroller each time, he did great though, we are blessed thanks for the prayers..

Once we got downtown we had a few destinations in mind, but for the most part we had no idea what we were doing. I think it could have been more fun if we had someone who knew their way around town, to show us around. We still had fun though. So we checked out Powell's City of Books. Just like the name says it was the biggest bookstore I have ever been in.. It literally was an entire block full of books..

Then we ate lunch at a place called "The Roxy". Wow.. This place was pretty colorful. We walked in and found ourselves in the movie "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". Crazy, but it was good food. And the people were really nice. But seriously this place had pictures on the wall from tons of different celebrities all signed to this one transvestite named Suzanne. Also dawning the wall space was a huge crucifix that looked antique with a neon glowing halo.. above the jukebox..

Then on our way back to shuttle we stopped at "Ben & Jerry's" for a little snack.. We come all the way up here to Portland, OR and eat ice cream at a Ben & Jerry's.. I know, we needed a tour guide..

We got across the river, and then as we were getting ready to get another MAX ticket [because the ones we had were expired] one of the lady's with the info jackets on asked us where we were going, and ended up giving us two free tickets.. God is good!.

We ended the day with a trip to Trader Joe's and are now relaxing in the heat of the night.. Serioulsy.. I thought that we left the heat in Redding, CA.. Until tomorrow..

the 7 hour trip that took 10..

2008-08-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

So we left Redding, CA around 1:15pm and ended up in Portland, OR around 11:30pm.. Why did it take that long? you ask.. Well we only stopped a few times for gas and food, but once we got up to a town called Albany we ran into a standstill block of traffic.. For two hours!. At first we had no idea what was happening, so we called Bethany's sister, and she looked it up online.. She said that they had closed off a section of the highway.? I have never heard of that before, but she said it was because there were some grass fires along that part of the road.. She looked and found us an alternative route, which we later took, to get around the traffic.. but we were still about 10 miles or so from any exit.. That was the longest 10 miles ever.. Once we got off the exit, we looked for a place to eat, and there was nothing, so we ended up at Carls Jr. blahh.. Once we got done eating, we got back on the road, took the alternate route, and finally got on our way again.. Crazy..

Once we got to the place we are staying in Portland, we were greeted with open arms, and we already feel welcomed, and excited.. Thanks Mary, and Garrett..

There will deffinatley be pictures, and more adventures, so stay tuned..

Please continue to pray for us.. thanks..

our trip up north.

2008-08-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

Ok.. SO some of you know that we are going to be taking a trip up north, starting today.. We are really excited, and we have never been up past Metford.. Our first stop will be Portland, OR.. I have always wanted to go and visit this city. I have heard a lot about it, and can't wait to see what is going on up there.. We are going to try and visit Donald Miller's church that he talks about in his book, "Blue Like Jazz"..

Our second stop will be Seattle, WA.. I have been hearing about this place, I have seen pictures, and I am ready to see it first hand.. I can't wait to see some of our friends as well..

Please pray for our saftey as we are driving, and pray that we can have a good time away from everything, well sort of.. I am still going to try and get some work done.. Also that Josiah is ok during the car ride.. Thanks.

I am going to bring my camera, so there will be pictures..

Poll: Where is that one place that you have always wanted to go, but haven't had the time/money.?

Whiskey Militia.

2008-08-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

That title sounds like some kind of weird Jackie Chan film from the eighties.. Anyhoo.. I am writing this short blog to talk about something that I have recently discovered, but I guess has been around for a while.. WhiskeyMilitia.com. This is an online clothing store that has mostly skater wear, but also stuff for snowboarding, and surfing.. But the appeal of the site is that they have one item in particular that they super discount, and they place that as the main item when the page loads.. They have that one item on sale until the limited amount of them are sold out, and then that place a new item on sale.. I have some friends that have bought some stuff from here and they were satisfied, so.. check it out..

words..

2008-08-06T03:37:00.000-07:00

I just found this neat website that takes random words and makes them into clouds.. I just chose two scriptures, but you can use pretty much anything.. Pretty neat looking.. [if you don't know what a word cloud is, it is basically a randomized grouping of words that look like a cloud.. but it uses only one instance of a word, and the more that repeating words are happening in your text, the bigger the word will appear..word cloud].. While reading through Ephesians I have really started to see how powerful words are.. They can build up, they can tear down, they can even bring life..

Ephesians 6:10-20

Isaiah 43:1-13

Poll: How many times do you actually think about what you are going to say before you say it.?

Call + Response

2008-07-31T16:53:00.000-07:00

I just watched this trailer for this movie, and I am very intrigued.. It reminded me of something that xxxchurch.com did a while back here in Redding, CA.. Wow.. watch it, see the movie when it come out.. I don't even know what to say.. Wow!.

P.S.
The beginning is a little weird, but watch the whole thing..

the Dark Knight

2008-07-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

So I finally got a chance to see it.. and it was good.. I was really skeptical because there was a ton of hype, but it was all true. The only thing I would say about it is some parts moved kind of slow, and there were a few places in the plot of the movie that I had trouble following, but overall a really good movie. I would totally recommend seeing it if you haven't..

It really made me want to go back and watch the older Batman movies. Maybe not the one with Arnold.. Anyone else want to try and track them down and watch them?

Also the Joker [Heath Ledger] made this movie..

Poll: How many of you saw this movie.? What did you think.?

why i don't have a scooter..

2008-07-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

So last night we went over to Marty and Becky's house for a BBQ.. I brought the Cornhole [6 players, and 30ft of level ground is all you need to play.. just call and invite us.] We played, we had fun.. After it got dark, and the games were put away.. We decided to start riding Marty's scooter around the neighborhood.. Now these are not normal scooters, they are like mini motorcycles, like beefed up mopeds.. Anyhoo.. I decided that I would give it a try.. Well I had sandals on, and I was not wearing a helmet.. very dumb.. So I jumped on it and started riding up the hill, and when I got to the top of the hill I tried to turn around, and didn't really make a wide enough turn.. I got scared and forgot about the brakes, I think that I actually gave it more gas [you know how you do that some times when you want to brake..] I hit the curb and I flew off of the bike.. and the bike landed on me. If I think about what really happened, it was like I sort of fell to the side and the bike fell with me.. Anyway I got a few bruises and some scrapes, but no really damage.. I am very lucky.. I will think twice about doing something like this again.. Here are some pictures of my injuries.. Hip, elbow, hand, leg..

funny stuff.

2008-07-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

I just watched this really funny thing.. Check it out.. wow.. I got the tip from this guy..

Life Group BBQ..

2008-07-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

So last Monday our life group had a little BBQ, or goal was just to have fun, and try and spark conversation with our neighbors.. I think we had fun, and we did get to talk to a few neighbors.. and of course we had the cornhole set out and we played until the sun went down.. Here are a few pictures, and you can see more on my flickr page.. Let me know what you think..

P.S.
If you have a backyard, and maybe a pool or BBQ, we can bring the fun [cornhole]..

theLains

2008-07-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

So the Lain's were in town this last week and I took a few pics of them, let me know what you think.. This family is going to be heading to Mongolia to be missionaries for the next few years. You can read more about it on their blog.. Please pray for them.

my bride.

2008-07-09T23:28:00.000-07:00

So today is Bethany's birthday, she is turning 27.. I can't believe that I came out to California almost 5 years ago, and met this amazing woman of God.. It feels like we have known each other forever, and I can't even think of life without her.. I love her, I care about her, I need her.. If you don't know her, do yourself a favor and get to know her.. She is great with kids, she loves people, and she is an amazing wife.. I love the way that she cares so much for our son Josiah, and how much she cares about me too.. I just wanted to let the world know that I thank God daily that he brought me into Bethany's life.. I love you babe..

We went to dinner at the River's resturant, it was good, I am not one for fancy type places though.. Bethany ordered the Swordfish, and I got a Kobe beef cheeseburger.. And for her

birthday that gave her this crazy smoking ice cream dessert.. Fun stuff..

I also got her the once soundtrack.. Great movies as well..

P.S. I put a card on Bethany's blog, that you all can go and sign.. here!!

It has begun..

2008-07-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

Well for years now I have wanted to get this game out to the west, and now, thanks to this guy, I finally had a chance to create a set and get people playing.. I would like to introduce everyone to CORNHOLE.. It is called that because you take a small bag filled with corn and throw it through a 6" hole cut out of a board.. It is a very fun game, and very addicting.. I will have my set created on Monday and I will start to spread the addiction soon.. BBQs, swim parties, days at the park.. Where ever there is a level stretch of about 30' or so, you will see this game wherever I am..

Trust me, we were hanging out with this guys family for the 4th of July weekend, and introduced this game to them, and they not only loved it, but became very competitive and a little rowdy..

revamp..

2008-07-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more versions of some of the pictures I took..

Let me know what you think..
As soon as it clears up a bit we are going to be taking some family photos as well..

the Green Lantern.?

2008-07-01T10:01:00.000-07:00

So I took this quiz, and this was the result..

You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern		80%
Superman		70%
Hulk		65%
The Flash		65%
Spider-Man		55%
Catwoman		55%
Wonder Woman		52%
Iron Man		50%
Supergirl		47%
Batman		40%
Robin		40%

Hot-headed. You have strong
will power and a good imagination.

Take the "Superhero Quiz" here..

Yeah, not quite sure what that means..
What does the Green Lantern even do.? Anybody.?

the next blog.

2008-06-30T04:58:00.000-07:00

Ok so here they are..

I value your opinion, so speak clear. thanks..

Josiah.. is teething..

2008-06-30T04:41:00.000-07:00

So Josiah is teething, and we are not sleeping.. Here are some photos that I took and edited.. I am still experimenting a bit.. let me know what you think..

These are the tame ones.. Then next blog will have a little more craziness..

changes.

2008-06-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

Ok.. So I don't usually blog much, but when I do i have something to share, and most of the time it is a picture or a thought.. well today it is a couple of pictures. I have been sort of busy with work, i will post some results soon.. i hope.

So I have been working on my website for a bit and I had Bethany take a picture to put in the about section.. So go check out the changes, and I should have a few more things to be adding soon, like wallpapers, and brushes..

Last night I was messing around with lightroom, and created a few photos of Josiah.. [you can click on the image to get the bigger version.. Mom]

Two totally different feels.. Let me know what you think..

new music.. sort of..

2008-06-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

ok.. so i found this website called outof5.com and on there they have 10 new songs available for download every week.. pretty cool.! the way it works is kind of like High Fidelity, if you haven't seen this movie you need to.. anyway, it is like these ten people pick their favorite song according to the theme for the week.. and then from their choices they create a mix from those, and make it available for download EVERY WEEK.. Pretty cool.. Check it out for yourself..

POLL: what are your top five most listened to songs of 2008..?

background.

2008-06-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

So I have been real busy lately and have not been able to blog about stuff.. but I have a few things that I want to write about, and they will come soon, but for now. here is a desktop background that I created the other day..

[if you click on it you can see it full-screen, and save it as your desktop, if you would like]..

I hope you like it..

new look.. but for how long..?

2008-06-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

So I have changed the look of this blog, and I hope to change it even more.. It is fun to do, but there is also a purpose.. I am just testing the limits as to what blogger will allow me to do.. We shall see in the next weeks, how far that is..

Feel free to comment on the new look..

the first of the firsts.

2008-05-19T23:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a short video of Josiah crawling.. There is a longer one on the youtube site..

We are going to be heading down to Del Mar for Spirit West Coast this week, for the Myriad.. I hope that Josiah is ok in the car for 7-8hrs.. Please pray.. We should have lots of stories for you.. keep looking back..

much.

2008-05-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

during the service Sunday night I wrote this short simple poem.. we were talking about; Justice, Charity, Oppression, and Salvation.. to give you a reference..

Much
i have much
i have some..

i need much
i need some..

i waste much
i waste none..

i eat much
i eat none..

Poll: What ways can you think to cut back in order to help fight for those who can't..?

we need a new car.

2008-05-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

So on Wednesday of last week, Bethany and I went to Applebee's.. and as we left our car ['96 volkswagon Jetta] the alarm went out for no reason. We thought nothing of it, because we had been having lots of problems with the electrical parts of this car [door locks, windows and air bags, not working. It also needs a new clutch]..

Then yesterday we had this guy over for dinner, my wife is an amazing cook.. After dinner I got this great idea to go out and get some ice cream, actually a chocolate milk shake. Bethany suggested Loard's Ice Cream over off of Athens, but it was closed.. So we headed to a place we knew would be open, Baskin Robins.

Let me just say, I really don't like ice cream that much, because when I lived in Ohio I had a friend that worked at an amazing ice cream shop called "Graeters" Oprah mentioned it as one of her favorite ice creams. Anyhoo.. you know how it is when friends work at a place like that, I had so much ice cream that I kind of lost interest in it..

Ok back to the story.. when we left Baskin Robins I unlocked the doors like normal, and Bethany open one of them and the alarm went off.. I then ran across to the other side to quickly disable the alarm. We then tried it again.. it didn't work.. and again, and again.. I tried to see if there was a fuse that I could pull, nothing. I tried starting the car with the door open, and that didn't work.. At this point we were kind of stuck.. There was nothing we could do. Then a thought popped into my head, "what if we tried starting the car while the key in the passenger side door was in the unlocked position.?" Voila, it worked, but to be sure I had to ask this guy to key the key in the whole way home.. Thanks again, by the way..

I got home and called anyone I knew about the car, and I got about the same response.. I called the dealership, and they said that I need to have it towed in [to Chico], and that it would cost about $360 to get it fixed..

So we are still going to be calling repair shops around town, but we have to wait until Monday.

We had been talking about needing a new car anyway [probably not a volkswagon], so this is, I guess, a forced issue now.. We don't have the money, and we are not very experienced in buying/selling cars, so if you have any advice, we would love to hear it..

Please pray, and if you could help out with a ride here/there that would be great.

Thanks for reading.

B-T-W.. The picture of the car is not really our car, but I thought that it captured the point of this blog.

myriad site.

2008-05-02T16:37:00.000-07:00

Some of you know, others have wondered.. what have I been doing this last few weeks/months.. Well, I have been working on this, and I think that the first stage is complete.. Thanks to some help from some people..

Go check out the page, and tell me what you think..

Also don't forget to comment on the Myriad's blog.. Encourage them, laugh at/with them, or just say hi..

Poll: If you had more free time, what would you do with it.?

Cool video.

2008-05-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

So.. I just watched this really cool video on this guys blog.. If you have a second check it out.. Oh the title of the song is, "Easy/Lucky/Free".. by Bright Eyes.

a daddy moment.

2008-05-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

Ok. So last night was really hard for some reason.. Josiah, [if you don't know who this is, you must be new, but you can see pictures and read stories, either on this blog, or my wife's].. was a little sick and possibly cutting more teeth.. So he was a little cranky. Bethany had to get up quite a few more times than normal, and was really tired.. After a few minutes of silence, Josiah started screaming and wouldn't let up.. Bethany, really frustrated, said "just leave him, he will fall asleep".. I couldn't really listen to him cry much longer, so i decided to get up and take him into the living room where I would just let him fall asleep on me.. and that is exactly what he did..

I was just sitting on the couch holding my son and watching him sleep, and even though my neck was a little sore from looking down at him, I really just had a moment with my son.. I just looked at his little feet, and hands [he sleeps with his hands next to his face]..

So this blog is for the Father's out there.. Spend time with your kids.. Enjoy what God has given us.. Kids grow up fast and we shouldn't miss a moment with them.. Keep being great fathers..

And mom's we love the way that you take care of our kids, and how much you love and spend time with them.. Please don't stop!. But again, relish the moments that you have with them..

Thanks,

What are some great moments that you have had with your kids.?

film.

2008-05-01T11:55:00.000-07:00

This is the film from Erase the Dark.. A music, art and film festival that we put together to raise money for a school in our community.. I waited to post it because I wasn't sure if we were going to show it on a Sunday night, we still might.. So enjoy.

just another saturday..

2008-04-19T11:49:00.001-07:00

So Walgreens is having a sale, today is the last day, 33% off your entire photo purchase order.. the coupon code is ACTION.. Anyway.. it is good for us, because we have been needing to get some of Josiah's pictures developed for our picture albums.. I also did a few artistic ones.. Here is one of them..

Poll: What did you do this Saturday.? Anything exciting.?

Photos for sale.. well sort of.

2008-04-14T00:24:00.000-07:00

Ok.. So the erase the dark was an amazing success. We raised a bunch of money. We also had a ton of artist that were able to donate time/effort to the night.. Thanks to everyone that was a part of the event..

I also heard from a lot of people that they really like my photos, so I have decided to sell the ones that I put into the auction, for just the price of the printing, the frame, and a little of my time and effort.. The pictures are below, just let me know if and which one(s) you would like to buy, and I will let you know how much.. Basically, it just depends on the size that you want..

Fence Post

Wall

Fence

Building

Thanks,

too.. busy..

2008-04-03T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hey, sorry I haven't blogged in a while.. but my birthday is this Sunday.. the 6th and because of the women's retreat, and Erase the Dark.. I am going to be having a b-lated birthday party at John Miller's house on the 12th.. [Next Saturday] at 2:00pm.. {There will be blood...} Not really, but we will be playing the Wii.. possibly some bowling, and maybe some Tiger Woods.. If you are around and would like to come, I can give you more details, or you can talk to Bethany..

Thanks,

Oh.. I am turning 28.. what the heck.!

a quick blog on Easter.

2008-03-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

I am just getting ready for church tonight, and snap a few pictures.. For some reason Josiah is just not expressive at all in them.. It may be because he doesn't really know what today is about... all he sees are these weird baskets, with random brightly colored things in them.. and eggs with no gooey stuff in it when it is opened..

Hopefully tonight Jesus will show up, and he will get excited.. I know I am..!

poll: what is your favorite part about the Easter holiday..?

wesley jensen and friends.

2008-03-20T03:17:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to give Wes and friends some love.. I took some pictures of them at the Myriad show.. yes they were there too.. the lighting was really weird, like red and pink.. so i did some editing.. again. your thoughts..?

more myriad pictures.

2008-03-20T03:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from the myriad show.. some are edited, and some are not.. let me know what you think..

what's new.? ... nothing..

2008-03-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

I think that we have hit a wall as far as music goes... I just saw this on a friends blog, it is pretty funny.. and kind of cool.. check it out..

the myriad show.

2008-03-17T00:20:00.000-07:00

So I went to the Myriad and Wes Jensen show this weekend and it was amazing.. It totally sold out and I had a lot of fun.. I got to take some pictures, and a lot of them turned out pretty good.. Here is one of my favorites.. I may post some more later.. Let me know what you think about this..

Something else I did this last week is launch the new Myriad site.. It is still sort of a work in progress, but everything should be working.. I will be adding a blog and something special that you will just have to check back and see.. Go check it out and let me know what you think...

I hope to be able to make more space in my life to do what love to do.. So you may be seeing stuff on here like more photos, poems, stories, music, and videos...

my new mac..

2008-03-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

So.. as I told you i have been having trouble with my computers, well this week I got the new hard drive for Bethany's computer and that was all it took to fix it.. as for mine, i still haven't heard what was wrong with it.. But after a long time of thinking.. I decided to upgrade.. I now have the new MacBook Pro.. This is going to be great for work, and when I have to travel.. I am super excited.. I will also be able to do some work outside of the home office... Sometimes it gets a little stuffy being in the house all day.. So good things..

I have also been getting a few more jobs for my business, and have been more busy as well.. Please pray that God continues to grow my business, so that I can be less busy and be able to do more for the Kingdom..

Poll: How many of you own macs...? Shout out..

breaking the blog silence.. momentarily.

2008-03-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

sorry for not blogging... but I have some serious issues right now. Mostly with Apple.. Yes, after almost 3 lovely years with them.. I have had some many problems in the last few months with not one, but both of my laptops [one is my wife's].. So tomorrow I will be sending my powerbook G4 to a guy and I hope that it comes back fixed, and won't cost too much. As for my wife's MacBook I ordered a new hard drive and some more RAM that should do the trick..

I should start a discussion called "things that people should tell you before you buy something.." maybe come up with a shorter name though..

Here are a few things..

1. Most cell phone batteries are not supposed to last more than a year.. [Bethany figured this out] thanks for the heads up Verizon..

2. Most hard drives are not supposed to last more than a year and a half.. [Once again Bethany figured this out].. thanks apple.

3. Sometimes if you have a laptop for years and there doesn't seem to be any problems with it.. it might not turn on after you turn it off.. [Yep that is what happened to me]

These are just a few things that everyone may need to know before they purchase something of value.. One more thing is I think everyone should buy apple care for their computers if they want any help from apple..

Thanks for reading.. I don't know when I will have time to post again, but when and if I do... I have some pictures from a trip that I took to San Francisco that I will put on here.

Talk to you soon..

Poll: What frustrations are you dealing with at the moment..? or What is something that you wished that someone told you before you purchased something.?

a liter of cola.. fun, fun stuff.

2008-02-24T14:04:00.000-08:00

So we have already come back from the C3 conference in Texas, and it was pretty sweet.. but I still wanted to talk a little about it and post some pictures.. While we were in Texas, we ate a lot of food. But one place we went to was a Memphis, TN style BBQ.. and the had a whole bunch of stuff on the walls and whatnot all having to do with music... It totally reminded me of that movie super troopers for more than one reason.. first the stuff on the walls, and second.. they had served us up liters of cola, well the one Dan has is iced tea, but still.. So all in all good food for the trip.

The conference was really good, and the church, just like everything in Texas was really big... I will post more on what I learned and took away from the conference in my next blog, but for now.. here is a couple of pictures of this crazy big church.. [the vertical lights you see are leds and they changed color alot, the lights and the scaffolding were all rented from Christmas until the conference that year.]

Traveling.

2008-02-21T05:27:00.000-08:00

So yesterday me, Dan, Nate, and Nate's dad [Dale] all headed out to Texas for a conference called the Creative Church Conference or C3.. It is this really amazing display of what God's creativity looks like in the church setting.. The bummer is that it seemed like it took forever to get here, and Nate was really sick the whole time.. Dan talks a little more about this in his blog.

Last year this conference got Nate and I really excited for what we could bring to the Stirring, and this year I am looking forward to seeing how it will affect us. The speaker line up is pretty good and besides Ed Young, the two speakers that I am looking forward to the most are.. Bishop T.D. Jakes, and Brian Huston [the pastor at Hillsong church]. So it should be really good. I will let you all know how it goes over the next couple of days.

Noisey child.

2008-02-19T01:27:00.000-08:00

o today was a laid back day.. I should have been working, but I decided that it was more important to do the exact opposite today. Me and the family went and visited a few friends [Akshay Lazarus, and Wendy & Andy Williams].. Then we headed over to Bestbuy and checked out the new MacBook Air.. If you haven't touched, or even seen this thing yet... you should head over to Bestbuy sometime and pick it up.. The name says it all.. It is really, really light.. I would probably never buy one [not really built for what I would want to use it for], but they are pretty sweet..

After we left bestbuy we continued down the strip heading in and out of several stores with the stroller.. Almost the whole time we were going around these stores Josiah was sleeping... Until we got into Pier 1.. That is when he started doing this..

I love my son.. He is amazing, and now really loud. The whole rest of the time we were out and about he was making these noises and smiling the whole time.. I love being a dad.. If you aren't then I would definitely recommend it, that and marriage..

Ohio and back.

2008-02-11T15:34:00.000-08:00

So i just went on a trip to visit family and friends and now I am back. I realized that almost every time I go to Ohio, I am sick the entire time and a few days when I get back.. This totally is not fun.. but now I am back and I am busy. I thought that this trip would be really easy and that I could get some work done while I was gone, but I was wrong.. and now I have some catching up to do. So if you think about it pray for me.

We had a good time overall and, I just want to publicly thank my family for buying us tickets and flying out to visit. I love you guys. Thanks again,

Check out Skybus.. cheep tickets.

Poll: Where fun and exciting places are you flying to this year.?

Church, more than six letters.

2008-02-04T13:45:00.001-08:00

So it had been a while since I had posted anything, so I am going to post three in a row, maybe four.. This last post is a thought that I had on Sunday night in response to Nathan's [my pastor friend at the Stirring] message.. I am also going to be occasionally posting stuff on the new Stirring blog as well.. This time I want to post it on both..

Church

Church is more than a six letter word..
Community, Love, Generosity, Selflessness, Humility, Life Giving, Family, Exciting, a Movement..

It's something worth giving your life to.!

When did church become about.. guilt, shame, loneliness, obligation, comfort, selfishness, criticism..?

It's more than a building. It's more than a membership. It's even more than a community..
It's a lifestyle.!

God calls us to live out what we learn. Share what we know. Care for those who can't. Live with the least. Love as though we care.!

Dreams.

2008-02-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

I wrote a poem about dreams Sunday night..

I hope that it makes you think like it did me...

Dreams

Momentary or eternal.
Fiction or fact.
History of future.
Pointless or important.
Ledgend or legacy.
Sleeping or awake.
Laying down or taking a stand.
Thinking or doing.
Comfortable or Uncomfortable.
Imaginary or Impossible.

When God dreams..
He is not asleep..!

Poems.

2008-02-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

These are a few poems that I have not yet had a chance to post..

Hope

What is hope?
Just an idea, a thought, a feeling..
A revolution, a desire, a dream..

Do we believe in hope?
Enough to care.
Enough to know.
Enough to see.

Do we understand hope?

Then why are we afraid.?

These next two poems go together..

Alone

Starving in darkness
Dealing with shame
Feeling exhausted and lonely
Crying in pain
Reeking of guilt
Aching with desire
Dying to be discovered

This is where is sit quietly..
in the back of the church.

Singing loudly
Shouting joyfully
Praying in excitement
Crying out freely
Running Happy
Jumping playfully
Feeling close
Starving for more

This is where i stand..
worshiping in a field in Africa.

These are just a few thoughts that I jot down on Sunday nights.. Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment anytime.. More to come.

things on plates.

2008-01-22T21:09:00.000-08:00

I thought for a minute and then came up with that title.. I have a few things on my plate right now, and I am trying to balance them. I have been trying to think of a way to do that, but I just keep getting the picture of all the plates falling and breaking all at once.. not good. So here is what I am dealing with at the moment..

• Bethany's computer has decided that it didn't like it's hard drive anymore and so we are going to have to replace that..

• I have been working my tail off to try and get the new Pixel Fresh site up, and have come really close, but have not finished it..

• I have been sort of sick, but Bethany has been really sick, and I haven't been able to help her, because I have been working a lot..

There are more things that I am juggling, but the point that I am trying to make is that I really need to figure out what is important and what can wait a little bit.. I have been living my life as if everything is immediate, and important.. this has not been good for me. I want to find a way to figure this out..

If you can please pray for me, that would be amazingly helpful in this time..

I want to post some more poems that I wrote, but that will be in another blog.

Here is a preview of the new site..

awakend in the night.

2008-01-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

Well the truth is I never actually went to bed, but.. the other night I started to lay down for bed and was not able to sleep, so I got up and started reading some of my old journals, and most of the old songs that I had written.. Weird how I can remember almost exactly what I was thinking when I wrote most of them.. Anyway... after reading all of them I ended up writing a poem that pertains to the series that my church is heading into next.. "When God Dreams"

When God Dreams

When God dreams..
nations are healed

When God dreams..
people are freed

When God dreams..
there is no hurt
there is no shame
lives are changed

When God dreams..
there are no limits
there is no end

When God dreams..

the question is where do we begin?

I also wrote a sermon.. mostly about a Father and Son... The point was that we all have dreams and we should be excited about the dreams we have. Also God gives us these dreams and we should not feel ashamed of them, we should start to live them out..

Question: What is keeping you from living out your dream..?

advertising.

2008-01-07T21:01:00.000-08:00

So I have been working on ways to advertise for my business [Pixel Fresh Studios].. I have been creating banners, backgrounds, and a bunch of other goodies as well.. I am currently working on making the sites that I do have right now work for me, I am trying to unify them.. I have also been just trying to get my name out wherever I can, ie. this blog.. So if you or anyone you know is in need of a website, myspace design, video, photography, or any type of print stuff... please let me know..

Thanks,

Here is a simple banner I created..

Poll: Who has the most social networking sites out there..? How often do you check them..?

a couple of crazy days.

2008-01-02T23:41:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I tried to help a friend with a computer problem that I thought would just take a few hours, well it ended up taking about 4 hours and I didn't accomplish what I wanted to... Then last night Josiah was not feeling well and had a cold, so he was breathing loud and hard.. most of the night. Bethany said that he woke up about every hour.. Sucks!

This morning was kind of crazy as well. After being up most of the night I got a phone call from my mom really early in the morning {7a.m.} [she lives in Ohio, there is a three hour time difference].. She called once, and I hung up, then she called right back and said that she had something important to talk with me about.. After kind of waking up a bit, she told me that she had found tickets from San Francisco, CA to Columbus, OH for about $20 one way, but the deal was for a short time and the tickets were going fast.. [www.skybus.com] The first few dates she threw out were not going to work, but after a quick run through of the available flights, we found some that worked.. So although I was half asleep, we decided that Bethany, myself, and Josiah will be flying out to Ohio for a really quick trip to visit from February 6th - 9th.. So if you are around the area, around that time, call me up and I would love to show off my wife and son..

After I finally woke up, I went down to the Sacramento airport to pick up my friend Oscar.. On the way back home we stopped at Sonic burger, I had never had Sonic before and had heard a lot about it.. but I have to say that I was not very impressed..

To top everything that has happened in the last few days.. I also set off an alarm.!

Good days..

life is fun sometimes.

2007-12-28T18:18:00.000-08:00

Ok, so last night I stayed up kind of late and finished up a few projects.. Then this morning I got up to start on something new, and that thing took me close to 6 hours... and then I got the beach ball of death.. [if you own a mac, or have ever used a mac you would know that this is not good] I realized at that moment that I had done the one thing that all designers live to regret.. I forgot to save my work and ended up losing everything, but thank Steve Jobs for creating the snap shot feature, I took a picture of my desktop as my Photoshop was in freeze mode and was able to recreate the whole thing in a few hours this time.. What a day..

Here is what I did, it is going to be the new bulletin for my church for the first trimester.. Let me know what you think.