My little boy is 3 and 3/4's today

How is this so? He was born February 29th, 1996. Yep, a Leap Day baby! Early when Bryan was old enough to rememeber celebrating his birthday, he didn't like the fact that he wouldn't always have a exact day to celebrate...just every four years.

But as he got older...he began to dig this.

I've always told him that he could drive when he was four.

At four-and-a-half he would be "legal" and be able to vote.

When he is five-and-a-quarter he would be considered an "adult."

At age of six...he might even be married! Maybe!

Anyhoo...today, he's unofficially 15...my little boy is 15!!

His gift from his mom and I...two tickets to go see RUSH in concert during Spring Break at the KFC Yum Center. And yes, one of those tickets is for me. This will be a pretty cool dad and lad night.

Love you Beezer! You make me proud just because you're our son!

The Amazing Race

You have ONE minute to audition in front of the camera as to why you should be on The Amazing Race. No re-dos, or start overs...one minute!

On Friday me and my buddy William stood in line for 8 hours to audition. We met some really cool people from all over the place (mainly from KY)...we practiced just a little as to what we would say...we mainly stuck to our guns in not rehersing it to the "T". We wanted to make it sound very natural.

Our angle?? We used the fact that William played college football at Clemson University and me being a pastor from a small town. We also did the whole Ebony and Ivory schitck! He's black and I'm white, get it?

Don't know if we'll get called back...would LOVE to do this show. But hey, if we don't, at least we tried...and in the end have made some really cool memories.

We tried out last year for the show by sending in a DVD along with a huge application. Here's the video we used.

I'll let you know what happens.

The Amazing Race

Tomorrow me and my good bud William are headed up to Florence, KY for a casting call for The Amazing Race.

We've been fan of the show for years...William and I sent in info last year, did a video and everything.

We'll have ONE MINUTE to share with producers why we should be on the show.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Missing it...

I love the church that I serve...we've been at First Baptist Richmond for almost twelve years now. Mentors in my life have always said there were great rewards to longevity in ministry. In particular staying at one place for a long period of time. I have found this to be true at FBC...again, I love the people in this place.

I've watched our church change in a lot of different ways...some of those changes were embraced, some not so much embraced, but endured. And not just change for the sake of change, but change as to our overall mission as a church. And that's a good thing! Because to me our overall mission as a church is to be like Jesus in everything that we do. Read scripture...He was all about doing life different and it involved a lot of change. Jesus was all about elevating His Father.

But some people just miss that. They miss the "being like Jesus" part. They miss the part that those who don't know Jesus really don't give a flip about church politics and our own personal agendas.

It's sad that some believers miss this. It has made for some interesting conversation that I have no problem engaging in...I pray to be able to be a change agent when I have those kinds of conversations.

I think Psalm 115:1 sums it up pretty well...

"Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness."

Daddy/Daughter Dance

Last Saturday night me and Ellie went to the Daddy/Daughter Dance at Trinity Christian School in Lexington. She wore a beautiful black and red dress...I even broke out in a suit and tie...after all this was a dance.

We had a great time together...she soaked up every bit as it looked very princess like with all the decorations and lights. Ellie loves watching princess movies as I too have learned to enjoy! She loves to mimic some of the princesses...even down to how they dance. She did that at the dance...holding her little dress to the side and instructing me exactly how to hold my hand. It was a sweet moment that I'll never forget.

We did all the basic dances to songs that you would expect to hear. The YMCA, You make me want to Shout song, even did the hokey pokey!

We sipped on lemonade and ate little cakes together. It was a very memorable night with my girl.

Hapy Valentines Day

I have told folks that everyday is Valentines day with my Valentine. I get the usual response of "ughhhh" or "awwwww" or the gag-me-with-a-spoon reaction. That's okay...it's just because they're jealous!

I love my Hollybird...she's been my valentine a long time.

Where are you Spring?

I know it's February...it's supposed to be cold and snowy, you know wintery!

We've had LOTS of snow thus far...tonight it's supposed to get down to 11 degrees!! I don't do cold weather very well.

It wasn't always this way...my feelings and dislike with cold weather that is. Back in 2001 I lost 40+ pounds and I'm pretty sure that's when I started really disliking winter and cold weather. I guess I lost some of my fat lining or something like that.

At least March is right around the corner. In the mean time I'll dress warm.

2123rd Homecoming

December 2009 the 2123rd National Guard Transportation Unit had a farewell ceremony at Madison Central High School in Richmond, KY. I remember sitting there watching these 150 men and women preparing to say good-bye to their loved ones as they traveled to Afghanistan for a year. I remember lots of tears being shed...numerous last hugs...and just a lot of sad faces.

I remember watching and listening to a soldier tell his little boy and girl, "Daddy loves you...I'll talk to you on the computer soon." After that I'm turning away because I'm in tears. Dang, I can't imagine what that is like...and I really don't wish to find out.

This past Friday was the homecoming...after being gone a year...after losing one of their fellow soldiers...after being under attack several times and wounded...family and friends lined up for a serious homecoming.

Our church had the privilege to host this homecoming...throughout the year when the 2123rd was away we had an ongoing relationship with their families who met at First Baptist each month for support.

Three huge buses pulled up...families had already started storming the bus that their loved one was on. And then it was nothing but hugs, tears (a different kind!), 'hooting and hollering', the beginning of a homecoming celebration.

I hope we will be able to continue this relationship with the 2123rd for future homecomings. It was a GREAT time...a very patriotic time...I was proud of these men and women...it was a good day.

Newport Getaway!

Last weekend Holly and I got away for two days of:
-No Children
-No Schedule
-No Alarm Clocks
-No Agenda (uh, well...maybe a hidden agenda!)
-No Cat walking around the bed at 2am
-No little girl waking up at the CRACK of dawn coming to let us know, "I'm up!"
-No Responsibility for anything work related
-No little drummer boys drumming
-No BIG decision making
-No worries!
-Spent four hours at the IKEA store after thinking we'd just browse through a bit
-Sipped on lots of coffee
-Slept in late (8am!!! That's late for us!)
-Went to the movies...saw 127 Hours...good flick!
-Ate some great seafood at Joe's Crab Shack
-Played video games and won cheap prizes for our kids
-Shopped at the Florence Mall
-Followed the Cards beating UCONN in the food court with our phones...I think I hit the refresh button at least 250 times!
-Took our time...savored every minute...love spending time with my wife!

I'm sure I'm missing a few...all in all it was a great get away. Like I said in my last post, married couple MUST do this from time to time. I'm looking forward to our next get away...