Tomorrow is Kimmy’s birthday and she turns 32 years old. Sometimes I sit back and wonder how Kimmy and I stayed so young and our kids got older.
Anyway, today we went to Taco Loco and had some delicious Mexican food. They have been rated as Michigan’s Best Mexican Restaurant the past couple of years and deservedly so. And because it was Kimmy’s birthday the next day she got free ice cream, they put the sombrero on her head and sang “Happy Birthday” to her. I think stuff like that is fun. And we had a good time there as a family.
Tomorrow will be a crazy Thursday like normal because Hannah has dance so that is why we decided to go out today. But this weekend we get some alone time when my brother watches the kids Saturday night so we can go out on a date. I love my wife and I am so happy that her parent’s had her 32 years ago. They forever changed my life.
My sister, Shari, is wanting to get into photography for a career and so she has been taking online courses. They have her talking all sorts of photos with different settings. One of her recent projects was to take self portraits and you can see one of the ones she took on the left here.
Isn’t she beautiful? I know I am biased, but I think the photo proves my point. I LOVE YOU, SIS!
I was finally able to get the video I took from the NYWC in Atlanta off of my phone. Here the youth pastors have gone wild with some finger rockets and Marko and Tic have foolishly gone on stage to stop us. Silly little men!
Just so everyone knows you can put to rest all of those stupid email rumors that he is a Muslim and refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance. In fact here are my simple rules for when you get an email forward….
1) Do not believe them.
2) Check it out on snopes.com or truthotfiction.com.
3) Do not forward it on if it is false.
4) Please erase all the “FWD”s in the subject line and erase all the “>”s in the email body along with all of the other email addresses of people who have gotten or sent it, before sending on any email forwards that you have first checked out to be 100% factual.
There is nothing more annoying than having your email inbox overrun with this kind of crap. And I beg every Christian out there to please make sure you do this, because these types of things just make Christians look foolish.
Anyway, enjoy the article and feel free to let me know what you think. I honestly am beginning to like this guy the more I read about him or hear from him.
I was reading in the Bible today the story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers and how many years later he had opportunity to save them from the famine that hit Egypt. What stuck out to me about the whole story was how in Genesis 45 when Joseph revealed to his brothers who he was, he immediately told them, “…do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”
After the years of slavery and imprisonment Joseph had every right to seek revenge. But he didn’t, why?
Joseph realized that his ways were not God’s ways that is why. But he also realized that his brother’s ways were not God’s either. Joseph saw the bigger picture of what God was doing.
Sometimes it is hard to see what God is doing when life sucks and there are problems all around us. However, if we can focus and see through it all we can see God’s bigger purposes in all of it. It is hard to see, but it is there.
I am really getting sick of all the ads on TV, the phone calls, and the mailers. So I will be happy when today ends. I know it will all pick back up once the election in November kicks into high gear, but I feel like this primary has been going on since the beginning of last year. Speaking of the primary, I ended up voting for Ron Paul. Anyway, there needs to be a law passed that you can not campaign until a month before the date any election.
Speaking of laws….
There ought to be a law banning American Idol on TV, which is another reason why I will be happy when today is over with. Of course I know that it is only the start of that stupid TV show but a guy can dream, can’t he?
Tomorrow is the Michigan Primary and so I need to finally decide whom it is that I am going to vote for. Michigan has an open primary so you choose which party it is you want to vote for when you get to the polls. So that leaves my options open.
Last year I created a list of things that I was looking for in my next President. And here is that list….
Someone who…. 1) will do what they can to help end global poverty. 2) will do what they can to help bring clean water and basic sanitation needs to the world. 3) will help change the hearts of the American people to believe that abortion is a wrong option. 4) believes in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. 5) help bring an end to the conflict in Iraq. 6) will look for a way to end conflicts that hopefully will not have to result in troops being sent in. 7) will go in with the mindset that “love wins”. 8 ) will not choose to legislate morality, but instead try to teach it and hopefully change the hearts of the people in our country. 9) will turn to the Church and ask her to finally do what they are supposed to have already been doing in regards to helping the oppressed. 10) will protect our Constitutional rights at all costs. 11) will protect our environment.
So I have had that in my mind all along and basically narrowed it down to two candidates. And then I took an online quiz to help you determine who it is that I should vote for. You can find it here courtesy of WQAD in Illinois. My results were as follows, I am only listing the top 6 because it includes the two I have narrowed it down to.
Tomorrow is the Michigan Primary and so I need to finally decide whom it is that I am going to vote for. Michigan has an open primary so you choose which party it is you want to vote for when you get to the polls. So that leaves my options open.
Here is the list of people that I got when I took the survey….
1) Dennis Kucinich 2) Bill Richardson 3) Ron Paul 4) Chris Dodd 5) Mike Gravel 6) Barack Obama
I am really surprised that Dennis Kucinich was number one, because I just didn’t see him as someone I was agreeing with but I haven’t really heard much of him anyway. Ron Paul is one of the people that I have been leaning towards as well as Barack Obama, so I wasn’t too surprised to see them high on the list. And I find it funny that the other three I believe are basically out of the race now.
So I have a decision to make because when Michigan moved their primary up to January 15th the Democrat Party chose to boycott the primary, so there are only four choices on the ballot. And those four are basically the ones who saw an opportunity to take a state and make a name for themselves. And one of them should surprise no one, because it is Hillary Clinton.
Anyway, if I choose to vote on the Democrat ticket I will be voting “uncommitted”, because that is what I would have to vote to basically vote for Barack Obama. Or I could choose to vote for Ron Paul, who is my number one candidate. However, I am considering voting “uncommitted” just to take away percentage points from Hillary. I really don’t know what I am going to do and may not until I get asked at the polls which ballot I want, the Republican one or the Democrat one.
Now I know that people are probably shocked that I am not standing behind Mike Huckabee, I mean after all he is an ordained minister and Chuck Norris says I should vote for him, but I am not going to vote for someone who I do not believe will make a good President. In fact, on that survey I took that I linked to, Mike Huckabee was last on my list. I just am not convinced that he has what it takes to lead our nation and I will not blindly vote for him, just because he is a pastor. I believe that some people are and I think Mike is using that I am a Christian and a pastor angle just to get votes, and that seriously bothers me.
Anyway, I head off to the primaries tomorrow and I look forward to the day being over, so the ads and stuff can cease. Well, at least for a little while.
Once again the SEC is the dominant conference in college football. While I am happy that they beat the Buckeyes, I hate the fact that it just shows that the Big 10 needs to make some changes to compete. I think the hiring of Rich Rodriguez at Michigan is a big step forward.
I honestly do feel bad for the Buckeye fans because this makes 3 National Championship in a row that they have lost. And as much I dislike them I know it is tough and so I do feel for the athletes and fans. Even though I never liked the Buffalo Bills I felt bad for them when they lost 4 Super Bowls in a row.
But my hat off to Les Miles and his LSU Tigers for winning the National Championship game. They played with class and pride, which I would not expect anything less from a team coached by a Michigan man. It was no secret that I wanted Les as the head coach at Michigan and that I was not happy when he didn’t take the job. I even made the comment that his true colors were green and not maize and blue. I want to take that back. I read an article in the USA Today and when I came to this quote I realized how wrong I was.
“The timing just wasn’t there,” his wife said. “He put the team first, even in front of what may have been a professional dream of his, because this is such a great team and a great program. There was no way he was going to do anything to jeopardize anything these kids have put forth.
“From the time they started mentioning his name for the Michigan job, he said nothing would interfere with this team until the last second goes off the clock on whatever the last game is. The thing he learned from Bo Schembechler was the team, the team, the team.“
Les was simply doing what it is that Bo had taught him. He was truly being a Michigan man by staying and caring about “the team, the team, the team”, which was Bo’s mantra. Thank you, Les, for being a true Michigan man. I am sad you are not here, but I am happy to know you are staying true to the ideals of a Michigan man.
Last year I decided to some New Year’s Resolutions, but I think they should more appropriately be called goals. So I wanted to take some time and look at them and evaluate how I did with those and then establish some new goals for this year. Here were my goals from 2007….
1) Do something about my job situation, whether that means a new job and forget ministry all together, or do something to get into ministry.
2) Do more to care for our planet (i.e. recycling, conserving energy, etc.)
3) To live my life in light of these deep and profound words…
I have sent out some resumes over the year. Not a lot, but some. I still feel very strongly that I am supposed to be in ministry and that I should focus on trying to find a position. The only question is where, when and what. I am not planning on making a big deal about sending resumes out, because I do not want to go “down that road” again and have to have a bunch of people ask me if I have heard anything yet. So the people who will find out are going to be very few and the masses will know when I hear those words I have been eager to hear. “You’re hired.”
This past year we have probably recycled more than we have thrown things out in the trash. I still would like us to use less and reuse more, so there is even less. But I am happy every time I put the stuff out at the curb and I have more stuff for recycling than I do for the trash. It makes me want to ask my garbage company to give me a bigger recycling container and smaller garbage bin.
I also traded my Jeep Wrangler in and bought a Toyota Camry, because I wanted to get a greener car. The Camry uses a lot less fuel than the Jeep does and it also has a better emissions rating. I drive our 1995 Honda Accord for my work vehicle and I used to drive the Jeep. I went from going a week between fill ups to I can go about a week and a half now. It costs about $30 to fill up the Accord and it cost me about $45 dollars to fill up the Jeep, so not only is it greener, but it is also a significant cost savings for us.
We also changed almost all of the light bulbs in our house to CFL light bulbs and I choose the “daylight” type ones, because it gives you the feel of natural daylight. In the winter time there is so much less daylight, especially here in Michigan, that I wanted something that gave us more daylight throughout the day. So far I really do like the feel it gives our house and I like the money saving we have.
I feel that this year has been a year where I have really embraced the mindset of “love wins”. I have noticed that often times when I get into conversations with people I have been thinking about how it is that I can show them God’s love by the words and actions I use. I know that it is something I can afford to do a lot more of and I can learn how to in many more ways.
There are a few things that I did not have as goals at the beginning of the year, but slowly became goals as time went on. One of them was getting myself into better physical condition. Kimmy and I got a membership at World Gym, which has helped me to go from a size 38 pant to a size 34 pant and from size XL shirts to large size shirts. In the midst of all that I have set up two more fitness goals and they are to ride in another MS 150 and to run a 5k. I did the MS 150 once back when I was 17 years old and have always wanted to do it again, but I have never been a runner so the 5k is a pretty big goal for me. I was thinking of running in the Firecracker 5k that is done during the Manistee National Forest Festival, which is held over the 4th of July where we go camping every year.
The other thing I did over the past year that I had not set as a goal was that I began reading more than I had ever really read before. I probably read 12 or more books last year and some of them I reviewed here on my blog. I feel that I have learned so much from reading this past year and it has really helped me grow in my faith. I have more books I would like to read, but now I need to get some extra cash so I can buy them.
I can’t really think of any more goals to add to the ones that I set up last year and added to over the years. So my plan is to just continue down that path and keep growing. I am really excited about 2008 and feel that it will be a great year for me and my family.
I just got a private message from TIMBUCKEYE08 on My ESPN, which is a place where you can create a fan profile, that said….
on a scale from 1-10 how ***** gay r u .nice sunglasses you *****.o yeah michigan ***** sucks you *****.over the last 7 yrs. osu (6-1)
Obviously the “*****”s are swear words that were edited out by ESPN. To be fair, here is my reply….
Wow! You just showed the extreme intelligence of the average Buckeye fan. Fortunately I have enough friends who are Buckeye fans to know that there are some decent ones out there who would not stoop to this level.
Seriously, why would you do this? I never did this to any of my Buckeye friends or any Buckeye fan during the Cooper 1-9-1 years.
Seriously, why would someone do this? It makes no sense to me. I put the word fan in quotes, because I do not believe a true fan would act in such a manner. This stuff cracks me up.
Anyway, today we went to Taco Loco and had some delicious Mexican food. They have been rated as Michigan’s Best Mexican Restaurant the past couple of years and deservedly so. And because it was Kimmy’s birthday the next day she got free ice cream, they put the sombrero on her head and sang “Happy Birthday” to her. I think stuff like that is fun. And we had a good time there as a family.
