Time For Chuck E. Cheese's

We took a strongly needed family fun trip to Lawton last Sunday. As some of you may know, we are moving to Oklahoma City in the next couple months. I say "some" may know because for some reason I have failed to tell pretty much everyone. My wife knows; that's where the notifications pretty much stopped.

When we're in Lawton, my wife and I usually like to hit Olive Garden, Chick-fil-A, or McAlister's Deli. We went a different route this time, namely, cardboard-tasting pizza, pointless games, and giant mice.

It was basically what we expected it to be. We had a great time just relaxing and spending 25¢ tokens for 1¢ tickets that eventually were cumulatively spent on three giant suckers. If my math is right, those suckers cost $10 a piece.

The only rain cloud on the sunny day was when a older woman began to yell at her kid because he picked a briefcase that she didn't want him on the I'll-trade-your-fake-money-for-this-pretend-briefcase-so-you-can-get-25-tickets-worth-up-to-and-including-1¢ game. The snarl on her face and words, "See! You just wasted the whole thing!" will forever be burned into my memory.

The smiles and fellowship that we had was worth it. Here are some pictures of the stop.

Thesis Statement of Hebrews... By An Eight-Year Old

Okay, so the title above isn't exactly the truth, but it's close.

Sometime in April for our morning Bible study we started going through the theology-rich (and big-worded) Bible book titled "Hebrews". As of Day 2 something had to change. Apparently it was making everyone under the age of 36 cranky.

The Lord gave me the idea of making it a bit more enjoyable and engaging by having a different family member draw a picture of the main theme of each chapter each day. Some days it took more than one day to get through those chapters though. Some days it took more than one day to draw the picture.

After we finished drawing pictures of each chapter we used a method I learned in Bible college in which the main themes of each section are pulled together to make one theme of larger sections. Then  those large sections are pulled together to summarize the focus on even larger passages (one or two chapters) and so on until eventually one single full-letter-summarizing sentence is formed. It's actually really helpful in aiding good interpretation of the Bible. It keeps everything in context.

Here's our results. The first picture is, well, our pictures. Yes, Chapter 6 is about pizza, Chapter 7 is about babies and Chapter 8 is about monkeys.















This one is us trying to pull the themes together, plus a little nasty glare.

The third is the thesis statement that Nori made on her own. I couldn't have done any better.

So I say, not bad. It was definitely worth the two months we spent getting up and at 'em each morning at 7. I encourage all parents to carve out some time every day to spend together around the word. It has done wonders in our family. Not that it's all roses at 7 am, but I've found a little crankiness does wonders for growing us in how to show patience and grace to each other.

I doubt anyone else would get what we got based on the pictures, though.

Someone please give me advice on how to talk Christian out of wanting to do the book of the Revelation next.

True Riches

I paused during my time with the Lord this morning to take this picture. I'm beyond proud of my son. I'm also so pleased that he wakes each day to spend time in God's word.






 So here's to the realization that these days won't last forever.

Proverbs 23:24-26
"The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. Let your father and mother be glad;
let her who bore you rejoice.
My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe my ways."

I Know Karate. And Like Three Other Japanese Words.

Monday, 8 April 2013 - Christian earned his 2nd degree white belt. He has one more tip before being able to belt up and he should be ready for the belt test in August!

A Little Rock And Roll For The Soul

The kids and I took last Friday as a day (actually, night) trip. We drove three plus hours up to Enid, Oklahoma to see a quadruple band show. The night started off with Manic Drive. Seventh Day Slumber and Group 1 Crew came next. 

The "headliner" was Audio Adrenaline featuring their new lead singer, Kevin Max. Some older folks will remember him from the group DC Talk. Extra credit for anyone that knows what the "DC" stands for. More importantly, he also happens share my Alma Mater, Liberty University. I'm a little surprised he didn't recognize me at the concert. I know he was busy, though. He doesn't come bothering me while I'm talking to airplanes or telling Airmen to do push-ups.

The show was great. My right ear recovered today and I can just barely hear the constant ringing as I write this.

The kids also took the opportunity to hone their photography skills. Apparently Nori and Christian bogarted the cameras, though. There's a clear lack of Wyatt below.

I've not listened to Seventh Day Slumber before and I couldn't hear a whole lot of what they were saying, but the lead singer had quite a testimony of God's grace, love, and faithfulness!

We got one picture with Manic Drive. We saw this Canadian crew in little ol' Altus a couple months back. They've become a family favorite since then. If you happen to see them, please let them know Altus, Oklahoma says "Hi" and follow it up with a "We love you!" That's generally what people say to super stars, especially if you're personal friends now.

Now we're just waiting for the call that Group 1 Crew is going to hand deliver the mini-guitar that we are going to win in the raffle we signed up for. I've got a good feeling about that raffle. A friend of mine generally wins at those things, but he wasn't there to win it for us. I hope my good feelings are as effective as his.

July 4th, 2011

On the 4th of July weekend we traveled to Enid, OK, which is kind of unusual because it's not much different than Altus... still Oklahoma.  Enid however is a bit bigger and so they have their own Home Depot, their own Starbucks, and even though we didn't visit it I'm pretty sure they had a Dairy Queen somewhere in town.

Of course the only thing that could get us to Enid is dear friends. 


This just happened to be some friends that we were stationed in Japan with.  Between the two of our families there were five young ladies and two young men.  Within minutes of being in their house they had managed to drag a hose out, attach it to a toy slide, lay the end of the slide on a tarp and cover the tarp with dish soap. 

                                       Shablam! Insto-matic water park!




Shortly after, we went for a walk by the "pond."  That turned out to be a water hazard on the city golf course.  It was still a nice walk.

The definition of trust.

For memory's sake, this is the tree by which I ate my first ant - a surprisingly enjoyable citrus flavor.

Where's Waldo?

The second day was full of guy stuff.   

The fish didn't bite.  They were just plain scared.

 We walked a quarter mile across a lake (which only put us in three feet deep water) and laid out a trot line.  I was quickly education that it's not used to catch "trot." 

The rest of the afternoon was filled with the pictures below.






I'm proud to say that the boys are a pretty natural shot. 





 Christian nailed a bottle from about 25 feet.  Those rabbits on the base golf course need to be on guard.
 

Wyatt successfully shot my sunglasses somewhere in the range of 15 feet (they were on the bottle... not on me).

A pretty much unforgettable weekend. Thanks Phillips'!

I know Karate (and, like, two other Japanese words).

One of the highlights of my year in Korea was leaving Korea for a month to be with my family!

We were all over the states during that month.  Some highlights:

1. San Diego for all you can eat food at Sea World.

2. Big Bear, CA for the first father/sons fishing date.

3. San Onofre, CA for four days with the beach for a front lawn.
4. San Antonio for two days without the children (that's a first after 11 years of marriage).

5. Tucson for everything else.

6. Celebration of 11 years of marriage!

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of that trip with me.  What I do have is the culmination of the impressive progess of Christian's and Nori's ju jitsu training (most of which I wasn't there for) - the Rendori.  There were three dojos represented for peoples ages 4 to 20.  It was basically three hours of intense flips, throws, pins, and cheering.

I've been most impressed with Nori and Christian because they have dabbled in a lot of things, but have never stuck with many of them.  Just spending a few nights watching them practice and spar made it clear that they were very good at this and it was really impacting their life in good ways.  I'd like to take some credit for their "wrastling" skillz, but since Christian has me tapping out when we wrestle I think I added little to it.

Here are the highlights.  Nori and Christian are both in white gis.

Three Little Monkeys Jumping...

I really enjoy putting up the pictures that Nori takes when we don't know she has the camera.  Usually it has been some very cute dog pictures or a completely laid out Polly Pocket scene.  I have no recollection of this event.  Surprises are great.  I'm just glad there's no sign of Wyatt here.

A Fine Idea pt 2

Christian chose Rocks-n-Ropes and dinner at the Texas Roadhouse. I'm always amazed at Christian's athleticism (knowing his dad's physical prowess ;-) ) and rock climbing to him is pretty natural. We of course took the truck and went to eat meat at the Texas Roadhouse. Sweet day.

More From the Past... This is Fun

Christian, if you ever read this please know that I mean this in the best way possible. You were fat.

By Popular Demand

Here's the rest... these are from Sep 2002.

And Happy Birthday, Dad! I didn't get you a card, but I did ask the Vikings to beat my Cowboys. Love you!