Youth Pastor Blooper Update

A couple years ago there was a video that made the rounds of the internet of a youth pastor delivering his message. During the message he flipped some letters in what he was saying and it came out wrong. It was a slip of the tongue. He was embarrassed. We all laughed. I just ran across a update prank they played on the same guy. This was FUNNY! First the original video in case you missed it the first time.




Now the prank

Counting Crows Confession

I just put on an old Counting Crows CD.

I was about half way through one of the songs when several realizations hit me. The song itself was one of those songs that Counting Crows does so well....it had lots of words in lots of verses that don't mean too much really but are catchy enough to sing along to.

I realized first that I know ever word in this very wordy song.

I also realized I probably know every word on this whole album.

I also starting thinking and I know most of every County Crows album I own....4 of them at last count.

I then took a look at our ever growing CD collection. I don't even have a guess on the count. I also have around 300+ cassette tapes (remember those?) in my office in our basement. Between my new Mac and my the old hard drive (now converted into an external hard drive) from my old lapper I probably have around 1000+ songs easy.

I have lyrics and melody lines floating through my brain all the time. If I thought that Karaoke was cool, I bet I'd be pretty good at it.

Ok now ask me how much Scripture I have memorized.

Um.........yeah......well......um.........................................

Not so much. I can paraphrase a lot! How much do I really know. Ask me how often I use Bible Gateway to find something. Yeah.

Amazingly enough, as much of a slacker as I am......as much of a failure as I sometimes appear......God still calls me His own. It's definitely on my own merits....as I've yet again discovered this afternoon.


(note: while writing this I googled the Counting Crows. Adam Duritz their singer is balding badly....and still trying to pull off dread locks. AND CC's were in Erie this summer. Too bad.)

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are officially announcing that we are once again adopting from Ethiopia. We have been working on paperwork for quite some time now. The picture at the right was actually taken back in February when we applied to our new agency to be accepted to adopt again.

It has taken this long to get all the t's crossed and the i's dotted and lots of lots of papers notarized. We received an e-mail today saying that our dossier (all that paperwork) was sent out to Ethiopia via FedEx today! It's on it's way!

Ok so now for those of you asking questions....here are some answer ahead of time:
The first question everyone asks is boy or girl. Answer: Either. When we adopted Corban we were specific that we wanted a boy. This time we said we'd take whatever comes first.

Why Ethiopia again? A large part of this answer is Corban's fault. He's really dang cute. We also really felt like we weren't done yet with Africa. God really has broken our hearts for the children of Africa and we just felt like we needed to do more.

After Corban and all the problems and waiting...how long will this one take? This is a hard question. First of all, there were lots of problems that were out of everyone's control that made it go exceptionally long. We are also using a different agency this time, and so far we have really felt like the process is streamlined a bit. There is no absolutes in the waiting process. Here are the next couple steps that need to happen. First of all, we are headed to Pittsburgh next week to file our I-600A with Immigration. That approves us with the US Government to bring a child from a foreign country into the US. The next big thing is getting our referral. Basically that is our introduction to who our new little one is. That means pictures, possibly video etc. Right now our agency is saying that the wait from the time our dossier goes to Ethiopia (today) until referral is around 6 months. So give or take a little there. After referral, things move a little faster and hopefully paperwork moves through the courts pretty quickly after that. AND THEN.......we've decided that this time we're going to fly to Ethiopia to pick our child up personally. Last time we waited an extra three months because we chose to have Corban escorted. This time we're going to go swoop him/her up ourselves.

In related news: We just received Corban's official US Passport last week. Even though he's been a US Citizen since July 13th, this seems to make it real for me. He can travel to see Mari's family with a few less glances at the passport.

Halloween

Well basically my wife is amazing. As I've mentioned plenty of times before, Corban is OBSESSED with trains, particularly Thomas the Tank Engine. Well, no one is selling a real deal Thomas costume......and quite frankly it would be cheesy even if they were. So while Corban and I were in Arizona (see post below), my wife created Thomas.

She used Corban's wagon as the base. That way he could sit and ride inside. He wouldn't have to walk and we wouldn't have to carry him. Best of both worlds. So he rode around and ate candy, I pulled and blue a train whistle so people would know we were coming before we got there. It was an awesome night. (for the record: we only went to a few houses of people we know. mom and dad are going to end up eating most of that candy anyway....so no need to overstock)

I seriously wish we had money for every time someone said, "THAT IS SO CUTE!", or "WOW did you see Thomas?", or "That is amazing." We'd be rich.

The Trip

Sorry I've been out of it for awhile. Lots going on. I'll turn this into a couple different posts over the next couple days.

Last week my dad and Corban and I flew to Arizona to spend a couple days with my grandparents (Corbans great grandparents for those keeping score at home). Until last week they had only seen pictures of Corban. I have been blessed during my life to know and have great relationships with all of my grandparents.

Corban was great. He was a real trooper. The only even minor problems we had with him the whole trip was when we were about to land in Phoenix he wanted to unbuckle his seatbelt and stand on the seat so he could look out the window. He couldn't understand why I wouldn't let him do that....so he had a little meltdown.

My aunt and uncle also live in Phoenix so it was great to be spending time with family. The weather was pretty awesome too. We left 50 degrees and raining and traded it in for sun and high 80's low 90's! (not a bad trade)

Weird thing is that as nice as the weather was.....I don't think I'd like to live there. I love 4 seasons. I live in one of the prettiest places I've been in the world. I like that right now the hills around here are an artists canvas of colors.

It's always hard leaving my grandparents.....giving them hugs and kisses.....not knowing if I'll see them again on this side of heaven. As blessed as I've been to know them through my life, it also makes it a little harder to let them go.