BLANK update

So last Monday (not yesterday) as part of my update I was all hush hush about something. I kept using BLANK because I wanted to use a whole post to describe what's going on. This is that post.

To help better understand what I'm about to post...you might want to refresh yourself by doing some past blog post reading. It'll be better for all involved....
-Vespa Quandry Post

Ok so that all happened over a YEAR AGO! My self imposed deadline came and went. We kept working. And then we hit a wall. The scooters have sat in my basement for another year. We just reached the end of our ideas as to what could be wrong.

I had enough.

I decided I just wanted something that ran. So I posted both of them on the Pittsburgh Craigslist. I was attempting to trade both of them for a running Vespa. I had two offers to do that....but both fell through. I also had LOTS of offers to buy them outright. Let's face it though, if I sell them outright I then have to find another scooter to buy. What are the chances I don't spend that money on more paintball guns or something? That's just not a good idea.

So we get back from Ethiopia and I get this e-mail...

Aaron,
Good to hear back from you. I have had several of that model, the 1966 Vespa "Sears" Primavera. They are a great little scooter. If you would be interested, I could rebuild that engine you have and get one of them running and useable for you. I have new seals, bearing, etc. and can get it in tip top shape for you to use, in exchange for the other body and parts you have. Let me know if you are interested and we can discuss further.
Regards,
Mark

So there you have it. I get a running Vespa and he gets everything that's left over. It's actually better than the deal I had hopped for.

So last Saturday (not 3 days ago...last week), I packed up my scooters in the back of the mini-van (yeah for mini-vans) and drove them down to Butler. As I arrive another guy is there in Mark's driveway buying the scooter on the right from Mark. He and his girlfriend drove up from Washington DC to make the deal. So I'm dropping off and they're picking up.

So Mark has a nice house in a really nice neighborhood. His garage isn't really that big, but it has COOL stuff in it. Let me show you...So the last picture is great. It's blurry, but there's cool stuff there. What you might not pick out is that he has an engine sitting there on an original Vespa engine stand....it's split open to be worked on. Up above on the shelf is half a Vespa (for those who don't know, a Vespa's frame is the body too). He bought a scooter and it was pretty rusty...as he drove it home it started splitting in half on him. So now half of it sits on his shelf. HA

So Mark Swift is my new BFF. You can check out his scooter website here. You'll see that he's owned a few scooters in his day. You'll notice that in the scooters he currently owns is a 1966 Sears Primavera.....he's updated his site....that's the scooter I gave him! For whatever reason I didn't take his pic while I was there. He's pretty young though....roughly my age. He's been into scoots forever.

So I'll keep you updated on the progress as I know it. SOON!!!!!

Tales from the Birdbath-Scooterboy.mp3

9/29 Monday update

the weekend that was:
-Friday was a big day for me. The first day home alone with the boys. Mari was suppose to go back to work Monday (today) but Tobiah had another doctor appointment so she went back early on Friday. No one died. Just a little more juggling to do with two guys rather than one. Corban is a big helper around the house, so no worries.
-Saturday morning was nothing special. Hanging out with the family. Ran some errands with Corban. He loves doing that stuff. The best part about him is that he knows that we're not buying toys. He looks. He touches, but when we say it's time to go, we go. AMAZING! What planet is this child from?
-Saturday afternoon my parents stopped in on their way home from a week at Niagara on the Lake. They hadn't seen the boys in a WHOLE MONTH! Oddly enough in that month both boys have grown significantly. Corban hit a growth spurt and Tobiah has been eating us out of house and home and gained a ton of weight, which he really needed.
-We convinced my parents to spend the night with us since Dad didn't have to preach at his church anyway....and a short visit would just not do. So after the boys were in bed, we introduced them to our new favorite card game WIZARD. Actually I should say it's my favorite, Marjorie just plays.....she loses all the time and doesn't much care about winning.
-Sunday morning had a little twist to it because mom and dad were here. Mari and the boys didn't go to Sunday School so they could spend some more time with them. I still had to go early to do all that I do.
-Worship was good. Pastor Mike was doing a teaching on the Lord's Prayer so we brought back the song we did last week and taught it to the congregation. Very focused worship time.
-I played paintball in the afternoon, which I haven't done enough of this summer. Very good time.
-Last night was our Sunday night at the YMCA thing. Great time. I'm getting excited.

where i am at the moment: Monday is traditionally home time. Corban and I went to Toddler Time at the library. Tobiah and Mari went to the doctor. Mari's canning tomato soup this afternoon....I might go play in the basement for awhile.

on my to-do list this week: I should do some planning ahead for the next couple weeks of YMCA ministry and pick out some more music. Pastor Mike gave me themes and scriptures up through Christmas so I feel kind of like I should do something with that. I need to take a couple students out for breakfast sometime.

procrastinating about: Oddly enough (and I know this is hard to believe) but nothing really. I'm really looking forward to doing some work this week.

book I'm in the midst of: The Last Assassin by Barry Eisler. This obviously doesn't have a lot of spiritual implications for my life.

music that seemed to catch my attention this past week: Such Great Heights by The Wrong Trousers (covering The Postal Service)

how i’m feeling about this week: Mari goes to work tomorrow and take Corban to Day Care (Tuesday and Wed.). That leaves me just Tobiah...who is pretty easy going and portable. I'm really excited about doing some work this week. There are also lots of signs of fall all over the place which always excites me. I love that I live in part of the world that has 4 very distinct seasons. I think I would get bored of 70 degrees and sunny all year round. How dull. Fall is close!!!!

Tobiah the beatbox

We have something called beatbox going on at our house. It takes a couple different forms. One is the one in the video. There's a sloppier version of this that almost sounds like throwing up but it's just spit. So we're driving in the van and I say, "you better check on him, that didn't sound good"...to which Marjorie says,"nah he's just beatboxing. This is clearly my favorite though.

YES!!!!

So a couple days ago I posted a silly video of a band doing "Jesus is a Friend of Mine". I thought I'd be funny and put it under the Planet 612 heading. So apparently The David Crowder Band did their own remake of it at their church recently at the end of service.

9/22 Monday update

the weekend that was: (as a note, I consider all day Friday part of my weekend because I normally don't do much work that day and spend it with my family) [as a second note, I don't want to tell you about a chunk of my weekend because I need a separate post for it....so there will be BLANKS]
-So we woke around 7 Friday morning to Corban yelling "My bewwy hurts" (he can't say L's very well yet). We rush in to the boys room just in time to see him throw up in his bed. NICE! Later that morning Tobiah needed to go to the doctor, so Mari took him while Corban and I went to Walmart. We made it to the Walmart parking lot before BLAAAAHHH. Do you know how many nooks and crannies a car seat has? Gross.
-Friday night I got some help from some high school guys that owed me a couple favors loading BLANK in my van so I could BLANK on Saturday.
-Saturday I hung out with the family in the am.
-left home at 11am. Drove to Camp Wesley Woods to help Wheeze set up two compass courses for a camp she's running this week. It's been awhile since I've used a compass. I realized that I rely pretty heavily on my GPS.
-left Wheeze and drove to BLANK with BLANK so he could BLANK. Cool stuff.
-left BLANK and drove over to Zelienople just in time to make my good friends Chuck and Karen's wedding. I was running late and made it just as she was walking down the aisle. Gorgeous wedding. I'm so happy for the two of them.
-left there and went to the parking lot next door to the church to grab a geocache (my first one in months)
-left there and drove back north to Maplewood High School just in time to make the Marching Band show my band was performing in. As I was tuning the tenor drums, I hear POP! One of the lug casings completely sheered off the drum making that drum completely unusable. We asked another band if we could borrow theirs and they said sure, "but you can't tune them...they have new heads on there." What's the point of that? I can't tune them? So I would have two sets of tenors in two separate pitches? So I found another high school who's band director I knew and he was more than willing to loan us the drums. Stress though.
-Didn't get home until 11:30pm. LONG DAY
-Sunday morning was Sunday morning except that we introduced a new song. The Lord's Prayer by Matt Shepardson.
-Sunday night was our first YMCA ministry. We have rented the YMCA every Sunday night. I'm now doing youth ministry in an AMAZING facility. First night went well.

where i am at the moment: Home. I've already been to the high school, toddler time, the grocery store and the doctors office (to pick up a report) this morning. I'm finally have a cup of coffee.

on my to-do list this week: I still need to pick out worship music for the next couple weeks, I need to write a newsletter article, I need to write an eulogy for myself by tonight, I need to catch up on some e-mails.

procrastinating about: I'm taking my sweet old time about picking out worship music. Not sure why.

book I'm in the midst of: Reading is for dorks.

music that seemed to catch my attention this past week: The Lord's Prayer by Matt Shepardson

how i’m feeling about this week: I would like to echo last weeks thought again this week. I want to have good priorities in my life. I've been stressed the last couple weeks with doctors appointments and trying to work and be with my family.....just juggling. I need to know what is important and spend myself doing those things really well....and quit spreading myself thin on stuff that I can only do adequately.

Early Planet 612 video FOUND!!!

Archaeologists have recently unearthed one of the earliest known Planet 612 videos ever recorded. Back before horns were incorporated. Stand in awe at the awesomeness.

OK so that's not Planet 612. But it's funny.

Steven Curtis Chapman family

Most of America heard the story of Steven Curtis Chapman's family tragedy. One of their older sons accidentally ran over one of their adopted daughters in their driveway. She was killed. Many of you might have seen this clip too. It's from Good Morning America. Get some tissues. It's a rough one to get through.

I had to

Last night after hockey, I stopped at Tim Horton's like always. It's the deal I have with Mari. I play hockey, but I bring home donuts or muffins for the family for the next morning. A good deal I think. Well I was feeling hungry. So I drop up the street to Burger King. I went through the drive through (not thru) and got a burger and onion rings. At the actual window was this sticker. It says "no videotaping or photography". I have no idea why anyone would want to videotape or photograph the drive through window of a Burger King. However I could not avoid the temptation to photograph this sticker that's telling me not to photograph it.

September 16th

I've made a lot of bad choices in my life. I've made some pretty good ones too. Most of the major decisions in my life, when I look back on them....they could've gone either way. Like as I'm making the decision, I'm pretty sure it'll all work out, but there's this small possibility that it could blow up in my face.

8 years ago today, I made the easiest decision ever. I was 100% sure that it was the right one. No nerves at all. I was so relaxed that day that my parents actually had to yell at me to go get dressed because I was just hanging out with friends talking and forgot what time it was.

Marjorie and I got were married September 16, 2000.

It was an obvious decision to me to marry her, but I still am amazed that she'd agree to marry me. I am a lucky man. 8 years, 2 kids, 3 apartments, 6 vehicles, and some fish later and I can still say that was the easiest decision of my life.

Ain't No Woman Like the One I've Got-The Four Season.mp3

9/15 Monday update

the weekend that was: Action packed weekend. It makes me tired just thinking about it. We got up early Friday morning and jumped in the van to head to Wexford for Tobiah. He was having a test to see how he was doing. Well it's a new facility. I got directions as to where it actually was. So the directions were wrong. We went close to an hour out of our way. In the end we ended up being 500 feet from the facility. End result of the test is that he needs to stay on antibiotics for awhile longer. He's going to dealing with some stuff for awhile....but as long as he's on meds he's good to go and healthy. After a frustrating morning, we treated ourselves to Boston Markets for lunch. Mari and I used to love going there when we were dating, and there isn't one anywhere close to us. (you could say that about just about anything)
-We got home in time for me to leave to go to the high school football game. I'm the percussion instructor for the marching band. I like to go to the home games and support my kids.
-Saturday morning Tobiah decided that 6 am was a fine enough time to be awake. So he laid in our bed beatboxing while Mari and I pretended to sleep. Mari went out shopping for 4 hours with a new friend. So I had the boys by myself for the first time. No worries. I love these little guys.
-She got home and I left to go to a marching band competition in Meadville. It was fine. I realized that my drummers are very intelligent and humble. We encountered some drummers who weren't very good but were incredibly cocky. I occassionally forget that drummers are like that....because my kids aren't. My kids were actually quite upset by one particular kid who was clearly strutting and cocky. They kept asking, "Why is he doing that? He's not really that good." "Doesn't he have any self-respect?" Nice.
-Sunday morning was Sunday morning. Busy church life. I really like my pastor. I really like my church.
-Last night youth showed up at my house to play Ultimate Frisbee in the field behind our house. I HAD to play. I told them I wasn't really going to run because I had to play hockey later........yeah that didn't last more than one play.
-Hockey game. Lost.
where i am at the moment: Home. I'm headed to youth group in a couple minutes. This is the last Monday night youth group. Our church is starting a really cool thing on Sunday nights next week. We're renting the YMCA every Sunday night. There'll be a Single Parent thing, stuff for their kids...and youth group. I'm stoked.

on my to-do list this week: I need to pick out worship music for the next couple weeks. I need to take my wife out. I need to call a guy about Vespa's (that's a blog for later). I need to prep for the new Sunday night thing.

procrastinating about: See my t0-do list....copy and paste here.

book I'm in the midst of: How much of a slacker am I? I have been filling my time with everything under the sun and that has lead to me not reading much of anything.

music that seemed to catch my attention this past week: Nada. And by that I don't mean Nada Surf. I just haven't been listening to much. When I'm in the car I've been listening to sports radio.

how i’m feeling about this week: I want to spend my time wisely. I haven't been doing that well since we've been home. I still feel like I"m playing catch-up. I feel like I go to meetings unprepared. I feel like I'm rushing around and never really get things done the way I'd like. I'd like to do that better this week. We'll see.

I hope they were home....

I came across this story today and thought it was great.

Sidney Crosby, the captain for the Pittsburgh Penguins hand delivered season tickets to two season ticket holders. They didn't know he was coming, he just showed up. It should be noted that other Penguins players also did this as well to 35 different season ticket holders.

I'm just thinking though....there are days I don't shower and I look a wreck. There are days our house is trashed. There are days...because of the boys, I don't get out of PJ's until late morning. So the doorbell rings...OH LOOK it's Sidney Crosby...former NHL MVP at my door.

I hope they were decent. What if they went to do groceries? What if you have nothing in the fridge to offer him?

Here's the full story.

I'm a Latte.

So we're headed back from Pittsburgh and the whole hospital deal last week.....There's a Starbucks at the Wexford exit that I stop at pretty regularly on our way home from my parents. I allows me a caffeine kick to get me home.....honestly it's just a reason to stop for coffee.

So I walk in as usual and order the same thing I always order. Grande Caffe Latte. No flavor. Whole milk. The guy in front of me: Venti Carmel Mochiatto Skim. Lady after me: Tall non-fat cinnamon dolce latte with whip...or something like that.

So my order is up. The guy hands it to me and yells out "Grande Latte...plain...nothing fancy".

For some reason this thing went off in my head.....he could have switched the words Grande Latte for Aaron. I mean aside from a long goatee that is visually startling (or scary depending on who you are and your age), there's nothing special about me. Plain. Nothing Fancy.

Now don't take this as me degrading myself. It's not intended as such. In actuality I was kind of pleased with that revelation. Throughout my life I have had major periods where I've though WAY too highly of myself. The result of those times is usually a good humbling. I'd like to say that as I've gotten older I catch myself before I reach those puffed up self patting on the back moments.....sometimes I do...but not all the time.

I guess I realized through buying a coffee that I'm not super-human.....but God still has purpose for me. He chose Gideon who was the wimpiest of the wimpy. David's own father didn't think highly enough of him to call him in from the sheep when Samuel was coming to anoint the next king. So I'm pretty Ok with being a Grande Latte....plain....nothing fancy.

PS...while looking for my skull and crossbones picture I found these YouTube clips....there's lots more but these will suffice.

9/8 update

Is it for real September already? Sheesh.

the weekend that was: To be honest most of the past whole week is a blur. Thursday and Friday saw Marjorie's parents come for a short visit. It's always good to see family. Most of the weekend (and the week for that matter) was chilling as a family getting to know the dynamics of what this well oiled machine is going to look like. Corban and Daddy ran some errands to the hardware store on Saturday which is a little more fun for me than him...but he's getting the hang of it. We had folks stopping by to see Tobiah all weekend. It's always fun to hang out with friends who just love up on us and have been praying hard for us. It was really good to be back at church yesterday. We've seriously been missing them. Of course we were mobbed with people wanted to see big T. Our church is pretty small so everyone was taking there turn huddling around. It was really good leading worship again. It was also Communion which for me just topped off a cool morning.
I got a call yesterday afternoon to sub in goal at a hockey game last night. I was a little worried as it was the A-league instead of the normal B-league that I usually sub for. Good game. I played pretty well. We tied the game up at 2 with 1:30 left. And then they swarmed us and we couldn't clear the puck. They put one by me with 16 seconds left. Needless to say I was a bit disappointed. HOWEVER...they asked me to sub again next week. That's cool.

where i am at the moment: Home. I like being home. I wish there was a way for us to have enough money to just be a family and not work. I like being with my wife and boys. I enjoy the sounds the house has with them. I like that Mari and I can tag-team the boys as needed. So if anyone wants to give us a spare million dollars I'd be cool with that.

on my to-do list this week: Another insane week. Mari is off work until the end of September....but in that time off we have a list of stuff we'd like to get accomplished....that is harder to do if one of us is at work all day long. So we're trying to cram that stuff in...on top of my normal nutty schedule of meetings, youth and worship stuff. We're also headed to Wexford on Friday to get a follow up test for Tobiah done. Football game Friday night, band competition Saturday. We need to go visit Mari's work Tuesday...after we drop Corban and day-care and go out for breakfast! Just lots on the plate this week.

procrastinating about: I procrastinating about making a decision on what night of the week to do our worship team. I really don't want to it Wed. night at 8pm. No one else is really excited about moving it though. Something's got to give.

book I'm in the midst of: I haven't read anything this week. Just being honest.

music that seemed to catch my attention this past week: I'm not sure if "catch my attention" has to be new music...or can be something old that I've been listening to lately. I'm choosing that later. The song "Beautiful Scandalous Night" by the Choir.

how i’m feeling about this week: I hate business. As I said above, I just want to chill with my family. I don't like leaving my boys home alone with their mother. That's undo stress. I'm OK with the work that I need to do this week....I just wish I didn't have to do it.

Pictures are UP!

OK so I finally got around to posting pictures on the Reinard's Family Picture Blog. WARNING: We have the two cutest kids on the face of the earth and you will ooh and ahh a whole lot...possibly break into tears etc. Be aware and take necessary precautions.

Sneak Peek

So it's been a rough week thus far. My brain feels like it's going to explode. I've had complaints that I haven't posted pictures. Here are some cheesy cell phone pictures from the hospital to tide you over until I can get real pics up.

Monday...and we're back online.

OK it's obvious that I need to do a lot of catch-up work on the story line from the past two weeks. However we finally arrived home yesterday and what all of us need right now is a whole lot or routine and consistancy. So that being said, I feel the need to get into my Monday morning blog routine.

the weekend that was: Well this kind of gives away part of the time-line that I need to get to....Friday was hospital. Friday night we found out we'd be released Saturday. Saturday I got up at 6 to drive into Pittsburgh to relieve Mari and be with them as we were being released. Around 11:30 we walked out of the hospital. We went back to my parents for the day. My grand-parents (mother's side) came over for the afternoon to see Tobiah. Spent the night at mom and dad's waking every 2 hours to feed the "little Nibblins." Woke up Sunday morning and knew we needed to be home. So since we're heathens we skipped church and packed up and started the trek home. The rest of Sunday was spent opening mail, watering plants that were dying, and unpacking the million bags we had.

where i am at the moment: Sitting in our dinning room across the table from Mari who's burping Tobiah. Corban is running to and fro in a constant state of play. He's pretty excited we're home now.

on my to-do list this week: This week will be nuts. I had planned to be home last week and had cancelled pretty much everything I do last week so I could just chill out. I don't have that luxury this week. Youth group, worship team, winter hockey starts, meetings, etc. etc. Oh Yeah....I also have a new baby in our house!

procrastinating about: I don't think I have time to procrastinate about anything this week.

book I'm in the midst of: I'm almost done with Reinventing Sunday. It's not really a book that you fly through. It's more like...read a chapter, think about it's implications...come back later for another chapter. Maybe this is the thing I'm procrastinating about....

music that seemed to catch my attention this past week: Well as most of my week was spent either in the hospital, or traveling to and from the hospital...the music that captured me most was a CD I reviewed here back at the beginning of last year. It's a phenomenal project called Songs from the Voice Project: Please don't make us sing this song. It really ministered to me this week.

how i’m feeling about this week: I'm excited to be home. I'm really not looking forward to all the hussle and bussle starting right away. I'd rather chill out with my family a little more than I'm going to be able to this week. What can you do?

So as expected I have a ton of thoughts and things to post about in the coming days/weeks. Bear with me as I sort some of this out in my head...as to how to best post it all.