2/24 Monday Update

the weekend that was:
-Friday was pretty normal.  The boys had their normal activities.  They then convinced us to watch a movie that Corban got from school.
-Saturday morning I got up early thinking that the US mens hockey team was playing for bronze at 7am....it wasn't until 10.  So I drank a lot of coffee instead.  I had a meeting at a camp that made me drive during the game....which is good because it was horrible.
-I got back from my meeting mid-afternoon to dabble around the house.  Then went to small group with Mari. 
-Sunday was Sunday. 


where i am at the moment: My dining room. 

on my to-do list this week: This coming weekend I will be at a teen retreat.  So there's lots to jam in this week.  AND Marjorie went back to work today since before E came home.  Which means daddy now has a little guy to contend with this week.

procrastinating about: So this is the third week in a row I haven't called the dentist (actually it's much longer than that I just haven't told you)

book I'm in the midst of: Cockroaches by Jo Nesbo

media that seemed to catch my attention this past week: I found a YouTube channel called Bored Shorts TV....they do a series called Kid Snippets.  Basically they get little kids to record their imaginary scenarios then adult actors act out the dialogue.  I love them.  I'll post one of my favorite videos below.

grand revelations this past week:  I like to spit.  I realized that when I'm outside, I spit.

how i’m feeling about this week:  It's going to go by fast then the weekend will be here.  Normally that's cool, but this weekend I have to be with teenagers and not chilling with my family.  Slightly less cool.

Weird

Have a great Saturday

10 Opinions in a Row

A sports radio station I listen to does this from time to time.  I like it.  I'm using it....but making my own.  So...in no particular order.....created over a period of time.

1.  As many years as I've worked with teenagers, for some reason it always freaks me out when they have their first driving lesson.  You're not old enough to drive yet.  You scare me.  How can this be?

2.  Baby wipes are good for a myriad of purposes....and there's a good chance we'll have wipes around well after we have little kids that need them.

3.  When someone greeting someone you casually know....and they say, "Hey how are you?"  is there any other answer than "I'm good how are you?"  I'm sitting in the lobby of the YMCA and I've heard this exchange about 89 times in the last 10 minutes.

4.  When I brew coffee at home.....i can be drinking it out of a mug and loving it.  I pour that same coffee into a travel mug, and it instantly either loses taste or turns funny.  I don't like that.

5.  It is super frustrating to me when a good band covers a good song that was originally written by another band......and everyone only recognizes the cover.  I don't care that songs are covered....it's the listeners and youtubers that don't do research.  In the age of the internet, it literally takes less than 10 seconds people.

6.  I hate losing.  I used to be a bad loser, now I just internalize losing.  I hate it.  Losing sucks.  Losing is for losers.  When you're the goalie, and your job is to keep the puck out of the net....and you lose.....that means you didn't keep the puck out of the net enough.....so it's personal.  I hate losing.

7.  If I wanted to watch the Grammy's I would find a way to do so online.  I don't.  So having everyone posting their evaluations of everything on the Grammy's via Facebook was super awesome for my life (read this with dripping and soaked in sarcasm).

8.  While I'm bagging on Facebook trends......NO.....you are not James Franco.  No you're mental age is not 22...you're old.  No you're not a fairy princess.  You're not a country, you're not a comic book character or a muppet, or a Disney princess.  Stop taking this quizzes that mean absolutely nothing.

9.  I've always thought that the people who write greeting cards have to be failed poets and writers who are just looking to get paid.  I NOW believe that the people who write children's Valentine's cards are failed regular greeting cards people.  Have you read these things?  They are HORRIBLE. 

10.  Why is it forty (four-tee), sixty (six-tee), seventy (seven-tee).....but it's not five-tee...it's fif-tee.  And it's not two-tee, it's twen-tee.  three-tee as well.  Makes no sense.

How I Spent My Night

It's Wednesday night.  For me that's hockey night.  I go play pick-up hockey every Wednesday night in Jamestown (a town 35 minutes north of here).  No big deal.  Normal Wednesday right?

So when I left my house, my phone was at 36%.  I always call my friend Wheeze on the way to hockey to chat, so I figured I was good to go.  So I leave for hockey and do just that.  I'm talking to Wheeze and driving along when things start wobbling funny.  I pull over literally  ON the state line.

Flat tire.  Crap.  OK.  No problem.  My dad taught me to change a tire when I was a boy.  I can do this.  I find all the gear I need and set to work.  Since it's the front passenger side and I"m in the middle of nowhere I have to occasionally use the flashlight app on my phone as I do this.  Soon a guy pulls into the turn around and puts his headlights on my work.  Nice.

HOWEVER.....I soon realize that my four-way flashers have drained my battery (probably bad battery).  So after I change the tire, I go to start the car and it's dead.

No problem.  I'll just call AAA.  (I didn't want to call Marjorie because it was 8:30 and all the boys were in bed when I left the house).  So I call AAA and as I do I realize I now only have 8% battery on my phone.  Literally in the middle of my call for help, my phone dies.

So to recap.....I'm in the middle of nowhere.  My car is dead.  My battery is dead.

I stop to think things through for awhile and realize I need to flag someone down for help.  I then also realize that my coat is black.  My jeans are dark blue.  My long sleeve T-shirt is dark blue.  My normal T-shirt is dark grey.  So I want people to see me....and everything I"m wearing is dark....in the middle of the night.  Awesome.

So I'm standing outside looking up at the stars  (which were gorgeous because I was in middle of nowhere, it was dark, and it was clear).....I started talking out loud to God.  "OK God.  I have to flag someone down.  In this day and age that's not gonna be easy, even in day light.  You need to send someone that's gonna help"

Then I started my sociological experiment.  How many cars will pass by without stopping for a guy dressed all in black (and a looking a bit rough around the edges) in the middle of nowhere at night?

Answer?  19.  Sort of.

Most cars saw me.  Hit their brakes...then kept going.  One car even almost came to a complete stop....then sped up and left.  

Finally I saw a car drive past, hit their brakes and go to turn around to come back.  BUT just as that happened a Sheriff's car pulled in.  So the other car just slowed down and then drove on.  (Thank you whoever you were)

Now on to the Sheriff......
HIM:"How you doing tonight sir?" 
ME:"Well I've had better nights."
HIM: "what seems to be the problem?"
ME:  (I explain everything I already told you)
HIM:  So you just need a jump?  Cause I have cables.
Me:   That would be awesome.  Thank you so much.
HIM:  Aaron right?
Me:  Yes......um.....
HIM:  (he introduces himself....I don't want to use his name here without his permission)  HOWEVER.......we were in boy scouts together 25 years ago.

So the guy that came to my rescue....is someone I knew ages ago.  How CRAZY is that?  So when I tell God that he has to send someone to stop for me.....he sends an old friend.  Seriously?  Tell me that's random chance.  Tell me that all of that happened for no reason and it was just coincidence.  NO DANG WAY!

2/17 Monday Update

Having the boys off of school on Mondays, makes Tuesday my Monday.  That's the excuse I'm using.

the weekend that was:
-Friday was pretty normal.  The boys had a movie night.  The stomach virus that was going around school caught up with Tobiah and he puked his guts out...and then was up numerous times throughout the night.  Pretty normal.
-Saturday was the day of frustration.  Marjorie's goal for the day was to make Ethiopian food.  If you know Ethiopian food you know that you need Injera bread.  It was a horrible failure.  My goal for the day was to make a rope machine for Cub Scouts.  I spent lots of time working on it....and it failed.  We realized too late that we could've driven to Buffalo and spent time with friends, eaten at an Ethiopian restaurant and had much better day.
-Sunday morning and afternoon was normal.  Sunday night at Connections was awesome.  Barely any youth showed up....and it was great.  We had more intimate discussion.  Our games were more fun because there were less distractions.  There's something to be said for small groups.  Jesus had 12 guys and one of them was trying to kill him.
-Marjorie's parents came to our house while we were at Connections, so the boys had a fun surprise when we got home.
-Monday we went to Mayville NY to see the Ice Castle they build there.  The lake freezes over so they cut giant blocks out of the lake to build it.  CRAZY cool.  Also it was CRAZY cold.
-Monday night was AWESOME.  My rope machine got finished for our cub scout meeting.  Not only was it fun....it was a great learning time.  Both the boys and their parents were in awe of how cool it turned out.  This is why I love scouting. 


where i am at the moment: I'm sitting in the YMCA lobby....listening to pre-teen girls talk crazy talk.  Sitting here every day listening to these crazy girls makes me so happy I have boys.

on my to-do list this week:  I'm not sure what I actually accomplished last week, so I think I have a bunch of stuff on my to-do list.  Also....it's already Tuesday so I have less week to do it.

procrastinating about: Calling the dentist......still.

book I'm in the midst of: Epitaph by Bill Pronzini and Multiply by Francis Chan.  I also had the library give me two books that I had on hold.....so I better get to reading this week.

media that seemed to catch my attention this past week: Marjorie and I watched two movies this past weekend.  Neither one really made me jump up and down for joy.  The first one actually freaked me out.  It was about two old people....the wife was dying and the husband was taking care of her.  It was brutal.  You know what was happening and it just went on and on.  I don't want to get old. 

grand revelations this past week:  Maybe this is a thought for a full blog post.  I realized today that hanging out with Elias is a downshift.  As T and C have gotten older, things have sped up.  Conversations, activities, play, everything.  Faster.  With E, we're back to slow and steady.  I spent 5-10 minutes just looking out the window today with him.  It drove me up a wall for a minute because we weren't "doing" anything....and then I realized that we were doing something very important.  Slowing down is good.

how i’m feeling about this week:  I feel like I'm already out of time.

Pursuit of Happiness

This is a thought, based on an event that happened last summer or so.  I just slacked off on finishing it off....so here it is finally.



You already know, I am a paintball junkie.  I buy and sell a pretty good amount of paintball gear during the course of a year.  Basically it's a side hobby that funds me actually playing paintball.

Last year, as a way to help fund our adoption I started selling off A LOT of paintball gear with 100% of the money going toward our adoption...not just the profits.  Most of the stuff I sold had been sitting around for awhile.  Projects I never got around to.  High end stuff.

I tell you this not to pat myself on the back, but to tell you this.....I sold a couple of markers to a paintball acquaintance from Pittsburgh, who I've only met in real life once.  He bought things that I know he didn't really need...and he donated a larger amount of money than the stuff was worth.  I really appreciated that.

In his paypal payment he left this comment.  "Good luck in your pursuit of happiness."


This phrase has been sticking in my craw (which is an expression I've been enjoying using recently).  I know that this was meant as a kind of nice thing to say in way of support for what we were doing.  I know that he meant the best by it.  But here are some things about that.

1.  Having kids in general (by birth or adoption), should never be about your own happiness.  This is a problem our society is having.  People are having kids because they believe that it will bring them personal happiness.  They're having babies to save their relationships.  They're having kids to "be fulfilled".  Parenting is hard.  Parenting is not about your fulfillment.  The attention cease to be about you and changes to your children.  So instead of you personally feeling special, it is now about your child.  So it's almost the exact opposite of this.

2.  I know that he doesn't fully grasp this, but we didn't adopt any of our boys because we were pursuing happiness, but because God told us to.  There's a blog post that's going to appear on our family blog about obedience.  There's a huge difference between being obedient to God's plan, and pursuing my own happiness.  The process of adoption is HARD, LONG, and frustrating.  It's full of tears.  If I were pursuing my own happiness, I would be way more tempted to quit.

3.  Something God has been teaching me for quite awhile now is that God doesn't want us to be happy, he wants us to be filled with His joy.  See happiness is based on the circumstance I am in currently.....and circumstances change....and thus my happiness would change.  For instance.....if I buy a brand new car (yeah right)....i'm gonna be pretty happy.  I might park it out front so people see it.  I'd definitely post pictures on Facebook.  I'd talk about it in the locker room with the guys at hockey.  However....if I then total my car because I"m careless....i'm now not happy.  But if I'm pursuing God's joy, the circumstances I'm in, don't dictate a change in that.  I could be in a rough place....but still know God's joy.   Why is the church growing in China, and Africa?  Why is the church failing in the West? 

2/10 Monday Update

the weekend that was:
-Friday night Marjorie took Corban to a workshop in Grove City...which left me with the youngers.  We had Mac N Cheese, swimming lessons, a short movie and some serious Candy Land action.
-Saturday morning was chores for everyone.
-Saturday afternoon I took the older two, to see the Lego movie.  I'm pretty sure I"m gonna blog about my thoughts on this later in the week.
-Saturday evening I took a bunch of teens to see the Erie Otters play.
-Sunday morning was pretty normal.
-Sunday afternoon was an intense nap
-Connections Sunday night and then late night hockey which we won.

where i am at the moment: Sitting on my couch, while Marjorie puts Corban to bed.  Peace and quiet exists for a few moments.

on my to-do list this week:  I'm a little worried about this.  Not because my list is long this week....but because it isn't.  I feel like I'm forgetting something big that I need to be doing.  I feel better when I have a long list.

procrastinating about: Calling the dentist.

book I'm in the midst of: Epitaph by Bill Pronzini and Multiply by Francis Chan

media that seemed to catch my attention this past week: At this moment nothing, but I remembered the video from last week, so I"ll post that below.

grand revelations this past week:Not a revelation, but it never ceases to amaze me how teenage girls can be so quickly infatuated with a boy that has never had a conversation with them.
 
how i’m feeling about this week:Questionable.


Now here's the video.  Fraggle Rock and Ben Folds Five.  I keep singing this.

2/3 Monday Update

It's Tuesday night and I'm doing my Monday update again.  It's my blog.  Get off my back.....all none of your reading.  This one's gonna be short.

the weekend that was:
-Elias was sick all weekend. 
-The "olders" came to my hockey game Saturday night.
-Super Bowl happened.  I ate snacks, got angry, and went to read a book.


where i am at the moment: I'm now sick too.  So I'm home and drowsy. 

on my to-do list this week:  Mostly work things on my list for this week.  I do have a couple home chores to do, but they're pretty minor when it's all said and done.

procrastinating about: All of it.  I"m sick.  Who wants to do anything?

book I'm in the midst of: Nemesis by Bill Pronzini and Multiply by Francis Chan

media that seemed to catch my attention this past week: There was something I saw over the weekend that I was going to put here.....but I forgot it already.

grand revelations this past week: Nope
 
how i’m feeling about this week: Sick