Time to Press

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Weekending

What a sweet weekend!!! The boys are in a winter football league and we started off the weekend early Saturday morning with a great game. I love watching how they improve as the season goes on. Caleb had some great passes and is really becoming quite the QB and Luke is becoming Mr. Defense and had stopped several runs behind the line of scrimmage. After football we got to hang with the Bledsoe’s for a little bit and then we headed off to one of the theme parks with the Jacobson’s. It was one of those days that when it’s over you’re just totally exhausted but you loved every minute of it.

Then Sunday was totally sweet. We had two great Discovering C3 classes with 41 people joining C3 and 15 wanting to be baptized. I love when God blows my mind. :) Sunday night we had an awesome Crave-Out at Boardwalk Bowl. It jacked me up to watch our students invite their friends and just jell so well together. I love Crave, you guys rock!!! Of course now its Monday and after a weekend like that, I’m just trying to figure out how to see straight. :)

Bubble Gum Can Hurt

Ever wonder why your parents would always tell you to never swallow your bubble gum?!?

How You Know Your Not Mom's Favorite

Ever just have one of those days? Check out what mama bird is standing on...

Back to Posting

Man, it’s been about 2 and half weeks since I last got on here. It has been a crazy couple of weeks. Literally hours after my last blog we got a call that Sandi’s dad had taken another turn for the worse. We flew Sandi up to PA the very next morning and the boys and I started an 18 hour drive up. You could see God’s hand all over that trip. Sandi was able to get to her dad while he was still coherent and spend some time talking with him. And, even though I was alone in a car with the boys for 18 hours we had a great time ridding up together and we made it to PA just in time for the boys to see their grandpa one last time. It was a long hard week following Sandi’s dad’s death, but her family really pulled together and helped each other through. However, just a few days after we got back to Orlando, tragedy struck again. Sandi’s closest friend lost her mom to a very short battle with cancer last Monday. She was diagnosed just 3 weeks prior to her passing and even though she was in the hospital she seemed to be doing better. In fact they were getting ready to send her home when all of a sudden her body just gave out. It’s amazing how fragile life can be. But, it is a lesson I keep thinking about over and over again. How we need to never let the day “get away from us.” In life there are so many important things to do, but we can not neglect the most important things; our relationships. God has created us for relationships. Relationships with Him, our family our friends, just remember as you go through your day to guard and treasure the time you have with the ones you love. Let me also say thank you to all those who called, sent cards and prayed for us over these last couple of weeks. Your love means a lot!

Good'er and good'er

What a great weekend! On Saturday we had some friends get us tickets to the UCF - Texas game. It was an awesome game, UCF hung right in there with #6 and the atmosphere was outrageous. During the middle of the 3rd quarter when we were standing and cheering in the poring rain, Caleb turned to me and said; “Dad, this is the best game ever!” That really made my day. Then yesterday… the only way I can describe it was just a day from God. Church was through the roof!!! We had 16 people get baptized that morning, the new Play House ministry for the First Look kids kicked off and I continue to hear one great comment after another about the music and message on Sunday morning. Then that evening we had one seriously sweet fish fry with our Home Team Leaders. I got to tell you, I love our Home Team Leaders! Last night there just seemed to be an overwhelmingly positive atmosphere as everyone seemed excited to get home teams started again. To top everything off we had Crave right after the home team meeting and man did God show up in a powerful way. We are continuing on through our “Life’s Toughest Questions” series and last night we dealt with; how do I handle the three big Ds; Difficult people, Difficult situations, and Depression. Everything started with Barry O. sharing some seriously personal experiences that he has had with the three big Ds. God used his story in amazing ways as student after student began to bring up and confront the big Ds in their lives. What a weekend! I love what God is doing here at C3 or as Pastor Byron would say, it just gets gooder and gooder.

Keys Part 2 - Lobster

Well, we’re back from the Keys and in full swing of things again. But, it seems like I’ve been getting several questions about lobstering. If you’ve never tried it, you need to put it on your “to do” list. Lobstering is one of those activities that can really get into your blood. My dad and I would go down to the Keys every summer since I was about 10 through my freshman year in college. My dad is now 70 years old and still makes it a priority to get down to the Keys to go lobstering every year. I myself look for every opportunity I can find to get back down there. This year was really cool because I had two good friends come lobstering with me and it was my boys first time. Jeff is an old pro at lobstering and as soon as we got near the water you could see the excitement in his eyes. Don had never been lobstering before but now he is already planning next summers trip to do it again:). Our normal method of catching lobster or “bugs” as we affectionately call them is to drag on planes behind a boat. Once we spot a lobster or holes or something that lobsters like to hide under we drop off, dive down tickle them out of their holes with a tickle stick and scoop them up with a net. It really is a lot of fun, here are some pictures of Caleb and Luke on their first lobster outing.

Luke heading out to look for Lobster:

Caleb and Luke on the planes behind the boat with Grandpa and dad, looking for lobster:

We credited this as Caleb's first lobster. He spotted it and daddy went and got it:

Keys, Family, Friends

Well, we are just about to wrap up our family vacation to the Florida Keys. I love the Keys. If you have never been, you have to plan on going one day. There is so much to do down here; fishing, swimming, boating, and my favorite of coarse; lobstering. This year was extra cool because we got to experience it with some of our really close friends. We spent 3 jammed packed days with the Newcombs and Jacobsons. We started out Monday with swimming in the hotel’s salt water pool, fresh water pool and snorkeling in the lagoon. Then, that night came Sandi’s favorite part of the trip: the all you can eat seafood buffet at Whale Harbor. Tuesday was an all out lobstering day, more on the lobstering later, but let’s just say that night was awesome as we all got together for a lobster dinner in our room. Then Wednesday was more fun in the sun as we rented aqua bikes and had more fun in the water. Check out a few pictures from our trip.