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January 24 Five Goals for 2008I was 4-for-5 in my Five Goals for 2007 so I thought I would give it a try again in 2008. It was a lot harder coming up with goals for this year. We bought a house, I got my agent's license, and we've been pretty good about going to church. What would I pick for this year? Well, here goes nothing...below are my five of my goals for 2008. Having Another Rugrat It’s been three years since our first one. I think I’m finally ready to have one more. Lis and I have discussed it for nearly a year now and we actually tried (aren’t we usually trying?) but after two attempts that didn't turn out so good (two miscarriages) we decided to just play it safe and wait until her body was ready. Now that we think her body is ready we’re not so sure if we are ready. We’ve been dealing with Lukas and his 3-year-old temper tantrums. Unfortunately, Lis and especially me, deal with them in the wrong way. As he gets more and more upset, we get more and more upset. He has definitely tested our patience and we’ve definitely not passed the test. It takes a toll on us mentally and makes us think we’re not being good parents. So are we ready to have another go at it? That may be decided in the upcoming months. Practicing the Two P's I haven't started the new year off with a bang. I've felt more tense, more negative and have shown less patience for things. I don't know if its work or life in general but things have gotten on my nerves quicker then in recent years. I have been taken on more of a workload and have not gotten any type of reward for it. I'm the office manager, a position I didn't necessarily ask for nor do I know if I want to have, and now I'm doing both commercial and personal lines insurance. I was told I'd be going on commission this year but then I was told that that might be on hold for a month. If I don't go on commission then the chance of a pay increase greatly decreases, and in these times of higher gas and everything prices, a pay increase is a necessity to survive. Lately it has seemed that the insurance job is starting to control my life. The owner wants us to stay late and work weekends and I have been doing that, coming in nearly every Saturday even though I'm not on commission (am I getting walked over again?) He wants us to be passing out cards every time we meet someone knew. He wants us to put signage on our personal vehicles, with us paying half the price for it. Basically he wants the office, and his name, with us at all times. He basically has said that we need to be eat, drink and sleeping insurance. All of this thinking has taken on a toll on my part-time job. The last two games I've covered I just haven't felt into the game and the writing. I have struggled to come up with a decent storyline and you can't do that for too long on a deadline. So when deadline nears I throw together a story I don't feel proud of when I look in the next morning newspaper. I don't like feeling this way. I love my second job and enjoy the people I work with. But in the end I'm going to have to settle on one job. I believe all of this thinking and emotions (feeling like I should be at work or doing something that resembles work even though I'm at home at 8pm at night) has played a toll on my home life as well. Sure Lukas is at that age of throwing temper tantrums but I haven't done so well either losing my patience at a drop of a dime and blowing up at him. I mean really blowing up at him. It's gotten so bad that I've questioned my fatherhood and if I can actually succeed at it. In the first three years I thought of myself as a good father, in the last two months I have only thought of myself as a dad doing a horrible job at raising a son. Man, it feels good to be writing again! Sorry, I'm at work, needed a break from all of the negative talk (pointing fingers and what not) so decided to put my mind somewhere else and my fingers have just started going and I'm feeling a bit better. I love to write and express my emotions and now I've totally lost track of the entry I was trying to write. Oh, back to the "Practicing the P's" thing. I need to focus on being more positive. Though people at work may toss blame at me or point fingers my way, I can't let it bother me (that's tough to do, isn't it?) I'm the office manager so people are going to take shots at me. That's what happens when ... darn Boss Lady on the phone can I ever shake her? She knows we all took shots at her when she was the Boss Lady. It's just what we humans do. Take shots at the person "in charge". Back to the whole positive thing, I've got to not let everyone's negative talk take control of me. I don't need to jump into the conversation when someone is being negative. Actually, earlier today two of my co-workers took shots at me for an incorrect fax number. They tell each other that "Kevin gave me the wrong fax number" then a couple minutes later they ask me a question. Like my Mom, I get "pouty" and give them the ol' "I don't know because I don't know anything" answer. My other co-worker actually turned and said that he hasn't enjoyed the talk in the office. That the insurance talk is okay but everything else has become negative. I immediately agreed with him and realized that I had become a part of that. I'm glad he brought it up because it made me realize, even though I knew it was something I was doing, that it was something going on and something that's not healthy for the environment. My other 'P' is Patience. Ever since I was a little kid I had problems with patience. Actually I did okay with it for awhile until I let everything swell inside of me and eventually blew up over something so small. From the Christmas season to now I've felt extremely tense and have had quite a few blow ups. So many that I think the number outweighs the entire amount of blow ups I had in the first 11 months of 2007. Work has been tough on me and its tested my patience, then when I get home and want to unwind my patience is again tested with Lukas and his not wanting to finish his plate, not wanting to brush his teeth and not wanting to go to bed. I lose the battle every time. Lis has done a nice job in trying to correct this problem. She made a checklist of things Lukas does in the evening before he goes to bed. 1) Eat Dinner, 2) Take a Bath, 3) Brush Teeth, 4) Read a Book, 5) Get a Drink, 6) Go to Bed. He gets all excited when we get to check off the things on the list. He reads them out loud then yells "Check!" He's gotten better at going to bed. He still gets up but usually doesn't throw a fit when we ask him to get back in his room. He listens to his "Bob the Builder" stories, plays with his stuffed animals and eventually dozes off. Hats off to Lis and however she came up with this idea. If anyone has any suggestions on becoming more patient (the count to 10 and the take a deep breath thing doesn't work) then please let me know. Take a Vacation We skipped out on a vacation last year so one of my goals is to take a nice family vacation. Since we skipped out on vacation though, that means that our next trip is to Brazil to visit the in-laws. The problem? Prices for three tickets to Brazil cost over $3,000. That's a lot of money for a two-week trip down south. This is the part that gets a little uncomfortable. Lis and I want to go visit her family every other year - at least. The last time we went was July 2006. We're due for a trip. So since we're going to Brazil then we can't go anywhere else because that would cost more money and we need to save for our Brazil trip. The problem is that our Brazil trip looks less and less likely that it will happen in the upcoming year. I've thought about letting Lis and Lukas go alone so they could visit the in-laws. But can I survive without them for 3 to 4 weeks? Plus, I want to see Lukas and his nephews interact. That's selfish though. If the two of them go it will cost close to $2,000. Then the three of us could take a week or two to go on vacation. But I want to go to Brazil also! Argh, so confusing. I would also like to take a trip (maybe 3 to 4 days) somewhere with just the three of us. We've taken one trip with just us and that was when we went to Disneyland in February '06. Lastly, I need a break from work! Settling on One Job For the reasons I mentioned above, I'm ready to settle on just one job. Which job do I prefer? The writing job - of course! But there isn't a full-time position open and the pay isn't that great. So now I'm conflicted because I want to keep working there but I also think it'd be nice and good for my family if I went to working just one job. We'll see how this one pans out in the next year. My guess is that I'll still have the two jobs, hopefully by then I'll enjoy both jobs too! Lose Weight Who doesn't set this goal eh? I set it last year and didn't do so well. My current weight is 220-pounds. I'd like to get down to 215 or 210. Not a big drop but it will take some work. Like not eating after 9pm, not snacking while at work, and not overeating. It will also take some exercising. Right now I'm playing in a men's basketball league (we're 1-1 but starting to gel) but that's just once a week. Once the sun comes back I'm sure we'll do a little more exercising. Again, we'll see how this one pans out. Those are five of my goals for 2008. I'm sure there are many others that I want to achieve or at least maintain. We've done a fine job of attending church and our small group and becoming involved in the church, I hope to continue doing that in '08. I also hope to raise more money then we've made in the three prior years of doing the ACS Relay for Life. You can help by clicking here. I apologize if I complained for a bit, if it makes you feel any better I feel better! It felt nice to get back to writing from my heart and I really needed it to make my day better. Here's hoping I blog more in '08 also! January 21 Year of Friendships - Year in Review: 2007Before I get into my 2007 Year in Review, let me get my first ACS Relay for Life donation plug in real quick. Team Force, the reigning ACS Relay for Life of Monroe Team Spirit champions, are back for a fourth year at raising money for cancer. Please click here to donate to a worthy cause: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeGreatWestDivision?pg=personal&fr_id=5961&fr_id=5961&px=1988074. This is my third Year in Review blog entry. You can read all about years 2005 and 2006 by clicking on the respective years. Two-double-oh-seven (never start a sentence with a number), or 2007, was a calm, yet eventful year with nothing too dramatic taking place - unlike the years of 2005 (Lis’ diagnosis) and 2006 (the sudden death of the late, great Uncle Jeff). If I had to give 2007 a “The Year of…” tag I’d probably name it the “Year of Good Friendships”. We made new friends - Canadians' Graham, Sarah and their son Hudson and Brazilians' Alexandre, Jackie and their daughter Iasmin. And our old friendships grew stronger. One of my favorite highlights of the year will be getting together with our friends in our backyard having a barbecue and hanging out. Our friends came out in full support being with us at the ACS Relay for Life and my surprise 30th birthday party. Towards the end of the year we began attending a small group within our church and have since made some solid friendships with that group. I thought I would try something different with this entry. Rather than listing highlights of each month (because there wasn't any) I've decided to list the top 10 highlights of 2007. Okay, so they are not all highlights, maybe I should rephrase by saying the top nine highlights with one lowlight mixed in. Without further ado let me begin... No. 10 – Super Colts Okay, so I’m not the biggest of all Colts fans, but I do own a blue No. 18 Peyton Manning home jersey and I do proudly state that Manning is my Man-Crush. So watching Manning and the boys in blue play solid defense throughout the AFC playoffs and then watching them win on the biggest stage on a wet and sloppy field in Miami was quite the highlight for a sports fan that has never seen any of his favorite teams win any sort of championship. The 2007 Colts did what I had long wished the 1998 San Diego Padres and the 1992-93 Phoenix Suns would do - win a world championship! Plus Manning’s Super Bowl title and Super Bowl MVP allowed him to host Saturday Night Live and produce this hilarious clip. No. 9 – That Small Group Thing I know, lately I’ve been totally bragging on how much Lis and I love meeting in our church small group, but really it’s been really great for us. Not only has it got us going to church every weekend but it’s also given us a chance to build friendships within our church family. Something we’ve ignored to do the last two years. Our group consists of about seven people, five around our age. Every Monday we meet, eat snacks, talk about our weeks, lay down some prayer requests, joke and get to know each other. We’ve gone out to dinner, a couple from our group came over for Casino Night, and we went over to another gal’s house to watch the Seahawks game a few weeks back. Its felt great getting to know everybody and making friends that share in the same belief that we do. I look forward to continuing to grow in the group and my faith in the upcoming year. No. 8 – The Golden Gal We started off by thinking of some way to have a kick butt surprise party for my Mom's 50th birthday. That quickly ended when we realized we were never going to be able to surprise my Mom. So instead we asked her what she wanted to do and she replied with, "I want to go clubbin'". So we be clubbin'. We gathered some of our closest friends, jumped into the motor home and spent a night out on the town in Seattle. No. 7 - A Season to Remember I have been playing organized basketball for close to seven years straight now and in those years I've never had a season like the one I played in last year. We started off horribly losing our first game by 20-plus points but come playoff time we were rolling. We dropped our first playoff game then took a 3-hour break by having a barbecue at the Bashford's house. The camaraderie must have helped as we won our next game and stayed alive for another weekend. That's when the fun kicked in. And now I will quote my entry from March 28... "We got up quickly by nine points before we let the other team climb back into the game. After trading baskets a bit I threw a crappy pass that lead to two more points and with 30 seconds remaining we trailed 38-37. Earlier I told Mike that a rather large and hefty (aka fat) dude was guarding me and that even with my turtle-like speed, I could still lose him by cutting through the key and ending up on the other side of the court. Mike’s a good listener because with 17 seconds remaining I did just that, cutting through the defense and Mike found me in the corner for a wide-open 3-point attempt. I caught the ball, got the right feel of it and swished it in for a 40-38 lead. It was the greatest shot I ever made. Of course, I never played high school, college or professional and have been pretty much stuck playing in men’s leagues the past few years, but still I had never made a basket that had put us ahead so late in a game. I kept cool for a bit but after looking at the score and realizing what just happened, I looked the other way and cracked a smile from ear to ear. Chris would block a shot the next time the other team came down court and one of the dude’s would lose his cool and kick a chair resulting in a technical foul and an automatic two points for us. Just like that we had our first winning streak of the season and lived to play another game. An hour later we started our second game. The other team jumped ahead and at one point led by nine before we began to make our ascent. Behind the amazing play by Graham and tough baskets by Josh, we were able to climb back into the game and tie the score at 50-50 with less than a minute remaining. Graham had to have scored about 10 or 12 points just from out-leaping the opposition and putting offensive rebounds back into the basket. The dude, who stands about 5-foot-9, was about equal with the rim half of those times and made the rest of us 6-footers look silly. The bench erupted every time the Canadian scored. Graham had been silent the entire season but had reached his comfort zone just in the right time. As Mike was being hounded by defenders, Graham was busy cleaning up the misses with offensive put backs. The other team had two opportunities to take the lead. But with about 10 seconds remaining Chris once again put his hand in the way of a shot and Josh saved it and ended up kicking the ball back to Mike. With 5.5 seconds remaining Mike wisely called a timeout and we went to the bench trying to think of a play. Being the 3-point specialist I am (I had made two earlier in the game but won’t mention how many I failed to make) I checked into the game and got myself prepared for a possible chance at another game-winning shot. I came up with a play where Josh and I would set a double screen for Mike at the top of the key. If the screens work Mike would turn away and take a shot. I would set a screen on the opposite side of Josh and then peel away for a possible shot attempt. Of course we didn’t design a play to inbound the ball to Mike. Mike thought I was going to get the ball. Aaron thought I was supposed to get the ball. But I thought Mike should get the ball and make it work. We were still able to get the ball into Mike. He stumbled near mid-court but didn’t stop his dribble. Josh and I moved into position but the play didn’t even come close to working. Mike was double-teamed and as I ran over to set a screen he let fly a shot with two defenders on him and one pursuing him. I watched as he released the ball over the defenders and watched as the ball swished through the basket as the buzzer went off. At these times, no matter what level of play you’re playing in, NBA, NCAA whatever, you go to your top player in a situation like this. We went to Mike and he delivered. I lifted my hands in the air and screamed like a girl. I then turned to Mike who had his hands up and was running my way. He leapt up and I grabbed him and hugged him. The other eight players on our team came running up to us. The next two minutes were an emotional blur. I had never been part of a game that ended on a buzzer-beater. The other team congratulated us on a great game and said that though they weren’t happy that they lost, it made them feel better to lose on a play like that. We were the only game going on at that moment so people had congregated to our court. When the shot fell you heard a loud roar of the crowd. It was the greatest game I had ever been a part of. Later I would joke that Mike stole my thunder from my first game dramatics. It was an amazing end to two thrilling games. Back-to-back last minute game-winners. A team that came in ranked 14 out of 16 teams had now won three straight and made it into the "Super Six". It was the top five teams in our division and us." No. 6 - Surprise! Please see No. 2, but not without reading Nos. 5 and 4 first. No. 5 - Over the Hill? My Mom's 50th birthday wasn't the only milestone birthday we had in 2007. Lis and I both celebrated our 30th birthdays in '07. Unfortunately, with moving into a new house (oops, let's not skip ahead) we didn't get to celebrate Lis' 30th the way I would've liked but we did have a barbecue with some of our close friends. I did make a slideshow for her birthday though! I also made a slideshow for my birthday too! And Lis threw a surprise party for me. I was surprised that she organized the birthday for me. Unfortunately I asked some of the people that day to come over for my party. For a complete rundown of the best birthday I can remember click here. No. 4 - Cover Boy I had my proudest moment of my 12-year work career in 2007. It didn't come from my full-time job at the insurance office, though I did become an agent earlier that year. It came from my part-time gig at the Everett Herald newspaper. Right: That's my story in the middle of the page. If you zoom in you'll see my name. I feel so cool!
No. 3 - Team Force! What! What! The third time was a charm for Team Force. In our third year at the American Cancer Society Relay for Life we raised our highest amount of money (over $2,000) and won the Team Spirit competition. Randy won the Mr. Relay 2007 competition and the karaoke competition. We got great support from our friends and family and it was also the first time I had stayed up the entire 24-plus hours for our walk. Team Force came up with a new battle cry "What! What!" and we became the team that everyone wanted to party with. We had a total blast and I'm already looking forward to next year. Again, you can read more about that special day here. No. 2 - Cancer Strikes Again It's not easy hearing the words "I've got cancer". It happened once with my wife and happened again in June of last year when one of my best friends, Dennis, told me that he had lymphoma. It shocked me. He had been ill for a few months, being hospitalized for stomach problems and losing 30 pounds. Once I heard the news I knew that he needed to have some support. Something to get his mind off of things and to show him that his friends up north were thinking about him. So I talked to my other best friend, Josh, and we made a plan to fly down to Burbank, meet up with Randy and then drive down to San Diego and surprise him (this was No. 6 on my list). You can read all about our surprise visit here. You can read all about my buddy Dennis and our friendship here. No. 1 - Home Sweet Home I apologize, it's taken me a week to finish this entry so many of the entries were short and referred back to when I originally wrote about them. Anyway, the No. 1 highlight of 2007 was the buying of our first home. We spent a couple frustrating months looking at places that we thought we could afford but I knew I didn't want to live there. Old run down mobile homes up in the woods with moss on one side of the roof and a muddy slope on the other. Nothing looked good and it was frustrating the heck out of us. I wanted a porch and a backyard I could have a barbecue and have my friends and family over. We decided to check with a mortgage company to see how much we really could afford. Found out it was a lot more than the price range we were looking at. We looked for another month before finally finding two homes that we wanted to get. We talked it over, made a list of the plus and minuses of each home then decided to go with the one with a porch and a nice size backyard. We got it! And in May we moved into our very own place. For a tour of our house, in Portuguese, click here. It's been seven months since we first moved into our house and I love it. During the summer we had quite a few barbecues and I was able to chill out on the porch. This winter we put up Christmas lights and I even cleaned out our gutters! And now Lis and I can cruise Lowe's and she can talk about how she wants to redo the kitchen floor and put in hardwood floors and I can dream of getting that flat-screen HDTV. That's my 2007 Year in Review. There were other fun moments. I loved playing softball on Sunday summer afternoons, Lis and I got addicted to "American Idol" and we both watched as Lukas grew up and independent. He takes a leak by himself, he gets dressed by himself (most of the time), he throws really long temper tantrums, he talks a lot, he's funny and I love him (most of the time...hehe). Here's hoping 2008 is just as good, if not better, than 2007. January 02 How 'Bout them Goals - January 2, 2007Hope you all had a killer New Year. Ours was pretty good. We raised $450 in hopes of helping our friend, Ben Lagmay, get a heart transplant. You can check out our New Years photos here.
At the beginning of this year I sat down and compiled five goals I wanted to accomplish in 2007. Recently I went back and looked at that entry and to my surprise I had actually accomplished most of those goals.
Listed below are the five goals I named and how I accomplished them in 2007. Goal No. 1 - How Bout a Raise! What I said then: I’ve worked 3-plus years for the newspaper and have yet to see an increase in my pay. I’m not ashamed to say it; I get paid crap (like $9 an hour crap!). I’d get paid more money if I delivered the paper or sold the paper, but instead I write for it - part-time - so I get paid crap. Have I mentioned that already? Another problem with the paper is that I’ve worked here for 3-plus years and have yet to get any type of review. So my goal for the New Year was to demand a raise and review. Have I done that yet? Didn’t need to. A week into the year they mentioned a review and a week later I got my review. That usually means you’re headed for a pay increase ($9.05 here I come!) and just today I got an email from my editor that I got a pay increase. Whohoo! 6-percent! More exciting is that I accomplished one of my goals already! What I’m saying now: As you can see I accomplished this goal about the same time I wrote the blog entry. Score: Goals 1, Not Accomplishing a Goal 0. Goal No. 2 - Agent Double-Oh Seven What I said then: Another work-related goal. It’s been a couple of years (like almost three) since I failed my agent’s test and I think it’s finally time for me to get serious and get my license. Part of the reason I failed three years ago was that I didn’t know if this was the direction I wanted to be headed in. I had just started a new job at a local newspaper, I thought maybe that was were I was headed, but three years later I figure I’ve got a decent thing here at the insurance business and really I don’t feel like trying to find something else at this point in my life. I get to go home for lunch to see Lis and Lukas. I have banker hours and a 5-10 minute commute. And there is that slight chance that I’ll have the opportunity to own the agency someday. So I figured it’s time to step up and accomplish something for once in my life. I have already talked it over with the Boss Lady and I hope to return to the week long classes in March and pass my test by April. Wish me luck! What I’m saying now: Thoughts of owning the agency have dwindled rapidly after the retirement of the Boss Lady in July. We’ve gotten a new owner who is more sale-oriented, which means I’m to sell lots and lots of insurance - anyone in the market? I did, however, accomplish my second goal by becoming an agent in April passing my test on the first try (sorta) after my second attempt at taking the insurance school. I was very relieved and excited that I had actually accomplished something in my life. I had failed the test twice in 2004 when I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to be an insurance dude. Goal No. 3 - Buying a Home/Condo/Something! What I said then: We hate renting! Seriously, who enjoys it? Giving money to someone else and not having anything to show for it after years and years. That’s all it is. So one of my goals was to try and find a way to own our own place, whether it is the condo/townhouse that we currently live in or a small home that Lukas can grow up in, I want something I can call my own. I want to be able to walk into Home Depot and find stuff for my house and I want to not feel bad when Lukas or I ding up the wall. Financially we’re strapped but if we could find a way to get something with a small amount down that’d be great, the problem is the prices of property around here. A 3-bedroom, 2-bath condo is selling for $350,000 down the street from us. One of the condos in our neighborhood is selling for $209,000. It’s outrageous! How are we supposed to buy anything with these prices? How can anyone afford anything with these prices? If we can’t afford anything now we’re just going to have to wait until Lis gets back to work, which is in a few years when Lukas starts school. No Lisy, I don’t have a problem with you staying home and being with Lukas. It saves us money and is better for us all. As long as you continue to do a good job training my son to be a Jedi Knight. Okay, maybe not a Jedi but to be a good little man. So far you’ve done outstanding work. What I’m saying now: That’d be Goals 3, No Goals 0. Lis and I bought a house in May of this year, moving seven miles from where we live to a nice peaceful little town that I never thought I’d live in. The best part is I love our house! The whole home buying process was stressful. We didn’t know what was in our range so we looked at a ton of crappy places that we thought we’d have to move into. Thankfully we found someone that told us that with my credit we could totally own a good house for the price we were looking for. So we bought a nice 3-bedroom, 2-bath rambler with a porch and a great backyard for barbecues. That’s all I wanted and we got it! Goal No. 4 - Keeping My Weight Down What I said then: Oh, everyone’s favorite New Year’s Resolution. I guess I shouldn’t write "keeping" since my weight isn’t down, but I’m hoping to get it down and keep it there. No, I’m not trying any new or scientific diet. I’m just strictly trying to eat healthier, eat less (no more seconds!), drink more water, not eat after 8pm and try to exercise whenever possible, which is tough, what with working long days and living in a cold and rainy climate. Lis has started cooking healthier, I’ve tried to keep my portions down and already I’m starting to feel better. Lis has already lost five pounds, which she’s very proud of. Five more and I get to see her naked...just teasing...its 10 more. We are starting to go for walks whenever I don’t have to work or it’s not raining and I’ve begun playing basketball again - if that’s what you want to call it. Some of the Goonies (Aaron, Mike, Josh and me) are playing in a church rec league. We’ve lost both of our games by a combined eight points. I played horribly on Sunday scoring two points on a lucky tip-in. I think I missed all of my other six or so shots. But the point of it is to hang out with the guys and get some exercise. I’d like to lose 15 pounds or so. Right now I’m anywhere between 225-230 depending on how many glasses of milk I drank. I’d like to get to about 215 or less, mostly I want to lose my gut and get to where I’m not winded after running up and down the court for three straight minutes. What I’m saying now: Okay, I’ll admit it; I lost this battle, sort of. As I read through it I have not kept up with what I wanted to do. I have not stopped eating after 8pm, I have not drank more water or smaller portions and I haven’t exercised that much. I’ve lost this battle. I have, however, remained right around 220, which is 5-10 pounds less than where I was last year. Things are looking up as church basketball starts up again, meaning at least one day a week of basketball. I’m still hoping to get to 215 or 210 but am going to need only one job and a ton more exercising to do that. Goal No. 5 – Church, Church and more Church What I said then: My fifth goal is to go to church on a regular basis, keep on going to church and get more active with our church. Lis, Lukas and I have been very good with this so far this year. We haven’t missed a service this year and have gone to church for a little more than two months in a row. It makes it easier that Lukas enjoys it. Well enjoys hanging out in the nursery. He’ll walk straight in the nursery and will say "Bye Mama. Bye Daddy," before we even leave the room. The music at church has improved which makes church a little more fun and upbeat and we’re starting to get to know our church family better. Lis has made food for a family at church that has a daughter battling leukemia, I went to Bible study and hope to continue going, and we plan on going to the church campout this summer. It makes me feel good going to church all the time. What I’m saying now: We totally accomplished this goal this year. We went to the church campout, we became “regulars” at Sunday service and one of the best things that we did all year was joining a small group. We’ve totally become involved with church and its really beginning to feel like our church is our extended family. That’s what church is supposed to feel like! We had Lukas dedicated, Lis and I are thinking of getting rebaptized, and we’ve really made some good friendships. I look forward to continuing in our small group and building our relationship with church and God! Four out of five, ain’t bad eh? Now it’s time to focus on my five goals for 2008. Those are going to be harder to come by, but maybe I’ll stretch it a little and think of some goals that may be a little harder to obtain. Until then…Happy New Year, if I don’t hear from you all! |
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