What do you want to be when you grow up?

(post started Monday night)

Tonight started my little vacation! I got home and Jeanne-Ann had parent/teacher conferences till 8. So the kids and I began our evening festivities together. First they cleaned :) and then we read for 20 minutes together. Dinner was made and served while we watched the end of a flick together. Then it was Mario Kart time before we ended the night with some serious wrestling time.

Karston shared with me tonight that he wants to be a pastor to middle schooler and high schoolers when he grows up...and an NFL football player. He asked me if it was OK for him to quit part way through the season if he felt like he should just be a youth pastor. Of course, I told him. We talked about how normally quitting isn't the best thing, but if you feel like that is what God is leading you to do you have to follow God.

I love tender moments like that!

What do you want to be when you grow up? Post it in the comments!

Free Stuff!

Thank you Oprah. She is giving away free songs to download on her website for the next day or so. Click here. Thanx to Melinda for this little bit of info.

The morning started with our annual Turkey Bowl. It was pretty small this year. Only 7 of us and I was 11 years older than the next oldest guy! Jim is in Iraq and he often brings a bunch of guys. Miss you Jim.

It was a great day at the Williams' residence. We had the Unwins over for the day. Sooo good. Just chillin and eating! Yum. Our kids put on a rehearsed interpretive dance play for us to a song on Kynzi's keyboard. I got to play the special effects part. We had a TWENTY-ONE POUND TURKEY!!! Man, we got leftovers. Oh, and we had FIVE PIES!!! I made an apple pie I used to make when I worked at this old country store back in high school. It is about 8 inches tall! Soooo good. Jeanne-Ann also made a pecan pie and a pumpkin pie and the Unwins brought a peanut butter pie and a chocolate chip cookie pie.

The Goulds "crashed" the party so they could get some dessert. Their 40 person party had none. Weird. ;) Now for a little Survivor "new scenes" show.

Here is the strange thing. If you know me, you know that since Best Buy has been opened here I have been camping out to do Black Friday shopping. This is a first for me. I am sleeping in my own bed and Jeanne-Ann is headed out at 4:30AM. There is nothing really great in the Best Buy ad this year. It is extremely disappointing. So, I am staying home. Not sure how to feel about it. My tent will stay in the garage till summer now.

Hot New Christian Fad!

Is your church doing this? I am trying to convince ours to get on board right away!

Guns 'N Roses Album Drops this Sunday!!!!!!!

Welcome to the jungle people. I could really care less about this album they started working on in 1994!!! It doesn't take a Chinese democracy to figure out that something cool is coming as a result. They have continued to say that their album was coming out and then pushed the dates back.

So, Dr. Pepper made a "bet" of sorts saying that there was no way that the most recent date (November 23) would be the drop date for their album. They were so sure of it that they said, "If Guns 'N Roses puts out their album by this next date we will give everyone in America a Dr. Pepper." That's right folks. FREE! You know me, I love free stuff. I love Dr. Pepper. I don't drink much of it these days. I let that sweet child o mine go several years ago and began to drink more water. BUT, this Sunday, as I walk in the cold November rain I will enjoy a refreshing drink from the great Dr. thank you.

If you want to join me in the paradise city head on over to Dr. Pepper this Sunday and get your free coupon. Then flip on Fox and watch the 24 prequel and prep for January!!!

(BTW, did you know that Axl Rose is the only original band member left? That was free too.)

Use Twitter...Make Big Companies Hear Your Voice

Motrin placed an ad this past week that offended many moms. So much that many used twitter to complain and also blogged about it. It was happening so much that Motrin pulled the ad and put up an apology on the website. Who knew there was so much power to Twittering?

Read the rest of the story here.

Dustin Pedroia AL MVP

Just a quick note. The Red Sox had the 2007 Rookie of the Year last year and now he is the American League MVP! AWESOME!!!

He's the first 2nd baseman in the AL to get this award in 49 years.

Read all about it here.

Chair Races

Just thought you might enjoy this little video from a camp I spoke at recently. I "submitted" it to their film festival last minute.

REACH

This morning at church we had an event called "Reach." This is a one day event for middle school, high school and college aged people to hear about missions and be challenged to listen to what God is saying to their hearts.

Near 400 were there and heard from students who did monologues they wrote based on different missionaries that all tie to Kathy Fairly (our church receptionist) and her missionary experiences; Logan Martin lead worship; Scott Erickson painted and shared some of his Africa experiences; Josh challenged us all strongly on where we are and where we could be. We also got to skype video Patrick & Maria Kelly in South Korea and Clarke Leland in Jordan! How cool is that!!!

There were a ton of more elements to this 2 hour event. I am not sure how many students went forward making a commitment to doing missions in their future, but I know it was a lot. You can actually watch it if you want right here.

Here are a few pics from our morning together.

The Africa Team above.

Rest...

Today I did nothing. Well, mostly nothing. I took my kids to school and picked them up. Cleaned the house a bit. But mostly I did nothing. Watched some TV. Spent the day on the couch. It was actually quite nice.

I did walk to school when I picked up the kids. It was gorgeous out today. Literally not a cloud in the sky. Every now and then I think we all need a nothing day to ourselves. I also had a pretty good wrestling match with the kids. Got a fat lip from a punch in the mouth from Karston. I love wrestling with them.

That's it. Could really fit in a twitter tweet, but I am trying not to ignore you so I am making sure I pop on here as often as I can. Oh, here is a pic of me from last week when I ran out of gas. It was soooo cold. Jess helped me out, but my battery was dead by the time she got there and her connections were all corroded. AAA came to the 2nd rescue. 90 minutes later I was back on the road.

Dr. Mark Greene is back on ER...gotta go.

Christmas Already?

I was driving back from camp the other day and stopped in to Wal-Mart to get some post halloween deals. To my surprise I heard Christmas music playing on the Muzak. What?! It was only November 2nd!!! Can I please get some turkey in me before we start this? I love Christmas. I mean I really, really love Christmas. It may be my favorite time of year, for sure my favorite holiday, but I am just shaking off the fact that summer is gone. I am not ready yet. I had this conversation with some people at the office and they are all for it. What? I argue that it should all start the day after Thanksgiving.

That being said, I saw this video this morning and was blown away. The creativity is unbelievable. I am so excited to see the church be creative and original. Check out some of the other videos by this guy too. The painting on (I believe it's Dex from All Together Separate) is amazing too.


Trans Siberian Element Only from Pace Hartfield on Vimeo.


New Creation from Pace Hartfield on Vimeo.

Ever feel like you have run out of gas?

Today was a full day. Mondays and Tuesdays I take my kids to school and the other days they go to "day care" for an hour. So I took the kids to school and then to work and get back into "normal" work mode after camps are done. We actually jumped on some DYC stuff, our next conference we run for high schoolers in February. Then a package came for Matt. It was a gift for his wife. He was not at work and was headed south for the evening for a soccer game. I offered to meet him in Woodburne.

Here is the problem. I had enough gas to get to work and then go get my $2.19/gallon at Costco. I had not planned an extra 15-20 miles needed to make this little extra trip. I pushed and pushed. 2 miles from my office the car began to sputter, and yes then it died. Jessica is a good friend and came out with a gallon of gas. Well, as it turns out leaving the hazard lights on that long while I waited killed my battery. Jessica's battery was a bit corroded and could not give me a jump. It was pouring rain and pretty cold! A call to AAA and after 1 1/2+ hours I was finally on my way to fill my tank all the way. Almost 16 gallons and I payed $35.04! Wow!!!

After I finally got back to work, wrapped things up and headed home. Got some good time in with my family and off to our high school volunteer staff meeting. Good stuff. We had some fun and laughed pretty hard too!

Then it was back to see Barack Obama win the election. John McCain gave an amazing speech. Crazy to think that all of this is over and now we get ready to start a new era. I wonder what it will look like. It certainly is historic.

White Obama and Black McCain?

I wonder how differently we would all vote if we were honest if this picture were true.

I know My Kids Were Cute on Halloween...check this

I saw this little guy and had to share it with u. Imagine the hours that was put into making this one.

Off to school on Halloween

Today I missed out on Halloween festivities with my family as I was headed up to Quest #2. I got some pics of them before they headed to school this morning though. Aren't they cute?!