Electro

My office at the church is bipolar. When it's hot, it's really hot; when it's cold, it's really cold. Our hvac system is dated and ineffective, so I use a space heater throughout the fall/winter to stay comfortable. It's my litium.

This morning I unlocked my door and bent down to plug in the heater, as is my custom upon entering the room, but the results were anything but usual. I still had my keys in my hand and I think one of the keys entered the outlet as I plugged in the heater. POP!!! A nice sized spark lit up the room and I jumped back... luckily unharmed. The plate surrounding the outlet was metal and another key grounded the shock to the plate blowing the fuse and saving me from a big buzz.

Any close calls for you lately?

Goodnight Moon

Every night we pray with our kids before they go to sleep. We invite them to pray as well, but they don't always want to participate [we don't want to force them to pray]. But tonight they both said some things that are worth sharing.

Aaron tends to say just about anything that comes to his mind. Tonight he thanked God for "golfing and Tiger Woods"; then he thanked God for "not talking and don't touch the curtains or Mommy will get mad". I almost laughed out loud at that one.

Then Evan thanked God for being strong and for helping us.

Two prayers to put a smile on your face:)

Family Archives

I finally dug out the video camera in an effort to put to some of our memories in a shareable format. It's not riveting stuff, but here are some fun clips of Evan as a 2 and a half year old:

DudePerfect

Real or Fake?

Remember those old McDonalds commercials where 23/45 and Larry Bird would play an outrageous game of 'horse' [nothin' but net]? Dude Perfect is a group of guys who actually make those ridunkulous basketball shots (check out their website). I've enjoyed their videos, but I am even a bigger fan since discovering that they're a group of Christian guys using this as a platform to share God's love.

I think the shot is real.

For all the Parents out there:

I love the blog Stuff Christians Like. Funny, funny stuff.

But every once in a while, they slip in a little truth and I found this entry to be really applicable to where I'm at as a parent: Raising dorks.

The entry can be summed up by this fantastic quote, "You can fast forward childhood, but you can’t rewind it."

Evan is in Kindergarden and I really want him to connect with his classmates. I think it's important for him to grow and learn how to make friends and adapt to new situations. I want the other kids to like him and to think that he's cool. But I don't want him to get caught up in thinking that fitting in and being cool are critical to who he is as a person. Maybe it can be cool to be a dork.

new blogroll

You may have noticed a new blog recently added to my blogroll ("what I'm reading" on the right). The Detroit Blog. I can't remember how I came across it (I think maybe on someone's tweet), but it's an online platform developed by TIME magazine. They actually bought a house in Detroit to serve as a base to discover/explore/discuss/share the stories found in America's Automotive center (and murder capitol).

The more we live here, just a couple miles from the city limits, the more I have heart for this broken city. I'm excited about any program that rallies behind this struggling community and gives a voice to the people trying to survive and make a difference around here.

Give it a look sometime.