That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Levi Update

2008-09-27T21:28:00.003-04:00

Levi is getting bigger and doing new things. He continues to love to crawl and is so close to walking and talking. We're not sure which one he will do first. He loves to play with his toys and his friends. He has a big voice and loves to be heard. He has so many stories to share with anyone who will listen. Levi keeps everyone in stitches.

Levi has started eating table food and drinking milk. He has a big appetite. I think he is going to eat out of house and home sooner than we think.

Levi loves to play peek-a-boo. When he is in the bath tub he plays peek-a-boo using a clear shower curtain. He finds it very funny though he can see us the whole time.

Party Time!

2008-09-27T21:17:00.004-04:00

Today was Levi's 1st birthday part. He had a great time with all of his friends and family. Here are a few pictures but more are at littlemanlevi.shutterfly.com. Enjoy!

Feed Me!

2008-05-06T07:59:00.004-04:00

Levi thinks he doesn't need baby food anymore, in fact he much prefers adult food. This weekend we tried avocados, strawberries and his aunts and uncles at church gave him a chicken bone. We are grateful that he isn't a picky eater, at least not yet. Hopefully he won't do a 180 and become a picky eater. He will watch us eat and just sit there with his mouth open. We have to be careful that we don't eat in front of him too often, otherwise he gets mad. We will have to see what new food he will get to try next.

This past weekend Levi's Grandma and Grandpa Robertson came for a visit. It was so nice to have them over. He was even able to do a new trick for them. We were sitting on the floor on Saturday night and Levi was laying down, next thing I knew, he was sitting up. He was able to get in a seated position all by himself!! It is only a matter of time before he starts crawling. We are hoping that he will be crawling by the time we go to West Virgina. I am sure that everyone would be excited to see him crawling.

Only 5 more months until he is a year. It is amazing all he has learned to do so far, in these seven short months!! I can't wait to see what else he will be doing soon. We will keep you posted.

On a Roll...

2008-04-11T19:54:00.010-04:00

I am not sure who is reading this anymore, but here goes...

Levi is 6 months old...people can't believe that, they think he is older because he is big, not fat big, just long and filled out. I look at baby pictures when he was a new born, and he was so thin, not anymore!!!

His favorite mode of transportation right now is rolling around the house. We have to keep an eye on him because once he starts rolling, there is no telling where he will go.
He is such a happy little man, he is always smiling at everyone we meet! We are waiting for his first teeth to come in, there is a lot of drool and chewing, so we are hoping it is anytime.

One of our favorite things is church...Levi wants to sing and preach with everyone else. He is hardly ever quiet in church anymore. It is a good thing that the pastor loves him! He is also very fond of being outside...I think this summer will be interesting, trying to get him to come back inside.

He is getting very excited about his next big car trip, going to see Great Grandma Robertson, in West Virginia, with a stop in Cleveland to get Grandpa and Grandma Robertson. The last time we were at Grandpa and Grandma Robertson it snowed, and snowed and snowed. We had so much fun playing out side. Hopefully it won't snow this time...it better not, it will be Memorial weekend.

Just Chillin'

2008-02-18T15:11:00.002-05:00

Just chillin' is right, winter can be over already. It is hard to sit in all day. I remeber Christmas with my mom's family and Levi was sitting on his great-grandfather's lap and I go up to Levi and say, "Are you chillin' with great-grandpa?" My grand father answered, "Well, I am not cold if that is what you mean." ahh...generational differences!!!

how many more days until spring?!

Kisses

2008-02-11T12:48:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Levi started to give kisses, with a little help! He has developed quite the personaility. He is a very happy baby, except when he is sick, which is now again. He is fighting a cold but he is being a trooper. He hates his nose sucked out, I don't blame him but otherwise he is his happy self!

He is just about ready to roll from his back to his belly, he just has to get his hips to move with him. I love to sit and play with him. He has grown so much in 4 months. He has a grip on him that you don't want to be on the otherside of. He has gotten me a few times and he won't let go.

I think both Levi and I are ready for the weather to get warmer so we can go out and get some fresh air. He isn't too happy getting all bundled up. He reminds me of the little brother in The Christmas Story

He is becoming quite the little man, everyday is a new adventure that we share together. I can't wait to experience more of it.

I am still looking for a job, so if you know of anything that is open, please let me know!

2 months old

2007-11-29T15:00:00.000-05:00

I can't believe Levi is 2 months old. There are days I feel like it has been longer than that and then there are days I think, "I can't believe it has been two months." He is getting so big, not just phyiscally, but his personality is big as well! He keeps us laughing. Levi is turning into quite the little man, he continues to try and talk, he does get some sounds out but I know that he wants more to come out.
Besides battling a cold right now, he is a great little guy. I am hoping that this cold goes away before Monday, he is scheduled to get his shots, but if he isn't feeling well, I don't want to add that to his poor little body.
We will keep you updated!!

The mystery is solved...

2007-11-24T10:03:00.000-05:00

Since Levi was born, people have asked who he looks like. There are some that immediately says he looks like Chris. I honestly could not tell who he looked like, until this weekend! Chris' mom brought some baby pictures and it is now comfirmed, he is Chris' twin. Levi doesn't have the baby fat that Chris had, infact, Levi has yet to reach either Chris' or my birth weight.

Levi made it through his first Thanksgiving, with all the handling quite well. In fact, he was so jealous that he was not partaking in the feast, he slept through it. He was so excited to see Grandpa and Grandma Robertson, Aunt Mel and Great Aunt Mary. He was his usual entertaining self for them!

Now we are preparing for Christmas...

Levi Charles

2007-10-03T12:38:00.000-04:00

Our baby Levi was born Saturday, September 29th at 6:31am. He was 7 lbs, 1 ounce and 20 inches long. Levi, mom and dad are doing well. We are so grateful to the LORD for His provision and favor.

No baby yet

2007-09-23T08:19:00.001-04:00

I wanted to everyone that baby has not come yet. We are trying to be patient. We know the baby will come in God's perfect timing. God has so wonderfully taken care of us during these past 9 months we know He is not going to stop now. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement to us!

Baby shower, praises

2007-09-09T08:19:00.000-04:00

We had a wonderful baby shower yesterday with so many friends from all walks of life attending. We were showered with a lot of gifts that now have formed a mound in our dining room. The task of going through them is daunting, however it is an opportunity for us to praise the Lord for another example of his unending provision toward us and our soon coming baby.

This morning as I was praying I was worrying a little bit about how we were going to do day care for our baby once she is born and Becca goes back to work. Sure enough God spoke to me through His Word in Exodus 33:12-17. Moses in this passage is basically freting about things he doesn't need to worry about; kind of like me worrying about day care. God knows my name and I remain faithful to Him, He will remain faithful to us. Either way a part of God's unchangeable character is Jehovah Jireh, the LORD who provides.

I am so thankful to have a personal relationship with a God who hears my prayers and communicates with me as His child.

3 weeks and counting...

2007-09-04T10:26:00.000-04:00

Only three weeks until my due date. I am sure the time is going to fly by. This past weekend, with the help of a friend we were able to get the nursery painted. Chris and I were even able to get the crib put together. We are so proud of ourselves.

I can't believe how much stuff I need to do yet before the baby comes. But, if it doesn't get done, that will be ok. This coming weekend we have our shower, which will mean that more stuff will be coming into the house and more stuff to find places for. That has been the hardest part so far, finding a place for everything.

I am getting anxious and excited. I know Chris can't wait either!! I am so grateful for God's favor in this pregnancy. I am just starting to show a little. I have had no real complications or complaints. I think the worse part has been the heartburn, which I am use to so that hasn't been a big deal. Before I got pregnant, I was worried about all the things that could go wrong, bed rest, gestational diabetes, not being able to find maternity clothes, gaining way to much weight, etc. I feel great and look great, I am very fortunate.

Life, Love and other Mysteries

2007-05-17T15:18:00.000-04:00

Because Chris has been slacking in the posting department, I have taken over! Here goes!!

Life: We are getting very excited to add those two additional feet to our home in October. Next week Thursday we hope to find out if it will be boy's feet or girl's feet. I have been feeling great so far, which I am grateful for.
I was talking to Chris the other day about the way that God has been providing for us. We are excited to see God work through all of this.

Love: Chris has been so awesome through this pregnancy. He has picked up my slack in housekeeping and other chores. I couldn't ask for a better man.

Other Mysteries: Last night, as we were watching American Idol I saw something flying. I turned on the light and it was a BAT. I screamed, of course. After Chris and I got over our initial shock we came up with a game plan. He went looking for it upstairs with a broom and I waited downstairs with a shovel to show it to the door. Well, a broken ceiling fan later, we killed the bat and disposed of it. Chris kept swinging at it with the broom upstairs and I saw this brown thing fall to the bottom of the steps so I smashed it with the shovel until it was dead. It was the funniest thing. I kind of wish it would have been recorded for the next time I need a good laugh.
The mystery part of this is, where did the bat come from. There is one theory that it flew in when we got our new windows last September. I pray that is not the case. So, when I get home from work I am going to check all of our overhangs and vents to make sure it can't get in that way.

One thing for sure, life at our house is never boring and with these two extra feet coming, I am sure there will be even more interesting stories!

Monday Update

2007-04-16T11:22:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday friends.

I haven't blogged in a while and thought I'd post something while I'm on break. Things are going well with Becca and I. Our church is going through a series on Spiritual Warfare and the conclusion we have come to is...we are definitely being attacked. The series has definitely opened our eyes to attacks, however it seems like there are more attacks now. We are grateful for friends who are praying for us and holding us up.

We are so grateful God has brought us to City Hope Ministries. We are very blessed at this church and we are praying that God will provide ministry opportunities for both of us at City Hope.

The other exciting news is that we will be adding 2 feet to our home this October :) (Hopefully you know what I mean by that).

Have a great day everyone!

tmsaisti

The story of making sweet and sour meatballs

2007-03-18T20:02:00.000-04:00

Long time, no blogging. We had some friends over last night and I wanted to share with you our adventures in preparing sweet & sour meatballs for our church's potluck today. The sauce was in a metal container so we planned to use our electronic can opener. When we used the can opener the metal started to crack but the can did not open. In the end since we don't have a manual opener we used a hammer and screw driver to open the can. It was so funny at the time. :)

Nothing else too exciting with us right now...

Home Improvement Saga

2007-02-28T02:52:00.000-05:00

This morning I went out to Becca's car to get it warmed up and scrap off the ice. When I came back to enter the house I found out that Becca was locked in and I was locked out. Thus began our home repair journey today since we do not want to be stuck in our home permanently. The process involved the use of many tools to get and get our door open. In the end we decided to remove the door from the hinges and Becca's swift "donkey" kick got the job done. Two hours later, we have the door re-attached to the hinges and a new doorknob installed. Move over Bob Vila, Becca and Chris are on the job!

The Necklace

2007-01-29T17:52:00.000-05:00

I received this today from our pastor and thought the message was very challenging. I hope this is a blessing to you.

The cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box."

Oh mommy please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?"

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face."

A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma."

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. Mc James if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?"

Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you.

Then give me your pearls.""Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail. Remember, daddy? The one you gave me. She's my very favorite."

"That's okay, Honey, daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?"

"Daddy, you know I love you.""Then give me your pearls."

"Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper."

"That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you."And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian style. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.

"What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?"

Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, daddy; this is for you."

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny.

He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure. So it is, withour Heavenly Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures.

God will never take away something without giving you something better inits place.

You can do two things with this story:
A. Pass it on and let others be touched by its message;
B. Throw it away and not let it touch your heart.

The greatest gifts happen when you share love and touch others

City Hope Ministries

2007-01-18T17:21:00.000-05:00

We have found a new church and are in the process of becoming members. The church is called City Hope Ministries. I've put a link to their website on the left side of the blog. We are very happy God has lead us to City Hope.

What Color Blue Are You?

2007-01-11T11:27:00.000-05:00

You Are Royal Blue

People find you difficult to understand. In fact, you often find it hard to understand yourself.You think so much that sometimes you get lost in your own thoughts!

What Color Blue Are You?

Please pray for my Uncle Luther

2007-01-02T16:10:00.000-05:00

Please pray for my uncle Luther. My dad called today and told me Uncle Luther has been transferred to an area hospital from his nursing home as he has severe internal bleeding. This is very shocking and unsettling to his close family as well as my dad. Thank you all for your prayers for his physical condition as well as his spiritual condition. We are not sure if he has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ or not.

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-23T10:39:00.000-05:00

I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. We're in Cleveland celebrating with my family. I'm glad to have a few days away from work to relax with family.

Well I thought this was going to be a brief post...

2006-11-26T19:27:00.000-05:00

Well I'll break the silence with a brief posting. I met a friend of mine today at Panera. He was in from Texas for the weekend. It was good to see Nick and catch up a bit. I really feel out of the loop as I saw so many friends having pages on My Space. I am not motivated enough to get my own page, however I think everyone I know is on there. I had thoughts of really bad things going on the site, however I have now seen there are good things on the site too. I'm satisfied with my blog (not completely, I need to learn more about webpage design) and don't need a my space now.

I can't believe Friday is December. Where did 2006 go? It has been a good year though definitely with difficulties too. In today's sermon at church our pastor discussed the good that can come from trials. He was talking about Naomi from the book of Ruth. When she and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem everyone was happy to see her. As they expressed their joy to see Naomi, she in her despair and bitterness said do not call me Naomi but call me Mara. Mara means bitter. The challenge I receive from this passage is we will all go through difficult times, but how will we respond to them. God wants to use the hard times in our lives for His glory, but will we let Him do this? If Naomi would not have been bitter with Moab and returned to Bethlehem, then Ruth would not have met Boaz and that would have stopped the line of births leading to Jesus Himself. It is exciting to see how God uses trials, though it doesn't always help us at the time.

I have been in a funk today and I can't completely explain why. We are in the process of joining a church here in town. I am glad we have a found a church and I really like this church. The church is a good fit for us and will also be a challenge to us too. Part of me feels I should be more excited that we are joining this church though I am not. I can't help but thinking these negative thoughts I have had today are attacks from Satan. I desire to be sensitive to his schemes though I am not successful 100% of the time. I am reminded each day in one way or another that I need God's help to get through each day. God does not want to live life on my own and He does not enable me to either.

Well I think that is enough ranting for now. Thank you for listening. Have a great night!

Birthday Events

2006-11-10T15:25:00.000-05:00

This blog entry is long overdue. I have to catch everyone up on the events of the past couple evenings for Becca and I. On Wednesday night we went out to dinner at Red Robin with our burger club coupons we received for our birthday. The coupon says only one coupon can be used per table, but since we have the same birthday we wanted to be able to use both coupons for our dinner. We asked our server if we could use both coupons and she said…YES! So this is a glowing endorsement for Red Robin. Join their burger club on their website and make sure to go there for dinner sometime soon.

Yesterday was Becca’s and my birthday. I am still shocked sometimes that we share a birthday because of how rare that is. I planned a surprise party for Becca and invited some friends of ours to our home to celebrate the special occasion. I have been working on this party for at least a week now and had so much doing it. Becca and I talked the whole rest of the night after the party (it seemed) about all the fun details I worked with in planning the party. We went out to dinner at the Olive Garden. This was the 2nd night in a row we went out to dinner and we did decide that we need to wait awhile before going out again. We had a very nice server and the food did not disappoint either. I really do enjoy celebrating my birthday with Becca. After dinner we went home and the surprise party started. Some friends were already there, others arrived later on. I arranged for some friends to call in during the party as they could not attend in person. Some people brought gifts, other just came. I really enjoyed the party and was glad to celebrate our birthday. Next year is 30 for me so I better be on guard.

Please pray for Pastor Haggard and his family...

2006-11-03T11:10:00.000-05:00

It made me sad to read about the accusations made to Pastor Haggard in Colorado. I don’t know how big of a story this is, however it could become a big story in a hurry whether the accusations or not. Some are saying the accusations are politically motivated with a marriage amendment on the ballot in Colorado this coming week. Pastor Haggard has resigned his duties at his church. The interim pastor of the church is saying there has been some admission of guilt by Pastor Haggard. My prayer is for Pastor Haggard and his family that God Himself would give them the grace and strength they need to get through these hard days. I have no idea if these accusations are true, but I know the family needs prayer. The media will be all over them along with an unforgiving public. Please pray for Pastor Haggard and his family.

Halloween

2006-10-31T11:27:00.000-05:00

I am very excited to share how my company is celebrating Halloween (not that I really like the holiday, but it does show how much fun we have around here). We just had a costume contest. Now we are feasting upon Robinette's cider, donuts and caramel apples. Later on we will have pumpkin bowling. And yes we will also be doing work around here too. Have a great day!

Fun Christmas Link - Check it out!

2006-10-26T10:16:00.000-04:00

http://home.valornet.com/sabruf2/countchr.html

Just finished a book...

2006-10-22T15:29:00.000-04:00

I just finished reading Dispatches From the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters and Survival by Anderson Cooper. For my generation, he is remembered as a correspondent on Channel One News and now has his own program on CNN called Anderson Cooper 360°. The book was interesting (though not the best written book I've read lately). In the book Anderson is recounting his experiences in Sarajevo, Sri Lanka, Somalia and New Orleans while covering world events for Channel One and CNN. I did find it interesting how these experiences caused him to reflect on events in his own life. There is the tendency to comparmentalize life and not let certain events at work effect your personal life. Anderson realized while writing book that it is helpful to work through things like this as they come up. The book also shows me how busy a life Anderson has and how grateful I am that I can come home at the end of the day and leave work behind (even if I have to work an extra hour). I know I have the tendency to covet things I don't have sometimes and books like this make me grateful for what the Lord has given us. My job is to be content. This is a day to day battle. Some days are certainly better than others.

New Furniture

2006-10-16T18:11:00.000-04:00

My parents are in the process of downsizing, so Becca are inheriting some furniture from them. This is a win-win situation for everyone because my parents are rid of it and Becca and I can certainly use it. We also don't mind the price for the furniture either :) My dad came up on Friday with a friend of his and delivered a piano, a futon, and a set of drawers with a hutch top. The piano was the one I used to learn on so it is nice to have it in our home. A friend of mine tunes piano for a reasonable price so I'll have him out soon to have that done. I look forward to playing the piano again. I have missed it.

Also, exciting news on another front, last week the proposal for the community center at Becca's employment was granted final approval. This has been a long time coming and I'm very excited for Becca. She has put a lot of work into this and I'm proud of the work she has done. You can read more about the community center here.

That's my story for now. Have a great day!

Happy Columbus Day!

2006-10-09T12:36:00.000-04:00

Had a fun weekend and now that we can breathe from all the activity, I’ll catch you all up on what we were up to. Friday night was the start to Alumni Family Weekend (aka Homecoming) at Cornerstone. Imagine my surprise when 1,600 alumni show up for a free concert. J The concert featured Big Daddy Weave and Mark Schultz. It was a really good concert. It was also nice to see some people that Becca and I had not seen in a while.

Saturday morning we went to a local fruit farm to get apples and pumpkins. We had a good time. I hope to do this again sometime where we pick the apples from the trees. I really do think the apples taste better if you get them from the farm rather than a store. We’ll have to see I guess. Saturday night our small group started again. We’re excited to start another year with our group. We are not attending the same church as the rest of the group, but we are able to stay in this group. We are both grateful that we can do that. We will be starting a study in Daniel this Friday when we meet again. I have never really studied this book so I’m looking forward to the study.

Sunday morning was church. We have been attending City Hope Ministries the last few weeks. We really like the church. It was nice to have a couple near our age reach out to us yesterday and get to know us better. We really didn’t experience that at our former church. We’ll have to see if this church is where God wants us to be, or if we need to keep looking.

Sunday afternoon was a birthday party for a 2nd year old. His parents are in our small group. It was a beautiful day for a party and we were able to spend some time with friends from our small group. However there was no rest for the weary J as we had people over to our home last night. Becca made enchiladas and I did some cleaning around the house. They brought a chocolate cake with them that had about an inch of frosting on the top. Just a little rich I’d say.

Well that was our weekend. Definitely a busy one, but we enjoyed ourselves.

HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY!

YEAH my car is fixed

2006-09-13T16:01:00.000-04:00

We took my car to the repair shop this morning to get the muffler bracket fixed. I called three businesses in town and this one had the best customer service and seemed to know what they were doing. They found an after market muffler bracket and have installed it. They also say the muffler and rest of the exhaust system are in good shape and do not need to be replaced. This is exciting! I will be glad to have my car back in working order and we will both be glad that it was not very expensive.

Happy Monday!

2006-09-11T13:32:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday everyone! It's a bit rainy here in GR; hopefully nicer where you are. We were in Cleveland for the weekend visiting my family. Saw my sister's apartment. Lots bigger than I thought. Check out Mel's blog from the list on the left and encourage her to post :)

Now that we are done with house improvements for now, I am working on car improvements. The muffler bracket for my car is broken. I hope the muffler is sturdy but we'll have to see. I'm going to call a few businesses in town today in hopes they can install a new one for a good price. A friend of mine looked over my exhaust system last week and thinks the muffler itself is in good condition. This was good news. I hope I can get this replaced inexpensively.

Other than this nothing too exciting going on with us.

Prayer Request

2006-08-28T17:58:00.000-04:00

Please pray for our friends Ked & Amelia in Florida. They aer going through a difficult time of uncertainty. Read her post here and please PLEASE pray for them.

Quote

2006-08-28T13:27:00.000-04:00

It is never too late to start doing
what is right.
I heard this statement during a podcast of Insight For Living. Chuck Swindoll has been greatly enabled by God to preach the Gospel and the Scriptures to many people around the world. I completely agree with this statement and thought I would share it with you to encourage you today. Hope you have a great day!

Electrical outlets

2006-08-26T16:01:00.000-04:00

My question for today is why would people paint over electrical outlets? When we recently painted our living room one of the first things we did was to tape around the edges so the outlets wouldn't get covered. I am certainly not an expert in home repair, but this is one of the things that I know.

Today was a busy day. My in-laws came over and helped us with putting in new floorboards and new outlets. Some of the outlets had been painted over, some just needed replacing. Our living room looks so nice. I look forward to sharing the room with friends and family when they come over to see us.

Update on home improvement

2006-08-25T13:36:00.000-04:00

Well we are definitely making progress now on the home improvements. Our windows are up and they are nice. It is such a wonderful thing to have windows with screens you can open at night so we can turn off the air conditioning. Also the slider being fixed is nice too. I can't wait to get our next electric bill to see how much we will be saving. The windows are block a lot of noise from outside.

This morning the carpet was installed in our living room. The installers arrived around 6:40 this morning and were done by 7:30. These guys really knew what they are doing. Tomorrow my in-laws are coming to help us. We'll put the new floorboards down, hang the new curtain for the slider and put some new outlets in. The previous owners painted over a few outlets. I really don't know why you would do that.

Have a great Friday!

Home Improvements

2006-08-23T13:51:00.000-04:00

Well home improvement is definitely happening in our home today. We are having new windows installed in the guest room and our bedroom. Also, the window installer is able to fix our sliding door. There is an expression out there "Measure twice, cut once." Well let's just say those who installed the slider originally probably measured once and cut a few times. As of now the front window is installed and the window in our bedroom is being worked on. My dad came up to be in our house for the day so the installer could get the work done. We are both very glad Dad come up to help us. I don't think we would have been able to get this done otherwise. Friday the carpet will be installed and the living room will be successfully unrecognizable :) I am excited we are getting this work done. I hope you're having a great day! tmsaisti (I'll try to get some after pictures posted in a few days so you can see the exciting improvements.)

Laundry Love

2006-08-22T13:34:00.000-04:00

This is the title of today's meditation in the Our Daily Bread. I have been challenged a lot over the past days and weeks with my attitude at work. My work can be stressful at times, but I need to have a good attitude and I do want to demonstrate this. God has provided this job and I want to serve Him where He has placed me. The meditation from the ODB talked about a university student who worked in a residential treatment center. When the teenagers at the center received new clothing from their parents, this man offered to wash the clothing separately. The word of this kindness spread quickly throughout the center and soon he was doing a lot of special laundry. This special laundry was a great act of love and kindness. This challenged me because I should want to do the same for anyone I meet, whether I really like them or not. As I read this article I was reminded of customers at work I find annoying or people at our church that we do not agree with. I John 3:18 says we are to love in deed and truth, not in word and in tongue. I don't think that means I should say loving words, but the act of love should go far beyond my words and proceed to actions. What a powerful witness it would be if we showed love regardless of what someone has done and leave the judging to God Himself.

The Enemy is definitely still on the job...

2006-08-20T19:17:00.000-04:00

I have been convinced for a long time that the Enemy is still at work, but this reality has been driven home to us today. The church we are attending had a no confidence vote today for the current pastor (who is a very good friend of ours). The vote ended up being 13 having no confidence and 3 having confidence. I can't say the pastor is perfect; no one is perfect except Jesus Himself. I also can't say he hasn't done anything wrong because I am sure he has at some point, but what I can say with certainly is, I believe the vision he has for the church is from God and the reasons for no confidence in him are from Satan himself. I could say the unfavorable people are just against change, but I don't think that accurately covers the scope of what is happening. Spiritual warfare is being waged and we must stand up and fight. I am thankful the pastor of the church wants to continue to fight amidst must opposition. Please pray for him and his family. Also, please let this story and others which could be told serve as a reminder "...Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (I Peter 5:8).

More Alaska Pictures

2006-08-06T18:07:00.000-04:00

Some pictures from Alaska...enjoy

2006-07-19T19:04:00.001-04:00

our home away from home - the m.s. oosterdam

We're back

2006-07-19T19:04:00.000-04:00

What an amazing week we had last week on the cruise! I honestly think I need to go on a diet because of so much food that we ate. The scenery in Alaska and British Columbia was beautiful. We had a great time with my parents and sister. We had so many adventures once we were off the boat getting to the hotel. The customer service was amazing on the boat, however once we got off the boat, things did go down hill. I don't want to sound ungrateful because we really did enjoy the vacation. I'll just say things were more interesting once we left the boat.

I'll be sharing more stories and hopefully pictures in the days and weeks to come. Hope you're having a great day

The vacation starts tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-07-06T14:52:00.000-04:00

Well tomorrow is the long awaited day Becca and I go on vacation. Our day will start very early in the morning when we get in the taxi at 4:30! L Our flight leaves Grand Rapids at 6 and we’ll be in Seattle by 10:30. I’m excited we have some time to explore Seattle before my parents and sister arrive. We’ll get on the boat on Saturday and the cruise begins! We’ll take lots of pictures and hopefully we’ll be able to share some of them with you when we return. See you in 10 days!

Happy 4th of July

2006-07-04T14:52:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone in the US enjoys the day today. Hope my friends around the world have a good day too. We are very excited with the trip to Alaska coming up on Friday. It is exciting to look at the weather and the sites around Seattle and other cities will be visiting. We had a scare yesterday as some of flights were changed without the airline letting us know. My plan is to call the airline everyday (except today) to see if anything changes. It is sad I cannot trust the airline to give me the information but I'm over it.

That's my story for now. Nothing too exciting around here. What are you up to today?

9 days!!!!!

2006-06-28T16:57:00.000-04:00

I was reading a magazine today during lunch and learned how Seattle’s Best Coffee received its name. Many years ago (the number 35 comes to mind) there was a competition amongst coffee companies in Seattle to see who had the best coffee. At that time, this company’s coffee was rated #1 so they changed their name to Seattle’s Best Coffee. They had done their best to maintain this reputation ever since. Perhaps I should find their coffee instead of one of their competitors. Who knows?! J

2 weeks and counting!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-06-23T13:44:00.000-04:00

2 weeks from today we will be on vacation in Alaska on our cruise. I am really looking forward to our time away together. I must say the 1^st thing on my list once we arrive in Seattle is to find a latte stand and find coffee. Seattle is a coffee lover’s “Mecca” and I must take advantage of this. Hope you are having a great day! Have a good weekend!

Back From the "Dead"

2006-06-20T16:32:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine strongly suggested that I post something on my blog so here I am. I can post by email so that is helpful. Many things have been going on in our lives the past few months. It would take a really long time to catch you up on so we can start again from where we are now. The exciting news is we are waiting for our cruise vacation in July. We’re headed to Alaska with my parents and sister. We’ll be there for a week and it should be very nice! Everyone is telling me it is a very beautiful time of year to go to Alaska. If you have been there, please feel free to comment about your experiences there. More later…

Lent update and weekend

2006-03-06T12:50:00.000-05:00

I think I've decided what I'm going to "give up" in observance of Lent. I must warn you this is not a traditional item given up for Lent. I've decided that I will stop biting my finger nails. This is something I need to do anyway, however "giving it up" for lent is a good short term goal. Feel free to ask me about this from time to time.

We were in Cleveland this weekend visiting my parents. Spent some time with Mark & Margie on Saturday night. The restaurant where we ate was horrible. I will not put their name on here but I will say we waited close to 10 minutes to be seated and more than 40 minutes for our food (Part of the food we waited on was appetizers that should have been served right away). Suffice it to say, our waitress received about $2 in tips between our two bills which were about $40. I know the waiters and waitresses out there are going to say that they need tips to make a decent hourly wage. I agree with this, however I think tips should be earned and not given (like a lot of things).

Well I better get back to work...

tmsaisti

Lent - What Should I Give Up?

2006-02-28T21:30:00.000-05:00

Lent officially starts tomorrow and I'm looking for your input. I have never really observed lent, but I have been thinking about it the past couple of days and I think there are some merits to it. I think sometimes we focus on the celebration part of Easter but miss the preparation part. Lent is that preparation.

One popular part of Lent is giving something up. I don't think I'm going to come anywhere close to sacrificing like Jesus did, but I think giving something up is a good idea. Becca and I talked about this tonight. She is probably going to give up sweets and chocolate. I'm not sure what I'm going to give up. I do not want to give up coffee. I am drinking less each day, but I do not want to give it up altogether. This is where you all come in. Please send me some comments with what you think would be something good to give up. I look forward to reading your feedback.

HELP...I'm trying to sell my PDA

2006-02-26T18:50:00.000-05:00

Hello worldwide friends...I need your help. Here is a link to an eBay auction where I am trying to sell my PDA. This is really a good deal. (Yes, I know this is shameless promotion, but work with me.) If you add up the retail value of everything I am selling, it would be more than twice what I am asking for. If you or someone you know is looking for a PDA, please direct them here.

Let's join together and get this great PDA sold :) Thanks for your help!

The Second Chance Movie

2006-02-18T18:17:00.000-05:00

Hello again everyone. Sorry for the very long silence.

Last night Becca and I went to see The Second Chance Movie. I hope many of you were able to see the movie where you live. It seems like this weekend might be a test before they release the movie in more theatres next weekend. I know here in Michigan the movie is only showing in two theatres: Celebration North in Grand Rapids and Cinemark 20 in Grandville. If you are at all able, please go out and support this movie. I will not promise a huge budget blockbuster, but I think it is a good movie. Michael W Smith is the star and he portrays an associate pastor of a suburban church with a ministry to an inner city church. You'll have to watch the movie to learn more. Let me know what you think.

End Of the Spear

2006-01-19T11:18:00.000-05:00

I wanted to do my part to get the word out about End Of the Spear. This movie opens in theatres tomorrow January 20th. The movie is the story about 5 missionaries who were martyred in the jungles of Ecuador, attempting to share the Gospel with the Waorani Indian tribe. I am really excited to learn more about this event that has inspired so many to be involved in missions around the world and here in the United States.

Will post my thoughts on here when I've seen the movie. Let me know what you think when you have seen it.

Coffee quiz link

2006-01-18T06:57:00.000-05:00

Here is a link if you want to do the Coffee quiz below. For some reason, the link wasn't included when I posted it here. Enjoy!

What Kind Of Coffee Are You?

2006-01-17T16:31:00.000-05:00

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic
At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung
You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping
Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Does Your Sneeze Reveal About You

2006-01-11T09:03:00.000-05:00

I actually could not believe I heard this phrase on the radio this morning. However since reading the article about it, I thought this was too funny not to pass along.

Being good isn't good enough...

2006-01-05T08:53:00.000-05:00

The following is an email I received from a missionary friend in Thailand.

I just sat down to check my e-mail... I didn't have anything. My eyes caught one of the older guys who is working for us building the water tank and future garage. These people live just down the road from us in make shift homes made out of tin and bamboo. They are construction workers and live like this all their lives. He was taking a break; a well deserved break, and just staring at the tree or something in that direction. I noticed as he was staring, that he has a large tumor on his neck. My guess is that he probably has cancer because he smokes tribal cigarettes and chews who knows what. Unfortunately that is common around here. Anyway, he has those kind of eyes that are soft and tender looking, non-judgmental, and non-condemning. As he stared at whatever he was staring at, the thought ran through my mind of how hard it is sometimes to be here in Thailand among people who have been blinded by our adversary and do not want to hear about the gospel. Yes, they are good people, honest, caring, and quite generous even though they have very little... but that isn't good enough is it. The road is straight and narrow. It demands only one thing. That we confess that we are sinners and by faith we accept the finished work of Jesus Christ... his death, burial and resurrection. This is the only acceptable payment for our sin. It is so simple and yet for the most part Thai people will have nothing to do with it. Not all of them of course. Christ is building His church in Thailand, but the blinders have been put on and most of them don't even know it. It is hard and yet I know that it is through our lives and the life that we live in Christ that many will be drawn to Him. One of the people (a lady) that was working for us for these past 3 days mentioned to Dave that she would have liked to not work at the other job that they had off from for the New Year celebration, and would like to continue to work for us. "We were so kind", she said. "We were different", she said. Just pray with us that they would one day understand the story of Salvation... the life that WILL set them free.

God is doing a work around the world and in Thailand. Matthew 16:18 says "And I tell you that you are Peter,and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hadeswill not overcome it" (NIV). This promise of God toward Peter applies to all of us who have called upon His name and accept Him as Saviour. Please pray for this family that God will encourage them as they serve Him.

Happy 2006!

2006-01-03T12:23:00.000-05:00

Well this is the long overdue blog entry from the Holidays! Becca and I were with her family on Christmas Day. Wonderful time had by all. On 26 December we went to Ann Arbor to spend time with my family. Ann Arbor was the pre-determined "mid-way" point between Grand Rapids and Cleveland. We ate at a wonderful restaurant called Paesano's. If you are ever in the area, I highly encourage you to check it out and do not forget to bring your credit card with you.

The week between Christmas and New Years is a pretty dead week at work so I took as much time off as I could...2 days :( The other bad thing is that I was in the office on both days that I was supposed to take off. I need to reconcile that this week and take another afternoon off I think. We were closed on 2 January which was nice. Becca's work was also closed so we spent the day together. Let me back up to the weekend before New Years.

Before we moved into our condo we knew that we would need to replace the toilet seal in the 1/2 bathroom downstairs. This project has gotten away from us, but in light of leaking onto the washer downstairs, this project became an urgent priority. Becca and I went to Home Depot and got a toilet seal (this was a story in and of itself...will post more about it later). On Saturday morning, Becca's mom came over and she and Becca took care of this. I am not the handiest person with house work so I defer to the experts and help out in any way that I can. This policy works very well with Becca and her mom. A few months ago Becca and I purchased a cabinet that sits on top of the toilet for the 1/2 bathroom. Becca and her mom also put this together. In addition to all of this, Becca (with some help from me) painted the 1/2 bathroom so the really horrible pink color is gone. I will post pictures of the bathroom with the new gray color soon.

For Christmas, Becca and I bought ourselves a stereo from Target for the living room. After Becca put away the Christmas decorations we put up the stereo. It is certainly very nice to have a stereo in there.

We spent New Years Eve night with a family from our church and some other couples. We played some very fun, but interesting games. Got home close to 2am and was at church later that morning at 9:30. Needless to say we both took a nap Sunday afternoon. New Years Day night we were invited to dinner at the Keizers. Spent a lot of time reflecting on the Thailand trip this past June. I really enjoy times like this because it reconnects me to the trip. It feels like it was so long ago that we were in Thailand. We started talking about when the next trip would be and where we might go. Exciting discussions!

Well I'm back at work now. Back to the grind I guess. How was your Christmas and New Years? Does your family have any traditions you do each year?

Christmas Gift

2005-12-27T11:17:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. Spent Christmas Day with Becca's parents and met my parents and sister in Ann Arbor yesterday. Did check out the University of Michigan while we were in town.

I would be remiced if I did not mention one of the gifts I received on Christmas. Here is a link so you can see what they look like. Enjoy!

Pistol Packin' Mama

2005-12-23T18:43:00.000-05:00

This is a true account recorded in Police Log of Sarasota, Florida. An elderly Florida lady did her shopping and upon returning to her car found 4 males in the act of leaving with her vehicle. She dropped her shopping bags, drew her handgun, and proceeded to scream at the top of her voice, "I have a gun, and I know how to use it! Get out of my car!"

The four men didn't want for a second invitation. They got out and run like mad. The lady somewhat shaken then proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car and got into the driver's seat. She was so shaken that she could not get her key into the ignition. She tried and tried and then it dawned on her why.

For the same reason she did not understand why there was a football, a frisbee and two 12 packs in the front seat. A few minutes later, she found her own car parked 4 or 5 spaces farther down. She loaded her bags into the car and drove to the police station to report her mistake.

The sergeant to whom she told the story couldn't stop laughing. He pointed to the other end of the counter where the 4 pale men were reporting a car jacking by a mad, elderly woman described as white, less than 5 feet tall, glasses, curly white hair, and carrying a large handgun. No charged were filed.

Moral of the story: If you're having a senior moment, make sure it's memorable.

This Year In Pictures

2005-12-21T18:15:00.000-05:00

I just looked at the year in pictures 2005 on MSNBC's website. These pictures are amazing. Make sure to look at both Editor's choice and reader's choice. You can cast your ballot for the pictures you like too.

Twas the Blog Before Christmas

2005-12-21T12:54:00.000-05:00

'Twas the blog before Christmas, when all through the house
No blogger was stirring, no hand moved the mouse.
The postings were stacked by the tag cloud with care,
In hopes that more readers soon would be there;

The users were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of updates danced in their heads;
And me with my podcast, downloaded like that,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out from my laptop there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to my desk to see what was the matter.
Away to the portal I flew like a flash,
Tore open the reader and refreshed the cache.

The enclosure attached soon gave me to know
That new entries were here, more news I should know.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a raft of new updates, eight headlines so clear,

With a quick Wiki update, who could it be?
Our investor, of course, a leading VC.
More rapid than eagles his portfolio came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Blogspot! Now Feedster! now, Movable Type!
On, FeedBurner, FeedBlitz! (On Marketing Hype!)
To the top of the feed! To the top of them all!
Now blog away! blog away! blog away all!"

As valuations that before the wild bubble do fly,
When they meet with a fund, mount up to the sky,
So up to the top of the investments they flew,
With RSS data, and named it Web 2.

And then, with a twinkling, I read in my news
Each notable posting, contrary views.
As I drew back my hand, and was turning around,
Down to my trackback he came with a bound.

His comments were brief, what was ado?
Were adwords OK? Did users click through?
A bundle of mashups he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

Our AJAX - how it twinkled! Our tagging - how merry!
We socially networked to his brand new BlackBerry!
Our RSS valid, we were well syndicated,
We subscribed to the feeds that we loved (and we hated);

The stump of our web site held tight in our teeth,
The hyperbole encircled his head like a wreath;
We tagged Technorati, we blogged with the best,
On Feedster we surged and made the A-list.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And marked us on Frappr, and Flickr he searched.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
Updated his blog, up our OPML rose;

He sprang to his feed, gave his investments a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!"

2005 Year-End Google Zeitgeist

2005-12-20T14:03:00.000-05:00

Google has released their 2005 Year-End Zeitgeist. To quote the site:

It turns out that looking at the aggregation of billions of search queries people type into Google reveals something about our curiosity, our thirst for news, and perhaps even our desires. Considering all that has occurred in 2005, we thought it would be interesting to study just a few of the significant events, and names that make this a memorable year. (Well leave it to the historians to determine which ones are lasting and which ephemeral.) We hope you enjoy this selective view of our collective year.

So here's a link to their findings on the top 10 searches on google.com, news.google.com, and froogle. Interesting stuff.

Snow Globe

2005-12-20T10:15:00.000-05:00

Just saw this on Topher's blog and wanted to share it with you all. Thanks to Topher for putting it on your blog.

Fun times...

2005-12-19T11:41:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a splendid weekend. At 4am on Friday morning Becca and I were at St Mary's Hospital ER with me in much pain. As it turned out, I have/had a kidney stone. Bill and Deb became my new friends when they brought the pain medication. I took the day off Friday and did a lot of sleeping thanks to the pain meds.

I returned to work today hopeful that the stone has broken up and I am over another kidney stone (for those of you keeping track, this stone was number two for me). I have not taken any pain meds since Friday so I think I'm over it but we'll have to see.

Anyone has any fun kidney stone stories to share?

Lunch at Bennigan's

2005-12-15T09:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my team at work went out to lunch at Bennigan's. We had a wonderful time and good food. At the end of the meal after everyone had paid, everyone was given an envelope. Inside the envelope could be a certificate entitling me to one of the following: a 42" HD Plasma TV, iPod nano 4GB, free appetizer or free dessert. Our waiter told us that we would definitely receive one of the last two. We cannot open this envelope until January 2006 and we must open the envelope in the presence of a manager at Bennigan's.

My team was planning on all of us bringing our envelopes in January and sharing free appetizers, but I just noticed that you can only open one envelope per party. Marketing ploy! (Though an iPod nano 4GB would certainly be nice.)

grbloggers.com

2005-12-13T13:51:00.000-05:00

I am of the opinion that if someone or something helps me out, then I must give credit where credit is due. I have noticed hits on my site going up since I became a member of grbloggers.com . This is a group of people who live in Grand Rapids, Michigan who have blogs. If you live in Grand Rapids and have a blog, go to grbloggers.com and sign up. All you need to do is put some code in the HTML of your blog so that visitors to your site can be directed to other grbloggers.com sites or the main site itself.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

2005-12-10T15:26:00.000-05:00

So has anyone seen this movie yet? I think Becca and I are going to see to this tonight but I wanted to get your opinions on the movie. Comment below...

Why am I so tired?

2005-12-06T18:07:00.000-05:00

A member in my small group just sent this to me and it was too funny not to post on my blog. Enjoy!

For a couple years I've been blaming it on lack of sleep, not enough
sunshine, the kids, too much pressure from my job, low blood
pressure or anything else I could think of.

But now I found out the real reason.

I'm tired because I'm overworked.

Here's why:

The population of this country is 273 million.

140 million are retired.

That leaves 133 million to do the work.

There are 85 million in school.

Which leaves 48 million to do the work.

Of this there are 29 million employed by the federal government.

Leaving 19 million to do the work.

2.8 million are in the armed forces preoccupied with finding Osama BinLaden.

Which leaves 16.2 million to do the work.

Take from the total the 14,800,000 people! Who work for STATE and CITY GOVERNMENTS.

And that leaves 1.4 million to do the work.

At any given time there are 188,000 people in hospitals.

Leaving 1,212,000 to do the work.

Now, there are 1,211,998 people in prisons.

That leaves just 2 people to do the work.

You and me.

And there you are sitting on your butt, at your computer, reading jokes.

Nice, real nice.

New Office

2005-12-05T15:50:00.000-05:00

Well we are in our new offices. I am very glad that I threw away so many things before we moved because now I have work surfaces that are completely clear and clean. Very nice! There are a few boxes of things that will be shipped to Brazil soon. When those boxes are gone I will have more space and that will be nice.

My new office is a 10x10 whereas my old office was an 8x10. I did not request a bigger office, but because of the way the room is setup here, they had to give me a 10x10. I'm not complaining at all.

Greetings from Singapore

2005-12-02T10:09:00.000-05:00

Here at work they are rebuilding my team's offices so today our computers have been moved into the Singapore room so we can work while they build our offices. It is definitely different to be working so close to my other co-workers (though they have been away from their computers for a lot of the morning so far) but at least we can be productive. Fortunately, I have a lot of podcasts to listen to so the day won't be too bad. Thank God it's Friday! Enjoy the weekend. Hopefully I write an entry on Monday from my new office.

Where have I been?

2005-12-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Thanksgiving adventures

2005-11-28T17:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the silence everyone. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving (for those of my readers who are in the US). We went to see my parents in Cleveland and returned last night. It was a good visit and a relaxing weekend away for Becca and I. The ride down to Cleveland was quite interesting. The drive normallly takes about 4.5 hours, but this time it took over 6 hours. On the way we stopped in Brighton for dinner (Panera for dinner was a wonderful thing!) and we never thought we would get there. We were driving around 10mph from Lansing to Brighton. For those are you in Michigan, you can understand how annoying that might be. For those of you from around Michigan, please consult Google Maps. Fortunately, the drive back from Cleveland to Grand Rapids was uneventful. A bit of rain on the way but I will certainly take rain over mass snow anyday of the week.

Have a great night!

The West Wing - Season 5 - available December 6th

2005-11-21T14:41:00.000-05:00

My friend Jason Holzhausen just told me that Season 5 will be available soon and I had to share the great news with all of you. Thanks to Jason.

Dr Rex M Rogers - pretty in pink

2005-11-17T11:09:00.000-05:00

For all my Cornerstone University friends - again I'm stealing from Ryan's site, but I feel I must do my part to ensure that as many people as possible see this picture.

Enjoy...

Frappr - add to my map!

2005-11-11T19:10:00.000-05:00

I have joined the ranks of over 900,000 people my creating a map on Frappr. Check out the map and add yourself to it.

Also, created one showing the offices for the ministry I work for.

Happy Birthday!

2005-11-09T12:05:00.000-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME AND BECCA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME AND BECCA :) :) :)

Psalm 23 for the work place

2005-11-08T09:42:00.000-05:00

The Lord is my real boss, and I shall not want. He gives me peace, when chaos is all around me. He gently reminds me to pray and do all things without murmuring and complaining. He reminds me that HE is my source (and not my job). He restores my sanity everyday and guides my decisions that I might honor Him in all that I do. Even though I face an absurd amount of emails, system crashes, unrealistic deadlines, budget cutbacks, gossiping coworkers, discriminating supervisors and an aging body that doesn't cooperate every morning (maybe not for all of you :) ). I still will not stop... for His is with me! His presence, His peace, and His power will see me through. He raises me up, even when they fail to promote me. He claims me as His own, even when the company is cutting back and may let me go. His faithfulness and love are better than any bonus check. His retirement plan beats every 401k there is! When it's all said and done, I'll be working for Him a whole lot longer and for that, I bless His name!

So many meetings....

2005-11-01T09:45:00.000-05:00

This week is one of those weeks where good things are happening, but I will be glad when it is over. Sunday night I had a strategic planning meeting at church. Last night I had another strategic planning meeting. Tonight I have an Elder board meeting. Tomorrow night I hope to spend some time with Becca since I will be away Thursday night on a men's retreat. I'm coming back early from the retreat on Friday so that I can have a worship practice on Saturday and small group on Saturday night. Whew...let me catch my breath now.

On another note, my friend Debby Li has changed servers for her website so please check out her blog at the new location. The link to her site (My Thoughts...My Say) has been updated in the links on the left of my blog.

Have a great Tuesday!

tmsasti

Sorry for the silence...

2005-10-26T18:55:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the silence. I know it has been deafening :)

Life has been very busy for Becca and I. I hope we have opportunities to slow down soon and spend time together. On more than one night recently we both have had meetings at different places. Tonight we are both home so that is good.

I had so much fun at church this past Sunday morning. I was part of a praise team who lead worship. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun during a worship service. The music we did wasn't that complicated but I felt a very deep presence of the Spirit in our midst. I have received a lot of good feedback on the service. I know that God put this service together and I am just glad to have had a part in it. I am hoping to bring this group back for a worship service I'm planning on the 6th of November.

An interesting story for you all: Last Saturday we had blood drawn as we are starting life insurance policies. The nurse came to our condo on Saturday morning. We had to fast 12 hours prior. It was so hard to not make coffee first thing in the morning. We had to show the nurse our driver's licenses. After the nurse was done with Becca's license it was just sitting on table so I opened her wallet to put it away. Just doing something nice for my wife, right? Becca had already bought my present for our birthday and the receipt for the present was in the wallet. I saw what she bought me. I felt so bad because I was just wanting to do something nice and it backfired. :( :( :( My self-inflicted punishment is waiting until our birthday (9 November) to receive the gift.

tmsaisti

Interesting story...

2005-10-17T18:13:00.000-04:00

The following was written by a girl's aunt who niece (the girl) passed away very suddenly last week after being hit by a car. What a wonderful story!

A Princess Story
By Aunt Linda

This was the day! The castle was prepared for the arrival of the princess. The King had prepared for this moment. The seamstress had finished the royal gown. The necessary funds were arranged. The choirs were assembled. The princes and princesses of the land, young and old, from all of the ages, were gathered at the gate to welcome her home with great love and joy. The King, with his glorious smile, was ready to receive her into his open arms.

Many of the royal court who surrounded the princess, serving the King in a foreign land in which they abode, would soon hear of the princess's departure. They would be left to continue the work he had given them to do bringing those lost in the foreign land to the royalty he had planned for them.

This foreign land was not the princess's home. She had once been lost in the land and then one glorious day, she had found the King. (The King had always known where she was and sought for her to come near. She answered his call for her.) The King drew her near his heart.

Now this foreign land was a place where the princess was left, temporarily, to complete the assignment given by the King. She had faithfully completed her task. It was finished. The joy she possessed through knowing the King would now be proclaimed throughout the foreign land to offer hope and refuge in the King's palace.

It would be hard for the tenants of this princess to see her off. She would be sorely missed, for she was truly a lovely princess with a golden heart who showered her courts with the blessings of encouragement, enthusiasm and generosity. But it was time; time for her to meet her King. He orchestrated the moment with perfect precision to bring his precious child home. He had made the way clear. It was time.

The King offers all of those in the foreign land a home in his kingdom; not only a home, but a place in his family as his child! They, too, can become a prince or princess of the King! His kingdom was made for them. He only asks them to choose. Once they believe in His Way, trusting fully in his provision, their gifts will be bestowed upon them for service in his courts. They will remain in the foreign land for the days he has determined, and on his determined, glorious day, he will gather his royalty to his side.

Remember this princess. Follow her example. Be faithful to the King. His love and the life he gives are everlasting.

The princess lives happily ever after, today and always.

THE BEGINNING!

Prayer Request

2005-10-17T15:02:00.000-04:00

Please be in prayer for my friend Debby Li. She found out that her uncle passed away over the weekend. We praise the Lord that he is now in Heaven, but his passing is difficult for Debby as she is away from her family and relatives in Singapore.

"I didn't know Smitty was at our church this morning?"

2005-10-10T11:23:00.000-04:00

This is what one lady from our church said to me after the service yesterday morning. I wrote in my previous entry that I was not able to share the video of Healing Rain with my church so I shared the link with you all. About an hour after making that post, a friend called me and said I have the video you wanted. How exciting!!! I brought it to church and with some help was able to show it on the screen as I sang the song. I was excited this worked out and was glad it blessed many people.

Healing Rain

2005-10-08T11:43:00.000-04:00

I am singing the song Healing Rain tomorrow in church. I so wanted to have the video playing on the screen as I sing the song but I don't think that will be possible. I found a site this morning where you can watch the video but only while streaming from the Net. At least I can share it with all of you. (NOTE: You must have Windows Media Player to watch the video using this link. Sorry, can't find a Real Player version.)

Hope you enjoy the video. Have a great weekend!

The Nature of Degeneration

2005-10-05T16:03:00.000-04:00

I have been reading My Utmost For His Highest during my quiet time lately. I have been struck by the clear, convicting messages from the devotionals and I wanted to share the one for today.

The Nature of Degeneration

The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man's sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away - an infinitely more profound revelation. The nature of sin is not immortality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realisation which leads us to say, "I am my own God." This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality, but it always has a common basis - my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation or one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man.

Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch - only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realise that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. "This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness right than light because their deeds were evil."

Taking the day off

2005-10-03T19:28:00.000-04:00

In honor of my Aussie friends, in lieu of Labour Day, I will take the
day off from blogging :)

Barn Jamboree

2005-10-01T14:32:00.000-04:00

Last night Becca, Roy and I went to my church's annual Barn Jamboree. This is my annual experience with country music and dancing. We had a wonderful turn out and a great time. This event always brings new people to our church. There is a couple who came to this event last year who since have become very involved in our church. I hope the same is true this year.

It is always interesting to see people, who like myself, do not dance well have to dance to music for hours on end. I think the most important thing to events like this is the caller. His job is to guide our dancing, but also make the nervous ones feel more comfortable. We have had the same caller for the three years we have had this event and it is obvious to me that he is talented. Last night I noticed on more than one occasion that he was almost subconsiously giving the calls while drinking coffee or looking for another record. Speaking of records, I can't tell you the last time I saw records or a record player. The caller uses records and record player. I suppose he is used to this format.

Anyone have any fun barn dancing stories to share?

Conference Fun!

2005-09-22T17:55:00.000-04:00

What an amazing week! I can't believe today is Thursday and the majority of my co-workers go home tomorrow. It has been an amazing time to fellowship with them and get to know my co-workers better. Tonight there is a special banquet dinner prepared and we will be giving gifts from Discovery House Publishers and Walk In the Word. Tomorrow morning I will leave at 7am driving some of my co-workers back to Grand Rapids and taking many people to the airport.

Last night I was sad about the end of the week coming but I am doing much better now. I am looking forward to going home, seeing my wife and returning to "normal" life. Thanks for all your prayers and concerns for our conference.

Are you a horse or an alcoholic?

2005-09-19T17:51:00.000-04:00

This morning Albert Lee challenged us as we look toward the future of our ministry. He asked are you a horse or an alcoholic? Both have the same problem, thirst. The difference between the two is their response to the need. Albert related this to us in examining how we respond to the needs for our materials around the world. We also must examine if the people are going to really use our materials or if they are just taking something that is available for free.

I am very excited about all that God has been teaching me during this conference and can't wait to see and experience what He has for the rest of this week.

Conference update

2005-09-15T21:03:00.000-04:00

It is so exciting for me to interact with my co-workers from around the world during this International conference. In the mornings we have a time of worship including country reports and teaching time from the Bible. Yesterday David Roper spoke and today Alice Matthews encouraged us from the Word that our God is a God of hope. During the afternoon we have various types of business sessions including Graphics, Bible Conferences, Information Systems and Member Services. This morning we had a session with some of the writers of the Our Daily Bread. This afternoon we have reports from the Church Ministries, Outreach and Information Systems departments. I was particularly impacted by the Outreach department report. I think there is a great potential for impact here in the Americas region as we expand our Outreach.

More tomorrow...

Pre-Conference update

2005-09-08T14:39:00.000-04:00

AHHHH crazy but very fun times here at RBC. Today our guest count rises to 25. The 1st day of Executive Leadership Team meetings has started and meetings are going well so far. I met Kevin from the UK today. He handles the finances for our offices in the UK region. He comes to us with many years of experience in inventory management as well as accounting and finance. I am excited to meet co-workers like Kevin whom I have only known as a name in an email. Each day at the office reminds me there are so many details to be cared for and at the same time we cannot handle them in our own strength. All of us, all around the world are dependent upon God everyday for the tasks He has given us to do. There is a great mission to fulfill and God has entrusted this task to us. May He alone give us the wisdom needed for this needful task!

Keep praying for us

2005-09-06T17:59:00.000-04:00

As of tonight we will have 18 guests in Grand Rapids for the International Conference. By next Monday we will have 88! On the one hand I am very excited about these days of meetings and fellowship here in Grand Rapids. On the other hand, I realise that we are dependent upon God for every facet of this conference. Please pray for us that God would direct our steps, guide our thoughts and attitudes, and glorify Himself through this conference.

The month long mission conference has started

2005-09-01T08:46:00.000-04:00

Guests for our International Conference have started to arrive. 6 guests arrived on Tuesday night with 3 more arriving last night. It is so exciting for me to see people whom I have met before as well as meet people for the first time who I only knew as a name on an email. One thing that impacts me a lot with my Asian friends is their work ethic. Once they arrive they start working right away. After our chapel service yesterday the RBC staff normally leaves and the Building & Grounds team starts to clear the chairs. Some of the International team there instinctively saw chairs that needed to be put away and chipped into help. I am very impressed and blessed to work with these servants of the Lord.

Hopefully I can post some pictures of my friends later on.

Car, friends, and a conference

2005-08-23T21:01:00.000-04:00

Well my car is back in Grand Rapids are all fixed. My dad's client fixed the brakes on all four wheels, replaced two tires and did an oil change all for the bargain price of...FREE!!! Free is much lower than $377 don't ya think.

My friend Debby Li has arrived in the US to continue her education. Check out her blog and welcome her to the US!

In a couple of weeks many of my co-workers from all the world will be here in Grand Rapids. I am very excited as the International Conference comes closer. My co-workers will start arriving on 30 August and all will be here by 12 September. The conference will take place over two weeks, one week in Grand Rapids and the second week at Gull Lake Bible Conference. I will share more about this conference as we get closer. Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures from the conference here.

Car Repair update

2005-08-18T11:55:00.000-04:00

Well let me update you on what happened today with my car repairs. My mother-in-law recommended another car repair company rather than my dealership as sometimes they can have more reasonable prices. I went to the car repair company first thing this morning and they gave me an estimate after looking at the car. The estimate they gave me was $100 more than what the dealership told me over the phone. I gave my dad the estimate info and he checked with a car repair station near their home. This company has serviced my family's cars for years and we trust them a lot. They also are one of my dad's clients for his accounting business. They are able to do the brake job for around $200 which is almost $200 less than the estimate I received today. So...Sunday night my dad and I are meeting half way to trade cars. I will use their mini-van for the day on Monday. Hopefully, Monday night we will again meet half way to trade back cars after my car's brakes have been repaired. Are you confused yet? :)

Amidst all of this, my dad will be getting some carpet for our condo from his carpet business (he is partial owner, does not do the installing work but helps with accounting) and a futon for our basement. Many changes ahead. Hopefully I can post some pictures of the new carpet and futon once they are at our home.

Brake Work

2005-08-17T18:56:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I will have another exhilarating experience in the wonderful world of car repair (can you sense the sarcasm yet). During the past few days I have noticed a squeaking sound in my car when I first start driving. This sound is normally stopped by applying the brake. Last night as Becca and I were going to church, we noticed the sound continued longer than normal. My wife encouraged me to call the dealership today to find out what is wrong. As I described the problem to the service writer on the phone I learned something new about Saturns. There is a safety measure installed on the brake pads that cause a squeaking sound before the pad is destroyed and rotor damage happens. I am certainly glad the squeaking caused me to call the dealership, though I'm not sure I will be excited when I see the bill when all is said and done. I can't complain too much because my car is paid off and does not require too much service outside of regular maintenance. I am hoping this car will last me for a few more years. We'll see...

Thailand report to our church

2005-08-16T10:39:00.000-04:00

The following is an email sent by one of the trip leaders to a missionary friend describing our report on Sunday morning. Praise the Lord for what He continues to do in hearts and lives as a result of this trip to Thailand!

Absolutely, positively, humanly unfathomable. Our church has not
experienced 90 minutes like that since, since we shipped 50 guys
out to a Promise Keepers Convention in '96.

The sermon interspersed between 17 - 2 minute testimonies, was
titled "when cultures collide, spirits connect." We had slides and
movie clips running in the background behind each person. By
"coincidence" we even had Laura Percy home from Thailand participate
in the service, as well. Phil, who preached and moderated, did
impromptu interviews following some of the testimonies. After
watching video clips of the jungle service we sang the same songs
with the GLCC congregation. We had a cool "Creative Memories"
display table in the lobby with stuff we got from the village and
the cities, pictures. The edited DVD played in a loop on the
display table, as well.

We, I sat all the kids down, along with the lighting guy, the
sound guy, the PowerPoint guy, the musicians and told them absolutely
nothing we did with all the technical production, no matter how
cool, mattered one bit, zero, nodda, if the kids were going to read
hand written scripts for their testimonies. There would be NO
travel log this morning. If the testimonies were not delivered
from the heart we might as well go home. The content of the
testimonies had to be paramount and central. I explained that
my dozens of hours of work on the multimedia is only there to
enhance the Spirit's message being delivered through them. They
were given full authority to let it fly, say things that preachers
cannot. AND THEY DID. Hair got blown back all the way to the
sound booth. The kids even ditched the offering in lue of plates
at the exits. When we let the kids decide that, they knew we were
serious that the order of service was up to them. They set up
the stage with living room furniture and end tables. They had
a fireside, big screen chat.

I sat behind my son on a stool. He caught me snorting my tears
of exhuberence a couple of times during the service. Ben snapped
me out of it with a subtle yet firm, "Hey, Carl, Carl, what's up,
how ya doin'?"

I am converting the service video tapes into a single DVD. It is
amazing how it is impossible for a nonchristian video camera to
capture the presence of the Holy Spirit. The video tape just
does not cut it. It provides a taste at best. I will mail a
full trip movie DVD, (already complete), and a DVD of the service.
Hopefully you will see how your investiment paid off in eternal
dividends.

One of the kids who surrounded himself with the wall of Jericho
spoke Sunday. Somewhere in Thailand is left a crumbled wall.
He did not mention it, but he has been out of communication with
his unforgiving grandfather since he was 8 or 10 years old.
The service was not even done and he was off the stage, in the
car and on his way to Grandpa's house. (Grandpa visited our
church for this service but left during closing comments).
Jeremy spent quite some time with Grandpa and applogized for
not following lawn mowing instructions 8 years ago. One thing
Jeremy learned in Thailand is that in missions there is no
instant response. "Christianity is a relationship, not a
lifestyle." Relationships take time. Jeremy was satisfied
with simply opening this lines of communication with Grandpa.

After church 60 members of the Vision team and their families
came to the cottage on the lake for the afternoon. What a
gala fest. (Last of the folks left at 9 - 10 pm) Folks did
not want the day to end. We basked in the the spirit and in the
Spirit.

SOOOOO, in answer to your question, "How Did It Go," I guess
it went OK.

The political candidate to vote for this year!

2005-08-13T19:13:00.000-04:00

New blog

2005-08-13T14:11:00.000-04:00

Our friends Jared and Susan Benthem are headed to Honduras on 22 August. They will be teachers at International School for the coming school year. They have started a blog and there is a link to it on the left side of mine. Please check out their blog and pray for them as they prepare to move.

Ministry attitudes

2005-08-09T09:29:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the silence friends. I hope people are still going to my blog because I haven't received emails screaming at me for posts. If you have not been to Kedron's blog lately, you really should go. In particular, I have been challenged by his current post called Ball Kicking. This post challenges me in my attitude when doing ministry. I heard Bill Gaither say at a concert once that Christians are the only people who shoot their wounded. Sometimes in the name of ministry, or advancing the cause of Christ, we can do things that actually hurt those who are on our team.

I think an anonymous comment on Ked's blog put's it well:

Bottom line, it's safest for all of us to remember when kicking balls down the ministry that it's just not about us in the least, and that humility and love are the skills we need to hone most of all. Because it is sad to watch teammates injured by the arrows of the righteous.

Our International Director puts it this way:

Leadership is only our responsibilities.

Servanthood is truly our position.

Child of God is definitely our status.

Bedroom painting

2005-07-30T13:14:00.000-04:00

I am very pleased to say that we are painting our bedroom today. To this point we actually have been sleeping in the spare bedroom of our condo. The pressure on us is two-fold: 1) We are hosting someone for work during the International Conference in September, and 2) The temperature drops at least 10 degrees when you leave the spare room. For these and other reasons, we very much want to move into our bedroom and leave the spare bedroom days behind.

At this point the room is basically painted. We just need to come back and care for some details and it will be done. Once we put up window treatments we will be able to move in. We are very much looking forward to that!

Hope you have a great weekend!

More Thailand thoughts

2005-07-16T09:22:00.000-04:00

This picture is a collage of the Sunday Morning Christian celebration service and a couple other winners.

Much of the last day in Thailand was spent briefing the Vision Team Members how to answer the question, "So, how was your trip to Thailand?" Dave warned the kids that folks back in the States would have absolutely nothing to relate to when attempting to understand what the team had experienced. Dave prepared the kids to expect very short attention spans on the part of those listening to Vision Team adventures. There is just no way for folks to imagine what is being conveyed.

As a team leader the best way to sum up the entire Thailand experience was verbalized in a testimony given by Clark Perry at the Karen jungle village Christian church service. In paraphrase Clark expressed; "I didn't know what I expected when I came [to your village]. But what I found were 'on fire' Christians who knew more scripture than us, understood the meaning of the scripture better and understand what freedom in Christ is better than us. It puts us to shame." When the service concluded the village pastor did not pray for his poor small church, but he prayed that the Vision Team would gain in understanding and grace in their life in Christ. In salutation he looked forward to heaven where we would all have
no language barriers, just sweet fellowship.

Dave explained that the prison of animal sacrifice, spirit worship, and Buddhism gives the Thais a formula to follow to get to heaven or at least to an elevated level of reincarnation. If a white person offers the plan of Christian salvation to a Thai they will quickly accept it then ask for the new formula of works to follow to heaven. That is why missionaries spend 3 years laying out the gospel chronologically so that the Thais understand unequivocally that Christianity is a relationship, not merely a lifestyle. When a Thai grasps the gravity of the message, the freedom from works to get to heaven, they cannot clean up their homes quick enough, they cannot memorize scripture fast enough, they cannot walk 12 miles through the jungle to the the next village with the Good News soon enough. They cannot contain themselves with their new found freedom in Christ.

What so gripped the Vision Team was the fact that since the Thais from the Karen village had never been to "Church" they were totally and absolutely unencumbered by having to conform to a "Christian Lifestyle" immediately following a verbal decision for Christ. Bottom line, all the Vision Team saw was the freedom of Christ living through the Karen village people. There were no human rules or traditions tacked on, just a fresh, exciting new life in Christ.

Even though the teens had heard this 'sermon' dozens of times it came to life when they saw and experienced it through the lives of those in the village. "I get it. I finally get it."

This understanding of who we are in Christ may have been made possible for some of the team ONLY by being placed in this environment after such a great investment of money, time, effort and prayer.

Thank you to all who supported this effort that so revolutionized the lives and understanding of all fifteen Vision Team members.