19 February, 2007 at 5:01 pm (General)
Tags: church, General, quotes, thanksgiving
This was in Sojomail a week or so ago; first time I recall reading anything like it… unfortunately.
“I don’t want to impose my religious beliefs on you, but I believe God used you to correct us, and I appreciate that.”
- Rob Brendle, Associate Pastor of New Life Church, speaking with Mike Jones, the former male prostitute who exposed former New Life pastor Ted Haggard’s history of drug use and adultery. (Source: J-Walking)
4 January, 2007 at 11:59 pm (General)
Tags: General, House Church, thanksgiving, whhg
Lord, thanks for the Church
I’ve been wanting to write about the gathering that has been happening in our home each week since autumn, but I just haven’t. Well, tonight’s gathering was just fantastic; so I’m breaking the silence. No details. Suffice to say I was encouraged by the conversation, the meal, the enthusiasm, the laughter, and the presence of brothers and sisters. So, I say again:
++ Lord, thanks for the Church ++
24 November, 2006 at 9:42 pm (General)
Tags: christmas, dayton, General, thanksgiving
For the first time we ventured downtown to experience the Holiday Festival complete with Grand Illumination. Aside from a really slow line for funnel cake, the evening was spectacular. Free crafts for the kids! Free carnival rides! Free pony rides! What’s not to like?
Well done, Dayton!
23 November, 2006 at 11:25 pm (General)
Tags: General, stuff, thanksgiving
This isn’t a comment on my shallow, materialistic nature… I hope. Rather, it’s just a moment of thankfulness for all that I have:
The list could obviously go on, and I am thankful for all of it.
23 November, 2006 at 10:10 pm (General)
Tags: Family, General, kerri, thanksgiving
Early this afternoon we headed over to my in-laws for what we thought was an early Thanksgiving dinner. Miscommunication somewhere: dinner wouldn’t be until early evening. So, Kerri and I stole away for a hour and strolled through the neighborhood on a crisp, sunny fall day. I grew up in that neighborhood - our route took us through a green area behind my old house - so there are memories all over. More important today, was the opportunity to spend time in the present with the one I love while dreaming about our future.
23 November, 2006 at 11:06 am (General)
Tags: Family, General, OHVA, thanksgiving, the-GIMP
I’m thankful for:
22 November, 2006 at 9:57 pm (General)
Tags: books, General, library, movies, thanksgiving
One crappy big budget movie, a jumbo popcorn (It’s only 50¢ more!), Junior Mints, and two soft drinks: $30
Two 5-night new releases and one nearly new release: $5.50
Three documentaries, a dozen kids movies, and more than two dozen books on sundry topics all for three weeks: FREE!
I’m thankful for the Dayton Metro Library.
22 November, 2006 at 9:44 pm (General)
Tags: b5media, blogging, General, thanksgiving, work
OK, so last year about this time a new blog network launches, and I pitch this idea for a blog about baldness. They’re inundated, and I’m swamped; so nothing happens for a few months. Then in February, they’re looking for video game blogs, and I pitch a really, REALLY bad idea. (I can only hope that Ingrid doesn’t remember it.) I also take the opportunity to re-pitch my baldness idea. The video game blog is quickly forgotten. The baldness idea is a reality.
In May my wife, whom I had just gotten started with her own blog, starts chatting with my Channel Editor. She then invites her to start writing with her on a blog about kid’s stuff. That Channel Editor’s a sharp one, so when she realizes we’re married (to each other) AND we’re both already working for b5, she starts twisting our arms about a marriage blog. We’re only too happy to oblige. (No link yet, but it’s in the works.)
So in the last year someone has started to pay both Kerri and me to write. Thanks, b5media.
22 November, 2006 at 9:33 pm (General)
Tags: General, gppc, thanksgiving, work
General Pension
A great place to work!
I work 10 minutes from home, close enough to come home for lunch, doctor’s appointments and anything else that might come up. We are treated like adults and given a great deal of freedom to do our work well. The interpersonal relationships are more akin to friends or even family than employee/employer.
In the past we have had a summer schedule with alternating Friday’s off, and we have closed for the week between Christmas and New Year. (Just my personal opinion, but this practice should be federal law.) Today we got out early.
I am thankful for my employer.
22 November, 2006 at 1:29 pm (General)
Tags: Family, General, thanksgiving
I’ve covered those who live in my house, but family doesn’t end there. Well… if you’re only counting blood relatives you remain in touch with it comes close. I’m going to be more liberal.
This is difficult for me. I’ve got one of those new fangled “modern” families with divorce and re-marriage and all that. The lines of connection are fairly easy to keep track of, but when it comes to actually talking about everyone it gets really hard. The relationships, while full of love, are complex and messy. There’s back-story and unresolved feelings. Hallmark is just plain useless.
But through it all there’s love. It seems strange to me, but I have very few memories of my youth. Ages 0-5: I’ve got exactly one that comes to mind. I have more stories, but only one memory. The school years are a little less sparsely populated… but not much. That said, of the few memories I have, nearly all of my family - from grandparents to cousins - are there. Many of those people aren’t in my present, but they are in my past. And I’m sure, in ways large and small, each has left something with me, some imprint that helps to create the person I am today.
While I have lost touch with a huge portion of my own extended, blood family, I’m fortunately enough to have married into a large family that remains close. Like crazy close. As in “close-enough-to-still-drive-each-other-crazy-on-an-almost-daily-basis” close. My first experience with the whole family was at a cousin’s wedding. Picture it with me: one of the older Pittsburgh neighborhoods; an elaborate and stunning Catholic sanctuary. On the left, the bride’s family, most of whom aren’t more than two generations removed from Mexico. Those are my in-laws.
Welcome to the family…
(The groom’s side had a strong ethnically Italian look about them. I told Kerri I felt like I had walked into The Godfather.)
You remember what I look like, right? I stood out like… well… like a pasty Irishman in a family of Mexicans.
I still do, but I’m glad to be a part of the family. As someone who remembers but doesn’t know most of my own extended family, I’m thankful my kids have cousins and aunts and uncles and great-grandparents that they know.
We’ve got blood. We’ve got marriage. We’ve also got the “honorary” family. These are the aunts and uncles who aren’t really aunts and uncles. Those long-time family friends who just that close and dear. The parents of friends who did their own share of parenting you back in the day.
Honorary family is one of the best parts of living in the same town for 20 years. Thinking about it just know there are easily a few dozen relationships that go back more than a decade. That’s a big deal to someone who grew up an Air Force brat. At my best friend’s wedding, the seven of us groomsmen (including the groom) had all known each other for at least 15 years. My kids call his mom by the same nickname as her grandkids. That’s cool.
Today, I express my thanks for family of all kinds.
