The McClelland Men

A great sunny weekend :)

2008-04-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

Well I'm sitting here in class after a great weekend with the boys and Ginny. Saturday was a great day with both some tree climbing and the highlight being Ethan learning to ride his two wheel bike!!! He had to tough out a few falls but all in all he did great. It won't be long at all and he will be zipping around all over.

To catch folks up on our comings and goings:
the boys and I moved back to Tigard and are enjoying our new apartment. Its got a great back yard and we have a garage so that we can do our man things. Ginny and I are continuing to prepare for the wedding in just 103 days (Holy Cow).

All is well up here in Portland, the boys are both playing soccer and last week Ethan scored his first goal!!! Drew is at 9 goals in 4 games for the season.

school starting.

gtg

a busy fall and some engagement pics

2008-03-03T07:53:00.001-08:00

Wow, it's been pretty busy since my last post. One of my good buddies has been blogging more lately so I feel a bit inspired. I am about to head into class for the day. It's hard to believe that it's only 5 months until the wedding!!! I can't wait until that day for sure. We go some great pics taken of Ginny and I and Ginny and the boys and I.

Sitting in Class

2007-11-19T15:12:00.000-08:00

Hey all who read this. It has been a busy week. I was able to see some of my awesome Ruch friends when they came up here for an event. It was a blessing to see them. We also had a food drive this week and collected some food for thanksgiving meals the church is making. This weekend we had a youth retreat called CPYA. It was a great time. We had 237 folks at the retreat. Ben Glen and we had the band the neverclaim. they both did a great job.

I'm excited to spend thanksgiving with Ginny's family up in Seattle and get to spend some good time together.

Well I'm in class now so i better get back to paying attention

I'm back from Africa and gotta get back in the swing of blogging

2007-10-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the super big break in my blogging. I've been super busy with stuff. I still love Jesus, I love Ginny, and I love my champions. search for my on

facebook

Also on Photo Bucket you can see some great pics of Drew playing football, He's # 35

There's a link in "Lot's of McClelland Photo's" to the rightOR CLICK HERE

I'm in Africa

2007-06-28T01:41:00.000-07:00

Click the Link and Check us out

I'm in Africa

2007-06-28T00:41:00.000-07:00

Follow our Teams progress by clicking the title link

BEHIND ON SOME PHOTO POSTING

2007-06-02T14:54:00.000-07:00

So it's kinda funny, but my mom has discovered that by checking this blog she will often find new pictures of her Grandsons on adventure. The funny part is that she makes my sister Jan check it for her and isn't convinced there aren't any new photo's until Jan has clicked through every page. Pretty funny if you ask me :)

Here ya go Mom:

Our Whidbey Island Trip

Drew's New Football Uniform and a Few of Ethan Doin' his thing

New Bed for the Boys, New Bed for Me

Drew Get's His Football Gear!!!!

2007-06-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

We Had a Great morning this morning. Drew got his uniform for Tigard Youth Football and we headed to a park to put it to the test.

MORE PHOTO'S HERE!!!

A Trip to the Portland Underground Tunnels

2007-05-12T10:33:00.001-07:00

The boys and I went with the Fish Company (Middle School Youth Group) to see the Portland Underground. It was an amazing trip. Click the HERE to view the album of photo's

If you haven't done this tour you just have to. It's a pretty short tour, but well worth it. It details the history of the shanghai and white slavery trades that were alive and well in Portland from the 1850's to 1941. It's something you gotta see!!!

Just a fun picture

2007-05-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

An Action Packed Weekend

2007-05-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well we had a great weekend at Spring Explosion it was a great time. What is spring explosion you say? It's a middle school event that we do with several other churches in our area. This years theme was wePod. talking about community and what it means to be all in this thing together. Pretty fun!!! We had great weather. Kathleen made some awesome stage backdrops and I did sound and technology. It's always fun to hang with the youth pastors from the other churches.

Quote of The Day

2007-04-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

"There are two kinds of light--the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures."

Google had this as the quote of the day yesterday. I think these words have some pretty big ramifications for those that seek to follow Jesus. It seems to me that often Christians have been a glaring harsh light and have actually obscured the message of Jesus. Perhaps this is the reason the world is so intolerant of Christians. If we were truly the best at loving others would there really be any problem with Christianity. I don't think so. But find a church that seems to be all about loving God and loving other people. I've thought, and it seems that most people would flock to church if our Christian communities were a place where people were loved and cared for like Jesus teaches. In reality we might have a hard time finding a venue for such a church. May we all be a light that illuminates people to the hope and love that is found in Jesus and may we seek to model for others what Jesus modeled for us.

The Many Faces of Ethan Blake

2007-04-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

A Fun Day Off

2007-04-20T22:45:00.000-07:00

Well Today the champions and I set out early to take Drew to school.
Then we met up with G and had breakfast over at their house. Drew
had a music performance at his school so Ethan Ginny and I headed
over to that which was outstanding. Then we headed to a local park
for a picnic, somehow the picnic basket was packed with healthy food,
but I'm being slowly convinced that there are some good healthy foods
so i hung in there. it would seem that Ethan is the monkey bar
champion of the world or at least he's pretty darn good. So he
always makes the park an entertaining place. After we picked up the
Drewster from school we drove back out to Doug's house and the boys
and i played with the dogs while Ginny took a much needed nap(she
went and worked out at 7am). tonight the boys and i attended an
awesome variety show at Lake Oswego High School. Several of our
students were in the show or in attendance as well as families from
our church. So it was great to be a part of that evening. Then the
long trek back to Doug's where we are house and dog sitting. . Alright good night all, tomorrow we hope to go to the gun and knife show and then it's another picnic.
May the Lord Bless you and keep you all

An Update on the McClelland Men

2007-04-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

Wow I've been a bad blogger lately. So the boys and I are staying at my friend Doug's beautiful house. Out of every east facing window there is an unobstructed view of Mt. Hood. The Boys and I are doing really well. Drew has started up in indoor soccer again and Ethan is just about the funnest little guy ever. We had an awesome easter over at Ginny's house. We had an easter egg hunt and it was a really fun time. Ginny and I have been spending some fun time together and that continues to go great.
I'm still working on my masters at George Fox Evangelical Seminary. It's a challenging place to go to school but I really enjoy it. Youth Ministry is still a blessing to me. We just had our big fund raising dinner for youth ministry and we brought in about $34,000.00 so that was a huge blessing.

A Day working around the house

2007-01-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

Today we cleaned the garage and did some major shifting of stuff. We built a place for the boys to play xbox 360 and to set up some lego's and stuff. It's pretty awesome check out these pics.

Plus Drew rode his new bike today he did awesome

A Great Christmas for the boys and me

2006-12-30T15:43:00.000-08:00

Well the dust is starting to settle and I am looking forward to new years tomorrow.
I am really missing the youth ministry staff and students. We had a great clothing distribution on the 20th but that was just 10 or so students and myself. I look forward to getting back in the rythm of youth group and seeing the students and my friends that I do ministry with. I am very excited for the new small groups that we are rolling out starting on the 7th. I am leaving for Mexico on the 2nd of January to scout for the mission, that will certainly be fun for all. I pray that all who are reading this had a good Christmas. The boys and I went to Medford on Wednesday before Christmas and stayed until Saturday. We stayed with my brother Joe and his family. We spent time with a bunch of members of my family that I don't normally get to spend much time with which was fun.

the boys got to go in a peterbuilt and a leer jet in the same day. Which was pretty great. A very fun time was had by all of us.

On Christmas eve we went to dinner with the boy's mom (Lindsey) family. One of the difficult things about being divorced is my relationships with all of her family. We had a great dinner at Haden's and then I was with them again on Christmas morning.
I gotta run for now, but I wanted to just say that we had a great Christmas and that we hope you did as well.

PS the 11pm service at Church was awesome!!! Bob preached about silent night and I cried. How awesome is it that Jesus entered the world, I kinda got choked up at the thought.

Merry Post Christmas and Happy New Year
:)

Looks Like the Ice wasn't really that Icey

2006-11-30T09:31:00.000-08:00

So I was all pumped to go and play in the freezing rain and it's not even bad out there. I'd even taken the liberty of mentally planning on not going in today and so I was gonna do some laundry and just chill. But O No, it had to warm up and just be rain. Well drat!!! I'm not to sad though since I would have had to navigate my way south anyway to get the champions and I'm looking forward to them coming. Well I better get goin.

Thanksgiving Pics by Emily

2006-11-29T00:06:00.000-08:00

The Boys and I had a great thanksgiving at my brother's here are some pics

Wisdom Tooth goes bye bye

2006-11-27T17:08:00.000-08:00

So I've had a gnarly toothache for several weeks and today I went to the dentist. He ended up pulling one of my wisdom teeth. Wow what an experience that was. Well I'm still a little loopy so I don't want to write to much. I do have to say that my toothache is tremendously better.

The Day before Thanksgiving

2006-11-22T10:45:00.000-08:00

Well it seems that today is going to be a good day. I'm working on Caroline's computer and chillin' at the house.

A little Lazy in the posting

2006-11-21T10:41:00.000-08:00

I Think I've been a bit lazy in my posting so this is my attempt at getting caught up. So buckle your seat belts here we go.

I am currently lolly gagging around my house having just worked the weekend at a retreat called CPYA it was a fun time and I think our students and us staff got some good stuff out of it. Things at work are going great. Being in mininstry is sometimes challenging, but I love that I have the opportunity to work at a church and journey with the people that I do.

I'm half way done with my parenting class that the state mandates I take and after that December 6th my marriage to Lindsey will be officially over. This has been the hardest year and a half of my life and I look forward to some closure with the process. Some ask does it feel like the finalizing will be the death of a dream but I would say that I experienced that some months ago and now I am focused on continueing to heal and learn what the Lord wants me to grow in through this. That might sound tright but it definitely isn't. I have been learning so much through the pain of this situation and I know that there is more to learn. So I try to be focused on that.

In other news:
I continue to learn what it means to be tender hearted in situations and I am loving the journey. It's fascinating to be learning so much about myself at 30 woops 31 years old.

My friends threw an awesome birthday party for me and I have to say that the event was one of the most thoughtful things that friends have done for me. It was at Jenn and Luciens and a bunch of folks came and it was super great.

There was something that happended that I really wanted to blog about but I forgot what it is.

I went to a middle school conference called Believe it was a great weekend.

I am planning on taking a trip to medford at some point in December so any of you that read this and are from there shoot me a note and I'll let you know when I'm comin down.

I made a website for 30 hour famine www.30hf-pdx.com

I'm going to my bros for thanksgiving which will be super fun!!! I'm the roll guy. Apparently they don't think I can bring anything better than the rolls, which is understandable because I can't cook and there are very few BBQ dishes that are thanksgiving appropriate :).

My buddy Jack got a sweet tattoo on his arm:

more later im getting a call

Some great pics of the Champions

2006-11-21T10:35:00.000-08:00

So I went to see the Dead sea scrolls in Seattle a few weeks ago and I got these suits of armor. There is really not much more that can be said about how awesome my boys are.

Looking forward to a fun weekend.

2006-10-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

Well this has been an excellant week. I'm looking forward to a weekend here at home. Tomorrow night im gonna BBQ for the whole crew.

Ethan has had quite the medical roller coaster this week. In the beginning of the week I took him in and the doctor thought that he had an infection inside his knee. Ethan was most displeased that he had to get bloodwork and spend so much time at the doctor on Tuesday. We were there from 9:45am until 2:00pm. That's a long time at the doctor let me tell ya. Then later in the week Ethan's Doctor called and said that she thought his knee was fractured. Holy Cow!!!! But the ortho Doc. doesn't think its fractured, just inflamed and infected. All very good news compared to a broken knee.

Drew's parent teacher conference was today and I'm so proud of the boy. He's doing awesome.

Soccer Update

2006-10-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

Hello sports fans, Drew's soccer game today was a stunning victory with the Cobra's downing their opponents 3-2. While the score was close the Flaming Cobra's dominated the game. Drew Scored first for the Cobra's off of a corner kick from one of his teammates. He had an excellant game controling the ball very well and taking some great shots. He played a quarter on defense as well and held them scoreless during his reign in the back field.

In other news: I'm loving my ipod and I have acquired a device that allows me to play it in the car. I'm pretty pumped about it and we are definitely rocking the jeep when we're out and about.

Are you ready for some football

2006-10-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

We got Drew a packers uniform and since they didn't have the Bucc's we ordered Ethan's off of nfl.com

then we ironed on some #'s to Ethan's shirt and Drew's jersey. I'm feeling pretty martha stewart woot.

Cars you don't expect to see!!!

2006-10-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

LAMBORGHINI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wow what a nice car

Field Trip!!!

2006-10-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

I went to Drew's field trip and we had a great time at the forest museum.

And even more awesomeness

2006-10-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

So Kathleen is awesome. Not that there was any doubt. She totally had the Youth Specialties Affirmation team give me a fun basket of candy to affirm me. I love it!!!!

woot

NYWC Sunday at 2pm

2006-10-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

We just enjoyed a great lunch at a tex mex place. Ryan and I are back at the hotel now just hangin out a bit and waiting for the general session. I am super thankful for my group of friends that came with me. My buddy Lucien and his wife Jenn for Kath and for Kevin. They have all been such an encouragement to me. the time so far has been really fun. So far we have gone exploring most of the nights and I found the worlds best bratwurst place. I got a shirt from there. I went to Houlahan's resturaunt last night with Kevin and Ryan and we met the girls from FPC there. I danced and that was a new experience. But Hillary and Ange are great dancers so they were showing me the ropes. I don't want it to sound like its all party and no learning. We're definitely all being challenged and I have picked up some great resources. I'm excited to get back and put into practice some of what im learning here. Well im gonna sign off for now

NYWC is going super good

2006-10-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hey the convention is going great, we are learning lots and having a super fun time. Check out the pics of some of the folks we're here with.

Picture 1: A Little Texas BBQ

Picture2 :A special Free Lunch at Stubb's BBQ Austin Texas

Picture 3:The Girls from First Pres Portland

Picture 4: The Original Canadian Gangsta

It's definitely been an encouragement to my heart to be here and we're not even half way done!!!

A little early morning posting

2006-10-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

Well today should be fun, I have a few meetings but most of the day will be spent getting all ready for the NYWC in Austin Texas. I'm also going to have my boys with me for most of the day today so that will be even more awesome. I have an early morning meeting with Anne Marie so I gotta go soon, but then it's off to pick up the champions and take Drew to school and such.

In other news:
Todays High Temp is 64 degrees and it looks like it will be partly cloudy. (here in Lake Oswego, Oregon)

National Youth Workers Convention

2006-10-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to leave for the NYWC. It is a time of education and renewal and some great fellowship along the way. I have several friends and fellow youth workers who are going which makes it even better. I think Kevin and Ryan are trying to figure out who has to sleep with me but it's all good. This year were going to Austin Texas. Maybe there's a game on Saturday!! wouldn't that be cool. It's been a pretty hard year and I'm looking forward to filling up the tank a bit at this event. All in all I think im doin pretty good. I love the students and the people I do ministry with and I think that God is working in the lives of our students. As any of you that know me already know, things continue to not go well with Lindsey and I have had to just give that situation up to God and keep moving in life. Well I have a meeting in a bit that I need to get ready for so I'm off to do that. It's going to be a good day :)and the thought of today for me is "what does it mean to walk with God, what does that look like, and am I doing it???"

I got gotten

2006-10-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

Two of the young women in my youth group decided it was a good idea to send me on a scavenger hunt. They put the clues on a video tape and the search was on. I love it!!! In the pics are some of our staff folks posing for the phone camera :)

MAC RULES!!!!

2006-09-19T00:28:00.000-07:00

So im typing in a widget on my mac , then i just hit a button and it publishes to my blog, how sweet is that

test the widget

2006-09-19T00:26:00.000-07:00

hi muys

The Fall The Fall

2006-08-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited for the fall and the start of another year of ministry with young people. While this past year as been one of the most trying of my life I have also seen God's blessing in many ways. i look forward to posting about the awesome things that God is doing in my life and in the ministry.

PS my mac is still awesome.

Here's the fall retreat flyer

I'm in Mississippi

2006-07-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
I'm in Bay St Louis Mississippi for the wave of hope mission trip. It's hot here and we are all appreciating oregons no humidity climate. But the work goes well and we are in good spirits. I am very proud of our students and staff. Tomorrow I plan to pull a building down with a chain and a truck. I can't believe how awesome that will be. Well I better hit the hay. We have an early morning tomorrow.

Suttle Lake PIRATES!!!!!

2006-07-04T01:40:00.000-07:00

Hi all
Well im back from Suttle Lake and tomorrow is the 4th of July. Thought I'd share a picture from the camp. I am planning on getting a bunch of photos from the 4th festivities so I look forward to hearing from ya. Above is a picture with me and one of my counselors in our pirate garb. ARRRRGG It was a great camp.

Wow where have i been

2006-06-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a while since i posted, but im still here. I have some great pictures of Drew's soccer party once I find my camera cable.

a glitch in my game

2006-05-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Been a busy bee

2006-04-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't posted in bit, so I thought I better get back in the saddle. Here are some bullet point updates from the mcclelland men

Jim
-- I've discovered World of Warcraft (quite possibly the most addicting game ever)
-- I went to spring explosion and had a blast (there was some great ministry that weekend)
--I joined Club sport and have been doing spinning class. It's awesome.
-- More but I'm forgetting for now

Drew
-- Continues to excel at soccer
-- Drew is in 1st grade but he is in the second grade class for both math and reading (woot)
-- He lost his front tooth, pictures coming soon :)

Ethan
-- Ethan got further on Lego starwars then his brother
-- He's decided he doesn't want to be known as a boy who likes french fries but instead as a boy who likes chocolate milk
-- The "Blaker" as we call him is going to buy an entire suit of gold armor when he grows up. (i told him I would help him shop for it)

Well more later,

Jim

2006-04-11T23:52:00.000-07:00

The recipe for my BBQ Chicken is as follows:

Cut a slits in an orange and put it into the chicken.

For seasoning I used, Mrs. Dash Oringinal Blend, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, and Pepper. I would use a different seasonings but for my LA Weight Loss I can't have much salt.

I also sprinkled the garlic powder on the metal of the coal divider so that it would cook and the smoke would help flavor the chicken.

Put about 30 coals on each side and give it about 1/2 air maybe a little less. It cooked for about 1hr and 20 minutes. Cook until 180 degrees Farhenhiet inside.

I used Cotton Sting to tie the legs together and aroung the middle to hold the wings.
So that's how I did it.

Check out my new BBQ delight

2006-04-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

Hey all, I got a rotiserrie for my Weber check out this chicken I made.

The Boys Trip Day 4

2006-03-29T08:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we spent the morning at the mall. My parents are part of all those old people you see walking every morning at the mall. I went and met with Ron the pastor of Ruch where I used to work. Then i was supposed to go back and meet up with my parents and the boys at their house at 12:15 for lunch and such. When i got there no one was there so i just thought I'd wait for a bit. But after an hour i was kinda getting worried. I decided to jump in the jeep and cruise down to the local McDonald's and see if they were down there. Sure enough they were having happy meals. My mom kinda forgot that we were going to meet up :). After that we hung out at Sarah and Brownie's until we went out to the robinson's who are a family that is involved in Youth Ministry down here and have two kids that have gone through the youth group. My former intern Jason married their Daughter Lauren and Jason is the youth pastor now. He's doing a great job. We had a great dinner and fellowship. That pretty much concludes our day for yesterday. I got some great pictures and I'm excited to post them for all to see. Today we are driving home and that will conclude the boys trip adventure for spring break 06. This has been a great trip and very refreshing.

Woot

The Boys Trip Day 3

2006-03-28T09:34:00.000-08:00

We're having a fun time here in Medford. Yesterday was another full day of fun and adventure. The day started out with us heading out to Ruch and the boys going to one of their friends house. That left me with some time on my hands so I headed over to the church where I was the Youth Pastor and saw the gang there, then I headed back into town and had lunch with a friend. Lastly I went to the jeep dealer to look at jeeps. that was really fun. I went and picked up the boys and after dinner I went back to the jeep dealer. Since my jeep was dying and I had been thinking about a new car I decided to get one. I got a great deal and no interest. Which is like making money if you think about it. So it's a Navy blue jeep liberty. I'll write more later about today's adventures but for now I gotta go.

The Boys Trip Day 2

2006-03-26T22:26:00.000-08:00

Well we have had quite a day. Yesterday the boys and I drove down here (Medford) from Portland. The drive was uneventful except that we did stop at Applebees in Roseburg for lunch. I was pleasintly suprised that the jeep made it just fine.

Today (Sunday) We had waffles for breakfast and then the boys and Brownie, Sarah, Logan and I went to doughnut country. The boys love that place. It might easily be the best place for doughnuts in the entire world. After that the boys and i went to visit with my parents for a while. it was pretty fun and really nice to see them. I think Ethan had at least two candy bars and some various other snacks :) but I guess that is the grandparents job. The boys got sweatshirts from my parents which was very exciting!!!! We came back to the Brown's for Ethan's nap and Brownie and I went out for a jaunt. We looked at cars mostly jeeps, there are some really nice ones. Then the whole clan (6 of us) piled into their van and went to Costco where I got some new socks. I've come to the realization lately that I don't have any white socks without some sort of hole. Then we went to road house grill for dinner and it was just awesome. Drew was so tired after today that he wanted to fall asleep right away. I got to read stories to my little nephew Logan and the boys all went to bed. We just hung out and watched TV until a few minutes ago when i started typing this.

I am taking lots of pictures but i left my cable at home. So I'll post them once we get back to Portland. Day Three will be just super fun as we are looking forward to Drew and Ethan spending some time with the their friend Michael. Check back for more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A little ministry update

2006-03-23T23:01:00.000-08:00

So one of my buddies wrote a huge post and has some great pictures so I'm just going to link to his and you can see that there's been a lot going on over January -- the present.
A link to my buddies blog

Wave of hope

2006-03-23T22:51:00.000-08:00

Take a look at what's goin down this summer for mission

Click Me

Dinner Anyone????

2006-03-13T23:27:00.000-08:00

The MAC

2006-03-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

Good times at school

2006-03-13T17:57:00.000-08:00

These are some of my friends at school. Mike M. on the left and Hilary on the right. We have Dr. Shelton's theology class together and all three of us are youth pastors :)

Fish BBQ

2006-03-03T18:33:00.000-08:00

The boys and I BBQ'd some fish. It was a great dinner!!!

Posting from a widget

2006-03-02T20:47:00.000-08:00

I am using a widget to post that my friend Lucien hooked me up with.

I got the MAC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

woot

2006-02-27T14:22:00.000-08:00

MacbookPro and ski retreat

2006-02-21T08:13:00.000-08:00

I think my new Mac laptop shipped today!!!!! I am pumped to get it.
Also I had a great ski retreat at Mt. Bachelor. It was a really a fun weekend. I want to put my pictures from the trip up on the internet so I'll link to them once the are up. The sking picture is one of my boys from youth group Charlie.

Valentines Day Progressive Dinner

2006-02-12T22:22:00.000-08:00

Tonight we had the progressive dinner with Entheos (the high school youth ministry). It was a really fun night. Here you can see a picture of the students that came (minus a few that left early). A special thanks to the families that volunteered to cook and host our little group in their homes and at the church.

Appetizers: Chips, Dip, Healthy stuff, cheese sticks, Bagel bites and more.

Main Course: BBQ'd chicken, ceaser salad, rolls, and soda of all kinds,

Dessert: Layered icecream thing layer one:pound cake soaked in strawberry sauce, Layer two: crunched up cookies, Layer three: Strawberry icecream, Layer four: chocolate sauce with whip cream and little stick things that were good.

A great evening. Now I'm going to watch Gray's Anatomy because I have it Tivo'd.

My Boys

2006-02-04T14:37:00.000-08:00

I needed a picture to link to so this is an easy way

Darth Vader lives at my house

2006-02-04T10:16:00.000-08:00

Drew and Ethan both got some new starwars stuff. Drew went from the first grade reading group to the second grade reading group. An accomplishment very worthy of reward. So Drew got the Voice Changer helmet and Ethan got General Grevious's Laser gun. Pretty awesome

Good Job Drew!!! Good Job Ethan!!!

How Stupid can they be

2006-02-02T17:44:00.000-08:00

So for the past week I've been trying to get my transmission fluid changed. It's a manual tranny so changing the fluid involves taking out two bolts. Now the bolts in my transmission we're only used on this year of jeep. They're like an allen screw but the hole is square. The square is a random size and you have to have a special wrench to get it off. Why in the world would you do that??? I've taken it to two different places: jiffy lube and fast lane. They both got into to doing it and after wasting 20 minutes there they come back in and say,"we can't get the bolt out"

It's like the most frustrating thing ever. Well not really ever but you know what I mean. It's like calling the phone company and we all know how that goes.

I'll post again in a bit to tell you about my new (MacbookPro that I ordered)I'm so excited, I got office and Iworks to go with it. :)

A Trip to the Gulf Coast

2006-01-30T21:08:00.000-08:00

Last night I just got back from the gulf coast. Me and three of my ministry mates went to Bay St Louis Mississippi. Here in Oregon we don't hear much about the situation in New Orleans anymore, but I have never seen such devastation. There are miles and miles of destroyed homes. The land mass of the affected area is bigger than the land mass of great britian. We went right to the eye of the hurricane and there isn't a home standing anywhere. In some places the water was over 30ft deep. This summer I am looking forward to going back there with the team of students to help people rebuild. There is a sense of hope with the people there. At least with the ones that are left. Some towns went from thousands of people to hundreds of people. It's really unimaginable. the church we are going to work in was surrounded by four feet of water yet none got in past the entry way. The church was examined by engineers after the fact and they said there is no reason why the church wasn't flooded. Pretty awesome story

Back To School, Back to Work :)

2006-01-13T22:18:00.000-08:00

Well it's great to be back in a normal flow of ministry and life. I started school on the 9th. I loved it. I have three classes: Communication in Christian Ministry, Biblical Theology, and Evangelism and Discipleship. I'm very excited about the first two classes, the third I'm still reserveing judgement. It's an online class and we haven't had any chats or interactions yet. But that should be good as well. I made a blog for one of my classes so we could interact about the reading and expose some of the class to blogging. Can anything be much more exciting about Apple announcing the release of the new intel processors in their laptops. Holy cow I am excited. I'm getting one for school and I can hardly wait!!!

Also new in my life is DVR (which is the coolest thing ever) pausing live television seems like a miracle. That must be how the first telephone users felt. Even though I understand the technology it's almost sureal. (I paused my show right now so I could blog). The boys and I are going to hit elmer's I think tomorrow morning, not positive though.

Well back to my show for now (hopefully something more thoughtful posting coming next)

Back from the holiday's

2006-01-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted in a bit but there is definately more coming up soon.

check out the blogs of my friends to the right for some interesting reading.

2005-12-18T17:27:00.000-08:00

So Drew and I braved the freezing rain storm to walk to the store and get some diet pepsi and candy for the family. It was great fun and we felt like big adventurers walking the 1/2 mile to the store. We saw lots of people spinning out and getting stuck. We heard one pizza guy on the phone panicking saying, "hey man, I'm from florida I don't know how to drive in this #%$*. We also had a snowball fight on the way back from the "H" market. We had to cancel the Christmas party this evening because of the storm. I'm bummed about that I was really looking forward to a fun evening with the Entheos Crew :( We live by the mall and it is taking people an 1 1/2 to just get out of the parking lot. It's just amazing how much a little layer of ice can mess things up.

Jason and Lauren come to Visit!!!

2005-12-17T10:50:00.000-08:00

Our friends Jason and Lauren Winningham came to visit this weekend. Jason was an itern back in the day and now he's a youth pastor in southern Oregon. It was fun to have them, we're having a great morning all together.

In other news: Why is the wait so long at the fricken cheesecake factory. I mean from a business standpoint can't you make more money if people can actually eat there???

A quote for all

2005-12-12T21:22:00.000-08:00

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

I find in my life that I have the privilege of being around people who dare to try. I post this today because I believe that some things are worth striving for. To all those who go for it, who succeed or fail while daring greatly, I want to encourage you to not lay down when things seem overwhelming but to persevere until the end. The difference between success and failure is getting up one more time than you get knocked down. This is true for me today and perhaps for you as well. Sometimes I think it is easy to lose hope, so today I have been encouraged several times and I want to encourage any of y'all who find their way here.

WOOO WOOO

A Boys Weekend (NARNIA RELEASED)!!!!

2005-12-10T10:23:00.000-08:00

So I think this will be a much less philosophical post than my last. I'm very excited because today the boys and I and about 75 others from Y.G. are going to Narnia. It's going to be a great time I think. I am looking forward to seeing how the book is represented and to talk with my boys afterwords. I am flying solo in the parenting department this weekend, Linds went to a friends beach house and is haveing a little solitude weekend. I think it is a need that everyone has but how often do we actually do it?? So I pray that is going well for her today. Last night the boys and I rented some movies and had some pizza. It was fun night

In other News:
I think the mac/pc debate has finally been resolved in my mind. My one hesitation with Apple was gaming. But it was astutely pointed out to me that this next generation of consoles will be as powerfull a giming platform as the PC. I think that is enough to put me over the edge. And it gives me a good reason to buy and XBox 360, and hey lets say it's a three year investment. If I give mac a try and it isn't what I like than I'll go back to PC and all i've done is gain an xbox 360. I wonder since I'm a youth pastor if I could write that off??? (just kidding). Well I think that's about all I have to say this fine saturday morning. I'll probably post some impressions after I see the movie.

A Tuesday to Remember.

2005-12-06T07:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm getting ready to take the boys to school and Lindsey is already off to work. We were super tired and went to bed really early but then ended up getting back up and paying bills and such. Kinda random really, I took some time this morning and read some of the Blogs of note posted on the main page. One thing I realize is that people spend lots of time blogging!!!! Some of it not so edifying but interesting none the less. I noticed that some bloggers have themes for the week or repeating themes for the day. Like fun friday and the blog about something fun or poem day or something like that. I don't know if I'm going to do a similar thing but I found it intereseting. One thing that has been on my mind lately is a subtle thing that I see people doing with church. When people ask about an event or something some say, "when are you guys going to ...." But there is an inherent problem with this phrase. If people are veiwing the church as "You guys" and not "We" that's not good. I think Christ's intention for the church was to be a family more than a club or event. I wonder if perhaps we've gotten away from this idea??? I think if it was an option for me I would find it tempting to look at church as a consumer, "what am I getting out of it" "How am I growing" yet are those valid questions of a family??? I don't know if they are. I find myself sometimes envying others who can just switch churches or come and go, getting to do the good parts without the unpleasent. I'm not trying to bash anyone these are just some thoughts bouncing around upstairs. What is the place church should have in my life? What are the right ways to be a member of the body of Christ? (does this same paradigm exist in marriages???) Well enough of that I am going to run my boys to school and off to church. To any who read this may the Lord Bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you and give you peace.

As "they" say
peace out :-)

YOU WANNA PIECE OF ME

2005-12-03T13:33:00.000-08:00

Watch Video:

Madd lightsaber skills

Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

Ethan and I having a starwars battle after watching Revenge of the Sith. I was shooting Lasers at him and he was blocking them. Notice the multi-talent picking in the middle. Tonight we are having the staff Christmas dinner Linds is working really hard on it and I hope that it turns out great.

School is on the way

2005-11-29T23:19:00.000-08:00

So school is starting up for me January the 9th. I'm so pumped, I just got my financial aid info and I am looking forward to getting started. I have a new student orientation thing coming up in December. While I am still weighing it back and forth in my mind I am pretty sure that I am going to go with a Mac for my new school computer. Take a look at it
Do you have any thoughts on the Mac vs. PC debate weigh in before January. Bible study was good tonight. I appreciated the insights that some of the students had into the passage. I found myself saying, "I've never looked at it like that." I had the opportunity today to go and sit on a panel in a Youth Ministry Class at Multnomah Bible College. It was good discussion and probably the best part for me was that in preparing to answer some of the planned questions I thought through ministry in a way I haven't really done in awhile. So it was a fun exercise. In other news we had a retirement party for Karen Foster, a good time was had by all. Check out the links on this post if you're interested.

George Fox Evangelical Seminary

My Son the Gamer

2005-11-29T23:12:00.000-08:00

There's no way around it this is just the funnest thing. Ethan on the web playing some games.

Logan Brown

2005-11-25T22:39:00.000-08:00

Learn How to put in Video:

little Logan (by Jim)

Well this is my nephew Logan, he's the man as you can tell. You can get the code for putting video on your site by clicking the link above the plug-in. Happy Saturday. (I disabled the video link, let me know if you'd like to see it and I'll fire it up)

2005-11-25T17:22:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a busy weekend so far. We went to my brother Steven's house for thanksgiving and I also spent time with Brownie and Sarah and Logan. And Jeff Christy and the girls. I have the best video clip of Logan, I just have to learn how to post it. I got the new call of Duty game which has been a fun little present. This was the first year at my brother Steve's. I'm learning lots about forgiveness this thanksgiving season and it has been helpful to my heart. Well I'm going to go and see if I can learn how to put a video in my blog. look back later to find out if it worked.

It's official the jeep is totalled

2005-11-18T09:54:00.000-08:00

Well I've just returned from the estimator and my poor jeep is totalled. I'll miss her, but if anyone knows of someone selling a car let me know.

Drew's first speech

2005-11-16T15:59:00.000-08:00

Drew had his first speech today. He did great. He was pretty nervous and when he looked at his notes he held them up in front of his face :). But he was brave and did wonderfully. I'm super proud of him. (sorry they are blury I didn't use flash)

In other news: I got a rental car and am waiting to hear back from the other insurance company.

Ding Dong the Jeep is Dead

2005-11-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

Well, yesterday someone crashed into me over in first edition. That's a neighborhood for those of you who don't know. I'm ok, just a little sore, but I'm sure that the jeep will get totalled. Well that's kinda sad. It's always a bit scary to get in a crash and this time was no different. I'm glad that my little champs weren't in the car with me, and that neither of us got hurt. Wow what an afternoon.

In other news: Drew has his first oral report today and I'm going to listen. I'm sick with a cold, and Bible Study was really fun last night.

Dinner and Friends

2005-11-15T08:19:00.000-08:00

we had our friends over last night, it was a great time. The pictures are for a flyer that's going out talking about a class to equip parents to talk with their children. Pretty fun really, no one well really ever know that this was really a dinner party and such. Also it is important to notice my little son seems to be doing something with his nose "just classic".

BBQ Tonight

2005-11-14T08:28:00.000-08:00

So were having four friends over tonight, I just found it interesting that our table has been set since Sunday afternoon. It's a thing woman in my wifes family do??? I like it though, its kinda like you get to gear up for the fun dinner you're going to have. Tonight we will have Tri-Tip and the ever contraversial Jill's potatoes. More after the dinner.

A New Camera and A Little Fun

2005-11-13T23:06:00.000-08:00

Well blog, I am excited to tell you that we have our own camera now!!! "given to us by some good friends". Well I thought I'd put up a couple shots just to get the ball rolling.

O and Entheos was fun tonight. It seemed that our group leaders had a good night and I'm happy about that. So check out my new pics, More to come I'm sure

O and Lindsey's not Drunk I promise. :)

We'll know for sure if she's reading the bog now. I might be editing that little part out (But for now I'm livin on the edge)

What would to do / what to do

2005-11-12T15:19:00.000-08:00

Well I am finding myself a bit bored today. It's funny but since I have to teach tomorrow, it's really hard for me to relax. I wonder if that's normal? Well this is all kind off random, but I guess there aren't really rules for what you can post on your own blog. I wonder what the secret to disconnecting might be. I don't know for sure but I think the answer lies somewhere in engaging in other non ministry related stuff. But what? There is always gaming, and then maybe ebay or something like that. I am excited for school to start. Classes start January 9th. It should be great and challenging.

I'm also pretty seriously considering switching to Mac. Starting school is a good time to get a new system. My only concern is gaming. It's really the only part of the computer world that Mac isn't better at. Which seems kinda funny to me because they are the best at graphics and video editing. Well that's enough for now I guess, perhaps some of you will have an idea of how to check out of work on the weekends.

So what's new

2005-11-03T07:30:00.000-08:00

The champions and I are having a nice morning here at the house. We'll leave for school in about 30 minutes. So here is the question of the day, "what is your part in the story". We all have a part in the story it's unavoidable, so what is yours? Just something I'm thinking about these days.

An interesting turn of events

2005-11-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

Well last night I emailed off the last part of my application to seminary. I am excited about this, I can go one day per week and in three years I will finish my MDiv. I am excited for what I will learn and for how that will help me as a youth pastor. Well I guess we'll see what happens

Check it out for yourself

At any rate I'm excited for it.

Halloween and the champions

2005-11-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

Well....

It was a great night last night, Lindsey and I along with Christie and Jeff and Dad walked Christie's neihborhood. The boys got lots of fun candy and such. Check out the little power rangers and their cousins.

A Little Break and a lot of Traveling

2005-10-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

Well it has been quite a month!!!

I had the opportunity to go Mexico with one of the adult teams from our church. It was a great trip, I really enjoyed getting to know the team and the people in Mexico better.

There was also a trip to the National Youth Workers Convention in Pittsburgh. Kathleen and I had a great time, lots of good learning and growth stuff. We also each came back with a bushell of books from the book store at the convention. On a side note we took a tour of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball Park, very cool and only $6. Kathleen has a goal of going to all of the Major league ball parks. So it was super fun to go with her to that.

Probably the biggest news of late is that Lindsey has gone back to work full time. She is enjoying really enjoying the change, maybe I should be the stay at home dad just to keep the change going :) (just kidding) besides the boys should only really eat totino's party pizza's one day a week anyway, if I stayed home we might be having them twice a day.

Well I am looking forward to keeping you all updated as I get back on top of blogging for the family.

A Salmon a pig two dogs and a Bird

2005-10-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had such a great time at my brother Steve's house!!!! We had ribs and salmon for dinner and such fun conversation. The boys loved meeting their cousins. They said of Emily that they loved her slippers and that she was nice. They both loved Zach. Drew said he had one of the funnest nights of my life, and Ethan said that Zach was a good boy because he shared his star wars toys.

I had a great time. It was so fun getting to know eachother and we are looking forward to many more great times together, as NEW FAMILY. I think we'll be going there for Thanksgiving and that should be fun. My brother and I are going to catch a movie soon. Well more to write later.

In other news: the session retreat this weekend was good. I feel that our church leadership will work together well and more effectively because of this weekend.

2005-09-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

Well today was a long one. I left the house at just before 6am and got in about 9:40pm. We had a session meeting at church which was pretty fun. I had a good day, but I'm really looking forward to tommorow. We are going to play human clue at Fish Company. I am Colonel Mustard. I'm going to get a whole british army uniform and a pith helmut, it should be great fun. I also signed up for airline mileage plans today on Delta and Alaska. I guess I'm excited about doing that because I have never had one of those and it's really cool. I have a session retreat this weekend and then on Wednesday night I leave for Mexico. I'll be back for just a few days and then it's off to Pittsburgh for the NYWC (national youth workers convention). It is one of my favorite events of the year!!! I had coffee with my good friend Mike this morning and lunch with another good friend Lucien. We went to a new place California Pizza Kitchen. Well Linds taped my shows for me so I think I am going to head upstairs and watch 'em.

A busy weekend

2005-09-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

Pretend I'm a picture: the upload thing wasn't working :)

Well I'm going to head out to Entheos in about 30 minutes. I am looking forward to tonight, hopefully it is a good time of fellowship/worship/and discussion. This morning at church was good, my adult class on applying the scriptures from the preaching series is, or at least seems to be, going well. A fun quote from this morning after I had asked them to read.

"I forgot my glasses, yeah me too, I won't be able to read"

My repy: well this certainly isn't a problem we face at youth group.

They all thought that was pretty funny :)

So that's all for now.

The question of the day is, "why do we do the things we do?"

is it societal pressure, or core beliefs, or fear of consequences that drive our decisions??? Just something that's rattling around up there.

A bigger family

2005-09-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

Below you'll see pictures of my brother Steven and his wife son and daughter. I'm excited we're going over for a BBQ on the 1st of Oct. It's going to be fun for all of us to get to know each other and to see what the Lord has in store for us. Well I better get off to church, I hope all who read are having a great day.

A Good Day!!!

2005-09-19T17:12:00.000-07:00

I had a very fun experience today. I met my brother Steven today. He's a great guy, I really enjoyed the time. We've never met before and it seemed like something you see on TV meeting the long lost brother. When I get permission from him I'll post his picture. More later.

Feeling pretty proud of myself

2005-09-17T17:24:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a little bike ride with Drew and I wanted to report that before that I wired the phone jacks in the house so that they would work with my vonage phone. WOOT!! It's the small things in life. And I'm pretty sure that I am going to teach on peace tomorrow night.

vonage

Great Soccer Morning

2005-09-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

Drew had a great game this morning. Very fun!!! He scored four goals and he had a great time.

I gotta say that I love watching my son play soccer.

Christy's girls are coming over in a bit and we are watching them until this evening. Should be fun for the boys to play with them. A busy day tomorrow at Church.

in other happenings I had a fun time with Lucien and Jenn last night going to a movie.

Squirrels breaking in

2005-09-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

A furry friend broke in the house. As you can imagine this was pretty exciting. Were looking forward to a fun weekend of soccer and such. It was fun to have Sarah visiting. More later as I am in the middle of cleaning our horrendous kitchen

Aunt Sarah and Logan Come to Visit

2005-09-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

As you can see from the photo Sarah and Brownie got Ethan the fighter from episode III. It is very very cool. They got him R2 and a clone pilot. Last night after the boys went to bed I put the stickers on it and played with it. The girls thought it was funny. I love the fact that I can play with my son's toys. I knew this day would come :)

Ethan's First Day of School!!!

2005-09-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

Ethan had a great first day of Preschool. He had lots to say when he came home about all the fun things he got to do. Tomorrow will be the first day that Linds will be home and both the boys will be at school. It's amazing how fast it's all going.

IT'S A BIRTHDAY!!!!! wooohoooo

2005-09-12T07:14:00.000-07:00

Today is Ethan's 4th birthday, he gets to go to lunch with his Grandpa and Linds and I. He was very excited to wake up this morning and find the house decorated for him.

PS the boys first got up at about 5:30 am

It's the weekend !!!

2005-09-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

Well it's sunday at 11:45am. We just got home from church, tonight is Entheos and it's the first one of the fall. It should be really great!!! I'm excited for this year, our staff is so good (even this morning one reminded me that staff sticks together) it's fun being part of this team.

In other news, Drew had a soccer game on Saturday, he scored two goals and we really had a nice time at the game.

2005-09-08T17:24:00.001-07:00

woooohoooo

2005-09-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

Ethan, born to be wild

2005-09-08T17:23:00.000-07:00

Ryan takes the boys for a ride!!!!

A HUGE DAY!!!!

2005-09-07T07:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, today is Drew's first day of school. 1st grade is all day so it is a big step. I am a bit nervous but were excited. We ran and got bagels this morning and Drew has his lunch money in his pocket.

It's also the first Fish Company of the year. A big day for all of us.