My Son, My Brother

This weekend will be exciting on a number of fronts for the Graber household. We have friends coming in from Indiana to spend a week with us. Did I mention that they have 5 children or maybe it's 6 now? Once they hit 4 I lost count. I'm looking forward to the week and some time with Tim and maybe even some golf. As if that wasn't enough, it's Father's Day on Sunday. Among all of the worldly titles that I have, I cherish the titles of Husband and Father above all of them. They are second only to "Child of God" which leads me to the most exciting thing that is happening this weekend. My son, Caleb, is getting baptized this Sunday morning. Two Sundays ago on June 14, Caleb came to Samantha and I and said that "we needed to talk." He said that he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart and be baptized. We spent some time asking him what that all meant and why he wanted to do this. Through the time we were talking it was very clear that God was working in Caleb's heart and that he understood that he was a sinner and that he needed a relationship with Jesus who died as a sacrifice for his sins. At that moment, my Son became my brother in Christ. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will see my son in heaven for an eternity. Caleb wanted to be baptized that night, instead he walked down front to talk to one of the pastors to join the church and schedule a time to be baptized. So that leads us to this week. I serve on the Baptism Committee as a deacon and have helped out with many baptisms. This week will be the first time that I'm going to need a towel for the new believer and one to wipe my own eyes and I witness my son follow through in obedience to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Welcome to the family, little brother.

Psalm 78:1-7

¹ O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.

² I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter hidden things, things from of old-

³ what we have heard and known,
what our fathers have told us.

⁴ We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.

⁵ He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our forefathers
to teach their children,

⁶ so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.

⁷ Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.

Monthly post

Well by blogging has fallen to merely once per month. It's not that I don't have much to say, it's just putting my thoughts into one pithy little article isn't as easy as it should be. I really think my ADD is catching up to....oooo what's that? See? Anyway when I sit down to write this I start to let the random thoughts just roll. What to write about? Politics, the economy, California's budget shortfall and how the progressives have tanked the larges economy in the US, Nancy Palosi, Psuedo- Republicans in congress, or more endearing things like the kids, Samantha, family dynamics, or whatever. I'm not really sure where to go with this, so I guess it will just have to end here.

Sorry, I'm having a brain freeze (bloggers block)

The Rules of the Game

I always like watching This Week In Baseball while growing up. I especially liked the "You Make the Call" and "Rules of the Game" portions where I could test how well I knew the game. Not really surprising since my dad was an ASA ump and I grew up watching him call games. I started umping Little league games in the field and behind the plate before the age of 14.

So now that I'm older, I've gone back to umping Little League locally here in Texas. I'm surprised by the number of coaches, players, and parents that don't know the rules of the game. Some of the rules are just things that the kids are learning, like balks, which I still don't like to call. Other rules are just plain and simple in the book. Here are few that I've had to cover with coaches over the last couple of weeks:

• Pitchers must have their foot in contact with the pitching rubber when beginning their motion.
• The ball is in play and live during a walk.
• Pitchers can't wear white sleeves under their uniform.
• Jewelry is not permitted until it's for medical purposes.
• It is against National Little League rules to have a cell phone in the dugout.
• The limitations on bat size apply to everyone, not just everyone else.
  

On top of teaching coaches, some long time umpires have surprised me with their own interpretation of the rules. One ump thought that Texas must have an exemption from the no tobacco on the field rule since he was dippin' like a donut. The same guy tried to explain fair and fowl balls to me in between innings. Needless to say, his interpretation wasn't even close to what the rule book says.

Finally, if you happen to be in the stands and the ump and scorekeeper both have only 2 outs but you think there are three, you're probably wrong. Even if you're not, you aren't likely to change things and it definitely won't help your team in the long run. Overall, even the bad umps I've met, all umpires go out and try to do their best for the kids, coaches, and fans. Try giving them a break sometime, or better yet, read the book and come on out and ump a base for us. You might just find that you like it, or that it's not as easy as you think.

Dribbling Drill

So Caleb had soccer practice last night and I found one of the best drills that I've seen for teaching the kids to dribble and keep the ball away from others.

With the U6 age kids the site I got it from (http://www.coachingsoccer101.com) recommended playing games instead of drills that aren't fun.

The game was called Killer Whale. We actually practiced with a U4 girls team and all the kids played well together. Everyone dribbles around in a set area (we used half the micro soccer field) and the Killer Whale (or Whales) ran around and tried to kick their balls out of bounds to get everyone out. We gave everyone a chance to be the killer whale at least once. We played this for about 20 minutes and no one got bored with it.

For all those soccer dads out there, I thought I'd share. Check out the site too, it has more great little games.

I have some questions....

I thought I would just bore you with some of the questions that have crossed my mind lately (I promise they are not all about politics)...

• Why is it ok for Congress to hand out $9M in bonuses to their staffs while they are running a huge deficit and not ok for AIG to do it with a somewhat smaller deficit?
• Why do we keep electing some of these guys?
• What is wrong with term limits?
• If the auto industry is now offering payments on your new car if you lose your job, isn't that more of my money going to people who aren't working?
• Why can't poorly run automakers go out of business? Do they think that demand won't still be there and that another automaker won't fill the void?
  
• Why is Obama's aunt who is here illegally still here?
• Why don't Little League coaches know the current Little League baseball rules of the game?
• Who designed Franklin's athletic cups??
• Why do parents think they do know the rules better than those who are responsible for knowing them?
• Why am I more awake at 10pm than at any other time during the day?
• Why does bad food taste good and good food taste bad?
• Why does your car get dirty when it gets rained on in a driveway?
• Where are the dents in the drums coming from?
• What are they thinking? (applies to may different people)
• Why don't Christians go to church every week when they are in town?
• Why is it hard to pray somedays?
• How many times do you have to punish your children before they will learn whatever you are trying to teach them?
• How many times does God have to whack me before I will learn whatever He is trying to teach me?
• What is chucking wood?
• How many stickers can my children possibly have?
• How many legos can a vacuum bag hold?
• How long does it take for temporary window paint to become permanent?
• Why is Facebook so appealing?
• Why do athletes get paid so much for playing a game?
• Why do you need to get mail everyday from the postal service, couldn't we survive with only 3 days a week and save a ton of money?
• Why do new hires make more than long time employees in the same position?
• Why is hitting a golf ball straight such a challenge?
• What are the odds of the Cub's winning the world series this year?
• How can they afford that? (you decide)
• What if we made Congress attend Financial Peace University?
• Why can't politicians get their taxes filed correctly?
• Why does supervising union workers seem a lot like parenting young children?
• Why do friends have to move away?
• Why is it so stinking hot in SE Texas?
• Why on earth did you read this whole list?
  

Reviving a Green Thumb

We're back from our vacation in Florida and I just had an itch to build something. I needed to create with my hands. While in Florida I helped my dad build a deck for two days and it just re-enforced to me how much I enjoy building things.

So this week I had to take an emergency vacation day on Wednesday to take care of the kids. Samantha was ill and sleeping so I tried to keep the kids outside and make the most of the midweek Saturday for me. I had enough pressure treated lumber to build this garden box. We ran to Harbor Freight and picked up a soaker hose (had a coupon of course) that we put in it. Combined with the programmable timer and Miracle Grow garden fertilizer attachment, I figure I should have monster tomatoes in no time.

After spending the night last night in the ER at St. Elizabeth with Samantha, I found myself with another early Saturday on Friday. (Samantha is fine by the way, nasty virus, but she is resting and getting through it) Anyhow, when the Caleb got home from school today, it was time to plant the garden. But what is a garden without nice garden stakes to tell you where your plants are? So today the girls and I made these garden stakes out of 1/4" plywood and ripped pressure treated fence slat leftovers for stakes. Unfortunately the urethane didn't dry before we planted the seeds, but tomorrow we will replace the little stick tags with our new garden markers.

We ended up planting three kinds of tomatoes, carrots, jalapeno peppers, yellow onions, green and red peppers, and broccoli. The only plants I'm hoping really take off are the tomatoes (even though I don't care for raw tomato...go figure) and the hot peppers. The others are more for the kids. My last trick will be to figure out how to get the weeds to pull themselves.

My Mind is else where

Choosing something to blog about sometimes can be frustrating. During the week something will happen and I'll think it would be great to post on here. When the time come that I can post, I don't remember much (blame the Aspartame in the Diet Cokes). So here are a couple of shorties:

My Mind is in Florida already. I'm stuck in a two day meeting, but I'm already at Sara Lake Estates visiting my parents, going to the Red Barn flea market and the Bargain barn, building a sand castle with the kids on Siesta Key, playing cards with my Uncles, and fishing in the pond behind my parents place. I hope they don't ask me any thing complicated this week, my head might just implode since my mind is officially gone on vacation.

So...Bailey and I are driving home from some friends home on Friday night. Up until the time we were leaving she was acting pitiful and whiny. Classic Bailey signs that she's tired. She wanted to ride with me in my car (a special treat for the kids since they are normally in the van). I'm not sure what happened but she got her second wind in the car and wanted to play games all the way home. Here is just a part of the conversation:
Bailey: Hey Daddy
Me: Yes Bailey
Bailey: I wanna play a game
Me: (tired because it is 10pm and I've been up since 5am) Bailey, can we just listen to the radio?
Bailey: I wanna play "I Spy"
Me: Bailey, Daddy's tired
Bailey: OK, I'll just play it by my self.

I'm not really sure how the game went, but I think she won.

Speaking of 5am, I've found that it's a great time to get up, get a cup of coffee (we've dug out the coffee pot and are actually using it for ourselves), and spend an hour with God before the day kicks off. It's refreshing to get back to a more consistent daily quiet time instead of the hit or miss action I was giving God when trying to "fit it in." I know God is pleased with a more deliberate and consistent time and I know my perspective on the day is lifted when I spend time with the Creator of the Universe first.

Finally, I'm blessed to have Samantha as my wife and the mother of my children. Just thought I'd mention that.

Prayer for Adah

There are only a handful of people that had much of an impact on me at Purdue. Some in good ways, some in difficult ways, but an impact none the less. Bill Tibbetts was one of those guys that had a good impact. Bill is one of those guys that just never seemed to have a down day. While I may not fully agree with all of this theology, we did share in our devotion to Jesus Christ and our desire for Him to guide our paths.

As many of the Fairway (Men's Christian house) guys did, Bill married one of the Stewart (Women's Christian house) girls. Bill and Natalie have a four year old daughter named Adah. A little while back Adah was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy, a rare heart disease that effects one in 1 million children. The result is a need for a new heart. For the last several months Adah has been in and out of the Children's Hospital in St. Louis (they actually live in Minnesota, so you can get a feel for the expertise needed for this condition).

Last night Bill got the call. An eleven year old girl had passed and the family wanted as many of her organs harvested as possible. So this morning Adah has a new heart beating inside her body. By Bill's account the surgeon said that the operation when perfectly. Please join me in praying for Adah along with Bill and Natalie. Adah is in recovery right now and the next 24 hours is critical for her body to accept the new heart and that there is no bleeding. The right ventricle is a little week so a little extra prayer is needed there.

I can't imagine what Bill and Natalie are going through right now as their precious only daughter goes through a heart transplant operation and this life and death battle to heal. Your prayers are coveted right now. Thank you.

Tagged!!

Here's how you play!
1. Go to your 4th folder where you store your photos.
2. Select your 4th picture (no exceptions)!
3. Post the picture with an explanation and link it back to your tagger

4. Tag 4 people (or as many as you want) to do the same!!

Since I'm kind of organized with my computer files this is the 4th picture in like the 4th folder in the 4th folder in the 4th folder in the 4th folder where we keep our pictures.
This is Caleb at age 3 at the beach on Siesta Key in Florida. Grandma and Grandpa live a couple of miles north of the beach in Sarasota in the winter. We'll be back on this beach in about 6 weeks during Caleb's spring break. Incidently, the Amish who stay in an area called Pine Craft for the winter also frequent this beach. The really interesting thing is that once they get to the beach you can't tell the Amish girls from the spring breakers since they are all in "normal" swimsuits and even bikinis and they all have great tans (unlike Caleb here).

OK...gotta tag 4, how about...
Jet
The Butler gang
Mrs. Walters
the 'Boda clan

I'm Too Tired to Blog

That is it....just wanted you to know. I'm just too tired to blog.

Big Day

Today was definitely a big day today. The inauguration of Barak Obama wasn't something I was hoping for, but none the less it was historic. I think it's great that an African American has ascended to the office of President. I wish it was someone who held my socially and fiscally conservative views, but we've survived Democratic administrations before. Usually the best thing that comes out of Democrats in control is a wake up call that returns control to the Republicans. I hope with Barak's accomplishment that all people now recognize that America is a land of opportunity and the only thing that truly limits anyone's success is themselves.

The second reason that this was a big day is that I had to present my last three months work to the Global Manufacturing Manager and Americas Zone Manufacturing Manager for our division of ExxonMobil. Needless to say I walked out with a proud sense of accomplishment based on the feedback from both the managers and our local management. I'm always confident in my work, but sometimes it's nice to have that affirmation.

New Beginnings....not just for January 1

Happy New Year. Time to buy a new calendars and put away the Christmas decorations for another 11 months. For me there is little celebration for the new year...really.....the holidays are over, college football is winding down, and pro football is coming to an end as well. We are entering "the stretch" of unrecognized minor holidays. There are exactly 145 days before Memorial day and a scheduled day off (thank God for elective vacation days). On top of that, we are getting ready to inaugurate a new president that is about as opposite in his worldview from my Christian worldview as you can get. Do I have you depressed yet?

Well, GET OVER IT!!! There is nothing to be depressed over!

All the things that I mentioned are merely the external things. How many of those things do I have control over? None! So, it would be insane for me to worry or complain about them. God is in control. That is what I'm excited about. Each year people make resolutions based on something they didn't do the last year or that they want to change for the New Year....why?....because it is a new beginning. Annual resolutions are hard to keep, but there is a trick that makes them easier. Yes, I've figured them out. How else do you think someone who is 50lbs over weight can go a whole year without eating a single donut or any french fries? I made it in 2008. I had done it before with donuts and french fries, each separately, but never both the same year. Here's the trick.....they have to be daily resolutions, not annual. Can you do anything for a day? I can. Is it easy; sometimes yes; sometimes no, but it's a lot easier for a day than a year. Focusing for a day is much easier than focusing on the entire year.

So, Happy New Day!!! Make the right choices today. Focus on getting through today making all the little decisions that give you a win. Maybe it's not stopping to get a Coke, eating those sweets, maybe it's not cursing, or turning off the tv show you should really be watching, or spending some time in the Word....whatever you look at as a win at the end of the day. Make it a law, a rule you just can't break no matter what. Then do it again tomorrow...and the next day... soon you will find that it's just what you do.

Psalm 119:60
I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.

Blessings

Deuteronomy 28:2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:

God is amazing! It's a massive understatement. What amazes me soo much is that He's the God of the Universe at the same time He's the God of my next breath. I'm reminded over and over that God is sovereign and that His greatest desire is to pour out his blessings on His children. I always enjoy the Christmas season and shopping for gifts for others, but even more so, I enjoy the giving. Now I'll be frank...I despise obligatory giving. You know when a gift is obligatory when your first thought is "what the????" or "who can I regift this too next year because I sure and Hades don't have any use for this junk". That that aside, I love giving to people who have needs that they didn't know how they would be filled. Beyond that, God wants to use us to do just that. During this holiday season in particular, God has opened up his flood gates of blessings to us...but you want to know the interesting part....each time it has been right after we've obeyed him by giving to others. We committed X dollars to this person in need...within a week we receive a financial gift (unexpected) worth 3x that. A week later we receive another unexpected financial "gift" and we turn around and give it to a family member in need...the very next day we received 15x that gift out of the blue....talk about knocking you on your knees to thank God for His many blessings!!!

Here's what hit home the most for me. I've always been a tither. Tither Paul. I'm not saying that to toot my own horn because it was just something I was taught to do. 10% gross of the top goes to God and you budget on the rest. I'm an excellent tither...but I'm not a good giver. God spoke to me in ways that I could understand and told me that He expected more of me. He desires my tithe out of obedience and my offerings out of Love. WHAT? <---that's what the 4 year old in me yelled back. I'm now becoming the kind of giver I think God wants me to be. I'll tithe because it is the least I should do...and I'll give offerings over that to Him because He deserves all that I have to offer. In my case just tithing is not being obedient, giving above and beyond is....and God has blessed that and poured out more and more blessings on us....Amazing....simply Amazing!

Thanksgiving Memories

We didn't have a fancy Thanksgiving, but we did have a wonderful one. Dinner was at MawMaw's house...why MawMaw's you might ask? It's only the smallest house in the family. It's kind of like what draws college kids to try to cram as many people into a phonebooth as possible. Actually, holidays in the Ingram family ONLY happen at MawMaw's house....so it's off to Evadale we go. We had a wonderful dinner. Here's a sampling: baked turkey, fried turkey, ham, Ribs, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, shells n' cheese, dumpling gravy, mexican corn cassarole, and that is just the main course...there were cocktail weenies, cheese dip, ect. for appetizers and way too much to list for dessert. Fortunately, I did very well with portion control and did not stuff myself. Following dinner all the nephews and cousins played outside. I teamed up with Caleb to play my two nephews in a soccer game (glad there were no pictures of that). All the Grandkids and Great-Grandkids play together so well. Here you have Keaton, Caleb, Madison, Jacey, Bryce, Kody, Bailey, Aiden, Kaden, Layne (standing and not so little) holding Brayden, Jestin, and Carsten. With the wide range in ages of Sam's siblings the Grandkids and Great Grandkids are all close in age so far. Can you believe that 6 of the kids here are great grandkids....including Layne who is holding Brayden who is the latest grandson...weird.

Later on we had some friends over to watch some football on the big screen (the video projector on a huge wall makes the game pretty life like), each shrimp cocktail, snacks and some awesome pies. It was a wonderful day to enjoy just being around family and friends. I hope yours was equally as enjoyable.

Removing the Doubt

Today as I was doing a short devotional I realized that I didn't have the current month's STAND FIRM magazine from Lifeway, but I had the October edition. I knew I hadn't read October 20th's daily devotional so I decided to do it today. WOW, what timing....the type of timing that helps strengthen our faith and remove the doubt. Here is what I read.

QUIET FEAR

Dave had been a Christian for decades, but was embarrassed and scared by the waves of doubt that sometimes swept over Iris soul, lie had taught men's groups, youth groups, Sunday School— name the ministry and Dave had probably helped out. Many in his church regarded him as a Bible scholar. He knew the correct answers. But some times late at night, the questions rushed at him with the force of a locomotive. “What if his is all just happy talk? What if humans invented the idea of God because we were so terrified of death? Worse yet, what if there is a God but He is just setting us up?’’
DOUBT DIMINISHED
Swallowing his pride and fear, Dave poured out his doubts to a close brother in Christ. "Join the club," was the reply. The two friends swapped stories of their struggle with doubt, and in the act of verbalizing the doubt and reminding themselves of the truth they knew, the crisis of faith shrunk from a howling wolf to a small but irritating poodle. We all doubt. It is part of the life of Faith. Jude instructs us to have mercy on those who doubt. Don't criticize them, panic over them, or dismiss their fears. Have mercy. Listen. Show grace. Empathize. The rocky path of belief is often strewn with doubts along the way. We should expect that, since an untested faith is really no faith at all.
BOTTOM LINE
Show mercy to the doubters—including yourself!

"Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving." - Frederick Buechner

God's timing for this message was perfect in my life. I have found that when I'm not able to attend worship over a period of a few weeks and my daily Bible study and prayer life is on sabatical, doubt starts to creep in more and more. This also happens when I see world events unfolding that are not God honoring and I stop to question why a sovreign God would allow these things to happen. I find that my "intellectual" side starts to question God. I fall into the same trap that the humanists do in thinking that somehow my opinions and thoughts are somehow more valid than those of God or worse, that I have better ideas than Him. During these times I have to return to two things: Experience and Faith.
Experience tells me that my doubts are unfounded because God has been very real to me. He's given me direction when I needed it, peace when I couldn't find it, healing when doctors were stumped, and protection when my own flesh was trying to drag me to destruction.
Faith tells me that my doubts are unfounded because God is bigger than intellect. The problem with doubt is that we are putting faith in our own understanding instead of the creator of the universe. At one time people thought the earth was flat and the center of the universe. They thought that drilling holes in people's heads would relieve headaches. They believed that we all evolved from pond scum over millions of years....wait...they still believe that....
Ins the midst of the doubts, I turn back to God's Word and the simple truth that "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones (like me) to Him belong, they (we) are weak but He is strong."

Nine down, many more to come

Last night we ran into an old acquaintance while picking up our kids from Awana. Since we don't see he or his wife very often we asked how his wife was. His response caught us off guard. He said, "I don' t know, we've been divorced a month." He seemed ok with it, but I just can't imagine.

Martin Luther wrote, "There is no more lovely, friendly, and charming relationship, communion, or company than a good marriage."

Samantha and I are blessed to be able to say that we enjoy a good marriage. Today we celebrate our ninth wedding anniversary. We're definitely not the Cleavers or even the Huckstables, but we're also not the Simpsons or Bundys. Somewhere in the middle we're two people with different backgrounds who look at the trivial things in life differently, but who both try to look at the important things in life through Christ's eyes. We have a common bond in Christ that forms the glue that holds us together and causes us to love each other more and more every day. Throw on top of that three absolutley wonderful gifts from God and what more could a person ask for. I am truly blessed beyond what I deserve.

Thank you God your gifts in my life, I'll try harder to be worthy of them and to treat them with the same level of love, grace, and mercy that you have shown me. Amen

Souvenirs from Lubeck, Germany

I really enjoyed my time in Lubeck, Germany last week. It was my first time east over the big pond and I don't think it will be the last. The trip did reinforce what some of my friends had warned me, that much of Europe is entrenched in a Godless culture. While I see America headed down that slippery slope, I'm thankful that the decease of godlessness has not fully set in. As bad as it seems sometimes in our culture, it can always get worse when men are left to their own devices over a long period of time. I this case, we'll call it European History.

I was amazed at the city of Lubeck itself. The history of the city goes back over 1000 years. Many of the structures from the 14th and 15th centuries still stand (amazingly surviving both World Wars). The city is called the "city of the seven steeples" due to the seven massive steeples from 5 cathedrals all located on an "island" in the center of the city. Despite the massive and beautiful architecture, there was very little in the whole country that pointed to God. It was as if both the cathedrals and God were both just a piece of history that were significant at some point in the past, but no longer were relevant in their daily lives.

More disturbing than Lubeck was an evening that we spent being dragged around Hamburg. I say "dragged around" because after approximately 30 seconds I was ready to go back to the hotel and stick my head under a pillow. I think our hosts were mostly interested in getting as much free alcohol as they could while bouncing us from bar to bar and seeing our reaction to their "entertainment" district. Even in the most liberal and sleazy of US cities (LA, Detroit, DC...)the Hamburg entertainment district would be the red light district on the bad side of town. The sex industry has mainstreamed itself right into the commercial culture. On the main street there was sex shop, sex club, sex shop, bakery, sex shop, McDonalds, sex club, sex club, pharmacy (I guess a must have if you have some much promiscuity).... If ever I had a picture of Sodom and Gomorrah, this was it. I thank God that we in America are still prudish enough to care what our children (and adults for that matter) see on the street.

After the hellish night in Hamburg we were able to get some souvenirs from Lubeck the following night. I brought home some German and Swiss chocolates for Sam' and I, some slippers and socks for the girls, and a new game called Make N Break for Caleb which he absolutely loves. We kind of had to fudge on the instructions since they were all in German. For me I brought home a soccer jersey and a sinus infection that is only now starting to fade. More importantly, I brought home lots of memories, some good, some bad, and a new appreciation for a country that may be wondering away from it's roots, but that still in some ways reflects the Christian foundation that it was established on.

Ich bin sprechen Deutsch

I have 7 days until I'm headed to Germany for 6 days on a business trip. I'm excited about going so I've been working on my German. I thought I'd share what I've learned so here you go:

Where is the restroom please - Ich muss hier, um zur Toilette oder urinieren Ich werde in meiner Hose.

What are you serving me for dinner? - Was zum Teufel ist das?

Hello, how are you? - Hallo, Sie haben Achselhaare

Do you speak English? - Weißt du, Englisch, weil ich bin zu dumm zu sprechen Deutsch

How did you know I am American? - Wie haben Sie wissen, ich bin genial

I don't have everything down exactly, but a friend who knows German said that this was a good start and people will be impressed when I spout these out, so we'll see. I'm not sure why, but every time I repeated the lines in German, he would laugh profusely..?

When your world falls apart

Below is a note from a College friend of mine. Bill is an awesome Christian friend and was a solid example to me while at Purdue. His heart is heavy and I know the world seems suffocating to him right now. Please read it and lift up Bill, Natalie, and little Adah in your prayers.

Bill Tibbetts writes...
A father's heart is shattered right now. Adah showed signs of a cold about a month ago, and it was treated as that...a cold. Time progressed and it never got better, in fact, she was worse. After many doctor visits we found ourselves in the emergency room yesterday. One test after another led to the discovery of a restricted cardiac myapothy. This is a chronic heart disease that can be terminal if not properly treated. Essentially, her heart doesn't have the ability to relax; it's constantly working at a high rate (as if you were jogging every minute, of every day, your entire life). Her exrays showed that her heart was about four times it's normal size, pressing on her lungs and stomach. Further, the hurt is pumping a fluid into her lungs and stomach, causing a massive swelling of her body. The first step is to manage the symptoms (cough, liquid, swelling, etc). After which, they will do an examination of the heart. Best case scenario is that she they can remove a film from the exterior of the heart. Worse case scenario is a heart transplant. We honestly don't know that much at this point.

The doctors keep saying over and over that this is a very rare case (less than 2% of children experience this). We don't know if it's genetic or caused by a virus. Because it's so rare, very little is known about it. In fact, there are only 2 or 3 doctors in the US that know anything about it. The doctors keep telling us that we are at the right place at the right time.

No words can describe the devastation that we are feeling right now. No parent should have to wonder if every kiss, hug or "I love you" will be the last. I wish with all that is in me that I could say that my faith is getting me through this, but I feel very weak right now. We can not even wrap our heads around this...she went in for a cold and now we're facing life or death. I want to walk in there and claim the name of Jesus over her, but I feel like I have no emotional or mental strength to gather such faith. These feels like a compete nightmare.

So, friends and family, we welcome your prayers and support. We will not be able to respond to every email or phone call, but don't hesitate sending the messages and words of encouragement. We have been DEEPLY blessed by our friends and family from North Central University. They have gone above and beyond to take care of us in every possible way. When this all hit last night, we felt so desperately alone because we're so far from 'home'. One email was sent out and we had NCU people at our door first thing in the morning. We are working on a CaringBridge website to keep everyone posted. I will provide updates as soon as I get any. Again, thank you for all the love, support and encouragement. Your prayers are being received.

Samantha and I know through our own experience dealing with Caleb's brain tumor the heaviness and desperation you feel as a parent. We also know that God has this same heaviness on His heart for each of his children that has terminal sin in their life and refuses to have that sin removed by the blood of Christ. Our body is temporal and imperfect, but our spirit is eternal and Christ longs for our spiritual healing far more than our physical wellbeing. Please join me in praying for Adah, that this precious little girl will be healed physically and that God will use this for his Glory and that many will be spiritually healed as a result of this situation.

Weekend Crisis

This great nation has entered a time of crisis and frustration. Things have been too good for a while now and it's time for the natural balance to return. You knew it couldn't last forever! The Cubs were swept in the first round of the playoffs and we can all go back to our normal life of crisis and frustration with our lovable losers. The natural balance has returned and there is no longer a member of the National League Central contending for a place in the World Series. I'm amazed that the team that had one of the best pitching staffs and the best scoring offense in the NL was so putridly awful against the Dodgers in the divisional series. Fortunately the White Sox are still in it. As a true Cubs fan, I'll post my "maybe next year" banner and wait to see if the Cubs are able to win a single playoff game anytime in the next century (they've now lost 9 in a row over the last 3 trips to the playoffs).

Two final things: Financial crisis, what financial crisis? Remember it's not the hare that wins the race. And, thankfully it's Football season!!