My first post: Triduum

For some time now I have felt a call to post on this blog. Rebecca started this thing to be a blog that both she and I would share. So now I am taking advantage of this and posting my first blog ever (I think).

Anyway, as I write this I just came back from The Mass of The Lord's Supper at Saint Luke. Now that Lent is over and we are ready to "celebrate" our Lord's crucifiction and death I feel a need to reflect on my journey through Lent this year.

When Lent began I wasn't really sure what to do this year. I was overwhelmed at work and so my usual commitment to go to Mass every day just wasn't going to happen. So instead, I decided that I would prayer the Litany of Humility every day and the keep a journal.

So far so good, at least I had something to do for Lent. But the first couple of weeks just didn't go well at all. I wasn't growing any closer to our Lord and I just felt like I was in a rut. Somehow I decided that the problem must have been that I was not working hard enough. I figured that the issue was that I was too lazy. So I poured myself even more into my work...things got worse.

Finally, I decided that I was lost and I needed some help. So I got back out the book I read a couple years ago by Dave Durand entitled Perpetual Motivation. That finally got me started again. The main point I took away from the book is that life is about balance. Due to problems I was experiencing at work, my life was no longer balanced. I was not putting in the effort any longer at home or at DTS. So I started to change. Instead of working harder at my job, I started working harder as a husband and father and youth leader...things got better.

Enter Father Larry Richards. Last year around this time, I read his book Be a Man. I even got a copy for Marc, the young man whom I sponsored for Confirmation. I heard on the radio that he would be at Christ the King Cathedral for a retreat. God moment anyone? So I took some initiative, at the prodding of my wonder wife, and called up Marc to invite him to go with me. He agreed. The talk was great. It was all about sin and how much we need Christ in our lives. The main point I took away from this talk was that Christ always tries to help us focus on him and our future, while the devil wants to keep us focused on ourselves and the past. Light bulb!!!

Suddenly I realized that for like the past year or two I had been completely absorbed in myself. Every conversation I had was all about me. I would try to focus everyone and all the stuff going on in my life and I was wouldn't listen when folks would talk to me about their lives and their problems. All this from a man who has, "The greatest among you must be your servant." (Matthew 23:11), on all his out going emails!

And so goes God's mercy. After all this time that I have turned by back on him. I have focused my gaze not on the one who loves me more than His own life, but rather squarely on myself and what's in it for me. Still He gives up His very life for me. Still He invites me to His table to receive his Precious Body and Precious Blood. Still He gives me more than I deserve. Still He loves me!

Thank you Lord Jesus Christ for loving me so much that you would rather die than spend eternity with out me. May I keep my gaze always on you. May I serve you in all that I do.

So I am not sure why I just wrote all this. I guess in some way I hope that it will encourage each of you. I hope that you have had an even more uplifting Lenten journey than I have. May God be with you through Triduum, Easter, and beyond.

Andy

My little Princess is 3!

It is hard to believe my sweet little Emma is 3 years old today! Time goes so quickly. I still remember the labor and delivery quite well... it all went really quickly with Emma. She was fairly painless as well. I remember when we nurse brought her to me I looked right at her bright beautiful eyes. She was certainly the most beautiful, sweet little baby girl I had ever seen. And she looked a lot like her super cute little brother.
This passed Saturday we had her 3rd birthday party at Yaya and Grandpa's house. They have such a beautiful backyard to entertain in. We had a Tangled Tea Party. It was a beautiful sunny day, though it was a bit windy, but the kiddos didn't seem to mind.

Here is a picture of all the little princesses at the party. Everybody looked so cute. Emma dressed up as Rapunzel. She had a Rapunzel wig, but she decided not to wear it at the last minute, she said she was Rapunzel after Flynn cuts her hair off. Luke dressed up like Flynn Rider.... he made quite a cute little prince. Audra said my Nannie said that she had never seen so many beautiful little girls in one place. I agree. :) Mom and I dressed up as well.

We played games. Here is Aunt Audra acting out famous Princesses. I think this one is Sleeping Beauty.
We played several games of Farmer in the Dale and the kiddos got to dress up like each Farmer in the Dale character. So much fun.
Then we had the tea party and cake. All the kiddos loved getting to use "real" teacups.


Miss Emma got to open her presents next. She loved getting Bambi from Yaya and Grandpa!
I love how kiddos have no concept of personal space. They got up as close to Emma as they possibly could get to watch her open the presents. Love it.


It was such a fun day for Miss Emma and all her little friends, though I still can't believe she's already 3! Wow.

There's a sign in my front yard

Our current home officially went on the market on Saturday evening, but the sign wasn't in the front yard until I got home after Emma's party Sunday evening. When I saw it I couldn't help but shed a little tear. I am really excited about the new house, but I can't help but be a little sad about leaving the old one. This is the house where Andy carried me over the threshhold when he got home from our honeymoon.Here's a picture of the house on the day we moved in. It is the home we brought both our children home too and had many sleepless nights together. So many family meals together. So many wonderful memories here. It is the home we grew from two young married kids to adults in. This house will always be dear to my heart, but I know we are supposed to move. Too many things have happened just right, God is calling us to this other house.

There are many things I will miss about this house.

1. The neighbors. I love them. All of them. We are like a great big family. We look out for each other's kiddos and are always there for each other.
   
2. Living on a cul-de-sac. It is like our kids have a giant yard in the front as they can play all over the street.
3. The master bedroom. Everything about our master is wonderful. It is what sold us the house in the first place.
4. The master bathroom and my jacuzzi tub. We do have a jacuzzi tub at the new house, but it is in the kids bathroom. :)
5. MY CLOSET!! It is huge... I can easily see all my clothes. The new closet is about half the size, but I am supposed to be having less things this year anyways, so I need to get rid of some clothes.
6. The gardens. We have several small gardens around the house. One is a garden Luke and Andy made the week we brought Emma home from the hospital. There is also our small square foot garden that all the neighborhood kids help plant. There are so many beautiful flowers and crape myrtles that we have planted together here. Each spring when the flowers start coming out of the ground I can remember Andy and Luke planting them together and where they came from. But I know we will have many new gardens at the new house and much more space for flowers and trees.
   
7. Did I mention the neighbors? I really am going to miss ALL of them.

Though I am sad about all these things, I am really excited about what is to come. God is really calling us to this new house, I am not sure why, but I know we will use it for whatever purpose He intends us too. (I am working on a blog explaining all this as well) We have a little over a month left at our Breenie Circle home and I will cherish each moment we have left here. :)

I am praying now that our house sells quickly. It is a wonderful neighborhood with amazing neighborhoods. I hope someone great finds it and loves it as much as we have!

http://search.lbar.com/mls/details/residential/1107454.html

Luke's 1st soccer game

Last night was the first Dragons soccer game! It was so much fun watching Luke play and watching Andy coach the kids. He and Audra are so good with those kids and I know the kids really enjoy playing for them as well.

Luke is really getting good at defending, which seems appropriate since Andy played defense in high school. Several times he was able to turn the ball and get it away from our goal. He doesn't seem to have much interest in scoring, but maybe he will next game.
We are supposed to have another game tomorrow, but I think all this rain it will be canceled. I can't wait to watch Luke and these kids grow as a team. It should be a fun season! :)

It's Ours! Part 1

About a year ago I started driving past this house on Lone Oak Dr. (in the neighborhood where I grew up and a neighborhood I hold very close to my heart). I began to notice the yard and the bushes we being neglected. And I slowly watched this house go downhill... as the shrubs grew out of control and covered the windows. It was sad... I couldn't help but feel very drawn to this house for some reason. I wondered what the story was behind it.

Last spring/summer I found out it was in foreclosure. The people who lived there before had overspent doing renovations and could not longer afford the mortgage. I felt even more drawn to the house. I drove passed it almost every day on my way to the pool feeling a great connection to it. I talked to Andy about this house a lot... but I never dreamed we'd be able to afford it.

In the Fall of 2010 we found out it was going to be sold on the court house steps at auction. I got excited and I couldn't help but feel like God was calling me to this house for some strange reason. But again... I kept thinking it would be too expensive. Then, the appraisal value on the house was released and it only appraised for 170,000... it was then I realized it was doable. After much contemplation, we decided we were going to the auction and we were going to try to get it. I felt very apprehensive about the whole situation. Were we ready for this? really? At this point we hadn't even been inside the place. We had no idea whether or not the place had been trashed when the previous owners left. After talking to the neighbors a bit we found out that the house was in wonderful shape. I still felt apprehensive like the time wasn't right or something, but I went to the auction. I went scared.

When we got there, we were late. It had started earlier than the time that was posted online and we couldn't get any information on whether or not the house had been sold or not. I couldn't help but feel a very mixed emotion in that moment. I was a bit relieved, because I wasn't sure we were ready to take on a bigger mortgage payment, but I was also sad that it was gone.

My mom was with us and she suggested we go talk to the Master Commissioner because there was a chance the bank had bought it back, which would mean we could still get it. My Aunt Brenda (our realtor) had been helping us A LOT with the info about how the auction would work and she had explained that if the bank bought it back we could probably get an even better deal. So we went to see the Master Commissioner. We found out there had been another bidder, an investor, who tried to get the house, but bank wouldn't let it go. They had bought it back for the full appraisal value. I felt hopeful again.

After many phone calls between my Aunt Brenda, the bank, my mom, and me, we discovered the house was going to be turned over to HUD, which meant we could probably get an even better deal, but we could be waiting a long time for it. I didn't care. I was willing to wait.

Fast forward six months.... and I've driven past that house more times than I can count. We've pulled in the driveway and peeked in the windows so many times. We've called it "our house."

Then the amazing "God things" started happening and I realized all the events of the past months had been God preparing us for this time.

It's a God thing. . .

There are some pretty amazing "God things" happening all around my little family right now. I can just feel it. I will share more later.

As Beth Moore puts it, "Sometimes we grab the hem of God's garment for dear life and are healed. Other times it brushes past us and we never recognize that the turnaround marking the months to come began with a single touch." Love this.

God's providence is all around us and if often disguised as ordinary events. Be sure to keep your eyes and heart ready for it! I am.

Welcome Home, WILDCATS!!

Here's a picture of my sweet little wildcat fans!


Since the Final Four starts tomorrow, I thought I would share this video that my fabulous friend, John Black, made after UK won the East Regional Championship!

I am so proud of this UK basketball team this year. I admit there were some very frustrating moments this season, but it was all worth it to get to the point where we are now!! GO BIG BLUE!! I truly believe we are brining home the Championship this year and the celebration will be even bigger than this one!! GO CATS!!