Towell Boy Rides Again!

Ohio here we come, no wait, here we are.

2009-06-30T10:26:00.002-06:00

Nobody reads this, but just incase, I thought I might let you all now that we have arrived in Ohio. We've been here about 2 weeks now, and are getting settled in.

And of course our son Atticus was born on May 13th. He is now 7 weeks old (well he will be tomorrow). Time is flying already.

Can't decide if I should recomit to blogging, or just shut this thing down so I don't feel guilty about not blogging???

Forgot to mention.

2009-03-05T00:10:00.002-06:00

Oh...for those who don't keep up with us to well, we are moving to Ohio in June...That is why we are selling the house (as mentioned in the last post).

Be in prayer for us and the baby as we prepare to move, and be in prayer for Victory as they look for a new Pastor.

Sleep!!!

2009-03-05T00:05:00.002-06:00

So Julia is obviously not sleeping well being 7 months pregnant and all, but the problem is neither am I. At first we figured I was waking up because she was, but now I am sleeping on the coach and am still waking up. I'm not sure if my body thinks the baby is here already or what, but I am very tired and waking up 4-6 times every night. Doesn't bode well for my students the next day when I am cranky.

Spring Break in T-minus 8 days and counting. Maybe I can sleep then. Julia is leaving me for the week to go to Ohio for baby showers...Need to get the house ready to sell though, so we'll see.

Good Night all...hopefully.

7 Months everything basically the same...Except for Baby!

2009-01-13T22:26:00.003-06:00

7 Months, so I'm sure nobody is reading...probably a good thing.

We have a baby on the way!!! = ) May 15th. A boy.

I didn't like being a teacher today...just a bad day I think. At least it is just my second job.

Pain in the Neck!

2008-06-18T12:51:00.003-06:00

I have a pain in the neck right now...literally...It hurts. Oh well.

Maybe our current home remodel is manifesting itself in the form of pain. Guess I'll have to live with it for now.

Updates...We are doing a Wednesday night bible study since we aren't having AWANA through the summer months. We are covering the life of David. I have had some requests to study The Book of Revelation, but I told them I need a few months to prepare for that.

We start VBS Sunday night, and then have Kids Camp July 7th-11th. I might not attend all of Kids camp since I will be the only sponsor at Teen camp two weeks after.

What else...let's see. Julia just got home, well about a week and a half ago, after spending 2 1/2 weeks with her family in Ohio. I nearly went crazy while she was gone...I'm so glad she is back.

Finally, since I don't blog much and nobody is reading anyways, I will gripe about gas prices. They are going to cost me any chance to take a decent vacation this summer and I am a little perturbed about that. I will be in need of some relaxation before this summer is over and I would like to do that somewhere outside of Oklahoma, but alas that may just be a pipe dream. Oh well.

Anyways till next month, or if your lucky, maybe sooner...

New vehicle

2008-05-01T13:51:00.002-06:00

We are slowly saying goodbye to the days of our youth. Julia and I purchased our first real grown-up vehicle last Saturday. It is a 2005 Ford Freestyle. It has 3 rows of seats and can seat up to 7 people. It can get up to 30 miles to the gallon on the highway too.

It was either that or a 2008 corvette. Had to flip a coin, but ended up going with the Freestyle.

Bye bye sports cars and 4 wheel drive trucks...hello station waggons and mini-vans.

Or in this case a vanaggon...thanks for the new term Jimmy.

Commercial Update!

2008-05-01T13:48:00.002-06:00

Our Church commercial is set to air a week from Saturday. It will be on the air in the Clinton/Elk City market every Saturday night 2 to 3 times on TNT.

Please be in prayer for us as we learn to use this commercial as a tool to invite people to our church and a way to lead people to Christ.

2 Milestones to speak of...

2008-04-08T11:50:00.002-06:00

Two of the last three Sundays (March 23rd and March 30th) have been somewhat of milestones for myself and the church here in Clinton.

On the 23rd (Easter Sunday) we had 67 people in attendance, which set an attendance record for a Sunday morning service. It was great, and somewhere between 15-20 were first time guests.

Then on March 30th (the next Sunday) I turned 30 years old. That is just crazy to me. I mean just yesterday I was trying to somehow survive my first year of college, and then boom...12 years passed.

Anyways, I'm not sure if it is all the excitement from the last couple of weeks, or just my old age getting to me, but I am tired. We'll blame it on all the excitement for now.

Advertising your church.

2008-02-27T12:51:00.004-06:00

So we've decided to do a commercial for our church. I am excited and nervous about this all at the same time. I know that the commercial will get our name out there and will hopefully get people interested in knowing more about us, but I also know that a commercial is pointless without our prayers and efforts. Commitment is a big thing. I try and push myself to maintain or even increase my commitment level, but I know that I can't be the only one committed to our cause. I have confidence in our church to be committed, I just tend to get impatient when things don't happen how or when I expect them too.

This commercial is a big financial step for us, but I pray that it is a big commitment step for us too.

It finally happened!

2008-02-06T13:29:00.000-06:00

After 6 plus months on the market we finally received our first offer for our house in Norman. Nothing is set yet because we had to counter, and it may not work out in the end, but an offer is better than no offer. I'm not planning how to spend our newly freed up money just yet, but I will if this thing becomes official. Prayers would be appreciated.

What's happening in Clinton???

2008-01-29T11:50:00.000-06:00

Update time. Let's see.

The few weeks since Christmas have been good ones for our church and for Julia and I. They have been tough ones too though.

1. Got back to our normal routines after a week (week and a half for Julia) in Ohio, and a weekend in Duncan.

2. Began planning for the 2008 year for the church.

3. Had our 1st annual planning meeting as a church and we made the following decisions.

a. Begin new Sunday Night Home groups every 1st Sunday of the month.

b. Update our youth program (jr and sr. high) to be more beneficial for our teens.

c. Scheduled four "Super Sundays" as attendance push Sundays.

d. Approved mass advertisment for these "Super Sundays"
(ie. radio, postcards, newspaper, etc.)
e. Made commitment to upkeep of website.

f. Made commitment to step up our efforts to invite people to church and ordered
buisness cards as tools to help invite and inform people.

g. Made decision to incorporate praise and worship choruses with the hymns durring our
Sunday morning service.

4. Julia and I began planning for a trip to Orlando in March with her family.

5. Julia began looking for a new job.

All in all hectic, fun, crazy, exciting, sad, happy...pretty normal.

Giving this the old college try.

2008-01-29T11:21:00.000-06:00

Since I haven't really kept up with my blog too well, I am going to try and start a new commitment to blogging. We'll see how it works out.

New Year...New Obsession

2008-01-08T10:28:00.000-06:00

So far this new year the Christmas present that has been the most popular is one of the gifts I got Julia. She has been a fan of the NBC show "The Office" since it came on a few years ago and even enjoyed watching the original british version for a while. So I bought her seasons 1 and 2 on DVD (great package deal at a store in Penn Square)...I had seen a few episodes and found them somewhat entertaining, but I had never really got into them.

Well we started with season 1 after returning from Ohio just after Christmas. The six episode season 1 didn't last through the 1st night...season 2 lasted just about a week. Before we finished season 2 I started telling Julia we needed to get season 3. We did (while visiting my parents in Duncan...they have a Wal-mart, we don't) and it was a good thing, because season 2 ended with a huge cliff hanger...

Season 3 is going a little slower now that we are back to our regular schedules following the holidays. We are ready to get caught up to the show in real time (made a little easier by the writers strike)...Luckily all of the current season (season 4) is available on NBC.Com.

That way it is just a once a week thing and not an every night thing...Not that I haven't enjoyed it, but I've got plenty of other things to do with my evenings...Not that I'm complaining...The office is great.

Airports...gotta love them.

2007-12-21T11:13:00.000-06:00

I like to travel...don't know why just always have. I remember family trips in the car across the country to Georigia from California...

Lately I've been making lots of plane trips though. I like flying almost as much as making road trips, but it seems like I've been in the airport more than I have been out of it the last 2 years.

It all started when I met Julia....I've been in the OKC, Houston, Memphis, Boston, New York, Chicago (this weekend), and Columbus airports (I may have missed one or 2...maybe St. Louis, I can't remember) Anyways...I have been in some of these airports multiple times in the last 2 years...Every time I walk through those doors to get on a plane or pick someone up, I get these weird feeling like I had just been there. Crazy...too much travel??? (maybe)...but I'm not burned out just yet...I'm starting to feel at home in the airport though...not sure if that is good.

COLD!!!

2007-12-14T14:58:00.000-06:00

It is freezing in my house right now. I try not use to much heat during the day right now because we are using a jet engine (actualy a 125,000 btu diesel heater) to heat our house right now and I hate going to the gas station to get more diesel every two days.

Atleast we have power...

Thanksgiving!

2007-12-14T14:57:00.000-06:00

I didn't want time to go by without saying how thankful I was to have all our family at our house for thanskgiving this year. We had 10 people in our old, cold house, but we loved it. I hope we get to do it again next year.

Plumbing, wood floors and sheet rock...

2007-11-02T10:20:00.000-06:00

Every week I try to spend one day working on my new (very old) house.

A few weeks ago Julia's dad came and we spent a few days sheet rocking the living room. Two weeks ago I started trying to clean the wood floors in that same room (getting no where fast with that job).

Last week I installed a dishwasher. Never done that before, but it went in alright. Took me most of the day, but I got it in. The only problem was that our bad hot water pressure (which makes for warm, not hot, showers) wasn't good enough to make the dish washer work.

So my project this week was to replace a few clogged connectors under the house to improve that water pressure. I ended up trying to do this on a Saturday and ran into some problems, so I had to pick it up this past Monday.

Before it was said and done I had replaced 20 to 30 feet of hot water lines (usually just cutting out the old galvanized ones out with and saws all), and spent over 13 hours on my back under the house.

End result...the hot water pressure is now as good as the cold...the dishwasher works, and we have enough hot water pressure to take hot (not warm) showers.

And I hate working on plumbing now more than ever...

Charles Barkley's Fave Five...

2007-11-02T10:16:00.000-06:00

Have you seen the cell phone commercials with Charles Barkley and Dwane Wade??? Basically Wade is trying to figure our ways to get Barkely to put Wade in his fave five. He offers to let him wear his championship ring, he sits in Barkley's TV room and watches highlights of Barkley's playing days etc...

Well this is my attempt to keep up my blog to get back on Doug Gregg's list of Bloggers.

I'm tryin...Come on Doug...Please!!!

This is Hard!

2007-10-19T12:23:00.000-06:00

It is hard to keep up with a blog. I want to, but I just don't think to do it...Hopefully I will get better.

Sunday is Julia and my 1 year anniversary. We are going to PF Changs tonight to celebrate, that was the site of our first date (except we were in Columbus, OH).

Anyways...hope everyone is doing well out there in blogger world.

I will try to have more life changing info next time I blog...

Victory!!!

2007-10-03T09:42:00.000-06:00

For those who don't know, Julia and I are now in Clinton, Oklahoma full-time. Things are going great. We are working on our new (very old) house, and have been getting to know our church and the town really well.

We had a record 50 attend Sunday morning services a few weeks ago, and had a record 90 at our Awana kickoff 3 weeks ago (70 of those kids). So far so good.

We hosted a 5th Sunday singing this past Sunday and had several churches attend. We had around 125 people there, so it was very crowded and exciting. It made me want to see the church that full every week.

I hope to blog at least every other week, from here on out, to keep everyone updated on everything at Victory.

Long time no Blog

2007-10-03T09:38:00.000-06:00

Nobody is probably going to read this. It was been 3 months since my last blog so I am sure everyone has stopped checking.

Lots has been going on, so I am sorry (for those that care).

Check out my next blog for an update.

Yard Work

2007-06-15T23:10:00.000-06:00

Today I worked for about 3 hours in my front yard. It wasn't too hot, but it was muggy. I guess it was worth it...it looks a lot better. I wasn't planning on working in the yard, just came home and decided to do it...then I couldn't stop...it was almost adicting. Sure it will be the last time yard work feels adicting.

Settle down.

2007-05-24T21:02:00.001-06:00

I used to long to settle down. Get married, buy a house find a long term job, etc, etc, etc. Everything is great, not settled, but great. Maybe I will feel settled when I retire.

Oh, and I am going in view of a call at Victory Missionary Baptist Church in Clinton, OK on June 17th, prayers would be appreciated.

What's wrong with kids today...

2007-04-25T21:04:00.000-06:00

In the wake of the VT tragedy everybody seems to have a lot to say about guns and the crazy people who use them for such senseless reasons, but I want to say something about our schools and what they show me.

For the last 2 months I have been working in an inner city school just North of MWC, OK. I have seen about 7 or 8 fist fights just between the 23 3rd graders in my class. I have watched a 5th grade student solicate students change at the vending machines and noone even argue with him because of how scared they are of him and his gang banger older brother who is at a MWC highschool. I have witnessed a teacher quit with less than two months of classes left because "it just wasn't worth it"...I have been harrased by 5th grade students who only respond to phone calls home to mom or dad (because their parents hate to be bothered, so they spank the tar out of their children if they get a phone call). This school has a room just for In School Suspension and a principal just for discipline. All of us teachers carry cell phones because students won't leave our classrooms when they are sent to the principal and often have to be escorted. I have seen 4 or 5 seperate 3rd grade students so filled with rage that they have flipped desks over. I could go on...

Now this school is an extreme situation, but I believe it could be a window into the future. The issue isn't spanking children vs. alternate forms of discipline, I would even argue that it isn't completely about God being taken out of school (as many claim it is)...I say the issue is love. Most of the children I see on a day to day basis are not being loved enough...Some are not loved at all...some are only loved when they are good...some only get attention when they are bad.

Schools are not the problem today. Myself and my fellow teachers didn't make these kids this way, their parents did. I hear all the time how schools are failing our children, the truth is that the world needs to wake up and see that parents are failing their children. When did it become the schools responsiblity to teach discipline, morals, self respect, character, etc...

Sure schools have always helped parents foster these ideas, but schools can't initiate these ideas. We have these kids 8 hours a day for less that 9 months out of the year. That is a lot of time, but not nearly enough time to undue the harm that has been done to them, and not nearly enough time to love them as much as the need.

Spring Break...

2007-03-21T13:24:00.000-06:00

Spring Break, what exactly are we breaking from anyways. I know, school, life, etc... Doesn't it set a bad example for our futures. When are we going to get a spring break in the real world (side bar, I say this, but at almost 29 years of age this is my 24th spring break). Anyways, I say do away with spring break and get classes over with a week earlier.

As for me, this is my first true spring break since 2005, and I'm glad I have it now, but will be wishing school was out earlier come May.

I am sitting at home a writing this blog on my spring break, maybe I am missing the point.

Being Your Own Boss

2007-02-12T12:51:00.000-06:00

I don't do well with unstructured time. Some people are really self motivated and push themselves to achieve and accomplish all they want and need to. I, on the other hand, have trouble focusing on tasks when I have all the say in how and when they are to be completed.

The funny thing is, I also become really obsessive about certain things from time to time. I will put hours and hours into an activity without even thinking about it. Sometimes it is something stupid, like video games or surfing the Internet, and other times it is something important, like planning an event or completing an important project.

I really wish I could find a way to get myself to a middle ground. A place where I am not scattered and unproductive, but also a place where I am not obsessed and consumed by what I am doing. Consistency, is really what I am looking for. Consistency in myself.

What was once routine...

2007-02-01T14:55:00.000-06:00

This one’s about a dream I had last night
How an old man tracked me home And stepped inside
He put his foot inside the door And gave a crooked smile
Something in his eyes Something in his laugh
Something in his voice That made my skin crawl off

He said, “I’ve seen you here before I know your name.
You could have your pick Of pretty things.
You could have it all Everything at once.
Everything you’ve seen, Everything you’ll need,
Everything you’ve ever had in fantasies.”

“You’ve one life, You’ve one life.
You’ve one life left to lead.”

I woke up from my dream As a golden man
With a girl I’ve never seen With golden skin
I jumped up to my feet She asked me what was wrong
I began to scream I don’t think this is me
Is this just a dream Or really happening?

What direction? What direction?
I’m splitting up! I’m splitting up!
This is my personal disaffection

What direction? What direction?
What direction now?

I looked outside the glass At golden shores
Golden ships and masts With golden cords
As my reflection passed I hated what I saw
My golden eyes were dead And a thought passed through my head
A heart that is made of gold can’t really beat at all

I wanted to wake up again Without a touch of gold

What direction? Death or action!
Life begins at the intersection.

I woke up as before But the gold was gone
My wife was at the door With her night robe on
My heart beat once or twice And life flooded my veins
Everything had changed My lungs had found their voice
And what was once routine was now the perfect joy

You’ve one life You’ve one life
One life left to lead

Faust, Midas, And Myself
by Switchfoot

Have you ever wished that everything you touched turn to gold? What if you "could have it all, everything at once, everything you’ve seen, everything you’ll need, everything you’ve ever had in fantasies"? You can't, but what if you could? How messed up would my life be right now if, by some magic, that had been offered to me? For that matter how messed up would my life be right now if Jesus hadn't turned down that same offer? "Life begins at the intersection".

Tip for the day, don't live in the past for..."You've one life, you've one life, one life left to lead".

To Vent or Not to Vent

2007-01-31T22:14:00.000-06:00

Many things in life are worth venting about. The question is when do you vent. When is it important to let it out, stop holding it in, and just gripe. I say now is a good time, and I don't mean right now, I just mean now; as in the present. Why hold things in. Sure you should watch who you say things to, and you shouldn't vent in the middle of Sunday morning service, but the present is definitely the best time to vent.

I guess it is also important to have someone to vent to. I'm starting to think that maybe it is best to vent to different people about different things though. I mean if you are always venting to the same person all the time, then you might just create a negative overtone to your relationship with that person.

So then comes the Blog. A place to vent. A place to put your thoughts. And a place to get that feedback on your idiosyncrasies. Now some may say venting on your blog is a bad idea. I say to that, fooey. I mean if you can't vent to the whole world (assuming the whole world reads your blog, which is highly unlikely), who can you vent to. Having said all that, I choose this day not to vent, because, well...it won't be the present until tomorrow.