Treasure Hunters!

Everyday is an adventure and on this particular day we took a "road trip" to MS to visit maw maw and do some exploring on the creek beside her house. Last week, Noah was so excited to get a real shovel and was ready to get it in the dirt.

To see the magical expressions on his face is priceless, but to have a relationship that's packed full of conversations with my little-big guy is a treasure!

Sometimes he's "indiana jones" and sometimes he's the big strong bad guy that pulls off his shirt at the airplane scene and boxes with "Indi". This past weekend, he watched one of the star wars movies and now he incorporates light sabers into all of our adventures and conversation.

But on this digging adventure, we were just a couple of construction workers building some steps into the creek bank. And yes, this was an awesome day which was worth more than a treasure chest full of gold!

Fun on the Creekbank!

Everyday with Noah is an amazing journey and here's the little-big guy doing his "thang"  catching his very first fish! Noah and I took a little road trip to MS to see my moma and while we were there he had a wonderful time exploring and investigating everything that raises a little boy's eye brows ;-)

we built a fire and piled on sticks for about two hours while hearing his little voice ask a million questions and at the same time giving me his perspective on everything. and yes.. i'm a rich rich man to have another opportunity to be on the other end of all these inquisitive questions and conversations.

there's nothing better than watching how much joy he has playing in the dirt and before we left we decided to bait a hook and try our luck at catching a fish in the creek. just after we got there on Friday afternoon, we cranked up the weed eater and cleaned up around the creekbank. noah loves pretending to weedeat. the other night i walked up to the side of his bed to see the most remarkable thing. As I adjusted his covers, he woke up just enough to instantly hold out both arms to one side and started humming like a weedeater for about 5 seconds and then he fell back asleep. now i'm still laughing everytime I think about that.

me and noah took my mom to crackerbarrel to eat lunch and afterwards we went to walmart. after a father-n-son talk about how he can't always get a truck we found our way to the lawn and garden center to get a rake for my mom. while there we found a real shovel just his size and decided to get it. he was in heaven! just before we left we decided to go back and find my mom a broom and while walking past the toy aisles he softly said to me, "DAD look at all those toys" then he said, "oh but i don't need any toys, I've got a new shovel!" then all of sudden he raised both hands and said "praise the lord!" yeah, it was priceless!

just before we left on Saturday, we got the rod-n-reel and took a piece of raw bacon with us to the creek. he was so serious while helping me get the hook baited. and as soon as i dropped the line in the water and handed him the reel, a fish made the cork dissappear and it was like a movie in slow motion as I watched him pull in his first fish!

it was an amazing weekend and i'm so glad my mom is doing better and she got to witness all of this amazement firsthand. noah loves going to maw maw's house!

My Heart's Desire

The pages of my life seem to be never-ending and that in itself is a beautiful thing! God's Grace has been constantly poured out on me and He has been not only my Lord and Savior but my dearest friend that has always loved me.

I have the most wonderful family and friends anyone could ever dream of having and for that I am the richest man in this world. Our journey is a winding road with hills and valleys which sometimes prevents us from seeing very far into our future. It's a bitter-sweet masterpiece in which I count myself blessed. There's no doubt in my mind that God uses angels to help his children find their way down this wonderful path called life.

God's Grace will always be sufficient to meet our every need but will be given on a daily basis. It's
truly a blessing for me to make the most of every day and to love and live our life each day like it's our last. One of the best ways for some of us to learn is by watching the example that others provide as they live for God.

Sometimes even the most experienced can fall out of the saddle and when that happens, only the most determined will climb back on and try it again. God has placed people in my life that has encouraged me when i needed a little nudge and i am truly grateful for those people in my life.

There's no way I could name all the people that has prayed for me and given me an outstretched hand to pick me up but God has certainly been at work in my life thru my two oldest boys, Enoch and Chris. Shortly after my world crumbled, when I lived in GA, Enoch was a rock that seemed to be strategically placed in one of God's beautiful streams of life (WinShape Retreat). He inspired me everyday as he spoke words of life and managed his team of guys who work hard to make the grounds of WinShape look so spectacular.

One day he encouraged me to confide in a friend named Terry Shank who is known by many to be one of God's chosen and a man among men. Between Enoch, Terry Shank, and the team of wonderful folks at WinShape, God placed my broken life back on the potter's wheel and began a new work in my life.

A glimpse of God's glory makes the difference between darkness and light and though I daily hear the words "Roll Tide", my definition of that phrase has a much deeper meaning than the University of Alabama.

I love talking to my oldest son Chris on Skype and seeing his face while we laugh together is a daily routine which has provided another wonderful source of encouragement and counsel. It's a beautiful thing to experience Gods miracle of restoration and to once again be able to dream and have goals.

My journey has once again been highlighted on a map in God's Word and I am no longer a broken vessel but a vessel full of the joy of God and I have once again been given the desires of my heart [Psalm 37:4].

This is my second year at the University of Alabama and just starting my third position with a new title of Manager of Area Computing Services for the Capstone College of Nursing. Though I graduated with a Master's degree Dec 2012, I continue in a class called Terrie-ology 101, recommended by two of my best friends and counselors, Terry and Theta Shank.

Terrie-ology 101 is a term for me to study my wife's likes and dislikes and to learn everything I can about how I can to not only be a good husband but to compliment her life as her best friend. She is my beautiful wife and the loving mother of our little big guy, Noah.

I am truly blessed and give God all the glory!

Leisure Time

Leisure means "free time" and for me and my house it is a wonderful thing spending free time with my family. 

The sunshine and the early signs of Spring makes everything feel so new!

Free time for me is when there's no agenda and nothing in concrete that I have to do. Sunday afternoons are classic when we're hanging out after church. Noah is so entertaining and me and Terrie love this free time..

Its just another one of our routines and it's priceless!

Office Hours

he loves going to my office.. he'll say, "hey dad how 'bout we go to your work?" or he'll say, "I think we need to go to the office after you pick me up from school".

when we get off the elevator, he takes off like a race horse to beat me to the door of my office and sometimes he'll duck into the break room and hide from me till i walk by and then he'll jump out to scare me.

it's Tuesday night and "the guys" are on their way to hang out at dad's office. Noah knows his way around and especially has a handle on taking care of pushing all the buttons to get the to third floor. there are two elevators side by side and we always play a game of each of us picking one to stand in front of to see if our elevator wins. then it's always a race to see who will push the button once inside. it's a win win for me because when he wins, i win too ;-)

33 Years Old

Chris turned 33 this year and he's literally been around the world or at least it seems that way. For 3 years, he was stationed in Germany and then lived 3 years in Montana. After that, he was in Korea for a year before settling down in Texas.

He lives in Spring, TX and is a student at Sam Houston State University working on a degree in counseling. He has 5 boys, Benaiah, Donny, Michael, Zane, and Raul.

Though there has been quite a bit of distance between us, we've always been close and our relationship seems to be even closer now than its ever been. We both have similar life stories and its funny to laugh at things we've both encountered and overcome. He's truly a great son and i'm so proud of him for being an awesome dad and so loved by all of his boys. there's nothing like being loved by your boys!

Free Parking

one of our favorite places to play is at the park. the atmosphere is so nice and the space is wide open to run, climb, chase, slide, ride scooters, dig in the dirt, play with dump trucks, pretend to build a fire, hide-n-seek, and of course we have to take some time to pretend to be superheroes. one of the first things that happens to me when i step onto the woodchips of the climbing area, i act like i turn into a gorilla and noah loves loves loves that to happen ;-)

on this particular park day, he had a blast riding on his scooter. he is 4 and noah is so entertaining and so much fun. there is never a dull moment and he has so much to say about everything.

from the time we open the door, these little legs never slow down until he steps back into the car or truck to get in his car seat.

the air feels so clean when its a little cool and the sunshine feels so nice and warm. its funny that we can spend hours of clean fun at the park and it's absolutely free. I am so blessed and so happy to be able to love my family and take care of them. God Grace is sufficient to meet every need and has blessed us abundantly.

noah is so resourceful and has an incredible imagination. he love playing with sticks and will pretend to build a fire by stacking them in a pile. as you can see in this pic, we're roasting marshmallows.

we definitely get our exercise running and chasing this big around and believe me.. its the most enjoyable exercise ever!

Terrie usually picks noah up around 4pm from preschool and sometimes head to the park and I'll catch up with them when i get off.

Family time is priceless and its what i think about all day long. I am determined to put my family second only to God and to love them as God loves the church.

I've climbed a mountain (Chimney Tops) more than 10 times and its an amazing hike! I've white water rafted down the Ocoee river several times and its one of the greatest thrills i've ever experienced. But out of all the things i've ever done, being a dad is my favorite.

I have been fortunate enough to be a dad to three fantastic and incredible boys. Every time I hear their voices, i'm reminded of how blessed i am to know how much i am loved.

Each day is a brand new day and i have never been more certain about my identity as i am now. i am amazed at how much God loves me.

Valentines

Well.. my sweetheart got a dozen roses, Ghirardelli chocolates and we had a white table cloth lunch date today at a thai food restaurant.

We decided to get internet so i'll be going to pickup a wireless modem today. It'll be nice to do a little bit of web stuff at home now.

I'm learning some cool things to do with html, java script, and something called jquery.  I'm working on  developing an online course for the college of nursing. Loving my job here at UA and

i am so blessed to have a position where i can sit at my desk and work without a lot of pressure. Come to think about it, it's the first computer office i've ever had to myself. kinda nice to shut the door and crank up my heater while sitting in front of my mac with THREE monitors.. yeah that's right 3!  Ugh-ooh! raugh raugh raugh (in the voice of tim allen from the show called Home improvement)

Chris and I talk everyday and i talk to Enoch about every two days. I used Skype with Chris the other day and it was so cool to see him smiling and telling jokes on camera.

Enoch called yesterday to talk about invention ideas. it's something we've always done and it would be cool to get a patent one day. Chris and I are always talking about writing a book. It so cool how we all think so much alike.

My dream is to one day be able to see all 3 of my boys all the time.

But for now, God has given me so much joy to spend everyday with this tough guy and laugh everyday.

He has also given me a closer relationship with my big boys than ever.

Work and School

i love the conversations we have on our way to work and school. this morning, i looked in the review mirror and was admiring this little big guy and saw him holding a cell phone in his hand so I picked up my cell phone and pretended to be calling him. I said hello is this Noah?... his face lit up and he opened his phone and started talkin to me and said, hello. I said hey buddy whatcha doin? he said, i'm on my way to work.. I said are you taking dad to school and he said yeah.. I said what are you gonna do at work.. he said, uh.. i'm gonna watch dinosaur train ;-)

(btw, dinosaur train is one of his favorite cartoons on netflix)

New Opportunities

There is something to be said for new opportunities. It's fascinating to watch the wheels turning in the beautiful mind of our little mr. fixit guy. He loves tools and while at one of his favorite stores (O O O O'reillys) I picked up a little screw driver which fits perfectly in his cute little hands. I decided to give him a new opportunity to take out a screw from his bedroom door and Voila! It was a victorious moment to see the expression on mr. fixit's face when he successfully removed a screw from the door with his screw driver. Great job little buddy!!

We have to understand that when our lives are not necessarily going exactly like we want, that there may be some new opportunities lurking around the corner. If we can give ourselves a little bit of encouragement (David said there were times that he encouraged himself) we will see a familiar expression come over our faces when we successfully complete the task that is given to us.

I know God's Grace has been shining on me all of my life and especially over the past few years. He has graciously picked up my crumbled world and set me feet on a solid rock. There a song in my innermost being that is bursting from heart and I cannot help but feel that something amazing is about to happen again in my life.

The great thing about being a child of the King is that there are always new opportunities just around the corner.

Sometimes it just may call for a little expertise and elbow grease but in the end, the expression of success is worth it all!

Superheroes are so cool!

Terrie and I love taking Noah to the park. It's a beautiful thing to watch our son have so much fun. Of course, while I was using my one-handed-camera-taking-powers to take this snapshot, our beautiful super hero, who at the moment loves pretending to be Captain America, is hiding inside the playground climbing gym waiting for me to come find him.

Noah and I both use several aliases.. usually when we first get to the park, i transform into a gorilla that is focused on chasing noah/superhero all thru the playground, until he recognizes that he should use some of his super powers. usually he remembers to use his pretend blow-darts to shoot at me (from indiana jones - raiders of the lost ark). then he immediately goes into shooting me with his pretend bow and arrow (green arrow superhero) then he transforms into a superhero he calls "the green lantern" which in his imaginative reality is really the "hulk".

Yesterday we were walking from the parking lot to the playground and he said, when we got to the playground he was going to be Captain America so I asked him who could I be.. and he said, uh.. you can be spiderman.. so i quickly used my hand with fingers gesture to shoot an imaginative spiderweb on him and he thru up his hands on his face and said ugh.. as though he had something on him.

Some of his top favorite things to do are: pulling our shirts off, poking out his chest (like the big russian guy in (indiana jones - lost ark - airplane scene) and wrestling on his bed, racing me down the walkway in front of our apartment, chasing me with his pretend blow darts and bow and arrow, hooking things up with a chain or rope on the back of the truck, playing kickball in our pj's down the hallway, but i think when it's all said and done, his all time favorite is digging in the dirt. it seems that imagination pours from him when he sits down to play in the dirt. it's a beautiful thing!

Good Morning Angels...

After every Sunday service, we have a routine of spending a few minutes of quality time in the park area just outside the church building. On the short walk to where we hang out, Noah will definitely choose his weapon of the day (any nice stick will do for a good sword or gun). In this picture, his taking a break from a recent sword fight with me and trying to finish off his sucker that he got from children's church.

There's no lovin' like good lovin' and nothing better than sitting in the beautiful warm sunshine with some high-quality hugs from our little tough guy.

I truly believe that God wants to give us great things just as we want to give our children great things. I am persuaded that God truly forgives His children and has greater things in store for us than we could ever imagine.

Truck Chemistry

This truck has been an icon in Noah's life and i suppose it will always be in the family. Since he was born, we would take rides down a little side dirt road and then we used it to pull a hayride for his 3rd birthday. He loves that he can see much better from his carseat and  looking in his rearview mirror to see big trucks as they get ready to pass.

It's been a platform for his imagination to create all kinds of things. Sometimes it's his workshop and he'll play with some tools and and loves lugging on a big iron chain and using the hooks on the tailgate. Give him a rope or a couple of tie-downs and he will tie up everything in the back. Occasionally we have nerf sword fights and shootouts from the back of the truck.

It's amazing to watch him explore in the front of the truck and pretend to drive. I can't begin to tell all the funny things i've heard him say in our truck adventures but recently we were getting in the truck and he said the truck had a smell but he couldn't figure out what it was. I told him the truck was old and an old truck sometimes smells old. He said, hm..

As I was clicking his carseat together, I said, you know, this truck was born in 1990 and I was born in 1963... so I'm older than this truck. He paused for a few minutes while i cranked the truck and was about to pull out of the parking lot when he said, Dad... your not old ;-)

Good Morning Sonshine!

It's a beautiful thing to dream about the people we love but even a greater thing to be awaken by one of those angels.

A couple of mornings ago, I opened my eyes to see Noah standing at the edge of my bed, with his little hand gently patting the top of my head. I eased out of bed (2:30am) for an after-midnight snack.

He said, "dad i'm hungry", so I scooped him up and we headed to the kitchen and he ate a peanut butter sandwich, a cup of apple sauce, and drank a glass of milk. It was certainly a series of magical moments as I turned off the lights and tucked him back into bed. So now you see just how beautiful my dreams are every morning ;-)

God's Has Great Plans!

I can feel God preparing something great for me and the ones I care about. God will never let us out-give Him. His plans for us are always greater than we can imagine. Terrie and I read the Bible every night before going to sleep and I read the story about a man who almost thought his way out of a miracle. Naaman was a man that needed a miracle and was sent to see the man of God. He was told by a servant of the man of God to go wash in the river Jordan. Naaman said, "I THOUGHT" the man of God would have come to the door and stretched out his hands over me for me to instantly receive my miracle but instead he sends a servant. Then he said, "I THOUGHT" he would have told me to go wash in a river with cleaner water instead of the muddy Jordan. So he had decided to go back home without his miracle until some of his servants talked him into doing what the prophet said. So he went down to Jordan and dipped seven times and when he came up out of the water on the seventh time, he received his miracle.

God's plan to bless us may not come in the way we think but it WILL come to those who will serve and wait on God. I am happy with my life and excited to know that God is with me!