Both the sermon in Church and lesson in Life group toady was about using your life to serve.
This topic has been on my mind a lot recently. I am still trying to figure out what God's big picture for me is, but I now realize that service is a big part of it.
So the past couple years I have been trying to find out where I can best be one who serves others in a why Christ intended. And though I am still trying to find my niche, I have come to realize a couple things that is always stated by people when they say serving is such a great thing, yet many do not understand why.
1. It is truly what God called each and every one of us to do. to serve him and others. Jesus did it his whole life. Even his death was a service to us.
2. Once you do it with the right attitude, it brings some of the greatest joy you can ever have.
3. I have been trying to find ways to serve others, using the skills and talents God gave me. While doing this, I have realized that I enjoy it more. God gives us all talents, ones that we enjoy using, and when we use them for the good of others, joy abounds.
I have a example I want to share, which is gonna lead to a challenge to anyone reading this. The last couple years, Jennifer and I have hosted a Crawfish Boil/BBQ around my Bday, it was my idea and I chose to do it around my Bday just as an excuse to have a gathering. I once used to think that adults throwing party's to celebrate their own Bday was kinda lame. Thus at first I worried about others thinking the same of me in this situation. Whether they do or not I do not care anymore, but I want to share my true intentions, not to boast, but again as a personal example of what this post is about.
I truly enjoy cooking for people. I truly enjoy seeing my friends and family gather together and food is a great thing to enjoy with others, and enjoy seeing everyone enjoying each others company. I enjoy serving others in this fashion. So a couple years ago, when I first started thinking about why I was here on this earth, why God gave me life, I started to realize it was to be of service. So I found ways to serve that I enjoyed. And I now use by Bday as a opportunity to serve others in a way that brings joy to others as well as myself, cause that is why I was born. Its not about my Bady, its about why I was given life, and that reason ends up being about everyone else.
So my challenge to all of you is this. If you do not know what your way of service is yet, which many of us do not, then look at what you enjoy doing, and how can it be used to serve others. Then plan on executing that service on your Bday. make your Bday about God and others. Not about you. Cause in the end, you are here for God and others, Not here for you.
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Friday, January 9, 2015
3 big reasons why my marriage almost failed part 2
Wrong priorities/poor leadership.
These things could be separate and in many cases are, but for me they kinda go together.
The Bible says that the Man is the head of the household, and should love his wife as Christ loves the church. This is stated right after the saying a wife is to submit to her husband, but many times forgotten by men when this topic is brought up. God intends the man to be the leader of the household, just as Christ leads the church, spiritually and physically. And as a leader of the house hold he is to set family priorities and family doings as God leads him to. I have recently just begun to understand this, and have started the process to do this as intended.
Initially, I ignored my role as a spiritual leader. I had a lot of anger towards God, and due to that, lived a life as far away from him as possible. In doing this I failed to deal with the pain I encountered early on in life, that lead to a lot of anger towards people in general, and prevented me from being able to be a loving individual. Instead I dealt with my pain and anger in other ways, ways that will be part of part 3. But these ways caused me to be the opposite of a leader, but instead a person that just reacted to things, and reacted badly in most cases. Think about many qualities you see in a good leader.
a. sets good examples
b. plans ahead
c. takes time to stay informed/knowledgeable.
d. thinks big picture
e. is unselfish
etc etc
I failed to do many of these. Instead I focused on my pain and anger, my problems. And in doing this I choose priorities in life that met those needs, instead of the needs of my wife and marriage. My priorities where to meet my own needs, financially, physically, and others. I even fooled myself many times that those needs where "our" needs, or by focusing on my needs, kept me in shape to meet my needs as a husband. I had it completely backwards. I had priorities lined up like this, my needs, my child's needs, then others including my wife. Many people especially parents make these mistakes. putting their kids needs above their spouse, but that should not be the case. Even the Bible says so.
Remember the movie "A few Good Men". In it the marines had a code. Unit, core, God, country. Its a good code with one big exception. Think of Unit as spouse, core as other family, but God needs to be first. So our code should be God, Unit/Spouse, Core/Kids, Country/Extended family and friends. Gods will is for us to be a proper spouse/sibling/person, so by putting his will first, you meet the needs of everyone else in the process.
I thought by working my ass off, to make more money, I was loving my wife and children by being a provider. I thought by overextending myself to others outside my wife and kids, set a good example of what a loving person should be.I thought by doing certain sinful things that alleviated my personal pain, helped me love my wife and kids better cause I did not burden them with the pain. I thought a lot of things, except what God wanted of me.
And for 15 years, my marriage became more and more of a struggle every day. My fake ways of loving my family started coming through for what they really where. To the point where my daughter was starting to fear me instead of respect me, my wife no longer could bear being near me, and I hated myself even more than ever.
So I remembered some teachings from my childhood, things I had heard in church, and from my mom and dad at times. Though I had been hurt by the church, and for so long that was all that I focused on, I for once took the time to try and think about the positive things I did feel as kid, when learning about Christ, and his love for us. And out of desperation, cause I hate to fail, and a failed marriage was not gonna be accepted. I broke down and prayed, and asked God to take my pain away, take my anger away, and if possible help me understand what it means to love and be loved.
Here's the awesome part, God had already done all that I had asked from him, I just failed to see it and accept it. He has done that for all of us. All we have to do is accept his love. The once we are able to accept it, it flows through us, and to others. So I did, I also realized I was forgiven for all I had done, and that as long as I accept that forgiveness, I could then forgive myself. Cause in the end, that is what we all need to do.
So now I am learning what it is to love, and be loved. Learning what it is to be a real leader of the house, and though I am still struggling with many aspects of it, I understand I am forgiven for those struggles, and as long as I keep my eyes on God, and leaning on him for guidance, the rest of it will fall into place, cause that is his plan for all of us.
These things could be separate and in many cases are, but for me they kinda go together.
The Bible says that the Man is the head of the household, and should love his wife as Christ loves the church. This is stated right after the saying a wife is to submit to her husband, but many times forgotten by men when this topic is brought up. God intends the man to be the leader of the household, just as Christ leads the church, spiritually and physically. And as a leader of the house hold he is to set family priorities and family doings as God leads him to. I have recently just begun to understand this, and have started the process to do this as intended.
Initially, I ignored my role as a spiritual leader. I had a lot of anger towards God, and due to that, lived a life as far away from him as possible. In doing this I failed to deal with the pain I encountered early on in life, that lead to a lot of anger towards people in general, and prevented me from being able to be a loving individual. Instead I dealt with my pain and anger in other ways, ways that will be part of part 3. But these ways caused me to be the opposite of a leader, but instead a person that just reacted to things, and reacted badly in most cases. Think about many qualities you see in a good leader.
a. sets good examples
b. plans ahead
c. takes time to stay informed/knowledgeable.
d. thinks big picture
e. is unselfish
etc etc
I failed to do many of these. Instead I focused on my pain and anger, my problems. And in doing this I choose priorities in life that met those needs, instead of the needs of my wife and marriage. My priorities where to meet my own needs, financially, physically, and others. I even fooled myself many times that those needs where "our" needs, or by focusing on my needs, kept me in shape to meet my needs as a husband. I had it completely backwards. I had priorities lined up like this, my needs, my child's needs, then others including my wife. Many people especially parents make these mistakes. putting their kids needs above their spouse, but that should not be the case. Even the Bible says so.
Remember the movie "A few Good Men". In it the marines had a code. Unit, core, God, country. Its a good code with one big exception. Think of Unit as spouse, core as other family, but God needs to be first. So our code should be God, Unit/Spouse, Core/Kids, Country/Extended family and friends. Gods will is for us to be a proper spouse/sibling/person, so by putting his will first, you meet the needs of everyone else in the process.
I thought by working my ass off, to make more money, I was loving my wife and children by being a provider. I thought by overextending myself to others outside my wife and kids, set a good example of what a loving person should be.I thought by doing certain sinful things that alleviated my personal pain, helped me love my wife and kids better cause I did not burden them with the pain. I thought a lot of things, except what God wanted of me.
And for 15 years, my marriage became more and more of a struggle every day. My fake ways of loving my family started coming through for what they really where. To the point where my daughter was starting to fear me instead of respect me, my wife no longer could bear being near me, and I hated myself even more than ever.
So I remembered some teachings from my childhood, things I had heard in church, and from my mom and dad at times. Though I had been hurt by the church, and for so long that was all that I focused on, I for once took the time to try and think about the positive things I did feel as kid, when learning about Christ, and his love for us. And out of desperation, cause I hate to fail, and a failed marriage was not gonna be accepted. I broke down and prayed, and asked God to take my pain away, take my anger away, and if possible help me understand what it means to love and be loved.
Here's the awesome part, God had already done all that I had asked from him, I just failed to see it and accept it. He has done that for all of us. All we have to do is accept his love. The once we are able to accept it, it flows through us, and to others. So I did, I also realized I was forgiven for all I had done, and that as long as I accept that forgiveness, I could then forgive myself. Cause in the end, that is what we all need to do.
So now I am learning what it is to love, and be loved. Learning what it is to be a real leader of the house, and though I am still struggling with many aspects of it, I understand I am forgiven for those struggles, and as long as I keep my eyes on God, and leaning on him for guidance, the rest of it will fall into place, cause that is his plan for all of us.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
3 big reasons why my marriage almost failed. Part 1
Jennifer and I have been married almost 18 years now, we have been together over 20. It would be an understatement to say we have had a difficult marriage, especially years 3-15. That is a long period of time to be in a relationship that was for the most part an unhappy one, but we did. A couple years ago, both Jennifer and I realized that no matter what we tried, without putting God in control of our lives and our marriage, it would not work out, and we made the choice to do just that and it saved not only our marriage, but our lives as well. So that would be the #1 reason why we did not have a happy marriage for all those years, and the main reason why we now are working on one.
That being said I have identified many other smaller things I personally did that lead to the troubles of our marriage, and thought I would share a few of the biggest, and how I overcame them.
1. PRIDE
a. I have a problem, of needing to be right. And I see this problem in many people, and they do not even realize it. One of my favorite sports radio personalities is Colin Cowherd. And he has a thing he says about fans over crazy about their team. They have the need to BE RIGHT over getting it right. I suffered the same thing many times in my marriage.
You see we all have many ideas, opinions and thoughts on how things should be, what is the right way and wrong way. And that's OK. And we all use those to determine how we act, or what are are going to do or say in a given situation. That's good as well. But here is the problem, so often we are so hung up on our own idea/thoughts, we automatically ignore other ones, or we label those as wrong. And even if our idea/thought could be right in a given situation, we do not look closely enough at the situation at hand to ensure it is the right one or not to fit our ideas. Often we end up trying to force our idea as the right one, or trying to justify it, whether it was right or not. Many times it is situations that are not even that important to be right, but my need to be right took control and became more important than the situation itself.
I'll share a couple personal instances.
I usually drive when we go places, and for the most part I am better at remembering/knowing a route then Jennifer. She lives by her GPS system. Well if Jennifer would ever suggest anything that contradicted by choices while driving, either my route, speed ETC, instead of actually taking just a moment to think about her suggestion, my need to BE RIGHT caused me to make a snap reply defending my choice or arguing against her suggestion. It often came off as very rude and dismissive as well, and often lead to an argument. She once pointed out that I was traveling 70 in a 55, and without even thinking I snapped, "the last sign I saw was 65", so I'm OK. Not even wondering if maybe I missed a sign or how long was the last sign I saw, Yet when the situation was switched, and I made a suggestion to her, if she did not want to at least hear it, I got upset as well.
Jennifer and I have had some different ideas on how to punish the boys. And in the past, I would feel so strongly about my ideas, that even though I would stand there when she gave her suggestions, my need to be right took over, and I didn't actually listen to hers, or I listened only to find ways to find holes in her suggestions, to prove them wrong. This of course lead to me arguing against her ideas, without even taking time to think about them. And then again reinforcing mine as the right way..
This "Need to be right" came from pride. You see I have always been a person that people close to me has looked up to, or admired. I am saying this not be vain, but to give you a little understanding. I have 6 siblings, and many of them have come to me at some point in their lives with major needs, a place to live, money or a job, and advice for many various circumstances. And early on in my life I was able to help them, give them what they asked for. This lead to me being "the one who was stable, could be relied on". If others came to me to be able to do the right thing, then what I thought must be right more than others. And if my suggestions helped them, then of course the need for my suggestions where there, more then they even knew. Or at least that is what I began to think.
b. I had no idea how to love, but I thought I could make up for that with doing what was "the right thing to do". Do to various reasons, ones for another post, I grew up having a very warped idea of what love was. Now I actually knew this from the get go. I knew that what I thought about love was not what love really was, but instead of admitting it to myself, and learning what love was, I instead trained my self to "act" loving. And I did a hell of a job with the act. I was good and seeing what people needed, and if I wanted that person to think positively of me, I would meet that need. When it came to dating or interacting with my brothers and sisters, I did the same thing. And it worked quickly. Now you might ask, what's wrong with meeting a persons needs? Well nothing, if its done out of love, but mine was done out of manipulation. Now I have to admit, I was not doing this with bad intentions, not trying to be a manipulative person, but I was doing it to replace what I could not do. I could not love, so instead I gave what came off as love, but in the long run was seen as the act it really was. Then when my act was exposed, my pride would not allow myself to try and correct it, but instead fight the person who was exposing me. This of course lead to a lot of fights and arguments, and with point a, my need to be right, the fights very often never got resolved, unless the other person gave up. This of course is the exact opposite thing you need to happen for a successful marriage. But that is what I did for many years.
c. I was very ashamed of who I really was, what I really thought, and what I thought I wanted. This also helped lead to point b. My shame in what I really thought of myself, lead to me creating the act, portraying a person, one that I thought I was supposed to be. For so long I hid my true feelings from Jennifer, cause I was scared of what she would think, and my pride would not allow me to actually truly open up to her. Instead I made up some things, or created half truths about my life, thoughts or feelings. Ones that gave her what I thought she needed, or things that would lead to me getting what I wanted from her, but still hiding reality. Hiding the things I was not proud about. Not being fully honest with her, of course lead to a lot of mistrust. lead to a lot of hurt feelings, and a lot of resentment.
So how did I beat pride? Well I have not yet. But I have weakened its hold on me. So how have I done that?
First off, of course was what I started this post off with. I gave my life to Christ. But lets be more specific.
I have had to learn to put more thought into things, and instead of worrying about being right in a given situation, try and realize what is really important in that situation. Actually taking time to think about things as opposed to reacting was very important for me. You see my natural reaction was always the ones to defend myself, prove myself, which lead to proving others wrong. No matter what was really right or wrong, as long as mine was accepted as right. But now I am trying to not to react, trying to act out of thought and reason more often. Focusing on the situation at hand, and what the actual end goal should be, not worry so much by who's ideas we reach that end goal.
I have learned to love. How, well again 1st off was excepting Christ's love. And then once I have that, letting it flow through me. Sounds easy right? Well it should be. But my pride made it hard at first. To start I had to come clean of all my lies or so called half truths. I had to swallow my pride and let Jennifer and others know the real me. Once I did that I was able to realize that God's forgiveness and grace was there for the taking. All those things that I had to be ashamed about, no longer seemed to matter. The saying the truth will set you free is real people. Even if that truth sounds like the worst thing in the world. Cause guess what. Whatever you have done is not the worst thing in the world. That designation is held for someone else's actions. And if the people you are truthful with are meant to be a part of your life, then they will love you still even knowing it.
I have learned that I have been forgiven. You see for so long I was ashamed of who I was, and that shame lead me to hide the real me. I thought that if people knew the real me, they could not love me. But once I realized the truth, the fact that my sins, my shame, my hurt was already dealt with, all I had to do was give it away. For everything I was ashamed about, or hurting over, God knew of, and yet he still put me here something much greater. But I had to allow him to take that shame, take that hurt away. Accept his forgiveness, before I could experience what that greater something was. That is the beginning of God's will, then end, well I am excited to see it.
In all I have realized one BIG thing. I was put on this earth to show others Christ love, I am still learning how to that best, but the first part was accepting it, and that lead to all other things getting better, including my marriage.
Part 2 coing soon.
That being said I have identified many other smaller things I personally did that lead to the troubles of our marriage, and thought I would share a few of the biggest, and how I overcame them.
1. PRIDE
a. I have a problem, of needing to be right. And I see this problem in many people, and they do not even realize it. One of my favorite sports radio personalities is Colin Cowherd. And he has a thing he says about fans over crazy about their team. They have the need to BE RIGHT over getting it right. I suffered the same thing many times in my marriage.
You see we all have many ideas, opinions and thoughts on how things should be, what is the right way and wrong way. And that's OK. And we all use those to determine how we act, or what are are going to do or say in a given situation. That's good as well. But here is the problem, so often we are so hung up on our own idea/thoughts, we automatically ignore other ones, or we label those as wrong. And even if our idea/thought could be right in a given situation, we do not look closely enough at the situation at hand to ensure it is the right one or not to fit our ideas. Often we end up trying to force our idea as the right one, or trying to justify it, whether it was right or not. Many times it is situations that are not even that important to be right, but my need to be right took control and became more important than the situation itself.
I'll share a couple personal instances.
I usually drive when we go places, and for the most part I am better at remembering/knowing a route then Jennifer. She lives by her GPS system. Well if Jennifer would ever suggest anything that contradicted by choices while driving, either my route, speed ETC, instead of actually taking just a moment to think about her suggestion, my need to BE RIGHT caused me to make a snap reply defending my choice or arguing against her suggestion. It often came off as very rude and dismissive as well, and often lead to an argument. She once pointed out that I was traveling 70 in a 55, and without even thinking I snapped, "the last sign I saw was 65", so I'm OK. Not even wondering if maybe I missed a sign or how long was the last sign I saw, Yet when the situation was switched, and I made a suggestion to her, if she did not want to at least hear it, I got upset as well.
Jennifer and I have had some different ideas on how to punish the boys. And in the past, I would feel so strongly about my ideas, that even though I would stand there when she gave her suggestions, my need to be right took over, and I didn't actually listen to hers, or I listened only to find ways to find holes in her suggestions, to prove them wrong. This of course lead to me arguing against her ideas, without even taking time to think about them. And then again reinforcing mine as the right way..
This "Need to be right" came from pride. You see I have always been a person that people close to me has looked up to, or admired. I am saying this not be vain, but to give you a little understanding. I have 6 siblings, and many of them have come to me at some point in their lives with major needs, a place to live, money or a job, and advice for many various circumstances. And early on in my life I was able to help them, give them what they asked for. This lead to me being "the one who was stable, could be relied on". If others came to me to be able to do the right thing, then what I thought must be right more than others. And if my suggestions helped them, then of course the need for my suggestions where there, more then they even knew. Or at least that is what I began to think.
b. I had no idea how to love, but I thought I could make up for that with doing what was "the right thing to do". Do to various reasons, ones for another post, I grew up having a very warped idea of what love was. Now I actually knew this from the get go. I knew that what I thought about love was not what love really was, but instead of admitting it to myself, and learning what love was, I instead trained my self to "act" loving. And I did a hell of a job with the act. I was good and seeing what people needed, and if I wanted that person to think positively of me, I would meet that need. When it came to dating or interacting with my brothers and sisters, I did the same thing. And it worked quickly. Now you might ask, what's wrong with meeting a persons needs? Well nothing, if its done out of love, but mine was done out of manipulation. Now I have to admit, I was not doing this with bad intentions, not trying to be a manipulative person, but I was doing it to replace what I could not do. I could not love, so instead I gave what came off as love, but in the long run was seen as the act it really was. Then when my act was exposed, my pride would not allow myself to try and correct it, but instead fight the person who was exposing me. This of course lead to a lot of fights and arguments, and with point a, my need to be right, the fights very often never got resolved, unless the other person gave up. This of course is the exact opposite thing you need to happen for a successful marriage. But that is what I did for many years.
c. I was very ashamed of who I really was, what I really thought, and what I thought I wanted. This also helped lead to point b. My shame in what I really thought of myself, lead to me creating the act, portraying a person, one that I thought I was supposed to be. For so long I hid my true feelings from Jennifer, cause I was scared of what she would think, and my pride would not allow me to actually truly open up to her. Instead I made up some things, or created half truths about my life, thoughts or feelings. Ones that gave her what I thought she needed, or things that would lead to me getting what I wanted from her, but still hiding reality. Hiding the things I was not proud about. Not being fully honest with her, of course lead to a lot of mistrust. lead to a lot of hurt feelings, and a lot of resentment.
So how did I beat pride? Well I have not yet. But I have weakened its hold on me. So how have I done that?
First off, of course was what I started this post off with. I gave my life to Christ. But lets be more specific.
I have had to learn to put more thought into things, and instead of worrying about being right in a given situation, try and realize what is really important in that situation. Actually taking time to think about things as opposed to reacting was very important for me. You see my natural reaction was always the ones to defend myself, prove myself, which lead to proving others wrong. No matter what was really right or wrong, as long as mine was accepted as right. But now I am trying to not to react, trying to act out of thought and reason more often. Focusing on the situation at hand, and what the actual end goal should be, not worry so much by who's ideas we reach that end goal.
I have learned to love. How, well again 1st off was excepting Christ's love. And then once I have that, letting it flow through me. Sounds easy right? Well it should be. But my pride made it hard at first. To start I had to come clean of all my lies or so called half truths. I had to swallow my pride and let Jennifer and others know the real me. Once I did that I was able to realize that God's forgiveness and grace was there for the taking. All those things that I had to be ashamed about, no longer seemed to matter. The saying the truth will set you free is real people. Even if that truth sounds like the worst thing in the world. Cause guess what. Whatever you have done is not the worst thing in the world. That designation is held for someone else's actions. And if the people you are truthful with are meant to be a part of your life, then they will love you still even knowing it.
I have learned that I have been forgiven. You see for so long I was ashamed of who I was, and that shame lead me to hide the real me. I thought that if people knew the real me, they could not love me. But once I realized the truth, the fact that my sins, my shame, my hurt was already dealt with, all I had to do was give it away. For everything I was ashamed about, or hurting over, God knew of, and yet he still put me here something much greater. But I had to allow him to take that shame, take that hurt away. Accept his forgiveness, before I could experience what that greater something was. That is the beginning of God's will, then end, well I am excited to see it.
In all I have realized one BIG thing. I was put on this earth to show others Christ love, I am still learning how to that best, but the first part was accepting it, and that lead to all other things getting better, including my marriage.
Part 2 coing soon.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Sarver Family year in review 2014
A lot happened for my family this past year, so I figured I would write about it like so many others do.
January,
Was bit of a boring month from what I can remember. I had quit facebook for a few months in 2013, looking back I see I rejoined it right after the new year, so there is that. Dallas had a bad ice storm, and we lost power for over 3 days. Stayed with the Scherm's for 2 nights, so glad they are back in my life. Got to buy a chain saw due to multiple branches that fell. O wait was this Dec 2013? not sure now. It was.
February.
My little Brother In Law got married, welcomed Amelia into the family, though she already had been accepted. I have been so thankful for the Kirsch family and what they have done for me over the past 20 years, anytime it grows, it is a blessing. Jennifer and I had our first Valentines night alone since kids came around. It was awesome, had a nice room on the lake, and just enjoyed each others company. This month also marked 20 years Jennifer and I have been together.
March
Was a busy month. Work wise had couple in store events, got to hang with Kevin Fowler, and the Eli Young Band. Had what has turned into my annual B-day craw fish boil bash. My baby girl turned 14, which meant high school was right around the corner. This month was also the fist time Desiree experienced real failure if athletics. She did not make 9th grade cheer. She was so bummed for a couple weeks. But I think she learned a lot from it, and in the end that is one of the main things sports are for. Teaching life lessons like dealing with losing. For my B-Day I wanted to go bungee jumping and found a good place in Dallas, but you had to be under 240 lbs. I was 251 on 3/13 so had 8 days to lose 11+ pounds if I wanted to do it. Found a lose 10 lbs is 7 days diet that involved fruit, veggies water and milk only for a week. Did it and lost 12 lbs, weighed 139 on B-day morning. Worried that with clothes I exceeded the limit and they would not let me so did not go, but hey lost the weight.
April
Married 17 years, this month. WOW. Joshua also turned 5, kindergarten right around the corner. UK basketball makes the championship game. I have very fun time watching NCAA tourney. We got Chris into a special needs baseball league, he seemed to enjoy it for the most part, being outside anyway and running around. Was asked to be a co teacher in our churches life group! This took me way off guard. You see we joined it late 2013, and had really connected with the group, and the past year I had grown greatly in my faith, in no way did I feel I was qualified to be a teacher. It was juts such an absurd idea, I thought it had to be from God. No person on their own could in sane state of mind think of it. So I took on the challenge. Started blogging. Its been nice to write about stuff, whether anyone reads it or not is not important.
May
Bought a new to us vehicle, a Dodge Durango. Its very nice, got a great deal. Taught my first SS class, on mothers day of all days. Took Chris camping for the first time, we slept in a tent. He did really well, of course he loves being outdoors with an endless supply of plants to tear up. He also swam in the lake, and rode on a boat. Had a blast. Got passports for the first time, for summer trip to Canada.
June
Summer time. cannot think of much happened for our family this month. The Spurs won the title, so i was happy. I challenged Desiree to teach me a full choreographed dance to a song they did in cheer. Went about a month, and got half way through, things interrupted us and we never finished. It was good Father Daughter bonding though. Signed up for one of those obstacle races, to take place I'm Oct. Started running/exercising with goal to lose 20 lbs in 3 months in prep for the 5 mile obstacle course. It got cancelled, but I did lose 20 lbs.
July
Jennifer and I took a full 8 days away from kids. Drove to Niagara Falls in Canada. Stopped along the way and ate at some food network spots, visited Rupp Arena, the Rock N Roll HOF, visited Family in PA, and spent the most amazing 4 nights on the Falls. It was so AWESOME. Thanks Jackie Kirsch for staying with the kids allowing this to happen.
August
Desiree starts HS and Josh starts Kindergarten. I feel old. Went and saw A7X in concert, thanks to Bryan Holman, concert bucket list check mark made. Took Desiree to do some volunteer work with our church life group, Very fun experience. Desiree challenged Jenn and I to the IBC for we did it. Man it was cold. This month 20 years of Jenn and I living under same roof. Visited my Dad at hospital, had to have some very difficult conversations about his future.
Sept.
This month my Father passed away. My step mom called at 2 am the 4th, to inform he he died in his sleep. I had thought I was prepared for this for the past few years. We had scares, and had moments we thought it was gone before. But he was so strong. The next 7-10 days where some of the hardest of my life. Dealing with family having different wants, being an exectutor of the will, and trying to make happen what My dad told me he wanted. Very difficult time, long lasting effects with family members still dealing with to this day. Jennifer also started training for the Dallas Casa program. Very humbled by her decision to do this volunteer program. Joshua started Baseball, in same league Chris was in, he loved it. Due to a school project, Desiree actually had interest in the SW movies. got to watch the trilogy with her. New work alignment, very blessed with what they did, took a load off.
October
Jennifer is CASA certified, and gets her first case. She is still working on it. Family outings for national night out in the neighborhood, and Halloween. Desiree tried out for a part in a Christmas play being put on by the local community theater. She got the part she wanted, a major role in the "Best Christmas Pageant Ever". She ended up having 12 showings over 4 weekends in Nov, she was awesome.
November
Saw my Fav NFL team in person for 1st time. Thanks to my wife, and some friend of hers dumping tickets for a great price. They won. O yea. Took with wife to see Kirk Cameron at church function. Had a BBQ and the group decided to call it Friendsgiving, and I liked that a lot, so decided we will do it every mid November. Challenged myself to be more verbal with my love for my family, did a decent job of it. Had great Thanksgiving dinner with all the Kirsch side of the Family.
December
Nothing out of the ordinary happened this month. Had a good Christmas with the family, went to our first ugly sweater Christmas party. Work wise the month was much easier than it had been in the past, the smaller district and change in direction has made this month much more bearable.
So that was the sarver 2014. Here's looking for an even better 2015.
January,
Was bit of a boring month from what I can remember. I had quit facebook for a few months in 2013, looking back I see I rejoined it right after the new year, so there is that. Dallas had a bad ice storm, and we lost power for over 3 days. Stayed with the Scherm's for 2 nights, so glad they are back in my life. Got to buy a chain saw due to multiple branches that fell. O wait was this Dec 2013? not sure now. It was.
February.
My little Brother In Law got married, welcomed Amelia into the family, though she already had been accepted. I have been so thankful for the Kirsch family and what they have done for me over the past 20 years, anytime it grows, it is a blessing. Jennifer and I had our first Valentines night alone since kids came around. It was awesome, had a nice room on the lake, and just enjoyed each others company. This month also marked 20 years Jennifer and I have been together.
March
Was a busy month. Work wise had couple in store events, got to hang with Kevin Fowler, and the Eli Young Band. Had what has turned into my annual B-day craw fish boil bash. My baby girl turned 14, which meant high school was right around the corner. This month was also the fist time Desiree experienced real failure if athletics. She did not make 9th grade cheer. She was so bummed for a couple weeks. But I think she learned a lot from it, and in the end that is one of the main things sports are for. Teaching life lessons like dealing with losing. For my B-Day I wanted to go bungee jumping and found a good place in Dallas, but you had to be under 240 lbs. I was 251 on 3/13 so had 8 days to lose 11+ pounds if I wanted to do it. Found a lose 10 lbs is 7 days diet that involved fruit, veggies water and milk only for a week. Did it and lost 12 lbs, weighed 139 on B-day morning. Worried that with clothes I exceeded the limit and they would not let me so did not go, but hey lost the weight.
April
Married 17 years, this month. WOW. Joshua also turned 5, kindergarten right around the corner. UK basketball makes the championship game. I have very fun time watching NCAA tourney. We got Chris into a special needs baseball league, he seemed to enjoy it for the most part, being outside anyway and running around. Was asked to be a co teacher in our churches life group! This took me way off guard. You see we joined it late 2013, and had really connected with the group, and the past year I had grown greatly in my faith, in no way did I feel I was qualified to be a teacher. It was juts such an absurd idea, I thought it had to be from God. No person on their own could in sane state of mind think of it. So I took on the challenge. Started blogging. Its been nice to write about stuff, whether anyone reads it or not is not important.
May
Bought a new to us vehicle, a Dodge Durango. Its very nice, got a great deal. Taught my first SS class, on mothers day of all days. Took Chris camping for the first time, we slept in a tent. He did really well, of course he loves being outdoors with an endless supply of plants to tear up. He also swam in the lake, and rode on a boat. Had a blast. Got passports for the first time, for summer trip to Canada.
June
Summer time. cannot think of much happened for our family this month. The Spurs won the title, so i was happy. I challenged Desiree to teach me a full choreographed dance to a song they did in cheer. Went about a month, and got half way through, things interrupted us and we never finished. It was good Father Daughter bonding though. Signed up for one of those obstacle races, to take place I'm Oct. Started running/exercising with goal to lose 20 lbs in 3 months in prep for the 5 mile obstacle course. It got cancelled, but I did lose 20 lbs.
July
Jennifer and I took a full 8 days away from kids. Drove to Niagara Falls in Canada. Stopped along the way and ate at some food network spots, visited Rupp Arena, the Rock N Roll HOF, visited Family in PA, and spent the most amazing 4 nights on the Falls. It was so AWESOME. Thanks Jackie Kirsch for staying with the kids allowing this to happen.
August
Desiree starts HS and Josh starts Kindergarten. I feel old. Went and saw A7X in concert, thanks to Bryan Holman, concert bucket list check mark made. Took Desiree to do some volunteer work with our church life group, Very fun experience. Desiree challenged Jenn and I to the IBC for we did it. Man it was cold. This month 20 years of Jenn and I living under same roof. Visited my Dad at hospital, had to have some very difficult conversations about his future.
Sept.
This month my Father passed away. My step mom called at 2 am the 4th, to inform he he died in his sleep. I had thought I was prepared for this for the past few years. We had scares, and had moments we thought it was gone before. But he was so strong. The next 7-10 days where some of the hardest of my life. Dealing with family having different wants, being an exectutor of the will, and trying to make happen what My dad told me he wanted. Very difficult time, long lasting effects with family members still dealing with to this day. Jennifer also started training for the Dallas Casa program. Very humbled by her decision to do this volunteer program. Joshua started Baseball, in same league Chris was in, he loved it. Due to a school project, Desiree actually had interest in the SW movies. got to watch the trilogy with her. New work alignment, very blessed with what they did, took a load off.
October
Jennifer is CASA certified, and gets her first case. She is still working on it. Family outings for national night out in the neighborhood, and Halloween. Desiree tried out for a part in a Christmas play being put on by the local community theater. She got the part she wanted, a major role in the "Best Christmas Pageant Ever". She ended up having 12 showings over 4 weekends in Nov, she was awesome.
November
Saw my Fav NFL team in person for 1st time. Thanks to my wife, and some friend of hers dumping tickets for a great price. They won. O yea. Took with wife to see Kirk Cameron at church function. Had a BBQ and the group decided to call it Friendsgiving, and I liked that a lot, so decided we will do it every mid November. Challenged myself to be more verbal with my love for my family, did a decent job of it. Had great Thanksgiving dinner with all the Kirsch side of the Family.
December
Nothing out of the ordinary happened this month. Had a good Christmas with the family, went to our first ugly sweater Christmas party. Work wise the month was much easier than it had been in the past, the smaller district and change in direction has made this month much more bearable.
So that was the sarver 2014. Here's looking for an even better 2015.
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