Sappy Sweet Love Heart

My wife is smokin' hott (like Jon Acuff, author of stuffchristianslike.net, has said, as a Christian who is a dude who married up, you have to spell hott with 2 t's, it emphasizes the hotness your wife possesses).  And since my wife possesses an incredible amount of hotness, she is a two t wife, hands down.  But my wife, her name is Sarah, is not just a super hotty, she is also really smartt.  And not smart like I am going to  only type in binary code because it's the purest form of communication smart, but smartt like we are on a single income and I am going to make sure we don't go into debt smartt.

After we had the boy (Coop) and now the kid (Micah) Sarah's heart was to be at home with our children, our crazy crazy crazy children.  I love the fact that we are able to let Sarah stay home while I continue to puff my chest out and be the bread winner for our family.  I am also incredibly thankful that our church pays me enough to be on one income.  The thing I am most grateful for though is how my wife has put on her green accountant visor, taken out her ten key and figured out how to keep us afloat until Sarah starts getting paid for being an awesome mom (If anyone has heard of any mom sponsorships let us know, we aren't opposed to tattooing logos or wearing the same corporate polo shirt everyday).

In a time of life that can only be described as nutzo bonkers, Sarah has managed to help us keep the wheels on the cart.  Telling me when I am allowed to spend and when I have to tighten up.  Telling me when it can be a Starbucks day  and when home brewed is the drip of the day (ironically enough it's a Starbucks day when she is in the mood for caramel deliciousness), she is responsible for our financial responsibility.

I married someone who balances me perfectly.  I am not the best at managing money, but she has taken the job on and because of her we are going to make it.  She picks up my slack when I drop the ball, what slack and a ball have in common I am not sure, what I am trying to say is she helps me.  We are in this together and with my ability to open the pickle jar and her ability to do everything else we make a pretty good team.

How does your spouse balance you?  Don't have a spouse, thats cool, what ways do you need to be balanced?

Tuesday Means Micah

As Sarah and I were doing some Christmas shopping on Saturday Morning, two things occurred to me, the first things is how much easier shopping is when you are alone, and by alone I mean when you don't have to push the Cadillac of double strollers around.

The second thing that occurred to me is that our precious almost 4 month old son is getting thick.  I don't know if it makes me a bad dad that I realized he was packing on the weight when I saw a baby Santa outfit and thought how amazing Micah would look in it, but if it does, I am a bad dad.  I am ecstatic at this weight gain though, and not because he can fit into Cooper's clothes faster, but because this is about the same time Coop got some extra meat on his thighs.

This weight is a great thing because it signifies Micah turning into a person, not just a crying pooping lump.  He is getting a personality, he can hold his head up without whiplashing his cranium into the floor after 2 seconds, and he will start eating baby cereal soon (thats cereal for babies, not cereal made out of babies.  That being said Micah is so legit he eats other babies for breakfast!)

Up until this point in Micah Man's life the role of Dad is kind of diminished, not because I don't want to hang with my son, throw him around, and offer really sound sage-like advice to him but because mom is the nurturer, the feeder, the bather.  Mom gets to do those things because God literally built her for that role (granted the bather is a stretch but since I am not a huge fan of bath time Sarah gets that responsibility).  Now that the scale is moving in an upward direction for our youngest son it signifies a time when Dad gets to burst onto the scene and show Micah how awesome he is and by awesome I mean how long I can make a fart noise on his stomach without stopping to breathe.

Moms are awesome but Dad has a different role than she does, just ask Coop after he hits his head, the first words out of his mouth aren't, "Daddy, ouch."  They are, "Mama, ouch." Or when it is time for Cooper to fly like Peter Pan, he doesn't run to Mom and say, "Fly! Fly!" it is Dad that gets that responsibility.

What roles did your parents play in your life whether it be growing up or now?  How were they the same, how were they different?

Monday Morning with Coop

When Bing Crosby sang "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" he was probably in the Central Valley, because a dream is as close as we get to having anything white on the ground during the Winter Season. So it being December I wanted to do something fun for my son and niece, Juniper, who Sarah watches on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Now if I had my way we would be behind massive snow forts making snowballs and hitting each other in the face with those snowballs until someone started to cry. But there is still no snow, however, I think if I wait long enough there will be enough to build a little snowman, like the size snowman a plastic GI Joe would build if they were alive, and they made snowmen rather than fighting team Cobra.

So instead of whizzing snowballs at my 20 month old son and 2 and a half year old niece I raked leaves so they could play, and once they got used to the other stuff that was in the sidewalk gutter they loved it. (Not really, they played on the grass but still, it would have saved me some time if it were socially acceptable to let your kids play with leaves soaked in dirty gutter water.) Long story short, here are some pictures I snapped.

I left out the pictures of me jumping in the leaves with them because they were having so much fun I wanted to get in on the action.  I want to be able to create special moments like this one on a regular basis.  As a Dad it isn't my job to sit idly by and let mom plan all the activities as Monday Night Football is on TV.  Creating adventures for our kids is huge in them developing into self-assured, confident, independent people.

The adventures don't have to be rake the leaves and have a sitcom afternoon throwing leaves and galavanting in the midst of all the fall colors.  It could be simple like when I was little we used to decorate sugar cookies with my parents, their friends, and all of their kids, it was a blast decorating cookies shaped like stockings with neon blue and yellow frosting.  Did most of the cookies end up getting thrown away because they were too sweet?  Yup, but it was an adventure in itself that my parents wanted us to do because it was fun and special and out of the ordinary, it was an adventure.

What things have you done this season to make it special for your kids?  What things do you plan on doing?  Don't have kids? What adventures are you going to partake in?

Irked is a Funny Word

My chair is broken. And not broken like it needs to repent of it's sins because it feels terrible about the way it treated my desk last week, broken like every time I lean back the hydraulics give out and I slowly lose a solid 10 inches of height at my desk. This may be my bosses way of making sure I don't get too comfortable and lean back while I am supposed to be anxiously pouring over my work, but I think he has better things to do. Things like work on getting approval from the board to get us all iPads and Segways for Christmas (this is totally going to happen* and the best part is that it's all coming straight out of the Children's ministry budget).

*This will never happen, not in a thousand years, even when iPads are featured on VH1's Remember the 2010's and the thought of someone still owning one is considered "retro".

There are a few things in this world that really irk me, things that when they happen I clinch my molars in disgust or passive aggressively make a sarcastic comment at. I began to notice my irkiness at certain things one day when my then roommate would come into my truck and place his things on my dashboard. No big deal, just things on a dash, until I touch the gas pedal at all and they go flying everywhere, particularly in my face and then we get in an accident because he was being all willy nilly with the placement of his things. Regardless, I noticed I had issues, here are some things I have issues with.

1. 15 items or less means just that, unless there is no other line open

Look really mean elderly woman, I don't want to be in this line any more than you do, but there is no other line open right now and my frozen waffles are getting soggy, so if you don't mind I was in front of you and your "sprouts".

2. Biting Ice

I don't bite ice, I would never do such a thing therefore it is out of the realm of possibility, but hearing other people do this is the worst thing anyone could ever do to me. It should be no surprise that I love listening my wife, but she loves chewing on ice and frankly it is the only time I get to cover my ears and say "la la la la la" as loud as I possibly can. One ice chewer in the family no big deal, but now our son is ice chewing as well and if you go to her family's house to have a refreshing beverage you might as well be listening to a man carving an ice sculpture, of people chewing ice.

3. Ambiguity

4. Family Sidewalkers

I get it, you are really cute in your matching turtlenecks, you haven't seen each other in a long time and now you are Christmas shopping for those less fortunate, that is awesome. I love helping the needy and turtlenecks as much as the next guy but just don't line up four wide when you are walking on the sidewalk. Some of us who are way more impatient and thrive on moving quickly need to pass you and save the 15 seconds of our lives you would have wasted.

I know we are supposed to be all happy and jolly this time of year but seriously, we are all friends, what are some things that irk you?

College Life is Hard

When I was in college life was really hard, I mean really hard. I had to stay up until 3 am with my roommates and then drag myself out of bed by the crack of noon to go to 2 classes that were each 50 minutes long. After that the decision was really difficult as to whether I was going to go home and take a nap or get some coffee and read at Uncle Harry's (It's a bagel place, I don't have an Uncle Harry. (Also, having the name "Harry" in any food establishment's name is a mistake)).

When I woke up from my nap, because whether I went to read or went home to take a nap I still ended up sleeping somewhere, I had to play my super competitive roommate in Mario Baseball on Gamecube because I had a bet to see who can be the other guy 50 times first. My idea of shopping is finding my roommates leftovers in the back of the fridge and pretending like I didn't see his name on the box in bright red permanent marker. I did some homework and that was the extent of college, other than the 1 week per semester you were super stressed out and had no time to do anything because you waited until the last minute to do all of your papers.

Okay, I was being sarcastic, college wasn't that hard, just sue me why don't you (that was also sarcasm, plus, if you sue me I will make sure you get my dogs in the settlement, and my dogs dig.) The truth of the matter is I never understood why my parents ever got upset when I wouldn't do my homework one night or when I had a grade come back that was below my ability and their standards. I know now, it is because life when you are younger isn't super difficult, responsibility is limited, and sleep is always available. I say this because with each piece of life change that Sarah and I have had life gets a bit harder and we are forced to grow up a little bit more.

The good news is that as we continue to mature and take responsibility for what God has blessed us with life becomes more and more fun. We become "responsible" adults, we finally start to feel like grown ups (Even though any time I am visiting students on campus someone still thinks I am a High Schooler). I loved being able to sleep in until whenever I wanted when I was 20, but life is a lot more fulfilling waking up at six to get my run on to the Black Eyed Peas before the sun comes up.

What things do you miss from college (If you say record players or big hair you are dating yourself)? What things are you glad you no longer have to do now that you are a responsible adult?

Traditioooooon. Tradition.

I love Christmas. I have always loved Christmas and so far this year I love Christmas just as much as I have loved Christmas in the years past (you can tell by the amount of times I have used the word Christmas. Christmas!).

Like most families mine has a lot of traditions that are associated with this time of year, Christmas eve in particular. We go to church, we go to a Chinese restaurant (kind of like A Christmas Story except without the mispronunciation of la la la la la), and we all get matching pajamas. It is a good thing. Sarah and I have started talking about what traditions we should have every year and so far this is what we have.

1. Get a tree
2. Decorate the tree
3. Be with family
4. Unwrap gifts

We want Christmas to be a special time full of wonder and excitement but we also want the meaning of Christmas to resonate louder than the commercial side of the holiday. We want spiritual depth much like the makers of "Tickle Me Elmo" did in 1996 or Matchbox and "Stinky the Garbage Truck" do this year.

I have kicked the idea around of writing from the different viewpoints of those who were at the manger but when thinking from the point of view of a donkey, Eeyore's voice wouldn't get out of my head.

What are some fun and deepening traditions you have with your family every year? What things are you excited to try this year?

Babies are like Snowflakes

We have an almost two year old, Cooper. I have learned a lot from him. Things like when he wakes up at 3 in the morning there is usually a reason, and that reason may or may not be that he pooped in his diaper and the aforementioned poop is now on his feet, his hands, and his sheets. I have learned other things like how many times a 19 month old can spin in a circle before he falls down (2.5 revolutions). But Cooper was our first child and Sarah and I were excited and because of this hung on Cooper's every coo and movement (except that one at 3 am).

About 3 months ago things got slightly more complicated, we had our second baby boy child kid, Micah. Now this kid has been a whole different beast, not that he is a beast, unless of course he is on the football field where he will go for the throat. But regardless I have learned a lot of new things from Micah that the Coop decided to leave for his little brother to teach us. Here are some of them:

1. Babies cry when they are bored.
I am a lot of times distracted by what Cooper is doing, not because I love him more, but because Coop is strolling across the top of the couch or scaling the fireplace. So while I am trying to encourage calculated risks for Coop, Micah is yelling at me to do something with him.

2. Babies like to sleep in armpits.
It may be the amazing scent of Old Spice's "Pure Sport" deodorant, it may be the tickle of my underarm hair on his cheek, it may the feeling of security it brings to the boy (but I doubt it) but whatever it is Micah loves to sleep in my armpit. As a matter of fact there is seldom a place he sleeps more soundly, Sarah had trouble sleeping last week and I suggested she try it, apparently that becomes "weird" and "gross" once you hit 9 months.

3. Babies hate 10 minute car rides.
Got an hour and a half drive ahead of us? No problem, Micah is a champ. Need to drive to Michigan for the weekend? Great, Micah will sleep the whole way. But wherever we go the first 10 minutes is almost guaranteed to be meltdown city, there is no solace, no place to hide, you have to sit and listen to your son cry until his stopwatch hits 10 minutes.

I have learned a lot about myself from my kids and they can't even fully converse with me yet. What things has parenthood taught you? If you aren't a parents what things are you most looking forward to?

Merry Christmas to Coop's eye

I love having boys because it is times like these that begin to shape who they are. Cuts aren't fun, but the adventure that led to the cut makes it all worth it.




Fireplaces have sharp edges, Coop knows that now and will jump further away next time.

Reality YM High School Review week 7

Teaching Series: Greater Than (Week 2 of 4)

Sermon in a Sentence: In order to become greater, you must become less, whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Length: 20 min.

Message:It is of utmost importance to give, it is of huge importance to share the things you have and the wealth you possess. The time you volunteer, the money you give, the skills you offer are all valuable things, but doing them for the sake of being recognized isn't the point of doing them. We are called to give out of being the "least of these" so we must give from an "I'm not worthy of the grace God has given me" standpoint.

Games/fun: Assassin. The goal of the game is to be the last surviving person. The game is still going as Connor King, Cody Nash, and Wesley Viau are still trying to assassinate each other. A winner is expected by Christmas.
Worship Band: Scott Bergstrom, Peter Anderson, Matt Hull and Stephanie Nash

On Deck: Greater than Week 3; Everyone deserves to be served.

God and the Giants

It is no secret, I love the San Francisco Giants as much as Bono loves sunglasses and religious ambiguity. My whole life I have loved baseball, the situational aspect of the game, the what-ifs and the could haves, the hand eye coordination, the 3-1 counts and sacrifice bunts. I am getting excited just thinking about it. I am even more excited because as some of you may be aware, the Giants are playing for their first World Series Championship in 56 years and tonight could be the night.

Now you may think to yourself, "Peter, why would you like a baseball team for so long that hasn't ever won a world series in the town that it currently resides?" or "Didn't the Giants lose 100 games the year you were born? Surely that can't be a good sign." The reason I love the Giants is because I love them. Do they have any bearing on anything else that happens in the world other than releasing endorphins to hundreds of thousands of Giants fans tonight? No. If they don't win the World Series will I go into a serious depression where my main source of nutrients are derived from the special sauce of a KFC double down? Probably.

But that's just it, the Giants don't matter, the dodgers definitely don't matter (also I didn't capitalize dodgers on purpose, they aren't worthy of such an honor) baseball doesn't matter, Brian Wilson's beard, where emotion goes to die, doesn't matter either, but don't tell it that, it may eat your soul.

John 5:44 says this, "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?"

We are called to glorify God first, can we do that as the Giants win and in the process ruin every dodger fan's comeback since 1963 of, "You've never even won a world series in San Francisco."?

Sure we can.

But God must be glorified through it all.

Go Giants!

Bless God!