hate it when the kids get sick.

this afternoon i had to come home and watch my boys for a few hours…they laid on the couch watching chowder and moaning about being sick. as a parent it hurts when your kids are sick. it is a rare thing for me to be very sick, but if i do…look out i want to be pampered and i want everyone to feel sorry for me. sickness…they both have this fever going on and it takes the strength right out of them. today i got a text from my wife…our youngest was home and said mom yesterday was fun being home sick-today it’s not so much fun. so here are a few moments i hate to even type about kids and sickness…
moment 1 – its 4 am and one of our boys has climbed into bed with us sometime in the night-he sits up moans and blows-i mean pink chunks everywhere-it covered the bed, himself, pillows and all. what do you do at 4 am with puke all over…go to the couch.
moment 2 – 2 am son walks in and says i don’t feel so good and blows all over the floor…well now that’s one way to wake up-the other way is to get up and step in it.
moment 3 – diarrhea- nuff said.
moment 4 – dysentery in a foreign country-bad rooms, bad food, bad smells and of course only a hole in the floor to use!
moment 5 – preaching in the middle of a message kid walks out and gets 4 steps from her chair and blows – sounded like a river – now that will stir something up in a youth church.

right now you probably can’t believe what you have read, but as a parent you can be superman and catch almost any flying projectile in the palm of your hands…well almost anything.

kids ministry…the lussiers

a family comes thru our church school every year to do spiritual emphasis week with our elementary school.  my boys love them.  they have been in kids ministry for years, but have the highest tech set up i have ever seen.  does that sound right? highest tech…whatever.   

a family that ministers and travels with 3 trailers a box truck and one massive setup! they are truly legit when it comes to kids. they know how to bang out some serious technology, so here is a pic of their stage! all i got to say is elmer for president! i watched brain drain today and loved it. thank God for a family that has been traveling for so many years and truly loves the kids they touch.

here is a pic of their set up! impressive!

field trip…

today i drove about 50 – 3rd and forth graders to the super scientific circus.  the event took place at a high school 30 minutes away…now 50 elementary students on a bus with 2 teachers and 4 adults can add to expected chaos.  i think at one point on the bus the noise level was so loud you could not hear the bus engine. it was loud and the windows were open.  the vent was fun and informative…basically 2 guys and an auditorium filled with elementary students and they ran their own sound tracks from the stage as they did a mixture of magic, mime, and simply complete fun, while demonstrating how scientifically things worked from gravity to the speed of light and even t he speed of sound with a bull whip.  i learned several things today…wow i did not expect it. 

the kids were on a hole nother level and we took them to the mall for lunch…120 students in the mall food court. i spent the day with my oldest son, fun times, he laughed went crazy over the show and generally had a great time with his dad! i would not trade these moments for anything. life is busy enough..but when you add the pressure of ministry and success into the ratio it means you have to grab moments like these and make the most. don’t miss the moment with family…your calling will be there, your career will be there, but your kids will grow up before your very eyes and you could regret where it all went!

one thing i learned was spending time with my kids and their friends is a great way to explore their world…how well do you really know your kids?

now that’s a word! no matter how busy you are…don’t lose sight of your family!

creating moments that last a lifetime…

woke up this morning late and decided to do something fun with the fam. its a holiday so we took a trip to marineland in flagler county then took a ferry boat ride over to ft. matanzas. what a day. marineland is a great place to check out dolphins without a crowd. we arrived and the trainers started to feed the dolphins-its fun when they are so active. we had a great time creating some family moments. here’s a few pics…

we then went up the road to ft. matanzas where we road a ferry over to an island that the spanish had built a fort on in 1740 to protect them from boats coming in the inlet and sailing up to st. augustine where a huge fort is. the trip is free and the volunteer tour guides are dressed up and ready to give you a great history lesson on florida. we climbed up a small ladder to the roof where you could see for miles. today was all about time with the family creating memories that will last a lifetime. we left knowing these are the things our kids will remember when they have kids. if you are too busy to spend time with your family, then why did you start one? create some moments that will last! heres a few pics from our day!

what a day filled with moments!

car shopping

I went to look at a car today for my wife…drove a beautiful car loaded with navi, backup cam and a ton of features.  it has a feature called parktronic that i had to test out. backing up in a parking space i inched closer to a parked car and lights came on warning me in the back and then a proximity alarm would go off…cool- if you can’t see it in the back up cam the alarm will go off to let you know you are about to cream something in a parking lot.

I couldn’t help but think that the holy Ghost is our parktronic.  He warns us when we attempt to park our lives in the worng places…the only issue is will you listen to the warnings or just slam into something with your life.  you can cause great damage by attempting to park your life and running into stationary objects.  i loved this feature on the vehicle. it’s a great car and an amazing deal (it helps to have family work for a dealership)…who knows later this month we may be sporting a new vehicle to host a new addition to the force clan this year.  

new beginnings for the forces.

a day at the pool:) december 29

its saturday dec 29th and today i want to reflect on how blessed it is to live in florida. i woke up this morning and the weather looked like it would hit a high of 83.  the boys and i played and wrestled, raced and played tag…we had a great time today in the pool. no polar bear club here- the pool was 84 and i feel sorry for the peeps in green bay and new york that are digging out of snow-not really!  the only way i would want to be there is on a snowboard!  

Florida…what an amazing place to live! spending a day with my kids-out of this world!

alvin and the chipmunks…

today we went to see alvin, and i have to admit i was looking forward to see this movie with my boys.  popcorn, coke and hundred of kids in theatre… 

my thoughts on the movie… this is probably the best kids flick i have seen in some time. i laughed just as much as the boys…i appreciate the fact that the writers connected with the family ion this flick. i especially love it when dave seville has his world turned upside down and is in a grocery store being pummeled by this kid in another cart. the mom makes some poor excuse for how crazy kids are and dave responds with a chuckle ya, sometimes you wanna put them in a box and leave them in a park and walk away…been there? 

saturday at the movies, laughing with my kids…the stress of the day fades away!

get munked…go see this flick with a kid!