Who I Am

I know a lot of people do not celebrate Halloween and that's cool, after all it was originally a day of bad celebration. However, my entire life it was never made to be that way, and for millions it was the same way. My memories of Halloween are the smell of mom making popcorn balls, candied apples and homemade suckers, carving pumpkins with mom and dad, Charlie Brown's Halloween special on T.V., fun movies at school and carnivals at night and you can't forget the candy. Normally I got so much candy, that there was no way that in 6 months I could have it all polished off. I didn't always like dressing up, but I did always look forward to Halloween. As a parent now, I see the same excitement in my children's eyes. I see the anticipation of the candy to come, I get the questions, "so how many days left now dad?" I see the enjoyment when we all set down and watch a silly Halloween movie together, and the excitement of carving a pumpkin. I believe that Halloween is bad only if you make it bad, for me it never was and for my children it never will be either. Tonight we will dress up, go visit some family members then go to church to the "Night of Lights" carnival and have the bestest of times. Today I pray for everyone's safety as there are people who try to take this fun day and make it something evil and bad. Get your treats ready, your costumes and candy bags cause tonight it's time to TRICK OR TREAT!



Here are the pumpkins our family carved. MaKayla and I did the Pirates of the Caribbean and Pam and Tamara did Dracula. Amy and Alex did some too, but Amy already posted those on her blog. Hope you enjoy.

THERE ARE ONLY 55 DAYS LEFT UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!!
(When did summer end?)

It has been a long time since I felt like I had a church I could call home. It has been a real struggle over the last year and a half to find the place God wanted my family to be in. Now I'm not going to say that we have found that place for sure yet but maybe we have. We have tried lots of churches in Odessa and Midland since leaving Harvest Time, and nothing was right. We even tried Temple Baptist once and at the time didn't really care for it, why I don't know, we just didn't. Well recently Temple has built a new building and changed from Baptist to Nondenominational and is now called Crossroads Fellowship. Our good friends invited us to come try it out and reluctantly we went, thinking we have already been here and didn't like it, only this time it was different. Our children absolutely loved it, and the service was really good. Not as fiery as the services we were used to, but God was there and the preaching was awesome. So to make a long story short, we have continued going there and it is continually growing on us and best of all our girls are happy and looking forward to going and everyone makes us feel welcome. I have been praying God would send us in the right direction and in his time he did. Now as soon as I can figure out how to get God on my clock, things will go a whole lot smoother in my life :)

This morning as I was taking the girls to school, the drivers were particularly stupid along the way. I mean no blinkers, quick stops, cutting people off, and it was really aggravating me. As I'm driving next to this one guy he's on his phone blabbing away and constantly drifting over into my lane. I guess out loud I yelled "come on idiot get off the phone and pay attention." It was at this time that my most brilliant youngest daughter Tamara, sitting quietly in the back seat said, "Why don't you just pull up to him and give him the "CRAZY EYE" maybe then he'll pay attention." I was just in the right mood to do such a thing so I pull up next to this guy, stared at him until he looked at me and then WHAM! I gave him the crazy eye. I can't say that it made him pay attention, however he did give me a one fingered salute and drove off real fast. To which Tamara replied, "See I told you it would work." What smart children I have! :)

I remember as a little kid waiting for my dad to get home so I could jump out and scare him as he came through the door. I'm pretty sure I never scared him but he always acted surprised. Then there were the times playing catch for hours on end without complaint even though now I know there was probably so many other things he could have been doing. My dad always went out of his way to make sure that he spent enough time with me. He taught me to fish, hunt, play ball, drive, work and overall how to me a man and not just any kind of man but a man of God. I remember those days like it was yesterday, I don't remember a lot from being a kid but I remember time spent with dad, I remember the anticipation of each event. Now at age 27 it is still really the same. This last weekend, my dad and I played in a golf scramble together. We didn't win, heck we didn't even come close to winning but I feel like I won because I got to spend a day with my dad. All week before the tournament I anticipated the day I would soon be spending with just him and me. Too many times when I'm around him I have to share him with my family, and my girls (which he is quite fond of) but not on this day, on this day for just awhile I was 8 years old again looking up at the greatest man in my life ready for the adventure that lie ahead. These days I don't look at him in as much awe as before, like daddy can do anything, but more with respect, love and admiration for a great man who is everything I want to be. It was an awesome day, a day that has now been logged into my memory bank of all the great father and son things we have done. I guess it just goes to show you, you are never to old for a day with your dad.

Seven things you never knew about me and now wish you didn't. Or as you put it...Seven strange/weird/crazy things about me: How in the world did this strange thing come about?? Okay here goes nothing.

1. I am a perfectionist. It is almost to the point most of the time that it becomes compulsive. It drives my wife crazy but I like things done a certain way and I feel like it should be done right if you are going to do it. This is also the one thing that pretty much drags me down and consumes me most of the time. Do you realize how hard it is trying to be perfect? My favorite saying about all this is "What drives me, destroys me."

2. I love all kinds of music. I am not particular really to one type of music. I love well written songs or songs with deep meaning. If you can feel the writer or artists emotions in a song that is awesome to me. I love old country, my favorite is Don Williams. I could sit and just have the lights down low and ole Don in the back ground softly crooning. However, I really like how Eminem writes as well. I know alot of his songs are vulgar but some of his songs where he writes about himself are really revealing and you can really tell how he feels. I am a definite music lover, we recently got cable internet and I am now constantly downloading good songs. My I-tunes library is as diverse as it gets.

3. I like to write. Writing is one of the few things in life that I don't have to think about to do. I can just sit down at a computer and write and write. I can bull corn my way through a history paper or just sit and write like I'm doing now. It really doesn't matter what I write I just like to write. I don't like to be told to write something though. That makes me mad, I like to have options.

4. I hate Mexican food. I know this could possibly be the weirdest thing I could possibly say living in Odessa, TX but it is true. I mean it's not healthy, it gives me gas, and it's not pretty to look at before or after you eat it! I like hamburgers, love steaks and BB-Q and any other of the what I call "cowboy foods," but I just can't do Mexican food. It is my wife's favorite so at times I have to make exceptions but I'm always looking for those chicken strips or salads on the menu.

5. I am a cowboy at heart. If I had it my way I would live out in the middle of nowhere. I would heat my house with a black kettle stove and hunt and fish for my food. I would ride my horse to town and my spurs would jingle when I walked. I love to wear cowboy hats and boots and mess with livestock, I like a simple life with no t.v., no radio, just my wife and kids and nature around me. I hate how fast paced life is and wish there was some way to slow it down. I would move to a tiny town in a second if I didn't think all my girls would be bored to death.

6. I'm addicted to working out. My day feels empty without a trip to the gym. I can be having the worst day and after an hour and a half of working out, everything is better. I love elliptical machines they make it much easier for me to do cardio, since in my older age running creates great pain for my back and ankles. If I go more than a day without working out, I am a grouch. I don't ever feel satisfied with how I look though. No matter how in shape I am or how much my wife or other people compliment I always want more. I guess that's the perfectionist in me coming out again.

7. I really don't like body hair. I know this is a weird one and since everyone else threw one in I figured I would too but I guess this is my one thing I really don't like. I mean we are humans not woolly mammoths so why do we need hair? If I am cold I will put on warm clothes, I don't need hair to keep me warm. Oh and heaven forbid my wife goes a day without shaving, you could exfoliate and elephants back with her prickly legs. I'm pretty sure that goes for all women though. I remember as a kid my mom running her leg across me and thinking "dang cactus leg, keep to yourself!" Now I know some people think hair is sexy and good for them but I am not one of them. I like smooth hairless skin! There so now you know I'm weird but think about all the time men and women could save if we didn't have to shave. I rest my case.

I hope I never get tagged again this was hard work, but now I tag Pam(if she ever blogs again) or whoever else reads this because everyone else I know is already tagged :)

I am now on an extreme boy hunt to find the little romantic punk who gave my baby mono and eliminate him!
(I know she could have gotten it anywhere but its just way to close to the romantic boy statement so all little boys at school better run for their lives!)