Yes i am alive

After nearly a three week hiatus, i am back and blogging (does that even make sense?). It is nearly the new year and 2009 went by way to fast. My kids are getting so big and i am feeling older (That seems to happen every new year). I had a great year and i look forward to what 2010 will bring.

We had a great Christmas day. Isaiah got a gun that shoots foam discs and he thinks its so fun to shoot me 10 times in the back while i am trying to do something els. He also got "sonic unleashed" for the 360. He got a car that you have to build too. it is made of wood and had screws and everything, so he keeps asking if we can build it, one day we will. Adriana got a stroller again for Christmas. this is the 3rd year in a row that she has gotten a stroller for her baby dolls. Every year that she has gotten one the boys play with it and crash it into the wall or try to ride it. by mid summer it is usually broken. She also got a foam shooter but she is not as into it as Isaiah is. Julean got a big play dinosaur that walks around and growls. We thought he would like that the best but he plays with this little car that he also got the most. He got a Mater from the movie "Cars" and he loves it. We bought Matthias a toy phone that lights up and he has really like playing, or slobbering on it. We bought a game for all the kids called 'Later Mater' also from the movie "Cars." Mater has a bunch of parts that you have to put on him before he brakes all apart again. Well the first time we did it i was showing them and Mater "popped" and the pieces all went flying and the kids all jumped. It was hilarious.

Kristi got my Halo 3 and it isquite fun to play. I got her a gift card to the antique store and she seamed to really like that. It is nice to have all the family here for the week. however, it seems like my moms house is getting smaller. I wonder if over time the house has shrunk due to CO2 and global warming. Our kids have had a ton of fun playing with their cousins. They just get so warn out by the end of the day they are out in a matter of seconds.

That's all for now, Have a happy new year

- Rick

the daily...

Today is supposed to be the day off but things aren't quite working out as planned. We were going to go to pt huron to pick up our vacuum but it isn't done yet so i might switch my day off with another day. This week has gone by fast. I have gotten quite abit done though. I have started lifting weights and that makes me very sore. hopefully by next week i will have gotten used to it. It snowed here the last couple of days. The first snow of the year.

all the kids are doing great. Adriana is getting very good at reading, she might even pass Isaiah. Matthias is not crawling yet but he gets up on all fours and wiggles back and forth.

- thats all for now

-Rick - Taco salad

The Daily grind XIII

Its monday and here is the schedule:

8 thankyou and christmas cards
10 candy bars
1 h & R Block study
3 unload cement blocks
5 dinner
6 plan fundraiser dinner

i had a nice Sunday. We went to Croswell and the service was very nice. I went running yesterday for 8 miles. it was nice. I didn't time myself or try to push it real hard, i just had a nice leasurly run. This morning i went to weightlifting and i think i am going to be sore tomorrrow.

The kids are doing good. I got my Lionel train out and they are just lovin it. Julean thinks its so cool to push the whistle button. I made it go behind the couch and Isaiah really likes that.

-thats all for now

- Rick - Roast and potatoes

The Daily Grind XII

Three days in a row! maybe i'll keep the 'daily' in my title after all. Today i am moving cement blocks out of my drivway, again. Hopefully this will be the end and i will finish.

Isaiah got knex for Christmas from his grandma lawhorne. He has been playing with them and me and kristi and him made a glider and he has been flying it around the house.

-thats all for now

- Rick - Chicken burgers - they were very good

The Daily Grind XI

heres the schedule:

8 Finances
1 Thanks yous
3 Planning
5 Family time

Somewhere today i have to find time to unload 2 trailers full of cement slabs (watch out thumb!) I also have alot of financial work to catch up on.

My in-laws made it to Word of life last night. They traveled all day. Isaiah and Adriana did very well in school yesterday. Things are starting to go back to normal around our house. Julean started peaing in his diaper at nights during the last couple of weeks but the past 3 days he has woke up with a dry one. I think he needed things to go back to normalcey (is that a word?).

thats all for now

-Rick - home made pizza

The Daily Grind X

Yes, its called the daily grind but i havent written for over a week. MAybe i should take the word 'daily' out of the title. We had a great holiday. We went to Pennsylvania for thanksgiving and then Kristi's parents came to our house for about 5 days. It has been fun but it seems like time went by really fast.

Last Saturday i smashed my thumb on a concrete slab that i was moving. It hurt.

Yesterday we went to Saginaw and the kids went to a Xtreme fun. This is in the mall and it is a large room with about 10 huge inflatables. They had a blast.

Anyway, today i have alot of planning to do for Chamber Ministries. We don't have any activities planned for December so I am going to try and get the activities planned for Januray - Apiril. I also have to get some things done before we get a big winter storm. Things like getting a wood stock pile and staining my deck, and Removing all the concrete from my drivway.

Thats all for now

- Rick - Qdobe (a mexican grill)

The Daily Grind IX

This is the schedule today:

6am Finances
8am farm
1pm Make frames
2pm change oil
3pm take trailer to dump
4pm PTO prep
5pm Calling

Yes i am starting at 6 this morning because i am behind from last week. Things are starting to get back to normal though. Just when i have the chance to start having a regular schedule we have a short week. Thats OK though because I need a break, i have not had a day off in 3 weeks. Yesterday i did take a nap though for about 1 hour. I am starting to get a cold and that just seems to slow me down. Its not enough though to be sick just enough to be annoying.

Yesterday we celebrated Grandma's birthday. We had a party after Church for her. At Church Adriana told me that she asked a little boy named Jay if she could be his girlfriend. And he said yes! She was all giggly about it.

Anyway i gotta go I need to put a new picture up or something!

-Rick Pizza (not delivery, Digiorno)

The Daily Grind VIII

I didn't make a schedule this week so I've been flying by the seat of my pants (is that the correct expression?). I have to fix a trailer so i can haul off some stuff that the dump wouldn't take. I also need to build some shelves and fix a couple of beds. I have been busy with farm work this last week also. We have started drying corn and it has been busy but yet kinda fun. Anyway thank you all for your prayers and the help you've given!

-Rick - Chicken Alfredo

the daily grind VII

The schedule today is varied, I am off schedule and into panic mode. My schedule is what ever i can get done. We have our dedication service tonight. It will probably be a small group, we just invited a few people. This will be a time that we pray for the building and thank God for the work he is doing.

Yesterday our kids were just wild yesterday and that is the result of them being slightly neglected the past couple of days. We missed our family day this week and that usually is a good time for us to have fun and just spend some quality time with the kids. We will be looking forward to next Thursday.

- That's all for now

Rick - Spaghetti

The Daily grind VI

Today is supposed to be my day off but I don't think that is going to happen today, or even this week, so i will just have to look forward to next Thursday.

Schedule today is: cloudy with a chance of a lot of work

I didn't get to see my kids very much yesterday. I had a seminar all day in Saginaw. We also are watching 9 kids for a friend who is in the hospital, it was kind of an emergency thing. That has kept Kristi and I quite busy.

that's all for now

-Rick - I had Taco bell last night

The daily grind V

Ok so here is todays grind,

8 fundraising activities
11 h&r block seminar
6 church

Last night Adriana made a "house" out of the cushins in the living room and i came by and knocked it over, thinking it would be funny, oh was i wrong! She eventually got over it but not after i made her another one. Julean is starting to get some pretty good dance moves. Its not uncomon to find him dancing to any music at all, even me singing "old Mcdonald"

I have been trying to work on the farm more lately becuase it is time to take off the soy beans. We are almost done with them and then we will do corn. So these next few weeks will be kinda busy.

We have updated some activities on the Website and added quite a few so if you are interested in any of our upcomming activities they should be posted soon.

thats all for now

-Rick - do you really want to know what i had for dinner?

The Daily Grind IV

I am a little behind today but here is my schedule:

8 Finances
10 plan youth service
1 farm
5 get trailers for driveway removal

Yesterday was my day off and i was very busy. I went with Kristi to get groceries and It took until 1pm then i raked the leaves and continued to stain my deck (i gotta get that done). It was a busy day but it was still kinda nice to just not focus on a schedule.

Adriana has been caught sucking her thumb. I put tape on it last night, she had been sneaking it at night when she is trying to go to sleep. Yesterday Isaiah nailed a board to the wall in my shed, he was so proud of himself. i told him he could try and he came out while i was working on the deck and said he did it. I checked it out and he put a big nail through a piece of OSB and right into the wall. I was impressed.

I have one more time to run this week and i need to do it today but it has been really windy here lately. I just need to suck it up and do it.

That's all for now

- Rick - Steak wraps (they were awesome!)

The Daily Grind III

Another day and I am not quite as motivated, heres the schedule:

8 Refinancing
10 insomnia reservations
12 lunch date with kristi and no kids!
1 church packets
3 volenteer at beacon
5 dinner
6 volenteer at Rock

Yesterday i cut wood and worked for dad alittle. I was going to combine but when i got there they were working on it because it broke. I also cut wood yesterday and the whole family came out to help. We got alot done. Kristi and Isaiah loaded the wood while i cut it with chain saw.

The kids are doing great in School. Adriana is starting to read quite well. Isaiah is reading really good too. He can read a book and then tell you about the story, its pretty neat. Kristi is doing a great job teaching them. This week they are learning about George Washington.

I ran yesterday and i think i am on too hard of training schedule. I was supposed to run 3 miles at 6:42 pace and i just couldn't keep up. I was at like a 7:05 pace. I am going to stick it out but i don't know if i will meat my goal of a 5k under 20min.

thats all for now

- Rick - Ham and pasta

The Daily Grind II

Hello, here is today's schedule:

7:30 PTO
9:00 Run
10:00 Cut Wood
1:00 Farm
4:00 Build blower box
5:00 Refinance

Yesterday was a great day. I felt like i had alot of energy and i got alot accomplished. I am trying to get an open gym for Saturday up at the school. There is 5th and 6th grade basketball tournament though. Also yesterday i went to the farm to combine and i was about to start it up when i started to rain. So i didn't really get to do any farming for the day.

Isaiah got a visit from the tooth fairy yesterday morning and he got a transformer toy. It transforms from a semi truck into Optomis Prime. He loves it. He played with that toy all day yesterday and that is so not like him. I also let him watch part of the new transformers movie. I skipped over several not so kid friendly scenes. He thought it was so cool. Adriana has discovered that if Daddy changes the batteries in some of her toys they work again. so yesterday she kept asking me to change the batteries in several of her toys. its not like when i was a kid though because now you have to get a screwdriver out to take the batteries out only to find you don't have the right size. Also, Adriana has a boy friend. I went to pick her up from Sunday school and she was sitting on the bench next to this little boy and she said that it was her boyfriend. She blushes every time you say something to her about it. Julean is still so in love with Lightning McQueen, and Matthias is picking himself up on all fours. It seems like he is too little to be doing that.

I am supposed to run today. My last run was a track workout and it was killer. I was supposed to run 4 1200s in 4:32 and my best one was 4:45 and i was about to die after it. I am beginning to dread track workouts.

- That's all for now - Rick - Rice, corn, beans, and shrimp - I don't know what it was called but it was good

The Daily Grind

Today is another great day. This is my shcedule plan:

8-9 Plan PTO
9-10 Plan open gym and reserve gym
10-4 Work on farm
4-6 Plan Dedication service

Somewhere in that schedule i have to finish staining our deck.

Yesterday was a nice day. We had birthday dinner for my dad. He is 59, i hope he doesn't care i just told everyone his age (well not everyone, just maybe 6 or 7 followers). The kids went swimming and had fun. Then i got a nap! it was only for 30 min but it was nice. I wrestled with the kids and had good family day.

I am running again. I took a couple of weeks off after the marathon and now i am going to work on my 5k time for the next month. I am going to run the Gobble Wobble on Thanksgiving day and i want to improve from my personal best of 20 min and 56 sec.

That's all for now

Rick - Breakfast casserole and apple cobbler, happy birthday dad!

he he...

yup that's me laughing.

This has been a great weekend. We had our "After game Party" on Friday night after the Deckerville football game. It was quite fun. There was about 60 kids that came out the all seemed to have a pretty good time. we had a milk drinking contest and we didn't tell them that if you drink a gallon of milk you will throw up. the kid that won drank it in like 9 minuets with several pukings (is that a word?). Saturday we had our last corn maze and it was so freezing cold. People still came out. Corn mazes are quite easy to put on, it just takes up your Saturday night. We had alot of fun doing it this year and it is something we will probably do every year.

Kids are doing good. Julean is starting to tackle every one. Its kinda cute cause he just falls down and holds on as best as he can. I have caught him several times with his arms around Adriana or Isaiah's legs.

Anyway gotta go and cut wood

- Rick - Cereal for dinner and it was awesome!

3 days till sunday

Time is ticking away until the marathon. Sunday at 7:15am i will start and finish the my 4th Detroit marathon. I will finish, I will. I have a goal but i am not willing to post it that way if i don't make it i don't have to be write a retraction.

Hey i am really enjoying christianrock.net it has some great music and it has different varieties that you can pick from, just thought i would throw that plug in. Kristi doesn't like the hip-hop though.

Alright kids section: Adriana is definitely a blond. she is in her own world 90% of the time. The other day Isaiah was helping me clean out the shed and he saw my chain saw and and said "dad why do you have a chain saw?" I told him i use it to cut wood and he knew that. He then said "well you know you could cut someones neck off with it." I don't know where he got that from but it is the second time he has mentioned cutting off someones neck. the first time was a month or so ago and he asked me if someone was hurting him if i would beat that person up. I said i would and he said "well you would probably cut their neck off right?" I think he came up with it by himself. The other day Kristi had the music going and was cleaning the kitchen or making a meal or something. She looked over at Julean and he was standing on the table dancing in place, just having a good time. She wasn't sure just how long he had been up there but he soon realized he was being watched and stopped dancing.

Ministry is going well. I wrote an article for the Deckerville Recorder and they put it on the front page. I don't know if that is a big accomplishment or not. It was about our new youth center. I have alot to get done before this weekend so i gotta go

- Rick - tuna casserole with crossonts

A new day

Hello to one and all, especially my 6 followers! I woke up late today but i am not too far behind my schedule. I taught the kids today. i teach them bible every Monday. This morning it was about moses and the plagues and i told them that God can do anything. Isaiah said "can God make webs like spider man?" Then today Kristi was teaching the kids about thanksgiving and the mayflower. At lunch she asked them some review questions and she asked Adriana what were the people called that were on the mayflower and Adriana said "Acorns." I thought that was pretty funny and i had just drank something so i had to be careful not to spit it all over the place.

Today for my schedule i have to get things from the farm and bring them over to the youth center for the fifth quarter next week. after lunch have to get PTO ready for tomorrow. and then take an H&R Block class and then football at 3 til 6.

I ran 8 yesterday. I am not really trying to push it much this week. the marathon is on Sunday. I still haven't got my passport. I am hoping it comes in the mail soon.

- Rick - Taco Bell mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

A New day

Behind already but it is a new day and i am feeling pretty good! I am supposed to clean out my chimney today, build barn wood frames for Kristi, Bike, and football game. What am i doing right now? I am up at the youth center working on stuff here. This week my day off is going to be on Friday. The schedule is a little mixed up.

There is only a couple of weeks left until the marathon. I need to get a couple more quality runs in and last night i was supposed to go but i didn't. This morning Johnny is working on the stage and sound booth for the youth center and it is coming along good. I might try and put a picture on about it.

Kids are doing good. Isaiah helped me cut wood yesterday and i put a new blade on my saw and gave him the old one. Well i looked over at him about 10 min later and he was trying to cut some wood with the chain blade (this blade was dull and half of the teeth had broken off, so it is safe in case you were alarmed). Kristi and I did a puppet show for the kids the other night and we used their stuffed animals for characters. We had spider man, Shadow, and duck. Well the Duck is Julean's and he could have cared less about the script he just kept saying "duck, duck!" And Julean will not say yes. No matter what you ask him. He will either say no or if he wants something he just repeats what you ask. The other night i was tickling him to the point of crying. I would stop and tell him to say yes but he would just look up at me and say "no" so i would mercilessly tickle him until he was about to cry and then go through the whole cycle again. he is starting to get very stubborn. any way that's all.

- Rick - left over steak - and it was still awesome

Hey i got it! its not a very good pic though.

Today has been going pretty good day. Me and Isaiah went and cut wood this morning and we got quite abit done. Also today we were supposed to have a football game and it got postponed until tomorrow so that means i have to miss church. I have to run yet today. I am supposed to run 5 1ks at 3:13 each. my workouts are starting to decrease in intensity because it is getting closer to the big day. October 18th is the day my 4th marathon and it will be the 3rd time do Detroit. They changed the course this year and that is sort of annoying but i still think i am pretty familiar with it. Anyway see you later

- Rick - STEAK!

Was that really a day off?

Yesterday was my day off and it seemed like it was just as busy as any other day. We did spend time as a family in the morning but then i had to study for an H&R Block class and then football and then class. It seemed like after 12pm I was just as busy as any other day. Today i go over the finances and collect candy bars. I am supposed to bike today for cross training. Yesterday i ran 5 miles. It was supposed to be at a 7:30 pace and when i was finished it ended up being a 7:31 pace so i was pretty pleased. that's all for now.

- Rick - Pizza from the oven, not the best, but quick and easy!

Yesterday

Yesterday was a pretty good day. We had PTO (Power Take Off) at the school at 7:30am. There were about 10-12 kids that came out and it was cool to meet some new kids. Pray about this program because it is the only weekly program that we have going right now. It is the way we keep in contact with the same kids weekly.

After PTO I went and cut wood for about 5 hours. It went good at first but then the teeth kept breaking on my saw and it made the cutting increasingly slower (increasingly slower? does that make sense?). Someone gave us a big pile of wood, i just have to go and cut it. He wants it out before it starts snowing. It is a huge blessing though!

After Cutting wood I went to the beacon in Sandusky and helped with their after school program. We played a game were you had to get another person to laugh. I tried the cat and it didn't work. Well needless to say i felt pretty dumb but it was still fun. (if you don't know what the "cat" is its probably a good thing)

We had a football game last night and we lost 8-18. The kids are getting better though. We did finally score a touchdown.

I ran in the dark last night after the football game. I had a track workout and I ran 8 - 800s. It was raining and windy and pure torture. I am glad i did it though

- Rick - Lasagna (and it was soooooo good!)

Monday and running - not literally

Yes it is Monday, and I am grinding out my schedule. I have to make flyers for our 5th quarter. Actually if you are reading this maybe you could help and give some ideas for a better name than 5th quarter. I also am making a flyer for our Halloween open house.

Last night Johnny K performed at the McGregor Methodist church. It was pretty good. Isaiah went right up to the stage and started dancing quite wildly. Randee said he did a Pee Wee Hermon dance. Julean put on some pretty good moves too. Before we got there i had a talk with the kids and told them that there was to be no fighting, no teasing, no loud yelling, screaming or whining. I should have added no embarrassing you parents either.

I am supposed to Ride my bike tonight. I want to go 16miles but it is quiet windy so we will just see how far i make it

- Rick - Hot dogs and chips (i snuck in a bowl of cereal too)

busy today

Hello,

I have an all day course to take over at H&R block today, not fun. Then when i get done i am going straight to our corn maze, fun but alot of work. All is pretty good here. I took the kids on a four wheeler ride on our day off and they thought it was fun. Julean started crying when we started to ride further away from grandmas house. I guess he thought we were never coming back. Anyway gotta go

- Rick - Pork and potatoes

Wednesday is like friday

Tomorrow is my day off! I am looking forward to spending the day with the family. We are going to go swimming over at moms i think and just relax. I do have football practice though at 3 so that is not a complete day off. There was game last night and we lost 32 to 0. We haven't even scored yet this year. oh well.

This morning was See You At The Pole. It started at 7am and we thought that it was at 7:30 so we showed up and no one was there. That was a little disappointing. Kristi and i went into the school though and talked to some kids anyway. We are starting PTO next Tuesday. That is our weekly Bible study at the school.

I have alot to get done today. i am supposed to run 15miles at 8:12 pace. That actually sounds kinda fun today. i am in the mood to just get out alone and push my body physically. its a good stress relief sometimes. i just don't know if I'll be motivated for 15 miles.

Yesterday I taught the kids about missionaries and how they go all over the world and tell people about Jesus. I had a map of the world and some missionary prayer cards and i showed them were the missionary were at. Isaiah doesn't get the concept of the map though. I showed him were his grandma and grandpa live in SC. I told it took a long time to get there and he said "our car could drive over this map in a second." Any way the kids are doing good. Julean had diarrhea yesterday and had 2 or 3 accidents. sounds fun huh?

Later - Potato casserole with corn flakes on top - Don't forget the cornflakes!

10 days later - has it really been that long?

hey what's up? I am working quite a bit up here at the cm youth center. We have to come up with a cool name for this place. I am actually caught up on things for this week but i can't get comfortable because i have alot to do this week. We were given a computer for the youth center and i am working on getting that going. I also have a game tonight at home against Vassar. this will be our second game. Our fist game was against Bad Axe and we lost 22 to nothing.

Last night Isaiah slept over at a friends house and Adriana had a friend over. So there were two silly girls in the house last night that didn't want to go to bed. They were very good though. I hope Isaiah was too. Anyway nothing else spectacular is happening today (you might figure that because if something big was happening today i wouldn't blog).

Oh i am also going to start a new blog in addition to this one. it will be more of my devotional life.

- Later - I need a five hour energy!

missions conference update

we are having a great time here at the missions conference. I got to give a 5 min testimony for their church wide breakfast. Tomorrow I am teaching a Sunday school tomorrow and we are doing some kinda faith promise service were we have to go in front of the whole church. Today we went on a helicopter ride. Adriana and Isaiah loved it. Julean was so excited to see the helicopter and he was clapping and jumping up and down, but when he got on with me he was stiff and silent. I think he liked it but he might have been alittle scared.

Last night we were having devotions with the kids and we were reading a book to them and in the book it said that if we obey Jesus we shine like stars. Then Isaiah said if we don't obey Jesus we shine like onions. I don't know were he came up with that.

We are having a great time

- rick - ate barbecue and hash - don't ask what hash is but i love it!

ssc - stuck in South Carolina

To all my followers out there, yeah all 3 of you. I am in South Carolina this week. We are here at the missions conference at Bethlehem Baptist Church. It has been a crazy week, but good. We have had the opportunity to meet other missionaries and talk to them about their ministries. We have also had the chance to appeal for individual support. We are praying that Chamber Ministries will get more support from this event. We set up a display booth and i get to share a testimony in Church and also share what we are doing for a Sunday school class. While this is a trip to try and gain support it has also been an awesome opportunity to see the Lord at work not only in our lives but in the lives of believers and missionaries around the world.

-rick - eating alot of junk food lately

three days behind but still kickin

um yeah when i started this blog i thought it would be cool, and it would be easy to keep up with, not so. its not that there isn't enough to say its that there is too much going on.

Today is Wednesday and i still haven't finished what i was supposed to do on Monday. I also am not getting a day off this week because of the holiday. Tomorrow i am helping dad paint the barn, that means the roof too. I remember the last time the barn was painted, i was in like 6th grade. I think the time before that Dad did it when he graduated from High School - with a brush (he painted the barn with a brush, not graduated with a brush).

football has started and that seems to just be taking up way more time than i seem to remember. it is from 3:30-6:00 everyday. It is going ok, I am just finding it hard to get motivated to be a ruff and tuff coach. there so much stinking drama involved with football. We have about 25 kids out and that is pretty low. we usually have about 35-40.

Kids are doing good. Isaiah is getting alot better at reading. he is growing up so fast. He also really strong. He lifted a box of books from the house out to the truck, and he helps me cut wood and he picks up some pretty big pieces. Adriana has become a speed talker, she asks questions and then answers them even before i can say a word, is that a girl thing? Julean is madly in love with Lightning McQueen, still. we got him this really big one and he holds it like a stuffed animal but it is just plastic. lately he has been caring the DVD case for cars around and asks all the time is we can watch it. Matthias - pooping, sleeping, eating, - that's about it

Running has been kinda tough lately. I just can't seem to find any motivation to go out and run. on Saturday i did 16 miles in 2 hours and 14 min. that was pretty good but i haven't done well since then.

anyway gotta go - had steak last night

-rick

messin around

hey gonna try and put a pic on

cool huh?

Monday and already behind

Today is going too fast. We started home school today and i teach the kids Bible twice a week. This morning they learned about king Josiah. It went pretty good. The wedding we went to was very nice. Mom and dad kept the kids and they even spent the night there. I was supposed to run a race on Saturday morning but it was posted on the Internet for the wrong date, so i was the only one there ready to race. Then we went to moms and got the Paintball course set up for the evening. I then drove to Sandusky to look at lawn mower which we didn't get. On Sunday we went to Lifesong.org church, came home and the kids took a nap while i went up to the youth center to work on stuff i didn't get done for the previous week. So that is how my weekend went.

On Saturday night i had fun with paintball. There were 11 boys that came out and i shared with them briefly about having a personal relationship with Christ. Then we played paintball. We have two different courses one in the woods and one in the open field with really tall grass. We played both courses and one kid said that he liked the course in the forest better (i know, you didn't know we had a forest did you). I played a couple of times, i got shot about 3 times and still have the marks to prove it. I then shot a kid in the groin. Great aim huh? We had fun.

I have to run tonight. i am supposed to run a 1600 in 6:42 then 2 1600 at 6:42 then an 800 at 3:13 then another 800 @ 3:13. there is supposed to be a rest in between each thing. Mondays are my track day. I do all my runs on the track. I got my bike fixed and i am going to try and cross train on the odd days.

Gonna go - grilled chicken that has been marinating for 2 days - I know your jealous

- Rick

Friday all ready

Yesterday my day off, wow two weeks in a row with a day off! We went to sandusky and ate at Burger king and let the kids play on the indoor playground while it pored outside. We got home and the kids watched the wizard of Oz. They loved it! Two nights ago Adriana woke up screaming and Kristi got up with her at 2am and 3am, then she screamed again and i said i would just lay in the bed next to her. Well i fell asleep and woke up in the morning in her room. The next night i went to tuck her in and she said, "daddy you slept next to me last night and you didn't have a shirt on." I said yeah i know then she said, "I was scared and i hugged you while you slept because i love you." That makes a dad's heart just melt. also another thing that was exciting the other day i killed a snake and the kids thought that was just so cool. I was maybe 18 inches long and Isaiah said "was that a baby snake?" i said no it was bigger than a baby but it wasn't a real big one, then he said "it was probably a teenager snake." Julean has now gone 3 days without any accidents in his potty training. He still will not tell us when he has to go we just sit him on the toiled every hour.

Today i ran 13miles, it was my long run. i was supposed to go 18 but i wimped out at 13. i was supposed to run at 8:37 pace. but i ended with about 9 flat. i am also running a 5k tomorrow in Lexington.

The ministry is going well, I worked on finances for about 2 hours this morning, and then collected candy bars. I also registered Chamber ministries to receive an intern from Liberty. We are looking for an intern to help run a weekly program. Hopefully it will be a spring board to advance our ministry options here in Deckerville. We are also thinking about taking a group of kids to Word of Life Snow camp. I contacted our area missionary and we are tyring to get a bus from the state to go.

We are going to a wedding tonight and mom is watching 3 of the kids. we are taking Matthias.

- gotta go - Reception tonight my stomach is growling

-rick

Tuesday

Tuesday is typically my "office day." I try to spend the whold day on office paperwork, scheduling, and calling. I usually never get everything done. today my schedule looks like this:

7:30 - prayer meeting
8:00 - Support card
10:00 - Email
11:00 - Call CPS - set up PTO
12:00 - lunch
1:00 - contacts, and mailings
3:00 - Update computer
5:00 - dinner
6:00 - calling - kids

Yesterday was a good day, i Went to the farm in the after noon instread of the morning becuase it was raining. I was driving the tractor and the wheel fell off in the river - exciting huh?! We had lunch with our old intern who is moving to Missouri for a year. Then i called the boy scouts about having them come out to our corn maze this year, there coming. We also went out to eat yesterday and that was the first time in a long time. Johnny and Randee took a professional picture or our family for a prayer card that we are trying to make. I didn't get my grant proposal done so i am a little behind for the week. After dinner last night i ran 12 400's and the goal was to run them in 1:35 each. the first 4 weren't that hard but the last 8 were quite tough. i am sore today.

see ya later - Champions need i say more?

Rick's monday

Well its monday. today my list looks like this

8-12 farm
12-1 lunch
1-3 cabnet door
3-4 calling,
4-6 grant application
6-7 dinner
7-8 run

doesn't that seem exciting?

We had a pretty good Sunday, church was good then we went to Randee's house for lunch. After that Kristi and I put the kids down for a nap and worked on our schedule for the week. then we came up to the youth center and moved stuff around in the place where we want to put a basket ball hoop and the half pipe. there is so much stuff in there that should have been moved out by now and the person who said it would be done by the weekend hasn't come through on their word.

anyway gonna go,

- Rick (lasagna and ham sandwiches)

Rick's monday

first blog ever - the never ending first

This is a trial for Rick. I am not quite sure if this is for me but I am going to try and keep up with this. I also am not a very good at typing or spelling. This is my formal disclaimer.

I survived today! I watched all four kids today until noon. it was actually quite fun. i had them up at the youth center while i worked. i mailed off 120 flyers for our paintball night on next Saturday. i hope we have a good turn out. After mailing all those flyers i got my router working so now i am wireless at the office. Then did the finances for 2 hours, its a weekly thing. I had to make a trip to Sandusky and Isaiah went with me. Then i worked at getting the my phone hooked up. we are trying magic jack and i hope it works well for us. After dinner i went for my run. Well at least i attempted my run. I was supposed to run 13 miles at 8:17 pace. yeah well i only made it 3 miles at that pace and then i just quit and walked home. i am going to try again tomorrow.

Yesterday was awesome. it has been quite a while since we took a whole day and just focused on our family. We are going to try really hard to make this a weekly tradition.

- that's all for now, Taco Salad - it doesn't get much better.

-rick

First blog ever III

This is a trial for Rick. I am not quite sure if this is for me but I am going to try and keep up with this. I also am not a very good at typing or spelling. This is my formal disclaimer.

Today was an eventful day. I cut wood with my son Isaiah and I was cutting down a tree and my chain saw got stuck in the tree. I had to get the tractor and pull the tree over to get my saw out. Sounds fun huh? Also today i mowed the paintball field and the corn maze, then i went home and mowed my lawn. Wednesdays are like my day to be outside, its actually kinda nice. I finished the lawn and made a barn wood frame for Kristi. She has wanted me to make her one for like 2 years. Now i am up at the Youth Center trying to get the corn maze flyers done. I have to go for a run after dinner tonight and i got a feeling its going to be kinda ruff.

Tomorrow is my day off, yippee.

oh and cereal is sooooooo good

- Rick

first bolg ever - the sequal

This is a trial for Rick. I am not quite sure if this is for me but I am going to try and keep up with this. I also am not a very good at typing or spelling. This is my formal disclaimer.

today was insane, actually it was pretty normal because insane is normal for me. I got up late and seemed like i never recovered. One awesome thing did happen though, they hooked up the internet at the youth center today. they had orginally said that it would take 2 weeks but it really only took 1 day. However, i spent the rest of the day trying to hook the wireless router up. the wireless router was donated to us and i cant seem to get it working right. I did however, get some paintball things together and we are going to have another paintball outing on the 22nd of August.



I also finished a grant application. this grant would be awesome if we got it. It is for 750,000 a year for five years. Wouldn't that be awesome? I am probably getting my hopes up but what is the harm in trying.



I took the kids up to the office while i worked. that gave Kristi a break for a while. The kids were actually quite good. they played with play dough and were quite while i worked, my kids are the best.



thats about it, oh yeah we had chicken today too



- Rick

first blog ever

This is a trial for Rick. I am not quite sure if this is for me but I am going to try and keep up with this. I also am not a very good at typing or spelling. This is my formal disclaimer.

Today was very stressful. I worked on the farm for about 2 hours. I would like to work more because we need the money, but dad didn't have anything else for me today. We received a big answer to prayer today. Since i haven't been working on the farm lately we have been a little behind on our bills but today we received a check for over paid taxes for 2008. It was enough to get us caught back up. God is so good and has always come through, maybe not the way always think he should.

Today we also took some teens to the lake and went tubing. After tubing we had a bonfire and cookout at dad and mom's house. Then i went running and i am trying a different running program and it kicked my but. i got a feeling i am going to be sore tomorrow.

that's all for now

-Rick