Mariah Carey

Ok, so she's got the best voice on the planet...big deal! This reeks! Where is her agent?...he should've had her in the bullpen warming up. Unbelievable!

Recorder Concert

Madison had her Recorder Concert last Thursday night. This is a recorder, in case you're wondering. Honestly, the recorder is not the most pleasant thing to listen to when you're driving down the road, watching TV, taking a nap...pretty much anytime. I'm not a big fan of the recorder. However, when your daughter is playing in a RECORDER CONCERT...that changes everything my friend. The 1st song of the night was called, "All About B." The reason for the name is because they only play a "B" note during the whole song. Thank the good Lord for the accompaniment tracks they play along with. All in all it was a good show. Will I go to any future recorder concerts? Notta! Unless, Madison or Micah is performing and possibly a neice or nephew. It's amazing how we can enjoy something simply because it's our children. I think God is the same way. He created each and every one of us and He simply enjoys watching us reach our potential. The things we do or accomplish in this world may seem little and insignificant to some, but God loves them. He loves watching us succeed. There's nothing He can't do, yet, He still loves to watch His children perform. When I walk away from this 'stage' of life and move to eternity with Him, I want to hear the words..."Well done, good and faithful servant!"

I have a major gas problem!

I had to swing by SuperD today and fill up the car. $51.37 to fill up a little Mazda 626...what??? This is getting a little bit crazy. And I love what's printed on the bottom of the receipt..."have a nice day!" Yeah...whatever SuperD Dude.

I leave you with some humor for your holiday weekend:

"There was a sign at the station near by my house that said, 'We take Visa, Mastercard, Discover Card, and American Express.' After I filled up they took my Visa, Master Card, my Discover Card, and my American Express."

"Gas is so expensive SUV now stands for sport utility victim."

"As you know, the government takes 40 percent of what you make. The other 60 percent, of course, taken by the gas stations."

"The price of gas in California is going crazy. In fact, today I did something smart. I bought a gallon as an investment."

"How many went to the beach this weekend? How many went to the mountains? How many just piled in the family car, sat in the driveway, and pretended you could actually afford gas to go somewhere?"

Awards Week

As I said in the "Swim Party" article...my girls are in the last week of school. One thing that goes down during the last couple weeks of school is awards time. Micah had hers last week and Madison had hers on Tuesday. It's interesting because we are talking about awards this weekend within the Attic Series. We all have trophies, awards, certificates...stuff like that in our Attic. It's a reminder of our past accomplishments and where our passion was directed during our youth. What are we passionate about now? Are we going for the rewards from God and does He even give any? That's what we will discuss this Sunday. I know it's Memorial Day weekend but come expecting...we've had two great Sundays and we need to keep the momentum going.

Swim Party!

My daughters are in the final week of school before the summer break begins. I can remember as a child how excited I was during this time. I couldn't wait for school to end and summer to begin. The last week was always full of field trips & extra recess...which I'm all about! Well, times haven't changed much since the 80's. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend Maddie's trip to the Y for a day on the playground & time in the pool. Tons of 3rd graders from Brookland invaded the park for play & lunch. After lunch, they hopped across the street for some fun in the pool. While at the pool monitoring Maddie's swimming techniques, I was able to capture 3 great moments. They are listed below:

Moment 1: Lady gets surprised!

The pool at the Y is actually very large & they have another kiddie pool that would be better labeled as a junior size pool...a bit larger than kiddie in my mind. Well, before the kids could swim they had to be seated in the bleachers and given the "rules of the pool." There was a lady on the "bleacher end" of the pool laying out. She was the only person on that end of the pool and appeared to be sleeping. 100 or more 3rd graders put a stop to that. They all run to the bleachers to prepare for the speech from the Y lifeguards. You guessed it...the lady (who had privacy) gets caught in between the lifeguards and tons of 3rd graders. She just looked up for a little bit, rubbed her eyes & laid back down. Think about it...it's too late to run...why not just stay and wait it out.



Moment 2: New guy?

I had to take a shot of this lifeguard. He had a farmer's tan. What's up with that? If I'm gonna be a lifeguard...I'm making a few appointments at the local tanning salon before my 1st day on the job. This guy looked like he stepped off the John Deere, spit out his snuff, slipped on his trunks and clocked in. Wow!

Moment 3: Speedos!

That's wrong! A pool full of 3rd graders and a guy shows up in Speedos?...that's just wrong!

My Sister

This is my Sister Carla. We had her 40th birthday party at my house on Friday night. She thought she was going out to eat with Dad & Mom. When she arrived at my house we were all dressed in black, but she still didn't get it. Dad & Mom said they were stopping by to show her the house and see all the work we've been doing. Get this, black balloons were floating around the floor and it still didn't register. Finally, we had to break the news...Happy Birthday! She was pretty surprised...as you probably figured out. It was fun to grill, cook smores and hang out with the family. Carla is an amazing person. She has a disability, but she doesn't let that stop her from staying active. Whenever I feel lazy or ready to drop everything...I think of her and how everyday is a battle. This is one of my favorite verses and it exemplifies Carla's life. Love ya Sis!

Angel

This dog looks sweet and innocent and is named "Angel" but don't let that fool you. At the Archer house we have a coyote problem. We've got a few animals...goats, 1 pot bellied pig (soon to be history...that's another story) another dog, 2 cats, 2 horses & chickens. Well, we've lost about 7 goats & numerous chickens in the past 2 or 3 months. We had some ideas...people stealing the goats to cook (as napoleon dynamite says, freakin' gross!), neighbors dogs killing the chickens, animals just escaping the Archer property and moving to greener pastures. None of the above are true and this was made clear a couple weeks ago. Sunday, 6:30 a.m. , I'm reading my Bible and I hear a big crash on the outside wall of the house. When I look out the window I see a coyote carrying away one of our roosters. It was pretty awesome...you now recognize I'm not real connected to the chickens. Anyway, I was telling Dad about it and we talked about the need for a dog that would protect the animals. No kidding, the next day Dad shows up with this little white fluffy dog and says, she's the real deal. Micah named her Angel since she would be the "guardian angel" over the property. Angel is a Great Pyrenees...you can check them out here. She will probably end up being around 100 lbs or so. Dad said the parents of Angel were "huge dogs." Well, let me assure you, Angel is no Angel right now...she's a little brat dog that's getting under my skin. She won't stay in the pen. Everytime I come home...she's out...wake up in the morning...she's out. I've spanked her numerous times and thrown her back in the pen only to watch her climb right back out. I even borrowed Dad's shock collar, put her in the pen and shocked her everytime she stuck her nose on the fence. It's not working. She's stubborn. And so I'm reminded of our attitude towards God. How many warnings does he have to give us?...how many times does he have to shock us?...how many spankings do we need before we see reality?...He has the path for me...all I need to do is follow.

A side note:

Someone in our cell group was saved last night and will be baptized this Sunday. We cried, we hugged...it was awesome...who was it? Come Sunday and find out!

Auditorium

Well, I wanted to post some pics from our 1st service, but as I said yesterday, I forgot my camera. So, I walked out to the Auditorium a few minutes ago to snap a couple shots so you can see the completed stage. Our current series is called, "The Attic." Sorry for the ladder, I didn't feel like moving it, so it made the picture. See ya!

Successful 1st Service!

You know that guy who always plans on doing stuff but he never remembers to do it when it needs to be done?...maybe you don't but I'm that guy. I had big plans of bringing my camera Sunday Morning, handing it off to someone in hopes that they would take some shots of the 1st service for me and I would be all cool and stick it on the blog this week...yeah, didn't happen. I totally forgot my camera. I guess I had too many things on my mind this weekend. Anyway, the service was pretty awesome...we kicked off a new series..."The Attic." The stage looks very cool. It was pretty sweet being able to walk in from backstage...we've never had that luxury before. I even had a couple teenagers as stage hands. I think they enjoyed it. The band sounded great...it was just a cool day. There was some added energy on Sunday also, probably fueled by the new building. My prayer is that we can keep this kind of feel and energy rolling. I'm pumped!!!

Approved!

After a small gas leak, no mounted fire extinguishers & no smoke alarms...the inspectors have given a verbal "ok." We are cleared to have service this weekend! See ya Sunday@10:30.

Final Inspection

The final inspection on our new facility will take place today at 1:30. If approved, we'll be able to legally have service this weekend. If denied...hmm...it can't get denied, come on!!! I'll let you know how it went later this afternoon.

Pictures from last night.

Update!

The building is coming along nicely. We are seeing some rooms completed and some major projects come to an end. Electric & carpet guys should wrap things up around noon today. Jon, Mike & Charlton fired up the sound system last night around 9:30. I think we are going to get a good sound in this building. We have some people coming to work tonight and if I can remember, I'll bring my camera, take a few shots and post them tomorrow. We will have our 1st service in this building Sunday morning, Mother's Day. The new series is called "The Attic." Come ready!!!

Hallway lights are installed!

Gathering cancelled!!!

Since we will be at Cathedral this Sunday we don't really have a place to have the Gathering. So, for that reason we are cancelling the Gathering this Sunday night and the Monthly Staff Meeting.

Don't forget...

we'll be here this Sunday. Next Sunday we will have our 1st service in the new building. Yee Haw!!!