My Guitar Hero

This is part of a concert Meredith and I got to enjoy on Friday.

Yesterday

As you may or may not know Wednesday's are a pretty busy day for youth pastors. My Wednesday this week was busy and a bit emotional for me. I'm going to be a little transparent with you today. Oprah would be so proud of me. Not really, I am a guy and I don't think she likes guys too much. Anyway, my church is doing something different on Sunday nights to help our congregation get to know each other better. It has been really fun. We start off with a dinner and then play a big group game. We've been doing a power point version of "Jeopardy" with the categories related to the families being highlighted that week. "Places we've been", "What I'd like to be doing", "Favorite Vacations Spots" stuff like that. Well, this week we are doing a baby picture game. We'll show a picture of a baby on the big screen at church and everyone will have to guess who it is. I have been working on the power point for that. All that being said to say this. Jaye asked my mom to dig out a few baby pictures of me, which I pointed out in an earlier post are really hard to come by. So Granny found some, two to be exact. She said, "All the other ones are in the attic." My question is who's attic, cause I know they aren't in hers. One of those pictures is of my dad holding what I would call one of the top 5 or 6 cutest babies in the world, me :) So those of you that will be at church this Sunday will get one correct right off the bat cause that's me on my Dad's lap.
Ok, so I've been working on those pictures and then yesterday we had a funeral service here at the church. It was a memorial service, no casket or anything like that. Much the same as my family had for Dad. It took me back to his service. I have been reminded of how much time has passed since then; he never met Anna or Joseph, didn't get a chance to see how beautiful Jessica is or what type of man Wesley is growing into. Plus, I've been looking at pictures of me, my family, my kids and that also makes me realize how fast time goes by, how old I'm getting, how old my babies are, how much I miss my Dad (he died almost eight years ago and it seems like last week). Emotions, aghhh. All that going on and I had to finish up plans for youth group, print out permission slips for a district all nighter, clean up, rearrange for youth group, cook dinner.... I'm glad it is going to be Friday soon.

New Phone

I got a new cell phone today. I had a really junky one now I have a really cool one. I had been using different Palm PDAs for the last 7 or 8 years and really loved them. They were very helpful in keeping track of things, you know, phone numbers, appointments, pictures, etc. Well, when I got the new lap top a few months ago I stopped using my Palm Tungsten 3. I would leave the house with a cell phone in one pocket, wad of keys in another and the T3 stuck in also. I really got tired of carrying all that stuff around. So my plan was to switch over to one handheld device that did it all plus free up my pockets for much more important things like knives, coins, wads of money (like I'd ever have any of that), pens and those sorts of things. Well today was the day that it all came together. I came home with a HTC P4300. It's cool, I now can walk around a few pounds lighter and keep track of all those important people and things. I can also check my email or surf the net if I'm near a hot spot. That is if I don't mind surfing the net on a tiny, little bitty screen. But the point is I can do all that stuff if I wanna. And the really cool thing, I can connect the new phone to the new lap top and really stay organized. I'm sure you really don't wanna read about this so here's an idea give me a call and we can talk. ~Brian

Florida

Hey, so much excitement and I haven't even blogged about our Florida Vacation!! Since we HAD to be in Florida anyway, we decided to tack on a few extra days and get in some vacation time! Since we drove down we did make the most of our 17ish hours in the van! The kiddos didn't seem to get too stir crazy thanks to the dvd player, ipods and the Nintendo DS. Yeah, we did actually play some "real" games and had a lot of fun on the walkie talkies too. Man, I remember vacationing as a kid and all I had was a coloring book and a box of crayons! :)

We made it to Macon, Georgia on Christmas Day. We stayed at Macon Wesleyan Church...actually camped out in the sanctuary for the night! Mark Atkinson is the pastor there...he is also a very good friend of ours! Mark (my youth pastor) and Ronda took an interest in us when we were teens and played a very important role in our lives.

My Bed...it was actually pretty comfy!

Mark, Anthony and Chi Atkinson...David and Daniel Hill (Wesley is also hidden in the picture)

Jaye, Tiffany (Atkinson) Hilty and Jess

We made it to Orlando on the 26th just in enough time for some pizza and to crash in the comfy hotel bed!!

View from our hotel window

Before our work began on the 27th we went to the Ripleys Museum. Check it out here, it was really cool.

After the convention was over on the 31st, the teens left to go home...We left to go to Cocoa Beach!!

Kent, Angie and Meredith Santee

We spent New Years Eve eating and playing games in Pastor Steve and Cheri's suite. How beautiful to watch all the fireworks over Orlando when midnight approached. You could even see the ones from Magic Kingdom. They actually did a countdown to midnight...the fireworks were numbers counting from 10 to 1...I was really impressed!

Okay, enough for now...I'll blog later about Walt Disney World "where all your dreams come true"...especially if you have a credit card in your pocket!! :)

They Pulled it Off!!

I have NEVER been more surprised at anything than I was tonight! Thru lots of clever planning Brian and the kiddos pulled it off...a surprise 40th b-day party! When the kids got home from school we went thru the normal birthday routine of opening my presents. Then off to the kitchen they went to bake my traditional German Chocolate Cake. After a bit, Jessica and I went upstairs to do some planned scrapbooking/card making. I didn't realize she had turned the radio up so that I wouldn't hear the crowd of people making their way into our kitchen. I knew that Brian was grilling a steak for me and preparing the table for a fun/festive dinner and that's why I couldn't come downstairs. Just when the creative, crafty juices started to flow, he came and got me for dinner. I was lead into the kitchen with eyes closed only to be surprised by a bunch of my dear friends! What a GREAT night and I have to say I was totally surprised. Looking back on the past week, I should've caught on several times but didn't! I'm glad though...it was the best b-day ever! Enjoy some pictures...I won't post them all in order to protect the innocent! ~Jaye

Suzie and Joseph

Angie, Meredith and Kent

Amanda, Joseph and Anna

Bekah and me

Krista, Payge and Meredith

Brian enjoying the black icing!

The Perpetrators

You say it's your birthday-well, it's my birthday too!

Today is my BIG day!! My big 4-0 day and I feel exactly the same as I did yesterday!! I say birthdays...the more the merrier! As long as I don't FEEL and LOOK like I'm in my 40's...bring 'em on!! Thank you Mom for the slow-aging genes you bestowed on me!! I'll report more as the day unfolds...presents await me I'm sure!! Happy Birthday to the only people I can think of that celebrate their b-day's with me, Katie Alberson, George Foreman, Pat Benatar and Rod Stewart!! Rock on~Jaye

What I do.

Many people wonder what a youth pastor does all day. Well, here is a sample of my Wednesdays. Hope you enjoy.