Foreigners

I've been thinking about "home" a little bit recently. We were visiting family this weekend who live about an hour and a half from our home. I was thinking about how if we lived there, it wouldn't ever quite feel like home. At least, to me. It would feel like we were always visiting. Never home.

A friend of ours is a native of Argentina, but also a citizen of Italy (and lived there for several years) and now resides here in New York. (Married to a US citizen.) So she has many homes, and in a way, often feels like she's "not home".

Home is interesting. It's definitely a location, but it's also a state of mind. The Bible says we who follow Jesus are foreigners. That we are never quite home. We read about the first disciples of Jesus today (the boys and I) who left everything at Jesus' simple invitation to, "Come follow me." He had no home, they had no home. They were travelers. Foreigners. Strangers.

Jen & I have also noticed recently how different we are. We are not like most of the people we know. Our priorities, what we want our family to live like, be like, look like. We're different. We feel, quite often, like foreigners.

So, how do you endure that? I guess the way you do is to know that no matter where we are in this life we are always foreigners. We are never home. We belong somewhere else, and until we leave this life or Jesus comes back for us, we'll always feel a little homesick.

With all the burdens of this foreign place that I am bearing lately, I am definitely "longing for home". For peace. Rest. But, that time has not come yet.

For now, I enjoy the "home" that God has given me. My beautiful wife, and five amazing kids. And our little yellow house. :-) Oh that life were only that simple.

Perhaps it can be.

Tank Who

My friend Hannah told me a joke this week, and I keep remembering it (and using the key phrase from it) so, I figured it needed to be shared here...

"Knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"Tank."

"Tank who?"

"You're welcome!"

Food Fest II

As promised, Food Fest II took place this weekend, and the following is a brief recap of the day's events.

The first eaters arrived around 11:00am, and much of the food was on the table, ready to be eaten! We had chips and salsa, chips and homemade Celery Seed Dip (a hit!), fresh sliced watermelon, deviled eggs, our favorite recipe potato salad, and Skyline was simmering in the crock pot! There was a big pitcher of fresh-brewed sweet tea, and some chocolate chocolate chip cookies, and I'm pretty sure there were a few other things I am forgetting!

We realized we were a tad low on the Frank's Red Hot, so after a quick trip to the store by the Chis, the next bunch of eaters arrived and we were ready to go! I threw some burgers and hot dogs (including some Zweigles!) on the grill and we started to eating! And it really never stopped!

Shortly after the burgers and dogs were done, the deep fryer arrived (borrowed from a friend) and we got ready to cook up the wings. We did take a slight break after the first food barrage, but that was filled by snacking on all of the above, including the additions of a fun apple salad and brownies cooked in a cast-iron skillet by the second group of eaters.

We played some board games, video games, and mostly hung out and talked (all while eating of course!) There was some napping, too! :-) More eaters came throughout the day, including our next door neighbors. I think I counted a total of twenty peoples coming through and joining Food Fest II.

No ice cream this year, but National Ice Cream Month officially starts tomorrow. So, get ready! Thirty-one straight days of ice cream! Food Fest never stops!

Plans for Food Fest III are already underway. Check back here at GregsHead.net for details! :-)

A-Social, or Hyper-Social?

I have been spending a lot of time using Facebook of late.

Whether just playing word games with friends, or making use of their live, instant message chat feature, or just keeping in touch with friends however possible - I've been there.

I am a people person (as I have said before) and so it would make sense to find me at a "people" site. But is connecting with people on Facebook really a social activity?

We were talking with our friends about social networking sites, and how in a strange way they are almost a-social. It's almost a way to keep from seeing people, and really interacting with them. By leaving a message here or there, or even using the real-time chat, some may consider that they are enjoying a relationship with another human being, and in a way they may be, but in reality, they are staying home and spending time on the computer instead of being with people.

My take on that was that I use Facebook to stay in touch with people I couldn't otherwise, and to just add to the other communication I have with friends who are local. It's another way to communicate.

What I noticed recently was that my time is spent very differently these days. I don't do a lot of things I used to do. I was talking with Jen about that... what has changed? And the only thing I could figure was Facebook. I've been using it a lot, and that corresponds with the time I have not been doing other fun stuff I used to do. And that's been fantastic. I have totally enjoyed keeping in touch with people I wouldn't otherwise have been able to talk to.

And that's what I think Facebook does for me. It actually is too social. :-) Maybe instead of a-social, Facebook is really hyper-social? You see, maybe we were only meant to relate to the people we could actually visit with in a given day? But now with electronic means of connecting - and Facebook makes that even easier! - I can have daily conversations with many folks I have met along the way in life.

That can fill up your time!

So, we're feeling a bit busy lately, and maybe that is why. We're hyper-social! Well, at least I am.

I may try a week or so without Facebook soon, and see what happens to my time. Could be an interesting experience.

But then, would that be a-social, or even anti-social? Would definitely be some sorta "social". :-)

Update from Greg's Head

I must say this poor blog has been quite neglected for the past couple weeks. It seems that my writing certainly goes in cycles. Sometimes I have lots to say and just can't help myself, so this blog is full of things to read. Sometimes I am so full of things to do that even though I do have things to say, I am not able to sit down and write them out. Other times, it's simply time for intake rather than output. I'd say we're definitely in a cycle involving a little of both of the last two.

So, instead of writing lots of detailed blogs (which I could certainly do, but must tend to other things) I will try and cover a lot of the stuff I'd like to chronicle here in bullet-point fashion.

• Work
  I have been very busy with web and graphic design, so much so that I am considering expanding. It feels as though the work load has grown too much for one person to handle. (At least, and still have family/free time.) I'm not certain how to work that out just yet, but the influx of clients continues, as well as a regular stream of work orders from satisfied current customers. A week or so ago I felt as though I was cresting the seemingly insurmountable hill of open projects, but then the hill just got a bit taller. So, I press on... Have made a few cool additions to my site (linked above) in the middle of the various projects I have been working on. I seriously need to update my "samples" page though as several of those clients have closed up shop and are no longer on the internet! :-)
  
  
• Music
  Oh, I finally did take our "Christmas decorations" down at our basicmm.com website, too. :-) I forget what motivated me to do it, since it was already late April or May when I did, but ... anyway, it's done. Also on the music front, our trip to Virginia in June may be in jeopardy because our family is too large to house! :-) We'll see what happens there...
  
  
• Fun
  Jen & I both have been enjoying Facebook and the many fun things therein. They added a live chat feature recently which has been extra cool. Realtime re-connecting with people you haven't spoken with in many years, or perhaps barely even know. Fun! (At least, for me that's fun!) Also, definitely loving playing the various word games there. I do love word games...
  
  
• Brennan Manning
  Jen cleaned out the attic recently and found a bunch of old cassette tapes. In one of the boxes was a set of teaching tapes we had purchased. It was "Healing Our Image of God... and Ourselves" by Brennan Manning. Manning's background as a catholic priest (and a monk, I believe) gives him an interesting perspective on the Gospel. But the heart of what he says is so great. It's the simple truth of the incredible love that our Father - Abba - has for us. We heard Brennan at a retreat over 10 years ago, and got his tapes there. He's been saying the same thing for decades - and I believe God has been re-emphasizing this basic point to me and Jen in recent years again - because it's the core of the Gospel/Good News. God loves us more than we can ask or imagine, and invites us to live life side by side with him, as his kids. Great stuff... on tape 4 of 5 right now. More on this to be sure...
  
  
• Friends
  Our closest friends - who are more like family - are moving. Their last day in town is next Wednesday. We have lived in the same town as them since we met in our college years. I moved up here to Rochester area with them right after college. Our kids have grown up together, sharing most of the fun/special days together. We've known of the move for a couple months now. That's kinda nice. Been a nice long goodbye. But it's still a goodbye, and life will definitely change. Very exciting for them, and I'm sure God will blow us away with the way(s) he fills what we can only see now as a void. But it's pretty sad at the same time. We're sure there will be tears next week. In the mean time, been helping with packing and moving as much as we can, and also just visiting as much as we can, while they're still here. We'll certainly see them again, but 15 minutes is a lot closer than 6 hours driving time. :-)
  
  
• Family
  We've also been visiting family a lot this month. We got to see my sister's new house in the Buffalo area. Then went over the next weekend for a big garage sale, and I made a nice mother's day lunch for my mother-in-law. :-) We're going over again this weekend, and then the next for various family events, too! It's nice that they are close, but it's also certainly an expense with gas being near $4.00/gallon!! Yikes!
  
  
• New Friends
  Jen has been going to the community center on Thursday mornings to join (mostly) moms with their pre-schoolers for a couple hours of playtime/funtime. This has been a cool way to meet people we have seen around town (at other similar events) and get to know them better. We obviously have the common link of having tiny kids :-) Looking forward to getting to know all of these new friends - who mostly live right around the corner(s) from us - over the summer.
  
  
• Lilacs!
  Whether you pronounce it "lie-lock" or, the proper, phonetic way (li-lac)... :-) I am just loving these flowers again this year. Been a neat spring in general. The flowering trees have been beautiful. Our neighbor has several lilac bushes and has generously allowed me to snap of some blooms whenever I'd like. And so, I've had beautiful, fragrant lilacs on my desk for the past week or two! Love it!
  
  
• Entertainment
  Almost forgot... been watching the NHL playoffs mostly these days. TiVo has been very helpful as we are usually out for evenings, but then watch the game in fast-forward once we are home! As close as the season was, it was surprising to see Pittsburgh and Detroit each take 3-0 series leads. The other teams both won their game fours, but should be a fantastic Stanley Cup Final between Pittsburgh and Detroit! They're both amazing.
  
  And, we've rediscovered our fondness for the 80s TV show, The Knight Rider. Our friends, the Vs, enjoy it as well (we loaned them our iPod to watch Season One in its entirety) and Season Two is now coming to our mailbox via Netflix. :-) Pretty corny at times, but also pretty fun. Ah, the good ol' days...

There have been lots of other fun events the past several days/weeks. Really can't share them all here. As I said, it's been a time of doing and intake more than a time of output :-) Suffice it to say, all of these social events have reminded me again that I am (or have become) a people person. I am not sure why I am doing an office-related job, then... :-) But am still super thankful for the provision we see from God in that.

More to come on the stuff I have been thinking through from the Brennan Manning tapes, as well as some good conversations with the church (friends who are fellow followers of Jesus), and just the stuff God has been placing on my heart and mind. So fun to share every bit of life with someone who loves me so much. Hope you know that, and you're experiencing that, too.

One-On-One, Full-Court... Football?

This weekend we did get some pretty decent weather, despite a good bit of rain, and we took advantage of it!

On Sunday afternoon, the boys and Kirstie and I headed up to the high school football field (just a few blocks from our house) and we found our way in through an open gate and played one on one football (Ian vs Alex, with Dad as the QB) ... using the FULL FIELD!!! Kirstie ran right along with us, too. They would get the ball at midfield to start (no kickoffs) and they even had me kick extra points and FGs! :-) (I went something like 4-5 on XPs and 0-2 on FGs... not too good!)

It was a blast, and they were quite exhausted at the end! :-)

Can't wait till next time, though!!

The night concluded with a walk for the whole family around a couple blocks, and a visit with some new friends who live close by. We met them on the way and walked with them back to their house and visited for a while. They have three little girls about the age of our little girls.

As the kids were all playing in their front yard, Alex lost a tooth... literally! It came out of his mouth, and he lost it in their yard!! :-) Ha! The Tooth Fairy still came and left him a dollar in his (empty) tooth pillow, though. :-)

A fun, full weekend of being a family of seven. Even got a visit from Jen's bro and his son. Very nice. Hopefully a good recharge for me. Busy week ahead!!

(So, may be kinda quiet here!)

Definitely enjoying this season of life though. We love being the Campbell family. :-)

¿Unos Mates?

Our friend, Laura, (who is from Argentina) sent me a link this morning to a series of videos from NBC's TODAY show that were done from Buenos Aires. There were a lot of videos there, but the link/video I noticed was the one above about the most common Argentine beverage, yerba mate.

Laura has gotten me hooked on this, and I drink it most days. (It can be sweetened a bit more than apparently it was in the video...) :-) Ian kind of likes it, and perhaps another kid or two will... but Jen is definitely not a fan. :-)

Anyway, just thought I would share this video here...

While I am tomando unos mates. :-)


[RELATED LINK: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24315283/]

Big Fun Food Day

For a little while now our friend Leah and I have been trying to plan a time for she and Scott and Jen & I to have a fun food extravaganza as a sort of "last hurrah" before they move to Maryland. Many obstacles have delayed the outing, and even made it seem impossible. But yesterday... we finally made it happen!! It was tons of fun! And tons of FOOD!

I shall henceforth refer it to as the Big Fun Food Day. :-)

See, it all started with an idea in my head. We thought it would be fun to get babysitters for all our kids and go out on a "double date" with Scott & Leah before they leave, and I was trying to think of a fun place that they like to make it extra special. Well, the first one that came to mind is one that Leah likes, but Scott... hates. :-) (Funnier still, I also am a fan, but Jen is really not.) So, that wouldn't work... unless...

I thought we could try a "progressive dinner" style outing. Leah and I could eat our fill at the Indian buffet, and then we'd go straight to a place that Scott (& Jen) like to eat. I ran the idea by Jen, and she thought it was fun, and then by Leah, and she too thought it a fun plan... She ran it by Scott, who added his consent and then Leah added Coldstone to the mix for dessert! Ha! Three places in one outing! Fun stuff!

After a few failed attempts at finding a day that worked for all (schedule conflicts) and then finding willing babysitters for our four and their three kids, we finally made it work yesterday!

It all started at about 12:45pm or so. We met up at Willowbrook where we dropped our van and carpooled with them in their (very tiny!) car to the India House buffet. (Photo below... Jen took it, so ... she's not in it.) :-)



We had a crazy waiter here named Dave. He hit it off with Scott as they are both UFC (Ultimate Fight Challenge?) fans. He also introduced himself as Ravi and said he hates Indian food, music, and Indian people. That was awesome. :-) (We learned that the first thing he said was always false.) :-)

The food was awesome, and as I didn't plan on eating Indian food again for quite some time... I ate... three plates full. :-)

I was full.



Next we decided to head to a town about 20 minutes west where Scott's favorite restaurant resides. We had never been, so I made sure to sample some stuff, but MAN there was VERY little room for the samples! Scott & Jen feasted here. Leah did "sample" as well, of course... :-)

Funny story was... we got out there about 2:40 or so... and they didn't open till three!! So we went to Land's End next door for a bathroom for the pregnant lady and some clothes shopping for Leah (and Jen enjoyed looking at the kids stuff as well) :-)

Our waiter at Carrabba's was very good as well. And strangely reminded us of a friend of ours (all of us). They have different names though, so we think they are different people... :-)



It was super late when we left Carrabba's (we were having a great time!) so we didn't get to stay and eat at Coldstone, but we did swing by there on the way home, and three of us got SMALL ice creams. :-) (Actually, Leah got a medium sized one...) :-)

It was fantastic, but at that point, there was very little room for any more food, no matter how good it was! :-)

We finally got back to our kids at 6pm, and once we collected them and all their stuff, we went over to the Vs house for a little extra hang out (and our kids all got to see each other and play then, too). That actually ended with Jen making a quick run to McDonald's to round out the Big Fun Food Day (at least for the kids) with some burgers, fries, chicken nuggets and a snack wrap or two. :-)

It was certainly a memory, and a great, big, fun, day of food! :-)

More photos here.

Free Hockey Tickets, Anyone?

Two nights ago we decided at the last moment to spend our evening celebrating Ian's birthday (yes, he's the Christmas boy...) at Chuck. E. Cheese. We have made a tradition of celebrating birthdays there (even mine!) and so though not actually on his birthday, we wanted to do the same for Ian. (As did he!) We planned a day in January, and invited our friends, the Vs. Problem was the day we picked was a super windy day... that knocked power out in some places, including the block where you find Chuck E. Cheese.

SO, about a month later, we packed up the van and headed out! Had a nice little dinner at Wendy's first. Always a good time. (My favorite fast food place, I'd say...) and then we were ready for the real fun! We got to CEC and were grateful that they had power this time. A bit less grateful that there was a vacation week crowd (forgot about that...) but we figured out a good game plan (Dad took the girls, Mom went with the boys) and we headed out to have some fun!

After a little while of singing with Chuck E. in the other room, I decided to reunite with Mom and the boys. We made our way back and when we did, Jen had a surprise! An employee had approached her earlier and offered her FREE tickets to the Amerks game the next night! FREE??? Free. And not only that, they had a TON of them. So we could have as many as we wanted, and give them out to friends! We're in!

We'd never actually gotten to go to an Amerks game. They are the local AHL team, affiliated with the Buffalo Sabres (at least for now they are) and for many years have been quite good. Most of the current Buffalo Sabres have come through Rochester. For whatever reason, we've tried, but never been successful at getting to a game. But now it looked like we were going to finally make it!

We left CEC with 18 tickets. There are only 6 of us that fill seats. And one of those doesn't need a ticket. That means there were 13 available tickets!! We phoned a couple families we thought of first thing when we got home. (Yes... it was late.) The first were our friends, the Vs. It was Scott's birthday that next day, so it seemed like a fun birthday thing to do! BUT, he was sick. As were a couple more in the V house. So, no go there. And in fact, no go with the other family I called that night. More sickness.

So the next morning we tried to think of some more people who might like to go. One friend was able to go. Steph was going to come with her three girls - not big time hockey fans, but Steph remembered going to games at her college. Next, we invited some friends from the other side of town who weren't available, but they knew some people who were big Rochester sports fans... and perhaps we could give the tickets to them? Why not?! :-)

Surprisingly, we have another friend whose birthday is February 20th, so I called him to see if he and his family would like to go. But, alas... they already had some family plans for the night... so no go there. Still had a few tickets to hand out... but running out of ideas for who could go.

Finally, I thought of my friend with whom I play basketball once a week. We haven't gotten to spend a lot of time with their family, but I knew they sorta were into sports, and just might be able to go. They were! With our friend Steph bringing their 8-year-old neighbor, the tickets were now fully accounted for! :-)

The adventure had only just begun however.

Just before we were to leave, Steph calls and says, "My van won't start!" She said she'd keep trying and call us back. Well, she called back, but to tell us it just wouldn't work. I said, "OK... no problem. But, just in case, I'll bring the tickets with us, if you can get it started, and you'd still like to come!" She agreed, but it didn't sound promising. So, that was too bad.

Add that to our lateness, and the night was not starting as I had hoped.

We got to my basketball friend's house to begin our van caravan with them. They were just sitting in their driveway waiting for us... who were now at least 15 minutes late! Oh boy. They have been to the Blue Cross Arena before, so they led the way.

On our way, Steph calls and says, "I'm on my way! We got it started!" Ha! Perfect! Things were shaping up!

Just as we were getting to downtown Rochester, I remember that we were meeting our friends' friends at the arena at 6:45 to get them their tickets. It's well past seven at this point, so I checked our phone and sure enough there were two missed calls!

I called them back to reassure them that we were almost there. Left a message. I hoped they had stuck around.

We got to the parking garage and parked for four dollars! Great deal! Wasn't expecting that cheap! Bonus! We quickly got out of our vehicles (the game had already started!) and briskly walked through the cold streets (around probably one big city block) to the place we were to meet our friends' friends.

(Are you with me still?) :-)

Finally got there and I recognized Shane from a previous meeting at Cross Creek a few months back. (That was a funny encounter. Not sure we had met before that. He saw our oldest son Ian wearing an Apple shirt, and some other distinguishing clothing that made him realize that Ian must be the son of Greg Campbell, whose blog he regularly reads.)

Yes, I'm famous. :-)

So we all meet up there, and have a good laugh (at least I did!) at how little we all know each other. In fact, none of the others we invited had even heard the name of each other. They all had a connection with us, but to varying degrees. Pretty funny!

After hearing of this assortment of people who were joining us at the game, my basketball friend's wife (who is not the most socially outgoing person you'll ever meet) said of me, "They don't come much friendlier than you, do they?" Guess she thought it was odd that I was giving tickets to a hockey game to people that I really didn't know (Shane and his fam...) But I thought... why not? :-) Seemed like a fun plan to me!

And it was. We all finally got there, and watched a decent hockey game. There were plenty of snacks. Plenty of children! A little bit of hanging out with friends, meeting new friends, and watching some live hockey! Nothing like it! Love watching hockey in person. My boys were instant Amerks fans. Cheering and - as much as possible with many friends there - watching the game intently.

Sure hope we can go again!

The night ended with a pretty cool view of the lunar eclipse while we crossed over the rushing Genessee river which flows right by the side of the arena! Beautiful. Fun! Superb evening.

And all cause we went to Chuck E. Cheese at the last minute, on a whim!

Next whim that comes along will be taken more seriously... :-)

Birthday Month

Welcome to February - a very busy birthday month for our family and friends. Our daughter Kirstie will be celebrating her fourth birthday at the end of the month, but before that four of her seven Walker cousins will be celebrating their birthdays also! And Kirstie's youngest cousin on the Campbell side of the family is also a February birthday boy.

And, who knows... with a baby due mid March, she could have a sibling join her in the Birthday Month!

Besides close relatives, many friends also celebrate their birthdays this month with probably the craziest day being our oldest niece's birthday. On February 20th (our niece's birthday) three of our friends will also be celebrating their birthdays! Four on one day! (And two of them were born the same year also!)

So, it may be the shortest month of the year, but in a of way it's one of our busiest! :-)

(And don't forget, this year we get a bonus day!)

Happy February! :-)

Chapters

Our closest friends are moving away.

There. I said it. Sometimes I try not to. Other times I say it more than I probably need to. Both are ways to deal with an unexpected (and truthfully, unwanted) change in my life. Our family's life.

We have known for a while, but I think it's safe to publicly say now as the decision has been public for a couple weeks. But for quite a bit longer than that we have been thinking and talking together with our friends through the various elements of their big decision. They are quite excited. It's a great new opportunity for them, and seems to them to be exactly what God has prepared them for. They were expecting a new chapter in their life and it looks like this is it!

For us there are much more mixed emotions.

On the one hand, we are of course excited for our friends. We love them and you can't help but be excited along with people you love. You are excited when they are excited. You hurt when they hurt. And so on. But on the other hand, it will be very different with them gone.

Of course I know that life is change. "The only thing certain in life is that life is not certain," or something like that. Life is all about changes. Chapters, if you will. And we have actually had a good two or three chapters with these friends. Going way back to college days (chapter one) and then moving together to work at the same church in upstate NY (chapter two). Then bring Jen back into the equation after her one-year internship in Indiana (chapter three) and then we both started having children (chapter four) and maybe even add one more chapter for when we both had finished our time at the church that brought us to this town in the first place (chapter five).

That's a lot of chapters.

And there will be more. Perhaps only one more. (The "rest of life" chapter.) But how can you ever know? If change is the only certain thing in life, who knows if we might meet up again somewhere down the road?

But for now... I've mostly just been sad.

When someone dies, people are affected in different ways. The people who spend the most time with the lost loved one are of course affected the most. We saw this when Jen's brother died. Her parents were devastated for a long time. They had poured their lives into him. He lived with them again, and so they were spending every day with him. We were all hurt by the loss, but I believe they were affected the most.

In a way, it's similar with our friends. No... they aren't dying. :-) I'm grateful for Skype and e-mail and phone calls (and the occasional visit!). The similarity for me is just in the closeness both emotionally and in time spent together. These friends are the ones we share the most life with. Often at least a couple visits in a week, and of course every birthday and other special day. (We have lots of those....) :-) Our kids call them "aunt" and "uncle" as well, which is intended to reveal a closer relationship. We have a few other friends whom our kids call "aunt" and "uncle" but none fit quite as appropriately. We have joked since our first children were born (we had a boy and they had a girl) that our kids might one day be married. And I guess we just assumed they would at least grow up together.

It will definitely be hard when they leave. It's nice that the end of this chapter - this section - is not abrupt. They will have a few more months of tying up things here. For now, we're enjoying the last part of this chapter.

And I know there will be more. And I'm grateful for the five (or more) that we have had. And life will be full of many more chapters.

It's still not always fun to move on.

Programmed Community

I came across a blog post that addressed some issues that have recently been in the forefront again for me. One paragraph that stood out to me said:

In the mega-church mindset, programs give opportunity for relationship to happen, but don’t assure that it can be found there. The relationships lives inside of programs. Once the program is over, the relationship is over. Once we no longer were involved in those programs there was no longer any reason to maintain the relationship.

We have also found this to be true personally, as well as anecdotally. I think this is one of the biggest shortcomings of the social organizations we call "churches". They create a false idea of relationship. Relationship is not just being in the same room as other people, or even just having shared experiences. Those are sort of by-products of a relationship. But a real friendship goes farther than that, doesn't it? Unfortunately, it doesn't usually. :-(

Click the link above to read the rest of the post. Good stuff. Feel free to comment there, or add your thoughts back here. The link will open in a different window. I want to say I wonder if you have experienced the same thing, but I guess I don't have to wonder. I am certain that you have.

And that's OK, but is it the best? Isn't there a better way than programmed community? To me it seems that there is.

Christmas Report II

When I was trying to think of what I needed to do today, I also remembered the past few days that have been. It seemed like today might be the first kinda normal day in a while. (Which, strangely makes it feel like Monday, maybe Tuesday...)

It's been quite a week! I'm sure it was for you as well. I think maybe we have an extra piece with Ian's birthday being on Christmas day. Because of that there are a few more celebration days for Ian in there. Like, we did our annual Birthday Burger at Red Robin sometime last week for his birthday. Balloons, singing, and all. It was awesome! Then the fun started again this past week... maybe on Saturday.

Saturday was the day we were singing at Wal-Mart. That shouldn't have been as eventful as it was, but after getting there and getting everything set up, I realized I had no guitar picks. And then we found out that Wal-Mart did not either! So, we went on a bit of a scavenger hunt, finally picking some up (pun intended) at a local music store. Then, to top it all off, after about an hour of singing - which was super fun! - I broke a guitar string. While that used to be commonplace, I am pretty sure that's the first time I have done that in most of TWO YEARS! Crazy!

After the string broke, we packed up and did a little last minute Christmas & birthday shopping there at Wal-Mart and a couple other stores. It was nice, just me and Jen. :-)

When we got back home, we did a few more things then packed up the troops for a trip to Victor. We actually went to the mall area on the Saturday before Christmas!! (We really needed an ink cartridge, and that's the closest office store...) After we picked that up, we stopped by our friends' house and hung out for a little while with them. Had some hot cocoa and fresh-baked Christmas cookies! :-)

Sunday morning brought a visit from some other friends. They were dropping their girls off so that they could go to the Bills/Giants game over in Buffalo! (They bought our tickets from us, a nice Christmas present for our friend the Giants fan. Unfortunately, turned out to be a little TOO nice!!) We kept their girls all day, and had a blast! The evening ended with a visit from John Dupra for a recording of the Buffalo Bills Review, and then some good Christmas cookies from our friends. :-)

Christmas Eve started later than I thought it would. We slept in a bit, then tried to decide what to do. We were going to make some Christmas gifts (food) for friends and drop them off, but then after talking with them, decided to wait on that. But then in talking with our football ticket friends, ended up deciding to bring Christmas dinner over to their house to share with them the next day. So, in between making Christmas cookies for Santa, Christmas Eve also involved baking bread and making a lasagna to bake the next day!

That evening we went to Willowbrook to see friends (and family!) we haven't seen for a while - some of them a LONG while! That was nice, and was followed by a stop at another family's house for a late night Christmas Eve party! Was nice to hang out with them for a couple hours. We stayed longer than we wanted to, but that was due to caring for one of our friends' sick kids. Long story. Long night. :-) We didn't get home, and get the kids in bed, until midnight!

We weren't totally done with Christmas and Birthday preparations by Midnight, so... we were both up till 2am. For me, that's fine... for Jen? Not so fine. Christmas morning came a little too soon for her. Even though it wasn't till 9am. :-)

Christmas Day was no less crazy. Once we got up, I took a quick shower, and then we all headed downstairs to find some presents left by Santa (alongside the ones we had already put under the tree) and our stockings full of goodies! The kids were fun to watch. :-) After unwrapping all the fun presents, we headed into the kitchen to make a big French Toast breakfast for Ian's birthday! (His request.)

After breakfast, we headed back to the family room for Ian to open his birthday presents. (Yes, he gets LOTS of presents on Dec 25th, and the week before and after that!) We didn't have a cake, so I stuck a candle in a giant navel orange, and we sang for Ian using that. Fun stuff. :-)

After Ian's birthday celebrating, we packed up pretty quickly, and took our big Christmas lunch over to our friends' house to celebrate and eat with them. Spent about two hours or so there. They may be moving soon, so we're enjoying all the time we can get with them. Will be strange if we are not living in the same town...

We packed up after lunch with our friends and headed out to Buffalo to visit with Jen's family. Got there around 4:30 or so and got right to eating! (Yes, you're right... that IS a lot of eating...) It was a great meal, and a fun time with Jen's family. Her oldest brother and family were not there, but there were plenty of people to go around and we had a great time giving and receiving gifts... and eating taco dip! (One of my favorites...) :-)

We left around 8:30 or so, putting us back home at 10pm. We were BEAT from the past three days. Jen was exhausted for sure. The kids were pooped. Most slept the whole way home. But not Kirsten. She sang Christmas songs with Dad most of the time. :-) SO CUTE!!!

But we weren't done.

Wednesday morning was very busy for me! I did sleep in, but once I got up I was on the phone, IM, and e-mailing. Plenty of Boxing Day business I guess! I was also making bread because some other friends were coming over for a late lunch/early dinner. And the best part? They were bringing lasagna! Funny. I made/brought lasagna for some other friends, and then we had different friends do the same for us! Give and you shall receive. Or something like that. :-)

We had a great time with them, and enjoyed all the good food. The really funny part was they came at around 3:30, and with the short days and all, when our friends left at 6pm, it felt like bedtime. BUT IT CERTAINLY WAS NOT! So, we didn't know what to do with ourselves :-) The kids helped clean up, then watched some movies with Mom while Dad spent about TWO HOURS catching up on our finances! Crazy!

That brings us to today. And actually... it has been a pretty normal day so far. :-)

A great, fun, fabulous Christmas and Ian's birthday in 2007. Hope yours was as well!

Chickens

We had dinner with some friends tonight who are back from Mozambique where they have been missionaries for quite a long while. It was a great night of good food and just enjoying time together.

Speaking of food, the conversation turned to food at one point. We began talking about how you make a nice grilled chicken salad in Mozambique. It's not as easy as just going to the grocery store.

"First you have to kill the chicken!" said our African friend, to which we all laughed. She continued, "Oh, but first, you have to catch the chicken!!!" We laughed even harder.

Without missing a beat, her husband - the more seasoned veteran of life in Africa chimed in, "First... you have to find the chicken."

At that point I just lost it and said, "THAT is going on my blog tonight!"

So far in life, I have not had to FIND my food. :-)

Love

The other night we got to spend the evening with our good friends. We don't usually get to hang out with all of them together, so we decided to make a late night of it - and were welcomed to do so - and had a fantastic time. The kids played great together, and that allowed us adults to grab some drinks, and a little dessert and just talk about life together at the dining room table.

Earlier in the night, since my birthday was coming up, there was also a bit of a surprise birthday party! Another family was invited to join us (our friends' neighbor) and then after dinner together, I was told to go in the other room and stay there. I knew something was up... :-) After a few minutes, a plate of chocolate chocolate chip cookies was brought in ... with candles in it! :-) I found out later that was the plan all the time, disguised as a regular evening together as friends. It was fun. Really nice surprise. Even got presents! :-)

Well, as the adults hung out after all of the other festivities, we got to talking about the people that God has put around us. We'd been sharing stories of what was in front of us at the moment, and a couple stories reminded me of something God seems to keep weaving through many different areas of my life.

We all have heard the verse of Scripture, "Now these three remain: Faith, Hope & Love. But the greatest of these is love." It's used many times at weddings, and of course, it's true. But, at least for me, the fullness (and yet, simplicity) of that has escaped me.

Our friend was telling us how one of the people he works with told him that she feels comfortable talking with him. Different than other people. What God has been teaching me lately is just how life-changing love can be, and it sounded like this was an example of it. I don't know for sure in this example, but I am pretty sure that this is the core of the gospel - the "Good News".

"For God so loved the world..." is another famous quote, that just gets glossed over many times. But really, I think it's the core of the gospel. It's not the theological discussions, the Mosaic law, transubstantiation, or propitiation. It's not the way that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice as well as our High Priest. There are certainly things that can be learned from all of these things, but really, life change only happens when we realize we are loved.

After all, God is love. It's the core of who he is. And when we really get who we are to him, how he feels about us... we begin to be able to love as we have been loved. There is freedom that comes from knowing how much we are loved by our Father, and in that freedom - as opposed to obligation - we can truly love other people (out of the overflow of how we are loved by God) without agenda or any other "strings attached".

We try so hard as Christians to plan and create opportunities to share the "good news" with people, but really, the intellectual arguments while they may be true, will not change lives. At least, not as much as real love will. It's so simple, but so infrequently employed - mostly because most of us have still not really experienced the reality of God's love. We may know it intellectually... academically. But until we really know it, the best we can do is to share our academic understanding of God and his love with people. Which usually just doesn't cut it.

My point? I don't really have one. Just sharing what God has been showing me. It's not something you can just "fix" or "put into action". You can't just "feel more loved". But when we do, freedom abounds. And in that freedom, we can love other people - which can begin to produce a changed life in them.

Pretty cool stuff.

It really is all about love.

(Just a fun link to a great album.) :-)

Thwarted!

Last night we recorded our Buffalo Bills show after a few technical difficulties to start. First, when we initially connected, there was a very bad echo on my Dave's side, but not on mine. He reconnected, then I did, then we started a whole new call... no luck. Was not going to work. I had told John to join us in a specific way using that service that was now too echo-y... so we scrapped that, and I called up John using Skype. All seemed well until the airport annoucements behind John nearly took over the conversation! It was frustrating, but kind of funny. Eventually, John was disconnected entirely, and we finished the show... glad to have gotten that over with.

When I came back to the office to do the final edit... I began listening and could not believe my ears. The echo was there—even though neither of us had heard it during recording—and it was unbearable. I could not go with what we had recorded. It was almost midnight, so we could not record again till the next day at least... I was not sure what to do.

I decided to post a note to the website saying we were having technical difficulties, and go get in bed with Jen and watch a movie on my laptop. I had one sitting around all week that I had gotten from the library, but never had time to watch. As I started watching it, though, the intro seemed familiar. It was a part three of a series, so I thought it was a recap. But the recap was taking a very long time. And it was all exactly what I remembered seeing before.... because.... I HAD seen it before! :-)

So again, my plans were thwarted. I ended up watching a TV show online that a friend had recommended on his blog. It was pretty interesting, but then... I just ended up going to sleep. :-)

The best laid plans...

Looking (Linking?) Back

What a week! I'm sitting here on my porch with a nice hot cup of tea, at one in the morning, following an hour of trying to restore the network here in my house... have I mentioned before that I have four routers on my network for six or seven computers? Yeah... I need an IT department...) and I finally feel relaxed. :-)

It's been that kind of week. I actually don't think I took any sort of real break today. I know I didn't eat anything until dinner. That was kinda crazy... I just couldn't stop. Too much to do. At least, that's how it felt.

I mentioned earlier this week that the blog has been silent not because there's nothing to say, nothing to share... just simply because there was no time where I could sit down and share. Here's a quick overview of the past while for the Campbell family...

Work
Some people still have no idea what I do, but if you look at our income taxes, you can see that the majority of our money comes through my web design business. Just a couple weeks ago that picked up again big time! I got a few new clients (The Center For Body Wellness, First Church of Christ Binghamton (still their old site), and I'm working on a brochure for Angel Eyes Security), and lots of new work for current clients (Houston Nutraceuticals, The Scarlet Thread, Orient Express Band, Christian Way Farm, and Project URGE) and some stuff that I have not gotten started on yet for other existing clients (In House Graphics, Cross Creek Church, and Aussie Hill Alpacas.)

Whew! And the crazy part is, I'm sure I forgot a few! (By the way, if you clicked on all those links, you should get a prize. I'm not sure who you'll get it from, but you should get one.) :-)

Add to that all of the hosting accounts that I must regularly maintain (email problems, hosting questions, domain renewals, hosting invoices, technical support, and the list continues) as well as my OWN sites I need to maintain (GregsApples.com and BuffaloBillsReview.com get the majority of my attention. Though, my blog does get updated now and then. My web design site is horribly neglected, however. I did post a few links to the ol' Link-O page I maintain this past week...

Apple Sales
ON TOP OF ALL THAT... I have about a dozen peoples and/or businesses who are maybe at step 3 out of 5 in the purchase process for a new Mac. (OK, yes... I made that up. I just mean they are all pretty close!) So I've been doing a lot of research, communication, and question answering there. Even sent out a newsletter last week. :-)

If you're interested in a new computer, or even an iPod or AppleTV... stop by my store! Or, shoot me an e-mail. I can probably help you out.

Buffalo Bills Review
In talking with a few friends this week, I realized that some folks don't know that I - along with my partners in crime Dave Drake, John Dupra, and Dre Smith - am something of an international celebrity. :-) OK, not entirely, but we have found a small bit of success with our little show, now in its third season. It's a fun hour of Bills fans talking Bills football. We have guests on now and again, including some current Bills players like Brian Moorman the Pro Bowl punter. The team is 0-3 this year, but that hasn't stopped our downloads, and iTunes ranking from continuing to rise. Guess we're doing something right. :-)

And, it's tons of fun. :-)

Well, as I said, we must be doing something right, because all of a sudden we have had three websites contact us to purchase ads on our website! That's great! The site is finally not only paying for itself, but even making a little money. (Just a little, mind you... but it's a start!) I've been busy the last couple weeks setting up our various advertisers as well. (And of course, keeping up with all the latest Bills news. Anyone aware of all the insane injuries the Bills have sustained through only three weeks this year?? It's just nuts!)

Family
AS IF that all was not enough... we still have four kids to take care of, and boy do they need taking care of! :-) Hehe... :-)

One good thing, family-wise, has been that Jen & I have been trying to get one night (or even daytime) out per week. We have an awesome babysitter, and we try to take full advantage of that. :-)

Facebook
Oh, and I mentioned this before, but I must say I am enjoying the wonder that is Facebook. I have reconnected with - and stayed connected with - so many folks through that site over just about a month's time. Very cool. Almost too addicting, though!

MONK!
Oh yeah... the other thing that has taken some of my time over the past several weeks... we're Monk junkies! We're most of the way through season four now, and looking forward to seasons five and six! We are getting them on DVD from our library system! AWESOME! Free Monk! :-) The show is hilarious (we think) and such a breath of fresh air compared to just about EVERY other current TV show. Even though it's about a homicide detective, it's not over the edge as far as graphic grossness. The language is tolerable. It's just nicer on the soul. And, it's funny. :-) (Plus, it has revealed the OCD in me. I find myself straightening things all the time, and cleaning things... pretty funny.) :-)

Man. No wonder I never post anything here anymore. :-)

A Bunch of Good News

It's time for some good news on this blog. Enough of this pessimism! You're bringin' me down, GregsHead!

:-)

But anyway... it's been an interesting week of goodness. It was highlighted last night with a wonderful evening with my wife. She arranged for a babysitter and we went out for a couple burgers, and later a stroll (well, ended up being a "sit) by the Erie Canal with a raspberry chai in hand! It was a wonderful evening of conversation with my wife, and just nice to be with her without the many needs/interruptions from the kiddos. (You know I love them, but... I really do enjoy evenings with just Jen) :-)

This followed a strange week of LOTS of new work! I mean holy cow... like eight new projects! A few of those are brand new clients, a few are fairly small jobs, and a few are some decent sized projects for existing clients. Add to that the fact that we finally sold our trailer!

On top of that, Mac sales have picked up, and we've even gotten a few affiliate and other sales payments.

It's been a long dry summer. And I don't just mean the weather.

So, thanks for the super amount of work, God. I am grateful, though a bit overwhelmed. He'll help me deal with it. It's a good problem to have, to be sure.

Oh, we also celebrated selling the trailer with a special dinner at Red Robin. We all love that place, and it was a very nice treat!

We even got a call from some friends today that they are going to be picking up their (adopted) son on October 1st! They hvae a date! And even better, they will be back home in California in time to visit with us when we are out there next month! Double bonus!

So, it's been a good week!

I wanted to share, cause it's always fun to share goodness. Hope you're smiling, too. :-)

Facebook Friends

One more thing...

Just today I have heard from three former classmates via my Facebook page! Two of them are from elementary school (in Caracas Venezuela) and then another friend from high school wrote today. How cool is that?? Especially the elementary school friends from 24 years ago!!

If you have not checked out facebook... it seems to be worth it. A great place to make connections - even really, really old ones!

The Week The Was(n't?)

It's just after midnight, and I am sitting on my in-laws' porch in Clarence, NY, sipping a mug of Chamomile tea... thinking back on a crazy week of fun.

But one of the more memorable things about the week was that it felt like there were a few days that just didn't happen at all! I could NOT remember what day it was this week!!!

Let's start waaaay back at Sunday. Last weekend I finished up a video edit for some friends who went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. They asked the Tuesday before the Sunday that they needed it for a special lunch they were having at their church. I got it done in time, and, since Jen and Julia weren't at the "top of their game", I took Alex & Kirsten up to the party by myself. We stayed for lunch, and watched most of the video... but headed out early to get some needed items at the stores nearby there and head home to be with Mom (who still wasn't feeling great.) That night I was supposed to do a Buffalo Bills Review, but ended up being postponed to Monday night. So, it was a full, full day.

Monday was quite strange as Jen's parents (on whose porch I now sit) came through our town, and whisked away the other five members of my family to visit the NY State Fair for the day! They had a blast, but as I mentioned earlier here on my blog, it was very strange being alone the whole day. And, due at least in part to that strange aloneness, I pretty much lost a day. I thought Monday was the 26th (it was the 27th) and just really lost that entire day. Then, add to that a super late night due to the Bills podcast, and Tuesday was pretty confusing to me...

I really was getting confused.

I forgot to put the trash out Tuesday morning, because it never occurred to me that it actually was Tuesday. Crazy things like that. I couldn't get on track last week.

Then, when talking with a friend who shares a birthday with her husband (Aug 29th, part of last week...) we talked about having them come over for dinner/snacks on Wednesday, their birthday. That was such a fun idea, I decided to plan a bit of a surprise party around it! Well, plans kept changing, but we eventually made it happen on Thursday night. I was making tequeños, and several good friends were coming to celebrate with us/them. But, it's always an adventure with these friends...

An hour before they were to come over, they called and said they would be getting there around 9, and then have to leave to get their sister at the airport later that night. (Later that night?? There are only 3 hours left in the night at 9pm...) :-) I thought about calling off the party, since the guests of honor would not be there, but... we went ahead with it anyway and it turned out great!. We had (eventually) 12 kids and 9 adults there for the impromptu party! It was a blast. Tequeños were great, and we even went up to Chill & Grill for ice cream! Awesome!

After they all left (around 11:00 or so) we sat down to watch the BIlls final pre-season game, which we had TiVo-ed earlier in the evening. Starting a 3-hour football game at 11:15... even for Mr. Late Night was a risky thing to do. Especially a pre-season game. :-) And yes... midway through the second half... I fell asleep. Tried THREE TIMES to finish the game again (when I would wake up and rewind to where I left off) but to no avail. Ended up watching it the next day.

Speaking of the next day... That Friday morning, I first cleaned up from the party, then I went to help some friends finish moving. Then I went shopping. Then I ate lunch. Then I packed up to head here to Clarence. So, what was supposed to be a work day was not one at all.

And again... calendar confusion ruled with an iron fist. A big, heavy, confusing iron fist. :-)

So, I know today is Sunday. Well, to me it's the end of Saturday. We had an excellent day, visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, Duff's chicken wings for lunch with our friends the Drakes, and then a date-night with our friends the Chis. They treated us to roast beef (beef on weck) at Andersons, and some ice cream, too! (Oh, and a pug cake!) And earlier in the day, Dave schooled me on his Wii. (Boxing and baseball.) We played a fun game with the Chis, too. Good stuff.

And tomorrow begins the Walker Family Reunion. An annual Labor Day weekend event. (With a recording of the BBR thrown in there for good measure.)

Long, crazy week. But full of lots of the people we love the most.

It couldn't be better. :-)

Relief

The past week saw a bit of relief for us on the income freeze. I think I have mentioned here that the summer was quite a financial drought. Not many (maybe there weren't any?) of my current clients needed any substantial work done on their existing sites, and not much new business came in. We haven't been getting much if any income from my various income streams. (Web design, music, Mac sales... even the Buffalo Bills podcast or various publishing endeavors.) It's not only been frustrating... has been quite a weight to bear, with unpaid Bills mounting.

But the last week or so has changed that a good bit. Four new clients/jobs. (One paid their deposit, another paid today, and the other is about 80% committed to the new project.) I got a payment from Apple, and a payment from a gig earlier this summer. I even got a royalty check from CCLI, who pays artists when churches report having used their material. Not much, but it was a nice gesture. :-)

But it all was kicked off by the insane generosity of some friends of ours. Not only did they drive a long way to treat us to lunch - and a good one at that! - they also offered to help us catch up on some of our bills! What??!? I just didn't even know what to say! It almost seemed unfair to them. Why should they bear our financial burden? But even in my own words I understood that I must accept. "Bear each other's burdens," it says. And Acts talks about a church where "no one was in need" because they all took care of each other.

Quite humbled (often we have been the ones on the giving end of this deal) and just floored at the offer, I accepted, and they wrote us a very generous check. We were able to pay a past due debt that was definitely hanging heavily over my head. What an incredible gift.

Add to that generous gifts and help from family, and some other friends who a few weeks earlier had done a very similar thing!! Holy cow. God is not taking care of us through my talents, abilities, skills, or hard work... he's taking care of us through the relationships he has given us.

That is terribly humbling. In a good "terrible" way. I am so amazingly thankful, and glad to see God is also giving to those who are giving to us. You can tell (and I know from experience) that the giving of this financial help is just as cool (or more) as the receiving is for us. Incredible.

Thank you, friends. Thank you, family. Thanks for loving us, and for letting God provide through you. I hope I get to return the favor - not to feel like I have earned your gift, at least I hope not. But instead, to be able to love you as you have loved us... with lavish generosity. And maybe not you... but someone else God connects us with. There will always be needs. That is for sure.

So, thanks to God for the new work to do, for the future work that seems to be lining up, and mostly for reminding me again of what really matters in life - the people he has surrounded us with.

SuperCaliFragiGenerous

A couple weeks ago, we were arranging to spend a kidless evening with some friends of ours, and they ended up offering to take us out for a special dinner. They know that's rare for us, and wanted to treat us to that. That was super generous. We had it planned for a while, so we had time to really look forward to it.

Well, as the day approached, they also learned that we are in a really tough spot financially. Business has been slower than ever, and we're trying to figure out what to do with all of the bills that remain at a steady pace, despite the decreased pace of our income. They offered to just have us over for dinner, and make a donation to our overdue bills fund! That was super-duper generous! But I figured, the night out with them would be special for Jen (and hopefully them, too!) and whatever they might be able to give us wouldn't cover the bills we owe anyway... so... we stuck to our original plan.

Well lemme tell you... it was a fun night!

We went to the Outback Steakhouse, and we got... you guessed it... STEAK! Lots of it! It was a fantastic meal! Great time with our friends. Super fun. But we weren't done!! They treated us to dessert at Champps, a sports bar/restaurant that has an ENORMOUS ice cream cake/pie dessert. The Mile High Ice Cream Pie, or something like that. So we finished off that tower of frozen greatness (well, mostly I did...) and that was all just fantastic. We love hanging out with these friends, and they were just being super-dee-duper generous... it was so crazy and cool.

THEN...

They topped off the night by saying they would still like to help us out with some money! Seriously. That was SuperCaliFragiGenerous!! I mean... not only did they treat us to one of the biggest eating-out feasts we have ever had (maybe THE biggest!), but then they gave us a check!?? They don't have a ton of money either... they are also paying down debt. Amazing.

It was so cool, I made up the word SuperCaliFragiGenerous for it. :-) (Well, mostly made up...)

So thanks to you, generous friends. Your kindness and generosity made for a super fun memory, and will certainly help us in paying our bills. Muchas gracias!

Weekend Visit

I am tired and sunburned, but it was a really good weekend! :-)

It began Thursday night, actually. My parents got into town (a bit later than they would have liked) and we went out for some ice cream at Chill & Grill. Nice! Actually, they ended up staying at our house and just chatting till after 11pm, which is very odd for my Dad at least... :-) That was a nice start to a fun visit.

On Friday we spent the day with them at their KOA campground site. They brought their big Arctic Fox trailer up and we hung out in that, but mostly outside. Yes, you read that right... OUTSIDE. If you know me, and perhaps know what our weather was like on Friday (mid 90s, and overpoweringly humid) then you know that is very out of the ordinary...

But, we weren't going to let a little heat stop us! ;-)

We played miniature golf... a LOT! We swam in the in ground pool... A LOT! We had pizza, Esther Price chocolate, swam, walked, completed and obstacle course, played on a playground, played football, swam, and played some more miniature golf! By the time we had done all that, it was time for a nice dinner at the Wegman's Market Cafe. Then off to Sharks Custard & Candy for some great homemade ice cream to top off the evening! QUITE a day. Seriously beat at the end of that one!!!

Then on Saturday we moved the party to Palmyra, where Grandpa Tom could work on a few projects around our house. While he put up a gutter outside our back door, and leveled our stove, and scoped out a few future projects, Grammy helped do some deep cleaning in the kitchen, and I made some fantastic home-cooked meals. (Skyline for us, a nice vegetable-rich tomato sauce for Grammy & Grandpa, and a fresh Zucchini medley for lunch, then STEAKS on the grill and homemade mashed potatoes for dinner!) We played LifeStories during nap time, and then headed back to Chill & Grill to finish off the evening with some ice cream!! We were stuffed, to be sure!

Overall it was a full, but somehow relaxing and quite enjoyable visit. Thanks for coming up Mom & Dad! Always fun, and somehow particularly so this time!

To finish off the weekend, we spent most of today (it seemed!) over at our friends' new home, celebrating their 10-year-old's birthday! Lots of friends, old and some new... great foot, played some football, and just spent time chatting with friends. We also sang some of our stuff for about 45 minutes as well. It was a nice finish to the weekend. (Oh, we did take a dip in our neighbor's pool after the party... then put the kids in bed a tad early after such a full weekend!!!)

As you can tell from the time of this post, I had some catching up to do on my blog, and on my Buffalo Bills site... as well as a pretty hefty amount of laundry and some dishes to do! That was the finish to my weekend!

If you have read all of tonight's posts... you deserve a medal or something. Leave a comment to that effect and I'll work on something...

For now... time to sleep!

Visitation Hours Are Over

This weekend, we spent time with so many people!!! And I LOVED it!!!

I actually figured out that we spent twelve straight hours with friends yesterday. From 11am (ish) to after 11pm (ish) we were with three different families! Two of those were planned, then the third was a super cool surprise. And, you could even throw in our neighbors, too! (They were at Chill & Grill with us and our surprise visiting friends!)

You see, there are some regular readers to this blog (who usually don't comment...) who know more about what's going on or been going on in my life than I do! (Or, so it seems at times...) :-) These friends are some of those people.

So, they knew from my recent blog post that we were headed to Chill & Grill to end our day. Well, the stopped at our house first, and upon seeing our parking space empty (and confirming with our neighbors, who as I mentioned, happened to be also headed to Chill & Grill) they met up with us in the ice cream line at Chill & Grill!

Super fun times. :-)

Well, we haven't seen them in over a YEAR, so it was too short to just hang out at Chill & Grill! They came back to our place. We chatted. We chased kids. We chatted. We talked about kids. We chatted more, then had some Skyline. They are very easy people to be with. It was a fantastic end to a great evening. We were super beat, but it was all worth it!

So, when you count up the hours, I believe that we were visiting with people other than our immediate family for at least 22 hours from Friday to Sunday. Even for me, Mr. Social... that's a lot!!! :-) Oh man! And if you throw in helping our friends move on Friday morning... we're at least up to 24 hours!! :-)

It was really a fantastic weekend!!! I don't know if we'll pack that many visits into such a short calendar space anytime soon, but the final weekend of July 2007 was a fun one for me! If you were part of that whirlwind of visits, thanks for spending part of your weekend with us, and we're looking forward to the next time!

(If you weren't, well, there's always next weekend!) ;-)

The Weekend That Was, Is, And Is To Come

Usually I don't tell about a busy weekend in the middle of it, but I thought I'd make an exception today. I told a friend via e-mail (actually, it was on Facebook) that this weekend was going to be packed full... and I just wanted to write it down so I could remember what a crazy weekend the fifth weekend of July 2007 was. (And I can use this as a sort of "To Do" list for the things that we have yet to do ...) :-)

Last night I stayed up pretty late working on the song set for Sunday morning (read below) and chatting with various folks on the internet. (Why was everyone else on so late??) I was also doing a little prep work for a possible interview with Brian Moorman, the Buffalo Bills punter. All of this while knowing the day today would begin quite early. It didn't matter... something kept me going. The tasks, yes, but somehow I was just awake.

I finally hit the sack around 3:45 or so, and just felt really awake. So, sometime after 4:00 I finally drifted off to sleep, only to hear the shrill sound of my alarm at 8:00am. It seemed like mere moments. :-)

I think I hit snooze. :-) Then I rolled out of bed around 8:15 or so and tried to wake myself up with some tea and reading emails and blogs. (Yes, believe it or not, some had been updated between 4:00am and 8:00am...) I did a little more prep for the potential interview with the Bills punter, and got a call around 8:50am from our friends for whom I had so early arisen. They needed help moving, so I offered to help before training camp began that afternoon.

Well, turns out they had packed their computers already, but had forgotten to check the emails for where to get the moving truck. :-) So, my friend joined me at our breakfast table for a quick check of his email, and then was off to get the truck with his wife. Good thing we were running a little behind, though. I had a few errands to run.

At 9:30 am, I headed out on foot to get the song sheet prepared the night before to the church on the corner. I delivered that, then headed to our library to drop off a video. Off to the post office next (a few blocks away) to check for a hosting payment that has STILL not arrived. Box was empty. (Except for a decent Pizza Hut coupon...) So, scratch that trip to the bank I had planned.

Instead I just headed straight over to our friends' house to start loading up the truck. Except... no truck. They hadn't left right when I thought they had, so it was going to be a while. Already 10:00, I decided to walk back and check on Jen. That was probably good as when I got back, I was able to reply to a phone message regarding a meeting later on that day to get our new Buffalo Bills Review t-shirts!

(Are you still with me?) :-)

So after about 30 minutes at home, I headed back to the moving house and the truck was there! We managed to move a decent amount of boxes and firmly entrenched furniture. So, even though I had to leave around noon, I felt like my time had been at least slightly useful to them. That was nice.

When I got home, I helped get lunch ready (at least helped Jen decide what to warm up from the fridge!) and showered, then checked on the interview one more time. It just felt rushed in the middle of everything else we were trying to do - so I decided to postpone it. I eventually e-mailed my Bills contact and asked to set it up for later.

But we still had plenty to do.

1:30pm, all are fed, most is ready for the trip to BILLS TRAINING CAMP!!! We were to meet our friends the Drakes there (he co-hosts the Buffalo Bills Review with me) as well as that t-shirt delivery guy. That all went off without (much of) a hitch. We ended up even parking in the VIP parking lot, since we looked sort of official. Yes, it was a bending of the rules (I need an official pass to do that) but we were treated kindly by an understanding parking lot attendant.

Bills camp was fun! Weather was decent (not too hot!) and it was just SO FUN to see the Buffalo Bills right in FRONT of us again!!!! It was a relatively light workout, but was still fun to watch. Some good plays made.

In addition to the football, I was there on official business. A friend loaned me his iPod recording device (you stick it in your iPod) and so I went around to various fans asking them if the