Prodigal Thoughts

anybody? anybody at all?

2008-10-10T23:28:00.003-05:00

so i am posting this in hopes that someone checks it still. i am moving my main blog address to the following - http://icameinthird.blogspot.com/

i am doing that for reasons explained there so go there and see what's up......thanks

arch

2008-08-13T16:51:00.001-05:00

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a bloody place......

2008-07-29T16:43:00.000-05:00

this is a post i ran across on a blog i frequent called desiring god (http://www.desiringgod.org/blog). i found it to be good for me to remember as well. thought you might like it.

What Is an Altar
July 26, 2008 | By: Abraham Piper
Category: Commentary, International Outreach

This is a guest post from a friend of ours who is a missionary doctor working with Muslims. It is a part of his guest series, "Day-to-day Observations from Asia."

* * *

I was studying Psalm 43 with a friend in Urdu the other day. We came to where it says in English, "I will go to the altar of God."

As I read along in Urdu, I did not know the word for "altar," so I asked my friend what it was. He didn't know how to translate the word into English, but he gave the following English description: "It is God's bloody place, where the throats of the animals are slit for sacrifice."

Of course. It's an altar.

Sometimes I think of an altar as the carpeted stairs and dais at the front of the church meetinghouse. But it's not. It is a bloody place—a place of sacrifice and death.

I need to remember that.

Oops....

2008-07-20T20:25:00.000-05:00

Ok so I am a jerk. I was asked to post this by my friend Jeff a couple weeks ago. I completely forgot. He doesn't have his own blog (but should be setting one up soon) and asked if i would post this on mine for now. So please read and comment to give him some feed back. Thanks!!

HIS POST BEGINS BELOW........

hey dude ... with the Iranian controversy and this missile thing I have been doing a little bit of thinking on a couple of things. I would like you to post this because I would like to know what different people think about this whole crisis.

First and foremost, I want to come out and say that I don't think that President Ahmadinejad or the government of Iran are a model of saneness or security. However, I ask a couple of questions. As Americans, especially our leaders, why do we treat these people, Ahmadinejad in this case, as though they don't exist. It seems to me that we completely ignore the individual or the government and immediately begin to threaten or "impose sanctions". Are our leaders really so weak that they cannot stand before an Iranian president, or an Iranian government for that matter, look them in the eye and tell them that the American people/government don't agree with the way they are handling things and that, in general, the world doesn't trust their current regime? Do we always, like bullies, start with the threatening language that seems second nature to the current regime? It seems as though instead of calling the Iranian government out face-to-face, we resort to sanctions, which will help Iran "get the point". Yes, I believe in consequences, but don't we as Americans usually follow the process of warning then consequence? As a human being, wouldn't you want to be talked to face to face before you were given consequence?

I will end with two things ... I am going to ask you to imagine yourself as a parent, if you aren't already, that has a kid whom is in our public school system. Lets imagine that your kid is a bit of a troublemaker that has the potential to be a pretty big problem, but he/she also has the ability to be a leader in making their class act a certain way. Your kid threatened another kid by stating that if they came near the swingset that he/she and their friends were occupying, they would "punch their lights out". This is a reasonably serious offense, which any teacher should take serious. The teacher then takes your kid to the office. The whole time not saying a word to your kid. When your kid arrives at the office, the principal says nothing to your kid, but rather announces to the office he/she "will handle this troublemaking terd". After this, the principal brings your kid into the office says nothing to the child and proceeds to lock your kid in a room for awhile while he takes a few minutes to type up a paper that revokes any privledges your kid enjoyed. These priviledges are to be posted in your child's homeroom, and it is up to the teacher to enforce these new rules with close supervision from the principal. Also understand that your child will only be informed of these consequences if they choose to read them, as the principal succeded in "blackballing" your kid. And the finale, your kid now enters his new classroom setting ...

Did your kid learn a lesson? Were they taught how to relate to the rest of their classmates? How did they feel toward the principal and teacher who used their given power to discipline? And finally ... How do you feel about your child's treatment?

My point is that no one would want themselves or their kid to be treated in this manner. Also, whether we like it or not, Iran is a big player in the Middle East, specifically so regarding Iraq, Afghanistan, and our precious oil. We need to be able to deal with them whether that is ideal or not. Why do we always get to be the bully that never has to talk to anyone, but rather, can tell people what to do? Who made us the righteous country to handle the "axis of evil" with force? What makes us so different from the Crusades that we regard as barbaric? Even if they believe things that Westerners don't, even if they are Muslims that are judged to hell by the Western Hemisphere, aren't we still responsible to Jesus' greatest commandment? I know he is a conservative Republican, but that doesn't change the one thing He commanded us regarding other people. That includes those that live in the "axis of evil".

I hope we aren't headed in this direction:

"This is why the wall of names that is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is so important. IT was not a project funded or organized by the state but by those who survived and insisted we not forget. It was part of America's battle back to truth, part of our desire for forgiveness. It ultimately held out to us as a nation the opportunity for redemption, although the state has prodded us back towards the triumphalism that led us to Vietnam." Chris Hedges, War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning

"Let me have a war, say I: It exceeds peace as far as day
Does night; it's spritely, waking, audible, full of vent.
Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy, mull'd, deaf, sleepy,
Insensible; a getter of more bastard children than war is a
Destroyer of men." William Shakespeare, Coriolanus

i got punked

2008-07-03T15:23:00.000-05:00

so i have to post a retraction from the post just below. i had started a conversation based upon an article that i had read on a website called larknews.com. i have since realized through a friend that the website on which i had read the article is actually a parody website similar to the onion.com except instead of mocking politics it is mocking christians and church newsletters in an attempt to lighten up the christian world. however, i was completely unaware of that when i saw the site which caused my blog in all seriousness. None the less i thought the conversations that were started in relation to the 'fake' article on larknews.com have been entertaining and thought provoking. so here's to parody websites and the overly serious christians that get fooled. so go check it out and get a good laugh!!

to pray or not to pray that is the question......

2008-06-30T15:45:00.001-05:00

so recently i was clicking around online and came across a website that is not really my taste but a headline on an article caught my eye. It said "Do Not Pray Lists Prove Popular" you can read the article at www.larknews.com. The article talks about people, that are put on churches mass prayer lists, who do not want to be prayed for. One man said, We do not want prayer from Christians, and we did not ask for it," he told a reporter. "It’s a violation to pray for someone without their knowledge or consent." Another lady said "I consider it spiritual harassment, even if I do think prayer is bogus." And a Hindu business owner is blaming the prayers to the Christian God for the reason he is not making more money and says that He believes the church should reimburse him for lost revenue.

i am a little torn on this topic. At the end of the article it says that some angry people want there to be a national 'Do Not Pray' list like the national 'Do Not Call' list. Where do we go from here. How do we balance a sense of religious freedom for people who believe that Jesus is the only way versus religious freedom for those who do not want Christians to pray for them? I have always believed and been taught to pray for people even if they don't want you to but from a political stand point could I, in a legal sense, be told i CANNOT pray for someone? I understand the passages about obeying the laws and authorities of the land in Romans 13 and then likewise in Acts 5 when the apostles disobeyed the law to obey God. Are there passages about praying for those who do not wish to be prayed for? I am not sure. Again, just a topic for discussion. talk amongst yourselves (topic has been given)

One Man Show?

2008-06-25T20:30:00.000-05:00

So over the past few days I have realized something that has really been in front of a lot of us since Senator John McCain (R,AZ) became the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican party. The thing I have realized that this presidential election is really just a one man show. From the numerous conversations I have had with people concerning the two men left, who have a real shot at becoming the next president of the United States, I am not sure that I have met one person yet who are actual McCain supporters. If you read this, and are a McCain supporter, please leave a comment and let me know, especially if we've talked and I have overlooked our conversation with this comment. But in all honesty, I really feel that most people are either voting FOR Barack Obama or they are voting AGAINST him. There have are tons of rumors and slander that have been going on since Senator Obama (D,IL) stepped into the presidential arena. All that aside however, I feel like even his stance on policies people either really support him or really oppose him but I have not found the same to be true for John McCain. This cartoon below I found on a blog website that I believe supports my theory.

I found this cartoon on a blog that is supposed to be supporting John McCain but, as with several other McCain supporting blogs I found in my brief grazing for these types of blogs, I would quickly guesstimate that at least 50% of the posts on a lot of the blogs i found were actually taking shots at Obama rather than 'support' their candidate. Now, if you know me or have had almost any conversation with me this election year you know where I stand and who I support but that is not what this post is about.

When I was in college at Texas Tech I realized what it meant to actually be a supporter of my schools team and not just oppose another school or team. I believe that there are many people who don't know what they support but only what they oppose. Now in my conversations with more democratically aligned friends I hear, mostly but not always, support for Obama, however, in conversations with my more republican aligned friends I haven't found one person that is really happy with McCain. I hear it all the time on Fox News talk radio that conservatives are not happy with McCain but that cannot stand Obama! This is a little off putting to me. I have no real place to go with this blog other than to just put it out there for comments or theories of any other nature. Let me know what you think, do you think that this election is coming down to "To Obama or not To Obama"? Or do you really feel McCain has solid ground to stand on. My opinion is that he is more or less coasting into the White House if he wins. Rather on CNN or Fox News it's a rare day I hear anything other than Pro or Con Obama and hardly ever do I hear/see something on Pro/Con McCain. Just drop some thoughts.

Sportsmanship

2008-05-07T22:10:00.000-05:00

i hope you've seen the story from a couple of weeks ago about the softball game between Central Washington University and Western Oregon. In this game a senior player for western oregon who had never hit a home run in her career belted a three run homer that would've given them the lead in a game that was a rivalry and needed for both teams in to make their playoff run. however, as the western oregon senior rounded first base she overstepped and missed the bag. once she realized this she turned to go back and tag except her leg failed to turn with her body and she blew out her knee going back. the umpires assessed the ruling that if her own team mates touched her to help her round the bases she would be called out. if the coach replaced her with another runner the play would be counted as a two run single, therefore robbing the senior of her only home run ever. moved by this assessment two players from the opposing team asked the senior and the opposing her coach for permission to carry her around the bases to give her full credit for what she had already earned by hitting the ball out of the park. i cannot begin to tell you how moved i am with this story. i have been increasingly disturbed, yes disturbed, by the overwhelming rate at which sportsmanship is being ejected from the games like an irate coach after a hard foul. When did all this start? I am assuming it happened slowly over the last couple of decades. I can remember being taught sportsmanship, honesty, integrity, and all these other things that mattered more than actually winning the game. the days of those thoughts are gone it seems. i know so many people that believe that you should strive to win no matter the cost. that includes cheating in all manner of ways (i think this point is made spectacularly clear by the steroids problems in baseball). No one has any integrity in sports anymore.

a few weeks ago i attended a high school baseball game. that saturday there was a match up i found intriguing. i sat in the stands for most of the game with my father in law, Kevin. sometime during the game, which was horribly officiated, a hometown boy hit a home run over the center field fence. just on the other side of the outfield fence is a row of very tall evergreen trees (which ironically vary in height from left to right in ascending order very much giving the mental image of an AT&T commercial). As the ball traveled over the fence from behind the plate we heard a loud smack of the baseball hitting wood, followed by the ball rolling back onto the field and the outfielders ceasing pursuit of the ball. as the play commenced the umpire did not realize that the ball had hit the tree and came back into the field of play and never called the home run. the opposing coach realized this and yelled at his outfielders to get the ball back to the infield. After much debate by the umpires and coaches the umpires officially ruled the play as a one run single instead of a three run homer. Now I realize that in basketball a foul is not a foul unless the ref's whistle blows, however, fouls in basketball are judgment calls. This was a legitimate homer that was miscalled because the umpire was not paying attention. Now this was a small town baseball game not a major league game on TV where replay could be assessed. However, there was an easy way for this to be determined.........ask the outfielders. They saw it, they KNOW it was over the fence and was a legitimate home run. Now, some will say that it is not their call but again i say that a home run is NOT a judgment call, it ACTUALLY happened. It was not a matter of IF it was out of the park but rather THAT it was out of the park. Now, I could put a little of this on the outfielders who saw it go over and said nothing to the umpire, however, athletes are products of their coaching. I sit most all of this massively bad call on the opposing coach. In my opinion, he should have walked to the outfield, asked his players (assuming he himself did NOT see that is WAS a homer, which would be hard to believe) if the ball was actually a home run and then relay that to the umpire. This situation i think breeds disgrace. Now, in this scenario, the home team ended up winning the game (on a bottom of the 7th *last inning in high school ball* walk off grand slam) but the point still stands that NOT being honest and upfront with the reality of what happened is a disgrace. It's a disgrace to the opposing town, the coach, the players, and sportsmanship itself.

I wanted badly to send the previous story of the girls softball game to the opposing coach and say that is what sportsmanship looks like. The other part of the softball story is that by helping the senior around the bases instead of leaving her to be called out or just getting the single, they actually cost their team the game. They gave up victory for integrity, what a remarkable concept!!

This sort of thing spills over into things that even matter less than a highschool baseball game too. How many people do you know that cheat at board games, card games, or anything else? WHY!!?? THEY ARE BOARD GAMES PEOPLE!! I have recently started playing golf on as regular a basis as i can afford (which isn't a lot right now). But there are some people I have played with (and if you're reading this you know who you are) who, no lie, literally shave shots on EVERY hole. I just do not understand this. Pretending that you put the ball in the hole in fewer shots than what actually happened doesn't make you a better player. And if you're playing me you don't need to shave shots......I am horrible and my handicap is around 47 to the power of 10!! I am not sure if this is an ego thing or what but it really does not make them a better golfer just a cheater. Anyway, that is my blog (rant) for now, leave comments......let's discuss.

Help Wanted

2008-04-22T15:06:00.000-05:00

so i find myself in the very familiar place of job hunting again. i am ridiculously sick of being in this place. especially since we have a house, car, bills, and baby all to pay for right now. amy and i have really been in a place of utter dismay with our jobs and finances. when we moved the first job i took was working at a mortgage bank here in amarillo. i absolutely love it!! it was something different than i had ever done before. something new to learn and try to accomplish. i feel i was pretty good at it for the most part. but it was the least part that became frustrating. i could get done the things i needed to but it was all the depending on third parties that stressed me out and trying to learn on the fly to get things done. i was at my breaking point with it. on my way to work one morning i just told the lord "lord, if you want me here let the loans i have in my pipeline go smoothly, if not shut the doors here and open doors somewhere else. in god like fashion he answered and during the next 7 days i lost every loan in my pipeline!! i was a little shocked but knew what i had asked for. again, the lord opened door to do appraisals through a friend (the same friend, actually, who hooked me up with the mortgage job). i began to work for a guy based out of lubbock and i would do his footwork up here in the amarillo area. it was a good deal, i thought. i got paid half the appraisal fee, would learn a new trade, and get licensed to do appraisals on my own in a year or so. problem was that the guy that i was working for was a complete bum. i am not sure why he does business the way he does (not answering or dodging phone calls, making empty promises, lying about any and everything, and not taking ANY responsibility for what he does, or doesn't, do). So after several months of putting faith in him that he would get things turned around and then finally confronting him in lubbock last week (after having to track him down), I am back at square one. amy is doing ok at her new salon but some weeks are good and some are not. we are still trying to get her to a full client el. I do have a couple of leads on other places to get sponsored to do appraisals but realistically most appraisers do not want to train their competition. I already have promised business if I can just get on with someone but we will just have to ocntinue to pray this one in. Amy and i have the analogy of manna concerning our finances right now. it seems that every time we are at the end of the barrell the lord provides manna to sustain us. not for saving, not for tomorrow or next month, but just for today. just for the bills that HAVE to be paid now. we are tired and stressed out about all of this and are trying to lay it all at the feet of the father as well as the situation with her sister and brother in law with their divorce. but the lord is faithful to us. constantly providing manna. consistently saying 'i have you, don't worry'. there are many things that we are contemplating right now but he has us in hand. but if you know of a good job in the amarillo area i would be ecstatic to hear from you. I am up for anything right now. i just started waiting tables at carinos at night and have been looking for some worship gigs in the area but we'll just have to see what the lord provides!!! Thanks for praying with us!!

2008-04-13T02:14:00.001-05:00

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INFIDEL! كافر

2008-04-13T02:07:00.000-05:00

so i was going to wait to post this till tomorrow since it is so late but i am trying to import some video we took of Ry tonight and it is taking a while. I took this picture a while back when i went to a gun show here in amarillo with a couple of friends. now there were many things that day that could be talked about being:

1) the fact that the gun show was held the same day, in the same building, just down the hall from where former president bill clinton was speaking

2) the ongoing conversation that my friend shook and i have going about gun control

3) the enormity of some of the fire arms that were on sale
(and the fact that you could purchase a gun there that looked as if it would be mounted on a helicopter) or....

4) the absurdity of the t-shirt that was being sold at the gun show itself.

so for this blog's sake we shall choose issue number four, the t-shirt. I was shocked and appalled at the t-shirt i saw at the gun show:

The shirt proclaims to all that the wearer is an infidel. a fact that is directed to those of muslim decent (made apparent by the translation in arabic below the english word). just when i think that there are progressions being made in the world of tolerance, this shirt is bounced into my face! there are some shirts where the wearer proclaims things about themselves that i have seen and been shocked by like shirts that say 'MILF', or 'SLUT' or 'MILF in Training'. those also make me sad but this shirt really isn't about the wearer at all now is it? No, it is actually a shot at someone of the muslim faith. antagonizing them if you will. in essence saying 'fuck you and what you think'. or knowing that there are some sects of muslim beliefs, that say if you are an infidel (or one not believing in the muslim faith) then you are to be put to death, saying in essence 'i dare you to shoot me'. what arrogance!! but really........what ignorance. because if they truly knew what the word infidel meant most people would never touch the shirt. dictionary.com defines the word infidel as such:

in·fi·del/ˈɪnfɪdl, -ˌdɛl/
–noun
1. Religion.
a. a person who does not accept a particular faith, esp. Christianity.
b. (in Christian use) an unbeliever, esp. a Muslim.
c. (in Muslim use) a person who does not accept the Islamic faith; kaffir.
2. a person who has no religious faith; unbeliever.
3. (loosely) a person who disbelieves or doubts a particular theory, belief, creed, etc.; skeptic.
–adjective
4. not accepting a particular faith, esp. Christianity or Islam; heathen.
5. without religious faith.
6. due to or manifesting unbelief: infidel ideas.
7. rejecting the Christian religion while accepting no other; not believing in the Bible or any Christian divine revelation.

my guess is that most of the people buying and selling that shirt believes that it ONLY pertains to people w/o a belief in islam. and further that they are not only hurt and bitter but also scared of most muslims for a number of reasons. the more i type about this subject the sadder i get for those who buy and sell this shirt. i think 'what lonely, misguided, hurt people they must be, even if they do not see it, ESPECIALLY if they do not see it'. my heart breaks on.
I forgot to mention there is also a style for the pink lovers. leave a comment and tell me what your thoughts and views are on this shirt.

HEELS indeed!!

2008-04-05T22:40:00.001-05:00

i cannot express my level of disappointment in the north carolina tarheels in their final four game tonight vs. ku. i have never been so disappointed or humiliated to have supported a team in all my life. i would honestly say it was the most undignified showing i have ever seen in a carolina basketball team, even through the years under matt daugherty. what a pathetic showing. they came out with absolutely no passion, played no defense whatsoever, and handed kansas a shot at a championship. and it, for certain, was not just the play. roy williams coached the worst game i have seen. i would question where his loyalties were lying in the game. not calling key time outs, benching the most productive players on the floor when they are in the midst of hitting big shots and playing good D, as well as fronting the post players without having backside help. again, i cannot reiterate how pathetic this game was. kansas played as well as they could for most of the game and we played the worst game of the season against one of the four best teams in the nation this year!! i am absolutely ashamed of the effort we extended. kansas nearly screwed themselves right out of the game by allowing us to come back as we did and then somewhere along the way roy decided to go back to the strategy that got us into a 30 point deficit in the first half to finish out the game. i am disgraced. i sit here in carolina blue disgusted with the colors i wear. this team tonight gave the fans that support them (even now) a huge black eye. we play hard and lose, no problem, we play hard and get blown out, ok, but when we play with NO passion all game, still have a shot to win, and then finish as pathetic as we started......ridiculous. there are no excuses for that effort, or lack of. we were out hustled, out played, and ultimately outscored. there were, without a doubt, terrible calls and kansas played particularly well but neither one of those situations determined the outcome of the game. it was, by far, the passionless, lazy, heartless, despicable way that the north carolina tarheels played that determined the victory for kansas.

my baby boy.......

2008-04-05T09:35:00.000-05:00

so i get this comment on my myspace page fairly regularly lately, "where are pictures of your kiddo?". well the truth is i hate posting pictures on myspace cause they take too long to upload and most of the time i have to re-size them just so myspace will accept them. so i built a website when Ry was first born to show him off. now this isn't the most up to date site out there right now but i am working on getting some newer pictures on there. so check it out if you want to see him. there are also a couple of videos on there as well!! i'm also posting one of my favorite pics of Ry and his mommy that i just snapped the other day. let me know what you think of Ry's website.

here is the link to Ry's website:
http://web.mac.com/constantprodigal/Rylan/Rylan.html

My First Apple Store!!

2008-04-03T22:07:00.000-05:00

so last weekend we went to ft worth so amy could be at a bachelorette party for a friend before we went down to graham tx for the wedding itself. i was not really looking forward to the whole thing. not specifically because of the wedding but the fact we had been out of town for the 3rd straight weekend with one more before our run of out of town weekends will be over. however friday was my birthday, so before we headed down to graham for the rehearsal that night amy and i went into southlake for our first apple store experience!! i cannot express to pc users my elation. when you own a mac life is just so much better. i have never been in a fraternity but i would assume it is much the same. there is a sense of comorodery when you see someone with a mac, iphone, or another apple product, even if it just the apple icon sticker on a car or something. so to finally walk into a store where there are not just other people who own apple product but you can actually find software without having to order it online!! pc users are probably thinking i'm a complete nerd right now but that's ok. and to top it all off there are actually people there that KNOW what they're talking about when you ask questions about mac's or apple products!! so i just wanted to share my joy of my first apple store expirence!!

The Epidemic

2007-04-18T20:18:00.000-05:00

So I sit here at a table in one of the MANY waiting rooms in MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX tonight. If you haven't heard my mother, Pat, was diaognosed with breast cancer a couple of weeks ago. We made the decision very quickly to bring her treatment here in the world renown cancer center. I am just in sheer amazement as to just how huge of a problem cancer really is. I know right now I sound extremely niave but honestly it has only been in the last couple of years that I've really just began to see what is going on in the world of cancer. I believe that my biggest concern with it, as of right now, is just how passe' it has become. I can't even begin to know how many billions of dollars a year are put in to cancer research. Even as I sit here my mom has signed up to be part of a 'clinical trial'. But here is where it gets puzzling to me. Say they found a cure.....well.........not a cure per say but the cause.

(I am putting my hypothesis out there that it isn't just one thing but a huge combination of things that we are doing that is causing this massive epidemic in our world.)

Never the less let's just say that the Dr's found the cause.........and for discussions sake let's say that the cause of cancer (which I DO NOT THINK IT IS, just this anyway) was the use of cell phones. Let's say that due to the explosion in the use of cell phones in the last 20 years that the magnetic fields (which I am just sure really exist but have always heard about) are the cause of cancer. My question then is this............."Would we change?"

Again, I don't think that cell phones are the cause of cancer nor do I base ANY of this off of medical research, though it wouldn't surprise me if they were linked in some fashion at some point. But seriously.....would we change? Would we go "MY GOD, what are we doing?" and then get rid of cell phones all together in one fail swoop?

I don't think we would. I guess that the epidemic we call cancer is a collection of MANY things that we do that we are unwilling to do without. Cars for instance. I don't think we would give up our cars to save lives, even millions of lives a year. I don't see us doing that. *sidenote: yet we complain about a few thousand that die defending our country* I belive that as a society especially in the United States that we sacfifice millions of lives yearly for convience, our lusts, and mostly money!! I am truly sickened with how much we pour into curing a certain disease while trying to dance around KNOWN major contributors to it (i.e. smoking, air pollution, nuclear energy, etc, etc, etc). What the hell is wrong with us? We are so hooked on these things that I really have no faith in the human race to do the right thing when it comes down to it. I really want to add more to this later but my mother is out of her tests and we have been here for almost 14 hrs today, Please coment and let's discuss!!

Who got Scammed?

2007-04-07T17:39:00.000-05:00

So her it is, ladies & gentlemen, my brand new Mac Book Pro that I recieved from one of those internet banner adds for "Free New Laptop"!! And this post isn't an automated add for that stuff but just wanting to let you know that it worked!! I had to sign up for 18 diefferent offers and then pay close attention to all the terms & agreements so I didn't get screwed over, plus it took what seemed like forever but now that it's over I guess it wasn't that long. For spending less than $200 on signing up for ad's and then cancelling things and sending them back I think I did pretty well!!

Oh yeah, and it snowed today too!! In Big Spring, TX on the day before Easter in April...it snowed! How nuts is that? So between the new computer, new gold clubs ordered, new baby pictures, and snow it's been a ver eventful week! Hope life for all you fine people is well!!

In Amy Land

2007-04-06T21:52:00.000-05:00

I wonder how many men REALLY love their wives? If any of them feel half way about their lives as I do they would never leave or cheat or divorce. I am not saying, by any means, that I am above that because I believe that the moment I start thinking that I am too good for that is the moment my guard drops and the enemy swoops in. But in all honesty I TRULY love my wife. If you didn’t know yet, we are expecting our first child in October!! We are soo excited about the possibility of being parents but in all honesty I think being good parents started a long time ago with decisions we made from around our teenage years on. So that is my thought for now. I love my wife. I can’t wait to begin to raise a child with her and the Lord.

~Arch

A New Blog, A New Post, A New Dad!!!

2007-04-05T21:23:00.000-05:00

So I get the greatest honor to start my first blogspot with some of the greatest news I think I could ever give out publicly................ I'M GONNA BE A DAD!!!! WOOO HOOO!! Amy & I went for our first Dr.'s appointment for the baby today in Midland. We got to see the lil guy/girl wiggle, kick, and even stare at us!

We went over to Midland today for the appointment. There were several things that we needed to today that didn't include the kiddo. I just purchased my first set golf clubs which I hopefully will come in, in the next couple days will be here. I bought Tommy Armour clubs off of ebay which I've heard are good clubs and since I don't play much golf at all right now I wouldn't know the difference even if they were crappy. But all in all I bought some accessories shoes, crappy golf balls which will get lost, a glove, and sunglasses. So, aside from the ugly plaid men's capri's, I think I'm set.

I am exceptionally distraught at the value of the customer in our days. While we were in Academy Sports today (looking for my invaluable accessories), we stood in the golf dept for over 20 mins waiting on someone to come assist us with things that we didn't know or couldn't do. Amy finally went and asked them to send someone and even after they paged it out over the intercom.....no one showed. We finally couldn't wait any longer and went to our appointment. When we walked up to check in the nurse there alerted us to the fact that the Dr. was just then seeing his 10:15 a.m. patient. Did I mention the fact that our appointment was at 1:00 p.m.? I was shocked and the nurse asked, in a very 'You didn't know?' manner, "No one told you that Dr. Madden useually runs behind?". As if this were something the whole world, besides us, knew. They preceeded to tell us that it would be at least 1 1/2 hrs till he saw us but if we left and came back they would bump us down the list!!! What BULLCRAP!! We are first time parents, first Dr's appt about the baby, and they were gonna bump us because OUR time is valuable? Seriously!!?? This guy is going to be getting 25% of my monthly income everytime we see this guy and HE was gonna bump US? That is my soapbox for now but it just seems that customer service is way below where it should be in corporate America.

The day has ended up good though with finally getting to tell all the people we love about our great news!! So call us, e-mail us, and pray for us as we start a great, scary, incredible journey!!

(PEEK A BOO.....I SEE YOU!!)