No More Cast for Josh!

We went to the next Dr. appointment on Monday morning. Bone graft is looking great and no more cast for Josh! We were all very excited for this big day. He is walking around the house in regular shoes, though still a bit weak from atrophy.

His only restriction is open field (grass) sports to keep from hitting any unseen holes, etc. For all he went through, now he says he can hardly believe it all happened!

Long Time No Post

Yes....it has been too long. No excuses, but it has been quite busy. Soon after my last post, a good friend offered to refashion my blog. So, watch out for news soon and a whole new look. I am VERY excited!

Then, for those who may not have heard, a tragic Metrolink Train Crash occurred on Friday, September 12 just outside our city. 10 of the 25 killed were residents of Simi Valley. The next week was very busy as I had the honor of being involved as a Police Chaplain in a couple of remembrance events. I'll write more on that later.

Topping it off is Colleen's new job. She's teaching the night class of the Certified Nurse's Assistant Course at the Simi Valley Adult School on Monday nights, Wednesday nights and all day on Saturdays. She loves it, but the prep work is enormous as this is her first semester to teach the class. Every spare minute is spent prepping for the next class, so I've been trying to be around extra for the boys as Colleen studies away.

Add to the mix the Fall season at Church (always extra busy) and a building program we're trying to get happening. You get the picture.

Enough for now. It's late Saturday night, and there's something about church in the morning.....

Roller Coaster

The last few days have been BOTH invigorating AND draining. How can that be?

It's been INVIGORATING to take a week off to be available for the needs of my family. Josh's surgery went well, and that's invigorating! Most of his recovery so far has gone well, and that's also invigorating to me. At times through the week, we've SLEPT a lot ..... you know it .... invigorating. And, just being together as family ..... in-stinkin--vigorating!

Then, church this morning was incredibly invigorating! "Interactive Worship Sunday" for the first time and Katie Miller and the team did an amazing job leading us to the throne of God, not just in "song worship", but in various forms of worship. It's downright good to regularly remind ourselves that worship is not about US, it's about GOD! It was Katie's awesome idea and one we will do again!

It's also been a DRAINING week. Taking care of each other is a LOT of work! 3 am pain med checks are no fun on the body! It's great when recovery is going well, but when it's not? DRAINING! I can NOT imagine what God the Father went through watching Jesus suffer. Seriously, NO comprehension here whatsoever.

I know it's true for any parent, but it HURTS when you watch your kid hurt! Today turned out to be Josh's worst day of pain so far. The anesthesia must have worn off overnight, because up until today we were thinking this was gonna be cake! Not to be, and that's draining. He and I took a nap this afternoon trying to calm some of his hardest pain. When I woke up less than two hours later, I seriously thought it had to be Monday morning. I guess that's how drained I was.

Anyway, it's been a roller coaster!

Fun News Article!

Just wanted to share that our church was featured in a great article yesterday in the LA Daily News. A reporter called us out of the blue asking if she could do an article on our church. She was apparently impressed by our website.

I originally thought it was just running in a local Simi Valley section. However, they ran it in their entire distribution on page A4.

You can also read it online here. If you get a chance, leave a comment through the box at the end of the article!

Many have walked alongside us over a number of years of tilling tough soil. For those who have and who know our story, it's a fun thing to get to enjoy some positive, free press, and I thought you'd enjoy rejoicing with us!

Good Weekend

I really appreciated this weekend! Lots of BBQ'n, which I just love to do.

Friday night, I visited a man from church in the hospital. He survived a procedure this week that he wasn't sure he would make it through. We had the most amazing visit as he openly shared with me some pretty deep things he's been through and some of the stuff he's done. This is a man rescued by Jesus from the brink. He became for me a huge example of someone who is "poor in spirit", the very message I was working on for this weekend.

Saturday, I hit the day hard, churning out the majority of today's message. Started a new series that I've been thinking about for a while, but just decided to start in the last couple days of the week. "Becoming All That You Can Be" from Matthew 5:1-10, the Beatitudes. Challenging stuff, but good, deep.

Last night, q'd some really nice ribeyes and had my sister and her husband and kids over for her birthday. Colleen and the boys saw "Get Smart" late in the afternoon with a family friend, who also joined us for dinner on the spur of the moment. By the end of the evening, I was whipped. A good whipped, but really tired.

This morning, church went great at both services. The message was hard, but received well. Had visitors at church today that had been part of our church some time ago, so it was just heart-warming to see old friends and hear their remarks about how we're missed. Cool thing!

Then, this afternoon, I spent some time watching golf with Colleen, who is the greatest woman in all the world, in my book! Later in the afternoon, I headed to Fry's Electronics to see if they had a replacement power supply for the family desktop computer. They did, I put it in, and the computer works!

I love fix-it projects and all, but it seems lately that whenever I have a project to do, it's extremely frustrating and filled with multiple return trips to the store! This one worked, and that felt good! Q'd some beef ribs for dinner, but overdid them! Peanut butter and jelly for dinner as Colleen and a friend were canning plums for plum jam from our tree in the backyard. Just felt like the Walton's around here. It was cool!

As far as Josh's leg, it seems we'll call the doctor tomorrow and get the ball rolling to set up surgery. It's not that Josh is looking forward to it, but the way he put it is that he "wants to do whatever is best." And, he doesn't want to go to school with a cast. We'll keep you posted on the schedule.

'Nite for now.....

Weekend Reflections

• Another awesome weekend at NewHeart! Worship rocked (not just "rock 'n roll" in that, but "rock your world if you let it" is more like it).
• Second Sunday every month is "Family Sunday", when we have our kids in with us during worship. Great way for kids to see worship modeled. Today being Veteran's Day, I thought it was great for them to see us remember our veterans as a church family too!
  
• Started a new series today. I'm calling it "Seasons" and talking about the different seasons of life God walks us through. At the end of each service, we took some time to be silent and ask God to reveal what season He has us in and how we should respond to it. Then, we asked people to share if they wanted to. End of second service was amazing!
• Sounds like God has us as a church in a season of harvest. I don't get that by numbers necessarily, but by what God is speaking to a number of folks.
• My beard is growing still, and so are the questions. Again, NO, I am NOT growing a beard ... just being lazy. I think it's OK to be lazy about some things once in a while ... not ALOT of things, just SOME things. It's still there because Colleen said, "Let it go another week if you want."
• Only 43 days left till Christmas! I'm putting some lights up this week because I can't WAIT! I've never gone this early before!
  
• Our boys' football season ended yesterday with a loss. I'll miss the camaraderie and cherish the new friendships. Just realized this week that my boys will leave this team next year as they move UP a level and most of the team stays where they are.
• I'm looking forward to some gym time! I don't know that my body is, but the rest of me is ready!
  
• Took time yesterday evening to pick up a couple of very good friends of my boys who live a couple hours away. Met them and their dad halfway, but didn't anticipate some pretty heavy traffic. What should have taken about and hour took us two and a half! I wasn't all the way done with my message, so bedtime didn't come until 1:30 am! I was TIRED this morning, but God still showed up!
• Gave blood today at church. Really! A lady in our church organizes a blood drive twice a year. What a great way to give life to others!
• Saw "Fred Claus" with the family and some friends this afternoon. Funny movie, though I cringe at the allowance for stuff like couples living together before marriage being an OK thing.
• Got our first comments back this week from the Planning Department on our upcoming bathroom and entryway remodel, which will be more extensive than it looks. Not too bad a list of requests. We'll meet this week with the contractor to adjust the drawings some and resubmit. Keep your ears and eyes open for more info soon.
  

Weekend Reflections

• Our Harvest Festival last Wednesday was incredible! Probably our best ever. John Cox made a video we showed Sunday thanking our volunteers. Here it is in case you missed it:
  
  
• Colleen and I were BLOWN AWAY by the gifts we received for Pastors Appreciation Month! The Starbucks cards alone should hold me over until, say, next week or so! Just kidding ... in actuality, they'll probably hold me for quite a while!
• Our boys' biggest football game of the year was Saturday. It was for the playoffs and we barely got there. Literally made it into this game by a coin toss. Anyway, we did well in the beginning, but eventually lost. Last game is this weekend as a consolation game. I have bittersweet feelings about the season's end.
  
• Got lots of comments this weekend on my new beard. Actually, I don't really have a beard because I can't grow a good one. From a distance, it just looks live I haven't washed my face in a while. It's there because I was too lazy to shave last week (and OK with it!). For the record, here's a picture before it comes off.
  
  
  
• Katie Miller is doing a fantastic job as our new Worship Coordinator. Sunday's time of worship was so fun, rich and themed really well around the cross as we received Communion. For any Worship Leaders reading this, her set was Beautiful One, Indescribable, You Are Good, Lead Me To The Cross, and Jesus' Blood. But then, at the end they transitioned back into You Are Good, and it was amazing!
• We concluded our "Lord of the Spiritual Things" series on Sunday morning. Taught about why things like psychics, tarot cards, palm readings, horoscopes, and Electronic Voice Phenomenon are NOT good things to be messing with. You can listen here if you want.
  
• I got to spend Sunday afternoon with a couple who just came back to our church after being gone for 4 years. They left under strenuous circumstances. We were very close to them and it was very painful for us to be without each other for these last years. God opened doors for us to reconnect over the last couple months or so. We have watched reconciliation and restoration of relationship happen and they ended up feeling led to come back to NewHeart. ONLY GOD!!
• Took the boys to Barnes & Noble Monday night so Colleen could have a quiet evening to prepare for a test at school today. Did you know Colleen started her Sociology program at CSUN this Fall? Taking 2 classes right now. I am SO proud of her!