Sick and Tired

Man...

Been one heck of a week. Sam started off with the croup. Then Amy got sick...real sick. Then I started getting sick. Then Sam got better. Amy stayed sick. I stayed sick. Sam got sick again. Sam starting to feel a bit better with mom and dad still struggling in their old age.

If it weren't for the help of grandparents I'm not sure what we would have done over the last two weeks. I feel blessed to have them. When they die life will totally suck...for a number of reasons :).

Had an opportunity to preach at Penn Avenue this morning. Fighting through the snot was not too much fun...but we made it work. Preached on Luke 1:26-38. Even sang a bit. Kind of fun...don't get to do that enough these days. Have a great Christmas week. I'll be back.

It's been a while....

It's been a while. Over three months counts for more than a while, I guess. But, I'm back. We're back. And glad to be back. Lot's going on.

Yes, we're expecting. June 6th is the date. We think it's a girl. Sam does too. If so, we're probably going with "Ellie." If not, Sam will be very confused!

We've had much going on and so much to be thankful for in these days. We've recently gotten through a very busy, but productive season at OKC Compassion. We just celebrated the ten year anniversary at OKC Compassion, had a huge banquet, raised awareness and some money at the same time.

Amy and I are currently overloaded with the weight and responsibility of running the residential recovery program. This just recently became our responsibility, within the week. We are excited and completely overwhelmed all at the same time. But, we've been there before. Our goal is to find people to help who have a whole lot more knowledge than we do and hand off ministry as God allows.

We hope you are doing well. I'll be in touch a bit sooner! Love from the Hall's!

Sam's First Day of School

Yes...Sam goes to his first day of "Mother's Day Out" tomorrow. He'll spend a pretty large amount of the day there and then his mimi will pick him up and rescue him. I say that half jokingly...but we're not used to taking him to a large, established school like this. He's not even two yet! His mommy is having some trouble with this.

He's been hilarious the last several days. When I went to Amy's parents house tonight for dinner, I pulled up and saw my son in their front yard pushing a little plastic mower around. I got out and he was saying..."mowing hard, Sammy mowing hard." He often says "daddy mowing hard" when he sees me at the house. I think its his favorite thing to say. He was so cute. He just starting saying "I don't like that" today. He decided that he didn't like a few things today. He decided tonight at 8:30pm that he didn't like his bed but liked "mama's bed." It's hilarious! He's so stinking smart for his age and we are so proud of him...even if he is currently hitting unsuspecting children for no reason and we can't figure out how to stop him :).

Waterloo Nazarene

We had a great Sunday morning service at Waterloo Nazarene Church in Edmond, Oklahoma this past weekend. This is Amy's home church and we spent many years there together in our early relationship. It's a great church with a large number of family. We raised some money as we continue to find ways to support ourselves and we do believe God will continue to provide for us as he already has...in amazing ways.

5K

Hi!

I know, I know...it's been too long. Maybe that's because Amy and I have been trying to get ourselves in shape to run. We are running in a 5k race on October 4 in Oklahoma City. This will be the first race either one of us have run in. We plan to win it and set all kinds of records...not really. We hope to finish. Amy has been running consistently now for about six weeks and I've done pretty good for the last three. Last night we ran and Amy made it 25 minutes straight without stopping. She's never done that before and I'm so proud of her. Hopefully this is just the beginning of a great new hobby for the both of us.

Got Em' Moved!

I am happy to report that we were successful in our attempt to get my grandparents moved from Okmulgee, Oklahoma to Edmond, Oklahoma this weekend. It took a lot of work and a lot time...but I'm happy to report that it is done. There's still lots to do...but it's basically over. Now, we'll just have to see how much stuff they'll have to give away as they have moved into a much smaller house! I am thankful for them, though. They are good people and I think they are looking forward to being closer to family for the first time in about 33 years! They had a lot of crap. A lot.

First Funeral

I had the privilege today of officiating my first funeral. People were shocked by that as I shared that fact. I guess they assumed that all pastor do funerals at least once a year...but when you serve most of your years on a staff the size of a football team its not normally the associate that gets the call. So, I was privileged to be able to spend good time with the family of a man named Richard Gaiski. Not knowing him, it was an interesting experience to have to rely on the family to help me get a taste of what kind of man he was. He seemed like a great family man and a great dad. He loved sports and cared about people. It was a good day and it will be one I'll never forget. I thank God he entrusts simple minded ministers like me with the huge responsibility of honoring the lives of people and ultimately pointing people to Christ. This man was the father of one of the guys in our recovery program at OKC Compassion. It was cool to come full circle with this guy to the extent that he would ask me to do that funeral for his family. Pretty neat stuff!