Date Night with Shannon
The other night Shannon and I had a great time taking pictures for our date night. We had some really great pictures come out of it that I thought I would share. Hope you enjoy.
Pastor Dad: Praying for Asa
I’ve only been a dad for about a year-and-a-half, but I must say one of my favorite things to do is to pray for Asa before he goes to bed every night. If you don’t pray for/with your kids every, I would highly recommend it. I thought I would take a moment and share with you what I pray for Asa every night before we put him in his crib.
Father,
I thank you so much for Asa and the blessing that he is in our lives.
I pray the you help him to fall asleep quickly and to sleep the whole night through so he can get the rest that he needs.
I pray that you keep him safe through the night and send your angels to protect him and keep him safe.
I pray against Satan, his demons, their works and effects, and in the name of Jesus I demand that any demons that are in the house or in this room leave immediately and go to pit for which they destined for all eternity. I pray this by power and authority of Jesus Christ.
I ask Father that you would send your Holy Spirit to enforce this. I pray that you would fill our house and hearts with your Holy Spirit. I ask that your Holy Spirit would work in Asa’s heart; regenerating it and drawing him to You. Make him a child of yours.
I pray the same thing for his future wife, and that the two of them would stay pure til the day they are married. I pray that they would become parents and grandparents and great-grandparents who raise their children to be lovers of Jesus.
I pray the same thing for me and Shannon. Fill us with your Holy Spirit and give us wisdom and strength to raise Asa to be a lover of Jesus.
We pray this all in the name of Your Son Jesus.
Amen
Shannon and I have developed this prayer over the past year-and-a-half. The words aren’t always the same, but the general concepts are. We’re constantly adding and changing it.
Do you pray for your kids every night? Do you have a regular prayer, or do you play it by ear?
Asa is walking!
Asa took his first steps a little over a month ago, but he decided to get serious about it today. We got some video of it. So I thought I would share. Hope you enjoy it.
Asa’s One!!!!
I can’t believe that it was only a year ago that we got in a car wreck, went in and out of labor for 30 hours, found out Asa was breach, and had an emergency C-section. Now our little bundle of joy isn’t so little anymore. He was born 6 lbs 11oz and now weighs over 22 lbs, and you can ask anyone that has held him that he is pure muscle. The only thing squishy about the boy is his poop.
He can crawl. He can pull himself up. He can walk while holding on to things. He will eat ANYTHING you put in front of him. He smiles anytime you point a camera at him. He can do sit ups. He babbles all day long. He is always smiling (even when he cries…it’s weird). He is a sharp dresser. He speaks three languages. He paints and I’m pretty sure he knows how to do long division.
He is a blessing from God and Shannon and I thank Jesus every day for the gift that we have gotten in Asa. Happy Birthday Asa!
Here are some posts from the past that I would recommend checking out if you want to be nostalgic.
- Video from Asa’s Birthday
- Air Bag + Face = Pain
- Asa in the Morning
- Asa in His Bumbo for the First Time
- Asa is Crawling!!!!
Also feel free to leave a comment below to share your birthday wishes for the boy.
Man is not meant to be alone….
Every now and then I have to go on business trips for UPS. I really don’t like going. Generally their pointless, but mostly it’s because I have to be away from Shannon (and now Asa). I have to eat alone, watch TV alone, and sleep alone. It’s really depressing.
But this week Shannon and Asa went with Shannon’s mom to Denver to see some family. I have determined that I don’t like going on business trips…but I hate having my wife and kid leave me at home alone. Like a business trip, I have to eat alone (and now I have to make it too), watch TV alone, and sleep alone, but I have to do this at home where everything reminds me of them.
I’ve been cleaning the house today so Shannon can come home and relax, and everything reminds me of the two of them (hince the reason I’m blogging to take my mind off of it…but I’m blogging about them so it’s not working). Making the bed, folding the laundry, cleaning the kitchen, picking up the house, all reminds me of the two of them. So I’ve determined that I’m never letting them leave me home alone again…..yeah that’s about it.
So men…if you’re at home with your wives and kids…realize your blessing and tell your wife how much you love her and spend some time playing with your kids. Sometimes you don’t realize how pitiful you are until you’re all alone again.
P.S. Don’t worry about me…Shannon and Asa come home tomorrow.
Video from Asa’s Birthday
Nothing of the actual birth here…just some video that I took the day he was born.
Baby Update
Waiting for a Miracle…
I’ve been reading through C.J. Mahaney’s book Humility with my friend Alf and it has been really good. We both decided that we needed to cultivate a little humility (ok a lot) in our lives. This book has been transformational. C.J.’s insights have opened my eyes to really see how much pride is really in my life.
In the last chapter we read, C.J. wrote about looking for God’s works of a grace in our lives and those that are around us. He talked about how Paul was able to see good things in the church at Corinth even though they were more screwed up than a peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich (my illustration not his). He talked about how only a truly humble person can see the work’s of grace in those that are messed up.
This hit really hard to home for me. I have to admit that I’m a pretty critical person. I’m not very big at looking for the grace in others lives and definitely not in my own life. I’m usually the first person to find faults and then exploit them through veil of sarcasm.
This hit home the other night after church when I was getting a few drinks with my friends at the Copper Lounge. We were all praying for my friend Carl (yes in a bar…and the waitress said it was beautiful) and Carl in turn started to pray for all of us at the table (he’s a great guy like that). He started praying about the miracle that was about to happen in my life and thanking God for the every day miracles in our lives.
It struck me at that moment that God is about to work a miracle in Shannon’s and my life. We’ve been in a little bit of denial that we are going to actually have a kid, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to happen (place you bet here 
). This entire time of Shannon’s pregnancy and the upcoming birth I have been blind to the grace that God has been working in our lives. I have been blind to the miracle that is about happen.
God’s grace is blatantly obvious and I have been blatantly cold to what He is doing. I haven’t been aware of the way that He has sustained us during this time. How He has given us strength. How He has given us rest. How He has provided. How He has been there with us every step of the way and how He will be with us to the end. My eyes have been blind, but now I see (that’s kinda catchy…someone should write a song).
It’s funny how even though we don’t acknowledge God’s grace He still decides to work in our lives. But now that I’m able to see the miracle that is at hand, I have a new sense of excitement that has come over me. I’m waiting for a miracle and that my friends is going to be great thing to see.
Count Down to Baby!
photo by: laffy4k
So I realized today that I haven’t given a baby update in awhile. So here is your update. We are currently four weeks from our due date of June 1st. I have to say that there are elivated levels of excitement and fear.
It’s kind of crazy to think that we are about to be parents. In no time at all, I’m going to be losing sleep and changing diapers. But I’m also going to get to use all the cool stuff that we’ve gotten for the kid.
We have the nursery pretty much ready to go (we still have to get a few minor items) thanks to two baby showers that were thrown for us. I’ve been having fun the last few weeks/days setting things up. I even have the car seat base already in the car. I know…I’m a nerd.
It’s also been fun getting to feel Asa move. He is already in posistion (head down) and has been really active. It’s crazy to watch Shannon’s stomach rise and fall. And from what we’ve noticed of his activity, we are going to have a night baby (he takes after his daddy). So, it looks like I’ve got a lot of late nights in the near future.
Speaking of the near future. Don’t forget to put in your guess for when our bundle of joy is going to enter this world.
Well that is pretty much it in baby world. We’re just getting ready here on the home front. Preparing the nursery and taking birthing classes.
Here is one question for all the parents out there. What was one thing that you think every new parent should have that they don’t typically get beforehand?
Murphy v. God – God Wins!!!
photo by: arriba
This just happened to be one of those months were Murphy decided he wanted to visit our family. We had over $1900 in additional costs that came up this last month. Shannon had to get a crown on her tooth, the water pump had to be replaced on the car, we had some additional travel expenses come up, we owe money on our taxes, and various other little things that were not planned for popped up this month.
Now we don’t have a lot of money saved up for rainy days. Shannon and I had no idea how we were going to pay for all these added expenses, but the reality was that God had things already planned out. Within the last 5 days we have received two checks totaling over $1100.
We had an idea that we might be getting one of the checks (but even the amount of that one was a surprise), but the other one came totally unexpected. For the past few days, we had been worrying about how we were going to make ends meet. We were going to have to dip into our emergency fund, until Shannon checked our mail on yesterday. Shannon came to me with tears running down her face as she held a check for over $500.
We can worry all we want, but in the end God provides for his children. God ran into Murphy in dark alley this week, and God kicked Murphy’s @##.
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