This past weekend I had the opportunity to work with some people that are apart of the Timothy Team, a year long discipleship program at T Bar M Camps.  We worked with a high school youth group from Austin out at Camp Travis and I had a great time getting to know some new people.  I think in the middle of working with people and finding joy in just being together really gives you a picture of what it means to be in community with others.  Sure we got paid to be there over the weekend, but it’s not easy work.

I think one of the biggest things I took away from this past weekend, was the idea of looking at life, work, and relationships from a younger perspective.  It’s been easy for me to get stuck in this idea of what life is and what life looks like as I get older.  But being in this new small group and working with the Tim Team this past weekend is just a reminder of God’s love and the powerful of meaningful, deep relationships truly does for and to someone.

Easter weekend was one of these weekends that I wish could have gone on forever.  Time spent with family and just laughing, hanging out and enjoying the weather.  My cousin Brandy and her neice (my second cousin) had a birthday party over Easter weekend that was full of bounce houses, cake, presents and all the fun stuff that goes along with birthdays.  Chloe (pictured here) got all kinds of gifts.  She sure didn’t like me being a part of her opening gifts though.  You should have seen some of the looks I got for being right in the middle of the opening of presents.

It’s times like these than make me so thankful for family and the small joys that life brings. How was your Easter weekend?  Do you and your family have any traditions that you follow?

Mainly from a personal perspective.  Spending time with friends and staying plugged in have been two of the hardest things the past few weeks.  And I because of how busy I have been, I haven’t been back here to make an updates on what is going.

Thanksgiving is upon is in the next few days and something that I am truly Thankful for this season is my family and friends.  I haven’t been home in sometime and I’m excited to see my friends and family back home.  I think I have realized the past few days how much I truly have been working to stay on top of everything going on, that I am longing for the contact with friends and family back home – just to relax and hang out.

What are some things that you are thankful for this thanksgiving?

I saw the entire thing happen too!  As my headlights lit both the driver and passenger up, I saw the glass from their window completely implode on the car.  The driver of the other vehicle ended up being taken to Brackendridge hospital here in Austin and I walked away with very little damage on my truck and no injury to myself.  It really made me take a step back from life for just a quick moment that night.  My mind has been running since I hit her on Saturday.

It hasn’t been anything profound, but it has caused me to stop and just think about life, and what it is that I take for granted and value.  I hope and pray that the driver  of the other vehicle was more shaken up by the incident than actually hurt.  (no blood or anything) – The passenger walked away with no injury either.

Early this morning I posted on Craigslist that I had cinder blocks and wood for free in my front yard and for anyone that wanted it to come and get it. It was gone in less than 20 minutes after I posted! Man did I luck out. That’s one less trip to the dump. Now, does anyone want the couch still in the front yard?

Through all of this though, I have had some alone time while working on the place or driving too and from different events and activities. In this alone time, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the people that I love. Thinking about the friends that I have lost touch with or haven’t seen in a while. I have been thinking about the people that love me, the people that I love and more recently the people that I have been thinking about that I haven’t before that now have a special place in my heart.

They say silence is golden and through some of this silence I feel like God has really been putting some people and different relationships on my heart. The kind of relationships that I need to re-invest in, the kind that I need to rekindle, the kind that I love. My heart swells…

It has been one of the most exhausting months. It took my forever to get this place ready for a move in and then it felt like it took forever to get moved out of the old house I was in. I didn’t realize how much crap I had accumilated over the past few years.

After all of this, I hope to be ready for a get together here at the house soon. And I hope to post more on the blog like the old days. And now, back to putting things away!

It’s been awhile since I have been to a funeral. It’s been awhile since it was someone that was really close to me. My grandfather was a wonderful man. The funeral was yesterday in Boerne, Texas where he was born and raised (as was I). At the service, it was said that he was a teacher and leader and he couldn’t have been summed up more perfectly. He was a wonderful teacher to all of the grandkids, my dad and ants and uncle. All of the people that he came into contact with were deeply affect by his death this past week. The picture above is a pic taken when I was wee lad. This is a picture of me, my dad, my grandfather and my great-grandfather. My grandfather is holding me in this pic. I was a little under 1 year old.

It’s really something that I am still trying to work through. It’s been a rough few days but as always it was so good to see my family and just be with them again. I loved my grandfather deeply and it broke my heart to see so many of us truly affected by his death. He will be greatly missed.

My friend Dan and I have been friends for almost 10 years and through those years I have met many of his family members along the way. His cousin Christy and her husband Brandon were in town visiting family and enjoying Texas again after recently returning from Iraq. Christy and Brandon have both completed their time with the Army and are moving to Australia in a few months for work.

While at Dan’s, I had the opportunity to speak with Brandon extensively about his time in Iraq and what it was like to be an officer in the Army and have the control and decision making responsibilities that could potentially save or cost the lives of many of the men and women under him. Brandon worked as a pilot while serving in the Army and some of the stories that he shared were amazing, all of them interesting and intriguing, and some of them flat out unbelievable. Story after story, Brandon shared about his time in Iraq, he shared about what made him upset, what gave him the will and determination to go on and what scared the living hell out of him to do things differently because he was given the chance.

Brandon made a difference in me the other night. I haven’t stoped thinking about our conversation around that small table outside on the porch. It was the first time that I have sat down with someone that has served in Iraq. It was the first time to hear the stories of the men and women that serve there that haven’t been censored or simply not story worthy for any news affiliates here in the US. Between conversations and countless questions I had for Brandon, I saw a man that didn’t regret being overseas. I saw a man that was changed forever and experienced things I will never in my life begin to know about or understand. But one thing I do know is that I am so much more thankful for the men and women that serve our country than I ever have been in my entire life.