EPIC Weekend Part One

Friday.

Got to see a long time friend and his family who were up from North Carolina. Mike and Courtney and their 4 little ones are a blast and an adorable family.

After some fun visiting them in Canton, Shaina and I dropped off the bean at Grandma Thompson's house...where she successfully had multiple diaper blowouts (Good job Chaia! Just like we trained you!)

Meanwhile, I took Shaina to Red Lobster for our anniversary (which is coming up tomorrow!)

I'm not a big sea food guy, but I am a big Shaina guy and she likes the stuff so I lather my shrimp and scallops in bbq sauce and stock up on the cheddar biscuits and everything is just fine. We then went back to get the bean and spent some time with Grandma watching the tribe build a lead they would blow later that night.

Pray for the Longs!

My sister Becky is pregnant with their 3rd little babe. He is about 28 weeks in and Becky is showing some signs of pre-term labor. Little Benito (name has not been verified as of yet...perhaps Benoit or Benton or Benificent?) needs to go away from the light over the next few weeks so he can get to a better birthweight.

Pray for God to have his hand on the Long Family...For there to be a 'cork' that keeps labor from happening for a few weeks. For mom and baby to thrive. And for this baby boy to like Hide N Seek as much as his brother and sister...or my relevance as an uncle will diminish significantly.

Our God is more than able.

Make sure you've got clean underpants on

I don't know where this originated...maybe Bill Cosby or someone like that.

But my mom advised us kids on this repeatedly growing up.

In general...this is really good advice. It first says: "You better be wearin' freakin' underpants." Then it says: "And they better be clean."

I think mom had concerns that having dirty underpants on in the case of a car accident or something would reflect poorly on her work as a mother. The irony is that if you're about ready to get in a car wreck, chances are, clean underpants probably aren't clean anymore.

Nonetheless, it was perhaps part two of the golden rule growing up. Do unto others...and while doing, you better have clean freakin' underpants on!

It's no surprise then, that six years ago today, my mom came and got me out of bed saying something was wrong. I came downstairs thinking my dog Shadow was sick or something. But far worse, it was my dad. He was having a massive heart attack. My mom was on the phone with the EMT. She gave me the phone and began compressions. I cleared a path from the front door to the bed room for the bed/stretcher. Then mom took the phone back and gave me the responsibility of CPR. So as I'm beating on my dad's chest to get a heart beat and breathing into his mouth, I remember like it was yesterday, in the midst of the chaos and adrenaline, I look to see my mom taking a second to change my dad's underpants. It was so brief (pun intended) and the moment was so urgent that I think it may have been a day or two later as we were grieving that I recalled the moment and asked my mom if I was remembering right. "Do I remember correctly, did you change dad's underwear?"

Sure enough.

Its one thing to say wise things. Its another to live them out.

Here's to my dad, who selflessly worked his butt off for his family and never missed a game. And here's to clean underpants. :-)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Create a digital ecard

Christmas 2010 in 3 words? Best Christmas Ever! :-)







Shaina is 11 weeks pregnant with our first baby! She is due in mid-July and we are very excited. I definitely feel extremely inadequate to be a dad...and I think God is emphasizing that inadequacy in my heart so that I will press more into him in desperation. There is so little we can control and the faster we relinquish our belief of power to His lordship, the faster we will align with His will.

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!!!

Game Face

Happy Sabbath! Happy Mother's Day! Happy Cavs crush the celtics day!

It's Official!

Things are about to change in some big ways for the Thompson household! We wanted to wait until we were at a safe spot in the process and finally we're there.



After almost 7 years of marriage, Shaina is pregnant with twins!



We are very excited and beginning to make preparations already. Wanted to share this news with this blog community as you've walked with us through life on and off the web.


Love you guys! Happy Maundy Thursday!



p.s. April Fools. :-) mwahahahaha. Did I get ya?

Its February 1...

And our Christmas tree is still up. Don't judge me...I can sense it. You're judging me. Apparently January was a pretty hectic month.

The kicker? It's a real tree. We got it before Thanksgiving...and haven't watered it since like January 6...and its still green (though its finally losing some needles.)

I was holding out for it to last us through next December...back to the drawing board.

Your Christmas stuff put away yet?

GIFT

Christmas is great. I love to get up and celebrate with Shaina...who is apparently not accustomed to getting up early on Christmas morning. Every year I get up and excitedly urge her to get out of bed...which always goes poorly.

This year, we were both exhausted and slept until 8. I got up...Shaina was still disinterested. So I called my family using "the bird" this ridiculous ornament from our family that plugs in and chirps. It has been a nemesis for all who sleep. And I made sure that I had possession of it. It has been used at 3 or 4 in the morning...It has been hidden in closets and plugged in with extension cords. It has been used for phone calls at odd hours. This year was anti-climactic with an 8 a.m. call.

Now for the Christmas gifts.

Shaina got me a new Approach Wedge (which will serve as both my pitching wedge and sand wedge.) She also got me some Red Shoes which are amazing!

We then went for a delicious brunch at Shaina's parents and I got four commentaries to add to my set I'm building on as well as a 24 pack of Mountain Dew and an iTunes gift card (thanks Alicia).

Then my family came over for Christmas Dinner and all the kiddos scored an abundance of presents and we did our name exchange and my brother in law got me a new basketball, some new golf balls and a gift card to Old Navy. The night ended with my mom giving my sisters and I pillows that she made out of my dad's old shirts. It was a very meaningful end to the night.

It is easy to get excited about being blessed and thought of by others. What I've found though, is that I've gotten more excited about giving gifts than getting them. I got Shaina some kitchen gadgets and then I surprised her with a new earring and neckalace set that had some pretty big sentimental value. When we were in Kenya, Leah, a woman on the staff over there for Empower snuck her earrings into Shaina's camera bag right before we left. It was a very meaningful gift as Leah had very little of her own. Unfortunately at some point on the trip home, one of the earrings disappeared. So I had a friend from church look at it and she knew someone who was able to handcraft two matching pieces to be earrings and put the lone earring on a neckalace.

Remember we are blessed to be blessings...so enjoy gifts given to you, but be willing and attentive to bless others with your abundance.

What gifts did you give or receive?

Just Walk Across the Room

Our Church is doing a 5 week study on Bill Hybels' book "Just Walk Across the Room." Shaina and I's small group begins tonight and I am excited about the potential of this study. I love small groups because community happens there, spiritual growth happens there and pastoral care happens there.

People who are either not connected to church, or are not connected to a small group inside a church family have a very small network for support in crisis. The most amazing thing about God's family that I have witnessed is how they stir to action in moments of crisis.

The challenge to all of us is that small groups do not fall in our lap. We must walk across the room and seek to connect. The journey of 1000 miles begins with one step. Are you ready to take the first step?

a child is born!

Aralynn Rose McKinney was born at 5:18 this morning. She weighed in at 3 lbs 5 ozs and is in an incubator. Keep praying.

I need a vacation or a change of pace or something. I am running on fumes and pretty irritated lately.

What's the best place to go for 2 or 3 days that is cheap but delightful?

Let me know!

pray!

My sister, Mary Beth is pregnant with a little girl named Aralynn. She is due at the end of October, but is having contractions and is 3 cm dialated now. Aralynn is only around 2.5 pounds. She is being moved from the Bluffton area to Charleston where the nearest NICU facilities are.

Please pray God-sized prayers on their behalf.

Ben

Yer Mom.

Happy Mothers Day!

I dig my wife

I have been down for the count this week. Some sort've bug that has wiped all my strength and has left me pretty miserable all week. I spent pretty much all day Friday in bed. Shaina, my lovely lady proceeds to have a work day from 6-2, gets home and takes care of my sorry butt (including whipping together an impromptu dinner, then was out the door to go to Wadsworth to help oversee a catered wedding reception dinner. She was home at 9:30 (I'd already been asleep in bed for nearly 2 hours) and she was up and out the door for work again Saturday shortly after 5 a.m. But she still managed to have a Valentines Day card on the counter for me when I woke up at 7.

I don't know how she does it, but I am thankful for her. This morning she is back at work again. Meanwhile, I continue my return to the living.

And here I am, a guy who views it as a major life sacrifice to sit down with her and watch a chick flick or food network. haha.

If you're married, what do you dig about your spouse? If you are looking forward to being married some day, what quality is the most desirable for your spouse.

she lives!

After slurping up some Glacier Freeze Gatorade last night, Shadow suddenly realized that she liked things with flavor and she ate the vet prescribed food! An hour later, I mixed some of her food with some more of the prescribed stuff and she ate that...She's been eating ever since which is good. It looks like she is out of the woods. Just in time for my sisters' 4 dogs and 3 kids to come and play this weekend!

There is much to blog about other than my dog, just not right now.

Shadow update

For all of you loyal blog followers, Shadow, Shaina and I's 8 year old dog is still not eating...but she is drinking water now pretty consistently. The funny thing is that if you mix even the slightest bit of chicken or beef broth in the water, she won't touch it. But what will she drink? water with gatorade mix in it! For whatever reason, Glacier Freeze has caused her to come and drink.

The next step is to call the vet tomorrow...We have to decide whether we want to go the route of extensive bloodwork to try to find the problem or just let nature take its course and see where we end up. She still has energy though! Shaina took her to the local park which we do all the time in the summer and just like her normal self, she jumped in the creek and waded around. Of course the creek is probably about 40 degrees and she may end up with pneumonia on top of everything else! haha.

All this for a dog right?

I came, I saw, I conquered

Shaina and I took Shadow and took a half hour trip to this cool little Christmas tree farm yesterday to claim our tree for the season. We arrived at noon...found out the place didn't open until three.

We chose spontanaiety over surrender and went to the OARDC up the road and hiked and explored the Secrest Arboretum. Shadow was a lot of fun. After that adventure, we went to Subway for five dollar footlongs and Shaina and I just sat and talked for a good hour.

Finally, destiny's hour arrived and I grabbed my sword, clad in lumberjack armor (aka flannel shirt and boots) we went and saw one we liked with in the first five minutes. We looked around for another 20 and then returned and I entered the battle. After about 10 minutes (I blame it on a dull sword, NOT my battle skills) I defeated the Christmas Tree and we took the conquered foe and placed it in our front room. It looks a TON bigger in our apartment than it did outside, but it is lit, decorated and ready for all to see!

Do you smell that? Ahh the aroma of victory!

alien bowl pics

The biggest turn out for an alien bowl yet! The ground was like cement for the first hour.

There's the champions...luckily they got my good side...my other eye got quite a shiner!

CHAMPS!!!

One mangled black eye, 2 dropped touchdown passes (don't blame me...I watch the Browns every week...I don't know any better) 1 touchdown pass, 1 touchdown catch, a stiff neck and muscles that I did not know i had, aching...1 CHAMPIONSHIP... Worth it! haha.

With a record number of participants (50ish), The Alien Bowl witnessed its first ever safety, It's first ever overtime game and its first ever champion that did not have my cousin A.J. on it. My team survived round one with a couple defensive scores and then broke out our version of the Wildcat in the championship game, running end arounds that turned into hail mary's. We received the trophy...I'm hoping to get pics up and running over the weekend.

Now I just have to tend to this eye before I preach on Sunday!

EDGE

We are studying Daniel in our young adult group at church. We looked at chapter Daniel 3 tonight. It's the familiar story of Shadrach, Meshach,and Abednego in the Fiery Furnace.

I got a lot out of the study, even if the faces of everyone else looked comatose. We talked about what it means to be a person of Consistency . The three fellas did not COMPROMISE. They were not COMPLACENT. And they did not CONFORM.

I brought up two analogies, the first being the story and image of Harvey Dent from the Dark Knight, who is also known as Twoface. I think a real challenge for young adults is whether they are the same person when they are at Bible Study as they are when they are on college campus or at their work place. Our Consistency in following Christ matters.

The second analogy comes from my career in the pizza industry. I have made 50 pound batches of pizza dough and forgotten the yeast. The dough may look the same at first, but it doesn't take long to see that it is the wrong consistency. It won't raise. It won't bake properly and it won't taste right either. In other words, consistency doesn't mean jack if it is not a holy and right consistency.

So where is it toughest to walk the talk that you talk at church? AT WORK? AT SCHOOL? AT HOME? AT WAL-MART?

My own confession is probably a tie between at home with my wife and at basketball. It is really easy for it to appear that I am not an ambassador of Christ by how I treat Shaina some times. It is also amazing to me how badly competition influences me. I love to compete and to win. Worse yet...I'm that guy that loves to make you lose as much as me win.

So...Confession Time...Own Up. How are you inconsistent?

IT IS FINISHED

A week of Midterms, pizza organizing, one cracked bumper, one messed up wheelwell, cold quesadillas, burying dead dogs, murdering pastors, and managing mystery is in the books.

I have literally been on my feet since 7 a.m. and we just got home at 10:45. My wife nearly singlehandedly served 140 people dinner.

People had fun, were well fed and some of them didn't figure out the murderer so all in all it was a good night...the week wasn't half bad either.

Church in the A.M. and then unplugging my phone and relaxing and really owning my sabbath.

Thanks to this guy for the clutch technical services.

Thanks to Larry and Mindy Penrod, the Wallets and the Edge folk for busting your butts to get us out of their before 10:30. I'm proud of you and thankful for you.

I'm out.