Helping People

I am watching Secret Millionaire. It is a show on tv that takes millionaires and puts them undercover in rough neighborhoods. The idea is that they live on a welfare amount for a week. They see what it is like to live like that and live without they currently have. They also are 'on a mission' to find people to give support to. They will be giving something like $100,000 to the people they meet.

My question is: Is it better to give a large amount of money to one cause or one person or is it better to give a smaller amount to a lot of people?

This question has a lot of different answers. I believe that it is important to give. If you are able to eat every day and have a roof over your head then you are better off than a lot of people and it is your purpose to watch out for other people and help when you can. Where should you help though?

I try to give money to the church. They have teams of people that are there to figure out who needs and deserves help. They are more informed than I am. I trust them to do God's work with my money.

How about time? Where should you spend your time to help? I find this one to be very hard. I don't have a lot of extra time so this seems to be way more precious than money. There are lots of opportunites. There are food kitchens or homeless shelters. Schools need volunteers or there are always missions trips.

I know that these answers won't be given to me. They shouldn't be. They are for me to figure out. I just wanted to throw them out there and try to vocalize the way I feel. I hope it helps somebody think about this and possibly figure out what works for them.

A Ton of Stuff

A lot has happened since I was last able to put up a blog here. Kristen and I have been learning how to raise a wonderful baby girl. Chloe makes it so easy sometimes. I can't believe how fast she is growing. Kristen and I just celebrated our one year anniversary last week. Kristen's parents came in to watch Chloe while we took a weekend off at Eureka Springs. It was very relaxing but we were both glad to be home to see Chloe again on Sunday.

My brother had another baby last Sunday too. It was a bit earlier than expected but everybody is healthy and doing well.

We are taking a trip to Philadelphia in October and that will be Chloe's first plane ride. She will have another one Christmas day when we go to Texas and then again a couple weeks later when we set off for our cruise!

That's a little of a lot of information but I got to get back to work. Hope you all are doing great and hopefully we will see you soon.

Scott

Rain + Stupidity = FLOOD!

Last night my brother-in-law came home about 3 or so and I heard a knock on the bedroom door.

"What!?"

"Umm..the basement is flooding and the battery backup alarm is going off"

So I decide to get up. Figured it wasn't something I wanted to wait till morning to tackle. I get up and head to the basement with Chris and expect the worst. It turns out that the sump pump was working. In fact, both pumps were working. The battery backup has a pump on it so it was running because the water level was so high. When Chris got there he said it was overflowing. He said that we had a TON of rain that night. That he had to drive about 15mph on his way home because it was so bad. And that it wasn't just a short burst. It had been raining like that for a long time.

Luckily there wasn't that much stuff on the floor that could get damaged. And there wasn't that much water overflowing. The sump hole is in our storage area which is unfinished and most of the stuff in there is up off the floor, in rubbermaid containers or not important enough to worry about. (a good way to clean out old junk!). I look at the wall and see water coming down from the top of the foundation. It wasn't actually running. (I saw evidence of it coming down). The bathroom is next to the storage room and the floor in there was wet and the carpet just outside the bathroom was wet. That is about 9 sq ft of carpet that we cleaned up. I love my new shop vac.

It turns out that part of the reason for the backup is my fault. The other day I brought a bunch of wood back from my dad's farm. I drove through the yard to unload it so I didn't have to carry each piece all the way around the house. (Sounds lazy and it is. But it was the end of a long day and it was starting to rain). Anyway, I moved the hose that drains the sump out of the way and it ended up in the yard. This apparently was too much for the sump pump since it didn't drain freely (and pushed some water back towards the foundation). Once I moved that back into the driveway the sump pump started draining the water in the hole.

However, the alarm on the battery backup would not shut off! It was showing that the battery needed attention. There are lights on there so I can tell why the alarm is going off. Usually its because the battery needs more water in it. It went off because the water level got too high as well. But we filled the batter with water and the water level was below the sensor. So instead of deal with it at 4am I decided to unplug the whole thing, pop the hot wire off the battery and work with it today. (and hope we didn't have a power failure!).

Ok. It wasn't a little rain and not a lot of stupidity...and only a little flood. But I think you get the idea.

Hurtful Words

Something happened yesterday that really got me thinking about my actions and the way that I treat other people, especially behind their back.

I really try to be a good person and not talk bad about people behind their back. I have tried to make it a point to not say anything behind somebody's back that I wouldn't say to their face. And seriously try to understand what will and won't hurt people's feelings if I do say it to their face. However, it seems lately that I have been letting that go. I haven't been thinking about how other people would interpret the things that I say. I may not think it is hurtful but it really is.

This came up because somebody said something about somebody close to me and I saw the pain in their eyes when they told me about it. This wouldn't have been as much of a big deal except it was from somebody close to this person and was interpreted as being 100% serious (not jokingly). This person doesn't normally care what other people think and treats other people way better than I do.

I don't want to be the person that makes people feel the way I saw yesterday. It pains me and hurts deep inside to even think about the things I have said to people. If I could just think about the things I say or the way I say them before I say them then it would be so much better.

I have always tried to be an honest person. I learned quickly that lies lead to so much pain that it isn't worth it. Not even a little lie. However, this honesty has made me brash in some cases. Brutally honest isn't always the best approach. Over the last couple years I think I have gotten better but still think back to some times when I have hurt the people close to me without knowing it.

I'm done now. I just wanted to get this out. I hope that anybody reading this might think about the things that they say. Just because you aren't saying something to somebody's face doesn't mean that they won't hear about it. It doesn't even make it ok if they never do hear about it.

Follow Through!

I have been inundated lately with people who say they are going to do something and never follow through. It is really becoming one of my largest pet peeves. Seriously, if you say you are going to do something then do it. If you don't think you will be able to do it or don't want to then just say so! I would much rather have you say you don't want to do something or that you are not sure if you can or will do something and never follow through!

At the very least, if you know you told somebody something and won't be able to keep your word then you should let them know as soon as possible. This is just common courtesy and respectful.

Now that the rant is out of the way I can try to think about what lesson is being taught here. Is it patience or maybe forgiveness? It is my hope that I will eventually not get upset in the first place. Once or twice would be fine. People make mistakes. But it seems like a lot of people are doing this lately.

I know I am bitter and a bit on edge. That is adding to my frustration too. I will work on calming down and being more understanding of people. I just wanted to get this off my chest and written down. No more whining (in posts) for at least a couple days. :)

Habitat for Humanity

Last Saturday my small group volunteered for Resurrection Habitat. This is our church's (Church of the Resurrection) organization of people to help out with Habitat for Humanity. This is something that I have wanted to do for a very long time. There are a few pictures here to look at.

We had to get up very early. Early enough to meet and be at KCK at 8 in the morning. Had I not taken a couple wrong turns we would have made it. I guess I don't even like the GPS telling me what to do.

The house we were working on was almost complete. We were putting the final coat of paint on the walls and painting the trim. Four of us guys were able to make it and our wives were so kind to be Lunch Angels which are the people that make and bring the food out to the site. Kristen, Heather, Amanda and Erin made a whole ton of sandwiches and brought other snacks to us as well.
I was hoping to get in on some more construction than what they had available for us this time. Guess that means I get to go help again! :) I enjoy painting and doing all that but it is what I usually do. I am somewhat proficient at it and like putting my skill to good use. However, I really like doing the more labor intensive stuff as well. Maybe next time.

My first Indy race

Not only was this my first race out at the speedway it was my first circle track race! It was a lot of fun. I had gotten free tickets to the race as one of the Marlboro promotions. They teamed up with the Penske Racing Team and gave away a bunch of seats and a bag full of stuff. This is the second Marlboro promotion I have been to. The first was also out at the track but it wasn't during race day. We were able to go ride in a nascar vehicle around the track at high speeds. Then we got to ride along in a drift course. But that is a topic for another post.

Kristen's brother and I both got the promotions for the ride-along but he didn't receive tickets to the race. So I took him this time. We got out to the track and found the ticket redemption tent. We walked in and they gave us both bags full of stuff. Things like a disposable camera, Penske hats, binoculars and a voucher for a free headset so we can listen to the drivers during the race. We were too late though to get headsets. They ran out as we were walking up to the booth.

I never realized how loud the races really were. It wasn't that any one car was too loud but when they started grouping up together it got pretty loud. And the high pitched noise didn't help! Overall we spent about 3 or 4 hours at the track. That was plenty for me. I don't think I will be a die-hard race fan but it was a great experience to get to go at least once. Danika Patrick (sp?) was racing but didn't finish due to vehicle issues. Also the rocket man was there. He flew the start flag from the pit to the starting booth using his jet pack. Pretty impressive for a 30 second flight!

Truly Blessed

One thing that Pastor Adam mentioned in the sermon yesterday was to take the time each day to write down three things you are thankful for and why. My number one is that I am so happy that I don't have a hard time finding at least 3! I have been so blessed. So many things in my life have been giving to me even though I don't deserve them.

1) I am thankful for Kristen. She has been a blessing to me since the day I met her. She has shown me what caring really is. She agreed to marry me and now we have a baby on the way. She loves my family and my family loves her. We are still in our 'honeymoon phase' but haven't had a lot of the typical troubles you hear about.

2) I am thankful for our families. Both of our families are so supportive of us in whatever we do. Kristen and I are going to a training class so we can take in foster kids next year. Our families have been amazing. They are so supportive and we know that if we ever need help that they will be there in a heartbeat for us.

3) I am thankful for our friends. Over the last year we have made some great friends through church. I am so thankful to have these people that care about us and are really honest about it. I needed friends that I can get to know past 'going out' and that we can talk about some deep stuff with.

The list can go on and on and on but these are three of the most important things to me right now. I have been blessed in just about everything that I do. God has put his hand on us and I am so amazed every time I think about it. I don't remember doing anything special to deserve this. I Love God and try to always be open to letting him guide me.

Standing Water!

Not even 3 tons of dirt could stop the rain from creating pools in the back yard! It rained a lot today and I was able to tell where there were still low spots in teh back yard. From the picture you can see that there is standing water to the left of the picture and between the two left trees.

I can't wait for the rain to subside and the weather to warm up. This will allow the seed to set and start sprouting little grasslings. I am hoping that within a couple weeks we can be barbecuing and I can stop letting aero go to the bathroom out back instead of in the front.

NCAA Championship

Kristen and I had planned a trip to Houston and San Antonio a while back for this last weekend. It was a trip to go see her old stomping ground and her friend in Houston and then on to San Antonio to visit her parents. Her Aunt and Uncle were there and her brother and sister-in-law came up from Del Rio. It turns out that the NCAA Final Four and Championship games. This wasn't something we had planned on but it worked out to be good. Kristen's brother from Lawrence and his girlfriend ended up going to the games so they were down visiting for a while too. Her oldest brother ended up having extra tickets to Monday nights game so John and I went to the game. It was such a great choice.

I am a strong K-State fan and very much dislike cheering for KU. However, it was a necessity here. The game was awesome. As most of you know the game came down to a clutch 3 point shot clock that pulled KU up to tie Memphis. The game went into overtime and KU dominated the overtimewith 2-3 seconds left on the minutes. The excitement and atmosphere was awesome. It was a great time.

John and I didn't stay after the game for any of the special stuff or the crowds on the river walk. We headed home to bed. :)

Yard Work!

I know now why they call it work. I had 3 tons of dirt delivered on Friday last week. You can see that in the picture below. Christopher and I had already moved almost 1/3 of it by the time we got this picture. We spent all day working on the yard. I started by rototilling the whole thing. This wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. We used Kristen's grandma's rototiller. I only tilled about an inch deep all around. Enough to loosen the soil some. We got the dirt delivered and moved it by wheelbarrow to the back. I took breaks to rake leaves and trim the trees. The third picture is the pile of tree limbs I got down. This started as a small project and kept cutting more and more. I still see a bunch more that need trimmed but I think it can wait for another weekend. :)

We got all the dirt moved to the back yard and spread out to fill in the low spots. Then I spread grass seed and golf course starter fertilizer. I will go out today and do a crabgrass preventer. Then hopefully we will have grass by the time we come back from texas!

I turned the sprinkler system on a bit early this year. I wanted to get the back yard watered and it was supposed to rain saturday. It never did. So I turned on the sprinkler and am watering a few times a day to get it nice and wet. With no grass there it makes it easy to see where I need to adjust the sprinklers too! I found a couple spots that are barely getting water if any at all. That should be easy to do. Again, saving it for another day!

I will continue to take pictures and may post them up here for documentation purposes (only if the grass grows though, otherwise I will not publicly admit my failure).

Until next time.

1 Timothy 6:6-8

Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing into the world, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.

I found this posting that I had started a while back and forgot about. It really is an amazing bible verse. I get wrapped up in my day to day activities and worry about the things that I have. It all boils down to things. The house you live in and the clothes you wear. The yard you try to make look nice (another post coming soon). What does any of this have to do with my salvation? Very VERY little.

I try to stop and think occasionally that all the stuff I acquire will be here when I leave this place. I can't take it with me. I need to be content with what I have and stop worrying about things that I want. I am so blessed to have more than just enough food and clothing. God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, family, house, car, job and so much more.

Does that mean that we shouldn't take pride in the things that we have accomplished? I don't believe so. I am proud that I can provide for my wife. I also realize that I couldn't have any of this without a big boost from God. He has given me everything. That is why I try to remember that if the things go away I will still be ok because I have faith and He has 'got my back'. I try to think about things that I can do to help those less fortunate than me. I am always open to ideas. It always seems to boil down to money and things. I can give those freely because of the position that I am in. It is much harder for me right now to give up my time. But I know that I am thinking inside a box and there are so many ways to help that I haven't thought of. Please offer comments if you think of anything.

Music

I had a thought today about music. Random huh?

I heard a song that I used to listen to many many years ago. It clicked my brain and I started thinking about the different phases of my life and the different types of music I listened to. I realized that they are VERY distinct and when I hear a song I can tell you what I was going through in my life when I listened to that song.

I remember way back when I was very little listening to tapes of children's music and rhymes. I remember getting my first CDs from BMG music club. One of the first cds I had was Green Day (Dookie). I remember the first time ever hearing the band. I went with James to visit k-state. One of his friends was listening to it in his dorm room. I really looked up to these guys and thought they were so cool. So I bought the cd. I still own it to this day (or did before I got rid of all my physical cds for the more compact mp3 version).

In high school I remember listening to the 80's music. Lynard Skynard, Alice Cooper and other classic rock bands. This was the time that I was hanging out with James the most. Going out to the lake with him and his friends.

I started listening to rap and other 'bass'ie music when I got my first sub in my car. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and other music similar to that. Also got into some other music like Metallica and ACDC. These got me through the later part of my high-school years.

When I got to college, that was quite the shift. I heard a lot of different music for the first time. I lived in the dorms and this was the first time that I copied mp3s from someone else. The guy down at the end of the hall (Mickey) was a Junior I think and knew how the whole dorm thing should work. He had big speakers and setup all hooked to his computer.

I got into some hip-hop music and other dance music when I started going out a lot in 2003 - 2005. That is when I started keeping up with newer music. I still do for the most part. However, now I have really gotten into more Christian music.

I got a bunch of songs from a friend. I had wanted to start listening to 'better' music that would help me feel better. This did it. I love this music. I would be proud to listen to this music with my new daughter. I don't want to listen to Baby Got Back.

This was a long post to really make the point that, for me at least, music really has an important history with me. I wonder, though, if music influenced my actions or if my actions influenced the music I listen to. I tend to believe that I make decisions in my life and then find music that supports that.

What do you think?

Church Attendance

I have been thinking about this topic for a while and wasn't sure what to do so I thought I would just write it here.

A couple years ago I was under the philosophy that most people can be a good Christian without attending service regularly. Why not? People can worship God and accept Jesus as their savior without being involved in a mass worship, right? Of course. I still believe that it is possible to have a relationship with God without fellowship and worship.

However, I do not believe that it is an appropriate way to maintain the relationship. I used to think it was ok but I firmly believe that is because I hadn't find the right service/church for me. I was afraid of being put into a situation that made me feel uncomfortable (by attending worship services alone).

Over the last few years I have had a lot of help with that. I started by trying to find a church in KC by myself. This was a big step because I was church hunting without anyone to help me along. I try to remember how this felt every time I see someone that may be trying to find a church home. I found a church through referral. A friend told me about one of his friends that attended church in south Olathe. Although I didn't know this friend of a friend it was better than nothing. I attended there for a short time and, although I still didn't feel very comfortable, it was the best church I had found in Kansas City. Then I met Kristen and started attending her church with her. The pastor structured his services in a way that I hadn't seen much of before. It is more like a class that just touches on some very good topics. It made me want to learn more and make decisions for myself. He rarely (if ever) tells the congregation what to think. Instead he makes points as the bible teaches, sometimes on both sides of an issue, and leaves you to make the decision for yourself. The contemporary services are a huge bonus too. But I digress.

Once I started attending this church with Kristen my outlook changed. I realize now that there is so much more that God has planned for us that we won't ever be able to find out unless we do worship and fellowship. I believe that it is very hard to fellowship without worship being in there somewhere. As I mentioned earlier, I started getting more interested in the bible and wanted to learn more and be more involved with the church. Since the church is enormous there wasn't much fellowship at church on Sunday morning (or one of the evening contemporary services). So Kristen and I made the decision to seek out a Sunday morning small group. We found a couples class and joined that. This was our opportunity to dive deeper into studying the bible with people that may have the same questions (or at least can help me find the answers I am looking for). Since then my life has gotten so much better. I have a better outlook and want to help people more. I still have a long way to go. The more I learn the more I realize how little I know. Every question answered reveals more questions unanswered. And the more I do the more I realize that, although I am making a large impact, there is still so much good that needs to be done.

So, back to my original point. When I thought I could do this whole worship thing on my own I was under the illusion that I was a good Christian and doing good work. Now that I attend as regularly as possible and have fellowship with Christian friends I realize that my life back then was missing so much. I praise God that he has led me in this path and that I listened to what he had to say.

I pray for my friends that think that they can have a good relationship with God without attending services and having fellowship. I pray for knowledge and strength to reach out to these people and hopefully spark in them what has been ignited in me.

Foster

Kristen and I had our first class for the foster care training. Kristen has wanted to be a foster parent for a long time (10 years) and she has told me about it before. A few weeks ago something happened at church that tugged at her heart. She wanted to speed up the timeline. She has a strong pull towards doing this and I am very excited about it.

Later that day we were at some friends house with our small group and another couple mentioned that they were getting ready to start the training class. This was unbelievable timing. You might say miraculous timing. They hadn't started yet and gave us the contact information for the lady organizing. The first couple calls weren't so good though. The Sunday class was full which is the only one we could attend because of our schedules and John and Teresa were supposedly in the Thursday class. So we got the information we could and told the lady to keep us on the list of the class in May. We were kind of disappointed that we weren't going to take the class with John and Teresa but accepted it as God is driving this for us.

We went to Tennessee that week (which was the first week of the class) and later that Sunday I got an email from Teresa saying they went to the Sunday class and there was a spot open for us! This was a surprising turn of events. So John and Teresa were very nice and picked up the notebook for the class for us and gave it to us and met with us to cover what they talked about Sunday.

The second week got cancelled due to 'inclement weather' and we just had the second class last week. It was a lot of information in 3 hours (feels like more school) but it is very good information.

We are very excited to be able to do this class. In Kansas you only need to take this training class once and then you can start your foster program any time later. We are hoping to do it at the beginning of next year. This will give us a few months to get our baby settled and will probably be bottle feeding her by then.

It is a big step for us but we are faithful that God will guide us and help us through this. We could use all the prayers and support that anybody can offer.

Amazing Things

It amazes me to think of how God has his hand in everything we do. It seems like every time we turn around there is something that he is calling us to do. And he has blessed us in every way imaginable. Great family, wonderful friends and blessings everywhere.

The more I give up and surrender to his calling the more I am amazed at how he works. There are so many things that I do not understand. I have a longing to be closer to him that can never get quenched. I know that there are things that I do everyday that he does not approve of. I have a heavy heart and wish that I could do more for Him.

Presidential Election

I have been alive for over 27 years and been able to vote for 9 of them. However, I have yet to get to the polls. I kick myself for not being more active and 'making a difference' but it is just so overwhelming. Every election I say that I am going to make informed decisions and pay attention then I glaze over and find better things to do.

I am again saying that I want to make informed decisions. This means that I must start watching cnn and other debates and what not. I found a site that does some comparisons. http://www.selectsmart.com/president/2008/comparethem.html

I know that this shouldn't be the only site that i use. I will hopefully be able to take this and add to that knowledge. There is always comedy central's "Indecision 2008" :)

Job Shift

It has become apparent today that my job function is shifting heavily towards project management. I spent the entire morning in meetings and listening to people complain and tell me what things are wrong. I know there is no way that I will be able to get to the development of these projects. I will need to update or create requirements documents for most of the tasks before we even begin to touch the code. This is a necessary component and it scares me to death that I am the best suited for this task. I am a coder. I write code in a closet. I don't do well gathering requirements. I guess I will learn quickly enough.

New Year!

I figured I might as well post a new years post! Even though it is so far into the new year already. Kristen and I had a wonderful Christmas. We traveled to Texas for the weekend before Christmas and then flew back here on Christmas Eve. We had a wonderful dinner at the house and went to Christmas Eve service. Then we spent Christmas morning together and then went to a movie and had dinner with the Whiteley's. After that we went bowling with Kristen's friends.

We were able to make it to Topeka to see James and Cayce and others. We had a great time. We spent new years with Dad and Cathy. It was really nice to spend time with them. After that I started fighting a sinus infection and spent the next week and a half suffering. Kristen told me to go to the doctor early that week and I didn't listen. So I spent another week whining to Kristen that I didn't feel good.

I also got a t0n of work done as it was the last week before school started back up. Along that train of thought I had my first class of the semester yesterday. It seemed to be straightforward. It is a database class and I work with databases everyday so it shouldn't be bad.

I hope to not let another month go by before writing.

Scott