AWOL blogger and 24 kids in a bug

I’ve been away for a few weeks but am finally working on a couple of new posts. In the meantime, here’s a couple of great videos from my buddy Andy Jack. These videos remind me of why I love working with middle school students!

As a side note, listen to the voice doing the countdown in the second video. I’m pretty sure that’s Andy’s voice I hear saying “5…3…3…2…1″.

I know the ordination work took up a good chunk of your brain buddy…but I’m pretty sure there should be a “4″ in there!

Fun with Photobucket.com

Personally, I don’t think Paris Hilton has ever looked better.

Borat in Kansas

I saw this video on Ainitcoolnews.com this morning, and then saw more info on my buddy Kirk’s blog. It seems that Sacha Baron Cohen (the actor who played Borat) was in Wichita recently shooting a new movie as a character called “Bruno”, a gay Austrailian fashion reporter. They shot some really bizarre stuff at the Wichita airport, then tried to crash an Easter program at Central Community Church, where my buddy Zac used to lead worship. Apparently they were posing as a foreign film group shooting a documentary, and had received permission to shoot at both the airport and the church. They even went so far as to get the church to solicit waivers from the people in attendance at the service, including personal information and social security numbers. Eventually Cohen and crew were stopped in the lobby of the church as they were covering security cameras and donning “biblical costumes with lots of chains”. No idea what they were planning, but I would have LOVED to have seen it in person! For more information, here are some links:

The KAKE TV station news story.

A blog post from a Central Community Church staffer.

The Aintitcoolnews post.

My buddy Kirk’s blog post about it.

And here’s the video from the airport…like I said, very STRANGE!

The Deer Whisperer Part Three…and Ruthie the Toothie

Ok…this is getting kind of ridiculous.

Tonight it was time to put the kids to bed again, so Maddy ran back to her window to see if anything was there. “Daddy, come quick” she yelled, “there’s something out there!” I ran back to her room and looked out to see the ugly pale face of an opossum looking staring back at us. A minute later we noticed some movement off to the right of the opossum, and the large skunk (from last night) walked back into the area to get some food. We watched them for awhile, then went to the bathroom to do bath time. Following bath time we looked back outside to see a large rabbit eating, but the skunk and opossum were gone. The whole family went to our bedroom to play for a bit (while listening to our favorite new CD by Josh Weaver!) and then to pray together before bed. After prayers we took them back to their room to put them in their beds. One last look out the window revealed that the rabbit was gone, and the deer were back. And everything comes full circle again. I seriously wouldn’t be surprised to see a coyote or mountain lion out there tomorrow…it’s the strangest little thing we’ve seen in a long time.

While all that was going on, Jill pulled one of Maddy’s loose teeth (which brings the number of teeth still in her mouth down to about 3…she seriously looks like she just went 6 rounds with Mike Tyson). Maddy took the tooth in her hand and boldly proclaimed “This is my tooth…and I will call her Ruthie!”

“Why Ruthie?” asked Jill.

“Because my tooth had some blood on it, and blood is red. So I will call her Ruthie the Toothie.”

Not sure where the logic is in there, but I guess it works out in the mind of a six year old. So…here’s to Ruthie the Toothie and her wonderful animal friends that reside in our back yard.

The Deer Whisperer, Part Two

A quick update…

Last night as I put the kids to bed I decided to take a quick peek outside to see if there were any deer. No deer outside, but I noticed something moving under the tree a few feet from the window. As it came into the light, I saw it was a pretty large skunk. I quickly shut the window (but left the curtains and blinds open) and told the kids and Jill to check it out. He was a really big skunk, just hanging out right there outside the kids’ window. While we were watching the skunk, I noticed something moving a little to the left of the skunk. Next thing I know, a big raccoon walks up and starts eating the food left out by the bird lady (our neighbor). I’ve lived in Andover for most of my life and never seen a raccoon like this before. It was really wild (pun intended).

So, I’m fairly certain that tonight I’ll look outside and see a bear or mountain lion, or maybe some roaming Kansas bison or a group of wild horses. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

The Deer Whisperer

Two nights ago Maddy walked into the living room after we had already put her to bed and stared at us with a crazy look on her face. “There are deer outside my window” she said with an odd smile/smirk on her face. It was the kind of face that she normally makes when saying something like “there’s a monkey that lives under my bed” or “Daddy, my toots smell like butterflies”, so I was fairly certain there were no deer outside her window as I walked her back to her bedroom. Once in her room and I looked out her window to find not one but four deer standing around outside. No doubt they were there to feast on the food left by our neighbor, the bird-lady (another story for another time), but still it was a surprise to see them…and I was amazed that Maddy looked outside at just the right moment to know they were there.

So last night Maddy get up in the middle of the night again, this time at 1:00 AM to use the bathroom. She’s didn’t want to go back to her bed, so I let her sleep on the couch for about 30 minutes before Jill put her back in her own room. As Jill enters Maddy’s bedroom, Maddy is in that zombie stage somewhere between asleep and awake. She stirs a bit and points at the window (where the blinds are closed and the curtains are pulled shut) and says “There’s already a deer outside my window”.

Jill looks, and sure enough there is a single deer standing outside the window. “Oh yeah…you’re right” she replies to Maddy, still trying to figure out how on earth she knew there was a deer out there.

“I looked out and saw it, and I saw a wolf howling,” says Maddy. “You know why wolves howl? To warn other animals of danger. They get up on the top of a mountain and go like this…”

At this point the zombie Maddy lets out a loud howl.

Then the zombie/deer whisperer Maddy continues…”I learned how to talk to dogs. At school they said that you blow a whistle to talk to dogs.”

Then she told Jill that she loved her and instantly fell asleep.

Han Solo Desk…

I saw this on Gizmodo today and followed the links back to it’s source. I was amazed to find that it’s a custom desk that was designed to go in the studio/office of Casting Crowns frontman Mark Hall. What an awesome desk…and even cooler that it belongs to Mark. I think it may be time to ask Dr. J and Mashella for an introduction…cause I really want to see that desk! =)