Still cleaning out the collection

If you are a regular reader of this blog, which I know both of you are, then you will remember that I sold 183 PEZ dispensers a few weeks ago. It was a 10 year collection sold for $43. I am now trying to sell the rare, foreign and collectible dispensers and other PEZ paraphernalia. If you have always dreamed of owning four fuzzy candy dispensers and a PEZ clown car check out the items for sale here.

If you are interested in purchasing these dispensers on ebay click here.

My wife the blogger

A few weeks ago I wrote about the genesis of a new blog - the long-awaited blog of my beautiful wife. She has done a fantastic job of retelling stories of our boys. The post today is fantastic! Check it out here.

Vacation is Always Fun

As I noted in my previous post, we saw quite a bit on our recent vacation. We are now back in Nearly, Canada. I sat down this evening to look through our pictures from the trip. Our pictures reveal just how much fun we had down south. This picture accomplishes two things. 1.) It shows just how great a time our boys had at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandma and Grandpa have the best toys - like this "helmet" that Asher is wearing. 2.) This picture is a tribute to the queen of angled photos.

St. Louis Itinerary

We have been in St. Louis since Saturday evening. We have done quite a bit in the last few days. The boys have had a good time and Ezra has asked after every event - "can we do that again?" Below I will list our up-to-date itinerary.

Sunday: to church at The Journey with Rob and Holly.
Monday: to the St. Louis Zoo and to the Magic House.
Tuesday: talked to a friend at Kaldis Coffee Shop and then to the Kirkwood pool.
Wednesday: to the Botanical Gardens and Whittles Train Store.

Tomorrow we leave for southeast Missouri to visit with my parents. I will keep you up to date and I know you are all so thankful to be kept up to date with our travels.

Going South

It is Saturday and we are flying out of the International Airport toward St. Louis.
It is Saturday and it is Bryan's birthday.

It is Saturday and Kirsten has posted again.

Moldy Cheese

A friend of mine told me the other day that the cheese needed to make a comeback. I agree. The cheese has gotten a bit moldy. Since the response to Kirsten's blogging efforts have been positive - I couldn't be outdone. Check out the new cheese here. 'Tis the season to get cheesey.

My wife and blogs

I love my wife! She is an amazing woman and I do not deserve her. Over the years I have tried to get her to post her thoughts, comments and humor on a blog. She never agreed to jump on the wagon...until now. To be honest I guess she didn't really agree to do anything with a blog. Here's how it went down - we were talking last night about the funny things our boys say. Kirsten said "that's why I wish I had a blog, so I could post these funny things." I jumped on the idea, created a blog and signed her up with an account. I have posted the first item on the blog to get her going. It's a repeat from something I posted earlier this week. If you know Kirsten and would like here to follow through with my idea - go to the blog and let her know you want to read what she has to say. She is so amazing she deserves to be shared with you.

See the new blog here!

Skittle Ads

I like Skittles. I have for quite some time. We have a gumball machine in our house that dispenses Skittles (for free). I like them even more after seeing these ads.

ht: JH

Email Etiquette

I ran across this post today entitled Email Checklist. There are 36 helpful tips how how to send email. Particularly insightful are the following -

13. Am I angry? (If so, save as draft and come back to the note in one hour).
14. Could I do this note better with a phone call?
16. Is there anything in this email I don't want the attorney general, the media or my boss seeing? (If so, hit delete).
20. Have I included the line, "Please save the planet. Don't print this email"? (If so, please delete the line and consider a job as a forest ranger or flight attendant).
21. Could this email be shorter?
25. Are there any :-) or other emoticons involved? (If so, reconsider).
28. Am I forwarding something about a virus or worldwide charity effort or other potential hoax? (If so, visit snopes and check to see if it's 'actually true).
33. Are there any little animated creatures in the footer of this email? Adorable kittens? Endangered species of any kind?
36. If I had to pay 42 cents to send this email, would I?

Update on PEZ

Contrary to popular opinion I decided somewhat rashly to post all of my PEZ dispensers on ebay. When I logged and counted all of the common dispensers there were 183. I started the bidding at $.99 for a three day bid. The last time I checked there were 8 bids and the high bid was $20.59. If the bidding stops at that price each dispenser will be worth $.11. Each new dispenser costs on average $1. That is a net loss of $162.41. Most of the dispensers were gifts so that brings the net loss back up a bit. I will keep you posted on the final highest bidder.

For those of you who tried to convince me to keep the plastic candy-throated fun - sorry. The money has already been earmarked for something much more valuable.

**UPDATED** The entire lot of dispensers sold for $34. On average each dispenser sold for about $.19.

Soon to be vacating

Our family is beginning to get in packing mode for our upcoming vacation to the south. We will be flying out on Saturday for a 10 day trip to St. Louis and beyond. As I think about our vacation many things come to mind about what I want to do and things I want my family to do with me.

Yesterday I stumbled across a series of posts on C.J. Mahaney's blog. The title of the series is "Leadership + Family Vacations." In these posts he discusses the role of the father/husband while on family vacation. He writes about seven lessons he has learned in his history of family vacations. The father must be the one setting the example in the following seven things.

1. A Servant Heart
2. A Tone-Setting Attitude
3. An Awareness of Indwelling Sin
4. Studying Your Family
5. Skillful Surprises
6. Intentionally Together
7. Gratefulness to God

He concludes by saying-

Fathers, I hope some of the lessons I have learned over the years and the mistakes I’ve made and sins I’ve committed on vacation somehow serve you and make a difference in your vacation experience. Before you this summer is a sweet opportunity from God to deepen relationships between family members and create memories that your children will never forget, memories that will outlive you.

You can rest when you get home.

Dads and husbands - serve your families well on vacation. It doesn't matter where you go or what you do - point your family toward Christ. That will be my goal for our upcoming vacation. Pray for me to lead my family to our Lord and Savior during our vacation.

I would encourage you read the entire article here (it's a .pdf).
Or check out Mahaney's blog here.

Speaking of Fundies...

Last week we were reading through the early chapters of Genesis with our boys at the breakfast table. After talking about the fact that Adam and Eve were naked, Ezra laughed and said "yeah, but they had undies on didn't they?"

Dwell Conference

It's June and the summer vacation months are upon us. If you travel and like to listen as you drive, let me encourage you to listen to something that may spur you on toward godliness.

The Acts 29 Network recently posted the audio from their Dwell Conference. I would highly recommend you listen to the posted conference sessions by these very engaging pastors. I promise that an hour of audio from this conference will be much better than an hour of your mixed tape of Sinead O'Connor, Randy Travis, Lionel Richie, Menudo and The Best of Quiet Riot.

Enjoy.

20 Reasons

Below is a post from John Piper - 20 Reasons I Don't Take Potshots at Fundamentalists. I thought some of you may appreciate this list as your parents may be fundamentalists or maybe you are a fundamentalist-in-denial.

1. They are humble and respectful and courteous and even funny (the ones I've met). 2. They believe in truth.
3. They believe that truth really matters.
4. They believe that the Bible is true, all of it.
5. They know that the Bible calls for some kind of separation from the world.
6. They have backbone and are not prone to compromise principle.
7. They put obedience to Jesus above the approval of man (even though they fall short, like others).
8. They believe in hell and are loving enough to warn people about it.
9. They believe in heaven and sing about how good it will be to go there.
10. Their "social action" is helping the person next door.
11. They tend to raise law-abiding, chaste children, in spite of the fact that Barna
says evangelical kids in general don't have any better track record than non-Christians.
12. They resist trendiness.
13. They don’t think too much is gained by sounding hip.
14. They may not be hip, but they don’t go so far as to drive buggies or insist on typewriters.
15. They still sing hymns.
16. They are not breathless about being accepted in the scholarly guild.
17. They give some contemporary plausibility to New Testament claim that the church is the “pillar and bulwark of the truth.”
18. They are good for the rest of evangelicals because of all this.
19. My dad was one.
20. Everybody to my left thinks I am one. And there are a lot of people to my left.