I hope u like it but if u want any changes just let me know.  I would like to make all the prints today for the kids.  I left out the time b/c we are still not sure, but after our meeting I can put it in.

Time Marches On

So much has changed in the past two years. If you would have told me in march of 07 that I'd be married with a baby two years later I would've probably laughed. Lo and behold here I am getting ready to enter a completely new phase in my life.

I see God's hand in all of it and feel that I'm ready for the task ahead. My life will never be just about me again. In a few short weeks I will become a father. I know that as long as I trust in the Lord, He will lead me to make the right decisions. The difficulty will be in letting His Spirit guide me and not trying to have my own way. I guess time will tell.

Garage Update

Well a little progress was made this past weekend. Ron, Ronnie and Josiah came down and worked. Arlan was also there to help out. The garage now has four walls and most of the rafters. We spent more time playing than working. I got to play a round of frisbee golf(technically aerobie golf) saturday night and a lot of volleyball on sunday. It was like a mini-reunion. I love spending time with family and can't wait for the annual fourth of July family reunion in two weeks.

Garage

Well, we're starting to get a picture of what the garage will look like. Ron and Ronnie were here this past weekend and got a good start on the trusses. It's nice to see that progress is being made. My dad wants to have time to get his stuff set up inside before winter comes. I'll try to update this Blog as the garage comes together.

Christmas

We had a great time this Christmas. It was awesome having all my sisters there. We played games and visited. Jo Jo has a really nice house and did a great job hosting us. You're right Jo, we shouldn't need a holiday to spend time together. Happy New Years!!

Merry Christmas

Growing up, Christmas was my favorite time of the year. Now it's the 4th of July. We used to have a huge group of people at Christmas but that's not so much the case now. So the family reunion took over as my favorite time of the year. I love my extended family. I hope I see as many family members as possible this Christmas.

Fishing

The fishing on TenMile has been pretty good lately. My dad's been catching nice crappies at dusk and the blue gills have been pretty good as well.

The Cruise

I'm trying something different since I can't seem to get Hello to work. This is a picture from the cruise I just got back from. This is the group standing in front of the ship we were on. It was the day we got back to Seattle. We had been gone seven days on a cruise to Alaska. We all had a great time as far as I know.

These are some pics of fish Zach and Luke caught in Ten Mile lake. The fishing has been pretty good. The crappies are finally hitting, the bass are there if you know how to find them and the northerns are everywhere. Sunfish and blue gills have been biting strong. It's raining much more than I'd like but the fish seem to be okay with it.

This is the same bass as in the picture below.

Looks can be deceiving. This bass that Zach caught yesterday looks huge. He's holding it out toward the camera.

Sunset 4-21-05

This is the first sunset that I've taken a picture of this year. I've been getting home after dark quite a bit. I've been waiting for a still night and tonight it came. Sounds like it's going to get colder here in the next couple days. The warm weather has been nice. Summer is coming. We just have a little detour on the way.
Life takes some strange turns and when you look back over the road you've traveled, you see the hand of the Creator pointing out the right way to go. Follow Him and He'll get you where you need to be. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Twins baseball!!!

Tomorrow it starts. Brad Radke takes the mound in Seattle to kick off the 2005 season. If Morneau and Mauer live up to expectations we could have our best team since the early 90's. The pitching staff is intact with Joe Mays looking like he did two or three years ago. The biggest question mark for the Twins is their middle infield. Will Rivas finally have a solid year at the plate? Can Jason Bartlett handle the pressure of major league baseball? There are other questions, Will Mauer stay healthy? What can he do over a full season? How will Lohse rebound from a disappointing season last year? One of the top baseball analysts picked the Twins to win the World Series this year. I'm watching the Red Sox and Yankees play right now and wondering how much better the Yankees could get. Their offense and pitching both look better than last year. The Red Sox don't look as strong. Their pitching staff lost Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe and replaced them with Matt Clement and David Wells. Edgar Renteria is a good addition for them at shortstop. I don't see them winning the division over the Yankees, but they didn't win it last year and won the world series. They look like the wild card to me and once you get to the playoffs anything can happen. The Twins have a shot at being really good this year but I'll save any predictions til I see them play a few games. The season starts in less than 24 hours and I'm excited to see this years' team. Go Twins!

Summer's Coming!

This is one of my favorite pictures. I have it as the background on my computer desktop. I'm really looking forward to summer. The weather has been nice the last week, but the mixture of snow and mud isn't that great really. Well, summer isn't that far away. I can't wait for softball, the family reunion and the cruise. Not to mention Twins baseball.

He's everywhere you look
Not just in a book
But the book's a good start
You can see Him in the skies
You need Him in your life
Please open up your heart

He wants to be your friend
His love will never end
Get lost in His embrace
He's reaching out for you
He'll make your heart brand new
Oh sweet amazing grace

Lift up your head
Lift up your eyes to the heavens
Receive God's great blessings
Give yourself to Him
Look up again
You'll never know the hour
He's coming back with power
Be ready for Him then

Well, I got Beth's old scanner up and running. Dad's northern in the upper left corner was 21 lbs. and 3 oz. He caught it in 1979. It's been hanging on our wall my whole life. The rest of the pics are bass we cuaght in Ten Mile. I still remember catching those four bass on about five casts off the shore right in front of the house. I wasn't more than 10 or 11 years old. We don't get that many bass out of here anymore. We always have plenty of northerns and the crappies are pretty good.

As requested here's a picture of some fish caught here. If I had a scanner I'd post a picture of Dad's 20 pounder. It was caught in a different lake. I'm sure there's some that big in Ten Mile too.

The thing I miss most during the winter is the sun reflecting off of open water, sunsets magnified by the still night water. I miss sitting alone in a boat casting along the weed line. Life makes more sense on the water.

Favorite Scriptures

Feel free to write your favorite scriptures in the comments area.

Explanation

I thought I'd start out by posting pictures of my favorite place on earth. God's creation is a beautiful thing. I write songs and one of my inspirations is nature. It's amazing with all the incredible things God created His most prized creation is you and me. He loves us so much and we spend most of our time ignoring Him. Still He sent His own son to die so that we could be with Him forever. The most important thing we can do with our lives is to get to know Him.