musings.

life has been interesting lately.

2 weeks from yesterday (11/19), kristy and i leave for Kenya. we’re working on a clean water project. check it out @ http://www.marahwater.com

we’ve put out the initial “commo blast” and have had some pretty good results. i had hoped that everyone i sent a note to would be fully on board and sending money and prayers and engineering resources, but it didn’t happen. instead, i got a lot of questions, some prayer, and a few key folks with high interest. i really think God is teaching us a lesson – start small. be faithful with a little and more will come. handle this properly from the start and it will expand beyond your wildest dreams.

life is incredibly busy. i finish my masters degree this coming month and graduate on 12/19. work is busy. kids are keeping us busy, especially with the random health issues rachel has been experiencing. add to this my crazy workload and you have a recipe for fun.

still trying to lose weight. slowly getting into the swing of things. need to get to 240-245 so i have some options. more on that later.

i think that’s it for now. check the Marah Water site and blog for info on what we’re doing. if we can get net access while we’re gone then we’ll be updating

 

floods

ive never seen it rain this much anywhere.

atlanta is flooded. i can drive 10 minutes northwest of my house and see homes almost completely submerged.

we’re blessed to be sitting in a dry house.

if you pray please pray for those affected by the weather in atlanta. it’s pretty bad around here..

9/11

i’m sure there are tons of blog posts about the events of 8 years ago today. i’m not going to rehash that.

i’m going to say just a few things.

thanks to our men and women in uniform who sacrifice daily to keep us safe. we’ll never know what we truly owe them.

thanks to those who have lost their lives in the defense of freedom.

miscellaneous craziness

life has been a bit crazy lately, hence my lack of posts. i’ll give a short rundown of some big stuff.

- last week i started the final course of my masters degree. i can’t believe i’m so close. december 14 i’ll be hooded. wow.

- now that i’m close to being done with my MS, i am seriously considering a Ph.D candidacy at Regent University. they have a really great program in Organizational Leadership that can be custom tailored. the program required 60 credit hours including dissertation. i think that’s about 2-1/2 years of study, but i’m waiting to hear back from the recruiter. even better, Regent is a Christian school that injects Biblical principles into it’s programs. very cool, and it will legitimize my leadership of the organization i plan to start (see next item)

- Kristy and I (and maybe our media/pr guy) are going to Kenya in november. this is the start of something big. more details soon, but please pray for a few things – fundraising, guidance, safe travel, and that we’ll find something to do with our kids teaser: h2o

- the kids are growing up. they have started preschool. not much else to say.. it’s bittersweet. they are already learning so much. it’s wild.

- i am officially Coach Adam! last night was Ricky’s soccer practice (the U4 Cosmos). teaching kids under 4 how to play soccer is quite an experience, but it’s loads of fun. i actually got them to listen to me and to avoid using their hands. we’ll see how it goes

- i recently lost a good friend, Adam Anderson. everyone thought we were brothers. he had a rough time these last few years. i know he’s in a better place now. it’s definitely been hard.

that’s about it for now. i’ll address some of these specific issues soon as i plan to post much more often..

my little angel

this girl has my heart!

scare

yesterday kristy and i finally got our baby girl rachel out of the hospital.

both rachel and ricky had been suffering from a summer cough – a little viral thing that has been going around. in rachel it developed into pneumonia and she even had a partially collapsed lung.

saturday kristy and i were out working. when we returned to the house we were both uneasy about rachel’s wheezing and coughing. kristy made the call to take her to the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta urgent care clinic up the road. after a couple of hours there they put her in an ambulance and took her to the main CHOA emergency room.

she’s doing better now, but we still have some healing to do.

parents know that there’s nothing worse than a sick kid. even worse is a sick kid at the hospital. for 4 days.

lots of thoughts ran through my head during the last few days. one that i still can’t shake is that if we were your average african family my daughter would probably be dead or close to it today.

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again – this world is broken. this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. God help us!

for those of you who knew about this and prayed for us – i can’t thank you enough.

i feel great!

so it’s been 2 full weeks since i began treatment with the new doc.

i’ve been on some supplements and a detox diet to prepare me for some allergen testing.

if these two weeks are an indicator of what’s in store then, wow, i should have done this a long time ago.

i’ve lost 13lb. i haven’t eaten like a bird. i’ve eaten great food!

i have more energy that i have in years. no more fighting to stay away in the afternoons, no more struggling to get up early. ive been working outside after work and all day on the weekends rather than lounging around to recover from the week.

i feel fantastic. the only things that have changed are my eating habits due to the diet and the supplements.

next appointment is early next month and we’ll see what the next steps are!!

microfinance

most anyone who would take the time to read this will know that i’m politically conservative. sometimes mainstream conservative ideas don’t jive with what i believe as a Christian, and sometimes they do. i lean towards the conservative side because i believe God called us to work hard and do the best we can for our family. i know things get in the way, and i would never forsake someone in that position.

ideas inspire me when they are born of necessity or when they reflect a person’s desire to do what’s right.

Tom’s shoes inspires me. this guy, Tom, makes some simple shoes and sells them. they are a cult classic and all the cool folks (like Derek) wear them with pride. Tom has quite a racket and could make a ton of money. i think Tom probably does make a ton of money, but it’s what he chooses to do with that money that inspires me – he gives back. if you buy a pair of Tom’s shoes then he gives a pair to a needy kid somewhere in the world. simple, honest, genuine, functional. i love it.

i’m trying to find more companies like Tom’s to whom I can give my business. i’d rather spend my money somewhere that’s focused on the greater good.

another inspiring idea is microfinance/microbanking/microlending.

plenty of us give money to charities. plenty of people a whole lot more rabidly conservative than me give money to charities. don’t get me wrong – i believe in charity – but sometimes i wonder if it’s really pulling someone out of the mire that is poverty.

microfinance is just what it sounds like – micro-amounts of money lent to someone in a developing nation who wants to start or build a business. sometimes these folks want to borrow as little as $100. sometimes it’s more.

the logistics seem to be staggering but apparently it’s not too bad. one microfinance institution, www.kiva.org, has lent $34 million in microloans around the world and they have experienced a mere 1.7% default rate. that’s $578,000 of dollars list out of $34m. your money is in a more dangerous spot when it’s on wall street.

now these microfinance organizations don’t pay interest, but you’re only loaning a small amount – sometimes $25 or $50.

this is the kind of change the world needs to see. this inspires people to work hard, start/build a business, and take control of their situation.

will it work every time? no.

will it work most of the time? i think so.

will it change lives for the long term rather than the short term? yes

should we do this and forsake peoples’ immediate needs? NO!!

i’m going to research this further, learn more about it and maybe get involved. this spans all political ideologies. giving someone a resource they have never had access to in order to assist them in their success is what we all need to be doing in one form or another.

art update

i wanted to remind anyone who reads this to go check out the art of my pal Chris Beck at http://www.cebstuff.com

Chris is an untrained southern folk artist who works in metal sculpture. his stuff is amazing and his heart is even more amazing.

even if you don’t give a rip about the art, try to get to know Chris. he’s a great guy and one of the best friends a person could ask for.

Chris will be at Who-Fest in Chattanooga, TN on the weekend of May 23 (maybe only on saturday? not sure). check his site or back here for more info.

back from the dead (alternative medicine)

hi everyone, well, if there’s anyone still out there.

ive been super busy lately due to a promotion at work and the end of my next to last semester of grad school coming near. i’m burning the candle at both ends and the stress of it all is numbing. but hey, i signed up for it.

i decided to do something pretty much against the grain of my conservative nature. i’m pursuing some alternative medical treatments.

when i started looking into this i was ready to find a bunch of smelly hippies who wanted me to join greenpeace, peta, quit wearing leather and go vegan. now there’s nothing wrong with going vegan, or choosing to avoid leather, or joining peta. (note that i left greenpeace out – i think they are scum bags. but that’s another post.)

what i got was a surprise. i am now seeing docs at what they appropriately call an “integrative medicine” clinic/center. they integrate the best practices of western medicine, traditional medicine and naturopathy to provide complete care. most of them are Christians and i found out the guy who runs the place is a veteran and donates money to the republican party (thanks, google!).

i’ve been through a boat load of tests and begin my actual treatment next week. if the level of care i’ve received so far is any indication of whether or not their plans will work then i should be feeling better in no time. each member of the practice i’ve met with has sat with me and talked for at least 30-40 minutes, explaining everything as deeply as my interest allows. when my eyes start to glaze over they switch topics or send me on to the next person.

will i be cured of all my ills? who knows. but what i am getting is a group of people who have “been there, done that”. i’m getting someone who will listen to me and not think i’m crazy. i’m getting someone who will use every tool in their arsenal to improve my health – not just toss a prescription at me and tell me that will fix it. they want to coach me into lifestyle change while monitoring my progress. however much work i put into this is what i will get out.

you might ask why i’m going. my other blog, http://13point1.wordpress.com, detailed my (failed) attempt to train for a half marathon. i spent months eating right and running, not all of it noted on the other blog, with small results. i pounded my knees into submission and had to stop. i decided something else must have been wrong. so here i am trying to figure out what the root cause is. i’ve done the “eat right/less, run more” thing and it didn’t work. now i want to find out why.

drawbacks? so far the only one is that it’s expensive. my insurance covers a good portion but i still have to come out of pocket for some of it. but who can put a price tag on health?

i’ll be documenting the experience here as i go along, and i promise to be honest about it. if it sucks you’ll know it. if it’s great you’ll know it.