I can’t wait to head out on our cruise in a few weeks.  The whole family is going and also Lori’s parents will be joining us.  I love spending time with my in-laws and I am glad they can be apart of our trip.  It will be some much needed away time and family time.  We are going on a Disney Cruise for 4 nights to the Bahamas.  We have never been on a Disney Cruise, but from what we hear it is a ton of fun.  Our boys are excited, but they don’t realize what we are doing.  We have tried to explain the ship to them, but they still think it is a little boat that will be small.  One of them is afraid that it will sink like the Titanic, so he wanted to know if you could see the land at all times.  They don’t understand the size of the ship.  They don’t understand the things that will be on the ship.  They don’t understand that you can eat ALL day if you want, (not that they eat more than a peanut butter sandwich a day anyway.)  Unfortunately they will have to experience the trip to understand everything about it.

The Christian walk is much the same way.  I read many things in God’s word that I don’t truly understand, but then I experience it, I walk through it and suddenly I began to understand something better.  Life is many experiences stacked up on top of each other.  Some of them are good (from God) and some of them not (from my sin), but all of them work together to give me a better perspective or understanding on life.  I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t walked through the experiences I have in my life.

My boys don’t know the cruise yet, but they will, and after the cruise they will understand what it all means because they will have experienced it.  So be glad when God takes you from knowing something, to experiencing something, so that you can understand something.

Lori and I have been leading a Bible Study in our home for the past 5 weeks and it really has been a blessing.  We are doing the Fireproof study that is based on the movie Fireproof and we have 6 couples meeting with us every week.  Fireproof is a couples study to help better our marriages and God has used this past weeks to better my relationship with Lori.  It is so easy to let little things creep into your marriage and become a parasite, something that drains the relationship dry.  Lori and I have identified parasites in our marriage that we want to work on.  We want a strong and healthy relationship with each other.

It is so important in our marriages that we always look for ways to be better at what we do.  It is so easy to fall into a production or a show when it comes to marriage.  Most couples put on a show for everyone, that show is seldom the reality of what really happens at home.  At Disney I work on the Little Mermaid Stage.  Every few months we have a cleaning night.  We call it ‘polishing the turd.’  (I hope that doesn’t ruin the magic for you.)  The reason we say that is the stage is old, and many things are worn out.  You, the guest, don’t see it because you come into the theater while the lights are all down and the effects are all working, but come into the theater when all the house lights are up and you will see a different stage.  You can see pieces cut out of the wall from the old Muppet’s show that was there before Mermaid.  things are dusty and worn out.  We use bubble machines in there, but that bubble juice gets on everything, I mean EVERYTHING, and then dust sticks to that so everything is dusty and grimy.

You get the point.  I have been praying for God to bring up the house lights in our marriages so that we can see what needs work on.  Stop looking at our marriages through the show lights, that are made to cover blemishes and make things look neat, instead bring up the pure white lights that hide nothing so we can see what truely needs work on.  And then, once we see the things that need work, that we would be willing to actually work on fixing those things.

It happened a second time to us the other day.  We woke up, turned on the tv, and our Dish receiver was telling us that it was about to reformat our receiver hard drive because it had become corrupt.  As the little bar was scrolling across the screen of our tv we all started remembering the shows that we had recorded, that were on there.  You would have thought one of our family members had passed away.  Fillmore, I-Carly, Clone Wars, Burn Notice,  Biggest Looser,  The Bachelor, LOST!!!!  The list went on in my mind, over 20 hours of comedians, that movie I wanted to finish from the other day, the last episode of one of my shows that I hadn’t watched yet.  *sick* :-b

As mad as I am about the whole thing, it is a reminder that they are only shows, and although they are entertainment to enjoy, they are not the end all to my life.  As much as I hate it, life will go on.  I will still take my DVR over any old VCR any day.  I just need to know, who got voted off the Biggest Loser last week?

As many of you know we bought a Golden Retriever last June and it has been a test of my(Chaz) patience over the last 8 months.  I am not a pet person much less a dog person, so I don’t have that love for animals that some of my friends possess.  Chloe, our Golden, has pushed about every button that I have when it comes to living in my home.  And she has gone on the endangered list more than once.  She has really become a great dog, but there are things that still drive my crazy about her.

I don’t get why she is soooo hyper when others come over, she goes nuts.  You would think we pumped her full of caffeine before our guests arrived.  She runs around in circles and lunges back and forth like she is on crack.  Settle down girl.  Then if you try to pet her, she lays on her back and sticks her legs up in the air.  And she always has to put one leg up on your arm, it is like she has to touch you while you pet her.

She digs holes in the back yard.  Anyone got any advice to break that?  Nothing like looking out in the back and seeing 5 holes all over the yard.  The other day she dug a hole and we didn’t notice and we let her in the house and she put muddy paw prints all over the living room, kitchen, hallway, bedroom, bathroom.  I can’t say I responded with words of affirmation that day.

She is also up my butt all the time.  No matter what you are doing, she is right there sticking her face in trying to see what is going on.  She likes to stick either her wet nose or just the tip of her tongue on the bottom of your hand when you are walking.  Like she is trying to tell you that she is there.  I feel foolish when I look at her and say, “Stop licking me!!!”

But, she is growing on us, and she does do many things that make her a good dog.  The jury is still out on if we will keep her or not.  More to come on that later:-)

Being the father of three boys is a great joy, but I find myself laughing a lot as I see my boys grow up.  The things that I or my brother did as a kid, I watch them do.  How is it that boys will be boys?  Why is it boys can wear underwear for days at a time.  I have one son, that whenever I do laundry, I will put away 4 or 5 pair of underwear for two of my boys and one or none for the other one?  It’s is like it doesn’t even register that having them on for 5 or 6 days is not a good thing.  Then again men a weird about their underwear.  Lori begs me all the time to throw out old underwear, but I rarely do.  If they still have a good elastic band, who cares how many holes are in it.  Boys are weird with underwear.

I have another son that hides everything.  We cleaned out his bed the other day and he had over 20 little toys and stuffed animals hidden all over his bed.  He is our little packrat.  We thought he was out of socks, so we went and bought him a whole new pack.  About a week after that, I was helping him get dressed and he said he was going to put his dirty socks in ‘his laundry spot’.  I was curious to what he meant since he doesn’t have a ‘laundry spot’.  He then took both socks and went over the couch and stuffed them behind the cushion.  I went over to investigate and low and behold, there were most of his socks that he had been collecting over the past month.  I remember as a kid having secret places to keep my stuff.

They also love to stall before going to bed.  The other night one of my boys came into the playroom and began to ask me a meaningless question.  Frustrated at another stall tactic, I told him that we were not going to discuss this question now and that he needed to stop stalling, and go to bed.  “Ok,” he said, “but just one more question.”

“What,” I said.

With a look in his eyes that was very serious, “What does stalling mean?”

Boys will always be boys.

I guess I have been doing a really good job at Disney.  I found out the other day that I will be honored by the Park next year!!!!!  This is really big.  They came and did a news interview and everything.  You can watch the video clip below.

Watch clip here

I really am honored.

I love my wife.  She is so much fun to be with.  The other day we were goofing around on our way out to Disney.  She was snapping some pics of her new hair cut.  We always laugh at people that give that blowing a kiss and the peace sign pose.  What the heck is that?

A few weeks ago we put up our Christmas decorations.  Something that the boys have come to love and get really excited about.  We turn on the Christmas music throughout the whole house and get everything down from the attic.  This year I let Colbe and Zayne go up in the attic to take a look around and see where everything was.  Before I came up I saw Zayne, my youngest poke his head over the attic opening and tell me that everything was up there.  “I see the ice skating pond, the Christmas tree, the ornaments, the activity, everything is here,” he said.

I had to think for a minute what he was talking about?  Zayne is still at that adorable age where he says words slightly wrong.  (ie. newbie theater = movie theater, babe in suit = bathing suit, he called Disney’s pirate movie, the Pirates of the Can-a-be-ann’s.  so cute.) So what was the ‘activity’ up there.  Then it hit me, Nativity.

I know Zayne didn’t mean it, but he really is right.  The Nativity really is about the Activity that happened there.  Jesus coming to earth was active.  I am glad that God sent his son for us, I am glad that God is an active God.  The Nativity is God in action, pursuing mankind, making a way for us, bringing the gift of eternal life to us. That is something to celebrate.

This holiday when you see a Nativity, think about it a little differnt, think of it the way my son saw it, as an Activity.

I wanted to thank everyone that helped make Lori’s Birthday today so special. It was really neat to see all the gifts that she received from her students, parents, and friends. You really made her feel loved and appreciated. We had a nice time at home with dinner and Caravel’s Ice Cream Cake, (Lori’s favorite, not that I am complaining:-)

Lori and I know this first hand in more than one way.  First, when I quit my job almost 2 years ago, There were many that came to help us during our difficult time of transition.  We saw first hand people being generous with us, more than generous with us.  It was a humbling blessing for God to bring those friends into our lives.  Through that experience God taught us to be even more generous.  There is nothing that God loves more than a giving heart.  God knows what it means to give big, and he loves to see his children doing the same.

There are many ways that you can give, I couldn’t begin to give you a list, but since the holidays are upon us, there is one area that always bugs me about giving.  I think it is great that we give canned foods and clothes to those who are in need during this time.  It is a simple way that we can help those in need.  As a child my family was the recipient of those such programs.  But what I hate about this time is everyone goes to their pantry’s at home and they collect all the cans of obscure things that have been cluttering up their shelves for 3 years.  I remember getting our box of goods as a kid and getting, pinto beans in a dented can, evaporated milk, coconut milk in a can, pumpkin pie filling, and other odd things that I didn’t even know came in a can.  “Gee, thanks, I can hardly wipe the smile off my face.  I can’t wait to dive into my can of pumpkin pie.”

We do the same things with cloths, we clean out our closet and send all our junk to those who are in need.  Wow, thanks for the sacrifice, way to dig deep and give from the heart.  We do it with Operation Christmas child too.  Run to the $1 store and load up on cheap toys that won’t last more than a day.  We think, “The kids who are getting this are poor, so this will be like the coolest thing they get.”  Yes most of them are poor, but even poor don’t want junk.

Now, before you get upset with me, I know there are some that have little and they give much, for them old cloths are all they have, $1 store is the most that they can give, and even that is a stretch for them.  To those of you in that situation, may God bless you 10 fold, you are like the widow that only gave 2 widow’s mites and Jesus said she gave more than anyone else that day because it was a sacrifice.  But many of us will go and spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on Christmas presents and things, and spend a fraction of that in giving.

This season look for ways to stretch yourselves when it comes to giving, what can you do to take it up a notch from what you have done in the past.