pensees

So my first week back after "guy maternity leave" and I'm flat out of gas!!

I have new found respect for Tamara now that I'm getting the girls ready for school and ready for bed and a host of other things. Motherhood is too hard for me!

Here are some updates:
- Mary Joy has forgotten her lunch twice this week (on my watch)
- Having people bring you meals after having a kid is awesome!
- I'm glad Tamara and I stopped watching Grey's Anatomy a long time ago. We watched it again with Kim Hunt last night and those shows are like crack cocaine. I wouldn't stand a chance if I watched it a couple times in a row.
- However, 24 is starting up again on November 23rd. Long live Jack Bauer!!
- Speaking of Kim Hunt... holding a guys remote hostage in his own home for 2 hours is not cool.
- The new baby is an angel... until midnight, and then she's a terror from midnight till 6:00 a.m.
- I'm becoming more and more a fan of affirmation. Does anyone else think that more affirmation and less criticism would be cool?

We were blessed to have the Pawn Shop Kings (Scott & Joel Owen) in church a week ago.

They are amazing.

Check out the videos...

Click here to visit the Cauzal Coffee store and purchase world class coffee with $4 of every bag supporting the development of the Kilns College Missions Department.

So my kids now have a second dog - well, kind of... my folks went out and got a yellow lab named "Caleb" last night.

Here's a picture.

I'm glad that there's another "lover dog" in the family and even more glad that the big shedding beast will be living down the street and not at our home!

Here's our new little girl (all of 2 hours old!)

I shot this picture of her being held by Kim Hunt on my Blackberry. I'll post more pictures when I get the chance to download them from the camera.

She's a cutie!!

We had a 2 Year Anniversary service this Sunday. In some ways it sounds corny...

Our thinking was shaped when Rick McKinley came out in January and told us a story of how he wasn't going to do a 2 year anniversary because it would draw too much attention to the people in leadership etc. (too ego driven). One of his mentors coached him to think that by not celebrating things and giving opportunity for God to get credit it was actually more ego driven (i.e. we are worried about what people might think so we won't praise God.)

That made sense to us.

So our service yesterday was all about trying to celebrate what God has been doing in Antioch.

(Here's one of the videos from the service)

A good friend, Ed Underwood, delivered this morning's message at Antioch.

Take a listen, but be warned... it's pretty rowdy.

Also, for anyone dealing with difficult circumstances and wondering where God is in the midst of pain, Ed's book When God Breaks Your Heart is excellent.

I have a friend who is going to be marketing his business on Facebook and MySpace etc. so I thought I'd get on Facebook to figure it out.

I now have more friends than I remembered having about a week or so ago. It's amazing how fast and quick online networking happens.

Other than not having time for it... it's pretty fun!!

So we're getting ready at the Wytsma household for baby #4 who should be coming any day now.

What does that mean?

- I can't keep up with the variety of things Tamara wants to eat
- The sole focus of family life is cleaning
- I get maternity leave pretty soon (actually it is a week of vacation we have saved up)
- There's baby stuff laying all around
- The name game is heating up (still haven't finalized it yet)
- I'm supposed to make an appointment with the doctor so that the kid thing doesn't happen to us anymore

In debating, one of the lessons you learn is to not offer up every argument that you have... rather, give only the best.

The reason is pretty simple. The counter argument will usually always be aimed at the weakest - not the strongest - argument that you made.

The principle is that sometimes excessive communication can be a bad thing.

I've been feeling like that in life the last week or so. I'm pretty behind on sleep and when I get tired I'm more talkative and have less energy to listen. Excessive communication can be a bad thing.

Anyway, it reminds me of a Winnie the Pooh quote in my kids' books that I wouldn't mind trying to live out for a week or two:

“Don't underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.”

I had the privilege yesterday to sit in on some of the final brainstorming sessions around the marketing launch for Cauzal Coffee.

Cauzal Coffee is the brainchild of a friend who wants to creatively leverage consumer spending for the benefit of others.

It is one of the coolest ideas that I've run across in a while.

Not only does the company donate 25% of the gross to a humanitarian cause of your choice, but there is also a high tech fund raising apparatus called MyCauze / OurCauze.

MyCauze and OurCauze allows you to set up your own cauze such as your own missions trip, a relief project or outside organization that you believe in and fundraise around it. Not only does the 25% go to your cauze (yes, that's how they spell it), but people can also donate however much they want.

It is one of the easiest and best fund raising platforms out there.

So visit the sight... drink coffee while helping others... and make sure to set up a MyCauze or OurCauze supporting something you believe in!!

www.cauzal.com

I'm not really involved in this one all that much, but I think it is pretty darn cool.

The Antioch Kids Art Book is going to be a collaboration of art work from students within the church put into actual book form. (Can you see all the Christmas presents that grandparents will be getting?!)

Here's the cover that Gary Christenson worked up...

So I've had this thought in my head all day...

What if the difficult times we're going through loosens jobs and routines just enough so that some people can finally change course and pursue the dreams that they've always had, but could never fit in?

I guess I'm thinking it would be such an interesting story if a middle aged couple finally heads off to seminary or to the mission field all as a result of their life getting turned upside down and thus making the transition easier.

I'm not thinking that tough times are good... just that good might come from tough times.

We had a half day staff prayer retreat out in Sisters this morning.

It was primarily focused on solitude and I could have stayed out there all day and not minded.

For me, there's nothing more restorative outside of sleep than solitude (and maybe movies!)

This next Thursday there will be a lecture on Church and Missions at The Kilns by Don Golden.

Don is senior vice president of church engagement at World Relief in Baltimore, Maryland. His passion to help churches help the poor and oppressed has taken him to more than 60 countries.

Don's new book with Zondervan, called Jesus Wants to Save Christians, just released this week.

Don will be in town for discussions around World Relief NEXT as well as his lecture at the Kilns.

Plan on being there from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.!!

Last week Antioch launched a pretty cool ministry to "help parents raise compassionate and mission minded kids."

It is called Mission Kids.

Sometimes it is just plain hard for busy parents to find ways to serve alongside their kids or find opportunities to teach them about the needs of others in the world.

I'm pretty excited about Mission Kids being a part of helping the values of compassion and love that Tamara and I have trickle down to our own kids.

Anyway, yesterday the website www.missionkids.us went live. Check it out and read more about the ministry!!

Check out the sermon trailer for the new sermon series starting Sunday at Antioch.

Just had a great meeting with Lorelei Mah, Director of Volunteer Resources at World Relief and wife of the CEO and President Sammy Mah.

One of the things that people are always saying is that there aren't tangible ways for people to go oversees or be directly engaged... and I was amazed at all of the opportunities available for people to get involved in the world that nobody even knows about.

Check out all of the oversees opportunities on their web site here.

(Here is a picture of Lorelei with all of the current oversees volunteers listed on her board.)