Estrogen Has Left the House

Kelly and Alex left this afternoon for St. Louis.  Kelly’s sister, Lori, and her husband, Max, just had their fifth child.  A baby girl named Sicily Faith (that makes me once again…Uncle Sam).

So…now that estrogen has left the house, the only thing left in the house is three men.  Testosterone.

So, the boys and I have renamed the house…”The Man Cave.”

The plan is to eat only manly food (no quiche).  Blocks of cheese will be set out as functional decorations.  We will also permit video games, baseball, football, and Ultimate Fighting Championship on T.V.  If we put a movie in, it must have a burp or fart purely for humor.  We will wash dishes when they run out.  And we will pick up the house when it is inconvenient to move around.  My son’s training into manhood begins now!

Birthday Champion

and on the Sixth Night…Message Series

After Echoes of the Garden (concludes this Sunday) we will begin a brand new message series on sex entitled, “and on the Sixth Night…”  It will be four weeks long beginning on September 7th.  We got 10,000 postcards in today.  They will be sent out next week.  Thank you to Dana Hooton (postcard front) and Jennae Gee (postcard back) for the amazing design!  Here is what they look like:

The Celebrating Begins

Here in the Living Stones Church office the birthday celebrations have begun…cards, gifts, and Jennae & Ann wanted to take me out to lunch.  I choose a hole in the wall Cambodian/Thai restaurant downtown South Bend that I love (Brian Walters helped me discover it!).  I love the Pad See Ew!  Delicious.  We even finished the meal with a Cambodian dessert that I have no idea what the name is or what was in it…it was like warm coconut milk, gummy worms, crunchy items…but not bad!

The Countdown is On

Me on my 9th birthday

I know there are lots of things going on right now:

• Barack Obama receiving a historic nomination of candidacy for President by his party.
• John McCain announcing his Vice Presidential running mate.
• Hurricanes approaching.
• Conflict between Russia and Georgia (as opposed to Alabama).
• Cubs having the BEST record in baseball.
• Notre Dame football season about to begin.
• More shootings in South Bend.
• Artbeat in South Bend (who hasn’t been dying for that to begin?).

BUT…before everyone gets caught up in the local, national, and international scenes…I just wanted to give one last friendly reminder that my birthday IS TOMORROW!!!!

Church & Lotteries

Let’s just say for example that a member of a church plays the lottery and wins…BIG TIME!!  The member then wants to donate a portion (or all) of the lottery winnings to their church.

What does the church do?

Do they reject the offer like they did here.

Or do they accept the offer like they did here.

If someone wins the lottery and wants to give Living Stones Church the winnings, what should we do?

Puerto Rico

After a lengthy period of reflection, I, Sam I Am, have come to the conclusion that Puerto Rico should be the 51st state of the United States.

I know 51 isn’t as simple a number as 50…and how you squeeze another star on the flag, blah, blah, blah…

But Puerto Rico deserves it!

Plus…I like to say “Puerto Rico.”  Go ahead and try it.  Don’t forget to roll your “r”s.  Don’t worry about what you will sound like to the guy in cubicle next to you.  Go for it!  Slowly -P-U-E-R-T-O  RRRR (hold it)-I-C-O!  Now doesn’t that feel good?

Who’s in with me?!  Come on people!

(Just another deep thought from Sam I Am)

WNDU Curb-Appeal Makeover

I know that I could use this as well…but this isn’t for me…

Right now WNDU is having their annual “curb-appeal makeover” contest.  They have narrowed it down to three homes.  One of the homes is the Fennell Family.  They have been coming to Living Stones Church.  Let us help them win the $10,000 prize to fix up their yard. 

Take a second and VOTE HERE.  (remember…Fennell family…second home out of the three!)

I’m sure the Fennell’s neighbors thank you as well

August 24, 2008 Message Now On-Line

The second message of our three week series entitled “Echoes of the Garden” is now on-line.  The second week’s message is from Genesis 3-11 and is entitled, “It Just Looked So Good.“  The overall series is a study on Genesis 1-11.  You can find the message here.

Good-Bye Olympics

The Olympics are over!!  I’m kind of glad.  Time to move on in life.   But I have to say…I ended up being quite impressed with the Chinese.  They threw one excellent Olympic games!  The venues, the sites, the city, the ceremonies, etc.  Very well done.

I’ve always been a fan of the crab ragoon and General Tso’s chicken…but the Chinese have just gone up a notch in regards to my opinion (I’m sure the billions of them feel better about that now).