The Wolfe Family Random Thoughts

Vortex Ministry Launches!

2008-06-06T12:49:00.001-07:00

Vortex Ministry has officially launched!

We won't be updating this Blogger site any more. Please visit http://vortexministry.com/

Dream Day - Follow Up - 1 Raccoon Saved

2008-06-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

Definitely glad I did the Dream Day afternoon. I’m working to build that up to an entire day. What if I could do it once a week?

I found a park and it was empty, probably because it was raining. There was a huge covered picnic shelter, so it was great for me. I started reading my Bible, but I kept hearing some random scratching coming from a nearby garbage can. My curiosity arose so I went to check it out. I thought maybe a cat, squirrel or raccoon had climbed inside and was stuck. Well, after a couple of minutes I decided to kick the can over. Out popped a raccoon and it just froze there. Then, it got its bearings and took off for the woods. I told Holli I saved a raccoon’s life and she just thought I was crazy. She said I was lucky it didn’t attack me. Hmm, that wouldn’t be good.

So I kept on dreaming and then all of a sudden this big dog shows up from out of nowhere. It seemed friendly, but didn’t have a collar on, so I didn’t mess with it. It eventually left.

My mind is swirling around with lots of good scripture I was reading and listening to some of things God was trying to tell me. I took a lot of great notes and will definitely be doing this again. I spent most of my time in 1 Chronicles. Good stuff about David.

To top off the day we all went to Chick-fil-A for dinner for their family night. Camden got a snake painted on his arm and Caleb loved the ice cream treat and seeing the cow!

Get Raptured, Send an Email

2008-06-04T12:27:00.000-07:00

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/service-lets-yo.html

I came across this article and found it hilarious. I just wonder if it's real or a hoax?

You've got to hand it to them, at $40/year they could make some cash with enough subscribers. Even if just 1000 people did this, they're making $40K/year.

Hmm, wish I would have thought of this. On second hand, would Jesus want me to be profiting off of the Rapture??? :)

Dream Day

2008-06-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I'm leaving the office to go escape to a quiet place (I'm thinking a park with a covered picnic area because it's raining). I'm going to do a 1/2 day Dream Day. Basically, I'm taking my Bible, my journal and a pen. Ray Hilbert from Truth at Work challenged us to do this and I've been excited to fit it into my schedule for the past month. I might stop at a starbucks first and grab a yummy drink before heading to the park.

We'll see what God has in store for me and what He wants to tell me. I know it's going to be good. I love to get away and just dream, but I never seem to take the time to do it.

One thing that I can guarantee is that some issue will pop up this afternoon at work. Seriously, any time I try and get away and do something like this, some issue arises. It's like the devil knows and is trying to mess up my mood.

Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Happy Dreaming....

Do You Dream?

2008-05-28T11:36:00.001-07:00

Do you dream? Not sleeping dreams, but real-life, awake, in the moment dreams. What are they?

I am definitely a dreamer. I love to sit around and just dream up new ideas and concepts. Do you include God in your dreams?

A passage of scripture that I really like is Isaiah 55:9: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.".

I also like Ephesians 3:20: "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us"

I definitely try to include God in my dream time. Afterall, if He can do immeasurably more than I can imagine, why not include Him in the brainstorms.

Think about some of the dreams you're dreaming and see if God can help out to clarify, crystalize, or even lend a helping hand.

Frustration = Living in the Flesh

2008-05-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

I was working out this morning and was watching Joyce Meyer on TV and she said something very interesting. Basically, she said if you're frustrated you're living in your flesh and not God's grace. It got me thinking.

There are many days that I get frustrated, even at the littlest stupidest things. When I look back at the time I was frustrated I can see that I definitely was trying to do something my way, the way I thought it should be done, etc. Contrast that with the times that I consciously ask God to help me in the situation and how easy the process goes. I still might have hurdles to jump, but my attitude is much better during the process.

I can honestly say that there have been times at work where I want to scream so loud and smash my computer because there is some programming error I can't figure out, or some server issue I can't figure out. WITHOUT FAIL, when I actually pause and just take a little time to ask God to show me the answer, I get the answer right away (or least without too much more difficulty). I'm serious, without fail. It is actually incredible that I don't stop and ask for God's help more often in life. He is just waiting for us to ask. His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

True Story:
About 2 years ago I was dealing with a very random server issue in that the entire hard drive of the server reverted back to a point in time about 6 months in the past from the current date. Any change, file, etc that was made or put on the server between that time was completely gone. Disappeared into thin air. I was frantically working all night with our data center and we ended up getting things put back together, files restored from backups, settings re-applied, etc. They were trying to figure out what was going on with the server.

About a month later, it happened again! I could have screamed so loud that people in China would have heard me. However, I put my head down and got things restored, settings re-applied, etc. It was a major pain and took almost a full 24 hours to deal with. I told the data center we had to figure out what was going on. Well, they said they had never heard of this happening before. I tried Google searches, etc, and honestly I couldn't find anyone else in the world that ever had this issue. These sorts of things just don't happen on Windows servers.

Well a few months later it was about 11pm on a Friday night and the server reverted itself again to a point in time in the past. My heart was racing, my blood pressure was about to explode, and really felt like I was going to just start bawling. You have no idea how stressful that was to try and re-update everything on the server, including files clients added themselves via FTP.

I remember just falling to my knees and I said "God, I'm so tired, I'm weary. I need your help, I need you to fix this server. Please help me figure this out." I got the idea to just reboot the server (which I had done on all previous times), but this time, when the server came back online, it was back to normal! Everything that had been reverted back to a point in time in the past was fixed and it was as if nothing had happened! You know I praised God so much that night and I now call Him my "Server Admin".

The problem hasn't happened since and the data center guys after telling me over and over there was nothing they could do eventually tracked it down to a bad RAID controller.

I truly believe God's grace intervened that night.

I Want To Make A Lot of Money

2008-05-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

When I started my business 8 years ago I would have told you that the number one reason I wanted to start my own business was to make a lot of money. It may sound shallow, but it is true. Over the years my feelings have changed. It's tough being an entreprenuer. Peaks and valleys, ups and downs. Good times and really hard times.

Owning a business is really hard. But I love it so much. I love the freedom of choosing how to spend my day, what I want to work on and being able to spend good quality time with my family. This is what I've come to love, but it hasn't always been easy. Holli would tell you that for the first 6 months or so of Caleb's life, I was always working. We were launching a new product and I was slammed. I don't really remember that because I was so focused on my work. I had a friend from Truth@Work recently remind me of this time of my life too and what it was like. Money comes and goes, but my family is something I can pour my life in to and I really do try to focus on that these days.

Those of you with small kids have maybe wondered in the past what it will be like when your kids are grown up and what the conversations will be like. I know I have thought about that before. Tonight I got a glimpse of that with Camden. Holli had MOPS tonight so I got to put the boys to bed. Caleb was so snuggly.

Anyway, Camden has been asking to come to work with me. I asked him if he would like to work with me when he gets bigger. He said yes that he wants to learn how to "program computers and build websites". I thought, "OK, this is cool". I told him one of the cool things that daddy gets to do is dream up great ideas for websites and then build them. I asked him if he had any cool ideas. He said yes and then went on to describe something like this (I'm paraphrasing):

"When I get bigger I want to work with you and we can build a website to make a lot of money. Then we will open our own bank and give all of the money to a teller. We'll tell lots of people about the bank and tell them if they have a need or don't have enough money, they can go to the bank and the teller will give them our money. The teller will say that a nice man gave them this money to use because God loves them."

WOW -- all that from a 5 year old. Obviously it wasn't that concise, but that was the jist of it. I told him that God gave him such a special heart and that He has big plans for his life.

After we had kids I have wondered from time to time if they would be interested in learning what I do and maybe one day work with me. Tonight was my first real glimpse at that. Very cool.

What Is Laminin? Watch And See

2008-05-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

You might have already seen this, but I thought it was really cool and a great message. The YouTube video has made it's way into my inbox a couple of times from different people.

It's 8 minutes, but well worth it. Watch it when you have a little free time. Louie Giglio is great.

Pizza Picnic

2008-05-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

Beautiful day in Indy today. Camden decided we should have a pizza picnic in the backyard! So we spread out a blanket and had some pizza. It was lots of fun. Great memory to make!

Fatherhood: Check Your Legacy

2008-05-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

Thinking about fatherhood this morning and I'm reminded that I need to check myself and put life in perspective about the type of legacy I want to leave with my boys. Sure, they're only 5 and 22 months, but I think you always need to be thinking about how you're raising your kids, what you're teaching them, and even what they're watching you do.

This morning at our Monday Morning Bible study we were looking at 2 Chronicles 9 & 10. Basically, it's the end of Solomon's life and then his son Rehoboam takes over as king. In chapter 9 it talks about all of the gold and riches that Solomon had accumulated. We were discussing the question of "how much is enough" in today's world. But I kept thinking about what type of father was Solomon? The Bible says that he was the world's wisest man. However, when we kept reading, I'm not so sure (at least in terms of fatherhood). Basically, chapter 9 ends with Solomon dying. There's lots of talk about his money and riches, and then he's just dead and it ends with his son Rehoboam succeeding him.

In chapter 10 Rehoboam must make a big decision and he decides to consult his elders. Sounds like a good start as king right? Well, he doesn't listen to them and instead decides to follow the advice of his peers. Big mistake. Chapter 10:19 says that because of this "Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day."

Rehoboam's first decision as king and he blows it. It just made me think about fatherhood and I wondered what Solomon had taught Rehoboam, did he teach him, did he raise him correctly?

I want to make a conscious point of teaching my boys that God loves them and that He has a plan for them, a good plan. I want to teach them how to make decisions and how to consult God on those decisions. I think that is pleasing to God.

Back Home -- Safe and Sound

2008-05-06T07:11:00.001-07:00

We're back home now and had a fabulous vacation! We spent our last morning in Orlando having breakfast at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Hotel.

The boys did awesome on the plane ride home!

It felt really good to get back to our house and sleep in our own beds.

We are truly blessed to have had the ability and priviledge to go on this awesome vacation. I didn't think about work at all and if you know me that is a major feat! It's been 8 years since I've been able to take a vacation and not worry about work, think about work, work on work all while on vacation. I really am blessed with where my company is now and the awesome employees we have working for us.

Now....It's back to reality! (Which isn't so bad!)

Disney Day 8 - Top 10 Things To Let You Know You're Done At Disney

2008-05-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

Today we had breakfast with Mary Poppins at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian hotel. Tigger and Pooh were there too along with the Mad Hatter and Alice. The boys loved seeing the characters again and food rocked.

After breakfast we hopped the monorail over to Epcot and spent several hours doing some rides and playing. Caleb loved seeing the big ball again. This time we rode the ride inside the ball. It was very cool. However, if my brother Tom is reading this, you'll be sad to know that the boy yelling "Extra, Extra, Read all about it!" is gone! (sorry, inside joke). Also, Sue - Figment said to tell you hello. Lisa, Snow White says hello to you as well.

Back to the hotel to give Caleb a late nap and Holli, Camden and I munch on some Pizza Hut from the hotel.

After Caleb's nap we headed over to Downtown Disney to play a little bit. There's a cool lego store there with a big area where the kids and play with legos and build stuff.

Here are some of day's highlights:

Camden wanted to show off his room here at the Nick Hotel:

Camden saved us from getting eaten by a dinosaur:

Caleb had fun playing with the legos and he didn't even try to eat them:

And finally, the Top 10 Things To Let You Know You're Done At Disney:
(in no particular order)

10. You find yourself getting very upset when the slow Italian family in front of you on the ramp to monorail causes you to miss the train.

9. You find yourself getting very upset when the same Italian family magically shows up in front of you in line (an hour later) to meet the characters.

8. The toddler Italian throws a fit through most of the line and you find yourself getting frustrated. However, it is good to know that all 2 years no matter of geographic location act the same :)

7. As you watch people cruise around Epcot on those Segway scooters you secretly hope the wheels lock up and they go flying off.

6. You see the 1000th red-neck wearing a nascar t-shirt spit on the ground and you want to chuck your coke on them.

5. You're riding the Indy Cars at the Magic Kingdom dreaming the whole time that you can escape off the track and wreak havoc all around the park in that tiny car.

4. You're riding Small World and want to punch all of those happy singing animated kids.

3. You start trying on purpose to get in front of every tourist's camera when they are trying to take a picture.

2. You start thinking about Free Willy and decide to run around Animal Kingdom secretly unlocking all of the animal cages.

1. You've spent your last cent at the 100th gift shop selling all of that Disney C-R-A-P.

Yep, call me Grumpy. I'm Disney'd out. The boys however are NOT and Holli wants to stay on vacation and avoid the reality of all that laundry hanging in the room behind me right now. So I'm off to do the nightly pina colada trek and enjoy one more night before we leave.........

Disney Day 7 - 1 Billion People

2008-05-03T16:57:00.000-07:00

You have to say the "1 Billion People" in the Dr. Evil voice and put your pinky up to your mouth.

Definitely noticing an increase in the number of people here on Saturday. The Magic Kingdom was a lot busier and the Nick hotel is packed! The pool is full of kids and the arcade is hopping. We talked to some other guests and then said last Friday and Saturday were at 97% occupency and then it dropped to 30% on Sunday. We're hoping that holds true this weekend :) We leave on Monday.

Before we left for the Magic Kingdom the boys did a craft at the hotel and made a post card. Caleb got marker on his face and all over his hands! Nothing a little wet wipe can't fix.

Even though the park was busier today we had a lot of fun. We parked our car at the Grand Floridian and then took the monorail over to the park. More rides and more playing and hanging out. The boys are happy just to run around and play.

The Family of the Day

We went into a restaurant to grab some lunch and were picked to be the family of the day. Basically got us a special seat to watch a little animated show and some free dessert. Camden thought it was pretty cool!

Here's a picture next to the sign that was on the special reserved table:

Here's a video from after the lunch:

Camden turned into a Super Hero:

Caleb discovered that ducks like grapes! Or "balls" as he refers to them:

Caleb and Daddy play peek-a-boo:

Toga time after Caleb's bath:

The is flying by fast and we can't believe it's already Saturday. We have been having so much fun and are so blessed to be able to be doing all of this cool stuff as a family. See ya soon!

Disney Day 7 - More Magic Kingdom!

2008-05-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

Camden wanted to ride more rides, so back to the Magic Kingdom we go.

Disney Day 6 - Return To Magic Kingdom

2008-05-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

Aloha, we started out the day with breakfast at Ohana's at the Polynesian Resort. It's a family style meal with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch. Family style was great because it's much easier with the boys (no jumping up and down to get food) and it's all you can eat, so like usual, I ate too much. The pinnapple bread is amazing!

After breakfast we hopped the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom and spent some time there. We rode the merry-go-round, Small World (twice), Peter Pan, Indy Cars, Mickey's Philharmonic, played at the Pooh playground and spent some time just hanging out. Of course, Camden had to visit a lot of the shops. Plus, Cam had his daily ice cream bar.

We came back to the hotel to give Caleb a nap and Holli, Camden and I watched "Meet The Robinsons". Very cute movie.

After the nap, we all hit the pool and then grabbed some dinner at the hotel. Of course, after dinner Camden and I had to hit the arcade.

Holy Crowd Batman

Tonight on my nightly trek to get a Pina Colada I was amazed at how many people are now at the hotel. The pool is packed and the main "mall" area containing the shops, food and arcade is full of people. I know we're sticklers about bed time and we've been pretty lax this trip, but I'm amazed at how many little kids are up running around late at night.

Some of the highlights of the day:

Caleb Gets Wet:

Day 5 - Disney Hollywood Studios

2008-05-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

First off, when did they change the name of the park from MGM to Hollywood Studios??? What's up with that?

We started the day off at around 6:45am when Caleb woke up. Holli and I kept him contained for about 15 minutes and then Camden woke up. We headed out for a breakfast at the hotel and then made our way to the Hollywood Studios.

This is a pretty cool park. Definitely more stuff for older kids here, but we found enough to keep us busy. Two big highlights of the day:

1. Lunch at Hollywood & Vine. We had lunch with Jo Jo and Goliath and Leo and June from Little Einsteins. Our reservation was at 11:10am which I was a little concerned about because I didn't know how hungry we would be. Afterall, we had a buffet breakfast at the hotel and you know how much I over-eat at the buffets. The 11:10 reservation was awesome. We were hungry and the timing was great. The restaurant wasn't busy at all, so we got lots of time with the characters. Plus, the bonus was that we got to eat breakfast again for course #1 and then at 11:40am they brought out the lunch stuff on the buffet, so course #2 was lunch! Definitely over-ate at this one. All of these character dinings are buffets, so you just plain eat way too much.

2. Hollywood Stunt Show: Totally AWESOME! We really liked this show. It lasted about 30 minutes and was a series of cool stunts with cars and motorcyles and fire. Caleb and Camden loved it. It's amazing what these stunt guys can do. There's a scene at the end where they blow up a bunch of stuff and the heat of the fire comes out into the crowd and it was so loud and hot that Caleb started to shake on my lap, but then he got this huge smile and started yelling, hot, hot, hot, car, car.

We finished up the day with dinner back at the hotel and Camden and I hit the arcade one more time while Caleb got ready for bed. Camden is still eyeing up those stuffed animals in that claw game. I did let him try again tonight and he actually almost got a stuffed shark. That was a major highlight for Camden. When we got back to the hotel room he must have told Holli about 20 times about almost getting it. I think we need to pray that Camden doesn't get a gambling habit. He kept telling me "Just one more time Dad, I know I can get it, just one more time." Oh Boy....On another game (one of those crazy press the button at the right time to win tickets games), he just pressed the button without looking and scored 250 tickets!! Now that is some luck. Maybe I should send him to Vegas.

Here are some highlights of the day:

Caleb having fun at the stunt show:

Caleb crashed out after the stunt show. Gotta love the Mr. Mischief shirt, sums him up perfectly:

Our daily Mickey ice cream bar snack:

Animal Kingdom

2008-04-30T17:55:00.000-07:00

After the breakfast with the Nick characters, we played a little bit, then Caleb was ready for an early nap (he's pooped out). Camden and I hit the arcade again (shocking) and then hit the pool (again, shocking). Caleb and Holli joined us at the pool after the nap.

We decided to spend the afternoon at Animal Kingdom. If I could give a big raspberry sound with my tongue on this blog, I would. I give it a thumbs down. We grabbed a quick bite to eat once we got there then rode this dinosaur flying ride sort of like Dumbo at the Magic Kingdom. Then we went over to the Bone Yard where the boys got to run around and climb on stuff and go down lots of slides. It's sort of like a dinosaur excavation site.

We saw the afternoon parade and did some strolling around. The grounds are beautiful, but we just weren't thrilled with the action there.

The highlight of the afternoon was when Camden turned into a dragon. You've got to watch the video.

Day 4 - Breakfast with Sponge Bob

2008-04-30T07:22:00.000-07:00

We started the day off with breakfast at the hotel with Sponge Bob, Dora, Diego and Little Bill.

Camden's favorite was Sponge Bob. Caleb's favorite was Dora.

Camden says the songs and dancing were great!

Camden says this hotel is great!

Camden says hi to all our friends and family following along on our blog.

Ian, I'll be back soon. Tell the other owls I said hi. Your best friend, Camden. I love Ian.

More later....

Disney: Day 3 -- Ball, Ball, Ball

2008-04-29T18:22:00.000-07:00

After Caleb's nap today we decided to head to Epcot for a short visit and do a couple rides. From hotel parking lot to walking in the main entrance it was 15 minutes, not bad.

As soon as Caleb saw the big Epcot ball, he started saying "Ball, Ball, Ball, Ball, Ball". The boy loves balls. As we started to get closer to it he started saying "Touch, Touch, Touch".

To quote Madonna, We are living in a material world, and Camden is a material, uh... kid. Our Camden...He loves to buy stuff. At least he asks for everything he sees. I guess what do we expect for 5, huh? He did get a cool ball and then he talked Caleb into wanting a cool light up Mickey toy.

Caleb LOVES the characters. Epcot has this new area where you can meet the characters and get pictures with them. Holli and Caleb saw the characters while Camden and I went and rode the Test Track. Caleb LOVES Minnie. He must have kissed her nose about 50 times.

Here's a few more pics. You can't go to Disney without getting a Mickey ice cream bar. And...Camden and Caleb got eaten by a shark!

Fun At The Pool

2008-04-29T12:37:00.001-07:00

After the arcade Camden and I hit the pool! Much fun! This picture is the smaller of the two pools. The view is from our room.

Arcade Time

2008-04-29T09:51:00.001-07:00

Caleb needed his nap, so Holli hung out in the room and Camden and I hit the arcade. $20 bought us over an hour of fun and enough tickets to get a bouncy ball, small airlplane, 2 tattoos, and an army guy!

Why is it that kids love trying to win those stuffed animals in the claw game??? Rip off ;)

Disney: Day 3 -- Breakfast at Cape May

2008-04-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

Started the day off at Cape May breakfast at the Disney Beach Club. What is it about buffets that you eat WAY too much!?!

Disney: Day 2 -- Pooped Out

2008-04-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

OK, so today is only day 2 and we're pooped out. We spent the day at the Magic Kingdom. The boys had a great time and Holli and I did too. I think Camden's favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear ride or maybe the Indy cars. Caleb's favorite was seeing the characters. He gave them lots of hugs and high fives. Caleb was pooped out at the end of the day. We headed back to the hotel for a quick dinner and then he was off to bed. Camden and I hit the pool and then it was off to bed for him too. Both boys were asleep in less than a minute.

Here's a great action shot of the Indy cars:

Even scarier than those hairy legs in the beginning is that Caleb was driving the car in front of us!

And, here's a great shot of Caleb with Tigger:

Some other pictures:

Disney Day 2 -- The Magic Kingdom

2008-04-28T12:18:00.001-07:00

Today we venture to the Magic Kingdom. Caleb says Mickey, Mickey, Mickey. Mouse, Mouse.

More pics to follow later.....

Disney: Day 1 -- A Plane, A Train, An Automobile

2008-04-27T18:18:00.000-07:00

Today is Day 1 of our 9 day trek to Orlando/Disney. We needed a family vacation and an escape so about a month ago we planned this trip. Camden has been looking forward to this day for a while now.

I have to say, I love AirTran Airlines. I usually fly Northwest for business, but we got a great deal on AirTran and it was a great experience. Much better service than Northwest. Cheap too: $170/ticket roundtrip, with a direct flight.

Here's a couple of pics of Camden and Caleb on the plane. Both doing their favorite things:

Camden watching a movie:

Caleb having a snack:

The boys did awesome on the plane! Once we landed in Orlando had to take a train to the main terminal to get our bags. You would think that a busy airport like Orlando would have their process nailed down and streamlined for getting bags delivered. However it took about 45 minutes for the bags to arrive in baggage claim. At least they did arrive!

While Holli and Caleb waited for the bags, Camden and I decided to go get in line for the rental car (a cool white mini-van, yes friend's of Holli, you can gasp now). We rented the car through Dollar because they has a sweet deal. I guess the rest of the Orlando tourists got the same great deal because the line was crazy long! And Dollar only had 3 agents working.

Here's Camden's feelings on the long wait:

Notice all of the empty computer terminals behind him. OK, I'll get over my bitterness toward Dollar, once we finally got up to the counter the agent was nice and did I mention the sweet deal?

Off to the hotel: Nickelodeon Family Suites. This place is kid crazy. We were only here for about an hour and Camden declares: "THIS IS THE FUNNEST VACATION EVER!"

This hotel isn't for the weak of heart. Holli and I are not sure we're going to make it out alive, but hey, it's for the kids. Awesome pools and water slides and they do a mass-slime at 4:45pm every day at the pool.

Pizza and chicken nuggets for dinner and then it was off to bed for the little guys. Heading to the Magic Kingdom tomorrow to meet up with our friend Mickey.

Holli and I couldn't resist a pina colada after the boys went to bed.

Hosanna On My Mind

2008-04-23T19:38:00.000-07:00

I was in North Carolina for a few days this week. It got me thinking about James Taylor's song "Carolina On My Mind". (For those JT fans, here's a good video).
However, I've been having this song "Hosanna" on my mind all week.

We sang this song last weekend at Northview called Hosanna by Paul Baloche. We've been singing it now a couple times over the past month or so. The song just plain rocks and I can't get it out of my head. It starts out with this good beat and it just builds and builds until you get to that point where you have to just throw your hands in the air and praise God.

Here's a video of the song:

Go on, nobody's looking, you're sitting in front of your computer, crank up the music and maybe just get so in the moment that you have to throw your hands in the air.

It is as the song says:

Come have Your way among us
We welcome You here, Lord Jesus

'Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your Presence all our fears are washed away, washed away

Big Mouth Bites

2008-04-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

Darn that Matt Bays. I was just reading his blog and somehow it's affected my subconscious. More on this in a minute.

You see, this morning I had a bit of an escape. I took my car to the dealer to get an oil change. "You took your car where???" I can hear it now... Yes, I choose to go to the dealer for an oil change. It costs more and it takes a heck of a lot longer too. But...I get to sit in their comfy waiting room and just chill. And they have these good apple pastry things and pretty tasty coffee. So I just power on my laptop and chill out and catch up on blog reading, etc. It's quite a nice escape from the busy life.

OK, back to the story, so I was reading Matt's latest post and cracking up (and thinking how could he not be throwing up) when this Chili's commercial came on the TV. They were promoting their new "Big Mouth Bites". I thought they looked nasty, but then I started watching more and I thought "hmmm, I'd like to eat one of those.". What is wrong with me? They have grilled onions on them. I hate onions!

Thanks Matt, now I might have to go to Chili's. Well, I might not take it that far.

Meet the latest Wolfe Family member

2008-04-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

So a few months ago we got the crazy idea to get a dog. At the time it seemed like a rational decision. Today...I'm starting to wonder...

We got a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier and Camden wanted to name him Fergus. He has a book about a crazy dog named Fergus.

Actually, Fergus is a pretty good dog. When he's not trying to bite me, he loves to play ball and fetch. He is a lot of fun to play with and the boys absolutely love him.

Here's a couple videos of the first day we got him. You might think that he seems like a calm puppy. Actually, the second day we had him we found out that he had an intestinal virus called Parvo. He almost died, but the vet was able to help him. He had to stay at the vet for about 10 days. Crazy. Luckily the pet store covered all of those expenses!

Here's a more recent video I just took to show how different he looks now. His coat is a light wheat color and he has a black beard.

If you're ever in the neighborhood stop by to meet the little guy. Plus, you can take him in the backyard and run around with him to work out some of that puppy energy!

Fire Trucks

2008-04-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

About a month or so ago Holli called me at work and wanted to share a story with me. A fire truck had just driven past our house and Camden clapped his hands and said "Look Mommy, A fire truck!". Then he closed his eyes and said "Lord, please be with the people that need help from the fire truck."

Such a simple thing, but I was blown away. Holli has been saying this type of prayer with Camden when they see a fire truck or ambulance drive by with flashing lights. It was amazing to see it modeled back by him. He gets it!!

He did it again today, so I just had to share.

2008-02-14T18:17:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day Trip

For those of you that like kids valentine's songs, this video is just for you. I didn't have time to edit this video down, so you get the full blown version!

Camden's class took a trip to a nursing home to sing some valentine's songs. Holli and I were blessed to be able to go and now we're blessing you to be able to join us in spirit!

It was really cute and the kids did an awesome job. After they were done singing they handed out valentine's cards to everyone.

Make sure to notice the cool "horse" fountain in the first few seconds. It's a little hard to see, but there is water coming out of the horse's mouths. The kids loved this and kept saying "The horses are spitting! The horses are spitting!"

Beware, this video is about 7 minutes long :) Also, beware that there is a crazy beeping alarm going off during all of the video. Seems no one ever got around to turning it off!

2008-02-14T17:19:00.001-08:00

Fun in the Snow!

We've been having lots of fun playing in the snow. Here's a couple videos to show off the fun.

Camden Snowboarding Wipe Out:

Camden Snowboarding Success:

Sledding at Nana & Papa's:

2008-01-12T18:34:00.001-08:00

Drums & Tools

We all know that Camden loves to play the drums. Well now Caleb has decided he wants to get in on the act!

The Target by our house was having a huge sale recently on lots of toys. Holli and Camden scored an awesome Little Tykes workbench for 75% off.

2008-01-09T17:53:00.000-08:00

Rah, Rah, Rah...Caleb loves cheese and Jesus. Check out the video:

Matthew 19

2008-01-05T17:59:00.000-08:00

Santa brought two ATV's!

Check out this video of Camden and Caleb on their new 4X4's. Camden gets most of the video time, but make sure to see Caleb at the end around the 2:00 minute mark. About 3 hours before this video Caleb had a fever of 104.1, but he seems to be quite happy on his new ride!

2007-12-24T18:58:00.000-08:00

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Camden makes a snack for Santa:

2007-01-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

So far, I'm not doing much better at keeping this updated!! I wanted to start with a bit of a review, so here we go...

This summer we...

had a baby,

took it easy,

went to the beach,

and then Camden went back to school!

Think that's exciting?? Check out our fast fall review ;)

2006-11-27T18:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all!

Three and half years ago, we started a website for Camden and we just couldn't keep with (it was either keep up with that or Camden :) In June, Bill started a blog for our latest addition, Caleb Grant. After months of NOT updating Caleb's blog, we're making another effort at blogging. The boys are growing up right before our eyes!

Camden is so wise for his young age...Constantly enlightening us with his latest idea and then asking, 'is that a good idea, Mom?' We find it hard to resist his never-ending enthusiasm and toothless grin. He is loving preschool (for Thanksgiving, he stated that he was thankful for his teachers - 'and that's all!') and is still fascinated by anything musical (a talent he gets from Dad). He takes his role as big brother very seriously and loves to entertain Caleb. Cam is amazingly active and makes sure that we are thoroughly exhausted everyday!

Caleb has been the perfect addition to our family. He is very laid back (again, this must come from his Daddy!) and is always content. He will readily give you a bright smile, but his adorable giggles are pretty much reserved for reacting to his big brother's antics. These days, he is happiest when chewing on his feet or playing peek-a-boo. He takes in everything through his bright, brown eyes and reminds us to look at this great big world with awe - he's an absolute joy.

Come back and visit soon...