100th on Christmas and Traditions.

It is just perfect that my 100th post is on Christmas. What a great time to be alive right? Who would have known that over 2000 years ago, a Baby was born that would change the world as we know it.
As our family tradition, we always read the christmas story (from the bible) before we open presents. We get up leisurly, open stockings, although this year, and from years on I believe, they will be just decorations, then we have a wonderful breakfast.
A funny story about the breakfast tradition at our home. We used to have a Sweedish Tea Ring every year. Then a few years back mom found out that my sister and I did not like the tea ring but just thought it tradition and we should not break tradition. Mom decided to find something new for christmas Breakfast and she came up with Sticky Buns. They are really wonderful.
Anyways, back to more memories... after breakfast we read the christmas story and then open presents. When we were younger, this seemed to take FORRRRRREEEEEEVVVVVEEEERRRRR. But as we have grown, we have learned to be patient and really cherish  those times. I love getting together and reading the christmas story as a family. It is a tradition that I will hopefully take to my future family as well.

Here is wishing you well on this Wonderful Christmas Morning that is full of mystery and wonder, and beauty, that God himself would come down to Us sinners and live among us.

Judy Moody, AKA Tim, was in a mood, not a good mood, a Bad Mood.

It's amazing how one sentence to someone else can change attitudes isn't it?? I just discovered this first-hand this afternoon.
I was having a great day. My parents are home and it has been fun seeing them and spending time with them. I went to Costco and a smattering of other places with dad this morning and that was great. Nothing was really happening, and we were just spending a nice afternoon with the family. Then my sister comes into town and drops some things off that she borrowed from the house and I ask her if she will put these things away, rather than leave them on the floor waiting for someone else (most likely mom) will have to do something with. Right away she SNAPS at me and yells that she is tired and she will get to it later.
This really upset me and knew that I had to get away from her. It threw my whole day off and I have been in a bad mood ever since.  I have cooped myself up in my room to get some space, but has not seemed to help.
Now, I know the old saying that your attitude is yours to do what you want with. We can choose to change it or we can choose to be in a bad mood, but I just can't seem to get out of this funk.
I just feel that I have had my Kelli fill for the month. And the bad (good) part is that the Christmas togetherness has just begun. I still have Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and whatever else we plan to do as a family. I am going to do my best to get out of this bad mood, but it is tough when I have to be around my sister right now.

Time after Time

At times like these, I like to look back, as many do, and see what has happened. Coming upon the end of a decade and the start of a new one, I want to take the time to see what has happened in the previous decade.

What has happened to myself, my family, and around me? 

What has happened in our country? 

What can I praise God for? 

What hasn't gone just right? 

What technologies have been created?

It's also a time to look forward to the new decade. 

What would I like to see happen to myself, my family, and around me? 

What could happen in our country? 

What WILL I praise God for?

As the decade of the 00's come to a close, I urge you to take a look at your life and see what happened in it, good or bad, and examine why those things have happened. Take a look at what might have changed that, and look forward to the new decade and be the change that needs to happen. Make it Happen. Its all up to us to see our future change. Keep God number One up in your life.

Nice Conclusion to a Fall Term

It was an amazing term for me obviously. Maybe it was because I did not have much else to do! Maybe it was because they wer courses that were not so new to me (at least two of them)! Maybe it was because most were in an area that enjoyed! Maybe I am just good!
Well, I am reffering to my Grades for this fall term in my Masters Program at WOU.
I was able to score 3 A's and a B+. That is quite an accomplishment for me. I am very proud of myself.
My first class that I took was  Web 2.0- this was a class that was only online and it discussed and had us try out different applications that are on the Internet. Web 2.0 is considered the Read/Write Web. It covers things like Blogs, Wikis, RSS, and other applications that are offered on the internet.
My next class that I took was my Internet for Educators class. This class covered some things that I have known before just from being in contact with the internet in my daily walk. I certainly learned some new things though and had a great time putting my digital portfolio together.
My last fully online class was my Communications Theory class. This was not quite as fun for me. There was a lot of reading involved and different theories. I also did not get as much feedback from the professor as I would have liked. We had no grades until the final paper that we did. We had a midterm and given a partial grade and some feedback there, but not put on our grades. So for a lot of the class, I did not know where I was in the class, grade-wise.
The last class I took was on only on-site class. It was Philosophy of Education. This class was only once a week and was an extended period so I was in class, sitting in a desk from 4:30- 7:15 pm each monday. Long time for me to be sitting still and listening to the professor Philosophize- which is to say I wonder why....
This class was a bit boring at first, but I got used to it, and by the end, we were having good conversations.

Well, again, this was a good term for me, and I am glad it is over as well. I look forward to my new classes starting on the 4th:

Research and Writing- my On-Site class- again on Mondays from 4:30-7:15pm
Emerging Technology- Online
Mobile Technology in Education- Online/On-Site- working with iPod Touches and such
Theories of Teaching and Learning- Online-
Designing Information- Online-

God has blessed me with my current situation and I look forward to what He has for me in the future.

Complicated Christmas

So, christmas this year has been complicated. So, I decided to get my mother a christmas present- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I was pretty proud of myself. I got a great product- the DVD/BluRay combo. I even got a great price-from Amazon. I made sure and told my family (sans my mother) that I was planning on getting this and that they should stay away from my idea.

Well, then my mom gets excited that Harry Potter is coming out on Dec. 7th and decides she wants to get it on the day  it comes out. I hint that I want to get it also but want to wait until christmas in case I get it. She knew what I was talking about, but just could not wait. She got the same movie for herself and talked about it at dinner one night. I mentioned to her that I had gotten her that and what was I supposed to do for her christmas present now??

She just figured that I could still give it to her because I wanted it myself and so she would just give me the opened-used one and I would give her the brand new unopened one.
I was pretty upset by this. I was not going to do that. I had decided that I would just find something else for her.

SO, I started looking for another present idea.  I also opened the one I got for her and downloaded the digital copy of the movie so I could put it on my iTunes. Then, I found out that mom decided to wait until christmas and to give me the unopened Harry Potter. So, now, because I already opened the present, I bought a second copy from amazon and will find a way to return the one given. Is there another way?
Complicated, I know.

The Wonders of the Internet

It's amazing what can be found on the internet right? Have you found that to be true. I find myself looking and looking for things more and more on the one resource of the billion-page internet. I never used to buy items on the internet, but this christmas season, I bought all but one present over the internet- the prices are just amazing. I never used to download cd albums over the internet, and now it is pretty much all I do when i want to get a new album (legally of course- iTunes) because the same album that is at the store for 15.99 is 9.99 or less online. I never ever thought about finding recipes over the internet, and now when I want to make something, I just hop online and take a gander at the many recipe sites. The great thing is that you can search for just one recipe and print it out. You can read all about the recipe and read reviews of it and what people think might make it better and what not. When I wanted to make Gingerbread before, I just got in the kitchen and pulled out one of a few options of cookbooks and found the recipe I wanted and made the stuff, now, I figure I can find a great recipe online, so I jump on there and find just the recipe I want and print, and voa-lah (how do you spell that, I dunno) I have a great recipe that makes better Gingerbread than I have ever made.

Tim's 25 Days of Christmas

Hey, here is Tim's 25 Days of Christmas Movies if anyone is interested in following along or ragging on me because I still watch lots of kiddy movies. Either way, here it is.
(And Yes, I know that there are not 25 days here, it is just to go off of the ABC Family's one)

Elf Yourself- its fun

The Blind Side

Last night, I had the opportunity to watch The Blind Side in theatres. Right when I saw the trailers for this movie I knew it would be good. It was one of the best movies I have seen in a while. It is based on a true story about Michael Oher- a Pro football player. This student has been passed around and has had a hard life being in an all-white christian school. A person who does not live in a house and has one change of clothes in a plastic bag. He is then greeted by a young man named SJ (Sean Jr.) and then his mother finds "Big Mike" (Which he does not like being called that) just walking by himself in the cold and she takes him home to stay at their house on the couch. It turns into a few days and eventually they give him his own room. He was so surprised to have his own bed.  A year passes and he gets his grades up and starts playing football for the school. This gets the attention of the recruiters who come to offer Mike a scholarship to their college. He has many decisions.
I don't want to give it all away because I want you to go out and watch this amazing story. It will be worth your price of a movie ticket, I promise you.
This movie choked me up quite a bit and made me realize how much I have compared to those who do not. It is a great movie for reminding us of what is important.

Wireless and Work

I was happy to be back from Thanksgiving. It was a great time in Bremerton Washington visiting the home of my Sister, Bro in Law, and Niece. The rest of the fam joined in as well. I got a chance to make my Cinnamon Apple Crumble Pie and a Pumpkin and some great Crescent Rolls for the day. I had a great time on the vacation, but was happy to be back in Salem in my room upstairs all by myself. Being with people for that extended period of time really takes it out of me. It is nice to be in my own bed, in my own room, in my own town, with my very own computer. I had to leave Toby (my Mac) at the apple store to get repaired because my Wireless was inconsistent. I also had them take a look at the display which was also coming apart a bit and they fixed it all. Brand new display, and a working wireless card. And what did it cost me?? Well I had to take it in there twice for them to take it seriously, but monitarily, Nothing. It was still under the 1 year warenty so that was nice to get a brand new display and a card that works all the time (at least so far, knock on wood).
This week has been a work-on-schoolwork-week. I have finals coming up. One is a presentation, which I completed yesterday and expect an A, and the rest are papers or projects. No tests, its nice not to have testing for finals. I would much rather write a paper or do a project. One paper I have though is my Communication Tech Paper and it is supposed to be 10 pages, so I have to get to work on that. That is alot of what I am doing today. Trying to get it ALL done (meaning all my projects and work) done by this saturday so I don't have anything left and can leave for home for Christmas Break on Tuesday. That would/will be nice.

Church Anniversary

I have had the pleasure of participating in some great events this weekend, and its not even over yet.
My Church, First Baptist of Salem, is Celebrating 150 Years of being "A Faithful Witness". On December 29, 1859 eight people joined together on the corner of Marion and Liberty streets and started the First Baptist Church. One Hundred Fifty Years Later, we are still alive and kickin' at the same place.

We celebrate this weekend the birthday of FBC Salem with many great events, some of which have already happened. On Friday night there was a service that had the opening of the Time Capsule that was created and placed in 1952. I had the opportunity on Thursday to help with some video creation for that Friday night service. I was at the church at around 1:15pm to help with the video capture of getting to the Time Capsule which was on the corner of the church building. I was stupidly expecting the job to be about an hour or less. NO WAY! This job was a multihour job. We were there from 1ish to about 7ish just doing the video taping. Then I came back on Friday morning to do the editing for the time capsule to shrink the Over-4-Hours-of-footage down to 4 Minutes. It took some doing. I had some use of speeding up the footage, and not using other parts, ect, but thats not the story.
On Friday night, they had a service with a History of the Church and surrounding area, some songs of the past, and of course, the Time Capsule opening. In the capsule was a bible, the church constitution, a letter from the pastor, the Statesmen newspaper from that year (1952), a list of the Church Directory, and a few other items.
Then, Today, there were many things going on. There were exibits in many rooms, Old Fashioned Craft making, a Butter Churning demo, Flax Spinning, a Barbershop Quartet, and Dance team, and lots of talks from members of the church from way back. There was one gentleman that is still at the church who was in the church in 1925. WOW. That is amazing.
Tomorrow, there will be a celebration service with the Churches first Youth Pastor. Throughout the weekend, they are ringing the Church Bell that used to be atop the steeple. Now it is in an enclosure. that can be moved around. The original bell. Amazing huh!?

I would hope to be a part of an Anniversary Celebration from my previous church. I don't know if anything is planned yet, but I did some digging, and the 100th Celebration for First Baptist Church of Redmond (now named Redmond Community Church) is coming up fairly soon. (1912). This was the church that I grew up in and I have some great memories of that church, as a boy.

Oh, BTW, if you would like to take a look at some pictures from this event today that I took, you can head on over to my Picasa site.
http://picasaweb.google.com/timothykirkman/SalemFBC150thAnny?feat=directlink

Could it be...?

It has been a long time since I was looking So forward to Thanksgiving. Usually, I am happy for Thanksgiving, and enjoy that wonderful food and the opportunity to see family and whatnot- but I am usually in Christmas mode by that time and so Thanksgiving not that big of a deal for me. But this year that is mostly different. I say MOSTLY because I do not relent the status of being in Christmas mode, I am, but I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving in a little bit more than a week.

Could some of it be that I am away from all family this year? That I have not seen them since MidOctober? Could it be that I just wanna get away from everything? Could it be because of the fact that I have never been to my Sister and Bro in Laws place in Bremerton and want to see it? Could it be the fact that I miss seeing the way my Niece is growing? Could it be that my whole family will be together for a few days? Could it be that I have been looking into Black Friday ads early? Could it be that I want to have a good Thanks dinner? Could it be that I am looking forward to those Amazing Dinner Rolls? the Pumpkin Pie? the Turkey? the Green Bean Casserole? The Homemade Apple Crumble Pie? Could it be that I get to go a few days early to spend with my sister and Bro in Law? (and stay a few days late) Could it be that I am also heading up to the Apple Store on the way up to get my Mac Fixed? (hopefully!) Could it be that I am hoping to stop by my Grandparents' house on the way up there also?
It certainly is ALL of those things. I am looking forward to all those things, but mostly the chance to catch up with family.

New Facade for the Blog

New Facade for the Blog. Gotta get rid of those Halloween/Harvest Colors and input the Christmas Colors.

It's nice to be wanted!

It is nice to be wanted. I had been yearning to be on the worship team at my new church ever since I got there in September. I took a few weeks to make sure that this was the Church I wanted to plant at for my year here in Salem area, but after that I contacted Pastor Nate, the worship pastor, to see what steps I needed to take to be involved in the Worship at FBC Salem. I got together with him and sang (auditioned) and shortly after he got me involved. I started off just singing in a service, but then was asked a while later if I would want to play bass guitar. I was okay with this but really wanted to sing. I figured it would only be a week of Bass and then get back to singing. Well, it seems that he has liked me playing bass because I have an open invitation until I leave for home for Christmas Break. This week I get to Sing AND play Bass. That will be fun. It takes some work to be able to play and play bass at the same time, kinda difficult. I find that I play less difficult bass lines so I can focus on the singing part. I don't know how the Bass Player/Singer of Skillet does it ALL THE TIME.

But, like I said, it is nice to know that I am wanted in the worship ministry. When he offered the playing bass from now until I leave for break, I said "Did you loose all your Bass players?" He said No, but I like your spirit and you play well. Nice compliment.

I am looking forward to playing Bass again.

Pixar is AMAZING!

UP comes out today. If you have not watched this- it is a must-watch. It is amazing the way the story is put together; the opening scenes with hardly any dialogue and still telling a rich story that makes you laugh and cry at the same time. It is to put it mildly, UP to the Pixar Standards.

Pixar, for their entire Feature Film life, has for me had a High Standard of Excellence. Every film that is created by Pixar is a 5 star show. They have all-star casts, and even nobody's that live up the the same standards. They have some actors who are not even actors but just fill-ins (Such as Roz from Monster Inc.) that you would not even know they are not professional actors, but just someone on the crew who filled-in.
The storylines from all pixar movies are great. They appeal to all ages from tiny children all the way to adults and beyond. There is humor for all ages in these productions. The stories are original and very entertaining.

One day, I would love to visit their Headquarters in Emeryville, CA (near San Fran) to see where the magic happens and hopefully take a tour (if they even offer them?) It would be amazing to see the studios, the hardware, the artists, everything.

Once again, If you have not seen UP, you need to. And all the other Pixar movies for that matter, they are all good.

What I learned this Weekend!

This weekend was good. If you read my previous blog about my Prayer to God that I shared, I did have some great quality time with God.
The weekend's message was by Pastor Jeff, our Associate Pastor at Salem FBC. He taught on Silence and Solitude and the practice of that. Starting with the Theories and Theology of it, and then moving on to how to do it and some great steps to help out with it.
We talked about the Greatest Commandment, to Love the Lord Your God with all you Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength. We talked about the dangers of using just one of those ideas and neglecting the others. For example if you just love God with your Mind, you know everything about the bible but do not use the Heart/Soul or Strength, they you could get arrogant or legalistic. So we were taught to Love God wholly, with all our Heart/Body/Mind.
We also talked about the practice of being in Solitude and Silence. This was great. We actually had an hour and a half after a discussion to go be by ourselves, find a quiet place away from everyone else, and just spend that 1 1/2 with God. I was kinda worried about that because, although I like being alone, I was thinking I would do the stuff I was to do and then still have a hour left, but I did it and was surprised to find that it went very quickly. I was not worried to find things to pray/talk with God about and it came naturally to me. I loved being by myself on the Beach and just talking with God and thinking about things.

On a personal side, the weekend was good for me, but I did not get to know everyone as much as I would have liked. I didn't really connect with anyone that much. Sure, I had fun talking deeper with many, but I still did not feel that connected. There was a group of guys there that i was not really accepted into, (they were kinda young, first year of College, ect) and I got to talk with some, but it was the people I already knew from Sunday morning College SS, and other things like that.
(And I know that some of you are thinking that I did not feel as connected to one person specifically, but actually I found that that person is not who I am attracted to, you know what I mean, this is code, I know)
I could not sleep the first night, I was up playing a great game of Phase 10, good stuff, but then I got tired and retired to the sleeping quarters, but even with earplugs in and whatnot, I still could not sleep. Got very little sleep Friday night. Then Saturday night, I actually moved to a more comfy bed to try to sleep, but even after that I was still up at 11, so I just decided to drive back to Salem way late at night. (I was planning to leave early anyways so I could get back for Church and then head to PTown for Bethany's Bon Voyage Party, which I did)
So, I just got into Salem at around 1AM and hit the sack.

One other thing that I learned at this Retreat is that I am a Hurried person. In a Grocery Store checkout if there are two lines open I will chose one and then watch someone who got in the other line about the same time as me and see if I made the right choice. And Driving of course. When i was on my way there, I rush rush rushed, but I learned at the retreat that I need to be aware of that. So I decided to drive the speed limit and just settle to be patient while driving there, and it has made all the difference. I was amazed at my calmness while driving to and in Portland. I was not tense or waiting for anyone or anything. It was a good thing, and so I am going to be mindful of that and try to drive more patiently.

A Written Prayer from This Weekend Retreat

"The Heavens declare Your Greatness, 

The Oceans cry out to You, 

The Mountains they bow down before You, 

so I'll join with they earth and I'll give You my Priase."

Lord, I cannot even fathom the greatness of You. The smartest person in the whole universe could not even comprehend all of who you are, or even a portion of who you are. It makes me feel like these little grains of sand. I cannot even pick up one becaus eit is so tiny. Listening to the mighty, powerful roar of the Ocean and watching the waves crash majestically against the Rock reminds me of your glory and also of how you are like that Rock that never changes. The waves may crash relentlessly against you, but you always were, always are, and you will always be that Rock that is firm.
Sitting alone reminds me of the vastness of the work that you created. The birds that are chirping, the surrounding trees, the complexity of the human body, all created by You and You Alone. How AWESOME!
Help me to be like You, a rock that never budges. An unwhithering disciple for You, Proclaiming Your Word and Works so all may hear.
Thinking about the talk last night, help me to be wholistic in my Content, Character, and Conduct. I don't want to be only a servant, or only a know-it-all in terms of the bible, or only a spirit-led person. I want to be ALL. I want to be a biblically-knowledged-spirit-filled-servant for you. Help me to grow in those areas that are lacking.
Help me to feel you as I did this morning on Sweetly Broken. Those words are so powerful, describing what you went through on the cross and our ability to look toward Your suffering and reflect on that. Thank You that You bring me gently to my knees to the cross so I can cling to Your act of Mercy. I want to be SWEETLY BROKEN, WHOLLY SURRENDER.

Singing to the Chrismas Child

I am beginning to get involved in my new church here in Salem. I am working on getting on regular rotation for the worship team and I am def. wanted there. They keep on saying, oh wow, a TRUE Tenor. Not like I haven't heard that before. It really is fun being a True Tenor though because there are not that many of us.
When someone says that I am a TRUE Tenor though, what they are saying and what they mean is that I do not have much of a low range. None, really. When they hear me sing my lowest note, a Bb, they get a smile on their face cuz they know that there are not many that cannot sing that.
Anyways, this last Sunday, I was able to sing a backup vocal for the song Forever and that was a lot of fun. I got to meet some new people who were very nice and they had all heard of me ("The guy who is a True Tenor") from Pastor Nate. I was also invited to sing again this week and I gladly accepted, but this weekend I am heading to the Coast for the Veritas (College Group) Retreat and so I could not make it to the practice. I think I will be used more and more though. I hope.
This weekend will be lots of fun. I get to go to SeaKrest yet again and I am looking forward to it. It will be a good chance for me to get to know more people from the group rather than just knowing their stats (their name, what school they go to, and what year they are, ect). I still am a bit fuzzy on even the stats. Hopefully I will be able to have some great conversations with everyone there. It seems to take spending lots of time at things like these for me to open up and get others to open up to me. (except for the Antioch group- I don't know why, but when I went to SeaKrest with the Antioch group, before it was a church, when it was just a college group, I did not draw close to anyone there, Sad, I know.
Anyways, I am looking forward to this weekend just for that, to get to know people more.

On another note, I had some fun yesterday. I decided to do some Operation Christmas Child Boxes, so I went shopping for those. I headed first to the New Dollar Tree near my house and got the majority of the stuff there, then I headed to Target to get stuff that I could not get at the Dollar Tree- like Matchbox Cars and Legos and junk. I got them home, wrapped the boxes and loaded them. They are sitting here in my room and I am so excited to give them away soon.
If you have not ever done an Operation Christmas Child box, you should start. Just start with one, it is not that much money, and it is lots of fun. I started with one a few years ago, and then it gradually grew. SO much fun, you won't be sorry.
(BTW- if you do not know what Operation Christmas Child is, you can search online to find out exactly what it is. A division of Samaritan's Purse)

THE BEST PIZZA RECIPE EVER

Parties are great, aren't they? The whole Family is in town this weekend  (minus a Bro in Law who had to get back to WA) and we had a party for the little one last night. It was a great time. She loved the attention. We had an early one year old birthday party for my niece, she turns one on November 11th. Exciting times. She got some great new clothes, and a Video Camera (granted the video camera was mainly for the rest of the family, so we can see Arianna while she is growing up.Also, we had some good cake and a few other presents too.
We also are having somewhat of a party tonight as we are planning Pizzas for all. At first, mom was saying she was just going to get some Papa Murphy's Pizzas, but I suggested my Famous Pizzas from my Recipe book. At first she said no, because it is a lot of work to get the dough and all the ingredients and the make the sauce and all that, until she found out that I was offering to make the pizzas myself. So, yahoo, we are having ind. pizzas for the family and I get to make the BEST PIZZA DOUGH AND SAUCE EVER. If you taste these recipes you will understand and agree with me.

Here it is in case you ever feel like making the best pizza ever.
http://www.archive.org/download/BestPizzaRecipe/Pizza.pdf

Fall Beauty in Salem, Oregon

I went out this morning for a walk/drive/photoshoot in Salem area. I started at a park that I thought would have some great trees to take some pictures at and it has some walking paths too, and I did take some photos but, I found the trees to be somewhat boring. I was looking for fall trees and there were not that many there of the beautiful changing leaves. So after my walk, I took a drive down to Market street.

"To Market, to Market, to buy a fat hog..." ( I know at least my family was thinking of that)

I went to Market street to take some photos because I knew that there were some amazing trees along the road. I was right. The majority of the photos that have made it only my Picasa site are from Market and the surrounding areas, side streets and junk. I also tried to take some on Commercial but there are not that many places to stop and take pictures on Commercial street.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the photos of Fall in Salem, Oregon.

Tim's Fall Salem Photos

Snow is Better!

Ya know how everyone can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Snow is BETTER than rain??
Well, I know there might be some out there that are delusional enough to believe that Rain is fun. But, I say take a look at the songs.
Sure, there is Singin in the Rain, and Its Raining Men (But really, thats not about Rain, thats more about Men), but most songs are portraying Rain in a Bad way, like- Raindrops Keep Fallin on my Head... Thats not about the wonderful sensation that it is to have rain fall on your head, its saying - Its not good to have rain and you feel bad and whatnot.

Well to get to my original question- The way you know everyone can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Snow is Better than rain is by the songs. Think of all the great Snow Songs...

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
Snow, Snow Snow (The song from White Christmas)
Winter Wonderland
And many more.


Now, don't let people tell you that the only reason the songs of snow are better than the Rain songs because it is during Christmas that we sing these songs. Yes, I give you that it does have something to do with it, but it still stands that SNOW is WAY Better than rain (especially when you don't have to drive in it)

And, Hey, You can NOT do this with Water/Rain

 

The Inspiration for Blogs!

Doogie Howser, the very first blogger. Well, not quite, he just had a journal on his computer where we put them online for people to view and comment, but hey its pretty close.

Gotta Love Doogie!

Chirstmas Music Reviews

Today was another Christmas Music day for me for some reason. I decided to get the music ready for listening to and so I made some playlists in my iTunes and looked through my Christmas collection to see what I have.
I also took a look at new christmas music coming out or just recently release.
I found some new stuff:

Family Force 5 has a new Christmas Album out.

After previewing, I have found that this is not the Christmas music that I enjoy. I have really liked their past two albums, the sound has changed and I liked the new stuff, but this time, the sound for me is WAY too electronic. I don't mind occasional hints at electronic sounds and voices and such, but this whole album sounds the same and it does not have any variety to it. It all sounds made up and I don't like that much. So my review of this new album that came out the 6th, as a 2 out of 5.

My next review was of How Many Kings By Downhere:

This one I was not expecting to like that much. I do like downhere and their vocals and music, but I was expecting it to be too soft for my likings. I was wrong. Yes, they have a softer side than Fam Force 5, or the X Christmas, but it is a good sound and they have lots of variation. Their songs are catchy and very fun to listen to. They usually put a twist to the old standards and have a few of their own, new ones (included the title track- How Many Kings) that are done very well.

My next review is of the X Christmas Album:

This album was released last christmas and is all of the more rockier bands of Christian music. The bands included are everything from Thousand Foot Krutch (and their counterpart- FM Static) to Hawk Nelson, to David Crowder, to Anberlin, to the Almost, to Project 86, and KJ-52, and even more.
I did have some fun listening to this album last year on the way back from a concert, and trying to guess what bands they were, but I did not want to buy it just then because there were some songs that were kinda scary for me and didn't sound like christmas songs ( I think you will understand once you hear these few songs). But after a year and listening to samples again, there are still some that I would not buy on their own, but for the most part, the songs are good and very rock-y. I would recommend this album for the 10 or so good songs, rather than the 2 or 3 not as fun songs.

The next one I took a look at was Shane and Shane. Their new album last year as well, Glory in the Highest, is very well done.

It is a quieter album that seems to me to have some jazz/blues sounds to it and I am not all that into Jazz, but it still struck me. They have great vocals on this album and the ways of recreating some of those classic songs that everyone knows, is awesome. I am planning on getting this one sometime before christmas.


The next is one that I have had for two years now- MercyMe and their album- The Christmas Sessions.

This one is amazing. It is my favorite christmas album and has nothing even comparable to it since Amy Grant's Home For Christmas Album way back in the early '90s.

Their songs are great. They have wonderful vocals. Again, the old classics are put together in an interesting way that makes them brand new again. They have some new songs such as Jacob's Lulaby which is about Jesus' earthly father singing him to sleep and thinking about all he will do. And of course you gotta love an album with Christmastime is Here and O Holy Night.
The sounds are legendary and I would Recommend this to anyone who likes christmas music. I give it a 6 out of 5.

KROC

Today was a day with the fam. I has the opportunity this morning to attend a Men's Breakfast with Dad at his Church here in Spokane. Then we put up the Tent for tomorrows after-service time (But I really don't know if there will be that many people who'll want to stand outside and talk. It's gettin kinda cold over here) And then we met up with Mom and Kelli and headed towards the Davenport Hotel in Downtown. This is a pretty impressive hotel from the early 1900s and it has been remodeled and has lots of great pictures from 1919 and 1914 and such. Then we headed out towards Cour DAlene. We got some food in a little shopping-type mall at an Italian place and it had a Good Strumboli (kinda like a Calzone but different) then I had to kill an hour because the sister wanted to shop in this place that had only Girly stores, so I was incredibly bored for that hour. Then we headed to the KROC center- A Salvation Army Community Center where we saw all the things it had to offer. Lots and lots of stuff including a Leisure Pool, a Competition pool, athletic center, and theatre/Church.
Then we headed back to the basement and took a rest. Now it is off to a Dinner at the home of a couple in Dad's church. Should be fun, they are great people.

Oh, and there is a Brand New KROC Center in Salem now too, so I might have to check it out and see if I need to join.

Yesterday and Today

Another Great reason that I enjoy Jack in the Box so much- The workers there are AWESOME. I stopped on my way to Spokane for a Big Cheeseburger for $1.00 and asked if they had any dollar small soda drinks as well. He said that the cheapest size they had for  soda was $1.50. I was not planning on spending more than $2 so I said, no thanks. Then as I was paying, he gave me a cup and said "Don't worry about it" A FREE DRINK FOR ME! That was awesome. You sure would not find someone just giving away a drink at McDonald's (of course, at least McDonald's has Dollar drinks though too).

Anyways,
I am in Spokane right now spending time with family. Dad is up here doing an Interim job at Trinity Baptist in Spokane. And every week practically, he is driving down to Redmond to see mom and family, and so this week we (mom, Kelli, and I decided to travel up here to see him instead) so I drove from Salem to Biggs and met mom there. I left my car, and we drove up the rest of the way together. Kelli is on her way tomorrow via a plane trip. We had a good safe drive up to Spokane last night. Mom drove from Biggs to Kennewick, and we had dinner at Olive Garden, (In which we both didn't feel all that great afterwards) and then I drove her car the rest of the way.

This morning we went to a State park in Spokane and then headed to the church to say hi to the other secondary secretary, then it was off to a great lunch at Tomato Street Italian Restaurant.  I was a bit weary about this restaurant because I did not want to have tomatoes. (hehe) But it was a great lunch. Dad and I had what they call the Lazonni which is pretty much Lasagna with Pizza Dough Wrapped around it like a Calzone. We still have extra for dinner too.
Now it is time for a relaxing afternoon. Mom is sleeping and I am doing some homework stuff and a post of course.  We are also planning a trip to the Mall in northern Spokane sometime this afternoon.

A few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to have a comforter for my bed. Not just any comforter, but one that was fleece and homemade. Well I asked some friends to do this project for me if I got them the material. So that is what I did. I get to see my finished project tomorrow morning and I can't wait to use my new fleece comforter tomorrow night. Thank You Pillsbury's.

Castrato???

What gives it away? Is it my manly look? my Furry Physique? My Billowing Voice?My Gruff personality? Every time I am in an audition, people know I am a Tenor singer even before I sing??? How is that Possible>?? (I am just kidding, I know that its because of my HIGH voice that people know that I am a Tenor.)
I went in tonight for an audition for singing in the worship team at Salem First Baptist. Nate knew right away that I was a Tenor, even before I sang. WOW, How did he know.
It must be because of my voice. That same voice that people think that I have not gone through puberty yet. That same voice that when answering the phone at home, people think that I am my mother. That same voice that gets made fun of. But ALSO, that same voice that sings wonderfully. That same voice that has such a rich texture when singing, that makes people cry. That same voice that was given me by God. That same voice that I have been to Two All-State and one All-Northwest Choirs in.
I may have a high voice. I may not have much of a low range (None at all really). I may be teased about having a Castrato operation (an operation done a long time ago that "Fixed" young men so they would have high voices for the rest of their lives), But it is the voice that God has given me and I am not ashamed of it. I am proud of my high voice that cannot sing below a middle C. I am proud of what I was given and born with.
We should all be proud of our gifts that God has given us and not worry about what others think or what we would want to have as a gift ourselves.

It's Got Me Thinkin about It!

Guess who went down the Costco CHRISTMAS Aisle today?? Yup, you guessed it, ME. It was not even my idea, my mom's. And, of course it is starting to stir the feeling of Christmas in me. LOL. I know what you are thinking. I can hear practically all of you yelling at me "It is not Christmas yet, Tim. There are still 84 days until Christmas." (My sisters yelling the loudest of course, but I say Bah Humbug to them) But ya know what, I don't care.

It has started. 

I am even starting my christmas music- Hawk Nelson- The Bells on Christmas Day as I write this.

It really is quite an amazing time of the year. Sadly, this year I do not get to decorate a whole house as I did last Christmas. It really puts me in the mood. I have some great decorations for my house (AKA the non-existent one) and so I was thinking about doing some decorating of my room in Salem, but I think it would be smarter to just wait for home in Redmond to do that. It is so exciting though.

I can already smell the spiced Cider cooking in the crook pot- the aroma wafting throughout the whole house
I can see the ceramic houses dispersed all throughout the living room with no space for more (even though each year the collection gets bigger and bigger) (There are suburbs of this village all around the windows and coffeetables)
I can feel the chill of the snow on the ground in which I throw snowballs at my dog who tries to catch them in her mouth as if it were a ball.
I can taste the peppermint fudge that is a yearly tradition with my family. There is never enough.
I can hear the laughter of the family when all together and enjoying the company, talking about nothing in particular.
I can feel the emotion of Christmas morning when I cannot sleep and we have stockings, Special Cinnamon Rolls, the Christmas Story from the Bible (everyone reading a section and Justin reading about Maggie -Not the GPS), and Presents- In that Order.

Can you not see why this is the greatest time of the year; One I look forward to each year and want to start earlier and earlier each year??

The Only Home I Know

The Only Home I Know.... (good song that I have sung before but also a description of Redmond/Bend)

Well, I am back home again for a wedding that is happening this Saturday. I got up on Tuesday and decided that I would  drive home then instead of Thursday or Wednesday because it would give me more time at home with family and I did not have anything to do in Salem except homework that I can do wherever I am. (The nice thing about mostly online classes)
So, I waited for the mail to come (around noon) and checked it, nothing for me (I am still waiting for my Sub letter to come in the mail so I could be a sub in the Salem District.) and then headed out to HWY22. I made a quick stop at Costco for some gas and a pit stop then headed in the direction of Home. The first bit was very very rainy. It was the worst rain I had ever driven in, but then it stopped. There was quite a bit of traffic on Tuesday heading home, that was a bummer. After about Idanah though, the traffic subsided. I was also worried about the construction flaggers that I had checked on that said there were two, both a 20 min. wait or more. BUT, luckily, the flaggers were very quick and I did not have to wait more than 3 minutes. By the end, I was zoomin along at my pace and that was nice. I made fairly good time and got home around 2:45.
Well, I got home and had a nice dinner with mom at the Pub. Gotta love the Pulled Pork Sandwitch. Very good. Then yesterday, I got up and had a nice easy morning and decided to get our HD cam ready for the wedding. I wanted to get all the files off of the camera so it had a fresh start. So I transfered all the items (Mostly Arianna Clips) onto my computer and made them into an Archival Backup DVD. I tried it out on the big screen and the video files looked awesome. It was great to see the clips in HD and that big.
So, now the camera is ready and I am waiting to do the Video for the wedding.
I also did lots of reading for my Homework/Classes yesterday.

Website Down

Just my luck,
I get up this morning to get online and check out the class stuff that was supposed to be there for the start of the term and guess what, I get on and download a syllabus for one class and then the website closes. It is down right now, and so there is no way to use the online classes yet. I am bummed because I wanted to get things done for my online classes this morning, but I could not.
So, now, I cannot even go to the WOU website to check on my class schedule or anything. It makes me wonder how long the site will be down.

Great weekend.

One of the great weekends.
From my former church, I used to help out with Middle School and High School Youth Groups, and one tradition that FBC Bend has had for a long time is going to SeaKrest Resort in Newport, each fall. They have some fun there for the weekend and then on the way home, drive back through Salem to hit Up Olive Garden before the trip home (although, my guess would be that this is the last year for that because the Olive Garden in Bend will be in opperation by this time next year.) So, I was thinking about their trip. I have been to the SeaKrest trip two years in a row, and thought of the group going this year. Since I am living in Salem, I thought I would contact the leaders and ask them if I could join in on the Olive Garden get-together since I am right here. They said yeah, but why not come for the whole weekend. I thought about it and decided that would be a good idea.
So, this weekend I went to SeaKrest, to hang with some old friends. It was a good time. Because of the way that my family left the church because of Dad's job and whatnot, I was worried that it might be a bit awkward seeing some of these people, but thankfully, it was not one bit awkward. It felt like old times, and the students loved seeing me there, especially my former MS Students that kinda grew up with me as their Sunday School leader.

Because I wanted to make the most of it, I left earlier than the others, to do some hangin' out at the coast on my own. I left on Friday, just after noon and went to Lincoln City. I did some shopping at the Goodwill where I looked for a Mo's shirt to buy among others, and found 5 Mo's shirts, all of which were too small for me. I was bummed. Anyways, I also went to the Outlet stores and had some fun there. I went to the Beach, and took some photos, and walked for a bit. I went for a dinner at the Lincoln City Mo's for Dinner of Clam Chowder. It was great. (If you want to know more about the Mo's dinner, go to my previous post that has more about that)
Then I left Lincoln City, and headed to Newport. I just tried to find stuff to do there, going the beach and some various stores. After quite a while, I just parked near SeaKrest to wait for the first van to roll on up. When they arrived, I parked and got out and waited to see how long it would take for people to see me. (Oh did I mention, that this was a surprise that I was coming). I just stood in the dark by the van as the students were getting out. The first looked over near me but just walked in, then another looked my way and said, wait, who is that, and then found out. It was a good reaction.
Anyways, we all got into the lodge and started to unpack, then watched some wonderful YouTube Vids.
The late van came and they were also very happy to see me. Saturday, I got up and had some breakfast, and just hung out for a bit, then I went with most of the Staff to plan out the rest of the day as some other staff was doing the teaching. We were getting ready for a Photo Scavenger Hunt in Newport's Bayfront. It was a pretty tough scavenger hunt and noone got all of the clues, but we all did well.
After the Scavenger Hunt, we went back to the lodge and rested. Some went around the lodge or walked down to the beach. Saturday night, I walked down to the Beach myself just to be by myself and take in God, and his Majestic creation. It makes you feel so small when you are by yourself on the beach that is dark and empty and you see the crashing of the Ocean and the Stars in the Sky. It was an amazing feeling, one that I had to just  sing out a song while I was there contemplating the AWE of God.
It was very neat to hear part of a reaction to the Creation trip this summer when one of the girls rededicated her live to Christ. Very powerful. Then afterwards during some free time I was noticing one of the leaders talking with one of the other girls, and they looked like they were having a serious convo. She ended up rededicating her life as well. Those two girls (and the many others) are reasons why we do events like Creation and SeaKrest. Powerful stuff.
Sunday, I got up nice and early so I could make it back home in time to shower and get ready for church in Salem. After Sunday School and Church, I met up with the group again in Salem at the Olive Garden and we had some good lunch. I had Soup, Salad, and Bread sticks and it was pretty much AMAZING. I am one who does not usually change my dishes when I find a good one at a restaurant. I just like having what I know is good. I usually get Pasta Fagiual (Spelling?). Well, not today. I decided to get one that is fairly new that I had not noticed before. It was Chicken and Gnocchi. IT WAS SUPERB. I would highly recommend this soup.

Now, I start school tomorrow. I have a class on Mondays from 4:30-7:15 on campus. I think it will be fun. The other classes I have are all online so I can do them whenever I feel like it. Perfect weekend for the start of a school year. Then, this Wednesday I am planning to head home to Central Oregon for a Wedding that is planned for Saturday. I need to be there by Friday night for the rehearsal, but would like to have extra time to see family and get ready for the wedding.

To the Girl at the Mo's in Lincoln City

To the girl at the Mo's in Lincoln City,

I understand that for some reason those types are comfortable (as I understand from some people who have worn them and talk about them), but please try to keep it covered. It is not something that I would like to see. Yes, you guessed it- your thong.
You see, things like that, some guys (not me) want to see, and if they see it, (not me) they will enjoy viewing it. BUT, there is a section of guys out there (ME) who would prefer NOT to see it (ME), and would not like those types of images in their head (ME). I know that it is odd to you that a type of guy (ME) would not want to see something that is meant to be a sexual type of thing, but we (ME) are out there.

So, next time you wear something of that nature, some of us (ME) would appreciate it if you would keep all parts of the underwear, under something, the pants, a long shirt that will not ride up (You already have enough riding up it would seem), something of that sort, that way we (ME) don't have to see that sort of thing.
Thank You For your consideration.

So, the story behind that letter of consideration is that I went to a Mo's in Lincoln City tonight for a marvelous dinner of Clam Chowder. So, the lady sat me facing a certain way at the table. Since it was just me at the table I was able to sit anywhere, which was a good thing, but she sat me down facing a larger view of the ocean/bay. I start to sit down and then I notice something that I would prefer I would not have seen, Yes you guessed it, the girl sitting at the table in front of me, with her back to me was wearing a certain (Very Tiny) article of clothing. Right away I knew I needed to switch sides. This was something that I was not willing to sit and watch the whole time I was eating my meal. So, I quickly switched sides and everything was much better. I did not have to view that and had a great meal, very quick because it was just chowder.
So, may that be a lesson to all those out there who wear these certain (Tiny) articles of clothing,

cover 'em up!

Rend the Veil

The portion of the Pursuit of God chapter that I read this morning was about Hearts. It spoke of the Temple of God, the Tabernacle. Talked about the different places within it, the part where the sinner could go, and then the holy place, and then the Most Holy of Holies, the place that was veiled off and only for the High Priest one day of the year when he would go in with a sacrifice to ask for forgiveness of sins for his life and the lives of the others. It mentioned how it was the very place that God dwelled.
Then when Jesus' work was done on the cross, the veil was torn and all were able to see inside the Holy of Holies.

Tozer talked about how God wants to draw near to us, but we are the ones who are stopping Him; We have a VEIL on our HEARTS! It could be many things, Selfcenteredness, Selfconfidence, selfpity, or many other sins as well. This really made me take a look into my heart and pray about what I might have up as a veil on my heart.


May we all find that thing, or those things, that are acting as a veil on our hearts that are keeping us from seeing the True holiness of God and ask God to take that (Those) veil away, painful, though it may be.

Crazy Tech Stats:

2008- Technorati.com listed 110 MILLION Blogs

Current- Technorati.com adds 120,000 New Blogs each day with 1.5 Million posts each day

WOW

YouTube- in early 2008- over 100,000 videos added each day.

The fastest growing age-group for using the internet is 2-5 year-olds. (Netday News 2005)

That's all just crazy right? 2-5 year olds. What the Heck?? I knew that computer users were getting younger and younger, but 2 year olds?? Man, in about a year or so, I am going to have to teach my Niece how to use the computer and internet.

Well, thats all for now, just wanted to share some crazy stats.

 

Cleaning and Old Times

This morning was a cleaning time. Every once in a while, I just need to take some time, turn on some music, go through and organize my room, or house, or whatever. And that time had come this morning. Honestly, if my mother was looking on she would probably not notice much difference, but it makes all the difference for me. Its just the way I am. I got my files in order and where I knew they were, and cleaned my workspace, my table tops ect.
I love organizing things. I just love taking the time to put things where they need to go.  Now, I am really ready for the school year to start next week. After that first week of school, then I am off to go home for a wedding of my good friends, Shawn and Megan. That will be a good week/end because I will get to see family, and then go to my old church on Sunday and the college group on Sunday night. That will be a good time of catching up with friends.

Its the Start, Yesterday

Yesterday was the first day that I was allowed on the "Moodle"- the Online environment for WOU. I was happy to get some emails from professors with the password in it so I could register the class and look at the silly-bus. (Aka- Syllabus, I just like calling it a Silly Bus) I got my outlines for the work that will be due in two of my three online classes. The other class I am logged into but there is nothing there yet.
It is fun to see what I will be doing this term and so far, it sounds like a lot of good times. I already have started on a few of the items in the first unit of one of the classes and am excited to get going on this "New Chapter" (I keep using that Phrase) of my life.

Today was a big day for Christian music. September 22nd was a day that released many new albums into the world. I got a few, but am saving a few for my Christmas Wish List 09. Hawk Nelson came out today with Live Life Loud, KJ-52 came out with Five Two Television, David Crowder Band came out with Church Music, Pillar came out with Confessions. All good bands, some more anticipated on my part than others. Other Recent releases were Thousand Foot Krutch with Welcome to the Masquerade and Skillet with Awake.
I would highly recommend any of these bands or Albums.

Tozer, the Man

Where is the SPARK? Where are the christians on Fire for God?
To be honest, in the past, and even now, I have felt that God is more distant than I would like Him to be. I remember very clearly, when I was in High School and I went on a Mission Trip to Southern California to a Program called SEMP- Students Equipped to Minister to Peers. That week down there at that college campus was an amazing time for me. I learned a lot about God, I grew closer to God, and I was pushed ot the limits for God while I walked up to perfect strangers asking them questions about their religious life so as to have Conversations about God. I really was changed Spiritually that week. Then I came back and was on FIRE for God. I wanted to change the world (or at least it felt like it), and then after a few weeks, it was back to normal, not a good normal, a dull normal.
It seems that often times that is what happens. We just get in this rut, especially if nothing is new. When I went to Latvia this Summer, I felt a bit of that, but not as much as I was expecting to.
Another example is a Brand New Believer, not someone who has gone to church all their lives, but someone who just comes to Christ at an age where they can totally comprehend everything, maybe in College. This new believer, when you watch them, they are reading their bibles and everything is new. Everything is exciting. They maybe have never heard of certain Bible Stories, or they have fresh ideas on biblical subjects and like to talk about them with others.

I want that back. I want that Fresh Fire, that Deep yearning for God. Lord, help me to grow closer to you. I have read numerous christian living type books, but one that I have heard quotes from recently, and been reccomended to me is The Pursuit of God, by A.W. Tozer.  I checked it out from my church Library on Sunday and started it tonight. It is very good.
In this first chapter, Tozer talks about that Fire. He mentions that we have become a society where you "Accept" God and that is that, You are a Christian. He says there is something wrong with that, that we need to also Pursue God.


"The whole transaction of religious conversation has been made mechanical and spiritless. Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without embarrassment to the Adamic ego. Christ may be "Received" with the creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver. The man is"Saved" but he is not hungry nor thirsty after God. In fact, he is specifically taught to be satisfied and is encouraged to be content with little."
-Tozer- The Pursuit of God- Pgs12-13

May we all find that FIRE that was started in us created ONLY from God himself.

Where's the fireman??

I went to another church last night. This was Salem Alliance. I think it must be the biggest Protestant church in the area. It has some 5000+ people who call it their church home. They have 2 services on Saturday nights- 5 and 6:30PM. 3 Services on Sunday Morning 8, 9:30, and 11 and then one extra service at 9:30 in their old building they like to call the Cedar Hall. I did enjoy parts and others, not so much.
When I came into the building, I was greeted by a few people handing out stickers for their promotion of their Group Life. It was a Got Milk type sticker that said, Got Group? and being new, when they asked me "Are you a part of a group," I was thinking they were talking about this night, and I was confused. Anyways, I liked the idea of the promotion. They said while greeting that if someone had a sticker to ask them what group they were in. They had a video promotion of the group Life as well, that was done very well. I liked it. The worship was good. Again, I could not hear the background singers, just the worship leader, but the band did a good job. I think there were a few people up there who did not need to be there, ie. a person who was doing percussion other than the drummer, but it was still good.
The facility was nice, but there they were again, those pews have been practically everywhere I go. In Central Oregon, I do not remember many places still having pews and you would expect that a bigger more liberal type of place would not have pews, but I think they are more prevalent.
The pastor did an okay job of preaching. I honestly wasn't ALL that impressed, but he wasn't that boring. There was no PowerPoint and that was saddening, but the images they did have up for announcements and such were well done.
So, overall, the place was a bit too big for me, and the pastor didn't dazzle me. (And I need to be dazzled right?)

On my way home, I realize I need to put oil in my car, I can hear it chugging a bit, so I get home pop the lid and go upstairs to get some oil from my room.  This is at around 8PM at night mind you, and it is harder to see since we are not in summer anymore. So, I go back down to put the oil  in and I can't see well, but I know if I leave it til morning I will forget. So I try to do my best to pour the oil in the right spot. At first I am sloppy, but find my rhythm. Then all of a sudden, I see a fire start under my car. I have NO CLUE what to do. I try to blow it out, but this is not helping, I think about running inside to see if they have a fire extinguisher, and think thats not the greatest idea either. So, I just stand there helpess, thinking it is going to go out on its own. Well,... thankfully it does. I check inside the compartment and it looks out. I check underneath the car, and it looks out. so i carefully pour the rest of the oil in the car and check both places again for the fire. Then I close the lid and go upstairs.
Then I look out my window to make sure the fire is not started up again, about 6 times before I go to bed.
WOW, what a night. I don't think that there was any damage to my car, but I guess I will see.

Silver Falls and My Falls

I was bored today and a suggestion from a friend sounded like a good idea. She said I should go for a hike. I checked the weather and it was a perfect day for it, so I set out around 10:30 to go to Silver Falls State Park, just outside of Salem Area. It took about 45 minutes to get there. A few miles outside of the city off of HWY 22 and then 16 miles on 214. The place was great. Very beautiful. I got to see South Falls and Lower South Falls. There were also other falls, but I didn't feel like hiking all the way up to the North Falls and so on because I took a FALL myself.
I was walking down some steps and they were very slick and so I wanted to make sure that I held onto the railing, and right after I grabbed on pretty much, I took a fall. I landed on my butt and now it really hurts. I don't think its anything serious, but it is very painful with shooting pains whenever I use it (as in sit in a chair, get up, that sort of thing- Not what you were thinking, I am sure. hehe)

But, anyways, here is a link to some of the good pictures I took this morning. It is def. a good destination to go on a hike, but make sure that you don't fall flat on your butt.

http://picasaweb.google.com/timothykirkman/SilverFalls0909#

Pondering and Praying

I went to the Middle School Youth Group for First Baptist Salem last night.

The evening started with a get together for the staff at 5:30- we met, talked a bit about what would happen that night, and then prayed for about 15 minutes. This was a good time and it helped me to feel like I knew somewhat of what we were doing that night. Then the students were allowed to come in and play games, mingle, go in the gym and shoot hoops, whatever. It took me a bit of doing, but I was able to play pool with a young man, and also play table ball a few times with some students. That was fun and I got to know a little bit about them.

Then at about 25 after, we all gathered in the Gym and Brian talked about the night and what was going to happen. We played a mixer with playing cards and then got into groups for four teams for a Capture the Flag type of game, but with four groups instead of 2. I am not much into games and so this was not my favorite part, but the kids really enjoyed it and I think most had fun.

We played this a few times, and then it was time for singing. We all went back to the youth room and all the students found a spot to sit. We had one crazy song, and then there was what they called a Walk-on. We met Honis Jonas, the older brother of the Jonas Brothers and he started an upfront game with three people eating Chocolate Pudding from a Diaper. Its great. The students loved this. 

Afterwords there were afew more crazy songs, and then a few worship songs. Then, it was time for the talk. Brian, the Middle School Pastor did a great job of teaching. He had some great illustrations really portrayed the message well. 

There were about 45-55 students there last night. Quite a crew.

I do have to say that even though I had fun, I am not sure that I am needed there. I would rather help out a place that I am needed more. Brian has around 8-10 volunteers who seem very involved, two of which are even studying to be Youth Pastors at Corbin College. I am sure that I could add to the group a little, but I would rather help out a ministry that needs more help and does not have that many dedicated volunteers. I don't know what that ministry is yet, but I intend to find out.

Part of me does want to help him in his ministry because I have been so involved in MS in the past, but another part says that I shouldn't help out just because I have in the past, especially if it is not needed as much. So that is what is going on in my life and what I am pondering and Praying about this morning.

Books, Kids, and the Rain

Ya know, when you are new in town and you are just renting a room, no utilities to pay, no bills coming to the house, its tough to get a Library card. I headed over to the West Salem Library today to just pretty much check it out. I found a book that I wanted to get- a book in HTML so I could try to learn myself some ways of tricking out my blogging, and I go up to the counter asking how I get a Library card and they have to have proof of ID with my address on it. I was not planning on changing my ID so it had my new address because I am not planning on living here all that long. I will not be using this address for hardly any mail, so we had to think of something creative. Anyways,  what we decided was that I would take my mail from the Willamette ESD in there and they would have to approve that as my Identification. We will see. But, that is kind of a bummer, because I wanted to get a book today so I could learn some new stuff while I wait for jobs and school to start. I guess I will just have to be patient.

Well, another topic, I got a chance to meet Brian Woolard- the Middle School Pastor at Salem First Baptist on Sunday and he was talking with me and asking questions about my past church experience. He asked how I came to FBC, and if I had been involved in any specific areas in my previous church. I guess I should not have started with that I was a MS Director for some time at FBC Bend, cuz the topic didnt get much further than that. He asked if I was interested in helping with his MS program. I originally said, I was, But I was also planning on checking out other churches. Then, a few days ago, when I decided to make FBC Salem my home church away from home, I emailed him back today asking if he still wanted me to check out the group and what time and all that.
So, I am planning on going in a little over an hour to the Middle School Program at First Baptist to check it out. I don't really know what to expect. I am pretty sure that it will take a while to get to know the kids, but that is just my personality. In any situation, I am excited to give it a shot.

BTW- Today is my first Rain day in Salem. How Depressing.

My Trip to the Capitol Building in Salem

Yesterday I decided to go to our State's Capitol Building and around town. It was a gorgous day and I had lots of good times walking around the district and also downtown. I took some photos of that day and I will share some of the best with you now:

If you have not been to the State Capitol, you need to take the time to go over there (I guess I should say, come over here, huh) and tour the place. The Endless Marble is overwhelming.

Thats all for now. If you would like to view more of my photos, you may view my picasa Album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/timothykirkman/Capitol0909#

NOTHING THERE

So, living in Central Oregon has it perks. I have been stricktly writing about Salem, and how great it is, what with its Escalators and its beautiful capitol building, and Jack in the Boxes.
But today, I am on a different kick.
I got an email yesterday that I do every tuesday. It was from my favorite local-nationwide automated movie renter- RedBox. I love this place because there are many of them and they usually have what I want for just a buck. Its great.
Yesterday was different. I get this email in the mid-afternoon and lo and behold, XMen Origins in on it. I have been waiting for XMen to come out and so I look online to Reserve a copy for myself. None to reserve, but I assume, they just aren't working right now and I will just need to go get one before everyone else does. So, I head out to my local McDonalds to find XMen- about two miles. NOT THERE, all sold out. So I try a different one, a few more miles, NOT THERE. So I go a few more miles, NOT THERE. This is getting worse and worse and I keep thinking if I go a bit further, I will find one and it will make my trip all worth it. So I keep trying and trying. NEVER FOUND ONE. I drove all that way and came back with nothing. I felt very defeated.
All this to say, in Central Oregon, I would not have had the problem. I would have found it or not and then went home, but in Salem, you can keep going and going.
I must have went to at least 4 places with a RedBox and came back with nothing. Very disheartening. So, those of you that use RedBox in CO, be happy that you can use it. I guess, next week I will just have to leave earlier in the day, perhaps the morning.

Make it My Home

Last night was a good night. I went to the Veritas Group from First Baptist Salem and really felt welcome. I got there and it was a bit awkward, because they were pretty much all new people for me, but I worked hard at talking with people and not just standing in a corner, and they worked hard at talking with me and including me as well. It was a good time to join the group because it was the kickoff and there were many new people there. After a few minutes of talking and getting to know new people, they started their group, this was by playing a game called Shuffle Your Buns. I am usually not a game person- especially since I am out of Jr High, but this one wasn't so bad, not too much skill needed. Still not my favorite thing to do, but I didn't mind it as much. Then we had a few worship songs by Caleb Ray- he is a Western Student and very good at singing and playing Guitar. They Matt Baker- the High School Youth Pastor gave a great discussion about the Psalms and Mirrors. He even broke the mirror he was using and used it as an illustration. It tied into the Worship theme that the church started on Sunday. He did a great job.
After the teaching time, we had more great worship. Then, we had dinner. That was great. For the time that we were eating though, it was a bit too much food. They should really think about just having a mid-range snack rather than dinner because we at around 8:30 or 9. But it was still good, there were Enchaladas, Mexican Rice, salad, and IceCream, woohoo.

I met a lot of nice people and have decided to make First Baptist Salem my church. They are even planning a trip to SeaKrest, which They Own. I was thinking SeaKrest was owned by First Baptist of Eugene or something, but No, Its FBC Salem. The thing is that I have to choose because I was planning on heading to a Skillet/HawkNelson/DecyferDown Concert of the 30th (Which is the first day of the SeaKrest trip). But I think I might be able to do both, and if not, I have seen Skillet and Hawk Nelson twice before. So Id have to give up the concert, but I think itd be worth it and I am sure we will have lots of fun on the Coast, good bonding experience.

Since all of you are wondering, No, there were no Red Heads there, BUT there was one girl that I am sorta interested in. No more on that topic though.

Here's the Plan

I'm torn. I feel as though my experience yesterday at First Baptist Salem was what I am looking for in a church. I also feel that I should give others a shot too. I tried to go to the Evangelical Church of Salem last night but found out that it was a different type of service. There were about 1-200 people there and this was a service for prayer only. It was not a worship time. It was not a teaching time. It was a Pray for those around you type. I was expecting a third service type of thing. I was thinking that I could get a feel for the church by going on a Sunday night instead of taking a whole other sunday morning. This was not true. But I did get the feeling that it would be a place that I would not enjoy that much. There were just some elements to the time I was there that didn't feel like I would be that comfortable.
So, actually, I walked out. I felt bad doing that because I am not one who does that sort of thing, but there was another sunday night service at FBCSalem that I also wanted to attend. So I felt justified walking out of one service to go to another. hehe
I went to the Sunday Night Service at First Baptist and there were probably about 2-300 people there in a smaller banquet style room (Rather than their large auditorium). It was mostly older people there. It reminded me alot of a FBCBend sunday night service that was had every once in a while. There were some missionaries there that spoke God's word as well as talked about what they were doing overseas. I wish that on the Evangelical Church website they might have explained what their Sunday Night Service was about and what it was for, because I would not have gone to it if I had known that and would have tried their Sunday morning service instead.

But, again, I am torn, because I enjoyed FBCSalem so much, and yet still want to give others a shot. The only one that is left for me that is really important is Salem Alliance and that is a HUGE church. I think I will still give it a shot, but probably next Saturday night. That way if I like it I could conceivably go to both Salem Alliance on Saturday Nights, and then FBC Salem on Sunday Mornings. So that's the plan.

Church Search 09 Part two

Well, today was a good contender for churches. I felt right at home, and was welcomed as well.

I went to First Baptist Salem this morning for Sunday School at 9, Church at 10:30, and a Meet and Greet for College Students after the service.

I started out by going in the wrong building. There are two major buildings to FBC, the main one with the sanctuary, then there's the other building with classes, the Youth room, and the Gym. I took a look around and then figured it was the wrong building so I went out to the other building and took a look around. I did not remember from my online search what classroom they met in, so I asked up at the Welcome Center and I met a gentlemen who helped me find it. Turns out that I met, Wayne Bernard, Yes, THE Wayne Bernard. The same Wayne Bernard that is father to Chris Bernard, my old Youth Pastor at Redmond First Baptist. It was great to meet him. He led me to my College Sunday School Class. The Sunday School class was good, a small group class with a teacher of whom did very well. He was a good leader.
After the Sunday School I went looking around the church. There were many classrooms. LOT AND LOTS. They have a Downstairs, main level, and upstairs, then there is the extra building that I mentioned before. Big Church.
I then proceeded to find my seat in a Pew, YES, an actual PEW. I thought those all had been burned. Oh well. I found my seat at my usual spot, about the third row back on the end.
The worship set was good. The Worship Pastor has a great voice and plays guitar very well. The instruments were very good as well. No instrument stuck out. Good sound levels, loud, but good. The vocalists did an alright job, but I could not hear them too much even though there were about 5 of them. We did around 4 songs, 3 of which I knew, and the new one, was new for them as well.
During the greeting time, it was a good short time, not awkward and I met some nice welcoming people around me, and also the Lead Pastor sought me out to say hi because I was sitting alone.
Pastor Mark Hanke did a great sermon as well. He talked about Worship. They started just today a series on Worship. Worship of Michael Jackson, or U2. Many people do not think that worship happens outside of a religious service, but he pointed out that Everyone worships, just not all worship the right things. He did a great job of preaching.
The media was good. There was no video this morning, but the Visuals were good on the PowerPoint.
After the church service, I joined in on a meet and greet for Varitas- the college group that meets on Monday nights. This was a big turnout. I would say that they probably had around 60 or 70 people in that room. I got to meet some great people, most of whom go to Willamette. At first it was a bit awkward, but after a while I got more comfortable. A few of the pastors came into the group as well and I got to meet them. This was a good time, and I was surprised at the numbers of College-aged students there.

I think this church could definitely become a contender for the coveted spot of my joining them in worship to God.

Church Progress so far (Granted its the first)

I got the schedules mixed up. I was planning on heading over to Salem Alliance but went to West Salem Foursquare instead because they started at 6 instead of 6:30. I just had my heart set on taking in a worship session at 6 and did not want to wait for 6:30.

The evaluation that I felt:
Beautiful building- not traditional- not too contemporary- fairly new
The pastor- younger than I was expecting or am used to- Did a good job- not much from the Bible though- We read the passage- 1 Cor. 12 on One Body many Parts
Worship- Pretty good- I knew 3 of the 5 songs, so not too bad. I could not hear the two ladies that were supposedly singing with the leader, good set, nice loud sound, weird intro that lasted too long for the start of the service. Overall though, pretty good.
Media- AWESOME VIDEO about the pastor doing everything to get the worship service ready all to say that he can't do everything, they need people. PPT was pretty boring though
General Atmosphere- WAY WAY WAY too long of a greeting time; I think it should be a minute at most, they gave 3 minutes. I was distracted by whisperers during prayer. They had an extra long prayer time before the sermon that got a bit uncomfortable.

Overall for the Service, I liked it alright, but it is not a church that I would feel comfortable in for a long period of time.
I will keep all my scores of readers posted on my progress in finding the right church for me.

Questions with an Answer (to at least one)

Tonight's main question for me is which church to go to for a Saturday Night Service??
I have pretty much two options that I have found so far that sound alright; Salem Alliance, and West Salem Foursquare.
Most of the churches that I am interested in have sunday night services. That is interesting to me, because in Bend, I didn't know of any that had a Sunday Night Service except for Journey: Most were Saturday Night Alt Services.

So those are my two choices. SA I think has a bigger crowd- from just the websites I have seen. 4SQ is much closer. I could walk there if I went on a continuing basis. I think that SA would be closer to what I believe spiritually, but I don't know that for a fact. It has a College Group. I believe there is only one pastor at 4SQ, where at SA there are like 30?? Lots at least.

I think I will attend both eventually, probably tonight, and then next Saturday. So, because of that fact, I don't think it really matters where I go, cuz I'll go to both.

I think since it is closer to what I believe in Spiritually, I will plan on Salem Alliance tonight, and then West Salem Foursquare next weekend.
Thanks for helping me figure that problem out.

Next Question- Why is it so freakin hot over here? A big problem is that it does not get down in degree level at night like it does in Central Oregon. Bummer.

Guess what I have in the City in which I live.

I just have to say a few things.
I LIVE IN A CITY WITH AN ESCALATOR. Need I say more. Ya know, being from a smaller area, my sisters and I, mostly me, LOVED going to Portland or places like that because we could go on the escalators and Elevators and such. Maybe that is too RedNeck for you, but its the truth. And secretly, I still love Escalators, so I am so stoked to live in a big city that has a few malls that have escalators. Lots of fun. I just got back from the Salem Center, just checkin it out to see what I could find. Its quite a big place considering its in a the downtown sector. I had lots of fun this week looking around the area and trying to learn where things are.
It will be great once bend has its first escalator. That will be a big step for the Central Oregon Area.

I tried to go to the Capitol today, and that did not work. I wanted to take pictures because it is such a beautiful day, but I had forgotten that there was a protest in the area for the Tea Party stuff about Obama. Much to your surprise I am sure, I did not join them, not because I don't feel the same way, but because I try not to be so political and I HATE CROWDS.
SO I will just have to go take pictures some other time. One thing I did learn from a Friend on Facebook- the city is called the Capital, but the actual building is called the Capitol. I have never really realized that. I always used them interchangeably.

Well, that's all for Now, It is very exciting.