Cold & Icy

Well we had another major storm blow through our area this weekend. Everything got canceled. Church, sporting events, pretty much all of it. So we have been at home for the last few days, which for us is a rarity. We didn't even go out for lunch or dinner this weekend! That has to be a record or something. But it has been good. I've actually started watching 24, someone gave me the first series and I've been watching it the last few days and I have to say I like it! I think I have joined the millions and given in the to the addiction of 24. Well I think we should be able to get out of the house tomorrow. The girls have loved it, because the ice makes much better sledding on the hill by our house than the snow did! Well I have to get back to 24.

Early

Hey don't have anything, but just wanted to get in the habit of updating! We do start our training tomorrow morning at 6:00am for our bike team. We are training to ride 100 miles in colorado in May and raising money for Young Life at the same time! So that is awful early for this night boy! So pray for me over the next few months! Maybe I will turn into a morning person but I doubt it!

New Year

It's the new year and I'm starting out writing. My goal this year is to at least post something once a week. I gave up on trying to do a daily thing. One it's just not me and I would never be able to keep it up anyway. I also don't have that much to say. The huffty family had a great holiday. Went to texas and spent it with the folks and siblings, had a great, relaxing, easy time! Life is good for us! So you got any resolutions for the new year? I'm trying to lose 25 pounds, be more consistent about getting up early. Finish a 100 mile bike ride in Colorado, run another half marathoan and begin gettign ready for a marathon next January! I had a goal to run a marathon by the time I was 35, I didn't do it but I'm still trying to get it done before f 40! I'll post some picture of our Younglife bike team in the future. We have 35 people who are riding the race with me in Colorado! So I think that will help me finish. Well have a great year and I'll hopefully see you weekly!

Snow

 
It snowed close somewhere between 6-9 inches here the other day. It was awesome, the kids got out of school for two days and we played in the snow. It was great....it only would have been better if it happened on Christmas! 

Passwords

Okay I'm a total idiot! I've probably lost all my readership by now anyway, not that I've ever had more than 4 people visit my blog anyway, but since I haven't published anything since September 8th, I can understand my poor audience! Well one of the reasons is a forgot my username and password! Has that ever happened to you? You put some clever usernamer and password in and then you have your computer remember you and then you forget it! It works great until you computer virus program erases all your cookies and stuff and then you are stuck trying to remember your clever ideas! Well I finally figured them out and wrote them down somewhere so I wouldn't forget them this time! So hopefully I will do better but probably not, since the story of my life is the constant struggle of trying to be disciplined. But that is another blog!

Sunset

I just like this picture....don't have much it just encourages me for some reason.

This is camp

  

This pretty much gives you an idea of what my life is like with Younglife. I love these guys, even when they pie me and call me a loser! You only make fun of people you like...isn't that right! Well that is what I keep telling myself.

Tubing in the rain

 
This is Kacey tubing while it's raining outside. One of our favorite persons, David Lacy, invited us to spend a day at a lakehouse with his family. Our kids had a blast the day before tubing, so much that the morning we were leaving they wanted to tube again. The problem was it was raining, but David said hey they are going to get wet anyway, so he put on his raincoat and pulled them through the rain. David gave me some great advice years ago, he told me that when it came to parenting you should say "Yes, as often as possible". David thanks once again for modeling for me what it means to be a great DAD! 

Did you know?

I usually hate those words especially when they come from a parent. Because usually I'm about to hear about something that either I should have know about or something I wish I didn't know about. I just got one of those phone calls about something that "happened" at camp last year. Well I had no clue what they were talking about and it was the first time I had ever heard of it. Well that just gives loads of confidence to parents that the "so called leader" had no clue what the kids were really doing! Wow unchurched kids doing something that was bad, who would have thought that would happen! Well pray for us this next week, we are taking some of those same bad kids back to camp with us this year! Hopefully they won't be smoking pot again this year, or if they do maybe we will get the chance to catch them and have a teachable moment! Well have fun...we will!

55 an no more

Yesterday I did Norman conquest! It's a bicycle ride in Norman that is 63 miles long. They promote the ride by saying conquer the hills and the heat. Well it is true to it's name, one of the hilliest rides I've ever ridden in 100 degree heat is not neccasarily the best way to spend a saturday morning. I was riding with two other guys and got to mile 55 and just died. I had to wait for the sag wagon to come along and pick me up. I failed to do the most importantly thing when riding endurance races....eat and hydrate. So at about mile 45 I was done, but I thought I could finish, well at 55 I was totally spent! It's humilating having to stop but you have to do what you have to do. Our next long ride is Hotter than Hell down in Witchita Falls where we are trying to ride 100 miles. So we will see if I finish it or not, I know one thing for sure, I will be eating and drinking plenty this ride!

Superhero

Ever wanted to be a superhero? I was watching TV the other day and they have a new reality show out called "the Next Superhero". From what I saw it looks like people are coming on and showing what there superpower is or what they wish it were. Now I'm a huge superhero fan, have been since I was a little kid, but even I think this has taken the whole reality thing just a bit too far! Maybe it just be, but that seems like some executives got drunk in a room and said, "hey what can we do that nobody will watch"..... Watch it will probably be the next huge hit, and then I will fill like a doofball. No then I will totally know that our country is gone insane. Well have a good day and if you could be a superhero who would you be? Me I would be Spiderman.....I always identified with the tortured good guy, who didn't quite believe in himself, but still ended up saving the day!

Bikes & More

I've ridden twice this week so far about 50 miles between the two rides. Tomorrow I'm going out for 3-4 hours in the morning with my buddy. We are getting ready for Hotter than Hell in Witchita Falls in August so we have to get our bodies ready to stay on the bike for 5 hours or more. I'm not sure a fanny was meant to stay on a little seat for that long but you do what you have to. The good thing is that I feel good when I'm done, so there is something to be said for that.

I was reading something today about this guy who decided to take a picture a day for the whole year and record his thoughts about the picture, so starting September maybe that's what I will do with my blog....who knows but it was intriguing to me...we will see what happens. Let me know if you think it's a good idea!

Christmas card

Hey I thought I would give you a preview of our Christmas card this year. Since we have such a hard time sending out cards, you might be the only people who actually ever see it. Aren't we such a pretty family!

Summer staff photo

Our steller Trail West Summer Staff crew!

Life & Times

I'm been back in Okc for around 4 days after spending a month in Colorado working. It has been hard for me to rengage with life here in OKC. Not because I don't enjoy it here, just becasue after you have been working somewhere for 7 days a week for 4 weeks it sorta gets in your blood. I keep thinking I have to do something at Trail West and that I'm suppossed to be there instead of here, it's wierd.

On a personal level we past a huge milestone this last week! 15 years of marriage! It's hard to believe that we have been married 15 years. When I look back at pictures I see these two young, wide eyed kids that had no idea what they were doing or getting into. Thankfully marriage just keeps getting better and better for us. It has always been good, but it just keeps improving so I'm extremely thankful for a soulmate that makes it so fun to life live with. So for all of you who are thinking about marriage....I recommend it for sure, just make sure it's someone you have fun with and that you can see yourself growing old with!

Hope you have fun shooting off fireworks this week....tip don't hold the firecrackers too long....they hurt when they explode in your hand....believe me I know!!!!!!

A month is gone

Well we just got back from spending a month in Colorado on assignment at Trail West (younglife's family camp). When people hear that we get to spend a month in Colorado as part of my job they think lucky dog. I would agree but it's not all a cake walk by any means. While on assignment you spend 7 days a week working with people from 7:00 in the morning until 12:00 midnight. I wouldn't change it for the world but assignments are physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually draining. It really is better to give than recieve, but all of us need times of refreshment, so after a month of giving out totally I'm ready for a few days of nothing. That is why we came to Odessa, to take a few days before I get back in the race of hanging out with kids, trying to get more kids to our camp at the end of July, raising money for our area, recruiting new leaders and staying in touch with all the kids, leaders and donars that are already in our circles. I love what I do that is for sure, just need to recharge sometimes. Well just wanted to let you know why I haven't written in a month. Hope your summer is going well and say a prayer for us and our kids if you get a chance. By the way my own kids and Kristen had a blast at Trail West, someone always to play with, someone else to cook and clean for you, life was good for the family, they are having withdrawals! Talk with you soon.

Leaks

I just realized I haven't said anything in awhile. I've been fairly busy the last few weeks, getting ready for summer assignments, heading to work week, end of school crap and trying to encourage Kristen through her job search. Let me tell you what happened on thursday. I had just gotten back from Colorado (driven all night because my household was imploding and needed daddy around) fixed the crisis with the family because that's what we dad's do! Well the next day the girls are in the back yard playing in the water and had the hose running and I was in the kitchen, they had been playing for about 50 or so minutes with the water running the whole time. I go back to our bedroom and am heading to the bathroom and step into the bathroom and I step into a puddle of water. I'm not sure where it's coming from so I follow the trail and it leads to our walk in closet and our closet is flooded with water. The spicket from the outdoor faucet had a leak inside the wall and the whole time the girls had been playing water had been pouring into our walls down into our closet and bedroom. Well we got the water turned off and then came the clean up. I spent Thursday night vacuuming up water and ripping up carpet and pads and trying to dry out our room. In fact we still have one of those carpet blowers in our room drying it out. The good thing is that we got our closet cleaned out, the bad news is we have a 1,000 deductible on our homeowners insurance, so this is probably all out of pocket for us. I wish I could wax eloquenlenty about some spiritual lesson but I got nothing. I could probably come up with one, something about hidden sin and it finally bursting all over your life, but that probably hits a little too close to home, so I will steer clear of that line of thinking. I could also talk about how sometime you never know the influence you are having on people until one day something pours out and you never saw it coming. Lots of cool ideas but really it was just a broken pipe and a lot of water all over my floor! If you get a chance pray for kristen she is a little down with this whole job search thing. Thinking no one wants her and that she is not good at anything anymore, I know how she feels because I was there about 2 years ago, but it's hard to see someone else go through it.
Well those are some thoughts and hopefully I will have some more soon, but no promises, just check back often and email me if you want me to actually talk about something worthwhile!
Peace OuT!!!!!!

Wondering

I just erased all my great thoughts. It was a good pondering, deep blog but you don't ever get to see it. I guess when you call your blog shallow thoughts that it has this hidden feature that won't let me be deep. If you really want to know what I wrote just call me and I will wax eloquently to you about my deep longing about talking to kids about Christ and if what we say really matters! It was really fairly good, or so I think. Well if anyone is out there anymore let me know........bueller......bueller........bueller......
If that doesn't make sense to you than your too young. I'll write later!

OKC Half-Marathon

Here is me running the Half I actually have a smile on my face, may be too small to see but I do. It was really a fun race. I wasn't the fastest by a long shot but I finished the race with a time of 2:17 which beat my other half marathon by 12 minutes, so I'm getting better. Who knows I still may complete that goal of doing a whole marathon yet!

Goldfish Night

We had Goldfish club monday night and one of our leaders caught some small bass in a nearby pond, so we put them into the pool also and they were are bonus fish. It was quite a site seeing kids and leaders swimming around in a pool trying to catch goldfish and bass. As you can see Heath her came up with the small bass. Unforturnally most of the 420 goldfish suffered a early demise due to the chorline! Expect for the 20 or so that one of our club girls rescued. She is a member of PETA! Take care