Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas from the Laras

UPDATE: finally added yakima video (there's no broadband at my in-laws house.) and updated the prosser video to be a little clearer.
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May this day, and everyday, be a Christ-filled day.

we'll have three videos of today. the first is from our own family Christmas in Grandview. check back later in the day or tomorrow to see the video from prosser and yakima christmas family celebrations.

THE GRANDVIEW CHRISTMAS!



THE PROSSER CHRISTMAS!



THE YAKIMA CHRISTMAS!



// today i'm thankful for:
1. Deborah
2. Anna
3. Danielle
4. Julia
5. Rachel
6. Baby Jesus!
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Friday, December 22, 2006

two quick notes

first off, the discussion on this post: oh the sounds of family, is great. plus the fact that i wrote a lot in response to some of them and i don't want to type it all again here; just read the posts, read the comments, and leave your own.

secondly, i think the end is drawing near for us, mag. blogger doesn't say "beta" anymore. i don't think it will be long now until they say 'YOU MUST CHANGE, NOW! ! !'

anyways, i'm sure it will be like DEATH. we're so afraid of it now, but we'll like it when we're on the other side. :-)


// today i'm thankful for:
1. a wife who can spell
2. a wife who tells me when i spell something wrong
3. a wife who knows what makes me happy
4. a wife who does what makes me happy
5. a wife
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Thursday, December 21, 2006

oh the sounds of family

it's now quiet. about 2 minutes ago when i finished tucking in my kids for bed they were all crying. (except for rachel, she was already asleep) the story goes something like this . . .

all three girls took a nap this afternoon so we knew they weren't going to be ready to sleep at their normal 8.30 pm bedtime. so at 8 o'clock i took anna, julia and rachel to the store for some milk and snacks. meanwhile deb and danielle stayed home to make popcorn balls and cookies (w/walnuts for me).

anyways we got home about 9.45 pm and now it was definitely bedtime. julia went to bed crying because she was just tired and didn't want to go to bed (normal stuff). danielle was crying because she was in her pajamas already and on the computer when her mom asked her to go to bed. i was putting away groceries. deb was talking to anna (story coming below) and then had to pause again to tell danielle a second time to go to the bathroom and go to bed. after about 3 more of these interchanges i came over to danielle with a 'spanking spoon' and gave her little bottom (which was sticking up in the air) a little swat, told her she had gotten a spanking for not obeying her mother, and told her to obey what her mother had told her. so she went crying to the bathroom and then to bed. i went and consoled her (we always comfort our kids after a spanking to let them know that we still love them and to make sure they understand that the spanking was a consequence to an action on their part, and not out of anger on our part). but nonetheless she was still crying and wanted her mom (the one she was disobeying in the first place but not the one who had given her the spanking -- on a side note: "that's one of many reasons why it's nice to have two parent homes")

so the reason anna was crying was because i went into her room to debrief (some more) on what happened at the store. well it finally happened. i knew this day would come for one and/or all my kids, and today was anna's day. i caught anna in the process of stealing a candy, and lying to me about it when i first asked her. (not that every kid steals candy from a store - but every kid comes to a point where they've done something major-ly wrong which left unchecked will not only make them a 'not nice person' but could land them in jail)

it was from one of those 'bulk candy' bins and after confronting her, i also had her apologize to the cashier. as we were leaving the store i also told her she'd have to come home and tell her mother what she had done. -- (btw, the danielle and julia have started crying again) -- well that process in itself was long and drawn out because she was afraid that her mom would get mad at her. but deborah handled it very well and used it as a time of instruction. so anyways, i was coming into her bedroom to reassure her once more that we loved her and that she understand that it's not okay to steal things from anyone ever. and just the thought of her feeling like she had lost the approval of her parents was too much for her and was what caused her to cry.
:: to my kids ::
rachel, we love you and we're loving getting to know more every day this new little person that God has brought into our lives.

julia, we love you and know what's best for you at this time in your life (a full night's sleep for your body to grow and be healthy). our desire is that we're teaching you to trust us.

danielle, we love you and are trying to develop good character within you. as such, being able to be under God given authority (of your parents, in this case) is necessary in order to ever be in a position of authority yourself.

anna, we love you and want you to know there is nothing that you can do that will make you stop being our child. your life will have many more choices of right and wrong, we pray even when we are not around you will choose the right thing.


// today i'm thankful for:
1. my family
2. the 'envelope system'
3. teachable moments
4. understanding cashiers
5. a wife who loves me!
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new book and denver


i finally got my "Off-Road Disciplines" book yesterday and have been hearing good things from people that have read it. i look forward to reading and then as promised posting a review.

in other news, my youngest sister has been stuck in the Denver airport since wednesday. :-( and now the earliest to leave they're telling her is maybe friday @ noon. i even offered to go pick her up, but she said that all roads have been closed in and out of denver. and i read an article that even mail service has been suspended today. not a fun time to be stuck in the airport during christmas time. (oh, and she packed her cell phone charger so she's been calling my mom collect so as not to run out of battery)

in other, other news . . . i've started my christmas vacation. one of the niceties of working at a school, getting days off during the holidays & summer. so it's nice to kinda just 'chill' at home so to speak.

oh and we've begun a two week trial of netflix so as to get season 4 & 5 of "24" watched during this vacation and before season 6 starts in jan.

well that's about all for now. have a Merry "Christ-filled" Christmas!

// today i'm thankful for:
1. days off
2. netflix
3. 2 month old chubby babies
4. bed & breakfast
5. altoids
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Sunday, December 17, 2006

person of the year



It's Common Knowledge: 50 is the New 30
Person of the Year: You

// today i'm thankful for:
1. hymnals
2. church sound systems
3. church community
4. 100 posts! (yahoo!)
5. being named "person of the year!"
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Friday, December 15, 2006

dec. 15 update

i haven't had much to write about lately, so thus things have been pretty scarce here. so here's a little update.

and i didn't notice it till i logged in today . . . my next post will be my 100th! cya on my birthday!


// today i'm thankful for:
1. a wife with a sense of humor
2. frozen yogurt
3. knowing how to type
4. cell phones that double as an alarm clock
5. cold milk
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UPDATE:: I DIDN'T BOTHER TO CHECK IF THE VIDEO WAS ACTUALLY WORKING ON THIS ONE. SO IF IT LOOKS LIKE I'M SAYING SOMETHING AND YOU CAN'T HEAR IT. IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT. I HADN'T SET THE PROPER "AUDIO IN" SETTING. I'LL POST ANOTHER VIDEO SOMETIME, BUT I DON'T HAVE TIME NOW.

UPDATE: ok, so i never came back and changed the video or told you what i said, so here goes. i was basically saying that "the play" was coming up and that my mom was going to take me shopping for a new suit! (which she did) i'll wear it next sunday, christmas eve, and then post pics. anyways, that was about it.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

just got off the phone with pastor mike

read this first and then read this post:
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i just got off the phone with pastor mike. and yes, i did cry.

i was relaying the story that i wrote to my pastor and i suddenly realized, "hey, why don't i offer the shoulder to lean on? why don't i talk to him and show my appreciation?" so i decided to call him.

i read him my post. (actually i cried through the post, so it took a while) and then we shared some touching words of his faithfulness and dedication to the work of God that he had labored in. and he described how i had been an inspiration to him, just seeing me grow up and to see that i was still following after God regardless of the many pastor switches, and church difficulties.

if you'd like to drop pastor mike an email to show your appreciation (whether you know him or not) you can email him here.

// today i'm thankful for:
1. longevity
2. christmas time
3. soul cleansing crying
4. usb flash drives
5. delicious chocolate chip cookies with nuts! ;-)
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Saturday, December 09, 2006

a round of applause

first of all, i was really tempted to simply make another video blog entry since it's so much easier to simply talk than to have to write (that is another post i'll have to come back to sometime), and it doesn't take so long to listen to me say what i want to say when i ramble on and on rather than reading it, and the fact that it's just plain so easy to do so on a mac. (i won't get started)

but i decided to write partly because 1) i realized that not everyone who comes to this blog has a broadband internet connection so trying to watch a video would be painfully slow (how do you survive without dsl/cable connection?) and 2) even those that do have a fast connection, not all of you have speakers with which to listen to the video. (see comments of this post)

anyways . . . on to our regularly scheduled post
--------------------

yesterday, deb and i went to a 'sectional christmas dinner' for the assemblies of God ministers in our "section". it was a very nice dinner, and we were treated to a nice christmas theater and dessert that was also going on that same evening at the church that hosted all us pastors.

i enjoyed the company on the drive up. we met up with the team from the sunnyside neighborhood church and all piled into their church van. so, all in all, there was 12 of us (rachel came with us, too).

i was deeply moved by the dramatic presentation, reminding us that when we "do unto the least of these" it's as if we're doing it for God himself. and the choir singing was beautiful as well, although the sound system was having some issues.

i also enjoyed the desert aftewards. some delicious carrot cake is what i ordered. but what i want to focus on for this post is the "announcement and updates" time of the get together. our sectional leader, pastor johnson from faith assembly in pasco, shared with us various new pastors either coming into our section, one who is leaving for full time missions work, and another who is on sabbatical leave. he also mentioned two churches in our section that had closed their doors and the progress of the building sale or lease for each property.

one of those churches was the one i grew up in. and i kinda have mixed feelings on the subject. growing up it's the only church i really knew. i knew it was a small church and in the 15 or so years that we went there, i don't think it grew at all that much. it remained at right at about 50 or less the whole time. so i kinda knew that eventually it would close because it wouldn't be able to support a pastor, or all the old people would "die off"! but nonetheless, it was 'my' home church growing up.

the other church is in a small community; and the church has also been small for as long as i can remember. in fact i remember a time growing up, the youth group at our church went to this other church and did some dramas and puppet skits for a vbs or some kind of outreach. so it was also small and had people "doing church" a certain way because "that's how it's always been done".

but there was one major difference between the two churches (coincidently they were within 15 miles or less of each other). the first church described (the one i grew up in) had probably 8-9 pastors from when i was in kindergarten till i graduated from college. the other church has had the same senior pastor for the whole time.

so let me tell you a little about pastor mike. pastor mike is a great guy, loves people, has a heart that follows after God, and he's also fairly young. i don't know for sure but i'd say he was in his late 40's early 50's -ish. (hey i'm turning 30 in a week, so i now realize that early 50s is still fairly young. especially if he's been at the same church for about 20 years or so!)

so pastor mike was at this "minister's dinner" last night and in fact was sitting at our table and was in the group in the van ride up. as they talked about the transition that was happening and that another congregation was looking at leasing the building with the possibility of purchasing after a year, i could tell that pastor mike was still deeply affected. you see pastor mike wasn't told by anyone to close the doors of the church. from what i understood him saying to those at our table, it was in large part his decision to shut down the church. he felt he'd gotten to a point where no matter what he said, or how he said it, or what new method they could try; the people simply did not want to change. they did not want to go beyond their comfort zone and step into what God wanted to do in their community.

so here was pastor mike sitting right next to me hearing his last twenty years summed up into about 5 minutes. in conclusion the sectional leader asking everyone to show their appreciation to pastor mike "for all the work he has done".

did we recieve an offering? did we come around him and pray? did we offer a shoulder to lean/cry on? or some other token of gratitude for 20 years of service?

nope, we gave him "a round of applause". and thus ended a season of pastor mike's life.


// today i'm thankful for:
1. connectivity
2. conference calls
3. full night's sleep
4. candlelight
5. good books
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Wednesday, December 06, 2006

the play and i'm turning 30!



oh . . . and earl creps returned an email i sent him saying the publisher never got my address. he asked for it and said he'd forward it to the publisher. thanks earl!

// today i'm thankful for:
1. my beautiful, fabulous wife
2. tv dinners
3. video cameras
4. working under pressure
5. the INTERNET!

Monday, December 04, 2006

so where's my book??

some of you remember me mentioning a free book giveaway for earl creps's new book "off road discipleship". so i've been patiently waiting for my book, but not really giving it much thought, since i had no idea how soon the publisher would be sending out the books.

but all that changed sunday night when i was at my pastor's house, noticed his copy of the book on his couch, and then he asked me how i was enjoying the book. the only problem is - i don't have my copy of the book yet. then to top it off he said that his daughter had also gotten her copy of the book already. normally i'd just chalk it up to the mail system delaying some copies of the book (even though we only live 3 blocks away), but what really gets me is that my pastor didn't sign up for the book giveaway for almost 4-5 days after i did! so that would assume that i should get my book 4-5 days ahead of them if not exactly the same time (if the publisher waited to send any books until they got all the orders in).

anyways, monday has come and gone and still no book, so i will wait patiently some more (for all i know it's the name of a chapter in the book "be patient with stuff you can't control").

all this to say, from what i hear (from others) it's a great book, you should get a copy. seriously, you should, i'm not being cynical or sarcastic.

oh and . . . let me borrow it when you're done. ;-)


// today i'm thankful for:
1. cars the run when the gas is on "E"
2. unexpected blessings
3. my fabulous wife
4. pacifiers
5. change on the horizon

Saturday, December 02, 2006

a week after 'black friday'

for those who don't know, deb and i (and we dragged our sisters into it too) love shopping on black friday. (actually now that i think about it, i think maggie actually went shopping on black friday a year before we started to)

anyways, i know some of you avoid it like the plague. but being the very competitive creatures that we are, we love it - no wait, THRIVE! it's just plain fun, a lot funner than clicking a mouse. heck i do that everyday, nothing very exciting about it.

anyways, i could see myself this year getting more and more consumed with wanting to go shopping to get stuff, when i didn't really need anything, and thus not being the thankful for the things/people i've already been given.

anyways, i read this article today, that really indicted me. i guess he had the same feelings . . . well that gives me a year to adjust my attitude/thinking/actions.

read it and then comment back here. (it's okay, it's a short article)

these girls seem to know what to be thankful for on Thanksgiving.


// today i'm thankful for:
1. heating
2. christmas parties with strangers
3. healthy kids
4. stability
5. apple pie

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UPDATE: FIXED LINK TO ARTICLE

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

"the heat is on"

oh, it's so nice to be warm in every part of the house, espcially since winter is here.

in other news . . . deb's getting her wisdom teeth taken out tomorrow. she had a tooth that started hurting her last friday and was finally able to call the dentist about it monday. she got an appointment today and they suggested she get her wisdom teeth taken out and they scheduled her an operation for tomorrow at 1:15pm.

it looks like we're gonna be diving into homeschooling beginning next semester. so we're in the midst of wading through website after website, book after book, curriculum and workbooks. it's a bit daunting.

right now we're in the "looking for curriculum" phase. we went to barne's and noble a few weeks ago to look for curriculum but mostly they had just lots of books on "why you should start homeschooling", or "these are the benefits of homeschooling", etc. we're already convinced, we just need to know what curriculum is the best. deb's gotten some phone #'s of other area homeshoolers to i'm sure they'll be able to shed some light on the subject.

i'm guessing it's one of those things where once you become a homeschooler you'll find out about all the bazillion other homeschoolers that you didn't even know existed before. (because for some reason i have this myth that homeschooling families never actually leave their homes. they just stay there constantly and never are seen in public) it's kinda like when you get a new car . . . all of a sudden you start noticing that same exact car when you're driving around that you didn't notice before.

well i've run out of words today.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

just so everyone knows . . .

the heat issue has nothing to do with our account (we've been very blessed in our finances, and are current with all our bills; and paying down our debt! thank you, very much. don't get me started) :-)

it has to do with the gas furnace not working properly. i called the guy that has worked on our furnace before and he was booked with other jobs.

he said he'd definitely be able to come on monday. possibly he could squeeze us in on friday but he didn't want to promise.

we were given a very fancy heater last year ($400 fancy, EdenPure) so we all had a "sleep over" in our bedroom last night and we were nice and cozy only having to heat one room.

in other news, our digital camera was due to be delivered today (we sent it in for repair). but due to an error on FedEx's part, we missed it and they won't re-deliver till friday. grrrrrr!!!!

but oh well, mag, remember to bring your digital camera. (yes you can include pictures along with your video when making a movie in imovie)

well have a great thanksgiving y'all and a fabulous shopping day on friday! there's no wifi at my in-laws house so i may or may not be able to post tomorrow.

some silliness of my chicas:


UPDATE: and here's one freak shot of me, that i took at church wednesday night.

do you like my hat?

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

so maybe one more day

ok, there's no heat in our house till possibly next monday. i got a call at 10.30pm that school's cancelled tomorrow because of a broken pipe at the middle school that flooded the front doors and cut off water to the school. so that's an exciting beginning to the thanksgiving weekend.

anyways, we're still muddling through all of our homeschooling choices. if anyone has any insight or suggestions on curriculum or any other advice drop us a comment or email or call. laterz.

if you've also got a blog, you can get a free book from earl creps "off road discipleship" - while supplies last. Blogger Book Giveaway

Monday, November 20, 2006

as if i never left

deb and i went on a date last night. we got back late and i spent most of my time writing a post for the reallife blog (and trying to figure out why the church's sermon podcasts on itunes weren't updating), but i wanted to say you'll be hearing more from me in the days to come.

(in case you haven't heard . . . thanksgiving's coming)

g'night to all, and i'll see ya tomorrow! :-)

Saturday, November 18, 2006

fun on a friday night

deb went to a "dynamic women" meeting at church last night.

the girls and i decided to clean the living room. it looked kinda like this! (in time lapse fashion)



half way through i called deb to come pick up rachel, if you were wondering who took our baby.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

got too much laundry??

try this:


no, it's not a trick it really works. and here's another video that explains it all.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

i'm still alive

i stayed home sick today, but i'm still alive . . . i haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

quick update:
my sister got her macbook! see here and the posts that follow in the days afterward.

tim has a great post on fatherhood - here.

we're contemplating homeschooling our kids for a variety of reasons, but mostly spurred on because of a message by Dr. Voddie Baucham. - Closing the Generation Gap, Part 1 Part 2

and i haven't run in a couple days and i'm feeling my body turn to mush. although i don't know how much of that is because i'm sick and how much is the withdrawls from running??

it's late, goodnight!

Thursday, November 02, 2006

hospital story and new blogs

just for you sarah (and everyone else wondering how rachel's doing)

after you made that comment sarah i realized that i haven't really taken any pictures of rachel since the first day of her life. i guess i'm ejoying seeing her all the time that i forget others don't see her as often as i do. sorry. i'll take more pics and post.

on a similar note, i promised to tell more of the 'hospital' story, so here goes:

as you may know deb's actual due date was oct. 23rd, but she was DONE being pregnant a few weeks before then. so after talking to her doctor she actually set an 'inducement' date at the hospital for oct. 9th. but she called and cancelled it, so as to let the baby develop further.

at her weekly dr. appointment on the 18th she decided the baby had enough developing and asked the dr. what she could do to speed up the process. her dr. stripped her membranes and told her to go home and get childcare situated for the other sisters and head to the hospital by 6.30pm.

so deb comes home at about 3.15 and tells me that she's got the green light to go to the hospital. i ask her "how soon do you want to leave?" because i hadn't worked out yet for the day i wanted to go running. i asked if she could wait 45 minutes. she said yes, so i went running. after i got back we took the kids to my sister who was at the church getting ready for church that evening. then we loaded up the van and headed to sunnyside to have our baby.

after checking in around 6pm, the doctor came in and 'broke the water' around 6.30pm and we settled in for an evening of wheel of fortune and jeapordy. around 8.30 things were kinda still slow pokin but deb and i were getting hungry. deb asked me to go and sneak her back some clam chowder from skippers. i went out and got myself a carne asada burrito and then made it just in time to skippers for the chowder.

i'm not quite sure what time they began deborah on petocin, she says it was at about 11pm. but still things weren't picking up too quickly. deb went to sleep soon after being given the petocin, and i finally went to bed after "blogging" a bit around 1am.

at about 2am deb wakes me up because of the strength of her contractions. i briefly got up, i think i got her some more ice and water, and then i went back to sleep. (all within about 5 min. mind you.) at around 2.55am she wakes me up again. this time she's muttering something about wanting drugs. so i walk over to the nurses station telling them her requests and they come over soon.

they got deb into bed and checked her progress before they would give her any drugs and she was 6cm and about 90% effaced. deb thought that since she'd been at 3-4cm for such a long time that from 6 to 10 would still take quite some time. the nurses knew differently and had deb lay on her side and kept telling her to relax. (in actuallity they were stalling because the doctor was in the next room delivering another baby)

it was amazing to see the transformation once the doctor came in. the nurses went from "relax honey, just let the baby come down on it's own, you don't need to push" to "ok, sweetie, go ahead and give it a good push. one or two good pushes and you'll have a baby! keep going, don't give up now"

so anyways, rachel joy was born at 3.16am. although at 3.16am we didn't know who she was yet. we called our parents around 4am, after they had cleaned her up a bit, and she still didn't have a name! deb had left the final decision of the name up to me. and all the names we had tossed around until then just didn't seem right at the time. so i hopped on the internet and looked up "name of women in the bible". that led me to this page where i started matching names to see what sounded good.

finally around 5am-ish i asked deb what she thought of "Rachel Joy Lara", she thought it was beautiful so we declared it to be. and if you'll look back we proclaimed it to the world at 5.25am.

so that's the story of our rachel.
_______________

if you noticed the link above, deb has made another entry into her blog again -- post-pregnancy. i look forward to many more great posts in the future.

i did want to point out 2 more new blogs that have recently started. one if from our sr. pastor entilted "time2team", very apropo if you know our pastor. he just started, and has admitted that after the first two initial posts he's not quite sure where to take it from there. but to be sure it will turn into a great blog on team leadership and 'other stuff'.

and finally, jessikab has begun her blog. she's a very talented writer and will be documenting her life after high school with God in the driver's seat. may she 'live the beautiful life' that she writes about!
_______________
2 more quick notes::

1) happy birthday to my sister!
and a congratulations are in order as she will be heading to portland to get her 'first mac' on saturday. believe me mag, your gonna love it! - and not just because i say so.

and 2) julia was fidgiting with our digital camera tonight and broke it. (YES!, in between the time i started this post - around 2.30pm - and her bed time - 8.30pm - she broke it.) actually it was simply making weird noises when the lens would open and shut, which is what happened the last time it broke. and i tried to 'set' it back in place and thus finished the "breaking" process.

i did manage to get the pictures off of it that deb had taken with the girls and their new sister (which i'll post soon) but after which i don't know how long it will be until we are able to get it fixed or get a new one. (the 1 year warranty expired like on oct. 25th?)

g'night all!

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

posting by phone!

Ok so perhaps this isn't the most efficient method of posting,but i don't have internet access otherwise. maybe i'll get faster at this whole text messaging thing. well i think that's it for now. (BTW i'm in first period at school)

Monday, October 30, 2006

"good writing!", if i do say so myself

today's post brought to you by reallife.MINISTRIES.

it's not often that i flat out quote an entire post from one blog to the other, but i feel compelled to do it today for a couple reason. 1) i think it's really good writing and i'm not entirely sure i want to stay up even later tonight to write some more, and i don't think it'd be as great of writing if i did. 2) i know there is some overlap in the readership of both blogs but in case you're not one of them i thought it was appropriate for both audiences. 3) i really wanted to write something on this blog tonight because it didn't seem that my ordeal with blogger publishing frustration was good 'comment fodder'.

so without further ado:
get to know your pastor - family ministry
i love being involved with YOU - the student's of reallife.MINISTRIES. i enjoy getting together each week, hearing your successes, failures, fears, hopes. i love 'just chatting' with you either online or "unplugged" face to face. and i hope and pray that i'm making a difference in your lives in some way or another. (btw, i'm not fishing for compliments) (oh and in case you don't know btw stands for By The Way)

but let me tell you something that i struggle with . . .

you see, if you ask me what is most important to me, i'd tell you hands down that it is my family. in fact this point was reinforced in my mind/soul when i recently listened to a message by dr. voddie baucham. you can listen to this two part message here: day 1 & day 2.

my family is the most important ministry i have. i will have the greatest impact on this earth by investing in, providing for, protecting, and otherwise ministering to my own family. (you really do have to listen to the messages to get the full impact of what i'm saying) i can do no greater thing than to love and influence my family towards God.

like i said i love being involved with you guys, but 'when push comes to shove'; youth ministry isn't as important to me as my family ministry. to put it even more plainly: you are not as important as my family.

so here's the struggle . . . youth ministry is easy by comparison to family ministry. youth ministry is more or less centered around events. we have youth services, outings, camps, missions trips, conventions, movie nights, parties, etc. and so as a youth minister i can focus on the next event. planning, preparing, promoting. and when it's finally come and gone and all the youth have gone home, i can have this nice story of how the "youth ministry was successful" and "lives were changed".

family ministry, on the other hand, is day in and day out, minute by minute, every moment of the day i have little eyes watching my every move. how i react to people, how i behave when other's aren't around, if treat their mother the same at home as in public. as deut. 6.7-9 says it's all the time, in every way!

in addition to that, i sometimes spend more time involved with youth ministry activities than i do in direct family involvement. so although my heart and head say one thing (family ministry is of utmost importance to me), my actions and energies say another (ah your family will be around tomorrow, you've really got to finish this task NOW for effective youth ministry to happen).

so what am i trying to say with all this . . . i don't know. but as the title of the post suggests, i think you've '[gotten] to know your pastor' a little more.

comments or suggestions welcome.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

anybody else having a problem

posting to blogger????

i've tried posting something to the reallife.MINISTRIES blog last night and i keep getting errors. i've tried on various browsers, different computers, i even used a PC. :-0

so now i'm trying to post something on this blog to see if it's just the youth blog having a problem or blogger in general?

i guess if you are having a problem and this doesn't post you'd have no way of answering the question till blogger fixes itself.
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update (12:12pm 10-28-06): so obviously since this has now posted the problem is resolved. or is it . . . ? this post didn't publish the first time i tried to post. it wasn't till i came to my sister's house today that i got it to work. so the question now is . . . did blogger fix whatever problems it had? or is it my internet connection that is causing the "publishing" problems??

i'll try posting something else from home when i get there . . . (to be continued)

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update (2.21pm 10-28-06): okay i'm home now, hopefully this will post? (fingers crossed). second try.
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update (2.23pm 10-28-06): so i ended up having to "release and renew" my router's dns settings in order to get that to work. not sure why it wasn't working in the first place, but i'm glad it's working again now.

as if any of you cared about my little SAGA with blogger. suffice it to say, i was not a happy camper.

Friday, October 27, 2006

it's taken a while

but i can now count myself as one who has seen Nacho Libre. now whether you think that's a great club to be a part of or not has to do first of all with whether you've seen the movie, and secondly, with your sense of humor.

take a look at this picture. then think of me. then come to your own conclusions about whether i liked it or not, and whether you should see it. (it's PG)

Monday, October 23, 2006

happy birthday dad!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!
75 years, congrats.

it's getting harder to know what to get you for your birthday, by this time in your life you've got whatever you need. so we got you rachel. :-)
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yesterday was a busy day for us at the lara household . . . click to read more [+/-]


first off it was the first sunday for rachel joy. deb was/is still feeling exhausted and trying to adjust to all the changes in her body. so she stayed home. i usually do announcements on sunday mornings, so i came home (next door to the church) and grabbed rachel to hold her while i did announcements. everybody loved seeing her (even the ones who knew for certain that she'd be a boy).

i also got the privelage of baptizing 2 teenagers yesterday morning. one of them forgot to bring a towel so i let her use the one i brought and i just went home all soaking wet, in oct morning cold. (ok so not as cold as our MN friends, but cold nonetheless when you've just come out of a non-heated baptismal)

it was also my dad's birthday yesterday, so after church we went to his house for lunch. we spent a couple hours there and then came home to get ready for the evening service.

last night was a special youth service at reallife.CHURCH. we had our District Youth Director for the Northwest Ministry Network for the Assemblies of God (washington and northern idaho) as a guest speaker with us. we had Jeffery Portmann come speak last year and i've decided to make it a yearly event: DYD Day! i also hope to have him come back again sooner. some of our youth suggested during spring break or summer so that he could bring his whole family. (they didn't come this time because his boys have school the next day)
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today is my last day of 'paternity leave', deb has been noticably been "getting better". but she still needs to take it easy, so i'm glad i'm able to be available for her today.

i've got to get the kids ready for school so - later y'all.

Friday, October 20, 2006

she meets the sisters

i'm able to stay home today and monday from work for paternity leave, which is better than nothing i guess. deb is still pretty exhausted, as would be expected after the experience. (BTW guys, she says she's heard it compared to running a marathon, she says "it's nothing like running a marathon. a marathon would be easy, almost fun exercise by comparison. in a marathon you are simply using your muscles in a normal way, although vigerously. there's nothing normal about the muscles you use for childbirth!" -[and all the women said, "AMEN!"])

here's some pics of rachel meeting the rest of the family:


i'll write more about the whole experience later. (nothing traumatic, for me at least. just some funny anecdotes)

Thursday, October 19, 2006

our first father/daughter dance

It's a GIRL!


Rachel Joy Lara
born at 3.16 am on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006
7 lbs. 6 oz.
21 in.

more story details, pics, and videos to come in the hours and days to come.

thanks to all

i'd like to thank eveyone who is helping us out during this time. my mother who is spending the night with our other kids, maggie for watching them until my mom could get there, everyone at church for your prayers, and both grandmas for helping out with meals in recent days/weeks.here's our surroundings.

deb's contractions are getting stronger, she's having to stop talking and do some deep breathing. she's enjoying listening to her ipod nano. she's got like 22 hours worth of just songs she likes loaded up, so she should be okay for awhile.

and for those that can read this thing:

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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

10pm update

well deb's water was broken 3.5 hours ago and her contractions are coming more consistantly and stronger. i guess we'll have to decide on a name pretty soon.

here's some pics of our "dinner of champions":


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settling in

well, we've made it to the hospital and are ready for the night ahead. we're ready to meet you 'baby lara'! we've got our smiles on:

and our friends "pat and vanna" on the tube.  :-)

Blogged with Flock

ok people, this is it!

ok everyone, deb had a dr. appointment today. she's 4 cm, the dr stripped her membranes and said if we got to the hospital by 6.30pm she'd have us admitted and we'll get this baby on the move.

we'll update you as is allowable (i'm not sure if the hospital has wi-fi)

we appreciate your prayers,

bye for now!

i love my goofball

so i'm trying a new method of posting, via email. i've set up my blog to be able to post something just by sending the email to a "special" email address. this is my first time doing it this way so i'm not sure if i can include pictures or not. (if it does work there should be a picture of danielle sticking her tongue out to the right of this text)

i'm trying this method so that i can write the posts 'offline' while i'm at school on my macbook and then when i go home simply send it and have it post. for those wondering . . . our school does have internet access, but i've been asked to not "plug in" with my mac. because it's not an 'official school' computer.
(actually i was told - "because it's a mac it messes with the system" - which isn't true at all, but i guess the principle isn't a 'technical' guy so he reinterpreted what he was told by the tech guys. the principle actually forwarded me the email he received from the tech guys and all it said was that there was an 'unathorized' computer connecting to the net and they identified it as an apple macbook)
so even though i know it doesn't "mess up" the school system at all, i'll bite my tongue, submit to authority and not connect to the internet while at school. sooo i'm trying a new method.

now back to your regularly scheduled post . . .
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so yesterday was my first day officially unemployed by pizza hut which was really nice. my decision to "retire" (as my niece put it) from pizza hut was mostly driven by 1) my desire to spend more time at home and 2) that i want to be able to devote more time to church activities. our church is currently in a 'season of change' and my duties are also transitioning.

so did i focus on either of those two motives on my first day off work?? glad to report, YES! before my week was busy every night of the week: Sun.,Wed, & Thurs. i was at church; Mon, Tue, Fri, & Sat i was usually scheduled at pizza hut. so we never had an evening free to just relax or planning anything. so we decided to go to yakima, drop the kids off at grandma's house and go out to eat with deb.

what i enjoyed the most about the evening was when we came back to grandma's house. i was sitting on the couch and danielle came up to me asking to read her a book. and it was such a great book "sesame street's: i can do it myself". as a growing, maturing, four year old she is learning to do new things "by herself" everyday. we sat on the couch together enjoying our time together. i even helped her sound out the words to read the book to me. it was a great father/daughter moment.

now i could have done this on some nights even when i did work at pizza hut, but i was more relaxed, not tired, and focused knowing that it was moments like these that i had "retired" from pizza hut for.

it was a great evening all around. i look forward to many more. i love my goofball (danielle) and all our other kids. cuddle times with danielle are always special in their own way.

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UPDATE: it did post the text but not the pictures, so i went back manually via blogger's site to add the pictures.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

not quite 100

well, first off . . . no baby yet. well there is a baby, it's just still inside deborah. secondly, my first 100 mile challenge is over, but i didn't quite make it. it seems i was a little over anxious in what i could accomplish. but if i look at it like, "wow! i ran/walked 88.6 miles in the past 4 weeks!"

anyways, i've set myself a new goal of 150 miles in the next 8 weeks. (i'll keep you updated as the weeks progress. i've also reduced my weight by about 5 lbs in the past 4 weeks too. now i do have to say congratulations to my brother-in-law who has lost weight via Prism; 5 lbs in 1 week. i was mentioning my weight reduction to deborah and how it wasn't as drastic as Jorge's weight loss and she responded "but then again you're not eating like Jorge either!" which is just fine by me, i'm losing weight without having to eat rice cakes. but then again she responded, "he's probably saying, "i'm glad i don't have to go running like aber!" so to each his own i guess.

i'm going to go enjoy a piece of apple pie now. ;-)
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oh and . . . in other news, yesterday was my last day at pizza hut. (i'm free!) hopefully i'll have more time now to devote to posting. (insert wild cheering from all the fans)

Sunday, October 15, 2006

new videos

ok so it's not video footage of a new baby, but fun nonetheless. today (10/15/06) i'm preaching a church during the morning service. we're in the middle of a month long series on "Chazown" (hebrew word for Vision). and in particular trying to understand God's Vision for the area of our finances. as i've done twice before, i chose to speak the message on tithing.

here's some of the funny videos i'll show this morning - (the last one is of me interviewing one of our church members)

Donuts and Tithing


Generopoly


Kung Fu Bible


Interview wih a Tither

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

"i'd like to cancel my appointment"

in and of itself it's not a very amusing phrase. people do it all the time; dentist appointments, doctor visits, parent/teacher meetings, etc.

but when you're 38 weeks pregnant and have an "induction appointment" for 8 am today it sounds funny to call the hospital yesterday and say, "i'd like to cancel my appointment". i'm not sure if they didn't believe her or if it just doesn't happen very often but they told her she had to call her dr.

she did and the nurse said she was busy and would call her after her next patient. she called again around 3pm, and then again at 5.30pm; still no call back from the doctor. so around 7.30pm she calls the hospital again to tell them that she is not coming tomorrow morning, they ask again if she's called her doctor, and then after looking at the schedule realise that the doctor had already called the hospital to cancel the induction, but i guess forgot to call deb back to let her know.

so baby's not coming today (at least not because of an 'eviction notice' as my mom calls it). if the baby does come today, it'll be because if his/her own free will [actually God's Will, but we'll let the baby think what he/she wants for the first few minutes ;-)]

in other news, anna's got some sort of stomach flu or virus or something. she threw up last night before bed, again in the middle of the night, and then again this morning. tonight is the open house at her and danielle's school, hopefully she'll feel better by then.

well, that's all for now, we'll keep you posted on all baby news!

p.s. thanks to all the church members who blessed us with about a bazillion diapers this past sunday, we appreciate it!

Saturday, October 07, 2006

an unexpected compliment



i'm sitting in the saturday morning session of youth convention and i wanted to share an unexpected compliment i received last night.

i went to talk to some of our students who were sitting in a different section (because another group took some of the seats i had saved) after the alter call. and i heard one of my students say to another, "hey, that guy (the main speaker) sound just like abe every week?"

now like i said i wasn't near them most of the service so i don't know if he meant that he was sleeping through it and bored to tears . . . but the tone of his voice sounded positive.

what made this even more accute was a morning breakfast for youth pastors that we went today. at this breakfast the main speaker mentioned that when he was a youth pastor and brought kids to conventions his kids would mention how awesome the main speaker was and he would be thinking "i just preached that message two weeks ago!" his point wasn't to say how awesome a speaker he was but to prove that students don't always remember your week to week messages, but they do remember if you love them. but it was nice to know that at least one of my students thinks that i'm just as good of a speaker as the Youth Conference spaaker.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

no baby yet

well i know you were thinking it. believe me you'll find out here if we've had the baby or not. although today deb's felt a lot of movement and felt like it was coming today.

well if this is the place for lara news, then let the news begin.
i've got about 11 days left on my "100 miles in 4 weeks" challenge. i'm at 60 mi.

i've been working on a new website for the church. (old site vs. new site // when it's complete the old site address will point to the new address. // oh and give me any feedback on what you think would be great to add to the site or take away, etc.)

also, i've put my two weeks notice at pizza hut. i've decided i need to devote more time to my family, and i'm going to be busier with "roundTABLE" coordination at church.
well that's about it for now, i hope to write more "thought provoking" stuff in future posts. gotta go, fpu is starting the discussion portion.

Monday, October 02, 2006

oh did i mention . . .

anna's in the first grade (sorta) . . .

as i've mentioned before, we tried getting anna into first grade this year by skipping kindergarden. well she is in kindergarden for most of the day, but her teacher was noticing (with our prompting) how well anna could read. so i'm glad to report she's now doing the reading block of time with the 1st graders.

not only in with a first grade class, but the highest level 1st grade class! my sister mentioned about an answer to prayer for her daughter concerning school work. i found out later that anna was in that same prayer circle at church asking for her reading time not to be so boring (she was after all only learning about "A" and then "E", when she could read and write at a 1.4 reading level [that's 1st grade - 4th month]). and low and behold last monday afternoon the teacher asked if we'd like her to be in the 1st grade reading block and she began the next day! God cares about every detail of our lives.

trust Him.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

i know . . . i know . . .

i know . . . i know . . . mag, my fans have been waiting. and i've been feeling bad if it makes you feel any better. (actually what makes me feel bad is that people don't leave comments if i don't provide any fodder for stimulation)

ok, so here's a run down of 'recent lara events' (for our fans)

> deb will be 37 weeks on monday and she's ready to get this kid out yesterday.
> i've been working on a new website for the church (when it's ready for the public, you'll be the first to know) running a lot, oh, and i got new "quality" shoes today. (asics, in case you were wondering)
> anna turned 6 and she's loving her new 'shuffle'.
> i think julia's starting to realize that she's not going to be the baby soon, she's been wanting to sleep in the crib every night.
> and danielle is just the cutest middle child on the edge of becoming a genius in preschool while getting lost in the day to day hustle and bustle.


that's about all i can spit out right now. i could make promises that i'll post everyday and never miss again but why would i want to do that to myself??

Monday, September 25, 2006

the great move & other stuff

as promised here's a picture of our "great move" a week ago. (all room names are of their new status)

we're still cleaning up from the whole ordeal. but all in all i think we like our new set up. and hopefully we'll keep it that way for a while (so i won't have to move it again).

click to read the "other stuff"

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so deb is back from her women's conference (thank goodness!). but during her absence i had an interesting experience - i watched "wwe's friday night Smackdown". i don't normally watch "professional wrestling" - grown men in underwear beat each other up. but i found myself inexplicably captivated and unable to look away. i had a pleathera of feelings during this time.

first, if the whole thing is staged then it certainly is a painful dance. and if it's not staged then these wrestlers truly are dumb. because usually one of them looks obviously more "ripped" than the other. i don't care how good the money is, why would the weaker/flabby-er guy get in the ring to get beat up week after week. on the rare occasion that they are equal in strength they fight until one of them is almost beaten and then all of a sudden he acquires some super strength in the final minutes as if he's possesed. and he's doing all these fancy trick moves to counter act his opponent's advances. my question is, "if he knew all these fancy moves why didn't he use them before he got beat up??" they must be stupid.

secondly i couldn't understand why i was so drawn to watching it. i don't consider myself to be a "guy's guy". i don't fix cars, i've never been hunting, i'm not one for manual labor, i've never driven a motorcycle, i've never been to a monster truck show, i don't watch any sport religiously, and so i certainly am not one to watch "professional wrestling". maybe it was because deb was gone i could watch for more than 3 seconds without changing the channel. maybe it was because when i was a kid i used to try to get interested in the WWF because all my friends were into "hulk holgan, 'the giant', and others." or maybe part of it was seeing how enthusiastic the crowd was during the whole spectacle. it reminded me of what days of the gladiators; with an arena full of people seeing to challengers duel to the death.

in any case, it was really wierd to find myself watching it.

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okay, my running is continuing but i need to up the pace a little. as stated on this post, i've set myself a goal of running 100 miles in 4 weeks using the nike+ sportkit to track my progress. this works out to a little bit more than 3.5 miles a day. as of this morning i'm about 2.5 miles behind my goal. the reason this is significant is because on my own i would be 'fine' if i exercised ~5 days a week with an average of 1-3 miles per workout. but now if i skip a day i'll fall even more behind in my distance goal. so in order to allow myself a day off or two a week, i'm gonna have to start running/walking 5-6 miles/week. i'll keep you posted on my progress. oh and if anyone who reads this has a nike+ system and would like to start a 'challenge' your welcome to email me. (click on my profile in the upper right for a link to email me)

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finally, the reality of the fact that we're gonna have a baby just hit me today.  what got me thinking of this is a sixth grader in my first period class.  she just came back today after a week vacation with her family to disneyland!  and it got me thinking that 6th grade is a perfect age to take a family vacation to disneyland.  i thought this mostly because they're old enough to have fun with their parents and be somewhat independent, but not old enough to think it's a drag to have to go on a vacation with their parents.  anyways it got me thinking, "if we go when anna (our oldest) is in 6th grade what grade will the others be?"  and then i had to keep thinking because there's another kid coming into the mix that i hadn't thought of before.  so if anna is in sixth grade; danielle in 4th; julia in 2nd; and the "new kid" in kindergarden!  wow, what a trip that will be.  or should we wait until julia's in 5th or 6th grade??

now we've promised "the girls" that we'll go to disneyland when we're 'out of debt' and anna for one is quick to remind us of that fact.  at our current pace we'll be out of debt when she's in 4th or 5th grade.  so we'll see when it all happens.

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well that was sure a lot to write, and even more to comment about.  i guess that's what i get for being so lax in my writing recently . . .

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Friday, September 22, 2006

pony videos

everyone had fun (well maybe julia wasn't having the most fun)


and

having fun with PONIES!

this weekend is the prosser balloon rally. as part of the festivities the downtown streets are closed off to various vendors. one of them being "pony rides" so grandma called this afternoon to offer to take all the grandkids. the funny part is that the last time she took kids (3 years ago) it only cost $1 per kid. this year it cost $4 per kid x 6 grandkids. she negotiated down to $20 for all of them.

here's some pics of the event. i'll post videos, once they finish uploading to youtube.com. (it may be a while since i came without my laptop charger so i may have to wait till i go home).

(point to a picture to magnify it. click on any of them to see a bigger version)

we miss you mom!



anna came up to me asking if we could mail out a letter to mom. i told her that we couldn't mail it because it wouldn't get to her in time. but i suggested that we scan the picture and post it here for mom to see.

julia and danielle also started to color pictures. but as you can see danielle got a little distracted because soon it was time for Curious George to come on.


Thursday, September 21, 2006

what is up with me???

basically i've been a real lazy bum or lacking in originality. deb left to a women's conference in the seattle area today. she'll be returning on saturday. so i'm on kid duty until then. i'm also trying to motivate myself to surprise deb by cleaning up the whole house before she get's back. as of 8.00pm on thursday, no luck yet.

i've really gotten into the nike+ system. currently i've set two goals for myself.

one is a distance goal:


the other is a frequency goal:


if anyone else out there is using the nike+ system and would like to set up some challenges for some added motivation email me.

as i've gotten more into it, the indicator down on the bottom telling me if i'm "ahead/behind or on target" has really motivated me to continue even when i don't want to. cuz it's better to be ahead or "on" target rather than trying to play "catch up" later.

i know it sounds like i'm ending mid post, but i'm really tired and i'm going to bed. perhaps i'll write more about the nike+ another day.

g'night!

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

the breakfast of champions


(this has been my typical breakfast recently)

i've really been into fruit lately. it started a few weeks ago when i was delivering pizza and i came to a house with a huge bag of pears on a chair near the front door. normally i wouldn't ask, but this day i was really hungry, and i like pears, plus i figured they wouldn't mind. so . . . i asked for a pear as i left.

to my surprise she offered me the whole bag. i didn't necessarily want the whole bag but she insisted that i take a lot. she went inside, grabbed an empty bag, and filled it up. (probably about 10 lbs. total). so i ate 1-2 pears a day for a whole week.

then deborah learned that she could get "coupons" from WIC to use at the 'farmer's market'. so we bought a bunch more pears, peaches, nectarines, and a whole box of Gala apples (my favorite). in addition to being able to meet my daily serving of fruit for the day, deb's also made me an apple pie! she also made one for my sister's birthday (but she lives in minnesota, so we took it to my mom's house to celebrate!)

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in other news . . . sunday we completely revamped our house. those who visit us regularly know that we rearrange our furniture often. like more often than most people. in the three years we've lived in our house our living room furniture has changed probably 10-15 times (i've lost count). we just get bored of the same ole, same ole so we change it. it's also a method to clean up a room.

on occasion we go beyond the living room. we've moved one or two bedrooms around every now and then.

but sunday . . . sunday just about everything got moved. nobody has the same bedroom as before. even the baby's nursery got moved to another room. and we added a "family" tv room. in fact, this time around the only room that didn't change was the living room. (technically the dinning room, kitchen, bathroom, and washer/dryer room also stayed the same but there's not really much you can do to change furniture in those rooms without serious remodeling)

p.s.  i'll add i diagram of the whole transition later.

Monday, September 18, 2006

anything to get bruce to stop looking

hey everyone,

i haven't forgotten about my blog, i promise to post later today and more often this week. oh and by the way i got my new NIKE+iPod thingy this weekend. more about that later.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

on the honor system

ok here's someting just for fun and out of the ordinary.

without googling, how many bruce willis films can you name??

and to make it even "funner", how about only one film per comment. and each person can only comment once every 4 hours. ;-) have fun!!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

about the letter "A"

anna is into her second week of kindergarten. (danielle will begin preschool tomorrow). so we're relaxing in our room after school and i call her in to ask about our day.


"how was your day at school today?" i began.

"good" she responded.

"so what did you learn today, anna?" i asked.

her reply was, "we learned about the letter 'A'."


with that simple answer deb and i busted up laughing. no really, lol. we were actually laughing out loud!

why was this so funny? it seems like a good thing for a kindergarten class to learn at the beginning of the school year. this is funny because it's like a college student learning to read dr. suess on the first day of literature class.

anna is just so far beyond the letter "a". she already knows A-Z, she can read most one syllable words, some multi-syllable words, and is learning more everyday. she is beginning basic math like adding and subtracting. she can write her alphabet and even some words on her own. in fact one of the funnest things for her is to be online and "chat" with me or other people we know. she'll be on one of the other computers and clicks on my name and then types in stuff like, "i love you dad" or "how are you?", etc. and she reads the responses.

anyways, perhaps we're (i'm) still slightly bitter that she didn't get into 1st grade because of her 'gross motor skills' (skipping, bouncing a ball, standing on one foot, etc.) but it absolutely made us laugh that anna has to learn the letter "A".

ssssoooooo . . . i'll be talking to the teacher soon asking her to give anna some more challenging homework. i'd also like to have her tested in her reading skills to see where she places.

anyhow, g'night for now!

Monday, September 11, 2006

part of a different generation

i'm going to be turning 30 this year. (3 mo. 6 days to be exact) with this milestone birthday comes a paradigm shift for me. maybe no one else will see me different but in my mind things will be different.

when i turned 20 i dressed in black all day as a way to symbolize my teenage years. i don't think i'll do the same for this decade. it was a great decade, but it seems kinda foolish to "mourn" for it. i don't really feel like i'm getting old, which is part of my recent soul searching. (it may also be a reason why i started a blog) because i don't really feel old but i don't think i'm gonna feel young either. so i kinda feel like i'm in this generational "purgatory".

click to read more [+/-]
this was accentuated last thursday at the FPU class that i lead. we were talking about balancing our check books and paying our bills. i mentioned that sometimes we don't even open our bank statement and rarely write checks by hand. the others in the group were kinda puzzled so i explained . . . i check our bank accounts online a couple times a week and pay all of our bills through auto-draft, a bank written check, or bill pay; all online.

they were somewhat alarmed that we would do such a thing. they were very wary of doing anything like that online for fear of identity theft. it was hard for them to understand that in the past 3 years since we've lived in grandview we've written maybe 10 checks. and half of those were because we had to send in an initial check to a company in order to set up auto-draft for that bill.

on top of being comfortable using the internet to manage my finances, i would also be categorized as an "alpha user" on the internet. (that's the term i've heard for it) i like to be one of the first people to try new things or see them or at least know they exist on the internet. i'm the guy people ask to find out "what's cool/new" on the internet?? (Baby Names, Leet Speak, Rasterbator, Armpit Fart, Rocketboom, and of course Apple)

so obviously i'm not part of the "older" generation . . .

today is 9/11; so naturally people's thoughts are remembering the events of 2001. i also work at a middle school and began thinking at how old the students were. this year's 6th graders were just starting the 1st grade; hardly able to fully understand what was going on. my oldest daughter wasn't even a year old. and this year's graduating seniors (class of 2007) never lived in america with president reagan, they never knew micheal jackson used to be black, and they all have a "myspace". but mostly i don't feel young anymore because i own a minivan, we're about to have our fourth child, and my kids call me "dad".

so i don't really feel as part of the younger generation. i feel like part of a different generation. i've heard that 40 is the new 30. my peers (in general) are taking longer to get married, longer to settle into a career, still play video games; but at the same time . . . have their own families, buying new homes, and are beginning to pay their own bills without asking mom or dad to help them out.

this is my generation. i'll probably discuss this again a couple months after my 30th birthday has come and passed.

"is that a wrinkle??"

Friday, September 08, 2006

getting back to "flock"

i've used flock (a new web browser based on firefox) off and on for a while now. and i think it's finally growing on me.

there is something you should know about me . . . i like aesthetics.

aesthetic: (adj.) concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty // New Oxford American Dictionary

it's one of the main reasons i "Switched" to a Mac and Apple products in general. not only does their hardware look good but so does the software. it works seemlessly and both the OS and software looks pleasing to the eyes.

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i like things that are aesthetcally pleasing to the point that i no longer use firefox on my mac, because it doesn't look mac-ish enough. i used/use it exclusively when i'm on a Windows machine because it's so much more "powerful and versitile" than internet explorer. on the macs i usually use "safari" or occasionally "camino" (which is a mac-esque version of firefox, but not as versatile).

so now we get to "flock" . . . some things i like include: 1) the integrated picture upload to your account at either flickr or photobucket. (i use photobucket.) 2) you can also post to your blog at many of the more popular sites. 3) it also includes an RSS reader. 4) and it allows you to change the defualt search engine when searching from the toolbar. 5) another neat feature is called "snippets" which lets you drag "things" you want to reference later in a blog post to special 'holding' place.

it does look better than firefox does on a mac, although safari still feels a bit "snappier" than flock. which may be because safari is the defualt browser for the  mac (made by apple) or that may be because i've used safari more and the cache is built up so pages i visit often are just updating new stuff. and it doesn't look as macish as safari does. (when i say look macish it also includes how software interacts. it's hard to explain if you don't own a mac, but you can tell if an application is built for mac or simply ported over from a windows version)

all that said what i like the most is that i'm able to "blog" whether connected online or not.  which is good since my school internet blocks access to any blog sites.  this way i'm able to write my post, it saves it on my notebook, and then publish it when i get home.

well, i've said a mouthful.  check out flock if you wish, there is a windows version.  enjoy!

Thursday, September 07, 2006

i like bbq chips now

deb and i have recently been on a "movie" kick for a couple of reasons. 1) it's really easy to just sit and veg after we’ve put the kids to bed. and 2) there's nothing good on TV (have you heard that before?)

anyways we grabbed our munchies in the middle of the movie and happened to grab some bbq chips. i bought these because i know deb likes them but caught myself grabbing some and enjoying it. the thing is i used to hate bbq chips when growing up. i'm not sure why, it was just one of those things - that i didn't like 'em. so it got me thinking . . . what other views have changed from my childhood.

i also like salad now. it's no surprise that most kids don't like salad, so maybe that one doesn't count.

i used to think that all dogs were boys and cats were girls. now it's obvious.

i used to like "Pops" cereal, now not so much (too much sugar). i like grape nuts flakes!

i used to think i'd never stop wetting my bed. (i'm happy to report, i stopped!) :-)

i used to want to marry Teri Hatcher. (i remember her from "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (1993) not from "Desperate Housewives.") now as you know, i wouldn't trade my wife for anything!

i used to want a 1987 chevy camaro z28, because it was the coolest car in the world. it was also special to me because it's the only "hot wheels" type car i remember owning. now i'd like a mini cooper or nissan Z or chrysler crossfire standard - black.
a lot of things have changed as i've grown up but some things are still the same. but i'll save those for another post . . .

which reminds me i should get back to you some time on all those things i've said so far were "for another post" . . .

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

good times with grandpa



my mom is visiting her sister in california this week so my sister is on "dad duty". she describe's her week so far on her blog.

and i'm here to show some pictures of his foot. apparently this morning he woke up early and wanted to go to his chair (a lazy boy type chair) in the the living room. then maggie went to work, by the time his caretaker, filipe, came my dad had managed to get his foot stuck between the chair and the foot rest. his foot was so swollen that filipe feared it might be broken or at the least spranged (sp?). anyways, they wrapped his foot and another dr had to look at the xrays tomorrow to determine what's wrong. although it's still a little swollen, he seems to be doing okay. and was very glad to see the grandkids.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

the "wife of my youth"


i've got a wonderful wife . . . and my kids have a wonderful mother. i can not express how good she is to me. with all my faults and mistakes she still sticks by my side. she supports me, stands by me, and yes, lovingly corrects me when needed. she loves to leave me surprises at various times and places. (most often when i least expect it.) a small note, a batch of cookies, an extra long kiss when i get home from work, or even a flirting look with her eyes that lets me know "she's all the woman i'll ever need." ;-)

she works tirelessly to care for our children, clean our home, and make time to present herself as beautiful as possible to me. she loves our children and works at being a good mother. she reads bedtime stories not as a tiresome duty at the end of a long day, but as an honorable privilege to impart their royal heritage as princesses. she leads her little princesses the best she knows how. (and may i add, they're turning out splendid)

now don't get me wrong, i'm not blind to her shortcomings. she does have her moments of temper, impatience, mood swings, and general "womanhood".

but nonetheless she is the wife of my youth. i choose not to dwell on the latter traits. i choose to recall the first two paragraphs and "think on these things."

so . . . i will love her as the mother of my children. i will love her as my faithful companion. and i will love her as the only woman for me. babe consider this my second wedding vows.

you are forever my lover, forever my companion, forever beautiful in my sight, forever my partner in ministry. you are forever my friend.

love,

abraham lara

// kids, this is the love between your father and your mother. never forget it. //

Monday, September 04, 2006

forced to write

i don't remember where i heard this but i remember hearing someone say that the way to overcome writer's block is simply to tell your mind to write. to force yourself to write. that's the place i find myself today.

i've been encouraged in the comments to write more on my thoughts and views rather than just a recap of day to day events. so because i have an "inner determination" to write something on this blog everyday, here i am. it's normally a challenge to try to think of something to write, but especially today when i haven't written about anything serious since friday.

do you remember in college or high schooll that feeling you have the day before a big term paper is due? i have the feeling that that day is everyday!
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on a different note . . . i've been faithfully listening to the RELEVANT Podcast for about a year or so. it's very, very funny and sometimes even informative, insightful, and thought provoking. i will tell you it is usually about 45-60 min. long so it's not something that you can usally sit down at your computer and listen to in one sitting. but you can easily listen to it while doing other things especially if you've got an iPod.

anyways, one of the things they are always making reference to is "segways". so i've been trying to think of clever segways in my writing and in my conversations.
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so for lack of a better segway . . . deb mentioned to me the other day during lunch that with her new perspective on life (see the pensive princess) she could for the first time see herself as a "sr. pastor's wife." now just to let everyone know i/we have no plans on becoming sr. pastors, we're very content with our current position. it's just that she never felt before that if i became a sr. pastor that she would feel like a sr. pastor's wife. but now she does.
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well the movie's over and we're going to bed. (i did take some pauses while writing - so i guess i didn't force myself too hard) (it also takes work to find and put in all the links that there are above, so that took some time too.) :-)

update:: i realized that i never mentioned "the movie" on this post, but rather on this one. (phantom of the opera)

Sunday, September 03, 2006

i've been looking for this for a while

i added a stat counter when i first started the blog. and weekly they've been sending me updates of how many people visit the site, how many are returning visitors, how long they stay, which browser they use, even the resolution size of their screen. but the other thing it shows is an ip address which gives an 'approximate' location of where the computer physically is that is being used to visit the site. (approximate, because sometimes the ip address location is for where your isp office is located. like my ip address shows up as Yakima, WA because that's where Charter Cable's office is, i guess). anyways, there's people from all over the world logging into the site. some intentionally and some because they're just "blog browsing" by clicking the "next blog" link up in the corner and blogger randomly chooses one. but over the past few weeks i've noticed someone from in or near winter park, florida logging in to this site and the reallife site.

so i've been interested to know who it is that actually reads this besides the few who've left comments of whom i know.

so the click the map below or i'll also stick a link in the sidebar to add yourself and find out where everyone lives, and who they are.