Another Southern Gospel legend, Ed McNeill and the Dixie Melody Boys.

Great Western Quartet Convention

Here are a few pictures of us on the stage last evening. They aren't the clearest in the world. Diane got as close as she could without blocking someone's view, but still had to zoom in quite a bit. With the lights going everywhere it was hard to get a good shot. We had a great time!

We started off with a beautiful worship song, "We Seek Your Presence". We also did 2 more songs off of our album "Do You Know Him?", both written by Phil Cross.

I have been confused more times in the last 12 hours with Phil Cross. I guess people have trouble seeing more physical features than hair (or lack thereof). I finally quit trying to explain that I wasn't Phil. I'd just go with the flow and answer as if I was Phil. Claude Hopper walked up and said "Phil, do you know where the elevator is?" I started to explain that I wasn't Phil, but then said why not? "I think it's down that way, Claude".

When we got done with our songs, Royce said "That song was just written by our new tenor, Phil Cross." Anything to get a good laugh. When I walked off the stage, Phil was waiting for me. He said, "Hi, Phil. My name's Phil. Good to meet you."

We closed with an upbeat song "Good Time in the Lord". That song has a joyful tune with some great lyrics. The crowd responded to the message and came to their feet in praise.

People have been extremely friendly. Two groups that I have enjoyed hanging out with are Legacy V and the Beene Family. Frank Seamonds, the tenor for Legacy V, is one of the most genuinely friendly guys I've met. Just a great guy! Roger Bennett was able to make it to this trip and it's been a privilege to be with him. If you have never heard of, or checked out, The Beene Family you need to (http://www.thebeenefamily.com/index.htm). They are sincere about their ministry and God is using them in a great way. They are a bunch of great guys, as well.

We're having a great time, so far. It's been a blast to hang out with Dad and Bobby. I'll keep you posted.

I don't know if I'll have a chance to update my blog in the next couple of days. Man, it's been crazy around here. Besides promoting the Brian Free & Assurance concert that will be at our church on May 16, I've been working on a myriad of other tasks. Today, my employed form of relaxation consisted of mowing the yard. Pathetic.

Tomorrow night Liberty takes off for Fresno, CA and the "Great Western Southern Gospel Fan Festival" (http://www.thefanfest.com/). I'm looking forward to singing there and seeing many of the friends I've made in the last few weeks. My brother, Bob, and Dad are flying in from Indy for the weekend to hang out with me. I know we're going to have a good time.

I'm going to take my camera with me, but as often is the case, I forget the camera when those Kodak moments are there for the taking. I'll try to update the blog from our hotel. We'll see.

Weighty Matters

I have had several inquiries about my weight loss quest, the most recent being from Brenda Pardoe (check out her blog at http://nursingstudentlife.blogspot.com/; I especially like the picture on the April 04 post entitled: "Clinical Experience for Today"). I have done reasonably well, to answer all the critics (most of whom possess corpulent physiques) who scoffed contemptuously at my endeavor. While I have yet to invest in a new scale (our electronic scale is not to be trusted) I have drastically changed my eating habits. I used to snack frequently between meals, and my snacks were high in fat and cholesterol. I consumed a lot of soda, junk food, and candy. Now I am eating (mostly) three times a day and the quality of what I swill has improved dramatically. I am drinking water almost all of the time. In the past month I have had soda just 8 times. Not bad for a guy who drank 3 cans of pop a day. I am also (at the advice of nutrition expert, Marc Taylor) imbibing on fruit when I feel the need to snack. I have started to eat other green vegetables besides green beans, which before has never happened. I'm actually getting to where I can eat broccoli without the gag reflex. It has made a difference. I don't think I've lost tons of weight, but I do have a little more room in my clothes.

I haven't done that well on the exercise side of things, however. I have to make time for it, and so far that hasn't happened. Doran joined a gym and I'm considering doing the same thing. I'm just afraid I'll waste (or waist) the money. I don't know...

When I get the scale I'll let you know where I am. I have no pride.

Recap

Below you'll find some pictures from our trip to Nevada. We had a fantastic time. We had the privilege of witnessing 13 individuals give their hearts to Christ during the weekend. Awesome! Along the way, we managed to see the sights of Reno and have a little fun. I haven't had the chance to feature Dan Gilbert in many of my posts. Now, you can see what we put up with. The guy's a convivial crack-up! He definitely keeps things loose on the road.

These pictures were taken shortly before our detours (see post below). Royce spends a lot of time assuming this posture when Doran is behind the wheel. When I drive, all three group members are on their knees in prayer.

Some pictures don't need captions.

They say that baby elephants are quite unprepossessing and awkward until adulthood (as you can see in this rare sighting of a baby and it's mother).

There was an outdoor beach volleyball game being televised outside one of the casinos. The temperature had to be in the low 50s. It was very chilly. I actually felt sorry for the contestants. They don't wear enough clothes anyway and when you compound that fact with the cold weather, it made for some very unhappy faces. Dan, in this picture, is attempting to explain to the rest of us how the volleyball members signal to each other. While we didn't quite comprehend his description, we got a kick out of the visual.

Getting His Just Desserts

I caught Dan spending some time at his favorite section of the buffet: the dessert bar. For Donna's sake, I'm not going to mention what he consumed.

Dan and I took time to pose in downtown Reno. I love the expression on the face of the guy passing Dan. Trust me, if his gut is sticking out like that, then there's another part of his body (appropriately edited) that is going the other direction. Hence, the passerby's look of horrified disgust.

Randy's Rig

We enjoyed checking out Randy Travis's ride in Reno. I love our Eagle, but his bus is out of this world. Dan was casting envious glances at the coach.

Here's one more pic of the star hanging out with some of her fans. Trey and Kassady were impressed with Ashley's performance. Especially Kassady. She enjoyed getting into the clapping part.

I have to mention the accomplishment of another Grace Teen member. Ashley Taylor played at a recital Friday night and did an outstanding job (according to Lori). She played "Long, Long Ago" as a solo piece and then she played "Skyboat"with the group.

Marc and I were privileged to hang out with Tony, Abby, and the kids on Wednesday before our plane flew out. Britton had to show off his jumpshot. He's the man. He and Kaitlyn are posing above. I have to tell you about Kaitlyn. At the age of 6 God called her to be a missionary. 2 years later at a huge kids camp in Indiana, she went in front of the congregation (this isn't like her; she is extremely shy) and told them that God was still calling her to the mission field. She's 11 now, but hasn't changed her future plans at all. She knows what God has called her to! That's awesome! I'm glad they're part of my family.

This is what I used to think of when I heard the acronym IHC. I've never seen this happen, but the reports of the past are legendary. From what I hear everything went well this year. People have been telling me that Leonard Sankey delivered a masterpiece on Wednesday evening. It was great getting back. IHC is the closest thing I have to Mecca.

It was also cool to be with one of my Grace Teens members, Tosha.

It was nice to know that Ray brought a little of Idaho with him. He has a llama in his backyard. I promise! Tina is in the 'hood.

It was a blast being with Ray and Lenea again. In the top picture, Ray was explaining his extensive knowledge about HVAC systems to a couple of rookies, Marc and Brian. Ray is really into the mechanical side of things. Someone captured this pic of Lenea as she listened with rapt attention to my philosophies of interior design. My theory took about 12 seconds.

The Update

Man, it's been forever since I posted some of my witty commentary. Now, perhaps witty isn't what comes to mind for many of you, I don't know. Well, the fact is, I just haven't got around to updating my blog much.

I've had a great week. Monday, Marc Taylor and I flew out to Dayton, OH for the AYC board meeting. I had a great time hangin' out with the guys. Fortunately, I had a few hours to run over to IHC at the Convention Center. It was awesome to be able to touch base with a lot of friends who I haven't seen for quite a while. Marc and I spent the night with Ray and Lenea at their new home in Richmond, IN. Things are going extremely well with their ministry in Centerville. God has blessed them with a wonderful congregation who loves them dearly. I was thrilled to see what God was doing at their church.

It was a thrill to get home late Wednesday evening, though. Unfortunately, I was only around for a few hours. Liberty had to jump on the bus and head to a concert in Boise Thursday evening. We were privileged to share the stage with Sandy Rios a conservative news correspondent for Fox News. She has also served as a co-host for Crossfire and a contributor to many of the major news networks and newspapers. She eloquently shared her passion for Christ and the importance of developing a biblical worldview.

Early Friday we started for Hawthorne, NV. Well, we kind of started for Hawthorne. We stopped to grab some breakfast and while we were waiting on the food, I happened to ask Royce if we had ever been to the church in Hawthorne. He gave me a puzzled look, like, what are you talking about? He said, "We're not going to Hawthorne tonight. We're going to Eureka Springs." I said, "I don't think so, Royce. We're supposed to be in Hawthorne." As usual, he wouldn't take my word for it, so he had to confirm with our logistics man, Dan. He said, "Dan, where are we supposed to be tonight?" Dan said, "Hawthorne". Royce buried his head in his arms then looked up and said, "I've just driven 2 hours in the wrong direction!" we got back on the bus and began hurtling down the highway at a high rate of speed. According to our GPS we could still make it a 1/2 hour before service. We spent the rest of the day and the afternoon traveling at speeds a little higher than the posted mph. Doran drove the last leg of the trip. He discovered the new SG station on XM satellite radio, so we were listening intently to a recap of the 2005 Singing News fan awards. In fact, Doran was listening so intently that he missed his exit. We drove on past the place about 30 miles before we could find a road that would take us back. To make a long story short we pulled up to the church about 5 minutes after the concert was to start. Fortunately, the people were as flexible and as good-natured as could be. We had about 30 guys that helped us unload our equipment. It took us 9 minutes to set up our sound system. That has to be an all-time record!

We had a fantastic concert! In fact, 9 people gave their hearts to Christ Friday night. It makes me think that Satan didn't want us there.

Yesterday, we made our way to Reno where we spent some time strolling downtown. Reno, NV is the most unchurched city in the US. 95% of the cities residents do not go to church. It's a sad statistic. We were able to walk up to the Randy Travis bus. He was inside getting ready for a concert that evening, so we didn't have the chance to meet him. Last night we were at the South Reno Baptist Church. Pastor Joe is one of the coolest guys I've met. His passion for God and his humor are evident as soon as you meet him. When he moved to this church 13 years ago, they were averaging 42 people a service. They are now running over 600. But he won't let us church get above 600 or 700. As soon as it does, he takes 100 people and plants a new church in Reno. He has planted 5 or 6 churches in the last 10 years. It's incredible what God is doing through his ministry!

We're going to be at his church again this morning for a couple of services. Well, I'm going to post some pics above. Enjoy and I'll touch base later.

The Easter Adventure

SCC's song "Busy Man" comes to mind

This is not good. It's 4:03 AM as I type this and I've been up since 2:15 AM. This normally wouldn't be that big of a deal. I'd just sleep in a little or make sure I was in bed earlier tonight. This will not be the case today. Marc and I are going to be heading out to Dayton, OH in about 3 hours. I have an AYC board meeting tomorrow morning and then I'll head over to IHC in the afternoon. Ray and Tony are picking us up at the airport in Indianapolis and we're going to be driving up to Dayton this evening. This will, of course, be after a long-overdue meal at Buffalo Wild Wings (12 wings, medium sauce, potato chips and cheese on the side). There is no way I'm going to be getting to bed early tonight. Hopefully, I can catch some Z's on the plane. I'm one of those 8-hour-a-night guys, so I'm stressing about this.

This is going to be a busy week. I fly back late Wednesday, and then it's off to concerts on Thursday-Monday. So, there probably won't be a lot of updating on the ol' blog until next week. I have a great music video featuring Trey and Kassady that I will try to have on here by Thursday. It turned out pretty good.

As a girl that I used to travel with in choir used to say, "Please remember me in your prayers, that I'll make it to the end." I don't know what she meant, but I'm using it to say, pray that I survive this week!

Congrats!

I want to extend congratulations to one of Grace Teens' greatest, Kayla, on hitting for the cycle this past week in a high school softball game. For those of you that have played competitive sports or at least followed them, you know that this is a rare accomplishment. For those of you who don't follow sports, it has nothing to do with biking or anything like that. If you need it explained just give me a yell (yeah, Mom, I'm talking to you!).

Kayla, I just hope the milkshake was worth it.

Easter morning service

We had a beautiful Easter service at Grace this morning. It was a privilege to be able to celebrate Christ's resurrection at my home church. Grace Praise began the service by singing the Easter classic "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" followed by Scripture. We then transitioned into a lively rendition of "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High". The Easter service music has to include the timeless Gospel song "He Lives" and after singing that our praise team led right into the well-known Gaither song, "Because He Lives." The faith, hope, and joy found in the words of that chorus allowed our congregation to testify to the fact that "life is worth the living, just because He lives." Awesome.

Lori played an arrangement of Anne Herring's "Easter Song" for the offertory. Absolutely beautiful! And I can say that. She's my wife and she plays the flute with the best of them (that's no exaggeration, either)!

Before prayer, Grace Praise led the chorus "He Is Lord". As we finished the chorus, Lori picked up her flute and softly played through "I Love You, Lord". God settled down over our service as the praise team began to sing the words.

After prayer, Doran and Diane joined me on a song that is becoming one of my favorites, "Calvary Answers For Me" (you really need to check out the Perry's performance on their great recording, "This Is the Day"). Man, the words to that song are just powerful!

Pastor Keaton delivered an awesome sermon with an interesting title: Jesus At His Best.

He asked, was Jesus at His best in:
Creation,
Incarnation
Impartation
(I can't remember the exact word he used here, but it had to do with His role in the plan of redemption)
Evacuation
Salvation

He concluded that Christ is at His best when He brings all of the above into play in saving a lost soul. Great delivery. Incredible message.

Doran, Diane, and I then sang "Were You There" and closed with the chorus "Arise, My Love". There is something special about Easter celebrations. This morning was no different.

To know that the tomb is empty gives hope and joy to the Christian's heart! HE LIVES!

Was It Worth It?

When is the last time you truly thought about what Christ went through on Calvary?
When is the last time you contemplated on His agony, the excruciating pain, the sense of loneliness that He must have felt?
How many times have you taken for granted the extreme sacrifice offered for your soul?
Why did Jesus do it?
Why did He care?
How did Christ find the strength necessary to go through with the plan?
What was going through His mind on the cross?
Were there unanswered questions that He struggled with in those last few hours?
Did Christ grapple with the temptation to save himself while hanging there?
Could He have battled feelings of hatred as He suffered the torment of the nails, the spear, the awful thirst?
What would it be like to be totally separated from GOD?
Would the silence from above hurt more than the pain inflicted from below?
Could He see the end or was He lost in the moment?
How could Jesus still love in spite of the anguish, the fear, the bleakness?
Where did He find the strength to forgive?
How could His last act on the cross be one of mercy, an execution of grace?

Looking at your life, was it worth it?

Chain Gang

For anyone who gets one of those e-mails featuring urgent messages concerning some kid in England with leukemia who will be saved if you just forward this e-mail to 5 friends or has received an e-mail promising $25 gift certificates from Bath and Body Works, I have a link that you are sure to enjoy (was that a run-on sentence?):

http://www.softlab.ece.ntua.gr/~sivann/pub/swf/may02-smilepop-soapbox4.swf

Thanks, Rochenda!

Addison

The other night we were over at Marc & Talisha's house for supper. Marc was telling me how Addison just loves gulping down water, especially when it's out of a glass. As you can see, he demonstrated Addison's new trick. The picture doesn't do this justice. Addison put a death-grip on the glass and inhaled it's contents. I laughed my head off. The whole Taylor family gathered 'round for this one.

Movin'

Lori and I would like to congratulate both sets of parents on successful transitions into new houses. The Waggoners have moved across the Atlantic from Desford, (Leicestershire) England to Peoria, IL, while the Fredericks have moved from Philadelphia, PA to the Souderton, PA area. They did this without the expertise that we would bring to such a big move, and did it quite well, I might add. Hopefully, we'll get back for Christmas.

Spring Is Officially Declared on Spruce Creek Drive

It is now officially spring! Today is the first day for me to go outside without a coat. For those that know me well, they understand (no, that's the wrong word, they observe) my paranoia concerning colds. I hate getting a cold. And now that I'm singing all the time, it's double the "must stay warm at all costs" mania. Yeah, I probably go overboard, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. There's nothing worse than singing with all kinds of junk in your throat and chest.

So, today I started out with a jacket. About mid-morning I realized that this was massive overkill, that I was sweating like a Mohave Desert trapeze artist (I like the analogy, myself). So, I took it off and it stayed off the rest of the day. I spent quite a bit of time outside working on my yard, cleaning the car, not to mention re-training Trey on how to ride a bike, and not once did I go back. I have to tell you, it felt good!

And to further push the envelope, I also intentionally went without my hat. Folks, summer is a'comin'.

Guru

Trey is becoming quite proficient at the computer. In fact, he can actually smoke me at a couple of games on the Veggietales website. He now knows how to navigate around and find what he wants. I was 20 before I even knew the Internet existed, much less figured it out. Kassady likes hanging out and watching the action (for at least a few minutes). Trey gets ticked when she moves around and jostles his arm. She occasionally attempts to "help" Trey out, which cause much dissension in the Waggoner household.

Rejoice! it's Royce

Royce finally got the group he wanted all along. Here is their new promotional picture. The Royal Roycemen is the new group name. We wish them well.

Back

Well, I'm back from another long weekend. I got home about 6:30 this morning. It's been a long day. I'm tired.

I apologize, but I forgot to take my camera on the road this weekend. Which is very unfortunate, because Liberty had a score of great Kodak moments. I'm adding that to my packing list (I've plagiarized the GBS choir/SWSE checklist) the next time we go out.

This was an enjoyable tour. Our schedule included 5 concerts in 4 states (Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming). Wi-fi was not to be found (hence, the lack of posting over the last few days). This was a great trip in terms of enthusiastic crowds. Man, I think every church we visited was plugged in! They even laughed at my jokes (which really helps hone my definition of enthusiastic). I almost felt Seinfeldesque. Almost.

k-la's post

OK, k-la. This post is for you.

UUGGGHH

Trey is no longer allowed to take pictures of me. He is grounded from the camera.

Handywoman

I'm trying to impart to Kassady all of my prodigious knowledge concerning all things mechanical. Here, she begins working on a light fixture. She did a little bit better than I usually do. It took her about 86 minutes to get it fixed, just 13 minutes over my normal time.

Catching Up

Well, after a long break, I'm on the road again. We arrived in Elko, NV a little bit early, so I'm killing a some time before we go set up. We're about 300 yards from a Wal-Mart so Doran and I ran over there to stock up on food items for the bus. Who knew they made Chex mix in a "Turtle" flavor? Good stuff! Try it.

By the way, I got a message from Jonathan this afternoon. Dale has walked about 300 feet today and was able to eat a little breakfast and dinner. Also, great news! It looks like both of his kidneys are operating normally. God is good. This whole thing is a miracle! Keep praying for Dale, though. I don't know much about this kind of stuff, but I know that he still has a long road to full recovery ahead of him.

We just got our instrumental tracks back from Nashville for two of our upcoming albums. We're going to be recording a song I wrote, "Great Day", on our June project. It's pretty cool to hear Nashville musicians take your idea and expand on it (which is a good thing, if you ask Chuck). I was impressed.

I don't know when I'm going to have a chance to update this thing, so I'll at least have something by Tuesday.

So, Who Is More Intelligent Here: Man or Monkey?

This article in the the London Daily News cracked me up. Nothing like half-witted tourists.

"A troop of mischievous monkeys at London Zoo have had to be re-trained after showing too much interest in mobile phones.

The ring tones and bright lights proved just too attractive to the squirrel monkeys in their new no-barrier enclosure.

Visitors who held out their phones to video or take photographs attracted attention from the monkeys who attempted to take the object.

A short training programme was developed which put an end to their interest and the monkeys are once again roaming their environment in a more natural state of play.

Staff at the zoo used old mobile phones that some of the keepers donated and put sticky substances on them that squirrel monkeys don't like.

'They soon learned not to touch the phones. They are back to their usual pastimes of sleeping and foraging now," said Malcolm Fitzpatrick, curator of mammals at the Zoological Society of London. '"

If sleeping and foraging are indicators of simian behavior I have a couple of people I would like to recommend to the Zoological Society. One of my favorite comments to the story was posted by Bob from Nevada, MO:

Instead of re-training them, can we breed the phone-grabbing instinct into them, then deploy the monkeys on buses, subways, and in stores and theaters? Sounds like a good way to enforce cell phone etiquette to me.
I would like to second Bob's motion and amend it by adding that if that plan doesn't work, we send in the Trunk Monkeys to finish the job.

(full story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=382180&in_page_id=1770)

I really dig ice cream!

Kassady, not to be left out of the evening's fun (see post below), dug into the ice cream. Literally. I guess it was good 'til the last drop. I like the tongue's anticipation of what's coming.

Wild Game

This picture was taken during "Waggoner family game n' ice cream night". We played UNO, Sorry, and Candyland and enjoyed cookies and cream ice cream. I'm the only one who didn't win a game. As you can see, Trey inherited the Waggoner tendency to enter into the game physically. Both Bobby and I have a propensity to jump up when the game gets to be a little intense. We also start talking louder and louder, each trying to outdo the other. Our family reunions are a little chaotic and require Tylenol.

It's all about who you know...

It's nice to know people who know famous people. Tony, someday I want to be able to hob-nob with the big dogs like you do (I left off the picture of Tony getting bussed by Hillary).

Dale Bailey update

For those with Frankfort connections, I'm sure you have all heard about what has happened to Dale. When he went into surgery this morning, they gave him a 10% chance to make it through the procedure and told Jonathan that he would have to have a leg amputated and a kidney removed even if he did make it. Some of Dale's last words to Jonathan before he went into surgery were "We're serving a big God."

I just got off the phone with Jonathan again and Dale is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances. He made it through the surgery to repair his mitral valve, aortic valve, and descending aorta. It looks like he won't have to have his leg amputated. The blood is flowing to the leg and it's pink and functioning normally. He will possibly have to deal with nerve damage to the foot, but if he makes it successfully through the next few weeks, he will walk again. There is also an outside chance that they can save the kidney. He might be able to avoid dialysis.

Keep praying for Dale (as well as for Cheryl, Jonathan, and Susan). The doctor told Jonathan to tell people to keep on praying. He told him that he knew that they were people of prayer, because none of this should have happened. Dale is not out of the woods yet, but there is a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel. Like Dale said, "We're serving a big God"!

Uno is not for the faint of heart

The other night after Grace Teens, a bunch of us played speed UNO. Probably, many of you have played different versions of speed UNO, but this particular variation was crazy. Not only did it involve beating each other to laying down a card, but it also included the switching hands option, the 2 silence rule, the accumulative rule, and a lot of other crazy things that were new to me. It took Ashley a little while to catch on. Here I shove many cards towards the recipient of 4 "Draw 4"s.

One Bad Biker

Shortly before we moved to Idaho, some our dear friends from the Immanuel Church of the Nazarene (Webb and Kate Helton), gave Trey this purple electric motorcycle. I was immediately jealous. I always wanted something cool like that when I was kid. I can't tell you how many times I requested the electric Jeep 4X4 for Christmas only to be disappointed upon opening my present containing dress shirts. I secretly wanted to ride the thing myself.

Well, this is the first year that Trey has actually been big enough, not to mention coordinated enough, to ride the bike. So, he has had a blast. He kind of has the steering down, kind of knows how to break, and definitely knows how to pull the throttle all the way back. It's pretty funny to watch him. He's not real confident in his ability to steer, so as he roars up the sidewalk, he brakes violently before coming to any object. On our block, many people have the mailbox/newspaper box on a pole in the middle of the sidewalk. So, instead of just going around them, Trey flies up to within 3 feet and then slams on the brakes, coming within inches of the boxes. He, then, very slowly and carefully navigates around the object in his way. When he's clear he's back on the throttle.

Our family went for a walk the other night, and Trey wanted to ride. The motorcycle is actually pretty fast. I have to stay at fast jog to keep up with him. While, he was slowly making his way around another box, I took off at a run. I was also pushing Kassady in the stroller. I got up to a driveway about 40 yards down the road and turned around to wait on Lori and Trey. Well, Lori had told Trey to catch up with Daddy and Kassady and Trey took her literally. He came flying up the sidewalk to where we were standing. If I would have been thinking I would have surmised that there Trey doesn't differentiate between obstacles, mailboxes or people. As I stood waiting and Trey got closer it finally clicked that he wasn't planning on braking. Now, the motorcycle is fairly small, and he is only going about 6 or 7 mph, but I'm still thinking that he could cause much damage to my person. Sure enough, he didn't stop, he steered right for us at full throttle. I shoved Kassady out of the way and jumped the other direction as he went motoring by.

He thought it was hilarious! So did my caring wife Lori, who upon seeing the narrowly averted disaster, burst into uncontrollable laughter (which lasted for several minutes). Kassady and I weren't as impressed. We spent the rest of the walk behind Evil Knievel.

Biker Babe

Kassady was insistent upon trying out the bike for herself. I grabbed her just as she was pulling back on the throttle. Close call! That girl ain't scared of nothin'!

Kassady was as nervous about Trey's driving abilities as I was. After our little incident, she kept sticking her head out the side and looking back to make sure that everything was OK.

The Final

Last night we went over to Royce and Tammy's house to watch the NCAA Championship game. What a great game! Actually, it was one of the sloppiest basketball games I've ever witnessed. It doesn't matter, though. Florida won.

Now, I can care less about Florida's team. They mean nothing to me. They're not from Indiana, they're not from Ohio, and they're a long ways from Idaho. So, I don't root for them on a normal basis. The thing is, though, I had to cheer for them this year. Royce and I had been talking a lot of smack back and forth during the tournament, and unfortunately for me and my big mouth, his team made it into the final game. There was no way I was going to give him the satisfaction of cheering for UCLA, so I was stuck on the Gator side.

We watched the first half and then, for some reason, Royce lost all interest in the game. At least I won't have to listen to him rant and rave about his team for the next couple of weeks.

Blessed Is the Man...

As I sit here (at my new desk) this evening, I've been reflecting on all of God's blessings on my life. This has been a long year. I've noticed that people in ministry never like to admit that bad things have happened. We always like to put on the positive spin, thinking that perhaps if we ignore the problems of life long enough, they'll just dissipate and disappear. Enough of that. Here are the facts: In the past 12 months I've been through things that have challenged my faith, things that have made me realize how much I have to depend on God. I've failed in some areas of my ministry. I haven't seen all that I would have liked to have seen accomplished in my life and in the lives of those I minister to. Some of my deepest hurts and biggest losses have happened during this last chapter of my life. It's probably been one of the toughest stretches I've ever been through.

But, at the same time, it's produced an understanding of God and His will that I've never before experienced. While my faith has been challenged, it has also been, through the trials, undeniably strengthened. I hate to admit failure, but I have to. However, even though my ministry hasn't been all that I would want it to be this year, it has, once again, brought me on my face to my Father, and He has proved that He is a God of justice, grace, and strength. God has clearly won the day and any accomplishments have been to His glory. During some of the darkest days this year, God has been the closest. I've taken advantage of the offer of I Peter 5:7 and found that it's true. Not only has God been closer than a brother, He has been Abba Father. Someone I can trust in, confide in, draw strength from. He has helped me deepen my relationships with friends and mentors. God has opened my eyes to the fact that I don't walk this journey alone. Today, I have more close friendships than ever before in my life. God has closed a door for ministry and opened a new door. He has truly given me the desires of my heart.

My family is closer than it has ever been, extended and immediate. I have been allowed to have two of the most wonderful children in the world. The privilege of being a part is one that I revel in daily. Through all that we have experienced, the love and respect that Lori and I share has deepened and matured. We are more devoted than ever. My love for ministry has been rekindled. My love and concern for people has been renewed. God has blessed me time and time again.

This has been a long year. This has been a blessed year. My favorite phrase is appropriate tonight:

It's all good.

Trey's latest joke

What is a cow's favorite place to go?

The movies.

("Hey, dad. Get it? Because cows go, 'moo'. See? Get it?")

Can you spare a dollar?

This takes me back to my days on the streets of Cincinnati where I would do anything for a handout. The only thing missing is my Wurlitzer accordion.

The Desk

Here is the desk (read post below) that I slaved over Tuesday. I can say that it was a labor of love. At least, I think so. This was the first project that I completed without any hint of stress. The clarity of Sauder's instructions have improved dramatically over the years.

The Closest I'll Get to an African Safari

On Monday, the Waggoner family took a little educational expedition to the Boise Zoo. It was the first time that Trey and Kassady have been to a zoo. They loved it! Trey especially enjoyed the Komodo Dragon. He posed with it, then rode it. He my boy.

The ground hog exhibit featured an interactive experience. You could tunnel in with those little furry creatures and see what it was like for yourself. I can now sympathize somewhat with Bubbleboy.

The giraffe slide was an object of great interest for the kids. There was lots of education going on, as you can see.