Death by stingray

Farewall Croc Master, Steve Irwin. You know, it's kind of weird when a celebrity like this dies. You almost feel like you knew them. I have to admit I felt sadness when I read about his death. Crikey!

Bend it like Trey

Trey started soccer practice last night. This is his first year to play in the Nampa city league. He loved it! Trey is really impressed that he got the #7 jersey. He strutted around, preening for us after the practice. He was pretty confident in his skills last night, remarking to his teammates in a matter-of-fact tone that he was a really good soccer player. He actually is pretty good. He is one of the better athletes on the team and he's pretty good at dribbling and passing the ball. Their practice was pretty (I'm really stuck on using the adjective "pretty") entertaining to watch. It didn't matter whether the ball was inbounds or out of bounds, the entire team could be found running, jumping, kicking it and each other. It should be a pretty interesting season.

Trey has just developed this competitive streak. I don't know where he got that (cough, cough). He hates losing, which I can relate to. But we've been working on the concept of sportsmanship, of losing gracefully. He'll offer congratulations if he loses, albeit grudgingly. He's a good kid.

Here is the team; all 6 of them. They play 3 on 3 soccer in this league. So, 3 starters and 3 subs.

Trey enjoyed the dribbling drills, this due to the fact that he was faster at it than everyone else.

Trey is getting to where he enjoys meeting new people. He and his teammate, Griffin, hit it off immediately.

Triptales

We had another terrific weekend in Washington. This weekend was a little bit different in that all of the churches we sang at were new stops for us. They gave us a tremendous welcome! The promoters all did a great job and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many new people. We've been trying out some of the material on our new album due out September 12. The audiences seem to like our fresh arrangements of those old Stamps-Baxter numbers. "I'm Gonna Walk" is my personal favorite off of the CD. Of course, there were some hilarious moments on the road. Unfortunately, I can't print all of them. You'll find some miscellaneous snapshots below.

The bus is cruising along quite nicely.

We were at a beautiful country church in Cedonia, WA Friday evening. We had a fantastic concert!

Dan teaches Bus Maintenance 101 to Doran: "Now this here thingamajig plugs into this whatyamacallit. I think that's what keeps the generator running. Oh, and by the way, don't forget to open this bay door when the generator is running. This here piece will overheat and cause this here thingamajob to pop out and..."

Take me out to the ballgame...

Tuesday evening, the Waggoner family headed out for Boise for an evening of laughter, delicious hot pretzels, fluffy cotton candy, cold drinks, and...oh yeah, baseball. Trey and Kassady had never been to a baseball game, so Lori and I took them to a Boise Hawks game. The Hawks are a farm club for the Chicago Cubs and are leading their division in the race for the Northwest League Championship. It was a great game! Trey was so psyched to be at the game he could hardly take everything in. Sensory overload. He was jumping up and down for the abnormally slow, off-pitch version of the National Anthem that seems to plague minor league ballparks. By the time the first pitch was thrown he was frothing at the mouth.

You know, the funny thing about Trey is his obsession with the technical. He enjoyed watching the players hit and all that, but he was absolutely enthralled with the scoreboard and keeping track of everything that was going on. He kept informing me of all the statistics of the game, what the pitch count was, who was up, and all that. Trey missed half of the action trying to keep up with what was going on the board. One of our players smashed a home run and Trey was up screaming and jumping around. Then, he turned around and said, "Hey, Dad. Where did he hit it?" He was watching the scoreboard flash "Home Run!!" and missed it completely. He's a funny guy.

The Hawks just mutilated the Spokane Indians 9-4, which thrilled Trey to no end. In fact, the Indians took an early lead and Trey turned to me, lip quivering, and said, "You mean the home team can lose?" It shook his confidence early. But the boys came through. It was a perfect night for baseball and we had terrific seats behind home plate. The popcorn was awful, the pretzels were good, the cotton candy was better. We loved it all!

Trey takes a moment out of his time checking the box score to cheese for the camera.

Just as I was snapping this picture of Kassady, she slipped through the seat, trapping her legs. The next few minutes were spent gingerly extracting her feet. She screamed loudly, of course.

Trey posed with the Boise mascot, Humphrey the Hawk. He thought it was the mascot for our favorite restaurant, Red Robin.

Now, tonight, Lori, Marc, Talisha, Dustin, Angie, and myself are off to see the season-opener of the Boise State Broncos. The Smurf turf awaits.

Recording

I'll be posting some pictures from last weekend's trip to Washington. It was a wonderful weekend. We sang in 4 brand new venues and were very warmly received. This weekend we're off, but there's still a lot to do. Here in about 30 minutes I'm heading over to the studio to finish up vocals on our new album which will be out in late fall or early winter. Phil Cross flew in last night and will be here the next couple of days to help arrange/produce the rest of the project. I am very excited about this recording! It's definitely stretched us and is a fresh approach to our music ministry.

By the way, I just found out that our album "Old-Time Gospel Songs Vol.1" which was supposed to be released in June is finally going to be released on September 12. I'm working on the contest rules for those who want to win a free CD. Even though we had to wait longer than we had anticipated it will be worth it. We've added 2 songs to our original lineup. Stay tuned.

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was Trey's first day of school. Fortunately, I was able to get back in time from Washington to take him to kindergarten. He loved it! When he got home I asked him how everything went. His response was typical: "We got to play on the playground and everything!" He then informed me that they are learning about the important letters of the alphabet (I presume they'll be the vowels) and today's letter was "I". There are a couple of his friends from church who are in his class, so he feels right at home. Here are a few pics of him getting ready to go:

Since he goes at 11:45 AM, Trey grabs lunch at home

He really likes his new backpack. I think he was as excited to show off his backpack as he was to go to school.

At this point, Trey was beginning to ask "Is it time to go yet?" over and over. He gets that from me. I hate to be late for anything. In fact, I prefer being there early. When I was a kid going to the Bible Holiness Church in Frankfort, IN I would be the first one there; by at least 15 minutes. I'd sit there waiting for someone to show up and open the doors. I didn't want to miss a thing. For the record, the second person to show up at church was my Grandma, so you see where I got it.

Lori and Trey cheese for the camera. We both (Lori and I) made it without tears. We are proud parents, though!

Once again, Kassady steals the show.

Kassady insisted on getting in on our picture this morning. I'm a lucky man!

World, My Son Starts School Today!
World, take my son by the hand--he starts to school today!
It's all going to be strange and new to him for a while, and I wish you would sort of treat him gently. You see, up to now, he's been king of the roost. He's been the boss of the backyard. I have always been around to repair his wounds, and I've always been handy to soothe his feelings.
Buy now things are going to be different. This morning he's going to walk down the front steps, wave his hand, and start on a great adventure that probably will include wars and tragedy and sorrow.
To live in this world will require faith and love and courage. So World, I wish you would sort of take him by his young hand and teach him the things he will have to know.
Teach him--but gently, if you can.
He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just--that all men are not true. Teach him that for every scoundrel there is a hero; that for every enemy there is a friend.
Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest people to lick.
Teach him the wonders of books. Give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and flowers on a green hill.
Teach him that it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong.
Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd then everyone else is getting on the bandwagon. Teach him to listen to all men, but to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and to take only the good that comes through.
Teach him to sell his brawn and brains to the highest bidders but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul. Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob--and to stand and fight if he thinks he's right.
Teach him gently, World, but don't coddle him, because only the test of fire makes fine steel.
This is a big order, World, but see what you can do.
He's such a nice little fellow.

By Abraham Lincoln
An essay written when Tad, the youngest son of our 16th president, began his first day of formal education.

(thanks, Sue, for sending this my way)

More birthday wishes

Two other Happy Birthday congratulations that I need to pass out for today:

Happy Birthday to my father-in-law, David Frederick, who turns ** today.

Happy Birthday to my nephew, Dylan, (my brother Bob's little boy) who turns 5 today.

The party

We had a small party for Kassady last night. We invited just a few people over to help her celebrate. Fortunately, she hasn't figured out that if you have more people at the party you get more presents. No, those materialistic expectations are confined to Trey who remarked yesterday that he wanted to have a HUGE party with lots of people and presents. Kassady never was aware that the party was for her. She sang along lustily as we regaled her with the "Happy Birthday" song. She seemed shocked when I lifted her up to blow out the candles. "You mean, I can do this?" was the look she gave me. She did enjoy digging through the presents. Emme and Addison gave her some dress-up clothes and I do believe that was the hit of the evening. She tromped around in high heels and a tiara, cheesing for everyone. It was a fun night!

It's hard to believe that my little princess is 2

Kassady has the most infectious laugh

She was very impressed with the balloons. She dragged them around with her the rest of the day.

The Dora cake (a win-win with Kassady, a dedicated Dora devotee)

Kassady was entranced by the flickering candles. She really wanted to touch them.

Trey, Emme, and Noah (you can see his chin) waited for the blowing out of the candles (not to mention the cutting of the cake) with great anticipation.

As I held Kassady up to blow out the candles, she decided to try a different extinguishing technique which involved dousing the candles with large amounts of saliva. She's just like her Mom!

I think everybody got a hand in to help Kassady open her presents. All the kids were ripping off fragments of wrapping paper. OK, I did, too.

Kassady tried to play with all of her presents at once. She thinks that she's hot stuff with her dress-up clothes.

Happy Birthday, Kassady

Yesterday was Kassady's birthday. She is now an official 2-year-old. I say official, because she has been ahead of her time in approaching the Terrible Twos. I guess it's not really Terrible, it's more like the Tornadic Twos. She's a whirlwind of noise and excitement. If anyone in our family would happen to take up base jumping, my bets are on Kassady. She loves climbing, jumping, and yelling (singing). This past year she has evolved into a strong-minded, fun-loving, let's party type of girl. I love this girl so much! She is the sparkplug of our family. As I'm typing this Kassady just dove off of a kitchen chair onto the floor, head-first. This is a typical occurence in our house.

We celebrated with a small party. I'll post a few pics.

no hablo espanol

I would like to thank Dora the Explorer for the educational impact she has had on my little family. Kassady learned how to count to 10 in Spanish about the same time she learned to count in English. Since we don't normally converse in espanol, I attribute Kassady's bilingual progress to the Dora videos she loves to watch. It's funny to walk through the living room and hear Kassady shouting out Spanish words at the screen. Of course, I was well known for my Spanish skills while a student at GBS. My Spanish 101 teacher despaired of my ever communicating intelligibly. I have not failed her perception in the years since then. Si.

I'm not a huge advocate of kids watching videos. However, if Trey and Kassady are going to watch something, I prefer for it to be educational. Here are the Waggoner Film Institute Top 5 picks for kids:

1. Dora the Explorer
2. Blues Clues
3. Little Einsteins
4. Veggietales (we've had some really good conversations about God's Word that were initiated by a video)
5. Higglytown Heroes

Words of Wisdom

Wisdom for the day:

Before you criticize someone,
you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you criticize them,
you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Thank you, Ken Farmer

Say "Cheese"

I don't know what it is with my kids and cameras, but they are definitely allergic to them. With all of the hoopla surrounding the JonBenet Ramsey case, they have been showing a lot of these child stars, you know the kids with the perfect smile and all that. They parade all over the stage smiling sweetly at the judges.

My kids will never have to worry about that. I say "cheese" and Trey and Kassady immediately freeze into the strangest, most unnatural positions. Trey works so hard to produce a smile that his body spasms forward while Kassady displays what can only be interpreted as a pleasant grimace. They get this from their father (which you can pick up from any of the posted pictures of myself). I need to find some of childhood pics and post them. You would immediately catch on to the family resemblance.

Thank God, they're like that. There is something creepy about those little kids swishing across the platform with perfect smiles. I'll take my normal kids any day of the week!

Roadtrip Recap

About 3:45 yesterday afternoon, I pulled into the Waggoner driveway. It was a long day. Liberty left the Seattle area about 11:00 PM Sunday and at about 3:00 AM Monday morning we were parked by the side of the I-82 due to an electrical problem. I woke up to the sound of rumble strips. I headed up to the front of the bus, wondering why all the lights were off. Dan was just coming in from checking out the fuses. He couldn't find anything out of place, so he put out the emergency triangles and went to bed. I crawled back in my bunk thinking about how vulnerable I was. I sleep closest to the back of the bus and while there is a room between the rear of the bus and my bunk, I would still resemble an accordion should a semi pile into us. My bunk is almost 6 foot long (which is my exact height) and I began to worry about being pile-driven into the closet. Fortunately my fears were unsubstantiated and I woke up none the worse for the circumstance. Come to find out Dan began to obsess with the same thoughts and when I walked to the front of the bus he was camped out on the couch. We had a serviceman come out from Pasco, WA and by 10:30 AM we were on the road.

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend. We spent some more time in Seattle on Saturday. Still a fan. It is a great city to visit. God blessed our concerts and we were able to reconnect with many of our friends.

It is nice to be home, though. Trey starts kindergarten next week, which is just absolutely crazy. There's no way I should be old enough to have a kid in school. Messed up, is what it is. Last night we went over to the school and met with his teacher. She seems like a great lady and Trey likes her. It's one of those bittersweet moments in life, you know. I'm extremely proud of Trey and am looking forward to his school days and activities, but it's hard to think of him not being my little guy. I know, I know, everybody else has gone through it, but let me wallow in my misery. Trey also starts playing in a soccer league next week. Kindergarten and soccer today, college and marriage tomorrow. I'm getting old.

The Launch

www.media-spring.com is officially launched. I have been a partner of Media-Spring for the last year or so, serving as a project consultant for website development. While we have always offered quality websites, our newest offering takes aesthetics and functionality to a much higher level. You can have a website up and running within two weeks, customized to meet your needs. Our new website builder allows you immediate (and easy) access to content. Your changes can be made within minutes. No software. No HTML programming. No hassles. In fact, this allows a web novice to design a professional-looking site using our tools. However, if the customer prefers, we can do the design work ourselves. The great thing about it all is the pricing. We offer the hosting, access to the site, e-mail accounts, web tools, e-commerce tools, and much more for as low as $25.00 a month. When you compare the quality product you're getting with what is offered on-line you'll see that this a great deal.

If you need a website or know of someone who does, please refer them to kwaggoner@media-spring.com. Whether it's a church, para-church ministry, business, or simply a personal site Media-Spring can help take your on-line presence to the next level.

Traveling Lighter

Yep, I got the flu. Sure enough, after all of my cocky comments about how I was a survivor, it hit me. Except for the flu, it was a great weekend.

Liberty sang in California and Nevada this past weekend at some outstanding churches. Those people enjoy serving God! Friday night we sang in a church in Gerber, CA that was as packed as it could get. The church family had recently suffered a tragedy. A young man who was part of their youth group lost his sister in a tragic accident a few days before we were there. He was at the concert, obviously grieving the loss. That church just wrapped their arms around that boy and exhibited the love of Christ. It was awesome to see.

The next morning after a huge breakfast (at which I consumed way too much) we headed for Lake Almanor, CA. Let me back up a little. We have a little thermostat battle that goes on when we stay on the bus at night. Doran and I usually stay together on the road (let me be very clear about this; 2 queen beds), which leaves the leathery old men together as roomies. Dan and Royce like the temperature to stay around 55 degrees, while Doran and I shoot for about 70 or so. Dan sleeps with his head in the vents of the AC system. If I had that much hair I might do the same, but I don't and won't, so I like the temp up a little. Well, on Friday night we were all staying on the bus for the night. Royce and I have bunks on one side of the aisle with Dan and Doran on the other side. I woke up at about 1:30 in the morning curled up in the fetal position, shivering violently. My head was freezing and so were my feet, and that spells disaster for my voice. Those who know me well will vouch for the fact that I am virtually blind without my glasses. My eyes are in awful shape. So, I wake up freezing, looking (without my glasses) for the thermostat. Now, I can't see what in the world I'm doing, so I'm staring at red, fuzzy shapes (which it actually turns out are numbers) trying to figure out where the buttons are to take up the thermostat. I punched several buttons before I could see a change in the shape of the red, blurry objects. I finally put my eye directly up to the readout and changed the temperature to 71 degrees. I went back to sleep, mission accomplished. Unbeknownst to me I had also turned on the heat. At 4:00 AM I'm awakened to a bright light in the back of the bus and the sound of Dan muttering to himself and pushing buttons. I still had no clue what I had done, but I did notice that it was rather warm. I also forgot that my thermostat controlled the temperature for Royce's bunk. I woke up in the morning, sweaty, and as I walk out to take my shower, I notice Dan laying the living room area of the bus. I thought that was rather odd, but didn't think too much of it until I walked in the bathroom and faced the glaring eyes of Royce. His exact words were "Don't ever touch the thermostat again". Dan said that when he walked back at 4 to see what was going on with the heat, Royce was hanging halfway out of his bunk trying to catch some fresh air. I will say this, warm temperatures do cause you to have odd dreams.

Anyway, Dan had set up some tee times for us at Lake Almanor and Dan, Doran, and I hit the links. I really did hit the course. More than the ball. You could track my progress (or lack thereof) by the divots, grooves, and holes I left behind. I tried to fix most of them, but you can only do so much without heavy machinery. I played awful. I really did. My blood pressure was pretty high. Doran edged Dan by 1 stroke and I finished quite a ways behind them. 21 strokes to be exact. It was sad.

I had started feeling weird toward the beginning of the game and it got worse as time went on. Now, the nausea very well could have had something to do with my pathetic game, but I think my pathetic game had something to do with the nausea. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

We got back on the bus and the guys headed for a restaurant. I told them I was just going to stay on the bus and try to sleep the weird feeling off. Didn't happen. As I lay there telling myself forcefully that I wasn't going to be sick, certain feelings replied that, yes, I was going to be sick. The feelings were right. It hit with a vengeance. You know how the initial onset of the flu is extremely violent and then there's a calm. You actually think that everything's going to be alright. Then an hour or so later it hits again. Not good.

Saturday night we were singing at Lake Almanor Community Church (which incidentally is the church Chuck Norris* attends while in CA) and I had the worst time. I left the platform about 3 times, fortunately never in the middle of a song, and basically survived the evening. In spite of my problems, several individuals gave their hearts to Christ. Pretty awesome! His strength was perfect.

I tore off to the bus following the concert and slept off the worst of the sickness. My fever broke about midnight and I was able to get a decent night's sleep. As I lay there, whining to God about my problems, it hit me. What would it be like to live that kind of life all the time? There are people who deal with this kind of stuff everyday, due to cancer or some other disease that takes away life's "normalcy". Immediately, I asked God for forgiveness and took some time remembering those who are going through some of those valleys. I meet people on a regular basis who go through these times with a smile, no complaining, and a heart of gratefulness to God for His blessings. They're heroes.

Sunday was a great day. God gave me a special touch phyically in both concerts and we were privileged to see another person give their heart to Christ. It's great being able to do what I do.

I've kind of had a "relapse" the last couple of days, probably due to the fact that I was running on a lot of adrenaline and not enough food, but everything's starting to return to normal. I even ate a couple of hot wings. I think I'll make it.

Here's S'more news

My family is on the mend. Besides a few signs of fatigue, they're good to go. This flu bug was particularly nasty. In case I forget, happy S'mores Day. I would have bought a card, but you know...

I head for California and Nevada this weekend. I'll keep you posted. I know that I haven't done much in the way of pics in the last few days. I've been too busy. But, I promise, I have some on the way. I have some good pics from our VBS as well as Trey in action on the soccer field. Priceless!

I will also have information concerning a new business venture. The debut is just around the corner.

Have a great S'mores Day!

Living Water and Loren Harris

I sit in my chair tonight sipping on a concoction dreamed up by the wonderful folks at Living Water (a new Christian bookstore/coffee shop that just opened up in Nampa). It's a mixture of green tea, milk, ice, and some sour apple extract. Whoo, this is one good smoothie. The bookstore just opened yesterday, so I decided to check it out this evening. I highly recommend it to anyone who lives in the area. Living Water is located at the corner of Roosevelt and Midland in the new shopping plaza. Their prices are a little higher than Family Christian Stores, but the ambience is priceless. I can see that I'll be spending some time hanging out at the coffee shop. They offer a little bit of everything in addition to the live bands that they feature on Tuesday and Friday evenings. Very nice.

I am also bemoaning the fact that Loren Harris has left the Perrys. Loren was the most underrated lead singer in SG music and his presence will be missed. During his 6 years, the Perrys produced some of the greatest music in the SG genre. While I was listening to them sing at the Canadian Fan Festival I leaned over to Doran and remarked that this could be a legendary group if they would stay together for a while. So much for that. I see that Shane Dunlap, original lead singer for Signature Sound, will be filling in with them for a while. We'll see what happens.

By the way, still no flu (thank God!). I'm hoping the green tea in this smoothie will contribute to my good health.

Oh yeah, and by the way, no flu yet.

...and Liberty for all

Liberty Quartet has made it to the charts for the first time. If you visit: http://www.thesoutherngospel.com/chart_month.php?id=2420_0_23_0_M you will see that "The Wonder of His Love" is #18 on their chart for the month of August. We were #43 in the month of July. To whoever is requesting our music in the Carolinas I say thank you. We also just got a call today from the largest SG station in the state of Washington and the DJ told us that "The Wonder of His Love" was the #1 most-requested song in the month of July and was #1 on their August charts. Thanks!

Our CD "Old-Time Gospel Songs, Vol.1" which was due out in June will finally be released in the next couple of weeks. We had some last-minute changes to make that necessitated moving back the release date. If you like those old Stamps-Baxter style songs, you're going to like this album. I'll let you know the exact date before too long.

And more news from the Liberty front:

It's official. Liberty Quartet will be recording a live video in Yuma, AZ at the First Christian Church on Friday, February 16. If you live anywhere near Yuma make plans to be there. If you don't live near there, book your flight today. We are looking forward to a fantastic evening. I'll have more information coming in the next few weeks. We'd like for your mug to be in the video.

Flu-like symptoms

I bring you greetings from the quarantined Waggoner household. Kassady, Trey, and Lori all have the flu, (how do I say this without being crude?) the kind that features losing great amounts of liquid at a time. So, while they bow before the porcelain throne, I ponder the inevitable onset of my own personal version of this malady. I definitely want it to happen before I hit the road this weekend. There's nothing worse than being sick away from home.

I thought about eating peas. I hate peas and figured that they would get everything jumpstarted. I don't know though, if I'm going to get sick I want to do it the right way. So, instead, I have gorged myself on some Taco Bell fare and a package of Reese's chocolate-covered peanut butter balls. I'm interested to see if this sends me over the edge. I have to admit that I feel a little queasy. I'll keep you updated.

Reality TV can't touch my blog.