Kassady had her hair put up into a ponytail for the first time this evening. It lasted for approximately 22 seconds before she tore the rubber band out. She kinda reminds me of the little girl from the Flintstones. I thought it was cute.

Weight and See

I am fat. Yes, I am. Let's not mince words here. When I went to GBS as a lowly college freshman, I weighed a whopping 155 pounds. I had a size 31 or 32 waist (depending on whether the pants were from Sears or JC Penneys) and was thin as a rail. That weight included my hair which stood nearly 17" high and weighed (along with the various gels, hairsprays, and conditioners) approximately 8 pounds, thanks to my poof which at the point was the height of style according to the conservative holiness fashionistas. Even though I hate like a horse, my weight rarely fluctuated.

After 4 years of college I still was only encumbered with 165 pounds on my lanky frame. That was soon to change, however. I married a fantastic cook! Lori began cooking substantive suppers and my waist began expanding. It started out as an innocuous transition from a 32 to a 34 waist size. Nothing too bad. Then, I began to notice the appearance of a double chin. I noticed that I could actually grab hold of skin on my side. This wasn't good.

Now, after nearly 7 years of marriage I find myself tipping the scales at 190/195. I've got to do better on this. Now, I'm not the kind of guy that spends a lot of time stressing about my looks. I realized a long time ago that I'm no Brad Pitt. I'm not even a Willard Scott. However, I do care about being out of shape.

So, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to have a weigh-in posted each week. Hopefully, this sense of accountability will contribute to my efforts to slim down. We'll see.

Planning Ahead

I have been teaching the kids to be self-sufficient these days. I told them that we might not always live in a house and to prepare for the worst. Here, Trey and Kassady practice their urban grocery-cart drills, preparing for life on the streets. Hey, it could be worse. They could be living in a van, DOWN BY THE RIVER! (Thank you, Chris Farley.)

Trey the photojournalist

Trey took a picture of his best friend who doesn't qualify as a human: Jack (I have a few friends like that). Jack was born in Cincinnati on October 31 at the Build-A-Bear Workshop. Thanks to Trey's cousins David, Anthony, Alicia, and Christy as well as his uncle and aunt, Dave and Char, Jack has moved into the Waggoner household. Trey loves this bear! Jack has his own house in which he resides during the day. We actually bought Jack a Christmas present. He received Spider-man pajamas which he is wearing in this picture. Trey will not go to sleep at night until Jack has his pajamas on. Normally, Jack's clothing consists of a Cincinnati Reds baseball uniform. According to Trey, Jack plays baseball on Wednesdays, so each week Trey makes sure that Jack's ready to go all the way down to the stirrups and cleats.

Trey has been begging to use my camera, so I allowed him to take just a few pictures. Not surprisingly, Jack was his first target. Not bad for his first pic with no supervision.

Trey's getting better with the camera. He actually took a nice picture Kassady and me hanging out in the living room. I'm a blessed man! I have the 2 most wonderful children in the world! The only negative is that they are getting way too intelligent. I have to stay on my toes.

LaRena Anne Ezell

I want to pass along congratulations to my good friends, Allen and LaRona Ezell, on the arrival of their beautiful little girl, LaRena Anne. She came in at 8 lbs. and 9 oz. and was 19" long. I can't wait until she is taller than her mom, which probably won't happen for at least 2 years. Allen and LaRona, you have every right to be proud. LaRena is adorable!

Doug Riley

Your prayers are requested for the family members of Doug Riley, drummer with Gold City Quartet. Doug was killed in an auto accident while enroute to the Gold City recording studio. Doug is survived by his wife and two children.

For more information, please visit the Gold City website at http://www.goldcityqt.com/red/index2.html.

As a young drummer, I was a big fan of Doug and was impressed with his class and live performances. The Southern Gospel industry has lost one of its finest musicians.

Congratulations, Kayla!

I was privileged to witness the final game of Kayla Aman's basketball season. She played on the 9th grade team from Melba High School and they finished the season undefeated, 16-0. They beat the #2 seed, New Plymouth, 67-31. Kayla had a great game, ending up with several steals, assists, and points. I'm proud to have her as part of Grace Teens!

Idaho Youth Retreat 2006

Below you will find several pictures from our inaugural youth retreat, held in McCall, ID last weekend. Grace Bible Church from Nampa, Faith Evangelical Church from Boise, Community Bible Church from Emmett, and Faith Bible Church from McCall joined together for a fantastic time of worship, fun, and little sleep.

Several feet of snow failed to dampen the spirits of our teens and we came expecting to meet God in a new and fresh way. He didn't disappoint.

Hopefully, you can catch a glimpse of the essence of the weekend in the pictures below.

Philip Gumbs was the retreat speaker and Brent Vernon served as the worship leader. They both did an outstanding job.

I highly recommend Philip Gumbs to anyone looking for a dynamic, inspired youth evangelist. The guy flat-out knows how to speak to teens. They were plugged in every service as he challenged them to full surrender and joyful victorious living. Philip pastors a Church of God (Holiness) on the Carribean island of Anguilla. God has blessed his ministry and gifted him for pastoring. I enjoyed getting to know Philip. Hopefully, this isn't the last time we work together.

And then, of course, Brent is one of the best. Our young people responded to his worship leading. He challenged the teens to open up their hearts to God and really worship Him. His prodigious musical talents are completely surrendered and it shines through his ministry.

Melvin Adams served as retreat President and emceed most of the services.

While Marc and Melvin got things set up, I asked Brent about some input concerning one of my original compositions. The song is "Let's Go Out West". Here are the lyrics, complete and unabridged:

Let's go out west
Where the people rest
Where the cattle's in the field
With the fence all around
Let's go out west
Where the people rest
Where the cattle's in the field
All eating on grass

Brent recommended changing the substituting the word "hay" for "grass". He's pure genius.

(I actually wrote this song at a young age; I had my mom push a pencil and a piece of paper under the bathroom door so I could write down the lyrics)

This is what it's all about. We had two services were teens came forward to accept Christ. It was a beautiful moment. God truly did a remarkable work in the lives of our young people.

Marc barks out instructions during the Friday evening afterglow. Marc, Scott, Loren Alley (from Boise), and Dan Wood (from Emmett) were in charge of the activities. They kept the kids running!

Tim Makcen (far right) came out to the retreat as a representative from GBS. He did a fantastic job relating to the teens. I wish colleges would realize that the best way to recruit students is to get involved with their lives. A little prepared speech does not qualify. When I was a recruiter my most effective tool was spending time laughing, praying, and connecting with the kids. I don't know of one person who came to GBS because of my little spiel that I put together. Tim impacted the lives of several of our teens this weekend. Superb job! And a big thanks to GBS for sending him out.

Probably the most popular game at the retreat was called Clump. Marc would yell out a number and people would try to group in that number. If you weren't able to be part of the group you were out. This went on until it was down to 2 people. We had some extremely aggresive players. They were killing each other, trying to stay in the game. We were in a room with a concrete floor and these guys are tackling each other, doing everything they can to win. Sandy Adams was running around screaming, "You have to stop them! Somebody's going to get killed! O please stop them!"

The human chain was a fun game. Each team had to link arms while reaching into the middle of a circle and then try to get untangled. This guy in the red jacket was trying to step into the middle of the pile of bodies, thinking that somehow that was going to help. Brent Crane (underneath in purple coat, getting ready to get creamed) was screaming, "Stay down! Stay down! You're going to kill somebody!"

Justin was pretty excited during this game. That expression stayed on his face for about an hour. The guys never did figure out how to get untangled.

Sam was a huge hit at the retreat! I asked Brent if it's disappointing to realize that your dummy is more popular than you are. He handled it well. Literally.

Here, I am displaying for the impressionable teens my version of "the Robot".