It's on.....

School is in session.....that phrase really has a double meaning in my house today.

First and foremost......school started back up for the Schmidt kids today. One in elementary, one in jr. high, and one in high school. CRAZY!! Not to mention the fact that my wife, who is a teacher, went back today too.

Then, they come home with the "additional supplies needed" lists for each teacher. In my 15 years of teaching I never once asked my students to buy red pens, kleenex, hand sanitizer, or any other item that I felt I should probably buy myself. If every kid actually buys and brings that stuff to class, that teacher should have a supply for the next 4 years. I don't understand. For one thing, I know the district supplies copy paper, so why do I need to send a ream of paper. If every student brings one ream, that teacher will have apprx. 120 reams of paper. WHAT? I'm sorry....I just don't get it. Well, that's my soap box right now.

The second meaning of "it's on........"

Our 4th grade Garland Eagles football juggernaut had their first scrimmage tonight. IT IS ON! sort of.........I'm not sure how on, but it was kind of on. We scrimmaged the Sharks and they were huge. It took about one series before we had kids looking for reasons to pull themselves out of the game. We had more phantom injuries than 10,000 dead pirates. I have no idea what that means, but I liked it when Bob said it, so I've been trying to work it in ever since. One kid looks at me 5 plays....5 PLAYS.....into the scrimmage, with tears streaming down his face and said "ty woot huts tus laloose shafight." After taking his mouthpiece out for him, albeit tears still streaming down his face, I clearly understood him to say "my foot hurts cuz my shoe's too tight." When using the Message translation of the football bible that means....that huge kid on the other team just killed me and I need to go sit down now. I've never seen more 10 year old boy crying in all my life. Pray for me.

I'm kiddin'....sort of. It was a lot of fun. We have a practice tomorrow night. I told them to wear shorts, shoulder pads, and helmets and it totally blew their mind. For the life of them, they couldn't figure out why they were not going to wear their pants tomorrow night. I think they think I'm going to make them play without pads in their pants as some sort of punishment. They don't know it's just to give them a little break and work out some of the soreness that you get when "laloose shafight." Sometimes you just have to say bless their hearts.

Well...bedtime. If I'm gonna ride this pee wee train to the Turkey Bowl, coach needs his rest. 2nd day of school tomorrow which means I'll have to go out tomorrow night and get a box of plastic forks and a family size Mac-n-Cheese dinner for my daughter's Geography teacher.

I'm out...........

Getting into a routine....

Well...summer is winding down and things are beginning to head back to normal. There's been quite a few things going on the last week or so....

We took a group of sr. high students to New Braunfels last Wednesday and Thursday. Two days of the Schlitterbahn, floating the Comal River, and eating some awesome barbeque. Since I was in jr. high The Gristmill has been my favorite New Braunfels restaurant. Well...Rudy's Country Store and Barbeque may have made it's way to the top of the list. We also listened to a really good singer/songwriter while we were there.....Dan McCoy. There's nothing like jumping into the Comal River at about 8 in the morning to wake you up and start your day. Stinkin' cold water!

This weekend was the second week of our "Drive" series at church. We found some great new additions to the worship team that joined us this week. James and Angela Dildine did a great job singing this weekend and I am real excited about their involvement in our worship team.

Yesterday, Kelly and I went to see Talledega Nights with our friends Clay and Raelyn. It was our second time to see it, but they had not seen it yet......so we went. So funny! I caught some things that I missed the first time around. There was a small problem. Since we went after church I still had my NASCAR shirt on that we've been wearing as part of the "Drive" series. I was walking across the parking lot with Clay when I realized that I was going to Talledega Nights wearing a NASCAR shirt. I called Kelly since she had to take the kids home first and then meet us at the movie. Fortunately I caught her and she brought me a t-shirt. I did have to wear the NASCAR shirt into the theatre and stand in the concession line wearing a Kevin Harvick 29 shirt. Embarrassing.

The pee-wee Garland Eagles football juggernaut is prepared to blast off. We have our first scrimmage this weekend. Practice tonight. So the Cowboys started the pre-season off the right way. 13-3 over the Seahawks.....but it is pre-season. Madden '07 comes out next week. Good stuff....

Here are some pics from New Braufels........Abracadabra Homes.....

catchin' up....

Well, it was 18 years ago yesterday that Kelly and I were married. It's hard to believe that we've been together for 19 years (dating and marriage). We were so poor in college and then finding out she was pregnant right before college graduation.........man. I've been with her for half of my life........and I can truly say that she's made it the best half.

Now....there were some other cool things that happened this weekend.

1. Wendy's introduced vanilla Frosty's. YES! Chick-fil-A shakes and vanilla Frosty's all in the
same month......hold on and let me go wipe the tears of my cheeks.

2. Pee-wee football has begun and I am the head coach of the Garland Eagles 4th grade
juggernaut. First day of pads tomorrow.........

3. We went over to some friends house tonight. Julie makes awesome meatball sandwiches,
and the two I had were great.

4. Talledega Nights is the funniest movie I've seen in a while. If you ain't first, you're last.

5. 6 days until the Cowboys pre-season opener....how 'bout them Cowboys?!

Here are some pics from the mission trip a couple of weeks ago.....I'm out

It's About Time....

I know....it's about stinkin' time I post something. Bob's threatening to delink me from his blog, both people that read this are getting on to me, it's crazy. It would take forever to catch you up on everything, so I'll try to hit the highlights.

Surely the highlight of the last week was the work we did at Mission Arlington last week. We took 25 high school students to Mission Arlington for 3 days. Lamar Baptist Church was nice enough to allow us to stay in their youth room and use their annex house while we were there. It was a great trip in so many ways. They had us doing work at several of their apartment sights for most of the week. We also had the opportunity to help a young, single mom whose house had burned down get things cleaned up, and salvage whatever she could from the fire.

The big news from home that week was my two daughters finding out that Lance Bass, of NSTINK fame, announced his gayness. They were shocked! They called me with the news. I was not shocked. I couldn't believe there was actually a news conference to give us that news. My buddy Scott likened it to a news conference to announce that he had been breathing oxygen for the last 35 years. Or let's have a news conference that every once in while, I have to eat food.

This weekend Springcreek had Sarah Kelly as a guest worship leader. It was a good weekend. She led a worship seminar on Saturday night after our service which went well also. We had some people that attended that are going to be great additions to our worship team at SCC.

After the seminar I had to hustle over to Smirnoff Ampitheatre for a night with Journey and Def Leppard. I missed Journey, but I just saw them in November at Nokia. My wife and kids were out there and said that it was good, but not as good as the show in November. I got there as they were setting up Def Leppard's stage, so I caught that whole set. I have never seen a crowd that big at that venue. Completely sold out. I haven't seen Def Leppard since I was 14 years old. It was great! My kids loved it.

Well.....lots of stuff to do. I'm preaching our Wednesday night service this week and doing the music.....perhaps a little awkward, but I've had to do it before. Worship team auditions tonight and tomorrow night. My son's first football practice tomorrow. And, it's our 18th anniversary this Saturday.

This blog sight is being stupid right now and won't let me upload pics so I'll try to post some mission trip pics later.....I'm out....

A living sacrifice...

Well...back home. The week at Howard Payne with FBC Richardson's kids was great. But it is nice to be back home and in my own bed.

You know....I was thinking on a verse today. Romans 12:1 speaks about offering our bodies as a living sacrifice as our spiritual act of worship. You know....when we do that, everything else seems to fall right into place.

I look at the times I try to control things and the times I allow God to control....and there is a world of difference in the way things go down.

Worship is truly setting our minds attention and our heart's affection on God for who he is and what he has done. When we make that a daily practice.......what peace and order.

I'm out....

A week at HPU....

I know...it's been a week. A very busy one at that, so forgive me.

I'm at Howard Payne University right now leading worship for a youth camp. The first night was great. I'll have some pics up tomorrow. I do need to talk to their youth pastor though. Their rally each morning is at 8:30. WHAT? 8:30? We have to play songs at 8:30? Camp rallies should never start before 10:00. Oh well.....

I talked to Beaux tonight. He asked when he could have a brother. He's sick of sisters. Too bad it's not gonna happen for him.

I don't know why I'm sitting here when we play at 8:30 tomorrow morning. I'll be back tomorrow but for now....I'm out....

Finding Nemo....

The scream from the back of my house was one that I recognized as my wife getting the crap scared out of her. My kids and I love to scare my wife because she may be one of the most easily spooked people I've ever known. But we had been out of town for a few days and it was about midnight. As I went toward the bedroom to see who had done it this time my wife met me at the bedroom door saying she had heard a very creepy voice in our bathroom. She said all it did was laugh and it sounded like it came from the intercom system. No one claimed responsibility and she was freaked. Of course it didn't help that we had watched an episode of America's Most Haunted that evening.

I looked around but heard or saw nothing. She was not going to sleep until we found out what the voice was and where it came from. I left the room and was not even 3 steps out of the room when she screamed again...she heard it again and again I found nothing. By this time my oldest, Ashli, was in on the search. Still nothing....

By 1:00 a.m. I was laying in bed and fading fast. Just as entered rim sleep, she screamed again and heard the voice coming from our bathroom. This time my manhunt turned up the culprit.......it was Nemo. Yes....the beloved clown fish whose trip through Sydney Harbor and the South Pacific inspired McDonald's toys. It was one of those Happy Meal toys whose voice box began to fail and was randomly lauging in a real creepy, Jack Nicholson type laugh in our bathroom. Funny stuff, but Nemo was pronounced dead at 1:22 a.m. Monday July 10th.

Spent the day today ripping up tile in our guest bathroom and scraping the adhesive off of the floor to prep it for painting. Fun stuff......

I think I'll go make creepy laughing noises in the intercom and see what happens.

I'm out.......

I Do.....

Well...it is finished. The wedding went great. They had a ton of people show up.....way more then they expected. My mom was so excited. I haven't seen her that happy in a long time.

We saw a lot of people that we have not seen in a long time. It's kind of strange because my mom's new husband was married to her second cousin at one time. They were divorced 30 years ago, but his kids (my new step siblings) were always at family reunions and stuff. So seeing them in this setting and being step brothers and step sisters now is kind of weird

I'm happy for my mom...........there were a few points in the ceremony that I wasn't sure about. I didn't know if I should refer to her as Barbara or mom throughout. I just called her mom. It was strange talking about the sanctity of marriage and what the commitment means to my mom. She was married to my dad for 34 years.....she has somewhat of a clue. And then there was the kiss. I didn't want to watch, but I couldn't turn away......so I just told him to shake her hand or something until I was out of the room.

We'll be heading back to Rowlett today with painting, pulling carpet, and putting in floors on the agenda for the next month or so. Ashli got a text message today that told her she was voted most valuable player at pitcher and shortstop for her softball team. She's pumped. Here are some pics of the wedding and of the mvp.

Pewston....

Pewston, TX.....home stink home. Also known as Houston.... I guess when you grow up in a place you become immune to certain smells, weather patterns, flying insects, etc......It is hot, humid, stinky, and I saw a mosquito eat a sparrow this morning. They are huge!!

We're here for my mom's wedding. Yes I do realize how weird that sounds and it feels even more weird. I'm actually officiating the ceremony..........WHAT? After tomorrow night I'll have a step dad, two step-brothers, and a step-sister........all of whom I've know since I was 5.

Tomorrow we'll be hanging out with all kinds of family and friends that I haven't seen in a long time. Should be fun............

Went and saw Pirates of The Caribbean today....Greatness! We had to sit on the second row and there was a 3 year old that would not be quiet behind us. Why do people do that? Bring kids that obviously can't handle being there and disturb everyone around them? Movie was good though......

That's it for now.....should have some good stuff tomorrow. I'm out....

Reflecting and recovering.....

Today was man day. My son and I have one of these days every so often so we can just hang out and be guys.

Today we went and saw Superman Returns. Greatness! The plan was to go see it at the IMAX. When we got there it was sold out until the 9:45 p.m. tomorrow night. Needless to say we just went to the normal theatre for the 11:00 a.m. showing. It was cool.

I've had some time to look back at our camp last week and evaluate some things. God really moved throughout the week. We had so many students make decisions for Christ. Some coming to Christ for the first time and others commiting to walking with Christ and renewing their relationship with Him after realizing where they were in their lives.

We saw sr. high students show compassion and care for our jr. high kids, we saw relationships among our students develop, relationships with the other church develop, and above all, kids and adults coming to grips with their relationship with Christ.

As happy as I am with our camp week, I enjoyed my day off today, and am looking forward to spending some time with friends tomorrow celebrating July 4th. Here are some more pics from camp....

I'm out....

2nd day of camp......

What a great day!! These kids amaze me. The recreation stuff was great. Josh and Drew, our recreation leaders, are awesome! The games were good and the kids are doing a great job of encouraging each other and participating in stuff.

My boy Runks brought it home tonight. His message hit home on so many different levels tonight. Our kids responded in many different ways. We had two more kids make first time decisions to follow Christ, and several that just got some things cleared up that they've needed to clear up for a while.

Walls are coming down and I believe that these students are really at a place in their lives where they are seeing how God operates in and through their lives. I'm excited to see what happens over the next two days and where these kids go from here.

By the way....after the late night stuff was done a big group of our leaders and kids had an impromptu gathering outside the chapel. We stood their for an hour with Matt Caudle beat boxing and the rest of us freestyle rapping. It might have been the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life. Doug Fyffe, my wife Kelly, everyone.......our camp pastor Runks and his intern...it was stinkin' hilarious and it's all on video. Word!

Here are some pics from today.....I'm out....

We're Here......

Well we're here. We rolled into Cloudcroft, NM yesterday evening and got started with Freelicious Camp '06.

10 hours on bus went fine. No sleepy bus drivers, or movie watching bus drivers. They were really cool and did a great job.

The worship service was great last night. We had a few technical issues, but it's all good. Our camp pastor, Runks, brought a great message and we saw several kids give their life to Christ the first night. Our worship band, Branch, had to fight through some issues with our sound but those are all resolved now.

The kids were worn out last night, and there were some homesick middle schoolers, but I think with a good night's sleep they'll get back on track this morning.

Perhaps the most mind boggling thing of the day was the fact that a ton of our kids don't know where we are in relation to home, no idea what direction we had to go to get here, and that New Mexico was a state not a new part of Mexico. What? I'll try and have some pics uploaded tonight.

I'm out.....

Full-time Ministry?

So Father's Day had come and gone once again......I must say I enjoy Father's Day. We have a little thing in our house for birthdays, Mother's Day, and Father's Day that the honoree gets to choose to go out for dinner or have their favorite home-cooked meal. I take home cookin' everytime.

I'm talkin' chicken fried stizeak, mashed potatoes, corn, and rolls...........mmmmm! As if that wasn't enough....i got a new x-box game and the season 6 of King of the Hill. Greatness.

We leave for camp in one week. That means a week of meetings, planning, organizing, etc....It's going to be great! Some of my most memorable moments growing up came at camp. As a 17 year old kid, at Lake Tomahawk Baptist Encampment in Woodville, TX, I made a commitment to full-time ministry. I had no idea what area of ministry, where, when, or how...I just knew I was being called to serve.

I think sometimes we spend too much time tyring to decipher exactly what we are to do rather than just answering God's call on our life and allowing him to guide and direct us daily. Since that camp 20 years ago God has led me to several different jobs as a teacher, worship leader, preacher, etc.....each one a different mission field with a different mission. It was 21 years after I committed my life to full-time ministry that God led me to a full-time church staff position. Each one of us can be used where we're at in life and should stay on the lookout for those ministry opportunities.

You know....I found myself watching a soccer match yesterday. I still hate it. Only 54 days till the Cowboys opener.

Here are some pics of a few of our summer happenings.....I'm out.....

Finally...

The boy had his tonsils taken out today. Tonsils, tubes in the ears (3rd set), and any other junk that causes problems up in there. He's doing good.

VBS is going great. Our children's pastors do a great job and the kids are having a ball. Funny moment of the week.....last night we do a couple of songs to start the night off, and then a couple for the 3rd-5th graders during their lesson time. As we finished the last song with the older kids this one kid down front sighs real loud and says "FINALLY." I'm sure he was just caught up in the worship and was expressing the joy he felt as he was ushered into the throne room of God. Yeah right.....

Big Thursday tomorrow...this has turned out to be a lot of fun the last two weeks, so I look forward to Thursdays and just hangin' out with everybody.

Well....It's been a real long day and I'm going to bed.......FINALLY!!!!

A Nasty Spill.....

Okay....so I'm a little gun shy. Can you blame me? Foundation repairs, 5 plumbing leaks, a broken washer, ruined carpet...all in 2 months. Enough to make anyone gun shy.

So it should not have surprised me that a nice, quiet lunch with the family could not just stay that way. We were at McAllester's (sp?), a great place by the way, eating lunch. We were all out shopping for a new washing machine, and Kelly had wanted to go try this place out since I had endorsed it. You see, it's not often that a sandwich place gets my endorsement.

As we finished our lunches and were sitting at the table just having a good family chat.....it happened. Someone spilled right behind my chair and splashed my legs with their mishap. As I turned to see what had happened I realized that it was not a spill, but that this little 10 year old girl and just stinkin' thrown up all over the place. Of course I had shorts and flip flops on and so I could now feel it running down my leg. I started gagging. The look on my son's face as he watched it all unfold from across the table was priceless. He was laughing his little head off. The waitress was horrified. My wife was gagging with me. And my oldest daughter just kept saying....."it's on my leg, it's on my leg." She too had been hit with shrapnel. When the kid that was given the unfortunate job of mopping up graciously asked if I wanted him to wipe off the back of my leg, I just said no I'll get it. All of this while the little puke monster that started this chain of events had come back to her seat and watched.

So please, for the next few weeks, no sudden movements please. I'm a little nervous. It's been 24 hours since anything broke or threw up on me. I'm on a roll and

I'm out

Is it really trust?

We're in the win column.....my daughter's softball team notched a victory in their first game of the season...14-4. Not to brag, but she did go 3 for 3 with 4 rbi's, pitched one inning, faced 3 batters, struck two out and got the other on a groundball back to the mound. She was at shortstop the rest of the game and got two assists.

The boy has been at football camp this week 8:00-11:00 each morning. He's having a blast. He says his favorite part so far is the receiver station. Of course today they got to tackle a big tackling dummy and he said that was real cool.

I heard a good word today at staff meeting. We watched a video and there was some really good stuff said. One of the things that I heard and have been chewing on all day is a word on limiting God. There are so many ways that we place limitations on God or show our distrust is his promises. I know there are ways that I profess my commitment to God, but hold on to things just in case he doesn't come through. What kind of faith is that?

I'm out.....

When it rains....

It shouldn't have surprised me, but there has been yet another crisis. Saturday morning as I was just relaxing a bit, playing xbox with Beaux Brooke walks into the room and very calmly says hey mom and dad....the wash room is flooded.

As I ran down the hall, water splashing up through the carpet, I realized the washing machine that we've had for 14 years was done. So was our carpet in the hallway....a real stinkin' mess. Spent the rest of the day pulling up carpet and padding. We were planning on putting in new floors, but our hand has been forced. When it rains, it pours.....right out of the stinkin' washing machine.

The weekend was great. I've got to give a shout out to my buddy Simon. We had a new drummer, who was also new to the church, that didn't realize we had an 11:30 service, so when we started it, he wasn't there. We started the music without a drummer, but by the end of the first song Simon had climbed up in the throne and didn't miss a beat....literally. Thanks Si....u da man.

Tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. we have a family moment. My son starts a four day football camp. It's a skills and drills camp and he is pumped! He asked if he was going to get to tackle somebody......I teared up. He's got a defensive mentality. I'm tearing up again.

I'm going to go concentrate on my defensive mentality to prepare for something else to break. I'm not sure I can even sleep with the fan on tonight for fear it may fall out of the stinkin' ceiling....wouldn't surprise me at all. Oh well....69 days 'till the Cowboys opener.

I'm out...

Beaches and other scenery.....

I'm up early and getting ready for the weekend.

Our first Big Thursday event was a success. We had 20 or 25 kids out Thursday afternoon just playing beach volleyball, basketball, and ultimate frisbee. It's funny that we still call it beach volleyball in Garland, TX just because we play it on a sand court. The whole day was a lot of fun. We all decided to meet at Double Dave's Pizza to watch the Mavs play, but ended up coming over to my house. Big win.....and a big game tonight.

Yesterday I had the chance to think a little on the ways that God reveals himself to me.every day. I was actually looking through some of the pictures that I took when we were in Colorado Springs when I began to think about these things. It's easy for me to see things like that and be reminded of just the awesome power of God. But when I think of the ways he reveals himself daily, it blows me away.

The people he places in my life, the conversations I have, the family I come home to everyday...there are just so many ways. The view as I drive down Buckingham could resemble the Garden of the Gods with a little imagination. I mean, we do have "beach" volleyball. Seriously, there are so many things I see or hear everyday that serve as reminders of the presence of God in my life. Look for the ways that God is revealing himself to you today as you do your thing. The view is incredible!

Everyone in my house is feeling much better. I got several e-mails from people who could relate to the craziness around here last week. Here are some pics of the Mavs night at my house.

I'm out....

All ears....

Our pediatrician has got to be wondering what we do to our kids. We've been the doctor's office this year more than I've been in my own living room.

Today it was Ashli and Beaux. Beaux is having his 3rd set of tubes put in his ears and his tonsils taken out in a couple of weeks. He's hearing at 30 decibels what he should hear at 5. Last night he complained for the first time that one of his ears was hurting. He also has this persisitent cough and congestion. Well....it's all related. He can't breathe, he's coughing, he's full of snot, and he can't hear. You gotta feel sorry for him. Our tv is so loud and everyone has to holler at him.

Ashli has been diggin' mud out of her ear since her softball team's big mud fight at their party last week. Needless to say.....ear infection. Well....she did not have a good afternoon. She had stuff sucked out of her ear (she actually had mud on her ear drum) that was completely gross. On top of that she had this plantar's wart on the bottom of her foot that the doctor went ahead and burned off since we were there. She hates needles and trying to convince her that the shot she was going to get in the bottom of her foot wouldn't hurt much was like convincing me that I need to eat more greens. Between the ear sucker and the shot, I think she broke my fingers, and she screamed so loud Beaux heard her.

73 Days till the Cowboys opener............

I'm out....

Ready to get started...

Summer has begun....

Friday we had a group of about 15 of our students come up to eat lunch. We took them over to The Butcher Shop in Plano for the best Buffalo Burgers around (they're really good). A couple of our high school girls thought that meant hamburgers with buffalo wing sauce on it. They were horrified when we told them it was buffalo meat.....but soon got over their disgust after the first bite. Highly recommend you try it out...

The weekend was great.....Bob did a great job on the sermon.

I am so ready for this summer. I remember a year ago walking in and looking at a blank calendar. Jay and I have planned a lot of stuff for this year, and I'm excited to get it started.

So I spent my Memorial Day cleaning out my garage. It was an all day undertaking, but it is done. So much stuff............I'm not even sure where half of it came from and when we got it. It is in order and everything has it's place. My back is screaming at me...NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!

Nothing to exciting today.....inlaws came over for dinner. I have a two year old niece that came with them. It's been a long time since we had one that small in our house. I think keeping up with her was harder than cleaning the garage. I'm stinkin' tired.....

I'm out...