It has only been 4 months...

But then Misty calls me and tells me she is PG, and so, here I am again. Putting stuff in here that no one will read. But just in case, here goes.

Jacob just go done with flag football and gets his tackle football gear tomorrow morning. He can hardly wait. Brenda, he and I have joined a fantasy football league and "oh my gosh" is it fun.

Cyrus is still having trouble getting back into Redmond High School due to some grade problems. Wierd that they will hold you out until they figure out whether you have the grades to go or not?!?!?! Thats why we want him there... silly!

Mickenzie is working and loves her job at the coffee shop. She is actually paying for her own car insurance and everything. Super cool. She has some issues with being snotty but some of my friends say that ALL 16 year old girls have that problem.

Cody is a JR this year at RHS and is the starting Quarterback for the Varsity football team. We play Bend HS tonight at 7:30 under the lights. Can't wait!!! We played Grants Pass last friday night and they handed us our first loss in over a year. We just moved up to 6A conference and will be playing all of the Big Valley Salem teams. Seatbelt up and hold on!

Shane is doing great. He is a SR this year and has been working on his 67 Impala SS. It has been painted and just needs the interior done. He can't wait to graduate but balks a little when we tell him that come 18, (in 4 days), he is "outa here!" I doubt we will stick to it, but it is fun to watch his face...

John, Nikki and the grandbaby (Andre) are all doing good. Saw the baby yesterday and he is getting really big!

Brenda has just started her Real Estate License and should be done around November or December.

Life is good!

I forgot Jacob... what a loser I am!!!

Jacob is awesome. He is playing little league baseball, pitching and catching. It is fun to watch the differences between him and his brothers when they were that age. He is definitely more soft and a bit more of a lover. This is fine with Brenda and I...

He has tons of friends and likes candy too much lately. Collecting tons of football cards. We were at Autzen Stadium (U of O) for Cody's football camp, and ran into Kellen Clemens (drafter #12, 2nd round, NY Jets). Kellen signed a U of O collectors football for him which we are putting in a glass and wood case. Jacob is still walking on air.

Bye for now.

CAMPING! CAMPING! CAMPING!

Not much else on my mind it seems lately. The sun is out and the temp is up. Pulled the camper out a couple of weeks ago and now it is just count-down time.

The kids are great. The wife is still here. God is still (for some KNOWN reason) trucking along with me, keeping me safe and guiding me through some of the tough spots.

Took Kenzie's car from her. Go figure. The first time in almost 3 weeks I check on her and she is out running around with two kids in her car. Needless to say, you should have seen her eyes when I pulled up behind her in front of her girlfriends house. Most importantly? She was driving like a mad-woman, not signaling and speeding.

Cyrus has his first traveling baseball game this weekend in Salem. Looks like it will be just him and me going. That should be some good one-on-one.

Shane's grades suck. We have been keeping in touch with his teachers and monitoring his progress, but he just keeps struggling... And he is thinking about getting back together with the girl who dumped him not too long ago. ACK!

The grand-baby (Andre) is super. I got to see him the other day and he is just growing. What a doll. Starting to grin and chatter. Being a grandparent is the "stuff!"

Cody is doing well in baseball, although he is playing mostly JV due to his shoulder still healing/hurting. Grades are decent. Last week he let me know that he and some friends are going to go camping. Some of those friends were of the female kind. He promised that the girls were going home before too late and that he wasn't drinking. So, lo and behold, I happen to run in to him after he took the girls home (11pm ish). He was sober and happy to see me. Guess I am going to have to figure out a new way to father... this trust thing is hard for me.

My son John (AKA: Reefer J Rolla) is still smoking marijuana and writing rap songs. He and his girlfriend are living together raising Andre. She seems to be doing great. Not so sure about him. He is still not working although I think he believes the raps are working... not so sure just yet. More on that later. We haven't been talking much because he knows how I feel ( and obviously where I stand legally) about the marijuana. I just wish he would see what it is doing to him mentally. He seems to stop growing up when he "hits" the pipe. Kind of hard to watch from where I stand... We just keep praying for him and waiting for God's works. Eleventh hour?

Brenda (AKA: the Wife) is great! She is always reading her books and lately has been running on the treadmill more. She seems to smile more lately... could be summer though. hehe

LOVE YOU!
CJ

I must have the best sister in the world...

Are you kidding me? I am not sure what I did to deserve my sister Misty, but it was a big deal when I did it... In case you haven't noticed, which you may not have, (since I really don't know who "you" is! Wouldn't it be crazy if the only person who read my blog was actually my sister Misty, which means technically I am telling absolutely NOBODY but her, how great she is... wierd) Like I was saying, she has always taken care of me. She has always watched over me and prayed for me, even in the ugly years. Well, now look what she has gone and done. I have the coolest header ever. And, my blog is actually kind of fun to go to now for me.
Gosh, I am lucky! Thanks sis!
So, all is well on the home-front. I bought a suburban last week to pull our camper. My wife is preparing to get her real estate license. Kenzie and Cody have ball games tonight. We are going over Covenant marriages in our marriage class tonight. And, work is great. I had training yesterday and we shot guns all day long. I had to qaulify with the AR-15, Glock 9mm, Kel-Tek 32 cal, and shotgun. And, I got the chance to shoot an M-4, which is a fully automatic .223 cal assault type long gun. WOW. What fun that was. Makes you feel kind of powerful.
Jacob started little league baseball practice last night and loves it. Cyrus is still expelled from high school and attending a computer class to keep his credits up so that he can go into the 10th grade next year. My oldest (John) just got a part time job. And Shane is still working part time and trying to get his 67 Impala SS finished for the summer. They just got done with his metallic white with gold flake paint job (for just under 5 grand).

Life is good.
And, did I tell you how great my sister is? Thanks Mis for my header. It is beautiful.

I love you!
CJ

Kenzie's 16th birthday... ACK!

Today is Kenzie's 16th birthday (bet you figured that out by the title... hehe)! She wants nothing, except a car, and stereo, and money. That is it though. She is riding high though and cant wait to get her drivers license. One more tool for her to be able to get away from her mommy and daddy. It is hard getting old.

Everyone is great! I have something that EVERYONE needs to hear! If you take a vacation for your wife's birthday... DONT TAKE THE TEENAGERS!!! I am not kidding at all. Just don't take them. I had planned this little coastal getaway for Brenda for her birthday. Last Wednesday she woke up, looked over at me lovingly and said (fatal words) "Let's take the whole family." What a fool I was for agreeing. I think we both had visions of the coast with the kids when the followed us around on the beach and made sand castles and drew pictures and collected agates and seashells. Not anything like what happened this week... they left us and went to the arcade... they left us and drove to town to look at "chics"... they left us and called their friends back home... they left us and went to eat. Of course, during the evening hours, they were around (for our entertainment pleasure)! They stayed up half the night playing games and being obnoxious. Now, for those of you wondering why I don't have better control of my kids, here is my theory. My kids could always be out doing "bad" or "illegal" things and it just excites me that they are with us. HOWEVER, I think God is starting to put that separation between us to prepare us for them leaving. I say "Get on with it!" ;)

LOVEYA!

"Good" morning...

What a beautiful day today. It feels like it is 70 degrees outside. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, even the trees look a deeper shade of green today.

Well, not much new on the homefront today. A couple of weekends ago, Brenda and I (along with several other couple leaders from our church) attended a Family Life Marriage seminar in Sunriver. I can not tell you how great it was. Words just won't do it. If you have a chance... GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO!!!!!!
I am going to get a little wierd on you for a sec... How is it that we go through life with our spouse and not really know anything about them? I am not talking about their favorite color or hobbies they enjoy. And I am not talking about the food they like... I am talking about knowing your spouses love languages (does your wife love "words of affirmation" or "acts of service?"), having some idea how to get your spouse to laugh until their face muscles hurt. I am talking about doing things for your spouse that they sit back and thank the good Lord above for you.

I wasn't sure that Brenda and I could do that again, but here it comes. I just pray that I am man enough to stay the course and be all that God intended for me to be.

Whew... anyway, we had a great time. The speakers were fun to listen to. One of the bigger topics over the weekend was calling men to be just that... MEN. It was amazing to hear (and actually picture in my mind) where the men in our society are failing. It sounds tough the hear, but it wasn't. It was true. It is probably one of the biggest issues in failing marriages all around us. I could talk forever about it, but won't. If you are interested, read "Tender Warrior." An amazing book written by Stu Weber.

Saturday night was date night, so we barbequed for the other couples and spent the rest of the night just being together and talking about faith and where He has our churches ministries headed.

The kids are healthy! The checking account is still in the positive. My wife (allegedly) still loves me. Did I mention the sun is shining?

God bless you and yours!
CJ

Oops. Been busy I guess.

Ok, so it's official... I am not good at keeping my blog updated. Things are fine. Kenzie will be 16 in less then a month. She just had surgery today and all went well. Cody is in rehab for his shoulder. Cyrus got into a HUGE fight last week, got arrested and then expelled from school. Jacob scored 28 points in his basketball game on Saturday. Shane's girlfriend of almost 2 years, broke up with him for another boy, and now is calling and asking him back. John seems to be having troubles finding a job, and his son (my grandson) are at least healthy. Finally, Brenda has been having wierd (irregular) heart beats (I wonder why...;) and has been wearing a wierd EKG Bra type thingy.

Otherwise, we are completely BORED!

Oh, I know. Brenda and I just moved up ranks in our churches Marriage Ministries. We get a key to the church... yippeee... right? I mean that has got to mean something, doesn't it? I have always dreamed of working at church. Well, anyway, I am excited about the change. Probably just means more responsibility.

Finally, Brenda and I are going to a "Weekend to Remember" in Sunriver. Our church paid for us to go and so it will be a mini vacation that we probably otherwise could not afford. Can't wait!!! It is going to be a ball!

Love you all!
CJ

Well, would you lookie there...

What a BEAUTIFUL day today... It is probably 50+ degrees outside right now. The sun is shining, it smells like Spring already. ACK! It can't be Spring yet! I haven't had a chance to enjoy any real snow yet.

So, my wife sneaks me out of the house last Saturday and takes me to Bend where we proceed to stay the night, go to a movie, and to dinner. WOW! What a great time we had. We sat around in a little motel and played Canasta. The greatest part of it all, is that we had two movie passes and a gift certificate to Anthony's Restaurant, so we barely spent any money.

The down fall is that we picked the wrong movie to go to. We went to the "Ringer" and it was terrible. A couple of parts were (kinda) funny, but the rest was rotten. The movie basically makes fun of children with disabilities. About 10 minutes into it, I realized what a bad choice we had made, and 1 minute after that I realized that my Dad would never watched a movie like it. He would have been FURIOUS!!!

Anywho... Other than that, what a weekend. Hope all is great with ya'll!

Love your muffin!
CJ