Here we go again...
1) Melissa and I saw the movie ‘Cellular’ this past week. We recommend it! Very fast paced. It almost reminded me of ‘Speed.’ (Obviously… completely different story) But you just feel like the proponents of the movie are always in danger until the very end. We really liked this movie! I would give it an 8.5/10.
(With a 10 being ‘Empire Strikes Back’ or ‘Braveheart’… and a 1 being a very terrible movie, for the love of everything good and holy, please DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WATCHING IT!)
2) I just love midwest winters/springs… On Monday, I played some tennis in warm weather… today, I’m scraping off frost from my windshield in cold weather! Weird… but I don’t ever want to live anywhere else.
3) Sunday night I watched the grammys. Mostly because I knew that U2 was going to perform. They played the song: Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own… which is one of my favorites from their new album. For some reason, they chose to use an annoying either organ or choir to help suppliment the song. I didn’t like it. They played that song much better on Saturday night Live a few months back. Anyway… they were nominated for three grammys… and they won three grammys. Yeah!
4) I’m not sure if I’ve shared this or not… but this past year, I made the decision to start selling all of my Star Wars stuff on ebay. I’ve already completed two different sales! I know… it’s shocking to many of you… but it was time.
5) Watch the National Hockey League closely. This may be the last time that it’s considered one of the major sports of America. May this be a lesson to baseball: You guys will not be able to recover from another strike either. So, be thinking about that in the next few years.
6) I got to see Danny and Tanna Janes today! They were on vacation and one of their stops was St. Louis. So they stopped in to see all of us. They got to spend all afternoon with Emily... and even got to see Melissa at the end of her school day! They showed me pictures of the new building in Kalamazoo. It looks incredible. I am really excited for them! Boy, it was good to see them! I will always remember that couple with love and respect. Danny was a great pastor to work for and learn from… and he was always so supportive of me. Tanna is Tanna. She loved Melissa and Emily as if they were her own. And she talked sports with me! It was a great surprise to see them!
7) Emily knows how to plug in Nintendo controllers now. I guess Melissa saw her plug both controllers into the console and pretend to be playing. The next step: teaching her how to play a two player game… so that her and I can starting beating games together: We can rule the gaming world as Father and Daughter.
8) We are gearing up to start our Spring small groups. This has been one of the most important parts of ministry at SPWC. Small groups have really helped our congregation to start developing healthy relationships. Last fall, we saw several our of newer families get plugged in because of relationships formed at our small groups. Even Melissa and I were able to make some really close friends because of the small group we hosted. Next Sunday, we will be starting again: Our topic: The Jesus I Never Knew, by Phillip Yancey. I think this will be a neat study.
9) Pitchers and catchers have reported already for many major league teams… Cards pitchers and catchers will officially report tomorrow and have their first workout on Saturday. It’s a good time of year. Maybe even the most wonderful time of the year.
10) About half the media has, once again, decided that the Cubs will run away with the central division. It may surprise you to hear that I am glad to see that. It was those types of reports that motivated a much better balanced Cardinal team to play well and take the division. Maybe these reports will just continue to motivate our current team. We’ll see. It should be an good year.
That’s all for now. I might actually have a legit ‘one-topic, article-like’ blog next week. But we’ll see.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Shotgun - Volume 2
To the three of you that check this site regularly... I apologize. I have had a busy couple of weeks and haven't had anything that I have wanted to write a long article about for awhile. So probably over the next couple of weeks, I'll stick with random thoughts that I've had on my mind...
With that said... here goes nothing.
1) Cardinal's pitchers and catchers report in seven, count them, seven days.
2) I had my first opportunity to play tennis last Saturday. I played my brother who had his mind on other things at the time. But, thanks to him for letting me hit around with him for awhile. It really felt great... I am trying to work on a kick serve. I don't think that I've gotten the ball to 'kick' the way I want it yet... but I did figure out a way to serve down the middle with a little more accuracy. My next match will be this next Monday afternoon against Tony Hake.
3) Jose Canseco is a idiot. I would not be surprised if I ever found out that Mark McGwire 'juiced' up. But it will take more than a book from this moron to convince me he did. He pretty much tried to accuse anybody that has had more success than him. This will just be a good way to make a couple of bucks... but he certainly can't make money as a legitimate ball player.
4) I just finished the Star Wars book 'The Cestus Deception'. Just for anybody interested: I thought it was one of the better SW books that I have read in a while. Good storylines about Obi-Wan... and it gets you inside the head of a clone trooper. Very intriguing read.
5) My parents visited this weekend and they brought the movie 'The Forgotten.' It reminded me an X-File! I liked it... but it was so short... about 90 minutes. Good for a couple of thrills. I have always liked psychological thrillers.
6) Melissa and I participated in a 'Newlywed Game' last night at our church. We placed 2nd out of about 24 couples! Haha! It was great!
7) If any of you are looking for a fresh worship project... check out Desperation... They have two CD's out... and both are packed full of worship stuff that is authentic and moving! I have just fallen in love with their stuff. Check out 'Rescue' and 'Until My Breath Runs Dry' on their first project.
8) I have learned that ministry is full of ups and downs... and that there are times when you feel like you have tons of momentum and other times when you feel like you are walking backwards. Right now, I feel a tremendous amount of momentum in the ministry here at St. Peters Wesleyan. I count about 30 people who have started attending here in the last year and have stuck. About half of those come from either NO church background or a catholic church background. It has been really neat to see God working in the lives of these people!
9) Thanks to her uncle Kevin... Emily now does the whole 'here's the church, here's the steeple' trick with her hands. Pretty funny stuff.
10) Those Cubs... they traded away Farnsworth. A guy that has a 99+ fastball and a nice breakin' pitch. He's a headcase... but with really good stuff. Just doesn't sound like improving your bullpen to me. I know some will say that it's addition by subtraction... but man, there are only a handful of guys that throw that hard. We'll see how it plays out. Steve Stone says that he thinks the Cubs are in the best position in the central. He said on the radio that everybody but the Reds and Cubs got worse in the central. What?! The Cubs got better? How? They lost about 75 homeruns and about 190 RBI's from their starting line-up. They lost their most stable and reliable starter from last year. And what new players did they sign? Jeremy Burnitz? Will Jeremy be able to make up the 16 game difference between the Cards and Cubs from last year? Me thinks not... but we'll see.
That's all for know!
With that said... here goes nothing.
1) Cardinal's pitchers and catchers report in seven, count them, seven days.
2) I had my first opportunity to play tennis last Saturday. I played my brother who had his mind on other things at the time. But, thanks to him for letting me hit around with him for awhile. It really felt great... I am trying to work on a kick serve. I don't think that I've gotten the ball to 'kick' the way I want it yet... but I did figure out a way to serve down the middle with a little more accuracy. My next match will be this next Monday afternoon against Tony Hake.
3) Jose Canseco is a idiot. I would not be surprised if I ever found out that Mark McGwire 'juiced' up. But it will take more than a book from this moron to convince me he did. He pretty much tried to accuse anybody that has had more success than him. This will just be a good way to make a couple of bucks... but he certainly can't make money as a legitimate ball player.
4) I just finished the Star Wars book 'The Cestus Deception'. Just for anybody interested: I thought it was one of the better SW books that I have read in a while. Good storylines about Obi-Wan... and it gets you inside the head of a clone trooper. Very intriguing read.
5) My parents visited this weekend and they brought the movie 'The Forgotten.' It reminded me an X-File! I liked it... but it was so short... about 90 minutes. Good for a couple of thrills. I have always liked psychological thrillers.
6) Melissa and I participated in a 'Newlywed Game' last night at our church. We placed 2nd out of about 24 couples! Haha! It was great!
7) If any of you are looking for a fresh worship project... check out Desperation... They have two CD's out... and both are packed full of worship stuff that is authentic and moving! I have just fallen in love with their stuff. Check out 'Rescue' and 'Until My Breath Runs Dry' on their first project.
8) I have learned that ministry is full of ups and downs... and that there are times when you feel like you have tons of momentum and other times when you feel like you are walking backwards. Right now, I feel a tremendous amount of momentum in the ministry here at St. Peters Wesleyan. I count about 30 people who have started attending here in the last year and have stuck. About half of those come from either NO church background or a catholic church background. It has been really neat to see God working in the lives of these people!
9) Thanks to her uncle Kevin... Emily now does the whole 'here's the church, here's the steeple' trick with her hands. Pretty funny stuff.
10) Those Cubs... they traded away Farnsworth. A guy that has a 99+ fastball and a nice breakin' pitch. He's a headcase... but with really good stuff. Just doesn't sound like improving your bullpen to me. I know some will say that it's addition by subtraction... but man, there are only a handful of guys that throw that hard. We'll see how it plays out. Steve Stone says that he thinks the Cubs are in the best position in the central. He said on the radio that everybody but the Reds and Cubs got worse in the central. What?! The Cubs got better? How? They lost about 75 homeruns and about 190 RBI's from their starting line-up. They lost their most stable and reliable starter from last year. And what new players did they sign? Jeremy Burnitz? Will Jeremy be able to make up the 16 game difference between the Cards and Cubs from last year? Me thinks not... but we'll see.
That's all for know!
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Shotgun Post
I've had a really hard time motivating myself to write in my BLOG in the last several weeks. I have been busy at work... and have been too preoccupied at home to really sit down and write anything. Same is true this week. I honestly don't have any huge thing pressing down on my heart right now... or any issue that I want to take the time to hash out. But I've thought of a few small items to share about... so here I go! The top ten small things on my mind: In no particular order... I present to you my first shotgun post of this blog:
1) I was able to score TWO tickets to see U2 play in Chicago, at the United Center, in May. Four shows in Chicago sold out within about an hour of going on sale. I feel extremely lucky. This will be my second U2 concert. I have a feeling that this one will be pretty unforgettable... based on their new stuff.
2) Cardinals pitchers and catchers report to spring training in less than 16 days. I am very excited. That also means that fantasy baseball will be starting up sometime soon. Whahoo!! Winter is really starting to get long now.
3) Cub fans are weird. They have lost 2/3 of their outfield, 1/5 of their starting pitching, and never touched their pathetic bullpen over the offseason... and their fans think that they are going to run away with the central this year. Yeah. Right.
4) I just bought a Wilson ProStaff 6.6 Titanium racquet on ebay for $20.00. From what I've seen, that racquet costs $100.00 retail. I am really getting itchy to play some tennis again soon!
5) The Illinois basketball team is so much fun to watch. I'll admit that I'm fairweather this year. I don't normally follow ANY team closely until the tournament starts in March... but I try to watch this team play any chance that I get. They win because they play TOGETHER. I hope they go all they way in March/April.
6) I will elaborate on this further some other time... but here's my personal take on ministry: The best thing and worst thing about ministry is..... people. Over the past month... I have been overjoyed with some of our newer Christians taking baby steps in their faith; yet I have been completely disappointed with others in the church because their constant bickering about non-eternal issues.
7) Every now and again, Melissa and I will find a cool movie. I can officially recommend the Manchirian Candidate. It's a misdirectional movie that keeps you guessing. Very nice... very tense. And Denzell is in it... and I enjoy most of the movies that he is in.
8) Emily is such a funny little girl. I wish I remembered to write down everything she does to delight, impress, surprise me. Whenever she hears someone burp in our household (and yes, it CAN be Melissa at times) she says this: "That's gross, mommy, that's gross." (Haha! I taught her that! Haha!)
9) As far as I'm concerned, hockey players and owners can disagree for the rest of my life. Do you know how much I've missed hockey? Zip, zilch, zero, nada, not at all. Gives our radio personalities more time to talk about the Cards.
10) Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith is due out this May. From everything that I've seen or heard about it... it looks like it will be good. Very, very, very dark... but good. Should be interesting. I still like the Old Trilogy much better than the New One.
That's all for now:
Josh
1) I was able to score TWO tickets to see U2 play in Chicago, at the United Center, in May. Four shows in Chicago sold out within about an hour of going on sale. I feel extremely lucky. This will be my second U2 concert. I have a feeling that this one will be pretty unforgettable... based on their new stuff.
2) Cardinals pitchers and catchers report to spring training in less than 16 days. I am very excited. That also means that fantasy baseball will be starting up sometime soon. Whahoo!! Winter is really starting to get long now.
3) Cub fans are weird. They have lost 2/3 of their outfield, 1/5 of their starting pitching, and never touched their pathetic bullpen over the offseason... and their fans think that they are going to run away with the central this year. Yeah. Right.
4) I just bought a Wilson ProStaff 6.6 Titanium racquet on ebay for $20.00. From what I've seen, that racquet costs $100.00 retail. I am really getting itchy to play some tennis again soon!
5) The Illinois basketball team is so much fun to watch. I'll admit that I'm fairweather this year. I don't normally follow ANY team closely until the tournament starts in March... but I try to watch this team play any chance that I get. They win because they play TOGETHER. I hope they go all they way in March/April.
6) I will elaborate on this further some other time... but here's my personal take on ministry: The best thing and worst thing about ministry is..... people. Over the past month... I have been overjoyed with some of our newer Christians taking baby steps in their faith; yet I have been completely disappointed with others in the church because their constant bickering about non-eternal issues.
7) Every now and again, Melissa and I will find a cool movie. I can officially recommend the Manchirian Candidate. It's a misdirectional movie that keeps you guessing. Very nice... very tense. And Denzell is in it... and I enjoy most of the movies that he is in.
8) Emily is such a funny little girl. I wish I remembered to write down everything she does to delight, impress, surprise me. Whenever she hears someone burp in our household (and yes, it CAN be Melissa at times) she says this: "That's gross, mommy, that's gross." (Haha! I taught her that! Haha!)
9) As far as I'm concerned, hockey players and owners can disagree for the rest of my life. Do you know how much I've missed hockey? Zip, zilch, zero, nada, not at all. Gives our radio personalities more time to talk about the Cards.
10) Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith is due out this May. From everything that I've seen or heard about it... it looks like it will be good. Very, very, very dark... but good. Should be interesting. I still like the Old Trilogy much better than the New One.
That's all for now:
Josh
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Howard Family Update - February 2005
Hey everybody! I hope this email finds all of you happy and healthy… I thought I’d send a quick note updating you on what has been happening here in St. Peters, MO.
Emily Grace is such a riot. She surprises me with something new almost on a daily basis now. One day she put her backpack on and said that she was going to work. (Just like her parents!) Other days she will put her pack on and wait by the door. When we ask what she is doing… she’ll say that she is waiting for the bus. For some reason, her new big thing since Christmas is trains. Specially, Thomas the Train: which might be one of the more boring children’s series out there right now. But she just adores any type of train. There are train tracks close to where we live and everytime she hears the horn… she gets all excited and starts yelling: Chooo chooooo. Choooo choooo.
She has recently started doing this cool thing where she comes up to you and kisses both of your cheeks… one after another. I’m not sure where she picked that up. But it’s nice to be the recepient of it!
Melissa is doing pretty good. She has been really busy lately. She still likes her work, but some of the parents that she works with are terrible. Thankfully, she works for a VERY supportive principle and she has made some good connections with her fellow teachers. She has been getting a lot of ‘side jobs’ lately. She’s been doing a lot of tutoring, trying to make a few extra dollars so that we can get some of loans paid down a little bit. I am proud to say that Melissa’s schooling is officially paid for! It only took us six years… but hey, it’s done.
She has been helping me with our children’s midweek program. She is in charge of the crafts and snacks activity center. The kids really like going to her room. I think they like hers better than mine, even! (Probably because it’s more structured… and better prepared.) We have been averaging 29 kids since we started this… it has been a blessing as we have made connections with new kids… and starting to make contact with their parents as well.
Ministry has been going well for me. Obviously, there are always mountains and valleys. It seems like the church, in general, is going through good time. We just hosted a connection party and we had 12 newer attendees come and get to know the pastors and some other key people in the church. It was a very encouraging time. We have seen about eight or nine new families begin attending and actually ‘stick’ over the past year. We are starting to make up for the several families that left the church in our ‘great exodus’ of 2004.
On a personal note… I am excited because I scored two U2 tickets last Saturday morning for their upcoming ‘Vertigo’ tour. I will be seeing them live at the United Center on May 10th! This will only be the second time I’ve seen them live. It should be a pretty good concert!
I would love to hear from any of you! I hope you are doing well!
Your friends,
Josh, Melissa, and Emily Howard
P.S. If you are ever bored… and online: check out my blog: http://joshhoward.blogspot.com (It has a little bit of everything on there!)
Emily Grace is such a riot. She surprises me with something new almost on a daily basis now. One day she put her backpack on and said that she was going to work. (Just like her parents!) Other days she will put her pack on and wait by the door. When we ask what she is doing… she’ll say that she is waiting for the bus. For some reason, her new big thing since Christmas is trains. Specially, Thomas the Train: which might be one of the more boring children’s series out there right now. But she just adores any type of train. There are train tracks close to where we live and everytime she hears the horn… she gets all excited and starts yelling: Chooo chooooo. Choooo choooo.
She has recently started doing this cool thing where she comes up to you and kisses both of your cheeks… one after another. I’m not sure where she picked that up. But it’s nice to be the recepient of it!
Melissa is doing pretty good. She has been really busy lately. She still likes her work, but some of the parents that she works with are terrible. Thankfully, she works for a VERY supportive principle and she has made some good connections with her fellow teachers. She has been getting a lot of ‘side jobs’ lately. She’s been doing a lot of tutoring, trying to make a few extra dollars so that we can get some of loans paid down a little bit. I am proud to say that Melissa’s schooling is officially paid for! It only took us six years… but hey, it’s done.
She has been helping me with our children’s midweek program. She is in charge of the crafts and snacks activity center. The kids really like going to her room. I think they like hers better than mine, even! (Probably because it’s more structured… and better prepared.) We have been averaging 29 kids since we started this… it has been a blessing as we have made connections with new kids… and starting to make contact with their parents as well.
Ministry has been going well for me. Obviously, there are always mountains and valleys. It seems like the church, in general, is going through good time. We just hosted a connection party and we had 12 newer attendees come and get to know the pastors and some other key people in the church. It was a very encouraging time. We have seen about eight or nine new families begin attending and actually ‘stick’ over the past year. We are starting to make up for the several families that left the church in our ‘great exodus’ of 2004.
On a personal note… I am excited because I scored two U2 tickets last Saturday morning for their upcoming ‘Vertigo’ tour. I will be seeing them live at the United Center on May 10th! This will only be the second time I’ve seen them live. It should be a pretty good concert!
I would love to hear from any of you! I hope you are doing well!
Your friends,
Josh, Melissa, and Emily Howard
P.S. If you are ever bored… and online: check out my blog: http://joshhoward.blogspot.com (It has a little bit of everything on there!)
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