So, Jon and Melissa, Jeff, Rachael, Alina and I, went to Randy Whites for dinner where we stuffed ourselves beyond comfort with some quality BBQ.  After that we spent the next few hours playing Yahtzee and The Game of Knowledge (which is a game “for kids and their parents”) were we each one of us revealed that we should have continued playing a game of chance rather than a game of knowledge.

We left our house about 9:00pm to find some seats in a field or parking lot near where the fireworks were going to go off at 9:45pm.  After traveling for what was just about the longest 3 miles of my life we arrived in a good parking lot just as the fireworks began.  The “oohs” and “ahhs” lasted for 15 or 20 minutes.  The fireworks exploding in the air to the background music of somebody’s car stereo crooning patriotic music in an operatic style. 

But, cheesy music aside, it was all worth it to see Rachael’s expressions.  You see, it was the first time that we took her to see fireworks, so she had to get over her initial fear that they where “going to get her”.  And once she did, she decided that she really “liked the blue ones”. 

It was a good time while it lasted.  But, when it ended, it was miserable.  We had to drive home.  And, so did everybody else.  And because Frisco has every road under construction and no road finished, our drive home became the longest 3 miles of my driving life.  I know, with absolute certainty that we could have walked the 3 miles faster than the hour and a half that it took us to drive it.  Getting home just before midnight was ridiculous, but I have never appreciated my soft bed more.

I’ll tell you what though, celebrating our country as everybody watches the same fireworks and everybody is equal in their participation and admiration of the display of patriotism stands in stark contrast to what people do when they get into their vehicles to drive home.  The people who were, not five minutes before, engaged in a community celebration of our nation, now had become a bunch of selfish and arrogant individuals, cutting each other off or not letting other people merge.  It sure is interesting that America is celebrated in community, but the minute that the show is over, the only American that matters is “me”.  I sure enjoyed the united America better than the driving one.  I guess our unity lasts only as long as the show is entertaining. 

Anyway, it was a good time, but next year I will figure out a way to avoid having to sit in traffic with all of those angry Americans again.

Adam Copeland
http://adamray.wordpress.com/
A friend from church who has recently been called to Iraq.  Pray for him and his wife through this time.  He’s a cool guy and all that trash.

Joey White
http://journeytolife.wordpress.com/
He’s our campus pastor at First Baptist McKinney – North Campus.  Don’t let the clipboard fool you, his work is harder than most will ever see.

Jon Glidden
http://jonnysteele.wordpress.com/
A good friend at church.  His wisdom and honesty are very important to me, and his heart for God is contagious.

Todd Benson
http://www.teb5.com/
Todd is a friend from church who, like me, has been in the blogging game for a while.  I’ve never seen a man play so many roles.  He makes the kids laugh and holds the setup team together.  Todd’s the man.

As you can tell, I respect each of these guys very much and would recommend that you add them to your favorite’s list.

This Christmas seemed really rushed, hopefully next year when things are settled down we will be able to have a nicer, less crazy Christmas.

I have to say that until the day before our walkthrough I doubted that we would get the house, but God really demonstrated what His power could overcome (although these things were huge from our perspective, the were tiny to God, but He still cared and still provided).

I just want to take a minute to thank Alison and John for all of their help in opening up their home for us and inconveniencing themselves to help us in getting established out here. Withought them, it would have been nearly impossible for us to make the move.

I also want to thank my mom for everything she has done for us. She let us stay with her rent free for two months as we struggled to get the jobs that we needed to buy the house. I also want to thank her for sacrificing so much to be out here with us, and for being there for Rachael as well. She has done more for our attitutdes and happieness than she could know. Thank you, we love you.

I also want to thank Kris and Jennifer, our friends, who have given us financial help to make all of this possible. They have also been great in helping us to remain positive through the struggles that we faced in getting the house. We look forward to seeing them again soon.

The truck that we got was one of those “we pack it, they move it” companies. They dropped off a truck (28′ long, 8′ wide, 9′ high) for us to pack everything into. Thry dropped the truck off on Friday and will pick it up Tuesday or wednesday. We could use as much or as little space as we need, and only pay for the space we used, so since we had plenty of space we loaded three families worth of stuff onto the truck, which was cool because it all fit, but it took a LOT of strength and patience for all of us.

Anyway, I just wanted to say a thank you to Tim and Liz, David and Jessica, and Jeff for helping us out even though they had nothing to gain and where not moving themselves. I would also like to thank my wife, who probably worked as hard or harder than most of us and basically packed and cleaned our whole apartment by herself.