Problems are for Solving

The other day when I was searching around for something to be thankful for I got caught up on my travel numbers. September was the second month this year where I didn’t travel at all. And in August I came home from a business trip and had some small trips, including Toby’s birthday trip but put very few miles on.

Through September 30th I am at about 12,000 miles. That’s compared to just over 30,000 miles this time last year. 2,000 fewer miles per month. That’s something to be very thankful for as I enter a season of more travel over the last quarter. And a good deal of the travel this year has been personal and non-emergency.

I am thankful to God for the comparative rest from last year’s heavy travels.

Now that I can post while mobile, I’m going to try to post a little more often, including occasional posts about family news.

Last night I got back from Chicago, where I spent most of the week hobknobbing with the rich & famous, by which I mean elected officials and people who make more than I do. It is very good to be home. Despite the close location of the conference, this is the longest I’ve been away from my family this year. And for that I am thankful. Later this month, dv, I’ll post a summary of this year’s travels and a comparison to last year.

I’ve been exercising again, getting 10 cardio workouts in last month (compared to 7 for the previous 3 months combined) and I already hit the fitness center at the hotel yesterday, starting August out right. Lord willing, I will see some increase in healthiness and energy levels over the next few months if I can continue forming this habit.

The children are growing. I’m amazed at how grown up they’re getting. We talk about the Bill of Rights, taxes, future plans. I am thankful that my children will be spared from some of my mistakes because I see them learning what I didn’t.

Later this month, Toby and I will be headed to GenConIndy, for his 10 year old trip. I’m looking forward to the time with Toby, and his enjoyment of the gaming environment.

If you’re on facebook, look me up. I’ve been uploading photos there from my blackberry and you’ll get to see a bit more since I haven’t figured out a quick way to do photos here.

More later!

I had some auto-posts set up for a while and they’ve run out. So there’s nothing here for a few weeks.

Last month we went to visit my Mom’s cousin in Nevada, MO (passing though the famous Louisiana/Mexico corridor) for a few days. After that, I had a trip to Hot Spring, AR, followed by a few days in Branson, MO, including a two day trip to Silver Dollar City. It was a nice trip.

Mom and Dad came with us to SDC, and then came up to Peoria for a few days where Dad helped build some bookshelves in our library. Maybe TC will post pictures later, but I’ve decided that if I start posting pictures I’ll never get posts done again. But they look really nice–you can come by and see them if you’re in the neighborhood.

This week, Danco is installing air conditioning. Upstairs and downstairs. That ought to take the crimp out of hospitality this summer. We’re looking forward to it.

Last week and next week I had/have short trips to the east coast. It keeps me busy.

I haven’t been to the gym in several weeks. Bad me. I really would like to start that up again, but it’s just hard to get back over the initial inertial hump.

That’s about it. Lots of life surrounding this. I had delusions about posting individual posts about the stuff above, but don’t think it would have happened.

More later, Lord willing.

Previous post.

January - March, 2007: 10,746 miles traveled and 15 nights away from home.

January - March, 2008: 2,466 miles and two nights away from home.

Wahoo. I have trips scheduled every month through September, but with that kind of a start I’m happy to report that it seems unlikely to catch last year. Whew.

January 2007: 3108 DEM(driving equivalent miles) traveled. Quite the start to a full year.

January 2008: Zero. Nada. Zip. 31 consecutive nights in my own bed.

We (my wife especially) are praising God for less motion in the beginning of another year.

…we will see you soon if the Lord wills.

Today a truck pulls away from Hopedale filled with the belongings of the Evans family. They are moving to Tennessee as the Lord calls Bryan and his family to a different ministry. We will sorely miss them, in so many ways, but we will see them as often as we can. Thankfully they’ll be visiting family and such here at least a couple of times each year and we’ll see them then, and we plan to go down for their baby’s baptism in August and to visit on our way to Arkansas in May.

A couple of weeks ago we took them to a Peoria Rivermen game at the Civic Center. Home town boys won 5-0! Here are a few pictures from the game:

The zamboni between periods (above) as Samuel Logan (below) watches eagerly:

Continue Reading »

Today is Thursday. It marks two things this week.

First, it marks the fourth straight day that I’ve been to the gym in the morning. Yes, I haven’t mentioned exercise in a while. A couple of weeks ago we joined the Riverplex. And while we got started late (joined 14th) we were able to get eight workouts in during the month of October and started November out with 1 today.

I’m really liking working out in the mornings. We’re still working on a morning routine and I feel like I’m constantly messing up and getting out late, but I’m getting out late having had a workout, some personal Bible study time, and something resembling a family breakfast. Next week when we get “our hour back” we’ll step things up another notch. I’m also finding I have more energy during the day on less sleep from getting my heart rate up in the morning and actually eating breakfast.

This week Thursday also marks the near end (of course I’m taking tomorrow off) of my second straight week without travel. As of now I have no travel scheduled until November 14th, and that will be an overnight, driving trip and TC is coming with me. Sure I have to go back to the east coast in December, but three weeks straight during this kind of year is just wonderful.

So I’m feeling great. Work is going well and has been peaceful (but busy) of late, and I’m finally getting some routine in the exercise department. And working out in the mornings fits my style much better than the evenings.

If you’ll excuse me now, I need to dig into the Word for a bit before the day gets going.

Until this year my job has offered opportunities for travel on occasion, and some of them have been required, though not all of them. I’d gotten opportunities to visit conferences and places I might not have otherwise, and sometimes even to take along my family.

This year has been different.

None of my travel has been optional, and it has been exceedingly great. As of this post, I’ve visited 28 states and logged over 38,000 miles this year. (Side note: this is the reason my blog posts have been so sporadic all year)

I’m tired. I’m tired of coming home and tired of not getting to stay.

For my birthday Raquel gave me a copy of Andrew Peterson’s album, Clear to Venus. I loved it instantly and it became my favorite AP album just as quickly. The title track, Venus, is about his struggles as he traveled around from concert concert and the wear and tear on his family.

The song makes me cry.

I am convinced that what I am traveling for is a worthwhile–in fact I am convinced that there is no one else who can do what I’m doing. Which means that just because I’m tired I can’t just give up–if this is what God has called me to then there is no where else I can be.

…It’s one more night at the Hampton Inn
It’s breakfast on the house again
Well, it isn’t home, but it’ll do just fine
Still, it isn’t home

We’ve got planes to catch, bills to pay
We won’t make it home today
We’ve got shows from Boston clear to Venus
But if America is listening, as long as I’ve got songs to sing
We can always make a home right here between us

(whole song lyrics)

But that doesn’t make leaving home and spending “one more night at the Hampton Inn” any easier. It’s been hard on me, and hard on my family, and every time I come home I long for Home.

38,000 miles is a lot, and I’m not done this year yet. By the end of the year I’ll be well over 40,000 miles. The song was especially meaningful because my year of travel started with a trip to Boston, and I feel like I’ve traveled clear to Venus. But thankfully, that’s not true. Venus is closest to earth at 40 MILLION miles. I haven’t traveled a tenth of a percent of the way to Venus.

It just feels that way.

I miss my wife and my family when I travel, and it’s hard to balance my callings at times. Here’s a link to Andrew Peterson singing Venus. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. And if it makes you cry, think of me and say a prayer for my family while I’m “singing my songs” to America.

This past month my family and I were in Washington, DC and stayed at a hotel in Bethesda, Maryland. On the Monday evening we were there we walked down the road to Cesco Trattoria, an Italian place that the hotel desk staff recommended.

Oh, my!

From the freshly baked bread, to the bottle of Chianti, to the freshly made (on site) pasta dishes and the meat that we had (a filet and some venison) with the pasta everything was amazing. Truly fantastic to the point where I could not stop exclaiming how good it was.

I have eaten out quite a bit in my life and worked in some mighty fine establishments, and this is by far the best meal I have had in recent memory, possibly my whole life. We sat around the table, the children, Raquel, Gabrielle, and Theresa and me waxing and enjoying and in a froth about how good this food was. The wine was perfect for the meal and we just ate and ate and were filled with joy at the artistry of the chef.

Midway through the meal it hit me, and I made an announcement to the table: Do you all realize that the food in heaven is better than this?

Better. Better in unimaginable ways.

As I wrote yesterday I have been longing for heaven quite a bit of late, and so Continue Reading »

Last week on a plane from Chicago to San Francisco I sat next to a very friendly man. Friendly and talkative. As we engaged in conversation he mentioned children. I asked how many children he had, and he replied, eight. Said he’d like to have more.
I almost asked where he went to church (very few non-Christians have that many children) when he asked if I was married. I said that I’d been married for twelve years.

Him? He’d not yet found the right woman.

Eight children with multiple partners. The man acted like he wanted to be a good father. He “texts” his older daughters every Saturday. He sends uplifting, encouraging messages. He doesn’t want them to grow up dependent upon a man.

I found that ironic. A father who has many children and yet to actually make a marriage work Continue Reading »