Some of the Crazier Pictures

I thought this last one was funny. I have several pictures with the swirl effect and every one Caleb is plugging his nose. I'm not sure if he thought he was going to drown or what, but it sure made me laugh!

Kylie got a real big kick out of this one!

A few pictures from NC

We had a great time playing with Photobooth on my computer! There are so many funny ones, the kids were laughing and I got a, "You're so funny Dordan!" from Kylie:)

Fall Break - Here and Gone

This past Thursday started my 2009 fall break, but for me I decided another day would be nice, so I left school after attending my morning classes. Around 11 o'clock I set out for Charlotte, NC. It's a great drive there, about 8 hours and the scenery is just great, I love driving through the mountains. I was a little disappointed that tolls went up from $1.25 to $2. What's up with that? But there were only 3, so that wasn't too bad.

I drove into my cousin, Tricia's house, and once I got there Andrew (her youngest, I believe in Kindergarten) walks up to me and says, "Do you wanna play football?" and said I would love to and without saying another word he tosses me a football and just starts running. Nothing more was needed, he said that he remembered me, though I'm pretty sure the last time I saw him he wasn't walking, but I would play foot ball with him and that was enough for him.

I stayed most of the time with Aunt Saundra on her farm. That was pretty nice for me because I got sleep in everyday and have a slow morning, which I'm not used to either of those, then I would meet her at work and she would treat me to a delicious meal. On Friday we met my Aunt Carol Lynn for lunch and I went back with her to her house. We later picked up Sara from school and she was happy to see me. Sara and I played many games that evening, we even had jump rope races and played leaf tag. She did make it clear on Saturday that I could leave whenever I wanted and she was done playing games when I beat her at a game of Operation (which btw I would make a great doctor, keep that in mind).

So, I went back to Aunt Saundra's house for my cousins seemed to be flocking there, that night I saw Kristi, Ian, Kylie and Caleb; Traci and Adam; Tricia and Abby; and Ian's mother and Adam's father and his significant other. We feasted on delicious barbecued chicken.

Sunday we got up and went to Aunt Saundra's church and my newest friend, Caleb, willingly sat on my lap for almost the whole service! I really enjoyed that, he is so much fun! Then we had an interesting Sunday school class, which I believe was taught by Larry the Cable guy! At least he looked like him, sounded like him, and said some stuff that sounded like something Larry would say. It was quite entertaining.

The rest of Sunday was filled with the celebration of Caleb's birth, which was a lot of fun. Any time the word birthday was mentioned he would grin really big and if you asked who was having a birthday he would say really loud, "Me, me!!!" it was precious. The food as expected was super delicious and the cake was great. I stayed just long enough to watch him open his presents, then it was time to go. This part is never fun when you are having so much fun and so relaxed, but life still goes on and there are still responsibilities back home (I don't like that part of growing up).

It was a great fall break and I can't wait till my next break. Though classes are pretty good this semester, it's always nice to be able to lounge around and just visit with family without having anything on my plate to deal with. I can't wait until Thanksgiving comes around!!!

Opportunities are Arrising!

I once heard someone say that you have to be careful what you pray for because it might just come happen!

I would like to thank all of you for praying for a job, I have one now. I am working in admissions as a student worker for the Outreach Coordinator. It is working pretty good, I am able to write my own hours and come in when I can.

I have also been praying for ministry opportunities and boy have they come to me!!! I have 2 churches now interested in me being a part time youth minister, also I have one opportunity to travel with a guy that works at our school with church relations to preach together and he would mentor me a little bit. I am currently in the decision making process and am trying to way the pros and cons of each opportunity. There seem to be equal pros and cons to each opportunity, so I have been praying for a little discernment there and would appreciate if you all would too!

School is going pretty good, there is nothing to complain about there. I'm sorry it has been a while, I will try to do a little better in the future. I know I say that a lot, but it could happen!

School comes every fall like it or not....

I moved back into my dorm room yesterday! It's weird though because I usually am not excited about school starting or being in classes, but this year I can't wait. I am excited to be in about every class I have! So it's been a little weird because I happy to be doing what most people dread, but I guess I'm not most people.

After I got all my stuff moved in I went and visited some of my friends who were actually in class at the time (early week class, I couldn't take anything...) and they told be there was going to be free Chik fil A at 5!!! I love any kinda of Chik fil A, but the free kind is absolutely the best! So we went to this park where it was being served and I got to see many old friends and here about everyone's summer stories, which was a great time!

School starts next week, but til then I am going to be looking for a job and visiting some old friends and who knows what else I'll get in to! Also Saturday I am going to the Beach Waterpark with about 6 of my friends, which is also a free event!!!!! You really can't beat free!

I hope everyone is doing well. Please be praying that I find a job quickly!! Thank you!

I'm Sorry and Camps are Over

Hello all you faithful blog followers! Long time no talk. I would like to start with a sorry that I didn't keep everyone updated as much as I would have liked to this summer, but I hope you all are doing fantastic.

My summer has truly been one of the best summers in the most unique way. I have had the privilege to travel with a team of 4 to many summer church camps and do whatever it is I am asked to do. I have done everything from the dance from the movie "Hitch", to leading worship, to crawling through mud, and one of my favorites was canoeing/kayaking on a lake with many jr. high students. I really wish I could put in one blog how much I enjoyed every experience at every camp that I have been to.

Also I would like to add that I have grown a full beard that has been growing on my face since June 14th. It has become quite thick and now it is weird to see pictures of what I looked like before I decided this would be a great idea.

Along with all of my camp experiences, many of you know that my brother has also recently entered a little life-sentence I like to call wedlock, also known as "holy matrimony". I was honored to be his best man, which entailed that I stand behind him and sign my name to a fancy piece of paper with a fancy little pen. So that was fun.

On a less fun/yet still fun note, I was asked to help a family that I am really close to move to New Jersey. Now this wasn't a fun thing for me to do with the knowledge that they are going to live farther away now. However, it was a really fun week I was able to spend with them. We had the privilege of seeing the Statue of Liberty, going to Six Flags, as well as exploring the neighborhood, which included going to see the latest Harry Potter movie at the local cinema.

If you check out my Facebook page you will see many of the pictures taken over the summer. I hope you all enjoy and here are a few to get you started.
There she is!

This is my beard with Lady Liberty!

Just another shot of the beard.

Here is my team. Just as if you were reading a book:
Kaela, Katy, Jeremy, and Yours Truly

Camp camp and more camp!

Hey everyone! I just finished my first week of camp this past week and I'm getting ready to go out for another one today!

In case you don't know or perhaps forgot, I am doing this thing through school where I am on a team of 4 that goes out to different church camps and tells people about the school and am there to provide a helping hand.

This past week we were at an elementary week, which was interesting to say the least. First off, we were only supposed to have jr. high and high school kids since our job is promoting the school, but somehow this camp tricked us. Sneaky little buggers.

I was the worship leader for the week, which wasn't that big of a deal because I have been leading worship for the elementary kids at my church for about a year now, but what was interesting was trying to do it alone with no one to teach the choreography. So I would tell them how the song went, then I would try to remember the choreography the best I could, then we would play the song. Anyone ever heard the song Romans 16:19? Well that happened to be the kids favorite song and they begged for it every day. I played twice a day every day and there was only one session that I managed not to play that song. It's not that it's a bad song or anything, but twice a day for a whole week is a little much. :)

We had many interesting experiences with the campers, but for the most part they were good kids. This part might make you southerners smile: the camp was in southern Kentucky and by the second day my whole team was starting to say little words in a southern accent, it was so bad that at one point when I woke up from a nap I was hearing my thoughts in a southern accent! Don't worry though, for the most part I have kicked it, but it was scary, I wasn't sure how long it was going to last!

I was planning on showing you all pictures, but we just didn't take very many, so this week we will take a lot of pictures and I will be able to show you my team and everything. You can also see them on my facebook if you want to see, and sorry for the creepy profile picture!

On the bright side we have high schoolers this week!

An end and a beginning

School is out and, to steal a McDonald's slogan, I'm lovin it! I have not been doing too much with my time off, but that is what you are supposed to do with a break from what I hear.

Since I have been off I have gone to visit some friends, ate out with my parents, visited some other friends, taken some prom pictures for some friends, gone to church, led a jr. high youth group, worked a day and had dinner with my grandparents! I've only been out since Thursday too. I don't know how so much is able to fit into such a short time, but it did.

Hopefully I will get some of the prom pictures to put up and show everyone, but I don't have them. I co-took the pictures with Jenn, so they were on her cameras and she has all of the pictures.

I am starting my camp team extravaganza tomorrow. Well, training is tomorrow, then we get a week off then the big adventure starts! I will be touring the country and doing what I do best... I actually don't know what I do best, but I will basically be doing whatever I am told to do by the camp. I could be doing everything from leading a small group to leading worship to preaching, who knows what I'll be doing! I will hopefully be blogging a lot though so all ye faithful followers will know what I am up to!

Before tomorrow comes I have a lot to do, sort of. I brought home a lot of my stuff from school and all the farther it made it was to my room, not put away, just in there. So my mission for the day is to clean all of the mess up asap and get packed and ready for our 3 day mock week training thing. Well I hope to hear from everyone. Have a great week and a great summer.

Again?!?! No Way!

Yes that is right ladies and gentlemen, I am writing twice in one week! 

Finals are coming up this next week, so the late nights have begun, along with Saturday study times... ugh. I would like everyone to know that I have successfully only had one Saturday that I can recall where I did homework or studied on a Saturday, but today will be the second day.

One nice thing that has come from  late night studying was last night my friend Matt and I rented a couple movies to have on while we were working. We rented "Marley and Me" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." We were going to go to the Reds game last night, but it was raining pretty hard the whole time, so we just rented movies. I decided that I would watch Marley and Me and then would start on my homework during Benny Button. Well I will just say that I wish I had something to distract me from the first one, Marley and Me made my eyes wet. I never cry during a movie, but this one really got me teary-eyed. The film was beautifully done and I really felt like I was a part of the family. At the end of the movie as I was getting teary-eyed I was trying not to let Matt see me, but then at one point I hear him say, "Stupid dog has me cryin all over the place, dangit." I look over and he had tears flowing down his face, then I didn't feel so bad for getting a little teary-eyed. It had to have been a funny scene to watch if you would have walked into the room: a couple of guys on a Friday night, in a little guys dorm room, watching Marley and Me, and sobbing. We felt pathetic!

So for the Curious Case of Benjamin Button we called our friend Taylor and went up and watched that one in our "Student Life" area, that way we didn't feel so pathetic and I did homework during that one to keep me distracted if it got too emotional. It was a good movie, but it was extremely long (2 hrs. 40 min. long)! It was interesting though to see how the cycles of life are sort of similar whether we go from young to old or old to young. You still have to learn to walk, bend over and be able to tie your own shoes, feed yourself, and eventually you grow muscles. At the end of life you basically unlearn everything you have learned if you live long enough. I just thought this was an interesting observation. It just goes to show that you have a certain period of time when you are very capable of a lot of things and should take full advantage of it. All of us are in that stage right now, not dependent on anyone and able to get along just fine and remember everyone we come in contact with. There really isn't any reason to complain about what we have right now.

Other than my sob stories there isn't much going on. I was thinking, since I go to a Christian College, maybe I could just pray for a good grade on my exams? Just kidding, I will just be grateful that I have a capable mind to try and comprehend the glory of God. I hope all of you have a marvelous Mother's day too, do something special for your mother, and for those mothers that are reading this, have a great day and know that you can really have an impact on your child, more than what you think you have probably. 

I love you all.

Slow Poke!

That would be me! I know that I apologize every time I write an entry, but I really am sorry I want to keep my followers informed about my life, but I just forget sometimes.

Not a ton has been happening in my life lately. I was at a jr. high retreat two weekends ago and led a class about not living in the past but learning from it and looking forward. I didn't expect much response from it, but the kids really did seem to get something out of the class, I know that wasn't my doing. The retreat in general was pretty cool, it was called A Letting Go and they were talking about letting go of the things that hold us back from a relationship with GOD. It was pretty interesting. I forgot how easy it is to get jr. high kids to do the stupidest things for the smallest reward. We were playing this game where the students received rocks as a reward and at my game I made a rule that if someone would go off a rope swing that went out over a creek and landed face first in the mud that they would receive 20 additional rocks! I couldn't believe how many kids would do this for something as simple as a few rocks. It was so funny.

Last weekend I was a part of a 30 hour famine and I was asked to lead worship for it. So, I asked the best pianist I know, Dave Searle, and a very talented vocalist, Kara Clutter, to assist me in this. We ended up with an amazing worship time, we had the amount of songs to go for about a half hour, but ended up with close to an hour of worship. Needless to say it was awesome! 

I don't really know what else to talk about. One thing that I have been noticing more and more is the continual need for service, especially in the church. That is mostly what we talked about during the famine and then we talked about it tonight in our dorm devotions. The main passage we looked at was Isaiah 58, which talks about true fasting, and then tonight the song we listened to was The Tears of the Saints. If you want to hear a great song look it up, it is by the band called Leeland, you won't regret it if you have to buy it. I just thought I would like to share a little something that has been on my mind and in my heart lately. I hope you all do something with it and I will try to keep up a little more on my blogging, but as usual, no promises. Take care everyone.

Homemade Pizza, Laughing and Preaching!

Well I would just like to start off saying that I am having a great day today. I don't really know why, but I have just felt really good about life today! It's a great feeling and I love it!

For those of you that remember I was a preacher this weekend, Billy Gram if you will:) I was told that on a scale of 1-10, 1 being Benny Hen and 10 being Jesus, that I was a 4.5. I consider this pretty good because I wouldn't give anyone higher than a 7 if Jesus is 10, and I know it wasn't perfect, but it wasn't terrible either, so I am satisfied with that score. Anyway, the youth group I talked to had just lost their youth minister so that is why I was asked to preach, so I preached about vision in unclear times. I compared their situation to that of the first church in Acts 1 and 2.

Other than that my weekend was pretty good. On Saturday my friend Matt and I went to see our girls volley ball team play in a tournament at Ceadarville University because it was fairly close to my dad's house and that was where we were going afterwards. After the tournament a couple of the girls from the team along with Matt came over to the house for a little homemade pizza and some fun games with friends! It was a night filled with fun and a lot of laughter, and when I say a lot of laughter I mean a LOT of laughter:)

After an exhausting weekend, however, I was worn out, so yesterday (Monday) I skipped my first class so I could sleep in until 10:45, then got up for my second class, went to lunch, then went back and took a nap around 1:30 until dinner at 5 o'clock! It was a great day to catch up on some sleep and I did just that! This could have something to do with why I feel great today, but who knows!

In case anyone is looking for a good CD or something to listen to, I am currently listening to David Crowders' latest CD called Remedy. One song in particular that I'm listening to is called, O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing. It's a very good song and has been stuck in my head for a while, so I thought I would share that with all ye faithful readers! Hope everyone has a great week and I hope to talk to you soon.

I have truly dropped the ball...

I just want to take a brief minute to apologize to my fellow devoted followers of my life. I really do want to keep you updated, but I have really dropped the ball lately. I could go on and make excuses for myself, but you don't want to hear about all of that. So instead I will just give you a brief update of my life...

I have recently enjoyed my spring break by taking a trip to Peru, Indiana to visit a few friends from school. I really enjoyed that, although, I didn't do a whole lot, but that might have been why I enjoyed it so much, it was a nice relaxing times with the ones I am usually doing a lot of not-so-fun stuff with (i.e. schoolwork). We did take a picture, but it wasn't very creative because the Circus Museum was closed, but we did take some pictures, most of which you can see if you go to my Facebook.

Not this weekend, but the next, I have been asked to preach at my roommates church because their youth minister has taken a new job, so they will be out of a youth minister for a short time and they are asking all of our roommates to take turns preaching. I have quite a task on my hands since I am going first, I am the one that has to set the bar! I'm sure it will be fine though.

My roommates and I, along with a few others from school are going to be helping at a Jr. High retreat toward the end of April. I have helped at this retreat for several years now, but this year my friends will be there helping as well! I will basically be doing whatever they ask me to do, but the college students that I am taking are leading several breakout sessions throughout the weekend. We will each be showing a different "Nooma" video, by Rob Bell, and then engaging in about a 15 to 20 minute conversation going deeper into the meaning of the video.

Other than that school is going really well, I am really enjoying my classes this semester. They are for the most part very interesting and rather helpful. I have been both very encouraged and affirmed that I am doing the right thing and on the right track in my quest to lead others closer and deeper with/to Christ. I am excited to see what the next year has in store for me and those around me as well as the longer distant future.

One other thing that is coming up, which I am excited about, is that I am doing camp teams this summer through our school. That means that this summer I will be traveling with 3 other people around to different camps and doing whatever it is that they need, whether it is leading worship or a small group or whatever, but I will also be telling people about the school. For those of you who are wondering whether you will be able to see me or not this summer, rest assured that I believe I get about 3 or 4 weeks off over the course of the summer. If you would like to see me, let me know and I will do my best to let you know if I can work you into my summer schedule.

Other than that, if you have read this far then you must really like me!! but really I hope you all are doing well and I will be letting everyone know how the upcoming events go.

Spring is near and so is the Break that comes with it!

Nothing too exciting has been happening this week, but I just wanted to update my devoted followers of my life.

The exciting news is, next week is spring break! I am really excited about that! One of my roommates, Dave, and I are going to drive out to Indiana to see a few of our other friends for a few days. It's not the typical, "warm weather spring break" location, but nonetheless it will be fun to get away and see people outside of school.

We have a picture contest for our school where we have to take a picture of us in our spring break location with CCU apparel on. There are rewards for people who went the farthest and for the most creative. So, if there are any suggestions of what we can do to be the most creative let me know asap. We were thinking, make a human pyramid and then photoshop it into a picture of the pyramids of Egypt, but I think we can get a little more creative than that. To give you a little help, the place we are going is the Circus Capital of the Nation! So if that helps you think of something crazy that we can do let me know.

Well I hope everyone's life is going well. I can't wait to hear your ideas!

The kind of news I don't like delivering

Just wanted to let everyone know something that I just found out this morning: Bruce's dad, my step grandpa, just died last night. He has been in Hospice for a while and not doing too well. Bruce and my mom went out to see him a couple weeks ago and he talked with them a little more than he had been talking to anyone, but they were told that since they left he hasn't said much to anyone, I don't really know if he has spoken since then. He just wasn't doing well. 

I just wanted to let everyone know a little of what is going on. Just another reminder of the frailty of life. He definitely had an interesting life and enjoyed sharing it with anyone who would listen. He had some wonderful stories and they generally got a little more far-fetched as the evening went on. I enjoyed listening to all of his stories and I am going to miss him very much. 

If you could, say a prayer for his wife, Fern, and Bruce and his sister, Dale, and for the rest of his family and friends. Thank you all.

Illness in the Air

Over the weekend I went to Pennsylvania with Jenn to visit my step brother Mike and his family. I was really excited to see the girls, but when I got there I was saddened to find that all three of them were sick:( This wasn't good, but what was worse was Jenn was sick too. Needless to say it wasn't a very eventful weekend. One thing I did learn is that little girls are very mellow and kinda cute when they are sick, but that is the only good thing about them being ill.

I took some pictures, but it will take me a day or two to post them, so I will just apologize now for that. I hope all ye faithful followers had a good weekend and are having a good Monday! 

Just a reminder

I just thought I would remind you all that I am devoted once again to my blogging! Not much has happened since my last post, but I just wanted to remind everyone that I am thinking about you and I miss and love you all!

I just wanted to let you know that just because you may have felt neglected for a while, I am still thinking about my devoted readers. Thanks again for reading and I will have something important to talk about in my next entry, I promise.

So.. It's been a while!

Ok, so a little catch up.. since new years I have gone to Colfax, IN to lead worship at a jr. high retreat. I started school back up (I'm taking 18 hours this semester). I am enjoying my classes this semester a little more than last semester. I am still dating Jenn, which from what I understand is what some of you want to hear more about, but that will be in a minute. More recently, as in this past weekend, I was in Macomb, IL playing in a worship band for a high school retreat. This was a nice little getaway. This weekend coming up Jenn and I are going out to see my nieces in PA, I am really excited for this, it has been a long time since I have seen them.

I suppose most of you want to hear about Jenn now... Well she is about 2.5 inches shorter than me, she has brown hair, most of the time it's curly, but sometimes she straightens it, she love photography and as I believe I have said is a photography major in a photography and tech school in Dayton. Anyway, we have been dating for almost 2 months now. She has one brother and she lives with her mom. This is weird, I don't really know what else to talk about, so if anyone wants to know anything else, just ask and I will answer!

In other news, if anyone is interested in my classes, I am taking the following classes this semester: Hermeneutics (how to interpret the Bible, just a fancy word for it..), Psychotherapy (counseling), Intro to Ministry, Old Testament Poetry, Old Testament Prophesy, and Acts of the Apostles. My favorite is OT Poetry, it is with one of my favorite professors and I am really getting a lot out of the class. 

Well let me know what you all would like to know more about. I feel like I have been out of the blogging world so long I forget what to talk about. I would just like to apologize once again for the lack of communication, please find it in your heart to forgive me.

Back to School

Well as some of you might know, I am back at school! Not too exciting, but I do really like my class. It is prayer and spirituality with the best theology teacher we have. Today was really good and I expect the rest of the week to be just as good and even better.

Sorry to all that I didn't write much over break, as I was going here and there I wasn't on my computer very much at all. 

As some of you know and others might not, I have a girl friend, and I have been enjoying her company very much. It made going back to school less fun though as she does not go to the same school. Her name is Jenn or Jennifer if you will. She is a photography major and is going to a technical school in Dayton called Ohio Institute of Photography and Technology. She is very skilled at it and has been taking many pictures of us. 

Well that is about all I have to say for now. I will be letting you know how class goes the rest of the week. I am pretty excited to see what we learn this week.