Happy New Year!

"Should old acquaintace be forgot and never come to mind...na na na na na na nuh na...and na na old ang zine!!"

Yeah, I don't know the lyrics either but it sounds good, especially at 1am. LOL

Happy New Year to you and your's this morning! I hope that everyone who reads this has a safe and great new year's eve and day off on Monday. With all the pageantry of the parades and the next couple of days with major college football bowl games, how can it NOT be good? We're looking forward to the Arkansas Razorbacks tangling with the Wisconsin Badgers later today...around noon CST I think...in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando. It'll be a great way to cap off an incredible season that saw us go 10-3 in the regular season, much better than any one would've predicted. GO HOGS!!

Tonight however, or should I say on New Year's Eve, it was a quiet night at our home. Kaitlyn was out at a friend's house for a huge girly sleepover (the parents hosting this party are to be enshrined soon for this) and Jake went to bed around 8:30p. He didn't get a nap today (part of our plan) and went down very easily...which meant Jennifer & I had about 4+ hours to check out Disc 3 of Season 2 for the TV show "24".

And that's just what we did. Yeah, we're major party hounds. In fact, we were so enthralled with the show we didn't realize it was even 12:03am until we heard the fireworks going off behind us. A quick smooch, a friendly wish ("Happy New Year, sweetie") and we were back for the last 30 minutes of the episode.

Now, at around 1am, we're both dragging, I'm coughing and fighting a cold and am bound for any other bed in the house that doesn't have the boy in it. He seems to have found his way down to my spot and frankly, I don't have it in me to fight with him right now.

Good thing our couch is so soft & comfy.

Seriously, I hope you have a great night and an incredible new year. May God richly bless you all in 2007 and draw you closer into that relationship with Him.

I hope to be back writing these things a bit more regularly too. You know how that "writer's block" thing can be.

Happy Anniversary, Jennifer!!

Today my wife & I are celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary. It's hard to imagine that we've been together for 11 years and how quickly it's gone by...until you stop to think that we've actually been a couple since March 25, 1987!!

And no...we didn't have any time apart either. This March, it'll have been 20 years that I've been with this woman. That's over half of my life but I must admit...it's been an incredible 20 years.

I can remember the first time I saw her... I was a new kid on the block as my family & I had just moved to Mountain Home AR for my dad's new job. He was going to be hired as the new school superintendent and it meant that I was having to leave all my friends and start all over, right before my senior year. Ugh.

To consider leaving the suburbs of Chicago for the "who-knows-what" of Arkansas was almost more than I could bear. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy about it and let my parents know about it pretty clearly. My dad was school superintendent up where we lived (in Northern Illinois) and one of his board members tried to comfort me by saying "you know Jim, I bet when you move to Arkansas, you'll find the girl you end up marrying."

Yeah right, I thought to myself. I'm not finding anything in Arkansas except my high school diploma, a set of car keys, my stuff and the nearest interstate back up to Illinois for college with my friends.

I could've not been more wrong. Not only did I start my "career" in radio there in Mountain Home, I also met Jennifer and Mr. Hampel was right...I did end up marrying her. I was on the football team and didn't get much if any time on the field. That's part of the good ol' boy political system that goes on at any high school but I'll leave that for me and my therapist to discect. LOL

Anyway, one day one of the younger football guys was strutting down the hallway with this girl that made my tummy quiver and my mouth drop ever so slightly.

She was tall, slender, poised, SMART (that always helped when I told my folks about my girlfriends), well thought of by the teachers and absolutely, positively "knock me in the face silly" drop dead gorgeous!! She had big, soft brown eyes that seemed to melt anything they gazed on and a smile that left an indelible mark on my heart. "Oh Jim" I said to myself..."get it together. She's already dating someone so move on."

As difficult as it was, I tried to forget about her. But each time Ricky came waltzing down the hall or the lockerroom door, there was Jennifer. She was also a cheerleader so that meant (guess what) I'd be seeing her a lot on the sidelines as I grabbed my usual amount of pine (that means I was getting a lot of bench time). Not a bad trade-off for me all of a sudden.

A few weeks after football season mercifully ended, I got the news that Jennifer & Ricky had broken up. Yeeeee-haaawww! See, I could say that now 'cause I's an Ar-cane-zun.

My "love life" was not all that good. I'd dated about 3-4 girls but nothing ever really seemed like it was serious or that there was this "connection". But with Jennifer now available, I knew I had to try to ask her out. But how?

God saw ahead in time and knew we'd be together so He didn't bring us together immediately but He DID put me in class with Jennifer's sister, Kristin.

Note: It has only been revealed within the past year or so that I had a crush on Krisitn during Jennifer's tenure with Ricky but I never pursued Kris because she was already involved with Dave, the guy she'd end up marrying as well. However, my sister, kids and Kris like to tease me about this brief "crush" but I don't know how and if Dave feels about it. LOL

So, I began to drop subtle hints to Kris about Jennifer. Did she think Jen would go out with me? Was she a nice girl? Did she (Kris) think I was a good guy to ask out her sister? Stuff like that... Jennifer then ended up eating lunch with Kristin, me and a bunch of Kris' friends. That was always a treat for me. Then, oh man...Jennifer walked into my study hall one day for good and I knew my prayers had been answered. I began to do all the things senior boys do to let young girls know they're interested. Stuff like telling dumb jokes, passing notes and playing paper football while the teacher wasn't looking. You know, real intellectual stuff.

Finally, the date came when we were going out on our first date...my 18th birthday. Yet, it almost ended before it even started.

Jennifer lived way out of town down a county road barely covered with chat. Me, being the young, brash 18 year old kid, I thought I knew how to navigate sharp curves and loose gravel. Wrong. I was driving way too fast as we approaced this hairpin curve and Jennifer had just mentioned softly that I may want to slow down...but it was too late.

My car slid off the road but stopped short of the ditch. Embarrassment set in and my ego was bruised but the image that's been burned into my mind is the one of a beautiful girl grasping for something to hold onto as my car began to careen toward certain doom. Thankfully, the remainder of the date went off without a hitch and I not only got a "yes" for a second date but a good night kiss. Jennifer later confessed it was her first time she'd ever let a guy kiss her on their first date. YES!!

A few days later, I said I'd like for us to go steady and gave her my class ring.

Why do I suddenly have images of Fonzie about to jump a bunch of trucks in Al's parking lot and the girls swooning over him? LOL

She took my ring and wrapped it up with blue fuzzy thread (one of Mtn Home's colors) and wore it with pride. I graduated high school in 1987 and went off to college at Arkansas State in Jonesboro, 2 hours from Mtn Home. Jennifer was going to be a junior so she was staying in school for 2 more years and that meant we'd start what would become a rather long "long distance relationship".

She graduated high school in '89 and went to the U of A in Fayetteville, 6 hours away on the other side of the state. We dated like that until the end of my junior year in college when I decided to transfer to the U of A and be with her. I was getting a degree in broadcast journalism and even though Arkansas had a decent program, it wasn't nearly as good as ASU's. But I didn't care. It was LOVE that was calling me, not a journalism degree.

OK...again, I'm hearing music and seeing me on top of the Alps as I sing that last sentence in an emotional outpouring of amore for mi esposa. I must have low blood sugar or something.

1992 arrives and I graduated college with my degree in journalism and literally 3 days after the graduation ceremony, I was working overnights at a brand new radio station. Jennifer was going to be a senior so we'd have at least one year together before she left for medical school in Little Rock. We'd discussed marriage off & on like puppy-lovers do but it began to get more serious. We had planned on her going to med school and getting a few years into it before we got married. However, the stresses of being apart 3+ hours (for me at least) and the temptations that come to single guys in radio began to take it's toll on me and our relationship.

Finally, I got some common sense knocked into me (not literally though) and I realized there was no time like the present to get married. So, I began to plan on how I'd propose to Jennifer and the answer became obvious.

I'd do it on the air.

And that's just what I did. Look down a few pages and you'll see my blog on how I asked her to marry me (like the caveman I am).

But in all seriousness, as I reflect on today and how special it is to me, I want her to know that I love her with all my heart and she is so much more than I'd ever hoped for in a wife. She has shown me kindness, patience, grace, beauty and never-ending love. She has become my best friend, my lover, my wife, my confidant and my soul mate. She is the mother of my children and the woman I am so excited to call my wife.

Sweetie, I love you so much more than mere words and flowers can express. I hope you know this and how grateful I am that over 11 years ago, you said "yes" to being my wife. I cannot wait to see what the next 11 years hold for us because I know God has a plan. I love the words in Jeremiah 29:11 that talk about how He knows the plans He has for us that will give us a future and a hope. My hope is to spend that future with you, doing all that He has called us to do and be for each other, our kids, our family and those around us.

I love you Jennifer and will do so...

Forever.

Imagine That You Can

It's been a while since I last wrote anything here but today I was pointed toward this video and had to share it. I think like most of us I've kind of hit a writer's block and was all feeling sorry for myself, acting mopey on the inside and becoming disconnected to the things that motivate me and point me upwards.

However, the pitiful things that seem to drag me down into a sense of self-pity mean nothing compared to the courage and strength shown by this father & son team who have learned to defy insurmountable odds and achieve victory.

I hope as you watch this video today you are touched and blessed as I was. I also hope that you are reminded that you are loved by a Heavenly Father who runs behind us as well, encouraging us, leading us and loving us through all things.

Phillipians 4:13 says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Yes we can and it's to Him we give honor & glory today.

Thank you Jesus for staying by me when I don't deserve the love You so freely bestow. Thank you that by Your name I am saved and thank you for showing me each and every day that I "can".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4B-r8KJhlE

Power In The Message

During this morning's quiet time, I found myself reading the book of Luke. I started with Luke 4 and read through Chapter 6 and a few things popped out I hadn't really comprehended before.

Isn't it awesome when God shows you something new? I get charged up!!

Anyway, Chapter 4 talks of how Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days to be tempted by the Devil. Of course, we know how He rejected Satan's empty promises and claims, finally shutting him up by outright saying "Do not test the Lord your God." You know, when God gets right down to the nitty gritty of things, not even Satan himself can argue or dispute the awesome power of His name.

One of the things I noticed, and this is for any biblical scholar out there who may want to comment or email me, at the end of this temptation period, the Bible says in Verse 13 "After the Devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him (Jesus) for a time."

That phrase "for a time" caught my eye. Isn't "a time" normally referred to as a 3 year period in the Scripture? I know that in the book of Daniel, there is mention of the length of the Tribulation (or reign of the Anti-Christ) being "a time, times and half a time" (or 7 years).

So, if Satan left Christ for "a time", if this is indeed what it's implying, would this mean that 3 years later Satan came back to tempt Jesus again? What would happen 3 years later? Could that have been when He was crucified on the cross? My thinking is that if that phrase did indeed indicate a 3 year period between Satan's attempts to tempt our Lord, the next time he tried to confront Christ was while He was actually on the cross.

In Luke 23:35, it says how the crowds and even one of the criminals being crucified with Jesus yelled insults at Him to "save Himself if this is God's Messiah, the Chosen One!" The soldiers also mocked Him by saying "If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!"

Knowing full well that He could do that if He wanted, Christ chose the opposite. He allowed Himself to be poured out as a sacrifce for our sins, His blood shed as an atonement for all mankind. Choosing to come down off the cross was well within His power but it would have been the easy way out, the way Satan wanted Him (and all of us to choose). But Jesus loved us all so much that He allowed them to crucify Him, willingly giving Himself for everyone. That was the hard part, the completion of God's plan for our salvation.

His only Son, dying on the cross, giving us all that hope and way to eternal life.

Wow...I don't know where all that came from because that wasn't what I was going to write about but what a thought from the Lord!!! That wasn't me writing that either.

That was all Him.

If you're reading this today and you don't know Jesus as your personal Lord & Savior today, He wants to meet with you and show you all He has planned for you. He wants you to know how much He loves you and desires to see you come to Him. He came to give us life and give it to us more abundantly. Whatever you are going through today, God has given us all a way to come to know Him and rest in His promises.

The Bible says in Luke 11:9 "So I say to you, keep asking and it will be given to you. Keep searching and you will find. Keep knocking and the door will be opened to you."

Jesus loves you and He's got so much to give you. Won't you come to know Him today?

I'll pick up with what I'd planned on writing more tomorrow.

Have a great day and remember that God loves you!

The Proposal

The other day, I was talking to Kaitlyn about how I proposed to Jennifer on the radio. I don't know how we got to talking about it but the topic came up and I remembered I had the actual proposal on a tape. I asked her if she wanted to hear it and she excitedly said "yes".

Now, the only problem was finding it.

I was fortunate to find it pretty easily in a spot in our closet where I have a few knick-knacks from the past. Some old airchecks, pictures with music stars and other goodies like that. But there it was, our proposal tape, right on the top of those other cassettes.

I called Jennifer and the boy into the room to listen together. I thought it'd be kinda cool to all take a trip down Memory Lane and hear how it all started.

We sat down in a circle around the tape player and began to listen. I was working for KIX-104 at the time, the top rated country station here in Fayetteville. Normally, the morning show consisted of me and my buddy Leny. However, this show was me by myself because Leny had gone away to see his mom for Christmas and had broken his leg while he was gone. So it was just me and I thought "what could I do to liven up the show a bit? I know...I'll propose to my girlfriend."

I had done all the right things: asked her dad and mom, bought the ring and most importantly, kept it all a secret. My ploy was to get her and her mom, who were up in Fayetteville visiting me, to join me in the studio for my last half hour on the air before my Christmas week off took place. My goal was to ask her to marry me on the last break of the hour and leave it on a good note.

Hopefully. LOL

So, to not make it too obvious, I not only had Jennifer and her mom in the studio with me, but about 10 other people from the station in there to discuss what we all wanted for Christmas. It came time for my last break and I had asked my best bud, roommate and eventual best man Tom Travis to come in and "sit in" with us. Acutally, he was going to engineer the board (control the volume on the microphones and start the music I'd selected at the proper time) while I stepped over to where Jennifer was and kneel before her.

The break started off just like I planned it. I asked people what they wanted for Christmas and I got a few silly answers.

"Peace on earth."

"Power Rangers."

"More bullets for my guns."

That was Tom's patent response to most everything. LOL

I then announced that Jennifer was there in the room with us and had come up to visit me for the holidays. So I asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she replied, in her soft, southern charming way...

"to spend more time with you."

A chorus of "aaawwwww's" went up from the peanut gallery in the studio (while I'm sure a few people began to get nauseous in their cars) and then I started in.

Funny thing is...I don't remember sounding like such an oaf but the tape doesn't lie.

"There's only one thing that I want for Christmas but I need to come over there for a moment.." I said as I moved away from the control board to where Jennifer was standing.

"We're live here on the air and it's Christmas time and what I want for Christmas is for you to marry me" I blurted out.

I remember getting on my knee and opening up the ring box to show her and on the tape you hear Jennifer say "yes" over the mini-roar of applause and the pre-timed out music of John Michael Montgomery's "I Swear".

I remember it being a nice, romantic moment. The tape, however, had me sounding like a complete oaf!! What kind of knucklehead puffs up his chest and almost demands that his girlfriend marry him??

I was astounded at how doofish-like I sounded. What a complete moron. What an arrogant goofball.

As I sat there and listened to the tape and watched the kids and Jennifer giggle at how events unfolded, I was mortified at how barbaric I sounded. I got this picture of me in neanderthal gear, grabbing Jennifer by her pony tail, clubbing her over the head and dragging her back to the cave where she would now be my wife.

Ugh.

A marriage proposal so easy, even a caveman could do it, right? LOL

Hey...at least she said yes. But a quick word of insight...

I may have sounded like a club-wielding caveman but there's no doubt in anyone's mind who knows me who swings the bat in our family...

and I have the bruises to prove it. HA!!

Cheetah Girls

Today, I have the distinct honor of taking my 8 year old daughter and her 8 year old friend to see the Cheetah Girls in Little Rock. It'll be a 3.5 hour drive down there, a 2+ hour show and then the 3.5 hour drive home. We leave here around 11:30am and I don't expect us home until at least 9:30p. I also don't expect to come back with the same amount of hearing capacity I had when I leave today.

For those of you who've never been to a teeny-bopper concert filled with 10,000 8-14 year old girls, consider this.

Reports of canine howls and auditory distress go up considerably due to the intense and amplified shrieks and squeals of delight and rapture. We took Kaitlyn to see Hilary Duff a couple years ago in Nashville and I've NEVER been to such a loud show.

Yes, in all my years of being in radio and seeing everyone from Aerosmith to Van Halen to actually being on stage with Sammy Hagar in front of 18,000 screaming fans in St. Louis, none of those shows even came close to the amount of decibel damage I suffered at the Hilary Duff show. Imagine your 8 year old squealing in delight in that manner that immediately finds your last nerve.

Multiply that by 10,000.

That was 2 years ago when Kaitlyn was only 6. Now she's 8 and has more developed lungs, more than capable of delivering some major screams. Not to mention, Hilary Duff was only one. The Cheetah Girls are 3-4, more than able to elicit even more hysteria from all the girls in the crowd.

I wonder how many other dads are being "encouraged" to do this today. LOL

I'm sensing a disturbance in the Force. Something says my nerves, my hearing and my naturally beautiful brown hair will become vapors of a memory later tonight. I predict a broken, nervous and shaken man with aged skin, pale complexion and thinning gray hair and a daughter hyped up on sugar, a long car ride, sluggish from her evening nap and a possible tummy ache.

Aren't you wishing you were me right about now??

I won't even mention I won't get to see the Hogs play in the SEC Championship tonight. Thankfully, I do have all the stations in central Arkansas who'll have the game on the radio so that'll be some comfort.

Still...I kind of enjoy the current level of hearing, reasoning and stress level I have at the present. I hope the faculties I lose today will be restored by Monday.

Pray for me today.....

PLEASE.