Brandon and the Tubs of Jam

Hello friends.

I am retiring from LiveJournal. Not retiring from blogging...just LJ.

I am switching over to Blogger, so...get your pens and pencils ready:

Thus I give you:
The Soul Patch

Bookmark it. Write it down. Go there instead of here.

Thank you...and goodnight.

It has been a fairly exciting last few weeks.

A few weeks ago, Keri and the girls and I enjoyed our first vacation in a long time. We have taken a few trips to St. Louis and Indianapolis a few times for Christmas and such, but this was the first week away outside of a holiday in nearly 4 years. We went to St. Louis and spent 3 or 4 days with Keri's folks and then we went to a state park east of St. Louis to a family reunion with my family. It was great. Some highlights:

--We got to see a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. This is good...since it's the last year for old Busch stadium.
--I got to spend some much needed time with some old friends. What a breath of fresh air.
--A bought a washers game and we played all weekend long.
--Took a tour of the Budweiser brewery. Very cool.
--Family and friends. Ah.

I have been restless this week. I realized that I need some spiritual food. When you are a minister, and you are constantly giving spiritual food, you don't get the opportunity to take much in. I haven't bought a book in a few months, because we never really had the extra $$. But, I decided to buy one because it's worth it. It's important for me to get spiritual food somewhere if I am going to be able to continue to feed my congregation.

"Jesus in the Margins," by Rick McKinley is what I bought. If you are a Don Miller fan, McKinley is the pastor of Miller's church, Imago Dei. It's a pretty good read so far...very simple and easy. I would like to write a book like him.

Keri's little business is going great. If you didn't know, she is an Independent Consultant for Arbonne. Arbonne is a skin care and beauty and health company. Basically, they develop great skin products in Switzerland, make them in the U.S., and then have Independent Consultants sell and distribute them. The products are great...I even use their men's line. They are the best products you can buy. But, the other cool thing about it is that anyone can make a little extra income as a Consultant. It's not selling...it's not weird...Keri is really enjoying it and I am really enjoying helping her. If you're interested, let me know.

I have some dreams. Someday I will tell you about them.

Our garden is doing pretty well...I've been a bit concerned about the cooler weather, but it looks like things are going to be fine.

For a refresher:

We planted tomatoes, jalepeno peppers, zucchini, watermelon, and pumpkins. And we planted them all very late in the season.

We have been enjoying jalepenos for quite some time. I should re-phrase: I have been enjoying them. This the most prolific little plant I have ever seen. Now our tomatoes are ripening quickly and we have enjoyed several of the fruits. I see salsa in our future. The zucchini has also done us quite well, producing some rather HUGE pieces. I think this plant has run its season, but there are still a few fruits on there. We have two pumpkins growing, but can't seem to get more than that. I blame the rabbits. So, we are nursing the two we have, hoping for more. The watermelon plant has TONS of blooms, but no fruit that I can see. Perhaps I needed another plant??

Well, I got a bit sick over the weekend. Just a cold, I think. I thought it might turn into more, like this bronchitis thing I can't seem to shake. But it didn't. The weekend was nice.

Keri and I had fun doing a little shopping spree. We had some gift money from family and friends, so we spent. We bought Jerah a new car seat, since she will turn 1 in a few weeks and it's time to get her out of the infant seat. We bought some mini-blinds for the girls bedrooms, our bedroom, and our kitchen. Then, when we went to another store, we found those great cloth blinds that don't have pull strings...they just move up and down...on sale for $3 each. Those blinds are normally $16 or so...so, we bought those too and will most likely return the vinyl guys. And then, we bought on Over the Range microwave oven.

I started to install the thing in the afternoon yesterday, and quickly ran into some wiring problems. I called a friend who came over and helped out. What I thought was quickly turning into a massive, expensive project, was finished in 2 hours with a fully hung, fully functioning microwave oven. Quite pleased. And I learned a bit about electricity too.

I posted a comment at my message board about the likening of Hurricane Katrina to the tsunami that hit several months ago. I would be interested in your thoughts.

You can read the post here:

http://tubajam.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=events&action=display&thread=1125671381

www.relevantmagazine.com has launched a new site. They have been touting this new site for the better part of 4 months, and I really thought it would be something great. In fact, it's the same thing as the old site, just sharper looking. It pretty much looks the same. I'm pretty disappointed. Lots of people waited a long time for that new site.

My 1992 Honda Accord is about 160 miles away from turning over 190,000 miles. Do newer cars rack up that many miles these days?

I was thinking today, if I had to do it all again, I would consider joining the Army or the Navy as a Chaplain. I think that would be cool.

I really am not very good anymore at updating this thing. Sorry.

Our garden has produced its first-fruits. I've eaten 2 jalepeno peppers from a very prolific plant...I will probably have too many to eat myself. They are pretty hot. We also picked our first zucchini last week. It's huge...about 9 inches long and 4 inches wide. It's a bigg'un. Our tomato plants have lots of green fruit on them and our watermelon plant just sprouted blooms.

My folks came for a weeklong visit last week. We had a blast. We went to the Omaha Zoo. If you have been to Omaha and not been to the zoo, shame on you. It's by far the best zoo I have ever been to. Come and visit and I will show you.

Things at the church are going fine. Growing...little by little. With September coming, things are going to get a bit busier. The programs that break in the summer will start up again then.

The college students in Nebraska are back on campus and getting started. I would be lying to you if I said I don't miss them. But I am very happy where God has placed me.

On Saturday night, Keri and I got to see Allison Krauss and Union Station in concert here in Omaha. The tickets were a gift from my parents. Let me tell you, these guys are amazing. Keri's dad was telling me that he liked bluegrass and folk music because of its "purity." No smoke. No mirrors. No dogs. No ponies. Just people playing music. And he was right. The purity of her and her band's music was astounding. It was a blast. If you ever get the chance...

The space shuttle lifted off today. I wanted to watch it, but kind of forgot about it. Ah well. The pictures are still cool.

Yesterday I went to an Omaha Royals baseball game. I really love Minor League Baseball. $6 tickets. Yesterday, the hamburgers were $3. And the atmosphere is cool. I would like to catch a few more before the season is over. They suck, but it's still baseball.

I'm a bachelor this week. Keri and the girls are visiting her folks in St. Louis until Friday. So, I am on my own. Don't worry...I'm doing fine. I've eaten and cleaned things and everything. Tonight, I think I may go to Buffalo Wild Wings and eat chicken wings while I watch the St. Louis Cardinals play ball on ESPN2.

The space shuttle launch was scrubbed. I was actually listening in on Houston talking to the crew when they said it. It was cool. Not the scrubbing...but watching it all unfold.

I am watching the launch of the latest NASA mission...the first since the tragedy that occurred a few years ago. You can catch it all online http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/nasa/071305

Well, it's been awhile. Sorry to any faithful blog readers who may still be out there. Here is the low-down.

We are moved in. The boxes are about 85% unpacked. Keri is doing a great job of making this house into a home. I have done very little...my job is mostly maintenance. Which is hilarious...because I am so technically un-gifted. So far I have screwed around with a dishwasher, installing child-proof latches on cabinets, installed a dartboard in my garage, dug up a few garden plots, fixed the water drain hose on the washer, installed a new dryer vent and put a new plug on our dryer, installed a "baby can't fall through the railing" net on our bannisters, and a few other things I can't think of right now. Next up is replacing GFCI outlets in the kitchen and bathroom, re-grouting the kitchen tile counters and some other stuff.

We have a garden. The first weekend we moved in, Keri and I went to Lowe's and bought some plants...right now we have two tomato plants, one cherry tomato plant, a jalepeno pepper plant, and two zuchini plants. Last night we planted three hills of pumpkins and one experimental hill of watermelons. We will see. It's fun. So far we have a few blooms on the zuchini and about 5 jalepenos growing.

Come see us. We have space.

Well, Keri and her folks are packing up our house as we speak. I am in Omaha at VBS this week. Monday, we close on our house. Tuesday morning we load our U-Haul. Tuesday night or Wednesday we go to Omaha...to stay.

I am excited about finally being in Omaha for good. I can get to work and start all the things I want to start. Plus...we have a house. Our God is good to us. I would say that even without the house and the job and the stuff.

I performed my first wedding ceremony this last weekend in Omaha. This was a young couple from the church I am preaching at who waited to secure a minister because they hoped it would be the new minister at Benson. So, I was hired on a Tuesday, and this couple called me Wednesday to see if I would do their wedding. It was a blast. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be...

A few weeks ago, my coffeemaker, which I had just gotten new at Christmas, stopped working. Nothing really happened...it just ceased to function. The light came on and the clock worked, but no coffee would be made. I inquired about the warranty on it, and as it was, I was entitled to a replacement. So, for one whole week, I went without coffee at home. For those of you who know me well, you know what a hardship that would be! I made do on Casey's gas station coffee. Then, the company sent me a new maker, on their own dime. It's cool.

And then, today, I did something with coffee that I have never done before. I dropped a cup and spilled the entire thing into my lap. It was hot and hurt very bad. Embarassing. I have been drinking coffee for at least 10 years, and had never once done this. But today was my special day.

I was quite pleased with the season finale of '24' the other night on Fox.

Tonight is the big 'Lost' finale on ABC. Is it me, or are there just some wicked good TV shows on right now?

Well, it's official that we are moving to Omaha. The job is in place and now the house is in place. We finalized a deal with a seller late on Wednesday night. It's a nice little split-level house with plenty of room for our growing family. It's got a nice living room and family room as well as an office downstairs. It has a MASSIVE back deck, which I am ultra-excited about. The yard is big and all fenced in, ready to have kids running around and ready to be gardened by my wife. We are happy.

We close June 13.

Now things get crazier as we pack, plan, and go.

We put a bid in on another house in the evening last night. We will see today what comes of it.

Keri and I found a house we really liked in Omaha this weekend. We looked at it late Saturday night and couldn't put our offer in until Monday morning. On Sunday, they got 2 other offers, so our chances were long. We didn't get it.