STAR WARS!!!

OK, I've been sick the last 2 days; but managed to get enough energy to go the midnight premier. I just got back and WOW!!!
it was amazing! Go see it now! I'm too excited to type right now...need to go to bed. But I'll leave you with the memorable experiences of tonight (made a lot of friends, reconnected with kids from my old youth ministry, but this tops them all)

Immediatly after the movie all guys make a mad dash for the restroom (you CANNOT get up during Star Wars)...as I'm standing at the urinal, the guy next to me turns to me and says, "Man, it's really hard to pee while you're holding a lightsaber"...only at a Star Wars premier :-) (and no, I'm not being crude...he actually had a lightsaber)

kyra date night

Angela is gone this weekend, so I told Kyra we were going on a date tonight :-) I gave her choices on what she wanted to do...and here's what she chose:

Chik-fil-a ...followed by
trip to Disney Store...followed by
A ride on the train (those little coin operated thingies at the mall...but she doesn't know you can put $ in them and make them go :-)...followed by
Some time in the mall playland...followed by
A trip to Borders; where she could pick up the book of her choice (by the way, she choose Giggles with Tigger)

We came home late, I gave her a bath (always fun :-)
and off to bed!

What a night...great fun was had by all.

But earlier wasn't so much fun. I decided to try and let Kyra have a few books in bed during nap time. We usually don't allow this because for some reason she rips the pages out of her books. But I thought she might be over that. NOT SO!

I kept hearing strange noises from her room; went in and she had taken ripping to a whole new level. She had taken her "Woodsman and the Amazing Fish" book and literally shredded it into tiny pieces. Just like a paper shredder. WHY?
Her first words (after she stopped crying from me spanking her) "Fix it daddy!" Why would she do this, I ask? "I don't know", she replied.
2 year olds....

Anyway, tonight was good. I am a blessed man. On the way home she kept wanting to hear "Rudolph" No, we don't listen to Christmas tunes in May...but I had Toby Mac's DiverCity CD playing and he has a song his son raps called "TrueDog" No matter how many times I told her it was not Rudolph ("O.K Kyra say true..."TWEU"..."OK now say dog..."DOG!"...no say true dog..."RUDOLPH!") she just wouldn't budge. Oh, well...


As I type on the mac, I found an article about email management. I am an email junky. I needed to read this article (www.macworld.com) I brought home my work laptop this weekend to see if I could clean it up. I currently have the entire desktop full of icons (and I have a 17" widescreen PC!) But even worse, my Inbox currently has 4,076 messages...508 of which are unread! This is my WORK email address; that doesn't include my personal account that basically is full of junk and spam. I need an intervention.

Off to bed. I pray Kyra sleeps in...

i'm back!

Wow, it's been over a month since I've last posted! It's not that I don't have anything to say...just trying to find the time. Lots going on at church, and in Bruce-land. We finally got a car to replace our lease that is severly over miles. The Sentra is now sitting the garage; and I'm driving a 00' Impala. We bought it from Ange's parents...they gave us a pretty good deal. So that's a burden lifted. Our house still hasn't sold...please pray for this! It's gone beyond annoying at this point.

Well, I've finally done it. I have ventured over into the mac side! As a matter of fact, I am tying this entry from my new Mac Mini! So far, I must admit I'm impressed with OS X. I've only been messing with it for a few hours, but I do have a feeling this is the beginning of a long-term relationship :-) But I do notice I don't have access to formatting options here on blogspot in Safari (mac browser) Anyone know if how to get it to work?

Last Sunday we had our Mother's Day program. It went so well. I put together a video of NC folks paying tribute to their moms, including everyone from little kids (Kyra made an appearance) to more "mature" people (won't go into ages :-) It was very touching. We also included several readings, prayer and stories as well as a wonderful presentation of flowers to mothers and those who have been like mothers to us. Here was our order:

A Proverbs 31 Woman Video - can be previewed @ sermonspice.com

Greeting - David Mangum

Doxology
Blessed Be Your Name
How Great Thou Art

Offering - John Wilkins
Thank You, Lord

A Word of Advice from the Mother - dramatic reading w/ 4 readers (2 male/2 female) from www.lifeway.com

Step By Step
Open Our Eyes, Lord

Mother's Day Tribute Video

Mother's Day Prayer - from www.lifeway.com

I Need You More

Communion - John Wilkins
Faithful Love (during passing)

I'll Love You Forever (kids are called on stage; S.Sigo will read this story; Steven will share breifly following)
Flower Presentation (kids will give flowers to mothers; adult children will take a flower from vases around New Life Hall and give to their moms; if someone has been like a mother to you as well)

Thank You For Mothers (super-cheesy song sung during this Flower Distribution)

Listen to Our Hearts

Sermon - a praying mother (5 min)

Find Us Faithful (PT sings verses; congregation joins at chorus)

Shepherd's Prayer


Recently, as a Leadership Team we have been reading the book "BreakOut Church" by thom rainer. This has provoked a lot of dialogue about our current leadership structure and church vision. I can't go into too much detail right now...but many things are changing at North Central. I'm excited to see what God has in store for us!

I'm working at home Friday. Angela is going to a conferance with some ladies from church, so I'm on Kyra patrol. Should be fun! It's been a whle since we've spent a whole day alone together. Due to travel time and nightly meetings, I haven't seen very much of her lately. Last week, the earliest I got home was 9PM. That was an odd week, but I sure don't like that. When I asked her what she wanted to do Friday she said, "go outside!" So pray for nice weather. Otherwise, I'm betting to get out of the house we'll go to our old standy date night...chik-fil-a and borders books!

Have a great Friday. I need to get off this lovely mac and go to bed!

Blessings!