Wow, I guess I need to get on here more

So its been a long time since I was last on this thing.  Sorry... Life has been crazy the last few month.  I miss blogging, even if nobody is reading.  It is good for me.  It makes me think.  It makes me pause.  It helps me to think about what is going on.  

Here are a few things that are currently on my mind:

1.  Will my schedule ever get any easier?

2.  Will I get my sermon finished up before I preach it on Sunday?

3.  Will I ever get back to the gym (I am paying for you it you know!)

4.  Will I ever get back on track with my Ordination stuff?  (WAY behind now!)

5.  Will the Twins get things together?  (Especially the pitching staff)

6.  Will I actually continue to blog my thoughts in the coming days and weeks? (I hope so!)

Until next time my friends!  

The New Addition Announcement!

Here is the new addition to our family... The Big Green Egg!  I will be smoking, grilling and even baking on this this VERY soon... like TONIGHT!  

Hope everyone is ready to come over for some good food!

Brad, does this help encourage you to come for Easter?  I sure hope so!   Can't wait to grill something for you guys!

I haven't named the egg yet, but maybe I should.

Our family is growing!

More details to come soon...

Finally, a solution!

We've been trying to decide how our family could be more "green."  Well, I think that we have our answer!  It's about time!

Drop it like its hot

Caden loves to come to youth group and listen to the youth worhsip team practice.  Last night, when I started youth group, he climbed up on one of the chairs next to one of the students.  So instead of sending him to the nursery, I let him hang out for a while.  While True Faith was playing, I was in the back getting things ready for the night.  When I came to the front, I saw Caden and one of his friends dancing away.  It was so awesome!  Finally we caught him dancing on video!  

Sermon prep with Chuck

Just thought I would share my new sermon prep notebook.  I used to use a really nice Moleskin notebook to jot down ideas and sermon outlines.  I was in WalMart and was inspired to change my sermon prep up a bit by using this amazing new notebook.  Be honest, you want one!

I love my job!

On Sunday we held an event for our senior highers at the Mall of America.  It was called MIA @ MOA.  What a fun night!  I lined up 12 different adults to disguise themselves and hide in the mall.  Our students walked throughout the mall with their small groups looking for the "hiders."  As they found them, they signed a picture that each group had of them.  I think everyone had a grea time.  2 of our hiders didn't get caught even once.  (groups walked right by them) and the group that found the most people only found 7 of them.  Fun was had by all... 

Here is a quick example of the hiders...

Photo in need of a caption

This is risky, but I am looking for a good caption to this photo.  My buddy Gabe sent this to me this week. At any rate, let's hear your captions:

now that's cold

And it was only -4 when I did this!  Think of what would have happened if it really would have been cold!

BBRrrrrrrr @ Yahoo! Video

Cold

(*disclaimer*) I know that my brother in Bemidji, and much of my family in northern Minnesota are experiencing even colder weather.  This post is for my friends around the country who think they know what cold is.

Here is what weather.com is reporting at 9:46am today.  Keep in mind, it has warmed since early this am.

This afternoon I will post a video of what -30 wind chill looks like.  Stay tuned.

For the record, I love this weather!

Things I am excited about...

Gophers Basketball - They're rated 17th in the nation and they are playing some exciting basketball.  Maybe the best part about it is that they will almost all be back for next year.  9 for 9 from the three point range is amazing.  

Oasis - Our district youth retreat that is being held at Camp Forest Springs.  Great speaker, great band, and skiing/snowboarding... what could be better.  Oh yeah, and a broomball tournament as well!  The end of the month cannot come quick enough!

MIA @ MOA - a fun scavenger hunt at the Mall of America.  Adults will be "hiding" in the mall while small groups try to find them.  Always a good time!  

*update* 24 - I almost forgot about 24!  Excited to see where the season will lead to!  It's been a good start.  Hopefully tonight will not dissapoint.  My guess, they will front load the season with surprises and twists.  They need to keep and gain attention, they've been off for nearly 2 years.

what are you excited about?

WOW!

You know it's cold when warnings like this are put out!

Emergency officials warned people need to be on the lookout for frostbite and hypothermia during this week's cold snap.

Wind chills of 20 below can cause frostbite in just 15 minutes. Anyone with loss of feeling and a white appearance in their extremities should get medical help.

People also should watch out for uncontrollable shivering, disorientation and drowsiness -- all signs of hypothermia.

Stay tuned to see a video illustration of just how cold it really is.

Who says only girls have bad hair days?

This is what graced my inbox after my staff meeting today. No matter what kind of day you are having, this is sure to bring a smile to your face! At least it did mine!

He's the best!

apparently it has been a while....

Sorry for not updating this in the last...ohh... month. But based on the amount of complaints I got (none) I don't think that I was missed by anyone. I have been actively Twittering, so if you really want to know what is going on in my life, follow me there.

Things have been really busy, with no signs of slowing down till after Christmas sometime.

I am uninspired already. I guess I will blog again later. Have a good one!

What have you been up to in the last month?

Chris

Monday Miscellaneous

I thought I would add a few pictures to this week's edition.

The first picture is my bacon cheese burger from the Red Brick Grill. Its the best place to get a burger in SCF, and will rival about any burger I have had. Look at the generous amount of bacon they give you. MMMMM tasty!





The second picture is of ONE of the smokers I had in the back yard on Saturday. It was AMAZING! 2 hams, 2 roasts, 2 racks of ribs, 1 chicken, and fried cheese curds and onion rings. It was SO MUCH FUN! We are already planning for the 2nd Annual Folkestad Pork Fest! Next year, 3 smokers! I don't want to brag, but we did a great job! Especially the Ham!




This week was rather busy. Katie has been working really hard planning the Harvest Party for Church, I've been working a youth group stuff, and prepping for a few speaking engagements I have coming up. Other than the Pork Fest, its been rather uneventful this week.

Caden has been his usual self. He now loves to dance to music and has started to sing some songs. We just don't know what song he is singing. As soon as we can catch him dancing on camera, I will post it here.

God's love during Monday Night Football

Don't know if you saw this commercial during the Monday Night Football game, but I thought it was interesting. Yeah, its a bit on the cheesy side, but I think its something that other companies wouldn't be willing to do, even if they believed it. I am impressed! Thank you interstate Battery. The following is a quick interview with the chairman, then the commercial that ran.

Monday Miscellaneous

What a great day off! We slept in till about 9:00am, ate Chicken Tenders at The Village Pizzeria (Amazing!), I hung out with Caden, and now I am just sitting on the couch watching Caden tip-toeing around. I love Mondays!

This past week has been so busy! We had our Middle School Retreat on Friday and Saturday. The highlight of the weekend was that on Friday night, the guys were in their sleeping bag and the lights were out by 11:30! It was a great weekend!

Did you see the Vikings game? Crazy! All I can hope for is that we will have a new coach when we come out of the bye week. I don't think that it will happen, and to be honest, it probably isn't the best thing for the team, but we need new leadership.

This week I hope to settle down and organize a bit. I feel like I have been out of my office for the last two weeks straight. Its time to clean my desk my inbox. I have a fair amount of speaking to do in the next few weeks. Its something I love to do, but takes time for prep. Here's hoping for creativity.

Finally, I am 6 points ahead in fantasy football this week. I have had a HORRIBLE week with only 2 players scoring. For whatever reason, I am still 6 points ahead. If Sammy Morris stays out of the endzone and Gostkoski doesn't kick any field goals, I'll pull off a win with only 12 points. Yeah I know, I'm gonna lose!

Check out the pictures in the post below. Our friend Yetta took some pictures for us. We think that she did a great job.

A day at the park

Thanks to our friend Yetta, we have some family pictures. Caden didn't enjoy it too much, but it was a fun way to spend an hour at the park.

Monday Miscellaneous

Its been a crazy week!...
The week started with watching the Vikings beat the Saints on Monday Night Football. It wasn't a great game, but it was a good win. I wish that I could say the same about yesterday's game. Yeah it was a win, but man it was UGLY! Hope they can work something out for this week with the Bears. Childress, I hope you don't make it through the bye week!

I was able to spend Wednesday with a family at the hospital. Its not the most exciting part of being a youth pastor, but it sure does remind me why I do what I do. Glad to see that they are now at home and doing well!

Thursday - Saturday I spent at Youth Leadership's COMMUNICATE class. It was a great training! It has made me think about what I say, and why I say it. Most people would have been bored out of their mind in a training about communication, but I had a great time and think that I walked away with some valuable information that will impact the way I do ministry. I highly recommend taking a training session by Youth Leadership if you have the chance (and you are a youth worker).

Tomorrow I head to Green Bay for another training session with the district youth leaders. It should be a great time. I just hope I don't hear "Go Pack Go" too often (like NEVER). I am sure that I will be twittering along the way.

But now for the best news of all! I got a new phone. I picked up the Blackberry Curve. I really like it. I didn't have to change my plan and I get internet, turn by turn directions, lots of sports stats and even TV. It is gonna be fun! Its no iphone, but I am happy with it so far!

Monday Miscellaneous

- It's 12:45 in the afternoon, the house is destroyed (toys everywhere), Caden is now napping, I am vegging out on the couch, and neither of us are dressed for the day. This has been a great Monday! Now its time to clean the house, shower, get Caden ready and head to the store to pick up some supplies for supper with friends tonight. BUT FIRST, I will procrastinate for a few more minutes with this edition of Monday Miscellaneous.
-Yesterday I didn't feel the greatest, and it showed at youth group. Man, I couldn't talk. I kept referring to the Pharisees as the Philistines. Let's just say it wasn't the greatest talk of the year. Which is too bad, cause I was really excited about it's content. It was, however, still a great night! I am still amazed the 4-square ends up being the highlight of the night.
- The billion dollar bailout confuses me. To be honest, I don't have an opinion in the whole thing. I haven't taken the time to actually think about what it means, and if it is good. I have, however, been thinking about the whole concept lately. Hundreds of billions of dollars to bail Wall-Street out of debt. That is a HUGE DEBT! A debt that couldn't ever be paid without a bail out from the US government. I have some debt, but I can't relate to the size of that financial debt. I can relate to being bailed out though! 810 Billion dollars couldn't bail me out of 1 sin in my life. Forgiveness cannot be bought, even for 810 billion dollars! Today, I am thankful that my debt has been paid, not by a government, but by God, who loves me. So much He gave His son as payment for my mess ups. Now that's a bailout I can't live without. Can you?
- At the end of this week, I am heading to a COMMUNICATE class presented by Youth Leadership. I am really looking forward to the class. You can follow me on Twitter for updates.
- That's all I can think of for now. Time to shower up and clean this house. YUCK!