Me and My Punkin

This is a picture of me and my Punkin during Spring Break this year. Tonight Brooke had a girls night out with her friends, so Punkin and I had a Daddy/Daughter date night. We left on the motorcycle a little after 5pm and headed to the library first. The Southwest Branch by our house closes at 5pm on Friday (we found out when we got there), so we headed to the Southeast Branch which also turned out to be closed. As we were riding up, Amanda saw the Tails and Trails dog park, so of course we had to stop and see the dogs there.

After that, we went to Blockbuster to rent a Wii game for tonight (and the rest of the weekend). Making decisions is not one of the things Amanda likes to do, and if there is any time constraint involved, it is just plain stressful for her. I was patient, and we finally decided on Mario Galaxy. We played it tonight, but so far, neither one of us are real impressed with it. I certainly am not $9 impressed with it (rental fee).

From there, we headed to the Dollar Tree (Amanda's favorite store in the entire world!). I gave her $5 and let her go. She found a few treasures for herself and picked out a present to give an older, single lady at our church.

I had originally planned on trying out this pizza place in Mansfield where you watch them make your pizza and then you take it home to cook it, but Amanda had pizza for lunch and wanted something else for dinner. Something else = McDonalds. Eh, it's ok. I can always eat McDonalds. We had a good time just haning out and talking over fries, burgers and chicken nuggets.

Last stop was by Red Box to pick up a movie for tonight. I had already looked for a kids movie. I reserved Benji: Off the Leash. All I can about this movie...that one prison warden in Arizona that makes all of his prisoners wear pink underwear and work outside to pay for their onw meals. I think this guy might want to get this movie and make his inmates watch it. Yes, it was THAT PAINFUL!

The movie didn't get over until 10:30pm and which time Amanda was extremely sleepy. She had one mess to clean up before bed and I got to listen to her cry "I'm so sleepy" while she cleaned it up. We crawled into her bed to pray, she said how much she liked Daddy/Daughter date nights and I'm pretty sure she was asleep 30 seconds after that.

Had an awesome night...me and my Punkin.

My Moral Support

Since I have begun my "Three Month Office Remodeling Project" (aka "painting my home office"), I have had all of my family members come in and offer words of encouragement. But I have had just one faithful companion who offers moral support just by being there every time...Boo. The same day I brushed up against the freshly painted door frame and got paint on my comfy red t-shirt (which I did not notice until the paint had dried), Boo tried to make me feel better by brushing up against it too and getting white paint on her little black ear. Wasn't that sweet of her!

She's Growing Up TOO FAST

My friend Craig called me today while he was on the road. "Have you heard that song, Cinderella, by Steven Curtis Chapman?" he asked.

"Yes", I replied.

"Have you really listed to it? Do you get it?"

"Yes, I know. It's a Daddy/daughter song, " I said.

"Well, I've heard it three or four times before, but I never really listened," Craig said. "I get it now. I listened...and just started bawling."

Craig has two daughters, one in high school and one a year or two behind Amanda. I know why he was crying...I've listened to the words of the song. So we talked about being daddies and then we talked about marrying our daughters. We're both pastors and we've both talked to our daughters about letting us perform the wedding ceremony. Neither one of us have figured out how we're going to do it without crying.

I don't know why, but even after talking about the song making a daddy cry, I listened to it again (3 times) on the way to the airport to pick up some friends tonight. I didn't cry...until the second time through the song. Oh...my little girl is just growing up too fast! I'm trying to dance each and every dance because I know too soon the clock will strike midnight...I already feel the evening is gone and Amanda is just 10 years old. I'm so proud of my little girl, but I just wish she could stay little for a little longer!

So all of this song listening and crying made me think about the memories we are making. Like Sunday when we went for a motorcycle ride. We like to ride slow, out in the country and see how many animals we can see. On Sunday, we saw a really cool goat with a funny "beard" and long, pointy horns. We saw a "dwarf pony" (Amanda's description), another really fuzzy pony, cows, horses, burros, a BIG dog that looked friendly until he started chasing the motorcycle and a Brahma bull. Those were the "normal" animals. We also saw two hawks sitting in a tree, a road runner not 10 feet from us on the side of the road, at least 4 farms with llamas and one that two camels!

Although we were supposedly out for a motorcycle ride (Daddy's agenda), we can never be out too long without having to find a park where we can play (Amanda's agenda). We were riding in Lillian and found an elementary school where we stopped and "borrowed" their playground for a while. After that we came home and then joined Mommy at a friend's house for a Super Bowl party. When I tucked her into bed that night and we prayed, we had a lot of fun things to give thanks for.

My little girls is growing up too fast. I'm just trying to treasure every moment I have.

Amanda's 10th Birthday in Alabama

This is Fourth Grade?

Here is a video of the Hurt family trying to memorize the first two stanza's of Amanda's poetry homework for the week.

Amanda's teacher likes poetry so a lot of Amanda's homework has been memorizing poems. Up until this week, they have seemed like poems appropriate for a fourth grader. Our pattern has been to read through the poem, define any words we don't know, put it in our own words so we understand it, and then memorize it. This poem...well, we looked up a number of words, but try as we may, we can't really put it in our own words. It's pretty sad when Mommy and Daddy can't even explain the poem to Amanda and she is expected to memorize it and recite it to her class in four days! So here's the poem. Maybe some of you poets out there can explain the parts in red to us (you can use the comment section).

October's Bright Blue Weather
by Helen Hunt Jackson

O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
ye cannot rival for one hour
October's bright blue weather;

When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And Golden-Rod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When Gentians roll their fringes tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields, still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October's bright blue weather.

O suns and skies and flower of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October's bright blue weather.

Hmmm...having written all of this out, I think I understand it better now, but I still have no clue how to explain it all to a fourth grader!

Too Busy to Blog?

I have noticed, as well as heard from a few of my friends, that I have not been blogging regularly. It seems I keep telling myself, "When I get past this, I'll have more time". And then, as always happens, one more "this" comes up. I enjoy blogging, so I'm trying to make more time to relax and blog. So, right now, I'm relaxing, listening to Rush Limbaugh (Rush 24/7), making computer backups and blogging.

I have spent most all of my day off at Amanda's school today. Today's "journey" started when Brooke and I met with the school's administrator to volunteer at the school. One of the things I was asked to do was work on the character development curriculum with the principal. The short version: I was asked to use a certain curriculum which was designed for K-5th grade and then adapt it for 6-8th grade as well. I suggested using 7-8th graders to present the curriculum to the school complete with a plan for doing so. Next, I was asked to implement that plan. So I was at school doing that today and then substitute teachers were needed for PE. I worked with a teacher and did 5th-8th grade PE and that was fine, but I could not handle 1st-2nd grade PE. All I had to do was watch them on the playground, but it was too much for me. I could not get them still long enough to get a count to make sure I was keeping track of all of them, then there was the crying, the tattling, the climbing on the outside of the playground equipment....argh! Fortunately Brooke was also volunteering, so she took my place and sat at the front desk for her for the rest of 1st-2nd grade PE time. After I got home, it was time to start on the weekly school email announcements which I take care of and then several other emails and projects to go along with the work I had done with the 7-8th graders today. It has been a busy yet fulfilling day.

I have also spent time this week updating the church web page (as I do every week). We have been having issues with our sermon player because they are moving servers. For the first time this week, the sermon player can be seen on our sermon page, but the majority of our archived messages are not yet showing up. Since that amounts to more than a year's worth of sermons, I sure hope they have good back ups! If anybody is interested, I was just able to upload my sermon "Gaining Heaven's Perspective" from last Sunday.

My eyes are getting heavy and I will not be awake much longer. Before I go, I wanted to share a few pictures from some of our family activities these past two weeks.

Amanda was out of school Monday and Tuesday. We had originally planned to go to the Texas State Fair, but since the forecast was 80-90% chance of rain ALL day, we made a trip to Magic Time Machine for dinner instead. Amanda said it was a good substitute (and she added "we will go to the Fair next year).

As soon as Amanda saw "Captain Jack Sparrow" at Magic Time Machine, she wanted her picture taken with him.

This "interesting" picture was taken at the Frontiers of Flight museum in Dallas. A friend told us about Free Museum Day and this was the museum Amanda chose. Brooke took our picture sitting in the airline seats, but Amanda wanted a silly picture, too. She always wants a silly picture, too. Anyway, the "regular" picture was boring.

Here is Brooke and Amanda's "regular" picture in a different set of airline seats.

And here is my favorite picture of the day...Amanda sitting in the ejection seat of a jet fighter.

What Else Could I Ask For?

This picture was taken in December of 2000...almost 8 years ago. That's pretty much how things looked tonight as I put Amanda to bed (except that she is bigger now and I have more hair on my face and less on my head!).

One of my favorite times of the day is when Amanda goes to bed. We have a routine. Amanda gets ready for bed (usually "forgetting" as many things as possible so that she can "remember" them just before she is supposed to get into bed), kisses her Mommy good night and then tells me she is ready for bed. I give her a head start and then crawl into bed beside her. I pray with her and then we spend a few minutes talking. The few minutes could stretch into hours if I let them because Amanda hardly ever thinks she is sleepy, but we usually spend 10-20 minutes talking before I make her close her eyes and go to sleep. And then I lay there and sometimes fall asleep myself. Either I wake myself up, kiss her forehead and leave her for the night, or I start snoring, she elbows me, I wake up, kiss her forehead and leave her for the night.

It is those 10-20 minutes that remind me how awesome it is to be a Daddy. At least for now, one of Amanda's favorite things to do during this time is to ask me to tell stories about when I was growing up. "Tell me an animal story, Daddy" (we had LOTS of pets growing up) or "Tell me what was your favorite..." If we have just discussed lying (as in why Amanda shall never ever do that again if she wants to live to be 10 years old!), she asks me to tell as story about when I got caught lying as a kid. Sometimes I just have to tell her I can't remember any more stories. After doing this over the years, it is hard to remember a story I haven't told!

Amanda is growing up (without my permission!), and she is developing a life of her own with her friends, etc. As we lay in bed tonight talking about how excited we are that Mommy is coming home tomorrow night, I wondered how long we would have our special time before bed each night. As a teenager in too-few-years, will she want to make room for Daddy to squeeze into bed, pray with her and talk about anything and everything that is on her mind? I am sure some things will change, but I'm planning on something similar happening when my baby is in high school.

So I look at 8:30-9:00 PM as a high light of my day, and an investment in the future. When we found out that Brooke was pregnant, my heart was drawn to being a Daddy to a little girl. I don't know why it was that way, but God answered the desire of my heart. (Hmmm...now I wonder. Did God give me a girl because I wanted to be a Daddy to a little girl, or did he give me a heart to be a little girl's Daddy because that is what I was getting? Oh well, it worked out PERFECT either way!)

So my 20 minutes tonight got me to thinking how truly blessed I am. Being a husband to my wife and a Daddy to my little girl...what else could I ask for?

Stay Away From the Walls

I just learned something that might help those of you who have younger children...the closer they sleep to the wall, the more likely they are to have nightmares. Thus, if they almost hang off the bed, they are relatively safe.

This is what my daughter told me on the way back from QT. It all started with an episode of Star Trek that got a little too intense for her during dinner. We were going to watch Ice Road Truckers, but she wanted to watch Star Trek, so we did...right up to the point that it got too scary. We were done with dinner, so she left and went to her room. I heard her starting to cry, so I turned off the TV and had her help me clean up after dinner.

I prayed with her and put her to bed at 8:30pm. Five minutes later, she came into my office telling me she was afraid and could not get Star Trek out of her mind. I told her to pray, listen to her worship music and go back to bed.

At 9:30pm, she was back up crying and terrified because she had a nightmare. We took a break and rode to QT so she could calm down. On the way home, I told her she had to go to sleep because she was going to be a grump in the morning if she did not get her beauty sleep. She wanted to sleep in my bed tonight and explained to me it was better than her bed because there was no wall on either side of the bed and the wall side is where the nightmares happen.

So next time your kid has nightmares, just tell them to stay away from the walls!

Legos...32 Years Later

For some (good) reason, my Mom saved just a few of the toys I had as a kid. One of the things she saved was my box of Legos which I began accumulating at age six (circa 1976). Amanda saw the box in the garage a week or so ago and wanted to get them out, so we did tonight. She has now made plans for the next six weeks...how we can play Legos each and every day. She has decided she wants the Indiana Jones Lego set ("with real ambushes"). I guess today's Legos will still work with ones from three decades ago? I think Mom saved them so that something like this could happen. Good thinking, Mom. Thanks!

Celebrating 15 Years

Well, it was 2 months after the fact, but Brooke and I were finally able to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary last night. Every year is special, but since this year marked 15, I wanted to do something out of the ordinary.

Our afternoon/evening started on the club floor at Marriott's Renaissance Worthington Hotel in the heart of downtown Ft. Worth.

This is a view of downtown Ft. Worth from our window.

I have always remembered the one time Brooke and I got to eat at Texas de Brazil during the brief time they had a restaurant in Arlington. If you've never eaten there, the experience is hard to imagine. The food is great and the whole dining experience is just plain fun. They have a huge salad bar with a lot of exotic foods on it (I'm personally not that crazy about this part), but then the good stuff begins. Servers begin coming by each table with giant skewers of different kinds of meats: steak, fish, sausage, pork and chicken all cooked differently with PERFECT seasoning. The first time or two you wonder how the little bit they leave you is going to be enough to eat, but then the servers keep coming. The first course is usually the best...until the second one comes and then it is the best. Until the third one comes...well, you get the idea.

So a couple of months ago, I was talking to a friend telling him I wanted to take Brooke to the Ft. Worth Texas de Brazil for our anniversary. My friend takes friends to Texas de Brazil frequently and always purchases their VIP cards that gives you a half-price meal. He gave me a card with two punches on it and I was thrilled to be able to take Brooke.

When we got there, we found out the food was as good (if not better) than we remembered. The room where we ate had four tables in it. Two tables finished and it was just Brooke and I at one table and three "guys who looked like they were Texas oil/gas men" (Brooke's description) at the other table. There was a flat screen TV in our dining room and so they discussed the Olympics with us. They were very friendly and so we conversed on and off during the meal. They asked where we were from and we told them we were from Arlington and were there celebrating our anniversary. We carried on with them and as they left, they said, "You kids have a good evening. Happy anniversary."

We had dessert after they left and then the waitress brought us the check. As I looked at the ticket, I saw the charge for Brooke's cup of coffee that we had ordered with our free (anniversary) dessert, but nothing else. While I was puzzling over where the rest of the ticket was, our waitress came back and told us what was up...the three guys at the table next to us had picked up our tab! We were totally blown away and only wished they guys were still there so we could thank them.


Next, it was time for the "surprise" part of our evening. Brooke already knew we were going to stay at the Worthington and knew we were going to eat at Texas de Brazil, but I wanted to plan something she did not know about. We have seen horse-drawn carriage rides in downtown Ft. Worth, so I contacted Brazos Carriage to see what they offered. They have their carriages downtown every Friday and Saturday night and you can rent the carriage for a 15 minute ride. I was bummed because we were going on a Thursday night, but as I dug a little further into their web site, I found you could do a private, 30 minute rental most any time. I talked to Tracy, the owner, and set up the Sweetheart Package (30 minute ride with flowers and chocolates in the carriage when it arrives) to pick us up outside Texas de Brazil.

As our meal ended, I called Tracy and asked where she was. She said she was out front, so we left. As we walked out, Brooke saw the carriage but started on down the sidewalk. I said, "Hey, you want to ride this? I think they are expecting us." It was awesome...the weather was not too hot, the ride was great, Brooke was surprised and it made for a very romantic evening.

This is just a picture we took back in the hotel room after the carriage ride.

After we dropped the flowers and chocolates off in the room, we went for a walk downtown. We stopped and took this picture in the lobby of our hotel.

I love to take pictures of old-looking court houses. The courthouse in downtown Ft. Worth is very picturesque and I snapped this while we were out walking.


Fifteen years of marriage has flown by. I am so thankful for Brooke and I love her with all that I am. The night did not last long enough for me, but I'm glad we could take the time to create memories and celebrate our 15 years together. Brookie, you are still the love of my life!!!

In Memory of a Turtle

Friday afternoon Brooke and I were in the kitchen and Amanda came in from the back yard sobbing, "Gina (Geana) is dead!" We went outside thinking perhaps the turtle had just crawled up inside her shell and would not come out. Amanda then told us she found Gina upside down near the edge of the pen. It seems she crawled up on a brick and got turned on her back. The turtles usually turn themselves over when this happens, but Gina was missing a foot and was not as "mobile" as the other turtles. It seems this time she was not able to turn herself over and the sun got to the less protected bottom of her shell. She was indeed dead.

While Amanda cried and recalled what good turtle Gina was, I dug a hole and we buried her. Amanda wrote a story and a song (below) to remember Gina and then placed this "headstone" on her grave.


"Geana was a great turtle although she probably was sick, a great turtle like her should not die. I wrote a song for her."

Geana was a great turtle
for in my heart you are still here
You are still here.

A Highlight From Our Trip

(click picture to enlarge)

Yea! My family is back with me and we are all home!! No time to catch you up on everything, but I've been to Alabama, picked up my family, been to the Liberty Fellowship family conference in North Carolina and we are now back home. Will blog more about all of this, but here's a picture of one of the highlights of our trip (for me).

Each year at the Liberty Fellowship family conference, Tuesday is "Family Day". Since Brooke was blessed with a generous love offering after doing the kids' camp in Alabama, we decided to take a family rafting trip down the Nantahala River in NC. We rented "ducks" as seen here. Amanda and I rode in a two person duck and Brooke rode in her own. The rapids were all class II, except for the last one (show here) which was a class III.

As we went through the first rapid, Brooke's eyes were as big as saucers because she did not know how to control her raft and Amanda cried all the way through. Brooke figured out how to control her raft by the next rapids and was doing better...it took Amanda about an hour and half before she could relax!

The class III rapids were right at the end of the ride, and there was a beach where you could get out and plan your approach through the last rapids. Brooke and Amanda decided they would just get out there, so I took Brooke's single person raft through the last rapid (pictured here).

Brooke said she had a good time, but Amanda said she does not want to do this again. I don't know when I'll get to do this again, but I had a BLAST and I'm thankful to my family for going with me this year.

A Great Father's Day

My wife and daughter made me feel very special today and I had a great Father's Day. Amanda got me a card that read, "Dad, it's Father's Day and you deserve the best the world has to offer... (open card) That's why you have me! Happy Father's Day from your daughter." Along with that came a sun catcher car that she made during VBS this week AND the children's church craft from today.

Sometime this week, Brooke and Amanda went shopping and bought me a black t-shirt that says, Born to Ride, Forced to Work with a motorcycle on the front. They also found the sound track to Dan in Real Life which I have been wanting. And then Brooke just happened to find a new Chris Botti CD which she calls romantic music (woo hoo!).

After church, we went to Cedar Hill state park where my parents are camping and wished my Dad a Happy Father's Day. While we were there, Dad took a picture of me with my best friend.



Earlier this week, one of the guys from church said something about going on a motorcycle ride today. I didn't hear back from anybody, so I figured Father's Day nixed those plans. But hey, we're fathers, right? It is our day. The four of us pictured here ended up spending time with our families this afternoon and then went for an evening ride (read "man time"). It was a lot of fun. (By the way, if you're wondering what I would look like if I were totally bald, the shadow cast by the sun here gives you a glimpse!)

I am thankful to have a wife and daughter who take such good care of me, put up with me and work so hard to make me feel special. I had a great day. Thank you Brooke and Amanda!

The Bird Lady?

Brooke grabbed a loaf of bread and we hopped on the motorcycle and rode over to Lake Arlington yesterday. There was a duck near the motorcycle, so as I tried to coax him to come eat out of my hand, Brooke went and sat on this park bench. My duck saw she was throwing her food to the ducks, so he flew over to where she was. This picture doesn't really do justice to all of the ducks that swarmed Brooke, but you get the idea.

A New School

Amanda started a new school this week. They wear uniforms which Amanda did not think she was going to like at first, but it looks like she has decided they are not so bad. Here she is in two of the uniform options. The one on the right is not her "peace" uniform...it's the one she wore on her second day at her new school.

We have been pleased with the education Amanda has received at her public school, but some of the things she was starting to bring home (mostly from 'friends') had us praying a lot. We have talked about private schools in the past, but we want Amanda to learn to stand up for what she believes and learn how to do it in the 'real world'. Brooke found out about a charter school opening down the street from us, so we went to check it out. We were originally looking into Amanda starting there next year, but when we went, with Amanda, to check it out, we changed our minds. First of all, Brooke, Amanda and I were impressed with what we saw and had a peace about Amanda attending there. Secondly, like most charter schools, they are filling up fast. If Amanda waited until next year, the school would probably be running at capacity and would have to implement a lottery system for allowing new students. We prayed about it and all three of us felt a peace about Amanda starting this year.

Amanda was blessed with her mother's personality and never meets a stranger. She is already making friends at her new school and loves it.

Geocachingmobile

Amanda and I went to a geocaching breakfast in Grand Prairie Saturday morning. Afterwards, we we out with a new geocaching buddy and found 11 caches. Here's a picture of us on our geocachingmobile for the day.

Happy Mother's Day...Early

When the missionaries were in town for the Missions Conference, the church staff took them to Alley Cats for some bowling and video games. That is where Brooke fell in love with Dance Dance Revolution. I found out they had it for the Wii, so I ordered it (along with two deluxe dance pads) for Mother's Day. Brooke always out-does me on the gift giving (she always finds better gifts), so I was excited when I found this for her because I knew she'd love it. I guess I got too excited...I couldn't wait another month to give it to her. So Happy Mother's Day a month early, baby. We love you!

I Was a Spy Tonight

I was given privileged access to the "Spy Kids Tree House" tonight. If you are wondering, it has nothing to do with the movie...it's where "kid spies" go to hang out.

As I said, I was given privileged access, so I cannot tell you where the tree is or anything like that...I can only share these few pictures.

Thank you to the master spy kid herself for making me an honorary spy tonight, for the invitation and for these photos.

Another Enjoyable Day

This is a quaint little house that Amanda and I saw on our motorcycle ride this afternoon. Amanda and I like to go for "country rides" and look at the animals while we are out. Here's a list of a few of the fun things we saw/did while we were out:

• Saw horses
• Saw goats
• Saw a burro
  
• Saw BIG bulls with BIG horns
• Saw cute little calves
  
• Saw a couple 'log cabin' homes
• Saw the house pictured here
• Saw a road runner cross the road
• Played chase on the playground at Lillian Elementary School
• Split a shake and orange drink at What-A-Burger
  

A Dream Day

Yes, this is a picture of my motorcycle, and yes, it is in the church sanctuary. This is a picture that was taken at the sock hop we had at the church on Valentine's Day.

But that's not the dream day I am talking about...it's just the only picture I have right now of Brooke and I on the motorcycle. When we bought the bike in November, I pictured a day just like today. Around 10am we headed out. We rode the back roads through Kennedale and Mansfield, then did some highway riding down 287 South and then exited onto another winding back road which took us to Venus. From there we wandered on into Maypearl and then over to Milford and finally into downtown Waxahachie.

My dream day with my wife riding the motorcycle included finding some "hole in the wall" restaurant, and we found a BBQ place near the town square in Waxahachie that fit the bill. We got our food and took it out on the porch to eat. Good BBQ on a warm day, just my sweet heart and me. After finishing up the home made banana pudding, we got back on the bike and headed into Duncanville to visit my Mom for a few minutes, and then we headed home. In all, we traveled about 135 miles and were gone about 4 hours. It was the day I dreamed about when I first got the motorcycle, and I can't wait for more!