Blog Hiatus

Regularly scheduled blogging will return Sunday. I can't tell you what I'm doing until then.

Sunday Quotes and Recap

I'm sitting watching the Age of Wal Mart and it has some pretty interesting leadership lessons. The CEO of Wal Mart made the statement that if you ever got satisfied you would get passed by. I think that is an amazing statement for the church as well. If we ever get satisfied with where we're at, the culture will pass us by and we will be irrelevant shells of what God has intended us to be.

Another statement he made that challenged me was when he was talking about how every trip their executives take, they share rooms in the cheapest hotels. He said they purposely did this so that the whole company understood that their leadership was not just saying do as I say but it was do as I do. As a leader I can't ask anyone to do anything that I am not first willing to do myself. I can't be guilty of a double standard if I expect people to respect me as a leader.

Sunday Recap

Kevin Campbell- Lead Pastor of Elevate in San Diego and former fellow Wren Alum spoke at both campuses today an did an awesome job. I particularly liked the statement "Our greatest opportunites lie on the other side of the greatest risks we'll ever take".

We are looking forward to partnering up and helping more as they prepare to launch in San Diego in the coming months. Mike Morris and Oak Pointe in Greenville as well as some other churches are going to be helping these guys as well. These guys and girls are still taking a huge step of faith. There are 13 of them that will be leaving the Atlanta metro area and moving to San Diego with no gaurantees and trusting God to provide. If you would like to help these guys our or find out more about what is taking place in San Diego, be sure to click on the link to Kevin Campbell in my link section.

Quite possibly the funniest thing I've heard in a while was when someone asked Kevin if he was a cheerleader. His first reaction was "Is that a compliment? Do I look like a cheerleader?" I guess some guys just have that look. Kevin, I'm laughing with you not at you, don't go all double toe touch on me. LOL

Other highlights, the kids area had it's highest day ever on a weekend when schools were out on Friday which was more amazing. Our total kids area from both campuses was higher than our original number of people we had on our launch team.

I was digging the acoustic version of Who Am I? .

We had several first timers as well as new people getting plugged into teams today.

Next week we begin our new series "Speed of Life".

In news around the house, they captured the teenager who is presumed to have killed 4 people at the end of our neighborhood. The news trucks have been in the neighborhood all day as well as tons of people looking to see the house. It has been a really weird thing. The teenage boy was at our next door neighbors house the night before the murders and they said everything seemed fine with him. Tragic and weird.

Crazy How the Day Turns

Started out this morning at 8:30 a.m. with set up in Anderson. Set up there went quickly. These guys get it set up and ready to go. Went back to the Powdersville Campus and met up with my dad who helped me do some stuff at the church.

Next was where the crazy part started. I stopped at mom and dads to eat lunch. While we were eating lunch we noticed the Sherriff's Helicopter circling. My parents live less than a half mile from me and the chopper seemed to be circling my neighborhood. I called Melissa and she said our neighbor had just told her they had found dead bodies in a house at the end of our neighborhood. I went straight home to find police and news crews everywhere. Our neighborhood has only about 15 homes and is on a dead end street. It is filled with families and tons of kids. Anyway, the first house out of our neighborhood on the left had a quadruple homicide. Only a few hundred yards from my front steps, a man lay in the ditch dead and three others inside the house dead as well. It is crazy to think what went through someones head that did this. It makes no sense and it makes the urgency of the church seem so much more real to reach the world we live in.

Sorry About the Delay

We're back at home. Sorry about the delay but I haven't had a chance to blog. In a period of 72 hours we spent an one day in the hospital and the other two days driving amlost 1000 miles so to say it has been a fast paced frenzy is an understatement.

Isaac is doing good and he did great with all of the tests. So far everything has come back good. We are waiting on one test that took two weeks last time so now we just hurry up and wait.

I'm excited about church this coming Sunday. This past weekend with Kid's World was awesome and I'm looking forward to seeing some new families as a result of last week. Who do you know that needs an invite to Stone Bridge? What are you waiting for?

Numbers

Here is today's blog of numbers:

8-Hours it took to get here.

2- Number of Rest Areas we stopped at.

5- Actual number of times we stopped

133- Dollars of gas I put in the car on the road today.

370- Avg Price of Gas on the Road Today

1 - Number of Barges that passed under the bridge during our after dinner stroll across the Ohio River following supper at Newport on the Levee.

3 - Number of Home runs Adam Dunn has hit this year. We heard the crowd yell as we were down at the river.

241- Number of Home Runs Adam Dunn has hit as a Cincinnati Red.

6- Number of Specialists we have appointments and tests with tomorrow.

12 - Number of Drunk Yuppies we saw crossing the bridge. Can you say obnoxious?

15- Years ago when the word yuppies went out of style.

0- Total number of times combined that I have been beaten in go karts by Jason, Bryan, and Chris. Sorry that was a cheap shot to Jason because he is on a bus with a gazillion 5th graders on a field trip to Washington,DC. Paige must defend his honor.

2 Years

2 Years ago today, Melissa and I watched as Isaac received another chance at life. His face and body was swollen from all of the steroids and his hair was gone from the chemotherapy. We watched as they hooken up an IV of new cells that would eventually begin to replenish his old marrow with a new chance at life. It has been amazing and overwhelming to think about all that has taken place in the past two years since. We are saddened by the loss of many close friends while in the hospital and we rejoice with the success of the many other kids transplants. It is so many mixed emotions and a time that has changed our life forever.

A few weeks ago was the culmination of all of the treatments that he has endured. Him walking into school for the first time was absolutely amazing. We are in Cincinnati all week for his yearly bone marrow checkup. No major procedures hopefully but just mainly tests and routine stuff. He also will have a liver check up by his liver transplant team as well. He has a type of rock star status at Children's Hospital in Cincinnati because 75% of the doctors have had some dealings with him.

The church office will be closed as I will be out of town with Isaac's check up. I'll be back in town at the end of the week.

Results of the Day

Today was awesome. We had several more first timers joining us Anderson. The momentum there is starting to grow. The audience there has always been really great and responsive in the message. As a speaker, feedback from the group you are speaking to is vital and the folks in Anderson have been great at providing that as well as our group in Powdersville.

Today I did something I have always wanted to do. I led everyone singing. I will say that the only reason most people sang was because it was Gilligan's Island theme song and I threatened them with a solo if they didn't sing. Everyone responded great except for Chris and Ashton in Anderson who pretended they didn't know the song.

We arrived in Powdersville two minutes late because the speaker was a little long winded. But everything was good because they couldn't start without us.

The best part of the day came later in the day with our Kid's World. I must admit that I ate three bags of popcorn and five bags of cotton candy all while challenging kids and parents in races through the 60ft inflatable obstacle course. We had tons of kids and a bunch of families. The kids had a blast. I think the adults had a blast as well. We had some indoor stuff as well as some of the inflatables outdoors which it was a perfect day for. I think I reinjured my rib but it was all good and was for the kids. Actually, I think I played as much as the kids.

Two of the more memorable qoutes I heard during the after noon as I raced through the obstacle course were :1) As a little girl around 9 years old beat me through the obstacle course, she yelled out to her mom " Hey I beat an old man". I guess I'm not as young as I once was. 2) The second came when I was being lapped by two kids racing and one said "No fair, the preacher is going slow and he got in my way". Apparently I'm not quite as fast as I once was on the obstacle course either.

My favorite I got to do was walk around and challenge kids to see how many bags of cotton candy they could eat. I never realized until we had the cotton candy machine hooked that it is made up entirely of pure sugar with flavor crystals. This interesting fact made it all the funner as I encourage kids to gorge themselves on the cotton candy. Right now, on the inside I am laughing thinking of kids amped up on sugar at home with their parents.

Pondering

So I have been pondering the meaning of the large round wooden ball that I recieved yesterday and as of yet I haven't really came up with a good meaning of what it is or who sent it. I looked up the company that sold this based on the sticker on the outside and it came from a fairly pricey decor store in NY. The ball is solid and weighs probably 40-50 pounds. It was addressed to Sammy Clary and from someone in NY that did not leave a name.

I have thought through some of the meanings and this is what I believe someone is trying to tell me.

1. Life is short, have a ball.

2. This ball is large, round and smooth like your belly.

3. This is how you roll.

4. They see me rolling, they hating, trying to catch me riding dirty. (Sorry I had to bust out the rap music)

I really have no clue, help me out with what you think is the intended meaning of my big wooden ball. Drop a comment.

Productive, Awesome, Silver, Pain, and a Big round Wooden Ball

Today may have been one of the most productive days I've had in years. I just walked in the door and it is about 11:30 p.m. I'v e been going since 8 a.m. this morning and it's been good. I got a ton accomplished at the office and even got ahead in many areas.

Tonight was awesome, Silver and I headed up to North Greenville College to get the word out about our new campus coming to the Traveler's Rest area. We did one of the most creative things to get the word out and it was a huge success. I'll share more in the coming months because I don't want to let the cat out of the bag since we are doing this a few more times in the next several weeks. It was probably the most successful advertising experience I have ever been a part of. We were able to share with several hundred college students about the new campus coming to the Traveler's Rest area and made lots of new friends in the process.

My rib is still in a lot of pain. I won't be driving a go kart this week most likely because my pain has yet to subside. I know I sound like a baby but the pain just doesn't go away because you always have to breathe.

Finally I arrived home to find I had received a UPS package from someone I don't know. It was a large package and heavy. I opened it up to discover a large wooden ball about twice the size of a basketball. It says that it is for vintage decoration. I'm not sure what it's for or why someone in NY sent it to me. But thanks for the large wooden ball to who ever you are. If you are the sender of the large wooden ball, I would like to thank you and find out what it is for or what it does? Drop me an email or a comment if you are the mysterious sender of large wooden spherical prizes. I'll post pictures of the ball tommorrow.

Off Day

Wednesday for the last couple of weeks has ended up being my off day. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are slammed so I was off today. Isaac has liked that a lot because for the last two weeks we have headed up to the flea market. He is funny to watch as he spends his money. He is a tight wad like me. He carried $28 with him and stopped spending at $6. Here are some quick hits from the day.

Some people sing to get your attention at the flea market.

When you walk off from their table at the flea market, the price of their item drops 40% as they try to make the sale.

According to the Mayo Clinic online, my rib is broken. It still hurts the same.

The healing process takes one to two months and requires that you stop activities that may have caused it. That won't be happening because I'll be back riding go karts in the next couple of weeks or sooner.

Who do you need to invite to Stone Bridge this week? Anderson 9:15 a.m. and Powdersville at 10:55 a.m. This week we're going to look at Hope as we continue in Storm Stories.

Tomorrow night I'll be at North Greenvile College getting the word out about our Traveler's Rest Campus(coming this fall) in a creative way.

Saturday Night is Chasen's CD Release concert. It's not too late to get tickets.

Broken and Only 25 Away

My rib is definately cracked or broken. It hurts worse today than yesterday. It hurts to cough, laugh or walk up stairs. I'm not going to the doctor because they can't put a cast on it and all they would say on past experience with ribs issues is that yep it's hurt. Anyway, enough whining about my ribs.

In other news, I'm only 25 emails away from Bryan H Chy owing me a free lunch at Zaxby's. Please see yesterday's post and be sure to email him.

Today was filled with meetings and goings on. This morning, was spent with a phone attached to my ear getting different things set up. At lunch time, I went with Josh to Greenville to Shine 96.7 and watched Chasen perform a Studio Set at the radio station. Their Nationwide CD Release is today. Be sure to pick up a copy today. They should be in all the major retailers across the U.S.. These guys are legit. If you're going to the cd release concert Saturday Night, you can pick up a copy there for only $7 with a paid admission to the concert. If you need tickets be sure to give Evan a shout or give me a shout and I'll give Evan a shout.

After lunch, I was back at the office for some message prep and a creativity meeting with Chuck this afternoon. He helped me out with 3 messages I am working on for next month's series Speed of Life. We came away with some awesome ideas and I'm looking forward to the series.

I got home around 6:30 and then Melissa, Isaac, and I went to IHOP where kids eat free on Tuesday nights. Got home and Isaac and I watered our garden. I am especially proud of the upside down tomatoe plants. They are getting blooms which means juicy red tomatoes that I don't eat are on the way.

Sunday we're going old school to start the message and there is a possiblilty that I may lead everyone in singing. It is a slim possibility I must say but a possibility none the less.

I feel like Adam

I'm having rib issues. I feel like Adam. My rib is still hurting a pretty good piece but if forced into action I could still whip the tail of Jason, Chris or Little H Chy in go karts. I'm not sure what hurts more, my rib or the fact that Jason actually passed me on the track twice. I guess I can take solace in knowing I passed him too many times to count. But I guess if two is all you have, then you have to hang your hopes on that.

And speaking of hope, I think that Bryan "little H chy" was hoping that I would fail to mention the fact that he chickened out of a grudge match with Jason Allen. He was a complete no show. I told him today that I was going to get everyone I know to send him a email telling him how disappointed in his level of chickenness I was. So having said that, I encourage everyone reading this blog to drop him an email that simply reads "Sammy is extremely disappointed in your level of chickenness" or if you would like to comment on his level of chickenness just type the same message in the comment section here. His email address is bryanholder@marathonlive.org. Oh yeah, help me out because if he gets 100 of these emails stating his chickenness level he has to take me to Zaxby's for chicken fingers.

In other news, today was very productive. This is a busy week. Thursday night I will be at North Greenville College to promote our campus that is coming to the Traveler's Rest area. This Sunday, we're having Kid's World and it is going to be a blast. It's free to the community and will last from 3-5 p.m. We will have inflatable obstacle courses and jump house things, movie on the big screen, cotton candy, popcorn, and more. Tell your kids to bring their friends.

Today I met with a guy who may end up being our Traveler's Rest Worship Pastor. Our meeting went well and I'm looking forward to see what God has in store for this guy's life.

I spent the morning doing paper work and after lunch working on some message stuff.

Sunday Recap

Church today was good as we started our new series Storm Stories. The bands did a great job as usual. Dan our Anderson Campus pastor grows more famous by the day with the second appearance of the Easter Bunny. We had several more first timers at the Anderson Campus and it's exciting to think about what all is going to happen there in the coming months.

After Anderson it was off to Powdersville. This week we made it with 7 minutes to spare. We took a new route this morning and it saved time. The only hitch in the travel plans was the cold. Cold because I took the top off of my Jeep last week and the trip up the interstate was freezing. At the Powdersvile Campus, we had our first membership class. We had 63 people join this morning and several others that indicated that they will be joining but were unable to make it this morning. We had several people sign up fpr baptism as well which is exciting as we will be having out first baptism service coming up in June. We are waiting for the water to get warm since we are going to be doing an outdoor baptism. Baptism is going to be awesome. I have been thinking through the details and someone mentioned a location to me today that will be one of the most unusual and awesome things ever.

We will be having our first membership class in Anderson within the next month. Thereafter we will have membership classes bi-monthly at each location.

This afternoon I pulled out the go karts and raced for a few hours. I am pretty sure I cracked a rib. I know some of you are wondering what I crashed into but it wasn't a crash. I went into the fastest turn and hit a bump. When I hit the bump it threw me sideways into the part of the seat that wraps around the rib cage. As soon as my ribs hit that part of the seat I heard a pop and felt a great deal of pain in my ribs and it has not subsided since I stopped racing a couple of hours ago. Go karts are out for the rest of the week for me based on how I feel right now.

Flea Market

I usually take my day off on either Thursday or Friday, but this week Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are all slammed with church stuff so I took off today rather than my usual day off.

Since it was a Wednesday, I knew the Pickens Flea Market would be open so I piddled around the house until Isaac got out of school at 11:30 a.m. and I took him to the Flea Market for an outing. Here are some observations from the flea market:

1. People are not afraid to swap slobber in public at the flea market. Let me say that a couple of couples were making out and that was just plain gross as I'm trying to peruse through the tables full of junk looking for an ebay treasure.

2. Everyone there is selling a "one of a kind" or a "you won't see another one like it". The only problem is that there usually is another one just like it three tables down.

3. People that buy over the counter medicines from the flea market scare me.

4. Fashion is optional at the flea market. As evidenced by the pleathora of fanny packs and manny packs. Manny packs are the male version of fanny packs and should be worn at no time.

5. Who collects WWE Wrestling Superstar man dolls?

6. All those baseball cards that the baseball card shop owner told you would be worth thousands and pay for your kid's college.............sucker. He got you didn't he? And where do they end up? On just about every table at the flea market.

7. And lastly, if you want a fun day that costs a little, then go check it out. Pickens on Wednesday mornings is the best. Isaac and I had a blast and I ended up coming home with a lawnmower.

Quick Hits

1. Gave blood today. Isaac went with me. He saw how people give blood to kids like him. If you don't give blood you're a pansy. I know some people can't give because of medical reasons but I believe there are many more who are just shameless pansies.

2. Reggie Smith trying to get into one of my racing go karts may have been the funniest thing I have seen in years. Reggie is 6 foot 10 inches tall. Actually like 6'5" but he couldn't fold his leg into the cart and was freaking out because your right arm rests on the muffler while you race.

3. Reggie Smith riding my small snapper lawn mower around the track with his helmet on was the second funniest thing I have seen in years.

4. Lunch today with Robert Fortner who has some great thoughts on the church of today. He sells milk and writes some for Relevant Magazine. I think I remember Paul saying something about people and milk. Maybe that is where he gets his smarts, because of the whole milk thing.

5. Put weed be gone on the yard last night. I hate weeds in my lawn. I take pride in the front yard. The back yard is a dirt go kart track. I take pride in the consistency of the dirt on the track too. I take my back yard go kart racing seriously.

6. Jason Allen came to the house Sunday evening and raced go karts. He's not bad but he's not as good as me either. I'm not bragging, I'm just good. Even in a faster kart he still needs to learn the line. I think he can beat Bryan little H chy. I think he thinks he can beat Bryan little H chy. Only one way to find out. At the back yard speedway Sunday Evening. We'll see who doesn't show.

7. If you're going to the Chasen concert, Erin Brown said to see her for some tickets.

8. Pizza House has good pizza. I'm not a paid endorser either.(yet) Begin telling them that Sammy sent you and then maybe they'll bring me on as some sort of Pizza celebrity and they will pay me exhorbitant amounts of money to endorse the 10 inch pepperoni pizza also known as the Sammy Special.

9.

Wow

Today was just plain awesome. It's amazing to see what God can do in the lives of imperfect people and what he can can accomplish with a group of people who seek him in spite of those imperfections. I am an imperfect person and I am continually blown away by how he has blessed our church and looking forward to what lies ahead.

We started out this morning at 9:15 a.m. in Anderson and were blown away with the response. We had a core group of people there that consisted of 20 something people. In Anderson we had around 30 first timers to Stone Bridge. Special thanks to everyone in the core group there that had everything ready to go. Traci and Kim were set for the kids area which turned out great, Teresa was heading up the greeters and did a great job, Lynn and Ashton had the info table set and ready to inform people, Chandler had the hospitality area set up with the cofffee brewng(she makes really good brownies too), Mark, Randy, Anna, Will,Josh, and Evan were rocking out in the band, {De wayne} (sorry man but this is the phoenetic spelling that Mark and Dan have told me for your name) had the ushing ushed and Dan Dan the Easter Bunny Man had everything clicking. I'm really excited about the next steps in Anderson. Launching a new campus is scary because you begin to wonder if anyone will be there and so the response today really blew the doubts away.

Jeff and I scrambled up the road and made it to Powdersville with 3 minutes to spare. I didn't speak in Powdersville today because we are getting ready for our new series next Sunday called Storm Stories. Derrick Davenport spoke today for me and did a great job. It was awesome to see at the end of the service when people filled the front of the stage in prayer. For the second time in the last month we had to pull out extra chairs in Powdersville which was even more amazing considering the fact that we had a core of people that have moved to the Anderson campus and our attendance was still up in Powdersville. Today we had almost 170 people which is awesome considering we only started 6 months ago.

Next week is membership and right now we have over 70 people signed up for membership class at Powdersville. We will be having a membership class in Anderson coming up in the next couple of months.

It has been an extremely long week and I'm tired. i think I'm going to go eat some Jello and kick back and relax for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow

Awesome day of set up in Anderson today. Set up took about three hours but it was all good. We had most everything in place we needed and only had a small trip to the store to pick up things needed. Normally set up will take about half this amount of time but this was our first day in the new campus and we just wanted to make sure and get everything set up right and then map out our plan for future set ups. There was a lot of excitement in the air and it's exciting to see what all is going to take place there.

Tomorrow kicks it all off at 9:15 a.m. in Anderson and then 10:55 in Powdersville. I'll post tomorrow and give an update of the days events.

Today was slammed. I was in Anderson all morning and then message prep all afternoon. I'm relaxing watching the Final Four right now.

Couple of upcoming things to remember.
April 13th - Membership Class at Powdersvile Campus
April 20th - Kids World from 3-5 p.m. in Powdersville. It's free and should be a blast. It's for all kids through the 5th grade. See the Stone Bridge website for more details.

Finally Chasen's CD release party is April 19th. Evan is in our Anderson Campus band and Chasen was our worship leader when we first launched and their album is releasing Nationally in a couple of weeks. If you need tickets to the CD Release concert be sure to click on the links to Chasen or Evan in my link section.

9:15 and 10:55

Just a reminder, this Sunday we launch our new Anderson Campus at Whitehall Elementary School at 9:15 a.m.. I've heard from different folks who have heard about us and said they will be there so I'm looking forward to what is going to happen there. The Powdersville Campus service kicks off it's new service time at 10:55 a.m.

Pray for no traffic and no breakdowns on Highway 81 in the weeks ahead or otherwise someone from the band will be speaking and we all know how weird those music guys are. As a matter of fact, the only reason I hang out with music type people is so that they make me look normal. It's kind of like the ugly girl or guy that has an even uglier friend because in some strange way it makes them look pertiful.

This morning I had a great meeting with a couple of guys from the Church Multiplication Group. The meeting went very well and some exciting things are coming out of that. Set up for Anderson is in the morning. See you Sunday.

Muffins

I know most of you have had muffins before. You get the mix, put in the milk and stir up the batter. Next you pour the batter or as I like to refer to it, the muffin sauce into the little paper holders. Here is my question, how do the little paper holders not catch on fire? Because once I cooked lasagna with the cardboard still on top hoping to hold in heat and it caught on fire. So what is it about the little paper things that makes them fireproof? Is there some fireproof material that is possibly seeping into my muffins that will one day cause me to have back warts? Just curious. If you know what it is made of, please leave a comment. If you don't know what it is, make something up and leave a comment.

By the way, I'm sitting eating muffins. Next week my back warts will begin growing.

Better Days

Today has been good. We started out with Isaac at Hunt Meadows at 7:30 a.m. this morning and what a difference a day makes. Yesterday we were all tired and worn out. Today, he was energized and ready for school. No coaxing to get him in the doors of school, he was ready to head to his class. We walked with him to class and will do this a couple of more days to help him get acclimated to his class. No one knows all he has been through and this has been an emotional journey for us all but it is awesome. Today we he got out of school, he called me and told me today was Awesome. That makes me smile.

Tonight, I am hanging out with my family. I have been at church that last two nights and this weekend is going to be busy with the new campus launch in Anderson at 9:15 a.m. at Whitehall Elementary. Most everything is ready, only the finishing touches to go. The folks from Anderson were hard at work last night getting everything ready and loaded. We loaded the trailer and then they hung around and helped the Powdersville band get everything set up ready to go. A big thanks to everyone from Anderson who has already been hard at work and looking forward to go time.

Josh helped me shop yesterday and we looked quite ridiculous in Wal Mart with gobs of baby toys and diapers.

Tomorrow, a group of pastors is meeting at the church and then lunch afterward. I look forward to this every couple of months because it is a great time to share and pray for each others churches.

Friday is breakfast with a couple of guys from the State Convention and then back to the office to finish up the stuff for this weekend.

Saturday, we are setting up in Anderson at 9:00 a.m. which will be set up time each week for that location.

April Fools

April Fools, I'm not leaving the church. Our phone has rung off the hook for the last few minutes since the last post. It is April Fools. Laugh. Although I did leave the church at about 6:40 p.m. tonight.

Today for Isaac has been amazing. I am listening to him sing in the shower right now. Melissa said he hasn't come down off of a high all day from being around other kids. This has been awesome to see him excited and enjoying life for the first time.

I am really appreciative of all your prayers and support. I have prayed through a lot in regards to who I listen to and how to deal with criticism when it comes my way. It's hard not to take criticism personally when people critcize you personally but I have made some decisions today on who I listen to and what voices I don't. The first is that anyone that criticizes and won't say it to me personally isn't worth listening to anyway. That is my new policy. Thanks again to all the people who called and prayed and I'm excited to see what is coming in the next few weeks.

After Much Thought About Matters

After much thought about things, life, and general, I have decided to leave the church. Please remember our family.

The Big News

10 years ago on March 17, 1998, when Isaac was only 3 months old, Melissa and I sat with a doctor and listened to him tell us that a majority of kids with Isaac's disease didn't make it to 1st grade. Isaac was able to go to kindergarten for half of a year. Today for the first time in his life Isaac went to public school as a 3rd grader. He is supposed to be in 4th grade but while he was going through chemo and transplant, we didn't give a crap about school, we just wanted a healthy son. No offense to school but we really didn't care about that at that point. I cried on the inside not wanting him to see me and be upset. When he was diagnosed with his first disease, my prayer then was that I would see him go to school, see him graduate, and one day see him get married and have as normal of a life as possible. Today, Melissa and I got to see two of these things take place. Today he started public school and began his first day of normal. He didn't sleep at all last night. He was nervous and afraid. He cried before he got out of the car. The doctors tell us this is part of post traumatic stress from all that he has been through. He finally got out of the car and we made the walk to the school. As soon as we wallked in the door and down the halls, all the kids began saying Isaac is here. Suddenly that nervousness went away and he began to smile like I haven't seen him smile in quite sometime. Melissa and I both began to tear up with emotion just thinking of all that he has been through and how far he has come. This is the best thing that I have ever seen. The school has been awesome. It is amazing what encouragement does. All the kids and teachers encouraged him and made his day. The kids in his class were actually competing over who was going to get to help him out during the first few days of school. This is the biggest and best thing in my life. My wife and my son.

Sorry the grammar is bad. I have no one to try and impress. I am me.