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Here is video from Asa’s First Birthday Party.  It was a lot of work, but we had a great time.  I’m going to bed now.

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I can’t believe that it was only a year ago that we got in a car wreck, went in and out of labor for 30 hours, found out Asa was breach, and had an emergency C-section.  Now our little bundle of joy isn’t so little anymore.  He was born 6 lbs 11oz and now weighs over 22 lbs, and you can ask anyone that has held him that he is pure muscle.  The only thing squishy about the boy is his poop.

He can crawl. He can pull himself up.  He can walk while holding on to things. He will eat ANYTHING you put in front of him.  He smiles anytime you point a camera at him.  He can do sit ups. He babbles all day long.  He is always smiling (even when he cries…it’s weird).  He is a sharp dresser.  He speaks three languages.  He paints and I’m pretty sure he knows how to do long division.

He is a blessing from God and Shannon and I thank Jesus every day for the gift that we have gotten in Asa.  Happy Birthday Asa!

Here are some posts from the past that I would recommend checking out if you want to be nostalgic. 

• Video from Asa’s Birthday 
• Air Bag + Face = Pain
• Asa in the Morning
• Asa in His Bumbo for the First Time
• Asa is Crawling!!!!

Also feel free to leave a comment below to share your birthday wishes for the boy.

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Saturday we received a letter from our mortgage company saying they had to drain our escrow account to pay the property taxes for the first half of 08. This is because the title company wasn’t intelligent enough to find out they weren’t paid before we bought the house. Now if we don’t get the seller (the government) to refund our escrow account, our monthly payments are going increase drastically.

And now I’m sitting on the cold concrete sidewalk outside of a Chevron as the guy is hooking up our van to tow cause the transmission died on it. This is our only vehicle and we really don’t have a lot of spare cash laying around to fix it.

This trend seems to happen pretty often in our family. Just when life seems to be going semi-smooth, Murphy shows up with all his friends and has a kegger in my living room.

But here is the other cool trend in my life, God always shows up a few days later and kicks Murphey’s @$$.

I must say things are really crappy right now, but I look forward to seeing what God is going to do in the days to come.

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I ran my first triathlon today…this is a video recapping the event. As soon as they post the results, I put up the results for me and all my friends from church that ran with me.

UPDATE:
The results from the tri have been poster. You can go here to see everyone’s results.

Here are the results for me and my friends:
Men:
49th Nathan Schmidt 1:34:09.15
64th David Williams 1:40:27.80
71st Ryan Wallace 1:44:25.10
74th Greg Qualls 1:49:20.55

Women:
21st Misty Davis 1:42:18.00
33rd Tracey Odonnell 1:48:36.85
67th April Barreiro 2:22:52.05

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As you go through your day today….don’t forget.
While you run your errands,
While you sit at your desk,
While you check your email,
While you play with your kids,
While you eat your lunch,
While you drink your Starbucks,
Don’t forget.

While you are going through your day, Jesus was beaten beyond recognition, hung on a cross, and died for your sins.

Don’t forget.

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He isn’t crawling yet either.  He’s getting really close though.  He’s army crawling everywhere. It’s a little slow…but it works.

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Hello,

With only a few days away from running in my first triathlon, I wanted to share some words of encouragement and wisdom with my fellow athletes out there.  I didn’t grow up a very athletic person.  I’m not that coordinated, and I’m not that strong.

I tried playing basketball, but I was to aggressive.  I would generally only get to play for five minutes before I would foul out.  I tried playing football, but I wasn’t big enough, strong enough, fast enough, or aggressive enough to be any good (it didn’t help that the coach wanted me to play center at 6′ and 135 lbs).  There was really only one sport I was good at…track.

It doesn’t take a lot of strength or skill to run.  So I did really well.  I wasn’t fast, so I ran longer distance events.  I wasn’t the best, but I always placed.  I ran on the varsity track team at my school starting in eighth grade until I graduated. (we were a small division school).  I loved pushing my body to it’s limit and then some.  I loved competing.  It’s this history of competition that starts to bring up some long lost feelings inside of me.

Some of my feelings are good and some are bad.  I think sports can bring out the best and the worst in people (and sometimes at the same time).  I know from experience that sports and competition can bring out a laundry list of sins in people…pride, selfishness, arrogance, timidity, course language, unrighteous anger, belittlement, ect.

I have seen people pray before a game and in the same breath speak crude and prideful words against the other team. I have been an arrogant winner and a sore loser.  I have been poor sport.  I have cheated.  I have belittled and demeaned other athletes and teammates.

But I have also seen athletes become even more Christ-like through competition and sports.  I’ve seen teamwork and unity abound.  I’ve seen men with great talent and heart walk humbly in a knowledge of Who gave them their gifts.  I have seen men suffer well in harsh anti-christian environments.  I have seen men point to Jesus as their true prize and not some medal or ribbon.

It is with this in mind that I write this letter.  I am determined that sports and competition will not bring me down.  I am determined to not seek glory for myself.  But I pray that my competing will be done in a way that brings glory to Jesus. I am determined that it is more important to finish the race with integrity proclaiming the good news of Jesus than to win and dishonor his name (not like I have a chance of winning).  I am determined that Jesus is my ultimate prize.  The reason I compete is to draw closer to Jesus and humbly point others to Him.

Whether I win or lose, I am determined to “run the good race.”  I hope you are determined too.

To the glory of God,

Greg Qualls

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I feel pretty good at the moment, but tomorrow will be the real answer for how I feel.  I’m going to take some ibuprofen and go to bed.  Hopefully I’ll be able to walk tomorrow.  If not…..well….um…I guess I’ll have to borrow a wheel chair or something.

I thought I would include the video update from Tuesday for those of you that didn’t see it.  I hope you’re getting some enjoyment out of my pain….at least someone is.

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Tech Wednesdy is back!  Well for now.  It has been a long time since I got my iPhone.  So long that the warranty has actually gone out on it.  So with that in mind I decided to jailbreak it.  Jailbreakng an iPhone simply allows you to do whatever you want with it.

You can put whatever third-pary programs you want on it.  You can access the OS.  You easily add new ring tones.  It is a beautiful thing.  But the most beautiful thing about it was using Pwnage Tool.  Pwnage Tool made what could be a headache of a process really simple.

I love my iPhone, but I love it even more now.  My favorite thing is the ability to do video with my phone now.  One of the first programs I installed was Qik.  It’s a program that allows you to do live video from your phone.  I’m loving it!!!!!!

If you have an iPhone and you aren’t worried about voiding your warranty, I highly recomend jailbreaking it.  If you decide to, use this guide.  It was really helpful and walked me through the process step-by-step (and it didn’t even have Suzanne Somers).

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This is just a short rant I had to get out of my system.  I don’t know if this happens to you, but it seems to happen pretty frequently to me.  The people change, but the conversation seems to stay about the same.

Them: Hey can I talk to you.

Me: Sure.

Them: God has really been convicting me lately of _________ sin in my life.

Me: Ok.

Them:  I’m telling you this because I’ve seen you do the same thing to me.

Me: um…..

I’m just a little confused, when did the fact that God is convicting you of your deep sinful character flaw, give you the right to nit pick my flaws.  I kind of remember Jesus talking about taking the log out of your own eye….not leave the log in your eye, pick up a sniper rifle, and start shooting everyone with specks in their eyes.   It just doesn’t make sense.

So here’s my recomendation.  The next time God convicts you of something, stop! Don’t start looking around to see if anyone else has the same sin. Don’t start thinking about how you’ve been hurt by others in the same way.  Don’t start calling every Tom, Dick and Sally.  Instead, put the gun down and go to Jesus.  Let him take the log out of your eye and give it some time to heal (logs in your eyes tend to cause a lot of damage). Otherwise you might end up shooting some close friends….

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So I’m writing this post in an effort to get my butt in gear.  I’m running my first triathlon ever in two weeks (April 11th to be exact).  I ran long distance in High School and haven’t really done much since.  Luckily I have my grandfathers metabolism.  So I’m not really overweight, but I’m definitely not in shape.

So to get myself motivated to be more healthy and be able to be around to be grandfather myself some day, I decided I needed something to motivate myself to work out.  So when several friends announced a few months ago that they were deciding to run a triathlon, I decided to sign up.  I determined that the competition and the distance wold require me to work out.

Now the past several months have been the most active in recent years.  From running long distance in high school, I have a natural level of conditioning built in already.   But I haven’t been training as much as I need to be for this triathlon.  For example, the total amount of training I did for last week was running 4 miles.  I say this as a sort of confession and hope for accountability and motivation.

So with two weeks left before the tri, I’m throwing out a life line.  What suggestions do you guys have for me?  Have you been in this situation before?  Any tips from you athletes out there?  What goals should I set for the next two weeks?  Should wear business socks and put tassels on my handlebars?  Does my swimming suit make me look fat?

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Asa is fast on his way to crawling.  I caught a little video of him army crawling the other day.  Just so you know, there is a littel surprise at the end.

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As you know, we moved into our house back in Dec and have to make a lot of renovations. So Shannon and I  took this week off to try and get everything done. Here is our to do list for the week.

- turn half wall into full wall in master bedroom (frame, drywall, and mud)
- tear down fake brick chimney
- paint living room
- paint bedroom
- finish paint cabinets
- finish painting guest bath
- install bucket lights in kitchen

Shannon and I are trying to get this all done by Wednesday, because we head out on Thursday for our 5 year anniversary. Hopefully I won’t die by then.  My hands hurt so bad right now from swinging a sledge hammer yesterday.  It’s a lot of fun swinging a sledge hammer while you’re doing it, but you have a price to pay the next day for all the fun.

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We closed a week later than we planned. So we only had 48 hours to try to get the house ready for move in.
The walls are half painted (literally the top half).
The paint sprayer caused more of a mess than help (user error).
Due to a busy schedule, we didn’t have the house completely packed when friends showed up to move us.
Due to a misscommunication, we don’t have the gas hooked up. So we don’t have a heater or hot water or a way to cook food or a way to clean Asa’s bottles.
All our stuff is in boxes and we can’t unpack until we’re done painting.
We don’t have Internet (so I’m writting this on my phone).
We don’t have cable (I would have to find the reciever anyways).
And Shannon and I think we’re coming down with a cold.
MOVING SUCKS!

But God is better than all this. He has constantly provided for us throughout this move and given us peace beyond what we could have imagine.

He provided friends to help us move (close to like 20+ people).
He provided heat for our house (wood burning stove and a stack of wood).
He provided the refrigerator of my wive’s dreams in our price range (clearance baby!).
He has provided strength and rest for me as I’ve been doing 20 hour days.
He has provided grace and forgiveness for me as I’ve been cranky and a jerk.
He has provided food.
He has provided us with a new place to call home.
He has provided us a new neighborhood to minister in.
He has provided.

Moving might suck, but God is good.

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1. Post these rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself.
3. Tag 6 people at the end of you post
4. If you tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag.

So here I go….

1. I can wiggle my ears…independently.  I can wiggle just my right ear, or I can wiggle just my left ear.  This is what happens when you have no life.
2. I had a dog named Vern when I was growing up.  It was so dumb that it would run into the fence when you would call it from the other side….needless to say this would happen often.
3. In Jr. High I was the stinky kid.  I hit puberty and no one really told me that I needed to take a bath more than once a week.  I’ve gotten better though.
4. I was a die hard anti-Apple until about 2 years ago.  I saw the errors of my ways and converted to the one true computer…and I’ll never go back.
5. I have a tattoo on my back of a cross with tribal print behind it.  I would get two sleeves too if UPS and my wife would let me.
6. I’m my own uncle….yep…try to figure that one out.  Just so you know…there was no incest involved and everything was legal.

So there you go….now here are my six.

Shannon, Dustin, Brad, CJ, Clayton, and BK

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Tonight I’m having the same feeling.  The bidding on the house we want closes tonight at midnight.  tomorrow morning somebody that works for the government will turn on their computer, open the file on our house, and our fate will be determined.  I just can’t help but have the same feeling of anticipation and and tension that I had on Tuesday.

I hope I can sleep tonight.  Whatever happens tomorrow, I know that God is in control, and His will will be done.

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It seemed like there weren’t really any good houses in our price range.  They were either to small or so run down that they were on the verge of being condemened.  That was until we came accross “the house.”  The second we walked through the front door we fell in love.  It had everything we were looking for in a house and then some.  Most importantly it was in our price range.

There was some small problems though.  The Realtor for the house was a little crooked.  He was part owner and was trying to do a short sale.  But he failed to mention that he was a part owner and that the house was going to foreclose on if he didn’t get someone to pay cash for it in the few days he had left.  By God’s grace we found out and didn’t get caught in a huge mess that could have happened.

So fast forward to this last Sunday.  The house ended up going into forclosure, and no one bought it at auction.  So it came back on the market this last Sunday as a HUD home.  That brought up some small problems since we are qualified for a FHA loan and generally it’s hard to buy HUD houses with FHA loans.  Things are ok though, but we have one last issue to overcome.

HUD houses are sold by a bidding process.  Everyone interested in the house puts in a bid (not knowing if anyone else is bidding or the other bids if there are any) and the most cost effective bid for the government wins.  There’s no counter offers or anything.  You get one chance.  So now we are seeking the prayer support of all our friends.

We really feel like God is opening up the doors for us to get this house (there is so much more to the story that I’m not sharing due to time).  This house is more than a house.  We see it as a place where we can truly do ministry for God.  The only thing we have left to figure out is how much we need to bid.

So please pray that God would give us a clear direction on what to bid for the house.  Pray that He would give us wisdom. Pray that He would give us peace.  Pray that He would ulitimatly give us the house.  Thanks so much and feel free to pass this along to anyone else.  We are meeting with our realtor on Thursday to put in our bid and will find out on Monday if we got the house or not.

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Ok so I honestly have no clue how I’m going to vote for.  This election year has really left me disappointed.  I think both canidates have great dreams and goals, but their plans are horrible.  It’s like they said what are some of the greatest things we could do to change this country….ok now what’s the worst way to get there.  I had honestly thought about not even voting at all this year.  That was until I came across glassbooth.com.

Now I still don’t know who I’m going to vote for exactly, but now I know that I have some options.  It was interesting to learn about the third party canidates and how much I agree with them.  Now some of you might say that I’m trowing away my vote if I vote for a third party canidate, but I would say you’re throwing away your vote if you don’t vote for someone you agree with.

So take the quiz at glassbooth.com and see if you even line up with you choice for president, or are you just going with the flow.

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If I was running for an office, I would hire the guys from the Sonic commercials. Or I would do a mac/pc commercial.

I’m curious. What style would your political commercials be?

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But this week Shannon and Asa went with Shannon’s mom to Denver to see some family.  I have determined that I don’t like going on business trips…but I hate having my wife and kid leave me at home alone.  Like a business trip, I have to eat alone (and now I have to make it too), watch TV alone, and sleep alone, but I have to do this at home where everything reminds me of them.

I’ve been cleaning the house today so Shannon can come home and relax, and everything reminds me of the two of them (hince the reason I’m blogging to take my mind off of it…but I’m blogging about them so it’s not working).  Making the bed, folding the laundry, cleaning the kitchen, picking up the house, all reminds me of the two of them.  So I’ve determined that I’m never letting them leave me home alone again…..yeah that’s about it.

So men…if you’re at home with your wives and kids…realize your blessing and tell your wife how much you love her and spend some time playing with your kids.  Sometimes you don’t realize how pitiful you are until you’re all alone again.

P.S. Don’t worry about me…Shannon and Asa come home tomorrow.

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We took this one last week after Asa got done with a bath.  He’s slowly getting better at being on his stomach.

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Just cause you're a baby doesn't mean you can't look cool.

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Video from Asa’s B-day

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Asa in his Bumbo.

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