Speak Lord

Well, as I promised a while ago when I decided to change my blog, I'm finally going to post some of my work up here. This is something I wrote recently. I really would like to know what people think about this. You can either post it in the comments or email me. Thanks.

Speak Lord

Geoffrey D. Shafer
10-28-07

So many times I get so caught up in
The hustle and bustle of life.
Things move to fast for me to comprehend
Just what's going on around me.
I find myself lost in a world I don't know
Wondering how I ended up here.
But I can't hear a thing for all the noise
Drowns out the silence I long for.

So I close all the doors on the noise of the world
Just to hear your sweet low voice calling me.

Speak Lord for your servant is listening.
Speak Lord for your servant is listening.

I find it hard to block out everything
To hear my Savior's call.
He's not in the noise that closes me in.
He's no in the action that I see.
I long for that quiet and faraway place
Where I can focus and listen.
Lord show me how to get to that cave
So I can hear you whispering.

So I close all the doors on the noise of the world
Just to hear your sweet low voice calling me.

Speak Lord for your servant is listening.
Speak Lord for your servant is listening.

Is there a place left in this world
Where I can find peace?
Is there a place where I can stop
And talk with my Lord?
Lord lead me to that quiet place
So I can be with you.
Show me a way to block out the noise
That overwhelms me.

So I close all the doors on the noise of the world
Just to hear your sweet low voice calling me.

Speak Lord for your servant is listening.
Speak Lord for your servant is listening.

It's been over a month since I've last posted anything. I'm sorry about the delay. Things have been a little crazy around here. For the most part things are OK, or getting there, but it still feels like a lot of this is up in the air. Oh, well. Through all of this I have found a new closeness to God and new levels of trust in Him. Through some of the darkest times in these past few months, I've felt the reassuring hand of God working in my life. And through it all, I've known that things were going to turn out fine. But that's not really what I wanted to talk about here. So, I'll move on...

As most of you probably know, tomorrow is my 27th birthday. Most of you are probably saying that this shouldn't bother me. I'm still young. But it does bother me. It's been eating at me most of this week. I'm not sure why, but I feel a whole lot older the 27, but at the same time can't believe that I'm 27. I know it's not a milestone year like 30 or 20 or 25, but for some reason it has really affected me. I find myself dreading tomorrow. I know that it won't change anything, but it feels like it will. I've already gone through my quarter life crisis at 25. I've already thrown my life in the air to see where it lands by quitting jobs and ended up right back where I started. As I said at the beginning of this blog, I feel closer to God than I have in a long time. But for some reason. This one day really bothers me.

I think part of it has to do with being closer to the age where I need to know what's happening in my life. At least this is how I feel. It seems that most people my age seem to have most things figured out. You've settled into a career. You're starting your family. For the most part you know where you're life is going. I don't have anything figured out. I don't have a career. Kids seem so distant to me right now. Life seems so up in the air for me. Jennifer has a career. Our friends are having kids like crazy. It feels like time has slipped away from me and I don't know what happened. My whole life I've had these huge dreams of what I was going to do with my life. Very rarely have they involved a steady and normal career. And until I met Jennifer they didn't usually involve kids and a family. 

I think part of it is the conflicting voices in my head. One says I should give up my dreams and just settle for what I have now. One says not to give up the dreams. Not to forget the things I have now, but to look instead to the dreams that God has given me. The talents that I have. The ideas being planted in my head.

I think the thing that's getting me the most about this birthday is that it's bringing both voices out louder. And with all this screaming in my head it seems hard to concentrate on anything else.

Well, anyway... If you read all of that, I thank you. I don't know if any of it made sense. It's really early or late or however you want to look at it, and sleep has been hard with the voices and all.

As I end this post, I don't want anyone to worry about me. I didn't write these things up here to cause you to worry. I just needed a place to get these things out. Hopefully tomorrow will come and go soon. Maybe my mind will calm down a little after that.

Thanks...

~gs/the walking zombie/the 27 year old who knows nothing but that God is good

The Confessions of Public Fat Guy #1

Welcome. If you are reading this by accident or because I told you about it or someone else told you about it, welcome. This will be a place for me to come and talk about my life and times as a fat guy. I will try and update it everyday, but I won't promise anything. I will give updates on what I'm doing in my mission to not be fat guy anymore. I have come to hate being fat and as most people who are fat  I'm tired of it. But this time I'm going to do something about it. I want this to be a place where I can write freely about being fat and also a place that for one reason or another, can help to keep me accountable. I will be telling of the things that I do to exercise and I will also be just talking about my life in general. But I will mainly focus on the facts of being a fat guy. 

So, to start off with. I'm about 100 pounds over the weight that everything seems to think I should be at. This morning I weighed in at a whopping 309 LBS. This is down about 6 pounds from my heaviest weight. But I'm starting to gain back the little bit that I've lost. In the past several months I've fluctuated between 300 and 315. So, I've had my ups and downs. 

I am turning 27 this coming Saturday and maybe that's what's bringing this new sense of dread and action about my weight. I feel a whole lot older than my 27 years, and I think this has a lot to do with my extra weight. I have extremely bad knees and while I do know that I've done a lot of damage to them in my life on my own, I also know that my weight just adds that extra kick to my knees when they aren't having a good day. I hear this voice in my head saying that if I don't do this now, I'll never do it at all. I don't want to spend my whole life like this. I want to get back out and enjoy life like I used to. But I can't seem to because I have to energy or strength to do anything.

So, that's a little about why I'm doing all this. Now, I'll tell you a little more about what I'm going to be doing. At least 6 days a week I'm going to be going for a walk. I started this last Saturday by walking for 15 minutes than walking back. Then today when I got home from work, I went and did the same walk again. I figured out today that it's about 1.5-2 miles total. So, I'm keeping up a pretty good pace during these walks. Keep in mind that I'm 100 pounds overweight and extremely out of shape so these walks aren't at anyone else's idea of a good pace. But they do take a lot out of me. Close to the end of my walk today I felt some severe pain in my chest. I slowed down and it went away. But it was just another sign that I really need this more than I know. Keep in mind it's close to 90 degrees out today and the sun was blazing away in the completely clear and beautiful blue sky. 

I will also be trying to add some other things into my workouts, but not just yet. I will also be making my walks longer as we go along. I might go up to 20 minutes out and then back next week. We'll see how it goes.

Well, that's it for today. Here's to no longer being the fat guy.

~pfg#1

Changes to blog

Well. You've probably already noticed one of the changes. I don't know why, but I just like this one better. There will also be other changes to my blog. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I don't feel that it will be the same no matter what. I'll probably still post on here from time to time. But it will not be a day by day account of my life. I can only post that I got up, went to work, came home, eat and slept so many times before it gets a little boring. I will still post things on here from time to time. But probably not everyday and probably not about the comings and goings of my life.

I have several things I'm thinking about doing with this space. One of the is an outlet for creative writing. I don't know how that one will pan out, but we'll have to wait and see. I just wanted to let anyone who does read this not to expect too much out of me on here. I just don't seem to have it in me to do this kind of day to day life reporting. Or, at least, don't have interesting things to write about from day to day.

Well, now that I've said my peace I'll be off and out for a while.

~gs

Weekend With The Coles

Jennifer's parents flew in this weekend to see us in our new home. We picked them up at PDX on Saturday and took them back to our apartment to show them our new place. Then we headed out to a car show in the area.

Then after some fun with the bus system and some broken down buses, we made it back to our place. By then it was getting late. Especially for the Coles who were still on CST. We took them back to there hotel and grab some dinner at the Black Bear Diner. It's a great place to eat, and also right next to the closest hotel.

Sunday morning I could not seem to get up. So, Jennifer went with her parents to Portland First Church Of The Nazarene. One of Jennifer's mom friends is the pastor's wife here. We thought it would nice to go there because of the connection. But the pastor is in the middle of a three mont sabbatical that ends in a few weeks. Jennifer said that the service was nice and that even with the pastor and his wife gone the Nazarene web still holds strong. They met a few people that they knew anyway.

Then they came home and changed and picked me up and we headed down the the Oregon Zoo. We had a great time and some some great animals. We actually saw some that we didn't see the last time we went because it was a lot cooler and cloudy so more of them were out in the open.

After that we came back to Beaverton with the hopes of going out to Borders. But the bus that goes out there doesn't run after 7 or so. So, we just walked down to Burgerville for some dinner. I have to say I was impressed by the quality of food. I don't think I've ever actually ate at one before, but I really liked it. I even ate a Walla Walla Sweet Onion Ring for my dad. It was really good.

Well, that's all the adventures for so far. I'll update again in the next few days as things happen.

Some Pictures from a Weekend with the Coles

Steve at the car show

Cheryl at the car show

Can I have me treat from Sampson yet?

Are bald eagles really bald?

The Cole Exhibit at the zoo

Here grizzly, grizzly...

Here's to Walla Walla

So, Long Time, No Update

Well, it's been awhile since I last updated you all. So, I thought I'd say a few words. Work is going good. My schedule is now Monday to Friday 6:30-1 or 2. I like this because it gives me the weekends off. The main reason I have this schedule now is that I can't get to work until at least 7 on Saturdays and they didn't like that very much. So, we switched it up. Also this will give me the weekends to spend with Jennifer, seeing as those are her days off too. She is supposed to start work sometime this next week, but has to wait for the paper work to be done, so probably not till Tuesday or Wednesday.

Jennifer and I tried to make it in to get our Oregon Driver's License on Friday, but we didn't have the right papers to show our residency here so we will try to make it back in tomorrow after I get off work, if Jennifer doesn't work. We'll have to wait and see.

Then the big news that everyone is talking about is that Harry Potter 7 came out. I wanted to go out to the midnight release, but there was no way we would have made it back home, so we made the trip out to Border's Saturday morning to pick it up. I haven't read that much yet. Unfortunately I have to sleep sometimes. If I had been able to get it Friday night I would have stayed up reading it, but I can't do that now. Maybe tonight, but we'll have to see about that.

This morning Jennifer and I got up and went to church for the first time while here in Portland. We took a short bus ride over to St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church here in Beaverton. We neither one really felt at home in this church though and are not too sure if we will go back. But oh well. We knew it wouldn't be easy to find a new church. We have several more that we'll try though. We'll keep you updated on the church search.

I think that's it for now.

Well, if you've been reading Jennifer's blog, you know that tonight we went to the Portland Beavers game against the Tacoma Rainiers. We cheered for the home team as you might expect, but unfortunately the Beavers lost 8-3. We did have a great time at the game though and are looking forward to many more outings to PGE Park in the near future. In case you don't know the Beavers are a Triple-A farm team for the San Diego Padres. The park was really nice. The seats need more leg room, but what's new about that. I'm sorry, we didn't bring our camera, so no pictures for now. Maybe the next time we go.

Well, I think that's it for now. I'm still not feeling too great. This cold seems to be sticking around rather than getting better.

First week of work...

Well, this was my first week of working again. But, it has also brought on a bad case of sickness. I woke up Friday morning not feeling good, but thinking it would go away. Well, it didn't. It only got worse. My sinus' were draining like crazy and I was starting to not feel good at all by the time I headed home. I'm still not sure how I made it home that day without collapsing, but I did. I wasn't on my feet for more than a few minutes though once I got home. Jennifer had some Sudafed left over and so I took some of that I started to feel a little better. I went back and forth between sleeping and being awake for most of that night. I have to say that Jennifer took pretty good care of me. But all through out the night I was going from burning hot to feeling cold, while still being extremely hot to the touch.

Needless to say by the time work came around I was not feeling very alive. So, I waited until the others got to work and regretfully called in sick. I hated doing this, but I didn't feel I had much choice. I didn't think they'd want me to get everyone else sick and I doubted that they would want a zombie wondering around their store.

Aside from that this week has gone really well. I think I've shown them my worth by being able to do so many things that not everyone can do. It feels good to have new people complement me. I must say that I like this new store. True it is about twice as big as my old one. But it's a really nice place and the people are nice too. I wasn't too sure about meeting all the new people, but they actually remind me of the people at the other store. It's strange how that works.

Well, I think that's all for now. Hopefully I'm feeling better by Tuesday.

Some more pictures.

The kitchen
Another view of the kitchen
The office/spare room
The living room
The dining room/bedroom for first couple nights
Bedroom
Another view of bedroom
Master closet

Master Bath

Master bath again
Patio and view off patioBuddha showing off the fireplace
The office post move in
Dining room again
Bedroom


p.s. I have no idea how we have this much stuff. We'll try to get pictures up as we get things set up.

Well, we are finally here. I am still exhausted. It feels good to be out here though. I'm just feeling my age and being out of shape doesn't help. The move has gone pretty smoothly. Nothing really big has happened. The details are on Jennifer's page if you want to know them. The drive was a long and hard trip for all of us. I would like to once again thank my mom for being willing to drive that massive truck. I realized towards the end of the trip that I probably could have driven it myself. But I'm very thankful that my mom was able and willing to do this.

One nice thing about moving this direction is you gain two hours as you drive. That really helped us out on some of those days. It was nice to get an extra hour of sleep on some of those nights.

As Jennifer said in her blog, I did get a job. It was very welcome news and made the last leg a little easier. There is a problem though. I'll be working in the same type of position that I was in at my old store, but they come in at 5:30am. This brings up a big problem for me. The earliest the bus can get me there is 6:13am. So, I'll have to talk to them when I go in next week and make sure this is OK. I think they'll be OK with it, but you never know. The store is huge. It's a two story monster of a store. It's pretty much twice the size of my old store. It was also interesting as we pulled up to it and saw the area that it is in. I wish we took some pictures, but we weren't thinking about that at the time. It's in a shopping center called Bridgeport Village. It is a very nice and fancy little shopping area. If you go to the link you can take a look at all the shops it has. Jennifer has already said that she'll be spending a lot of time looking while I'm at work this summer.

Well I think thats if for now. I'll leave you with a few pictures of our trip.

The weary travelers stop to look at windsurfers on the Columbia

The behemoth is ready to roll

So is Buddha

Oh, what a view. This is what we saw for 4 days straight.

Wind farm some where in Nebraska Wyoming or Utah

Good news is finally here.

I know that some of my last posts have seemed pretty down and out, so now that I actually have some good news I thought I'd share it with all of you. Yesterday (Wednesday) evening I got a call from my manager saying that he'd heard back from the Border's in Beaverton and they now have a part time job open. I'm not sure what position it is or how many hours, but they do have an opening. He had also finally written to two of the other stores in the area on Tuesday and today he told me that the store in Tigard is also looking for part time work. I told him today that I'd prefer the Beaverton store and he said he'd contact them and get more info on the job. But it looks like I will have a job after all. I've also realized that it being part time might be for the best, at least for the summer. It will give Jennifer and I plenty of time to settle in and explore the city while still helping to pay the bills. I see this as a huge answer to prayer. I've been feeling pretty upset and anxious about the whole move lately, because nothing seemed to be falling into place like I thought it should. But things are starting to work out now, and I'm feeling much better about the whole thing.

There has also been another change in our moving plans. On Monday I talked my mom and she offered to drive a U-Haul for us to help us save on the cost of moving. We are so grateful that she is willing to do this for us. It will be a huge blessing and weight lifted off our shoulders. I know that everyone all along has been saying that we could have driven the truck just as easily as a car, but it's just not something I feel comfortable with. I drove one around town here when we moved into our current place and I couldn't stand it. And that was just here in town. The thought of bringing this huge truck onto the highway and into the mountains was worth the extra money to me. But now the plans our to load up the truck on Saturday the 9th and then head out Monday the 11th after cleaning and checking out of our place. I thought today that I might look into movers to help us unload once we're in Beaverton, but that's still up in the air right now. I'm just not sure how we'll be able to bring everything up to our second floor apartment. I've done some of this before and I still have the scars to go along with it. Let alone my body already feels like its going to give out. But we'll see about that. As I say that I realize that it's only 2weeks from when we'll move into our new place, but all the same, I'm just not sure about it right now. I'll have to look into it a little more before making a decision. Thoughts and comments are welcome and appreciated. I know that I need all the help I can get to sort out the random thoughts that float through my head sometimes.

Meanwhile, back in boxland, the packing is going fairly well. It looks like we might be selling our washer and dryer tomorrow or Saturday and for more than we thought. ***BONUS*** Plus, one of the guys at work is looking for a car and doesn't really car what condition it's in as long as it runs and is cheap. Both of which describe the Neon to a tee. This means that we'll probably get more for it than we were planning. ***ANOTHER BONUS*** Plus Jennifer is getting a little extra something from work that we may not agree with the whole principle behind, but are happy to take it, especially right now. ***TRIPLE BONUS***

Can anyone tell that I'm in a good mood? I know, I know... it's not what you come here for, but I do like to give good and happy news when at all possible.

Well, I think I'll sign off for today. Sleep would be a nice addition to this day.

Well... as those of you who read Jennifer's blog may already know, those computer problems I talked about before were not over with. Neither is the anxiousness about the move. I know that things will work out OK, but for right now, I'm just not too sure. Things seem to be going crazy all around us. We don't have much time left and we'll be on the road. Three weeks and we should be in our new place. It looks like we got the place that we wanted. The only problem is that my financial past and present is catching up with us once again. Isn't it great. We just have to pay a bigger deposit to get in, but we are in. Just another hurdle sent our way. I'm not sure why all of these things are adding up right now. But they are. In a big way. If everything goes to plan though, we'll be getting into Portland 3 weeks from today. I'm sorry about the frantic pace of this blog. I seem to be losing focus and my mind at the same time. I've spent the last few weeks going through my old things and whittling them down some.I've totally forgotten about the stuff upstairs though. So, while my stuff in the basement is done we still have the rest of the house to pack clean and ship in the next 3 weeks. I'm sure things will work out. I know that things aren't as bad as my mind makes them out to be. Once again I'm sorry about the randomness of this post. As you can tell, sleep is not coming easy or often.

~geoff

What's in a title?

Well, things have been interesting lately. Jennifer has graduated. My parents came down for last weekend. I've now gone to working only 4 days a week (there are many reasons for this, I'll talk more about that later). I'm still not feeling good. My computers been acting up. Now somehow it's working again. After all that I tried I have no idea what fixed it, but it works now and that's the important thing.

So, yeah. I'll try and expand on some of those things here too, but who knows what I'll actually write on.

To start off with, I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooo proud of Jennifer for graduating. Now she has more education than I'll ever have. It's also nice to have her back. It has been hard on both of us to spend so much time away from each other. And I also include time where she was studying as time apart. It's hard to be together when she miles away. But anyway. So, it's nice to see her relax a little, and I do mean a little.

On to the more stressful thing that closing in on us. We are both looking forward to this move. We both can't wait to get out there. We are so ready to just be out there and getting everything settled down. Right now we are about a month away from the move. It looks like we're going to try and have the truck loaded on June 11th. Then we'll either leave that day or the next morning. I'm not sure about the timing on that. There are a few things we need to get taken care of before that time comes. Some of them I'm really looking forward to. Anytime now, I'm planning on trying to have my car towed to a junk yard. I think it has officially died now. AS I was driving it in the other day, it died as I was pulling into our parking area. I coasted most of the way back to my parking spot and ended up having to push it for part of the way too. Oh well. It's been a good car for a long time. Now that I think of it. The guy that gave it to me said that he prayed over it a few years ago and prayed that it would make it until May. Well... need I say more. It made it several Mays since than, and I'm guessing this was it's last one. Oh well.

My parents were down here last weekend and we had a really good time. We went down to Union Station on Sunday afternoon and looked around downtown Kansas City for a while. It was a really good time.


I decided this week at work that I needed to go to working only 4 days a week for now. I haven't been getting enough time to pack and things are keeping me up at night and I'm just not being able to get over this sickness that's inside of me. Last night I couldn't sleep at all, and so when the time to go work came around this morning, I was in no shape to go in. So I called in and talked to the manager and then went to sleep. I slept for more time than I would have been at work. It was really nice. I'll be working Wed. through Sat. for now. I would actually love to keep that up after we move, but I'm not sure if that will happen. Actually, the way it stands right now, I'm not sure that I'll be working at all. I know that doesn't sound good. But we finally heard back from the Borders in Beaverton and they don't have any spots open. They said that could always change, but for now they can't do anything for me. So, now I have to try and get in contact with the managers at the other area stores.

As far as my computer goes. For a while now it hasn't been working right. It would just stop working sometimes and would just in general act up. So, I've been trying and trying to figure out what's wrong with it. It finally got to the point where I couldn't be on for much more that a minute or two before it wouldn't work anymore. A couple days ago I figured out that we could at least get our mail and do some small this while it ran in safe mode, but not everything worked and it was kinda annoying. The sound doesn't work in safe mode and there is an internet show that I watch every week. Well, yesterday I decided to watch it in the regular mode and see what happened. Well, sometime in the course of that 45 minute show, the computer worked out whatever kinks it had and is now working just fine. It's a little strange to have it working again now. Plus, to know that it was nothing I did after all of the things that I did. Oh well. Like I said earlier, it's working now and that's what matters.

Well, now that I've written way too much, I'll end this now. I should really try writing more so that I don't write forever when I do write.

Da Bulls!!!

I haven't been watching much pro basketball in the last few years and when I do I'm let down by what I see. My teams gets killed and there is no one to watch at all. So, I've been excited to see that my Bulls have made it to the playoffs this year and have tried to watch every game. I've watched some of games 2, 3, and 4. It's been amazing to see them play and play well. They have dominated the defending champions (Miami Heat). It makes it even better for me that Jennifer is a big Shaq fan and I'm not anymore. So, it's great to see the Bulls beat the Heat and to sweep them in 4 games. That was great. Now I can't wait to see them take on the Detroit Pistons next. Go Bulls.

Blah...

I'm sorry about the lack of posts lately. Life has been crazy lately to say the least. I've been in and out of it lately and I've been fighting something for the last few weeks. I've also been having problems with the medication that I'd been on. I'm now starting on something new, but it's been a hard time coming off the other stuff and getting onto the new stuff. Anyway... I could use some prayer as to my getting to work everyday. I've been feeling horrible for the last week or so and have been losing my voice and just generally been out of it. I think they are starting to get upset at work that I haven't been making it in all the time, and that's not a good thing.

I think I'm starting to stress out about the move too. It's seems so much closer than I thought it was and everything seems to be going so fast. I'm just nervous that we won't get everything done that needs to get done before we move. Things might be able to get a little bit more on track now. Jennifer had her last class on Tuesday. Now she just has to take the Praxis this Saturday and she'll be done. I'm sure she's feeling a little better now that that is almost over. Then she gets hooded the next Saturday, May 5th. The only bad thing is that I'm not sure how I'm going to make it to the ceremony. I'm hoping that they'll either let me take a long lunch or just give me the day off. The problem is that by the time we knew the date, 3 people had already gotten it off and we're only supposed to have 2 people off a day. So, I'm not sure how that happened, but it made it hard for me to ask for it off. So, I'm waiting to see what they will say. Then with them not being too happy with me doesn't make things any better. Oh well...

I still can't wait for this whole move thing to be over and done with. I can't wait to get out there and get settled. But this part of it is so stressful.

Well, I don't have much else to say right now. I hope things are going good for everyone out there.

Maker of the Universe

Here is the song I promised in my last post.

Maker of the Universe
By Phil Keaggy

The Maker of the universe,
As Man for man was made a curse.
The claims of Law which He had made,
Unto the uttermost He paid.
His holy fingers made the bough,
Which grew the thorns that crowned His brow.
The nails that pierced His hands were mined
In secret places He designed.

He made the forest whence there sprung
The tree on which His body hung.
He died upon a cross of wood,
Yet made the hill on which it stood.

The sky that darkened o'er His head,
By Him above the earth was spread.
The sun that hid from Him it's face
By His decree was poised in space.

The spear which spilled His precious blood
Was tempered in the fires of God.
The grave in which His form was laid
Was hewn in rocks His hands had made.

The throne on which He now appears
Was His from everlasting years.
But a new glory crowns His brow
And every knee to Him shall bow.

The Maker of the universe.
The Maker of the universe.
The Maker of the universe.

Easter Season and such

Well, that brings us to Easter. We were very happy to spend our Easter with both sets of parents this year. My dad was able to get off from work and they came down for the weekend. It was a really good time. They got in about 4 on Friday and then we went to the Good Friday service at Christ Church, where we met up with Jennifer's parents. It was a beautiful service and has really had a great impact on me in the week since. As a part of the service we were able to approach the cross and offer outward expressions of veneration in the way that we felt was right. For me, it was great to come before the Cross. I laid some things down at the foot of the Cross that I've been carrying for a long time. I'll just say that they are very personal things and may be fairly uncomfortable to talk about in such a public place as this, but if you would like to talk about them sometime I'm open to questions now. These are the things I asked for prayer about a couple months ago. Let's just say that I've been walking a little lighter and easier since last Friday.

It was also nice to approach the Cross with Jennifer by my side. It really meant a lot to me that she would come forward with me and stand with me in front of God.

One of the other beautiful things that they did during the service was to have our music director sing a song by Phil Keaggy called Maker of the Universe. It is a beautiful song and makes you think about the Cross in a different way. I'll try to post the lyrics up here but I might give them their own post.

Saturday brought another day of work for me while Jennifer and my parents ran around town for a few hours. They met me for lunch and then had a few more hours until I got off. Then we headed out the Mardel Christian And Education Store. It's a great store that we could probably spend a while in and usually do when my parents are in town. We all left with a few goodies. Some of us more than others.

Easter service was a bright and early 8am service at our church with my parents. Once again it was a beautiful service. We enjoyed a wonderful Eater Dinner with Jennifer's family in the area at her cousin's restaurant.

It was great to spend time with my parents. Monday morning I met them for breakfast and then saw them on their way home.

Well, now that I've written two very long posts and still have a third planned for that song. I'll end this here with some pictures of the Easter festivities.

The beautiful redbuds in front of our church

Jennifer and I getting our Easter baskets

Jennifer rubbing her new frog in my face

Me enjoying Buddha's new toy

Buddha enjoying his new toy

Man, look at those lips

The grandparents playing with the grandpup and his new toy

Buddha soaking up the love

My beautiful wife at Easter dinner

Oregon trip, moving and such

Well, it's been quite a while since I've posted anything. I'm sorry. Things have been a little crazy lately. I've had several things that I wanted to post, but have been pretty exhausted lately. I'm not sure why either. I haven't been sleeping very good at all. And when I have it's never been for long enough or very restful sleep. I think I've figured a few things out and I'm going to be trying to go into the doctors sometime this week and talk to him about it. I think my anti-depressants are affecting me strangely. I'm not sure, but I'm going to talk to him about changing to something else. But enough of this stuff. On to the fun stuff...

Since it's been almost a month since my last post I'll try and update you all on everything that's been happening.

As of my last post we were heading out to find a new home and as you probably all read in Jennifer's post on it, it was a great trip. We both had a great time and are both looking forward to being moved out to Portland. We found a place that we want to move and if everything goes according to plan we will be looking to move in a little over 2 months. Wow. That's really getting close. Well, these last few months have just flown by. I can't believe how it seems like it was just a little while ago we made this decision and now here it's finally happening. I can't wait to get moved out there though. We are both looking forward to enjoying Portland and all of Oregon for that matter.

After getting back I had a really hard time adjusting back to the time difference and have never caught back up. It's like I said before, I can't get enough sleep and I'm not sleeping at the right times when I am sleeping. But anyway.

I think Jennifer put this in hers, but we thought it was funny that before we went out to Portland everyone was telling how much it rains out there. Then while we were out there it rained pretty much nonstop here and was beautiful out there. It rained a little, but nothing to stop us. It's pretty much been rainy and windy since we got back too. Very few days of sunshine and even when the sun is out it's still cold and windy. It even snowed a little tiny bit on Friday night this week. Kansas weather. You've gotta love, or something like that.

I can't seem to get motivated to pack things. Which is bad, because as I said earlier we are moving in a little under 2 months. As it stands right now we are looking to leave KC on June 11th and take about 3 days to get out there and then the next week or so to set things up in our new place. Then we're planning a trip down to Eugene for my cousin Joseph's wedding. Then I'll look to start working that next week. I still have to make sure I have a job out there, but things were looking pretty good in that area. I need to talk to my manager about what the next thing I need to do is. We'll see.

Well, since this post is getting pretty long and I have other subjects that I want to talk about I'll end this one and start a new one. But I'll leave you with these pictures of my lovely wife and her new fabulous glasses.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Part 2

Just thought I'd add a few pictures of my family showing off they're Irish pride. Oh, and Buddha's new outfit. Isn't he so cute, I mean vicious.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
The virtue of His coming on the Judgment Day.

- St. Patrick

I found this pray in an article and then this quote at the end of it. It is basically what I was going to add to the prayer, only more well written, so I just added it on. If you follow the link at the end of it, you should get the article I got it from.

"So, this March 17, while everyone else is celebrating all things Irish by decking themselves out in green, drinking only the darkest Irish beer, or tuning in to Public Radio's celebration of Celtic music, let us be challenged by the sacrificial life of St. Patrick, looking for opportunities to turn our enslavements into blessings, speaking the message of the gospel message in a way that respects the culture of those around us while challenging them to change."
Eric Hurtgen on relevantmagazine.com

Happy St. Patricks Day...

pictures and more pictures

I don't really have a lot to say today. So, I'll just post some pictures. I hope you like them.

The king on his new throne

Thinking up new plots

Random cuteness

WARNING: CHURCH

Watching TV

My beautiful wife

Lent

I posted a little about this as a comment on Shawn and Sara's page, but I thought I'd expand on it here. For lent I have chosen to give up one meal a day and soda. As most of you know, my blood runs with Mountain Dew, so this won't be easy. As for the one meal a day thing, I am also doing some spiritual development reading during this time and have taken to taking a walk for half of my lunch to clear my head. I was reading one book, but then we sold out at work and I don't want to bring my own in everyday. So for now I'm reading To Own A Dragon by Don Miller. It's a pretty good book so far. If you haven't read Don Miller's book Blue Like Jazz, I highly recommend it.

Got to go get ready for work again.

~geoff

TADA...

Yes Sara, you are correct, the qoute if from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The prize is the knowledge that you are that much smarter for knowing the answer. I just finished HPATCOS in my quest to read all six before July 21st when Deathly Hallows comes out. I'm now a good ways into Prisoner of Azkaban. The first 2 kinda dragged on this time. Maybe because I've read them each way too many times. But the third one is picking up again.

Things are going good here. I'm tired and ready for the next few weeks to be done with. It's funny, the week that I took off for our trip to Portland, is the same weekend as Educators Savings Weekend at the store. So, I don't have to deal with all the teachers that floodinto our store on that weekend. It is a good deal though if you can get into a store on that weekend though.

Well, I think that's all for now. I'll talk to you later.

~geoff

New quote

I've changed the quote under the title. Can anyone tell me where it's from and who said it?

No news is good news... maybe...

Well, I'm sorry about not updating since getting back from our little trip. I should put a post up telling about our little trip, but I might wait a little while on that until I get the pictures on my computer and then can show them to you all with the stories and such.

Needless to say, it was a great weekend and a much needed break from normal life. It always feels good to get away.

This week has been going pretty good. Yesterday was not a good day for me. I woke up at 2 and then threw up about an hour later. I didn't feel good at all. I have no idea what made me sick, but I'm still not sure that I'm feeling better today. I'm going into work, but that has more to do with having to go in, than anything else. We have inventory next weekend on March 4th. I'm going in at like 2am Monday morning and working til about noon or so. This will be in addition to the near 40 hours I'll put in the rest of the week. Supposedly I can have as much overtime as I want to get the pull that comes after our inventory done. I've decided to do as much as I can to try and save some more for our coming move. But I also don't yet know how I'll feel next week. I might all just depend on how I'm feeling as the week moves on. I know I'll probably get at least 8-10 hours on Monday, but I'm not sure what else I'll get. The real problem is that even while we are needing to get all this stuff out of our store, we'll still be getting about 7 or 8 pallets in that week. So, I also have to keep up my regular schedule to help get all of that done as well. Oh well.

I think that's all for today. I'll try and get those pictures of last weekend on here soon.

Safe and Sound

We made it here safe. It was an interesting trip though. To start off with, it took us over an hour to get out of Olathe from our house. Then it took us another hour or so to get through the next 30-40 miles. We drove about 30-40 mpg for so long. It was the longest trip I've taken in a long time. Than once we got past Ottawa, KS, the roads cleared right up and we were able to go faster. That was nice.

Well, I'll leave it there for now. I'm sure we'll have plenty to tell everyone about when we get back home on Monday. Thanks for all the prayer.

Snow and trip...

Well, as the title implies, it's snowing and we're taking a trip this weekend. We are going down to see Jennifer's grandparents in Hesston, Kansas. It should be a fun weekend. But it is snowing outside right now here. I have to check to see what it's like for the trip. We'll see. Pray for a safe trip. Thanks.

Another prayer request...

This time it's not for me though. Jennifer is sick and has had to stay home yesterday and today. We would appreciate some special prayer for her to feel better. Thanks.

At The Beautiful Gate

I wrote this a couple days ago. I thought you might like to see that I'm still writing, some anyway. I'd like to hear from everyone on whay they think of this. I'm reading through Acts now and came upon the story of the beggar and then wrote this song. I hope you all like it.

At The Beautiful Gate

Acts 3:1-10
Geoffrey D. Shafer
1-30-07

Each day they carry me here
To do the only thing I know hot to do
I’ve been here for as long as I can remember
Just trying to get by
I ask the strangers for what they can give
Some laugh, some cry
And some just pass on by

Today seemed to be no different
I asked two strangers for a dime
They stopped and looked at me
I got scared and looked down
One of them said, “look at us”
I saw love in his eyes as he said,

“Silver and gold I don’t have
But let this be my gift to you
In the name of Jesus of Nazareth
Rise up my child and walk”

I didn’t believe what he was saying
How could this man think to cure me?
But as I looked down at my feet
I saw they were renewed
So I started to stand up
My feet grew steady under me
I looked into this man’s eyes
And I praised God for healing me
I ran into the temple courts
Running and jumping for the first time
I wanted everyone to see me
And join their voices with my praise

Silver and gold I may not have
But I’ve been given is so much more
In the name of Jesus of Nazareth
I’ve been healed and I can walk

Silver and gold I don’t have
But let this be my gift to you
In the name of Jesus of Nazareth
Rise up my child and walk
Rise up my child and walk
Rise up my child you are whole

Pray

Just a note to all of you out there. I really need some prayer right now. I'm trying to heal and fix some things, and I need help. I'm not ready to talk about it, so please don't ask. I'll post again about this when I'm ready to be asked. Then you can ask away. But for please just pray. Know that I'm good and getting better, but still have a long way to go.

Freedom Writers

Earlier in the week, Jennifer found out that she could go and see the movie Freedom Writers because they were giving away tickets to teachers this weekend at all AMC Theaters. So, we got together with her parents and went to see it last night. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, when I went in. I figured it would be about the same as all the other inspirational teacher story that are already out there. But I have to say that it was great. I found myself crying and laughing and generally thankful for all the teacher in my life. I'm am surrounded by them.

Steve asked me afterwords if it made me want to be a teacher. It didn't, but it did give me a greater respect for the teachers in my life. I do know what it's like to be the husband and hear all the stories and feel all the strife that being a teacher brings. But I also get to see all the joys that teaching brings too. So, just a note to all those teachers who might read this. Thanks. Thanks for not giving up on the ones who nobody else cares about. The students that are just putting in their time. The ones that hate you. The ones that annoy you. The ones that love you. The ones who never seem to go away and the ones that leave too soon. I think I've been all of these at some point in my life. I think we all are to be teachers, in some way or another. I think we all have a lot to learn from each other. I also think we have a lot to learn from movies like this. No one should be forgotten. Whether because of mental or environmental handicaps, everyone needs to learn.

Now that that's off my chest, I'll let everyone go. If you get the chance, see this movie.