Month: August 2007

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and i would like to thank …

if all goes as planned (which it rarely does) the terrell family will be completely packed by the time you read this entry (including our cable modem which is why i am setting this post up to go up automatically). we would not have been able to pack up and get everything ready if it had not been for the help of some wonderful people. you all went way past the extra mile and made the whole thing actually a little fun. so let me publicly say “thanks” to a few people. thank you … andre, william, beth, kirby, blaine, catherine, charlie, coleman, eric, julie, laura, lauren, and sam. you are the greatest!

andre, william, beth, and kirby are part of the reason we are going to miss our neighborhood so much. gettysburg drive is simply a wonderful neighborhood. i hope the new owners of 5928 soon realize that that best part about the house they just bought are the people who live around it (except possibly the vampire who lives next door – he’s okay, it’s just that you can never talk with him for more than 45 seconds).

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remember to pray for the austins

i should have posted this yesterday so please forgive me for a little late notice. for all you who know and love the austins (those who don’t know the austins just trust me that you would love the austins if you knew them – they’re just the type of people that you have to love) if you don’t already know then i want to inform you that they are just fine after the earthquakes that hit peru. they are now going through the process of determining how they and the imb (international mission board) can best show the love of JESUS in meeting the needs around them. you can go to their blog (http://hands-n-feet.blogspot.com/) for better updates.

remember to pray for the austins. in fact, it might be a good idea for many of us to commit to praying for them and the people of peru daily over the next month. if you are up for this or just want to drop them a line then email them at (each family member’s first name@reapsouth.org – i.e. arnold (at) reapsouth.org, susie (at) reapsouth.org, alisha …, ben …, and patrich …)

right now one way you can send some help to peru is through world vision’s disaster recovery fund. world vision is an excellent relief agency. the austins will be updating their blog over the next few days with other more specific manners in which we can be of help to the people of peru.

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i have fooled you all

i just finished reading the book that jessica lawrence and many of you made for me. apparently jessica got the crazy idea that i may have helped a few of you and decided that it would be nice to convince as many of you as possible to write letters to me and then publish them in a book. it is among the nicest gifts i have ever received. it will be cherished for all of my life. pam is presently bawling her eyes out beside me as she reads it. i may have teared up a few times but it was obviously because i had some dust in my eyes.

i just can’t believe i have pulled the wool over all of your eyes. because the words you all said are far too kind. i figure one of these days all of you are going to wake up and realize what a feeble attempt of a human being i am.

even though we know that we are supposed to go to wisconsin and we are very excited about going to stevens point, you still make it hard to leave baton rouge. all of you are what we will miss most about baton rouge. we like the cajun food, we enjoy all the l.s.u. spirit, we marveled at the green beauty of the state, and have eaten up the history of the region. yet none of that is what we will really miss. you are what we will miss the most.

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please go away erin

the bad news for the day (a day in which we were packing all our earthly belongings into a uhaul truck) was that the people buying our house apparently have not tried to buy insurance until today (or maybe yesterday). the problem with this is that the insurance industry refuses to issue new policies whenever there is a storm in the gulf. this means that we will not be able to close on our house tomorrow (friday) as we were supposed to. the good news here is that the seems to be a slight window in between the time were erin is in the gulf region and before dean enters the gulf. if this holds up there is a very good chance that we will be able to close on our house in baton rouge on monday morning by proxy and then close on our house in wisconsin monday afternoon. it’s a clim hope but that is what we are praying for. otherwise, we have to unload our stuff into a self-storage place and then move it to the house once we are able to close on it later in the week.

if you have any strong weather connections (or insurance connections for that matter) with GOD and wouldn’t mind pulling a little extra prayer to convince the BIG MAN that it would be really nice if the terrells could close on monday morning, that would be very cool. we would be eternally thankful.

of course, no matter what happens GOD is still GOD and things will be manageable.

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wow what a storm

i hope all of my baton rouge friends are okay after the storm that hit the southern metro region. one of our neighbors had a third of one of their oak trees fall on their house. everyone was okay and the house doesn’t appear to be badly damaged so that’s good.

all it basically did to us was kill our electricity for an hour or so. the only real problem with this was that we had some friends coming over for supper. the power kicked off a little before the arrived and wasn’t supposed to turn back on for a couple of hours. we ended up grabbing all the prepared food and just cooking the rest over at their house. it was a little odd to invite people over and then once they arrived having to invite ourselves over to their house. still it was an enjoyable evening with two fun people.

btw, i hate the process of moving.

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though i just improved a little

considering my last post concerning my failure as a dad i thought i would post how i just improved a little. earlier today as i was packing to move to stevens point i found an open can of gun powder in our garage. i had this on hand from an explosive announcement video we did awhile back. i didn’t really want to travel with gun powder packed in the uhaul truck and i didn’t really feel good about throwing it in the trash can for a nice little surprise for the trash compactor. therefore, i had to come up with a good way to dispose of the gun powder. i could have just washed it down the storm drain but what fun would that have been? instead i decided to pretend like we were in a western movie and form a line of gun powder along the street in front of our house. i called the boys out to watch as i lit it (they shook {correction per my mom} in fear because i don’t have the best record with fire – lost body hair count thus far is: one eyebrow burnt off 3-4 times, both eye brows burnt off 1 time, right arm hair burnt off 2 times, left arm hair burnt off 1 time, and hair on the head singed more times than i care to count).

it was great. i lit one end and the gun powder shot a flame of fire up from the pavement approximately 4 feet high as it snaked down the 30 foot line. it sent out so much smoke that one of our neighbors down the street thought my car was on fire.

i’ve improved as a father a little by this random act.

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fini

today was my last day at parkview. it’s been a good seven years with allot of ups and a few downs. of course, that’s what happens with life and communities. i am very thankful for my time at parkview and for the people that i came to know and love there. i believe that good days are ahead for my friends at parkview.

goodbye and GOD speed parkview.

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dirk willems kicks butt

willems is just dang impressive. here’s what wikipedia has to say about him.

dirk willems (?? – May 16, 1569) was a martyred anabaptist who is most famous for his successful escape and subsequent reimprisonment after rescuing his pursuer, who had fallen through thin ice while chasing him. willems was born in asperen, netherlands, and was rebaptized as a young man. this action, plus his continued devotion to his new faith and the rebaptism of several other people in his home, led to his condemnation by the church of the netherlands. after his harrowing escape and recapture, he was burned at the stake near his hometown on 16 may 1569. today, he is one of the most celebrated anabaptist martyrs, and a historical drama, dirk’s xxodus, written by james C. juhnke, is based on his life.

SIDE NOTE – i also like the following clarence jordan quote:

faith is not belief in spite of evidence but a life lived in scorn of the consequences.