Samuel gave me a black eye. He hit me with his head. It hit my cheekbone--Hard. I feel like I can handle pain, but this one hurt. I put an ice pack on it, but I still have this seemingly perpetual bruise (that's turning blue/black/green now) under my eye that is tender whenever I squint or touch it. It accentuates the bags already under my eyes. :) Then the next night, he whacked my nose with (what else?) his head and I heard a crack. Now I don't have a very prominent nose, and he's missed once or twice already, but this one was a dead ringer and brought tears to my eyes. Let's just say that Ashley and I are very careful around Samuel when he throws his head or feet! I heard some bruises today coming from Ashley's direction.
We are just thankful that we have such a playful and healthy boy. You can just pray for us to dodge his flying body parts.
K
Friday, April 27, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Hard-Headed Kid
Dear Samuel,
You didn't go through any real biting phase, but you have discovered the used of your head as a weapon. Last night you head-butted me on my cheekbone and made me cry. You've also injured your dad's nose and chest as well as injuring your own nose on his shoulderblade. All in all, you are a total boy and tough as anything. We are very proud of you and all the new words you are learning, like "more" and "doo dow". The last word is Chinese for throw away, and you love to help us throw away your diapers. You'll even crumple up clean ones to throw away. Now only if we can get you to say "Larry".
Love,
Mom
You didn't go through any real biting phase, but you have discovered the used of your head as a weapon. Last night you head-butted me on my cheekbone and made me cry. You've also injured your dad's nose and chest as well as injuring your own nose on his shoulderblade. All in all, you are a total boy and tough as anything. We are very proud of you and all the new words you are learning, like "more" and "doo dow". The last word is Chinese for throw away, and you love to help us throw away your diapers. You'll even crumple up clean ones to throw away. Now only if we can get you to say "Larry".
Love,
Mom
Incomprehensible
'Our concepts of measurement embrace mountains and men, atoms and stars, gravity, energry, numbers, speed, but never God. We cannot speak of measure or amount or size or weight and at the same time be speaking of God, for these tell of degrees and there are no degrees in God. All that He is He is without growth or addition or development.' - Tozer
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Tickles and Trucks
Dear Samuel,
Seems like your favorite thing to do these days is play in the truck. About 6 weeks ago when it was still pretty cold out 1 night, you started putting all your clothes on and bringing your shoes over for me to put on. Since you couldn't talk, I put your shoes on to see what you were up to. You went over and tried to grab the front door, indicating that you wanted me to open it for you. Then you grabbed me by the hand, led me down the stairs, into the parking lot, and next thing I knew, we were standing beside the truck and you were begging to get in. Since that night your favorite afternoon past time is to go hang out in the truck with the radio on, pushing every button you can find in the front seats. I just put on the emergency brake and lay the seat back to rest while you play. You have proven that there is a gene in the Hawkins family for the love of automobiles. It's scary. I keep seeing more of myself in you everyday, and it is a little frightening to realize what I must have been like for my parents to raise.
Today was a special day to me. We went on a normal evening walk, but halfway around your Mommy found a long grass weed that has a wheat-looking head on the end. We pulled several out of the ground and started poking each other. The were very tickly on the end, so we poked your neck and ears and made you squinch up to protect yourself. You had this cute little smile on your face, and we all had a wonderful evening. Daddy is learning to enjoy this journey and the simple daily time with you better, but tonight it was easy to do.
Seems like your favorite thing to do these days is play in the truck. About 6 weeks ago when it was still pretty cold out 1 night, you started putting all your clothes on and bringing your shoes over for me to put on. Since you couldn't talk, I put your shoes on to see what you were up to. You went over and tried to grab the front door, indicating that you wanted me to open it for you. Then you grabbed me by the hand, led me down the stairs, into the parking lot, and next thing I knew, we were standing beside the truck and you were begging to get in. Since that night your favorite afternoon past time is to go hang out in the truck with the radio on, pushing every button you can find in the front seats. I just put on the emergency brake and lay the seat back to rest while you play. You have proven that there is a gene in the Hawkins family for the love of automobiles. It's scary. I keep seeing more of myself in you everyday, and it is a little frightening to realize what I must have been like for my parents to raise.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
John Maxwell Poem
I'm just now getting into the meat of this John Maxwell book. I love this little poem:
The Little Chap Who Follows Me
A careful man I want to be,
A little fellow follows me;
I do not dare to go astray
For fear he'll go the self-same way.
I cannot once escape his eyes.
Whate'er he sees me do he tries,
Like ME he says he's going to be-
That little chap who follows me.
I must remember as I go
Through summer suns and winter snows,
I am building for the years to be-
That little chap who follows me.
-John Maxwell
The Little Chap Who Follows Me
A careful man I want to be,
A little fellow follows me;
I do not dare to go astray
For fear he'll go the self-same way.
I cannot once escape his eyes.
Whate'er he sees me do he tries,
Like ME he says he's going to be-
That little chap who follows me.
I must remember as I go
Through summer suns and winter snows,
I am building for the years to be-
That little chap who follows me.
-John Maxwell
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Interesting New Links
A man names Steve Witt came to teach at MSM this weekend. He spoke about life planning and breaking out of stuck ways of thinking. I was tremendously impacted by his time with us, but I won't say much about it now. I just wanted to point out a few new links based on his time with us. In the right margin, you'll find "Creative Think" and "Steve Witt". You might enjoy checking them out. Creative think is a site about creative ways of breaking out of one's traditional train of thought and looking for new insight and creativity to address the situations of life. It is very very good.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
Monday, April 9, 2007
John Maxwell Quote
"He who thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only out for a walk." - John Maxwell
MSM requires us to read several books during the year and write reports. We had a requirement for a book on leadership, so I picked John Maxwell not knowing anything about him except that I always see his books in the airport. Up until now I really never thought of myself as a leader, and didn't care to read such books. I've changed my mind now, and I think that every Christian should have some training in the subject. Leadership is influence. Every person influences someone at some point in life...even if they don't realize it. It is important to be aware of this influence and use it to benefit society to the best of our ability.
I met an old friend in the grocery store a year ago, and discovered how this had played out in our relationship. I'm not proud of this example, but it will make the point clearly. Somehow during our mini-reunion, we got to talking about exercise. He proudly told me that he had never forgotten my advice on exercise and had held to my example. I eagerly asked him what I had said (since I had forgotten). He told me, "You said I should never excercise unless I can do it right". Ouch! Did I say that? That was the worst advice I could have possibly given him on exercise, but it was a profound influence on his life, so much so that he had formed his health philosophy around it.
I think most often we do not realize how much influence we have on other people. You can see that this is true in a very interesting way. Grab a pen and paper, and scribble down the top 5 most influencial people in your life. Look at the names of each of these people, and think back whether or not you ever communicated to them the tremendous impact that they had on your life. In most cases, you will find you never had the opportunity to express thanks to them. Or even if you did, you probably didn't have the words to communicate how deeply they had changed your life forever. I know in my top 5 list, at least 1 of those people may not even remember who I am today...I was just one of many kids he taught at the church. If this is true in your case, it is also likely that someone you have impacted may have never found the way to express your influence in their life.
The point it not to make sure everyone knows how very much they mean to you. Hopefully you take time to tell special people how precious they are in your life. But the point I am making is that many times in our life experience, we have limited ability to acknowledge and thank those important people who may have only spent a few months or years building into our lives. Sometimes we don't even realize the impact they have had in us. But leadership (influence) is happening all around us and in us every day. I pray that your influence is better than the one I had on my friend at the grocery store!
God bless...
Ashley
MSM requires us to read several books during the year and write reports. We had a requirement for a book on leadership, so I picked John Maxwell not knowing anything about him except that I always see his books in the airport. Up until now I really never thought of myself as a leader, and didn't care to read such books. I've changed my mind now, and I think that every Christian should have some training in the subject. Leadership is influence. Every person influences someone at some point in life...even if they don't realize it. It is important to be aware of this influence and use it to benefit society to the best of our ability.
I met an old friend in the grocery store a year ago, and discovered how this had played out in our relationship. I'm not proud of this example, but it will make the point clearly. Somehow during our mini-reunion, we got to talking about exercise. He proudly told me that he had never forgotten my advice on exercise and had held to my example. I eagerly asked him what I had said (since I had forgotten). He told me, "You said I should never excercise unless I can do it right". Ouch! Did I say that? That was the worst advice I could have possibly given him on exercise, but it was a profound influence on his life, so much so that he had formed his health philosophy around it.
I think most often we do not realize how much influence we have on other people. You can see that this is true in a very interesting way. Grab a pen and paper, and scribble down the top 5 most influencial people in your life. Look at the names of each of these people, and think back whether or not you ever communicated to them the tremendous impact that they had on your life. In most cases, you will find you never had the opportunity to express thanks to them. Or even if you did, you probably didn't have the words to communicate how deeply they had changed your life forever. I know in my top 5 list, at least 1 of those people may not even remember who I am today...I was just one of many kids he taught at the church. If this is true in your case, it is also likely that someone you have impacted may have never found the way to express your influence in their life.
The point it not to make sure everyone knows how very much they mean to you. Hopefully you take time to tell special people how precious they are in your life. But the point I am making is that many times in our life experience, we have limited ability to acknowledge and thank those important people who may have only spent a few months or years building into our lives. Sometimes we don't even realize the impact they have had in us. But leadership (influence) is happening all around us and in us every day. I pray that your influence is better than the one I had on my friend at the grocery store!
God bless...
Ashley
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Beware of Turbo Tax!
Did you live in a house part of the year, and then rent it out for part of the year in 2006? If not, you can just ignore this post. But if you did, and are using Turbo Tax to do your taxes this year, you might want to keep reading.
Okay, okay...I keep thinking maybe I shouldn't be writing this post. It could come across spiteful or sound like I'm just complaining. That's really not what I'm trying to do. All of that aside, if you fit the description above, Turbo Tax will not properly calculate your taxes this year. As part of my detailed (meticulous) engineer training, I went back to doublecheck the math after inputing my info in TT because I wanted to make sure that the program works properly. Turns out, there is a bug on Schedule E that does not properly account for losses and expenses when you live in a house and then rent it for part of the year. Under this circumstance, you are not allowed to have a loss, and must carry over depreciation and some expenses to following years. Publication 527 details these requirements and a worksheet can be found on page 7 to help figure it out.
I've called tech support repeatedly about this issue to see if it ever got fixed, and it didn't. The good news is you can get a refund. The bad news is that they will make you pay shipping.
I hope this info saves someone from getting audited and corrected. My main concern is getting this information out to the people in my situation who didn't take the time to check TT carefully.
Okay, okay...I keep thinking maybe I shouldn't be writing this post. It could come across spiteful or sound like I'm just complaining. That's really not what I'm trying to do. All of that aside, if you fit the description above, Turbo Tax will not properly calculate your taxes this year. As part of my detailed (meticulous) engineer training, I went back to doublecheck the math after inputing my info in TT because I wanted to make sure that the program works properly. Turns out, there is a bug on Schedule E that does not properly account for losses and expenses when you live in a house and then rent it for part of the year. Under this circumstance, you are not allowed to have a loss, and must carry over depreciation and some expenses to following years. Publication 527 details these requirements and a worksheet can be found on page 7 to help figure it out.
I've called tech support repeatedly about this issue to see if it ever got fixed, and it didn't. The good news is you can get a refund. The bad news is that they will make you pay shipping.
I hope this info saves someone from getting audited and corrected. My main concern is getting this information out to the people in my situation who didn't take the time to check TT carefully.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Taco Bell
We went to Taco Bell the other night to get a late snack while Sammy slept in the car. That's what we do when he's actually asleep in the car - we eat a peaceful meal and have some intelligent conversation. We ordered a Nachos Bellgrande, and they told us they were out of nachos! Can you believe it?! Taco Bell out of nachos?! That's like...Honda out of Civics...Walmart out of shopping carts...........the Hawkins home out of diapers!!! Well, anyway, you get the point. Some Taco Bell manager has probably got himself a good lecture about that. I sure feel sorry for him!
Friday, April 6, 2007
God In America
We read all the statistics and hear the news of the changes happening in America, but it's hard to realize how much things change on a daily basis. Every once in a while, something happens that really makes you understand how much life has changed in our society in a generation. That happened for me this week. We've been spending spring break in Huntsville with family, and I took some friends out doing some public ministry. We met with about 5 people during our time at the mall, but one encounter in particular really impacted me.
We stopped at a jewelry kiosk to share the gospel with an East Indian woman that God laid on my heart. In the course of speaking with her, we found out that she had never heard of Jesus in her life. That wouldn't have surprised me if we had been standing in an Indian bazarre in New Delhi, but we were right here in the Bible belt! I shared the message of Jesus with her, and after a few minutes she prayed to invite him into her heart. She later told us that when she prayed, she felt peace in her heart. She also told us that she had never felt this peace before. We spent some time teaching her about Jesus and how that peace was his Spirit coming into her life. It was exciting, and such a privalege to be the first person to tell her about Jesus and know that she was begining to experience a personal relationship with him immediately.
The fields are indeed ripe for harvest. I am saddened to find that someone could actually make it onto American soil in this day and age without hearing about Jesus, because our country was founded on Christian principles. But it makes me all the more sure of my calling to share the gospel with boldness. I'm so thankful for the training we are receiving that has helped me to overcome the fear of rejection in public ministry. It's freed me up to walk in my calling in a way I never dreamed possible, and I know this is just the begining of a completely different life than if we had been afraid to take the risk of this transition. The seeds being planted in our family right now are going to yield a tremendous harvest over the next 40-50 years, and will impact our children's children for generations to come. Our trials are painful and fear of failure seems always to be knocking at the door of my mind. But when I stop to see how God has blessed and taken care of us in this season, I am overwhelmed with thankfulness.
I want to encourage all who are reading to take the risks God is leading you to take. There will certainly be growing pains, but anything worth having in life is going to cost you something. One of my favorite inspirational quotes goes something like this: The cost is the same to live a life of complacency or to fulfill your destiny - it costs 1 life. Selah (think about it).
We stopped at a jewelry kiosk to share the gospel with an East Indian woman that God laid on my heart. In the course of speaking with her, we found out that she had never heard of Jesus in her life. That wouldn't have surprised me if we had been standing in an Indian bazarre in New Delhi, but we were right here in the Bible belt! I shared the message of Jesus with her, and after a few minutes she prayed to invite him into her heart. She later told us that when she prayed, she felt peace in her heart. She also told us that she had never felt this peace before. We spent some time teaching her about Jesus and how that peace was his Spirit coming into her life. It was exciting, and such a privalege to be the first person to tell her about Jesus and know that she was begining to experience a personal relationship with him immediately.
The fields are indeed ripe for harvest. I am saddened to find that someone could actually make it onto American soil in this day and age without hearing about Jesus, because our country was founded on Christian principles. But it makes me all the more sure of my calling to share the gospel with boldness. I'm so thankful for the training we are receiving that has helped me to overcome the fear of rejection in public ministry. It's freed me up to walk in my calling in a way I never dreamed possible, and I know this is just the begining of a completely different life than if we had been afraid to take the risk of this transition. The seeds being planted in our family right now are going to yield a tremendous harvest over the next 40-50 years, and will impact our children's children for generations to come. Our trials are painful and fear of failure seems always to be knocking at the door of my mind. But when I stop to see how God has blessed and taken care of us in this season, I am overwhelmed with thankfulness.
I want to encourage all who are reading to take the risks God is leading you to take. There will certainly be growing pains, but anything worth having in life is going to cost you something. One of my favorite inspirational quotes goes something like this: The cost is the same to live a life of complacency or to fulfill your destiny - it costs 1 life. Selah (think about it).
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