I'm so Technerdical

Ok, so I have successfully uploaded my first Podcast. It actually works although the sound is pretty crappy, but I can't complain. Right now the podcast that is up is really just nothing but me saying this is a test. I am going to put some more silly stuff up there to add an episode and see how easily I can update it.

I am looking forward to this weekend. I get 3 days off although I don't get paid for my vacation day yet, but this is the last vacation day I don't get paid for I hope. If all goes well, I should be a permanent employee at the end of September and I will get vacation benefits. I am looking forward to my extra day off though. Faith is taking both of the kids to Toledo with her Mom and I get the house to myself. I have so many projects to accomplish I won't know where to start. Knowing me, I will probably work a lot on Youth Ministry stuff.

Tonight I am working on getting the house ready for Faith's parents to visit. They will be the first to sleep in the spare bed downstairs. I also need to make room for some new furniture. We are getting a bed for Ephriam and a dresser. I think some other things too, but I can't remember. I have no idea where it is all going to go yet, but we will squeeze it all in. I never thought that I would be able to fill up my house so quick. The funny part is that I can count the number of pieces of furniture that I have actually purchased on 1 hand. Free is Good.

Ok, well I have a little while left here at work. Friday is almost here.

Chris

PODCast

Well I officially have my own Podcast setup on ITunes now. I am still currently testing it out, but I hope to be able to use it for Youth Ministry. I may create others as well for different things. I am just so technerdical. I have a very short test message up right now and I am curious to hear the quality because I don't have very good recording hardware. Actually I just just used my MP3 player that has a recorder on it. If I want to be as cool as some Podcasts, I am going to have to spend some dough and upgrade to some cool recording tools.
Oh well. Its a short post for today. I have been busy playing with the RSS file and its almost time to go home. Check back for more updates on the podcast and I will show you how to access it once I put something up there worth listening to.

Chris

Still Adjusting

Life is still pretty crazy around here. It takes a lot longer to get adjusted to 2 kids than it does to just 1. I think with every baby that a couple has, God should allot parents an extra day to their weekend. Sometimes I really don't know where I find the energy. Last night I entertained both of them while Faith worked on K.C.'s room. Fortunately KC was not hungry and just enjoyed me holding her while I attempted to entertain Ephriam. At least I learned that he is extremely fascinated by the stereo in his play area in the basement. I can probably get away with playing a CD for a while. He is trying to figure out how to climb the shelf to get to it though. I don't look forward to the day he figures it out.

Warning - shifting to Youth Ministry thoughts - my brain might puke all over this blog if you aren't careful.
Sunday was our official return to Youth Night. We kicked it off with some high energy goofiness. Let me know the last time you have seen a skit that included constipated singers, the simpsons, heavy metal, nuns, hippies, and a gangsta rap choir? It would have been funny to videotape, but it didn't happen. It was pretty funny. Our attempt was to show that Church Worship doesn't have to be lame especially since it isn't a requirement that you worship only on Sunday. Hopefully we can keep the energy up each week.
Probably my highlight of youth night this week was the Bible Study. We had one person show up for it, but this person really wants to get something from it, so I know that even though it will be small, it will be a very effective Bible Study. More to come on that later.

I get to play golf tonight weather permitting. Should be a good time either way. More on that later.

Short Week

It has been another short week in the life of Christopher Walker. It has been a busy and eventful week for me. Monday and Tuesday were spent getting our brand new urban assault vehicle. I will post some pictures soon. Wednesday was a trip to my parents for dinner. Last night was the first night I have actually been at home for more than an hour. I spent last night working on Youth Ministry stuff and tonight I will be doing the same.

This weekend looks pretty busy too. I have 2 cookouts to attend on Saturday and of course our Sundays are busy now with Youth Activities. I am attempting to start a Bible study with our kids this week, so that should be interesting.

Ephriam and K.C. are keeping me pretty busy. There is always something to do at my house. That is a short update for now. Have a good weekend.

Chris

This is your Brain on Youth Ministry

Ok, ok ok. Yes, I have been a little hyped about Youth Ministry lately. I can't help that my enthusiasm runs wild when I get to thinking about how we can come up with cool things to do in order to reach students for Christ. So today, I am going to attempt to post about things other than youth ministry starting.....
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HERE

Ok, so yes my growing family and I had a nice visit this weekend with the Herstich Family. It was our first time meeting Xander and a while since we have seen them all together. They live up in the Akron/Cleveland area, so we do not get to visit with them very much. I am hoping that we get to go visit them once K.C. gets bigger and is ready to go on road trips.

Today I will sign my life away again as we purchase the dreaded Minivaaaaahhh....er....urban assault vehicle. Surprisingly we had a hard time finding a local dealership with much in stock that we were looking for. We ended up getting our local Chevy Dealer to get one from another Chevy dealer so that we could purchase it at the local place. It makes it a lot easier if we have to bring it in for maintenance and repairs. So we will be trading in the little red Cavalier. The 2 Door Coup wasn't gonna get the job done with 2 carseats. Honestly, I am not looking forward to another car payment, but we gotta do what we gotta do and I can't afford to buy a cool Suburban or Tahoe. The good side of things is that I get to drive the Vibe all of the time now. The Vibe is a nice little ride with good tunes and a sun roof. I will gain power locks and windows as well as cruise control.

So, despite giving in and buying the affordable urban assault vehicle, it looks to be a pretty good week so far. Work has been laid back today so I have had time to blog with little interruption. Now I am off to do some web surfing and maybe I will find something cool to share with you all.

Chris

Last Blast Weekend

Youth Ministry is now back in full swing. Last night we had our first meeting of the year. We held a cookout at our house and played a little football in the backyard. We had 6 kids show up which is a bit smaller than we expected, but it was good quality time.
This is our kick off event of the year and only the second time we have done this, so a lot of people are still enjoying summer vacation. Next week, we are starting up a Youth Bible Study. I don't expect everyone to show up for this, but a few would be nice. We really want to get down and dirty when it comes to God's Word.
We do have pretty high expectations for this year, so I hope that things run smoothly and will give us an idea of how our Purpose Driven Youth Ministry is running. I plan on sharing more updates on how things are going each week, so check back for the latest.

Chris

FRIDAY'S HERE!!!!!!!

Its funny how every Friday I get the Domino Pizza commercial in my head when the Tuesday guy is upset because he is not popular like Friday and the Friday guy busts through the door and yells, "FRIDAY'S HERE!!!!"

So anyways, I always look forward to the weekend. My little break from my regular job is a chance to focus my energies and time on things that I want to do. This weekend marks the beginning of Youth Ministry after our summer break. I am pretty stoked about some things that we have going. The kids are all coming to our house for a cookout on Sunday Evening. It is a chance for us all to reconnect after the break. Also, our friends Mike, Tracey, and Zander Herstich are stopping by for a visit. We have not seen them in a while and we have both moved and had babies since the last time we all got together. Faith did get to see Tracey at a baby shower. So we are really excited about seeing them again.

We are also looking at purchasing a new vehicle that will be able to haul the whole family around. I am not looking forward to another car payment, but we are running out of options as our family grows. So we are breaking down and Faith will become a Soccer Mom. We will commonly refer to it as the Urban Assault Vehicle because we dare not utter the words miniva....ahhh!!!!

Ok, enough about painful car shopping. Things are moving right along around here. We are still adjusting to having 2 kids to look after. Looking forward to K.C. to be sleeping through the night.

Its been too long....

We have been down 1 man at work for the past week, so we have been very busy around here lately. Hence the lack in my blogging. Not a whole lot new to report. K.C. is getting bigger everyday and Ephriam's personality continues to grow. Last night we had dinner at my parents' house and Uncle Mark let Ephriam play on his drum set. The little dude went nuts on those drums. Surprisingly, he had decent coordination for only being 19 months old. Either way, he got the biggest smile on his face and I need to remember to bring the video camera over the next time. Everyone else is doing great. Youth officially starts up this weekend. Please keep our ministry in our prayers.

Fall is upon us.

You know that it is almost Fall when the Back to School Ads dominate the newspaper and people are begging for cooler weather. Football practice is in full swing for High School and the scrimmages have started. Soon we will be keeping warm in the stands on a Friday night enjoying the crisp cool air.
Fall brings a lot of things for myself to look forward to. I have already mentioned football, but the cooler season brings jack-o-lanterns, turkeys, and many family gatherings. It also brings a new school year and a new beginning to Youth Ministry at Park Avenue.
This will be my 4th year leading Youth at Park with my wife Faith. We have officially made my brother Mark a Youth Leader for this year. He has been a great help to us as we adjust to our growing family. We have completed our Purpose Driven Youth Ministy Training and we are looking forward to using what we have learned to create a healthy, well-balanced youth ministry.
As the end of August approaches, I am preparing for my life to go back into Ludicrous Speed. Especially with 2 kids at home not including myself. We are doing our best to prepare for the adjustments. The Youth Ministry training will help a lot in this area. We have high hopes for the changes that are happening and we look forward to all that God has planned for us.

Chris

Still Recovering

It has been almost 2 weeks since K.C. was born and we are still in recovery mode. The house is getting back together as Faith is adjusting to having 2 little ones to accomodate at home. K.C's room is still in progress, but I have the dresser, changing table, and crib all put together. I have yet to empty the room of all of the other junk and install a couple of ceiling fans. I think I will be saving the electrical work for the weekend. Having two little ones is definitely a handfull, but Faith is doing wonderfully. She is very glad to see me when I get home because just having an extra set of hands around is a big deal. We have been keeping up with things the best we can until we can get K.C. on a schedule and start establishing new routines. It will all come together eventually. There is my update for now from the working world.

Stay classy Cincinnati,

Chris

Chris is approaching Hurricane Strength

I could very well be the first hurricane of the season. Isn't that exciting?

Chris approaches hurricane strength

Not a whole lot to report from my end of the world today. It has been a very busy week at work for me so far. I am hoping that the end of the week will calm down a little bit. I am also hoping to get some more sleep the rest of the week, but we will see how things go and if more sleep is allowed.
Ephriam is still making his adjustments to K.C. She has been a good baby so far, but Faith and I are both(more her than me) adjusting to her getting up every 2-3 hours to eat. We all need some more sleep. I am already looking forward to the weekend. I have a lot to do now that K.C. is home.

Chris

Tropical Storm Chris Forms

Its about time they used a good name for a Hurricane. It will be interesting to see what I can do. I just hope I don't become another Katrina. I feel bad for anyone name Katrina now because their name will be immortalized in disaster.

Check back for the latest updates on my Tropical Storm. We'll see if I become a hurricane.