Archive for the ‘My Life / Family’ Category
Birthday Girl!
February 3rd, 2012 | No Comments | Posted in » My Life / Family, Pictures
My birthday girl is SEVEN today!
We love you Jenna!
Just 1
January 27th, 2012 | No Comments | Posted in » Christian Living, My Life / Family
This is a repost of an article I shared over at our ministry site, just-1.org. If you haven’t checked it out to learn about the orphan care ministry Nancy and I have been blessed to start, we’d love you to do so (and share with your friends!). You can also connect with us via both Twitter and Facebook.
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Just 1.
Obviously, it’s a huge phrase for us… it’s what we named our ministry, after all. We feel it was clearly God-given (both Nancy and I had the phrase placed solidly in our minds), and we’ve used it many times to try to convey to others what it means to us.
But I’ve been reflecting on it again over the past couple of days.
Out of curiosity, I checked Twitter, and searched for a couple hashtags to see how people use “Just 1″. Man did it ever hit home! Both #JustOne and #Just1 gave some revealing results.
I want to have a real conversation with him, but it never happens. #JustOne
I wish there was at least one person who truly understands how I feel. #JustOne
I just want one thing to go my way today. #JustOne
I want one boy to prove to me that every boy isn’t the same. #JustOne
Let me have a hug. #JustOne
I just want one wish to come true. #JustOne
Just 1 miracle, Lord. #JustOne
You see, “Just 1″ is something people long for. There are so many people with a need for a “Just 1″ story. So many people who have a “Just 1″ story to share.
So many ways each and every person on this planet can make a difference in the life of “Just 1″.
For us, it’s about orphan care. We hope and pray that one day, we’ll be able to adopt “Just 1″. We desperately desire to help others make a difference in the lives of “Just 1″.
But what about you? How can you make a difference in the life of “Just 1″?
You have a “Just 1″ story. There is someone who needs you to touch their life… someone God has planned for you to impact.
Are you willing?
Mr. Construction
January 8th, 2012 | No Comments | Posted in » My Life / Family, Pictures
I find it a bit ironic that my pastor preached this morning about the differences between men and women.
Why? This afternoon, we got a first-hand example.
Background… My son received some tools for Christmas. He’s just NINE years old, so maybe that’s weird, but it’s something he was absolutely thrilled about. And we’ve seen that he certainly has no aversion to using them (case in point here).
This afternoon, he showed us yet again that this is the case. This time, though, he didn’t stop with just HIS tools. He managed to sneak into my shop which I was napping (recovering from a migraine), and he used some of my POWER TOOLS.
Here’s the end result:
You see, Jeffrey just wanted to customize an old remote control car he found yesterday. He had another vehicle (a green Jeep Cherokee) that didn’t work very well anymore, and he thought it would be cool to put that body on the RC car.
Taking the body off was no issue at all. A couple screws, and mission complete.
The problem lay in attaching the new body to the RC frame. Short of a couple screws and holes, or tape (which he’s QUITE fond of, by the way… I need stock in 3M!), it just wasn’t gonna work.
So Jeffrey simply did what any industrious nine year old would do… sneak into Dad’s shop, find the drill and appropriate drill bits, find a couple screws that would work, and go to town.
Before I was awake and Nancy realized what he was up to, he was already done.
Well… Nancy was justifiably freaked out. POWER TOOLS! A NINE YEAR OLD! SERIOUSLY?!?**
My response was quite a bit different:
An ear to ear smile. “Nice work buddy! Next time, though, let’s have a bit of adult supervision, okay?”
My son was beaming (of course, you see that above). He still was when I tucked him into bed, actually. The jeep is parked on his headboard.
I don’t know. I guess he’s developing his inner Phineas and Ferb.
Which is SO much better than frying his brain with video games.
I’ll take it.
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**Just to be clear, Nancy is 100% supportive of Jeffrey’s creative construction urges… she was just concerned about safety. Obviously, I am too. We don’t expect another surprise like this again. Jeffrey’s future construction projects using power tools WILL be supervised!
New Year… Feeling Old!
January 1st, 2012 | No Comments | Posted in » My Life / Family
I’m not sure this really will impact all of you who read this the way it did me, but it hit me tonight on this first day of 2012 that I’m really getting old.
Nancy and I were having dinner with the kiddos at a restaurant in North Kansas City on our way home from celebrating Christmas with family in Springfield. There was some ambient music playing that we both immediately recognized. I sang a few lines to Nancy to humor her. She didn’t laugh, though the kids sure did.
Jeffrey was grinning ear to ear. Apparently he kind of liked the song, which Nancy noticed. She turned to him and said something to the effect of:
“So, you kind of like the oldies, do you?”
I couldn’t believe she was referring to the song as “oldies”. I said, “It’s not THAT old of a song!”
Of course, I had to find out.
I googled the lyrics, because I couldn’t remember the title and artist (sign number one I was about to feel a whole lot older than I think I am):
“But it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for!”
Google spewed it’s results.
Billy Joel. “You May be Right”. 1980.
I stood corrected. The song is 32 years old.
I feel MUCH older now.
If You Give a Kid Some Tools…
December 26th, 2011 | 3 Comments | Posted in » Just For Fun..., My Life / Family, Pictures
If you give a kid some tools for Christmas…
… you’d better be prepared for him to use them!
Yep, that’s what’s left of our Swiffer.
Christmas 2011 Snapshots
December 25th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in » My Life / Family, Pictures
What can I say… I’ve got family that needs to see a few photos from Christmas.
For those of you who are bored by this… these are my kiddos, and it’s my site. Yes I’m gonna share. 
A bit wound up on Christmas Eve!
So calm and peaceful here when everyone’s in bed…
So excited!
There’s a monkey on my back!
My Christmas gamer…
Hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
December 24th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in » My Life / Family
As I write this, the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies lingers throughout our home. Christmas songs ring out from the iPod, and our kids are playing in the living room. We’re thinking about all of the Christmas traditions we observe each year, and are preparing for a normal Christmas Eve at the Stickley house.
Baking Jesus a birthday cake.
Dinner as a family.
Attending Christmas Eve worship at our church.
Reading the Christmas story from the Bible.
Watching the kiddos exchange gifts from each other.
Wondering what “Santa” will bring in the morning.
Quite simply put… we love Christmas and all of its traditions.
This year, though, there’s something more lingering in our hearts. This Christmas, we can’t help but have our thoughts extend to the millions of orphans throughout the world.
So many of these children wait, hoping that one day they’ll have a family of their own. They’ll go to bed tonight not worried about what Santa will bring, but simply longing to have a family that loves them and cares for them. Likewise, there are perhaps millions of families throughout the world, preparing for adoption, who celebrate this Christmas with empty spots in their hearts, their sole Christmas wish being that their adopted child could be with them right now.
With that in mind, enjoy this touching Christmas song from Third Day.
Merry Christmas everyone.
[Reposted from our orphan-care ministry site: just-1.org.]