out of 2010, into 2011-

what a wild year.
I didn't blog much- twitter and facebook have been my outlet for short, random thoughts. I have written a number of blogs only to delete them minutes after they have gone up. I guess I'm becoming more choosy about the stories I tell and share. but its been a great year- one of those years that no one could earn or deserve- but I'm keeping it.



when it came to my new year’s resolutions, I did ok.


• I wanted to go the whole year without using a credit card, and I made it all the way to December, but my trusty explorer found a way to break just before the year ended. It broke earlier in the year too- so did our VW, but in those cases, we were able to pay for those out of our bank account.


• I wanted to go to the gym 300 times this year; but in January, the craziest thing happened: my right ear exploded in a very quiet mixture of pain and ear fluid. I was on pain meds for the entire month. I also added a few evening meetings to my week which made it almost impossible to get to the gym often.


• I wanted to have a great attitude this year, and that went ok. On one occasion, I was actually commended by my boss for specifically having a great attitude; and on other occasions, I had to apologize for not having the best attitude. My attitude-study eventually turned into one of my more popular teaching serieses this year.


• I also wanted to eat NO FRIED FOODS all year. aaaaand, that was an epic fail.


• last- I wanted to take Janie to Disneyland, and I was able to that twice this year- and without using the charge card!






this has been a wild year at work too-


// in middle school, we added a saturday night service to our weekly ministry; which means that I was with students, speaking to them, 5 days a week this year- sheesh!

// we did some experiments with our programming-

:: we went on a new kind of mission trip, focused on ministering to children in need- and it was a blast. we want to do it again this year.

:: we did our first ever summer camp that was just for us. it was the craziest week that I can remember- more on that later.


:: we took our journey program to the next level- and had a ball with it- we want to go bigger and better this year.


:: and I restarted my ministry to kids at Princeton plaza on wednesday mornings.

:: we got a new member of our student team, in addition to saying goodbye to another.


:: our volunteer team added new faces and said goodbye to others-


:: and I celebrated 10 summers at hume lake in July.


personally, this year has been amazing.


• my daughter turned 6! and she and deanna started HOMESCHOOL! jane loves it and does so well. so does deanna.


• I started memorizing bible verses with a friend


• we have cut down debt


• we celebrated 14 years of marriage


• and I still made it to the gym a lot.


• jane is growing up- and had her first “friend-birthday party”


• and she fell in love with the Toy Story franchise. we saw all of the movies, rode the rides, listened to the audiobooks, a trillion times. we also bought a ton of the merchandise.


• jane has also become an accomplished author, uno player and yatzee competitor.

as far as goals for 2010, they are pretty simple:


// continue to aggressively eliminate debt and not go in ANY further.
// continue to have a great attitude
// celebrate TEN YEARS at the church in july
// get to the point where I ENJOY running and look forward to it.
// I want to drop weight and pants sizes


and for the BIG goals:


// I want to see how long I can go no soda, no candy. yikes! (in other words, no 7/11 in 2011)
// I want to be able to quote the entire book of romans by the end of 2011.

a year can bring so much- so much grief and drama, and so much joy and opportunity. we’ll see where 2011 takes the walters, and you.


God is love.
-rev-rob