Friday, August 26

Is it obvious?

Our world is spinning a lot quicker than a month ago. Sorry for the lack of posts, but August has been jammed packed!

Today is Hayden's 2nd B-day, so we are putting everything on "pause" as we celebrate our perfect little boy's special day! Present from Mommy & Daddy: old school Radio Flyer Tricycle. It's pretty pimped out with chrome and tassles coming off the handles. He and I may work on it this weekend...probably gonna throw in a couple 10's and definitely slap on on some spinning DUB's to drop the jaws. I wonder what the Flyer would like w/a sparkly royal blue pearl paint finish?

We'll update you on life on Monday...

Finishing up the "Ignite" series this weekend,
DK

Sunday, August 14

WELCOME!

This week has been full of excitement - and visitors! We have had more visitors in one week than I can ever remember ... some invited and others, um, not so much ...

$Moolah Moolah Vacuum$ Monday
Last Monday was full of excitement ... I had my first true Monday in the working world, David (exhausted after an evening of incredible preaching) went back to work and is incredibly busy ... and Hayden got a treat by getting to stay with former sitter Miss Gwen for the day since the Neely's were out of town! Our visitors this evening were vacuum salesmen ... they were very nice and it was an incredible machine - but we don't have a kidney we want to sell to be able to pay for it, so, needless to say, we happily welcomed our current, less efficient vaccuum back!

Toddler Tuesday
Tuesday evening we had a special guest - Lilu! We got to watch her while her mommy and daddy (who was back for R&R from Iraq) went to the Real Life Church Membership Class! We had lasagna for dinner and then watched "The Incredibles!" Hayden and Lilu were enamored and watched very intently! They spent the rest of the evening jabbering, playing, learning about sharing, and jabbering some more. WHAT A FUN TIME WE HAD! It's so exciting for Hayden to have another little person to play with!


"Where do you go to church?" Wednesday
As we enjoyed this beautiful mid-week evening, a knock on the door brought hopes that it wasn't someone else selling something. Nope. It was some guys from a church in town - asking us if we had a church home. Now, this is a great witnessing tool and a very brave way to enlighten people about your church, I'll give them that. But after you tell them you're a Pastor at ANOTHER church in THE SAME TOWN and they still try to convince you to come to their church, something is wrong!

Thirty dollar electrical stuff Thursday
We're in the process of getting central air and replacing our gazillion-year-old heater. Before we can do any of that, though, we had to have an electrician come and look at some funny wires in the breaker box. It turned out that the breaker box was being "over used" and some things needed to be replaced ... not some ... 5 breakers for $30 each. We were poor ... now we're really poor, but, at least now we're not living in a giant fire-hazard - that's worth the money, I'd say! :)

Free Paper Friday!
The Eaves family belongs to our church, and are just one of the greatest families you'd ever meet. A father who is bravely and selflessly serving our nation in Kosovo ... a mom who would do anything for her children, and anyone else in the world, such a servant's heart ... and three boys who are so much fun! The boys have a paper route and happen to deliver in our neighborhood, so they came by Friday to pick up a copy of last week's sermon on cd ... and they had an extra paper! Yeah!

David left Friday evening for the church softball tournament in Hutchinson ... so Hayden and I braved the evening alone! We went to the mall, had dinner, read some books, and then went to bed. Haydie kept looking in the rooms and saying "Where's Daddy?" ... I laughed when this song came into my head because we were really bored without him and missed him a lot!

"One is the lonliest number
that you'll ever do. Two can be as bad as one, it's the lonliest number since the number one."

It wasn't all boring, though ...I was addressing the invitations for Hayden's family Birthday party ... and he took the liberty of decorating himself instead of the envelopes ... haha! He's been obsessed with his tummy and belly-button lately, so where better to put them?


See Papa and Grandma Saturday
Saturday Papa and Grandma Kerby came to visit! Not only did they visit - but they brought Hayden and I to Topeka so I could go shopping at the school supplies store, then to lunch and to the mall. Hayden and Papa went to the furniture section at the Jones Store to relax while mom and I did some crazy shopping! :) We had a great time and got home just in time to meet David, who was home early because the softball game was rained out.

Thursday, August 11

On my mind

I haven't posted for awhile, so Katy has been good with keeping everyone up-to-date on the Kinnan journey of life. I'm struggling with how to effectively craft the wide range of different thought trails in my head into an understandable account of what I'd like you to hear and understand.

So...I give up. Here is what I have been thinking about lately:

Death (gloomy, huh?)
I think my heart has been broken lately, but I haven't noticed it until thinking about what to write on our blog. Many of you who read this already know of a death that occured last week...my friend...my brother thru experience...my "best man" of our wedding...His time with his beautiful little girl was stopped at an unexpected time. An unpredicatable accident concluded the life of my friend's daughter...a life that I'm confident was full of potential and adventure.

You see, when I worship God, I praise Him for His mercy and grace, His provisions and protection...but I find it difficult to praise Him in this situation. I'm not mad or angry with God...I just don't understand. I do see possible "blessings" which can stem off a horrible circumstance such as this:
  • Josh and Shelley now have an experience to share with others that might bridge gaps which were not possible without walking this difficult road.
  • Ava is in a better place than earth even though many miss her here.
  • God's understanding of the past, present and future is much greater than ours...it's perfect. Without knowing the future, I can't charge God with wrongdoing
See, what I've written isn't exactly what my brain is thinking, but I hope we all give our loved-ones a tighter hug today. Don't leave without saying "I love you." Breathe in the air and act spontaneous. Earth is not our "finaly resting place" (that sounds odd)...eternity with God is greater than anything I can imagine and I find peace in that. I know Ava knows truths about God that I'll have to wait to discover...almost makes me jealous.

Preaching
Sadly enough, I am preaching my very first "real sermon series" and here is what I'm learning:
  • It is much, much easier to preach a series than it is to preach a different topic each week.
  • It is much, much easier to preach every week than it is once every 4-6 weeks.
  • I love to communicate. If you're head is nodding when I'm speaking, you're fueling me because whether your nodding off or actually getting what I'm saying...I'm thinking the later. So, thanks!
Family
There is no greater community in life than our individual family communities. My wife...my son...my parents...my sister and bro-in law...my grandparents...my aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews...they all make me smile. If they were all I had in life, I wouldn't have a complaint.

Bi-Vocational Ministry
It's my personal hell because if I were to visit hell (which I do not desire to do so), it would be a day in which I would have to continue working bi-vocationally. Maybe it's because I'm a guy, but splitting my mind to focus on two full-time jobs is worse than any enternal fire that I can think of. (don't argue this because, yes, my arguement is weak).

Baby #2
When do you decide to make one? If God were to give me a sign, I would choose 4 KC strip steaks to show up mysteriously in the mail. Is that too specific?

Softball
I'm at 40% of my goal: 4 homeruns. I've sat out the last 5 games because of a "old man injury" but this weekend brings the infamous "David tore his calf at this same tourney last year" tourney. We'll see what happens.

Blogging
It's been nice to surf upon a few former college friend's blogs.

Ok, that's my brain for the day...the serious and the solemn.

If I haven't told you lately, I love you...not because of anything you do, but because I'm loved undeservingly so I would like to do the same for you. So, in your low times...know you really are loved.

DK

Sunday, August 7

Heart Set Free

Wesleyan Women's Fall Retreat
October 28-29, 2005 in Wichita

I'm very excited to have the privilege of promoting this retreat to the women of Real Life Church...it's so thrilling to have this incredible opportunity to have a ladies weekend full of fellowship and learning more about God and His unyielding, unconditional love for us!

Back to Reality

Summer is nearly over. Can you believe it? It just started! It's still hot! How can school be starting already? Man.

Hide-And-Seek
Where's Hayden?


There he is! Hayden has become obsessed with playing hide and seek ... but he only likes it when he gets to hide!


He manages to find the silliest and most unlikely places to hide. It's funny though, because Grandma Kinnan tried to get him to play hide and seek with Ailee, but he didn't like it because he thought he was in "time-out" when he was the one hiding! Ha! It's hilarious when we find him because he just squeals with delight and runs to hide somewhere else! We've put locks up high on all of our doors now, too ... Hayden is very smart, and very tall, and had figured out how to unlock all of the locks on each of the doors, so at least we're certain he can't go outside to hide! Oh the joys we have and lessons we have learned with a toddler!


Milk and Cereal, Cereal and Milk
Another fun part of being nearly two is in addition to playing hide-and-seek, you get to eat cereal! His favorite is Cheerios, but this morning it was Fruity Pebbles. Oh, and no more little boy high-chair! Hayden now has his own big-boy seat at the table ... and he loves it! He is very insistant about helping to say the prayer before we eat, and often feels the need to pray over and over again throughout the meal! He's so much fun!


Flowers
These flowers were a great surprise to us ... we saw them for the first time yesterday morning throughout the back yard ... mainly where we'd mulched, so they look even better!


Last Week
The past week has been extremely eventful but fun! Sunday thru Wednesday of last week was the Kansas District of the Wesleyan Praise Gathering in Salina. There were worship services each night with a speaker ... but Sunday was the Ordination Service (where David was ordained last year) and on Monday was the awards night where Tom (Dad) got Pastor of the Year! On Wednesday David and Tom participated in the golf tournament with Pastor Eric and Lance ... and did extremely well!

Wednesday marked a special day for me, too ... it was the very first day of my very first job! It was our first day of orientation for USD# 475 ... all new teachers were to report to their schools, so I was at Junction City Middle School with the administration and 14 other new teachers! The remainder of the week included meeting district administrators and city leaders, as well as learning more about the district and its policies. We were pampered with food and gifts, and I am so thankful for the incredible blessing of working in a district that is so caring, so committed, and so progressive!

My going to work also means that our little guy will be going to spend the week days with Becky, Mark (when he's off, of course) and Kyra! He has loved his time over there and has a hard time leaving all of the cool toys - and baby Kyra - and their Golden Retriever, Kory! We are so thankful to have our best friends taking care of our little guy ... what a relief and encouragement it is to know that he is being cared for by people we love and trust so much!

Tonight
David's sermon series "IGNITE" begins this evening ... he has put together a sermon set that is, to me, the best I've heard. I can't wait for him to share the wisdom and thoughts that the Lord has filled him with ... and for you to see them, too! He'll blog some of his thoughts down soon!

We Love You!
Katy