If you can name the band that sings the song with those lyrics, you get a big fat…….nothing. Sorry don’t have anything to give you, but it would be fun if you knew what song I was thinking of. But really it has been a while since my last update, so I thought I would fill you in on the madness of the Ds.
Denise is now in the third trimester and getting a little more round and every bit more adorable. Love her to pieces. We had our first two-week dr. appointment last week and so far everything is, and I quote, “Perfect”. It’s kind of reassuring to hear that everything is going right on schedule. Denise is still feeling great, for those of you wondering. We won’t be posting any more baby pics, simply because there won’t be any more until little Katherine Jane Woolery gets here. Ultrasounds get expensive when you have to pay for them yourself. Insurance covered the first one and we got to pay for the second. One of the doctors we have been seeing told us that if they could find something that might look a little off that usually they can get the insurance company to pitch in and pay for another one, but like I said before, Katherine is progressing perfectly.

So a lot to be thankful for. I’ve now been in business for myself for a whopping 2 months and although it is starting out slowly, I am hopeful for things to pick up. I’ve started creating looping motion backgrounds, like what you would find at most churches today using a screen with words. I’ve really enjoyed getting to do this and am currently exploring the opportunity to sell some of these to bring in some sort of passive income. I’m hopeful, cause I think they’re pretty cool! Just want to say a big shout out to all of you guys out there praying for us and let you know that God is up to something cool out here in the Valley of the Sun and we’re excited to be a part of whatever it is for however long God wants us to be a part of it.

If there’s anything that you might need prayer for, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment (you can be anonymous). We would love to join you in prayer. I actually do read every comment posted, because if I don’t, they don’t get posted ;^)> So that’s that. Hopefully I can take some more time soon to update again. Talk to you later!

Day 1 is under our belts! So far this trip has been a ton of fun! Spent half of day one driving and the other half at the beach. I never knew that boogie boarding could be so much fun! Big props to Angel for teaching me how to read the waves and Chris and Kaylin Bennet for bringing the boards. I had a great time. As the sun started setting, we looked out over the crashing waves and saw a small pod of dolphins swimming. Some of them even got to within 100 yards of the shore. They are quite amazing.

Post beach fun, we sat and just admired the sunset, knowing that God has a special task for us this week…Open Your Eyes!

For those who don’t know, our youth group, SWITCH, is  going to camp this week (Monday – early Thursday morning). Our camp is going to be just outside of Los Angeles and I am pretty pumped about that. Never been there, just sounds like an interesting place. So here’s a general plan for our camp:

Go to the beach, work our rears off, play at Six Flags

I’m excited to see how God uses this time to bring all of our youth closer together and push us into a deeper relationship with Himself. Stay tuned for more Cali fun.

It seems like no matter how much you want things to stay the same, they always seem to change. Change is one of those inevitable battles that everyone seems to fight, but never wins. As most of you readers know, I am going to be a daddy! So here’s a little picture of our change:

As I came up with yesterday’s “Would You Rather” question, I felt that I had to put myself in both situations to really understand how different life would be, both without hearing and without sight. I imaginatively explored the different disabilities in my mind. How would I handle not being able to see my wife, my family? How would I function without being able to hear my friends and family talk to me, my favorite songs? Then, for some reason, my mind took an external turn.

I could visualize my life without sound, but with an ever-discriminating eye and I realized, this can’t be too different for the world watching me, watching us. It’s easy to not be engaged with someone, but still derive an opinion based on the actions we’ve witnessed them perform. It’s easy to drive anywhere and see the people who are in a hurry (and they often end up next to you at the next stop light). See, you’ve already probably thought of a time where you saw someone who was irritated, someone who was upset, without even having a conversation with them.

I think a problem we, as believers, are continually finding ourselves battling is that we think the world is listening to us talk about Christ, but in truth they already know who we are. This isn’t always a good thing. They’ve seen us avoid the poor, the sick, the hurting. They’ve born witness to our negligence of the hungry and homeless. We say things like, “We aren’t called to those people,” or “We have to go _______ (fill in the blank).” In truth, we are telling them that we are “called” to the rich and our comforts, the easy and uncomplicated. Even as I type this, I think about the 4 or 5 people I didn’t even look in the eye and tell them “hi” as I passed by them at work. Not strangers, but people I work with! Is it much different for you?

As the saying goes, “talk is cheap,” and so it is. But when it’s backed by actions, it becomes priceless.

If you look back up at the image at the top of the screen you’ll find two different images in the reflection of the binocular’s lenses. You probably noticed it when you first started reading this post…good. If you will glance back up at it, there are two things we can show the world: 1) the cross, Christ’s sacrifice through our own or 2) a finger that tells them that they aren’t worth the time and energy to love. There is a God, but he’s only for those who have stuff and just keep accumulating it. There is a God, but only for people who live in nice, big houses and drive nice cars. There is a God, but He’s not for them.

Think about this, you don’t have to post a comment on it, but apply it.
What picture does your life show to a deaf world?