Luke's First Flight and Adoption Update

Well, it was OFF TO CALIFORNIA for THANKSGIVING! Unfortunately, my digital camera got stolen (along with my iPod and a ton of other valuable stuff in a movie theator) so I lost all my pictures of Luke's first flight, first time in the ocean, and other sweet pictures, but fortunately, Sara's camera had a few pictures on it, and we too some more on the flight home.

Luke almost didn't make it through airport security when I admited that he is known for carrying high levels of fluids!

But he made it through the x-ray machine with only a wimper!

We lucked out on both flights to have an empty seat between us, and Luke took to it right away not minding the seat belt at all.

He was so content, and never cried on the flight there or back, 4 hours each way!

We thought travel would be hard, but I think he looked at it as he got four solid hours of undivided attention, which is all he wants all the time anyway!

Luke simply LOVED looking out the window! He is very drawn to lights, and when we flew into LA at night the lights as far as the eye could see had him nearly breathless!

Of course he had to bang on the window and make some noise, but no one seemed to mind. (after they all moved four rows away... just kidding!)

I loved just watching him gaze out the window. I wonder how much (of anything) he could comprehend that he was seeing... probably not the height... but he was definitly intreged

We even were allowed to visit the cockpit and they gave him wings and a certificate for his first flight signed by the pilots and head flight attendant... oooooo... scrap book that!

ADOPTION UPDATE!

Daddy and Son

It was a wonderful thanksgiving. Obviously, the #1 thing we are thankful for is LUKE - and please pray as NEXT MONDAY, DECEMBER 4th we will be appearing before a Judge in downtown Chicago, with the birth mom, and the adoption will be filed and then final after a waiting period of a few weeks. The long legal process may be over! Anyone interested in donating to Luke's significant legal bills can write to him at babyluke @ pastorkarl.com for more info on his legal fund. BUT MOST OF ALL WE ASK FOR YOUR PRAYERS! Our prayer is that he will be 'ours' by his birthday in January.

Mommy and Baby

A Smart Turkey!

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,
My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop,

Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,
And he told me there was something that I had to know.

His look and his tone I will always remember,
When he told me of the horrors of Black November:

"Come about August, now listen to me,
Each day you'll get six meals instead of just three,

"And soon you'll be thick, where once you were thin,
And you'll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin.

"And then one morning, when you're warm in your bed,
In'll burst the farmer's wife, and hack off your head.

"Then she'll pluck out all your feathers so you're bald 'n pink,
And scoop out all your insides and leave ya lyin' in the sink;

"And then comes the worst part," he said, not bluffing,
"She'll spread your cheeks and pack your rear with stuffing."

Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat,
I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat,

And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked,
I'd have to lay low and remain overlooked.

I began a new diet of nuts and granola,
High-roughage salads, juice, and diet cola;

And as they ate pastries, chocolates, and crepes,
I stayed in my room doing Jane Fonda tapes.

I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,
And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed;

But 'twas I who was laughing, under my breath,
As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death.

And sure enough, when Black November rolled around,
I was the last turkey left in the entire compound.

So now I'm a pet in the farmer's wife's lap;
I haven't a worry, so I eat and I nap.

She held me today, while sewing and humming,
And smiled at me and said, "Christmas is coming..."

Happy Thanksgiving

kidologically famous? of course!

It's always fun to surf the web and find references to your website on other websites... well, as I was blog surfin' my favorite sites in bloglines tonight, the word "kidologically" caught my eye in this blog post. I was flattered that Paul Bradford was flattered that we linked a post of his on Kidology.org

(click image for larger screen shot)

Then I smiled when I saw, "Of course I'll never be at the pastorkarl.com level... :)".... so this post is just to show that pastorkarl.com is just as flattered to be linked on feed-my-lambs.blogspot.com! Keep up the great work there in Pennsylvania, Paul! And keep on bloggin' - and thanks for making MY day. :)

Pastor Karl's Potty Party Pictures!

Children's Pastors get the strangest opportunities, from cat funerals to.... potty parties?

Several months ago a mom wrote to me that they were having trouble with getting their son to be potty trained. (who doesn't?) She wrote, "We've tried the stickers, the candy, the big present, you name it, and nothing worked. SO, the other day I told Caleb that if he could go pee and poop in the potty for a week we'd invite you and Sara over for dinner to help us with a special celebration. He was so excited that yesterday he actually initiated going and did so without any help. He seems pretty psyched about having you come to celebrate with us and the motivation seems to be going well so far......"

Well, I agreed to help encourage him and finally it was time for the Potty Party Celebration!

Pretty Cool Potty Party Cake!
(the smeared writing is Luke's fault when
I got too close to the cake he lunged for it!)

Proud Expert Potty Boy!

How do you entertain at a Potty Party?
I thought of making a toilet out of balloons, but passed.

I chose the Magic Talking Potty of course who
congratulated the party boy for his good work!

Sara even got into the magic, but with a more
traditional drawing that talked!

CONGRATULATIONS CALEB - we are so proud of you, and hope you don't get mad when you are in high school and search the web and find this post!

The Website That Just Won't Die

OK, I really should be too embarrassed to show this to anyone - but hey, Sunday's sermon was on being 'real' so here it is... I just found out that one of my very first websites is STILL out there on the web, even thought it should have died YEARS ago! I created this page back around 1996, and last updated a few links in 1998 when I started at Village Church, even though I had ceased to use the site having my own domain by then, but I was still using the dial up service. I haven't touched this site since 1998! The company I was with, GNN.com was bought out by Flash.net, later by Prodigy, and then... I can't even remember now. Anyway, I dropped the dial up service when it was still Flash.net, and my personal home page was http://www.flash.net/~kdbweb

Tonight, following a strange train of thought (a common practise of mine) I was wishing I still had the web page I had made about my experience in open heart surgery years ago. On a whim, I typed in the old URL and PRESTO! My old webpage appeared! And yes, so did the heart surgery story. I am recreating it in this post to preserve it, but you can see the original here, complete with warning page, for as long as the long lost server remains plugged into the Internet!

OK - HERE IS THE ORIGINAL POST I MADE, LONG BEFORE THE TERM "BLOG" EVEN EXISTED... that's right, it was MY idea! (no edits have been made, this is exactly as is, except all annoying formatting has been removed.)

DR. KARL, DR. KARL, Calling DR. KARL!

Here are the promised pictures from the heart surgery I witnessed. I am sorry to say that my film was ruined by the airport x-ray machines in Manila. What you see here is after MUCH computer altering to restore them - they were nearly impossible to make out!

WHY was I even AT a live open-heart surgery? GOOD QUESTION! I was in the Philippines on a ministry trip with my wife and her parents. One of the top heart surgeons in the Philippines is a member of the church my wife's parents founded in Manila. (We were back for the 20th Anniversary of the church, Greenhills Christian Fellowship.)

While at one of the Anniversary celebrations, a doctor asked me if I would like to accompany him into surgery and observe. I, of course, instantly agreed! THEN came the discussion of how most people faint when they observe such dramatic things involving the human body - would I stand the test? I didn't know!

When we arrived at the hospital, the surgeries were already in progress. The doctor only has to show up for the most delicate parts of the surgery - that's how important a guy he is! I put on my doctor outfit, complete with hat and face mask, and got ready to go! What can I say about the actual observation of the surgery? Words can not describe it! It was fascinating to say the least. I went back and forth between two surgeries in progress, but spent the most time at the one pictured here.

It was amazing, I was at the head of the table, standing on a small platform looking down over a shield that hid the actual surgery from the view of the patient, who was sleeping peacefully anyway! (Good thing, or she might have had a heart attack!)

What a strange thing to actually look right down inside a living breathing (heart still pounding) body and realize that I look like that on the inside too. (Yick!)

I won't bother describing the initial slice down the chest, the first flow of blood, the power saw used or the sound of the rib cage being cut (to be wired back later) nor the forceful removal of the front of the rib cage, as it might upset you. (Fortunately, I arrived too late to see that part - better luck next time!)

I watched the heart beating away while they worked on taking each valve and attaching it to a machine. I was intrigued by how much room they had to work and by how thick the surface of the body was - about a full inch wall could be seen where the woman was cut open. Tubes with blood pumping through them were everywhere. Soon a machine at the side of the table would take over the job of the heart. You won't believe the way they stop the heart! A cup of ice, in the form of a slushy, is poured over the heart - the shock of the cold stops the heart. (If I ever have heart surgery I will request a flavored slushy.)

Then they have about three hours to work on the stopped heart. They may install a new valve, or take veins from the leg and replace weak veins in the heart. (That is what bypass surgery is.)

The most surprising thing to me, that I was not previously aware of, is the pocket the heart is held in, (inside your body) that looks like plastic and is as white as the wind driven snow. (I know, cliché!) I thought it was a protective barrier they had put around the heart to work - but learned that actually God put it there. Turns out it is rather convenient, as it held the blood that spilled. Know how when you are at the dentist and they keep sticking that vacuum thingie in your mouth that sucks up your saliva? Well, imagine the same thing, making the same sound, being stuck around your heart every few minutes. I think they used a mini Hoover... or was it an Oreck? (OOPS!! Setting was too high!)

Well, if you actually read this far, I will let you in on the family secret. I did faint. Kinda funny though, happened in a weird way. I was totally fine for quite a while. Although I felt very strange - almost like I was in a dream while in the operating room, I didn't feel like I was going to faint, and I was rather proud I was doing O.K. (Had heard several funny stories about grown men, even doctors, fainting.) I was determined not to faint - so I focused hard on staying alert.

Then, I went to visit the next room where they were preparing another victim, er, patient. All I saw was the person's leg being cut open in order to take a vein to be used in the heart. I decided I would wait that out before going around for a closer look. So I just stood against the wall.
I had never fainted before in my life, so I didn't know it was coming. I THOUGHT that if I was to faint I would first feel grossed out, or nauseous, or feel like losing my breakfast - but none of that happened. I did, however, start to feel sleepy, but I had been up late the night before, and had to get up real early to come on this adventure. I yawned and just started to "think" about all I had just seen. Only problem was, this "thinking" was more like dreaming!

Next thing I know, I am on the ground with the doctor holding me and a nurse (who was not there a second ago) asking me if I was O.K. I almost said, "Why wouldn't I be?" when I realized I was on the floor! Weird!

I went out, ate some food, and even went back in for more! But when that "sleepy" feeling came I decided not to push it and decided I'd had enough. Now I wish I'd stayed all day! (The whole process takes 6 hours, I was there for about one hour.)

On my next trip to the Philippines I hope to go for an entire day - if they will allow Dr. Fainthearted back in that is!

WELL, THAT'S IT! Hope you liked all the gory details - I recommend not eating for a few hours after reading this! E-mail me and let me know what you think!

Well, that's it. I hope I've matured a little as a writer, but what can I say, that was one bloggable adventure!

PS - don't miss all the free graphics (many blinking and annoying) linked on the home page!

The 212 "Principle" - Motivation To Get Burned?

BEFORE YOU READ ANY FURTHER....
WATCH THIS ONLINE VIDEO:

http://www.the212movie.com/

waiting...
for you...
to watch...
the video....
before my...
comments...
influence you...
ok, if you really...
watched it first...
then read on...

OK, did you watch the video? Really? Honestly? With God as your witness? Hmmmmm?

Well, at this point, I just have to trust you! Now I can rant. I am so tired of "motivational" videos that I think are more harmful than good. My dad forwarded me this video since someone forwarded it to him, (and he too made me watch it before he would give me his thoughts on it) and below is his response, and I couldn't agree more.

But before I share the wise and sagely comments of my dear old dad (emphasis not on 'old'), let me tell you why I was ticked off at this video when I watched it.

CONFESSION OF A FORMER 212 DEGREE BURNER:

First of all, because not long ago, I would have watched it, LOVED IT, and forwarded it to all my friends and encouraged them to watch it and apply it to their life, because I would have been confident that this video described me! I've lived the 212 "extra degree" principle for way too long, and it took some pretty tough events in my life recently to wake me up from the illusion that God was pleased with me going faster, harder, and burning hotter than he ever intended. My "extra degree" self-propelled motivation ended up being extremely costly to my own family, and many others as well. I am still recovering from being burned by the "extra degree" and still seeking restoration with those I burned in my drive to go the extra mile/degree in life and ministry. I apologize for those I would have sent this too, and hope instead you will choose NOT to got the "extra degree" but instead to only go at the pace of life that God truly wants you to, and that you will allow your family and friends to be used by God to show you what that pace is. If you have loved ones telling you to slow down, or do less, or cut back, or seek margin, or anything of the sort, I beg you to listen to them before it is too late. Let me just be honest enough to tell you, if you go the extra degree, you will get burned, and unfortunately, you just might burn others around you. GOD IS NOT ASKING YOU TO GO THE EXTRA DEGREE. There is no such thing as giving 110% or even 101% - all you can give God is your 'all' - beyond that is unhealthy, if not sin. OK, my rant is over. On to a more tempered response, from my more tempered and experienced father:

WISDOM FROM DAD:

His first note to me (shared with permission)

Karl, this motivational movie is an interesting illustration not based upon Scripture. After our conversations recently (and even before), this philosophy was suspect to me. I don't think I never met anyone more focused at an early age than you, and gave energy beyond the "nth" degree. I think I can anticipate your reaction to this, but I'd still like to hear from you first. After you've seen this, I would like to also illustrate from the same concept.

After I responded that I had very strong negative reaction to it (as ranted above) he sent me the following that he wrote for the person who sent the video to him:

After viewing the 212 Movie, I felt constrained to offer a response.

• Steam may power a locomotive, but anyone who gets too close to that steam in action will get scalded;
• Every Indy 500 driver had already decided to give his full effort to his single goal, a very limited and unique calling and playing field, and there is no room for any passengers in his car, and he only gathers around him those who will work for his victory and a share of the spoils;
• The idolized and glorified Lance Armstrong (who has been determined to have an extremely unique body chemistry) was finally divorced by his wife (I wonder if he has noticed her absence).
• Every runner in a track meet runs alone, his only relationship with those around him being a competitive one, and with those strangers on the sidelines being a glory one;
• Steam has very limited use compared to H20 in liquid form:
• Tea is brewed best with water heated just below 200 degrees;
• Even excessively warm water can scald frost-bitten hands;
• Tepid water best washes our hands;
• A soak in the tub, a hot shower, an embracing hot tub had better not approach 200;
• Water does not heat itself, so there is no general virtue in always taking it to 212 degrees;
• And, when we do, it is not by means of extraordinary effort on our part, but by simply leaving the heat source in contact a little longer;
• Show me a person who consistently gives 110% in his vocation who doesn’t eventually “burn” his wife and children, if not his own physical body and psyche, which was designed by God to give 100% only with a rhythm of withdrawal and rest;
• If there is a biblical principle relating to how we ought to live our lives that can be appropriately attached to the 212 Principle, other than that of sensible, balanced, and appropriate stewardship, I can’t readily think of one;
• Jesus could have won any foot race, been the unbeatable race car designer and driver, healed people and fed people relentlessly (as many pastors attempt to do) and even could have demonstrated a 213 Principle at his temptation or on the cross, but his purposes were defined otherwise.

I find the 212 Principle a clever falsehood which implies a character definition embodying only head-turning productivity, and not quality of spirit and character that considers others better than themselves. Our culture has become addicted to productivity, turning what was a virtue into an idol.

By Doug Bastian, wise father of Pastor Karl, who should have heeded more of his advice growing up!

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN TO RESPOND:

1) Confess, did you watch the video before reading? Hmmmm? :)
2) What do YOU think of the video?