Third Coast Sports Presents Faith Nights

This past weekend Chad and I traveled up to Los Angeles to attend a Dodgers game. Although we both love baseball, that day baseball was a secondary reason for taking us out to the ballgame. It has been quite apparent over the past few years, that there is more than just the game itself making fans flock Minor League and Major League stadiums across the country. A new trend in sports promotions that involves pre and post game Christian concerts are giving a wide variety of people reason to attend a baseball game this summer.

A very good friend of ours, Brent High, founded Third Coast Sports in conjuction with Third Coast Artist Agency, both based in Nashville, TN. They have found a way to combine two of America's favorite events, baseball games and concerts into one amazing event. I encourage you to visit their website to find out more about their beliefs, values and visions for the future.

I have had the opportunity to work closely with the Faith Night events in the past, and personally believe that it is an amazing opportunity for Christian churches to use as an outreach event for the entire community.

Sunday was a great time for Chad and I to catch up with some friends, and to support Third Coast Sports in their efforts to bring these outreach events to a city near you. For a full schedule or the remaining 2007 events click here.

Here are a few photos I took of the band that took the stage on Sunday, Hawk Nelson. To see additional photos from past events taken by the staff at Third Coast Sports click here.

Tupiov

Don't even try to Google it because as I found out this weekend at a dinner party hosted by my sister and brother-in-law that this is in fact a made up word. They enjoy taking the run of the mill dinner party and switching it up a bit. The basic gist of this occasion is that they provided a very nice set up including three tables for two (there were three couples), yummy appetizers and drinks, and a sit down 8 course dinner.

When we sat down at our respective tables, were asked to fill out a sheet complete with 8 courses, only the catchy part is that the 8 courses were all in a made up language just as the name of the dinner party, Tupiov. We were each to fill out our own sheet, without "borrowing" any answers from any of our neighbors. Once our answers were turned in, my sister Laurie, the Executive Chef for the night, and my brother-in-law Adam, the matrade for the night, began to bring out the courses in the order we selected them. The 8 courses were as followed: knife, fork, spoon, bread, salad, main dish, desert, and of course the mint and toothpick.

Now if you have an imagination, you can see how it may be if you were served the main course first, without any silverware! Thankfully, nobody did that exactly, but my first two choices were the knife and the main dish....so you guessed it, I ate my pasta and chicken with a knife....it just gave me a good excuse to slurp my noodles.

Here is a picture of the my main course, and my trusty butter knife! It was a fun night with some family, and hats off to the hosts who threw a wonderful party.

Construction Progress

Well, there has been quite a bit of progress from the concrete and stacked wood that I posted previously. We have driven by quite a few times in the past few weeks to check the progress but have only been able to stop and look when the workers have gone home for the day...from the looks of it they are working long hours over there to complete the home prior the the year 2008...that is their goal, but you never can predict with construction.

Here are a few photos updating the construction....it is starting to actually look like a house!


Our garage door will be the one on the left in the picture. We will only have to share walls with one neighbor which will be nice.

This is a view of the side which will be a grassy area and lead to our front door.

Front door leading to first floor w/ one bedroom and one bathroom.

This is a view of the fourplex that our unit is a part of. Our home is the one farthest from us on the end.

Staris connecting the first and second floors!

The is the very beginning of the third floor which will consist of two bedrooms and two full bathrooms.

Just a picture of Chad that I shot as he was looking out from the second floor.

5 Hours in the ER and 30 stiches later...

Chad has a smile on his face as he is relaxing at home. Unfortunately, this came after a very scary accident suffered earlier in the day. Chad and I had planned to spend our Saturday cleaning up the house as we had not done a good deep clean in a while. We had an event free weekend so we figured there was no better time. Chad was helping out by cleaning in and around the shower when all of the sudden the glass door on our shower shattered and fell to the ground and on top of him. To spare the minute by minute details, Chad basically ended up on a floor full of glass with cuts on his head, arms, and legs and consequently a trip to the ER.

Once we got to the ER we were reassured that none of his cuts were too threatening so they took him in the back to clean him up a bit and we were then in for a long wait in the waiting room....to my joy Chad was in good enough spirits to convince the security in the lobby to change the TV to the Cubs game! That made our stay there go by somewhat faster and more smoothly, especially considering the the Cubs won the game 6-2.

As we sit here today enjoying our Sunday we feel thankful that the injuries suffered by Chad were fairly minor. He ended up with cuts all over his body, about 30 stitches with most of them in his head, and a few scattered throughout his arms and legs. I can honestly say that seeing Chad in that condition was by far the worst and most scared feeling that I have ever had in my life. It is so cliche to say, but we often take our day to day lives and our loved ones for granted, and an incident like this reiterates that we should treasure each and every day and the people that we love.

To give the story the happy ending that it eventually had, Chad is feeling well and we have spent today relaxing, watching some baseball, and fitting in the wonderful Sunday nap.