And My Vote For President Goes To…

… Merv Stoltzfus! 

I believe Merv is the man who can reach across the aisle and bring this country back together.  As we look ahead to the future, President Stoltzfus can lead this nation through our current troubles with his wise and discerning leadership.

Plus, he’s a good friend and our Conference Minister.

Here’s a picture of my vote for Merv on the screen of the voting machine.  It’s a little blurry, but what can you expect with a cell phone camera snapping a shot of a computer screen?

Here I am campaigning for the candidate.  If the sign looks a little cheap and poorly made, that’s because the campaign budget was only 53 cents.

May the best man win!

Published in: on November 4, 2008 at 5:36 pm  Leave a Comment  

Shorebirds & Zooperstars

Last weekend Carolyn and I went to a Shorebirds game.  It was the first time I’ve seen them lose this year.  It was a pitchers’ duel until the end of the game when the Shorebirds allowed runners to score from third on a passed ball–twice in a row.  But it was still fun.

Between innings we were entertained by “Zooperstars“–inflated animal characters with names similar to famous baseball personalities.  For instance, there was a large cow named Cow Ripken and a clam named Clammy Sosa.  But my favorite had to be Harry Canary, who sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh innning stretch.  Here he is (this one’s for you, Dad):

There were a couple little boys sitting behind us who were really funny.  They were having the best time, and they completely cracked up laughing at everything the Zooperstars did.  At one point one of the boys rolled up his game program, looked through it like a telescope, and announced to his friend: “Look, I made a stethoscope!”  That was even funnier than watching them boogie to the Chicken Dance.

Published in: on June 19, 2008 at 6:37 am  Comments (1)  

Cinderella’s New Palace

About a month or so ago Carolyn got a tadpole for her classroom.  As I’ve mentioned before, the kids decided to name the tadpole Cinderella.  (The girls in that class outnumbered the dudes 14-8.)

Poor Cinderella seems to be developmentally challenged.  She’s never changed.  At all.  In fact, the last day of school, one of the little boys tried to convince Carolyn that Cinderella was actually a fish.  Carolyn tried to convince him that Cinderella really is a tadpole.  Neither could persuade the other to change their view.

Well, now it’s summertime and Carolyn and I, for the first time since we got married four years ago, have a pet.  Here’s Cinderella in her new room in the palace:

Seriously, she really does have her own room.  She lives in what was our guest room.  Now it’s Cinderella’s room.  Here’s an aerial view of her tadpole castle:

I suppose it’s possible she has some kind of growth problem and will always be a tadpole.  That’d be kind of nice, actually.  Feeding her tadpole pellets is a lot less disgusting than having to feed her live crickets.

So if Cinderella is already a princess, and she turns into a frog, what would she then turn into if you kissed her?  Not that I’m considering it or anything.

Published in: on June 10, 2008 at 5:45 am  Comments (6)  

Wolf Babies, Among Others

A couple days ago Carolyn and I went to the zoo in Salisbury.  About three or four weeks ago the two wolves there had babies.  We’ve been at least a couple times since then hoping to see them, but were unable to catch a glimpse of them until Sunday.  They never left the den, but once in a while we could see them playing.  This is the best shot we could get of any of them:

Speaking of babies… While we were at the zoo, some baby wobbled by and called me “Da-Da.”  What’s up with that?

In other zoo baby news, here’s a picture Carolyn took of a tiny little baby turtle swimming there:

I know you can’t really tell from the picture, but this little guy is about the size of a Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookie.

One more picture–this dude’s not a baby, but he was quite little:

It was by far the chipmunkiest day we’ve ever had there.  They were everywhere–I’m surprised we didn’t step on any and squish ‘em!

Carolyn was extremely excited about the baby wolves, so I’m sure we’ll be back in the very near future.

Published in: on June 3, 2008 at 5:49 am  Comments (1)  

Put Me In, Coach!

We kicked off the new series “Play Ball!” yesterday at CrossWay.  This is a triplecord series that we’re doing together with the Gathering Tree, SonRise, and the Ocean City Worship Center.

The first part in this four-week series, which we did yesterday, is “Put Me In, Coach.”  We looked at how a typical baseball game has some people in the bleachers, other people on the bench, and still others in the ballgame.  The church is very similar: There are some who just come and sit and watch.  They might cheer on the team but they have no role in helping the team succeed.  There are others who wear the uniform and work out with the team and come to every game, but never jump into the action.  And then there are those who have responded to God’s call to be in the starting lineup on His team.  God’s desire is for everyone to be in His starting lineup!  Those who are in the ballgame are active in helping God’s team to win, to achieve our mission.  Our mission?  To make lifelong followers of Jesus Christ throughout our community and around the world!

Just as a baseball team needs different people doing their part in different positions, so it is with the church.  Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12, and Romans 12 teach a lot about this truth.

At CrossWay, we encourage people to get in the ballgame by making five commitments which will help us achieve the win.  They’re all summed up in our motto: Loving God, Loving People.  Here are the five commitments:

(1) We will love God by worshiping Him with His family.

(2) We will love God by developing intimacy with Him through daily spiritual habits.

(3) We will love people by serving them.

(4) We will love people by building friendships with them.

(5) We will love God and love people by inviting others to participate in the first four commitments.

If everyone at CrossWay were to seriously make these commitments, God would take this underdog team and gain an astonishing victory!

So what do you say?  Put me in, coach!

Published in: on June 2, 2008 at 5:47 am  Comments (3)  

Good Thing They’re Not Graded On Forgery Skills

In Carolyn’s classroom, there are two kinds of kids at the end of the day: walkers and riders.  In older grades the walkers actually walk home, but in kindergarten it just means that their parents pick them up.  The riders ride the bus.  Sometimes a walker will become a rider on a particular day, and sometimes a rider will become a walker.  To switch from one to the other requires a note from a parent.  For some reason, kids sometimes want to make the change on their own.

A couple days ago one of Carolyn’s kindergarten students tried to trick her by presenting her with a handwritten note:

In case you can’t tell, the note says “Collin is a wocr” (“Collin is a walker”).

Obviously Carolyn didn’t fall for it.  But it did give her a good laugh.

Published in: on May 23, 2008 at 8:45 am  Comments (4)  

Shorebirds’ McCurry Dominates

Yesterday was the last day game (except for Sundays) for the Shorebirds, so I went.  Nice to have a job with flexibility–something I make sure not to take for granted!

It was truly a great game!  The guy who started on the mound for the Shorebirds, Cole McCurry, was 0-4 coming into the game and had an ERA somewhere around 5.00 or 6.00.  But he proceeded to strike out 10 batters, walk none, and throw a two-hit shutout over seven innings!  They brought in a closer to wrap up the last two innings as Delmarva trounced Greensboro 8-0.  The Shorebirds hit three early homers to take a nice lead, and Greensboro never threatened.

Here’s a shot of McCurry delivering his tenth strikeout:

Published in: on May 20, 2008 at 12:52 pm  Leave a Comment  

Oooohhhhh Yeahhh

Carolyn’s really been cooking some great stuff the past couple days! Last night she made some delicious Chesapeake Chicken. It totally rocked. Tonight it was chicken enchiladas, followed by a yummy strawberry dessert.

The picture below was taken with my phone in bad lighting–the enchiladas were not actually green:

I wonder what’s up for tomorrow night…. (Carolyn just saw this and said, “Leftovers.”)

[Update: Carolyn saw this picture and is now embarrassed.  But I assure you that the enchiladas looked wonderful and tasted even more wonderful.  Actually, this picture makes me drool....]

Published in: on May 6, 2008 at 7:21 pm  Comments (2)  

Hey, Old People Like Cake Too!

This past weekend Carolyn and I went to Pennsylvania and stayed with Kristen & Michael.  Both of them greatly enjoy the fact that I’m three years older than them, so I’m really excited that they have now entered the 30 club.  Unfortunately my birthday falls close enough to theirs to enable them each year to comment on the fact that even though they’re another year older, I’ve still got three years on them.

Anyway, Kristen made a totally delicious chocolate cake for me, and I wonder if she did it just so she could put this decoration on it:

As you can see, she clearly tampered with this decorative headstone to make it say “33″ instead of “30.”  Just in case you can’t read it, right above the “33″ it says “Here Lies My Youth.”

Gotta love those in-laws!

Published in: on May 5, 2008 at 11:55 am  Leave a Comment  

Summer 2008

This summer is shaping up to be a very exciting one!  Our plans for the summer include exactly three things:

(1) Work hard.

(2) Play hard.

(3) Rest hard.

Work hard:

Okay, so Carolyn’s not planning to work too hard, although she probably will anyway because she doesn’t like doing nothing.  She’s helping out with Vacation Bible School at CrossWay, and she always helps out a lot with church stuff during the summer.  So even though she won’t be working at her job, she’ll probably work hard.

My work goals for the summer are pretty ambitious: I’m aiming to complete all my sermon outlines up to summer 2009, and complete sermon manuscripts through the end of 2008.  This will require lots of study and lots of writing, but it’s the target I’m aiming for.

The beginning of the summer will be an intense four-week series called “Play Ball!” that we’re doing with several other churches in June, culminating in a Shorebirds game.  The very next day we kick off Vacation Bible School.

Play hard:

We’ve got some pretty exciting plans for the summer!  They include:

  • A Nationals game at their new stadium.
  • A Yankees game in the Bronx.
  • Something special for our fourth wedding anniversary, perhaps a short getaway to Lancaster, PA.
  • A cookout with all the Hyde clan at my parents’ house.
  • A performance of In the Beginning at Sight & Sound in Strasburg, PA.
  • A couple weeks in Costa Rica.

Rest hard:

Whenever I’m not doing any of that stuff above, you can find me either lying on the beach at Assateague or on the couch with a good novel.

When September rolls around, we’ll get back to normal life.

Published in: on May 2, 2008 at 5:47 am  Comments (4)  
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