Summer is Nearly Here

Morning friends! It has been over a month again since I have taken the time to post. In true form, I awoke early this morning to work out, stopped at the computer to send a quick e-mail and here I am. I took the time to check in on some friends' blogs and decided to provide an update. The Roose's are entering the summer schedule. The kids finish school this Friday at 1:30 and Becky finished work last Friday at 5:00. I have to keep working. :(

Harrison has 3 baseball games left. He plays tonight and has 2 rain-outs to make up. He may have a tournament game or two also, depending on how we finish in the rankings. It has been a very busy May. The kids have been working on school projects, baseball and softball games, yard work, garden work....the list seems to never end.

We celebrated the Memorial Day weekend by running around alot. Friday night we spent a couple of hours at the campground with friends. Saturday I rode my bike down to farmer's market downtown with some friends, then came back and worked on the landscaping for 3 hours, then headed to a couple of graduation parties. Sunday, I worked infant nursery at church (extra crying from kids b/c they don't expect a man there), we went to my mom's for lunch with my mom, dad and brothers' families, to another grad party, then back the campground at night with friends. Yesterday, we began our day with our typical Memorial Day traditions that our kids have come to love. We went for a late breakfast to IHOP where we tip the waitress alot extra for working on the holiday. Then we travel to a cemetary to remember the true reason why we have the day off from school and work. This is always a meaningful time for the kids and us too. Then we came home to finish our 2 hours of landscaping projects, then had friends over for bbq! I can't really say that I had a relaxing weekend! However, I wouldn't change it a bit as there were many memories created for everyone involved.

I hope this finds you in good health and spirits as you enter June. God Bless.

Make it a great day friends!

Time Keeps on Ticking.....

Hey friends! It's been a while...a long while. This new job has limited my blogging capacity. I am really enjoying the new gig. I am learning alot every week and feel confident that I will be ready to go when this training period is over.

We've been busy at the Roose house. Harrison has started baseball which consumes 2-3 days/week at 2 hours a pop. I have been an assistant coach on his team for the past 4 years or so. My friend Mark and I are a good team together. It's going to be a fun year. The boys are getting older and it's starting to feel like real baseball. No more coach pitch this year...only in the cage. The boys have a long way to go, but I know that by season's end they will be that much better. That's what makes it fun.

The kids are winding down the school year. Harrison gets to go to speech meet this Friday. He memorized a passage of Scripture and will present that to judges at a regional speech contest. He continues to play piano and sing every spare minute too. Justin Bieber is his latest fav, especially the song featuring Ludacris. That's my boy...a hip-hopper heart in a white boy's body. Oh well, we will see how that turns out.

Kennedy will be playing softball again this year too. She starts later and her season goes a bit later through July. She is really growing up. I love that the kids are getting more independent, but hate that I can't hold them on my lap as well as I used too.

The adults in the house remain busy with church, youth group and chasing the kids around. I am really excited about spring and summer after this long, nasty winter. The signs of life around us outside lifts my spirits.

Well this is all for now. Hope everyone had a blessed Easter. He lives!!

Make it a great day, friends.

A New Chapter Begins

Happy Monday morning friends! Today I begin a new chapter in my career. I have my first day of work at ICE Technologies, Inc. I will be selling IT solutions to community based hospitals and will be based here out of Des Moines. For those of you who have followed my job search and prayed for me....thank you. It was a wild journey where God worked on my heart and convicted me of a few things, mainly that He is in control. I knew that, but it is harder to remember when everything is going well. I praise God for this new opportunity and will work hard to be a good steward of the job He has provided. Continue to pray for a smooth transition friends. Make it a great day!

Life Lessons

I have learned a lot during my job search. I have learned that relationships are more important in life than jobs. I have learned that the ups and downs emotionally are wearing. I have learned to trust God more. Over the past years, God has placed different songs on my heart during different times of struggle. The past few months, one particular line from TobyMac's Lose my Soul keeps coming back to my mind, "Father God, I am clay in your hands......" Humor me and listen to the rest of the song. There is some really good perspective there. See, a reality is that my pay could go down during this time of job change and tough economy. That's hard on a man's ego. I'm the provider. I've worked hard to build my job/career to this point. Would God really want me to make LESS? Maybe. Probably. See money isn't his greatest concern. It's my soul, and my wife's soul, and my kid's souls and my friend's souls. THAT is what God cares about. Make it a great day friends!

Valentines Daddy Daughter Dance

Hey friends! The job search continues. I hope to know something about a couple of positions by this weekend. It feels good to have activity after a very slow January. Last Friday night my smallest princess and I went on our first annual Valentine's date. Lutheran Church of Hope puts together a great evening for dads and our little girls. Here are some of the pictures. We had dinner at Macaroni Grill before heading for the dancing part of our date. She was beautiful. Daddy dedicated our song by Tim McGraw, "My Little Girl" and we had a great time. Make it a great day!

My January Therapy

Hey all! It's been a while since I posted. January was an interesting month. Nothing on the job front and lots of work in my kitchen. It honestly has been therapeutic. It gave me purpose. It kept me busy. The fumes kept me high. Whew, they were nasty at times. Lots of paint! I painted the cabinets and put new hardware on and then my bride and I painted the walls of the family room and kitchen the same color, then I painted the built ins in the family room. Finally, I put new switches in the kitchen including a dimmer on the can lights. We love it! Here are the pix.
Make it a great day, friends!

Let There Be Light

I'm dead serious about this kitchen project. You see, you can only look for a job so much in a given day and my wife is convinced that keeping me busy is the next best thing. So, after resting on the Sabbath, I dug in yesterday and put in the can lights. Mid-afternoon, I nearly put the project on hold, but two trips to the attic later, voila......lights. The pictures below don't indicate the back pain I feel from walking on the 2x6's across my attic with 4 ft of clearance. I'm not tall, but I am taller than 4 ft and not the most flexible. That 2nd trip up there was guaranteed to be the last one. Can't wait to get the cabinets painted!

Radical Transformations

This job search is bound to make a change in who I am. These major changes in life always do, right? So to overcompensate for my depressing week last week in the job hunt, my wife and I decided to go radical. Some of you know that our dream is to makeover our kitchen/family room into a large updated kitchen. Sitting here last week realizing that the savings account is going down rather than up, and realizing that our dream is many moons away, we decided to make our kitchen more enjoyable...NOW. So, I spent the better part of Saturday re-organizing the kitchen cabinets and pantry (not my wife's strong point), and down came a set of cabinets. We have not liked those things since we moved in, from the fact that you can't cook in the kitchen and see your guests in the family room, to the bright fluorescent bulbs shining in your face when you look toward the kitchen. Here are the before and after pix. Thanks to my friend Tyson who came to help me move the heavy things. We love it already and haven't even painted yet. Just wait! Can lighting and paint for the walls and cabinets this week! So, the kitchen and I can go through the radical transformation together. Make it a great day!

God Spoke at Church Again Today.....To Me

It's been a tough week. While I have been a finalist for 3 jobs recently, I realize that I won't likely get an offer from any of them. I will spare you the details how I learned this (it definitely has NOT been from the companies), but at any rate, it's a depressing way to start the new year. Then I went to church this morning. Keep in mind I was really in no mood to go to church this morning, but I knew that God would meet me there right where I'm at....He always does.

So, the message this morning was from Exodus 2, the familiar story of Moses getting left in the reeds by the Nile river. Today the story had a little different twist than other times. Remember how Pharoah's daughter came to find the little boy in the basket? Those of us who know the story well, get warm fuzzies remembering that part of the story as the rescue. Imagine being present (as sister Miriam was) when this happened though. It was likely the WORST thing that could have happened. You are kidding me! What luck. Pharoah has decreed that all baby boys be drowned in the Nile and now his daughter is the one to find Moses? Things can't get worse. Yet we know that the story unfolds to allow Moses' mother to nurse him and even get paid by Pharoah's daughter to do it. Seriously? So the one step back in having Pharoah's daughter show up, actually turned out for good?

Pharoah's daughter visited me this past week. It was clearly a step back in my job search. It was depressing. It has been a time of anxiety. Money is finite. Benefits are ending this month. God is really working on my dependence on Him, and most days I fail. But, everyday I'm given the choice: Am I going to be positive and depend on God, or be miserable and depend on myself. I woke up this morning bummed out and depending on self and at worship, God said, "Cut it out...this step back this week is only to prepare you for what I know lies ahead for you." OK, God I will depend on you more today and I am choosing to face the day with a positive attitude and reliance on You.

Make it a great day, friends!

Happy New Years!

Back to the routine today. The kids are off to school and my wife is back to work. The kids were ready to go back....the wife, not so much. I am very hopeful that I hear about a job this week. We had a great two week break. The kids played well, watched movies, played games and spent a couple of nights over at the grandparent's houses. Good memories. We ate too much and spent time with friends and family...one of our favorite past-times. So, today we start the New Year with resolutions that may or may not be kept, but a hope that 2010 will be one of the best yet. I hope it is for you too!