Are You Monogamous?

Not in the marital sense of the word - I'm talking about your software. Do you stick with programs that work, or do you "sleep around" with every new software package that comes along?

I only pose the question because I am in a very difficult position. I would say I am monogamous when it comes to the program I use for email. Microsoft Outlook does what I need it to do, it's user-friendly and it interfaces well with everything else I do. So you can imagine my complete horror when my employer was bought out by a corporation still using Lotus Notes.

Needless to say it is the most archaic piece of software I am currently "forced" to use. It took forever to learn, is NOT user-friendly and is not even compatible with some of the more advanced technology in use today. They keep telling us we will be "upgraded" to Outlook in the near future but next week is not soon enough for me...

Of course that brings up the whole Internet Explorer vs. Firefox debate. I'd have to say I'm not so monogamous with my browsers. So I "get around" when surfing. It's not all bad. As a developer you don't have much choice in the matter, but for personal browsing I'd say I am 60% IE and 40% Firefox. IE is the standby, but boy does Firefox have some great extensions for developers. I even have a link in the IE right-click menu that says, "View this Page in Firefox" if that tells you anything...

Holiday Fun

Thanksgiving is gone - Christmas is right around the corner. So of course that means it's time to do all that festive stuff like put up the Christmas tree, the Christmas lights and all those little breakable things that sit in the crawl space the rest of the year...

With three kids it takes a little longer and more things break, but that's what it takes to make memories! The kids couldn't wait to get started and did their best to help us get everything done. Tammy took the girls out shopping for a while and I did other fun stuff like cleaning leaves out of the gutters and raking up the leaves that should have been raked up in early November.

What a day - that's all I can say...

McMullen Photo Gallery

Check out the new and improved McMullen Photo Gallery thanks to the free online photo solution provided by Comcast. It's fairly easy to use so hopefully it will make it easier to create photoshows of recent events and activities...

I Sleep Around

I know the title led you to expect something totally different - shame on you - keep your mind out of the gutter! Anyway, just thought it would be funny to post a picture capturing every parents fun dealing with children and their sleep habits. You know, since every child seems to have his or her own ideas on how, when, where and why they sleep.

Most nights we put socks on the girls then find them on the floor in the morning. Recently we found Rachel in different pajama bottoms in the morning. Once we found Rachel sleeping in the recliner in the family room in the morning. But this picture shows how one night she decided to move her bed onto the floor - pillow, comforter and all. I've heard soft mattresses are highly over-rated these days.

Thanksgiving 2005

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone yet again. Isn't it strange how holidays creep up on us and are then over in a matter of hours? Reminds me of my wedding day - though it didn't really creep up on us, it sure was over in a hurry. I remember Tammy saying, "That's it? We're actually married? Now what?" Of course that's another blog post all together - so back to Thanksgiving...

We had friends and family over to "Papa's house" for an incredible feast and great conversation (along with a little football of course - Go Denver!!!). One thing I am definitely thankful for is that my parents get along with Tammy's side of the family. We've all heard the holiday horror stories about family in-fighting leading to physical aggression, swearing, poisoning and the like...

Tammy stepped up to the plate by taking over the time honored tradition of making eclairs. Fred did the heavy lifting (turkey, stuffing, etc.) and everyone else pulled their weight with the fixings. Thanks mom and dad for bringing the pies again this year.

You'll notice that our video camera just gets stuck on Tyler for some reason, but there are cameo appearances of Allison, Racher, Tyler (cousin Tyler) and Chance. The video doesn't tell the whole story of the day, but when kids are around, the cameras just seem to follow them.

So far, so good! That is until about 11:30 that night. We stopped by Becky, Adam, Jacob and Abby's house to spend some time with them (around 6:30). The kids played and then went down until the big people were through chatting. Then came 11:30 and our world changed dramatically. We heard some strange noises and eventually crying coming from upstairs. When we went to see what was up, we found Tyler covered in puke - head to toe.

This led to impromptu bath time, scrounging for clothing that would fit and a decision to head home rather than hang out any longer. But just to commemorate the fun evening Tyler decided to puke one more time all over himself (and daddy) before making it to the van...

So to sum it all up: We had another great Thanksgiving Day, but an evening we will never forget...

By the way, for those of you that find this funny, here are 339 synonyms for the word puke...

A Weekend Away

As I told you in the last post, Daryl and I got out of dodge for the weekend for his birthday. It was a surprise, he didn't know until Friday night, and even then I did not tell him where we were going. We dropped the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa McMullens house on Saturday afternoon and then headed to Holland, MI. When I was planning this weekend I knew that I wanted a weekend with no agenda. I just wanted to be able to sleep in, hang out and have nothing that we had to do. I just wanted us to be able to spend time as husband and wife instead of dad and mom.

Our weekend basically consisted of checking into the hotel, taking a nap, seeing the new Harry Potter movie, going to dinner, relaxing in a whirlpool right in our room, sleeping in, going to breakfast, and doing some shopping. There were a few other things thrown in here and there but I won't be sharing those details. It was so nice to just hang out and reconnect with each other without distraction. There is just something to be said about getting away with your spouse every now and then without kids. Actually I think it is a must in order to keep a marriage strong. Daryl and I have tried since we got married to keep God first in our lives, to put our marriage before our kids, and to put our family before work and other outside activities.

Thanks for the great weekend Daryl. I cannot wait till our next get out of dodge weekend.

Happy Birthday Daryl

Today is my hubby's 35th Birthday. Yes, it is true he is now closer to 40 than 30. I have been teasing him about this all week and the only reason I can tease is because he is older than I am so I have a few more years before I have to worry about this.

The kids spent the whole day waiting for daddy to get home so we could celebrate his birthday, they could hardly wait. We made him his favorite dinner and then he opened up his cards and presents and then it was time to sing Happy Birthday to him. He is not a big cake fan so I made him a pumpkin cheesecake instead.

Now the kids are in bed and we can have our time. It was a great night and will be a great weekend. My present is yet to come, we are getting out of dodge without kids for the weekend and I cannot wait. Where are we going you might ask? Sorry I can't tell ya, it is a surprise. I just love Birthdays!

Happy Birthday Daryl. We love you!

Why I Don't Listen to Country Music

Those of you that know me (really know me) will probably recall a time in my life when all I listened to was country music. For crying out loud - I had cowboy boots and a cowboy hat (just no place where it was acceptable to wear them...)

Looking back over the years I can recall specific chunks of time in which my music tastes were very exclusive and specific - usually in one of the following genres:

• Christian / Contemporary Christian
• Pop Rock / Hard Rock
• Metal
• Industrial
• Grunge
• Country
• Etc.

I can't really tell you why I exited the country music phase other than to say I grew out of it. The songs on the radio were probably overplayed, and there may have been a new style of music catching my ear at the time. But whatever it was I left and left hard - complete change and didn't look back.

[Present Day] Tammy has been getting back into country - which means if I want to sleep in my own bed, I have to at least pretend to like it when I'm in the car with her. But I think it has been good for me, because it has helped me to identify the reason why I haven't been listening to it!

It's quite simple really - I don't listen to country music because it hits too close to home.

You know - most music is light hearted, fast paced, feeds into your emotions whether happy or angry, makes you feel on top of the world or willing to take it on full force or simply keeps you from having to listen to complete silence...

But country music on the other hand has another element involved. Sure there are the fun country songs like Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under and the "plinkety plunkety plink" old western style country songs, but these are the songs that I'm referring to:

• Skin (Sarabeth) by Rascal Flats: Dealing with cancer in an adolescent girl
• Arlington by Trace Adkins (lyrics here): Dealing with the death of someone in the military
• Believe by Brooks & Dunn (lyrics here): Dealing with conversion to a faith in God
• Jesus, Take the Wheel by Carrie Underwood (lyrics here): Dealing with faith in miracles and letting go of our desire for control

Maybe it's the emotional side of me. Maybe it's because I'm a Social Worker and see the darker side of life every day. Or perhaps it's because I am a Christian whose heart breaks (as does the heart of Jesus) when people suffer and struggle.

Whatever the case, I think that's why I don't listen to country music...as much as I probably should...

Uninformed People Bother Me...

So this dialogue came to our attention quite a while ago, but it actually took me this long to respond. Over the past month or so I have been giving a lot of thought to the comments made here (along with corresponding threads) and to this flash movie (view before reading further...).

First, I understand the basic argument here is where to draw the line when it comes to the use of "worldly" content and practices in the church setting. And the continuum is fairly broad in this regard. There will be churches that stick with the pipe organs and those that incorporate a video clip from the latest Hollywood Blockbuster. But while we may debate the tactics, we should at least agree to be open-minded, honest and willing to understand the others intent instead of spreading rumors and sensationalizing something if we haven't actually experienced it for ourselves.

This is what led me to this post. I viewed the flash movie again the other day. It is entitled: The Church Growth Movie and the basic premise is that our church growth philosophy is to entertain people to fill the seats. Our new Megaplex philosophy keeps the numbers rising but the message is watered down to the point where it is "pointless" according to the movie.

So I thought I'd do a little compare and contrast so these folks will be better informed before any future post about the church they have never attended. Here are just a few of the differences I see between the "Megaplex" and the "Megachurch" I attend:

• I have never been greeted by real and genuine people at the Megaplex.
• I have never had someone help me with parking at the Megaplex.
• I have never had a shuttle pick me up at my car in the rain so I didn't have to walk to the Megaplex.
• I have never been to a Megaplex that offered to take care of my children so I could pay attention during the "entertainment."
• I have never been to a Megaplex that offered to help teach my children about the Bible, Jesus and how to live as a Christ-follower.
• I have never been to a Megaplex that suggested I become involved in helping others take steps toward God.
• I have never been to a Megaplex that had hundreds of people volunteering in key positions so that the "show" could go on.
• I have never been to a Megaplex where the entire focus was on the Bible, God, Jesus or some other component of the Christian lifestyle.
• I have never been to a Megaplex where they offered free classes to help people take next steps in their faith, financial responsibility, knowledge of the Bible, etc.
• I have never been to a Megaplex that encouraged me to put God before my wife, my wife before my children, and my family before my job.
• I have never been to a Megaplex where I was asked to make a decision about the person of Jesus Christ - to stand up in front of hundreds of other people and declare it publicly.
• I have never been to a Megaplex where people regularly give 10% of their earnings and where the money used to build the Megaplex comes from patrons that believe in its mission - not just donating out of public duty, peer pressure or the tax write-off.
• I have never attended a Megaplex that had such an impact on a patron that he or she went home and made so many positive changes in his or her life that family and friends had a hard time recognizing them.
• I have never been to a Megaplex where people are encouraged to meet outside the Megaplex on a regular basis to build positive relationships, encourage each other and discuss the things learned at the Megaplex.
• I have never been to a Megaplex that provided a support group for those helplessly chained to an addiction that is ruining his or her life.
• I have never been to a Megaplex where I can sit next to a complete stranger that is a different gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class or intellectual level than me and we can be on the exact same page, want the exact same thing and have a desire to tell others about the incredible thing we have found.
• And this is a partial list...

I don't have the time to try and incorporate every single incredible thing about our "Megachurch" into this one tiny little post. If you like what you've heard, simply attend a weekend service and see for yourself.

KIDS!!!!!

Okay it has been one of those days. I am about at my wits end with one of my children. Why is it that they feel like they need to test you to see how far they can push you? Then when they hit a certain age not only do they test, but then you also get attitude. Let me just say one thing about the attitude, it drives me crazy and pushes me right to the edge. I thought we had at least 3-4 years before the attitude would start. Why does a 5 year old think it is okay to have attitude and where does it comes from?

It all started today at lunch. We went to lunch at Culvers with Becky, Abby, Debbie and Lexi. Allison could not seem to sit in her seat and act like a 5 year old should. She was up and down out of her seat, knocking things off the table, taking things off of other people's tables and interrupting me about every 10 seconds. I felt like all I was doing was dealing with her. We then leave Culvers and head to Target for a quick trip. She starts to get an attitude because she wants me to buy her a winter hat and gloves and I tell her not today. All she does through the entire store is ask me about the hat and gloves every 10 seconds and then whine about it. Oh and I feel the same way about whining that I do about attitude. So as you can imagine I have about had it. All I keep thinking is I just need to get these kids home and all will be okay. We head for home, pull into the driveway and as I am getting the other kids out of the car she starts playing with the lights in the van. Now, I have told her a hundred times to not play with them. I tell her one more time to leave them alone and what happens but I get attitude. She does not even have to say anything it is just the look that I get. That is all it took, I was done! I then proceed to tell her that she has lost TV privileges and will not be watching any TV for the rest of the day. As you can imagine she was not happy with this. She goes inside mad and I continue to get Tyler out of the car. As I walk in the door I see the TV getting turned off quickly. Okay now I have really had it. I walk into the family room and she is holding the remote with this look on her face, I walk over to her and my hand makes contact with her bottom, you better believe it she got a spank.

Well the fit that proceeded was pretty impressive. I waited till she calmed down a little bit and then I went over and talked to her about it and told her I loved her. I thought this would be the end, but no she continued to cry and cry and ask if she could watch TV. Though it would have been much easier to just give in, because I know the crying would have stopped, I stuck to my guns and told her to find something else to do. If there is one thing that I believe whole heartedly in it is not giving in. She did everything she could to try and get me to give in and there were moments that I thought about it, but then I remembered what my job is as a parent. If there is anything that I take seriously it is raising my kids the best of my abilities.

So there is my day in a nutshell, thank goodness Daryl will be home soon!

File this Under "Eye Opening"

There's just something about this video clip that makes me cringe. I tried to tell Tyler, "Just because you find girls underwear laying around the house (quite often in fact) does NOT mean they should become more interesting to you than your trucks." But he doesn't seem to listen...

And I really don't have anything more to add to that. So I'll let you watch and then give me your feedback. And while you are doing that, I'm going to pull all of the trucks out of the crawl space and put Tyler right in the middle of the pile...

Buckets Of Candy

We now have way too much candy in our house. We like most others spent Monday evening (yeah I know I am a little late) trick-or-treating with our children. Rachel woke up on Monday morning and the first thing out of her mouth was "is it trick or treat day"? They spent the rest of the day asking when it was time.

We got them all dressed up and headed over to the Callenders so the kids could trick-or-treat together. Last year Beck and I got to stay home and hand out candy while Daryl and Adam went with the kids so this year it was the girls' turn. At first I thought no big deal, it is actually pretty warm outside. Well about 45 minutes into it the rain started, by the time we got back to the house we were all pretty wet. The kids did not seem to mind much though. I am sure they were thinking "Rain-no big deal. We have more candy to get". After leaving the Callenders it was off to the grandparents house and then home and to bed, amazingly they fell asleep even though there was sugar running through their veins.

Princess Snow White, aka Allison

Princess Cinderella or as Rachel calls her "Cinderelli".

Spiderbaby, aka Tyler