What Jonah is Saying an Doing

I don't exactly know why I'm logging on tonight to write on a blogsite I have not touched in almost a year. New year, new things, new commitments I guess. Not quite committing to keeping up with this just yet, but we'll see. The reason I didn't continue writing was not because I lacked material - the past year has been full of joys and challenges both. There's no way to catch you up (if you are close to me, you probably know most of the story anyway), so I'll just pick up with January 7, 2007. Today.

Jonah is now 17 months old. This picture is fairly recent (October or November I believe). My son has grown way too quickly for me. This past week, Cristal and I spent some time in Colorado Springs for a youth ministry conference. We rekindled a friendship with a couple from Chattanooga that we met at the same conference two years ago. They now have a nine month old son. All week I could not stop struggling to remember what Jonah was like at 9 months. And that wasn't even that long ago. But he has changed so much! Every day brings a new adventure to this fatherhood journey. EVERYDAY he does something new that makes me laugh. Tonight he started spinning around in circles, laughing all the way, making himself dizzy. He continues to wrestle with me, spearing his head into my chest as I fall down defeated by this 25 pound little man. His vocabulary is taking shape. His favorite words include: doggy (pronounced "dodgy"), mama, ball, fish which is pronounced "bee" not sure why, and of course NO. But he is now learning to copy words and even understands what most of them mean. He can identify grandparents in pictures, knows their names and can say them. When you ask him to point to his toes, fingers, hair, nose, ears, eyes, tummy and tongue he can do each body part successfully (we are working on booty). He is beginning to run everywhere, not content to walk. He is making baskets on a 3 ft basketball goal which his daddy thought was much too high for a boy of his age and size (you can request the video that could be worth money one day).

Anyway, I could write all night on this subject, but I REALLY don't want to be that annoying dad that tells everyone how great his son is. I guess I just want to be the dad that gets excited about his kids and the joy inside of him can't be contained (and he comes across in a non-annoying way).

More to come.

Snow, Update on Jonah

We have snow on the ground in Fort Collins! Wow!

Most of you (which probably means 5 of you considering the number of people who frequent this blog) are probably wondering what the big deal is. We do live in the Rockies after all, right? Aren't we supposed to see snow? Well, this winter has been mysteriously dry, we've probably received 5 inches of snow thus far and usually by this point, we would have received close to 25 or 30 inches. The funny thing is that the mountains are having record amounts of snowfall which is great for the ski industry (and great for those of us who love to ski), but there must be a wall around 7000 feet becaus we aren't getting much at 5,000. But last night was beautiful to watch as we got about two inches of the pure white stuff. Thank you Lord for snow.

Update on Jonah. First of all, our camera decided a few weeks ago that it was going to quit on us. It's a really nice Canon digital camera that my parents bought us a couple of Christmases ago. Not a good time for your camera to start acting up. After all, Jonah is doing something cool every day that we want a picture of. So I'm taking our sick little camera into Best Buy today, along with my service plan/warranty, to see what they can do for me so that I can get back to capturing Jonah's every move.

Big J went to the doctor yesterday for a six month checkup (he was six months on Feb 4). He weighs 17 lbs, 13.5 oz. (50th percentile for six month olds), I forget his height but it's in the 40th percentile (little chunky) and of course his head is giant (73rd percentile). Basically, we have a beautiful little chunk with a big head (I'll get some new pictures on here within the week). He's sitting up easily now, is beginning to teeth, wants to touch everything (and pull it if it's pullable - things like Mommy's hair), and is enjoying foods such as sqaush, bananas, pears, and peaches (all mixed with oatmeal of course). Have you ever seen that commercial where the dad is trying to feed his little baby and the baby doesn't want to eat his baby food so the dad takes a bite in order to convince his kid that it tastes good and ends up almost throwing it up himself? That's not me.

Have a great weekend all 7 of you.

No need to be frumpy yet

If you read the title of this post, you might be wondering what the word "frumpy" means. Well let me tell you.

"Frumpy" is a term used to describe somebody who is dull and unfashionable. If you had been out with me and Cristal last weekend you might have thought us frumpy.

You see, we live a fast paced life. Always on the go. Always hanging out with kids or getting together with friends with little time to prepare our appearance. Or at least that is our excuse.

Last weekend, we went out with a couple of our best friends. Let's call them "Derek" and "Shelli." They are not old, but they are older than us (they are older than 30). They have three kids ages 9, 6, and 2. They also live fast paced lives. "Shelli" juggles three kids' schedules, is active with our youth program, helps lead a lifegroup at church, manages a part-time job, participates in TWO women's' Bible studies as far as I know, finds time to spend with her friends, watches our son Jonah whenever we need her to, and is a wonderful wife who is devoted to her husband "Derek." "Derek" also is a busy guy. He holds down a job that requires him to work 50 plus hours a week, coaches his son's basketball team regularly conducting weekly practices, teaches a Sunday school class, is active in the youth ministry, helps lead a lifegroup at church, plays with his kids, participates in a men's accountability group, and wakes up every morning at 6:30 to pray with his wife "Shelli."

Well, we went with our friends to see "Glory Road" on Friday night. Wonderful movie by the way, but not suitable for young children. I had come from work and Cristal had come from "work." Just kidding, being with Jonah all day and everything else she does is demanding of her. We went to dinner and a movie with Derek and Shelli. And it hit me. Out of left field. Derek and Shelli looked like they had come from a catalog shoot for Gap or the Limited and Cristal and I looked like we had come from a catalog shoot for the local Goodwill. No offense to those who love to wear jeans and sweatshirts 24/7, but next to these guys, we looked like we might have come from a pajama party or something. Or like we needed to go on the TLC show "What NOT to Wear." At least Cristal is good looking enough that it didn't matter that much for her.

After the movie, we picked up Jonah and came home. On top of my chest of drawers sits a small picture album full of pictures taken of me and Cristal before we were married. The album is actually engraved with the words "Before we were married." I don't know why, but I started paging through it, looking at the pictures. The couple in the pictures looked drastically different than what we look like now (and I won't even get into the fact that after looking at these pictures we set weight goals for us and rewards for ourselves when we reach those goals). This couple was well-dressed and looked like anything BUT frumpy.

And it got me thinking. I'm only 25. No need to throw in the towel yet. My friends accuse me of being old because I married earlier than they did and had a kid before they had even dreamed about it. But mark my words - I refuse to be old and I refuse to dress as if it doesn't matter anymore. If our friends who I'll call Derek and Shelli because I like those names can dress well for each other, then I can offer my wife a little more to look at. No need to be frumpy. At least not until Sunday afternoons while I am on my couch watching football. That is where frumpy should stay - on the game watching couch.

Sorry for the randomness of this post.

Choke!

Every kid that loves basketball dreams about hitting the big shot at the end of the game. I used to live this moment in my dreams on my small basketball court behind the house I grew up in. I would come home from school, finish any homework I might have and head outside to shoot for hours, sometimes in the rain. I would shoot for so long that when I got to the dinner table around 6:00, my mom would smell my hands to see if I really did wash them as I had claimed to. I can hear the words even now, "They smell like basketball." And then I would be forced to go to the bathroom, and wash my basketball-smelling hands clean before I could eat supper.

In my basketball "arena" made up of one rattly goal set in concrete with three point and free throw lines painted on, I would practice the art of beating the buzzer, counting down the seconds and giving audible commentary on the play that was unfolding (when you are by yourself you have to be Michael Jordan AND Marv Albert). 5-4-3-2-1...the shot leaves my hand and we all know what happens when you hit it - THE CROWD GOES CRAZY!!! And we all know what happens if you miss it - HE WAS FOULED! And then you go the foul line with a chance to win or tie and send the game into overtime. I never lost. I always found a way to win. Whether a fan threw an object at my ball while it was in the air or a flying squirrel jumped in the path of my ball or there was a lane violation or even several consecutive lane violations if I wasn't making my free throws that day, I always won.

Well, I never made it to the NBA, but I still love basketball. I am playing this season with another church in Ft Collins in a competitive church basketball league. I guess you could say I am the leader of the team. Well, we have played two games - let me tell you briefly about our last game. If you've played basketball for a while, you might know that feeling of what basketball players and fans alike call "being on fire." This is how I started this game. I hit my first five shots of the the game - four of them threes. Everything that left my hand felt like it was going in. Basketball players will know the feeling I'm talking about. I had 15 points midway through the first half and my team was ahead by about a half a dozen points. Our opposition was much younger and in much better shape, so despite my being "on fire" they were hanging with us. Well, with about 7 minutes left in the first half, I came down hard on my heel while trying to jump to intercept a pass thrown the length of the floor. I still have a deep bruise on my right heel as a result. I guess the cushion in my shoe just gave out or something, but it hurt. I lost all rhythm and had trouble making a shot the rest of the game, much less creating one. Being tremendously out of shape in Colorado altitude did not help either. The game was close until the final buzzer sounded.

I will never hit a game winning shot in an NBA game as I used to dream, but I will get a fair amount of chances to win church league games. With about 6 seconds left, we were down two points. Somebody set a pick for me up top and I drove to the basket and drew a foul hard enough to ensure that my shot attempt would not see the bottom of the net.

Two free throws upcoming. Chance to tie the game and send it into overtime. Was 2nd in the county in free throw percentage my junior year of high school. I can handle this right?

First shot up.....

No good. Rimmed out.

Second shot up.....

No good. BUT WAIT! Ref blows the whistle. Lane violation! (Childhood dreams coming true?)

Yes! I've got another sho-

Oh.

Lane violation on the shooter. That would be me. Game over.

Meet Wes Kohring, master choke artist who needs work on free throws and needs to be running in the gym so that he isn't halfway dead at the end of a basketball game played at 5,000 feet above sea level.

The Ministry of Nurture

I've just begun reading a book by a guy named Duffy Robbins called The Ministry of Nurture. I picked this book up the other day in the bookstore because I have determined this year to really really focus on helping the kids in my youth ministry start owning their own faith. Admittedly, I've been frustrated at the apparent lack of growth in my kids' hearts. This book has me wondering if I should be discouraged at all.

I am very results oriented. I was reminded of this fact the other night during a meeting with our adult education committee. Sounds boring and truthfully, I thought the meeting would be boring as well. However, we somehow got to talking about a brand new church paradigm and it got me really excited. Finally, one of our shepherds asked us to be in prayer about what we had discussed and adjourned the meeting a little abruptly. Now I'm not one that gets excited about meetings but I could have talked about this for hours on end if I thought it was going somewhere. And it still might. But I left a little frustrated because I wanted a solution, and I wanted it NOW. I wanted something to happen quickly. I didn't want to go home and pray. I wanted us to decide what direction we were going to take that night. This brings up several other topics related to the weaknesses in my faith, but for now I tell you that story just to communicate how much I enjoy seeing results quickly.

This happens in youth ministry. I want to see kids grow and I want to see it now. I guess I'm selfish and faithless in that way. I guess in order to feel like I'm doing a good job, I have to witness the huge leaps that our kids are taking in their lives with God and then I'll be validated or something. Shame on me...

Spiritual transformation is a process. Progress is a process. That's not so revolutionary to anyone who knows anything about Christianity or Christian development, but I forget it. I love our kids and most of the time my desire to see them grow does not come from a selfish desire for me to feel good about what I am doing. I genuinely want to see them flourish in Christ. Robbins' book is reminding me about the baby steps that we all take towards a stronger faith and that sometimes it is hard to see and that in fact, we may never see the fruit of what we do as youth workers. It may be years down the line before something makes sense or something finally clicks in their heart and they start to "get it."

That said, I'm renewing my commitment to one on one discipleship. The great thing about our youth ministry is that it is small enough to be extremely relational. I can have a relationship with each kid. I probably can't mentor every kid as much as I'd like, but I can put emphasis on my student leaders and ask my other adult leaders to help fill in my gaps. The goal of youth ministry is spiritual growth in the lives of teens. That their journeys with God would not be something compartmentalized, not just a "component" of their life, but their entire life. That is what I am trying to instill in our kids hearts. Something huge. Something holistic. Something that will transform every ounce of their being. My calling can be tough (this week has been tougher than most), but I rest and trust in the fact that God is using me in ways that he shouldn't be. What I mean by that is that he has given me a high calling and I'm not really able to do anything on my own. But he still uses me. To help his kids. What an honor!

Jonah's First Christmas

Our family just returned from a 12 day journey spent visiting friends and family in Tennessee. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing and spending time with everyone, but we were relieved to finally arrive back in good old Fort Collins and excited to sleep in our own beds. The trip was especially taxing on Jonah who did not sleep a wink his first night back (he is now back into his element, sleeping 10-12 hours a night which pleases mommy and daddy very much). Everyone really enjoyed getting to see, hold, and play with Jonah who will be five months old next week. Wow.

Jonah did very well his first Christmas. Mom and dad even had to buy new luggage to get his Christmas presents back to Colorado (we still paid $50 because one of our suitcases was over the 50 lb. weight limit). Pictured above is a nice singing caterpillar. Jonah hasn't gone a morning yet without listening to and watching his new PraiseBaby DVD (thanks Aunt Kasey). Uncle Shelby thoughtfully put together an impressive memory frame complete with the ticket stub and a picture of Jonah at his first baseball game. Grandpa, Nonni, Belew, and Gigi also showered him with gifts. I was commenting to Cristal that next year Jonah will actually understand Christmas (at least the presents part) and he'll be running around instead of just sitting there. Please Lord, no rush.

However, on that note, how fun is it going to be to watch him grow! 2006 is going to be exciting - first steps, first words (we're working on "I love Daddy"), first homerun....(I realize I'm getting ahead of myself). Anyway, we've got a lot to look forward to.

Cristal and I are still feeling good about Fort Collins, Meadowlark, and youth ministry. A lot of people back home ask us when we are coming back home or at least back to the south and to be totally and brutally honest, I just want to be here. My friend's wedding was tough because I don't know when I'll see my college buddies again. Seeing Wes and Leanne briefly was great, but too short. We don't see them enough. Being so far away from friends and family brings sadness to be sure, but following God's calling brings so many rewards that help ease the hurt of being away. And we've been so blessed to make a few wonderful friendships out here. We are supported and loved by so many out here. The Lord is good! I taste his goodness every day! He is leading us. And that gives me a comforting security that nothing else in this world could ever give.

One more tidbit - I am planning on starting on my Masters of Divinity in the fall at Abilene Christian University in Texas. It will take me a good 5-6 years of short one-week courses and online studies, but I am excited about what God will teach me in their program. I want to learn more about God's Word and am hoping that this will help me be a more effective minister - something I want to be for a lifetime.

In the air again

On Thursday I will board a plane for the 7th time this year. Let's review Wes' year in the air.

May - trip to Nashville to officiate friend Ryan's wedding
June - trip to Nashville to be groomsmen in friend Sam's wedding
August - trip to Nashville to be groomsmen in friend Josh's wedding
October 1-3 - trip to Texas to speak at friends youth retreat
October 8/9 - trip to Detroit for weekend family reunion with Dad's side of the family (won the Kohring cup, shot an 84)
November - trip to Nashville to attend Youth Specialties conference (which I really should blog about because it was an incredible mountaintop experience)
December - trip to Nashville which includes being a groomsmen in friend Eric's wedding and celebrating Christmas with Cristal's family in Milan and my family in Knoxville (I think we are going to get to see the Benders as well - Leanne, if you're reading this know that we can't wait to see you guys!)

I don't think I will EVER fly this much in my life ever again. I guess I am just in that season of life where all of my friends are getting married. A few were married last year and I think a couple will be married next year. More flights. More tuxedo rentals. More $$$. But it's a privilege to stand with my friends in these wonderful times.

Let me catch you up a little bit on our little boy. Jonah is growing up fast. He weighs just over 15 lbs. and is much heavier than that when you have to carry him in a carseat - a carseat that Cristal just told me will be too small for him after Christmas. Wow. You really don't understand when people tell you how fast your children will grow until you have one of your own. Before I know it, it will be time to do this whole pregnancy thing again. God help us....

Jonah has become my favorite playmate. Most people don't think I'm very funny, but Jonah thinks that I am hilarious. Sometimes when I call my grown up friends to play they have other things to do. Jonah is pretty much always available. He enjoys wrestling with his daddy (in a really gentle sort of way). He isn't really self-conscious about snuggling either, something I really have a tough time getting my other friends to do. He and I have a lot of fun together. He knows my voice and my touch and that makes me feel good. I'm not just a face to him anymore.

Cristal is an incredible mother. And Jonah knows it. He can't take his eyes off of her. He's developed his first crush. They've got some red head connection (that's right, Jonah's hair is coming in a little red - God help me with two red heads in the house!) No seriously, Cristal is such a wonderful, caring and selfless mother. I shouldn't be surprised because that is one of the reasons I married her - I knew she would love my kids unconditionally and always put them above herself.

We found out just about a year ago that Jonah was on the way. Can't believe it's been a year. We love our little boy. We are having fun watching him grow although we DO wish he would slow down a bit! He is healthy, beautiful (see his mom), fun to cuddle with, sweet (unless he's hungry), and he loves Jesus. I can already tell.

Sleepy

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't posted in a while. The fall has been crazy and I have not kept up this blog at all. Hopefully most have you have seen pics of Jonah anyway through email and grandparents.

This picture of Jonah isn't even all that current. Our pictures are all downloaded on our new computer at home, but I haven't taken the time to download them onto this computer at work yet.

Jonah is incredibly active and growing. He laughs all the time, even at me. In fact, especially at me. He must think I look really funny or something. He is very happy. Mom and dad are very happy too, not only because we have the most beautiful and wonderful baby in the world, but because that same wonderful little boy is sleeping through the night! Yes, 10 hours at most. Woohoo!

Jonah is also beginning to talk. He said "Daddy" the other day.

Not really. We're not that advanced yet. But he is walking.

Not really.

But soon. Kind of a scary thought. As I sat rocking him last night after his last feeding of the day, I really noticed how big he's gotten. People tell you all the time that kids grow up so fast. I started imagining him at 3, 10, 18, and 25 years of age. I'm sure it blows my mom and dad away to see me with a child of my own since memories of rocking me to sleep are still very vivid in their minds. It just hit me how much I ought to cherish every second with him the way he is. He will be a daddy one day and that day will come all too quickly. It was enough to bring a tear to my eye last night.

God, thank you for my precious son. I can't imagine loving anything more.

P.S. I will put some new pictures on my blog soon and try to keep you updated more frequently.