This past month has been very busy as I have been out of town in either Memphis or Minneapolis every week. Fortunately, I am rarely out of town for more than two or three days but those days are still tough on the family and I feel like I miss an awful lot.
On July 22nd, while the Indiana Lesnets were in Ohio for "cousin camp", our church became one church in two locations. Genesis Church of Noblesville now has a second location off of Old Meridian in Carmel. We did a "soft launch" to run through a few Sunday mornings to make sure everything was working correctly as we worked towards our official launch date of August 19th. It has been fun going to church and knowing most everyone there and therefore knowing who the visitors are. We have had several folks start coming to our new location before the official launch date and they keep coming back. It is nice to see how the way that Genesis is unique is exactly what some people need in Carmel.
For the week of July 30th, I was in Minneapolis for a couple of days for business. I was happy to be in a more familiar city and excited because I have some friends in Minneapolis that I was going to see. A man who has been a great mentor to me in my career lives up there and we were going to hit a Twins game after work on Monday evening. That was until I got a call from his wife saying that he was going to have to cancel because he had a heart attack. Whoa! Thankfully, he is doing great and hopefully we will be able to get together soon.
That weekend Stephanie and I had a small group reunion with some of the members of the group we were in back when we were members at Common Ground Christian Church. We had a great time hanging out with some old friends that we don't see often enough.
The following week, it was back to Memphis again for a few days. This time, I took a picture of the view from my office. Memphis really isn't the greatest city ever but the view from my office is pretty sweet. You don't see very many barges floating up the White River here in Central Indiana.
At the end of the week, Kai tested for his orange belt at Tae Kwon Do. He did a very good job during his testing and it was fun to see how well he stepped up and did a so well even though he was very nervous.
On Saturday morning, the Old Married Dudes Golf Outing teed off for the fourth consecutive year. The Greatest Spectacle in Hacking had another great turnout with 16 dudes showing up and playing a full day of golf. We played several different games including pink ball, wolf, scrambles, and match play. Personally, I have played worse and I have played better but I have rarely had as much fun as I did with these 15 gentlemen.
I would also like to thank my friends at Essig Golf for hosting us at Hickory Stick Golf Course in Greenwood. The past 3 years, Chip and his team has treated us great and treated us to fantastic golf on a terrific course.
When Monday morning came back around it was back to reality and back to Memphis for more working. The staff member that I work the closest with at my client gave his notice so I needed to be down in the Mid-South for a few extra days this week to make sure I know everything that he does.
Usually, I live a pretty boring life down there as I get up, walk to the office, work a 10-12 hour day, leave the office, grab dinner at the hotel, and work a couple more hours until sleepy time. I did that for the first few days I was there but finally I had to break free and live a bit. I asked for a dinner recommendation from the front desk people at the hotel and they suggested some restaurants that I had been to and had no interest in eating at this particular evening. An uber drunk gentleman stumbled up and suggested that I try Gus's, he even said that he would have driven me to it but he was in no condition to drive. The hotel staff was unanimous in agreement so I set off on the 10 block or so walk down to South Front Street.
When I arrived on the scene, there were people lined up out the door to get in to Gus's. The crowd was both racially and socially diverse, which is always the sign of a fantastic place to eat. After a 40 minute walk to the restaurant and a 20 minute wait to be seated and another 30 minute wait for my dinner to show up, I was ready to eat some good fried chicken. Although I was prepared for good chicken, I was not prepared for the amazing awesome epic chicken that was served. WHOA! Yumm! If you ever find yourself in Memphis, go to Gus's.
On my way back to my hotel I stopped by Elvis Plaza to pay my respects to Elvis on the 35th anniversary of his untimely death. It was Elvis Week down in Memphis and I wasn't all too interested in making the pilgrimage up to Graceland for all of the festivities up there but I did spend a little time with this Elvis to pay my respects.
After my time with Elvis, I headed down by the baseball stadium looking to get a little gift for the boys at the gift shop. To my surprise, I saw a couple of my coworkers that commute down to Memphis every week going in so I tagged along. It was nice to spend some time with other people instead of spending another quiet night working in my hotel room.
The Memphis Redbirds have a very nice park but they don't have particularly dedicated fans as there couldn't have been more than 1,000 people in their rather large ballpark. It was a great night for upgrading your seats and seeing the entire ballpark. Oh yeah, good guys lost in a yawner.
I returned from The River City in time to take Kai to his promotion ceremony for Tae Kwon Do. Kai was so excited to get to class and get his shiny new orange belt.
Orange Belt!!
This past weekend was rather unusual for us. We had nothing on the schedule, so we filled it up with a trip to The Indiana State Fair. It was near the end of the fair so most of the live stalk was gone but there was a lot to see and do. We saw some farm animals including an ox and we were able to see a dairy cow get milked. We spent some time checking out the antique tractors, eating yummy food, and riding some ponies.
In the International Center, they had an Italian theme this year and part of that was a puppet show. Kai really liked the show but Stephanie, Eli, and I weren't such big fans. Kai even wanted to stay after the show and make this here mask.
Sunday was a great day that was filled with Sunday morning church, a nap, some play time with Master P, Special K, and their little sister Baby A. We had some hamburgers on the grill which Eli was loving. Look at that winning smile!
I would like to take a quick second to thank Stephanie for doing such an amazing job with the boys while I've been working out of town. Although Stephanie and I have always had jobs that have required a lot of hours and stress, we have not had to travel very much since we have became parents. Stephanie is doing a fantastic job holding down the fort while I'm hanging out in different cities. Thanks love, I am so proud of you and thankful that you are such an amazing mom to our boys.
The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them. Numbers 23:21b
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