Mr. End-My-Sentences-With-A-Preposition Man Vs. Run-On-Sentence Boy

Exercise Report: 4 miles / 100 crunches / 100 curls / 50 push-ups.

My sister-in-law Kelly celebrated her birthday today. Also, my sister-in-law Kate's mom celebrated her birthday, too. Happy birthday to them!!!

In just a couple months, December 6th to be exact (which on a side note happens to be my brother Eric's 32nd birthday and if that isn't weird then you should know all three of his kids are born on March 14th. If that isn't weird, then you're hard to please) I'm going to be celebrating my 30th birthday. 30 years. I can't believe it. I remember thinking 30 was old when I was 18 and in my first year of college. At that age I thought I could practically live another whole life before getting to 30. Well, now I realize I lived that whole other life...and it passed in the blink of an eye. (I dig cliches.) At 29 approaching 30, I'm much more cogniscent of how quickly life moves. However, there has been so much joy and pain in the last 11 years. I add pain, because I'm a big believer in the joy that comes from suffering. Not that I'm sadistic, but a little trial and suffering, or however much God allows, helps me keep perspective on the good things that I am given.

Two years ago, when I went to Nicaragua to help some dentists with the Rainbow Network (www.rainbownetwork.org), I remember seeing women sweeping their houses and yards with a broom. Of course, the house and the yard was dirt. No grass, just dirt and that's how they wanted it. Because of the lack of available medicine and doctors, having grass was a matter of life and death. With grass came chiggers, spiders, misquitos and other insects we take for granted here, but there could cause death from infections or viruses that we can easily treat here in the US. And because of the poverty there was no chance of mowing so unless the grass was cut by hand it would grow to attract other things like snakes and rodents that carry disease.

I've had some serious bouts of poison ivy in the last 15 years. Sometimes with my whole body covered in infected blisters (I hope you're not eating) with puss oozing constantly and the itching a level of torment I can only imagine belongs somewhere evil. It was during those times that I prayed the hardest for God's protection and relief. It was during those times that I realized how much I had taken my good health for granted. Anyway, you get the point. I've enjoyed the good and the bad that I've been given over the last 29 years. Sometimes I couldn't understand why something was happening only to recognize the lesson a little while down the road. The good speaks for itself. I have an amazing wife with a baby on the way, a wonderful family, and a group of friends that I'm constantly thanking God for. (From now on just call me Mr. End-My-Sentences-With-A-Preposition Man. It's a superpower beyond my control.)

Over the last 11 years I have met many incredible friends. I want to say thank you to 2 of those friends tonight. I met both of them 11 years ago during my first year of college. Alan and Chris are almost as close to me as brothers. We've had a level of committment and trust in one another that I've only known family to have. We've done so much together I won't even begin to make a list (to sum it up we survived Amway together, travelling 20+ hours straight together in a car and living nearly 3 hours apart for the last 8 years). My thanks is simple to them, because if they are reading this, after 11 years I pray they know how much I value their friendship. Thanks for being constant friends and 2 guys I know I will be able to lean on for decades to come!