Please Pray!

AUGUST 29

I am asking for all of you that read this blog to pray for a friend of mine. Klint Pleasant was the ACU men's basketball coach for three years. With Shawna as the women's coach, I got to know Klint and Rachel fairly well. Klint resigned last summer to take a position in administration at Rochester College in Michigan to be closer to family after the birth of their daughter.

Last week, Klint and Rachel learned that Rachel has a malignant tumor on her brain that has already effected her vision. Rachel is scheduled for surgery on Thursday. You can read about Rachel on Klint's Blog.

Prayer is powerful and this family needs to be lifted in prayer to our Father.

AUGUST 30 - UPDATE 9:50 AM

It has been determined that Rachel does not have a tumor - rather some sort of lesion that was bleeding on her brain. Yesterday, Rachel had a seizure and was rushed to the hospital. She underwent emergency surgery yesterday and is curently in critical condition. Thank you for remembering this family in your prayers!

Bees!!

I received a call this morning from Rob Cunningham, one of our elders at Highland and my neighbor from right around the corner. Here's our conversation:

Rob: Hey Mark, this is Rob Cunningham.

Mark: Hey Rob, how are you doing?

Rob: Great. I am calling to let you know that Bob Boyer, the gentleman that mows my yard and several of the yards in the neighborhood just showed me a very interesting site in your yard.

Mark: OK (nervously)

Rob: Mark, there are a ton of bees nesting in your tree in your front yard. I have never seen that many bees before except on TV. I thought you should know about it before you or someone walks around the yard and gets swarmed.

Well, I hung up and made a bee-line (ha-ha!) for the house. Before I could even turn into our circle, you could see the bees in the tree. Un"bee"lievable. Below are a couple of pictures.

I called the pest control and they told me they were probably travelling and just used my tree to stop and rest and that they would "buzz" off within 2-10 hours...or 2 days at the latest. He was right. About 11:30 this morning, after I had headed back to work, Bob Boyer said they all rose out of the tree, hovered like a helicopter for 10 seconds, and took off. I learned a lot today about bees. A much different lesson than the one my dad taught me that also included birds!


On a side note, Bob Boyer said he was concerned that me or my daughter or my dog might get stung. Is that a compliment to Shawna for looking so young or a diss on me for looking that old!!

The Simple Life

I like order in my life. I really don't care for surprises. I want to know what to expect each and every day. I am a creature of habit. With that said, here's a sampling into my simple life:

1. I wake up every morning at 5:50 am. Mostly by choice, but sometimes because Domino, our "miniature" dalmatian is ready to eat breakfast.

2. My idea of working out is 50 - 60 minutes on an eliptical machine.

3. I always have either a protein shake or oatmeal for breakfast.

4. I eat almost every lunch (Monday - Friday) with my boyfriends -- as Shawna likes to call them.

5. Tuesday is DQ day. For at least 2 years, we eat at the DQ on I-20 and Ambler. They know us by name and give us randomly large discounts. Their new chile lime chicken strips rock. I am a member of the Blizzard Fan Club.

6. 9:00 pm on Wednesdays used to be 42 night. That lasted for about 4 years. The last 2+ years have been poker night. We took the summer off and I miss it.

7. I read all my friends BLOGs as soon as I turn on my computer in the morning.

These are just a few of the routines in my life. So, you may ask yourself, what prompted me to share that with you. Well, last night, we had our yearly home run hitting contest at Zeta Wells field (ACU's Softball Field). There's just no better feeling than watching the ball sail over the left field fence and dissappear into the darkness on the other side or hearing it crash into the scoreboard with a loud clank! It's just one of those times when I feel like a kid again.

One things for sure about last night. I don't think anyone who witnessed our performance will ask us to submit to random drug testing for steroids!

Simple but fun....just the way I like it.

Vegas and a few random sports thoughts....

Last Tuesday morning, Shawna and I, along with our friends Kevin and Sarah Campbell, headed to Las Vegas for four days and three nights of fun. This was a time to rest and relax and unwind from a very busy summer. Shawna had been on the road for almost 6 straight weeks and Sarah spent the summer travelling all over the country while leading the Highland Youth group as our feerless youth minister.

While in Vegas, we took in three shows: Zumanity and Mystere, both Cirque du Soleil shows along with Blue Man Group. On Thursday morning, Shawna and Sarah spent the better half of the morning being pampered in the Mandalay Bay Spa with massages and steams while Kevin and I parked ourselves in the Race and Sports Book watching and betting on baseball games.

After returning home, I read this article stating that the Las Vegas casino industry won a record 11 billion dollars from gamblers in fiscal 2005 and a record 954.2 million dollars in June alone -- an 11.7% gain over the same month in 2004. I'm just glad I could do my part to contribute to the record winnings by the casinos. It would have been more -- much more -- had Shawna not been there to oversee my gamblings.

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Congratulations to Phil Mickelson on winning another major -- the 2005 PGA Championship. Now maybe Tiger actually has some competition.

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My Texas Rangers may not be playing well but at least I'm not a Kansas City Royals fan! 16 losses in a row and counting.........

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So long Michael Findley (Billy Ocean). Thanks for the memories. While I agree it was the best thing to let you go, why did we have to sign Doug Christie?!?

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Did anyone see that the Rams were only -3.5 for opening weekend against the 49ers? That's some sweet action..easy money..help me Shawna!