School was cancelled this morning due to fog, so I started the morning by taking my wife out to breakfast at Bob Evans. Good stuff.

After breakfast it was off to the church for a full-day. I’ll be back in the office tomorrow morning and all-day – tomorrow is theVINE worship service!

An update on the foyer upgrade:

New signs!

Carpet is DONE (in the foyer!) and the wallpaper gets put up starting on Monday!

After work this afternoon, Jess and I were invited to spend the evening with the Stivers – for Bailey’s birthday we hit up the Ft. Wayne “Chuck E Cheese’s” for some birthday-fun!

I love that logo

Bailey – Chad and Mary’s son.

Malorie – Chad and Mary’s daughter.

Of course I had to play some games after eating my pizza!

After playing 100-tokens worth of games, each kid has a cup full of tickets. This new-fangled machine is INCREDIBLE! It actually “eats” the tickets and counts them for the kids and then prints out a receipt that is redeamable at the counter for hundreds of kid-toys (most of which I would’ve been happy to own).

Story about this picture: the boy in the front of this picture is unknown – his noises and facial expressions while “trying” to play this game (he had no coins) were hilarious. Hilarious enough for me to snap photos of him and hilarious enough for the kid behind him to actually put a coin in for him to play!

Remember my beautiful picture the other day that looked like the most beautiful wintery snowscape you’ve ever seen? It looked like this:

Guess what!

Today on my way to Harrison for tonight’s Harrison vs. Sacred Heart game, I saw this:

A new subdivision going in across the road OR anti-tree lovers? Honestly, as I drove by, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing – tree after tree was GONE!
After turning around and taking that photo, I headed to Jess’ classroom to take in the last bit of “show and tell” and then hit the gym to take in the game! My favorite picture from the game:

Coach Helfrich, coaching.
After the game (Huskies won 36-19), I took my wife to Applebee’s for supper. After supper I snapped this photo:

Welcome to 2005, I guess – can you believe Long John Silver’s now accepts debit cards!? Wonder what’s next!

As most of you know, “theBOX” is the name of my youth group. Last night we had another “Sound Advice” episode – this time with two songs.

“Sound Advice” is a time where we actually listen to a song that is currently on the radio and read the lyrics that I have typed and printed for each teen in a handout. I intro the song and the artist that performs it and then we listen while reading the lyrics. After the song, we discuss the song as a group to see if there are any “spiritual implications” associated. Obviously, the discussions are pretty exciting.

Last night’s songs: U2’s “All Because of You” and Ashlee Simpson’s “Pieces of Me”.

Good times.

Today I’ve done a lot of Outdoor Life Network-watching! I think if I never get to hunt another day in my life I could just sit and watch this channel instead.

Today’s excitement: Pennsylvania Elk (Pennsylvania has elk?!), Pronghorn Antelope, and of course some deep-sea fishing!

What’s really hurting right now is seeing a little 12-year-old having the opportunity to shoot at some Pronghorn.

He just got one… (@ 235 yards!)

I need to shoot a squirrel.

Last night was the Purple/Gold family basketball game at Harrison Elementary (where Jess is a first-grade teacher).

A good time was had sitting in the stands, watching a couple of my buddies “hoop it up” on the court. Craig scored the first 9-points (three 3-pointers!) for the GOLD team, and both Matt Hunter & Chad Stiver scored during the evening.

It wasn’t a game where there was a definite “winner” and “loser”, so who knows which side actually won!

During “halftime”, the “JUSTICE LEAGUE” (plus some extras) came out in full costume-glory. Mr. Polston (principal) was Superman, and our own Craig Helfrich was Robin.

I was hoping to visually compare Craig’s look with that of a certain anti-family hip-hop artist named Slim Shady.

Couldn’t find a picture to compare the two, so here is a picture of “my buddy and me.”

Look at what I got to enjoy on this first day of February:

I hope your February is as exciting and God-filled as mine will be!