So it's been a while since I have posted on here, for various reasons. One reason is I got an iPad, so I don't do much that involves a lot of typing anymore (this was definitely not typed on the iPad). Another is that I have two little boys and am just plain busy. The biggest reason, however, is that I have had a pretty horrible last month and at points was physically unable to sit down and type. I'll just warn you now, this is going to be a long one.

A couple months ago, I strained my lower back playing basketball. It felt like muscle pain, so I hit up the chiropractor to get it fixed. The muscle pain was pretty easy to fix, but as that went away, a sharp nerve pain started showing up. Fast forward a month and I had nerve pain shooting down my entire leg to my toes which was causing the muscles in my left hip and leg to clench up and be extremely painful – like a permanent leg cramp in almost every muscle in your leg. Come to find out that my L5 and S1 discs are bulging out and pressing on my nerves, thus the pain.

X-rays, an MRI, and a cortisone shot later (about another month) and I am finally back to functioning like a mostly normal person, except that it is going to take a long time to actually heal. I'm just glad I am not in a ton of pain anymore. I am definitely not out of the woods yet, but I feel like I am finally on the downhill side of this thing (except I have another shot scheduled in a week and a consultation with a surgery doctor next month so we'll see). That being said, I am not blogging about this for sympathy. I just wanted to share that because I have learned quite a bit through this experience.

The first thing I learned was just how blessed I am. Unless I have blocked something from my memory, I can say that there was a period of two weeks (culminating in my birthday of course) that were probably the worst two weeks of my life. I could barely walk. I couldn't get comfortable. I had pain that no amount of drugs could get rid of. I have two little boys that want to wrestle with me and be picked up all the time and I had to keep telling them no. And probably the worst part was I had to watch my wife (who is absolutely incredible by the way) basically be a single mother while I was unable to help her with anything. It was horrible. But then my cortisone shot finally kicked in and I detoxed from Vicodin (really, I had three days of withdrawals when I finally stopped taking it) and I gained some perspective. If the worst thing that has ever happened to you is chronic pain, no matter how excruciating, then you are pretty blessed. I have a wife that can handle taking care of two little boys and a handicapped husband. I have two little boys that actually want to play with me. I had food on the table every night. Nobody died. There are a lot worse things that can happen to you than having chronic pain.

Not only that, but I learned that we have an amazing church family that was totally there for us. Without even asking for help, I had people ask to help with whatever we needed. Some friends came over and helped us finish our garden before it was too late in the season. Other friends cooked us dinner and fixed our drip system. Another friend took care of mowing our lawn, which was totally out of control. This past month has definitely taught me just how big of a deal the little things are to someone who is in need. Honestly, I don't know how anyone survives without sharing their life with other people. I cannot imagine going through life without having awesome friends that I know would do anything for me, just like I would for them.

The most important thing I learned though (or I guess you could say I realized the magnitude of something I already knew to be true) is that I worship a God who understands suffering. On possibly my darkest day of the past month, I read a devotion by Greg Laurie that was discussing that topic. Jesus suffered way worse than I did this past month. He understands our suffering. He gets it. Because let's be honest here, life is amazing and beautiful and fun, but life is also brutal and painful and cold and it beats you down sometimes. In many ways, the better life gets, the more painful it can be. What a joy it is to know that the God of the universe not only loves me and cares for me, but he understands exactly what my suffering is like because he has been there. What a friend I have in Jesus.

So, with thoughts of great friends and family on my mind, I will leave you with the beautiful sounds of Sugarland. (I think these lyrics videos are totally cheesy, but the song is awesome.)

I've always been a big fan of Disney and an even bigger fan of Disneyland. Like everyone else, I watched the price of one day at Disneyland go up and up over the years to it now being $76 per adult. Until this past weekend, I thought that was a lot of money. Well, it is a lot of money, but it's totally worth it.

Think about it. There is no way to really know how much money it cost to build Disneyland, but let's try to guess. First, the land the park is on, in the middle of Anaheim, is worth billions. Add to that the cost of building the park. Then add the cost of California Adventure and Downtown Disney. At this point, I am guessing we are easily into the hundreds of billions of dollars.

And of course, building it isn't enough. You have to pay people to operate the park, which includes not only running the rides, but stocking all the food and merchandise, running all the food stands and stores, performing the shows and parades, providing constant security without ruining the experience, and many other jobs that I probably don't even know exist.

All that to say that your $76 doesn't even come close to covering the smallest fraction of what you get to enjoy. For $76 you get to experience things that you probably wouldn't even dream of if Disney didn't put the idea in your head (that's an interesting thought), like riding a boat through caves of pirates or taking a jeep through a crazy temple or watching a water/light show that you have to see to believe.

In a day and age when everything cool costs $200, Disneyland is the best deal you can find.

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Earlier this week, I posted The Common Sense Diet. I like to think of it as an introductory diet in the sense that it won't necessarily help you lose weight, but it will definitely make you a little bit healthier (or a lot). Today I thought it would be helpful to discuss the key to any successful diet.

Some people say all you have to do is change your eating habits. Others say you have to change your entire lifestyle. I say both of those are good in theory, but terrible in practice. The vast majority of people are simply incapable of changing their lifestyle, and as a result, incapable of changing their eating habits. Some people can and many people do, for a little while, but most people simply can't do it. This is why so many people fail at dieting. They don't address the easiest problem to fix.

Don't try to change your eating habits. Change your buying habits.

Stop thinking of your diet from a lifestyle standpoint or an eating habits standpoint. Think only about what you buy. I don't care how much you want to eat healthy. The fact of the matter is that when you are really hungry and you have junk food available to you, you are going to eat it.

If you have food in your house that fails the Common Sense Diet tests, throw it away. You will find this much easier to do on a full stomach, so eat a meal of junk and then throw the rest away. Then, the real key to a successful diet happens. When you are not hungry, go to the grocery store and buy only healthy food. If the only food available to you is healthy food, then you are going to eat healthy. Eventually you will be hungry enough to eat food you don't really enjoy, and eventually you will start to enjoy it. It's that simple. Sure, you will probably still need to address the fast food issue when you aren't home, but by simply changing your buying habits, your diet will automatically change.

Don't worry so much about your eating habits. Change your buying habits.

Feeling sick lately? Maybe you should take up The Common Sense Diet. It's a diet for people like myself - people that don't have the time/energy/willpower to stick to a strict diet. If you are like me, you just don't really care about dieting. You care about being healthy, but you don't care enough to count calories and spend all kinds of energy paying attention to what you can and can't eat.

With that in mind, I think I have come up with a diet plan that gets rid of the work of dieting and replaces it with common sense. It consists of three simple tests that take only seconds to figure out. Just run whatever food or drink through these three tests and only eat the foods that pass.

Everybody loves lasagna. Nobody likes how much work it is to make lasagna from scratch. Solution - ravioli lasagna

This easy and delicious meal has become one of our favorite go-to meals. The most difficult part of making it is planning ahead at least 3 hours.

Ingredients:

• Frozen ravioli
• Pasta sauce of choice (I like Bertolli's Vodka Sauce)
• Grated cheese
• Ground beef

If you can't make this meal, you really shouldn't ever attempt cooking again. Brown the ground beef in a skillet and get out the other ingredients while it is cooking. Take out your trusty crock pot (one of my favorite things in the world). Pour a thin layer of sauce on the bottom. Then add a layer of frozen raviolis. Then, go ahead and add layers of ground beef, sauce, cheese, and more raviolis as you see fit. For best results, finish it off with raviolis, then a little sauce, and then cheese on top. Select whatever cook time you want on your crock pot and then enjoy it when it's done.

One final piece of advice: like any pasta dish, this meal is only as good as the sauce. If you are going to spend a little extra money on better ingredients, spend it on the sauce... or make your own.

Spend just a few minutes reading the comments section of a newspaper article or popular blog and one cannot help but notice the incredible amount of cynicism in our culture today. Ironically, in a time when we emphasize tolerance and understanding, we seem to act in the complete opposite manner on the internet. Rarely will you find someone giving a compliment or yielding to someone else's viewpoint on the internet. It is never "cool" to compliment and praise, only to criticize and tear down.

I am yet to see a single debate on the internet that ended with agreement. Usually, people end up farther apart after the debate than they were before it started. The internet polarizes people.

I worry that this is becoming so common and accepted that it is beginning to spread from the internet into our everyday interactions. Are we becoming less gracious and less forgiving because of the habits we develop online? As Christians, this is not acceptable. The Bible is very clear about how we are to treat others.

"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." -Philippians 2:3-4

"Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." -Colossians 3:12-14

It is not exactly easy to consistently act this way, but I have found an idea that works for me. It's a phrase that reminds me to go easy on people and not act like I have everything figured out while nobody else does:

Life. It's everybody's first time.

That saying always gives me the proper perspective. It is difficult to extend grace to others when they have terrible ideas or make bad decisions, but by remembering that it is their first time through life, just like me and everyone else, it is a little easier for me to be gracious to them. We all make mistakes and we all make bad decisions. Nobody does everything perfectly the first time through. It's everybody's first time. Everybody is trying to do what they think is best. How about we all try to be a little more gracious, a little more constructive, and a lot less cynical

God bless.

I stumbled upon an article today that was nothing short of fascinating. The article is Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior over at the Wall Street Journal. Amy Chua, the author of the article, isn't actually claiming to be superior to Western parents (at least I don't think she is), but she raises some interesting talking point.

Before you read it, I will warn you that the article is one stereotype after another. If you can get past that, then it is a really interesting read. She compares the Western style of parenting (nurturing, self-esteem, self-discovery) to the Eastern style of parenting (challenging, demanding, guiding). In one of the more eye-catching sections, she states,

"If a Chinese child gets a B—which would never happen—there would first be a screaming, hair-tearing explosion. The devastated Chinese mother would then get dozens, maybe hundreds of practice tests and work through them with her child for as long as it takes to get the grade up to an A."

Wow. No wonder there are so many Chinese outliers.

It's a fascinating read that I highly recommend. In my opinion, neither method of parenting is perfect. Many parents are way too easy on their kids while others are way too hard on them. Like most things in life, the right answer is somewhere in between.

Is it just me or is this a historic low point for television. Seriously. What shows are actually worth watching? It is hard to believe that just a short time ago we had classic shows like Lost and 24 on the air. Now we have what?

Remember the show on NBC last fall about the aliens that crashed on earth and looked like humans? They tried to assassinate the president and then an airplane teleported from Florida to the desert somewhere. Yeah, I tried to get into it and I can't even remember the name of it right now. That's not a good sign. I was hopeful for The Cape this week, but that was mostly a letdown.

Sure, Grey's Anatomy is still going pretty strong (including an incredible finale last season) and at least there are some good comedies still like The Office and 30 Rock, but I am really doubtful The Office can survive without Steve Carell. I have heard that Dexter is amazing, but premium channels are a different story. Maybe Off the Map will be good.

Basically, unless it's Shark Week, there is nothing worth watching.

Here's the deal, cable networks. You have 3 months until my contract with DirecTV is over. I suggest you figure this out pretty quickly.

Wouldn't it be great to have somebody pay you to go on dates? Wouldn't it be even greater if somebody paid you to go on dates and thought of truly out-of-this-world date ideas for you? This is the epic life of The Bachelor.

Every season, ABC sets these people up on the most incredible dates imaginable. On tonight's episode of The Bachelor (yes, I'm watching it with Mary right now), this guy went on one of the most epic dates of all time. He picks her up for the date and drives her to the middle of nowhere. They then take a little stroll down and dirt pathway in the dark carrying a lantern. After a bit, they come to an over-sized, industrial power switch. He asks her to flip it and they see an entire carnival light up in front of them with workers and everything.

Can you say "unrealistic expectations"? It's no wonder these relationships never work out. Nevertheless, I am going to be launching a feature on this blog called, "The Bachelor Dates". We'll discuss the latest totally ridiculous date on The Bachelor (assuming I actually watch it) and then try to figure out a real life version of it. So here is tonight's scenario.

The Bachelor version:

1. Drive to remote location
2. Take lantern-lit walk down dirt pathway
3. Have her flip a sweet-looking, oversized power switch
4. Enjoy your own private carnival

Real life version A:

1. Go online and figure out somewhere within a 45 minute drive (but not closer than 15 minutes) that has some type of carnival games or similar activity
2. Don't tell her where you are going until you get there
3. Have a blast

Real life version B:

1. Wait for a clear night with a full moon (you're going to need the light)
2. Drive to a remote location
3. Take a lantern-lit walk down a dirt pathway
4. Arrive at an area of games you set up in advance (solar powered lighting solutions that were set up a day before, fun little games like bean bag toss and ladderball from Target)
5. Bonus points if this happens near a body of water (just be careful of the wind)

Good luck with this one, guys.

Normally he uses his hands. Not for this meal.

Do you have "go-to meals"? The ones that seem to always be good and always satisfy? Most people probably call them "comfort food" but I like to this think of them at "go-to meals" (probably because I love sports). Here's one of my favorite go-to meals. As you can see by the picture of Andersen above, it's a hit with the boys. Strangely, I have never been a fan of macaroni and cheese (or mashed potatoes or spaghetti, maybe one day I'll have a post about foods that everyone seems to like except for me), but I only really ever had the Kraft version, so I was very excited when I stumbled upon this recipe from Simply Recipes. It passes the two most important tests of a recipe - it's easy and it's really good. I have played around with it a little bit and it has never failed. I have tried it with ham (like the official recipe),which is great, and it's also good with hot dog in it, but like every other food, it's best with bacon. It's not the best macaroni and cheese in the world (that would be found at Wood Ranch), but it's amazing for how easy it is.

Sometime in the next few weeks, we are expecting a call from our social worker telling us that we have finally been approved as foster parents... something like seven months later. It has actually been a great process filled with a lot of learning and training, but it has also been quite a long time. You can check out all of our foster care updates on our family blog.

Before this whole process started, Mary and I shared the same longing to help kids. We didn't really know how, but we knew it was something we really wanted to do. I remember in those days I would often get overwhelmed by the incredible amount of kids in need all over the world. I've always dreamed of sponsoring hundreds of kids through World Vision or opening an orphanage or something amazing like that, but it's just not realistic. Unfortunately, when you dream so big and get overwhelmed like that, it is easy to simply not do anything. You think, "Well because I can't do everything, I just won't do anything. Because I can't help everyone, I won't help anyone." Then came the idea of foster care.

Through foster care, I feel we are given the unique opportunity of really helping one kid at a time. I don't have the time or the money to help all the kids out there in need, but I can do my best to help one kid at a time, for however long God allows us to take care of them.

Just a few hours ago, I would not have been able to articulate that feeling so well. Fortunately, I often listen to sermon podcasts while I drive to and from work, and today I listened to a recent one by Andy Stanley called "One, Not Everyone". He wasn't talking about foster care, but I think he described the heart of it perfectly (or at least he described why I love the idea of it). He hopes that everyone would commit to helping one person or one family or one class of students, instead of being overwhelmed by the "everyone" and not doing anything.

Can you imagine how much better the world would be if instead of spreading ourselves thin trying to help everyone and do everything, we focused on "one" and went all out trying to help them? Think about it. Would you rather know that everybody kind of likes you or that one person absolutely loves you?

I can't wait until God gives us the first "one".

Welcome to a blog detailing an epic life. Not that my life is any more amazing than anyone else. No, I believe that every life is epic. Every life tells a great story. Some parts are happy and some parts are sad, but every story is epic.

In the final verse of the book of John, in the Bible, John writes the following, "There are so many other things Jesus did. If they were all written down, each of them, one by one, I can't imagine a world big enough to hold such a library of books." If somebody sat down to write my biography one day, I hope they can end it the same way.

It's an epic life. This blog is some of the highlights.