Prayer Journaling, New Year's Resolutions

Today I have decided to start on some New Year's resolutions... the first of which is to start writing a prayer journal every day during my devotional time. I use DailyReader by Laridian with My Utmost for His Highest and the Whole Bible In A Year Plan for reading on my palmOne Zire 72. I wrote my first entry today in Documents to Go (guess you could call it Documents to God now)... and just started writing like I was praying. I found it very liberating, and as time goes on, it will be interesting to go back and look at what I wrote and watching the growth of my spiritual walk (including both mountain tops and valleys). I wrote in my prayer journal just before our Minister's Prayer Meeting we have every Wednesday with several of the other ministers in town. I've felt great all day, and have been praying more than I usually do. What a wonderful feeling it is to know that no matter where we are, we can communicate with God. Reminds me of the Plankeye song Bicycle - "This place that I'm supposed to be, is not the chair in front of a desk in front of a mirror Can't you see that it's not here or there or anywhere But in speaking distance with God, where can you go that's too far? Because I can worship him anywhere" Go Worship Him Everywhere, Isaiah Henni Associate Youth Minister Riverton Christian Church

Days after Christmas and such

For Christmas we (Sara, my Dad and I) went out to the Stelzner's (my in-laws, Sara's parents) for a Christmas Eve mini-service, with singing and a birthday cake for Jesus. Then we went Sunday afternoon (Christmas Day) to go open presents and have a dinner there. Then we watched "Homecoming: A Walton's Christmas Story" or something like that. It wasn't a bad movie, but wasn't that good either, if you follow me. Jade has been a crazy little puppy. When we took her out to Stelzner's, she met all of their dogs, and had a grand old time. She got along with them well, which is good. She has been in the habit of going #2 downstairs lately though... always something to work on... Wow... lately Sara and I have been watching the Second Season of 24... it is pretty good... for those not in the know, it is a show that breaks down each episode into one hour of a day. So there are 24 episodes for a full day and all the events happen in real time. This season they are dealing with the threat of a nuclear bomb going off in Los Angelos. The show is suspenseful in the extreme, and if we did not have it on dvd, I could not watch it... the suspense would drive me nuts week to week. Today I've mostly been working on the cleaning my office, a little bit on the lesson for Youth Group in two weeks, and hanging out with Sara because she didn't have to work today. It was nice just to hang out with her for a little longer... Over the break, I used $20 of my Christmas money (from my Aunt) to buy two programs for my palm. One was called TMP (Time Manager Pad), and the other is called Address XT. TMP is a datebook-type application that has a much cleaner look than the default calendar and displays all of the events in a list-like format. For those who have changed to Palms from a paper organizer, this should be one of the first programs you buy. It displays events in a vary similar way to a paper organizer. It also has a pop up section for To-Do's and shows a Calendar (with which you can change days). Since it uses the built-in palm datebook and to-do list, all of the existing events you have from Calendar are shown, and vice-versa. I've been using it for a few weeks now, and have really enjoyed it. An excellent program. TMP Address XT is a "Contacts" replacement program that surpasses the built-in Contacts application in several ways. It allows you to sort contacts by first name, last name... which alone was worth the cost for me. There is also a button to quickly show recently accessed contacts, and you can link contacts to Events in the Calendar, To-Do's, and Memos. It also allows the contacts to be viewed in a much smaller font, which is great for those who have 320x320 screens or higher resolution. I can now view twice as many of my contacts on one screen as with the default Contacts application. Highly recommended also. Address XT I purchased both programs through Palm Infocenter's store, with the 20% off coupon, so the total of both came to $21. Not bad for two high quality programs. Well, I better get back to finishing cleaning up the office... Later, Isaiah

Merry Christmas Eve Day...

My dad made it here safely (that's a praise!). We went shopping last night at K-mart to see if they had any stocking stuffers, and I came across this little box of Chocolates that was marked for $9.99!!!!! Here's the picture: Of course, they messed up and meant to have it at $0.99, but I thought it rather odd that a very simple cheap little box of chocolates (meant to be a stocking stuffer) would be $9.99. Crazy K-mart-ians... Anyway, today's Christmas Eve, so I wish everyone who reads my blog a very Merry Christmas... God bless, Isaiah

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!!

Ah, the crazy shopping season. As I went to Wal-mart today, it seemed that most of Riverton was the same kind of shopper that I was this year... last minute. Doh! At least I didn't have to wait too long in line, and I know, I know... I thrust this all on myself. My dad will be here in a few hours to spend Christmas with us. So, that's pretty neat. Haven't seen my dad since the wedding, so I'm looking forward to hanging out with him. Jade is rather defiant today... probably because she spends a lot of time in the kennel if we have to run around town. She's still not potty-trained completely yet, and still will go in the house, so its all necessary, you see. She's a good pup, though, and I'm still grateful to Sara for getting her for me. Sara is at work until 7pm tonight because it is the last day before Christmas, and the Ledge is almost too well known for their pies (they are very excellent though). She'll be coming home after everyone picks up their pies, so it might be later than 7... oh well... at least I'll have her for the whole weekend :D. I reckon I should really post more about the Youth Ministry. We had a youth meeting last night, and it went pretty well. The kids played a game called "Dueling Carolers" which involved them writing down every Christmas carol they knew and singing them. The team who had the most "original" (aka the other team didn't have it) would win. In the end, it was the girls who won... again... I have to come up with a game that they boys can win for next time. As for my Zire 72, I've been using it extensively, for almost everything except for browsing the internet and writing lessons anymore. I use it as my Bible with MyBible by Laridian, and Palm Bible+. With those two together I have the NLT, NIV, RSV, ESV, Greek, KJV with Strongs, and WEB. Also with Robertson's Word Pictures and Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, the Works of Josephus, the Vine's Dictionary of New Testament Words, and an English to Greek Lexicon. Crazy, huh? Well, I better get moving, In His Service, Isaiah

Youth Group tonight, cleaning this afternoon ;)

I'm writing this quickly before Sara gets home, because as soon as she's home, we need to get cleaning the house. We've had a fairly busy week, and tonight's youth group, so we need to clean where we haven't been able to yet. Yesterday afternoon we finally had the ip phones installed along with the dsl. The internet is actually slightly faster, and the phones seem to work pretty well. They do some odd things everyonce and a while though... but, it is the internet that runs them, so there ya go.... Jade is doing well, she seems to have grown quite a bit already (everyone says that she has big paws, and that means she'll be a pretty big dog... oh boy). Oscar (our cat) is an honery lil' cat, and is always getting into everything... but that's how most cats seem to be. It's 4:05 as I write this, and its getting dark already... it is obviously deep into real winter now (the season winter just started I am told... but tell that to the weather...). This morning Sara made me breakfast in bed, which I haven't had in quite a long time... since my birthdays when I was still at home. Dad would make us breakfast in bed... I always looked forward to it. To thank Sara, I bought 14 roses (don't worry, I found a good deal), which are waiting for her here at home. Sara never stops blessing me... and all I can do is thank God for her... and thank God for all of his blessings to me. I better get going... and start cleaning :D, later, God bless, Isaiah Henni Associate Youth Minister

waiting... and waiting....

That's mostly what I've been able to do today. Wait... and wait... The guy who's supposed to be coming to set up the new internet for the Church and the IP phones for the Church and the parsonage is still not here... It's been a week since he said he "probably would be here," but today, I got a "definitely will be here." That was 12pm, and it is now 4pm. I haven't been able to do much b/c I keep sitting and waiting, just in case he gets here, because I have to explain how I get internet from the Church to the house so it will still work afterword. I did take out the trash, do the dishes, fold some laundry, wash the dog and call Verizon to switch plans... but i wanted to do some Christmas shopping... oh well... at least I got some stuff done. Other than that, things are going great. There's no Lights On for the next two weeks, which is great, but I'm realizing that 2.5 hours a day back isn't that much... especially with Christmas being just 5 days away. Lots to do... I probably should clean up my office at the parsonage (which really is more like a storage room... sigh), and the garage, but I expected to do that tomorrow... so I'm waiting ;)... lazy boy, eh? Well, better get back to waiting... Isaiah

Today was a great day...

Sara and I both had a wonderful night's sleep on the new mattress we recieved from my parents. Then we eventually got up and watched Anne of Green Gables The Sequel. Its a pretty enjoyable movie, really. But it is also quite long. When that was over, we cleaned the house (fun...) and got ready to go to a wedding, and possibly be babysitting the marrying couple's son (long story). We didn't end up babysitting him, which was good. But it also was one of those weddings where at the reception everyone and their dog were drinking. It really put a burden on me that all of those people are seeking pleasure and fulfillment from the wrong things... and that I need to be pointing them to Jesus Christ. There are so many people who are lost and seeking to fulfill their lives with empty things... All I can do is witness as best I can, and keep praying for God to send more workers into the harvest. In His Service, Isaiah

Youth Group Christmas Party! Wooh!

Last night was the Youth Group Christmas Party... and boy was it a lot of fun. We played Pictionary, listened to a lesson (well, I didn't listen, I taught), had cookies and pop and presents even! We also had a Gingerbread Tree Contest... You can see the results below... Which one is the boy's tree? If you guessed the one on the right... you'd be wrong. If you guessed the one on the left with the spatula... then you'd be right! The girls clearly won this one hands down... mostly because they took the time to actually think about what they were doing (and look at the box)... Overall it was a very fun night, and I hope everyone enjoyed it, at least as much as Zach looks like he did in this picture. I think he's saying that the card and present Sara and I gave to all the youth is cool enough to point a finger at... ok.. I got nothing... Later, God bless, Isaiah

Snowman Soup and other oddities

Today is going well... this morning wasn't so great, however. Jade woke me up about 4am with her barking (she wanted outside to go... at least she's pretty well potty-trained already). Then kept barking after I put her in the kennel until about 5, then I fell asleep until 630 or so, when she started barking again. I got up and let her out again, and though maybe I could sleep a little past 7, but no... then the cat decided to come in and pee all over the bed... After that... it can only get better, haha. Now I'm working on the devotions for the youth for next week, and printing up the labels for our present to the youth. Snowman Soup... consisting of hot chocolate, snowballs (marshmellows), a candy cane to stir the soup, and some hershey's kisses (never can get enough chocolate). Mmmm... Later today I'll go pick up a mattress from Kusel's... the wedding present from my parent's (a nice queen pillowtop...awww). Perhaps this afternoon the guy will come who's setting up the IP phones at the Church and parsonage... so tonight I might actually have a home phone to call on, and not waste cellular minutes, WooHoo! Yesterday evening I purchased a usb bluetooth dongle with the money that my Aunt gave me for Christmas, hoping that I would be able to surf the internet on my Zire 72 when someone else is using the computer. I came to find out, though, that the feature had been turned off in Mac OS X 10.4, unless I buy $40 software. Since a wireless card for the palm will be almost equal to the sum of the software and the bluetooth dongle, I'm taking it back and saving up (eventually) for a wifi card. Quite the frustration... although I found (through Palm Addicts) an awesome program (free even) called HandyShopper. It allows you to make lists for shopping by store, aisle, price, and you can use it for other to do lists and such. It is far more feature-rich than the built-in to-do list and I'm now using it for most everything. The best part for me is that it can save the items you shop for frequently (milk, cereal, eggs, etc.), so you can just add them to the lists if you need them again. I really like it. Sara's working at The Ledge right now, I'll go visit her this afternoon. She baked several cookies for the Youth Group Christmas Party tonight, she's awesome. Always a pleasure to have her company (which is most of the time now that we're married!!) Well, I better get back to work... later, Isaiah

This post is from Lights On

I'm writing during a break on my palm. It's been a nice day, although l've had to re-install the Zire b/c Bdicty freaked it out. But it's all better now. The weather is crazy, it snowed several inches last night but now it is all melted... haha. Well, gotta go. Later, Isaiah

Puppies, and Planes and Palms... Oh My!

Jade, my new puppy, spent most of this morning being potty-trained... whee. She's really cute though, so I guess that makes up for it. She's about 3 months old, a golden retriever mix and very tame. An excellent Christmas present indeed. It's snowing a little today, looks to accumulate though, which will be neat. I'm writing this on my new palmOne Zire 72. It was a new model over a year ago, but it will be all I need for a few years, so no more jumping from palm to palm. The past two pictures were taken with the built-in camera. I even brought it with me on the plane ride and took several pictures which I'll eventually post on here. Married life is going great, despite all the oddities that come with living with another person. Sara is a very graceful and loving wife, and I thank God for her! She is a blessing to everything she touches... Well, I better get going to Lights On... (my other job), plus my hand isn't used to writing this much... Later, Isaiah

An Early Christmas Present... A Puppy!!

Sara gave me an early Christmas present today... A 3-4 month old Golden Retriever mix puppy, that we renamed Jade... She's pretty cute... that's her above... laying in my lap... she's very reserved, cute and cuddly... Don't I have the greatest wife? Later, Isaiah

Airplane Flight!

Here's a picture from the flight I was priviledged to be on Saturday Morning. I'll post more later today.

The Return to the Real World...

So, we're back from the honeymoon... and back in the "real world" blah... We returned Wednesday evening to be truthful, and were driving out to Sara's parent's house to pick up the rest of her stuff when we had a slight accident. We did a 180* and ended up on the driver's side just to the west of the ditch. Thankfully, we weren't hurt and the 4runner seems to have only cosmetic damage... which isn't great, but isn't horrible either. So, we go in today and find out the estimates for repair and an estimate for getting it going again... quite an eventful trip all in all... I'll relate more about the honeymoon later... Today we're going in to get the estimates, and to return oodles and gobs of wedding presents that are doubles to Walmart. It'll be around $300 all together (I'm guessing), which will cover all the things we didn't get from there... so that's good. We have money left over, and if the repairs don't exceed that, I might be able to put some of it towards a new pda... which would be cool... but anyway, That's all I have for now... I'll detail the honeymoon trip later... Isaiah