Well, it has been quite awhile since I have blogged, so I thought I would go ahead and delight you all with another entry. As 2007 is over and 2008 gets underway, I thought it would be fun to kind of do a year in review of my year in 2007. I think I am going to a top 10 list of my fondest 2007 memories.

1. Being blessed with Addison.

2. Spending time with Melissa

3. Melissa's latest EKG coming back clear.

4. Taking on a new role with 412

5. The awesome new relationships that have been developed this year.

6. Opening day at Wrigley field with Mike

7. Mission Peoria with the guys (steak and Shake?)

8. Midnight shows with students

9. BWW with Will

10. Monday Night Football small group

Those are just a few of my favorite memories from the last year. I also thought it would be fun to write down what I am anticipating/looking forward to in 2008.

1. American Gladiator is back (currently watching as I write this. Man it brings back childhood memories)

2. Taking Addison to his first Cubs game

3. Developing new relationships

4. Addison's first birthday

5. Mine and Melissa's five year anniversary

6. Continue to listen to what God wants us to do in our life.

7. Help equip students with what it takes to reach their friends for Christ and strengthen their own walk with God

8. The Cubs winning the World Series

9. Going to a Notre Dame football game

10. Continuing on this crazy journey that God has us on. Be willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish HIS will.

So here I sit. It is 5:17am on Saturday morning. I am sitting in the office with about 50 students. There are a handful scattered around the office sleeping. There are others who refuse to admit they are tired. There are those who are running on pure adrenaline. Also, there are those that are playing the old faithful Guitar Hero to keep themselves awake. It has been an awesome night. We have watched nothing but Christmas movies. We started out with Elf (my favorite), then Home Alone, then Jingle all the Way, and finally the Santa Claus. At this point I am running on pure, well not really anything. I am running and that is all that matters. Things like this are such a blast, because it gives you so much face time with kids. It is nothing but a night to hang out, play crazy games, watch movies, and just be crazy. This is truly what my heart is about. I love being with students. We have gotten the chance to meet a lot of new kids, which is always good. So here I am. 5:20am now, and still trucking. Awesome night!!!!!

One of the things I absolutely love about thanksgiving is the leftovers. I love making big ole Turkey sangwhiches with the leftover turkey. I also love the uncontrolled afternoon naps from eating too much turkey. Tomorrow we will be spending Thanksgiving in Lake Zurich as a family. It is one of the first times we have not been able to go home on Thanksgiving in a while. I am actually looking forward to it. Melissa and I get so little time together that we are just going to chill at the house and enjoy each other. We went out and bought Addison a complete Thanksgiving meal. Turkey and gravy, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, etc. It is going to be a lot of fun I think. As I sit back and reflect over the past year I found that I have many things to be thankful for. Here they are in no Particular order.

1. Addison- it is such a great feeling waking up everyday knowing that I get to spend time with him and have a role in shaping him into the man that God wants him to be. His innocence is so awesome and I love the way his face lights up when I walk in the room

2. Melissa- She is such an awesome woman. You have no idea how much junk she puts up with. I am so thankful that she is in my life and it is awesome to see how she has developed into an awesome mother.

3. Family and friends- I have so many awesome people in my life that I can't sit here and name them. You all have such a great influence on my life.

4. The fact that Melissa's eco-cardiogram came back clear. It has been a really rough year and it is such a blessing to know that she is going to be ok.

5. Gods' grace. So many times I feel like I have done something to fall from Gods grace, but his grace is always there. Underserved abundant grace.

6. Feeling like I am exactly where God wants me. It has been awesome taking over 412 and I love working with every single student. 

7. New relationships-Over the last year, we have started a ton of new relationships. These new relationships are some of the strongest relationships we have had. Just knowing that there are people who are in this thing called life with you is a great feeling. 

8. The little things- Taking naps with Addison, watching him be a little "cholo", Melissa's crazy sense of humor, Tuesdays with Jason and Dave. 

9. My 412 leaders. I know I always don't express it, but these guys are simply amazing. It wouldn't be the same without you.

10. Knowing that all the hard work and sacrifices that Melissa and I make are going to pay off. Knowing that no matter how hard things get we always have each other and we are working to further His kingdom.

Sorry if I bored you with all that, but I think it is important to sit back and reflect. Be a little honest and truly think about what makes you thankful. I could go on forever, but I will spare you.

This week some dear friends of ours ( The Devers) from Northwest Family Church are heading to Nicaraqua on a mission trip of sorts. They will be doing various different projects over this whole week. They are looking at land to be purchased for a "home", they are visiting an orphanage, and they will also be visiting the place in the picture above. They will be visiting a group of people in La Chureca, which is a group of a couple thousand people who actually live in a trash dump. That's right they LIVE in a trash dump. They build make-shift houses, they rummage through the trash looking for anything they can sell, they rummage through it for food. This trash dump is there life source. They are teaming up with this grassroots organization called  Love, Light, and Melody. This organization isn't about bringing food, clothing, water and all that stuff to this trash dump. They are simply bringing themselves and one very important thing, which is love. Love can shed light into any situation. They do this by simply just being with these people and walking through life with them. They build real relationships and show them real love. Too many times people show up, drop food off, build a relationship, and never return. This organization is in it for the long haul. They are building real relationships with these people and are returning over and over to help these people walk through life. The guy that started this organization's name is Brad. He is in a band called Braddigan. We had a chance to sit down at the Dever house and hear the Brad share his story and how he came to know the people of La Chureca. It was truly an amazing story and tugged at the heart of everyone in that room. The following night the band put on a show at the LZHS performing arts center and again just shared their story and how they came into relationship with these people. This weekend was truly and eye opener and I look forward to maybe someday going with these guys and just being there with these people. Check out the websites and stuff. There are some truly extraordinary pictures and videos on the  Love, Light, and Melody site. I write all this to ask for you to join with us in praying for these people of La Chureca and everyone taking a week of their time and heading there. 

So it is official. The Lake Zurich Bears football team is going to STATE. This will be the second year in a row. Good job guys. It's exciting when everyone around you is geared up and all rooting for the same thing. It's amazing the feeling you get when you are sitting there cheering with thousands of others for a common goal. It's awesome to see all the hard work and dedication pay off for all the athlete's. I was unable to go last year and am looking forward to going this year. So next Saturday November 24th at the University of Illinois football stadium in Champaign at 4pm. Good luck fellas.

Well it is FINALLY official. Barry Bonds is a CHEATER. If you know anything at all about sports or anything at all about Baseball, then you knew this was the case, but it means something when the government actually agrees with you. I was sitting at home on my Couch. Addison was on the floor playing and I had my new laptop on my lap editing the website. ESPN was on the TV and I catch a glimpse of his ugly mug on my screen and the anchors saying he was getting indicted for pergery among other things. If you don't know, Barry Bonds was brought before the Supreme Court for questions regarding steroids and he UNDER OATH said he had never "knowingly" taken steroids. Well the powers at be decided he was big "fat" liar and he will most likely be going to trial in early December. I know he is not the only person who did this during the era and so forth, but he is the one that is in the biggest spotlight. I don't think they should go after every single person during the "steroid era", but there has to be a precedent set for those who have lied about it. There is a difference between doing it and admitting it "Jose Conseco" and those who continue to lie about it "Barry Bonds" and "Mark McGwuire". The thing that bothers me the most is that these people are looked up to so much and they are not worthy of that position. They have the power to influence so many people and they just throw it away. Sorry this is so random and more of a rant, but this is what is going on in my head at 10:30 after a looooong Thursday. Here is a list of what he is being indicted for.

1. 4 Counts of Perjury

2. 1 Count Obstruction to Justice

He can face up to a maximum 30 years in jail and up to $1million in fines.

You can also read the entire indictment of ESPN.com. Here is the video that I saw on ESPN

                                                                    

So we are back in LZ today. I had to get up and work at 4:30am. Blah! It isn't normally bad working this early, but when you just got back from vacation it's not very much fun. I am sure it will be nice when I get off early today though. The thing I hate most about going on vacation is returning back to the grind. But it's nice to be refreshed and get everything back in order. I look forward to getting back in the swing of things.

So vacation is going pretty good. It's pretty sad that the ONLY place in my hometown that has wifi is McDonalds. Blah. So it looks like I will be sitting in McDonalds the next few mornings to get my work done. Fun times. Anyway, the trip home is going really well. I have had the opportunity to get a lot of work done and have gotten a little bit of a chance to relax as well. It was really weird not going to Merge yesterday though. After taking the morning off and visiting my old church back in Indiana, I realized how awesome NFC really is. Sometimes I think we take for granted how God is using NFC and 412 to impact the Lake Zurich area. I don't think we realize how good we have it until you are taken out of that environment. I could just be biased because I work for NFC, but I truly do think it is an amazing Church. I think the reason for this is the fact that we don't focus on ourselves. We focus on the world in which we live in and that in turn makes us strong. I think it was Rob Bell who said the church is the only organization that exists for it's non-members. I don't think that is the case with every church, but it should be the case. That has really been the heart of NFC and 412 and when we start focusing on everyone else around us, we in turn are built up as a church and are drawn closer to God. I will update later with more vacation happenings

Ah. A little vacation can go a long way. Melissa and I have the opportunity this week to be back with family in Indiana. It's amazing you don't realize how much home means to you until you haven't visisted in like over six months. It's amazing how much you start to miss family and old friends that you don't get to see on a regular basis. We have also both been working extremely hard over the last few months. Really ever since Addison was born, so we decided that we would take a few days and go home and rest up. Today is our first official day and it was really hard actually missing a Sunday at Merge. It is awesome how it becomes such a part of you that you seem like a part of you is missing when you have to be somewhere else for Church. I heard it was an awesome morning and look forward to being there next week. I will try and update this throughout the week and get in the habit of blogging again.
Derek