Hurricane Ike Devastates Galveston

I am still in shock. Hurricane Ike must have been a child of Hurricane Alicia. It's dejavu all over again.

A little over 30 days ago, our entire family was having a fun time along with west end of Galveston Island - our beach house just 100 yards from the water. Today I doubt it is there. "The west end of Galveston is devastated," said Steve McGraw, the state's homeland security chief.

We also shopped at Murdochs opened in 1910 and a long time giftshop out on a pier off the seawall. Today it is rubble on top of Seawall Blvd. So sad. We just took pictures there overlooking the water weeks ago.

I remember Hurricane Alicia. It was loud, scary and intense. Hurricane's are no fun. Pray for the people of Galveston and the area of Houston. At least 25 are dead and thousands lost it all. No power, no stores open, no gas, and no understanding of when those things will return.

This is so sad.

Donate to the Red Cross or Salvation Army today. Texas, this is our Katrina. Let's show the world how great Texans are.

Some Have, But We Certainly Haven't Forgotten

I will never forget where I was 7 years ago when the day we all know now as 911 started. I was putting on my tie getting ready for work when I decided to flip on Good Morning America.

My work day ended immediately.

Let us not forget the horrible act those RADICAL MUSLIMS did to our nation. Let us not forget the men, women and children who died in New York City, in Washington DC and in Pennsylvania. Adults became widows, parents became childless and children became orphans on that day.

Remind those who have forgotten. Let them see these images once again.

That's My King

Cowboys Start SuperBowl Run - Final Season at Texas Stadium

All is well with the world - football season has started.

Nothing like cooking out, eating all day and watching hours of football with people you love.

The Boys started it off by shalacking the Browns 28-10. Friends and family alike were all pleased. Their superbowl run is officially underway to celebrate the end of many great decades at Texas Stadium.

Our Babies Turn Three!

Our girls turned three today. No more diapers, no more passies, no more babbling, no more whinning.....ok that isn't gone yet, but our babies are...well...now little girls.

Sniff, sniff, and yeah all at the same time.

Look for them on Fox4 GoodDay this Thursday!

See photos from their birthday weekend here.

http://www.thefamilypost.com/Speersfamily/home.php

25 Years Ago Today - We Survived a Hurricane

It was 25 years ago when dad decided we were going to ride out the oncoming Hurricane Alicia in our Houston/Galveston area home in 1983. To this day I have incredible memories of that night. It was scary and exciting all at the same time. I remember the wind coming on strong for hours, then the eye of the storm came and my friend across the street and I tossed a Nerf football for awhile. Then the winds changed directions and night fell as the amazing storm passed over our house in Friendswood.

We had tornadoes in our neighborhood, trees fell, and floods were everywhere as we hid in our hallway all night long listening to the increidble constant roar outside of 120+ mph winds. Just dad, mom, me, sis and the dog.

Here is a USA Today summary of the storm:

Hurricane Alicia, 1983
The text below is from the National Weather Service office for Houston/Galveston
Alicia, in August 1983, was the first hurricane to make landfall on the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Allen hit South Texas on Aug. 9, 1980.

After forming just south of Louisiana on the Aug. 15, 1983, Alicia drifted westward and intensified quickly into a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall on the west end of Galveston Island in the early morning hours of Aug. 18.

The highest winds recorded on land were 96 mph sustained, and gusts were up to 127 mph. The lowest barometric pressure recorded on land was 28.55" at the Alvin weather service office. Rainfall amounts exceeded 5 inches in most places, and the east side of Houston received almost 11 inches. The highest storm surge was a 12' reading at Seabrook on Galveston Bay. On the gulf side of Galveston Island, tides were 7.5', and on the bay they were 8'. Baytown, on the north shore of Galveston Bay, recorded a 10.7' tide which put water on the rooftops in the Brownwood subdivision. Severe freshwater flooding was minimized by Alicia's fast movement inland, and most damage was the result of wind and storm surge or a combination of the two.

Twenty-three tornadoes were reported during Alicia. 14 occurred between Galveston and Houston as the storm made landfall, and the other 9 touched down the next day between Houston and Tyler. All but 2 of these were small, with winds between 40-72 mph. The strongest tornado occurred near Tyler, in Northeast Texas, with winds in the 113-157 mph range.

Twenty-one persons died as a result of Alicia. 25 others were hospitalized and 3,094 were injured or became ill. The Red Cross provided shelter or food for 63,000 people. A total of 2,297 dwellings were destroyed and another 3,008 suffered major damage. 18,660 families suffered losses from Alicia. The $2 billion in damages made Alicia the costliest hurricane in Texas history.
Some memorable features of Alicia included the final destruction of the Brownwood subdivision, a victim of subsidence, which had experienced almost annual flooding. The hurricane provided the opportunity for FEMA to "buy-out" the homes there and forego future flood insurance and disaster payments.

Also, the loss of trees in the Houston area was staggering. The area had received soaking rains during the previous week and the soil was so saturated that the trees were easily blown down by the high winds. It is estimated that the trees and limbs blown down by the storm would have covered a football field to a height of 1,200'.

In downtown Houston, shards of glass became deadly missiles when hundreds of window panes were broken out of skyscrapers by gravel blown from nearby rooftops. The windows were designed to withstand hurricane winds but not impact from debris. The result was huge piles of broken glass in the streets below.

On Galveston's West Beach, Alicia moved the public beach boundary back an average of 150'. The storm surge scoured up to 5' of sand from the beach and left several homes in front of the natural vegetation line and technically on the public beach. Thus, the homes were in violation of the Texas Open Beaches Act and the Attorney General's office forebade the repair or rebuilding of those homes.

The Corps of Engineers estimated that the Galveston seawall prevented $100 million in additional damage. The corps said that without the seawall, Alicia would have created a swath of destruction one to two blocks into the city behind the seawall.
Although Alicia cost Texans $2 billion, it is estimated that a hurricane the size of Carla would have doubled or tripled the damage. Aircraft observations indicated that only a 60 mile section of the coast, extending northeastward from Freeport, experienced hurricane force winds.

Tidbit - Although 30% of Galveston's population evacuated the island when Hurricane Allen (1980) threatened the Texas coast, only 10% of the population living behind the seawall decided to leave when Alicia came ashore.

Family Vacation Deserved a Gold Medal!

It was cool and rainy off and on during our beach house, week long stay on the west end of Galveston Island, but it was a pleasant change from the 100 degree summer we have had so far this year!

Quinn loved his first beach experience (he ate about 2 lbs of sand) and the girls discovered the art of boogie-boarding in 2 inch water. This year we stayed a little longer and planned to do a lot less than usual so we had more beach and relaxation time. It was so nice. We did manage to eat at Marios, have some Shipley Donuts one morning, see the Sea Turtle facility, shop the Strand, and make our way over to fun times at the Kemah Boardwalk.

One of the biggest memories we will all keep was watching America kick some rear in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, especially Michael Phelps. What an amazing thing he has done, huh? Eight Golds!?

Nothing like a good ol' family vacation. Now it will take us 2 weeks to get back to normal around here...

For the pics visit our website here: http://www.thefamilypost.com/Speersfamily/

Galveston Vacation Around the Corner

Thanks to my mother, I grew up on the beach. Basically. We were there nearly every other day in the summer months during my childhood south of Houston. It was only a 20 minute drive, so it was a cheap day for us.

Decades later, the drive is now 6 hours, none of us have tans, all of us have had our clothes shrink over the years and most of us hate being hot and sandy, but we still love Galveston.

Next week we take off for another week of fun in the sun and I can't wait!

Speers Website Update

Bored? Want to see more kids pics and videos?
Check out our website. We just did a big update!

http://www.thefamilypost.com/Speersfamily/

Incredible Testimony of Faith From Chapman Family

Tons of Wiggle Room

Our girls and Quinn LOVE "The Wiggles", a group of men from Austrailia that do a children's program. It is truly about the only thing outside of Elmo our kids even watch. We took the girls to see "The Wiggles" in concert last week and the girls totally loved it. They danced, did the hand motions, sang and could not believe they were seeing all of their favorite characters in person. I think Julie and I loved it nearly as much (yes we know all of the songs too!).

We are grateful to God for the Wiggles. Because of them my girls could careless about Barney and I have been dreading that stupid show for years.

Thanks to the Wiggles there is no Barney in our house!

Going Back to Cali, to Cali, to Cali....

After a one year lay-over in San Antonio, Cowboys training camp has made one final return to the land of cool weather, beautiful people, and relaxation as Oxnard once again becomes their home for the next 4 weeks as they get ready for a SuperBowl run in 2008.

I will be leaving Wednesday for a few days of such relaxation myself. I cannot wait. Unlike San Antonio, where the Cowboys have Obama like rock-star treatment and you can't get within 100 yards of the field, in Oxnard you can sit right along the fence and watch players from a few feet away as they go through two-a-day practices. It will be two full days of chilling, watching and listening to talk radio on my laptop in the stands.

Take My Comedy Movie Poll

Over the 38+ years of my life, I have viewed some hilarious movies. From Three Amigos, to Airplane to most recently Get Smart, there are some great movies that really can make me "die laughing". If you are like me, just seeing their titles one more time will elicit some chuckles and laughs as you recall scenes and moments with family and friends while watching it.

I have compiled (and will likely add to) a list of my personal favorites - these do not include animated movies. Get Smart being one of the most recent! Go see it!

Make sure and complete the poll to the right and also, post me some comments about your faves!

Here's my list, so far:

Liar, Liar 1997
Get Smart 2008
Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1975
Space Balls 1987
Wayne's World 1992
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 1988
Zoolander 2001
Meet the Fockers 2004
Wild Hogs 2007
Pet Detective 1994
Dumb & Dumber 1994
Christmas Vacation 1989
Three Amigos 1986
Tommy Boy 1995
Black Sheep 1996
Rush Hour 1998
Airplane 1980
Trains, Planes, Automobiles 1987
The Jerk 1979
Vacation 1983
Coming to America 1988
Blazing Saddles 1974
Home Alone 1990

Korean Constitution Day

South Korea celebrates it's 60th anniversary of having a Constitution today, with it's national Constitution Day holiday. Tensions remain high between the North and South, but for over 50 years now the South has remained free and secure. American troops retain a strong presence in the nation to help the South remain so.

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/

Rangers Game Daddy Date

I love taking my girls out one at a time for some fun with dad. They talk about it for weeks later. This week I took each one to a Rangers game, Sidney on Monday and Chloe on Tuesday. It was their first real baseball game and first with me. What a great time. I certainly remember all the great times I had with my dad as he took me to Astros games for years growing up.

Happy 4th Weekend!

What a great way to celebrate the birthday of our incredible nation! Walking in a parade, having a family day, a cookout with the entire Speers gang and then a fireworks show nearly in our backyard to end it all.

Hope your weekend is fun! Thanks God, for giving us America.

Remember, this election is VITAL to our future. http://www.conservativelight.blogspot.com/

Big Equal Health News!

Today is a HUGE day in the history of my company, Equal Health & Life http://www.equalhealth.com/ as for the first time in our 7 year history we introduced a non-healthcare related product called a LovePlan.

Below are some basic facts about this new product:

What is a “LovePlan”?
A LovePlan is a unique insurance plan that combines term life insurance with critical illness health insurance. This is the policy that your family needs to help make continuing mortgage payments, pay off the mortgage, or simply provide a large source of funds for other monthly bills if you should die or become critically ill. The Critical Illness portion of this plan provides coverage if you have a Heart Attack, Stroke, Cancer, Major Organ Transplant, Renal (Kidney) Failure or Alzheimer’s. You can use this money to pay for your medical expenses or cover the loss of income or living expenses while you are in the hospital. You could even use the money to take a recuperative vacation.

Why do I need this?
Every year thousands of families lose their homes because of the death of a parent or extreme medical bills resulting from a critical illness such as cancer, stroke or heart attack. A LovePlan will help your family pay the mortgage or other monthly bills as a parent or spouse recovers or as they deal with the passing of a parent or spouse.

Please pray this new product line can be a huge part of our future here at Equal Health!

Brady Speers, CEO

Girls Transition to Big-Girl Beds

I cannot believe nearly 3 years has gone by since my baby girls were infants! How is that possible? It seems like a blink ago that Julie and I were putting together their gribs. Today we spent the day transitioning them into "toddler beds". The girls took their first naps in them today.

My dad keeps telling me one day I will be saying, "It seems like yesterday they were being born and here they are getting married!".

I can only pray somehow time stands still a little longer.

Balloon Fest 2008 - nearly in our backyard!

Instead of having to trek over to Plano this fall, our annual balloon festival attendence was right around the corner from home this weekend in Midlothian.

We had a great time watching 20-25 balloons air up with some of them taking off despite the winds. We were joined by nearly everyone in the family too; my sister and her family, my parents, grandma Kat, Craig and Janet, and Alvin and Sudie.

Balloon festivals are a neat way to get some good family time.

I'm a Talk Radio Junkie

I hate to admit it, but I am. I love AM radio. Grew up on it (thanks dad).

From postgame discussions to political rants by main stream talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, I just can't get enough.

But, I decided I had to back off last week. So I updated my Ipod playlists and cranked up some good old rock and roll on the way to work today.

Sorry Ticket (www.theticket.com), you will have to take a break. You will still be heard nearly every day, but my mind needs a rest from the discussions of Cowboys football in June and how McCain can beat Obama in November.

My ears are ringing, thanks to the soothing vibrations of some loud music!

True Warriors of the Faith

Some friends of ours in our Sunday School class decided 3 years ago that God was calling them to join Pioneer Bible Translators as missionaries. Mind you, most of my life I have heard about and been forced to listen to different missionaries talk about their experiences, lives and missions. Honestly, it is usually boring and hard to connect with.

Not anymore.

(In order to help protect this couple they will be known here as Mr and Mrs. H.)

This amazing couple, along with their 3 small children, dropped their lives here in the comfort of America and headed to the Ukraine to study Russian and then prepare to live their lives near Siberia, with a people that live as nomads following buffalo. Yea, at times they are basically gonna be living in tents.

Let me put it this way: Each year, a small group of us send them a box of goodies as a "Care Package" from the U.S. We try to get it there by Christmas. We have to mail it in September!

This is not a two week missions trip to Disney World either.

Their goal is to help translate the Bible for a people that have never had one in their own language. It is dangerous, tiring and complicated. Everyday, they know they are being watched by the Russian government. They are on the front line like no other Christians I have ever known. We are blessed to be able to help support them financially each month. Without financial help from us and many others it might not happen.

Last Friday, they came back to Mansfield for a quick 10 day visit. They get a 3 month furlow back to the U.S. every 3 years. They brought all 5 of their kids with them ....Yea 5. On top of all they are doing, God led them to adopt brothers they met in an orphanage over there.

It was so great to see them, hug them and hear all of their stories. Their Russian is great and their kids are all doing incredible as a blended family. When they go back, their real work will begin and who knows how often they will be able to return to civilization and send us all an email update from around the world and one of the most desolate places on the map.

These people are real warriors of the faith.

Now I have a much better perspective on what all missionaries really do for God and it makes me realize how little the rest of us really contribute.

To support them, simply email Mr. H at honigmatthew@hotmail.com. They need all the money they can get.

http://mattandshelby.spaces.live.com/photos/

Building Families Quinn Fund

Dear Friends and Family,

As you know, Julie and I recently adopted a baby boy from South Korea name Quinn Seong Wook. His is an amazing boy and fits right in with our family. We are truly amazed at God’s goodness and how He puts children and families together via adoption.

We have been working with Dillon International since our return and together have set up a “Fund” called the Building Families Quinn Fund in honor of our son to assist other families who feel led to adopt and help a child have a forever family. This fund will provide finances to other families who desire to adopt but may be held back for financial reasons. We personally plan to contribute monthly and wanted you all to know how you can help if you feel led. There are many families right now in the process that need grants from a fund like this and we can all help make sure a child is not left without a family simply because of money. Quinn’s Fund will be set aside specifically for children in South Korea and will also target kids with special needs.

This is a great way to give and all donations are tax deductible thanks to Dillon.

To help, click the link below, click on the “Donate Now” button and then choose “Quinn Fund” under the program selection options.
http://www.dillonadopt.com/

Thanks for each of you and God Bless!

For more on Quinn see his blog: www.luvfromasia.blogspot.com

Never Forget to Remember, Like Most Have with Korea

The Korean War has a sad alias; the forgotten war.

Here on Memorial Day, it is important that we all remember every single veteran that has served and the battles they were commissioned in. From fighting for our own independence, protecting others and to setting nations free, America rises above them all.

No nation gives more. No nation helps more. No nation stands against tyranny more.

We can never forget them. They all count.

(these photos were taken at the Korean War Memorial during our trip to Seoul, South Korea in April).

Water Park in Our Back Yard

Hawaiian Falls is a new family waterpark complete with sides, wave pool, lazy river and much more that open last Friday in Mansfield.

It's basically in our backyard as it merely a walk through our neighborhood away. We went Friday and the kiddos loved it. Have to admit, it was pretty cool.

Pray for Chapman's Loss

If you have not heard, long time Christian musician, and adoption patriot, Stephen Curtis Champman, lost one of his adopted daughters to a terrible car accident yesterday. I cannot imagine what they must be going through but they certainly need our prayers, big time.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,357046,00.html

One Happy Family

As we celebrate Mother's Day 2008, both Julie and I are grateful for the events of the last 3 years. We believe our family is complete. Chloe, Sidney, Quinn. The best three kids anyone could hope for.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

The Promise of God

Louie Giglio has been the single most impacting Christian leader in my life. I have been listening to him since I was 18. This is truly one of his best moments.

Five Years Ago Today...

Julie and I were getting ready for our night wedding. It was a Saturday much like today. Everyone was in town, the fellas were staying tuned to the NFL draft updates, and Julie and I were ready to tie the knott and head to Disney World for our Honeymoon!

Here is a photo we took at Epcot during our trip as we meet another "newlywed couple". I still remember them too. They were long time highschool sweethearts who were reunited after both of their current spouses had passed away. I wonder how they are today?

Julie and I have had a great marriage! What an amazing 5 years. The trick?

Keep the Lord first in all of life

Choose your battles. Most things are not worth it.

Stay busy and enjoy life.
Have lots of dogs and lots of kids!

Be a Cowboys fan!

Love is blind if you simply follow the rules.

Here's wishing for many more!

Baseball Season is Already Done

Once again, the baseball season is over for me and it just started 21 days ago, making my long football off-season even longer this summer.

As usual, the Rangers are out of it in April with a record of 7-13. The Astros are not much better this year either.

At least my Astros have been a consistent playoff team and a World Series team in the past.

The Rangers? Can a team be worse?

Tour Korea! What a Wondefful Place!

via videosift.com

First Day Back - Nailed with Hail

Figures.

First day back from being across the world, and our sons first day in Texas.

Hail storm FROM BEYOND!!!

Check out these photos taken as we were rocked! Never seen anything like it. Thought our windows were going to smash in.

Video posted on our website here:

http://www.thefamilypost.com/Speersfamily/videos.php

Oh, So Funny

One of the funniest things about having twins is what I call the "copycat syndrome". This is the process by which they literally do and say everything that Julie and I do. From saying "Oh My Gosh!" and other accidental things like when Chloe repeated me saying "Crap" one day in the car.

Let me give an even better example of how this works with multiples, unlike those of you with singletons:

When our girls are in their full-fledge "terrible two" mode (which is nearly all day these days) they spend much of their time awake either in time-out, being told to stop doing something, or crying because of one reason or another.

So, the other day, I hear the girls playing and notice they are acting like one is either me or Julie and the other is still the toddler. It went something like this:

"Chloe! Go time out right now!" Sidney said to Chloe while pointing and looking very stern and serious.

Chloe sits down by the front door with a sad look on her face. Sidney kneels down and grabs Chloe's cheeks with both hands, "You hear me?" she demands. "No!" Chloe revolts and turns away. Sidney walks away with that "ok, we will wait until she just decides to chill" look.

Finally, things calm down and Chloe looks at her a few minutes later with those sad puppy eyes.

Then Sidney asks, "You done?"

Chloe gets up laughing and then Sidney says, "Sidney turn" and they reverse roles and do it all over again.

This can go on for hours! A "night-night" routine is also acted out throughout the day these days in which one will tell the other to "Lay down right now!" and the other will lay down and then start acting up (just like they do in real life). The scene cycles over and over with one acting up and the other saying "lay down right now!".

Just know this, whatever you say and do, will be repeated between them!

Now We Know Why Oprah Supports Obama

They believe in and are teaching the same junk. Check this out.

www.conservativelight.blogspot.com

Last Family-of-4 Outing?

We took off for GlenRose today in what was more than likely our last major family outing with just us and the girls. (It appears next week we will get our call to go to Korea for our son!). Originally we had hoped to make it to Sea World with the girls, but it does not open until May.

But I am glad we did what we did. If you have not been to Fossil Rim then you have missed out. http://www.fossilrim.com/ What a fun thing! We got to feed Zebras, Ostrich, all kinds of other animals, and Giraffes stuck their heads in our van to be fed which was hilarious. The girls loved it, but Julie and I were cracking up. At one point we were surrounded by animals, most of which were trying to find a way into the van! This is a neat conversvation that helps save animals, does research and more. The Cheetah exhibit was neat too.

Texas Stadium is Amazing

Don't get me wrong, as a season ticket and former suite owner at Texas Stadium, I am not down with new pricing structure of the new stadium at all, but "WOW!" as all anyone can say when seeing it go up right in front of their eyes like we are. We are the generation watching this thing be built and it is truly amazing.

I have been taking photos every 6 months or so, and here is a recent update. Look at the men working on this thing!!

Why We Believe

Christianity is truly set apart from all of the other religious systems the world offers.

1. No other religion promises eternal life based on the works of God alone. All the others are based on the works of man.
2. In other religions one must die to get to God. In Christianity, God died to get to man.
3. Unlike other religious leaders, Jesus could relate to everything we go through - stress, pain, betrayal, injustice, temptation.
4. Only in Christianity did the Savior die for its followers. In all of the others, one must die for its selfish savior.
5. Only Jesus rose again. All of the other supposed "saviors" are all still dead in their graves.

It's really that simple.

That's why we believe.

For more proof: check out this investigative report about Jesus by Lee Strobel, former Legal Editor of the Chicago Tribune. http://www.leestrobel.com/

Daddy Day

Took Chloe and Sidney each on their own Daddy Day time over the last few days. Was a ton of fun. Took Chloe out Saturday because Sidney was sick. We went to Home Depot (home peepo) and bought some rakes, flowers (fallas) and we ate at Grandy's. She had a blast and has talked about it non-stop for 3 days.

Last night I took Sidney out adn we ate at Quizznos, then went to Petco and Target. She thought Petco was the zoo since there were so many animals to see. She has not stopped talking about seeing a turtle, bunny rabbit and finding the new box of straws we bought at Target.

I love daddy days as much as they do!

Yep, Another Blog

I just can't stand it no mo!

http://conservativelight.blogspot.com/

Our First Korean Meal

Now, please know my wife will eat just about anything. I, on the other hand, am another story all together!

But, in our first steps of becoming Korean, we had dinner with some new Dillon friends last weekend (they are from Southlake and are adopting a girl from South Korea as well), at this true Korean restaurant in Dallas called "Sura".

There is a neat Korean area of Dallas where there are tons of stores (with food that might cause your eyes to bug out) and little cafes and Korean BBQs a plenty. Sura was very nice and the food was different yet good. The meat they serve was actually VERY good! Thank God too, cause I was getting worried...

It Feels Like Home

There is a new water tower in town. In this town that is. Not my home town mind you, but town to once was my home; for just a few years anyway.

As I drove into town I noticed the new water tower first with its beaming statement, “It Feels Like Home” proudly painted in all caps.

Brownwood, Texas. Home sweet home.

It’s been a few years since my eyes have roamed the old streets of where I spent my college days at Howard Payne University. What days they were too; filled with all kinds of experiences, relationships and puredee fun.

That was 17 years ago this spring. I guess that’s more than “a few”. But, to me it seems like just a few.

I decided to take a quick road trip from my busy life in Dallas and spend a few days down here in no-mans-land. I barely have cell phone signal here for goodness sakes and the radio stations still have two choices, country AND western, that is. Some things just never change.

People have asked me, “why in the heck are you going to Brownwood!?” Honestly, my answers make sense to me, but to those who hear them, I get nothing but weird stares, so my reply has been, “It’s a long story.”

In a strange way, since 1991, this place has just always felt like home to me. When I need a break, need to think, or just need to get away, Brownwood is here for me.

And this is one of those times.

I just need to think. I need to connect with myself and with God, even if for just a few hours tonight and tomorrow before I head home. And this is the place I know best to do just that.

Years ago it was here that I would sit in my car with the moon roof open starring at the stars and thinking about life while discussing my concerns with God. It was here we could make our way out to the lake and build a small fire without getting in trouble. It was here we could still shoot fireworks off each year. It was here that I could focus. It was here that I really didn’t worry about much more than whom I was going to date next. It was here that life was about friends, serving God, prayer, having fun and preparing for life.

And life is in full swing for me and my family.

The last time I was here my life was about to be changed drastically. My twin daughters, Chloe and Sidney were on their way. Everything was going to be different, but it would also be much better.

My wife and I are once again at the point in which a historical marker could be placed. Our son Quinn, born just 7 months ago outside of Seoul, South Korea, will be coming home with us in a matter of weeks. Paperwork for his adoption is being finalized, all attorneys have been paid and the wait for our travel call is on. Any day, we will be preparing to jump on a Korean Air 14 hour flight all the way around the world. We will cry, be amazed, thank God and head home just days later, never to be the same again.

When we get back, we will be a family of seven; two girls, one boy and yes, two dogs.

And, I cannot wait!

So, before the rush is on, I needed some time. Time to get ready. Time to think about some decisions I need to make. Time to thank God for all He has given to me. I am gonna pray, relax, think, eat at Underwoods for lunch tomorrow, and get ready for the rest of the ride life has in store.

Brownwood - it will never be home for you. It will never be home for my wife or kids. But to me, it feels like home, at least for tonight.

Huckabee Says Goodbye

After months and months of campaigning, and singing a great song few got a chance to really hear and study, Mike Huckabee has bowed out of the Presidential race and handed over the GOP to John McCain.

Huckabee is a former pastor, who has a heart for God, America and faith-based values but with little money, a much smaller staff than most and little media support he decided tonight his race was over. As he said, he fought a good fight and we are proud to have supported him and been deeply involved in the democratic process this incredible nation gives us.

Now it is time we get behind John and remain strong.

Oh momma, please not Obama.

Click here for my new conservative blog and some shocking details about this man people are fainting over.

http://www.conservativelight.blogspot.com/