happy holidays

Who knew I could actually post three times in 5 minutes (give or take)?

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday (I know i'm a bit late). I hope everyone had a wonderful time with friends and family. Looking forward to catching up with each of you to hear the wonderful stories of how everything went.

Most importantly - I hope you got all the presents you wanted - that's what it's all about right?

trinity

Who knew we'd have a challenge for best cuddler in the family?

Apparently Trinity thinks she is one of us and really gets jealous if we are all on the couch together and she doesn't get to climb up with us. Here is an example of how she likes to invade our personal space.

christmas 2010

Who knew Christmas could wait until after 9AM to start?!?!?!?

I think we officially have an older kid now - Tay didn't wake up until after 9AM...then we made some breakfast and read the Christmas story (slowly) before opening anything. Tay didn't say a word, didn't try to rush it or anything. I'm always amazed by her personality, she is great.

Here are some pictures of the morning. It was pretty fun and we really enjoy being around each other.

Our happy kid...don't you just love the new hat???

Trinity just has to be in the middle of everything.

Still a few under the tree...

Part way through the opening presents event.

Our classic picture of J (I think we have a similar picture every year).

Taylor and Trinity trying to get burried in wrapping paper.

Nadia - so excited we could barely contain her.

The awesome chocolate pudding pie J made...nice...

Primal thoughts

Who knew reading a book could actually be fun...and could actually challenge you to change?

I have been reading the book Primal by Mark Batterson over the last week or so. I know I have posted a few times about how excited I was to get the chance to read this book...so I figured I better post some thoughts to live up to all of my hype.

As christians, we sometimes get caught up looking for the next big and new idea to grow - which is a fantastic exercise as long as it isn't at the expense of our core responsibilities. The older I get, the more I'm starting to cling to the basics, and this book did an amazing job of reminding me about how my walk started. It is amazing how quickly we can lose focus and jump on the latest bandwagon passing by with the latest fad about how to learn, be better at something, or simply improve ourselves without actually doing any work. Problem is, a lot of the time we don't need change, we need to be focused on what we are already doing.

Quick summary for those of you that will tune out with more than a few paragraphs - it's a great book and really challenged me to rethink life and how I'm walking through it. The back to basics reminder and the way it has lead me back to the beginning has been very refreshing. I'm looking forward to where this can take me and I'm sure you will all be a part of that journey (since I tend to blog my thoughts from time to time). If you are interested in picking up a copy (which I would recommend), info is listed below for where and how. Now, for a few more thoughts on this book...

I can't tell you how many times in my life I have thought that I just needed to read another book, or study another concept about spiritual disciplines, how to be a better christian, or whatever. I'm definitely in the camp that says the more you study and read, the better off you are. Problem with that thinking is you can fall into the pit where you never put into practice what you learn. Guess that's why employers want a candidate that not only has the degree, but also has experience - you learn so much more when you put into practice what you learn. For me going through school, the classes with the biggest impact on me were the ones where the teacher was able to teach from experience, and not only a book. I'm sure living my life that way would have a bigger impact on me and those around me if I could really work to understand and put into practice all the stuff I have read. Mark talks about this and how we tend to equate spiritual growth and maturity to knowledge acquisition and education, but head knowledge never has been the true test - we learn more and do less. At the end of the day, it's our actions that define us.

Since my attention span can wander quickly, I tend to lose focus from time to time - and this book really challenged me to rethink some of my strategy walking through life. One of the things Mark talked about was how to read scripture. One of his comments was that the bible isn't meant to be read reactively, it's meant to be prayed proactively. This is a definite paradigm shift in thinking for me - I have always read it to find meaning to what has already happened in my life. Thinking about it the way he proposed is a completely new concept to me. There have been many times when I have thought, "How cool would it be to have that kind of patience (or fill in the blank)?" My new goal is to be direct in my prayer - to specifically pray for what I would like in my life and watch him deliver to his promises.

Mark also talks about not conforming to what we think we should be - but to be ourselves and dare to be different. I think we get in trouble when we try to be some one we aren't - it's so much easier for people to see through us when we are pretending. Funny thing is, who we are is what people love about us. The differences and simple nuances we each possess are what makes life fun, and make each of us interesting - being ourselves is something I think we should all be challenged to do on a regular basis. To not have a work Kevin, and a different Kevin that shows up at home, on weekends, with friends, etc - to just be me all the time in every situation...sounds a lot less confusing and tiring to me.

Finally, this quote was one of my favorites in the book - "Loving is learning more and more about the one you love." How true is this? How many relationships get stale once you think you know everything about the other person? I have been married for 11 years now and I have a lot more to learn about my wife. It's the journey and the curiosity I have to get to know her more and more that keeps me motivated to try to find out new things about her all the time. I'm always amazed when I find something new about her I hadn't figured out before. Lucky for me (and not for her), I'm a guy and it will take me a lifetime to get to know her...and by then I'll forget the stuff I learned now so I can start all over again. This is the same concept in my relationship with God - I could study a lifetime and not even scratch the surface of who he is - but how much fun is it to work to learn more and more each day? Primal did a wonderful job of giving practical tips and ways to start and continue down this path.

If you are interested in this book, you are in luck - it's now on the shelves, or you can order it online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Bookschristian.com. I definitely recommend this book and would love to chat about this more with any of you interested - you know how much I love sitting at a coffee shop talking. It's almost January...sounds like a great book to start your year off with.

On a side note, you should check out the coffee house NCC runs in DC - pretty amazing place. It's called Ebenezers and all of the profits go directly to missions...crazy.

how many days?

Who knew I could be this close to Christmas and still not realize it?

Today J and I spent some time finishing our Christmas shopping - how nice was that? It is definitely a great feeling to be close to being completed with it since we have only 5 days until it's here. It was also great to be able to spend some time with my wife as well and we honestly just had a lot of fun goofing off and having fun shopping for others (plus she bought me a Starbucks coffee - very special treat for sure).

Tomorrow is a big day - Christmas play at church so we will be at both services. I'll get pictures up here once I get them. Going to be a long day, but a fun one for sure.

On Friday, Taylor informed us she was able to get into the Skating Station free with her ID card (her middle school was able to get in for free - nice huh?). So, being the amazingly awesome and fantastic parents we are, we took Tay and Emma to go roller skating after play practice - so we were there from 9PM until almost midnight. It was fun and there were other friends from her school there as well. Originally, I wasn't going to skate (it has been many, many years after all), but I decided to strap on the skates and give it a go. It was Taylor's first time on skates and she did good - we did many laps holding hands. In high school, a friend and I went skating almost every weekend and I loved it. I must admit I was pretty nervous getting out there, but it took all of 10 seconds to get back into the groove...and I had a blast. It really was fun watching Taylor enjoying something I love so much. We are already planning our next skating trip and are thinking it would be fun to bring other friends - so all of you out there interested in trying to skate again, let us know. My goal next time we go is to get J out there - and it will be easier if we have other friends out there giving it a go like we are.

All in all, it's been a great weekend - and it's only Saturday night...can't wait for the Holiday when I get an extended weekend!

skating show

Who knew watching an ice skating show could be so much fun???

We had the wonderful opportunity to go to Lake's ice skating show last week and had a lot of fun. It's pretty amazing how great those kids are on ice - I know I couldn't do much of what they are doing - and making it look easy. It was fun to get to hang with all of Lake's family as well. Here is a pic of Tay and Lake at the show (notice Lake's cool ice skating sweatshirt and Tay's new coat).

event pics

Who knew I could still have that song in my head after 3 days??? (see post below)

Here are some pictures from the Sunday event...

saving the day

Who knew how much of an impact the Taurus could have?

People often ask me what I did while I was in Chicago launching the Taurus. Apparently, I was saving Christmas...

mixed feelings

Who knew I could survive a surprise party...barely...?

I have to admit, it's rare that we are surprised, but we got blown away today. We were supposed to have lunch with some friends at their house - we were thinking of a low key, fun time for a few hours. We were definitely looking forward to it and Jaimie even made a special dessert for it.

Then we walked in...and that all changed...

There were a million (give or take) of our friends there for a surprise party to celebrate, well, us. Go figure. Who does that? It's not even like we are all that special anyway...we are just who we are and I guess today we learned that was enough. Laura had arranged this and had a bunch of our friends come together just to give us a pep rally. After having a great lunch, everyone came together in the same room and Laura had people say things they loved about us.

Let me give you a little insight into me - being the center of attention is never something I enjoy. I'm a big fan of doing things in the background, not getting much attention, and just going on with my day. I have come to realize that is one of the main reasons I'm not a big fan of my birthday - too much direct attention on me. Anyway...

So, being in a room with all of our friends directly talking about what they love about us was humbling to say the least. It was amazing to realize how many amazing people we know - friends that would give up their Sunday afternoon to come together just for us. At the end of everyone sharing, one of our friends actually made a song about and for us. It was amazing to hear the impact we have had - and I must admit I love being a Hartman - being Jaimie's husband and Taylor's dad. They truly are amazing and being in their family is nothing short of fantastic.

I can't thank each of you enough. As I said today, we are who we are because you guys bring out the best in us and help us to be who we are. Thank you Laura and family for hosting the event and even thinking to put it together. Thank you Nadia for helping to compile the list of people to invite. Thank you to all of the people that came - I'm still in a state of shock.

As just a little taste of our afternoon, here is the song they sang for us today. The person singing is our friend Darel (who has 2 of the cutest girls ever that play a really mean game of hide and seek).

early christmas

Who knew getting a homework assignment could be exciting?

I just received my copy of Primal (the book by Mark Batterson) yesterday and I'm pretty pumped. The goal is to have the book read within the next week or so and post my thoughts about what it says. As we all know and love my thoughts, this is pretty exciting for me. I will do my best not to be biased even though he is married to my cousin - but I'm truly hoping this starts a wave of people getting interested in the book and reading it also.

Going to take a bit of focus to get through the book that quickly - I have a lot going on right now since apparently Christmas is only 2 weeks away??? Where did that come from? I remember as a kid I knew it was coming from 5 months away...and now I barely realize it by Christmas Eve. Guess that's just another sign I must accept that I'm getting old (or older?).

If you want to get a preview of what I'm going to be reading, you can check out Mark's blog - he has put up some teasers on a few of the chapters over the last week or so.

If you're like, "Kevin, how can I get a copy of the book to read along with you at the same time right now as you are reading it today or tonight cause I'm so excited I can't contain myself or wait for you to report back" then you can go here to pick up a copy. Looks like they are still offering some discounts for pre-orders.

We all know this is a big step for me to prove I can still read...here goes...