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...

how much is too much?

Who knew you could actually wish with all of your heart for your work cell phone to break?

Work has been a little crazy for me lately to say the least, but one day last week was just ridiculous. Around 5:45PM I decided to count how many hits I had on my work phone that day (including a few calls home, voicemail checks, etc)...any guesses?????

87

From 7:30AM - 5:45PM...that's a bit nuts...no wonder I don't have any words left when I get home at night.

who is god for anyway?

Who knew my fundamental beliefs could get challenged again and again? Guess that's why we walk slowly through this life instead of fast forwarding.

Mark put up a post on Thanksgiving that kind of made me think a bit. He started with Romans 8:31, "If God is for us, then who can be against us?" It's another one of those truths I have always believed, but not sure I have always believed IN. I knew the words, deep down I believed what they said, but not sure I really lived my life as if I truly believed in those words - or honestly thought that was the case as I walked through my day.

Here is his post:

"If God is for us then who can be against us?" Romans 8:31

You + God = a majority. If God is on your side, there is nothing you cannot overcome. Why? Because we are more than conquerors through Christ. That is reality. That isn't optimism. It's biblical realism.

If you know that God is for you, then no challenge is too great, no problem is too big, no obstacle cannot be overcome. But most of us doubt this fundamental truth. And I believe it's one of our root spiritual problems. We aren't sure if God is really for us or against us because we allow the guilt we feel over sins committed to infect our feelings. We think God feels about us the way we feel about ourselves! We need to sanctify our feelings.

You need to settle this once and for all. God is for you. God is on your side. God is in your corner. His intentions toward you are always good. Here's an amazing promise in Psalm 84:11:

"No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right."

Where to go from here? Is God really for me? Is he really in my corner? How can I feel that he is really there for me when Murphy's Law seems to always prevail and win out? I think that makes a big difference - knowing deep down he is really for me.

I'm working on this part of my life, trying to feel as though God doesn't have it out for me. Like in the movie Bruce Almighty - where he says he feels like an ant and God is the mean kid with the magnifying glass burning him with the sun. At the end of the day, I know he is for me - there have been too many times in my life when he has come through for me to completely doubt this fact.

I think my outlook on life would be so much better, and much more clear if I believed he was always looking out for my best interests, trying to keep me on the right path and working for me at every turn. Honestly, if he isn't in my corner, then who is? Who am I relying on when the stuff hits the fan? Me? That's more scary than really believing he is there for me, and loving me, and working towards keeping me safe and happy.

If he is for me, no one can be against me. I just hope all those against me know that...

primal book tour

Who knew my blog could get picked to write a book review????

Mark Batterson has written a new book called Primal. He was offering a few free advanced copies from the publisher for people that would read it and post a review of the book on their blog. It was for the first few people that signed up (don't remember how many). So I thought, "Why not sign up and see what happens?"

I got an e-mail last week saying I was going to get a copy of the book and I'm so excited!!! I can't wait to read it, it will be the first book of Mark's I've read so I'm really looking forward to it.

Book should be in hand next week and I'll start posting as I read through it. Here is a little info on the book - for more information you can go to the link on the word "Primal" above - you can even read the first chapter if you want to get a first look.

Let me know what you think as I post info...

Here is a quick book summary:

"Our generation needs a new reformation but it won’t be born of a new discovery. It will be the rediscovery of something old, something ancient, something primal. The next reformation won’t be led by a single person or defined by a single event. It will be led by millions of reformers who are simply great at the Great Commandment."

thanksgiving

Who knew hard work could pay off?

Well, let's be honest, J and Ann did most of the work - but Thanksgiving was a success. We had Ann, Adam and Ann's father (Conrad) over for the day and had a blast! We had a ton of food - some provided by us and some brought by Ann and family (actually, they brought a ton of stuff!). We had fun hanging out, eating, playing Trivial Pursuit on the Wii (teams were Ann, J, and Nadia vs. Conrad and I vs. Adam and Taylor). Guess who won? Yup, Adam and Taylor...go figure. We also watched the movie Elf while eating dessert - what a great day.

It is hard being so far away from family - growing up Thanksgiving was always a huge event with a ton of family - so not having any family here is tough. We were invited to go to Cheri's for the day (which would have been a lot of fun), but with everything else we had going on this weekend, it just didn't work out. It was a lot of fun being able to have Ann, Adam and Conrad over for sure.

Here are some pictures of the event...it was also Ann's birthday about a week ago so J made a cake for her to celebrate.