He's In

Friday night, my dad was inducted into the Oak Hills High School Hall of Fame. I am so proud of him! My brother and two nephews were able to make it down for the event. It was great to see them! It was also so good to see folks from church, some guys who used to wrestle for dad, and even a former MatScot (OHHS wrestling "cheerleader" responsible for cheering, score keeping, stats, etc.). There were at least 20 people that came on Dad's behalf to share in this moment. As he was being congratulated by his former wrestlers, my dad, in his incredible humbleness, said this award was because of them. If they hadn't won, he wouldn't be getting all this attention. While that is somewhat true, if they didn't have a great coach that knew how to coach and motivate them to be the best, they probably wouldn't have had the success they (and he) had. Congratulations, Dad! We love you!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

...except when I'm driving to/from work...

We were allowed to leave work an hour early yesterday as a winter storm was moving in and had dropped snow and was bringing ice later. I made it home with no trouble. Well, it rained/sleeted for most of the night. I started about 6:30 a.m. this morning and could not get up the hill on our street. I saw the plow come through, then decided to try again. This time, even worse results. I then got word that our company was not going to open until 10:00 a.m. I decided to try again about 7:45 a.m. and, after backing all the way down the street, got a running start and made it! The roads were not good. Oh, by the way, it had started snowing by now, too. Big flakes, then it was snowing like crazy...about an inch per hour. Fortunately for us, it stopped by late morning. Now, the sun is out (occasionally), and the road crews should be able to make some progress by the time I'm ready to head back home (actually by the time they let me go home). Everything looks beautiful, though!

Thank you, Jesus, that I still have a job to go to during days like this (or any day for that matter)!

Homeschooling

As I indicated in our "Christmas card," we made the tough decision to take Livvi out of her 2nd grade public school situation mid-term and would finish out the year homeschooling her. Heather and I are big proponents of public schools and this was in no way a bad reflection on our schools. In fact, we moved to this area BECAUSE of the great schools. However, due to limited resources at this grade level, Livvi wasn't getting the extra work she wanted or we thought she deserved. She was pretty much bored most of the day.

On January 5, Heather began teaching Liv at home. She did extensive research and chose the Ohio Virtual Academy. Unlike the stereotypical home school experience, OHVA provides pretty much everything you need (curriculum, books, workbooks, art supplies, computer, printer, etc.). It is pretty fantastic (at least what we've seen so far)! It is technically a public school where Livvi has to check in with a teacher periodically (online), but Heather is the one teaching her. She has control of the spin placed on the curriculum. They go at a pace that is comfortable for Liv. She can go as fast or as slow as she wants. In addition to the assigned curriculum, Tae Kwon Do, Wii Fit, etc. counts as gym time, reading before bed counts as reading time, watching things like our DVD of Schoolhouse Rock counts as learning, etc.

The challenge in all this is Heather NEVER gets a break! She is either teaching Livvi or she is entertaining Joie. We've had offers of help and we may start to accept. It is a very difficult thing for a mom to give 100% of her attention to BOTH kids all the time. However, being a good mom, that is exactly what Heather wants to do. Livvi is learning a LOT. In fact, I would venture a guess that she's learned more in the last 8+ days than she has over the last 6 months-to-a-year. Please keep Heather in your prayers as she definitely has the harder job in our family. She would like to post an update on this from her perspective, but finding the time is the problem. Stay tuned!!

Livvi's a Red Belt

We are more than happy to have our kids try all kinds of activities (and we encourage it). Olivia has danced, played soccer, played t-ball, and done gymnastics, and all were fairly short-lived. She started in Tae Kwon Do October 23, 2006 in the 4-and 5-year old class. When she turned 6, she moved up to the 6-and 7-year old class. She really loves TKD and seems to do really well at it. Late Monday afternoon, she was the first in her class to earn a red belt. The only belt higher is the Lil' Dragons All-star belt (you can't get a black belt at this age level). We are so proud of her accomplishment and her determination to stick with something she loves and excel at it. Congratulations, Livvi! We love you!!

Frank Shaut, Sr. - OHHS Hall of Fame

My dad has received many awards and much (deserved) recognition over the years. He will get to add another accolade to the list when he will be inducted into the Oak Hills High School Hall of Fame on Friday, January 30 around 7:00 p.m. While my brother and I agree this is WAY overdue, our whole family is so happy and proud of him. Here is the official press release from OHHS. In addition to being an outstanding wrestling coach at Oak Hills, he actually helped coach the University of Cincinnati team while he was on it, as the head coach, Glenn Sample, was pretty new to the sport. A collegue of mine found this UC Paper from March 22, 1962 online. See page 10 - viewer discretion is advised :-)! He is also in the UC Hall of Fame.

While he is appreciative of the recognition, he is very embarrassed by it and would probably prefer to not be recognized for the most part. Nevertheless, I love it and wish he'd get more. In fact, while he has had many sports-related accomplishments, I would love for him to get recognized for the stuff he's done since he stopped coaching in 1974. I'm not even talking about his time as a great assistant principal and principal, but rather his seemingly tireless love and service to his Lord. He helped start a church in 1978 (New Covenant Christian, later changed name to Oak Hills Christian) with a team of people who, over time, left the church for whatever reason. There were times (years) when he was the only elder in the church and was soooo involved over the years. People kept giving up while both of my parents stuck it out and did whatever they could. There were times of great rejoicing as well as times of many tears and wonders of what God had planned for them and this small church (down to about 40 people at one point). After years of praying that God would send people to our church, we got up to about 100-150 or so and in 2004, we merged with another church of similar size (maybe a tad bigger) and changed our name to iMPACT. Combined we were about 250-300 each Sunday. We now have three services (one of which is on Saturday evening) and are getting consistently over 400 people each week (Note, they attend all three services each week, if possible). He's still praying for more (unsaved) people and now we have the good "problem" of trying to figure out where to put them! :-) Praise the Lord!

I hope I wasn't rambling. I didn't intend to go into all that (and there is PLENTY MORE), but it just seemed a natural progression from what I set out to do initially.

Dad, forgive me for posting this as I know on some level you don't like it, but you and Mom deserve so much recognition for stuff outside of sports. I hope you know MANY people love and appreciate you two for your love of Jesus and His church here at iMPACT. I happen to be one of them!

Wii Are Family

With some of the Christmas money we received, we decided to go ahead and get something we've wanted for a while that might also help us get a little more active. We purchased a hard-to-find Nintendo Wii system last weekend and are having fun with it. It came with the sports package (Tennis, Golf, Baseball, Bowling, and Boxing) and that is pretty much all we've done. We got Wii Music a couple of days ago, but we really haven't gotten to use that one much (yet).

There is one part I don't like: Isn't a father supposed to be better in sports than his 7 year-old daughter? It is somewhat humbling to know Livvi has beaten me on more than one occasion in bowling, baseball, tennis, and, yes, boxing. I just have to keep telling myself that it is just an electronic game and that in really life, it would be different. Right?!

I'm currently sitting here watching Heather beat the holy crap out of Livvi in boxing. There is something about seeing a mother beat her child in the ring. Nice, Heather, nice! In fact, I just boxed Heather, too, and there was a similar result: me face down on the mat.

Joie has also gotten into it a little as well (as best as she can). Boxing is about the only thing she can do. She can punch and put a hurtin' on some of the computer opponents. In fact she won at least two matches. Here is a clip of her with a virtual punching bag.

By the way, at the end of the video, after Heather asked if she could play, Jo's response was cut off. Any guesses? You got it. She said "No!"

Merry Christmas!

Every year, we would send out Christmas cards like everyone else does. We did the metamorphosis from just cards to picture cards to letters (with pictures). For Christmas 2006, we just never got them out. We like to blame Joie because she showed up a month early and was born on Dec 22. However, truth be told, we weren’t ready to buy or mail them out anyway. In 2007, we continued the new tradition of NOT sending out cards. In the age of e-mail and Internet, we figured we could still keep in touch without having to be super organized with our time. Somehow, we just cannot get everything done that is on our list. Therefore, please do not be offended if you have not received a card from us (no one has).

This year, we are morphing into another phase. We started a family blog about two weeks ago and are posting our Christmas wishes here. You can keep up with us by subscribing to our blog either via e-mail or via one of the many feeds available.

Now, onto the actual Christmas “card”:

Heather, Olivia, Josephine, and I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic new year!

Livvi continues in Tae Kwon Do (TKD) and should be getting her red belt in mid-January! She really excels at school (2nd grade) to where she is bored most of the time. As the teachers don't have the time for her (as there are some special needs kids in her class), we've made the decision to home-school her for the remainder of the year. She reads at a better than 4th-grade level and will be starting math at the 3rd grade level in this new home-school class. We'll post further updates here in the very near future. She has also taken swimming lessons and passed Level 1. Also, per a previous post, she joined American Heritage Girls a couple of weeks ago.

Joie turned two earlier this week. She is quite the talker, though sometimes we don't have a clue what she is saying. She is getting pretty good with her words and is forming sentences as well. Oh, and she is incredibly opinionated! She loves "Go, Diego, Go" and TV in general (not a good sign). On a more positive note, she really likes books and being read to. Heather tries to take her to the library for toddler story time each Wed morning. She likes to go to Livvi's TKD class and watch. Some friends gave her a white martial arts belt to wear and she is in character! She bows before entering the room (over and over again) and does kicks and punches. We keep asking for a toddler class at TKD, but they are still considering it. Heather took her to a gym class for 30 minutes each week at the YMCA. She seemed to like that as well. She is also a pretty bright kid and, like Livvi, is a joy to be around!

Heather continues to do a great job of raising our kids! She is so kind, compassionate, and patient with our girls (and me). She is excited and nervous about being a home-schooling mom. It could be a challenge with Joie around as well! She tried something new this past year in teaching a college accounting class at Cincinnati Christian University.

I just "celebrated" my 20th anniversary at Cincinnati Insurance a couple of months ago. Sounds impressive until you think about the fact that that is probably not even half way to retirement! I also continue to serve at iMPACT Church as the pastor overseeing our finances and communication efforts. Our church is really doing great! We added a Saturday night service a couple of months ago and are now averaging around 400 each weekend! We really seem to be reaching those that need to hear the message of God's grace through Jesus. It is really exciting to be a part of this congregation!

As a family, we vacationed in Orlando, Florida back in March. In April, we stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason before going to the Cincinnati Insurance Company Associate Appreciation Day at Kings Island. We also spent the night in a hotel on Thanksgiving here in town so the kids could go swimming. I got to travel as well for work to Austin, TX, Bismarck, ND, Tallahassee, FL, New York, NY, and Hartford, CT.

Many times, we’ve been told to ponder the sacrifice Jesus made by leaving Heaven to come here and live among us, ultimately dying for our sins. How many of us would have chosen that path? You say, “Well, he is God, so it was probably easier on him.” He was equally man as well when he was here on earth, so he had many of the problems and temptations we have as well. Consider Joseph and Mary and the sacrifice they made as well. How many of us would have been (or are) as faithful to carry out God’s will? It would have been so easy to quit and/or be angry!

Consider these things this season and share the Light of Christ to others.

Merry Christmas! We love you all!

Luke 2:1-20
Glenn Beck's story of Christmas (audio)