DAN GOULD

FROM THE INSIDE OUT

Category: Dan Gould

  • Happy B-Day Stephanie – Why I love my Wife

    Today is a special day for my wife, she turns . . . you’ll have to ask her, i don’t know that she wants that told to all my readers.  If you could tell her happy birthday here or here.  So in light of her special day I thought I would right down 10 reasons why, I love my wife!

    • From the moment we first started talking I knew you would one day be my wife! (Psalm 37:4)
    • We have some of the same dreams and desires in life!
    • I love what God is doing on the inside of you!
    • I love the way you make me feel on the inside!
    • You make me desire to be a better husband and father!
    • You get me, sometimes more than I get myself!
    • You sacrifice so much for me and our family!
    • You are a great Mom even in the challenges!
    • You make me laugh and are fun to be with!
    • You are the complete package and I am thankful that God put us together!
      (i could insert several cheesy movie lines here but this is heartfelt)

  • Costume Party Fun!!

    Last night Josiah and I joined the Jr/Sr small group for their costume party.  We had a lot of fun.  The students went all out with their costumes I was pretty impressed.  Josiah and I went as ninjas.  All day he asked if it was time to go to the party, literally every 15 minutes.  He was so excited and I think he had fun hanging out with the older kids!  Here are some pics from last night!

  • Soccer What?

    Well today at Josiah’s soccer game Stephanie and I both learned that we are very competitive.  Josiah has been playing soccer this year and has come a long way.  From the first game of crying on the sideline and not wanting to go in to the kid that typically scores 4 goals a game.

    Well today, was way different.  Josiah set out the first quarter and then played the rest of the game . . . well he was on the field.  It’s almost as if he was in another world.  He was more interested in playing airplanes and superheroes than soccer.  I know there is a lot going on in our lives and the last thing is for Josiah to feel he messed up, but as a dad, I tried to get him to focus on the game without being one of THOSE parents.  You know what I mean, yelling at every thing they did or didn’t do.

    It was hard to see him play the way he did today, but I think I learned more about myself than he did about soccer! So he had an off day . . . everyone has them!

  • Family Update

    Several People have been praying and asking about us so I thought i would let everyone know our status.

    We think we have made it out of the tuff days of Jackson’s recovery.  Days 4-7 were really hard, especially at night.  Jackson who normally takes meds very easily and drinks like you wouldn’t believe, started to refuse everything because his throat hurt so bad.  Thankfully, Nana has been here for the duration of Jackson’s surgery and recovery.  It is so helpful having an experienced Mother (not to take away from my wife at all, but Nana thought of stuff that just showed her experience of raising 3 kids).  It will be sad to see her leave tomorrow, maybe she will stay through Sunday, who knows!

    Josiah has been a great big brother.  He prays everyday for our house to sell and for Jackson’s throat to heal.  This week he has memorized Hebrews 13:8 and just today we started working on John 14:6.  So when you see him ask him what his memory verse is.  He is very excited about doing this and also asks every morning if we can have our early time.  That’s what Josiah calls my quiet time.  Today he joined me.  It was so awesome!  I think God is going to use Josiah in a big way!

    I have been developing new habits when it comes to my health.  I have totally cut out cafine.  Which is huge for a guy that would drink coke for breakfast, at every meal, and late into the night.  With this and adding a walking regiment to my week i feel better and have lost about 10 pounds.  While I walk I have been listening to  some podcast of Steven Furtick, Perry Noble, Ed Young Jr, Erwin McManus, Matt Chandler, and Andy Stanley.  It is still knew but I am loving it and being challenged and inspired.

    Stephanie will celebrate her B-day on Tuesday.  She deserve way more than I can give her, but maybe we can celebrate with a date night.  It would be good just for us to be able to get away without the kids and be able to focus on each other for a couple of hours.  Lord knows all of our attention has been on other things over the last couple of weeks.  We had such a great time in Cali to come home to such a intensly stressfull and scary time with Jackson.

    We continue to pray that God would be our provider.  He has been so good to us so far and as I listened to Perry Nobles talk during the one prayer series I want to live dangerously for Jesus.  I want to be a person that focus on what God is going to do next with great excitement and expectation.

  • Got one down!

    Josiah is starting to memorize scripture with me.  We have been in a series called HABITS on the weekend with our students.  One of the HABITS that has been weak for me is memorizing scripture.  So, I asked Josiah if he wants to do memorize some verses with me, of coarse he said yes.  He is so good he already has our first verse down.  Here is his translation of Hebrews 13:8

    “Jesus Christ is the same the other day, and today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

    He is doing so good and it is cute that he says the other day instead of yesterday.  I am excited to see how far this goes for both of us!

  • Great Podcast – After the Heart

    Well, we still have no new news on Jackson’s sleep study and are hoping to have some info tomorrow.  Luckily we do have a monitor that seems to alert us if he stops breathing for more than 10 seconds.  Its’ something we have had for awhile but didn’t really know we could trust it or not, but after two nights of us taking turns staying awake watching him and watching the monitor we both tried to go to sleep at the same time last night.  I don’t know if it did any-good, it seemed like both of us were up every hour checking on him.  So please continue to pray.  Here’s how you can pray specifically!

    Well tonight, on my walk, I know I am sounding old, but it’s part of the new habits I am trying to create, I listed to a podcast from the village church with Matt Chandler over Luke (part 30) After the Heart.  Great talk and if you are a Fusion Volunteer, one you should check out; it’s only 37 minutes long!  You can get it here or on itunes the village church podcast.

  • Goooooaaaaal . . . Pumpkin Patch . . . Friends

    Today started early with Josiah’s soccer game.  Joe played really well, he had a couple of assist, takeaways, and scored four goals.  It was so much fun watching.  Nana, and Papa were here to take in all the action.  From there, we ate breakfast at McDonald’s and then went to a pumpkin patch to pick up some pumpkins for Josiah and Jackson.  The boys had a great time picking out their pumpkins and playing with the straw.  All the pumpkins sold helps raise money for a youth group mission trip.  Great Idea!!! Right now, Josiah has his neighborhood friends in the backyard playing with the water table.  Here are some pics from today.

  • Jackson @ the Plano Balloon Festival 08

    Jackson video premier.  Here he is at the Plano Balloon Festival watching fireworks and dancing to “I love Rock and Roll”

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  • Plano Balloon Festival 08

    What a night. This was our second year to attend Plano Balloon Festival and we had a great night.  Josiah Jumped on a trampoline with bungee cords attached, we ate carnival food, watched Hot Air Balloons, Sky Divers, and Fireworks, all while hanging out as a family with some good friends.  I think Everyone had fun!

  • Paranoid!?!

    Have you ever been there?  I guess this is a form of worry, but ever since our last Hospital visit with Jackson, I have not been sleeping well.  It’s almost like I dread the evenings coming because most of our bad experiences have happened in the late evening/early morning.  I find myself watching his every move, feeling to see if he is breathing ok, or checking to see if he has a fever.  It typically starts about the time he is wanting to go to sleep.  It almost seems as if I sleep with one eye open.  If I do by chance wake up, I always check on him.  I am hoping that this is a short lived phase that doesn’t linger so I can get some good sleep with confidence that he is ok.