Category: Dan Gould

Last night we hung out with some friends from church who have a daughter a little older than Josiah.  We have been spending more time with them and have really enjoyed getting to know them better.  Well, after swimming yesterday we decided to go to dinner together at Ihop.  In the 30 minutes of changing and driving to Ihop, Krista made Josiah a little note to give him at the restaurant.  She told her parents “It’s a picture of us falling in love”.

This week has been crazy, due to followup from the weekend service, final prep for our Mexico Mission Trip, everyone on the youth staff but me, being on vacation, taking students to Hawaiian Falls, and having to write a talk and print notes for the weekend, plus planning for small groups in the fall.  Man School is going to start before I know it.

Anyway, the highlight of my week happened last night when my wife helped put together the outline for this weekend!  This is the first time she has helped doing the grunt work of a talk.  Yes she freely adds things I should do or not do, but this was different and really was a lot of fun.

Then I couldn’t even pull in our driveway before Josiah’s friends were running to the house to play with him.  He instantly began saying, “My friends, My Friends.”  He has asked everyday at about 8:00 in the am if his friends were outside yet.  So he was suppppperrrrrr excited last night to see them running to our house.

Oh yeah, and Joe has a new favorite song!!!

He likes to sing, “I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars” over and over and over.  Did I say over and over?

Last Night as we celebrated the 4th of July we decided to go watch the fireworks in Frisco TX.  Last year we were headed that way and Josiah decided had one of the worst cases of diarrhea to this date.  By the time we got him cleaned up, we wouldn’t have made it to see the Fireworks.  This year much better.  We ate at Willies Burger House. Very good hamburgers, and they gave us free parking.  This was nice because we didn’t have to fight or pay to find a parking spot.  And the restaurant is in the Pizza Hut Park parking lot.  So we just had to walk a small ways to take in all the action.  The Fireworks were AWESOME.  The boys started to get restless about an hour before they started . . . who am I kidding, so did I.   But once the fireworks happened, we were all mesmerized.   What a great fun night as a family!

We packed a lunch and spent the later part of the morning and early part of the afternoon just hanging out at the pool.  Good family time before we go see the Fireworks tonight . . . that is, if it doesn’t rain!

Well today we went down to Dallas and saw where President Kennedy was assassinated.  The boys had no idea what we were looking at but they had fun hanging out with our Friends from Warrensburg.  Here is what our day consisted of:

Riding the Dart, Josiah’s favorite.
Walking
Taking family pictures
Walking
Playing in the fountain
Walking
Eating at Sonny Bryans Smokehouse BBQ
Walking
Riding the Dart home backwards
saying goodbye to friends!

Today was fun, it was good to get away from the house and to see something very different. Here are some pictures of our adventures today! So much fun!!!

Today, the church has given us the day off, very nice of them, but the weekend still happens, and, I am speaking to the church at large this weekend.  I am excited to do it, but I really get PMS (pre message syndrom) when I have to speak to the whole church.  I am praying that God would just take over!  That my words would be His and I would step out of the way, so people could understand, and clearly know what God wants them to do.  It’s a tuff topic, but has the potential to really connect!  Pray for me, and us!

That being said, here are my goals for today:

• Finish the body of my talk.  Wrestling with what and how to say what God has laid on my heart.
• Hang out with My family.  We will either hit the pool or take the dart to Dallas with some friends who are in town.
• Be totally present with my family!  Have fun, and relax!

Well, tonight, all the boys got haircuts.  Its so nice that I can do this without having to take them and pay to get them done.  I have been cutting my own hair since I was in High School.  I have gotten better since then.  Here are the boys sporting their new hair cuts.

No Nicholas this decision was not based on our discussion today during the service planning meeting. . . so don’t feel bad, or get a big head!!

Tonight, as I was putting Jackson down to sleep, I left the TV on Jurassic Park and told Josiah it was about Dinosaurs!  Probably 10 minutes later he came in the room and said, “Dad this is boring, it’s just people running from a big Dinosaur!  Can I watch Sponge Bob?”

On our very first date Stephanie and I took a picture together in my Toyota pickup as we headed off to Andy’s frozen Custard and a movie.  I still remember it like it was yesterday.  Last night we started the night off the same way.  We got in the Cherokee and took a picture as we headed off to dinner and a movie!

We ended up eating at the Down Under Pub. I was really hoping to have some alligator tail, but they didn’t have it. So here is what we ordered.
I got the Combo Basket. Tender whitefish fillets, jumbo shrimp and chicken fingers batter fried. Served with Aussie fries and coleslaw. Very good Shrimp and fries!!!

Stephanie got the Angel Hair with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil. Fresh tomatoes, basil and garlic lightly sautéed finished with white wine and topped with fresh Parmesan cheese. It was nice!

After Dinner we went to see “Get Smart”!
Great movie made us laugh the whole time. A movie worth going to see!  I believe it is rated PG-13.  I didn’t notice a lot of bad language in it.  The movie was fast paced for the mos part and held you attention throughout.

After the Movie, we went to Starbucks for some Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino® blended coffee with Chocolate Whipped Cream. We had a lot of fun together, without the kids.  We will definitely do it again soon!!!