16 things to look for in a Church

A blog that I just found by David Foster (I've never heard of him before now) posted a list of 16 things that we would look for in a Church he was visiting. Interesting list -- how does your church stack up? I think that our church does very well!

Here's just a few:
* . . . do the people on stage look real and engaged?
* . . . does the Pastor smile?
* . . . do I feel the presence of God?

Family Member's Military Bios

I previously mentioned our Wall of Honor for family with military service. Here are the bios that are now completed with some names and details left out for security reasons -- e-mail me if you want more information on anyone.

Lt. Col. David John Murray
Army, 1964-1984
“Grandpa Dave” (Mom’s dad)
Grandpa Dave enlisted in the Army right out of college, intending to make a career of it. His first appointment was as an Infantry Officer. He went to jump school with the 82nd Airborne Division in 1965. His first tour in Vietnam was May 1966-May 1967, and he served with the United States Military Assistance Command, working with the Vietnamese. He came back to work at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. His second tour of duty in Vietnam was October 1968 (when Aunt Minda was 7 months old) through October 1969. This tour involved combat, and he was wounded on February 5, 1969. He returned to action after his recovery.

His military career after the war included posts in Fort Knox, Kentucky; Fort Ord, California; attending the Naval War College in Rhode Island; Fort Shafter, Hawaii; and Boone, Iowa. At Fort Ord, he was the S-4 for the 1st Brigade, 7th Infantry Division, working to reactivate an infantry brigade. He served as the Operations Officer in Hawaii, supervising the Command Operations Center, and he also worked as the Chief, Command and Control Division. In Iowa, he was the advisor to the 34th Infantry Brigade for the Iowa Army National Guard. He served his final post at Fort Hood, Texas, working as the chief of overseas exercises for III Corps. These exercises included his development of Operation Reforger, where 17,000 soldiers were deployed and trained in Germany. During his remarkable career in the Army, he received numerous medals and commendations, including multiple Bronze star medals, the Army Commendation medal, the Purple Heart, and two Meritorious Service Medals.

Sergeant Clark “Papa” (Dad’s dad)
Marines, 1972-1975
Papa joined the Marines after your Daddy was born. He attended boot camp at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, and went to Military Police (MP) school in Augusta Georgia. From there, he was stationed at El Toro Marine Base in Irvine, California, where he went from being an MP to Criminal Investigation Division (CID). He then transferred to Washington D.C. where he did many things including presidential security and Naval Intelligence. During this time, he went many times with President Richard Nixon's detail who would land at El Toro in route to San Clemente (his haven toward the end of his presidency).

He was honored as Marine of the Month while stationed at El Toro and was one of the fastest promoted Marines outside of war times. They wanted him to stay in the Marine Corps, but he was ready to go back to Dallas and begin his career outside of the military.

PFC Henry “Bois” Anthony
Army, during World War II, 1941-1945
“Papaw” (Your great-grandpa)
Papaw served during World War II. He left for Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on his way to North Africa in April 1943. They landed in Algeria, and trained there until they left in early September for Sicily for a very short layover. They then went on to Salerno, Italy for an almost fatal invasion in which the biggest part of the whole 36th infantry division was destroyed by the Germans who knew ahead of time all about their plans. They did get reinforcements (finally) and went on to free Rome after several months. Incidentally, they were the first American Unit to invade Continental Europe and the first Unit to enter Rome.

After Rome, they went by sea to Anzio, Italy, for another invasion, which was also very costly. After returning to Rome and seeing Italy become more secure, they made another invasion in Southern France at Marseilles. They went across France (Adennes-Alsace campaign) and Germany where the war ended in April 1945. He stayed in Germany to help clean up until he was finally sent home by plane through Brazil. He arrived in Dallas on VJ Day in August 1945. Papaw began the war in Company H, and ended it in Service Company, 142nd Regiment, of the 36th Infantry Division.

Ernest “Ernie” Newell Prichard
Navy, during World War II
“Poppy” (Your great-grandpa)
Poppy spent most of his wartime tour in the Pacific aboard the USS Cross (DE-448), a Butler-class Destroyer Escort with a crew of about 200. He really struggled with motion sickness, which isn’t good for a sailor. Mimi remembers that her dad was with the Captain in the area of the ship, as he was a stenographer and took dictation and could type, which was rare for men back then. In one battle, when his ship was attacked, he was thrown against the bulkhead and retained an injury. He wrote long letters to his unborn child (Mimi), who he was always sure was a girl. He gave Mimi her name (Sandra), almost from the day he and Granny knew they were expecting their first born. Granny was 6 weeks pregnant when he left for the war, and Mimi was 9 months old when he returned.

He was in the service a while, before he went overseas, perhaps serving for 3-4 years total. Another family legend is that Poppy’s ship was hit by a kamikaze pilot while serving in the Pacific. This has not yet been verified, but the Navy recorded that the ship needed repairs in Okinawa.

2nd Lt. "Uncle" John (Dad’s godbrother)
Staff Sergeant, Army 1999-2004
SSgt – 2nd Lt., Air Force 2004-present
After college, Uncle John decided to enlist in the Army. After basic training, he was selected to serve in the prestigious Old Guard in Washington, D.C. The Old Guard is the Third U.S. Infantry assigned to escort the President of the United States, and one of Uncle John’s first assignments was the Inauguration of President George W. Bush. While in the Old Guard, John also worked in the recovery effort at the Pentagon after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Uncle John went to Army Leadership School, and was stationed in the Military District of Washington D.C. He was the Non-Commissioned Officer (NCOIC), Special Projects, acting as liaison between the military and many different government agencies and diplomatic missions.

During his second enlistment, Uncle John wanted to move to Dallas, and thus joined the Air Force Reserve in 2004 and is now a 2nd Lieutenant.

Military Kids Room

Our boys share a room and they have moved beyond a "little boys room." We asked them what they wanted to do with their room if they could decorate it any way they wanted. After a pretty quick brainstorming session, we ended up settling on a camo/military theme.

Before the redesign, their room was basically sailboats and nautical. We painted light blue thick stripes on the wall below a bright red chair-rail border. We nailed some rope up to frame the chair-rail and Heather painted sailboats and anchors that matched their bedding. Heather also painted a large canvas with a lighthouse and ocean theme with the verse from Matthew 4:19 "I will make you fishers of men." It was bright and fun with red, white, and blue as the main colors but definitely for "little boys."

The walls of the room are now completely painted dark green. Walmart had some good bedding that wasn't completely camo (not what's in the picture above) but very classic and like a quilt. We hung a canopy from the ceiling in one corner with a mosquito netting-like camo material that goes to the floor. A chair is under the canopy and that's their own little reading nook (see the pic to the left). We put various medals from Heather's Dad (who was a Lt. Colonel in the Army) in a shadow box.

We also put head shots of our various family members who served in the military in nice frames. We are calling that the "Wall of Honor" and we are putting that in letters above the pictures and writing up an overview of their military service on "plaques" under the pictures (kind of a museum-type feel, see to the right).

Heather is making two posters with pictures that we have from my Papaw of WWII and from Uncle John of Iraq. We are also framing a flag and certificate that was flown on a mission in Iraq that John got for the kids. Other decor is also used to fill out the room like dress hats and other memorabilia.

I think that my favorite part of the room is the cornice board that is over the window in the room. Heather just covered it with a khaki material and then sewed patches and pinned various medals, insignia, and pins to the cloth. It makes quite a statement and is very cool when you look at all of the great stuff on there.

The boys are excited and so are we!

Caris's Room

Since I just wrote about the boys room, I need to give Caris some equal time and brag on my wife some! She has a "big girl bed" now, but here are pictures of her room as a nursery. The walls are sage green and includes a great mural that Heather painted by hand with no stenciling or tracing or anything. Heather also bought all of the fabiric you see in the room and sewed all of the bedding and curtains. The scripture that you barely read at the top of her wall reads "The King is enthralled by your beauty; honor Him, for He is your Lord. Ps 45:11"

Baseball and Fireworks

I hope you all had a happy 4th of July! We had a great 4th. We even got to take naps in the afternoon because we went to the Ranger's game last night -- complete with fireworks after the game. I always enjoy teaching the boys some more about baseball and Collin kept score (see previous post about that) a good amount during the game.

The fireworks and the music were great and it was fun seeing the stadium with the big lights turned off -- it looked so cool! Caris was very scared at the beginning but I got her in my lap and covered her ears. After a few minutes she was fine and enjoyed the sights if not the sounds. Leaving the stadium she said "dos tings dat care me, dey was pwetty dough" (those things that scared me, they were pretty though).

I was a little conflicted because Jered Weaver was pitching for the LA Angels and he's on my fantasy baseball team. He got the loss, only struck out 2, and gave up 3 earned runs in 5 innings. Chone Figgins got a run and hit .500 for the game. K-Rod didn't get into the game since it wasn't a save situation. Mark Teixeira is the only Ranger on my team and he's still on the DL. Forgetting the fanasty baseball -- the Rangers won so that was fun!

Thanks to Dr. Timbo for the tickets!

The Cause of Liberty

I have read two historical novels by Jeff Shaara -- The Glorious Cause about the American Revolution and The Rising Tide about WWII. I love when history is taught from the perspective of a story since that's what history is at its core. People who view history as a time line where they have to memorize dates and people's names generally think of it as boring and a waste of time -- that's sad.

One interesting excerpt from The Glorious Cause caught me as an interesting perspective of American in the early years. Since this week is the July 4th holiday I thought is appropriate to post this now.

This is General George Washington speaking about raising money and recruiting men to the army with a Prussian General von Steuben who volunteered his service. "This is a war about an ideal, General. The American people are united in a cause. If we lose this war, if I am captured, I will likely be hanged. Every one of my officers here faces the same fate. Even . . . you. But what the British, what King George does not understand is that what happens to this army is not important. The cause cannot be defeated. No king, no army can capture a man's mind, or the minds of an entire country. There is inspiration in that, General. In some ways, the American people have already won this war, because they have experienced what it is like to cast off an oppressive ruler. They have come to accept that they have rights, that no supreme power can command any of us to bow before him, except the Almighty God" (page 345).

Restaurant discounts for kids

We received an e-mail that has this great list of discount and free kids food when dining out. It's a good idea to double-check accuracy though before relying on this information. This is courtesy of the Texas Restaurant Association and Covenant Kids.

All Week
Cici's Pizza -- kids under 3 eat free
Fresh Choice -- kids aged 2 and under eat free; kids aged 3-5 eat
for $.99; kids aged 6-8 eat for $2.99.
Denny's -- kids eat free on their birthday
Pizza Hut's lunch buffet -- kids eat free

Monday's
Margaritas -- kids eat free all day
Hangtown Grill -- kids eat free all day
Gattiland -- moms eat free
TGI Friday's -- kids eat free and get free animal balloons
Texadelphia South -- kids eat free
Zuzu -- kids free after 6:00 p.m.
La Salsa -- kids eat free after 4:00 p.m.
Double Dave's Pizza -- kids under 5 eat free
Serranos -- kids eat free
Joe's Crab Shack -- kids meal $0.99 up to two meals, per paying adult

Tuesday's
Spaghetti Warehouse -- kids eat free at night
Fazoli's -- kids eat for $0.99 from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Kerbey Lane -- kids eat free all day
Denny's -- kids eat free from 4:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Chick-fil-A -- kids eat free after 5:00 p.m. (not at all locations!)
Bennigan's -- kids eat free after 5:00 p.m.
Zuzu -- kids eat free after 6:00 p.m.
La Salsa -- kids eat free after 4:00 pm
McAllisters -- kids eat free
Double Dave's Pizza -- kids under 5 eat free
Central Market -- N. Lamar kids eat free
Joe's Crab Shack -- $0.99 kids meals up to two, per paying adult

Wednesday's
Luby's -- kids eat free after 4:30 p.m.
EZ's -- kids eat free all day
Moe's Southwest Grill -- kids eat free after 5:00 p.m.
Central Market -- kids eat free after 5:00 p.m.
Zen -- kids eat free after 5:00 p.m.
La Salsa -- kids eat free
Double Dave's Pizza -- kids under 5 eat free
Joe's Crab Shack -- $0.99 kids meals up to two, per paying adult

Thursday's
La Salsa -- kids eat free
Double Dave's Pizza -- kids under 5 eat
Joe's Crab Shack -- $0.99 kids meals to two, per paying adult

Saturday's
Luby's -- kids eat free all day
Texas Land & Cattle -- kids eat free from 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Sunday's
Souper Salad -- kids aged 3-5 eat for $0.50; kids aged 6-12 eat
for $0.99
Zen -- kids eat free all day
Texadelphia -- kids eat free at certain locations