chili's in lake wales

i love the melted part.

rocking out

I think that in the years to come I will look back at this summer as one of the busiest I've ever had. I could write a lot, but just wanted to post two pics I took with my cell phone this past weekend. My favorite band, Lifehouse, came to Tampa and I got to go to the show with one of my favorite people, my cousin Justin. The first pic is the band after their last song and the second shot is one of Jut & me.




The show reminded me that I love Lifehouse and my cousin Jut even more.

weekend menu

For the first time in about 7 years I had a weekend during the summer to do almost anything I wanted. While I feel a little guilty about all of my friends that are working hard at camp, I have to admit it was a blast. I ate with a different person at every meal this weekend. And I ate out, so I need to be hitting the gym again this week. Here was my menu for the weekend:

Friday
1.) Lunch at Qdoba with Selig, one of my high school students. We ran some errands and I forgot to pay for the fax I sent at Kinko's, so we made our way back there before heading home.

2.) Mid-afternoon snack with Travis at Chick-fil-A. Check out the monster fudge brownie a la modes that they hooked us up with.



3.) Dinner at the Puckett's with other Christ Kingdom staff. Bubbalou's pulled pork and homemade whipped cream!

Saturday
1.) Panera breakfast with my friend Anne. We use to help out with the middle school students at UPC back in the day. It was great to see her. And I ate healthy there with a smoothie.

2.) Lunch at ABC Pizza, an old restaurant in Tampa. $7.99 for a large pizza and 2 liter bottle of Coke! Even better was getting to visit with Martha, a friend of mine from high school. We'd not seen each other for at least a year, so I loved catching up with her.



3.) Father's Day Dinner with the pops. He went for the steak, I just had a side salad. My body needed a break.

Sunday
1.) My traditional Sunday morning Panera breakfast bagel where I catch up on some of my one-year Bible reading and usually see a Puckett or two.

2.) Lunch at Chipotle with my small group.

3.) Another side salad dinner, this time with my roommate Dan. We went to Bennigan's, where my friend Beau (one of my favorite Circle F folks) works. We got to sit in his section and hang out with him.

All that to say I've definitely been putting my Cingular rebate card to good use.

feeling the love

Things are good, but the past week or so has been kind of emotional because camp at Circle F has started and I'm not there for every bit of it. I've been there off and on and I'm glad I've been able to make it work. The first set of campers arrived on Sunday and I was there yesterday to help take cabin photos. We have the cabin take a regular picture and then let them do something fun for the second one. Below is the picture the Pioneer Girls had me take with them. Sad and fun all at the same time.

hits & misses

Some moments from the past few weeks:

hit: Last Tuesday I got to have lunch with Ande, which was really encouraging and refreshing. He cracked me up later in the week with a phone call confirming that I am on the bulletin board at Cheeburger Cheeburger.

hit: From 2004-2006 I led a Life Group of guys during their 7th and 8th grade years. They are now freshmen (sophomores as of Tuesday) and one of them, Andrew, is moving to Maryland with his family in June. So we had a reunion/send-off for Andrew and it was a good time. Cool to see these guys come back together after doing different things the past year.



hit: Vanilla Coke is back! Now I just need the folks at Chick-fil-A to serve it again.

miss: I dropped several hundred (gulp) bucks on a new radiator and CV boot for my car and I've got a feeling something else is going to go on it soon. While the expense is a miss, the hit is that I unknowingly drove with my busted radiator for a while before I noticed it was leaking. And my car never overheated. Definitely God watching over me because car trouble is one of those things that can set me off.

hit: I got to have lunch with Lisa, Beau and Ashley from Circle F. Joe and Kristin came over, too, and Jamie's on his way this week. It's like the Circle F Inn at our place.

hit: Back in my U-Life days we had an award show called the Golden Frogs. I decided the youth needed something like that, so last Wednesday we celebrated the randomness of the Christ Kingdom youth with the 1st Annual Golden Ninja Awards. I felt like it went well, but I got confirmation today when I asked one of the students if she was proud of the Ninja she received. She nodded and told me it's standing on her dresser. Below is what one (that's right - we had six models of them) of the Ninjas looked like and under that is a shot of the winners.





miss: I saw Shrek 3 today and I don't know if it was because I was tired or not, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the first two.

hit: Today at church one of my students invited me to take communion with her and one of her siblings. Without the prompting of a parent or anything! I loved it.

I'm sure there are more of both, but that's all I can think of right now.

recovery

Cousin Jeremy has a new cd coming out on May 22. You should buy it. You should also eat at Chick-fil-A, watch Scrubs, Lost and Heroes and read Ender's Game and The Kite Runner. But for now, just buy this cd.

muggles rejoice

Summer is looking good. And it definitely has nothing to do with my west-facing bedroom heating up from about 5:30 until sunset every afternoon. No, my friends, the trailer for Harry Potter 5 went online today and it looks pretty sweet. Although I don't remember Ron pumping his fist in the book like he does here, this preview makes it look like an awesome adventure. The kids are growing up, and I'll be there to support the rebellion beginning July 13.

i won!

Around 5:00 this afternoon I found out that Travis (one of the guys who was in a small group I led for two years) was playing guitar with a band in a talent show over at Timber Creek High School. I always enjoy getting to see him and don't get to do that quite as much now that we go to different churches. It was so good to see him (and snag this quick photo for my phone).


I'm definitely one of those people who doesn't realize how much he misses someone until he sees them again. I felt like a bit of a dork when he was on stage because I was so excited. I was there with his parents cheering for him, and the thought crossed my mind that one day I might get to cheer for my kid doing something and I'd be even more proud.

But right before I had that grown-up moment, I won a raffle during intermission. The prize was perfect: a free Chick-fil-A sandwich.

busy busy

A quick summary of the week:

1.) I've gone to the gym two times a week for three weeks in a row. Whoa.

2.) For the first time ever, I went to Circle F to visit friends and not to work. I thought it'd be weird to watch people do the things I was doing just a few weeks before, but I really didn't mind. A bunch of people came in to visit. Big Dave and Steph were there, so it was a bit like an Assistant Director Summit. We also got to hang out with Steph and Clint's little girl, Maddy. She may look innocent in these pics, but Maddy taught me the valuable lesson that diapers do not offer anyone complete protection. Enough said.




3.) Amy and the children's ministry hosted a Good Friday Celebration and it was great. The youth got to help with the set-up, games and egg hunt and they did an awesome job. Below is one of my high schoolers, Andrew, in what is probably my favorite shot from the event. If you can come up with a caption for it, post that bad boy in the comments section.



Hope you had a good Easter!

slacker blogger

Tonight I ran into my friend Kelly at the gym and blogging came up in our conversation. I have been a slacker blogger. Things have been busy, but I've also still made time for relaxing and attempting to take better care of myself (hence the gym trip and ordering fruit cups instead of waffle fries at Chick-fil-A).

Not only are we still working on the cookies that Dan purchased (see last blog), but just a lot of life has been going on.

In no particular order, here are some of the things that have been going on (pics available for some):

1.) I joined Facebook. It's cool.

2.) My friends Amy and Russ got me a Chick-fil-A travel mug that gets me unlimited free refills at the Waterford location. Amazing.

3.) Evie turned 2 and got this sweet cup.


4.) Ryan and Jenny became a dad and mom to Hannah Elise. Hannah is already looking forward to turning 2 and getting a cool Evie cup.


5.) I lost one of my favorite Circle F'ers, Heath.


He was a counselor that worked for 2 summers and I adored him. He was such a solid guy. I really don't get why he's gone and it still makes me sad, but I am seeing God work in it. Despite the sadness of it all, it was so good and inspiring to gather with camp people and mourn together. And my family and friends have been incredibly supportive.


6.) I finally left the 80s behind and purchased new furniture. Loving the papasan.



7.) Connor (how great is this kid?!) and I made dinner for a family in our church yesterday. Thanks for the recipe, Anna!


8.) I am no longer the Assistant Director at Circle F. This is taking a little bit more to get used to than I thought it would, especially in light of Heath. I'm still working part-time, but Roger has come to take over and he's doing awesome.

9.) I had green beer on St. Patrick's Day and hung out at a piano bar. Good times.

Have something to share? If you read this, hope you are doing well.

overload

Tonight when my roommate Dan came home I heard the familiar noise of plastic grocery bags swishing around as he opened the door. Traditionally Dan returns from grocery shopping with an arsenal of Marie Callender's microwave meals. Tonight, though, he proudly carried the following items from Publix:



Looks like my cookie addiction is nothing compared to Dan's.

nephew cousin eli

It has been forever since my last post and a ton has happened. Some good, some bad, some just sad. By far, the most exciting thing that has happened has been the birth of Eli Henry Casella. He is the son of my cousin Jeremy and his wife (my cousin-in-law) Kierstin. I got to speak with Jeremy the day Eli was born (January 29) and we decided that since I don't have any siblings and therefore don't get to be an uncle, I will be known as Uncle Cousin Jason to little Eli. We're thinking we may have come up with a new kind of family relationship. Good stuff.

Anyway, below are a couple shots of the little guy and the proud parents.

27

I turned 27 last Friday. This birthday has been one of the best ones I've had in recent memory. I know that I have great friends and family, but this birthday made me realize how insanely blessed I am. The value of this birthday didn't come from any presents, but only came from the generous hearts of the people that were a part of it.

Friday afternoon started with lunch at Smokey Bones, courtesy of Diana. After that I got to go to a student/teacher basketball game at Avalon Middle School and saw some students I'd not seen in a while. My phone rang throughout the day with friends and family wishing me a happy birthday, and right around 4:30 I received my biggest surprise of the day. I was supposed to be on my way to meeting up with a group of middle school girls from church, but instead I was treated to 20 middle and high school students tackling me at the park for a surprise party complete with cake and presents.



Later that night I was able to hang out with friends at home and ended the night by catching up with one of my favorite cousins on the phone. On Saturday night I met my dad halfway between Tampa and Orlando and had a great dinner with him.



Tonight I showed up at the Martin household to hang out and watch some Heroes. Although I assumed all of my birthday surprises had come to an end, they had one more in store for me. There on the table sat another cake and more presents.

As I sit in my apartment at the desk I've had since at least 6th grade, I am reminded of something that was preached on at church yesterday. We heard about the seven marks of a church where Christ has come. One of those signs is that we experience awe at the things God does. I have been so humbled and awed by the things that His church has done for me in the past days. At both of the surprises I was speechless. I don't know how to express my gratitude for what was done. I felt so loved.

Thanks to all of my amazing friends and family. I couldn't be more grateful for you. Because of you, it looks like year 27 is off to a great start.

tv update

I often don't realize I miss things until I'm reintroduced to them. When I read (okay, skimmed over) this list I found courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, I realized I miss Lost. Today while I stuffed brochure envelopes at the camp office I watched some of the special features from my season one DVD set and it was good times.

Today is the season premiere of Scrubs. I've only discovered this show within the last year and it is so funny. I don't think an episode goes by when I don't laugh out loud. One of the episodes I saw last season featured Turk doing a hysterical dance to the classic "Poison." Check it out here. If you don't watch Scrubs (you should) then you probably won't find this nearly as entertaining as I do, but hopefully you can find some enjoyment in it.

firsts

I had a lot of firsts this weekend.

First #1: I spent part of my Friday afternoon with 9 middle school girls at Crispers. Fun, but very loud.

First #2: My roommate Dan turned 26 on Saturday and another friend of his hosted a poker night to celebrate. I'd never played before and opted to just watch the first game thinking it wouldn't take long. Little did I know that those games can last over an hour. Halfway through the game I discovered that Texas Hold 'Em applies many of the same principles as Yahtzee. I found myself wishing that I'd joined the game in the beginning and had just folded the first few rounds so that I could jump in once I got the hang of it.

First #3: I went...well, attempted surfing on Sunday with 5 high schoolers and a dad. It was a blast. People thought we were crazy for going out there with the weather as cool as it was here in FL, but we'd made the plans two weeks prior and weren't going to let some wind chill scare us off. So we made our way to the surfboard rental place (5 bucks for 2 hour rental of board and rashguard...what a deal!) at Cocoa Beach and jumped in. I quickly learned that surfing is hard work. I also got confirmation that I'm not really an athlete and have awful balance. I managed to stand on the board for maybe two seconds, but did a little better on my knees. (I know that's not the goal, but I had to take what I could get.) My desire for Advil at the end of the afternoon reminded me that I'm no longer the young guy I was just a few years back.

It was great to get away for even just the afternoon and was such a bonding experience for the seven of us. We cheered for each other when we caught a wave, laughed when we messed up and simply got to enjoy nature. Even when I was just sitting peacefully on the board waiting for the next wave, it felt like we were enjoying God's creation the way it was meant to be done.

autumn

Last week I went to Atlanta along with the other staff members of church for a conference. Lots of good info and opportunities to get to know my fellow staff members better. One of the other highlights was that it was cold (to me, at least) and I got to see proof that seasons do exist.

it's a fiesta!

William Shatner always cracks me up, but this promo for his new game show gets funnier each time I watch it. I've not yet learned how to post video on my blog, so click here to watch it.

wish list

When I got home tonight from a Halloween get-together, I thought I'd quickly check my email and do some reading. Somehow I ended up at You Tube and entertained myself for well over an hour.

I searched some of my favorite old TV shows and was happy to find theme songs, clips or entire episodes of them online!

If these shows came to dvd I'd be pumped:

1.) Bug Juice - a Disney Channel show that followed kids at summer camp
2.) Salute Your Shorts - another camp show, but a Nickelodeon classic
3.) Family Ties - I don't remember much about plot from this show, but remember always watching it with my parents and being so bummed when it ended

I'm sure there are more, but these are the only ones I can think of right now.

two things i like a lot

#1: Cathy Martin Cupcake Goodness






















#2: getting to wear a jacket today

camp, lunch, greeting & the evester

Every now and then a weekend comes along and surprises you. This was one of those weekends. I wasn't dreading the weekend, but I wasn't eagerly awaiting it because I had to work Friday and Saturday at camp since we had a group of 375 staying there. We also flew in a guy named Roger to interview for my position and I wanted to be able to get to know him, too. Although I was exchausted by the time I got home Saturday night, things went great. The rock wall was also open, and we had a fun crew come and work (that's us in the above pic). We also ended up with some unexpected, but much appreciated, down time on the front porch of the office to just talk and enjoy each other's company.

Continuing on my Circle F theme, I got to have lunch with Tom, who was one of my favorite campers back when I was a counselor. We've kept in touch over the years and he is now a freshman in college. Wild. I got to hang out with him and his girlfriend (Ashley, another awesome former camper) Sunday afternoon. It was a blast to see them. The thing that I loved was that it didn't feel like campers and a counselor hanging out, but instead just some old friends catching up with each other.

From my first summer in 1999, me on the left, Tom in the middle and Jarod G. on the right.

From this past summer, Ari on the left, me in the middle and Tom on the right.

At church this morning it was the youth's turn to greet and I recruited some guys who were cracking me up the entire time. I felt like I was running all over the place before and during the service, but I was finally able to laugh at myself whenever things didn't go just like they were supposed to. Sample of what went through my head before I had to lead us in a prayer: "Okay, Scott will make eye contact when it's time for me to go up front...It seems like the end of the song, better get ready...Still waiting for eye contact...Ooops, I jumped the gun, song's still not over...Song's over, just grab the mic and pray...Who moved the mic? What do I do now?...Find it now, people are waiting...There it is. Thanks, Scott...Amen."

To top the weekend off I got to visit the Limbers and was unexpectedly treated to a great dinner. Although Evie gave me the cold shoulder when it was time for her to go to bed, it was pretty much a perfect evening.