1+1=1 ::: derrick+rachel=derrach

Deadlines, Holidays, rest and RE-FOCUS

2010-01-12T06:29:00.000-08:00

We tried time and time again to set dates for getting our house on the market before the holidays came around and continually missed the mark. First it was the HOA process for the addition, then it was carpet installation delays, and there was general procrastination and overwhelming weariness that left tasks unfinished... Eventually, somewhere around Thanksgiving, Rachel and I had a chat and realized we were pushing too hard to make this happen too soon and probably needed to back off. So we put everything on hold and did our best to enjoy the Christmas season, each other, friends, dates, and life without real estate deadlines. It did our souls much good to press pause on this process and take time for these things, we have really enjoyed the last month and truly rang in the new year with celebration and peace.

After all of this goodness we have re-focused, taken a high level look at what we hope to accomplish through this transition and re-entered the fray. Tomorrow we are both going to be off work and have a few tasks to finish before having the Realtor over on the weekend. I called him yesterday and he is scheduled to come by on Sunday afternoon. So that gives us Wednesday and also some time Saturday to button things up.

In addition to this we're back online searching the house inventory to see what we might be able to find for a really reasonable price. We will begin looking at some houses soon. There is an air of excitement again in all of this as we look forward to a changed life but also a sense that we still have a lot of work to do. Hopefully things fall together here and the timing of it all works out, time will tell.

Phillips family visit pictures

2009-11-26T21:03:00.000-08:00

Click here to view photos of Phillips family visit.

Another update: "Running away from the Rat Race"

2009-11-05T06:27:00.000-08:00

So we're still at it. We received our approval from the HOA and bought my dad's tickets last week. I'll try to hold my tongue regarding the HOA.
Dad will touch down at 3:19pm this Saturday and we will "commence to start" on the room addition, or more specifically the wall addition. Last night I was fortunate enough to contribute a little more wear and tear to my friend Stephen's truck. We borrowed the truck to make a Lowe's run and proceeded to spend $1100 on supplies for the wall. We were able to load everything but the patio door (which will be delivered) in the truck and get it home in one piece. So (18) 2x4x8 studs, (1) 2x4x12 treated board, (3) 32"x36" windows, (2) 1 lb. boxes of 16d nails, (1) 5 lb. box of 8d nails, (2) 1 lb. boxes of 1.5" galvanized nails, a few spare sheets of 3/8" sheetrock from Stephen and 1 tube of construction adhesive stand at the ready for my Master Carpenter Father to hit the scene and put to use. I can't wait to see this transformation, it's always so fulfilling to participate in the change, though I'm sure my body will strike back. We'll try to remember to post pics and hopefully not long after dad's departure next Friday this house will be up on the market.

Update: 'Running away from the Rat Race'

2009-10-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

We're still running away, however it seems like we're running more into the race right now. We are house hunting and trying to line things up to get our house on the market. We have looked at more than 25 houses, yikes! and are going back today to take a second look at two that have strong potential. Our house is going to get an additional room before it hits the market. Luckily to add this room requires only the building of one single wall. Slowing things down right now is the 'waste of my time and money' HOA (I dislike HOAs strongly and pledge to never live where I have one again). When we get that approval we'll fly my dad in for a few days, build a wall and whalaa! 160+ new sq ft (and a better price point). Don't know what the timing will be on this all but we're getting tired already... hopefully just a few more weeks of this... hopefully.

Update on 'Running away from the Rat Race'

2009-09-28T07:16:00.000-07:00

So we dove into the house search last weekend and have made some good progress. I believe we have the neighborhoods narrowed down so that we don't go chasing things that are beyond where we'd like to live. Durham is and interesting and very unique town in that neighborhood is everything when finding a place to live. You can't just say, the whole of such-and-such area is a great place to live because things change here in fairly short distances and you have to pay attention to what the particular neighborhood you're looking in is like. We've also made significant progress on prepping the house to put on the market. With family coming into town we had serious motivation to get more things done as well. We had my parents for the weekend and will have my brothers and my niece & nephew joining us on Wednesday. The plan for now is to have the house up soon after they all return to the glorious state of Minnesota.
Please, if you know someone looking to move to Durham and then need 3 bedrooms and 1600 sq ft, let us know.

the worst human creation ever...

2009-09-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

Please follow the link below to a post regarding human trafficking on my other blog. Whether you agree with my beliefs on Jesus or not I think you'll agree with me on this one.

http://fameandfullness.blogspot.com/2009/09/worst-human-creation-ever.html

For all my Durham loving friends!

2009-09-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

Rachel and I were talking last night about continuing to grown in our love for Durham and desire to serve it well. She was re-counting to me some thoughts she had as she drove around downtown Saturday stopping off at different places. So we find this town continues to grow on us and we find ourselves enjoying it more and more.

Well I read this morning in the Durham Magazine blog that we are definitely not alone! Check out this short article to see what I'm talking about and join us in loving this city!

Running away from the Rat Race

2009-08-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

So we have decided to run away from the Rat Race. It has been building for a while but we recently crossed over and completely sold ourselves on the decisions we've wrestled with.

That decision mainly involves selling our house. It's a beautiful house, the nicest we've ever lived in and we like it a lot, but it's killing so much of who/what we want to be. In order to stay in this house long-term I would either have to start trying to climb ladders to reach more money or Rachel would have to stay in the workplace while we try to begin a family. Our feeling is that either of these things would continue to lead to the typical American life (as displayed in the comic) of never being happy and always needing more. We don't want that life, we want Rachel at home with the kids, we want a fruitful life of building the Kingdom of Jesus not just our kingdom, we don't want to run that meaningless race. And so we are choosing the life we want over the house we want.

This means we're going to try and find a much more affordable house, one that perhaps needs some work (as I am capable of a significant amount of home improvement due to my father teaching me), one that will help us in our pursuit of fostering community, making a difference in Durham and living less hectic lives. We aren't after some sort of pipe dream of a life with no stress, perfect harmony and sunny days. We realize the reality that life will never be easy and that this move won't change that. However we also realize that these changes will better center our lives on the things that matter like other people, our family, generosity and the gospel.

So hopefully the next several updates on the blog will be about the sale of our house, the locating of our new home, the move, the repairs, etc. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL!!!

2009-08-10T13:57:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RACHEL!!!
On Saturday (Aug. 15th), my beautiful wife turns 28 - I know she looks 21 :) - and we're going to celebrate in STYLE. I can't yet say on this post what's in store for us but it should be a special birthday celebration for her. While I believe that I am fairly good at showing my wife the special attention she deserves on her special day I was hoping for a little help so... leave your comments people and share the Birthday wishes for this special woman whether you call her sister, daughter, co-worker or friend. I'll pull up the site on Saturday afternoon to let her see so don't delay. :)

thanks!
-dp-

summer visits 09

2009-08-08T09:16:00.001-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

Real estate bad mouthing...

2009-07-30T07:16:00.001-07:00

I'm no fool, I know Durham has a bad reputation among many in the Triangle and I've tried to get to a place where it doesn't bother me. Most recently I've actually tried to be happy about our bad image as represented in my last post. But, despite my efforts I'm mad again. This recent blog post at Bull City Rising got me wondering if it's ever going to stop. Check out the post and consider trying the Indy's experiment yourself to see what the results are, I'm going to try it at lunch.
No matter what happens I'm falling more and more in love with this city every day and I'm proud to call it home. I guess I'm just troubled by the fact that not so many others may get this chance because they're steered away.

Welcoming the unwelcomed comments

2009-07-27T06:22:00.000-07:00

Came across a new Durhamite's blog today. Found it hilarious that Durham still gets comments like "do you get a bullet proof vest at the [house] closing." As I commented on his post, it's fine that we still get that rap, keeps us diverse and unique... I LOVE DURHAM! Welcome Sam.

http://samsongs.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/discovering-durham-1/

Phillips updates here... Derrick's thoughts elsewhere.

2009-07-09T05:46:00.000-07:00

I've adjusted some things so that this blog is now dedicated only to updates from our personal lives. We have added Rachel as a contributor to this blog and hopefully will be better suited to keep the family info coming.
As for all of the theological ramblings and "what's on the mind of Derrick" thoughts, those can now be found at a new blog called Fame & Fullness. Read this post to catch the motivation behind the changes and the new blog.

More family updates coming soon...

-DerRach

Our time with Joy

2009-06-17T07:10:00.001-07:00

This summer, like every other for the last several years, Rachel and I got to have Joy, her younger sister, come spend some time with us. Her visit this time was quite short as she leaves today after only 10 days. We usually get to take some time off work and dedicate a few of the days exclusively to her and doing fun, memorable things together. So last week on Friday Rachel was off and I left work early in the afternoon and we caught a matinee together.

After that it was a few hours at Frankie's Fun Park for mini-golf, go carts and laser tag. Then on Saturday we went horseback riding at Dead Broke Farms for 2 hours. It was a great time but man were we hurting the next day.

We treasure these times with Joy and are unsure what the future holds for us with her. She has always come to visit during her summer break from school but now she is done with High School. We hope she will continue to be a part of our lives and us a part of hers. Of course we'll always see her at family get togethers but it feels like our bond with her is so strong that we would really miss it if we didn't have time together with just her. So here's hoping that this connection doesn't fade as she finds her way in the post-high school world, yes, the real world. Joy, know that we love you so much and are thankful for the times and memories we have been able to experience with you. We're proud of you and look forward to seeing what comes in your future.

You are only hurting yourself by being a bad neighbor ~or~ Missing out on 2 years of amazing Mexican food

2009-05-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

So Rachel & I finally ventured over to Las Palmas resaurant on Wake Forrest highway (there are 4 locations in the triangle) only a half mile from our house and found what is certainly the best and most authentic Mexican food we have had yet in Durham. (these guys agree)

The great thing about this is that our favorite Mexican spot in IL has finally met it's match and it's just around the corner. The bad thing about this is that it took a full 2 years to finally try the place and it's just around the corner. And what's worse is that the guy who runs the place is our neighbor and we've known this for some time but still hadn't tried it.

We are bad neighbors. I almost wanted to hang my head in shame when I took the first bit of my chicken enchiladas, it was so good and it's just around the corner and my neighbor runs the place.

This goes to show, you are only hurting yourself by being a bad neighbor.

I keep forgetting

2009-02-26T09:54:00.000-08:00

Every time I think about posting something here I seem to forget to actually follow through by writing it. I've got to get better at this. Recently I have wanted to post about an Acts 29 Network Boot Camp I was privileged enough to serve at, the new community group that has begun meeting at our house weekly, the difference between the NHL and MN state high school hockey, our weekly date nights, and a very interesting and informative BCR post about regional leaders meeting to talk about our area's development.
Funny I can't remember to actually post but can remember the items I was going to post about... something's wrong... oh well. So follow the links above if you want to read other peoples' stuff on some of those issues (except the date night & hockey ones, those were actually going to be original) and hopefully I begin remembering soon with this new string that I have tied to my finger. :)

I used to live there.

2009-01-30T06:05:00.000-08:00

Springfield, IL... currently the scandalous center of the world used to be my home. Yep.
I even brushed shoulders with
THIS MAN once.

Just before I left the deeply corrupted state of Illinois I was working for the Auditor General's office part-time. About every other day we delivered thousands of pages worth of reports to representatives, officers and then Governor Rob Blagojevich's office (and yes I can pronounce his name correctly). We were just inside the security doors in the basement of the Capitol picking up items from the print shop when "Blago" stepped in. He smiled, winked, waved and even shook a few guys hands (not mine) as he passed by us on his way in for the day. That was my one encounter with the newly ousted fellow. I did hear him speak at the dedication of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum as well but that day he was greatly overshadowed by then President George W. Bush and a Freshman Senator from Illinois with great ambition by the name of Barack Obama.

So there ya go. I've encountered the guy who's been impeached by an ALL to NONE vote in the Illinois Senate. This Chicago Tribune write up calls it a historic impeachment vote. With all the history of late, I'd hardly like to credit Mr. Blagojevich with making history at all. I do hope, however, in all of this he is humbled and sees the pain he's caused his family and the emberassment he's brought to his state. But at current I believe he still holds that he did nothing wrong.

May we all continue to learn the dangers we will encounter if we live our lives in secret, planning and scheming for our own promotion. I would love to see our government become more transparent like our new President promises. Even more so, I'd like to see it happen among neighbors, friends and families.

snow in NC

2009-01-20T05:33:00.000-08:00

I had to get up and drive Rachel into work this morning because there was snow on the ground. My company closed and since I didn't have to rush home I drove around and got some pics of Durham under a blanket of snow.

me back on the waggon... for now

2009-01-16T12:00:00.001-08:00

So I've had every good intention of getting back on the blog-waggon for the last several months but repeatedly failed to post for weeks at a time. I think my problem is I don't feel like it's really a post unless I say something significant or write a really, really long post. So in this post I will attempt to avoid both pitfalls and make this incredibly self-centered and insignificant while also keeping it short.

So here's a list of what's going on/gone on with me:
1) I had a cool chance to go to MN on business and happened to have time to see family
2) My dog doesn't have cancer (that's not a random statement, he had a "growth")
3) My hands are really dry
4) I hurt myself while scoring a goal in my hockey game last night
5) I'm working with some amazing people at launching the Durham campus of Vintage21 Church (starts Sun 1/18 @ 11am - more info here & here)
6) We are keeping our house extra warm right now with real wood fires
7) Shower in our master bath is still the way it was 2 months ago... busted
8) Refrigerator light is still the way it was 2 months ago... short circuited
9) The book of James is kicking my butt
10) I am totally in love with my wife and we have committed 100% to Friday night dates for the year of 2009 (& hopefully beyond)

There ya go, all about me, and kinda short.

Knowing artistic entrepreneurs

2008-10-29T19:48:00.000-07:00

I have gone back and forth for quite some time about re-starting this blog. Tonight I was pushed over the edge by my friend Ruth who is a budding artistic entrepreneur. I was exploring her website, finally signing her guest book to leave a comment about a work I commissioned from her.
While reading her blog I found out about a giveaway she is having. She's giving away a hand-painted "Sunset" resin pendant necklace (I could give as a gift to my wife) and will put in your name twice if you blog about it. So basically the rebirth of me blogging is nothing but selfishness.

Sorry to disappoint.

So as to not make this post completely about me winning a free gift for my wife I thought I would post some additional information about another artistic entrepreneur I have the privilege of knowing in this fabulous area. Her name is Holly and she's a photographer. You can view some of her amazing photos on her website. She has had the opportunity to travel to a lot of great places and obviously has camera en tow so she can capture the beauty and give others the chance to take it in. We once caught her work at a first Friday art show in downtown Raleigh. My wife has a favorite picture (it's the colorful, swirl tile one) and again, hopefully one day I will have the chance to present her with a gift from a local artist that I appreciate.

So that's my bit on some local artists I know and enjoy, I hope to get to know many many more from around here as Durham and the surrounding cities are very artistic. I also hope to win Ruth's giveaway!

Summer's End

2007-09-24T19:07:00.001-07:00

Well, our first summer in the south(east) has finally come to an end, at least on the calendar. I saw some CRAZY stats on the news last night about this brutal summer we've had in North Carolina so I thought I'd share them w/ya'll so you can see how we've been welcomed here.

Summer was 94 days long officially (began 6/21 ended 9/22).
Of those 94 days:
-56 days were in the 90s
-7 days were in the 100s
-11 days were record highs
-1 day was an All-Time Record high (105 degrees)
So we had only 31 days with a high less than 90 (many highs were 89) and along with all of that we are still in a serious drought. I don't know the number exactly but I think we are around 7 inches behind on rainfall. I read in the newspaper on Saturday that my county (Durham Cnty) has only 70 days left of water reserve. Seriously, if we don't get some rain we will run out of water in early December.

So, we're feeling right at home here in NC (ha ha) and think we'll stay. :)
We were able to escape it all for a weekend when we went to Minnesota for my cousin's wedding - where it was pretty much WINTER already - but came to find out we missed the coolest weekend of the entire summer.

So am I complaining, actually not really, just informing. I didn't mind it all too terribly much. We've got air (obviously) and some nice ceiling fans and I didn't end up with an outdoor job so we've got plenty to be thankful for. I'm just saying it was a WARM welcome to a southern summer. From what I hear it doesn't get much worse than it was this year so we should be just fine as we move on into summer after summer. But let's not forget...when all you midwesterners are freezing, shoveling, scraping and bundling up it will be a nice 40 - 50 degrees here in Dec & Jan.

Anyone up for a vacation? :)

much love to ya!

Pictures from the move

2007-06-10T13:45:00.000-07:00

I finally unloaded our camera and have some pics to share. These are various images taken during our trip from Illinois to North Carolina. ENJOY!

The Trip Route -

The truck and crew:

and Kota was so glad Dad was there
Finally ready to roll away from good ol' South 7th St. and Springfield, IL

On the road
of course the pups made the trip

The second day of the drive got us into some absolutely beautiful country -

and we took a bit of a scenic route through...

My Dad and brother Ryan were so glad they came along...

this place was breathtakingly beautiful...

it was very had on the U-Haul truck, we almost set the brakes on fire at one point so we had to stop and explore along the river... very worth while.

I think we got tired of our cameras cause the next pictures we took came after we finally got to the house.
OUR NEW HOME SWEET HOME:

and a little of the insides too...

So obviously we made it, and all in one piece...well about a thousand pieces probably. Anyway, things are getting to be fairly normal now and I hope to get around to blog updates a little more often.

Thanks for readin'
-dp-

An Update...finally :)

2007-04-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

Hello there and welcome to the Phillips family update!

If you've been wondering if we had fallen off the face of the earth I apologize for leavin' you hanging. Generally I am ahead of myself in making plans so this time I have tried to wait until we had everything truly laid out before giving an update. If you haven't really noticed at all then that's cool, you're getting an update anyway.

Let me begin by glorifying God for all that he is and all that he's done. We have truly seen his sovereignty and grace in every nook and cranny of this entire process. Personally I can say that I have been walked through some necessary discipline in my life that definitely would not have taken place without the context of the last few months. God is good and we give him glory for being patient and kind to us even when we are so undeserving.

Having said that let me share with you what's going on. (this may get lengthy)

Rachel has officially finished working at Laketown Animal Hospital as of last week. For her the next 10 days are going to be full of putting the rest of this house in boxes, preparing to pack it all in a U-Haul to be driven nearly 1000 miles away to our new home. (Speaking of our new home, we found it over the first weekend of April. We were in the Raleigh/Durham area for 5 days and we looked at 20+ houses before finally settling on "THE ONE." It's a beautiful one level, 3 bedroom, 6 year old, former "model-home" in a wonderful neighborhood of S.E. Durham) Of course we couldn't leave Springfield w/o selling our house and that happened on March 20th. We have the closing here in Springfield on Friday, May 4th and the closing in Durham on Monday, May 7th. My family (Dad, Mom, Ryan & maybe Jared) will be here to help us load the U-Haul on May 3rd and then 4 of us - me, Rach, Dad & Ryan will make the trip down to NC over the weekend.

Once in North Carolina we will begin working and getting settled in our new house, neighborhood, city and - basically - new mission field. I'll be working with a house builder and Rachel will be working as a Vet Assistant at another Vetrinary Hospital. We have a church that will become our "home church" for a while as I move through the process of becoming a church planter. We have already gotten to know the pastor as he is a part of the network that we will be planting through. As of this moment we don't know the exact timetable or even location of the new church... these are just a few of the MANY things that will be coming together one at a time through what is sure to be an exciting process. I plan on trying to do much better at emails and updating my blog, etc. to keep people in the loop. So keep your eyes and ears open for more info on that front. (Of course if you're in the myspace universe you can find both Rachel and me there.)

Beyond that I'm really not sure what else to write here. If I've left out any information that you'd like to know please email back and ask.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this! :)

Grace & Peace

Time to move on...

2007-01-16T22:17:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this post to officially announce to whoever still reads this stuff that we'll soon be moving from Springfield, IL to Raleigh/Durham, NC. Pastor Eric told the family of iWorshipCenter on Sunday morning so the news is "out there."
For the last two months or so we have gone through the process of informing our family, some of our closest friends and now there's no reason for the info to be completely public.

We are going to North Carolina with the goal of starting a new church in an area that is being overrun by postmodern young adults. For the last 3 1/2 years I have been reading about and researching this area and there has been a growing dream in me to reach the people there. The Lord has really moved on my heart and it has come to the point where I can no longer deny that it is time to start seeing these dreams become a reality. Rachel and I are in one heart and both of our lives have really been pointing in new directions for a while now. It's a strange feeling and almost a confusing one but people who love us have been walking with us as we head down this new path. It's not too often that you pick up your life and move 850 miles to a new state and region of the country and it is such a great thing to have God guiding us along the journey and family & friends joining in support.

We have been in Springfield for more than five years now, me coming in June 2001 and Rachel joining me in May 2002 after our wedding and we couldn't say enough about how great the time here has been. We've been a part of something special here and consider it a privilege to have served alongside such amazing people. Some of our very closest friends are here and it will be very difficult to leave.

We are currently trying to sell our house here and find one in NC. We hope to be there by March and are continuing to have faith in God and see each and every detail work out perfectly. There are a lot of details that I didn't want to hash out on a blog post so if you want more info let me know. We're obviously excited about this new adventure and as with anything of this magnitude we welcome your prayers. A special thank you to those of you who have already reminded us you're praying.

THANKS FOR READIN'
peace

Truly American

2006-09-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow marks 5 years since the terrorist attacks on our nation. Today in church we watched a video about that terrible day. The video really sturred up some deep emotions and brought me to tears a few times. It's amazing how deeply those events impacted me, us all really, and how easily I forget what I was feeling that day. I wonder, if I lived in New York or Washington or Pennsylvania, if those feelings wouldn't be buried as much. Or if a brother or cousin of mine were serving in the military, would those feelings be closer and fresher? I guess that's kinda what anniversaries are for, to remind us of life changing events and how they made us feel and how they've affected our lives. I hope, no matter how long I live, that I still feel the pain, anger, confusion and glimmer of hope that I felt again today; the same things I felt on 9-11-01, that we all experienced as we watched, in a day, our entire world change in a deep and even eternal way.

Recently I read a TIME magazine article that made an attempt to predict what the 30th anniversary of the attacks would be like. The article talked about how we Americans returned to life as "normal" and moved on talking about movie stars and partisan politics in no time. That's just the thing, we've got it so crazy good here. Our country is at war and we've still got the time to complain about gas prices, gossip about TomKat and play fantasy football. I'm not saying that we should necessarily stop doing those things but that we need to get a clue about how blessed we are to still have our freedoms intact. There are nations all over the world that have no idea what it's like to be able to petition their government, travel from border to border without question and pursue the dreams that they have for their own lives, let alone to do those things while their country is at war. We live in a day with no comparison and in a nation that has no equal on this planet. Truly, God has blessed America.

I've decided to be a little more purposeful in giving thanks to God for this country, praying for his protection on those who serve to keep us free and to say thanks to the ones paying the price for that freedome. Won't you join me? Here's a few sites that can assist you in communicating that thanks to those who gave and are giving their all:
-A WTC Memorial
-Let's Say Thanks
-A Millions Thanks

This is a day and time when one can make so much of a difference. We're still feeling and seeing the results of the actions of those crazy terrorists today, 5 years later. What if millions more of us got involved in praying and acting for peace, justice and encouragement in these times of great distress. God help us all to truly be Americans!

...and some inspiration to boot.

2006-06-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

So I'm pretty sure I've made it out the other side of Grandma's passing with mostly possitive affects. Yes, it was a very difficult thing. I didn't quite know how to deal with this sort of thing as it really hadn't happened to me before. But with the help of close friends, a great family, an amazing & patient wife, a nooma video and Jesus I have emerged a better, more complete and even more empathetic person.

Grandma has not left me, she isn't "lost" (as some say, "sorry you lost your grandma.") she has just moved locations. She has gone from being visible, audible and tangible to being ispirational, spiritual (fully) and memorable. Of course she also moved from earth to heaven, duh. :)

Through this process I have come to find solace, peace, even joy in thinking of Grandma. She left behind not a lot of money but a wealth of worthwhile substance for all who knew her. Some of the "stuff" she left behind is now in my possesion; old bibles, prayer journals, pictures, letters, certificates, etc. and all of these things serve to move me forward in the continual pursuit of a life worth living...like hers. I have walked away from the last few weeks with more resolve, determination, energy and motivation to take the bull by the horns and LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST. My dreams are ever before me and not only that but the conviction that they will come to pass has awakened my faith yet again and inspired me to be all that God desires for me to be. It is once again a redemption story; beauty from ashes, strength from weakness, life from death, all things...for good, thanks to the Redeemer Himself.

AMEN.

Remembering Grandma

2006-06-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm finally getting down to this. A blog about my grandma.
She died on Tuesday.
It's been difficult, really up and down since then. About 25 years ago my grandpa (her husband) died but since then no one really close to me has died. Grandma and I were really close. In my heart and mind we shared a very tight bond. Her husband was a minister and well, often times I reminded her of him. Sometimes that really troubled me but once I talked with her about it and she said it always made her happy when something I did brought memories of grandpa to her mind.
She was like that. Never really sad. Never very down. Always smiling, laughing and bringing joy to where she was. Just this month she celebrated her 87th Birthday. And, get this, the day she died was the 65th Anniversary of her wedding. It helps to think that her and grandpa were "reunited" on that day.
Next week there's a memorial celebration of Grandma's life. It's taking place in Minnesota so we'll be heading up there. When she turned 80 her and her three daughters sat down and went over all the things necessary to prepare for when she died. In planning for the memorial service she put my name down in the preferred clergyman spot. So I'll be speaking at the memorial, I pray that I can make it through and that I make her proud.
For a while my myspace site will be filled with pictures and memories of grandma. If you knew her you know that she was very special. Please feel free to leave comments. You can also check out this blog site to see what other family members are saying about her.

Thanks for reading all of this, I know it's long.

-dp-

ice maker ! ! !

2006-02-01T10:37:00.000-08:00

We finally have an ice maker! I'm so excited about this. I haven't had an ice maker anywhere I've lived since I moved out of my parents house in 2001. 'WOW, 5 years w/o an icemaker,' you may be thinking, 'how in the world did you make it through?!?' Well, we did it. Finally, after running the copper tubing, installing a valve and the appropriate drilling of holes in the floor, the ice maker in our new fridge now runs.

I can feel the collective sigh of relief as I'm writing this. Thank you for your concern friend. I can assure you that we will all enjoy colder, more refreshing beverages at my house w/o the pain of filling & re-filling those blasted ice trays.

Oh happy day!

~~bfn~~

Holiday time in Minnesota

2005-12-31T13:14:00.000-08:00

Having a great time in MN. We had a few inches of snow fall the day after we arrived. Got to go over to my little bro's house and ride around on his snowmobile. It was a blast! Tonight is the famed new years eve..."should auld acquaintance be forgot" ... and we're ringing it in with my big bro & sister-in-law going to dinner, a movie (King Kong) and possibly a some time by the fire back here at mom & dad's. New Year's resolutions...well, haven't really been into that for quite some time. Just continuing to live day by day, trying to make the most of my time here. Livin' and lovin' it, I try to say. Years come and go, we run out of time yet still have plenty of it...funny that way life is. (sounded a little like Yoda there.) Abe Lincoln (whom my town calls it's favorite son) once said, "the best thing about life is that is comes one day at a time." True, true. Peace...on earth.

Our very own!

2005-10-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

Wow, how fun is this. It's our own blog. http://derrach.blogspot.com is the place to find the most recent and most frequent updates as to what is going on in our lives. I know it seems impersonal, but if you have a problem with that then call us and come visit for a few days, then we can be more personal. :) Anyway, please feel free to register, post, reply, etc.

And peace be with you!

-Derrick