For FREE!!!

I'm sure I'm just like everyone else in the world in the sense that I love to get stuff for free. My wife, Hannah, jokes with me all the time when someone gives me something....she says "imagine that, you got something for free...again!"

Please don't get the wrong impression of me here....I don't go around asking people if I can have their stuff. For some reason people just like to give me stuff and I have a hard time saying no;-) For instance, we just got back from a trip to Easley to visit my parents. While we were there one of my buddies gave me a used set of Titleist blades....used by a professional I might add. Now, being the avid golfer that I am, I gladly and very thankfully accepted the gift with open arms.

These clubs are probably one of the best freebies I've ever received. The fact that they were used by a professional golfer just adds more icing to the cake! Now, I know I could go into a huge theological illustration on how God gave us the biggest freebie EVER, but I'm not. Although I must give credit to THA MAN......He gave it ALL for us, and paid the way in FULL. Now that's the best "for free" you can get!!!

night night....

-klock

Beautiful

Recently my wife posted something on her blog that blew me away...check it out if you're intriged hannahgray.net....it's titled "beautiful".

As I was reading this post from my wife I was reminded that I still don't do enough for her as her husband. She deserves the VERY best in every area of her life, and I'm going to try my best for the rest of my life trying to make sure she gets it.

Truth is I don't deserve my wife.....she is the most amazing woman I've ever met, and I'm an average husband at best, that's partly why I pray so much.....I'm thanking Jesus for giving her to me!

I love my wife more than I could ever explain.....read her post and you'll understand.

-klock

sweet saturday!

This is the first Saturday I started my new job teaching 4th grade.......I'm going to appreciate the weekends A LOT more these days!

not bad...

So I started teaching in the classroom for the first time this week. I will have to be truthful in the sense that I was worried out of my mind about having my only class, but now that I've been through two days it's not actually as bad as I thought.

I really feel that I'm right where God wants me to be....If I had to choose I would still be teaching PE, but I'm not unhappy teaching 4th grade.

As soon I found out that I was being moved from PE last school year I made my mind up, and told God that I would do whatever He wanted without complaining.....so far I've kept my word, and I truly believe that He is blessing me for doing so.

My class is AWESOME. The kids I have are really well behaved, and I don't really have many discipline problems at all. Usually when you are the new guy in the school they stick you with all the bad kids, but I can honestly say that I love my class.

Funny moment of the day was when one girl from another class asked me if I was married.....I think she was trying to pick me up ;-) I was about to take my tray to the trash when her teacher told me I should let the girl take it for me just to see how she would react. Poor little girl didn't know what to think when I called her over. When she came back to the table all her little friends just giggled and looked over my way.

Not only do I love my class, but I really love my school! Everyone is SO nice, and always seem interested in how I'm doing.....thank you Jesus for placing me in such a great place!

I stress about my job a lot more these days, but to tell you the truth....I'm ok with that.


-Klock

before Sunday thoughts

I would just like to first mention that my bro Matthew has started a blog, and if you're a constant blog reader check him out.......matthewbayliff.blogspot.com ......I love this guy!

Ok, back to my thoughts......Every Saturday night I like to think about what I have done throughout the week. This week has been pretty eventful......here's just some of what I did this week:
-started back working again (at new school)
-started STRESSING about starting school, and teaching in the classroom!
-football practice/scrimmage/Kickoff Classic
-band practice (every thurs night)
-worked A LOT in my classroom, but STILL have a LONG way to go!
-hung out with G and Han in between all the madness.
-cut mine and my neighbor's grass.

Now, did you see anything that mentioned my sharing my faith with anyone/bible study/prayer time???? Let me help you answer that question....NO!!!! I thank God so much ALL the time that he would consider me worthy of the calling that He has placed on my life, bc when the rubber meets the road I SUCK at being one of His children!

If I had to describe myself with one word it would be "inconsistent". I am so bad about skipping days of my quiet time with God, but you know I keep reminding myself that even if I read my bible every day/all day and prayed all the time, I would still be a piece of CRAP not worthy of the blessings that Christ lays upon me. The important thing is that I know I'm a slacker, but what's even better than that is the fact that God loves me no matter what!

Although this doesn't give me the "get out of slack free" card. I need to step up and I thank God that He reminds me of that everyday. God is SO good even when I fail. Have you ever wondered this; What if God treated you like you treat Him?.......that makes me want to get on my face and repent!

What do you think?

-klock

need some prayer please!

If you're one of the few people that actually read this blog I would REALLY appreciate it if you pray for me during the next few weeks.

This year will be my first year teaching in the classroom, and I have A LOT of work to do before my students come back on the 24th. I don't get worked up about much in life, but lately I have been extremely overwhelmed!

There is no doubt in my mind or heart that God won't see me through this school year, but I could DEF use some of my peeps praying me up.

I appreciate EVERY one of you that reads this blog!

-klock

A good day!

Yesterday was awesome! Started out the day with some great worship at The Rock....well actually started out the day setting up for worship @ 5:30.....would love to have you join me! (hint hint..) While I'm talking about set up let me mention that we have some of the BEST volunteers in the world at The Rock! I only handle getting together setup and teardown crews, but let me tell you those guys NEVER drop the ball, without them our church would not happen.

I'm sure these guys, in fact I know, they would love to have a break from time to time from their duties. If you are interested in helping out in one of these areas please feel free to contact me. If you're a morning person, or you just don't want to stay after church, setup is probably best for you. Then on the flip side, if you struggle to roll out of bed before daybreak teardown will suit you best. It would probably be best for you just to leave me a comment rather than email me....I don't keep up with my email very well unless it's my school address.

Ok, back to yesterday. Not only did we have a great time of worship in the am yesterday, but we had the opportunity to see some hardcore peeps show off their love for Christ by being baptized in the Atlantic....it was incredible! I got the priviledge to help out in the water, and let me tell you it was amazing. I saw smiling faces, hugs, and tears of joy.

I will have to say that the only thing I didn't like about yesterday is that we didn't have Katalyst. Props to the ones that showed up at the beach. I LOVE hangin with all those kids, they are all amazing in their own special way. Look for HUGE things to come from this group!

I wrapped up the day with some Nathan's hot dogs fresh off the grill with friends. If you've never had a Nathan's hot dog you are DEF missing out! They are the best.

I'll leave you with my favorite quote from yesterday: "Klock, are you high?"...that was @ 6am....I'm a morning person ;-)

-Klock

random thoughts

- I love having my head shaved!
- being a high school football coach is hard work.
- I look forward to thurs night band prac every week.
- I dread starting school.
- I have the best wife ever;-)
- really want a new tat, but can't afford to get one right now.
- Gray is the cutest kid on the planet...sorry to everyone else with kids, but it's true!
- my house is a wreck right now.
- need another golf outing real soon!
- el cerro has the nicest bathrooms
- I miss my bro back home
- Did I mention I have the best wife ever???
- props to Shaftesbury Glen for winning best course of the year for the Grand Strand!
-my buddy Ben works there
-he's the man!
-his wife's cool too!
- I know he'll prob read this, so.......Ben we need to hang soon my friend.
- First football scrimmage is tomorrow night @Georgetown, come cheer on the Tigers!
- Hope this weekend lasts FOREVER!!!!!
- I need more men to man up and sign up for set up and teardown duties at The Rock.
- worked out today, and realilzed that I'm SOOOO weak!
-depressed bc I'm so weak.
-looking for an electric "open" sign and traffic light for my classroom this year.....hit me up if you know where I can get one, or if you just want to give me one ;-)
- I just realized that the past two nights I've sat on the couch on the computer while my wife sits across from me on her computer.......time for some HOTT dates.
- NOTHING is impossible for God......remember that if you're struggling with making a tough decision........just bc it doesn't seem possible here on earth, doesn't mean God won't hold you up.
- I need to shower before bed, but I don't think I'll make it that far before crashing.
- DO NOT buy a VW Jetta......they SUCK! Although if you're looking for a black 02 turbo hit me up.
- I'm out

klock

FULL potential

Don't you just love those experiences in life when you do something and you instantly know that you just SUCKED?

Well I had one of those experiences this past Sunday at church, and there is a BIG reason behind it. One of my biggest passions in life is leading worship.....I LOVE it, and truly believe that God has given me a gift for leading. Here's the problem. When I don't stay connected to Christ He can't use me like He wants to in this area of my ministry. In other words, I will not reach my FULL potential in Christ.

Lately, I have been a complete slacker with my time with God, and it showed this Sunday. I was singing one of my favorite songs and COMPLETELY lost it on a high part. If you were there I'm REALLY sorry you had to sit through that! Now some will say that it was just too high for me to be singing in the first place.....and it may very well have been, but I also believe that God was trying to tell me something on Sunday. First, that I am a piece of crap without Him....Secondly, I will never fully worship Him if I'm not staying connected to Him during the week like I should.

I made a vow to God Sunday to step up to the plate and stop slacking so much. Join me in prayer that I will stay disciplined and follow through with my promise. There's nothing worse than making a promise to God and not following through with it, in fact He frowns BIG upon that!

If I love God like I say I do then my life and time with Him should show it! Does this have anything to do with you or your life???

Are you reaching your FULL potential?

so it's been a while...

I know that it has been a really long time since I've posted anything, but I have good reasons. First school got out, so I've been really busy spending time away from computers! Then I started working at my good old summer job CRC (conway rental center), and that takes up A LOT of time if we're busy that is.

Last month I turned 26, and that still sounds SOOO OLD to me!!! I love it when people ask you, "so how does it feel to be 26?". I always say, "it feels just like it did every other birthday". I don't really feel like my body is going to crap, and I still have all the energy in the world. I'm not one to let age get me down. I plan on going full speed up until I die. That's why when people ask me what I'm going to do about my tattoos when I'm an old man, I say probably get another to cover up the old ones. Then again my skin is probably going to be pretty saggy, so I prob won't care what ink blobs I have on it!

Today has been a great day so far. I woke up, fed Gray some breakfast, and then watched the little mermaid and cinderella with her and Hannah. Now as I write this I'm sitting on our screened in porch listening to the rain and watching Hannah paint something for our living room.

I think later we are going to head over to a friend of our's store and get some boiled peanuts. Saturday my parents are coming into town, mainly to see Gray, but I look forward to seeing them too! I will have to say that one of my favorite things I get to do when they visit is play some golf with Pops. I enjoy that time together with the old man. Of course I LOVE the short red head that he brings along with him ;-). I couldn't leave her out.

Since I'm trying to catch everyone up on what's been going on I guess I can't leave out the bad news. About three or four weeks ago my mother-in-law got a kitty for their new house. It was a beautiful little white kitty with big blue eyes, and they named her Nahla.....notice I said "it was". Gray absolutely LOVED the kitty. Everytime we went over to their house she just had to play with Nahla, but she just called her kitty! Poor thing ran everytime she saw Gray coming bc she knew she was about to get squeezed to death and drooled all over. Well, this is where the bad news comes in; a couple of days ago I went over to pick up Gray from my inlaw's house, all was well until we started to leave......as we were walking out the door we saw kitty run out from the garage and I didn't think anything else about it....until I heard a pop when I backed out! After I heard the pop I knew exactly what it was.....kitty was no more! I proceeded to back out to see kitty flopping around on the driveway spraying blood everywhere with each hop. I felt horrible, but was relieved that Gray wasn't paying attention. In about five seconds poor little kitty was gone. I quickly called inside and told my mother in law what had happened, she sent out Judson with a black trash bag and I buried the remains. I will say that kitty could have been renamed after the accident.....her new name could have been Hammerhead.

That's about all that's been going on in my life. Maybe now I will keep you more updated.

hello again

What up peeps. I know it's been a while since my last post, but I've just gotten a little out of routine since school's been out.

Yesterday was Father's Day usually a great day for me.....and it was up until I had to see my wife off to Cali until Wednesday! I really love that gal and miss her to death already. Life's just not the same without Mommy in the house, which reminds me I would NEVER want to be a single dad!

Don't get me wrong I LOVE my little girl, but I would never get anything done if I had to watch her 24/7 by myself. For instance right now I really need to cut the grass, but I can't.

Today I had to go to a teacher's academy......it was SOOOOO exciting. Even worse I have to keep going for the rest of the week! Although it is helping me adjust to next year in the classroom, so I should be thankful.

Hannah's coming back Wednesday night, so I'm going to do my best to surprise her with a clean house. I'm pretty sure that she won't read my blog before then, but if you do baby, SURPRISE!

tough times

Don't you just hate those times in your life when you have to try and fight off the tears? Well, today was one of those days for me.

Today was my second to last day at my job. In august I will be teaching at a new school, and in a totally different subject area. I will be going from teaching PE to teaching the 4th grade!

Anyways, at lunch today we had our "end of the year luncheon/celebration". During this celebration I had to sit up in front of everyone in a chair while my principal read a bio about me written by my wife. It was VERY tough sitting there and not crying my eyes out in front of everyone.

You might not understand this, but to me those ladies, and gentlemen (can't forget you Ron and Woodrow!) are like my family. Most of them I would consider my second moms and sisters. So, it was very hard for me to keep it together sitting up there listening to my principal say my goodbyes for me.

I was very glad that my wife included a couple of my blog posts in that bio letter, bc there is NO way I could have said that in front of everyone. I didn't say much during the lunch, not bc I don't care, but bc I literally would have broken down like a baby.

Today was one of the hardest days of my life, and I'm sure that tomorrow will replace it being the last day. If you are reading this and you have worked with me for the past three and a half years please know that I LOVE YOU to death, and I'm VERY thankful to have been a part of your life. I will pray for you all daily, and hope that you do the same for me.

today

Today was a great day. I played 18 holes, ate lunch, and then played another 18! It was perfect weather for some golf. Although, I will have to say that the best part of the day was not the golf....it's going to be when my wife gets home from her weekend girls retreat. I missed her SO much!

Edible Arrangements

Edible Arrangements are the freakin BOMB! Look it up if you've never heard of them.

I received one of these as a gift from one of the parents at my school. I will have to say that it's probably one of the nicest gifts I've ever gotten from a parent. I LOVE fruit and I LOVE chocolate....what a great combination!

There's a wedding shower here at school this afternoon, which means more junk food! It's REALLY hard not to eat junk when you are a teacher.....it's always around!!!!!! Moderation is key ;-)

I told my buddy yesterday that I think all my football and other sports' days are catching up to me. I was getting out of my truck yesterday and all of the sudden my hip just starts hurting, and then after a while my dang ankle starts killing me. I know I'm only 25 years old, but all that abuse on the body can only be good for so long!

The Day so far...

Thoughts on my day:

-The Trestle has great doughnut holes!
-You can always make teachers happy by getting them doughnuts.
-I really enjoy sitting in my office with the lights off.
-Sometimes there is nothing that sounds better than complete silence.
-Having a great week with my 21 devotion.
-God is teaching me A LOT this week....it's amazing what He will tell you when you take the time to actually listen!
-If you don't have a journal you need to get one..........even if you think it's not manly.
-I almost cried this morning watching my kids graduation video.
-I will miss my school SO much!
-Had several prayers answered this week!!!!!!!
-praying for a new friend to come to church this Sunday.
-gotta call this friend to come put gutters up on my house.
-hate thinking about my wife leaving me this weekend for a girls retreat, but will enjoy the time with Gray.
-looking forward to playing in a golf tourny this afternoon!
-about to go pay some bills before heading home.
-I LOVE my church.....even if a lot don't!
-I'm out

Pickin up the Slack!

My wife just recently told me that I was being slack with my blog posting. So, I'm going to try and do my best keeping it up.

Hannah and I have decided that we are completely comfortable in the house we live in now, and realize that we will probably be there for a while. So, we thought that if we aren't going to move into some huge house anytime soon we would dress ours a lil bit.

Here's just a taste of what we would like to do to our house:

-put down hardwood in the den, kitchen, and hallway
-close in our screen porch and hardwood that too
-get gutters
-dig up sod around house, plant it in the back yard, and put flower beds where it used to be.
-get grass to grow in backyard
-form a patio
-cut down two trees
-finish my home gym in garage

Keep in mind these are things that we will HAVE to save for, and likely will take a long time to accomplish, but you get the point. If you are skilled in one of these areas and feel like you want to bless someone PLEASE feel free to contact me!

quote of the weekend

"a back flip! That's not like a front flip, it's the opposite!"

-Kyle Fullwood

think about this.

I read this today and it rocked my world; "...in the context of God's strength, our problems are small indeed." -Francis Chan

I forget sometimes that no matter what is going on in my life that God is SO much bigger/stronger than anything I will ever face. Chan also said that, "worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives."

Of course we have to take care of our responsibilites, but what it all boils down to is that we just need to TRUST Him more. Proverbs 3:5-6 So, if you're in a rut look to Him for strength, and if all is going well give Him the credit!

Love the rain!

It was sooooooo hard to get out of bed this morning!!!!

coming to an end!!!

Well, there are about 10 days left of my Physical Education teaching career! I can remember when I first found out that I was going to be removed from PE and placed in the classroom.....I was terrified.

The one thing that I didn't realize until these past few days is how much I am going to miss my old school and the people that I worked with for the past three and a half years. They are the ones that took me in straight from college, and they accepted me as one of their own, treating me just like family.

I will NEVER forget my friends from CEC! They have taught me so much, and everyone of them are just incredible people...even down to the custodians. In the past three years there has never been a time when I was down and someone didn't lift me up here at school, and that's just the kind of people they are.

I'm telling you these ladies are like my sisters and second moms to me...I LOVE them to death....and I don't know what I'm going to without them next year. I've poured my heart and soul into this school ever since I walked through the door on that first day, and I was met with the same love and compassion everyday.

I will miss being a PE teacher, but most of all I will miss my CEC family.

I love you guys!

The Worst kind of pain!

If you're a parent you will know exactly what I mean when I say this. There is nothing that hurts more than seeing you child in pain!

It's the worst kind of pain.......seeing your child in a pathetic state, not their joyful self, and there is really nothing you can do about it. Of course you can take them to the doctor, I know that, but when they are only a year and a half old they can't really verbalize what's hurting them. All they can do is cry that gut wrenching cry and stare at you with tears flowing down their precious little cheeks as if saying HELP ME!

If you haven't guessed by now my daughter, Gray, is sick. She had a fever for most of the day yesterday, and then last night she threw up on me in bed. Throw up used to bother me, but after teaching 4 year olds for four years I got used to seeing it.

I HATE when she's sick!!!!!!

Truck Day!

So, today was truck day at my school and I got the opportunity to dress up like a tiger and walk around making the kids laugh.....it was actually pretty fun. There were the occasional ones that did notice it was me, but I didn't let them know for sure.

It's not every day that you can dress up in a tiger suit and act like a fool in front of all your coworkers...I had a blast that is until the stupid head piece started to give me a headache! After the pain set in I went inside and changed. After changing I ventured back outside to enjoy the day with the kids. The only thing they kept saying was, "Coach, was that you in that tiger costume??".......to which I quickly responded "noooooo, I don't know what you're talking about!"

It was all in all a great day, plus God blessed me with a cool day so I wouldn't fry in that old Tiger suit!

Thanks Han!

Props to my wonderful wife for revamping my blog...I love you babe....you're WAY more than I deserve!

it goes like this

This past Sunday my pa-in-law spoke about, brace yourselves women, submission. I believe that one of the main points that the ladies need to remember is that "being submissive does not mean being inferior to your husband". However, this post is NOT directed towards you ladies.

Dudes always like bringing up the submit card to their wife after hearing a message like the one this past Sunday, but what we dudes need to remember is that if we are not submitting to God and to his authority, it makes it a lot harder for our wives to submit to us!

As the man of the house it is our responsibility to BE the spiritual leader.........If we stay in touch with God, our wives are a lot more likely to stay 'in touch' with us.

I don't expect my wife to submit to my authority unless I am submitting to my Father in heaven....it just works better that way! We are told, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless. So husbands ought to also to love their wives as their own bodies." Ephesians 5:25-28

Dudes, we need to lift up our wives in prayer every chance we get, and love em to death!

Done with it!

Well after watching American Idol last night I decided that I'm done with the show for the rest of this season. The best one got voted off! If you're one of those Adam Lambert fans you must just like the way he looks, bc home boy has nothing else in his bag but SCREAMS! In my opinion his voice gets really old really quick, and when he makes a cd I think it will be very hard for him to make every song not sound the same. He belongs on broadway screaming/singing with his boy Clay Aiken.

I do however believe that Danny will do just fine on his own, even without the title.

Stressed

Pray for me. I'll be all gravy after tomorrow, but until then it's all stress............I have Field Day....it's going to be a long day tomorrow!

anniversary debrief

So I made it through the entire weekend without screwing up anything that I had planned....it was a total success! For those of you that didn't know this weekend was our celebration for our 4 year anniversary. I must say that I did a pretty good job this year, and I'll describe a bit for ya.

Last week while my wife was out of town on business I met up with a buddy of mine and recorded myself singing a song that I used to sing to Hannah while we were in college. The song's called "nothing fancy", look it up, it's a good one! Anyways, after recording the song I even had a label made for the cd with a picture of us looking at each other. The plan was to take her out to eat and have the restaurant plan the song through their system for everyone to hear. The only problem was that when I went to the restaurant to set it up they told me that they only had radio...no way to play the song....so I improvised. I went and borrowed a small sound system from a buddy of mine and took it back up to the place. The lady told me that she would set it up before we got there, they were really nice about helping me! The second part of the plan was for the waitress to bring out Hannah's gift after we finished our meal. The gift was a shootsac (bag for Hannah to keep camera junk in while shooting) and she has been wanting one for a LONG time! The last part of the plan was to spend the night at a resort at the beach....just the two of us ;-)

Here's how it all went down: We arrived at the restaurant. As we were walking up to our seat everyone was looking at us, mainly bc they wanted to know who was going to sit at the table with the music playing next to it. Some of the women we passed were just amazed at how sweet I was....thanks ladies! Hannah was taken back by the whole thing, and couldn't believe that I put myself out there like that.....it was a bold move I must say, but she deserved it! I will have to admit that it was a little weird sitting at the table with my song playing for everyone to hear while we just looked at each other smiling...Hannah said I turned red, but I didn't care. After the meal I actually had to go and remind the waitress to bring out Han's gift, but I acted like I had to used the restroom, and played it cool. She LOVED the gift! Then we left, caught a movie, and went to our extravagant room.....that place was CRAZY nice.....and did I mention that was free?

We woke up the next morning and went to eat a nice breakfast together. After that we headed off the the pool, and chilled out there until it was time to leave for dinner. The pool was nice, but the sunburn is still kicking my butt!!! Overall a GREAT weekend retreat!

The only bad thing about the whole thing is that now I have to do it up even bigger next year!!!!!!!!

Han (the proposal)

I told y'all that I would inform you on how slick I was when asking my wife to marry me, so here we go. Hannah and I had been dating since we were freshmen, and loving every minute of it. We were approaching our graduation and I decided that it was time. Life wasn't going to get any better, and I for dang sure knew I wasn't going to find a better girl to ask to be with me forever, so I made some calls.

A buddy of mine had just recently been engaged, so I asked him where he got the ring.....mainly bc he got such a good deal ;-) He explain to me where he got it and off I went. I took my Pops along with me for moral support, and my sister jumped aboard for ring approval. I met with the ring guy, picked out the perfect stone, paid him, and was off. I don't think that I've ever been more excited to give something to someone before.

Now, before I made the ring purchase I did the good ole boy deed and talked to her dad to ask for his daughter's hand. I know that you're really supposed to talk to the father face to face, but to tell you the truth I was terrified of him at the time, and the phone seemed like a better option! He understood, and he said of course! Ok, now I had to plan my move. If you're a single dude listen up.....you do NOT want to mess up your proposal, bc if you do she will remind you for the rest of your life...not to mention you want to look like a stud when all her friends ask, "how'd he do it?". So, take the time to think it out!

Early on in my educational career I found out that I was a poet and didn't know it, it just came natural to me, and became a great tool with the ladies. It was nothing for me to whip up something on a girls birthday card and make her plus all the other girls that read it cry! It's a blessing and a curse at the same time. Well, I had written a poem for my wife to be earlier on in our relationship and she really liked it (of course!), so I took the poem, rewrote the ending into a proposal, and had it framed. Then I called all our close friends and told them be at her favorite restaurant waiting on us after I popped the question. Hannah was clueless!

Well the time came. It was Saturday and I was playing in one of my last football games. I LOVE football, but I couldn't wait for the game to be over, bc I knew what was going down afterwards. Prior to the game I told Hannah that we should go out to eat with our families since they were already in town for the game. Well, the game ended and I was off to get ready. I was PUMPED! I went to pick her up and told our other friends to go ahead. On the way to the restaurant I pulled in to the place where I told her that I loved her for the first time. She got a look on her face like what the heck are you doing? I told her that we needed to make a pit stop and that I had a gift for her. I asked her if she remembered the poem that I wrote for her that she loved so much.....she said yes, why? I explained that since you liked it so much I had it framed for you. This is where I got creative with getting her out of the truck so I could get on one knee. I said the only problem is that I need you to get out bc I put it behind your seat to keep it from breaking.....she got out, and I got the poem. I said let me read it to you bc it's been a while since you've heard it.

I started to read the poem, and when i got to the end I started to get down on my knee.....she started to realize what was about to happen! You should have seen the look on her face, it was priceless! Then I asked, "will you marry me?" Every guy expects to hear YES as a first response...so did I....but instead she said, "did you ask my dad?" To which I replied, "does that mean yes?" Then she said of course I'll marry you, with big tears in her eyes. That was one of the best hugs I've ever had in my life!

Now we were off to dinner with her next to me frantically calling everyone she knew, her parents first, and telling them the news. What she didn't know was that all those people were waiting on us at the restaurant. When we walked in she was floored to see and hear them all yelling and cheering for us both. It really was awesome, and it's the best question I've ever asked!

I'll end with this- Single dudes, DON'T drop the ball!!!

Han correction

I would like to clarify that my wife and I did in fact have numerous dates before I laid that first kiss on her. That was brought to my attention that I left that out in yesterday's post by my lovely wife ;-)

I just wanted to clear that up, so you don't think my wife was a skank!

Han part 2

One of the first so called "dates" that Hannah and I went on was a walk around our college campus. It was just the two of us at night strolling around the foothills. As we were walking I noticed that she smelled SO freakin good, so I said, "I love your perfume, it smells so good!" She replied, "thanks, it's lovespell". I quickly shot back with, "so you tryin to put me under a spell?" to which she said, "yes, is it working?".........uh YEAH! To this day I always think back to that moment when I smell lovespell, and I still love that stuff!

After that night it was time to plan our first real date. So, luckily one of the other cheerleaders was a friend of mine from high school. She got together with Hannah and planned a nice dinner at her house. When I pulled up to pick Hannah up I will NEVER forget what I saw walking out of that dorm! I knew right then and there I was in DEEP trouble. I think I even asked myself what in the world are you thinking, you're way out of your league dude! She was wearing a long sleeve shirt with different colored stripes, but mainly all green. I can't say that I noticed what color her shorts were, bc (forgive me Poppi!) I was too caught up with her gorgeous legs! She was SMOKIN HOTT! I don't know how we made it to the dinner, bc I don't recall taking my eyes off of her.

We got there, ate, chilled, and then we were on our way out. As we were walking to the truck I knew it was time for that one special moment....the kiss. I kept telling myself not to screw this up. I'm telling y'all I was so taken back by this girl I did not want to do anything to run her off, or make her think I was a horn dog! Long story short, I chickened out and kissed her softly on her forehead, but I did experience one of the best hugs of my life.

I thought I had done the proper thing that night by taking it slow with the kiss, and holding back.....I was wrong! I later found out that she was really hoping that i would have kissed her. So, I was looking forward to the next time!

I'm going to fly through a lot of details and get to the point. After our next date was over she was taking me back to my dorm. I had a bet with her roommates that I would kiss her that night, so naturally I couldn't let them win........but I backed down again and simply said good night, got out of the car and started walking towards my dorm. Then it hit me, KISS HER, so I called her before she got back to her dorm and told her I forgot something and needed her to come back. As I got back into the car I said I can't let them win.....to my surprise she knew what I was talking about!!!! I leaned in and laid one on her, and that's when she was hooked!

After that night it was all over. I didn't care about any other girl on the planet. I was all about some Hannah! Years past and I ended up asking her Dad if I could have his daughter's hand in marriage. He said he'd be glad to have me as part of the fam.

Tomorrow I'll let you know how slick I was with the proposal.....

Han part 1

This thursday I get to be reminded that I have been way out of my league for 4 years now. My wife and I will celebrate our 4th anniversary, and I couldn't be more proud to be her husband.

Now if you read her blog (hannahgray.net/blog) you will get a little taste of how we got this thing started, but my story is a little different.

It all started out in the fall of 2001 at North Greenville University, college at the time. I was on my way to another football practice when I almost broke my neck checking out a girl. As I was watching her I said to myself, that's the kind of girl I want to marry. So, I set out to find out more about this little hottie that caught my eye. I soon found out that she was a cheerleader, which worked out great considering I was a football player. Now I knew that I would at least get to see her two times a week, once at FCA and second at the games.

I made up my mind that the next time I saw her I was going to introduce myself. One thing that you need to keep in mind is that I was EXTREMELY shy when it came to girls. Don't get me wrong, I never had a problem getting a girl friend, but most of the time I just waited back and let the girl come to me. Well, I decided that this girl was too important to just sit back and wait on. So, it was monday night and we were at FCA. Luckily, my seat was close enough to see her, but far enough for her not to notice me staring.....at least I thought! I know I probably should have been paying attention to the message that night, but I just could not keep my eyes off of her. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen! There were a couple of times when she caught me looking, but that was cool with me, bc now she knew I was interested.....and hopefully she didn't think I was crazy. At the end of the night I hung around in one of the isles slowly walking toward her hoping that she would notice so I wouldn't have to walk all the way up to her. Well, she did, and that's when I found out she was NOT shy! She walked right up and said, "HEY my name is Hannah!".....grab her and don't ever let her go were my thoughts, but I managed to get out my name instead. After that night I felt like a kid waiting for Christmas morning everytime I was away from her. I was completely satisfied with not ever meeting another girl, and that's how I knew she was the one for me.

to be continued...

Monday

Well it's monday again! I had a great time this weekend even though it didn't really last that long!

Friday night my parents came into town to visit and help watch Gray while we attended a wedding on Saturday. I've only enjoyed one wedding in my life, and that was my own.....just being honest. Although, I will say that my bro Matt did his wedding in a very cool way. Just before kissing his bride and sealing the deal, he turned to the crowd and presented the gospel. We even worshipped a lil bit! It was cool to witness. The best part was that two people got saved.....AT A WEDDING!!!

The wedding took up pretty much the my whole Saturday, but that was ok with me. I enjoyed the company. Sunday was full speed as always. Great message, great worship, and great food afterwards! PS- if you haven't tried Kentucky Grilled Chicken you don't know what you're missing.....good alternate to the fried.

The only bad part of the weekend was catching some of crud from Gray, but Hannah got it too so we are just one big happy sick family ;-)..........don't worry it's not swine flu!

Y'all have a good one

4th

To all of you out there that actually care, it looks like I will be teaching 4th grade next year.

We SUCK! (church softball)

and I hate losing!!!!!!!!!!!!

body shop

I'm in the process of building my own personal gym in my garage. Of course there is a lot more work I have to do, and a lot more weights I need to get, but it's coming around.

Right now I don't have very many options when it comes to the bench. I can either do 135 or 225, there is no in between. So, if you have some weight plates laying around I'd me glad to take them off your hands.

I've been blessed to have such good friends that they have supplied most of the weights I have, which in turn saves me mucho dinero$$$. I'm poor and I'm not ashamed of that, and I love free stuff. Sometimes that gets me in trouble, bc people offer me something and I automatically say sure even though I don't have room for it at home!

Anyways, I'm very excited about my home gym and can't wait to see what I can accomplish by using it. I've never worked out a home before, and I've noticed after several workouts that it can be boring at times. So, if you need a place to work out come on over to the body shop at my crib!

a problem of mine

This post is mainly for the bros out there, but I'm sure you ladies will get a kick out of it.

Guys- if you're anything like me you have a problem with being wrong and admitting to it. I had a revelation last night after my wife got pissed at me for making her wait on me to come pick her up from her parents house. Now, there's more to that story of course, but that's not important.

The important thing is that I was wrong in my reasoning, but I was too proud to admit it.....so what happened?......an argument! As I was trying to explain myself to my lovely (at the time red faced) wife I realized that most of our arguments usually start bc I don't want to simply say," I shouldn't have done whatever I did, and I should have done this".

Maybe one of these days I will straighten myself out, bite the bullet, and man up to my wrongness (I'm making that a word). This is what kills me -feeling like I let someone down, especially the ones I love, especially especially my wife!!!

So, dudes here's some advice from me to you- if you're wrong, tell her that and extinguish the argument before it starts. The other way does NOT end well! trust me

HE got a hold of me!

Ever been sitting in church and it's almost like God just comes and sits down right beside you? Well, that happened to me this past Sunday, and it rocked my world.

It was getting close to the end of the service and Matt was giving the invitation. He asked the ones that wanted to accept Christ to make a very bold move; to get out of their seat and join him up on stage.....keep this in mind.

Now, before he said, "ok come up", he was describing exactly what Jesus went through for us so that we could inherit the Kingdom of Heaven for eternity. While he was talking a video of clips from the "Passion" was playing silently behind him on screen. I had seen the movie before, but for some reason this time it broke me down even more than the first time I saw it. I'll be honest with you I was cryin like a baby.

Then to top it all off one person that service was bold enough to get out of their seat and come up on stage to accept Jesus......a flippin twelve year old!!! I couldn't thank God enough as I sat in my seat. It was truly an AMAZING moment!

Let me end this post by saying that Mark Stanley freakin ROCKS the guitar like no other!!! It's a blessing to worship with him.

until next time peeps

PS- come out to the rec fields tonight to support The Rock softball team @8PM!!!! Hope to see you there!

pretty cool stuff

Last Sunday at church we talked about being a positive christian influence to people, specifically nonbelievers. As I was sitting there listening I was asking myself if I was doing my best to be a good influence to those around me daily. I know I could do a better job, bc sometimes I just don't feel like talking, so I could do better.

There aren't many times, at least in my life, when people come up to you and say, "hey thanks you have really been a great influence to me!"......BUT, every once in a while I get a little hint from God that I'm doing a decent job.

For example; FLASHBACK- one summer when I was in college I decided to dedicate on week of my summer to helping lead a FCA huddle of high school dudes at a leadership camp in St. Simon's Georgia. It was one of the best weeks of my life, and I encourage every college student to at least try one! Well, I had about 8 guys in my huddle that I was responsible for leading. Now, if you asked me what there names were it might take me a long time and some pictures to remember, but that's beside the point of this story. I was with those 8 guys from sun up to sun down everyday for that week. We had a great time with some competitive sports during the day, and some detailed bible study at night after our worship time.

As we were leaving that camp on the last day I felt like I hadn't really made a difference in those kids' lives as much as I should have, but I did feel like I had grown spiritually. Back to present day- Last night I received a phone call from my buddy that was actually the other leader that I roomed with at that camp, not to mention he is a good friend of mine that drove us all the way there. He told me that he was at an FCA banquet and some random kid walked up and asked him if he had ever worked a leadership camp at St. Simon's. Jay (my buddy) said, "uh, yeah?" The the kid asked him if he was the one that roomed with Kevin Lockaby (me), and again Jay said yes. Then the kid proceeded to tell Jay that he wasn't living his life like he should have been when he was attending the camp, but that Jay and I really had a big impact on his life. He wanted to make sure that he let us know that it was bc of our actions and by our example that he came to know Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior. Talk about FREAKIN AWESOME! I was floored! I hope to hear from this kid soon.

I can't describe the feeling that gave me just to know that God used me in such a way that I didn't even know he was doing it! All I did was pray and agree to be a leader, He did the rest!

It's experiences like this that keep me going. God is at work people, even when you don't realize it!

Hope you can interpret my rambling ;-)

ROCK softball schedule 09

Just in case you want to come cheer us along.....bc we NEED it!!

Mon 4/27 vs. Pine Grove 8pm

Tues. 4/28 vs. 1st Baptist 9pm

Thurs. 4/30 vs. Bethany 9pm

Mon. 5/4 vs. Trinity 8pm

Mon 5/11 vs. Christ Community 9pm

Tues. 5/12 vs. North Conway 7pm

Thurs. 5/14 vs. Jamestown 8pm

Tues. 5/19 vs. 1st Baptist 9pm

Thurs. 5/21 vs. Bethany 8pm

Tues. 5/26 vs. Pine Grove 8pm

Thurs. 5/28 vs. Trinity 8pm

Tues. 6/2 vs. Christ Community 7pm

Thurs. 6/4 vs. North Conway 7pm

HOPE TO SEE YOU AT SOME GAMES!!!!

HELP!!!!

I don't know how many people actually read this blog, but if you do you might remember an old post of mine talking about me going on a diet.....I have NOT being doing as well as planned!

I need some serious discipline. I gotta hunker down if I want to reach my goals. So, I guess I'm asking for the prayers of you peeps that are reading this now. Pray that I would suck it up and be a water drinking no sugar eating FREAK of nature!!!

THANKS

wishin...

Sitting here wishing I was at the beach with my beautiful bride and baby girl, Gray!!!

Suck it Up!

Music yesterday was very off for me. The 9:00 service went great, and I got the opportunity to sing a great new song called "Glory to God". Then the 10:30 service rolled around.

You would think that after singing a song once before and nailing it that I would do somewhat the same the second time around right?......WRONG! I don't know what was going on in my mind, but I flat out forgot the words on part of the second verse. Then I completely left out part of the chorus on another song.

The only thing I can think of is that satan was doing his best to mess up our worship experience, but he DIDN'T succeed!!! I didn't let my screw up mess up the vibe, and sang straight through the suckness he was trying to create. Sometimes you just have to kick satan in the balls and drive on!

What time is it?

This morning I was on car duty when a little boy hopped out of the car flashing his new watch at me. So, I asked him what time it was...he replied, "sixty-eight thirty!". That put a smile on my face for the rest of the day!

Best Moment Ever!

Last night I had a church softball game....we lost by one stinkin run! Usually that would bug the pee out of me bc I'm so freakin competitive, but last night I couldn't have cared less....and I'll tell you why.

I was on my way up to bat when I hear this from the stands, "Daaaaady!". I looked over to and saw my little 1 1/2 year old girl, Gray, waving her little hand at me with a HUGE smile on her face!!! When she noticed me looking at her she said "HEY", and kept waving. Let me tell you I could've struck out swinging with my pants falling down and not cared one single bit after that moment. By far one of the highlights of my life!!! Oh yeah I hit a homerun right after that too

;-)

a new adventure

So I turned 25 this past year and some people say that's when your body starts going to crap. Well, being very "in shape" minded I refuse to let this happen. I started thinking about my eating habits, which SUCK! I came to the conclusion that although my metabolisim is still very high, it won't be like that forever. So, I decided that it would be better to start eating the right way now in order to make it easier on myself later in life.

I've always been exercise driven and highly active, so I don't really have to change all that much in that area. Although, I have toned down my workouts a little. See, I used to work out to get stronger and bigger for ball, but now it's more about maintaining what I have.

If you know me you might think that I'm crazy for going on a diet, but you have to realize that I'm never satisfied with my physique. I'm always trying to think of ways to get more toned. I like to look good for my wife, not to mention it's nice to look good on the beach!

Bodies are built in the kitchen. If you've never heard this then read it again, bc it's VERY true! You can workout all you want to, but if you keep eating crap food you will never meet your goals. It's all about sacrifice....what are you willing to give up? For me it's junkfood!!! I'm the type of person that has to have something sweet after a meal....it doesn't feel complete if I don't. I have to nip this in the bud. I also started drinking nothing but water and milk. I had to stick with 2% milk though to keep my sanity.....in my opinion 1% milk looks like 99% water and 1% milk.

I also am a candy connoisseur, mainly Reese cups....they are my nemesis! Gotta nip that one too. I've come to this conclusion; if it's not in my house it's a whole lot easier not to eat it! Easy solution.....stop bringing it home!

Anyways, if you want to help me out please pray that I keep my sanity without my sweets, and that I don't drive my wife crazy.

I'll close with a little advice that usually helps me when I'm tempted to eat something I know I shouldn't: picture the body that you want to have, and ask youself if that item is going to help you reach that goal.

That's it for now. I'll keep y'all posted.

Great Tuesday

Well so far this tuesday couldn't have started any better. The first great thing I found out this morning was that I PASSED the freakin PLT which was great news! Secondly, I found out that four of my classes are going to be gone on field trips today, so I get a break on my first day back. To top it all off I get to play golf AND softball today. If the rain holds off this could be one of the best of the year!

Almost time!!!

Spring break offically starts in 10 min!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things I'm looking forward to during Spring Break...

Here's some things that I'm really looking forward to during my Spring Break:

- Getting to spend time with my two favorite girls in the world, Hannah and Gray!
- Not having to get up everyday at 6am.
- Playing some golf with Dad.
- Beating Dad in some golf.
- Going to Charleston with Hannah and Gray
- having time to relax
- getting out of the everyday routine of things!

AWESOMENESS!!!

Currently I am a JV golf coach, and let me tell you it is one of the best jobs in the world!!! I not only get to help teach boys how to become men, but I get to play golf pretty much everyday! Not to mention it's FREE!!!

Yesterday we had a match against Waccamaw. Usually I don't play on match days, mainly bc I like to go around and keep up with how the kids are shooting, but yesterday was different. The match was at Caledonia, and I had never been there before. As soon as we entered through the gates my jaw hit the floor! It was like something from a movie! The grass was so green it looked fake. I could try and describe it on here, but that just wouldn't do it justice. It was truly an incredible experience.

On one hole there were two pretty large gators chillin out getting some sun right next to the fairway. Go figure that one of the guys I was playing with hit his ball within four feet of the beasts. My buddy said, "might as well forget about that ball". I quickly said, "nah, I'll get it!". He said I was insane. It sounded a lot easier than it was once I started walking towards them. I got within six feet of them and realized this probably wasn't the smartest idea I'd had.....I was about to take another step when one of the gators cut his eyes at me.....I FROZE and said you can have it buddy!!! As I turned around and started walking back I noticed my buddy in the cart with his camera phone filming the whole thing. He said he wasn't going to miss an opportunity like that.

Overall it was an AMAZING day! I will have to say that the BEST part of the day was coming home, and getting to see my beautiful bride that I'd missed SO much for three days!

and that was my Wednesday folks!

Sunday wrap up

Yesterday was awesome and crappy at the same time. Here's what I mean; I got the opportunity to throw mini glow balls at a bunch of people in the dark at church....how often do you get to do that??? On the flip side my B- E- A- UTIFUL wife had to leave me for work in Charleston, and won't be back until Wednesday night :-(

Church was good yesterday. Now, if you read my father-in-law's blog you would think that it totally sucked, and it was all his fault...but that's not the case at all. I didn't feel like I brought my "A" game to the worship table and I HATE when that happens! For those of you that go to the Rock you might think that I'm used to singing in front of hundreds of people, but I'm NOT. I still get butterflies before every song I sing....and yesterday they were really bad for some reason. I didn't breathe right during one song and struggled at the end bc of it. I think that God sometimes just likes to let me know that no matter how much I practice or think that I'm ready for something it can always go wrong.

Now, let me tell you a little bit about last night at Katalyst! I rolled in around 6:30 to an upstairs meeting room SLAMMED with kids. The best part was that I didn't even know half of them!!! Last week we challenged the kids to invite more of their friends that don't know Christ, and they stepped up and killed it! Props to you guys. Matt brought the word with some passion....for a min there I thought he was going to run out of air. Best part.....kids were SAVED, and others made a commitment to no longer be lukewarm for Christ!!! I'm telling y'all Katalyst is about to EXPLODE in Conway, SC!

God is GOOD people!!!!

REALLY???

"At least eight killed, others wounded in shooting at N.C. nursing home"

What's the world coming to when someone shoots up a nursing home!

dinner

Last night I had the opportunity to eat some grub with Mr. and soon to be Mrs. Matthew Brown. Let me just first start off by saying that they are two GREAT people, and they both do wonders for our church....not to mention he paid for my food :-).....thanks dude!

As many of you may know that I used to lead the youth group at The Rock (Katalyst). After a couple of years God pretty much told me that being a youth pastor was not my calling in life...I didn't argue with him, and I turned it over to Matt. Soon after my decision I knew it's exactly what God wanted, bc Matt took it in stride and ROCKED it out. He's a great guy, and really does well with the kids.

Now I didn't quit all together on the youth....I'm just more of a mentor now, hanging out, and helping them get through this thing we call life.

It's a pleasure working alongside Matt, and I just know that God is about to BLOW UP this group in a crazy way!!! I'm just glad I get to be a part of it all.

Secretary

I would just like to say that I love my bookkeeper/secretary at my school, Julie. Truth be told she's more like a sister than a coworker. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I needed anything she would help me out no questions asked! I will miss her more than most next year, but I'm sure i'll see her round. Thanks Julie for putting up with me for so long ;-) I appreciate EVERYTHING you've done for me!

best moment of the day

As one of my little girls walked into the door to my room today she looked up at me and then slammed her foot on the ground squashing a bug on the floor sending guts everywhere.......She then looked up, said I hate bugs, smiled, and went on her way! - priceless!

clarification...

Yesterday I posted something to all the Rock haters out there, and would you believe that my Mom told me I was too harsh??? I love my Mom with ALL my heart, but I just had to tell her that sometimes you have to be blunt with people.

Jesus did NOT always talk nice to people...believe that! He wasn't afraid to offend people bc he knew there was a greater cause. When someone was wrong he let them know it.

What some people have to realize is that there is ONE God, but there are many different ways to worship him! For instance, The Rock, our music is loud, our dress is casual (Jesus didn't require a dress code by the way), and we don't meet in a typical sanctuary. Now, we DO Love God, Love people, and we do something about it. It's not about all the other stuff.

If you don't like my church, honestly, I don't care! I'm absolutely sure that you can go somewhere else and find Jesus there too, and I recommend you do that. Everyone needs to be where they can be challenged and grow closer to God, and you can bet your bottom dollar on Sunday mornings at 10:10 I'm holding hands with Christ in a movie theater baby!!!

Mom- if I was too harsh in this area I'm sorry, but it's probably going to happen again and again and again and again. I'm ALL about some Jesus and I have no problem telling anyone about it.

Who are you???

It has come to my attention that some people round the area of Conway don't approve of my church, The Rock. Now I know that everyone is entitled to their own opinion about everything in this world, but some of these people are just plain STUPID aka MORONS!

Some of the comments I've heard about The Rock:

- "they don't preach from the bible there!"
- "that's not a real church"
- "I would never go there"
- "They don't believe the bible"

My response:

You're all Idiots, but Jesus loves you and so do I. Come to The Rock one time ( it's OBVIOUS you haven't been!!!), and I promise you will NEVER say these things again. The Rock is ALL about some Jesus...hint hint, that's why we named it "The ROCK".

Now, the only thing you have to do is have the BALLS to get up on Sunday morning and come see for yourself! 10:10 Frank Theaters www.rockc3.com

Some peeves of mine...

Just thought I'd entertain you with some of my pet peeves:

1. When people pull out in front of me and automatically turn.....could you not have waiting another 3 seconds???
2. This one may seem dumb to you, but it drives me nuts. When I walk by the microwave and on the display where I look for the time it flashes "press clear" bc someone took something out early and didn't hit reset.
3. When people leave early during the last song at church.....is lunch really more important that connecting with JESUS!!! Ticks me off!
4. Crying babies during church. For those of you that attend my church and bring in your precious little one that you say will never cry, but seems to lose their mind in the middle of the service SHAME on you for ignoring the rules! I know you think your child is perfect, bc I think mine is, but I'm sorry to tell you the peoples' connection with Christ is WAY more important than you not being away from you child. Suck it up, and take em to the nursery!
5. People knocking stuff in stores and not picking it up.
6. People that are too LAZY to take their shopping cart to the rack, and leave it right in the middle of my parking spot! You should be SHOT!
7. The walk across the road without looking and expect you to stop people. Little advice to you...you're not Superman...cars WILL hurt you!
8. Then there is the stop in the middle of the lane, carry on a conversation while they make you wait people....don't worry about it, I got no where to go!!!!
9. When people are walking down the same isle as you and they expect you to move out of their way instead of moving aside even if you are bigger than them. Words to you peeps....I aint moving next time, and I will knock you down or possibly dislocate your shoulder as I walk by :-)
10. Anal people.....chill out, you don't have to have plans for everything in life.

thoughts from a teacher

I've been a public school teacher for almost four years now, and I've noticed a few things:

1. Your two best friends in the school should always be the janitor and the lunch ladies...I LOVE mine!
2. It's WAY too hard to keep a strict diet at a school....there's always sweets around!
3. ALWAYS expect the unexpected.
4. PE after lunch = clean up
5. Children know WAY more than you think (good and bad!)
6. There's only ONE way to stop the discipline problems in schools today.....it's what most kids don't get enough of at home ;-)

Wednesday thoughts...

-Love starting off my day finding out that my first four classes will be gone on a field trip!
-Hate leaving my little girl every morning :-(
-just heard a little kid crying his eyes out while walking down the hall
-excited about some ROCK church softball starting up (we will NOT suck again this year!)
-Looking for good infielders for softball
-Can't wait to get back up on stage this Sunday and help lead some worship!
-Need more $$$
-Need truck to sell ASAP (check out ad in Horry Independent people)
-Need lawnmower to sell (see above)
-am amazed at how fast my little Gray is growing up!
-Love and am very proud of my smokin hott wife Hannah! For those of you that don't know she's a phenomenal photographer and even better wife and mommy...check her out hannahgray.net
-Have recently noticed that no one comments on my blog which means either no one is reading, or y'all are just LAZY! Come on peeps give me some motivation here!!!
-love my church The Rock( rockc3.com ) and everyone that helps make it happen...you guys ROCK!
-props to my set up and tear down bros....we couldn't do it without you....better days are coming my friends....may God bless your faces off for your efforts!
-looking forward to getting OUT of debt.
-praying hard for my best friend/brother Matthew
-am thankful for my parents...you too sis ;-)
-can't make up my mind on who I want to win American Idol.....there's a lot of talent.
-if the one guy wasn't blind he would have never made it on the show...just sayin
-praying that I past my PLT test this past saturday....join me in prayer PLEASE!
-hate that I'm losing my PE job, but thanking Jesus for placing me in a great new school.
-I'm working on becoming a better leader in ALL areas of my life.
-bummed about my driver cracking, but stoked that Nike is going to send me another for FREE!
-get to play at Shaftesbury today....that's always awesome......love being a golf coach!
-need to start back getting serious in the gym, and on my diet.
-need discipline for the above comment.
-trying to get closer to Jesus everyday, but need to try HARDER!
-ready for some hot weather.
-could go the rest of my life without ever again eating at Arby's.
-I saved the best for last........Panda China is coming back baby!!!!

Have a GREAT Wednesday people!!!

Top Restaurant Picks

I'll put these into two categories; fancy and fast

Fancy top 5:
1. Carrabbas
2.Olive Garden
3.Outback
4.LongHorn
5.Cracklebarrel

Fast top 5:
1.Zaxbys
2.Chick-fil-a
3.Hardees
4.Wendy's
5.Taco Bell

*just so you know Arby's is the worst fast food on the planet!

pray for me

I have to take a test this Saturday...one that i've already failed once......NEED prayers!

quote of the day

"COACH, Carrie hit Ben in the testicles".
-random 4-year old

Weekend Wrap Up

Well back to monday, and I told you that the weekend would be over before you knew it! Although my weekend was pretty much go go go the entire time, I enjoyed it very much.

I will have to say that I might have jinxed my sis in law with all the hype, bc she didn't play up to her ability. But, everyone has bad games and she didn't actually play that bad. We did enjoy seeing her play even if they didn't win.

After the game we all went out to eat at Yamatos in Columbia, and btw I DON'T recommend it at ALL!!!! I almost dried up from dehydration while waiting on a refill, the people tried to cram us into a table where we couldn't move our arms, and the food was average at best. The cook was pretty funny though, I'll give em that.

With a belly full of average japanese food we hit the road back to Conway. We strolled back into town around 11:00 which was actually 12:00 thanks to daylight savings. By the time I got into bed it was close to 1am, then I was off to sleep for a few hours, and back up to be at church at 6am for set up.

Now I don't know if you have a phone like mine, but if you do you have to change the time on it manually which sucks. I knew that my phone didn't automatically reset itself according to daylight savings time, so I changed it before I went to sleep........what I didn't change was the pm to am on my alarm. I woke up to a phone call from one of my set up guys wondering where I was. I jumped in the shower, jumped out, threw clothes on, and was out the door just in time to get there 30 min late.

Church was great! A couple stood at the end of the service to make it known to everyone that they are no longer going to try to run their lives by themselves, but totally surrender to Christ! That NEVER gets old! Music was great, and I got to sing one of my favorite songs, "We Are Hungry".

After church Gray and I went to Big Poppi and Molly's new house for lunch. Gray didn't make it out of the parking lot before she was snoozin in the backseat. It's nice when your kids take naps, bc that means you can sleep TOO! I took advantage of her nap and snoozed myself....at least for a little while.

2:45 came around and I was off to the Peanut Warehouse in downtown Conway to prepare for our 4th birthday party as a church! When I got there and stepped out of the truck the smell of dead pork cooking on a cooker hit me in the face, and I just knew I was in the presence of the Lord.

Party kicked off around 5pm. We worshiped, dunked some people in a hot tub for baptism, and chowed down during one of the largest cookouts of the year! It was AWESOME!!! I will have to give props to the peeps in my MyGroup. They stepped up and brought an RV to the cookout for us to chill in while we hung out. I love those people!

Around 7pm we started packing everything up and headed to the house. After making a pit stop at the Katalyst house to drop off some stuff I was finally going home. Well, I didn't go home. I went back to the inlaw's house to wrap up the day watching Nacho Libre...classic movie.

I will have to say that the best part of the day was when we finally got home....I don't know why but Gray was in silly mode instead of sleepy mode, so we crashed on the bed while she put on a show full of giggles and kisses for mommy and daddy....it doesn't get much better than that!

And that's my weekend......Hello Monday!

Here comes the weekend

Have you ever thought about how fast you weekend will be over before it even starts?....I do that a lot!

Friday is usually over before you know it. Saturday something always comes up to take up your time. Then comes Sunday, and if you're a volunteer at The Rock....check that, a DEDICATED volunteer, your time is spent working hard for Jesus, and before you know it you're back to Monday!

This Saturday I will be traveling with my family to watch my sis-in-law and the rest of the Gamecocks whoop up on the lady Florida Gators in some softball.

I don't usually talk people up unless they are the real deal, and trust me when it comes to fast pitch softball my sisinlaw is the WOMAN!

Within her first two collegiate softball games she had 6 RBIs, 2HR, and the highest slugging percentage on the team! That's gettin it done! Did I mention that her first at bat was a double off the left center wall scoring two runs....this kid's sick.

Not only is she an awesome athlete, she also is a godly woman that is keeping her head on straight in a VERY tough environment. For those of you that played collegiate sports, or even just attended college understand what I'm talking about. Ok, enough about Evan.

Now, on to Sunday. This Sunday is going to be AMAZING! We are celebrating The Rock's 4th birthday as a church, and we are doing it ROCK style! We will be meeting at our normal time at 10:10 Frank Theaters, then we are off to the Peanut Warehouse at 5 in downtown Conway for some jam up worship, pig-pickin, and baptism! I can't wait. EVERYONE's welcome!!!!

Today's the Day!!!

Today's the day that my wife comes home from a two day work trip. I could say that I've missed her, but that just doesn't come close to what I have felt without having her here. My life just doesn't seem right without her by my side. I LOVE coming home to my wife, and the past two days I've had to settle for my black lab instead.

Gray and I both are really looking forward to seeing Mom come home!

Set Up/Tear Down Volunteers NEEDED!!!

For those of you that don't know I'm the set up/tear down coordinator at my church, The Rock here in Conway. First off I just want to thank those of you that give up your time and sleep on Sunday mornings to help us make church happen, you are a true blessing!

I am in the process of putting together two set up and tear down teams. If you're an early bird we would love to see you at 6AM on Sundays for Set Up. Now, if you're one of those people that likes to sleep until the last minute that's fine, but we sure could use you during Tear Down.

Some of the people that are setting up and tearing down haven't had a day off in.......FOREVER!!! Just in case you're wondering, that means they show up at 6AM and leave at 12:30PM EVERY SUNDAY! So, I'm trying to get it where if you come to set up, you can leave right after church without tearing down. Then on the flip side, if you don't set up you can stay after and help tear down.

So, if you're interested in one of these two areas please contact me at klock510@hotmail.com or klockaby@horrycountyschools.net

*As of right now we could really use more tear down peeps.

Girls.....they start way too early!!!

This morning as I was talking to one of my classes I overheard one little girl ask another, "Girl, let me get some of your make-up!".....the girl's response was, "I already let you get some on the bus!". Keep in mind....they are FOUR years old!!!!

Good Bye Physical Education

There comes a time in everyone's life when you just have to say "this SUCKS". I have reached that point of suckness.

I was notified yesterday that I will no longer be allowed to teach physical education, and that I will be moved to an elementary classroom.

For those of you that know me you know that I am all about anything that involves sports and fitness. Hearing that I would no longer be able to teach in this area really crushed me.....BUT I'm ok with it, and here's why.

I have a Savior that knows what's best for me. Once I accepted Him into my life I gave him ALL control. So, who am I to complain about what He wants for me. Yesterday before my meeting I was thinking about Jesus as he was on his way to the cross to die.....did you know that he didn't want to do it?! He stopped, fell to his knees, and said Father if there is anyway I can get out of this I'll take it, but if not I'll do it, bc I want Your will to be done, not mine.

So, I told God that I really love what I do, and if there is any way I can keep doing it please allow it, but like your son I want your will for my life...if this is what you want me to do I'll do it, put all my heart into it, and not complain.

Everyone has been coming up to be today and telling me how sorry they are and how much they will miss me next year....that really means a lot.

I just want to say pray for me, don't be sad for me.... I STILL have a job, and I'm thankful.

sick

For those of you that don't know I have a daughter that is almost 16 months old named Gray. She is my little buddy, and I love her to death.

Sad to say that lately my little bud has been sick with a high fever. Her Mom and I just thought that it was her teething again, so we didn't think much about it....until she kept the fever for almost three days.

The part that sucks about you kid being at that young age is that they can't tell you what's wrong when something hurts, and that kills me! I'm looking forward to her getting out of that stage.

Well, my wife took Gray to the doc and we found out that she has a bladder infection. Obviously this isn't good, but the really bad thing is that it could be worse. If the infection is just on the outside of the bladder we are in the clear, and it can be treated with antibiotics. On the other hand, if the infection is inside the bladder we have to take her to the hospital for lab work!

Please pray with us that the infection is not inside the bladder, and this will all fade away quickly. I don't want my little buddy hurting anymore :-(

TGIF

Thank Goodness It's Friday!!!!!! Not too sure what I'm going to do this weekend, but I'm going to try my best to squeeze in something that is productive. I too often find myself wishing my week away for the weekend. Lately, I've decided that monday through thursday are just as important, and great things can still happen during that time. So I guess I'm saying I'm no longer living for the weekend......just straight livin it up!

If you don't have a church and you live in Conway, SC I'll see you at Frank Theaters Sunday morning at 10:10 for some rockin worship!!!

quote of the day

"We are all dirty nasty pigs"
-Kyle Fullwood

Don't worry...

"Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has done." phil. 4:6

I came across this verse this morning and it couldn't be more meaningful in my life than right now. Lately money has REALLY been short around the Lockaby household. So short in fact that we really weren't sure how we were going to pay our house taxes that were due in Jan. I called the treasurer today after having a long conversation with God about not worrying anymore. God pretty much told me that if I needed something to ask for it, and pray hard about everything, so I did.....I told God that I needed money.......then He answered. This is awesome! I called the treasurer to get a balance of what we owe on our taxes.....and the lady said, "Sir, your house taxes have already been paid by your mortgage company"........I had forgotten about our escrow account. I just about screamed in the middle of my office! All I could say was "are you serious???" The lady reassured me over and over and over again . Isn't God GOOD!!!

Now I'm a pretty tough guy, but this almost brought me to tears. It's been a while since I've heard from God, partly bc I just haven't been talking enough to Him. There is nothing in the world like hearing from our heavenly Father!

So, if you're reading this blog and you need something from God....ask Him, HE WANTS YOU TO! Just don't forget about thanking Him for everything He has already done.

On the flip side, if you're reading this blog and you don't even know who Jesus is, don't you see what you're missing? Don't you want that???

flashback

For those of you that know my daughter, Gray... you will get a kick out of this. Here's a pic from the day she was born. MAN she's changed!!!

good people

I just want to say thank you to my Mom, Dad, and wonderful Sister for loving me so much!

Speak to me......please!

Need some prayer peeps....in a BIG way! Speak to me Lord! Pray that He gives me some direction. Thanks dudes

........................

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like your butt is dragging the ground?........I'm there today. I don't know what it is, but I feel weird........slight headache and just off. Thinkin bout taking half the day off and going home...we'll see I guess. Hope your day goes well though.

weekend wrap up...

Let me first start off with saying that my sister-in-law might be one of the best female athletes I know.....in her first ever collegiate softball game (USC) at bat she doubled off the wall scoring two runs, and that was only the beginning. Second game she hit not one, but TWO bombs!!! Look for this kid to do HUGE things for the Gamecocks....go ahead #11

Going to Columbia was pretty much the main chunk of my weekend.....After the game we waited almost an hour to eat at Olive Garden, and it was worth ever min of the wait. With a full tummy we all got in the car and headed back to C-way....that ride home was the LONGEST and most uncomfortable ride EVER! Yukons do not have much leg room in the back.

I will have to say that today was pretty awesome. Kicked off the day with some ROCK style worship that rocked my face off. If you live in Conway and don't have a church check out The Rock on Sunday mornings in Frank theaters at 10:10...it will change your life! After church I was fortunate enough to get nine holes of golf in before heading to youth. Being with the youth on Sunday nights always pumps me up....they are amazing kids!

Right now I'm on the couch with my hott smokin wife keeping my eyes on her and trying to forget that the weekend is coming to a close :-(

That's in for now peeps

American Idol

Ok I'll have to admit that I actually look forward to watching American Idol......you know you do too! Well, I'm going to go ahead and tell you who the winner will be.......it's either going to be the music teacher guy (Danny I think), or the dude that used to be a part of the deuling pianos (scratchy voice). Both of these dudes are VERY good. Don't believe me.... just watch the show.

Toes are numb...

hannah gray photography

For those of you that don't know my wife is an incredible photographer! If you're planning a wedding you need to check her out, and if you already have a photographer fire them and hire my wife! She also does many other kinds of shoots, so check it out. She freakin rocks with the camera! below you can see a sample of her greatness, but you can also check out her website http://www.hannahgray.net/

YES..................nooooooooooooo!

YES, it's snowing...........................nooooooooo, we're not going home from school!

The Good Old Days

#10

ouch

dang...

Seriously!

Golf tryouts started yesterday. Due to time we could only score the kids on two holes, but they didn't know this beforehand. The first group I took out was pretty good, then came the second. I noticed that one of the kids in the second group was one of my JV football players.....this kid was known for dumb mistakes.....good kid though. Well, his first tee shot went straight into the pond....he turned around with a blank look on his face...I told him to hit another, no response...Then I said," please tell me you didn't bring just one ball!".....he shook his head yes. So, one of the other kids gave him another ball to use which he proceeded to hit in the water again. I asked the other guys if anyone felt generous. One of the others gave him yet another ball......he hit it about a yard shy of the ladies tees. I said, "looks like you're up again buddy". He lined up, no practice swing, and hit it......in the water! Needless to say he didn't play anymore after that.

Moral of the story: You've got to have BALLS to play golf!!!

my Smokin HOTT wife!

Yesterday I sat in church and listened to my father-in-law preach the "Man Message". It was great stuff! I really learned a lot. One of the main things that I realized is that I don't treat my wife the same way I did as when I was trying to win her over, at least not as intense. I am SOOOO blessed to have the wife that I have. Next to Jesus, Hannah is the best thing that has ever happend to me. I'm not one to get all mushy, but I really love my wife. The word beautiful doesn't even begin to describe her. There should be a new word in the dictionary for her smokinhottness. I love that she's not fake, and she is never afraid to put me in my place (not saying that happens much of course). So, in saying all this I've come up with some goals. Number one- Date Night every week! Two- a lot more attention focused on her needs not mine. Three- still thinking, but you get the point!

Hannah - I love you babe ;)

yo yo

Today I start one of my other coaching responsibilities which is golf. There are a few reasons why I choose to coach golf; one - I get to play golf basically every day for FREE, two - we always get some really nice stuff, and three - I get to spend all week coaching, mentoring, and teaching these boys how to become responsible young men. Did I mention that it's a GREAT ministry! Very excited about this season and all it will bring.

today

First thing one of my kids said to me this morning at car duty when I opened his car door was, "Don't look at me like I'm crazy!". Another little girl told me that she didn't like white people, but she loves me. I guess I'm down. Sometimes it's like a never ending comedy act at school. I never know what's next... While I'm at it I guess I could fill you in on some more stories.

During Thanksgiving week this past year I went around the room and asked the kids what was one thing that they were most thankful for, and here are some of the responses:

-"I'm thankful for Ham!"
-"I'm thankful for mommie"
-"I'm thankful for you Coach"
I saved the best for last - "I'm thankful for Jesus, bc He died on the cross for my sins, so I could be with Him in Heaven forever!"

I LOVE THESE KIDS!!!

random ideas

If you have trouble memorizing scripture like I do sometimes I have some cool ideas for ya to try out.

1. Get an Expo dry erase marker and write a verse that you want to memorize onto your bathroom mirror, that way you have to look at it everyday. When you memorize it, wipe it off and change the verse!

2. Buy yourself some really wide rubber bands (1/2 inch). Wrap them around a fairly good sized book to stretch them out, then get a pen and write the verse on the band. If you stretch the band out far enough, and you write small, you can fit multiple verses on the rubber band. Then, take it off the book and put in on your wrist. Now if you ever get bored or find yourself standing in line somewhere just take the band off, stretch it out, and read!

Hope it helps you like it does me!

peace out.

Motle

I just found out that one of my good friends and HUGE contributor to the Rock, David Motle, is leaving us. David does so much behind the scenes work for our church, and he will be greatly missed! I wish him the best of luck. Life/church just won't be the same without you dude. You ROCK!

quote of the day

"If I'd shot you when I wanted, I'd be out by now!"

-anonymous

joke of the day

Heard a great joke the other day, but I'm going to change it up a little for the sake of the opposite sex.

Why do people drink Diet Pepsi?

answer: bc they are fat and thirsty

Today's the Day!

Ok Peeps, today's the day! The day of the biggest meeting of my life. Please pray for me at 4:30 today. If you're a little confused, read the post below this one. THANKS!

PRAY BIG!!!

Ok dudes I've got one of the biggest meetings of my life on Tuesday this week with the Director of Human Resources of Horry County Schools, Ed Curlee. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss my job. You see I teach P.E., for you Carolina fans that's "Physical Education". The only problem is that I'm not P.E. certified. I know you're probably thinking how can he be teaching something that he's not certified for, and that's understandable. Here's the thing, by law I can teach Child Development P.E. bc technically they really don't have to have it, so I slid through the loop. Now that the economy sucks, and they are getting rid of some teachers they want to take me out of my position, and put someone in that's certified. Although, me losing my job does not mean that I will be out of a job. The district will relocate me into a regular teaching position where I am certified, which means I would be teaching elementary school!!! The very thought of being in a regular classroom scares the CRAP out of me. In essence I would be like a first year teacher all over again, bc I've never been in the classroom. This is where you guys come in. I need everyone to pray that Mr. Ed Curlee will understand that I am on my way to getting my P.E. cerification, and that I love my job very much! Hopefully he will see my passion for what I do, and that no one could do my job better than me. Thanks guys. I'll keep you updated

thank you JESUS!

It's FRIDAY!!! I always love the weekends bc that's when I get to spend the most time with my two favorite girls in the world!

quote of the day

"COACH, feel my heart, it's beepin really fast!" -4 year old boy

good to have

Everyone in life needs to have friends like Jerimiah and Beth Pensinger. They are two of the most kind people that I know, and with hearts of servants. There has never been a time when I was in need that they weren't quick to reach out a hand. I consider them some of the best friends that Hannah and I have, and we are blessed to have them in our lives. Get to know them if you don't already.

ice strikes secretary!

So the secretary at my school was walking up to the school this morning from her car, but she never made it to the door. While walking she slipped on a black patch of ice and landed right on her shoulder. We are pretty sure that she just knocked it out of place, but she left for the doc to make sure. Sucks for her! Watch your step today!!!

delay baby!

Nothing like a two hour delay to start you day!

so it's snowing

Snowing this morning... Have you ever noticed that some people round here freak out over the smallest amount of snow??? I will have to say that when they do make those decisions to cancel school, I fully support them! Wouldn't want anyone to wreck in all that snow ;)

....WOW

It's still freakin freezin!!!

wow

It was freakin freezin this morning!!! I just regained the feeling in my toes.

quote of the day

"Dude, I will PIT you!"
-Kyle Fullwood (mygrouper of the year)

it really works!

Five hour energy shots are awesome!

This will rock your face off!!!

2 Corinthians 12:10 (New International Version)

10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

enough said!

morning car duty

There is nothing in the world like car duty in the mornings at a primary school. You get to see it all! If I ever feel bad about how dirty my truck gets on the inside I just remember the cars I see every morning at school, WOW! It's like they buy a kid a happy meal, throw it to them in the backseat, and forget about it. I don't hold the parents responsible for this mess though, I mean these kids are 4 years old, they should be keeping everything nice and orderly right??? Anyways, you'd be surprised how many people are still in their pajamas at seven o'clock. The funny thing is when a kid doesn't want to get out of the car, and mama has to walk them in wearing her spongebob slippers and robe :/ I love my job!

Hot or Cold!

I've realized something about myself today while listening to a sermon by Perry Noble, the pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. He spoke from Rev. 3:16-20. In this passage Jesus talks about how He knows our deeds, in other words, He knows what we do when no one is looking! He says that He knows that we are either Hot or Cold for Him, and for those of us that are lukewarm, it makes Him want to vomit! Now, I've heard this sermon many times in my life, but today it just struck me down. I realized that lately I've been like a cup of coffee straight from the pot, but left sitting out for a while. I'm still warm, but there's no more steam coming from my cup. God told me today that He wants to see that steam again, and so I'm going to step up to the plate!

blahhhh

blahhh.......just blahhhh!

Word of the day

"GERK"
- if you don't know ask Matt Brown.

Quote of the Day

(4-year old boy) "Coach, I hate school"
(me) "why in the world would you say that buddy?"
(4-year old boy) "Bc at school they make me learn things, and that makes me get hot!"

Katalyst

If you know me at all you would know that I LOVE to hang with the Katalyst kids at my church (The Rock)!!! We meet every Sunday night above the Trestle in Conway, and I love every minute of our time together. These kids ROCK my face off, and the best part is that they are hungry for a deeper relationship with Christ! Nothing excites me more than seeing young men and women taking their faith seriously. Props to you Katalyst!

inside the mind of a 4-year old!

I just love when I'm so angry at a student and they look up and say, "Coach, I love you!"......what do you do? I love my job!