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Immediate Family
(Pictured above from our Summer Vacation to Colorado & Mesa Verde)
My immediate family starts with my wife, Jennifer. In January, Jennifer and I celebrated 17 years of marriage…which I consider “wedded bliss”! We enjoy spending time with our family…and just spending time with one another. NASA’s Flex Fridays (every other Friday off) have afforded us some great lunch and mid-day date times. Anniversary #18 is right around the corner!
Katy finished Middle School strong, doing great scholastically and earning top band and athletic honors in volleyball, cross country, and track. Then, she continued playing her clarinet for the High School Marching Band…which enabled a great start to High School!
Cody finished his Elementary career strong as well, earning Honorable Mention (or runner-up) for the American Legion medal, which recognizes the following character traits: courage, honor, leadership, patriotism, scholarship and service. Sounds a lot like Out of This World Leadership! Cody suffered a tough knee injury this summer, which required football season-ending surgery on the Friday before Middle School started…bummer…
Tanner started 2nd Grade at North Pointe Elementary, where Jennifer remains a key player supporting the teachers and the administration through PTA. Tanner loves Kuk Sool Won. He recently earned awards for his form at the 2014 Kuk Sool Won World Championship Tournament, held at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas. From karate, his hash tag is #NeverStopRolling.
Extended Family
Our extended family relationships are also important to us. In fact, we start every year by planning trips to Corpus Christi (to see my parents & grandparents) and to Lamesa (to visit with Jennifer’s parents, sister, and extended family). We’re especially fortunate that we are within driving distance to all of our extended family!
My Paw Paw (pictured above) & Mano—my father’s parents—turned 94 & 89 respectively this year. They both still have a deep love for God and family. While their health is failing them, my parents are taking good care of them…
And we’re able to visit my brother and his family from time to time, including this Thanksgiving. We were thrilled to get to see our niece Mikaela (see my June 8 post on “Mikaela Pyle: A Hard-Working, Achieving Next Generation Leader”) play in the Baylor band at AT&T Stadium—the extravagant home of Dallas Cowboys. We’re so proud of how she finished high school strong and now is making a smooth transition to Baylor University. We’re also proud of our nephew, Taylor. Few people have the focus and discipline he shows for his bodybuilding–and he’s now working to put on additional weight to advance weight classes! Finally, our niece, Raegan, makes us proud, as she impressively navigates life with diabetes while dominating on the tennis court as a Sophomore in High School. It was great to see them again this Thanksgiving, as the “cousins” always laugh a lot when they’re together!
Growing in Faith
Perhaps most importantly, I am thankful for a living faith, where God continues to teach me new things each day…each week…each month…each year. As a family, we convene meetings to discuss where we see God at work around us. And we’re now watching the “Advent Conspiracy” video. Produced by five pastors in 2006, the Advent Conspiracy resists the cultural Christmas narrative of consumption by choosing a revolutionary Christmas through Worshipping Fully, Spending Less, Giving More and Loving All. Those are goals we hope to achieve this Christmas season!
I’m thankful for our church–University Baptist Church: a place where we belong and our kids grow in their faith. We’re especially thankful for the Sunday School teachers who invest significantly in the spiritual growth of our kids. Jennifer and I are not teaching 4th & 5th graders for the first time in 4 years—instead, we’re attending an adult bible study class. Jennifer uses her SHAPE (spiritual gifts; heart; abilities; personality; and experience) to lead CRAVE: a gathering for middle school students for fellowship, Bible study, games, and mission activities. Branded “Crave” because it is such an amazing experience, you’ll CRAVE more!
Meanwhile, for 2015, I’m working with our youth pastor to develop a leadership program for our High Schoolers, drawing from my August John Maxwell Team-Certification and NASA experiences with development programs. I’m looking forward to sharing Out of This World Leadership principles with UBC high school students!
Growing as a Leader
Finally, I’m thankful for the way God is growing me as a leader. I started 2014 with a particular focus on learning and practicing the fruit of the Spirit: patience. That focus definitely helped me on the job, as we had some particularly trying circumstances this year…
And this blog has been a tremendous personal and professional growth tool. Earlier this month, I received my first paycheck written to Out of This World Leadership for presentations I delivered to the McMurry University Baseball Team and Coaches in Abilene, Texas.
Again, I am #Blessed. This face proves it!
