Harper the Devil at 11:51 AM

When you first look at Harper the Dog your first thought might be "Oh my goodness, that is the most precious dog I've ever seen!". Don't be fooled. She's actually the devil.

Alee and I have composed a list of things Harper the Devil has tried to eat over the past week:

Socks
Underwear
Receipts
Alee's purse
My shoes
Alee's sunglasses
Paper towels
Pants legs
Our toes/fingers
Mail
Cardboard boxes
Wii controllers
Alee's computer
My computer cord
Alee's phone
Alee's hair
Sweaters
The coffee table
Grass
Pine cones
Her own vomit
Chapstick
DVD case
Coat hanger
Medicine bottles
Washcloth
Q-Tip
Screw
Tissue
The bed
Alee's hip
Her own poop

Harper the Dog at 8:41 PM

If you know anything about me, you know that I have severe asthma. Growing up my asthma made it so I couldn't have any pets in my house. While my asthma has gotten better in adulthood, I would by no means call myself asthma free. Being around dogs and cats for an extended amount of time still makes me sick every now and then, so Alee and I just assumed we'd probably never be able to have a dog.

However, we recently discovered that there are dogs that are classified as hypoallergenic. After hearing this Alee went on the hunt to find an asthma-friendly dog for us. I was a bit skeptical about the whole idea at first. We can barely afford to pay our rent, so why would we want to add another member to our family?

If you've had a conversation with me within the past 6 months you'll also know that Alee hates her grad program. There are tears shed at least 3 times a week over how depressed the program is making her. Alee finally convinced me that having a dog might help her feel better about the state of her life.

So we got a dog. Her name is Harper.

I can safely say that getting Harper was the best decision we've made since deciding to get married.

Amos Story at 6:32 PM

Aaron Ivey, one of the worship leaders at The Austin Stone, adopted a boy from Haiti a couple of years ago named Amos. Aaron and his wife have had a really hard time getting Amos to America because of a lot of red tape issues. However, due to the recent earthquake in Port-au-Prince the government expedited the adoption process. This past weekend Aaron was able to go pick up Amos and bring him home to Austin.

A few months ago (before the earthquake) Aaron shot a music video for a song he wrote for Amos. I'm having trouble embedding the video so I'll just share the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4eZybIXpm8

For The City at 12:39 PM

A few months ago The Austin Stone dedicated most of its service to a showing of a short documentary that highlighted what the church is doing to serve the city of Austin. I did a little bit of editing and shooting for the project, but the overwhelming majority of the work was done by a really talented filmmaker named Jeremy Rodgers.

It's a long watch but it's worth every minute.

For The City-Revisited from The Austin Stone on Vimeo.

Where Ya Been? at 10:27 AM

It's been quite a while since I've updated this bad boy.

A lot has happened since we last met. I'm now married and living in Austin, TX.

I made a new years resolution to update this bliggity blog more.

I also vowed to lose some weight.

Let's see how all of that goes.