December 30, 2007 Update

I'm still busy doing other, "non-blog" activities in the evenings, which is why I've posted a lot less in the last couple of months. Here are some updates.

First update - I found and purchased a new wireless router (reference this post). After doing research, reading reviews and doing price comparisons, I purchased a Linksys WRT54GL wireless router from newegg.com (which is one of my favorite places to buy electronics; they have a warehouse in New Jersey so I usually get my order the next day, depending on when I place the order). I ordered it this past Wednesday and received it Thursday. Based on comments in many of the reviews I read, I flashed the new router with DD-WRT firmware - it is supposed to have more features and be more stable. It definitely has more features. Only time will tell about the stability. There are a number of other 3-rd party firmwares out there that can be tried and of course there's always reverting back to the Linksys firmware if this one does not prove stable.

Second update - back in October I posted about God speaking to both my wife and I but did not reveal the subject. Well, now I can. She and I will be hosting a marriage Bible Study for couples in our church starting in January. The study is a HomeBuilders study by Family Life - Building Your Marriage. Stephanie and I did this, and others in the series, several years ago. This series and the Weekend to Remember marriage conferences that Family Life gives, have made a big, positive and lasting impact on our own marriage. I'm spending time on some evenings preparing for the study.

Third update - Christmas. We've decided to start a new family tradition - opening Christmas presents on Christmas Eve day (we started in the morning to give plenty of time for kids to play with the new gifts). That way Christmas Day we can focus more easily upon Christ, the real reason we celebrate. So we did that. A great time was had, especially by the kids who received an abundance of presents from family. On Christmas we hosted eleven people from our church. The day was good, though it did not go as intended and was tiring (just think two sick boys puking - enough said). Go over to my wife's post to read more about this.

Fourth update - I'm currently in the process of listening to a series of messages by Chip Ingram titled "Good to Great in God's Eyes". I first heard Chip Ingram give a message at an Iron Sharpens Iron (Christian men's) conference several years ago. I really enjoyed his speaking and the straight forward, yet engaging, manner he deals with Biblical truth. I started listening to his radio program on oneplace.com this past year. That's when I came across this series. On the Living on the Edge website, the message notes are available to be downloaded for free. I have downloaded and printed them off so that I can take notes as I listen. About half way through the series I decided that it was so good that I wanted to own the series and so I have purchased the CD set and the book. The series is about ten practices that great Christians have in common. I would recommend it to anyone.

Closing thoughts - 2007 is almost over and has been full. As the closing act for 2007, I'm going to have oral surgery tomorrow. I wonder what God has in store for us in 2008?