Reunion of Friends

Over the last weekend I was blessed with a reunion of friends from Portland. Of all places, it was in Abilene, TX. Saturday was a songwriters workshop followed by the lecturships starting Sunday evening. Sunday morning we found ourselves having a hard time intering the auditorium from the lobby because there was a small version of East County CofC chatting away in the lobby. That morning I was approached by Mark Love to see if a few friends and I could fill in for a music act that canceled on him for lecturships. I had planned on getting back to school, but any opportuninty to jam with my friends will usually pull me away from what I should do. So Ike, Steve, Zach, Peter, and I got together for a couple of hours to "toss" together some music. Things were a little rough, but God was glorified and I had tons of fun. Thanks to all you guys for jammin' with me.

What Every Restroom Needs!

I thought I should share this wonderful peice of information. My first visit to the Mens restroom in the gym here at school had me laughing. What a useful chart for life.

Sandy Time

Along our trip we spent a little time on the California Coast. Tyson loved the sand but for some reason he had trouble with the roar of the ocean.

New Home

We are now Okies. It's hard to believe we made it and our stuff as well. The trip was great. Day one was Portland to Campbell, CA (south of San Jose) There we spent 3 night with our friends the McAlpins. The next venture was to Porterville, CA to hang with our friends the Lusk's. We had just planned on hanging out and maybe eating dinner together, but they wanted us to stay and offered up their bed. What hearts the Lusk's have. they have 6 kids and an additional 30+ that night (not including us) from the staff and interns that work at the church camp they run. It was a full house to say the least. The next day after church and lunch was our shot out to Kingman, AZ. No friends there just a Motel to stay in. The following day we were able to go see the Grand Canyon. (It's pretty big. Almost fake looking.) Then we finished our day trip to stay in a Motel again at Albuquerque, NM. The next day we headed toward Lubbock, TX to stay with our friends the Wheelers, but on the way we were able to stop and chat with the Schaffer's in Clovis, NM. It was so nice to hook up with some of my Acappella family again. The next 3 nights were great to be with Josh and Mandy. Then there was one last push to our new home. Once we arrived in Edmond, OK we went right away to see our apartment. (Which we reserved without viewing in person.) Oh My! It was scary looking. We tried to find a different place to live before our moving truck arrived, but no luck. The trailor was dropped off at that complex and we decied to tough it out untill we found out what it would take to get out of a lease. (Luckily we had not signed anything.) So plan B came about and we ended up being able to stay a few nights with Serena's old dorm parents from Cascade/ friends, Ryan and Karen Wagner. The next day we frantically search for a safer residence and God provided. Under the circumstances we shouldn't have been able to get in, but God did his thing and pulled all the right strings. It's taken awhile to get unpacked and all set up since we went down to Frisco, TX to visit my sister and her family. My new niece is so beautiful. Little Kenzie Ann let Serena and I get in lots of baby cuddle time. After 4 nights there, we are finally back and getting all the little things set up and hung. This post is provided by my "new" labtop from school. It may not be new and unused, but it's getting the job done. (Hopefully we'll get our desktop fixed soon.)

Moving?

I can't believe it's here. Moving day is tomorrow. We will pack the trailer up today and head down to Edmond, OK tomorrow. Please pray for Serena, Tyson and I as we venture out to take in some of our country and travel to the great state of Oklahoma. Also pray for my folks as they will no longer have a grandchild close by to love on. This pic above is something you can find Tyson doing quite often. He would usually chase our dog Sam around to try and scoop him up.

Already 1 Year!

So Tyson turned 1 year old on the 16th and my how time flys. I'll post more pics of him later but for now I figure I should show the important cake eating portion of his party. I'll also try to post the video of the Cake Pulverizer.
BEFORE



AFTER

I said, I had a bad experience.

So yesterday was a day I DO NOT want to experience again. My family and I have been battling an array of sickness this month. Different colds and flu, to ear infections. Tyson has had a double ear infection and yesterday was his last dosage of antibiotics. For some reason Tyson also yesterday got a fever that started to get bad. We took off his clothes to cool him off plus gave him some Advil to reduce the fever. Well he vomited and lost all that medicine and made a mess on his diaper. When Serena went to go change him Tyson went into a seizure. Serena yelled for me and he was shaking and then I took him and he then went into a state of looking dead. His lips were turning purple and he lied there lifeless. Luckily he was still breathing and by this time Serena was on the phone with 911. They sent out the paramedic and they helped out and explained what happened. And by this time Tyson was returning to normal. Often when a baby's fever can get high and spike out, they will go into a seizure to cool the body off and that seizure is basically disconnecting all the wires from the brain and it takes awhile for the wires to connect again. That's why he was in a state where he looked like he was lifeless. We ended up taking Tyson to the hospital ourselves and spent the rest of our day there. (Playing the have patience game.) I'm so glad that we were there and that God took care of Tyson. Since I've been fighting some sort of stomach virus I happened to be home from work and the timing was a God thing. Serena kept telling me that she was so glad I was home.

Thank you Lord for loving and blessing me. Thank you for my awesome family and for the way you always provide. Please protect my family and guide our future in you.

Bumps and Bruises

It's been exciting to watch Tyson discover new things. As his motor skills are developing I can't help but get a smile on my face. This last week he's had his 5 1/2 month older cousin to show him some new tricks. Tyson has become a shadow at times around Braden trying to crawl as fast as him or walk around the coffee table.

I'm sure some of you may know or can figure out that when when you're a skateboarder or BMX rider you have to fall a few times to learn how to get full balance and control of what you're doing. My cousins were heavily into BMX riding for years. One of them even ended up going pro for a couple years. Many times I saw them with some of the nastiest scrapes and bruises for some falls they had been taking. As time went by I saw less and less. Sure it's a hard game to play without getting hurt, but practice and knowledge sure does help.

I think today was one of those days with the scrapes and bruises for Tyson. It started out this morning as we were getting ready for church. He was standing in the doorway of the sliding closet door when his uneasy legs led him to fall into the edge of the metal on the door. BOOM I heard then a nice loud cry. Right away we saw upon his forehead Tyson's first knot. The fun didn't stop there though. In the afternoon and evening he spent lots of time playing with Braden. They would stand up with the help of the coffee table and and take small steps around. Braden decided to get extra close and push Tyson over knocking him down on the edge of the table. Then later, all on Tyson's own, he fell once again into the table and against the leg of the couch. Needless to say Tyson's head will do some healing tonight.

As a Father it hurts to see my baby hurt, but I know he will do better. He will get stronger and will gain his balance. He will grow up and learn from mistakes plus learn better ways of doing things. I have a feeling my perfect Father up above has many of these same feelings with me. He sees me fall up against my head but knows I'll learn from the bumps and bruises. The awesome thing is, when we fall that Love is there to reach down and help us up.

In Him

It's weird that I created this blog, but I really don't make the effort to blog. I love the fact that I get to share with others what's happening with my family and more importantly, some beautiful pictures of them. This time around I want to say something important to me. Something I need to tell many people personally. I'M SORRY! I'm sorry for things I've said. I'm sorry for putting you down. I'm sorry for questioning you and most of all I'm sorry for being a bad listener. Sometimes God gives us friendly reminders to do as He would do. I feel as if I've hurt so many people whom I would love to call friends with the things I've done or just the way I've been. I need to grow and to be a good listener. Not someone who thinks he can fix your problem or give some "great advice." I really don't have a clue what I'm doing in this thing called life, but maybe if I stop and take a listen. God will provide. I can do all things in Him.

6 Month Pics

These pictures are already a couple months old, but the whole photo shoot is so stinkin' cute. He's now starting to do the military crawl quite well. God is so awesome. The treasure of children in so rewarding.

Prince of Wails

The other day Serena and I went to get some dental work done. (Tyson likes to dabble in a little dental work occasionally.) It's nice that my mom is a dental assistant so we receive free dental work. Tyson's shirt was a gift from our friend Mandy McKee soon to be Wheeler.

How Much Is The Doggy In The Window?

It was Tyson's first Halloween and we were blessed to borrow this adorable dog costume. Putting on the nose was rough and it took some tough love, but we're glad it all worked out. I love the last picture were Tyson is starting to clean his paw.

Here are some pics of a ministry I've been involved with for quite awhile. Since last Dec. I've been singing with RESCUE both as baritone and vocal percussionist. Before that I was running sound and doing a little studio work. Check us out at www.rescuemusic.com
Click on the concert tab to see where we'll be next. I will be ending my time with the ministry at the end of this December.

Tyson Luke Coles

Here are a few pics of my baby boy Tyson. He was born May 16, 2005 at 8:41pm. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Fall Days

The Fam in the Fall