Spoiled

Look at me! The spoiled child of God who gets cool toys. I've recently made the choice to start and do some recording. So with student discounts, I got a new computer and a Mbox 2. The Mbox came with Protools for recording which is a bit of a learning curve for me. I love my MacBook Pro. I'm not sure why I wasn't a Mac person before. After all this time, I'm not sure why I spent money money on other things in life when I could have invested more into the craft and art I love. Now I have a chance to enjoy this music in my head forever.


This photo is taken inside a practice room here at OC. The mic, stand, and headphones I've had for a long time, but I just got the computer and Mbox. Currently I'm recording a song for someone that was our neighbor here on campus. She is getting married in August and needs an acappella version of Butterfly Kisses. I'm curious how it will turn out, being the first song I'm doing.

Tyson's Party

So over the weekend we were blessed to have my family come into town to celebrate Tyson's birthday. The theme as you can see was CARS. Lightning McQueen made his presence as our cake (It was oh so good. White cake with bavarian cream filling.) and we were joined by friends from church and Serena's nanny family. Serena is so awesome. She puts such hard work into making things so wonderful. Her cakes are the bomb and she is such a servant. She also made a cake for my dad (his birthday was May 2) when they first flew in on Thursday. This cake was chocolate with the bavarian cream filling and topped with crushed Butterfingers. I beleive this was my favorite of all. It was so moist and had such great flavor.

Tyson's 2

WOW! Already 2 years old. He is definitely acting like he is 2, and yet we still love him to death. God was brilliant when he made children do the cutest and funniest things. One minute Tyson will throw a fit filled with hitting and screaming then all a sudden he will give you a hug and kisses. Today he had a blast playing at Chick-fil-a. "Slide" is one of his favorite words. Whenever we get near a park or play structure he says slide. Thank you Lord for blessing us with 2 years of adventure and love we can't describe. Now I have insight to a portion of that faithful love you have for me.

ANNOUCING A NEW COLES!

Hey Y'all! It's been awhile but things here have been great. On the 11th Serena and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. For my gift I received pink socks and a stocking cap that says "I love Daddy" on it. So here comes another Coles. Not that we know it's a girl, but we are hoping for one of those. Serena should be due right around Christmas. Right now we think it's the 30th of Dec. The night before we just got home from a 2 week choir tour. It was such a blessing to have Serena and Tyson with me. There were a couple of rough days when Tyson didn't get the nap he needed, but otherwise he had a blast. Tyson was voted tour pimp and did plenty of flirting with the ladies. We sang in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and mostly Florida. The beaches in Florida were amazing and Tyson could not get enough of them. It was great to watch him chase the waves out and in return be chased by the waves. We stayed with wonderful host families where Tyson referred to any male older than me as Bapa. (Grandpa) He loves grandpas and is always searching for one.





Thank you Lord for blessing us tremendously!

Easter Blessings

Tyson had a blast this last weekend with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Melissa, and cousins Braden and Kenzie. My folks flew down to Dallas on Thursday and drove up with my sister. They stayed through Tuesday morning till they headed back for the Dallas airport. What a blessing it was to be all together for Easter and for some great family time. Things were quite loud and hectic at times with the kids, but what a blast. We did a few games of Nertz and watched multiple movies. It was tough to have the weather so cold and crummy. It snowed on Friday which was weird itself. My mom was excited to come down to the south for some warm weather, but Portland ended up having an 80 degree day when we got the snow. Once they left our tiny apartment actually felt empty. My parents spoiled us all with food and gifts. Actually they overwelmed us with things that are a huge blessing. Thank you mom and dad for loving on us all like crazy.

All Men Will Know

THis is my buddy Zach tearin' it up. The song and video are quite powerful.

Lost Camera

So this last week we spent spent some time in Tulsa, OK for the Iternational Soul Winning Workshops. It was great to see friends from around the country and to hear great speakers and music. I hung around my buddy Zach Wilson for a great deal of it. Some of the folks I had great conversations with were Ron Clark, Don (Donny) McLaughlin, Keith Lancaster, Steve Maxwell, Brishan Hatcher, Watershed friends, and Acappella friends. Don is such a loving and encouraging guy to talk to. His vision of ministry and encouragement to others to do there calling is just awesome. What a blessing to be there. Once we got home, I seemed to run into a problem. I can't find our camera. I thought it was in our car, but I couldn't seem to find it. So hopefully it will turn up somewhere and soon.

NEW DUDS AND BOOKS FROM ALL THE GRANDPARENTS

The weather has been crazy lately. One week we had wind chill of 0 degrees. Two weeks later we hit 80 degrees. The next day is only a high of 57. Thank the Lord for our computer that has the weather channel report at our finger tips. Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Coles and Bailey for the gifts to Tyson. Praise God for family!

AND WE ALL FALL DOWN

One of Tyson's favorite passtimes is falling face first on our bed. Not sure what started this because Serena and I just found him doing it over and over one day. Boys will be boys.

Needed to post something.

Hey Y'all. It's almost been a month since I posted something so I thought I'd put up some sort of picture.

Tyson needed to make a fashion statement. Evening wear with an industrial cap.

The Shots

We're pretty sure it was the shots. He did much better today. Very grumpy and sensitive, but no fever.

Another Seizure

Tyson had another seizure this evening. He had shots this moring and we think he might be reacting to that. Pray for the little dude.

Time in Gravelbourg

We are now back from our long but meaningful break in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan Canada. The weather wasn't as cold as it has been in the past. I put on lots of weight as usual. (Due to the feast that is prepared for every meal.) We got tons of great family time in with Serena's family and I even did some framing work on there new church building. It's been quite some time since I've been swinging a hammer so a lovely blister formed. I also experienced my first and most likely my last game of Curling. Tyson had a blast with his cousins and learned how to do many more "boy things." One of the funniest things he did over the break was an immatation of Tow-Mater from Cars. "Git-r-done!"

The Beginning of an Ending

So my first semister at OC came to an end yesterday. I've done fairly well in school (considering my history) and enjoy the education I recieve from OC. What a stress relief to be done for now. What was the cherry on top though was the fact that last night was my last night with Chick-fil-a. In celebration of the stress relief I decided to give myself a new hair-do. I've never buzzed my head before, but I thought I should a least try it once. Now I can say that I've rocked the hawk. What a freeing haircut.

Facebook

If you use my link to my Facebook, you can check out more pictures on the lower left hand side. I have three albums. (Unfortunately you have to have an account to view them all.) One which has most of Serena's cakes. Here is her latest creation for our nephew Braden's birthday over the weekend.

Discovery Fun

Here are a few shots of Tyson getting into things as usual. What a helper he is when it comes to making cookies.

Going "Home"

I'm excited for this Tuesday. Not only do I celebrate 26 years of life, but I'm also heading home to P-town. We fly in late afternoon and stay through Sunday. I'm hoping to see as many folks as possible while we're there. Come join us at the Gresham Buster's for diner Tuesday night. Love to see any of my NW friends faces. Here is a lovely pic from my parents back yard. I miss this view along with many others. I don't miss the rain however.

Warren Barfield

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69Y6Vp3q3t0&eurl=
On Friday night we had the previledge of hangin with Warren Barfield. He did a concert in Edmond, OK and as usual it was stinkin' awesome. This concert was a little different because there were only about 40 of us. It was awkward at first and I thought to myself, wow to bad the promoter didn't do some more work. After some time into it all though, I was glad to be in such intimate setting. The concert started out with the Mark Ryan band. They had a similar feel to Chris Tomlin. Very worship oriented, but maybe more upbeat. (lacked variety) The next was another local guy who was quite talented. His name is Cody Dunbar http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=47402324and to me he had a similar sound to Jason Maraz. He was a phenomenal guitar player and he used a loop pedal in a few songs. Quite impressive and left me wanting more. Then "the Man" Barfield brought his typical passion and humor to us. He shared more about how his songs came about and shared more of his heart. He now has his friend Walt Smith playing Bass with him which was quite tasteful. If you get a chance, you need to go see Warren perform. Check him out here. http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=27799022
or here
http://www.warrenbarfield.com/

Prayer of Praise

Serena started a new job today. She is a Nanny for a family here with a 8 month old boy. His name is Jack and the parents are Mike and Jamie. They seems like a wonderful family and they just recently moved from the Seattle area. Praise God for the extra income and for the continued connections. Happy Halloween Y'all!

Pumpkin Cake

Just thought I should share another one of Serena's grand creations. She made this cake for our church small group meeting tonight. Chocolate cake with Bavarian cream filling. Yum, Yum!