Finals and Moving

So I miscalculated my weeks left in school. (bad informer) Today is my last day in class and I only have one final next week. It's my piano final and then I have a big paper due Thursday. It's amazing that this school year has come to an end. The other note is, we are moving back to Oregon! We will pack up the truck on May 20th and leave either that day or the next. Serena and the kids will fly up while I drive the truck and tow the car. I'm hoping a couple of friends will be coming up with me to make the trip fun. It will be their first time to the west coast and for one of them to fly. (flying back to OKC) It's so exciting to think of being back in the green and mountains while at the same time sad to leave the life we've made here. Lots of great people here in OKC and a great school. Pray for our move and a place to live when we get there. We're looking for a 3 bedroom house to rent or maybe even to buy.

The Home Stretch

So spring break is over and now we only have 3 weeks of school then finals. Wow, where did time go. I must be getting old. Later this week I'm heading to Tulsa, OK to join the International Soul Winning Workshop and have a chance to hang with good friends.

Beginning of Spring Break

Well... we are in in Oregon and are having a great time with our family and friends. Tyson and his cousin Braden are sleeping in the same room.....That's not going to well. It's been a battle everytime they're supposed to sleep. So we need to figure out another place for Tyson to sleep. Friday night I had the pleasure of seeing a friend from Rescue sing in downtown Portland. His band is called Phonochrome and they are quite good. http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=242255526
They should be signed soon and playing all over the country. Today after church with my folks, we did lunch at Buster's Barbecue with the Sippel's. It's good to hang with Joel and his wife Sarah. Their little boy Trevor just turned 2 and is a great combo of his parents. (cute kid) I'm looking forward to the rest of this week. More great friends to visit and just more memories to make with the fam. Oh, by the way. I played the Wii for the first time. My brother-in-law has one and it's good fun.

Weather and Excitement

Today is a 80 degree day and it feels wonderful. Yesterday was about 70 and tomorrow will be in the 70's also. We leave for Portland on Friday and the 10 day weather is supposed to be in the 50's and rain everyday. I'm so excited to be back in Oregon to see the green, the mountains, my family and friends, but will miss some warmth. At least it won't jump from 70 down to 30 in a matter of hours. (This has been the pattern here in OKC for the last few weeks.) Praise God for quick means of travel and the funds to make it happen.

OC Goes Apple

This announcement was show in chapel yesterday. All staff, faculty, and incoming freshmen get a MacBook and IPhone. If you don't have AT&T then you can just go with the IPod touch. All other classes can do a buy-in for a great deal according to your graduation date. I believe all colleges and universities should chime in on this fine deal. (I love Macs) That's our university president in the video.

A Few Cute Pics

These pics were taken by Judson Copeland.

Happy Valentine's Day

I love that our baby is smiling. Look at her excitement.

Grandma Coles just sent this outfit in the mail and it arrived today.

Serena Ruth Coles

If you're not happy with my blog, then perhaps you'd like to take a click over to my wifes blog. She's quite a bit quicker than me with posts. There are new ones of the kidos.
http://serenaruthcoles.blogspot.com/

Crazy Oklahoma

So yesterday it was 78 degrees. It was so nice. Like a Portland summer day. Right now it is snowing. This place is confused.

Musical Confusion

So lately I've been confused as to what my role with serving God in music has been. I have great ideas, but are they His. I have strong desires, but are they His. I've been writing lots of songs lately too. It's weird because I've never really written before, but all sorts of things have been popping into my head lately. Mostly it's just been choruses, but I feel like God is putting some sort of song on my heart. What is my offering?

Finally posting more pictures...

The cloth says it all.

Her pose was just too funny to not take a picture.

Here's our Christmas time with Serena's parents. I meant to get more pics.



Here's Tyson upset since there's pink on his baby seat now.

Good old bath pics.

I always laugh when she crosses her eyes.

Some Coles Christmas

Tyson is such a great big brother.

Grandma and Keely asleep on the couch.

More Keely

A kiss from her big brother.

Ready to go home.

Sleeping at home.

Awake time at home

KEELY"S HERE!!!

Here she is! So beautiful and so perfect. She arrived on December 17 at 1:21am central time and is 7 lbs 6 ounces, 19 1/2 inches long. Mom was amazing! It was a natural birth (That right. No pain killers.) and she only pushed for 7 minutes. WOW!

Merry Christmas from the Coles'!

Just click on the little link picture above.

Tis The Season

This Thanksgiving break has been so relaxing. First a birthday on Wednesday then a simple yet perfect Thanksgiving with just our little family and then today, decorating for Christmas and movie watching. Tyson has had a blast with "helping decorate." He won't let go of the horn. We borrowed the tree from a friend. It's weird to have a fake tree. I've been spoiled my whole life with beautiful Oregon Noble trees. I sure miss the sent of a fresh tree.

AVB

So this weekend was a pretty big deal for me. A group who I have grown up listening to asked me to do the vocal percussion for them. It was a reunion of sorts for the guys. They sang 3 songs at our church service this morning and I did perc. on 2 of them. We also did about 5 songs for the youth group off mic before service. What a blast! Not only was it fun to just be with these guys but to jam was so sweet. After we first got started Brishan Hatcher made the comment of, "So should we do 1 or 2 gigs a month." I'm hoping to post some video later, but for now here are some pics.



Thank you Jay, Max, Brian, Brishan, and Wes for this great time. Thank you to Paul and Russell for mixing us and for the new friendship. You were all such a blessing to me this weekend.

Missing Them So Much

Serena, Tyson, and of course Keely left for Canada on the 29th and won't get back till the 12th. I miss them so much! It's rough to eat by myself and to not be getting all the hugs and kisses I'm accustomed to. I look foward to their awesome smiles and love face to face again on Friday.

Holy Crazy Life Batman!

School and work and New Reign and family and..... yeah, life have been so crazy lately. This weekend for example was tough cookies. Thursday I went to my classes then ate dinner and went to scope out a painting job that needed to be done before Saturday. These folks called me and asked me if I could paint a couple of rooms for them before their moving truck arrived on Saturday. So being the poor man that I am, I accepted. Big mistake! Serena, Tyson, and I all went out there to see the work and Serena helped me mask off the two rooms. Of course these rooms have the most cabinets in them than any other rooms in the house. Thursday we got the masking done and after my morning classes I set off to start my painting at about 1pm. 16 hours later I'm rushing out the door to get home so I could get cleaned up for a New Reign concert in eastern Oklahoma. We departed at 6am so we could get there and soundcheck before our 10:30am concert. (which is a whole other ballgame) We arrived back home just after 4pm and then finally at 10pm I got to go to sleep. I was out! By the way. I still didn't get the painting done when I left so my awesome and loving wife had to go out there and finish for me. She dropped off Tyson with some family friends who offered to help us out anytime. (Praise God for the Brazle's) And 4 hours later, Serena was walking out their door just as the moving company was coming in. Hopefully we won't have to do this again.

So Close Yet 1887.2 Miles Too Far

The last couple of weeks have been so difficult when it comes to decision making. Only one decision needed to be made, but we were so torn. My prayers increased greatly and my confusion even more. Do we move back to Oregon or stay in Oklahoma? Before we left Oregon and on the way down we felt that we were going to move back to Oregon. Then while driving in Denver I received a call from my friend Wes McKinzie who happens to be the director of the acappella music recruiting group for my school. He asked if I would join. Doing this would increase my yearly scholarship $10,000. Thanks a lot Wes....Now we have an even tougher decision. More prayer and questioning happened, and finally this morning after talking to my Mom again, we decided to stay. (Which is amazing in itself since my Mom has the most bias opinion out of anyone.) It's going to be tough to not see the NW for at least 7 months. We can't travel for the winter holidays due to our baby girl, so we'll have to wait at least till spring break if not till the summer. There is a possibility that the group I'll be with will head up to the NW so I'll keep y'all updated on that. Please pray for our family as we work hard to balance family, school, work, and whatever comes our way. Finances are still really difficult and finding the time to work will be even more now that I'll be in the group. Praise God for His faithfulness to our family and for His constant blessings.

By the way. Our little girl is Keely Elizabeth.