I just sent this out on the facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/search/?post_form_id=1d7e4f778fbff6d735d97412a019171a&q=&init=quick&ref=search_loaded


I’m the middle school youth pastor here at New Covenant Bible Church & good friend of the Karamitors family. There are some great joys of being a youth pastor. To see a young person come to know the Lord in a personal way is one of those joys. There are times also that are hard – I’m in one of those times. I made a phone call at 11:45am central standard time to Mike Karamitros (Patrick’s dad) and he said, “Patrick has passed on.” When I was visiting the family I shared with Mike that when Patrick closed his eyes for the last time he was looking into is earthly father’s eyes. When he opened his eyes in his new heavenly body he was looking into his Heavenly father’s eyes. When the family will return to Cedar Rapids and funeral arrangements are yet to be determined. The family requested that Patrick’s organs be donated and a match has already been found for Patrick’s eyes. Patrick’s deeds on this earth in serving His heavenly farther have been many & as time goes by I know all of you will have a chance to reflect and think about these things. I leave you with this thought from Revelation 14:13 “Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.’”

EFIF (Eades Family In Florida) the final Days

Here is the last set of pictures from our trip. We did a lot in those days but I didn't organize them into each day. Please click on the picture to see a long slide show.

EFIF (Eades Family In Florida) Day 4

Here is the day that we all got to do Disney. Just click on the picture to see a slide show.

EFIF (Eades Family In Florida) Day 3

Day 3 of this awesome trip. This was the day our wonderful sponsors (adult leaders for our middle school group) paid for Lindsey and I to go to Epcot.

EFIF (Eades Family In Florida) Day 2

Here is day 2 for ya - just click on the picture

EFIF (Eades Family In Florida) Day 1

Finally got all our pictures in http://www.flicker.com/ and am now posting them. Please click on the picture to say Day 1 of our trip.

Book Report - Breath - devotions for the youth worker's soul

This isn't really a book that I'm review but a devotional that GROUP put out for us youth workers. I found it very moving and gave me a lot of the things to reflect on and pray about. Breathe - devotions for the youth worker's soul was exactly what I needed to help with the time the LORD gives me to spend one-on-one with Him. I share my prayers in my last two Prayer and Review post (click here and here to read them) that I lifted up to the Lord this past two months that show how this devotional affected me. I would recommend it to any youth worker or parent who is spending regular time with teenagers. One little note: there is a CD that goes with the book which has some great background sounds/music to go with the devotionals. But some of the songs (like track 3) is used a little too much for my taste.

Daniel at the "Next Church"

NCBC is in the process of building a new church outside the city of Hiawatha, Iowa. We are really excited about this as a church body and I got a taste of how excited my youngest (Daniel) is about it today. My day off is Thursday and that is the day that Daniel and I do a lot of "honey do" stuff together. Today as we were driving around town he said, "Daddy can we go to the next church?" Initially I had no idea what he was talking about but as we talked I figured out he wanted to see the new church property. If you click here or on the picture above you can see a little slide show of what we did together -we played on the hay bales, saw the ducks in the pod, and throw rocks in the pod. It was great time together and I'm really glad he is excited about the new place.

Family get away - Spring Break 2009

Spring break has come again and we are at a water park again as a family. You can see what we did the last two years by click on 2007 or 2008. This year we decided to go to the Grand Harbor resort and waterpark in Dubuque, Ia. It has been a fun time and everyone has a had a wonderful time making memories together. If you would like to see a short slide show of our time here please click on the pic.

Simple Thoughts

I haven't done a "Simple Thoughts" since April last year (click here to read it). I do this off and on because of a thought our Assoc. Pastor Kim Pagel shared with the staff over a year ago. He had us think through unexpected events that happened the past year in our life. Since then I try to put down different random thoughts that I think about or think will happen in my life.

1) I've become a Coffeesmiths addict. I really enjoy the atmosphere and their white chocolate mocha is awesome.
2) I have a chance to write an article for simplyyouthministry. I'm thinking about writing on expectations with middle school youth and/or tangible goals in middle school ministry.
3) Marko (who I respect highly) from Youth Specialties wrote a book called YM3.0 and I really want to read it but I'm also hesitant to read it - it is a strange reaction that I've never had before.
4) I'm really looking forward to spring break this year and getting away with my family. We are planning on going to Dubuque, IA and go to Grand Harbor Resort.
5) My good friend and mentor Mark Forstrom has agreed to edit this little blog of mine so that it is easier for people to read - thx old friend.

Simple Thoughts

I have a sick son and have been up since 3:30am. That isn't so bad but I really don't like seeing my kids go through sickness. As I was helping my son through his last round of yuk I thought of a few things:

1) I've really enjoyed this recent series "It's Super Simply" it's one that I really think the kids need to hear.

2) Having a middle schooler in my home has been something I've been looking forward to since Lindsey came into our lives. This next 3 years is going to be a ride.

3) I'm reading through a book series called "Dragons in our Midst." I'm on book 2 (The Candlestone) and I'm enjoying it. But I've found a lot of my regular middle schoolers love it.

4) NCBC has been going through the book of Romans in a series called - Exchange and it has open my spiritual eyes to things I've never thought of before.

5) Sep, Oct, & Nov is suppose to be our "ez" months - but I find it is more of a shift from a summer of being with kids to a fall of being with kids.

Simple Thoughts

I haven't put down a "simple thoughts" post in some time and I was thinking about a few things this morning and thought I would put them down here.

1) Today I get to baptize my now 7 year son - what a privilege and a blessing.

2) This summer has been the most draingly wonderful summer I have ever had.

3) I've found myself being very selfish these days and I'm not sure why.

4) I've started walking again daily and my wife has joined me - praise God!

5) I'm enjoying an old on-line multi player game again - City of Heroes

Book report - Ophie out of Oz!

I've been asking my daughter to give me another book report on the books she has read and we finally did one together. We went on a pre-trip trip for our big summer trips and we got to read this book, "Ophie out of Oz!" Here is my 11 (soon to be 12) year old review of the book:

This book was about a girl name Ophie (short for Ophelia Peeler). She had everything in California - great friends, sunshine, and attention. But because of her dad's job they had to move to Oregon. There she was sad because she would always think about California and Lezzy (her best friend).

On the first day of school she meet Brittany and her sister. Brittany followed Ophie around and they would talk to each other. When they were in the theator they heard two girls singing. She told Brittany that they weren't very good and Robin (another girl in the story) over heard and told the two girls that were singing what Ophie said. It turns out that the two girls are the most popular in the school and they did commercials on T.V. A few days later Brittany tells Ophie that she likes a guy from Sunday School (Troy). Then when they go home Ophie writes a love letter to give Brittany ideas. Then she calls and Tana (Brittany sister) answers. Ophie tells Tana what she wrote and then Tana thinks that Ophie is trying to help Brittany so she accidently sends the message to Troy. Then Troy wouldn't write back to Brittany. So Ophie had to call Troy's mom to tell her it was her fault and after awhile she says, okay.

After a few weeks pass Ophie gets a package from her dad and it has a poster and a calendar about the Bailey Broz and they give Ophie comments on it. So, Ophie decides to bring it for show and tell. When she showed it everyone goes crazy and she turns out to be the new hit of the day. Soon she starts hanging around the T.V. girls and doesn't hang out with Brittany anymore. She didn't like being around them after a while. Shortly after that the class goes on a field trip and they go in to a live theater that talks about the 1860s. Brittany starts asking these weird questions and Ophie joins in. Then Ophie says something that the guy pretends to faint and then Ophie says that Brittany knows and does C.P.R. on the guy. After that the guy let's them sit on the corner of the stage and Ophie apologizes to Brittany for her behavior.

I liked this book because it shows how Ophie got persuaded into something so easily. Also how she fought through that.

Simple Thoughts

After two very busy weeks that I normally don't have around this time of year I wanted to put down some of my thoughts.

1) I'm twittering now and I find myself enjoy it. If you want to know more go here .
2) The chance to help run "big church" was a blast and the best part was doing it with my sponsors and the middle school youth
3) I'm really looking forward to the new movie Prince Caspian
4) Got things lined up to take my wife to a wonderful place for our 15 wedding aniversary. Now I just have to find someone to take care of our 3 wonderful kids for 3 days 2 nights.
5) I'm kinda glad about the whole Miley Cyrus with Vanity Fair photo thing as it has my wife and daughter talking about idolizing people.

Spring Break 2008 - more fun with the family

Another awesome spring break has come and gone. It was simply a wonderful time with the family as we got to do some of the things we love to do together. We went geocaching again, enjoyed time with Becca our friend from across the street, and went to Wasserbahn Waterpark resort. We went there last year (click here to see that post) and it was even more fun this year since Daniel was able to enjoy the big water slides, Lisa tried and enjoyed the fastest waterslide, and we had Becca with us. We took some pictures and if you click on the picture you can see a short slide show of our time together.

Simple Thoughts

It's a relaxing day today and so some thoughts came to me and I wanted to share them.

1) I've been playing starcraft with my son Nathaniel and he is getting good at it. Of course I'm winning our games so far.
2) Went to my first ever good Friday prayer services
3) I love homemade bread and so does my family
4) I admitted to my wife today that I would consider a dog in our home but there would only be one way that we would do that.
5) I'm so looking forward to our good Friday service tonight and our 5 services for Easter.

Simple Thoughts

Getting ready for another wonderful Wednesday and my mind went to a few things:

1) I have such a wonderful wife and tomorrow I get to celebrate that with her.
2) I'm really looking forward to tonight. It is team group night and I know how much our kids love it.
3) My son Nathaniel is doing so great in the big “K” that I'm 95% sure I want to send him to a private school next year to keep that momentum up for his passion to learn.
4) My son Daniel recently scared me with this statement, "Dad when I grow up I want to be just like you."
5) I love evenings with my family. I asked them the question, "give me a highlight of the day?" and the answers are so fun to hear.

Snow Day at the Eades home

With the big storm that came through central America yesterday all schools were closed and over a foot of snow hit Cedar Rapids. My wife called me about 3 pm and said the kids were outside playing in the snow. I wanted to sneak up on them and start a snow ball fight. After getting home (I only live 90 steps from NCBC where I'm the middle school pastor) I was able to start the fight, but found out that my boys were still inside. Well, that had to change and so a 1/2 hour later I had them outside and we went at it. Even our neighbors dog came out and played. It was a great time with the family. If you would enjoy a short slide show of our snow day please click on the picture.

Simple Thoughts

I'm waiting for a couple 8th graders to come over to work on the message for this Wednesday night and I thought about a few things:

1) This coming Wednesday night our second 8th grade night. I got to hear the 8th grade band practice a moment ago and they sounded great. Should be awesome night (like the last one).
2) This coming weekend (Jan 26&27) will be my 6th winter retreat with IMPACT. I'm so excited.
3) I sure hope that I will have some time this week to take my wonderful wife out on a date. Haven't had a date with her in over 2 weeks.
4) We will be starting a new series next month called Value Pak. I had a group of middle schoolers help with the creative aspect of the month. It's going to be a fun event.
5) We will also have a parent's night (Feb 20) happening next month. I hope more parents come to this one.

Fun times with Daniel

If you read blogs or material for middle school/jr hi ministry very much you probably have come across this picture. The caption is "only in middle school" and I so agree. But yesterday in Sunday School at New Covenant Bible Church my four year old son did one better. He decided that a child's potty would be interesting to put on his head. Well it got stuck. My wonderful wife was contacted by the poor childcare worker that they needed her help. After much pushing and pulling and Daniel's left ear getting rubbed a little more than he would like it came off.

After my wife told me what happen I asked, "did you get a picture?"

Nope, rats! Oh well.

I talked to Daniel that night and his first comment was, "the next time I do it dad make sure you rub my right ear since it didn't get hurt" - oh Daniel you live in another world. I'm sure this is just the beginning.