A new Opus

1.On the last post I mentioned that there was a cough choir in my house singing beautiful renditions from....the Sound of Mucus. (I know, corny) Well, the second movement just started. We were finally getting over it when something new came. Today we all went to the doctor. Anna is now on an antibiotic for and ear infection, Johnny and I tested positive for strep and little Leah has a high fever that the doctors don't know what's causing it. So we're all down for the count except for Tarah and David. My poor wife. She just wants all of this to end.

2. This weekend, (before I got sick again) I had the privilege of ministering to people from my home church in Wausau, WI. It was humbling and a treat to see that people would give up an evening to come experience the program. Pastor Jim Engle, whom I know from Camp Forest Springs, is now their new pastor. The program was called "Dinner and a Feast." It consisted of him memorizing Phillipians, reciting, with breaks and me filling the breaks singing songs that complimented the text. I know that Jim has memorized other books as well. I was challenged to begin the process of hiding more of God's Word in my heart. On a side note, it was weird to see a lot of my friends parents and hearing that most of them are retiring. Time just keep ticking away. I heard a Doctor-Christian recenlty who studies Meta Physics talk about time and how God exists outside of it. He even said that we might shocked that when we get to heaven after we die, that everyone is entering heaven at the same time. Example, my dad has been dead for almost 17 years. I tend to think that he has been in heaven 17 years when we might be entering heaven at the same time. Not sure it it's true, but it's fun to think about.

3. I want to end this blog talking about Johnny, my 5 year old. All my kids warm my heart but this kid has a bit more warming power. He loves to snuggle with me. My other kids to as well, but they don't last long. They are too squirmy. Johnny feeds off of it. He is very physical, like his daddy. Many a night when I tuck them into bed, he says, "Daddy, Snuggle!" And I make my way over and as I start to get on his bed, he starts giggling. I asked him the other day,

"Johnny, is there ever going to be a day when you don't want to snuggle with me anymore?"

His eyes start to fill up with tears.

"No daddy."

I know there will be so I try to get as much as I can.

Blog AWOL

I'm going to try to be more current with this blog. I have found that many items that I would want to write about probably aren't appropriate for public consumption. The other reason for my being blog AWOL is pure laziness. But I'm going to try to kick myself in the backside and try to be more consistent.


1. This last week there has been a "cough choir" in my house. I can't tell what opus they are trying to sing but they all have their parts and are performing them well. Yes, the croopy cruds have hit the Hoffland household and it seems to have put us back a bit. Of course, as we teach our kids that sharing is good, they showed their love for their papa by handing me a piece of music so I can join them. Now I'm carrying the bass section.

2. Last weekend I went, along with 5 other guys, to a men's conference in Milwaukee, WI. When you are a college student, you hang out with guys a lot. Mainly because you can't be in the girls dorm whcih I'm sure most guys would want to do. Now that I've been married for 10 years, I realized that I don't do as much with guys.. In fact, most married men that I know now spend quite a bit of time at home with their families, which is probably where we are supposed to be anyhow. All that to say, I really enjoyed the short trip to Milwaukee. When guys start to talk, you realize that we all basically deal with the same things but don't tend to share it much in public. In fact, me being an open person have found that I slowly have become more closed off than I used to. In conclusion, the conference was good but the jewel of the weekend was the 3 1/2 hour drive there and back with "the guys."

3. As you have probably read from other posts, I'm a Netflicker. We recently had cable television yanked from Rib Lake so now we have been reduced to 4 channels. (channel surfing is rather quick) Of course since then, we have been inundated with phone calls from Satellite companies to sign up for their latest and greatest deal. We have tossed it around a bit but have settled for right now on not getting it. Mainly for 2 reasons. One is that our kids are actually doing other things besides spending their entire morning in front of Nickelodeon, which I do enjoy. Reason # 2 is that I don't want 60 plus channels of nothingness. I hear that a bill is in Congress right now to see if consumers can actually pick and choose what stations they want from cable and satellite companies. If this bill goes through, I might become a subscriber. I could see myself getting picking a few faves like Discovery and Nickelodeon and letting VH1 and the home shopping network fall to the wayside. Anyways, all that to say that we have decided to put our spending money into Netflicks. I just watched the entire 1st season of 24. I still put LOST on my #1 list as far as TV shows go but 24 is now a close second. In fact, I think that they are the only 2 shows I watch now. What I really enjoyed abot 24 besides the action and writing was that they weren't aftraid of writing characters that actually have morals and heart. I highly recommend it.

4. On a spiritual note, I was humbled yesterday. I'm not going tell you the what, where and how's but I believe God allowed it. As I put myself under the microscope, it's amazing to me how my own heart can be subtly inunndated with pride. It's almost like I'm 2 people. One is horrified by the pride while the other embraces it like a forbidden lover. God has a way of gently keeping me in check. When the humbling occurs, I just have to keep my mouth shut and nod, agreeing that it is a good thing.