Anna thanks for 11 years of being my:

• friend
• lover
• companion
• counselor
• partner
• helpmeet

I love you more than you will EVER know!!!!!!

Happy 11th Anniversary!!!!

1)  Married to Anna for 11 years.
2)  Have known her for 15 years.
3)  I met her in Canada at camp
4)  She is my best friend–for REAL
5)  I am a proud father of three amazing children
6)  The oldest of three bothers.
7)  I love to blog (www.myepicjourney.com)
8)  I LOVE to read but only non-fiction
9)  I want to be a professional fisherman when I grow up.
10)  I am not sure I will ever grow up
11)  I am currently working on a Master’s in Professional Counseling
12)  I am Pastor of Student Ministries at Grace Point Community Church
13)  I have been Youth Pastor for 11 years in 4 different churches
14)  Our Student Ministry is called EPIC
15)  I LOVE my students!!
16)  I LOVE my leadership team MORE!!!!
17)  I love Ohio but not the Buckeyes
18)  I love the Indianapolis Colts–A LOT!!
19)  I grew up in Nashville, Indiana
20)  I have an amazing sister we adopted when I was 24!! She was 25!!!
21)  I love to hunt–animals!
22)  I don’t like to fly
23)  I am not a big fan of traveling altogether
24)  I weighed 165 lbs. when I entered college.  I no longer weigh that!
25)  I pooped my pants–in public–at a funeral.  I was 24 years old!

T—Time. I often take this for granted but God has given me this time for a reason and I need to use and be thankful for it.

H—Home. God has blessed us with a beautiful home to live in. It is such a warm and loving place. Everyday I can’t wait to shut the door and leave the world outside and focus on just my family.

A—Anna. No doubt THE greatest gift God has EVER given me besides His Son.

N—Naps. I asked Anna to help me on this one and the word “naps” came to mind. She said I must love them since I take so many of them. I do love them. A quick nap in the middle of the day is so refreshing, but don’t tell Pastor Terry (my boss), he just thinks I am praying!!!!

K—Kisses. I know this sounds weird, but to me, there is nothing greater than a kiss from those you love. Every morning I get a kiss from all my kids and from Anna and before the kids go to school, I get a kiss. As they climb in bed, Dad always gets a kiss. I know the time for these will be short and it won’t be cool to do that anymore (Isaac is quickly moving into this stage) but for now I cherish them immensely.

S—Sundays. This is the longest day in my week but also the day that brings me a lot of joy. To be able to serve God by investing into teenagers and families is a gift that I don’t want to ever take for granted. And to able to do this with a loving and supportive family is even better. I also am so thankful for how the EPIC students, in turn, invest into my children.

G—Girl—My Girl, Emma. Since there is no E in “thanksgiving” I had to stretch this one but it works. I never thought I would be the dad of a girl and for that fact a “Princess”. Emma always brings a smile to my face.

I—Isaac. Mr. Sensitive. Isaac is the greatest big brother any kid could have. He is always looking out for Noah and Emma and takes such good care of them. The thing I appreciate about Isaac the most is his sensitive heart for others (much like his mother). Isaac would give the shirt off his back in a heart-beat to help someone who is need.

V—Vacations. Be it week long family vacations or my regular weekly “day off,” these are a must for anyone who not only wants to keep their sanity but most importantly want to keep their family. My FAVORITE memories come from vacations growing up and especially time off I get to spend with my own family now.

I—Ice Cream. No, seriously, without ice cream there would be no point in living. A bowl a day keeps the blues away, but not the doctor away so I have to be careful. I just love ice cream so much!

N—Noah. No doubt, the “ham” in our family. Noah keeps us laughing for hours. He brings so much joy to the Smith family. He definitely has a special place in Dad’s heart.

G—Grace Point Community Church. I have never been part of a church/family so loving! God has blessed this church through the leadership of Pastor Terry in ways that make this the most exciting place to be on this planet.

What is your THANKSGIVING list?

Though I love photography, I wish I could say that it was me but it was not.  The picture was taken by our EPIC Student Photographer, Eva Hyder.  She did a GREAT job capturing the essence of who Anna is.

Thanks Eva!!!!

Here is the list of why I am excited to spend one more day with her:

1.  She is GREAT mom!  Just ask any of our kids.

2.  She is my CLOSEST friend.  One that sticks closer than a brother. Through THICK and THIN!

3.  She is my STRATEGIC business partner.  She loves our students and our students love her.

4.  She is a FANTASTIC lover.  More beautiful than the day we met.

My hope is that my boys, Isaac and Noah, will be as blessed as I am if and when God brings a help-meet into their life.  For Emma, I pray she picks up all the AMAZING qualities of her mom.

Thanks Anna, for bring such joy and excitement into my life and into the life of our family and friends.

We spent Saturday at the pumpkin patch and here are some pics from that venture:

The biggest challenge–FOOD.  So here is the menu so far:

SATURDAY:

Lunch–Chick-fil-a

Dinner–Buffalo Wild Wings

SUNDAY:

Breakfast–Tim Horton (donuts)

Lunch–McDonalds

Dinner–Wendy’s

MONDAY:

Breakfast–Cereal

Lunch–Wendy’s

Dinner–Brad and Anita Clark’s.  THANK YOU ANITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully the rest of the week will be better.

Now I have to go because Anna called and said I have to give the kids a bath at least once this week!!  I just smelled them and they didn’t smell THAT bad!

As I sit her I have come up with some other reasons why:

1.  We miss Mom most at bedtime.  It is hard for me to put the kids to bed and hear them ask if Mommy can tuck them in.  Every time I hear that, my heart just breaks for them.

2.  We miss Mom when we pray.  When the kids pray, either at meal times or at bedtime, they always pray for Mommy and that she will tell people about how much God loves them.

3.  We miss Mom when we eat.  Really no need for explanation on this one!!

Overall, Mom brings such a smile and joy around here and to not have her here just makes the house feel just like that–a house and not a home.

We are all anxiously anticipating Mom coming home.

As we dropped Mom off, Noah had the most difficult time letting her go.  By 4:00 this morning, I had both Noah and Emma in bed with me.

We already miss Mom A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Please pray we all survive this week without her.