Beauty Project Days 12, 13 & 14

Day 12-Sunday the beauty showed up in the form of a nap and then football. There is something about being in my man cave for a few hours of napping and football. For me this is truly a thing of beauty!

Day 13-Monday had two items of beauty. The first was during breakfast as Jackson and I were talking at the table he says "Dad I need to tell you something." I said "okay." He says "last night while I was sleeping I almost said a bad word." "I knew I shouldn't have said it so I didn't." There is something about a 4 year old confessing that they almost did something wrong that warms my heart. This affirms to me that we are being good examples and that he listens at daycare and church. I'm amazed at how smart he is.


The second item that was beautiful on Monday was my wife. December 13th is her birthday and we got to eat lunch and finish Christmas shopping together along with Anissa. I'm truly honored and a bit overwhelmed that she chose me to be her husband. I'm out of my league and not afraid to admit it. She is becoming a true women of God and it is amazingly beautiful.


Day 14-Tuesday's beauty showed up in the form of a progress report for Anissa. She had all A's and one B. The beauty is that there used to be many nights spent crying over homework and not understanding what was going on. After a year and a half of tutoring she now enjoys school and the challenges that go with it. I'm truly blessed that this young lady calls me Dad!

Beauty Project Days 9, 10 & 11

This has been harder than I thought to update daily. Beauty is not something that I have struggled with seeing though.

Day 9- Thursday I found beauty in laughter. After a week of many tears, because of the loss of Grandpa Huber and also remembering my own Grandma Pearl, laughter was a thing of beauty. At work we laugh a lot about each other and ourselves. We do this all within the frame work of getting our jobs done on a daily basis. Also the joy of having laughter at home. One thing I have always enjoyed is making people laugh and I know that I make my wife and kids laugh. Laughter is truly a thing of beauty to me.

Day 10-Friday I found beauty in an email. Chris' cousin Dan sent me a message through Facebook. It was a simple note but it helped me realize that people do appreciate things that you do.

Day 11-This one is hard for me to write. I found beauty in my wife's action of taking Anissa to see her biological father and grandmother. I struggle with forgiving Anissa's father for his actions or lack of towards a beautiful young girl. I continually pray for God to help me forgive him as I struggle with it daily. The beauty is that my wife has been proactive to trying to make sure that Anissa see's her Caca (grandma in Native American). Chris has put the past behind and the differences aside for Anissa. This has been a step of faith for Chris and a show of the beauty in her heart.

Beauty Project Day 8

Wednesday nights have become a thing of beauty for me. It's the one night every week that I know the whole family will get to eat together and enjoy each other. This is all done while being at church. I also enjoy spending time with the Senior High students and listening to either Geoff or Derry's message for the week. The one thing that I enjoy the most, and tonight realized what a thing of beauty it is, is when we worship in the car together on the ride home. It is at this time that we just sing loud to what ever song we are listening to. We truly worship God without a care in the world. Thank you God for providing people to praise you with their musical talents. These will be some of my greatest memories with my beautiful family.

Days 5, 6 & 7

Sorry that I fell a little behind. We had a busy couple of days with my wife's Grandpa's viewing and funeral. This also gave me some time to reflect on the things of beauty that I see on a daily basis.

Day 5-We had Grandpa Huber's viewing on Sunday. The beauty that I saw was from a bunch of High School students who came and supported their coach and a fellow teammate. This was pure beauty to me in the fact that 15 to 18 year old "kids" would go to a place that a lot of people avoid. I can say that I almost started crying when I seen this because of the respect that it showed.

Day 6- Grandpa Huber's funeral was on Monday. The beauty came from hearing Tod, Marty and Ted speak about their memories of Grandpa. The stories brought tears, confessions and a lot of laughter. It is amazing to stop and think about all the peoples lives that he touched in his 88 years on this earth. We are all better people for have known Kenny Huber! I can say that I will miss him greatly and the conversations that we had together. Love you Grandpa!

Day 7- We received 3 sympathy cards in the mail today. We appreciate each card and there was one that stuck out to me. It was addressed to Anissa, which seemed odd at first. A friend of hers took the time to write her a note saying "I hope that you know that we are thinking of you. I know it is hard to loose your grandpa. I hope that you have good memories of him." To me this is a thing of beauty for a 6th grader to take the time to do this. Anissa's friend can relate as she lost her grandpa a little over a year ago. We are taught to love like Jesus and I think this is a great example by a great young lady.

Day 4-Snow

It's so amazing how God has opened my eyes at His beauty over the last four days. Today's beauty was the snow that we received this morning. I do not normally like snow but today was different. From the time that Jackson woke up and seen the snow he wanted to go out and play in it. Finally at about 10:30 we went outside. Seeing Jackson's face light up when we were outside was amazing. We played for about an hour and had a great time. I'm looking forward to more snow so that the kids and I can play in it.

I believe the look on Jackson's face today is how God looks down on us when we take the time to enjoy the beauty that he has created for us. This is something that we need to do more often and I believe that this 60 day journey will help get me to where I need to be. Thank you God and Derry for putting this challenge in front of me.

Day 2 & 3 of the Beauty Project

I'm a little late on this one so there will be two days together. My wife's Grandpa Kenny Huber passed away last night after a short battle with cancer. He lived a good long life and went to be with God and Ron Santo. Here is where I have found beauty the last two days.

Yesterday I found beauty in getting to watch my daughter Anissa do her Christmas program at school. One the fact that it is still called a Christmas concert is something that I love and second just watching the kids perform was great. Here is a picture of Anissa playing her recorder.

Last night and today I found beauty after the passing of a great man(the passing is not the beauty it is how the family has reacted afterward that I see beauty in) that I had gotten to know over the last eight years. This is my brother-in-law Ian's post on facebook.

RIP, Kenny Huber. You are going to be missed by everyone. From the first time I met Kenny he treated me like part of the family and always kept the jokes flowing. I couldn't wait to head to Bremen just to hear stories of his amazing life. I cant explain in words how much of a role model and hero he was to me in the ...short time I had the privilege to know him. Heaven just got a good one. ONE LOVE KENNY

I completely agree with Ian's post. The beauty is how the family has been paying tribute to a great man. The laughter, tears and sorrow show how much Grandpa was loved and admired. I'm a better person because of Grandpa Huber.

Grandpa Huber was also a Cubs fan and something tells me that Ron Santo and him are having a great conversation up there about the Cubs. Kenny was always listening to the games and I could count on him for an update on the score and his own personal opinion on how they were playing.

As we are in this season I thank God for the blessings in my life and the beauty that He surrounds me with. God I pray that you allow me to keep seeing the beauty in this world that you have created for us.

Day 1 of 60

The beauty that I seen today was that of a student connecting with God. He showed outward expression through worship and then by talking to a leader after the service tonight. I have watched this guy from the first time that he came to Wednesday night a couple of months ago and tonight it appeared that he got it. Seeing a person connect and make that commitment to God is one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. It brings joy to my heart when someone has that moment where everything clicks and they realize that they truly need God in their life. Tonight was about healing and redemption and I think that this scripture fits perfectly.

Romans 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.

As this journey continues I will need to be reminded of this Brandon Heath song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5AkNqLuVgY

60 Days of Beauty Project

I'm going to join a friend and one of my mentors Derry Prenkert on a 60 day journey. This journey is about finding beauty in this world. Here is what Derry has laid out as the rules and explanation for doing this:

A few thoughts:

* I sense, more than ever a deep level of negativity, frustration, anger, and criticism around me.
* I sense, more than ever a deep level of negativity, frustration, anger, and criticism inside me.
* Although the Holiday season has its bright and warm moments, the winter months can tend to press in with feelings of depression and hopelessness.
* I have been wrestling on finding something "fresh" to do on the blog.

These thoughts have come together for me to come up with an unprecedented series on the blog. I am going to look for at least one time where I am able to say, "That is a thing of beauty" for 60 straight days starting December 1 (running through January 29). It may come in the form of a story, a picture, a video, a scripture, a quote, a principle, or whatever.
Some may be sappy.
Some may be humorous.
Some may be skin deep.
Some may be much deeper.
Some you may identify with the beauty.
Some may be far from beautiful to you.

My hope is to put up a post daily on my previous day's encounter. Reality tells me I may not do this 100% of the time. I will, however seek to identify at least one thing of beauty for every one of 60 days.

Why am I doing this?

1. I need it. I need to stop and smell the flowers. I need to break out of my "stinkin' thinkin'" I have found myself in.
2. I think along the way as you read, you may be able to find some inspiration or fresh perspective on the amazing beauty of God's creation and the actions of his created where we may, at times, overlook.

Beauty, more than bitterness, makes the heart break.
-Sara Teasdale (America Lyrical Poet)

My goal is to everyday post something about beauty either by using this blog, twitter or facebook. Stop and think about what it means to look through God's eyes. Join me in this journey as I look for beauty in this world that seems so dark at times.