In 2008 my wife and I adopted a shy, little 10 month old boy from Guatemala. He is now a five-year-old untamable ball of energy. Since that time, one of the things we are continually encouraged by is hearing of more and more people who are adopting, whether it be movies stars or normal people. In fact, my brother and his wife (not movie stars) are in the midst of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. We couldn’t be more excited! That being said, as adoption has grown more and more popular, I’ve also noticed an uprise in talk about the romantic side of adoption. Frankly, it seems as if adoption is the cool thing to do if you are a hip and progressive. Now,...Read More →
Category: Life
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January 30, 2012
The Romance of Adoption?
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January 5, 2012
The (Missional) Vocation of Marriage
A lot is currently being said about marriage these days due to the recent publication of two books on marriage by two famous (and/or infamous) pastors. I won’t link to one of them because I just don’t think it would be helpful, but I will link to the other one because (while I haven’t read it) I imagine it’s probably helpful in some ways because I really respect the author. But, over the years I have developed a some thoughts that I (and others it seems) have found helpful when it comes to the vocation of marriage. Now, I don’t fancy myself an complete expert when it comes to being married, just ask my wife. But, in the midst of our struggles the following thoughts...Read More →
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September 21, 2011
Why I Run.
I used to be one of those guys who would look at people running and say “those people are nuts.” I mean, why would I run? Growing up playing sports, running was always the punishment for doing something wrong. Miss too many free throws? Run. Drop a fly ball? Run. Make the wrong pass? Run. Be slow getting back on defense? Run. You get the point. Running is punishment. How in the world could people do it for fun? Well, my last post talked about why I started running. So to all you running skeptics out there – and I know there are many of you – I offer you the reasons I keep on running: I run because I don’t want to wake up...Read More →
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May 23, 2011
The Vocation of Marriage…
Marriage is intended as a redemptive partnership that serves as an example to the world of the in-breaking reality of God among us. It points backward to God’s original intent for creation while pointing forward to what will be true again in the future. This is the vocation of marriage.
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April 19, 2011
Reflecting on Back Surgery & the Poor
For the last 6 months my I’ve had shooting pain down my left leg in addition to it going numb all the way down to my toes whenever I stand for more than 3-5 minutes. Strangely, it has been the worst when walking through a grocery store. I’ve taken that as a sign to stop walking through grocery stores. In related news, we’ve spent less money when shopping for food. Today, I’ve been laying in bed a most of the day recovering from back surgery that I had yesterday. I had spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spine) plus a herniated disk in the L4-L4 vertebrae that my wonderful doctor kindly fixed for me. I am still a bit sore and kinda doped up on percocet so...Read More →
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September 21, 2010
On Running My First half-Marathon
The last time I ran in a timed, race-type event was in high school. It was gym class and one of the kids in my class was on the cross country team. I didn’t like him very much (I don’t now remember why). He was not only on the cross-country team but he was pretty much the best runner in the school. But, because I didn’t like him much I was determined to beat him in this mile long race. I kept up with him for about 3/4 of a mile until he finally kicked it into gear and left me in his dust. He beat be by about 10 seconds or so. I ran that mile in 5:35. He ran it in 5:25. After...Read More →
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June 5, 2010
Cole’s Golf Swing
I haven’t really taught Cole how to swing a club. He’s basically taught himself from watching the pro’s on TV.
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April 27, 2010
Hola! Send Us to Guatemala!
This summer we (both Melanie and I) will be heading to Guatemala City with ten other people from our church. From June 20-26 we will be serving some of the poorest people in the world in Central America’s largest slum called La Limonada. We need to raise approximately $600 total for this trip and we would be honored if you helped make this trip a reality through a financial gift. As you may know, our middle son Mason Carlos is adopted from Guatemala. When we visited his birth country to bring him home two years ago, we left part of our hearts there. We have been longing to go back and serve there since we left two years ago. We are excited about this trip...Read More →
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April 14, 2010
My Clan
Four good reasons why I haven’t been blogging as much lately: I am sure I’ll resume sooner or later. Subscribe to the feed to find out when.
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February 7, 2010
Hiestand Boy Band
Mason has become quite the singer, this is him leading is brothers in some of his favorite songs.
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December 16, 2009
Peace on Earth. We Need it Now…
Sing the honest words of U2 in this song tonight as I process through the loss of a friend tonight. Heaven on Earth, we need it now I’m sick of all of this hanging around Sick of sorrow, sick of the pain I’m sick of hearing again and again That there’s gonna be peace on Earth Where I grew up there weren’t many trees Where there was we’d tear them down And use them on our enemies They say that what you mock Will surely overtake you And you become a monster So the monster will not break you And it’s already gone too far Who said that if you go in hard You won’t get hurt? Jesus can you take the time To throw...Read More →
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December 3, 2009
Teaching Your Kids about Giving To Others
Two weeks ago I posted on twitter that to be an activist without actually doing anything is hypocrisy. I was quoting a friend and I think the statement is meant to be a little overstated to make a point. The point is this, if you are gonna get all judgmental on other for not caring for the poor then you better be doing something. I’m not trying to be a prick or make people feel like crap. But, its just simple common-sense. Let your words and your deeds match up. So, after I posted that on twitter I had a good friend write me a message and say, “So, who are you giving your time and money to? Just trying to keep you accountable to...Read More →
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October 31, 2009
Happy Birthday Mason
Our son, Mason was born three years ago, appropriately, on Mischief Night. This kid has been in our house for 2 years and 2 months after we brought him home from his birth country of Guatemala. He’s been such a blessing to our lives in ways that we can’t really even comprehend. We’re so blessed to have him and his love for music in our family…
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September 26, 2009
I Still Haven’t Found What I am Looking For – Reflections on U2 at Giants Stadium
Thursday morning I received a phone call at 5:10am from my dad. Being that my dad lives in Chicago it meant that he was calling me at 4:10am. That’s never a good phone call. It wasn’t. He was calling me to tell me that my grandmother had passed away 20 minutes earlier. Thankfully, I had been in Chicago earlier in the week and was able talk with her and our family was able to have a special time together on Sunday evening. That made it easier but the news was still deeply painful. I grew up with my Grandma Longenecker. She’s been a very important and steadying influence in my life. I know for a fact that she prayed for me everyday. I know because...Read More →
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August 29, 2009
Lemonade International
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June 24, 2009
It’s Official: I’m Going Back to Starbucks
It’s hard to believe but I have been a pastor at The Well for about nine years now. In those years, I’ve served at The Well on a part-time-paid basis. This has been an intentional model for us as it allows our church to have a more diverse staff and leadership. This has served us very well as our other part-timer, the one and only Gary Alloway, complements my gifts really well. I can truly say that being “bi-occupational” has been a great asset to the mission of our church community. (By the way, I use the term “bi-occupational” instead of “bi-vocational” because I believe that my vocation as a Christian is “witness.” What I do for pay does not change my vocation. My vocation...Read More →
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May 30, 2009
A Short Introduction to NASCAR Fashion
Today, my son and I took a (now annual) trip to Dover, DE to see the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. It was a beautiful day and a great race. Since I had a zoom lens, I took the opportunity to take some pictures that give you a little picture of the diverse group of people who attend these races. Mullet + Stache = Awesome. This guy is rocking this classic look with total confidence. Well done my friend, well done… The Mullet II Add in the Oakley’s with the flames on the side and you’ve got yourself an awesome combination! Down Home You can’t see it but this stylish woman is knitting. I wonder if she’s knitting a #88 on a flame pattern. Oh, and...Read More →
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May 25, 2009
The Natural: Cole Hiestand
At Bat: Cole Hiestand from Todd Hiestand on Vimeo. Cole is 5 1/2 and has been hitting like this for about a year and a half. He loves baseball and he asks to play almost everyday. Since we watch the Cubs all the time, his swing is a combination of Derek Lee and Alphonso Soriano. What impresses me most is that I have not really taught him how to swing the bat. He has pretty much learned from watching MLB players. The only thing I have taught him are my four keys to hitting (which I made up one day while we were playing) in the yard: Elbow up Bend your knees Watch the ball. Whack! I figure if he gets these down, he’ll be...Read More →
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May 19, 2009
Life with Three Kids
We have three kids in our house. Three different personalities. Three different temperaments. One of them just sits there and sleeps most of the day. The other two go back and forth between being best friends and wanting to kill each other. The friends thing is amazingly cute and fun to watch. The wanting to kill each other thing makes Melanie and I want to jump out of a window. Who knows what will happen as the third gets moving, talking and into the mix. It’ll likely a combination of beautiful friendship and complete insanity. No matter what, this family is beautiful. And just when we thought things couldn’t get better… …We just got a dishwasher. Talk about living the dream. Now, if we could...Read More →
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May 13, 2009
Welcome Elliot James Hiestand
For those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter or Facebook you might not have heard that we now have three kids. Elliot James Hiestand was born on Saturday at 12:59pm. As you can tell from the images he’s quite a good looking kid. Here he is with his two brothers:
