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.
Category: My Family
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May 23, 2011
The Vocation of Marriage…
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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 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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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 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:
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January 4, 2009
Thinking about 2009 – A More Disciplined Life
I’ve been processing things like resolutions and goals more than ever this year. I’ve been thinking through a lot of different things but the one I keep coming back to is my need for a more disciplined work week. It’s not that I am totally undisciplined. I mean, if I were there is no way I could run my own freelance design business and pastor at The Well. But there is a need for me to have more boundaries and guides so that I can be faithful to my responsibilities. I currently love my lifestyle. I am mostly my own boss. Each day I wake up and can choose what I want to work on (at least, mostly) where I want to work on it. ...Read More →
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November 3, 2008
Aug – October Phamily Photos
It’s been a while since I uploaded pictures to our flickr account. I’ve added a bunch. Here is a sample.
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October 24, 2008
Reflecting on Adoption
Tomorrow we are celebrating our son Mason’s 2nd birthday. (His birthday is on the 30th though). It’s hard to be believe that he’s that big. It’s been a whirlwind since he came home to be part of our family (he’s adopted btw). He’s such a spunky kid and has a lot of personality. His smile and big eyes melt my heart. As I was thinking about his birthday, I started looking at some of the blog entries that I wrote when we were down in Guatemala meeting him and bringing him home. If you are new to the blog, you may have missed these. For me, reading them reminds me again just how much of a gift this child has been to our lives. So, in...Read More →
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October 16, 2008
Learning to Read Like Daddy
Today is my day off so I’ve been doing my best to stay off the computer. While Mason has been napping and Cole watching a short video, I’ve been reading a new book that finally came by way of USPS today. I am the kind of person who has to read with a pencil in my hand (preferably a Pentel Forte .05 mechanical pencil as pictured above). If I don’t have a pencil, I probably just won’t read. Underlining really helps me concentrate, retain and also helps when I go back over the book later remember what I found helpful. I’ll confess it also makes me feel smart. Today as I was reading, Cole asked me why I was writing lines in my book. I...Read More →
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August 25, 2008
The Natural
Most of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that Cole and I play baseball together almost everyday. While we were home in Chicago visiting my parents we actually went out and bought a wiffle ball and bat so we could play a bit in the back yard. Here’s some footage:
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August 21, 2008
At Wrigley Field with Cole
I’m writing this from Wrigley Field in Chicago. I came down with my brother, my dad and Cole. This is cole’s first time here and I’m not quote sure he gets how great this place is. I think in due time he’ll realize it, but today he was just excited to see Soriano play and by the 5th inning I think he was ready to go home. I’ve been to a bunch of games here, too many to count. But this has been the best one by far. Maybe some day I’ll be back here again to watch Cole play. He did say he wanted to play here someday and if you have seen his swing… Well, anything is possible!
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August 18, 2008
65 miles a gallon baby.
This is my “new” 1979 Yamaha xs400. Its not going to win any races or awards but it runs great, has 10,000 miles and they notoriously run forever. Now i have to learn how to maintain it. Time to get my hands all greasy. Yes, I will wear my helmet every time I ride. Yes, I am taking the free motorcycle safety course. No, I won’t do any wheelies. (It won’t!) No, its not that fast. Top speed is about 70 at the most. No, I won’t take it on the highway at all. Yes, my wonderful wife actually gave me permission to get this. Oh, and insurance on this bad boy is a whopping $45/year. Now we are going on vacation and I have...Read More →
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August 16, 2008
Celebrating Adoptions Family Photos
Last night we had a family photo shoot. It turns out there is a group out there called Celebrating Adoption that helps adoptive families get a free photoshoot and pictures from a professional photographer within the first year that the child is home. Its really a great program and the photographer we connected with was awesome. Angela Pursell did a great job interacting with the kids and taking some amazing shots. She has posted a few pics on her blog and we’re waiting for the rest of them to be posted on a gallery where we can choose our shots and order some more. Out of respect for her work I’ll not steal any of the pictures and post them here. Instead you’ll have to...Read More →
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August 15, 2008
Update on the Poverty Forum, Missions Trip, Anniversaries, The Well
So, I’ve had a few crazy weeks and blogging has been on the way back burner as far as priorities go. I need a short break from working on my sermon so here we go… This will serve as a summary and update of my last two weeks. Mission Trip To Suburbia I posted recently about our week long missions trip to suburbia. We basically spent the week serving in Lower Bucks County. We worked with different housing groups and social service agencies. A highlight for me was the evening we spent with the “Chapel and Chow” folks at Philadelphia Park Racetrack. There is apparently a chaplain there (Jack) who has been quietly serving the workers of the racetrack. Most of the workers are immigrants...Read More →
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July 9, 2008
My 4/5 year old baseball star
I’ve been posting a bunch of serious thoughts lately so I thought something on the lighter side would be good. My son Cole loves baseball. We play together daily. He’s four, turning five this week. If you are a major league scout, you can contact me if you’d like.
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July 5, 2008
Cole Learns to Ride His Two-Wheel Bike
This is the first day. About 30 minutes into our bike riding lesson. Not a bad days work!
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June 2, 2008
Our First NASCAR Event
Okay, its time to come clean to the world. I love NASCAR. In fact, Cole and I attended our first NASCAR event this weekend at Dover International Speedway. Now, you’ve got to understand, I didn’t intentionally become a NASCAR fan. It was an accident. I promise. Last year the animated movie Cars came out and it quickly became Cole’s favorite movie. We’ve watched it about 257 times since we first saw it in the theater. I’ll tell you what, that movie is a slippery slope if I’ve ever seen one. It started with the movie, moved to collecting the die cast cars then he would start stopping me at the race telecasts when I’d be flipping channels trying to find the Cubs game or something....Read More →
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May 6, 2008
Personal Financial Accountability In the Church, A Way Forward
For the first three years of our marriage my wife and I didn’t have any outstanding credit card debt. Then the crap hit the fan. Between some unnecessary purchases, not making enough money, hospital bills, and a string of car repairs, we amassed ourselves some significant credit card debt. Over the last two years we’ve been trying to be more conscious of how we spend and how we save. We’re finally starting to show some signs of progress. Of course, our adoption set us back this past year and we’re in the midst of paying that down. But the good news is that this week we finally paid off my outstanding seminary bill and due to the kindness of some friend we made some significant...Read More →
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May 1, 2008
Don’t Call Me Mr. Mom
I just got done pulling Strawberry Chex out of my son’s hair. It was awesome. For the last two months Melanie (my wife) has been working on Thursdays so that means I have been home with the boys. It’s funny, a number of people have made the predictable “Mr. Mom” comment. I’ll be honest, I hate that comment. I really do. Last time I checked, I’m their dad. So, if you want to call me Mr. Dad, thats okay with me. Because that’s what I am… Also, when I am home watching my kids, fulfilling my role as a parent…don’t call me the babysitter. I’m “dad.” Its not like these kids are my wife’s responsibility and I just happen to watch them for her everyonce...Read More →
