Big change for the Jones family

Some of our friends know this already and some don't, but I want to make sure everyone gets word so people don't find out secondhand and wonder what's going on. This week Cathy and I decided to say goodbye to Grace Church as "home" and shop around for a new church. A few more details are in this post on my other blog, and if you're interested please look over there, but I do want to make it clear that we're not angry at anyone. We have taken this action with a lot of prayer and with peace in our hearts. We love our friends at Grace and will miss you VERY much, so email us or call us or write on our Facebook wall or whatever, and say hi!

Don't miss that other blog post if you're still curious.

Michael's song at the ice cream social

Tonight I sang an original song about Hannah at the Grace Church Ice Cream Social. The performance of the song was... problematic. There was a technical difficulty with the guitar (we still don't actually know what the problem was) that had Jimmy distracted at the beginning, so the first verse and chorus were weird. And I was enough distracted by that, that I flubbed the words on the chorus once. But we got it together on the second verse and it was awesome for that verse and chorus, and then we went into the bridge, which was Robert on harmonica, and he did an AWESOME solo (I was very impressed with what he was doing, actually) but then at like the very last measure of his solo, he misjudged the distance to his mic stand and dropped the microphone! Fortunately he was just about done anyway and I just went right into the last chorus. So it was far from a picture-perfect performance, but afterward a number of people came up to either me or Cathy and told us how much they enjoyed the song! Apparently we did a good enough job to communicate the message of the song, which is a daddy's love for his little girl. So in the final tally, it was a successful performance, if not a "perfect" one.

The best part for me was that I got to have some real fun making music with friends. I'm certainly glad that our message got across to the people in the audience, and I would have preferred a stellar performance, but I regret nothing. And I'm so thankful to Jimmy and Robert for helping me make it happen.

UPDATE: Here's the video, warts and all!



Here's a picture of my sunshine that I snapped while she was getting ready for church that Sunday morning:

The Window Ninja Saga

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In downtown Tulsa, sometimes strange things happen. Even in perfectly normal, peaceful office environments. A few days ago, the peace was shattered by a sudden, unprovoked attack by Window Ninjas! Read on for the play-by-play (which occurred, 2009-style, on Twitter).

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The first sign of danger:
Aug 10, 8:41am. Protective cover over sidewalk next to BOk building. I expect window ninjas later today.


Later, tee_dub reported:
Aug 10, 11:20am. Window ninjas are hanging from my building.

I was frightened:
Aug. 10, 11:57am. D'OH do you mean to tell me that the ninjas are ATTACKING??

Then, tee_dub reported:
Aug 10, 1:36pm. I captured a window ninja!


I was ecstatic!
Aug 10, 1:44pm. WOAH!!! THAT'S A SCARY ONE!!!!

But soon it was clear to me that the Window Ninja that had been captured was not alone:
Aug 10, 4:39pm. AAAAAAAAH! THE WINDOW NINJA IS OUTSIDE MY WINDOW!!!!!!!!

Apparently I was not spotted:
Aug 10, 4:44pm. Whew... he left.

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The next day I assumed I was safe. THAT didn't last long! To my horror, I realized that a Window Ninja was in my very own office, just inside the window!

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Aug 11, 2:18pm. OH! MY! GOSH! THE WINDOW NINJAS ARE ATTACKING!!!


But with the help of some friends, the Ninja was contained:
Aug 11, 4:52pm. Pirates capture the Window Ninja and force him to walk the plank!


The pirates did not, however, act alone:
Aug 11, 5:14pm. The REAL muscle behind the pirates' capture of Window Ninja was... Bumblebee!

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Future installments of the Window Ninja saga may appear on my Twitter. Follow me!

Riverwalk with the Cousins

This afternoon we packed up Mikey and three of his cousins and went down to the Jenks Riverwalk for some fun!

First stop:



Gina & Guiseppe's for some of the yummiest pizza in town. All of the usual suspects were there:


It took a while for the pizza to come, but BOY was it worth it! Before:



After (oh, the humanity!):



Then we walked down to the "splash pad" which is a fountain that kids are welcome to play in:



When the kids got tired, they dried off and we went into Fun House to play some games. The kids earned some tickets and picked out some little toys:


Afterward we went home to watch some movies on the DVR!



Catch That Kid and Ella Enchanted, anyone?

(Take a look at the rest of the pictures here!)

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Kevin and Candi and Mikey's cousins came to town... Kevin on the way to a worksite and the girls to stay for a few weeks. The first day they were here was Kevin's birthday! Here are some pictures...


There are more pictures from the day right here!

Around and around

A few days I uploaded a couple hundred pictures from our camera to Flickr; I haven't had time to caption them properly yet, but in the meantime, here are a few pictures of Mikey and Hannah on the carousel at Grace Church this past May!


All of the carousel pictures

Bonus picture: Hannah on the carousel a year earlier (July 2008):

Service for Wayne

The service for Wayne this morning was wonderful... everyone was very sad to lose him but the music and the message were very joyful. Wayne was a joyful person; a joyful service was the only option! He was an amazing guy. He came from a difficult childhood but became a terrific father and grandfather, and one of the most generous people you'll ever meet. Pastor told a story of a time when the church was picking up kids for service in three trips with a little passenger van; when Wayne heard about it, he bought them a bus! He was and is very much loved, and a lot of tears were shed today. We went to the graveside and heard the Scripture passage read, then we stayed a little longer... but Wayne's grave is right next to Cathy's Mom's, and seeing Grandma's grave again after two years was hard on Mikey, not to mention Cathy. It's still hard for even me to remember 7-year-old Mikey crying for his grandma; he started getting really sad when he saw her marker so he and I went and sat in the car instead of staying at graveside. Cathy stayed a little longer than we did, then we left to go to lunch.

In Cathy's family they always get together for lunch after anything like this; it was so fun to see people we haven't seen in a while! Every time we do it we always say, "We've got to get together when it's not a sad event, just to have fun!" Maybe this time we'll actually start doing it.

Afterward we went to Cathy's dad's house to see him; he wasn't able to make it to the funeral, but he was up and talking to Cathy's brother and nephew and the nephew's wife when we got there, telling stories about Wayne and stories about fishing and all kinds of stuff. Cathy's dad was in much better spirits than we would have imagined. I think maybe although everyone would want Wayne back if we could have him, we are all happy to know that he's well now, no longer battling pain every day. We're going to check in on Cathy's dad more often than we have been doing lately; we love him and we don't want him to feel like he's being abandoned by everyone he cares about.

It was a hard day. But it was a good day. Lord, thank You that You are with us even in tragic times. Be with this family; comfort, protect... and Father, help us remember to come together in good times as well as in the hard times. And come back soon!