Well, after many months and many requests, Jesse and I are going to be working on remodeling the front entrance to the church's building. The building was built back in the 1970's and the handicap ramp isn't very handicap friendly. So this week we are going to be putting in not one, but two separate concrete handicap ramps in the front entrance. One will go directly from the north parking lot and the other will go from the sidewalk on the east parking lot. Jesse put the rails in last night and we should start building today.

This is very exciting because (for the past few months) we've had several people contact us asking if we were going to sell the building since it had long been abandoned! This remodel will give our front entrance a new look and take care of the broken concrete we've had. This will also extend the landing by the door greatly allowing for better traffic flow. Yet, this is only the first step in our building remodel.

We are also planning on re-covering all of our windows with a dark mirrored glass to replace the old and yellow fiberglass which is covering the windows currently. Also, we are planning on replacing our heating and cooling units.

Please keep us in your prayers that all of this goes well.


Thoughts? Comments?

Kids and wife are doing well. We're recovering from being miserably sick. My mother-in-law is having surgery today to alleviate some problems with her esophagus. My grandma Benson is going to have surgery to remove cancerous skin cells on the 24th of this month.

Today, I had a rather unusual experience. I had a man walk in off the street to talk with the "pastor." (That's nothing new, usually people come in asking for money.) Well, this guy comes in and starts off like everyone else who asks for money. They tell me their problems and about their car wrecks and how they need pain medicine. But then, this guy starts saying the reason he is there is to tell me all those problems is to show me that God can work in your life in even the most horrible circumstances. He said this was his "ministry."

So I proceed to inquire if he'd like to sit down and have a study and he agrees. The study lasted for 3 hours just to get through the first lesson (which usually takes about 1-1.5 hours). But after the study, he gives me his contact information so I can keep sending him the course by mail.

This was a very strange process. I'm not sure that he learned much, but now I can at least keep in touch with him to send him our correspondence course.

Well, that's all for now. Please pray for me, my mother-in-law, my grandmothers, my mom, and my brother.


Thoughts? Comments?

So, today started rather disappointingly. Last night Sarah had three hours of regular strong contractions, but it did not last. So no midnight/early morning trip to the hospital...

So this morning, Dr. Graham called and wanted let us know what our options were. Well, we scheduled an appointment for 10:00 AM for Dr. Graham to "stir the pot" again. Well, his office was slammed with people, so we didn't see him until 11:00 AM. Now, neither Sarah nor I ate much for breakfast, but we thought we could grab a quick bite after our appointment and before we had to do our paperwork at 12 at the hospital for the planned C-Section on Friday. Well, we ended up not getting lunch because we didn't have time between our appointments.

As we're walking in to the hospital, David calls and asks if we had a baby yet. No. So he says, "Well, Chris, you need to tell Sarah to stop lolly-gagging!"

So we sit down to do the paperwork, which should have only taken ten minutes, but because of a mix-up with our insurance ended up taking an hour and a half. The whole time we're doing the paperwork, Sarah is having strong, grab-my-arm, regular contractions five minutes apart; like she was having last night. Neither Sarah nor I thought she was in labor at this point. So we proceed to surgery for our lab work and paperwork.

Well, we sit down with the nurse at 1:45PM to do the paperwork and Sarah has a really strong contraction and the nurse asked if she was having a contraction. At this point I interject, "Yeah, she's been having strong, regular contractions every 5-6 minutes for the past hour and a half."

The nurse responds, "Well, let's call Dr. Graham before we do this because we might not need to have a C-Section tomorrow!"

So, after getting to a room, Dr. Graham comes in at around 2:15 and checks Sarah in, tells us she is 4 cm dilated, and sets her up on an IV himself. At around 2:30PM, he breaks Sarah's water and tells us he expects us to have a baby between 4:30 and 7:00 PM and heads out.

Well at 2:47, Sarah starts moaning and shaking (a sign of transition into the 8-10 cm dilated stage). She begins saying that she does not want to have the baby this way and wants a C-Section. At 2:54PM, Sarah starts pushing.

At 3:05PM Eliana Mati Benson takes her first gulps of fresh air and lets out her first cry.

Sarah would not have had time to go from her room in L&D to Surgery to have Eliana. :-D

Ana weighs in at 8 lbs. 11.7 oz. and is 20 1/2 inches long. Both Momma and Baby Ana are doing great!

I have had probably one of the most anticipated games of 2011 since November 15th. If you don't know what game I'm talking about, Assassin's Creed: Revelations. However, the game sits unopened in my entertainment stand, not because my XBox 360 is broken, but because I have not been able to stop playing another game I also picked up from GameStop. You see, I traded in several games so I could get new ones without having to fork over the cash. I was also planning to use my hard earned GameStop Gift card I received from E-Rewards for answering surveys.

So I walked into GameStop fully expecting to walk out with only ACR. But as it would turn out, my trade-ins were worth much more than I anticipated. Enough to get me ACR without having to use my gift card. So there I was, I had my beloved ACR in hand and 25 GameStop bucks to spend. So I asked the clerk what game I should get that I could buy with my gift card. So we went through the process of "What kind of games do you like?" and "What have you played in the past?" and the ever popular "What don't you want in a video game?"

Eventually, I was directed to Mass Effect. I was skeptical at first. The M-rating was not appealing AT ALL. But Zach (the clerk) insisted I pick it up and just make a decent run at it. Two hours of playing later, and I was hooked.

For those of you who are familiar with BioWare and SWTOR, then you are familiar with the Paragon/Renegade elements or in the Star Wars universe, Jedi vs. Sith. Unlike SWTOR however, Mass Effect doesn't reward you for being COMPLETELY good or COMPLETELY bad. But rather the rewarding gameplay comes from a mix of the two. As a caution though, there is some language that is used by a rare character, but I have only counted two curse words in the time I've been playing it and I've logged MANY hours. And I think this is a reflection of the choices I make with my character, which may also make the game feel more like a "T" game than an "M" game.

Another aspect that I enjoy is that not every "Paragon" choice is the right moral choice, which keeps you on your toes when making decisions. Furthermore, my team responds to the decisions I make and offer feedback. In particular, you develop friendships with characters in the game that you might not have if you'd made different choices.

Basically, this game is all about the choices you make and it reflects those choices. If you make dark choices, expect the game to take you down the darker path. But if you make good choices, expect it to show in the game.


Thoughts?

Yes, that's right. Dumas High School is having their Homecoming tomorrow. This is only the second game of the season and the first game at home.

Tonight I met with the Head Coach and he is going to have a coach's shirt made for me and I am a part of the team as their chaplain and not just some bystander on the field. I'll get to ride with the team to away games on the bus and even walk onto the field with the coaches. Coach Burt said that as long I didn't try to coach the players he didn't mind my helping out.

I also met with the FCA for the school on Monday night and I get to help out and give talks every now and then as a guest speaker. This is shaping up to be a great year.

Thoughts? Comments?