I successfully finished week one of my push ups program yesterday. I have noticed an increase in strength and more of a steadiness as I do each push up. Day 3 of week one was actually easier than day 2 of week one. I am going to take a two day break, and then start week 2 on Saturday.

We attended a Christmas program at a church on Saturday night with some family. We enjoyed the performance, but what impacted me most was what happened after the program.

As we were leaving, some people from China, who also attended that night, asked us if they could take a picture of EightClouds. I agreed, and they snapped the photo. I figured that they wanted the photo because we were probably the only family dressed alike in the whole building. But I was wrong.

After the picture was taken, a Chinese lady spoke up and said, “In China, we are only allowed to have one child.” They were amazed at the size of our family, not our attire. The whole incident really caused me to count my blessings.

Saturday, I began a push ups program that promises to enable the faithful to perform 100 consecutive push ups. I eagerly emailed Kane about the program, because I know that he is interested in fitness, and to my surprise, he responded something like this – “Tried it last summer – doesn’t work!”

Hopes dashed – dreams ripped to shreds. Anyway, after recovering from a burst bubble, I realized that even if the program doesn’t deliver as promised, it should still allow me to pursue better health.

Kane’s criticism was that Week 5 of the program was impossible. I have to admit that Day 2 of Week 1 was quite a bit more difficult for me than Day 1! Still encouraged, though.

One little discovery made is that I have started thinking about doing something similar with other exercises like sit ups or crunches. We’ll see how it goes…

What a day this has been. Every indication seemed to assure me of a smooth day ahead. I was like a sailor observing a clear horizon. And then it happened.

Before I disclose any information about the said incident, let me tell you that I am sitting in my neighbor’s car using his laptop to write this post. Unusual? Yes it is. I am writing this post in my neighbor’s car because of what happened.

We were scheduled to go to my neice’s birthday party today, and things were being loaded into the Suburban. I was outside talking with Kane about doing 100 pushups, and CC, standing at the door, asked if we were all ready to go, to which I replied, “Yes”. Then it happened.

She shut the door with both sets of keys in the house. And the door was locked.

So many things ran through my mind. But the one thing I keep coming back to is that I should have followed through on that endeavor to make more copies of our house and car keys in the event that we become locked out.

So here I sit. Blogging about my stupidity. What’s new?

My wife asked me to write a post describing 6 things I’ve learned lately. Here it is:

1. I have recently learned how to upload a podcast on my blog at work. I have even learned a bit about adding music on either end of the recording so as to spice things up a bit.
2. In recent days, we watched a History Channel series on the American Revolutionary War. I learned that the Americans were trailing (so to speak) throughout the whole war, and that, at many times, things looked as if there was no chance that the British could ever lose. I also have been able to glean a life lesson – we should all wait patiently for our “Yorktown” just as General George Washington did.
3. There are many “winds” of doctrine always floating around, but many more during an election year.
4. Expressing my thoughts in written form fulfills a deep need for me.
5. Eating less for dinner allows me to sleep less that evening.
6. God provides, very often, at the last moment, when things look grim.