Well, I leave you this month with a picture of Daisy our dog and the animal she will never be compared to SUE the dinosaur. In case any of you reading this are in OK, you can see a full size cast replica of SUE at the Sam Noble Museum in Norman. Tuesday of next week is of course Independence Day and for Austrians maybe the closest holiday that might compare would be National Day which is Oct. 26. Maybe if there are any Austrian's reading this they can comment and/or correct. Anyway, I want to wish all of those who read this (Ira's sister and the team) to have a safe and happy 4^th of July and eat lots of barbecue and watch “the bombs bursting in air”. For as of right at this moment twill be our last on US soil for awhile! Tschuess!!

Almost every time our team gets together I am reminded about how God has blessed each of my team members with spiritual gifts. I am so amazed to see how they work together so that each need is taken care of. It is like a microcosm of the church in that each function together in a fluid type motion as we are lead by Christ. It just makes me thankful that God has blessed me with friends such as these.

Now it comes time to hear from those that read the blog, tell me (or in essence cyberspace) if you have experienced this in your own life in the groups that you interact with.

My prayer is that the church that grows out of Vienna will function the same way!!

More pictures to come hopefully next blog...

Factoid of the day - Apparently it is really hard to cancel your service with AOL. Thank you and God bless.

Ira doing a soccer trick, Abby running around.

View from my parents porch in CO.

Just a quick note we are back from Chicago, had a great time, of course we always want prayers for our team but a special prayer of guidance would be appreciated this week. Thanks and God bless.

Chicago has been one of our family's favorite vacation spots (Amanda and I), yes we like to vacation in the city, I guess its good we are going to Wien and not Vienna, MO. Not only do we like what the city has to offer (sites – er that should be sights (anyone remotely familiar with the cell phone industry will understand that mistake, sorry for the rest of you), sounds, food, baseball, football, and of course here is where I am obligated to type 'shopping' for my wife) but one of my best and dearest friends lives there – Kirk Neuhaus. Kirk lived next door to us when we lived in CO and I am blessed to be able to say I really have two brothers, my biological brother Ben and Kirk (I know Ben feels the same way).

So we journey to Chicago to introduce Abby to a pizza that is of equal weight (not in love but in actual mass and gravitation pull) to her, introduce her to baseball (this of course was my second choice since we couldn't get her to a game in St. Louis – GO Cardinals shameless plug!!!), and let her experience 'the city' that we have enjoyed. But most importantly that she can meet Kirk and his family since we don't know when God will allow us this opportunity again. Everyone have a great week and hopefully the US soccer team can bend themselves into a win!

I did want to put something in here about our trip to Woodward, OK. Josh Hensal grew up at the 5th Street church of Christ there and they asked us to come do the evening services and give a presentation on our progress.

Its amazing to see how God has blessed this team, from Ira's lesson to the powerpoint, and Brian and Josh speaking passionately about our vision and training progress I continue to be humbled by the gifts He has bestowed among us and thank Him for them often.

I think everything went awesome and they even asked us to stay after for "finger foods" (which of course I'm sure everyone will know what I mean when I say it was more like a MEAL and BOY was that food GOOD, can I get an AMEN for c of c potlucks)!

We haven't heard any word on the funding part that we presented by I'm sure Josh will let us all know if there are any updates, right Josh? Anyway that was our first service/presentation and I'm sure we'll be doing lots more in the months to come, God willing!!

Along with Ira, this will be my first time to blog so I hope that all of Brian's friends will be just as gracious with me as with the others and post at least one comment.

This last week my family (Amanda, Abby, and I) spent the week in the sprawling metropolis of Lyons, Colorado (2 stop lights). That is where my parents live (although 15 min out of town in the foothills, the REAL foothills) and I grew up from 3rd grade on. How often we have made this trip and not had a second thought about going back, or not seeing them again for a few months, or spending that extra time talking instead of maybe reading or something else, yet this time was different, you see, because time for those activities is coming to a pause - at least a 5 year pause.

Now I can count the number of times on one hand that: I'll drive up to the gate, Amanda will get out to open it (although with less complaining now that we replaced the 50 ton wood one with a 50 lbs metal one last week), we'll make our way up the drive-way and see my Dad has the flags out (the American and one for every state we were born in), the horses will be out grazing, and Dad and Mom will come from different directions to hug, kiss, and help us in with the luggage.

Now I try to soak all that in a little deeper, I hug a little stronger, we talk a bit longer, and my brothers wild stories (that is a whole blog unto itself, isn't it Ben!) are more interesting because soon all that will be put on hold because God has asked me to, not forced, but asked, and what little that is compared to the price we have asked for, when we ask for forgiveness.

So we will leave our earthly family to be with our spiritual and new found Vienna team family, and the new family we will meet in Vienna. Although they are not the same, I'm sure if God calls me to leave them someday I'll be just as sad and try to soak in each experience just a little bit longer as well.

Howdy everyone,
Thanks so much to you kind souls that took the time to comment on my first attempt at blogging.  Now that I am a seasoned professional, I would like to use my blog time to discuss what every male (okay this is a complete generalization of the male gender, but go with it) likes to talk about, CARS! 

Not really any car, our car a 2000 Beetle TDI 1.9L.  The TDI stands for Turbo Diesal Injected for all of you not familiar with these little gems.  When working properly, these cars consistently get 40 to 50 mpg even in city traffic.  Which brings me to the real point of my post.  Recently, my car was not working properly.  I didn't really have the time or expertise to diagnose and fix my problem.  So I decided to take it to the "professionals," (ie the trained VW mechanics at the local dealership).

They diganosed my problem as a failed Turbo, that's the T in TDI.  And since it makes up 1/3 of the name, I guess they assume it should cost 1/3 the value of the car to replace.  I wasn't happy.  Anyway, since it was such an expensive repair, I thoughtfully decided to get a second opinion.  Another specialist in import cars diagnosed it as a failed turbo. 

So here I am trying to get ready to be a missionary, you know saving money, etc.  I decide to fix it myself, of course I called in my Dad to help.  My dad is a good mechanic, he can fix lots of different things.  But working on the turbo in one of them "foreign jobbies" is a little much for even my dad.  So he naturally is reluctant to tear into the engine components.  As any good father, he takes the cautious route and decides to check the turbo, take note this is the third time someone has laid hands on the golden turbo.  Several hours later, and few dollars down the road, we discovered that the vacuum supply that operates the turbo on/off valve was disconnected.  Basically, a loose hose.  We plugged the hose back in and BLAM!  We have lift-off!

Man it feels so good to be driving with boost again.  The real point of this long winded story is that a good Dad is irreplaceable.  You just can't substitute for their savvy and experience.  So next month on Father's day, take time to thank him and appreciate him for those important blessings he has brought into your life.  The other side points are that German Engineering remains superb, and "professional" mechanics from Oklahoma working on German Engineered products is not a good idea.  Until next time....blog happy.

Ira

Ta duh!!!

I have arrived in the blogosphere.  Since this is the month for firsts, I will add another one by creating my very first blog entry.  I hope that some caring, blogging soul will look down with mercy and offer some comment back.

My title really ties in with all of the events that have been going on in Lockwood life.  This month we had our very first garage sale, it was a success in getting rid of some clutter and making a little money.  We also purchased our very first digital camera this month.  I am very excited about this, because very soon I will get to take pictures of our very first baby boy!  That's right, you heard me!  For all of those out of the Lockwood Loop, Kari and I are expecting our first child, Zaden Kael, in September of 2006.  We are very excited and hope to survive the summer heat.  I will probably be alright, but I think Kari is going to get a little hot.

Well, this has been my first attempt at blogging, and well I rather enjoyed sharing my two cents of information about our family.  Maybe next time I will have a social commentary on the misuse of facial hair in a public setting.  I am sure that will be much more exciting.  Until next time.....

Ira

Sometimes in life I find myself consumed with the daily responsibilities that surround me to the extent that I lose focus of what really matters. At the end of the day when I reflect on what occurred, I wonder if anyone was drawn closer to Christ today on account of me. As I grow older the busyness of life in switching from one role to the next (husband, employee, student, father) often steals my focus away from the eternal and to the temporal.

It seems that even with the best intentions and the most sincere prayers, we as children of God sometimes neglect to see the opportunities for meaningful and potentially life-changing conversations that God has placed right in front of us. My prayer is that God will extend his patience to us in the same way that he did the Israelites and continue to provide us opportunities to serve as his ambassadors, and that we will keep our eyes focused on the prize to see the opportunities put before us each day.

Today has been a mad crazy day.  I was late to work (just a few minutes, but it still makes me feel rushed the rest of the day).   Later, I was helping a co-worker with a program he has been working on for about 4 months and I broke it.  I also fixed it, but it took me about an hour and nearly gave both of us a heart attack.  I barely had time to pause for lunch – at my desk.  I spent most of the rest of the day developing a report and trying not to break anything else.  It was a long day.  And I left work 2 hours early for a doctor’s appointment.  On days like this, it’s easy to find things to complain about.  But when I stop and think about the simple things that make me happy, I realize that the day hasn’t been so bad.  On that note, here are just a few things (in no particular order) that brightened my day:

1. The “thwap, thwap, thwap” of my dog’s tail hitting against the wall as he patiently waited for me to get the door open when I came home from work  (I could probably list about a dozen things about Shark Dog that made me smile today, but this is my favorite one)
2. A good Beatles CD playing in the car
3. The Tuesday morning recap of last night’s episode of 24 with a co-worker who is also addicted to the show
4. Cashing our state tax refund check with Brian
5. The highlight of my day – spending the evening with Brian just catching up with him

I have to add one more about my dog – Shark Dog trying to sleep in my lap with his head resting on the table as I type this entry.  I hope you’ve found your smile today.