Three Down, One to Go

January 17, 2009Brian Aaby Leave a comment

The Rose Hill gang has been a fun youth group to hang out with this weekend at Lake Retreat. Thus far I have had three talks with the fourth and final being delivered on Sunday morning. It has been especially nice for me (and a real blessing, thanks Doug) because I have been able to come home at night. Living less than 30 minutes from the camp afforded me the fantastic opportunity to be in my own bed after formal programming at the camp.

Halle and Audrey? Nah.

On top of the “at home” benefit, the rest of my little Aaby family trekked out to LR for lunch and some afternoon “free time.” With a fairly busy spring of travel (scouting for missions) I was very thankful for this little extra time with the family. After lunch, while Elisabeth fed Will, I took the girls on a little tour of the camp and to the Paint Ball field (where the group was having a great time). Halle is a quick learner, so it didn’t surprise me to see her nailing down the freshman with ease, but what really surprised me was how well Audrey picked up the art of shooting the semi-automatic glock.

Okay, the last part was NOT AT ALL TRUE, but I did take them on the tour and they did at least see the paintball course! Did I have you a little worried about what I am teaching my kids? Ha.

Speaking of teaching…

The three talks have been received well.

Talk one: CROWD OR CHRIST: We part of the crowd, or followers of Christ?

Talk two: HEAVEN OR KIRKLAND? To live is Christ and die is gain!

Talk three: LOST-N-FOUND (OUT): Your sins will find you out, confess first!

Look forward to finishing strong tomorrow. Pray the students take God’s Truth home and live it out (and while you’re at it, pray I do the same).

Grace,
Brian

Family Birthday Week

January 13, 2009January 13, 2009Brian Aaby Leave a comment

11th: Halle

12th: Andy (my father-in-law)

13th: David (my brother)

Happy Birthday family!

Grace,
Brian

Halle is Seven!

January 11, 2009Brian Aaby 1 Comment

Throughout Elisabeth’s pregnancy with our first I would talk to the little one. Creating giggles for Elisabeth and anyone who happened to be in the room. With a deep voice (think baritone) I’d place my mouth close to Elisabeth’s belly and say, “Hello Baby.”

In the later stages of the pregnancy the little one would respond with kicks and elbows to the ribs (fun for me to watch, not so fun for Elisabeth to feel).

We were due January 6, that date quickly passed (okay, quick for me, slooooooooowly for Elisabeth), we have a history of big babies in both families (I was over 11 lbs at birth) so the docs were a little concerned our little one could be not-so-little. So, they scheduled us (us, ha!) to be induced on January 10, at 0-Dark:Thirty in the morning.

Elisabeth got all the hook ups (wires and drugs) and we were well on our way toward having this little _______ (we didn’t find out the gender). Well, 26 hours later (and lots of friends wondering why we were the rude parents who never called to tell them what we had on the 10th), the docs finally stopped throwing more bad labor-making drugs into my wife and decided to take the baby out via C-Section.

Without getting gross, the C-Section went fairly well, but afterwards (because of the long labor) it was touch-and-go for Elisabeth, she lost a lot of blood, etc. Praise God nothing drastic had to be done!

So, back to the product of this C-Section.

The little girl (we were pretty excited to hear/see “it’s a girl”) who was taken from Elisabeth was quickly taken over to the monitoring station (protocol for an emergency C-Section). She was screaming (nice! healthy lungs). I walked over and got my first real glance at this beauty. With all her might she kept those screams coming… this is until…

“Hello Baby”

With my voice the silence of the room took over. Her big-eyes opened wide and she looked up at me. I melted.

A couple hours later and after Elisabeth was able to get her first real long cuddles in, we named her Halle Grace Aaby.

It’s been seven wonderful years, we are so proud of the way she is developing and so thankful to God for the wonderful gift she is to us, our family, and friends. Please take the time to pray for Halle today!

Halle is 7!

We look forward to seeing the way God will use her in the future and celebrate the way He has used her to shape us!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Grace,

Brian

Weekend Agenda

January 9, 2009January 10, 2009Brian Aaby 2 Comments

Ahhh, the weekend! Hope yours is filled with rest, fun, relaxation, accomplishments and more. Here’s what’s happening for me/us:

Kentridge High Basketball Game (contact work for where I lead Young Life), the whole fam is going!
Out with some former BPPC students to Applebees for late-night appetizers
Visit Lake Retreat Camp to check out stage-set up for upcoming Spring Retreat (my brother is leading program for a church so my dad and I are heading out for a quick scout/visit)
Hang time with the family
Elisabeth going to a movie with Jen, Eric and I will hang out with my kids!
B-day party for a new friend of ours from Faith (our new church)
Church
Halle’s 7th B-Day (Sunday) and party with family!
24 (Sunday night debut of season 7)

Have a great weekend!

Grace,
Brian

Proud Family/Friend

January 8, 2009January 9, 2009Brian Aaby Leave a comment

For the last few months one of my best friends, Anthony, and my father-in-law, Andy, have been hard at work on a pretty phenomenal event. Legacy Ministries is hosting an event entitled, From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible in America. In short, this two-month exhibit celebrates the Scriptures and its history. Anthony is the executive director at Legacy and my father-in-law serves on the board of directors; the two of them, in many ways, put the right people together to put this event together! Check out what the Phoenix Fox affiliate had to say about it!

I’ll see if I can get the video embedded into here, but for now, click here to get directly to the video.

Hope many of my old neighbors in PHX get to check this out. I am hoping to swing a trip down south just to see it!

Grace,
Brian

Calance

January 6, 2009January 6, 2009Brian Aaby Leave a comment

Since blog is a made up word, I figured I could make up my own word as well (for the computer illiterate, “blog” is a combo of web and log). So, “Calance” is my attempt at finding Calender Balance over the next few months.

On the agenda:

A few speaking opportunities, local and out of state
continued consulting (which may mean another few trips)
planning, writing and all the details/teaching for the 2009 Spring Retreats
Several scouting trips for the 2009 summer missions
Writing for several projects, including the 2010 Mission Prep Workbook (the follow-up to move)
Scouting and Meetings for the 2010 mission season
and a few other “not yet on the radar” things.

It may not seem like a lot, but I am trying to figure out the right (and write) “windows of time” to get each of these done. The scout trips will take 2-3 days each and are ideal to do mid-week when Pastors in the receiving towns are available. Balance that with a few weekend speaking gigs, and then you try to make time to do the other things w/o interfering too much with family and you then come up with the term “Calance.”

Pray for my calendar balance, I seek to honor the Lord, my family and my work. I am thankful for the time God has designed for me and gives to me to steward!

Grace,
Brian

A Smattering Of Fun/Work

January 4, 2009Brian Aaby 2 Comments

What day is it?

For some reason the days leading in and following Christmas always seem to throw my internal calendar into a thick haze. I think it is that Christmas and New Years feel like a weekend day no-matter-what. Then throw in an actual weekend and then you’re really messed up. On top of that, as a Youth Pastor, we would throw in the occasional all day event or overnighter and I’d be thrown off even more.

This year, though not a Youth Pastor, was no different. In many ways I felt like I got a lot done for Youthmark (especially in the last days before Christmas), but in other ways I feel like I now need to hit it hard because of the lack of productivity lately.

It was a great Holiday Season, really a smattering (in a good way) of family, friends, work and ministry. Though each felt a little short changed and rushed, as I look back, the amount of time with each was a created a nicely put together puzzle.

A few of the highlights:

Ministry: Able to share at Calvary Chapel South on a Sunday morning, speak at Highlands Community Church Winter Camp and then, today, speak at a parent meeting back at Calvary Chapel South. Oh, and I had a great Reunion with my old Lifeboat guys as well!

Family: Too many, bound to miss some, but having E’s folks in town is always nice; the Aaby extended family Christmas went really well; our immediate family loved doing Advent Sundays together and of course Christmas morning is the highlight of the time with them.

Work: Though ministry and work can sometimes be confused, I will say completing the Youthmark Mission Venture Leaders Guide was a huge highlight, especially getting them out on time, before Christmas!

Friends: Of course taking 4th place last night at the hearts tourney was pretty sweet, but it was equally as cool hanging out with the friends there. On top of that we were able to spend time with many out-of-town folk who were back home for the Holidays. I learned Farkle (or Farkel depending on who you ask).

Though there are more highlights, I need to leave for church, busy/fun day ahead, continuing the smattering for the next couple days as I have set aside times for friends, work, games, ministry and family!

Grace,

Brian

I Heart Hearts

January 3, 2009Brian Aaby Leave a comment

Tourney #2 Tonight!

For the last 0h-so-many years I have participated in a Hearts (card game) tournament. My friend, Frank, had been hosting it at his Lake Tapps home location. He was probably a good 7-9 years into hosting the tournament when Boeing up and moved him to California (for some reason the 25 or so guys who participate didn’t want to commute for a tourney?).

At the time of his move we decided it could be a good thing to keep it going and I would host it (Frank would come home for Thanksgiving to see his extended family anyway). Frank was not long for California (I think he may have only been in CA for one or two holiday seasons?). Anyway, he returned to the NW and we like the tournaments enough that I kept hosting one and he added a second tourney (he is now up north in the Everett area). So, now twice a year around the holidays (T-Giving and Christmas) we participate/host two tournaments.

We are moving my tourney to my dad’s house this year (something about an 8-month old and sleep?). They are always a lot of fun. I just hope the move offsite (away from my house) allows me to play better than I have for the last 3-4 years. If you’re good at hearts, live in the greater Seattle area, you’re a man (sorry, we’re not Politically Correct yet), and you are free tonight (Saturday), hit me up with an email, we’ll get you in.

Here’s to Shootin’-the-Moon!

Grace,
Brian

Christmas Eve Service and Jingle Bells

December 26, 2008December 25, 2008Brian Aaby Leave a comment

We went to the Christmas Eve service at our new church, Faith Baptist (in Kent)… that’s right, I said it, our new church. Finally. That’ll be another post. The point being, they started the service by inviting the parents to pull out their keys and hand them to their kids. Suddenly I fast forwarded 10 years–Halle will be asking for these keys again about then (AHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOO!).

Anyway, back to this story! The girls totally got into it, I quickly pulled out my phone and took a quick picture. Here is the joy of that moment followed by the traditional ending of the service with candlelight and singing Silent Night.

Rockin' the Keys as their Bells!

Yes, Halle is eating a candy cane and singing Silent Night.

Hope you had a wonderful celebration of the birth of the Savior!

Grace,
Brian

The Disc: A Screen Play

December 25, 2008December 25, 2008Brian Aaby 2 Comments

The Setting: A few days ago; a Starbucks and the Aaby home; an instant message conversation taking place between Brian and Elisabeth

Brian: I probably have about 2-3 hours more to go on this Leaders Notebook

Elisabeth: Okay…the girls are so cute right now, they are watching the kids sled down the hill in front of our house

Brian: That’s so cute!

Elisabeth: Oh my goodness; I just overheard Audrey say, ‘I wish we were them.’

Brian: That’s it, I’m outta here, my heart just melted, I’m going to Fred Meyer to by a sled.

Brian shuts down his mobile office faster than he ever has before; proceeds to Fred Meyer to find that they are sold out of ALL sledding type toys.

Brian calls his mom to see if they still have one of his old snow discs.

Brian succeeds in finding the disc at his parents house.

Brian shows up at home to surprise the girls who knew Daddy was coming home to play outside (but not sled, because they didn’t have one).

The rest of the screenplay can be seen in the pictures below, it tells the rest of the story!