Year in Review: 2006

2006? Yeah that is so last year. But this post was also so intended to be published much sooner.Huh. I had this in my blog queue for quite some time, but never published it. So, this is a little outdated, but still good (I hope).

Having worked at Answers in Genesis for nearly six years, I accrue vacation at the maximum rate plus a bonus in 2006. Consequently, I had so much vacation time that I didn't know what to do with it all. Lest I lose any of the time, I've taken the last two weeks off and have just enjoyed the rest. But this time now passed, so I am back to work. In years past, my most-anticipated production was a "year in review" video that would take me hundreds of hours to produce. Since then, I've significantly optimized and can now fit everything in a single blog post. So here is my personal Year in Review: 2006. [Awesome opening here, with references to Chicken Run and at least two Pixar movies.]

January 2006

Starting in December and January, I relocated to Kentucky to be close to AiG. My housing was only temporary, but it was a huge relief of the terrible stress that seemed to be shortening my life. I also began some new physical fitness activities in January that I've kept up since then and have progressed nicely. From being stiff-muscled and able to count successful push-ups on a single hand, I can now do lateral splits and regularly crank out up to a hundred push-ups. I don't have the muscle-man look yet (like I really want it?), but I generally feel healthier and more physically active.

The month after that

Valentine's Day marked not only by absence of a significant-other, but also my fifth anniversary of employment at AiG. I received bonus vacation time and a special gift. Because I love the ministry and people so much, I gave back by providing a carb-filled breakfast for my division. My, how time has flown by! February also contained my first-ever event as an AiG speaker. It was tough to prepare, but the rewards made every bit worth it. I knew from the first moment that this was exactly where God wanted me.

And the month after that

Having relocated to Northern Kentucky, broadband was now within my reach and I could accomplish so much more "webness" so much faster. With some of the spare time that I now had, because of no longer commuting 140 miles a day, and completing work faster, I would play some online games with a friend. We started with a Star Wars game. I was able to play pretty well and was quickly invited to a gaming clan along with my friend. Due to some political situations in the clan, my friend, another guy, and I reformed the clan that still exists today. This made for an interesting extended community and some new friendships.

And the one after that

April 1 marked the end of my nice housing and began several small moves. In this month, my favorite computer programs were Calc and Microsoft Excel as I crunched numbers beyond FDA health advisories. I'd chosen to buy a house, and I began my investigations for a realtor agent. I was teased for interviewing realtor agents before I found one, whom I later regretted choosing.

Maybe we're up to May now?

I'd already seen several houses, figured out what I could afford, and had placed a few offers. All fell through except for the house that God had for me, for which I had a contract on May 17. This month was filled with so many phone calls, that our Verizon Family Share Plan's monthly allowance was brushed with only two minutes under the 1,200 allowed. 98% of that was my own phone. Praise God for Bluetooth!

June

After some complications, some heated haggling, and other interesting issues, I closed on my house on June 8 and immediately moved in. The very next day, I had to leave town for a speaking engagement in Robinson, Illinois. This was the beginning of my monthly speaking events through 2006.

July

I expected another lung collapse, being near the second anniversary of my first incident, and under similar conditions. But I had no physical problems. Only my computer collapsed. Windows XP seemed to be acting weird, so I tried some things and then totally messed up my PC, forcing me to reformat and reinstall everything … even up to the hour before I was supposed to speak at AiG's Creation College 2. What a nightmare to pull everything back together in just a few days! This, plus the release of AiG's flagship product for speakers, Presentation Library, which I produced with help from a five-person team that I managed. This was paid off when Presentation Library received three applauses at Creation College 2; two of them being during my launch session.

August

After several weeks of trying to get a friend to let me pay him to repair my pool, he advised that I pick another vendor because he was so overloaded already. My pool was repaired and filled the first weekend in August, and I immediately had to leave for a homeschool conference—the last of its kind that I would attend. As soon as I returned from that, I flew up to Michigan for a week to teach at a children's camp for AiG. I didn't get to enjoy my pool until two weeks after it was repaired! Also this month, it seemed that FreePay had finally cleared everything for me to get my free Mac Mini, which now sits in my living room as my media center PC. Yes, Daniel Lewis now owns a Mac. And yes, the world is over.

September

[Cricket noises] Well, I guess I can add something here. Around this time, I begin to really wrestle with some things that were bothering me and my family. We started discussing some things that seemed quite drastic, but that we felt God was leading us to do.

October

In October, I was honored to be asked to preach to my fellow Christians at a men's retreat. I spoke on motivation, but afterward realized that my own motivation was quite lacking because of the issues I was debating in my mind. Two weeks later, these issues were nailed down, and my family and I left the church that we had attended for twelve years. It was a very hard decision, and one that I know caused some pain. I tried to explain my decisions as well as I could.

November

In this month, my parents and I began our respective searches for new churches, realizing that this was probably the end of attending church together as we live 73 miles apart. It was also in November that something blew up in my face—rather, on my screen. It took some cleanup, but I learned a lot from it. Thanksgiving brought most of my family together for a wonderful time of overeating, and the launch of two new gaming consoles.

December

I had visited a couple churches by now, but I just wasn't finding the place that God wanted me to be. My previous church was having their annual children's Christmas play, which I did not want to miss. It was a great play, as they always are. And the people that talked to me were so warm and welcoming, that I was comforted in some ways. Christmas was a wonderful time of rest and fellowship with my whole family—except we didn't fit at the table, which is a good problem to have. It was a display of true riches from God's blessings. I have probably forgotten many events. I think the leftover Kroger eggnog is getting to my head.

As my friends say, "So yeah." I had to go back and fill in some things and clarify a couple others. But in doing so, I probably muddied the thoughts more. Oh well. This is Kentucky. A little mud goes a long way.