Thoughts: I really Enjoy playing basketball. The past 4-5 months I have been playing regularly at the church on Sat. Mornings. This year has been really fun because I started bringing Todd who is also really getting into basketball. He has become pretty good in a short time and I hope to continue to teach him. This past Saturday was the Mens Basketball Tournament. I had invited the whole "Crew" from Rockville to come play. Asif decided to play and was so dedicated he stayed in a hotel in Winchester over night. I also brought a guy, James from our neighborhood that the missionaries have been teaching. We had fun playing but ended up losing both games in the double elimination tournament. Some of the highlights for me was Asif shooting a long range shot and I caught it and put it right back up and in even though I was surrounded by 3-4 large players. I like to think Asif was just throwing an "Ally-oop" pass rather than an airball shot. The other highlight was I referreed one of the games. It was the first time I had ever done that in my life. Right in the middle of of the action Asif comes running up the sidelines and grabs my arm and points at the other referee and says...
Words: ..."Look its Jacob from 'LOST'...". I guess he did kinda look like him...
Deeds: This week for Family Home Evening we went out to Home depot and let each of the kids pick out a packet of seeds of their choosing. This evening after dinner we got out the dirt and planted them into some eggshell planters. Everyone planted a vegetable except Hannah who planted Parsley. It was a fun activity that kept the kids from fighting and playing video games for a little bit.
The themes are just a simple phrase like Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I usually try to do something that will grab the kids attention for a few minutes that presents the theme in a fun way. I brought in our Gardenia that appeared to have died so we put in on the back porch and rainwater brought it back to life-Analogy to the Savior and the resurrection. Last month I brought in the childrens book "Are you my Mother" and applied to the concept that their is only one Savior. Today the theme was "God Speaks Through Prophets". So I told the children I was going to tell them the theme but then I went out in the hall and said it where they could not see or hear me. I did this twice and then said I was going to tell the theme to a messenger and then the messenger was going to give the theme. So I did this using an old missionary badge of mine so that the person represented me. I love doing these theme's each month its fun to interact with the primary children.
He had some friends over for a party Friday night (Video Games/Pizza). 
A friend gave us a bunch of old XBOX games so he got those. We also got him a new Bass Guitar case, and a book of rock bass music. On Saturday Seth (My Youngest Son) played in his indoor soccer game. 
Watching 4-5 year olds play soccer reminds me of the old Charlie Brown cartoon where the baseball players are standing in the outfield counting clovers or watching the clouds, meanwhile the ball falls right between them. 
After the Soccer game we went to the Mall in Hagerstown to meet Grandma. Grandma bought Todd a new suit and then he got to buy an XBOX360 with his money/giftcard and the rest we paid for as he met certain promised conditions from the past couple of years. After the mall we went to Golden Corral and stuffed ourselves. That place is good but I feel like such a glutton when I go there...
In Sacrament meeting he was Recognized for completion of his Duty to God requirements for Deacon. He has been working hard on completing this and I was extremely proud of him. After church I was able to ordain him to the office of a Teacher.
