Alive 2009

After what seemed like weeks of reading Guy's Facebook status of ..."don't forget to vote for Julie at http://www.alive.org/ "...things fell into place as Julie Hufstetler secured a top ten spot for this year's New Artist Talent Search at the Alive Music Festival in Canal Fulton.

In addition to the incredible vocals of Ms. Julie, our band consisted of Andrea Leibundgut- drums, Jayson Benn- electric guitar, Daniel Salmons- bass, Joey Garlando- keyboards, and yours truly on acoustic. We took the stage at noon today and played a 25 minute set in the Woods stage...complete with an encore of one of my favorite tunes from Julie's latest CD's, He Changes Everything.

The winner, as chosen by the judges at Alive 09, will represent Alive this fall at the Word Records New Artist Talent Search in Nashville, TN. There the winner will be showcased and compete against 16 other festival winners from across the country.

Then, as an added bonus, the winner will be also be able to perform at the 2010 Alive festival on the Main Stage.

This whole experience was something that I will treasure for a long time. I was truly flattered that Julie even asked me to play in the band, and I think we all were kind of pleasantly surprised how quickly and effortlessly things came together for today's performance. Anytime you want to take this gig on the road there, Ms. Julie...count me in! Regardless of the outcome of the competition, you are a phenomenal musical talent, and no doubt God has great things in store for you with your song writing/ music ministry...

Conquering the Magnum

The lil' guy helped me chaperone the annual Hoban High School 9th grade class trip to Cedar Point today. As what has become the norm, it rained the entire way up to Sandusky, but once we got inside the park, the rains ceased and we had a pretty decent day- albeit a bit chilly. But the upside to that was that the lines were almost non-existent...I don't think we waited for more than 10 minutes for any of the rides we tackled today, including the Magnum (after a little bit of encouragement by yours truly)

The Hoban kids were great- both on the bus ride to the park as well as their promptness getting back to the buses by 7:30 p.m.- it was 7:33 when the last kid boarded this evening...not too bad.

My fondest memory of the trip came when my son was playing the infamous guessing game- you know the one when the gal tries to guess either your weight, age, or birthdate. Not having seen the gal write down her guess on a piece of paper, she asked Josh when his birthday was...after replying that it was on June 27th, the worker said "December...take your prize young man." Perplexed, Josh looked at her and replied, " Didn't you just hear me....I said it was in June...you don't listen very well" Well, maybe you had to be there...I thought it was awfully funny.

Joys of Parenthood

So what to do with a seven year old who loses two behavior tickets in school for...oh, I don't know... thinking that it would be a good idea to start up a WWWF WRESTLING match with his buddy during Health class...and in the process, breaking a paper bin on his teacher's desk? Local adoption agency? Kiddy boot camp? Junior seminary school? In all seriousness, Josh is a great kid, but he just has these judgement lapses...i.e brain farts...where you have to shake your head and ask, "Dude- what were you thinkin?"

Having drawn the short straw, I was awarded the dubious task of doling out the punishment for the little guy. As luck would have it, one of his other buddies had just invited Josh to a birthday party this weekend, so not allowing him to attend that was kind of a no brainer...but the other "tough love" consequence for Bone Crusher Eubank Jr. was to tell him that he wasn't going to be allowed to test for his karate green belt in two weeks...something that he has been so looking forward to. Times like these where I HATE being a Dad...you want to give the world to your kids, but you also need to instill in them a sense of discipline and responsibility for their actions...easier said than done when a seven year-old with a killer smile and baby blue eyes is involved. Love ya, son...one day, you'll understand...like when you have kids of your own!

Confirmation Sunday

After spending a good part of the school year preparing for this sacrament, Marie appeared before the Bishop this past Sunday to confirm her faith in Christ...and I couldn't be more proud of her. Here's a kid who simply "gets it". Marie has grown into an incredibly beautiful young lady- yeah I know, I'm braggin' here- and has truly begun to put her faith in action as I've watched her interact with and care for the people in her life...and yes, this even include her little brother!

Easter '09

Finally got around to posting these pics. (I got my wi-fi working at last...yeah!) Not too sure how many of the eggs ended up unscathed through Josh and Sarah's decorating technique... nobody in the family likes hardboiled eggs anyway. The kids had a great time, though, with coloring and then finding them outside on Easter Sunday afternoon.

Father Daughter Dance

Marie and I went to what will be our last Father Daughter Dance...unless of course Marie wants me to tag along as she attends the Homecoming and Sweetheart dances at Hoban next year....ha, ha.

Cub Scout Baseball Outing

Josh and I made the trek down to Canal Park to take in a game with all of Josh's little buddies in his cub scouts. Unlike going up to Progressive Field, catching a game down here is so much more enjoyable for the little guy- in terms of being able to have the chance of interacting with the players. Prior to the start of the game, Akron's center fielder came up to Josh and handed him a baseball and patted him on the shoulder and thanked him for coming out tonight to watch the game. Yeah, like that happens at a major leager ballgame. Then, during the third inning, Josh actually caught a foul ball to add to his collection from the evening. The weather was perfect, and since there weren't that many folks down there, we were able to sit pretty much wherever we wanted.

Hangin' out at the Park...

Playin' in the Park...

And Chowin' on Ice Cream!

Balloons, Candles, and Presents...oh, my

And kinda in that order. Sarah Kay- for what seems like weeks- has been so concerned about making sure that I had balloons for her as she approached her landmark 3rd birthday. Funny, the presents seemed to be a bit of an after-thought. (Too bad her brother and sister don't have that same mind set...ha, ha)

Sarah Kay was also of great assistance with the cake making activities. She wasn't too keen on breaking the eggs, but she loved helping use the electric mixer. But when the time came to actually eat the cake...she was more interested in the ice-cream...a true affinity shared by her father as well.

No doubt, one of her "favorite presents" was a brand new Care Bear stylin' potty seat. The look that she gave me when she opened this was something along the lines of..."Wow, that's awesome Dad but if you think I'm planning on using it in the near future...you're sadly mistaken..."

Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday Sarah Kay...I love you with all my heart.