Wyatt measuring windows in new house!

4 and 1 pictures

From Olivia's Blog:  these guys are the best!  Olivia's photography makes it even more fun – thanks, honey.

 

God's faithfulness and provision in our lives continues to deepen in our hearts and overflowing into our daily routines – in stories to come I will only begin to attempt at conveying His relentless pursuit of us and providing in ways we couldn't have fathom'd – why would I doubt? 

 

Thank you, Jesus.

 

-ao

        

            

 

 

As I mentioned a couple posts back, I took pictures of the boys last week. I wanted to take some for Boone's "one" year pictures {even though he's almost 15 months, that's ok, he looks the same} and since Wyatt will be 4 in about 6 weeks, I thought I would knock it out all at once. And I think they look super cute with their matching shorts. I could not get them together or even in the same proximity except for the picture I'm using as the header on my blog…and I LOVE that one…but Fall is here {just give me some Fall weather} and there will be lots and lots of fun outdoor pictures to take!

Boone would not smile..except for maybe once or twice but considering the heat and the hunger, he did pretty good. And Wyatt was full of giggles and yummy smiles. This last picture of him may be one of my all time favorites. This boy smiles with his eyes and I think he looks so full of joy!

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Posted By Olivia to The Wild Wild West

Monday....breakfast and trust!

Today is Monday. On Mondays I fix breakfast for our little family. On Mondays we call it "our day" - because we are together and there is nothing that gets in our way of taking time to be a family on these days. They are a gift. For years, a good friend and mentor encouraged us to take a day together in honor of our vows to God and one another - our marriage is our highest (Earthly) covenant and we want to invest in one another - so we finally landed a few years back with Mondays. I do not talk on the phone, I stay "away" from the world......minus my wife and my kids.

Today, as always - breakfast....a big breakfast.
Yesterday - we showed our house two times....it's for sale. We received two offers. Both were from the same people and we had to reject / counter them both. Still, we are in limbo. Today, we are embarking on the fringe of having our house for sale 30 days now. We are doing FSBO. It will be our 3rd time. We are in the middle of simply trusting the Father and His provisions for our lives and our home. We feel like we can sell this house and move to the next one - we trust in God's faithfulness. That means we will wait for Him. He will provide our meals, our paychecks, and a new home if that were to happen. It's all His.

So, perhaps you can join us in praying that we do trust God the Father and live our lives our of the overflow of our faithfulness to Jesus Christ - and even when we are not faithful to Him - that we come back....and trust him. Always. Forever and ever.

Amen.

Blessings.

-ao

Mudfest….

 

A picture of approximately 200 people gathered around a pit of mud.  By standers.  Parents.  Friends.  Scaredy-pants ones. High schoolers covered in mud.  Mudfest is a tradition in our area.  LCYL does Mudfest each year as our kick-off event of our “club year” – we do Mudfest in order to create a stir…a sense of energy…an opportunity for Young Life leaders to dive in with kids, literally, and begin to walk alongside them in their lives….to earn the right to be heard and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.  Nowhere in our community are folks doing something like Mudfest.  How, you might wonder, is this kind of event considered to be sharing the Gospel with teenagers?  This kind of event is exactly the stuff we like to do…..to give them a chance to do the things they like to do….to be kids…really, to give them an opportunity to be themselves…to cover up behind all the dirt, water, and mud – so they can play like they were in pre-school.  It is something to watch kids get in this mud pit and see them light up! It is as if there are no chances to be this way in life – maybe that’s true.  We believe they have the chance to meet Christ and be given life like never before – life to the fullest….and to be called His forever and ever. Here’s to Mudfest 2009:

 

We always use a jeep or 4x4 to push all the dirt and water around as we carefully craft the mud pit just like we want it! This year we used my jeep.  Hard to see all that mud get under it….that’s real love – because I know what it takes to clean that sucker.  I was told the other day, “you are just showing you’re getting older…..that’s a sign..” – whatever….still tough!  But, so worth it!

30 yards of dirt.  15,000 gallons of water = Mudfest 2009!!

 

Say…..MUDFEST 2009!!!!!

-ao

Candyman – 1990 Jams

So, I somehow came across this song as Olivia was jammin’ out in the kitchen tonight….I thought specifically of this song – woooh, it brought me back to the day….mmmh, mmmh.

 

here it goes:

Candyman - Candyman song

 

Check it out…

-ao

Back again…

Well, I’m back.  I’m back home…back in the swing – back at football practice – looking on as the lchs players look over..some in wonder of who is this man watching us – others looking over to give me a head nod, as if to say, “what’s up, Ogle!”  I am back in the hallways during lunches and 4th block gym period – to see kids and to be seen by them.  I’m back at home – back in the groove of in-the-office for one hour then gone for two hours and back again for an hour or two before moving on to the next meeting.  I am back in school again…started again after our assignment…trying to finish…tick-tock-tick-tock time keeps ticking away….

I am back with meeting with friends, parents, Young Life leaders…..pastors and ministers in our community  - talking with folks about life..listening to them tell their stories and sitting over coffee or a sandwich. Back to be with the Lord at home…on the front porch in my rocking chair…at the office in my orange chair with music playing and coffee brewing…on the fly or at a coffee shop – with Him in the mornings and living life in the community God has called us to….the groove is showing…it’s wearing and we are about to be in it!  Yup, it’s great.  It’s good to be back again…

Here’s to home. LCHS. Young Life leaders. Olivia. Wyatt & Boone. Football games in the fall. My parking spot at the games. Throwing baseball with Drey afterschool, using Reese’s old left-handed glove so I can throw and catch. Standing on the sidelines of the practice field with players looking and dad’s scheming……here am I, Lord.  Show me your ways. 

Fall 2009.

Back from Camp / Back to school

School’s in session.

Our assignment at Windy Gap:  completed. Beautiful.  Fun.  Full of life and love.  Full of high schoolers from all over the country hearing about the abundant love of Christ in a way that pierced so many of their hearts….it was full of community….the Work Crew…Summer Staff, the assigned team; the property staff….the property itself – all in all:  awesome.

Summer camping is finished.  And, now, school is in.  For me, it’s the same, too – I am back in school again.  I am finishing my degree…I had a break while I was away on assignment…and now, as of yesterday, I’m back in school.  Classes started on Monday. 

More math.  More Communications.  More late nights.  More on my way to being done!  Each day is a step closer to the finish line…..it’s a transition but it is one that will be worth it…soon and very soon! 

Communications.  Organizational Leadership.  That’s my plan. Those are my degrees.  Almost…but, as in the final line in the movie, GLADIATOR, when the friend of Russell Crowe’s character says…., “Not yet….Not yet!”

-ao

176 lbs….and counting?

So, we are back from Windy Gap…and guess what else is back?  My old weight!  I recently wrote about the day Olivia and I got married…..well, what I did not discuss was how much I weighed on that day:  177 lbs.  Yesterday, when I woke up, I went over the the weight scales and stepped on…..what did I see?  Blew me away!  I did a double take…I tried to squint my eyes and lean down w/out moving the scale-pin one way or the other….just to be exact…was it true…am I really just a short chubby guy with poor scales at home…what is the story?

It said One hundred and seventy-six pounds.  It said it, not me.  So, it must be true – we’ll count it!  What’s the deal….how has this happened?  I left for my summer assignment at Windy Gap just over three weeks ago……I was around 187 then (184 in the a.m.’s and up to 189 in p.m.’s) and before that I was definitely over 190! 

A few months ago I got approached by a friend of mine whom I respect, here in our town, about an opportunity to get healthier…..so I listened.  I didn’t really want to jump into anything but after listening I was intrigued.  Out of my respect for my friend, Jamie, I heard what he had to say and then I took some time to “smoke on it” and see what happened in me.  During this time, after a month or two…my grandfather became very ill….due to heart illness and issues; he would pass away  soon after  - and before his passing, our family watched a short heart-surgery video in his hospital room.  It affected me. It showed what happens when the plaque in our arteries builds up and blocks arteries, etc.  It made me think of my growing age and of health issues I have seen in my family.  Then within a week of my grandfather’s passing, my grandmother (his wife) went into the hospital with heart issues and had surgery…..and had a tough time – again, I was deeply affected by all of this, naturally.  So, I came home….and Olivia and I talked.  I talked to her about my convictions in my heart about Genesis Pure products that Jamie had talked to me about.  We said it made sense to try them out.  That was around the end of May….and since then I have felt like I was healthier than ever before.  I have just “felt” different.  And, now….I have lost significant weight since then.  I have not even begun my “work out regiment” which I plan on doing this fall – I think there may be a few more pounds to shed still yet!

It feels great.  Certainly there will be a challenge to make 176 a lifestyle instead of a milestone to hit and fall away from….but it was a great moment….a moment that is worth celebrating.

Here’s to you, milestone number 176! 

…..now, where is number 171??  Those abs….

Oh well – feels nice.

Blessings,

-ao

August 3, 2002

What happens when it’s sunny….there’s a lake with no breeze…a house that a kid grew up in….a back yard that overlooks the lake and two people who met in high school…then chased one another around off and on for the next 7 years…and then a year later, the boy told the girl he wanted to pursue her (he knew all along he had loved her…that he wanted her to be the ONE…or that, well, just that she WAS the ONE and now he was able to present this to her)…he figured his friendship with the beautiful girl could have ended on that night….but after she heard him put all his guts and feelings on the table – she paused: and smiled! Then, he knew it was on! So, what next?

Well, 3 days of praying about it..then the pressure caved in and they kissed. Then – six weeks later he asked her to be his wife (officially this time…with a ring and everything!). Then – 7 months later, they were outside on a beautiful day. A very hot day. A muggy day. The, supposed, hottest day of the year. In tuxedos, formal dresses; the whole works! The music played….the friends and family gathered – wishing for a breeze but all the while whispering about the photos being so great. And then, it happened: Great is thy faithfulness. My friend sang the song. The girl: well, she began her entry to the wedding affair: she entered from the top of a magnificent deck….wrapped in flowers, greenery, and all the likes of God’s glory as she turned the corner in her dad’s arm and descended from the balcony to the back yard…..the crowd awaited. My knees were shaking. I watched my friend Tim, with my peripheral, look at her….look at me…and back-and-forth; he wanted to see my reaction to seeing the most beautiful girl…the one whom I saw walking down the aisle of the auditorium at Bearden High School in 1993 – it was the first time I saw Olivia Heitzman. She was the bomb. On this day – our wedding day – she was radiant….she was perfect…she was on her way down the stairs…to be mine…and I to become hers….that we would be ONE on this day.

Then, Tom, our friend who is a wonderful minister – he officiated our wedding; he began talking as Olivia walked up…her dad passed her hand to me. We smiled, we were giddy, and we were shaking and nervous as we could be. I sweated like nobody’s business….my dad was melting away in the distance as he was my best man and wringing wet with sweat – did I mention it was a hot day? Tom talked us through our vows…he told of Jesus….of an empty tomb – life in Christ…that He is the Light of God – and we can have a relationship with Him – that Olivia and Andy have this….and they are “here today” to honor Christ….that was our hope..to bring Glory to Jesus….to live our lives..our marriage – following Christ. We exchanged rings; we turned….were announced as Mr. and Mrs. Andy Ogle – and, again, it was on! Party time. Really.

Bliss? no. Perfect? no. With love? all the way. With struggle? yes. With Jesus Christ? could not have made it apart from His love and piercing of our hearts! In love and growing all the more because of Him and because of my beautiful and loving and wonderful bride? everyday. Forever. yes.

Olivia, I love you with everything in me – forever and ever. You are my bride. Today. Yesterday. And always. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for saying YES. I love you. Happy Anniversary, honey. Here’s to seven years.

The peace of Christ – always may He rule in our hearts….our lives..and our home.

-ao