This afternoon has been sunny with temperatures in the low 50s. It feels like Spring. Heck, after these snowy days, it feels like Summer.

This is the first thing I have written on my blog in 2010. The reasons for this absence are 1.) my work at DGI has been extremely busy. It is our great fortune to be part of not 1 but 2 government contracts for enhancing our nation’s electric grid. Being government projects, they require hourly accounting for billing. Thus, I am trying to put as many hours as possible toward these projects.

2.) my family/home life has stepped up. With Shannon working and the kids at daycare/preschool, my mornings are busy getting kids dressed and ready and sometimes driving them to school. Once Shannon and the kids get home, we do dinner, baths and bed and then our my bedtime. Free time gets gobbled up quickly. This has been especially true in our first few months of this new lifestyle.

But probably the biggest reason I have not written is 3.) I have not had much I wanted to write about. Lots of cool things have happened, and I am loving our new life in Nashville. But I did not feel like writing about the “ordinary” aspects of life. Nothing wrong with ordinary, but it felt a bit trite and commonplace describing the inns and outs of my life. I needed something else to motivate me.

I think I have found my tonic for post-lessness. On Sunday nights at our church, I am facilitating a small group study on the prayer of Jesus. It is based on the book The Prayer of Jesus by Dr. Ken Hemphill. Prayer has been a major driver of my spiritual growth these last 12 years or so since my rededication so I am excited to be in this study. We have 14 of us in the class. We met last Sunday and will meet another 5 Sunday nights.

I will be writing some about prayer, the book and the group study here on my blog. Maybe be short posts or long, but thoughts on prayer. I expect it will help me in the discussion aspect of the study to think through some thoughts here. I am sure I will then mix in more the ordinary topics of life which I have eschewed, but now that I have something else to motivate me. Not that I can post every day, but more often than every 6 weeks which is the current pace.

Now I have said. Now I have to do it. Pray for me.

Sorry if this seems a little incoherent, but I am a bit confused. Not sure where am I.  I was in Springfield, TN living in a my home. No, no, I think I was in Orange Beach, AL renting an apartment. No, that can’t be right. Maybe I am in Franklin, TN staying in someone else’s home rent-free. Huh?

Wild year. One that is hard to encapsulate in a post. Shannon and I were talking on the drive to my parents for Christmas of what we did together in each of our 8 past Christmases. I could not remember last year, but Shannon remembered that our friends the Joneses watched Jacob, my parents watched Ava and Shannon and I took a “stay-cation” taking day trips to different parts of Tennessee. “That was last year. Just 12 months ago?” I replied. It seemed so, so long ago.

So much has happened in 12 months that it is hard to believe it all occured in the same year. Not just living in 3 different places, but our mindsets. In Springfield, knowing only that we didn’t know what our future direction should be. Going to Orange Beach in hopes of finding that answer, but unsure of when and how that answer would present itself. In Franklin, with a clear vision for our future but new challenges in our new lifestyle.

So many people tell you that time flies and that your life, especially with your children, passes too fast. Maybe I will hold that view at some point in my future, but I am 34 now, with a 7 1/2 year marriage, a 5 year old and a nearly 2 year old. My verdict: time is just creeping on and it is great that way. Jacob at 5 years of age, ready to start kindergarten in less than a year; yea, that sounds right. Hasn’t flow by to me. Nearly 8 years with Shannon; I seems longer because I can’t imagine life without my wonderful soulmate.

One thing I am probably going to regret later is using this quote from an 80s movie. At the end of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Ferris says: “Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Everyone seems to agree with the sentiment of how fast life moves, but many don’t apply the solution Ferris suggests. You have to make a concentrated effort to look around to keep your perspective. By looking around, I mean really thinking about what is happening in your life. Going back and trying to recount how you got there, like Shannon and I did trying to remember our past Christmases. But not just now and then, but fairly regularly. Sometimes looking at the big picture but other times looking at the immediate past. It is something I try to do, and I testify that it generally works.

I confess that some periods of your life are a bit more “ordinary” than others which makes it harder to recall, but that also means there are periods of your life which are quite extraordinary. 2009 has been that year. The greatest gifts I received this year, in order:

1. Jacob’s salvation.

2. Seeing the healing of grief in Shannon’s life

3. Receiving direction from God on moving to First Baptist Nashville and our new family direction.

4. Having a wild and unpredictable year which made my 12 months of living seem like 2-3 years of life.

My worst fear apart from the death or harm for my family is having a life without abundance. Without fullness or depth or excitement or challenges or opportunities or goals.  A mundane existence where the days blended together and your life feels like it is flying by you without you making an impact on it or it making an impact on you. 2009 was anything but my worst fear.

Predictions for 2010? Yea, right. Could I have predicted 2009? I won’t even try and make a fool of myself by doing that. But that is the fun of it. I don’t know what is in store and I can’t wait to find out.

Not to make anyone jealous or anything, but today Shannon and I both complained about how hot and muggy it has been. She had to go to the pool today to cool off.

Shannon is in Knoxville this weekend for her cousin’s wedding. I have the kids by myself. So far, so good. It has been a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and Jacob has been playing with his friends outside for the past 5 hours. Ava had a good nap and has been very content. Parenting is easy when the kids do exactly what you want them to do. But I will be glad when Shannon gets back on Sunday.

The business of my work life has prevent too many blog posts. Today, Erik and his family are visiting us for the weekend. Sunday, I am driving to New Orleans to catch a flight to Austin for a meeting on Monday which I will fly back on Monday night, thus not getting home until 2:00 AM or so.

I have several cute pictures on the camera I want to upload when I get a little more time. Things should slow down when this month is through. All good.

I have never shopped at Target much until recently. When I was in Dallas, a Target store was just 5 minutes from my apartment, but it was not the type of store I would patronage as a single guy in my 20s. I have spent most of my married life and all of my time as a parent in Springfield which is Target-less. There was a Target about 25 miles from where we lived, but I figured Wal-mart is basically the same so why make the drive.

In Orange Beach, there is a Target much more accessible, and now that I have visited it few times I know it is waaay better than Wal-mart. Unlike Wal-mart, Target looks like it has actually put some thought into its selection and choices, especially in the houseware and home sections which are prime areas for families. Their choices complement each other, and they are fairly stylish. We still shop Wal-mart, but it really has more an organized flea-market feel. Cheap, but also, well, cheap.

But just so you know that I have not become some super sissy bragging about the container section in Target, I also got Super Mario Kart for my Wii and a Slip-n-Slide for Jacob in my recent Target visit. I am still a big kid at heart. I just now like my pillows and window treatments to match.

Wow. Almost a month since I last posted here. From end of April until mid-May right before we moved, I posted nearly every day. Not sure what happened, but I am going to do better. And I have lots of things to update you on. I will be your daily break from Michael Jackson estate drama.

Last night Randy Johnson won his 300th game in MLB. Johnson has long credited some advice from Nolan Ryan the and then Texas Rangers pitching coach Tom House with changing his delivery and taking him from a fast but wild pitcher to a fast pitcher with excellent control. After this meeting, he went on to win 5 Cy Young awards and become one of the great pitchers of all time.

I found an old video clip of this session with Johnson getting these pitching lessons. It is amazing on several fronts. One, that someone was there to record it. This was 1992 in the pre-YouTube/pre-cameras everywhere days. Two, Ryan and House worked for the Rangers but Johnson pitched for the Seattle Mariners. Still, they saw someone who could use some help even though they were on opposing sides. Three, Johnson was willing to listen and make changes. Lots of good advice out there, but people often choose to ignore it out of pride or other poor motives.

While the subject matter (i.e. baseball) is not a critical issue in our lives, the spirit and attitude displayed by Ryan, House and Johnson are ones we should have in our lives. We need to look to help others, even if their gain could hinder some of our potential material pursuits. Also, we need to be of humble hearts to take advice and instruction.

Microsoft opened their new search engine, Bing, over the weekend. I thought I would try it out and search for “kyle meadors”. The first result was not my home page or one the articles I have written nor any of the projects which with I have been associated.

Instead, it was a MySpace page called “?theihatekylemeadorsproject”. No, I am not kidding. That is its name. Try it, I’ll wait.

The “Kyle Meadors” in question is some other drummer dude. I did not even bother to read much more than that. I am going back to Google.