Off to India…

Yes you read that correctly,  Today i am headed to India for a short mission trip.  Please keep me in your prayers as i expand my mission field.  It is going to be a quick trip that will put me back in McKinney next Wednesday night.  I really am looking forward to the adventure ahead.  To be honest it feels a little like The Amazing Race.  (they went to India last week)  I am headed to Chennai on the the Southeast coast of the Country.  I will be joined by 4 others as we both scout for a future trip and make new contacts.  Personally i am hoping to capture some footage and interviews for a documentary i am working on.  Through pictures and video i want to share my personal vision to change the world around me.  It is both our calling and our purpose to reach out a hand to those in need.  I am hoping to do that this next week.

Twinkle, twinkle ABC

Champe and Eli always seem to find a way to put a smile on my face.At the end he is getting mad beacuse he sees himself in the viewfinder and does not like the cookie that is around his mouth.

Happy Birthday

Sorry for the delay in writing.  Life in the presley house has been crazy.  Today I wanted to take moment and let you know that It is my Fathers Birthday.  Please Say a pray for my mother and the entire Presley clan.

Measure Twice, saw once

Words of wisdom words for life.   Probably the most famous saying my dad ever told me was measure twice saw once.  This holds true for all of life, and could be said in multiple ways.  Whale was one of the most patient men i know, but he was also a wise man.  Each step he took in life was measured and thought about.  How often in our lives do we run around like chickens with our heads cut off.  Which really happened in our house when we owned two chickens, somebody and nobody.  That was the names given to them by my ever thoughtful sisters, who said it would be clever to say they got the morning eggs from somebody and nobody.  To add even more humor to the thought of three girls getting fresh eggs from two chickens with foolish names, consider that we lived in the heart of McKinney, not on some family farm.  Back to the reason i wrote today.  As I have though about where to i go with this blog and how do i honor my dad, i have been careful to measure twice and saw once.  So here is the grand plan. I am going to continue to update you on my life and the Presley clan, but i am going to begin to incorporate some tools and thoughts that i think will help make the world a better place.  I hope you will join in on the journey as we move forward always remembering the past.

33 and still kicking

Today it happened, i reach the ripe old age of 33.  I was born to Mark and Anne Presley on September 9, 1975 in Morgantown, West Virginia.  In doing so I became the first presley boy and the world I think literally stopped.  In some respects i was dreading today, because my dad was not here to say he was proud of me.  But the day has been incredible.  This year was a hard one, it was one i will look back on and realize how much i changed and grew up in a year.  I had the birth of a son, the death of a dad.  I had to say goodbye to good friends, and the joy of serving with a group of believers in New Community.  I designed a book cover, and got to drive back from Cape Cod.  It has been a roller Coaster, but through it all I have been challenged to cherish the ones who are on the journey with me.

I love Eli, Champe and Melissa.  They have been my Joy in tough times and a source of inspiration in good times.  Tomorrow life will move on at the same hectic pace, but today we celebrate.  Today is my Birthday.

Oh and by the way Melissa turned 33 last Thursday, September 4th.  I think the world stopped for more than a moment when she was born!

A week of first…

My sister Kijsa has a personal blog (http://www.kijsa.blogspot.com/ )  in addition to Kijsa and Kari’s already incredible blog (http://kariandkijsa.blogspot.com/)  I really don’t know how they have time to write as much as they do?

Today Kijsa’s post on her personal blog both brought me to tears and inspired me to move forward in creating new memories as a family.  I have seen a side of my siblings that i have to seen in years.  Through a tragedy our family and our relationships have grown and been stretched.  This week has been tough because it is a week of first for all of us.   But it is the relationships with each of my sisters and brothers that has helped us to honor each other and my dad.

Looking down on us

Please say a prayer today for my mother and my family.  Today is my parents 41st wedding anniversary.

Last night I took some time to look at pictures of my dad, and came across this gem.  I could not help but think this is what is going on in heaven.  Whale is taking time to look down on us and smile.  It has been a hard few weeks, but if good was to come out of this it is that I got to hear from each of you,  I got to see my Dad inspire others with his life, and I learned to count each moment with my wife and my sons a blessing.

Eli is doing great.  Two nights ago he slept for 4 hours which gave Melissa the much deserved rest she needed.  It is funny to see you in your son.  The way he sleeps and moves his mouth reminds me of me. More importantly it reminds me of whale.  He is a little whale, a chunker of a boy.  He is a perfect reminder of the best of my dad.  It was said at one of the memorial services, “good men always die to soon.”  My dad was a good man.

In his footsteps

Last night I took my dog for a walk, and could not help but walk the same streets my dad and I walked just weeks ago.  Many a night he would come by and ask me if I wanted to walk the dog with him.  As you can tell by my good looks most nights I refused.  On occasion I would say yes and we would walk the half mile or so through the streets sharing about our day and our life.  Usually the conversation would turn to advice on how to be a dad, and he would tell me “words of wisdom words for life.”  But last night was different. There was a silence that was not there before.  It was just me and my thoughts, and my 100 pound great Dane panting over a squirrel. My thoughts turned to all the people that have inspired me the past few weeks.  My dad not only walked the streets of McKinney. His travels had taken him to streets all over the world.  He loved to go on mission trips and share the love of Christ with others.  To him they were more than mission trips they were adventures.

This fall he was scheduled to go to Latvia, but without him here the trip was not going to happen.  But a close friend has volunteered to fill my dads shoes.  Micheal Curl is going to taking the very message my dad was to deliver to the people God planned along for Micheal to minister to.  (pray for Micheal)

As I walked last night I thought of Micheal and I realized.  I can walk in my dad’s footsteps but I cannot do it alone.  I look around and am thankful for the countless people who have put me on their shoulders and carried me and my family through this tough time.  I also know none of us can make it through life together.  Who do you rely on and who do you need to say thank you to today?  Together we are all doing life together.  For some it is thousands of miles apart, but we are connected through technology and together we can change the world.  I think all along that is what my dad was trying to do, change the world.  He had a way of doing it one person at a time.  Thank you for helping me walk in his footsteps.

Do Dogs know?

I am sitting at my computer tonight reflecting on the week ahead and all I can think of is - does Maggie, my great Dane, know?  Does she know that we have a new addition to the family, Eli, and that he is hear to stay.  Does she know that my dad is gone.  Does she know the pain in my heart for my dad, and the joy in my soul for my son?  I have heard from many that dogs can sense things, but does she know?  Looking back this has been a roller coaster of weeks, yet I can say Maggie is always there with her cold wet nose leaning on the side of my favorite chair.  There is a certain comfort that she brings to me and my family. 

Denny’s hand surgery went great, and Kari got moved in.  They are in the middle of reconstruction of their new home, and yes they are living right in the middle of it.  There are times i wonder if my family is crazy or is it just me. Recently, It is in those times i think of my dad and just laugh.  I think it is a little of both…  

The service at Eastfield, my dad’s college, was great.  The dean’s, administrators, and fellow professors shared stories with us about our dad.  Some were sad, some unique, and some funny, but all were special.  My dad was a great man, and he would be humbled by the remarks and comments, but he would love the stories.  My dad was not just a story teller he loved to listen to stories also.

Please pray for my mother.  She will be returning to McKinney this Friday, and her 41st wedding anniversary will be next Tuesday.  She begins teaching this Monday and is excited about the year ahead.  I truly believe this will be one of the greatest years she has ever taught.

A moment of silence

Today my brother and I are honored to attend a special service at Eastfield College.  My dad was an administrator there since the early 90’s, and it was a school that was always close to his heart.  My father loved to pour his life and soul into things.  He did into each one of his kids, he did into my life.  But he also poured his life into his students.  I can still see him now standing in front of a board waving his arms and making poetry from plate tectonics.  He was a man that left a memory, and he will be missed.  The service is from 2-3pm at Eastfield.  Pray for my brother and I as we share the legacy of my dad with the students and faculty of the school he loved.