Membership

Membership has it's privileges.

We are now official members at Richland Hill Church of Christ. How do I know this? Because Shar filled out the green 1/2 sheet of paper that is titled "I Want to be a Member".

Just to remind you, I really do feel great about everything that I can see and have witnessed and know about Richland Hill Church of Christ, but the size of the place is just so massive and I still struggle with felling like a very small fish is this ocean.

But if the # of people is the only problem, then I can get over that and marvel at the amazing abilities and passion and Spirit driven desire that this church has. If you have time I would really encourage you to list to this mornings sermon by Rick. He did not speak on some new revelation of scripture that has come to him. What took place was an explanation of what the church at Richland Hills and their leadership and ministers have been, and are planning for the next 13 years. A church that is publicly planning, having vision and preparing for the future. Prayer driven, Spirit lead plans and expectations.

There are two things that I have already come to love about RHC.

1. They have the abilities to do so much because of the size of their body. The are leading the efforts to build a christian university is Africa, and adopting a local school to supply school items to needy families. They are sending missionaries to all around the world, and planting a new church in uptown Dallas to reach the new young professionals that are flocking to that area. But aside for the wonderful work that they are able to do, the more impressive attribute is this.

2. This is a church that is moving and planning and changing because God is leading them. I am so encouraged to hear that their desire is to not limit God, but to allow the Spirit to lead and move and to have the faith that God will provide ways for His work to be completed.

I have multiple friends that are in the profession of ministry. I understand that it is a passion of theirs while also being a job and I appreciate their commitment to kingdom work. I wonder, however, how the business of running a church is separated from a faith that God will provide the means for His work. What is the first response by a church body or by the leadership of a body of believers when ministry opportunities are presented?... a. "Can we afford to do this work?" b. "I wonder how God will provide for this work?" I am not questioning the role of stewardship and responsible governing of finances in the body of believers .... I'm just throwing out my thoughts.

The luxury is that RHC does have the budget to do so many things, but the blessing is that they trust in God's will and desire before questioning how to afford what the Spirit is calling them to do.

It's Cold In Fort Worth

Cold winter night is North Texas, getting out of the bath is sometimes difficult for a little girl. This is Anna's response to cold tile floors after a hot bath.



Also,we are looking at getting a Mac. I have been wanting one for about a year, and Shar has finally agreed to go look at them. Wish me luck.

B

The Christmas Report

Christmas this year for the Bundy family was a circus of an event. So much to share, but first, an overview of the "vacation" so you can have a grasp of what really happened.

1. School gets out for Byron on Friday, December 21. First day of vacation.

2. The California Family leaves for Christmas in Texas at 7 p.m. on Friday night.

3. The California Family arrives in Keller on Sunday afternoon. This includes my parents, my sister and her husband and their 4 boys. Where will they stay you ask? In the motor home that is parked outside my house. Reputation of the neighborhood drops instantly.

4. Christmas Eve gifts take place at our house after breakfast and the rest of day is spent playing. Big gifts this year from California were Big Wheels for the Blake and Anna.

5. Christmas Eve evening. All 12 of us carpool in the motor home and my truck to Temple so we can have the first and possibly last Bundy - Smetana Christmas Bonanza.

6. Santa comes for Blake and Anna and my sister's 4 boys at Ron and Diana's house. Then we prepare for the old people to come. Ron's mom Anna who is 91, Diana's mom Jo Ann who is 83 and Diana's Aunt Pauline who is 91. Including Jon we now have 18 for Christmas lunch and gifts to follow. No major fights took place.

7. California and Keller people drive back to Keller the night of the 25th.

8. Gifts and play time on Wednesday morning, only to be followed by Ice Skating at the Galleria that evening with cousins of mine from Denton.

9. Head to Downtown Ft. Worth on Thursday morning. Shop the Stockyard area before the cattle drive at 11:30 a.m. Then off for a late, big breakfast at The
'Ol South Pancake House. Bar-B-Que for dinner at The Feed Store in Southlake. This was a glorious day of eating!!!

10. Friday after breakfast my sister and her family head to McKinney and then to Houston to visit some of Kenny's family. Mom and dad stay with us in Keller for the weekend. Cousin Elliot stays with Blake for the weekend also. My dad bought them a boomerang at Cabelas. A great gift to give to a 4 and 5 year old. We were actually able to make it return without hurting anyone. Friday night Shar and I had a date!!!!! Dinner at a Fondue place, and I loved it, and then a movie, The Kite Runner which Shar wanted to see because Oprah had told her to read the book.

11. Sunday after church we all head to Temple to spend the night.

12. Shar, Elliot, Blake, mom and Dad and I all drive to San Antonio on Monday morning to meet up with the motor home so everyone can get back to California. Shar and I and the kids spend a few extra days in Temple with Ron and Diana and then back to Keller on Wednesday.


All in all it was a really great Christmas. To have in-laws as good as I do that would host my entire family for Christmas is really special and for my parents and sister and family to spend their entire holiday season on the road so that we could be together is also very amazing and special. I am so very grateful for all of my family. This was a really wonderful Christmas.

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2008 and a new year of pointless information on "The Sideline". I am grateful for another year of life, with a wonderful wife and great kids. I hope you and your families are well this year and I hope your prayers and mine are answered this year as we continue to serve our God.

I have already failed at a few of my New Year Resolutions, but I want to and plan to make this year a better year in serving God. I want to be a better husband, father, teacher and coach and I will strive to do so as I strive to serve and know God more than I did in 2007. May God bless us as we live for Him this year.

Concerning the holiday season and the events that I wish to share with you, it will have to wait a few days. So much happened these past few weeks but I can't spend the time to write now so please check back this weekend and I will have "The Christmas Report" ready for you.

Until then I encourage you to read some of the blogs in my list to the right. Go to my sister's blog and leave an encouraging note, or some hate mail. She has not posted in over 6 months and I might have to remove her from the list if she does not get with it. She has 4 boys and a husband; surely she could write something.

Again, Happy New Year and may our God bless you this coming year.

That Girl is Cool

I could spend hours telling you that my kids are cool. Any parent could share countless stories about how there kid does things that no other kid has done. I hate those parents, but tonight I have to be one of them.

We went to Grapevine Mills Outlet Mall this evening to see Santa. Had a great time and went to Chik-Fil-A for a quick dinner. The Chik-Fil-A has a play ground and the kids went right to it. Shar watched the kids while I bought dinner and we sat by the large window of the playground. As Blake recklessly flew up the stairs, across the web bridge and down the slide his eyes were wide with joy. Anna was much cautious and watched her brother before attacking it herself. When she reached the second level of the climbing stairs she realized that she was too short to just lift her leg onto the next level. She looked and it, tried again and failed again. Then, to my amazement she placed her opposite leg against the netting that served as a wall inside the climbing stairs and walked her legs up the netting behind her while holding her arms stiff against the ledge. When she was high enough she through one leg onto the next level and wiggled herself on. Then the same process for the next 4 levels and she had reached the slide.

I was so impressed that she figured that out on her own. Shar said she did that last week at McDonald's. I am going to say that Anna does cool stuff like that because she takes after her mom. Blake beating his head against the glass wall to get our attention is more from my side of the gene pool.

Eagles, Stain and Christmas Preview

I began my coaching career in Abilene after I graduated from A.C.U. I got my first job in the Spring of 1998 at Abilene High School. I had done my student teaching there in the fall and worked with the football program and at Christmas a spot opened up at the high school to teach health and coach, and at Christmas I became a War bird. Steve Warren hired me and I was a coach, for real.

I really enjoyed my time in Abilene and working for Coach Warren and Abilene High was great. That is why I spent this last Saturday at Texas Stadium watching A.H.S. play Pfluggerville High in the 5A state semi final game. I went with Dave G. who was an Abilene High grad and football player and is one of my closest friends. And Blake went also, which was a blast because this was the first time I had been in the stands with my son.

Abilene lost 20 to 14 in over time, but played a great game and there was some great offensive and defensive coaching and play calling from both teams. It was good to see Coach Warren and the staff have so much success. Coach Warren is a great christian man and I am grateful for the time I had to work for him. We played him while I was at Belton and he still remembered my name and asked about Shar and how many kids we had. Just a great man and good coach.

Ever since the Keller Indian season ended Shar and I have had several projects in full swing and this past weekend was the wrap up on most of them. After placing knobs on the kitchen cabinets back in November, I stripped and sanded the kitchen table to refinish it. Before finishing it though I began on the coffee table from the living room, and then Shar bought new unfinished wood chairs for the kitchen and so we had to stain and finish them. Well, Friday night the coffee table came in. The kitchen table has been in for 2 weeks, but I won't let Shar take the table cloth off because I don't want her kids to mess it up. The chairs just came in the house tonight after Shar and I put 2 or 3 extra coats of finish on them. Saturday after the game I came home and began digging out flowerbeds in the back yard, and I just love digging this North Texas red clay. We might as well live in Oklahoma.

All the projects are now finished, except for the flowerbeds but they can wait. We are ready for Christmas, which will be very different this year. The whole family from California is coming to Texas for Christmas and that trip will take place in a motor home that my sister and brother in law just bought. My sis, her husband Kenny and their 4 boys and my mom and dad all driving out from Ca. to Keller and then Temple for the holidays. This is going to be the "happ, happ, happiest Christmas ever!!!!". We are really looking forward to everyone coming out and being together, and we are excited and appreciative that we do not have to travel this year. It will be the first time we have not left the state for Christmas. Blake and Anna are sooooo very excited that Nana and Grandon are coming and "the boys".

Hope you are all doing well. I am not going into the furniture refinishing business so don't ask, but I am really good at making work benches from "borrowed" lumber at the local construction site. I will tell about that project at a later date.

New Activities

Life is always changing us and changing the way we do things. It is part of the joy and excitement of life to do things differently than you did before. I am personally against major changes in life, for the most part, but minor adjustments are normally fun, especially when you family is involved. Here are a few things that are different around the Bundy House.

First and most important is that Anna Jo is wearing big girl panties. Potty training is so much fun.

Since football has ended this year and the weather here in North Texas has turned colder, we have a new post bath tradition. I have never been much on personal grooming and appearance in general, but I do understand how to work a hair dryer and Anna Jo and Blake love for daddy to dry their hair.

We hope everything in your life and with your families is going well. Life is busy here, but we are having lots of fun.

Who's Out There?

I sometimes wonder who is reading my random thoughts and various happenings of my life that I blog about. It makes me wonder why some people read daily, or weekly about the Bundy family and what their reactions are to the things I write, or what they think when I have not posted anything in several days.

Scott Meyer got me to add a counter to The Sideline. It sits in the lower right hand corner of the page and keeps an ongoing count of how many people have visited the blog. One option that the counter offers the owner of the blog is a site map of where people are when the visit the blog. It does not give the identity of the person, but points out where that person is, at least down to the nearest large city.

The obvious readers are in Texas, California and a few on the East Coast. Tonight I was surprised to see one reader in Poland, one in Germany and one on the South Eastern coast of China. My first assumption is that those people got lost looking for something interesting and accidentally landed on my blog.

I feel sorry for them.

2007 Football is Over

We lost our first round play off game tonight to the Marcus Marauders. The final score was 28 to 25. It was a good game and we had some opportunities but it just did not work out. I am still frustrated about some things in the game and that is why I am up at 1:55 in the morning.

The head coach at Keller high does some good things in his program that I hope to take with me. Some special things to honor seniors on their last game, underclassmen on the legacy that they get to hold onto and finally the parents which are involved in a special way after the last game.

Keller has been good to us this football season and we are looking forward to the future. I have learned that no place will ever be perfect and each new school and city will have it's pros and cons. Shar and the kids and I are grateful to be here in Keller and working at Keller high and we still trust that God's guidance will lead us while we are here.

Thanks for reading.
Go Blue !!! (keller indians)

PLAYOFFS!!!!

The Keller Indians are going to the playoffs!!! This is what we work for and this is where the season gets really fun.

We had to work really hard and overcome some obstacles to get here but we made it. 4 & 6 overall and 3 & 4 in district gives us 4th place and an opportunity to play in week 11. We face The Marcus Marauders of Flower Mound this coming Thursday at Justin Northwest Stadium.

Go Blue!!!

Family Pics.

Here are some recent pics of the the family. Blake and Anna for Halloween this year went with the Football, Cheerleader theme. I got Blake some real shoulder pads from the Junior High, and Anna has inherited an Keller Indian Cheerleader outfit from one of the coach's daughters.

ACU Homecoming pics of the carnival and parade. It was so good to be back at Abilene.




Have a great week.

Weekend Update Part 2

Well, we had a great weekend in Abilene at Homecoming. Shar was in the Coming Home Court and was asked to be present at the parade, where she and the kids got to participate in while riding in luxury in the back of a 1914 Model T Ford. Blake got to sit up front and Anna Jo sat with Shar and the current Homecoming Court nominee. It was a beautiful morning in Abilene and the parade was a blast. Chapel followed the parade and this is where I got to escort Shar to the front. They said her name and the current Kojies screamed and yelled and waved a big sign that said "we love you Sharla." It was a great chapel service lead by the Sing Song group from 1992 which included Brandon S. Thomas of The ZOE Group. We got to sit by our good friends the Millers who get to worship at the church that Brandon serves at in Nashville . It was a very special chapel time for us. After chapel we had a big lunch at Joe Allen's BBQ. Mario went ahead and saved seats and we met up with him there. I had the steak, because you never know when it might be the last time you eat a Joe Allen's and the steak is really good. In the future I will order it "well done" because the "medium" was still a bit red for me.

After lunch (Bundy, De la Garza, Braken, Qualls, Gilliland, Crowell, Ramsey, Sloan, Pruitt, Pendland and Smetana) we went to the football game. Shar was to be announced there also and then they would crown the new HC Queen. The game was good against WTAM and I got to see J. Ferguson who played football for me at Belton. I also ran into a few coaches from my first year a AHS and caught up with them. The half time show was fun and Shar enjoyed the memories, but after it was over she was ready to go.

We rested for a few hours at the hotel, and then went to our class dinner that evening. It was really good to see all the people from our college days. We missed several who could not make it but the crowd was large and the evening was full of old stories about how cool we used to be, and how some of these people have really gone down hill. Sorry, it happens.

The Gil's and us went to Cypress Street for dessert afterwards and then it was back to the hotel to try and get the kids to sleep. Sunday morning I got up and drove back to Keller for film while Shar and her parents went to church and lunch. It was an exhausting weekend for everyone in the Bundy and Smetana family, but it was well worth it. My AD let me miss Saturday film, which was very kind of him. It is uncommon to skip a Saturday during this time of year, but he was very understanding that this weekend was important to Shar and our family and I am grateful for his generosity.

I had some pics to show you all, but blogger is beating me up right now and I have an early morning tomorrow so they will have to wait. Have a great day.