Around Father’s Day I always do some reminiscing about my childhood and my Dad.

This is how it all began… My Mom was 13 when she met my Dad. Sure enough they fell in love and soon this happened….

My Dad loved baseball… this is him when he played for Colerain High School. He was drafted to the farm team for the Reds but did not go cause he would be traveling and would have been away from his family.

My Dad was in the Coast Guard. I believe his job was a fire fighter. He would tell me stories when I was a kid. One story I remember is when they got in trouble, as a punishment they would have to do push ups while holding their rifles and on gravel.

After they were married for awhile this happened…

My sister was born.

Chrissie in her senior year at high school.

Then sometime later…

My brother was born.

Rob in his senior of high school.

And I guess they saved the best for last…

I was born… actually I was an “oops” baby, so I was not planned like my brother and sister were.

My Dad holding me shortly after I was born.

My senior year.

My Dad loved his family, but he also loved his Corvette… I am not sure what year it was but it was a sting ray with a split window.

He also loved to play golf… I miss playing golf with him and his coaching out on the course.

At Montgomery Inn Boathouse and we met Boomer Esiason. I am not sure why I wore pants like that… I guess they were popular in the 80′s.

One of my favorite pics of my Dad and I carving pumpkins.

]]> http://amongtherealm.com/2010/06/23/memory-lane/feed/ 4 http://amongtherealm.com/2010/05/28/the-bucket-list-update/ http://amongtherealm.com/2010/05/28/the-bucket-list-update/#comments Fri, 28 May 2010 20:23:03 +0000 Andrew http://amongtherealm.com/?p=794

I was able to cross off two and half (will explain in a minute) tasks on my bucket list so far this year. The first one was the mission trip to another country and not watching TV for a week which also happened while was in Honduras. Nothing like killing two birds with one stone. The third or the half is I technically have enough credits to have my four year degree but since I am getting more schooling I do not actually have that piece of paper that magically qualifies me for an awesome career (or so I am told). I thought crossing that one off halfway was in order.

What I hope to accomplish this year

I have some goals for this year as it pertains to my bucket list. I would love to cross off number 59 (learn Spanish), 56 (Sponsor a kid through Compassion International), 55 (bike 100 miles in one weekend, this will be crossed off in a few weeks!), 22 (Get all my A+ certifications), 18 (Learn to play the guitar), and for the scary one…

My friend from UPS is getting a group together to go SKYDIVING!! –> 3 (Go skydiving). So if anyone who reads this wants to go skydiving this is your invite.

Thought this would be a good place to show some clips from the movie The Bucket List (which if you haven’t seen you probably should rent it…now).

Coming off this mission trip to Honduras a changed person I  have been looking for the next adventure God has for me. I never thought I would have a heart for mission work but I can not wait to go on my next adventure. I found one adventure that I will do in the near future. While I would love to quit my job and leave to do this, it is not feasible at the moment. So I am adding it to my bucket list and I plan on doing this when I graduate college and when I am between jobs.

It is called The World Race. You visit 11 countries in 11 months and you live out of a backpack for those months. Crazy I know… but I can’t wait to do this. Go check out the website and read all about this crazy adventure –> The World Race.

Also check out Ryan’s blog post @ thisisreverb.com about our Honduras trip. He took some great pictures and has some of the hike which I did not take pictures of –> A Taste Of Honduras @ thisisreverb.com.

Its hard to pack for trip where your really not sure what is the best items to take. That is my day for today+homework and hopefully I will have narrowed it down so I am not carrying too much in my pack.

A couple of days ago I posted Ryan’s talk about his time in Kenya. I realize that 45 minutes is a long time and some of you may not have listened for that reason. I do recommend to take the time to do so but if you do not have the time here is a 11 minute section of the talk about Eliud. Its an amazing story and I want you to hear it.

Eliud from Andrew Hughes on Vimeo.

I have been gaining a new perspective on life recently. It all started when Ryan when on a mission trip to Kenya to blog about his experience. Here is his talk synced up with the pictures he took on the trip. Its about 45 minutes but its well worth it, especially to hear Eliud’s story near the end of the talk. So grab some tea…coffee or whatever you drink and enjoy!

Kenya Talk from Andrew Hughes on Vimeo.

I am going on my first mission trip out of the country to Honduras and here is a list of things I hope to accomplish on the trip.

• Continue gaining a new perspective on life.
• We are hiking into the jungle (about a six hour hike..give or take). I hope I finish!
• I am leaving my safe place to go to place that is not comfortable. I am beginning to step out of my comfort zones in different areas of my life. I am learning to be less selfish with my time and enjoy life as it comes.
• Get to know the people I will be traveling with.
• Working on my relationship with God under different circumstances.

Well that is all for now… I plan on posting a new blog post everyday until I leave.

Well the basement is finally complete minus some few touch ups here and there. I have yet to move over there but after the baseboards are painted I will begin to migrate over!

Welcome to a new category titled Iphone Pictures. Photography is a hobby that I enjoy and while I have really nice camera I always do not like to carry it with me. Going on the principle that the best camera is the one that is with you I decided to start this category. All the pics were taken and edited on the Iphone.

The original picture

The Final Picture

Blue Moon

My grades for the semester… A-, B-, C, A.

J to the Bizzle sporting a fantastic wig!

Brooke might hate me for this one…

But she will love me for this one…

Mr. Bones making an appearance for the festivities.

Again…

Bathroom

My soon to be bedroom and office

Another view of the bedroom and office

]]> http://amongtherealm.com/2009/11/11/halloween-pics-renovations-update/feed/ 2 http://amongtherealm.com/2009/10/29/back-up-and-running/ http://amongtherealm.com/2009/10/29/back-up-and-running/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:19:45 +0000 Andrew http://amongtherealm.com/?p=564

If you are the one or two people who actually read my blog you would have noticed that it has been unreachable for a few weeks. So, after a minor setback my blog is back! I have a lot of posts to catch up on.

What to be looking forward to in the near future…

Updated pics of the basement remodel!

A possible new design and plus a new direction for my blog.

The changes probably will not be drastic in the beginning and it will be spread out over the next few months as I come up with new ideas.

The renovations have begun on the basement… I will be posting pics as the work continues.

This next pic is unrelated but had to throw it in here. I snapped it one night when I got home from work which is about 2 am. Never seen a halo around the moon that big.