Good news! This morning (not more than a few hours after I posted the last Graph Expo post) I received an e-mail that indicates that the prayer breakfast does indeed appear to be taking shape! I’d be happy to keep anyone updated as to the status of the prayer breakfast as I learn more about the details. If you’d like to be kept in the loop just add a comment to this post or send me a note at Dave@WebsitesForPrinters.com.
It’s Time to Build a House!
September 1, 2008 — davehultinAt long last we are now able to experience some tangible progress on our new house project! Last Friday (August 29, 2008) our builder was able to obtain the building permit. This is big, big news as there were any number of small administrative issues that needed to be cleared up at city hall. It appears the people that sold us the land have some other bills to pay, and even though we own our lot free and clear we still ended up getting slowed down as the details were being sorted out. I am quickly learning that there is much more to building a house than just pounding nails.
Then today I was taking the kids to the park and we decided to make a quick run to the lot … just to peek! And there they were. Four small stakes in the ground designating the corners of our lot! Progress! Honest-to-goodness progress!!! So that is hopefully a sign that the hole will be dug this week and the foundation will be established. Weather permitting (it rained pretty hard tonight) and God willing we’ll be able to make some significant progress this week.
Groundbreaking at the Hultin lot
The picture included with this post is pretty fun too! My partner Mike Stevens gave us three small shovels for our kids to use for a groundbreaking ceremony and that was exactly what we did! We went out to our lot, had a quick family prayer, and then let the kids dig in. They had a blast!
And then to bring us back to reality, there’s the special assessment notice we just received in the mail. Oh yeah, we have to pay for this fun project too. Time to get back to work and sell more websites!
Overwhelmed by Easter!
March 23, 2008 — davehultinI have always loved Easter. It’s always been my favorite holiday. After all, how many people get put to death and live to tell about it?!?!?!!!
This year was different. Easter was so much more meaningful to me this year than it has ever been before. Why? I don’t know. Perhaps it’s a sign of me maturing in my understanding of what Jesus accomplished when he died for all of humanity. All I know is that my heart was overflowing with gratitude, thankfulness, and joy!
The highlights:
The first highlight was taking the kids to a presentation at church on Good Friday. (Unfortunately, my wife wasn’t able to go with that night.) It felt so wonderful to help get their heart pointed in the right direction for Easter Sunday.
The Easter Sunday service was wonderful. There was such a powerful atmosphere of worship. The music was great (which for me personally is always such an exciting part of worship), and there was a very powerful drama which reenacted the way things might have been at the time Jesus was crucified. The part of the drama that caught my attention was that much of it focused on a character that helped usher Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday then died as the events of that week unfolded. This character, Gideon, believed in Jesus. Then when Jesus died Gideon came back to life. This is one part of the Easter story that usually gets overlooked. Matthew 27: 51-53 (NIV) records the events that happened the moment Jesus died in this way:
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
If there was ever any doubt that something supernatural was underway, dead people walking around should have been a pretty good clue!
I keep trying to put myself into the political and social culture of that time. What would I have done on Palm Sunday? Good Friday? The dark Saturday before Easter Sunday?
One more powerful Easter experience. I ended up watching one of my favorite movies, The Miracle Maker, along with the kids. I absolutely love this movie! On first glance the puppetry / animation may make it seem like it’s just for kids…but it’s not. It’s message is true to the scriptures and the storyline is so well-written. Although I’ve watched the show many times before, this year I saw it with new eyes and learned more about what it would have been like to be in Jerusalem during the time of those events. It is truly a wonderful presentation!
The bottom line is that Easter Sunday 2008 is drawing to a close, and it was such a wonderful Easter season this year!
Riding the Elevator
February 12, 2008 — davehultinToday my 4-year-old son rode the elevator to come up to our WebsitesForPrinters.com office and he said one of the cutest things I’ve heard him say in a long time. He knew to push the “2″ button to get to our floor. He also noticed the open and close buttons that look like this: < | > and >|<
He mentioned that pushing those buttons would probably cause the elevator would move sideways. Cute, very cute!
I Thought I was Holding a Dead Child
January 31, 2008 — davehultinThis morning was perhaps the scariest experience of my life. For a few moments I thought we lost our oldest daughter. I’ll just call her “E” to keep her name off the public record. E took a shower to get ready for school this morning and felt a little sick to her stomach when she got out. She leaned over the toilet, and when we checked in on her a few moments later her head was wedged between the toilet and the wall. At first we thought she was perhaps just throwing up on the floor instead of in the toilet. But she wasn’t moving.
My wife said, “Dave, what’s wrong with E?” I went over to E, picked her up, and she was like a rag doll, her head rolling into my arms. Her eyes were wide open and not moving. Nothing was moving. I said, “Quick, call 911!!!” Then E started to come around.
All I could do was cry at what I thought was experiencing, and give God a big huge “Thank You” for allowing E to be part of our family. To God be all praise!!!
She probably just fainted … that happened to my wife and her sisters when they were growing up. But that’s not how it looked to me. I seriously thought we were going to lose E. Many tears were shed over what could have been, many more tears of thanks were shed for what didn’t happen.
One BIG Step Closer…
November 19, 2007 — davehultinWe’re on the path to building our dream home. Our house went on the market last weekend, and immediately there was one showing. Anyone wanna buy a house?
http://www.homeshq.com/index.cfm?page=listing.cfm&list_number=07-6297
A Very Nice Customer Service Video!
November 13, 2007 — davehultinIf you’re not afraid of shedding a few tears, check this out:
http://www.stservicemovie.com/
On a side note, this video came to me from one of the connections (Connie) that brought Andy Bronson to WebsitesForPrinters.com. I asked my brother-in-law Steve if he knew anyone that would be a good fit for employment at WebsitesForPrinters.com. He suggesting Connie, and while Connie was certainly a very good fit, she never felt comfortable that working at WebsitesForPrinters.com would be the perfect fit for her. Not too long after we wrapped up trying to recruit Connie she contacted me again and said her husband’s niece was moving back to the area, and this niece’s husband would be a great addition to WebsitesForPrinters.com, if we were still looking. We were, and the result is the employment of Andy Bronson, a perfect fit for WebsitesForPrinters.com!
Andy has indeed been a great addition to WebsitesForPrinters.com. Everyone in the connections that led to Andy is a Christian. It’s amazing to me to see how God used a handful of His followers to make this connection work!
Mickey Golfing
August 4, 2007 — davehultinToday we had one of those fun family moments I hope becomes a memory! We all went mini-golfing at Thunder Road, and we had a blast! Andrew however must have had Disney on his mind. He doesn’t remember Minnie Golfing, he remembers Mickey Golfing!
That reminds me of some of his other cute sayings. He used to have a habit of dropping an “s” off of certain words. For instance, if he was getting dressed and was working on one item, he said he was putting on one “cloh” (not “clothes”). Or if we cut up cheese into cubes, and he dropped one cube, he’s say “I dropped a chee!” Pretty cute stuff!
Jordin Sparks Wins American Idol!
May 23, 2007 — davehultinWow, what a night for Jordin Sparks! Tonight she won American Idol 2007! Normally I wouldn’t get too excited about such things … but this time is different, because I found out that I’m actually related to Jordin! Once I found that out my family started watching American Idol, and we were hooked.
My cousin Roberta, one of my family’s geneaologic experts, says the lines trace this way. Jordin’s Great-Great-Great-Great Grandparents are the same as my Great-Great-Grandparents. It’s kind of a stretch, but the connection is there! Jordin has some cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents in Fargo. I don’t know them, but they’ve been in the news a lot during this whole contest. The running joke is that with each win Jordin became more closely related to me. By the time she was crowned champion, we were brother and sister!
Congratulations to Jordin. Even though the ancestral lines have to stretch a bit, I have to say I’m incredibly proud of her … she is so talented!
Biking to Work
April 16, 2007 — davehultinAfter many years of not riding a bike I finally got my feet on the pedals again! It’s a “win” all the way around!
- I get 20 minutes of exercise each day (about 10 minutes each way).
- I save gas, to the point where the bike pays for itself in less than 100 days (3 mile round trip x 25¢ per mile in the Yukon x 2 Yukon trips per day = $1.50 … x 83 days = $124.50, about the price of my “el cheapo” bike).
- I save wear and tear on the Yukon .
The best part is going for rides with the kids. Emily got a taste of Quality Time on a bike path last night, and she loved it!!!
