Benefit Concert Update

On Sunday night, my student choir that I lead did a benefit concert. It was awesome! They sounded so great.

Drum roll, please!

They raised $10, 122!

WOW!

I'm so excited for them!

$100

What would you do with it?

Guidelines:

You have to spend it on yourself.

You can't give it away.

You can't add any money to it to make it a bigger amount.

What would you do with $100.

TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT. Be creative if you want!

LightForce Student Choir

For those of you who live in Naples, Sunday night is a big night! It is the night that the student choir that I lead, LightForce, gives their benefit concert. It is the first time in over 4 or 5 years that they have done a full show. Lighting, set designs that are RAD, a kickin' band and about 70 students who are passionate about worship. It will be a worship event! You will not want to miss this!

Sunday night at 6pm at First Baptist Church Naples. Please spread the word! Invite friends. Invite strangers. Invite friends' strangers!


Be there!

Who's Who?

Can you tell which one of these pictures is our son, Jaxon, and which one is our daughter, Jovie?










Picture A

Picture B

Choose wisely. Give your answer HERE.

Gas Prices?

Gas prices as of Today in Naples, FL

$3.79 per gallon

What about yours? What is the gas price where YOU live?

Release of Mogulus Pro

Mogulus announced at NAB the launch of Mogulus Pro to be released sometime in June.
Features will include:

- White-label or skinless player (no Mogulus branding)

- Absence of advertising

- Analytics create in-depth audience reports for management and advertisers

- Professional Terms Of Use

- Higher quality options:

- 16/9

- HD Live and On-Demand

- H.264

- Access to Mogulus APIs

- Time-based autopilot scheduling

- Private channels (not published in the Mogulus directory)

- Additional library storage

- Priority transcoding

Inventions...

My wife will tell you, I love to invent things. More so in my head than actual building the prototypes.

In fact, I have invented a few things that I actually later found out were already invented and patented. Like the 'speed sensing windshield wipers': So you aren't annoyed when stopped at a light with your wipers going 100 MPH. I invented that...head. Then, I found out that someone beat me to it, cause I saw them a few years back when browsing a new car lot. Dang.

Or the 'Head hole in your sleeping mattress' invention. If you've ever had a massage, you know how comfortable those tables are with the hole in them so you can lay your head face down. I invented a home mattress with that hole...in my head. Then, while attending a FPU (Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey), one of the guys in my group owned the patent on that. Dang.

So I am curious if any of you (my readers) are the same way.

Have you ever invented something? Have you ever invented something and found out it had already been invented? Let's hear 'em!

*In participation of Watercooler Wednesday at Ethos*

Music Can Change the Course of Life

I am a firm believer of that. Music has the power to capture us in a way that words could never touch. There are several albums that I had growing up that captured me so deeply that it made me want to become a musician. Keep in mind, there were a LOT on my list, but here is the top 2:

U2 - The Joshua Tree

Bruce Hornsby and The Range - The Way It Is


I asked this on Twitter the other day but I thought I would give my blog readers a chance to participate.

What musical collection (album) influenced/changed/moved/captured you in your life? Basically, the most influential album you've ever heard?

Why You Should Blog

Bloggings Statistics:

12 million adults maintain a blog.

57 millions americans read blogs.

89% of surveyed big dawgs think blogs will be very important in businesses...more so than websites.

120000 blogs are created everyday.

22 out of 100 of the top websites in the world are blogs.

51% of bloggers purchase things online.

Average person spends 23 hours a week online.


[lessons from LifeWork 2.0]

WHERE IS YOUR BLOG?

It's Been Long

So here is a quick update on my life.

1.) since starting to Twitter, I've found myself blogging less and Twittering more. It is faster and more up to date on my life than blogging. I can send a text twitter and you are updated. You can follow me from the web or it sends you text messages when I update. Blogging takes a little more time. Again, follow me at http://twitter.com/gaddis

2.) My son, Jaxon, threw up Pomegranate juice all over our light colored carpet last night. I guess he didn't like it. BUT...I was able to get it out. Here is how:

Things you need: fresh Club Soda, rag and Shop Vac.

Pour the club soda on the stain or stainS. Let it sit and bubble up a little. Then boil some water on the stove. Once boiled take and pour over stain as well. Gently rub and dab the rag on the stain. Then take the shop vac and vac it up slowly, rubbing the carpet with the hose as you go over the stain. No soap. No chemicals. perfect.

3.) My church is sending me to Nashville on this coming Monday to a conference in Franklin called LifeWork 2.0. It is only a one day conference but our tech guy and good friend, John Patterson, will be going with me. So we get in Monday night and leave early early Wednesday morning. It stinks cause I won't have time to visit any family or friends (other than Brandon Fraley, cause we are crashing at his house).

4.) We are all doing well as a family. Just really tired. Jovie is growing fast! I'll have an updated picture on here soon. Bethany is the most amazing mother ever! I don't know how she does it, but she does. I have a whole new appreciation for Mother's Day now. She is a machine!

So, there you have it.

Mandles

I know I have been a little 'video heavy' lately on my blog, but I saw this and couldn't resist! Mandles: Candles for Men. Prepare to laugh.

Happy Birthday to my Wife!

Twitter

So I haven't been on here to blog in a while, I'm sorry. However, if you were following me on Twitter, you would know exactly what is going on in my life, being that I Twitter probably 15 times a day. Don't knock it until you try it! Come, and join in on all the fun! twitter.com. sign up. if you don't know what it is, go to THIS blog entry and watch the video. It is a TON of fun!!

Follow me at http://twitter.com/gaddis

Phil Wickham - dang.

I saw this on Daley's blog and decided to post it here because I loved it so much. Talk about creative. Be prepared to be impressed with Phil's arrangement of "Hallelujah"


Watercooler Wednesday-check it out!

Nerf Showdown

Some of you will think after watching this, "I can't believe I just wasted 2 minutes of my life." Others will say, "I am so glad I wasted 2 minutes of my life watching this." Enjoy.

Quote of the Day

"If you do what you love, then you will never have to work a day in your life."
-some radio commercial on TalkRadio

Pickle Sickles!

YES! For those that have never tried frozen pickle juice, first off-YOU NEED TO! It is so good! Secondly, it is catching on nationwide! Check out this article from the Washington Post:

I should not have been surprised. I've spent countless hours at the Minnesota State Fair, and I lived in Texas for seven years. So I'm familiar with deep-fried pickles on a stick and with the independent thinking of the residents of the Lone Star State.

Still, the Pickle Sickle caught me off guard. An ice pop made of frozen pickle juice doesn't sound like something people would be clamoring for. Then again, in an era when candy companies compete for bragging rights over whose flavor is the sourest, perhaps the appeal of a little pucker power makes sense.

Sure enough, Pickle Sickles are selling at the rate of about 20,000 a month, mostly through the Internet. Who knew?

Read the rest HERE.

Go to the official Pickle Sickle Website for more info.

Finally, here is a news broadcast about the pickle sickles. A healthier alternative to popscicles. Don't believe me? Go to the health section of the Pickle Sickle website HERE and read more articles on it.

My Superman

For the past week or so, my son has become obsessed with Superman. I showed him the 'crashing airplane' scene from the new superman movie and he LOVES it!

Well, the other day while at Target, I saw a pair of Superman PJ's, full out with a cape and all. They were about 2 sizes to big, but I couldn't resist. In fact, he had it on before we left the store.

When we got outside the store, he looked up with those little boy, big dreaming eyes and saw the moon. He then turned to me and said, "Daddy, I'm going to fly to the moon, ok?" I said, "okay, but be back in time for your nap." "okay, daddy", he said.

He jumped. And jumped again.

He then broke down in tears, sobbing, saying, "DADDY! I can't fly! I can't FLLLLLYYYYY!"

Kneeling down and holding him tight through his crying, "Not yet, buddy. But someday you will. And it will be beautiful up there!"

"I have to grow big, huh?"

"yup. You have to grow a little bigger."

My New Favorite Blog

Stuff Christians Like has quickly become my new favorite blog that I can't wait to read day after day. It is a tongue-in-cheek way of poking fun at some of the things we, as Christ followers, do and say. He numbers ever post. It is tasteful and hilarious! Check it out!

An example of what you might find on this blog (and one of my favorites):

#157 Testimints - Sending Bad Breath to Hell

...This is about Testamints though, one of God's top three favorite candies. I've never had a Testamint but I have had a mint and I have read the Bible so I feel like I've had the experience on some level. And I guess I think of this just like I think of that $49.95 cross I wrote about a few weeks ago. It's just more stuff. Stuff to buy. Stuff to wear. Stuff to eat. But to tell you the truth, Testamints are no longer my favorite God product. Here's the new number one in my heart, soul and wallet:

HeavenScent Shea Butter Hand Cream

That's right, I said HeavenScent. Apparently heaven smells like Shea Butter. And here is the description of the product from the website I saw it on:

"Not only will this gift leave her skin feeling smooth and silky, it is also a great way to share your hope and faith in Chris."

I'm not sure who this Chris character is, but apparently he likes our skin soft and our hearts tender. And before you think I'm making fun of a mom and pop website selling something their grandmother pioneered in their basement, I'm not. This is from one of the largest Christian retailers in the country. Sure, it's a simple typo and I have made lots on my own site, but calling Christ "Chris" when you try to sell holy hand cream is like ... nope I am out of analogies. I can't even describe what it's like. It's so silly I have zero analogies to properly capture it's silliness. I trust you will provide one.

Cell Phone Etiquette

Why do people feel they have to yell when talking to people on their mobile phone? They can be carrying on a normal decibel level conversation in person, when their phone rings. They pick it up and scream, "HELLO!? YES! THIS IS HIM/HER!" etc.

What is the deal?

Challenge: I heard this on the radio today. The next time you receive a phone call, try answering the phone with a 'less than normal volume level' and say, "hey. Can you hear me?". The person on the other end might think you are nuts, but I bet you will be heard very clearly.

Discuss.

Power in the Title

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday. There is major power in the title to blog entries.

I posted a blog entry on Thursday called, "Shout to the Lord on American Idol?".

I woke up Friday morning to see the stats of my blog, for the day I had yet to even start, triple from the average (moving in on the 200 visit mark fast, ending the day moving in on the 300 mark). For some of you blog stars out there, that isn't that many, but for this blog...it is a huge amount!

After doing some research, I found out that when you typed that blog title into a google search engine, at the bottom of the page where Google gives you 'Blog post results for...", my blog was the first to show up! Which in turn, led so many people, who googled it to read about it, straight to my blog!

If there are any new readers because of this, welcome to Pied Piper...Piping! Authenticity is required/appreciated here, so be yourself! Welcome to my life journey.

Twitter what?

Okay, so many of you who read my blog also Twitter. Also, many of you don't have a clue what it is. I have been asked on several different occasions what Twitter is and what is the point. The best way I can describe it is it is like "micro blogging". And it is catching on like wildfire! So, to help you better understand exactly what it is and how it works, I am posting this video that has been posted on many many blogs and now it is my turn to post it. And after watching this short video, and you are intrigued, go to Twitter and sign up. When you do, look for me at http://twitter.com/gaddis and start following me! Enjoy!

Shout to the Lord on American Idol??

Last night, on the Idol Gives Back show of American Idol, the final 8 contestants came out and ended the whole show by singing "Shout to the Lord". WHAT!?! WOW! Then Ben Stiller came out and pooped all over a really great ending of a show by cursing up and down shamelessly. Bad move, American Idol...bad move. Regardless, I pray God moved hearts.



Get involved with the conversation going on HERE! Tell us what you think!

Delectably Orange?

My son LOVES pancakes. We were making them so much at one point, I decided to try something a little different. So I thought I would share this with you, in case you have never tried this or want a slight change in your pancake taste that is delicious!

There are many different ways of making pancakes, I understand that. But when you make them, next time try using Orange Juice (pulp or no pulp) instead of milk. This would make them Butterorange Pancakes. I was so shocked at how good they taste!

And if you want to impress friends or family with your skills, after making them, sprinkle some powdered sugar and slice an orange in thin slices and add them atop your stacks.

TRY IT! Let me know what you think HERE!

I DID IT!

Los....Jvo...This bald's for you.

Exciting/Interesting/Favorite Websites

So, I decided to take a poll here.

What are some of the websites that you visit almost everyday (if not everyday)? Not blogs. Websites that have interesting information/articles that you love to read?

I'll start.

Wired Magazine's Website.

(For all you RSS Feeders out there, click HERE to leave your comment)

Meals!

We are so blessed to have about 4 weeks worth of meals coming to our house the next several weeks. One of the awesome benefits, besides the amazing food we are receiving, is the fact that we get to keep most of the tupperware! I know, I know, that sounds so domesticated and not "manly", but I have to admit, I LOVE IT!

Shaving My Head part 1 1/2 (The Saga)

1 word:

Sunburn.

Today was suppose to be the day. I went to the store, got shaving cream and new razors.
But then...
I took my son to the pool. I forgot, once again, that my head was exposed.

Now, I am putting that aloe gel to good use. And my head is burning in a different way.

I'm not putting pictures or video for todays post because I tried taking a picture of the sunburn, but you can't really tell in the photo.

DANG! How hard is it to shave your head!?

Shaving My Head, Part 1

Song written by my 3 yr old

Well, since my last post (the "coming home" video of our new daughter, Jovie), I have received a lot of emails, texts, facebook messages and comments about the song that my son sang to his sister and the end of the video. Here is the story about the original song:
I wanted to write my new daughter a song during the pregnancy process. I wanted to sing it to her in the womb and then sing it to her when she entered the world. So, I brought my guitar home and started writing. My son, Jaxon, came in and asked me what I was doing and I told him, "Writing a song for your little sister." He then said he wanted to help, so I started singing what I had and he would interupt and say, "no, no, daddy...daisies!" This process went on and he pretty much added the words he wanted. So, the song was written by me and my 3 yr old. Now, Jaxon sings it to Jovie all the time, especially when he is holding her.

Click HERE to watch the video and hear the song (you'll have to scroll to the end of the song to see/hear it).

This post is in participation of Watercooler Wednesday over at Ethos. Check it out!

Coming Home Video

This is the last thing I will post in the series of "Jovie's birth". And it is fitting that it is the coming home video. I have to admit, it totally made me cry while making the video. Not because I have mad video editing skills (I hardly have any at all, really!), but because it was a realization that this beautiful child is actually mine. I can't wait to see what she will grow into. Enjoy the video.


There will be, obviously, more pics and videos of Jovie as she grows, just not of the birth process. I just wanted to clarify that.

Goin' Home

Today was a big day! Even though last night was probably the roughest night we've had, today we came home. Bethany is in pain. Jovie seems to be hungry all the time. Jaxon is having a little bit of trouble transitioning. This might be tougher than I imagined it to be. My heart is breaking for Jaxon and rejoicing for Jovie all at the same time. Pray for us during this transition, please.
Here is a bunch of photos from yesterday and today as I came home:



Tomorrow, I will post the "coming home" video...so come back and check it out.

Day 3

Well, the good news is that we were able to get a good nights rest. Jovie went into the nursery at 12am and back in our room at 3am to eat, then back to nursery and not back into our room again until 7:30am! So we sleep really well...all things considered.

As I was saying yesterday, we have been blessed with friends and family who have visited. Here is a slideshow of some new pictures. (If you came to visit today, I don't have your pictures uploaded yet, so be patient and don't get your feelings hurt if you don't see you :-) )





Also, here is a video of Jaxon, our son, loving on his new baby sister. PRECIOUS!! But he almost smothered her!

Day 2

Well, last night was a bit rough. With the exception of sleeping from about 11:30pm to about 3am, it was pretty caotic in the gaddis hospital room. It went a little something like this:
Bethany feeds Jovie. Nurse came and took Jovie to the nursery to let mommy and daddy rest. Nurse comes back in with Jovie 30 minutes later saying that she won't stop crying and she must still be hungry. Bethany tries to feed Jovie. Jovie won't have it. Bethany then finds out that they gave Jovie the Hepititis B shot in the middle of the night. Nurses are in and out of the room by 4am changing Bethanys bed, making her stand up, etc. IT'S 4 AM! Jovie doesn't like this! Etc..etc...etc.

It was rough. We didn't get a lot of rest.

One thing from yesterday that I learned:
how blessed we are to have such amazing friends and family in our lives. From the text messages, emails, twitters, facebook messages, voicemails, visits, gifts, encouraging words...we felt and still feel so loved! Thank you all! We feel so blessed.

The hospital has terrible internet access, so I have to go somewhere else to post blogs. Even our blog sites are blocked. It is pretty much useless unless you are checking hotmail or yahoo. So forgive the spotty blogging. I am trying to keep everyone updated!

On another note:
I had more people come to my blog yesterday to check in on the baby than has ever visited my blog in one day (215). Thanks for visiting!

More Pictures and videos to come!

Jovie Capri, starring in her first movie...

Introducing...

Here is my new baby girl. Jovie Capri Gaddis










Funny thing: She looks JUST LIKE Jaxon did when he was born. She is so beautiful!!

She is Beautiful!!

Jovie Capri Gaddis entered the world at 7:36am, weighing in at 7lbs 9oz. and 19 in. long. she is unbelievably beautiful!! she looks just like Jaxon did when he was born.

pictures to come!!

Welcome to our Journey

welcome to our families journey of welcoming our new baby girl into the world. Expect several posts today so be sure to keep coming back and checking in.

it is 5:30AM. We just checked into the hospital for pre-op. Bethany is hooked up to all the machines right now. Jovie's heart rate is 142. The scheduled C-section is for 7:30am.

Here we go!! I'm glad you are with us!

*I'm blogging from my phone until I get to an internet connection, so pictures are to come*

Today

I submit a song that my friend, Alex, and I wrote for the American Idol Songwriter's Competition. I will keep you all posted. I know, I know...it is a long shot, but if we make it into the top 20 songs, then the public votes, and I will call upon all of my readers here to go and vote...but that is a good ways away.