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These are some pics from several week ago when we went to the desert for Valentines Day. Sorry that I'm not current with my pic posts like the 'Ash' man, but enjoy none the less.

Hannah and best bud, Victoria

Asian cheeks

A Year Older And I Think I Feel It...

So my birthday was yesterday, and it is either another year of age that I feel at this moment or the stress my body has endured over this last month. I'm going with the last month! How old are you, some of you may ask... that's for me to know and for you to guess. No, I'm just kidding, I'm now 31. I'm not just thirty, I'm now in the thirties. But you know what they say now... that forty is the new thirty, so I guess that makes me "twenty". Confused yet?

Anyway, the Oscars were also yesterday, so we had people over to watch the Oscars and to celebrate my birthday and Davina's birthday (my sister-in-law's b-day is today). I received some awesome gifts from everyone. Nikki gave me Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind(great movie), Davina and Scott(her fiance) gave me Dawn of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead...the first being scary and the second being downright hilarious, a Barnes & Noble giftcard from my in-laws, Russ an Lisa gave me Lucado's Faith Builders cards for my desk with a neat holder, The Bourne Supremacy and I, Robot from Rachel (in case you hadn't noticed I like movies), and my parents gave me a DVR with TiVo. TiVo here I come. No more commercials, baby! It was a great birthday, but I just felt like I had no energy.

Also, a prayer request. My cousin's wife, Kelly Hall ( from Nashville), has had some pretty serious headaches over the last several weeks... so they went to get her checked out and found through an MRI that she had hemorraging on/in her brain! Which could lead to brain anarism. She is about my age. I'm not yet sure of the course of action they have to take but please think of her when talking to the 'man upstairs'. I'll try and keep you updated.

I'm going to post some pictures now in a different post so see you up above this post! =)

Howell Picture Goodness

This a picture Nikki took a couple of weeks ago during winter camp in the fog. Believe me, this scanned post doesn't do the real picture justice, but I still thought I should share it with you guys.


Those Howells are talented, I tell you what. :)

TO check out roughly how much snow we got, go to Nikki's blog page and see what I mean. It finally stopped yesterday afternoon! Nothing at this point is more defeating than to get the snow all cleaned up (which takes all day on the tractor and in the plow truck) only to have to do it all over again as if you never did anything in the first place.
Hopefully we'll have bright sunny weather for this weekend's winter camp.

....still snowing...

... the backhoe and snow shovel are not my friends...

Rain, Rain, Go Away..Don't Come Back Another Day!

Okay, so it seems that we now can't have a winter camp without some form of wet weather. Today, again, it has rained, snowed, hailed, slushed and fogged. Make up your mind, weather. And Becky just informed me that supposedly it will last until Tuesday!
So this will be another late start for winter camp #5 because of the crawl of traffic and weather that all of the churches have to wade through to get here.

Did everyone have a good Valentines Day? My fam and I went to the desert to be with our friends Sun. and Mon. We spent our Valentines Day with the kids. Real romantic, huh? It was still good though because I got to spend time with the girls which has been in short supply lately with all of the recruiting trips.
I'll post some pics from last weekend when winter camp #5 is over.

Just sitting here in the office waiting for campers......

waiting.....

and then they get here and it's GO, GO, GO, GO ..... then Sunday hits and another one down.

My Last Two Weeks... In Pictures

So these are pictures from my last two weeks. Hope you enjoy!

First, I went to Joshua Wilderness Institute at Hume Lake and got to see my buddy Darin (see pic below). Daniel Skipper went with me to keep me company plus he had two friends he graduated with in the Joshua program. We were on the road longer than we were at Hume but it was a good trip.

Jan. 24th 

Next I went to Cal Baptist on Thursday the 27th and got to see Nikki, Kyle, Heather Gibson, Adrian, Stephanie and some possible future summer staff. Sorry I didn't take pictures of this day, guys.

We then had our second winter camp the next day which was rainy, slushy, snowy, and icy all in the same night. Saturday of our wintercamp you all heard the great news of what happened between J and Amanda at my house and I'm sure saw the pictures of the ring. Then Sunday after winter camp Nikki, Amanda, and Jasen hung out with my fam before Amanda and I headed to BBC the next morning. See below:

J and Amanda loungin' 


Hannah and Leah after nap 


The future 'Ashdizzles' and 'Pooty'. (winter camp joke) 


Nikki take care of 'Cheeks' LeBrun 

The next morning (still dark) Amanda and I left Pondo after having to pull the car out of the ice patch it was parked in with my 4runner. We flew into Springfield that afternoon at about 3:00p.m. Oh, lovely, gray Springfield. Got to hang out with Wess most of the week which a was treat for me and got to see alot of former Pondo staff. Most it seems aren't coming back or are still deciding. If you guys know any of these people push them in the 'right' direction for me, will ya'. It was a good but tiring trip and I miss my family immensely as I'm sure Amanda also missed Jasen.


John 


Brittany 


Daniel 


Erin. 


Amanda or Zoolander? 


Wess and I 

We came back Thursday the 3rd (also Ben's birthday for those of you who didn't know) and then did the winter camp thing all over again the next day. We had Steve Solomon this weekend and he is always awesome. His boys are sooo cool especially hearing his oldest, Zach(6), do Napoleon Dynamite impersonations.
We (the fam and I) went to the Skippers today to watch the Super Bowl with them, the Kovars and Nikki. I'm glad at least it was a close game even though I wnated the Eagles to win.

Tomorrow I leave at 7 am to head to Biola for two days for more recruiting (it never ends) to try and find some people dedicated to doing ministry well. Please if you think of it, keep me in prayer for guidance and wisdom.
I'm also looking forward to hanging with my homeboy, Ben.

So hope you enjoyed the pics... maybe more will be here next week...who knows. Until that time... peace


..and I miss you guys!

Moment In Pondo History...

...And it happened during winter camp at my house! Read Jasen and Amanda's blogs to learn more info about that moment. I'm very happy for them both and "welcome to the 'family', J".
We (Amanda and I) are off to BBC tomorrow at the butt crack of dawn to do our annual Pondo Pines summer camp recruiting trip. Pray that God will guide us as we interview potential summer staff. It is kind of stressful.
When I get back I'll post some pictures of our recruiting trips (Darin and Joshua, BBC former staff) and from this weekend(Jasen, Amanda, Nikki and my Fam). I'm sure you guys don't really care, but I'll post them anyway! :)

Some Privilege

Ok, here is my RANT, Ticketmaster sucks!! I'm a U2 fanclub member (paid for privilege) and it took me nearly two hours to get two tickets to their L.A. show because Ticketmaster's incapable website and server! Talk about frustrating, when I kept submitting my ticket request and seeing the same message over and over again..'Internal server error please try again later'. What!!?! I did this for two freakin' hours until I finally get through and get two tickets (that are in the rafters, I might add), go through the whole purchase process, click submit or checkout or whatever it was, and then it says it lost my order!!

None of you have ever seen me truly pissed off and be glad you haven't. I was about ready to throw my computer moniter through the bedroom window. Not only did this happen once, but three times!!! Finally with my wife's attempts to calm me down, I got through and was able to make a ticket purchase with a confirmation. So, good luck to the rest of you guys out there who want tickets. Bottom line Ticketmaster is arcaic and sucks when it comes to big venues. This happened to us last time with the Elevation tour and we weren't able to get tickets for any of the shows because of their system! I thought I'd be able to remedy that by joining the fanclub, now having DSL and be able to buy presale, but it is still a royal pain in the you-know-what.

Anyway, I guess my RAVE is that I WILL be going to the April 5th show at the Staples center to see the greatest band in the world with my wife, who is an even bigger fan than me! And we will have an awesome time despite not getting the seats we had hoped for. Just to hear their music live will be reward in itself. I hope to see some of your faces there as well!
But if your buying tickets either wait in line or have some other reliable source because my luck with Ticketmaster has been very poor!

Thanks for reading my Rant and Rave.

First Winter Camp Come And Gone...

Well, we're done with the 1st one and it went very well! Great response to worship with Everday Collision and to Jerry Huson's teaching. Everything was on schedule (can't figure that one out) and there were no injuries. Got to see some familiar faces I haven't seen in along time. Alyssa(sorry about your day, girl), Sara Slavich, Josh Coffey, Darin McWatters and his fam, Jerry Huson, my brotha's Ben and Ashdizzle, and of course my great winter staff... Amanda, Nikki, Mandy, Bobby, & A.K.
Now it's off to fight traffic and head to Hume for more recruiting. I'll probably be on the road longer than I'll actually be at Hume.... but it will be worth it if I find some good summer staff. And plus I hope to see E-roc, Cliff, Johnny, and spend maybe alittle more time with Darin. We'll see.

Stress Reliever... Big Time!

I know that some of the more 'sophisticated' people out there think that video games is a waste of time and energy, but what if that energy is draining you? Like stress and anxiety? Halo 2 has been a great realease of this 'bad karma' :) for me over the last couple of days (am I right, jda?).
So on a lighter note from my last posts.... here is a little Master Chief art for all the Halo 2 homies out there...and if you aren't on Xbox Live yet, get there soon! And if you want to play with 'moi, ask for my gamertag. Peace to all of you... except those in the Halo universe.

. What's up innesfree and bensjammin21? Sorry, I 'm not that good, yet. I need a little more time. Just riding the coattails of you guys! ;)

What Was, No Longer Is...

..The same. Meaning that the camp's topography has changed due to our 'lovely' recent weather. The 'creek' that ran by the volleyball courts and firepit is now two rivers. One flowing down the road to the lower cabins and one flowing throught the lower volleyball court. The bridge that used to cross that pre-existing creek is now washed down to the concrete roadway by the lower cabins. The road going up the ridge by the basketball courts has been almost obliterated by the force of water flowing over it. The whole bottom floor of the infirmiry flooded and Cabin 1 had, count 'em, 8 inches of water in it!
Everything is in the drying process now and thank God we now have sunshine...but until the snow melts we really won't know the extent of how much the landscape has changed.
I'm the most tired I think I've ever been, physically and emotionally. And I have camp in less than 2 weeks!
But , you know what, despite my worrying and stress and all the stuff I can't change... bottom line, God is in control. And he always is and will be. Remember that, J.

So sorry to those of you, if I haven't returned phone calls or emails, I've just been too exhausted. But I still love ya'.

Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder...

Sorry, that I've been away for awhile... I've had two days off since Christmas and that is including today!

Most of it is due impart to the weather we have been getting up here! So far we've probably got 2 ft. of snow on the ground with more on the way. I'm getting sick of snow real fast! I'm soooo tired. Moving snow is alot of work and we are starting to run out of places to put it.

Here are some pics from today... the sun is out finally!

Winter Wonderland Infirmiry

Lodge from across the field

Zipline

Looking through icicle to zipline

Melting in motion...just not fast enough.

Please pray that we don't get too much more... I need to get behind my desk and get organized for winter camps and summer recruiting . It's hard too do that when you're having to keep the camp accessible to the outside world. Don't get me wrong, snow is good, we need it... but as they say, sometimes you can have too much of a good thing...in this case, way too much. Plus I do want to be able to enjoy my days off and not worry if my roof is going to collapse under the weight of snow if I dont get up there and shovel it.
Anyway, I guess this is a little bit of a rant.

Hope everyone had a good holiday time!

Ben and Wes, I will call you guys back, I promise! I'm just not sure when! ;) Love you guys.

Merry Christmas, everybody! Leah's 1st Christmas. Picture taken with Mommy's new digital camera... Amanda, do you recognize the outfit? 

Official U2 Fan Club Member...$40 later!

Yep, you're reading a post from an official U2 fan club member! After paying $40 at U2.com... but I get to buy concert tickets presale before the public, get a cool U2 membership card, exclusive web music videos and interviews, and 25% off at the U2 store! Did I get ripped? Oh well, as long as I can get concert tickets for Rachel and I. We missed the Elevation tour because we couldn't get seats together and were seriously bummed. Not this time! You know it will be the best show to see this year! At least in my opinion.

I forgot about another Christmas time tradition that Rachel and I always do... every year sometime during the holidays we watch Christmas Vacation and Die Hard. Some families watch It's A Wonderful Life, Miracle On 34th Street or A Christmas Story, we watch hoilday violence and comedy. Every year. It's great!

What do you guys watch?

Christmas... traditions & memories

So, how many people out there know what I'm talking about?

Some of my earliest childhood memories are of Christmas. Like the memory of the local fire dept. driving a fire engine with Santa on the back down each and every street so that every kid got to tell Santa his Christmas wishes (or wants). Or that wondrous smell of a Christmas tree in my house after having an artificial tree for several years. How many of us associate Christmas with that tree smell? I know I do!

I had a teacher in high school who grew up in New England and said that the smell of oranges always reminded him of the holidays. Huh? He told me that then getting fresh citrus on the east coast was expensive and rare and that at Christmas time as a special gift, they would each get an orange. Now I know I take oranges for granted!

Remember as a kid on Christmas Eve having that nervousness of Santa coming...and 'what is he going to bring me'...'have I been naughty or nice?'. I know some of you are saying, ' I still feel that way'. :) Good!

Traditions...
...with my family, we would get up in the morning, get dressed, and have breakfast...yes, all before opening our gifts! That can be torture for a kid! Anyway I survived. Next we read out of the bible, the real 'Christ'mas story, we would pray and then open presents. What can I say my dad's a preacher. As much as it seemed to 'pain' me as an impatient kid, it is now a 'tradition' Rachel and I do in our house as well.
For a couple of years my dad had the 'brilliant' idea of getting our tree on Christmas Eve! Yes, I said Christmas Eve! Talk about last minute decorating...I think he did it so that he could say that he only spent $5 for a tree, because tree lots were getting rid of their inventory. Or it was the miniscule pastor's salary that he received. Anyway, that 'tradition', needless to say didn't last.
Another tradition we do now is draw names for gift giving within our family(us, my parents, Aunt Rachel, my brother...) and makes gift giving a little more personal and definitely is easier on the wallet. I find it unsettling that a lot of people go in to debt over Christmas.

Comment and tell me what are some memories or traditions you guys have or had. I 'd love to read them as I'm sure others would too.
And to all of you who are in school... you've made it! Finals are over and Christmas break is here!! Be proud of yourselves and enjoy your families.

Peace.

And goodwill toward all people. :0}

Ponderosa People...LISTEN UP!!

Out of curiosity today, I Googled my name. And even though I had interesting matches (apparently I'm also a musician) it took me to some of your blog sites as well as mine. Not surprising, right? Well, I realized that in our positions as Christians and involved in ministry (camps, churches, missions, etc..), if I was a camper or church member or someone curious to know more about us, they might question our faith based on some of the language exhibited in our blogs.

I know this might oust me from this 'little' community..., but I feel I have to speak up, especially in my position here at camp. Who knows when some 'charmed' junior higher (or board member in my case) will go looking to find more info about their camp favorite and finds our thoughts. I'm not saying I'm the 'favorite'. :)

Before it seems that I'm pointing fingers... let me say that I'm also guilty of this. For whatever reason we think that this is private. It doesn't take a whole lot to find this cache of our names. Some may think that because your blogs are listed under an alias or acronym that you're anonymous to the casual observer...how many of us have buddy link lists with all of our names down the side. All it takes is for one of us to mention another by name in our posts and it turns up in a search. Let's face it, this is the internet, not our private diaries. Ask Jasen about this type of situation. Which stinks because I loved his blog!

So what does this mean? Go covert? Invent a secret code language to address each other by? Why? So we can keep talking like sailors? NO! If people want to see what's the latest in my life, that's fine... I'm just going to post as an 'open book'. I won't care who opens that book.

I went through my old posts and either cleaned up the language or deleted the post all together which was not hard to do. I encourage some of you to do the same...because the questioning moment from someone will come. I've already had some myself. One was from...you guessed it....Dan Skipper! I didn't have an explanation for him. We don't talk like this at camp or in our churches or in front of strangers, why here?

I was reminded of my daily reading on Dec. 7th in Ephesians 5 where Paul says, "Follow God's example in everything you do because you are his dear children......Obscene stories,foolish talk, and coarse language-these are not for you. ... For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it!"


Please comment or call me! Please know that my post is out of concern and especially love for you guys. I hope it makes sense... and if doesn't , well ...... call me, I want to talk.

Catching The Red Eye...by tired daddy-o

Well, she's here, if you didn't already know. The C-section was moved to the 30th of Nov., a week after the original date. Leah was born on Tuesday the 30th at 12:58 pm. She was 8 pounds, 6 ounces and 20 inches long. Considerably smaller than Hannah was but still a good size baby. It was good that Rachel had the section done. Hannah is doing well with the adjustment, we think. I think it took a little getting used to for her that Rachel couldn't give her all her attention... but I've been giving her plenty to make up for it. Here they are from this morning... sorry the picture quality is bad.


Sleep is a little rare here this past week for me and even more so for Rachel.. trying to keep up with the feeding schedule of a newborn, but God is good and we are blessed. She looks just like Hannah did at that age.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to clone myself. I would be an excellant candidate...there would plenty of me to go around between Rachel, Hannah, Leah , my two cats(who are always meowing for attention lately), camp, friends, yada yada yada...

On a side note, if you have been on some distant moon and still haven't picked up the new U2 cd yet, get off your keister! I got mine at 11am on the release date and it hasn't left my cd player yet. I think it is awesome, especially track #3 "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own". The whole album is perfection in my opinion, but I also love U2... so I might be a little biased.

Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving? My went really well. I got to see some family that I haven't seen in many years and got reacquainted.

Hope all is well with everyone. I miss you all alot!

Hello, world!! My name is Leah Noelle LeBrun and I've been making sure that my mommy and daddy get as little sleep as possible. (Actually, that's not totally true, she's a very good baby.) My daddy says he's sorry for the lack of posts, but he's been a little busy with me , mommy and my sister, Hannah. He'll write soon. 

Just counting the days...no, I mean, hours till it is in my hands! 

Read below...