Search terms

OK...I have to admit that I borrowed blatantly stole this idea from someone else's blog. Google is an amazing thing. However, I'm not at all certain how the following search terms could have landed anyone on my little cyber space over the past month.

With all that said, here is the list:

"cheap flowers" (I'm not sure if I should be offended or oddly proud of this one)


"trombone tattoo ideas" (To the best of my knowledge, I haven't ever blogged about those)

"hispanicpastries" (Thank God for that 'r')

"key tattoos on legs" (Again, I'm drawing a blank on how tattoo searches would have led to my inkless blog)

"one of my favorite" (Aww shucks, you're one of my favorites too!)

"st pete vineyard facebook" (Totally legit, since I have been the worship leader there for over two years)

"tattooed legs" (Maybe I should get some tats and begin blogging about them...seems to be in high demand)

So, there you have it. These are the search terms that led some of the 344 visitors to my blog over the past month. I have to admit that this is a pretty cool exercise and I'll plan on updates from time to time.

Sneaky

"I think I'll visit a Vineyard church today."

One simple sentence...as a status update and it was done. The groundwork was laid for the Long family to be super-sneaky today.

See, I was supposed to be coming back to Florida on March 30th. Supposedly. What happened instead was that I came home on the 23rd–a full week early. The only people that knew were my immediate family. No friends and certainly not my church family. Sneaky.

So, I've been home since Friday evening, catching up on hugs and kisses from my wife and boys, turning off location services on my iPhone and iPad, hoping that I wouldn't be caught hanging out in Florida a week earlier than had originally been planned.

Today, I got to surprise my church family by showing up unannounced. And it was so much fun. I love the St. Pete Vineyard peeps so dearly and it was a blast to get all the hugs and such all day long. It was great to eat lunch with my friends and it's especially awesome to get an extra week with the family Long.

I'll be hanging out here for the next two weeks, working from home and trying to convince my bosses that it's a great idea for me to work two weeks here and then two weeks in Michigan, as opposed to the initial three weeks in Michigan and one week in Florida plan that we started with. They're from the midwest and are honestly some of the most sincerely nice people I have ever worked with so hopefully, this works out.

More importantly, the life on pause phase is over for the time being and I can do normal things like watch TV on a couch instead of a bed, eat something other than peanut butter sandwiches and fast food, and hug my wife and kids every night and morning and in between. I love FaceTime on my phone, but nothing beats the real face time I'll be getting with family and friends over these next couple of weeks.

I have so missed you all very much.

Here's to many more to come

Week one of the Long Family Adventure is in the books. I made it. I beat the Michigan winter. I am a survivor. Kinda.

I heard on the news this was the 6th warmest winter in Michigan history. For me, this is the coldest week of my life. I've never worn so many layers, worn as heavy a jacket...indoors, or suffered as much from dry sinuses as I have this past week. And this is a mild winter. To be precise, as long as they have been keeping track of weather in Michigan, there have only been five other winters where the temps and snowfall have been less. As Michigan winters go, 2011-2012 is the absolute runt of the litter...the 90-pound weakling.

So, as much as I would like to tout how tough and thoroughly bad ass I am for making it through my first week, I'm probably a weenie. And I will stick by that story as long as I keep wearing gloves in 35 degree temperatures.

On top of channeling my inner Bear Grylls, I'm also trying to buy a new car, looking into finding a furnished apartment for less than $2000 a month, scouting potential landing spots for the Family Long and visiting churches. All of this is sandwiched between working 40 hours a week, learning a new job and doing my best to maintain connection with my wife and kids, and all my friends and family still back in Florida. Whew...I'm tired. But, strangely, I'm energized. This is, after one week, one of the craziest, most thrilling and exhilarating adventure I've attempted. And I love it!

Don't get me wrong...I miss the love of my life. I miss my goof ball sons and I miss all of my friends and family. I miss the familiarity of Florida. I miss not having a stuffy nose. And I even miss flip flops. But, this is gonna be a blast and I can't wait to share even more of it with you. In the meantime, I'll leave you with one of my favorite pics from the weekend:

This is a shot of the downtown of one of the towns we're considering, Northville, MI. Stay tuned, folks...there's (lots) more to come.