Where does the time go? I’ll tell you where it goes. Right down the chronological freeway without stopping. I really REALLY love this time of year and when 10/1/13 rolled around I told my bride, “I need this to slow down. I just want to enjoy fall before it gets away.” Well I did, but like weekends, it seemed to fly. Oh well.

In addition to the pumpkin patch experience, the family went to our first (and only) high school football game of the season. K and I both dig the Friday night lights experience, but have missed the last couple of seasons due to various reasons. This year we didn’t want to miss it, mostly because CJ was gonna be around to check out all the sites and sounds, but also to rekindle that tradition with each other. We also made an opportunity to hang out with our fun neighbor Doug who I believe is the best at tweets and Instagraming, but that’s just me.

Yours truly also spent the last weekend of the month on the streets of Conway competing in his third annual half marathon. Let me say this. I’m NOT a runner. There isn’t something in me that needs to convince anyone that running is for all of us. However, I do enjoy it. When I train for stuff like this, I tend to run early in the mornings when it’s dark and quiet, and there is something therapeutic about the isolation that exists with nothing but me, my iPod and my thoughts. Running in the half marathon is gratifying in a sense that it becomes payoff for all of my training, but also that it’s just as therapeutic, minus the darkness and quiet :). Still have my iPod though. Some quick facts about this years race: 1) I beat my time by 7 minutes (a big deal for this guy) 2) After I crossed the finish line, my calves decided to go into hibernation and I was forced to crash on the pavement and need the assistance of some of the local workers there. 3) The medals have gotten progressively bigger every year. I have a feeling that my 5 year run will end with a big piece of sheet metal in lieu of an actual one.

I also got the chance to be a part of the annual fundraiser that the Crisis Pregnancy Center of Central Arkansas held downtown in Little Rock. This years speaker was Voddie Baucham, a pastor out of Houston who has made himself familiar to me through various venues I’ve attended over the last 15 years, from revivals to conferences to camps. He opened up his message by saying “I always find it funny when I come to an event and folks don’t have their bibles. I’m not a speaker. Radio Shack has those, I came to preach.” As he has done in the past, Voddie presented a powerful message on promoting the value of life from a biblical context. One of the things that stood out for me personally was his importance that we don’t just get excited about an idea or a slogan, but that we take an active roll to live out what it means to honestly value life, particularly that of the unborn. We had some great feedback and were very grateful with the turnout and the financial support we received.

October closed out with CJ’s first Halloween. K and I as a couple never really dressed up for all Hallow’s eve. Last year I dressed up as Clark Kent / Superman. But we didn’t know if we wanted to do anything special with him. Well, when one works at a pregnancy center, one is bound to discover that people bring the cutest outfits to donate. It was because of this that our little man was involuntarily given the chance to be a dragon.

It was the cutest thing ever. We got a few shots of him in front of the house, and when K took him to work, her boss gave him his own bucket of treats. We also took him over to see my parents where they did the same. The jury is still out on whether or not he enjoyed it, but Mom and Dad have no doubts that they did.