]]> http://www.kyleoneal.com/blog/641/feed 0 http://www.kyleoneal.com/blog/599 http://www.kyleoneal.com/blog/599#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:41:58 +0000 kyle http://www.kyleoneal.com/?p=599

So we had a lot of fun doing the Word Scramble and had a LOT of buzz going all over Facebook, Twitter, and our family blog.  Melissa and I are so excited and simply cannot wait to meet and introduce you to our little princess, Madison.  We’ve decided on the name Faith for her middle name, naming her after Melissa’s mom’s middle name.  Stay tuned in to our family blog for all the details and more announcements about Melissa’s pregnancy and Madison’s birth.

1. Melissa is 5 weeks away from our due date of meeting our little princess.  I think she may be late.  You never know with these things, but her whole family has been late on due dates so that’s going to be my guess.  Either way, I can’t wait to meet our beautiful little girl.
2. Our last baby shower is tomorrow.  Melissa’s mom is throwing it for family and people from our old church, Kennesaw First Baptist.  We’ve got SOOO much baby stuff.  It’s amazing being this blessed by so many people who care about you.  We love you and thank you all.
3. Melissa’s dad didn’t want to be stuck at the house during a baby shower so he invited me to an Atlanta Thrashers game.  I’m getting stoked about that.  I haven’t been to one in over a year.  That’s one sport that I really enjoy going to see live.
4. I’ve been replacing alot of my gear here lately.  One HUGE project is that I sold alot of my pedals and bought the ones I’d actually use.  I’m waiting on one pedal to get back from being repaired, but when it does I’ll post a blog about my new electric pedalboard.  And maybe one about my existing acoustic pedalboard as well.  Another thing I’ve ordered and should receive around the end of February are some Fidelity Custom mold triple driver in-ears.  I’m really excited about these improving the sound of the band in my ears so I can focus more on leading people into worship than trying to hear the right things in my ears.  (only a musician may understand that statement.  it’s just that as a musician, you want to be able to hear things clearly and evenly in your ears.  if you can’t, you’re distracted.)
5. We filed our taxes on Monday and should be getting our refund in a few weeks.  I think we’ve decided to put some in savings and to spend some on the remaining items needed for our little baby girl.  Again, I simply cannot wait to meet her!!!

1. Having a baby is awesome! Melissa is finally starting to show and it’s very sexy…not going to even lie about it.  And in 4 days (Tuesday), we get to find out whether we’re having a boy or girl.  We are so freaking excited about that.  We’ve been dying to know.  And on top of all that, about 5 minutes ago Melissa told me to put my hand on her stomach and I felt the baby kick.  That was one of the coolest and most humbling feelings I’ve ever felt.
2. I love seeing students share their faith. This morning Andy and I went to Woodland Middle School FCA to hear one of our students, Noah Oakley, speak to about 50 of his peers.  He shared that we should never worry about what we are facing because nothing is too small for God.  It actually reminded me of a quote I once heard, “When confronted with a Goliath-sized problem, do you think, ‘He is just too big to face!’  Or like David do you think, ‘He is just too big to miss!’”  Great job this morning, Noah!  We’re really proud of you.
3. The Office was hilarious last night. I’ll be honest…I was starting to get a little worried at the start of this season.  It just didn’t seem to have much substance and wasn’t all that funny.  But after the Jim and Pam wedding episode last week and now with this hilarious one as well…The Office is back on track!
4. I finally got an Avalon U5. I’ve been wanting an Avalon U5 for about 4 years now.  But they are stinking $600 new and I just couldn’t afford that.  Well, the sound guy, Steve, at Burnt Hickory told me he had a friend with one.  He offered me a great deal and I’m selling some other gear to offset it and I got it.  I used it Wednesday night for the first time and I was just blown away.  The tone that this thing produces is phenomenal.  I already thought my acoustic sounded great already but this is the icing on the cake.
5. I finished reading “Wild at Heart”. My buddy Joel returned from serving in the Navy and mentioned this book in one of our first conversations.  As he handed me his copy to borrow he said, “This book has changed my life.”  I echo that.  It is about a being the man that God has created us to be instead of the one that society and culture has told men to be.  It was a great read and taught me a lot.  If you haven’t read “Wild at Heart” as a man, then I strongly encourage you to read it.  For the women, the author and his wife co-wrote “Captivating“.  Don’t miss out on these awesome books!

1. Still pumped about being able to find out the gender of our baby on Tuesday, October 27th.  The doctor said that Melissa and the baby are both healthy and doing well.  Knowing the gender will really help us prepare for what to get for the baby.  Please continue to pray that everything stays as smooth as it has been already.
2. I’ve been looking for these $10 shoes that Walmart sells.  I’ve gone to a bunch of Walmarts and they seem to be out of them.  This saddens me.  If I find some, I’m buying them all!
3. Sunday will be our 1 year anniversary as a church.  How cool is that?  God has done some incredible things already but we know there is more still to come.  How great is our God!
4. This really made me laugh hard yesterday.  Maybe you need a laugh too…  http://bit.ly/3UXTId
5. Question: What are you doing with your life, your family, or your career that needs to change in order to glorify God fully?

1. These last few months have been tough.  I lost 3 grandparents to cancer in the last 4 months.  And this past Monday we found out that Melissa’s grandma has pancreatic cancer.  Like I said in my last blog post…I hate cancer.  This is something that is consuming my mind 24/7.
2. This Sunday finishes up our Disciple series.  It’s been a great series that has really challenged our church in different areas.  Then, on October 4th, The Well turns 1 year old!  How cool is that!  Man, God has done some pretty amazing things in 1 year.  I can’t wait to see what He has in store next.
3. I’m 44 days away until I’m 25.  I should blog a birthday list like I always do.  Man, I feel old.  25, married, and a baby on the way.  God, I just pray that you use me with the rest of my life to glorify You and bring people to know You.
4. Life Groups at The Well are about to start up.  I’m pretty pumped about this for our church.  We sorta kinda had some bible studies going on before the summer started but they weren’t official.  Please be praying for us as Melissa and I are trying to figure out what age group to teach and what to teach them.  Although I have a feeling that no matter what or who we teach, we’ll be learning just as much if not more.
5. I’ve really enjoyed getting to spend some time with my buddy Joel.  We were in high school together and played in a band called Dead Man Walking together.  Then after my first year of college, he joined the Navy.  He went all over the country and served our country to the fullest.  He was able to come to our wedding this past December and something profound hit him: He was serving his country, but not fully serving God.  Since then, he is out of the Navy and searching for where God wants him right now.  I love this dude to death and am praying that the passion and fire he has for God will spread like the California wild fires.

William E. O’Neal
June 18, 1933 – May 22, 2009
Lost life to leukaemia
Won by Jesus Christ

James W. Carson
December 28, 1933 – August 30, 2009
Lost life to lymph node cancer
Won by Jesus Christ

Emily B. O’Neal
September 11, 1934 – September 18, 2009
Lost life to a brain tumor
Won by Jesus Christ

1. Grow deeper and deeper in love with Christ.
2. Become a better husband.
3. Become a better leader/pastor.
4. Become a better worship leader, guitar player, and singer.
5. Focus on writing new worship songs that can change our world’s view of worship.
6. Raise up leaders within The Well and delegate different areas of my duties.
7. Continue reading at least 1 book a month.
8. Lose 30 pounds ASAP.
9. Develop closer relationships with other couples in the church.
10. Pay off Melissa’s car and my car and become debt free.

Our first date was at my apartment.  I had just ran into her at US Play about 2 weeks before and we started talking on the phone and texting a little and we kept saying we needed to hang out sometime. Then she ended up stopping by my apartment for about 30 minutes one night while I had some guys over to play Wii.  She just wanted to say hey and all so I walked her out when she left.  It probably sounds cheesy to say but when I said thanks for stopping by and gave her a hug, I just KNEW something was different.  I wasn’t sure what it was, but I felt a warmth in my heart.   Well, I somehow got around to asking her what she was doing for New Years and she said she is working until 9pm.  So I asked her what she was doing afterwards.  So we made plans to hang out after she got off and watch a movie.  But when I found out she hadn’t eaten dinner I told her I would make her some dinner.  So I went up to the grocery store and got some chicken and pasta and alfredo sauce and some sparking grape juice and everything else.  So when she came over I had it all laid out and ready for her.  We watched Dodgeball and watched my cell phone clock for the new year to come in.  At midnight, we said an awkward Happy New Years and toasted our grape juice.  After the movie, we ended up talking until about 4am just reminiscing on old times at Kennesaw First Baptist and our time growing up.  (For those of you who don’t know, we have known each other for 10 years or so.  We grew up in the youth group together at church.)  It was a night I will never forget.

Well for Valentine’s Day I went all out.  It was our first Valentine’s and I already knew this is the girl I was going to ask to marry me.  So on the night before I gave her a poem that basically said, “There are not enough ways to tell you that I love you, so I plan on using our first Valentine’s together to start telling you all the ways.”  So the next morning she woke up to a rose with a little note attached to it.  It read “I love you because you brighten my day.”  And all throughout the day there were roses wherever she turned.  I was always 2 or 3 steps ahead of her.  When she got in her car to go to class, there was one in her front seat.  When she went to class she got one there.  We met up for lunch at Subway and the guy that made our sandwich said “Oh ya…I think I have something else for you.”  And that rose read “I love you because you are so cute when you eat.”  That night we went to dinner at Provino’s and I gave her another rose before we went in.  Just everywhere she turned there was another rose with a “I love you because” note.  After dinner we drove out to Acworth Beach and took a walk around Cauble Park and on the beach.  We went out by the water and just talked and talked and talked.  The whole day was pretty special already but there was something extra special about our conversations at the beach that night.  It seems like that would have already been the perfect date, but there was more.  When we left there we went back to my apartment and I had dessert set up for us.  There were tons of tea light candles around and an empty vase on the table.  We put all her roses in the vase and I asked her to count them. 11.  “Oh…well, I have to give you a dozen since it’s Valentine’s and all.”  The 12^th rose said “I love you because…well, there are just not enough ways to tell you…so…” And I ran upstairs and grabbed another dozen that all had little notes on them saying “I love you.”  It was a pretty awesome night and another oen I will never forget. 

Well for my proposal I wanted to use a little bit of both of those nights.  Her favorite place to eat is The Melting Pot and I had actually never eaten there.  So we went to eat there and it was incredible.  I love that place now.  We had swiss cheese and white chocolate.  We didn’t even do the meat part and we were stuffed.  Afterwards, we went down to Acworth beach and took crazy pictures and just hung out.  We decided to walk along the beach and then all of a sudden…we stumbled across a bottle.  And it had a letter in it.  Little did she know it was the same bottle of grape juice from our first date on New Year’s Eve.  I had to distress it a little so she wouldn’t recognize it.  Here’s the bottle:

So I pulled out the letter and read it to her.  Here is that letter:

And I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.  It was pretty awesome.  I even had my buddy Jacob come down and hide in the bushes to film it.  Well here is that video:

Well that’s it.  She absolutely loved it.  And just in case you are wondering…she said yes.  Thanks to everyone who has said congrats to us.  We will be announcing an engagement party and wedding date real soon.  It was such a great night.  Here are some of the pictures we took right before and after.  The ones of her reading the letter was her re-reading it because she still couldn’t believe it all.

If you can’t see the video, go here.  And if you can’t see the pictures from the whole night, go here.