The Story of Levi

November 10, 2008

7:30pm - Rachel runs to Subway while I'm giving Ezra a bath and getting him ready for bed.

8:00pm - Rachel's contractions are about 15 mins apart, we start watching Heroes.

8:30pm - Rachel's contractions go to 5 mins apart for about an hour...PAIN ONSET!!!

9:30pm - Car is loaded and house is ready but Rach is in too much pain to move...

9:40pm - Helping Rachel to car...car is running in the street, Rachel screaming, I'm waiting on friend to arrive to stay with sleeping toddler in the house....TENSE!!!!

9:45pm - Friend arrives, and we flee towards the hospital...running red lights, passing cars while honking and flying down the road!

9:50pm - Arrive at hospital, frantically try to convince ER staff that baby is IMMINENT!!

9:53pm - Rachel is lifted out of car, Levi's head is almost out!

9:55pm - Arrive in hospital room, nurses everywhere, no Dr. in sight! PUSH RACH PUSH!!!

10:01pm - Levi Olen Henslee arrives!

16 minutes after we left our house Levi was born! Rach's water broke in the car and she was in INTENSE PAIN! I was freaking out! Had we not lived so close to the hospital, yours truly would have delivered his second child in the car on the side of the road! God is Good!

Thank you friends and family who have given encouragment and love. We're excited about this little guy....he was ready to come OUT!!!

Photo Gallery of Day 1

Henslee Halloween '08

Here are a few shots of Ezra on Halloween this year. In case you can't tell, he's a monkey.

Office Ruckus Video Pt. 2

Enjoy...

I did not vote "Present" this weekend

For 6 1/2 years I've been leading worship at LifeChurch.tv in Tulsa. I normally don't get sick but maybe once or twice a year. I've always been able to avoid missing the weekend but this weekend was an exception. Out of almost 350 weekends leading worship at Life....the sick bug got me.

Fortunately for me, I've got a couple of guys that are rip, roarin, and ready to go. Chris Kizzia stepped up on Saturday night with two hours notice AFTER running the Tulsa Run (15k) in under 90minutes!!! Instead of saying no, and leavin a brother high and dry, he sacrificed and even learned Bennie and the Jets (our walk in song this week.)

That made me think...had I not had guys trained and ready at a moments notice, there would have been a small catastrophe on our campus. Not to say that it can't run without me (cause it did.)

So, who do you have trained and ready to go in your ministry in case the fever bug bites?

Zoo-Mania

Bird Poo
Originally uploaded by dhenslee

We took a trip to the Zoo today with our friends the Craigs. Ezra really likes birds so we went into the Feather Fest exhibit with a ton of birds. He almost crushed one in his little hand. We would have had to name it Petey and stroked it while re-assuring it that it was a "pretty bird."

Anyway, check out the flickr album by clicking on the photo. Good times to be had by all!

He's A Golfer?

No, Ezra is not yet a golfer. I myself, have only been twice. (Need to dust off the clubs.) Today he spent a couple of hours with my running buddy Steve Harrison. I dropped him off and they watched the LPGA finals going on here in Broken Arrow, OK. He got a ball from some random ball-finder-washer-giver to little kids-guy. He wouldn't let go of it. Those are good to gnaw on!

Good Times At The Office

Have I told you that we have an open office environment? Not that we're all "open" about everything (although sometimes that's the case,) but we all share one big room without private offices. From time to time there will be a lull in the overall mood. Typically Dan the youth pastor or myself starts something just to keep the mood light.

Yesterday a delivery box came in filled with bags of air instead of packing peanuts. This is the result:

Pillar - Behind The Scenes

My friends Rob and Noah were back at the Tulsa campus this week with their band Pillar. Their new album, "For The Love Of The Game" is doing really well. Matter of fact the title track is being picked up by Major League Baseball.

They were at the campus shooting the video for MLB and I was enlisted to run lights...scary right? Anyway, here's the behind the scenes narrative video by yours truly. (I apologize for the quick, unreadable text.)

Enjoy

For The Love Of The Game

Okay, I guess I'll be dropping a name or two in this post. (please excuse me.) Some friends of mine have just released an album that you can get in iTunes (here) or at any place you can buy music. Rob Beckley and Noah Henson go to the Tulsa campus of Lifechurch.tv and are active in lifegroups. Their band Pillar is a well established Christian rock band and are worth a listen if you've never tried em out.

Here are some points if you need convincing:

• Great music for working out / running / Nascar racing / shootfighting
  
• The guitars produce a WALL OF SOUND that might make pieces of your face melt off
  
• Arguably one of the best drummers in their industry...watch out Carter!
• Noah has cool hair....a white dude with Marley-esque dreds
• Who doesn't love a bass player named after Superman?
• Rob is the real deal. Inspiring guy who truly loves to serve his friends and church
• Because I said so....sorry that's the new parent in me trying it out on you!

So, go check out their new album. Good stuff...

I Promised!

My trip last week was pretty cool. I got to sing for around 6,000 people and will be doing it all over again this week. It was good to re-connect with friends that I don't get to see that often. Each place I went to I was able to hang out with friends that I've made while helping out at the National Rallies in Ft. Worth.

We sang three songs. One was a Gaither song ( I know...I can hear your chuckling.) One was from a 90's contemporary Christian band 4Him, and the last one was from Donald Lawrence and the Tri-city singers. Now, being at Lifechurch.tv, this is not what I'm used to doing...so it was a stretch for me! The Donald Lawrence song was somewhat of a fit...seeing that I'm part Black Dutch.

Anyway, I had a really cool time flying around on a private jet with the founders of Premier Designs. Here are some pictures..enjoy!

Why So Sick?

Last Thursday I picked up some sort of runny nose, itchy throat, coughing, sickness thing. I hate being sick. Even though I had the detached medicine head thing going on...I had to plow on through for the weekend. We have 6 experiences (services, for the non Lifechurch goer) that go from 5pm on Saturday night through 6pm on Sunday night.

I really think it was my praying...bags of plain lays...my drummer Matthias' nasty Honey-Lemon-Ginseng-Green Tea....lots of water, and my friend Kyle Panter's concoction called "Throat-Coat" that helped me through the weekend! We had over 1,400 people at the Tulsa campus this weekend. It was the first weekend for the 2nd Tulsa campus (South Tulsa) which is located in Bixby. They had over 750 people attending today!

It was overall a great weekend. Hopefully the sick thing will go away soon...I gotta get back to running in the mornings...I NEED it!

Aww, That's Sad...

So my family (Rachel and Ezra) went to Little Rock to visit family that they didn't see for Christmas. This left me as a bachelor for a couple of nights.

I was kinda looking forward to these couple of nights because usually my friends ask to hang out but I usually choose hanging out with my family before Ezra goes to sleep. So a couple nights to hang out with friends seemed awesome!

I did manage to hang out with some friends but wound up both nights trying to figure out what to do with myself. So, here I am at Starbucks (photo) charting music for upcoming worship sets. All alone, but being very productive. This is not a pity post, just an acknowledgment of an ironic situation. The family has returned and I got to hang out with my amazing son and eat Totinos pizza with my sweet wife. Back to life...back to reality! (Name that artist!)

You're Doing What???

So I'm at work and my friend calls me and asks me what my address is. Come to find out, my new friend is on his way to my house with a trailer and a couple of guys with chainsaws! When I got home from work, not only was every branch and limb that fell now cleaned up, but they took care of my neighbor's big fallen limb....AND raked my front and back yard up!

I was amazed at the generosity of some people! Now I get to focus on taking care of last minute family issues (still haven't finished christmas shopping) instead of loading limbs all day. So, a HUGE THANK YOU to my friend...and his son and co-worker for busting their tails so I didn't have to. Amazing!

Falling Trees, Bitter Cold, No Power...OH MY!

This past week has been a little on the crazy side of things. We were hit hard with one of the worst ice storms in Oklahoma history. The ice fell from the sky and froze everything! Due to the sheer weight, trees started shedding limbs and bowing down to the ground.

Early Monday morning of last week, Rachel and I laid in bed listening to the giant Maple tree in our backyard creak, then snap, then WHOOSH!, then CRASH as it eschewed limbs. Several limbs hit the roof. We were afraid that they'd come through the roof or fall through the windows. We have an older home with mature trees all over the neighborhood. It literally looks like either a tornado or a bomb went off in our edition.

I bought a chain saw, and my friend Rob came over to help me trim some trees. Now I have to get all these branches from the back yard into the front, load em up and haul em off! VERY EXCITE!!!

We lost power Monday morning, left and went to the church to work in the heat. Then lost power there. We then stayed at a friend/boss' house with their four kids and our friends the Beckleys with their little guy. All in all, 12 people under one roof...NO ONE DIED! It was like a big sleep over! So, now..power's restored and all is left is the dang tree limbs! When this all started, over 500,000 people were without power. A week later and it's down to 100,000.

I'm Askin For It!

Yep, I ran the half-marathon a little over two weeks ago. Now, this weekend I'm running a measly 5k. I got a small addiction to running over the past few months. Part of it is the hangout time with people that I enjoy being around, and the other part of it is challenging myself and meeting goals. At any rate, in order to meet another large goal that I've set for myself, I will have to participate in smaller races through the winter to keep up the goal setting pace!

This weekend we are running in the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis in Tulsa. There are a lot of people that singed up from the Tulsa campus of Lifechurch.tv. We have formed a team and will be wearing some nice red shirts that advertise our church and point people to the website. If everyone who signed up at church actually registers, we'll raise at least $1,000 for Arthritis and we'll have around 50 people running together. If you would like to donate, you can do so at my donation site. We're really trying to find ways to partner with our community and reach out while making people aware of our presence in the area.

You Ran HOW FAR?

So my boss Chris let me and Aaron take off of work this past weekend so that we could run the Route 66 Marathon. Over 4,000 people ran in either the Full, Half, or Relay Marathon. Only 1,300 or so actually finished the Half Marathon. Aaron and I were two of them! My goal was to run the 13.1 miles in two and a half hours. Our official time was 2:28:01. I beat my goal by two minutes! The main thing was that I have never really put a physical challenge before myself like this. I've been training since August and feel like I did pretty well....except for the two miles of up hill starting at mile 10! So now, I'm thinking of running the Okc Memorial Marathon in the spring of 08' and doing the full thing. That's a hefty goal! 26.2 miles! Aaaaah!

Here are a couple shots of me and Aaron running, and posing afterwards. Oh and a video my wife took at about 4 miles into it. Both our wives brought our kiddos out and met us at several points during the race to cheer us on....that was awesome! Enjoy...

That's One Fuzzy Bear

This is obviously a year of firsts for our son Ezra. We have decided to allow our kids to participate in the pagan ritual of dressing up for Halloween, walk around a trusty-worthy neighborhood, knock on doors and ask for candy. *Insert gratuitous prayer for our family decisions. Our friends Todd and Stephenie Craig were nice enough to invite us out with their son who is actually old enough to say, "Trick or Treat." He actually said, "to infinity and beyond!" The thing about this night was that both of our friend's parents were there with them and were active together in their grandson's life.

More than a nice house, or car, or any"thing" else, we found ourselves wishing for Ezra's grandparents to be more cognitive of him and actively pursuing a relationship with him. Until he gets a little older, we may not see much of that! But, until then, we've got great friends who act like family most of the time anyway. We can't wait to begin a legacy that will carry on through with our grandkids someday!

You know me, I like to show you pictures of my kiddo...here's a couple:

Pumpkin Town

We recently went to Pumpkin Town with some friends of ours. Ezra has quite the contemplative personality. We never got a smile out of him, I think he was too enamored with all the pumpkins and his friend James!

Man-cation

Okay so before this last couple weeks of working like crazy...I took a few days off. A college friend of mine (who's dad is my dentist) has a family cabin overlooking the White River in Flippin, AR. Yep, Flippin, Arkansas.

Anyway, it was nice to hang out with my friend Todd. He is the young adult pastor for another large church in Tulsa. Asbury United Methodist. We did manly things such as: Drive ATV's through stream beds and up n' down mountain trails, went 4x4ing in the cj5, built fires using gasoline, partook of Padrons, had a Fat Tire, played video games, skipped rocks across the river, went hiking, and ate whatever we wanted too. Yes, some of that was cryptic but that is to confuse any female readers. Anyway, Todd and I often get together to bounce ideas off of each other about our ministries. It's nice to get an outside perspective from someone in ministry who is unattached to what I do everyday. So, if you're looking for some of the best fly fishing in the country, or just need to go somewhere remote and scenic. The White River is gorgeous! Here are a few pics from my trip.

Nashville Bluegrass

So I've never really been that big of a bluegrass lover. Last night we went to a local club in downtown Nashville called "The Station Inn." I got to hang out with Todd Roy our Regional Campus Pastor, Brandon Frazier, and his wife Kacie. Good times. Brandon took us to this little place. At first I was a little afraid for my safety but that feeling quickly waned with the realization that we were surrounded with people that were a tad bit older than us. (Usually middle-aged people don't get all riled up and punch you in the ear.)

The place was old. I'm talking like, possibly condemning the building old. There were pictures of people that I didn't know at all. Then the band got up and started to play some face melting bluegrass. Well, bluegrass doesn't really melt your face as much as it twists it...mine at least. However, the guys in the band were freaking amazing! I've never in my life seen someone play a mandolin (wiki) faster than this guy. The band was comprised of four instruments: mandolin, upright bass, acoustic guitar, and banjo. They would take turns soloing which was nice. The waitress came by and asked what we wanted to drink, I asked what they had, she responded, "Beer." Hmmm, my choices were pretty limited. I did have a "thing of popcorn."

Okay, so to wrap up this post, one thing I noticed was that there is apparently some sub-culture that exists with bluegrass. The lead singer guy would impressionate some bluegrass legend and the place would erupt with laughter. They would call out songs written about other bluegrass legends and we quickly realized that we were mere observers in this event. We had no real point of reference to appreciate all that the singer was talking about. We knew we must be missing out on something big....not sure if we really wanted in but the music and the thing of popcorn were good.

My thoughts went to our church. How many times have I made someone feel like we did. Told inside jokes and dropped names as if the first timer would actually know what I was talking about. We don't have beer or things of popcorn. The best we have is McAlisters Sweet Tea and Krispy Kreme.....but hopefully the music is good!