A few random stories to enjoy

Ian and Prezi:

I asked Ian for help before a Portugal trip. I wanted to get across the point that commercialization is a mosaic of activities that must be united into a big picture. He suggested that I use Prezzi as a creative tool to communicate this concept. Getting focused on the details prevents one from strategic vision. I told him about Bulter’s IC2 Overview Prezi and we watched it together. We agreed on the Prezi concept and gave Ian the Mona Lisa mosaic picture that I was playing around with in Powerpoint. He first make YEAH on Prezi – playing around. http://prezi.com/imgcalfm2uh0/yeah/ He then came up with the small to expanded view approach to match the idea that we discussed. We both searched for the pictures and worked together to select them. We started with the foot and expanded this out to the Mona Lisa mosaic. Ian took the pictures and then built and saved the Prezi for me. The linkage with the Vitruvian Man and his member was interesting! It reflects Ian’s creativity and how to take materials that are imperfect and make them into a interesting outcome. I used it when I taught the TTO officers from around Portugal at the National Training week in Faro. 

A Song that Comes to Mind Chosen by Dad

Better Man

Pearl Jam á la Ian Pogue

Waitin’, watchin’ the clock, its twelve o’clock, it’s got to stop

Tell him, take no more, he wakes the neighbors’ sleep

As we open the door, notes ring over...

We hear him sing, scream, play the bass over

We know and declare our deep love for him, can’t find a better man...

We see his present, we dream his next, can’t find a better man...

Talkin’ to ourselves, there’s no one who feels love so…

He feels our feelings, oh…

Memories back when he was small and young

And waiting for the world to come along...

Now he is becoming, seeks fresh answers

We know and declare our deep love for him, can’t find a better man...

We love him, yeah...We can’t wait to see his way

He’s becomin’, yeah...that’s why we’ll keep on watchin’

Can’t find a better man

Nicknames (if you missed them from last year - tells you so much about Ian!):

Baby Thor

Poguester

Elffy

E-man

“E”

Pooh bear

Bongo titties

Dude

Hairy beast

Little e

Chubacca

Sexy beast

Puppy

Pogue mahone

Pogunater

Poguatron

Gangsta Al Capogue

The brick

Warlock

Trash gut

Little ogy

Ian the lion hearted

Poguey bear

Pian

Pooj

Rooster

"Call me Alex"

The e-man/woman-hater,

The Hulk,

The biscuit,

Pajama boy,

Bilbo

Hobbit

Better Man - Pearl Jam á la Ian Alexander Pogue

This re-write was composed for student Brag Sheets for Ian in school. Still true, still makes me chuckle, still makes me swell with pride - can't find a better man.

Waitin’, watchin’ the clock, its twelve o’clock, it’s got to stop

Tell him, take no more, he wakes the neighbors’ sleep

As we open the door, notes ring over...

We hear him sing, scream, play the bass over

We know and declare our deep love for him, can’t find a better man...

We see his present, we dream his next, can’t find a better man...

Talkin’ to ourselves, there’s no one who feels love so…

He feels our feelings, oh…

Memories back when he was small and young

And waiting for the world to come along...

Now he is becoming, seeks fresh answers

We know and declare our deep love for him, can’t find a better man...

We love him, yeah...We can’t wait to see his way

He’s becomin’, yeah...that’s why we’ll keep on watchin’

Can’t find a better man

True as you entered High School as when you went Home...

This was the introduction Lanette and I wrote for Ian - to introduce him, our thoughts of him, to his teachers at Anderson High School.

Love you Ian - this was true, and is true still.

We, as the parents of an amazing young man, IAN POGUE, desire to see him grow to love learning, think “big thoughts,” and cultivate “big dreams.” Here is a bit about Ian….

Intelligent:

Ian is smart and clever. He enjoys good stories, colorful characters, and hand’s-on learning. He sometimes needs to be motivated to engage his whole faculties in a learning task, but is always capable of highly creative work and excellent outcomes.

Athletic:

Ian is a natural athlete. He started for four basketball teams while in Junior High, mostly playing point guard, but was willing to contribute wherever his team asks him. Ian is excited to play football for Anderson’s freshman football A team, where he plays defensive line and special teams. Ian has always wanted to be a professional athlete – he will face a challenge to fulfill this dream with his compact build. But if anyone has the tenacity to see this dream through – it is Ian.

Neighborly:

Ian has never met a person who was not a friend. Open, gregarious, talkative and helpful – all characterize Ian’s approach to his classmates. Ian views his best moments when he can invest in or share with his friends.

Plucky:

Ian is a hard worker who lives with his whole heart. His is courageous – we often watched him as point guard drive the lane, challenging players much bigger than himself, and successfully getting off a shot or making a clean pass to a teammate.  When challenged, he can draw upon resources to find solutions and exercise the perseverance to see them to completion.

Obstreperous:

Ian can be noisy and disruptive by his overdeveloped friendliness muscle and his energetic approach to group activities. When this tendency is recognized, one can use it to benefit a class – to increase interpersonal discussion, inclusion of all members of a group and stir the best ideas to surface for a project. His energy leads him to be somewhat disorganized, but is willing to receive help in this area.

Guitarist:

Ian has developed into a good musician this past summer, focusing on the bass. He taught himself to slap and pluck like Flea and play in tempo, holding the back-beat steady. Ian participated in “Rock Band Camp” this summer and led his group with solos in each of the three songs they played to a packed audience at Antone’s.

Understanding:

Ian shows great empathy. He feels the hurts of others’ deeply, while soaring high with their joys. He truly models the Scripture’s encouragement of Christians to “rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.” This characteristic makes Ian a quiet leader – a person that his classmates respect and follow.

Exuberant:

Ian approaches life with enthusiasm and passion. He is easy to get along with and eager to please. Engage him with exciting topics and he will respond with energy and hard work. Capture his imagination with “big concepts” and he will gladly remember the details. There is no goal that Ian cannot reach, no one that is outside his concern and we believe you will discover as we have, that he is an amazing young man.

Letter to Ian 1

7/24/2011: Letter written to Ian before he headed to IMPACT weekend at TAMU

Ian,

It is exciting to watch you grow up and it is hard to believe that you are entering your last year of high school!!! When I think about you, I am awed by the potential God has given you. I could tell story after story illustrating your abilities and potential, but I think last year provides several examples of exceptional accomplishment. You fought through difficult teaching styles, complicated subject matter and a packed schedule and learned that you can do it – you can teach yourself hard stuff; you can find assistance when you need it; you have the fortitude to complete difficult tasks; and you had your best grades ever amide your hardest year ever. Music has always been important to you, but this past year you took it to a new level – the variety, complexity, and melody really blossomed. Now, if you could just learn to write lyrics! You have learned you are not perfect, but need help with both moral and physical challenges – it is a good thing to learn this now! You also have grown to be a man - yes a hairy, smelly, muscular and very attractive young man. Your care and concern for your friends and family has always been high, but your heart was seen so clearly in El Salvador, as you council to your friends and interaction with your family. As Paul said to the church of the Philippians, “I thank God every time I remember you.”

It is exciting that you have this opportunity – a time of retreat, to move from the world and its distractions and focus a significant amount of time and attention to God and His purpose for you. During your senior year, you will experience great time acceleration – many competing interests will arise, many obligations will surface, many new activities will call out to you – all very good things, but, not the best thing. It will be difficult to not get caught up in our own plans, own will and own priorities. Prayer can become just a medium to express a “wish list;” Bible reading can be merely a check box, and God’s presence can become a distant memory if you allow the gravity of life to have its way. But there is a better way.

Jesus saw this struggle for the right priorities lived out in his friends Mary and Martha during one visit to Bethany. “As they [Jesus and his disciples] continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. "Master, don't you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand." The Master said, "Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it's the main course, and won't be taken from her." (Luke 10:38-42 the Message).

There are always lots to do; there are always people who need service; there will be things we want to do – but the essential thing, the one needful thing, is to sit at Jesus’ feet and just be with Him. This is not easy. If the distractions were not enough, we are not easily disciplined to just be still, wait in His presence and know that He is God - to know that He will be exalted among the nations and the earth (Psalms 46:10). Take this time and savor our blessed Savior. See His glory and may His joy, peace and grace develop in you the desire to discipline yourself to seek Him all the days of your life. He is our reward, our portion, our great God.

Paul, as he sat in prison voiced the keen desire that he would give his utmost, for Christ’s highest glory. “I eagerly expect and hope that … now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me.” I pray that this weekend, you may get a clearer picture of our blessed Savior: the manner that His atonement meets all of our needs; how His Spirit fills and empowers us here on earth; the opportunity to do good works that He planned since before creation for us to do and the blessed hope of His return to establish His kingdom upon the earth. This is a vision so large, so captivating that it can consume your life and change this world both in time and in eternity.

I pray for you my son to see your Father more clearly, to see His Son lovingly and experience their Spirit daily. I am praying for you this weekend and in all weekends.

Love,

Dad

________________________________________________________________________________

As I reflect on this letter, God indeed answered my prayer. Ian was a student of God's Word, sitting at the feet of His Savior. Ian joined and led worship, exalting His Savior. Ian was full of good works, blessing family, friends, and strangers with knowledge of His Savior. Ian learned that to live IS Christ and to die is gain. The hardest lesson a parent can let their child learn...Thank you Lord for answering my prayer for Ian - not as I desired, but as you did. Yet I am still here..."If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me...For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Love you Ian, always!

Dad