Derek's thoughts

The Power of Tiredness

2008-11-18T16:46:00.001-06:00

Tiredness is one of the most powerful forces on earth, as you'll see in this video.

Christian? Sick of Health Insurance?

2008-08-25T08:59:00.002-05:00

Watch this!

If you happen to call them, remember to let them know that Derek and Laura Thorp referred you. Thanks!

That's nuts

2008-08-07T10:27:00.001-05:00

Socialism or Freedom?

2008-08-01T11:05:00.001-05:00

Gid the Kid

2008-07-21T12:59:00.002-05:00

Sim Eating Grits

2008-07-21T10:32:00.000-05:00

Utah Trip Summary

2008-06-04T09:48:00.007-05:00

Awesome!

Kids had a great time sightseeing and going to the museum several times. My wife loved being able to rent a real house all week, rather than compressing into hotel rooms. I liked pretty much everything about the trip. The culture, the shopping, the mountains, the ease of getting around Salt Lake City, and definitely the seminar. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Oops

2008-05-30T07:40:00.001-05:00

Sometimes you do it right. Sometimes you don't.

Wow!

2008-05-29T21:47:00.004-05:00

We arrived in Salt Lake City on Saturday and are having a terrific time. We attended the Mountain Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Park City on Sunday. We were able to go downtown on Monday and visited Temple Square. On Tuesday, we made our way over to the Gateway, which is a really large mall. The kids were able to go to the museum there yesterday and today as well. The primary reason we're here is for the Urilife Advanced Marketing Seminar. I have become an independent distributor with Uri International and am very excited about this new chapter in wellness history and network marketing history as well. In case you didn't know, I do have a Uri blog.

The kids have done well, and our friend Katie has done an awesome job staying with the kids in the afternoons, so that Laura can attend some of the seminar. She's been a huge help the whole trip.

Thanks to everyone who has prayed for us. This trip has been very encouraging, motivating, and we feel like the Lord is directing us toward some cool things.

A lot going on

2008-05-19T11:07:00.005-05:00

Thanks to those of you who faithfully read this blog. I guess it's not really much of a commitment, since I don't post to it very often. Here are some things that have happened recently:

Laura, Simeon, & I went to College Park, GA for the annual convention for the Georgia Home Education Association. It was fun.

We've started to have a few people over for dinner again after getting off track for a while.

I posted some videos to YouTube related to home business stuff.

I purchased an effects processor that I have hardly used.

My gas mileage is starting to improve.

Here are a few things coming up.

Trip to Salt Lake City for a seminar and mini vacation. This is going to be awesome, and I get to take the wife and kids.

Silas will be starting coach pitch baseball in the first half of June.

We will be having more and more people over for dinner.

I am extremely excited about the Utah trip and I hope to be able to take a carriage tour of downtown Salt Lake City, among other things. Please pray that this trip would be helpful to our home business, a blessing to the kids, and opportunity to see what the Lord might have for us ministry wise in the future.

This picture below is me standing in front of Temple Square in Salt Lake City in 1993.

It's been such a long time...

2008-03-30T17:24:00.003-05:00

I think I should be blogging. Life has continued on as you might have suspected. Recent updates include:

I'm considering buying a Geo Metro for the drive to work.
Home business stuff has started to pick up. Ready or not!
Gideon is doing better and better, slowly but surely.
I'll be going to Georgia in May for a business trip.
The Easter holiday brought several relatives to our house, and we had a great time.

I have been writing more on some of my other blogs. Sorry to those who regularly read this one.

Happy birthday Mom!

2008-01-22T10:13:00.000-06:00

My mother, Patty Maher, who passed away on September 30, 2005 of cancer, would be 60 years old today. I'm not sure how the heaven to earth dynamic works, but I hope that she is able to peek in on her grandbabies once in a while. She loved them with the same unselfish adoration with which she loved me. Everyday I see more and more of my mom in myself.... and that's a good thing. Here's to you, Mom, on your day.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-11T13:51:00.000-06:00

It's certainly hard to believe that it's 2008 already. Maybe one of my resolutions should be to blog more often.

Anthony Hopp

2007-12-07T15:50:00.000-06:00

My good friend Anthony Hopp is coming out with a new CD. You'll want to get a hold of this when it's released. Get a sneak peek at his new MySpace Music page.

November update

2007-11-15T10:19:00.000-06:00

Well, it turns out that the glasses I'm wearing in the last post are not gonna work. Laura's picking up the new ones today, which will be a little different. I will post a picture as soon as I get one. Here are some things that have been going on....

I turned 35 on October 28
I'm picking out a new electric guitar as a birthday present from my wife
We have altered Gideon's diet per our trip to Dr. Mercola's office
Simeon's getting heavy
Silas is doing some of his chores before his mom even wakes up!
I finally acquired the 1994 Cadillac Deville for the commute to work. Great car.

Here are some upcoming events:

Laura's 30th birthday
A big Thanksgiving get-together at our house
Vineyard Christmas program
SMI Christmas party
Trip to Orlando for Christmas. We're driving this time!

Something's different...

2007-10-27T05:59:00.000-05:00

After 7 years, I finally decided to fork over the cash for some new glasses.

The Power of a Haircut

2007-09-30T09:28:00.000-05:00

Silas and Gideon started a new "instant" weight loss program yesterday, and they look great! Here are the "before" and "after" pictures.

Pumpkin Fest 2007

2007-09-25T06:14:00.000-05:00

I didn't get any really good pictures from this year's Fest. Here you see Laura and Silas on the Ferris wheel and me in the parking lot after the madness was over. It was a great day, but it had its share of challenges. I wish I had gotten a picture of the train derailing. I'd never seen an amusement park ride malfunction so blatantly. Everybody was okay, and the train was up and running in just 2 minutes! It was nice to connect with people I hadn't seen in a while as well.

Here I Am

2007-09-10T06:04:00.001-05:00

So, it's been a while, and perhaps you're wondering, what's Derek up to? Or, if you're like most of the people on the planet, you weren't wondering that at all. Here are a few bullet points spotlighting recent activity.

I've been working on setting up a new home based business.
I've been considering some changes in the ministry I do at my church. Pray for me!
The kids are growing like crazy. The amount of food they consume seems to be increasing.
I'm getting a 1994 Cadillac for the commute to Peoria.

A few upcoming events

Morton Pumpkin Festival
Laura's cousin's wedding
Former co-worker's wedding
TobyMac concert?
7th wedding anniversary

Thanks for reading my blog. One of these days I'll start posting regularly, or I'll create another blog that I start posting regularly to.

Free Ebook

2007-09-10T06:01:00.000-05:00

I just ran across this website you should take a look at. I think you'll find it really interesting. Here's the link:
http://yes.the7greatliesofnetworkmarketing.com/
It's called the 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing and it basically exposes all the myths and bad practices that cause the majority of mlmers to fail in their business.
It completely goes against the grain of anything you've ever been told about network marketing before, but it all makes perfect sense.

Oh, and it's free too.

It's about time

2007-08-02T05:50:00.000-05:00

Although we haven't gotten a professional picture done yet, here are a couple of amateur shots of the family. These were taken on July 16. Everybody's doing well. We've had a lot of company the last 2 weeks with relatives staying the night and such.

Super Seminar

2007-07-27T13:18:00.000-05:00

I am in North Carolina finishing up the Advanced Marketing Seminar for my new Uri business, and I have to say, "It's been awesome!" So much great content. If I'm not ready to take action now, I never will be. If anybody gets involved in this business, they'll, of course, have the opportunity to do the same thing. I strongly, strongly recommend you do yourself a favor and visit my website in order to find out what the heck is going on with this live, whole food business. If you could care less or think this is just another scam. Then give the products a try. Come on board!

Simeon

2007-07-12T16:08:00.000-05:00

Here's a new picture of Simeon at 2 1/2 months. He's pretty fun!

Oops

2007-06-22T10:31:00.000-05:00

Wow. It just occurred to me that I haven't posted a blog in a really long time. Sorry about that. The family's doing well. I started a new home based business for which I'll have some upcoming posts on my new blog.

It's a boy!

2007-04-29T07:25:00.000-05:00

We're happy to announce birth of a new Thorp! Simeon Matthias Thorp was born Saturday, April 28 at 2:41am. He weighed 8 lbs, 2 oz, and was 21 inches long. Both mom and baby are doing well. Simeon decided he was going to give his mother a longer labor than his predecessors. He resembles each his brothers in some ways (so far), but seems to have his own look. Thanks for praying for us. Things went very well.

Derek