Hall of Fame

Ok lets put Richard Dent into the football hall of fame. I think this super bowl XX mvp deserves the spot. Oh, do I miss the good ol days. Do you remember superbowl XX?

From chicagobears.com
"Remarkably, New England gained positive yards on just one of its first 15 plays. Eason was yanked in favor of veteran Steve Grogan after going 0 of 6 with three sacks. At halftime, the Patriots had one first down, minus-five yards rushing and minus-14 yards passing."

And Richard Dent was a big part of that day.

I want so bad to forget the old days and really get excited about now...so if any of the big dogs up in the office are reading this blog...this year, a qb, some receivers, and let sure things up on defense and get a pass rush going, and some dbs would be nice. And put Hester back on special teams, he not a good receiver. Please?

The Jo-Pho

My little guy has been sick the last couple weeks. What started out as a high fever during our snow days has now been diagnosed as mono. He went to the Dr on Wednesday...poor guy was poked, prodded, stuck, swabbed, drained of blood and peed in a cup! He is acting fine for the most part. The fevers have been gone all week...but boy can he sleep!! Last night he fell asleep at 6pm and didn't wake up until 7:30am. He even has been taking naps and he is NOT a napper!! I thought he would need to be confined to the house for some time but apparently that's not the case. As long as there is no sharing of cups, utensils (no swapping spit), lots of washing hands and no rough-housing (he has an enlarged spleen) we'll be okay!! :) Yeah...he gets to go to church Sunday...which makes him a VERY happy camper!!

A new blog for you to follow...

Check out our friends blog. Here's a little blurb from his wife, Jama, as she was telling us about it: "Matt and Cesar have both been pastors and Matt is currently doing community work with the YMCA and Cesar is currently an addictions counselor. Cesar would eventually like to compile a book with some of the articles on the blog, and both he and Matt would like to eventually use this blog as a jumping off point to do some other things working with families and churches, etc."

Here's the link to the website:
http://www.familyinsights.net/

How Come....

This cat always is drawn to those who are allergic to cats...or can't stand them!!
I'll let you guess which category Brian falls in! :)

History In The Making...

No matter what our political views may be, today was a GREAT day in history!
We even enjoyed our lunch in front of the tv so we wouldn't miss a bit of it!

News

Have you heard the news? Brian's mom is getting married. The big day will be in April.

New Experience

I had a new experience today. I've been a youth pastor for a very long time and today something happened that has never happened before. I had a board member stop by, sit down in my office and pray for me. It was a great experience. I thank God for his timing, it was a very much needed prayer.

The Way I See It...

This is what I am seeing out my windows!! Really, I didn't even step outside to take these. Just wiped off the window and here ya go! The kids will be coming home soon on an early dismissal. Although there isn't enough snow out there to suit me...the winds that are coming should make it interesting!! :)

Char-broilin' on a Cold Winter Day

In 2004, for my birthday, my mom bought me a new grill. We went to Lowe's and I got to pick out the one I wanted. I got this one, a Commercial Series Char-broil grill. I picked this one for a few reasons. I like the black and stainless look. It has a large grilling area. And it has three brass burners. This grill came with a five year warranty on everything and a life time warranty on the burners. I do a lot of grilling and over the years I've had some parts wear out, including the burners. So I got on the phone and called Char-broil. The lady I spoke to really knew her grills. I told her the burners were getting a little worn and there was an uneven flame. She said, "I'll have a new set sent out right away." I checked online and this is a $79.99 replacement part. She also told me when I get to the point I need to replace the burners I would probably need....she mentioned a few parts. I went out to the the grill while I was on the phone and she was right. She sent those parts too. Now the really cool part is the push button lighter. On every grill this part wears out in like 6 months, well she sent one of those too. I did have to pay for shipping, a whopping 8 bucks.

I told you about the amazing Canon service department a while back...Char-Broil is also top on my list. I'll never have to buy another grill but if I did, it would be a Char-Broil.

Oh by the way, I did grill up a couple of steaks this past weekend.....nothing better then grilled meat on a cold winter day. I've got an idea, give us a call and we'll have you over for dinner. I'll be more than happy to fire up the grill.

A Whole New World!

Last night after church Brian took the kids "skitching" in the church parking lot. Skitching (or hitching if you're from this area) is when you grab hold of the bumper of a car, crouch down and the driver pulls you along on the icy, snowy road (or parking lot). The kids had a blast doing this and aside from cold hands there were no injuries. I think Brian made some great memories with the kids last night.

Jess commented on how fun it would be to do this on the road. This sparked an interesting conversation on the way home. When Brian lived in Merrillville he use to do this all the time. Wait behind some trash cans at a stop sign, then when a car came by they would grab on and get a free ride...unbeknownst to the driver. I remember way back in '78 during the "real" blizzard my dad would hook the sled to the back of his big tractor and took my brother "sledding" on the roads (I was WAY too young for this tom-foolery).

Also, when we were kids we would walk or ride bikes anywhere in town w/o any fear. To our friends house, to the store, to the pool...where ever we wanted (and had permission) to go! My kids go for bike rides today and I make them take a cell phone and they are called several times for me to check up on them! I wish we could feel "comfortable" as our parents were back in the day. Brian talks of times when he would leave house in the morning, play around town all day and return at dusk. Are we too over-protective? I don't think so...after all we DID take our kids skitching!!

Playing with Photoshop

I was playing with my new software over the weekend and made this little image. SO much stuff to learn with adobe, it is overwhelming. I'm going to learn it! I promise I will.
I took the two photos below and made the one above. I've been going through the online training with "Illustrator" and thought I was making progress, I sat down one night to show Jaye the cool things I could do, and couldn't remember how to do them. I am so used to using MS Publisher I've been having to retrain myself. I'll get there. I started playing with photo shop too. Fun Stuff!

New Years Eve Party

We rang in the New Year with a party at church. There were a few of us from Chapel Pike gather for a long, fun filled evening of playing games and eating some unhealthy food. It was an all around great way to end and begin a new year. We played a rousing, 5 hour game of Apples to Apples. Everyone should play this game. It's a good way to learn how people think. You will be surprised at the way the conversation goes when you play this game.


Wesley brought his 360 to the party. We played some Rock Band. It was fun.
You guessed it we rocked in the New Year. I'm thinking we should have gotten it out earlier in the night. One sad thing, we lost one of Wesley's' drumsticks. Hmmm...wonder where it is...maybe we ate it!!








We not only played Apples to Apples but we learned a few new card games. We all enjoyed watching the little kids get to "stay up all night."

Jaye has had this round, tie die looking puzzle sitting around the house for a few years now. It's always fun to sit and chat while working a puzzle. Well this nearly impossible puzzle wasn't finished during the party but was really hit hard. It was so difficult that the ladies gave up around 4 am and slid it onto a piece of cardboard and stashed it in my office. I'm guessing that at the next New Years Eve party they will pull it out and finish it up? When they finish it we'll get some glue on it and I'm sure there will be a picture posted....hold your breath. :)

As you can see the party lasted way past midnight. Here is picture of the little ones still going strong at 2:20. The party was kinda winding down around 3ish, but we had a car with a dead battery in the parking lot. So after a few more rounds of cards and throwing the battery charger on the car we left the church and headed home at 4:30.
That's right 4:30 am....you guessed it January 1st we had some grumpy little kids.

But it was a great New Years Eve and everyone had a great time.
We are thankful for our family, friends and our church family and a fresh beginning.