Thanking God for the miss

We were talking the other day about professional or college athletes who appear to thank God after scoring a touchdown, sinking the game winning shot, making the crucial extra point. We then laughed as we considered the scenario of the defender being a believer as well. What is he to do with that? How does he respond? Do you see that kind of action and that kind of gratitude from the defense that just got smoked; from the guy who just missed his tackle; from the one who just let their man slide by?

There was a point last night in the Super Bowl when Stover missed and his actions as he made his way off the field suggested that he was thanking God. Thanking God? For the miss? This even got the attention of the announcers as they replayed his response. I found this article today…it is from a few years back but it appears to still be accurate of him. It shows that he is a man who has been given understanding of the purpose of our lives.

glory to God forever…in our hits……..and our misses.

I don’t care about groundhogs much. Low on my care list as well is whether or not they can see their own shadow. Really, is it any different than me walking outside to see my shadow? And doesn’t that depend on what direction you are facing when you look? And the cloud cover that day? And, whether or not you are standing in a shaded area to begin with? Come to think of it, maybe that is all a part of the equation to determine how many more weeks of winter we will have. Man, on second thought, what would we do without weather-predicting rodents?

Some thoughts of mine on this day of groundhogs…aren’t you glad I shared?

Now on to really important things. Things that have nothing to do with groundhogs. Things like this little boy…

…who makes me melt with his hugs and cuddles.

…who steals my heart every time he points those eyes my way.

…who cracks me up with his ever evolving sense of humor (just look at that smirk…not to mention the dimple!)

…who at 1 month shy of his first birthday isn’t quite as little as he once was.

On a lighter note….

It has just never worked out that I’ve been able to go. But that all changes this weekend. That’s right, I’ll be attending my very first girls night slumber party. Are you as excited as I am? Well, let me just whet your appetite a little bit with this. I know you must be jealous

It was a roller coaster kind of month, this January. And yesterday it hit me that it was the end. I mean it really hit me; it was really over, really done with, really the end.

BUT…today is a beginning. The beginning of February. Not a special month by any of my previous accounts, (yes, Amy, besides the fact that it is your birth month!) but just a new one.

So today I will remember God’s faithfulness and provision through my yesterdays and celebrate the joy that His mercies are new every morning of my todays!

Some Pictures

Someday, I’ll write again. That day, however, is not today! Today is for pictures.

Pictures are also a little hard to come by in this house recently because there is absolutely no sitting still and our old-school camera, which takes approximately 12 seconds to actually take a picture, just doesn’t work with sitting still-lessness. Unless of course you like the abstract, blurry, top of the head, only get the nose variety of pictures. I’m all over that.

Showin’ off the teeth! They are so big!!! He’s now up to 6, 4 across the top, 2 on bottom.

He loves his new alphabet toy. He undoubtedly will know A through D…the rest are questionable as he never lets it run past the first few letters.

I had taken his pants off to change him into something else and he got away. I forgot about it and found him later sporting this nice onesie/shoes combo.

I was fighting off the lady-babies with a stick!!

The short list

*The Indianapolis Colts won…again.

*I received a bag of gummy tongues the other day.

*Along with the tongues came a bag of gummy body parts.

*The Indianapolis Colts are now 13-0

*B took nearly a 2 hour nap this morning.

*The money that had gone toward our deductible since January carried over when we switched to our new plan.

*My mom makes amazing pizza.

*I eat an average of 5 gummy tongues a day. Can you say cavity?

*Let me redo that last one with a little extra dose of honesty. I eat an average of 5+ gummy tongues per day. Can you say multiple cavities?

*These pictures make me laugh…

Weather Alert

In case you were not aware, it’s cold outside. In our little part of the world at least. Today not as cold as yesterday and yesterday not as cold as the day before, but cold nonetheless.

When I first saw the temperature on Wednesday the wind chill was 2 below 0. In the next breath it seemed, it had fallen to 4 below and likely didn’t stop there as the wind was frightful that day. And funny things happen when the wind blows like that. For instance, when you are sitting in front of the chocolate shoppe, inflatable pools fly by and threaten to blow into your car. The chocolate shoppe doors stick shut and cause you to have to read the posted hours (through watery eyes) over, and over, and over as you triple check in your head today’s date and time. Getting out of your vehicle becomes dangerous because car doors are terribly heavy and if you are not careful they will catch a gust of wind and slam back into you nearly knocking you off your feet, making an indentation in your clavicle, and slightly bruising your pride. Trust me.

But I will NOT complain as I love snow. You said nothing about snow, you say? Ahh, you are so observant! I did say nothing about snow but it must be cold for it to snow and therefore I will endure the cold. Because, again, I love snow!

So

in the meantime

to combat the cold

we will wear hats!

You should too!

You can’t make this stuff up

Memorable phone messages are not new to me. Our best friends have a knack for leaving classics on our answering machine. Others have left a few that made the recording cut…that’s where we take it off the machine or phone and record it to the computer for safe (and long-term) keeping. K and I thoroughly enjoy going back and listening to old messages because it makes us giggle. Okay…he laughs, I giggle.

Once, a perfect stranger made the cut. We were still in our apartment in St. Louis and I had come home from a day at work. I saw the machine blinking and hit play only to find that what followed was a solid minute and a half (and I do mean solid…) of 100 mile a minute talking…in chinese*. My favorite part was that at the very end, the sweet little lady says “bu bye.”

One thing that has always thrown me is that our voices and names were on our answering machine…who did she think she was calling? Hmmm.

This all brings me to the present day. I got a phone call…several if we’re being specific…from a random guy last weekend. If I were to bet, I think it might be Biggin (you know, this guy…he also was the subject of a post on August 6th, 2008). But that is just a guess. Anyway, it’s a classic. Definitely record-worthy. Certainly share-worthy. My issue is I don’t know how to share audio with you. Bummer. I think you would really enjoy it.

Anyway, if it is you Biggin, it’s nice to finally put a voice with the name!

Now please. quit. calling. me.

*I’m calling it chinese but in reality, I have no idea as I’m not fluent in chinese, japanese, or anything of the like.

The look of nine months

Nine months!

Though this was the photographic bathtime version of what nine months looks like, we’ll now take a little detour to highlight some other aspects of life as it is right now. Crawling is still his main form of transportation, and he is good at it. Head down and he means business. However, more fun yet not quite as effective yet is his pulling up on furniture and sliding from one end to the other. He has stood alone a few times but much prefers the comforts of holding onto something sturdy. Playing with Indy is still one of his favorite things. He says daaa when he sees her and baaa when he throws her the ball. He uses those two sounds for everything else too but he is very consistent about switching back and forth when referring to the dog and the ball. Any hopes of mama being his first word have effectively been shattered!!! He knows how to throw a ball, with either hand nonetheless. However, he has not figured out that not everything is for throwing. Therefore blocks, balls, books, phones and food all get equal treatment. Opening and closing doors is one of his favorite pastimes. The other night he was playing in his room before bed and shut Indy out. He then opened the door to her pawing and whining and promptly shut it in her face again, laughing each time it happened.

I love this little man

To the one who wishes to leave comments and remain anonymous

I have to admit that your comments creeped me out a little at first because I didn’t know who you were.

When others commented under aliases, it was obvious (C’mon Kels, ‘taurus lover’?…you might as well have called yourself ‘we’re related because we’re 4th cousins’)! Yours however, o anonymous one, notsomuch!

Now that I know, comment away:)