Ever thought about something and it kind of made you mad and then the more you dwell on it, it becomes humorous?
We had our first auto insurance claim (Hopefully last!!)on the Odyssey. Mike drove around the corner to pick up a couch that was for the taking. He gets back to our house and is backing into the driveway. OK, no big deal. He wants to back in so it will be easier to get the couch out and into the garage. I am inside talking to one of the kiddos and I hear a weird sound. I go outside and asked what that sound was. I looked down after he says, “guess what I did?” There is shattered glass everywhere. I didn’t say one word. IGood thing we don’t always say what we think GUESS WHAT??!! YOU CAN’T BACK THE VAN INTO THE GARAGE WHEN THE REAR DOOR IS UP!!!!! (lol)
In Mike’s defense, I can honestly say that the dings on Mike’s car are mostly from me. I backed into a tree. (Our 18th Street driveway was not normal) The Plymouth van had a dent in the top where I backed out of the garage and the garage door wasn’t all the way up yet. I could tell you some stories about the 1974 Olds Delta 88 (aka Boat) I used to drive……..maybe another time.
Anyway, I am surveying what’s left of the window. Mike looks at me and says, “I’m glad I did this because I would be yelling at you if you had done it.” I am not even going to discuss this further……
Window replacement guy comes yesterday and I am telling him what happened for insurance purposes. He smiles real big and says, “I wish I had a dollar for everytime I have replaced a window like this because it was the HUSBAND’S fault.”

AAAHHH!!!

I’ve been derelict in my duties by not commenting on the greatest football game I’ve ever watched.
That being the 2006 AFC Championship game.

Man! What a game. I went with my brother to a local theater that was showing the game, pretty cool seeing it on a big screen.
The first half wasn’t the most fun I’ve had watching a game, that’s for sure. But I always try to remain optimistic, being the homer that I am. I looked at it this way, New England’s first touchdown was a lucky bounce off their own fumble, their third was off a dumb throw by Peyton (troubling but not a big deal as long as he didn’t turn the ball over anymore.) So, from my optimistic outlook, things were not that bad. The defense had only given up one TD. But they were also giving up some major run yardage. I wasn’t sure if they were going to show up in the second half.
The field goal at the end of the half gave me a glimmer of hope that they may be able to overcome the 15 point deficit.

The second half was a gut wrenching rollercoaster ride but, man, was it worth it. The high powered offense showed up and tied the game on a two-point conversion by Marvin Harrison. The defense stepped up and held off the Pats despite some terrible play by the Colts special teams.
Then the sea-saw portion of the game started. The Pats scored, the Colts scored, etc. A game of catch-up.
Then the Colts went 3 and out, Peyon hurt his throwing hand tumb. It wasn’t pretty and with Brady on the other end, I thought the game may have been slipping away.
Then the defense did it again, stopped the Pats cold with around 3 minutes left. Pleanty of time for Peyton.
When Addai walked through a whole in the Pats defensive line that a Mack truck could have driven through, the theater went nuts! High fives all around, and a feeling of reliefe. They had the lead for the first time, with one minute left. Dang! One minute is an eternity with Brady at QB. He was born to do this stuff. Mr. Clutch, Mr. Never-Lost-In-A-Dome, Mr. 12-1 In The Playoffs, Mr. Puppet-of-the-Evil-Genius-Belichick.
The defense stepped up once again. Mr. Clutch chocked and Marlin Jackson made the big play. Intercepted the ball, took a few steps before realizing that all he had to do was fall flat on his back, which is exactly what he did.
Again, the theater went nuts and I felt a certain sense of vindication. I’ve been a fan for 23 years and now they are going to the Super Bowl with the guy that “can’t win a big game.”

I can’t wait!

(I’ve got some more comments I’ll make later, particularly around the whole “the first two African-American coaches thing.)

We have been “back Home” for a month now but it doesn’t feel like home. This move has reaffirmed that, as Christians, this world is not our home. We no longer belong in Little Rock. Our new home is here, but it doesn’t feel lhomey…….

We don’t have a church “home” yet. (ok, for the record….we decided before we came back here that we would treat it like our move to AR and visit other places, rather than just go back to our old church. Sometimes, fresh starts are best!) The church we are visiting is great…..

Trying to find my place of ministry. I am still praying through the disappointment of no longer being at FamilyLife. It is too cold to walk around the neighborhood with the little guys. I have a desire to begin a neighborhood Bible study using the HomeBuilders studies from FamilyLife.
(im)Patiently waiting for the LORD on this one!

Upside of this….the LORD keeps reeling me back into Him. Isn’t that what it’s all about anyway?

I’m going to get my thoughts on the game on record before the game this week.

Colts vs. Patriots

First, I’m not 100% convinced that the Colts defense is going to show up again. I was afraid they wouldn’t be there for last week’s game but they were. With the Indy crowd behind them, I hope the D will be there in force.

Peyton will have a big game. I don’t see him having 3 sub-par games in a row.

If the Colts score on their first drive and hold the Pats to 3 and out on theirs, game over right there. If not, it will be a dogfight for at least 3 quarters, with the Colts pulling away early in the 4th.

Assuming the D shows up and Peyton doesn’t get “happy feet,” Colts by 10.
Colts 31 Pats 21

What is the difference between Mike Vanderjagt and an Adam Vinatieri (is that better Jon?) field goal?

A: Neither are missed.

Colts pull out a big win on the road and their defense outshined their offense again. However, the offense had some major clock eating drives. That last one in particular. Ball control and defense, that’s not Colt football is it? Either way, I dig it.

All fieldgoals, no TDs. Polian is a genius, canning Vanderjagdt and picking up Vinitiary.

I’ve been telling people that I thought the Ravens were over hyped (not over rated, over hyped.) In other words, everyone was concentrating on their strengths and ignoring their weaknesses. All the while, ignoring the Colts strengths and concentrating on their weaknesses. At least that’s what I was seeing in the national sports press and even at the local level to an extent.

I did not go out on a limb and predict a Colts win because I didn’t know if the D would show up two games in a row. I’ll call it a late Christmas present.

I heard an interesting question posed on the radio this morning.
Would you rather have 13 kids or 0 kids?

While 13 kids would be a logistical and financial nightmare, the thought of having no kids is even worse for me. I would have to go with 13.
Plus, if you raise them right, the older ones would be able to take care of the younger ones. And, in my old age I’m sure at least one of them would be willing to take care of me.

I was thinking that the best option would be moving to the country and living off the land. Deer meat, home grown veggies, a milk cow. It could be pretty cool.
Hmm…

The kids started at a new school here in Indiana on Tuesday. They seem to be adjusting well and are making new friends quickly.

They go to arguably the best public grade school in Columbus and left the best public grade school in Little Rock. Luke had been held back in Kindergarten in Little Rock because he was behind in a few areas. It is all-day there. Here Kindergarten is half-day and it is voluntary. It turns out that the Kindergarten work in Little Rock is equivalent to First Grade work here so we move Luke up into First.

Elizabeth is pretty much on track in Second grade and already knows a few of the kids in her class from before we moved to Little Rock.

We live a block from the school so the kids can ride their bikes or walk which is so much more convenient than taking the bus or driving them. Plus the school has one of the coolest playgrounds I’ve ever seen. It will be a great place to take the kids to play in the Summer. I’ll have to post a picture tomorrow.

Who would have guessed that the Colts D would show up that big. Larry Johnson ran for 32 yards. The second best running back in the NFL was held to 32 yards by the second worst run defense in the league.
I should have posted before the game because I did predict that the Colts D would show up for this game. I posted on a messageboard I frequent that the Colts would hold LJ to 100 yards. Really… I did. They play better at home plus they had Bob Sanders coming back.
If Herm Edwards had a better play calling strategy I think Larry would have gotten closer to my 100 yard prediction.

Next up is Baltimore, best defense in the league. If Peyton and Marvin get their signals crossed again, throwing 3 picks against the Ravens will be a real problem because every possession will be critical against that defense.
The question is, can the Colts D show up for two games in a row. They’ve had some decent games this year, the problem is they follow them up with games where they give up 300 yards rushing. Plus, they will be on the road. I hope they can get it done.

Oh, and did anyone else get a kick out of the Tony Dungy / Motorola commercial? That was kind of funny.

Since I’ve been out of the blogging loop for a while I have a backlog of stories I wanted to share. This one comes from about 3 weeks ago. I was in Little Rock, we had just sent all of our stuff off to Indiana in a trailer and we were hanging around waiting for the kids to finish school. Since we didn’t have any furniture, I went to the SanFransico Bread Co. to get some work done (they have free Wi-Fi, allowing me to connect to my office via VPN.)

I was sitting at a table getting some work done when this 45+ year old lady walked by, stopped and looked at me for a few seconds uncomfortably close. She said something to the effect of:
“I’m an artist and I study faces. You have a nice face. I bet your wife really likes your face, do you have a wife?”
“Uh… … … yeah,” I said.
“Oh. Is she the right one?”
“I hope so. We have 4 kids together.” I think my sarcasm was lost on her for a moment.
“You hope so? Shouldn’t you know so? … Oh, you were being facetious.”
I can’t recall everything she said after that but it was something about making sure I take care of my kids.

Now, even though I was being hit on by a very odd middle aged woman, it was nice to get a compliment… I guess.

So, we spent the Saturday before Christmas unloading our moving trailer and unpacking. Actaully, we are still unpacking and will be unpacking until sometime after Elizabeth finishes grad school.

Since our home was still in boxes on Christmas, we spent the night at my parents and spent Christmas day there.

My little brother bought a Nintendo Wii. Man! That thing is a blast. Here is Luke playing Wii Bowling:

Its been a while since I’ve blogged. Been busy with starting a new job, going back and forth between Southern Indiana and Little Rock (a short 600 mile commute), moving my family and unpacking. Anyway, I plan on posting at least once a day. Call it a New Year’s resolution. A resolution that I’m sure will be broken within a week.

Another resolution that I’m sure is on everyone’s list is losing weight or getting in shape. I need to do both. I’ve eaten out more in the past 3 months than I think I ever have. Partly due to our crazy lifestyle over that span and partly due to laziness. As a result, my waistline has been expanding. I’m pushing 210 right now, at just under 5′10″, that’s not good. My ideal weight is somewhere around 170 or 175. I hope to be there in the not too distant future but for now I’ll shoot for 190 by March.