This Picture...

...makes me swell up with pride. Is it ok to be prideful about someone else? Every time, and I really mean EVERY TIME I see this picture I get all goose bumpy n' stuff. I have the most beautiful wife ever. I know some of you other pretty good lookin' wives read this blog. And you're probably really attractive. Not to take anything away from your beauty, but c'mon, this woman is in a different stratosphere. And as for the kid... this picture captures what his face looks like when he wakes up from a nap and I'm the first person he sees. I get this at least once a day.... in person. He's the cutest kid ever. I don't know what people with ugly kids do. But man, I'm a proud papa. Lord, forgive me. Maybe next time give me a kid only slightly cute as my discipline.

On another note this song is awesome:


I'm a little behind on the Tenth Avenue North bandwagon, but I'll be seeing them in concert in a few weeks with our students. Can't wait.

Driscoll on Noah

I'm very slowly reading through Religion Saves + Nine Other Misconceptions by Mark Driscoll. I only read this when I have a shred of reading-free-time. Which is usually when/where most men do their reading. I just started chapter two: "Humor." If you know anything about Mark Driscoll you know that he's pretty hilarious... well, depending on who you ask. Some people still call him the "cussing pastor." I won't defend that, but he's sense repented. Anyway, so this chapter on humor.... he basically goes through the Canon and shows all the parts that he thinks are funny thereby justifying his use of humor in the pulpit...or stage, or stool, or whatever he preaches from. His take on Noah is hilarious.

From Genesis 9:20-21

"Noah is obviously a camping redneck, because only a camping redneck would make his own liquor and pass out naked in his tent wearing nothing but a John Deere ball cap. For all we know, his tent might have been made of blue tarps, and he may have dozed off while singing country songs about the hillbilly trinity of dogs, trucks, and cornbread."

I never thought of Noah in that way. I'm guessing you haven't either. But now just picture your kid's Noah Ship with Noah on the top with a green John Deer hat and a pair of Uncle Jesse overalls. Nice.

A Post About Facing Cancer

I recently found out that a close family friend has breast cancer. The prognosis looks good as far as I have heard. But, having been through cancer with my dad, I have a second-hand idea of what she must be feeling. I thought, "How can I encourage this friend?" I also recently found out that she is a follower of this blog. So, why not send an encoura-blog (*boom* new word!).

How can I encourage? Well, first there is prayer. Shana and I are praying for sure. Praying for healing. Praying for comfort and peace of mind. Praying for the family. Praying for God's glory.

Second is Scripture. Psalm 39:7, "“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you." Waiting was, at least for me the hardest part of the whole process.

Third is Matt Chandler. Who? One of my pastor-heroes. He's the pastor of The Village Church in Texas. On Thanksgiving Day he had a seizure. Passed out. Went to the hospital. Was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Had surgery. Back preaching. He's an amazing pastor and preacher. He's young. He's a husband and a dad. He's also blogging and vlogging. So, I'll point you to him. First read this article.

After you've read the article check out this video. There are also more videos on his church's YouTube channel. Click Here for that.



So, Shana and I are praying and we hope this is an encouragement to you. We also hope that if you know someone who has cancer and is struggling, use some of these resources to encourage them and point them to the Lord!

Painfully Hilarious

We watched this video in our service today. I'm glad I have a pastor with a sense of humor. He was pointing out that no matter how well we are prepared, when we forget the words, the music keeps on going. He's teaching out of Nehemiah. He was talking about when the workers had their tools in one hand and their weapons in the other and always being prepared. It really worked with the sermon. But since I'm not preaching that sermon, you should see the video anyway. Its hilarious.

P90X

I've waited to blog about this for good reason. I didn't want to blog and say, "hey, I'm starting P90X" and then not do it. So, its been a month. Or in P90xese, I've completed Phase One. I finished my last "Yoga X" of the first phase this morning.

Here's the deal. P90X is insane. After last semester and Truett's arrival I laid down and quit going to the gym and quit biking. Partly, well, mostly because of time, and I was also just tired a lot. Something had to change this semester. I knew I didn't have the time to go to the gym as much as I did in the past and I had heard about this workout from my friends Justin and Rossie (blog in the sidebar) and I had also seen the multiple infomercials on TV. You can find them on YouTube I'm sure. Its an at home workout but the results are supposed to be incredible. We were pretty skeptical especially at the cost of $120. That's money we don't have to spend on something that doesn't work, or worse, something that we're not going to do.

Solution? Craigslist (Atlanta, not Louisville). The cheapest we found the used DVD's in Louisville was $80. Not bad. But we when we were home over Christmas break we found the whole package, brand new, unopened, in Atlanta for $50! So, we used some of our Christmas money to buy it. We knew that if we didn't like it or it didn't get used we could resell it on Craigslist in Kentucky and actually make money on it. Nice plan.

It requires weights or resistance bands. I already had a good set of bands I bought a while back from bodylastics. The only other equipment we had to buy was a pull-up bar. We got it on the cheap from Wal-Mart. We were ready to go. Well, almost. This thing comes with a nice nutrition guide that's not insane, but actually well balanced and it makes sense. However, the hawk their own products like crazy. Protein powder, recovery drink mix, bars, vitamins, etc. All of this stuff is really expensive.

Solution? Homemade stuff. We got chocolate Muscle Milk protein powder from Costco that has more servings per container at a much cheaper cost. Shana made our own protein bars which are great. The only problem was the recovery drink which is supposedly great tasting. You drink it after a workout to recoup and build muscle quicker. Its expensive. Solution? Skim milk and hershey's chocolate syrup. That's right! Chocolate Milk! It has the exact same carbs, protein, and less fat than their stuff. The only thing missing is all of the vitamins. Solution? A multivitamin. I admit it doesn't have all the same stuff, but its close. And when you're on a super-tight budget, you make it work and deal with it. Most of the nutrition stuff is very doable, even on a budget. We shop at Costco a lot. I don't go strictly by the guide though. We just can't. But, we've cut out sweets, sodas, and eat way more veggies and do a lot of smaller portions.

Results? Well, you're supposed to take pictures all along the way. Which we've done. Which you'll never see. But after the first 30 days - I've lost 5 lbs. Toned up a lot. And feel great. I've missed a few workouts here and there. I think I've missed 3 out of 24. The workouts are 1 hour each and its 6 days a week. I admit its a big commitment, but they don't try to hide it. You have to work for it. It kicks my butt every time. But, I'm doing more each time.

If you have the time you should check it out. I'll blog about it again in 30 days.

Phrases...addition....

A couple of days ago I made a post about Phrases that I don't like. Here's another one:

7. Unpack. "Let me unpack this." "Hang on, we'll unpack this verse in a second." Initially I liked it. I get the metaphor. I think its a good one. However, what pastor doesn't use this phrase these days? Nearly every podcast I listen to and pastor that I've heard in the past year has used this phrase...most of the time its used repeatedly. There's only so much unpacking that you can do before you have to put away the stuff you unpack. Let's stop unpacking and start storing it in a usable place on the shelf.

Truett Videos: Little over 6 months

So, I am a terrible mom for not posting on Truett's 6 month birthday because he is well on his way to his 7 month birthday. I can hardly believe he is almost 7 months. Time really does fly by. I want to freeze time some days, most days, and keep him my cuddly baby.

Truett is such a big boy. At his 6 month appointment Dr. Abbott confirmed my suspicions that Truett is a genius. Well maybe not in those words, but he is definitely advanced. He is sitting up with a straight back and can move toys from hand to hand, among other things. Dr. Abbott says that those are skills of 9 month olds. Truett is awesome, he makes so many noises. He uses his dada sounds and mama sounds. He blows bubbles. He reaches for everybody. He lights up when he sees Zoe and tries to put her in his mouth all the time. Truett loves people and seems to thrive when new people are around. He definitely gets that from his mom and dad. He is such a happy baby and loves to play on the floor with all his toys. Just this week he has started to roll all over the place.

I love this little guy so much. It is really crazy to me to watch him grow so fast. I have a hard time already remembering what he was like when we was so little.


Here are some recent videos that are oo soo cute.
This is something kind of new he started to do with daddy.


He has also found his feet and when not in his cloth diapers takes every opportunity to play with him.