Are You Ready For Some Football?

I'm not that into sports. I like going to a good college football game. But ESPN is not my favorite channel. I watch Friday Night Lights. But the Superbowl? I usually just try to catch the commercials and at least know who is playing so that I don't look like a complete idiot. Steelers and Cardinals? Right? (Up until the middle of this week I thought the Cardinals were still in St. Louis. When did they move?).

So this Sunday night millions of people will watch highly paid professionals play the game. It will mostly be about who wins and which commericals were the funniest.

This other game didn't get nearly as much press, if any at all. Millions of people weren't watching. But this game reminds me that sometimes it's about more than just a ball and some players on a field. Grab a tissue.

A different football game.

Throwback Thursday

The date: February 1975

The place: W.T. Henning Elementary School, Sulphur, Louisiana

The mood: This is my first grade class picture. Mrs. Kraft was my teacher. That's me on the second row from the front, fourth seat. I love the fact that two of the boys are wearing leisure suits. Please note the Clifford posters above the lockers and Dick, Jane, Spot and Puff pictures on the wall. That's how we learned to read. "See Jane. See Jane run." Good times.

Interestingly enough, I graduated with almost all of these people. Only a few of them moved away. Recently, several of them have joined Facebook so I guess I'll have to post the picture there too.

Hunting Season

This is our backyard.

Why yes observant reader, that is also a tree stand in our backyard.

Kevin and Fletcher are all decked out in their camo, sitting in the tree stand, deer hunting. Pretend you can't see them because of all the camo.

Fletcher is blowing the buck horn. I still don't know if this is a real deer hunting tool or just an old hose Fletcher found in the garage. These pictures were taken on a different day.

Fletcher is waiting for the deer with his sword/pretend rifle.

Mr. I-Can't-Sit-Still-For-10-seconds-and-Not-Make-Any-Noise did not see any deer. But he sure had fun pretending with Dad. We'll try again tomorrow.

I'll have to check to see if the tree stand is allowed in our neighborhood HOA Covenants and Restrictions.

Opinion Poll

I was kind of getting tired of the blog layout. So during naptime yesterday I decided to find a new layout design. Of course, there are tons of really cute "girlie" styles out there, but I just couldn't see Fletcher and Luke and Kevin getting into flowers and swirls and polkadots, ya' know?!

So what do you think? I'm trying to go with a simple, uncluttered look. I wish I knew some fabulously talented graphic design/HTML guru that could design my blog template for free.

Any feedback is welcome. Did you like our family picture at the top? Do you prefer the dark background? I'm not saying "your wish is my command" but since you guys are the readers (all 4 of you), your opinions are important!

Can't Beat 20% Off

Back in August, I got really serious about trying to save our family some money. So I started creating a weekly menu and clipping coupons.

I love a good deal. There are several websites I visit that either tell about good online deals or printable coupons or grocery store finds. I get excited when I see a great coupon. I am all about saving money.

I realize the economy is really bad right now and businesses are doing whatever they can to get customers to come in and spend some money.

But where do you draw the line?

We received this in the mail last week. I had to scan it so you would believe me.

This is the front (of course the "save some money" part caught my eye):


This is the back:


Glad to know that there are b00b job coupons out there just in case. . .

But the funniest part about it? Go back and look closely at the second picture.

The postcard is addressed to Kevin.

Wait?

Should I laugh?

Or should I start asking him some hard questions?

Here's a belated Happy Birthday to my oldest brother Mike. His birthday was yesterday. Hope you had a fabulous day!

Carry On Luggage

Unless you live under a rock, you've heard about the jet that crash landed in the Hudson River last week. That jet was on its way to Charlotte so several of the passengers were from the Charlotte area. This past Sunday at church our pastor interviewed two of the survivors.

Of course, they both talked about how they feel like they had been given a second chance at life. Apparently, a plane of that size with that many passengers has never, ever made a successful water landing where everyone survived. One of the guys was sitting in an exit row and said after the pilot came on and said "Brace for landing" he literally had his head down, hands over his head, but was READING THE INSTRUCTIONS on how to get the emergency door open because he knew it would be his job to do that when they landed. How's that for calm, cool and collected?! As soon as they hit the water, he opened the door, held it for a minute because he wasn't sure what to do with it and then threw it into the river. These doors aren't on hinges - good to know.

The other guy was one of the last ones out of the plane. He was helping others and making sure they all got out ok. There was an 83 yr old person, a 4 yr old and a mom with a 9 month old baby among others. Here's the thing that stuck out the most to me when he was telling his story - everyone had gotten off in a pretty orderly fashion. But there was one woman on the plane who grabbed her purse and her carry on from the overhead bin!!!!! Are you kidding me? He said she was rolling it down the aisle as the plane was filling up with water. People were telling her to leave it, but she insisted on taking it. When she got to the wing, the suitcase fell into the water but the man (speaking at our church) did grab her purse and throw it into the life raft.

Now I realize this wasn't me. And I realize that something this traumatic would make people behave in some bizarre ways. But I would hope that I wouldn't be so attached to "my stuff" that I couldn't just let it go. I mean, did she have her grandmother's ashes in her carry on? Her wedding gown? A kidney, liver or other body part? A fur coat? A miniature life raft? Seriously, what could have been that important? I suppose we will never know.

But as I was judging the heck out of this person I've never met, God reminded me that sometimes I want to hold on to "my stuff" too. Instead of letting go and letting Him be in charge and take care of the details of my life, I make these desperate attempts to hold onto the things I am sure of, the things that I am familiar with, the things that make me feel secure. Instead of leaving those behind and walking in faith into unknown territory and holding on to the One who holds me in His hand.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

Throwback Thursday

The date: this past Tuesday, January 20, 2009 (yeah, it wasn't that long ago)

The place: our neighbors' backyard

The mood: Who doesn't love to play in the snow? Well, maybe Luke. This was his first time to see snow and he wasn't too sure about it. Plus, he was so bundled up that he could barely walk. That's him in the second picture. Yes, that is yellow thing you see in the first picture is a boogie board. We didn't have a sled. Jeff Foxworthy would be proud. You might be a redneck if. . .

Unfortunately, we didn't get very many pictures. Kevin was out of town and it was still snowing when we were outside so I didn't want to mess up his camera. I got a little bit of video footage, but not much. Maybe it will snow at least one more time and we will be better prepared.

Oddly enough, two years ago when it snowed Kevin was out of town too. He was so bummed that he couldn't be here to play with the boys.