Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone has a great 2008.  We had fun on New Years Eve shooting off fireworks outside in the driveway.  David and Joshua were excited!  We didn’t do any big fireworks, just sparklers and other small stuff.  We invited the next door neighbor kids over to do some sparklers with us and watch some of the other things I had.  Everyone had a great time.

Earlier around the dinner table we all shared new years resolutions.  It was neat hearing David and Joshua share some resolutions.  Molly and I shared them too.  We are all hoping and praying that 2008 will be filled with fun for our family and lots of heavenly blessings.

Merry Christmas!

Well the kids are in bed. Molly and I just got everything done that we needed to do for the big day. Its gonna be fun! We got home tonite from visiting family in Birmingham for the past few days. It was nice but theres no place like home. I am so glad we started coming home on Christmas eve so we could establish our own family traditions of getting up on Christmas morning and coming in to see the gifts. But the coolest thing was the discussion we had tonite in the boys room about Christmas beeing about Jesus and not just gifts. David my oldest is really starting to get it a little bit. He really understands a lot about Jesus. He just about quoted verses from Luke that speak of Christs birth. I was impressed. I love my family. My New Years Resolution is going to be to try to let my hope and faith in Jesus Christ show more through my actions and reactions. I was really challenged through a sermon by Buddy Champion at First Baptist Trussville Sunday morning. He preached about Simeon the elderly man in the temple courts that saw the baby Jesus with Mary and Joseph. He preached about how faithful Simeon was and how his faith showed. Simeons faith was the real deal. We live in a society that is looking for a bargain…a quick fix. We do this in our faith too. People attend church thinking they can do enough to just get by. It challenged me to not have a bargain type of Christianity. True faith may cost a little more but in the end it works every time. True faith takes commitment to real bible study and prayer and devotional life. Sometimes the bargains that we fall for work for a while but eventually break down or let us down. Too many people are walking around today carrying some bargain type of Christianity. Anyway…I hope you have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a Happy and Blessed New Year!

Huckabee for President!

The more I read and hear, the more I like…

ELF yourself! We got elfed!

My family and I got ELFED!!! Its fun and Funny! Check it out here. You can do one for yourself and friends and family…spread the cheer!

The Meaning of Christmas…Charlie Brown

I think its appropriate that Thanksgiving comes a month before Christmas. In our materialistic society there are probably some that think we should celebrate a time of thanks after Christmas. That way we can thank all the folks that gave us such great stuff.

But I think it has been divinely appointed that Thanksgiving fall a month before Christmas. We pause at Thansgiving to celebrate all of the blessings that have been bestowed upon us. We find ourselves thankful for health and family and friends and homes. We are thankful for our faith too. To me Thanksgiving begins a month long season of thankfulness for all that God has done for me culminating in the sending of the greatest gift of all time…the birth of a Savior.

I think Linus puts it best when asked by Charlie Brown if anyone really knows what Christmas is all about…

Happy Thanksgiving…

I am so thankful for my family. I am thankful that God gave me the parents that He gave me. I am thankful that they raised me the way they raised me. I am thankful for my brother and sister and for the love we share with each other.

I get sentimental and reflective during the holidays. I have been thinking this Thanksgiving about all that I am thankful for. Yesterday around the Thanksgiving table my mother threw out the question “what are we thankful for?”. She posed this question just before we dug into the great feast before us. Of course Molly and I had already had one feast at her parents house earlier that day, so we didn’t mind the wait. My mother shared first and then I think my sister. But then up went the hand of my little five year old. My mother asked Joshua what he was thankful for. He said “I am thankful for my daddy”. It touched my heart. He was so sweet. Now as I sit here back in Knoxville and let the holiday sink in a bit more, I am drawn to the huge importance of the daddys in our lives. I am so thankful for my dad. He loved the holidays. I think he looked forward to holidays more than anything in is life. He loved having his children near his side. He loved hearing about our lives. He loved his grandchildren too. He loved the family stories. He laughed just as hard every year at the same family stories that we told every year. My dad has passed on but his legacy lives. Now I am a dad building my own stories to tell and to laugh about with my family and my sons. I love my dad. I love being a dad. I love the caring relationship that I share with my boys. I want them to know the same kind of love that I knew with my daddy. Of course we had our ups and downs…but I always knew my dad loved me. Of course at this thanksgiving time, I am reminded of my Heavenly Father and His love for me. We too have had our ups and downs but I know He has always loved me. I am so glad I have the close and personal relationship that I have with my Heavenly Father. The daddys in our lives are important….they love us, they care for us, they want to spend time with us, they go through ups and downs with us, they laugh with us, they cry with us. I love my dad…I love being a dad…and I love my heavenly dad.

Molly WINS!!!

Well, My wife Molly won the big SINGING BEE contest last Tuesday!  She won first place and the grand prize of $5000!!  It was great fun.  She did a great job.  I was so very proud of her too.  She didn’t even look nervous on live TV.

Caller #24!!!

Luck must run in the family. Molly won a call in contest on the local 97.5 radio station last week. She also was drawn to compete in the SINGING BEE contest today on television. Well this morning when we were all getting ready for the day, they announce another call in contest. They were giving away Hannah Montana tickets to the 24 caller. These tickets are some of the hottest tickets around. They sold out here in Knoxville in something like 15 minutes. The tickets are selling on ebay for several hundred dollars a piece. Now I am no Hannah Montana fan but my 7 year old is. So I thought I would give it a try. Well I was caller number 24!!! I had to answer 3 questions about TV shows and the child actors that appeared on them. Question 1 was Who did Kim Fields play on the Facts of life…answer Tutti. Question 2 was Who did Gary Coleman play on Different Strokes…I didnt know this one. I know he says “whatcha talkin bout Willis”. The answer was Arnold…but I missed it. Question 3 was …Who does Ron Howard play on Andy Griffith…answer Opie. And question 4 was Who did Emmanuel Lewis play on the TV show Webster??? Answer Webster. So I won the tickets to this Saturdays Hannah Montana concert. My family was jumping up and down with excitement! So Molly and David will be going to the concert Saturday while Joshua and I go to Zuma or Chuckie Cheese.

Molly the SINGING BEE!!!

My wife Molly called me the other day about to hyper ventilate about winning $50 on the local radio station. She listens to 97.5 at work and the other day they said if you are the 9th caller, you win $50. She called in and got it! She was the 9th caller and won! WAY TO GO MOLLY!!!!

But the story only gets better…

As a winner of the $50 she also qualified to be included in a drawing to be in a contest on Nov 20. Yesterday they drew names for the 3 finalists and Molly is one of the three!!! She will be competing in a local Singing Bee contest on live television next Tuesday November 20 at 5pm. WBIR the local NBC affiliate is co sponsoring the contest. They produce a show called LIVE AT FIVE. Its a daily hour long show from 5pm to 6pm. Molly and the other 2 contestants will be on the show competing for the championship and a grand prize of $5000!!! 2nd place is $3000 and 3rd place is $2000. So even if she totally bombs, she walks away with $2000!

Now Molly knows a lot of songs and I think she could do pretty well. She sings a lot around the house with the family. Of course if they play Barry Manilow, Broadway or Osmond songs she will blow away the competition.

I have faith in her and I think she will do well. I am proud of her too! I love seeing and hearing her so excited.

Stay Tuned for more…

And a POP TART in a pear tree…

My youngest boy is Joshua. He is so cute! A really good boy. He is really a joy to be around.

The other night Joshua pulled a book out and wanted me to read it to him. It was the 12 Days of Christmas. He is so wanting to learn to read and write. He does recognize small simple words. Of course pictures are the best for him.

So we sat down to read the book. He loved it and after several readings in a row he had all of the days memorized.

The next day I took him to school. He is in a 5 day pre k program at Concord Christian School. I take he and David most days. David gets dropped off first then Joshua and I go around and park about 15 minutes early and wait for his drop off to begin. That makes us first in line most days. But the cool thing about it is that its time he and I spend talking, singing or whatever each day.

Anyway, yesterday we were in the drop off line and we started singing the 12 days of Christmas song. He cracked me up as he went through and sang in his little boy opera voice through the Lord a leaping , Maids a Milking and 5 Golden Rings etc. But what really made me laugh was when he finished it all off with a resounding “..and a POP TART in a pear tree”. He thought he was so cleve and funny. It really was funny.