Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree!

We hauled all of our crew out to the Christmas Tree Farm this afternoon and picked out a 12 foot tree for the back porch. We are going to let the kids decorate it in theory and have it all lit up outside the kitchen window. So far it's still standing and so are we, but the festivities have just begun.

animal day

We took the boys to the Tallahassee Museum today. The boys particularly enjoyed the animal exhibit. There were black bears and Florida panthers, and otters and wolves (or wolfeses, as Simon said). There was also an exhibit of old pioneer-type living with a commisary and a potato house.

We may have overdone it a bit though. Braden passed out on the way home. The boys were particularly tired considering last night we went downtown to watch the Bainbridge Christmas parade. It was really neat to stand so close to the Bainbridge High School marching band.

number 9

Amy and I celebrated our 9th anniversary last night. We went to a seafood restaurant in Tallahassee called the Wharf. We would like to thank all of you who have been there for us, supporting us, helping shape our marriage into what God would have it. This has been an incredibly intense year, filled with transitions and new joys (like Lucy). We had fun on our way home thinking back to our favorite moments from our ninth year. Amy is truly a saint for what she gives day in, day out to me and our three (I heard a few amens out there).

free refill

My dad took us to the movies tonight... me and the boys, to see Happy Feet. Happy Feet was kind of a sad movie, but that's not what this blog is about. Look at the size of this cup! It's not just a Brazilian exageration... the cups really are enormous here. I drank and drank and drank and didn't reach the bottom. I went to the bathroom twice while at the theatre and then on the way out I noticed it was free refill. I thought about filling up so our family of five could sip on it for dinner but decided against it.

depart tomorrow

Amy is in the den packing up our last few bags. We fly out of Confins International Airport tomorrow around 5 p.m. Then we make a stop over in Rio for a few hours before flying on to Atlanta. We'll arrive around dawn on Friday and then fly on to Tallahassee. Few of you may have known about the trip or at least that we finally put dates to it. Our first stop will be in Bainbridge. We saw today that it was like 25º there this morning. Pray that our trip would be restful and renewing after a long, arduous year.

Jim Downing interview

Here's part 1 of 12 of an interview I did with Jim Downing last month.

say and do

Two funny stories about the boys from this week: I was teaching Simon to use a mouse to play a game on the computer. He quickly started to slide it around on the top of the table moving the cursor on the screen. Then I said, okay, Simon try and move it up. Simon then, eyes fixed on the screen, slowly lifted up the mouse off the table... hahaha!

Then the whole family was buying a few items at a grocery store in our neighborhood that had been converted from a gymnasium not long ago. I turned and mentioned to Amy, it would have been great if our church could have moved to this building. Braden was walking close by and he turned and responded, what would we have put on the shelves?