If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Jeff, my brother-in-law, is graduating from Tarleton State University this weekend. Congrats, Jeff! It’s been 9 long years… (Ok, so maybe only 6, but I’m sure it’s felt like forever for him). I couldn’t ask for a better brother-in-law, and we’re enjoying the gorgeous spring-like weather in Stephenville this weekend.
On the way here, the kids and I came up with an idea for a new video cast called the Adelyn and Sam Show. We’re going to have to work on what to abbreviate it, but it will be done in the genre of iCarly. Sam is going to video and produce it weekly. Stay tuned!
One blogs. And sighs. And takes pictures with his MacBook.
Thank goodness for Ben at the ABSC who is coming to pick me up, eat lunch and drive me to Pine Bluff where wifey (in early stages of mental confusion) will meet me. She didn’t think I was arriving until 5:30.
I don’t know how many of you have discovered the delight of a coffee press. I’ve been through three now. Mainly because I broke one and had to reorder it. (No, it’s not a Donald coffee press… But that does make me wonder if I have an advanced case of break-ism.) I now have two coffee presses, one that’s a two-cupper, and the single cupper above in the picture.
If you’re unfamiliar with coffee presses, they’re wonderful inventions. Also known as the French press, it’s been around for a while. Basically, you put a scoop of fresh ground coffee (or if you’re lazy, Maxwell House) into the glass beaker, add hot water, stir and let steep for 2 minutes. Afterwards, you slowly “press” the plunger down, pushing the grounds to the bottom of the beaker. The result is a fresh, espresso-like cup of incredible goodness. There’s a good article here about how to achieve the best brew.
It’s become a part of my evening routine. It makes for a perfect evening, after the kids are in bed to press a cup or two of coffee, snatch up the book of the moment, climb into an easy chair and drink up the quietness of the evening. (Of course, the quietness is often interrupted by Caro’s favorite shows - Design on a Dime, Deal or No Deal, or Dancing with the Dorks.
So what’s your nightly routine look like? Post kids? Keep it clean, please! ;)
I just can’t believe it.
Twice in one week, I have inadvertently broken two priceless family heirlooms (no wise cracks there, please).
The first accident came Wednesday evening as I was putting clean coffee mugs back into the cabinet after unloading the dishwasher. I saw it happening - as if in slow motion - but could do nothing about it. My Donald Duck coffee mug (one of my oldest) tottered on the edge of the shelf, teetering (sorry Donald and Rene’) for a split second as if in hesitancy, before it committed suicide onto the counter below.
I was shocked at such utter disregard for the value of life. I wondered if I hadn’t been using it enough lately. What could it have been thinking, I wondered in numbness. I had obviously yelled out during the moment because my wife and daughter came running. They saw my crestfallen face and each responded in their normal fashion - Carolyn cackled; Adelyn comforted. Specifically, Adelyn went promptly to her room and drew me a picture of Daisy kissing Donald (which she traced from one of her books). It’s now hanging on the wall behind my computer.
The second incident occurred this morning and resulted in some perfectly parsed profanity, I’m sad to say. Ryan would be proud. I reached across my bureau to get our Noble Media Services file folder, and in doing so my porcelain, musical wind-up Donald jumped off the shelf in another fit of self-hate. Fortunately, my foot broke most of its fall, but not before Donald broke his foot in the process. You can see the chip off the foot in the picture. Now I have a chip off the old duck…
I have collected Donald paraphernalia since reading Disney comics as a kid. Donald is my favorite character - bar none. I am deeply worried about his self-esteem however and am looking for duck depression doctors - but don’t recommend to me some quack.
I really thinks something fowl is afoot. My feathers are ruffled, and I’m worried about what Donald may do when I’m not doing. So, if you have any helpful thoughts, be sure to leave them as you take a gander at the rest of my site. By the way, beak-airful out there. It’s a dangerous world for ducks.
I left Little Rock Sunday morning early so that I could arrive in Newark, Arkansas in plenty of time to visit with pastor/friend Jody Smotherman. It rained on me the entire way there, and as I exited Highway 167, the words my dad said to me the night before bounced around my cranium, “Do you think you can get there?”
I had been aware of the massive flooding in north and northeast Arkansas over the past two weeks as a result of a stalled weather system that dumped 7-9 inches of rain on the area. As the system moved out of the area, to the north and east, it continued to fill rivers and creeks with damaging waters.
However, as I sat there, with my car idling on Highway 14 staring at the blocked road, my only thought was “uh-oh.” How was I going to get to church to preach on time?
Fortunately, I was able to drive down a parallel highway for a half mile or so and found a connecting gravel road that put me on the other side of the flood. After preaching, I returned home another way - through Batesville.
All of that brings me to a question… do you remember a place in scripture where someone had to “return another way?” Where was it? Why was it? And go further… What practical implications for our lives might there be in doing things differently than we’ve done them before?
