Emily and her fellow ballerinas have been working hard to get ready for their dance recital in May. Here's a little glimpse of their progress thus far.

Here's a few updates on our life:

Josh has discovered the wonder of video games now. He used to have nothing to do with them but now he is on his way to a full-blown addict. This is him playing his V-smile at ballet.

Last Sunday night when we picked Josh up from Cubbies (our Sunday night pre-school program) we were handed this piece of paper by his teacher. Apparently Josh knows how to write his name (aside from the backwards 'J'). This was news to us as we had never seen him do it before.

Emily and her classmates had their
Valentines party on Friday. All the kids made big white bags and had little red mail boxes on their desks. They then lined up and went around like little mail men and women depositing their little cards in everyone's mail box.

It was also Emily's teacher's (Mrs Brazzell) birthday. All the kids were given pink roses to present her as they sang happy birthday.

Well, Emily officially has a little boyfriend named Connor. Whitney and Connor's mom were talking several weeks ago and discovered through their conversation that their children apparently had a mutual liking for one another. They then agreed that they would allow the kids to get a special valentines for one another. So the big day arrived on Friday. During the course of the class party Whitney and Connor's mom pulled aside and arranged a secret meeting place out in the parking lot after the party. Emily had picked out a giant Herchey's kiss for Connor and Connor had gotten Emily a Valentine's snoopy doll holding a heart. But the real kicker was that Connor had spent a good portion of the night on Thursday night hand-crafting the perfect card for his valentine, Emily (as pictured above). The process consisted of several failed attempts that were ripped up by Connor before finally arriving at the above masterpiece picturing a young girl, Emily, and a young boy, Connor, holding hands.

As a final bonus I have posted another look at Emily's ballet dance but this time if you may notice a few glimpses of little brother Joshua showing off a few moves as well. Apparently he has been studying the dance moves in his spare time.

Showed up today at our church's food pantry to find that we had an entire cargo van filled to overflowing. I quickly was thrust into a mammoth line where we passed the bags from the van into the pantry, in the corners, against the walls and on the porch. There were a couple of men who came to receive food that jumped in there with us to help as well which was really cool. After we got it all unloaded I was talking to Gary from HEB. He was telling me that he has gotten to know our church through softball as he plays on one of the other church teams. He often drives by our church and noticed we had a food pantry. So he talked to Mark McDaniel who heads up our softball ministry about seeing if he could talk to HEB about sending all of their 'souper bowl of caring' food drive donations straight to our food pantry. Well, he obviously got it worked out and our food pantry was quite blessed as a result.

Gary also shared how he has come to see church softball as a ministry and not just a game where it's all about winning. He talked about how there are men playing out there each Monday night who have never prayed out loud before with others. He also mentioned that he had invited a guy to play on their team who was involved in a gang. His life has been changed by this ministry and he changed one of his gang symbol tatoos into a cross to show that he is no longer following that path but the path of Jesus. It was very refreshing getting to hear Gary's stories and remember that it's about following the lead of the Holy Spirit...taking the initiative when God gives you an idea or someone to talk to or reach out to. How many opportunities do we pass up each day that have eternal ramifications?

Well, it has been a ridiculously long time since a post so getting back in the writing saddle here again. A couple of things on my mind today:

1. The drive to school - I've noted before about how car time with my daughter is some really cool time that I am certain that I will look back on one day and cherish our little talks. Last week she was playing this little game with me where she tries to make her voice as quiet as possible and then she asks me 'Did you hear that Daddy?'. Most of the time I hear nothing but every once in a while I hear a faint little squeak like a mouse and she just thinks it's hilarious when I can't hear her.

2. Weekend away with the boys - We got away this past weekend to go out to 'the ranch' for Dunn deer camp Southwest of San Antonio. It was very good for me on various levels. It was good to spend time with my brothers, Dad and friend of mine Matt Carter. We had some great chats on the road, in the deer blind, around the campfire and in the cabin about life, God, family, current events, etc. Of course there was much laughter and immaturity as well from the person who wouldn't claim their bodily gas expulsion to the random 'cutie' pelting to the instrumental falsetto harmony of the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Superman theme songs while washing and drying dishes.

Here is a picture of our new cow friends that we meet at the ranch. two calves snuck through the gate one night and my brother and I got to do a mini cattle drive to get them out. I held the outside position while my brother held the inside position.

Chef Emily hard at work. Emily loves to help with cooking and baking. Our neighbor Tommye taught her how to crack eggs so that has become her specialty around the house.

Emily got to partcipate in her first parade the weekend before last as her ballet studio all piled onto a float and wore their santa hats and waved to the crowd for the Magnolia Christmas parade. I'm not sure that she is ready to be a professional parade person as she says that it really wasn't all that it was cracked up to be as she had to sit on her knees which wasn't too much fun.

Josh and his buddy Sean got to root on their ballet sisters from the sidelines and get some candy while they were at it (and apparently some weird hats and mardi gras necklaces). The weirdest moment was when a girl that worked at a tanning salon came around handing out necklaces and telling everybody happy tanning. Then I thought, you know, Santa is looking a little pale these days maybe he could use a little bronzing.

Last week we had a chance to go in and watch Emily's whole ballet routine. This is a clip of one of the dances that we had not seen yet.

Last Thursday night Emily had her Christmas musical for her school. Each grade performed a couple of songs from a different country. Emily's class represented Mexico. So Emily and the only two other girls were the senoritas wearing their Mexican dresses while the 15 boys sported their sombreros. They sang Feliz Navidad. It was very appropriate as my daughter's favorite class is Spanish. She knows two Christmas songs in Spanish now as well as 2 Bible verses. She is ready to be missionary for Jesus to the spanish speaking world.

I also got to participate in the musical as I was caught in a rare moment wearing an official minister's robe and accompanying the second graders as they sang silent night.

Emily had her class Christmas party on Friday (her last day of school before Christmas break). It was a mega party full of various activities that lasted about 4 1/2 hours. At one point in the party the kids were all out on the play ground and I thought it would be fun to go and join them in their game of tag....BIG MISTAKE. The next thing I know I am being swarmed by kids from every direction and they are latched onto my legs and tackling me in a sea of confusion. At one point some of the boys executed what seemed to be a well-calculated thought out plan. Some of the boys were hanging onto my legs while another boy snuck behind me and gave me a sudden push which just about sent me toppling over to the ground. Yeah, so if you're ever tempted to join in a game of tag with almost 20 kindergartners, evaluate that choice very carefully.

One of the cool things they did during the party was setting up a little store for the kids. The kids were each given 10 dollars (fake but looked very real) and they could go pick out a gift that cost between 7-9 dollars. This gift would be given to kids that were sick with cancer at MD Andersen in Houston. It was a cool time for them to experience the joy of giving during this time of year. After they bought their gift they then could use their change to buy something for themselves but one of the kids went around to all the other kids and suggested that they combine all of their extra change so they could buy more gifts to give away. All the kids joined in with him and they were able to purchase two more extra gifts to give away. It was really fun getting to watch them do something generous for someone else on their own initiative. It was a good reminder that kids will respond to our leadership and initiative when it comes to serving others and they are eager to help and desire to make a difference.

And now for our parting shot. This would be Josh in the Sam's parking lot sporting his new tiger tail (from Michael's). These tails bought us at least another hour of productive errand running. Whatever it takes.

The kids wore their Christmassy clothes for church on Sunday and then got to go to the Awana store on Sunday night.



















Monday night was our mad dash to clean and finish our Christmas decorating. It's always interesting cleaning and doing stuff figuring out ways to entertain the kids at the same time. We had to move all the chairs out of the dining room to work on it and we happened across one of our greatest discoveries to date, 'the chair bridge'. Josh entertained himself for hours on this sucker. He would start at one end and walk all the way down and do it again and again and again.

The family Christmas tree (with Boyd's bear angel on top). Josh helping?

Emily continues to practice her balet dances each Wednesday. They have been working on a dance to 'Frosty the Snowman' where they use little black top hats in their routine.

On Thursday Joshua's school had Polar Express, Pizza and Pajama day. He was all decked out in his monkey sock monkey pj's and his elmo slippers.

Joshua has developed and addiction to cinnamon toast. Is it just me or does the aftermath (all of the cinnamon and sugar plastered to his face) bear a strange resemblance to the Joker? Kind of freaky.

Lastly, I have really enjoyed driving Emily to school. It's a special time where we can have Father/Daughter chats. Today we talked about my sticker collection I had as a kid and how I took stickers and placed them in a notebook. I also told her about scratch and sniff ones and she thought that was pretty cool. Then she wanted me to teach her how to whistle so we worked on that for awhile. I told her that I actually knew three whistles. The regular whistle, the Gaddy whistle (Aunt Debby), and the Grandpa whistle (the loud obnoxious one that gets everyone's attention in a crowd). She thought the grandpa whistle was pretty funny.

And for random entertainment value a Joshua video from this morning where he decides to do pantomime and take a vow of silence as I ask him questions:

We had a great couple of weeks with Whitney's parents, Bunny and Ronnie. Bunny did the Texas reading tour as she made four appearances to read including the Woodlands Christian Acadmey Chapel (as seen here where she appeared as Ima Bean), Joshua's Preschool where the kids got to read about An Orange for a Belly Button, StoneBridge MDO, and then she took Emily and all her kindergarten classmates on a bear hunt.

Hanging out near Market Street.

Riding the carrousell with Poppaw (one of life's sweet little pleasures). Nice eyes Emily!

We took the kids to the lighting of the Christmas tree at Market Street and ran into Chris and Dee Howell (Kinsey Howell is chillin' with Emily and Joshua on the blanket).

Emily and Joshua partook of an archaeological dinosaur dig under a cave beside the Blanco river in Wimberley over Thanksgiving and shortly after this dig came across some real dinosaur bones (or maybe a possum but don't tell them).

Climbin' some cool oak trees with brother brad out on my uncle Paul and Mary's property in Wimberley (sometimes if there is a tree you simply need to climb it).

On our last night in Wimberley we sat on the porch, watched the sunset, played some guitar and watched my little girl get extra cozy on the couch next to the heating lamp and gently trail off to sleep. It was one of those kind of sacred moments that God offers you that you can put no price tag on.

We all gathered together for my Grandfather's (Papa John) 80th birthday party.

My Dad and I did some wood working together and built a basic prayer kneeler (it was the perfect excuse for him to step up his woodworking shop a bit).

Santa Josh helping to decorate the tree.

Little Emily the Elf got in on the decorating action as well.

Here's a few snapshots from the last couple of weeks:

Conversation on the way to school with Emily last week: Emily says out of the blue that she now realizes that the Bible is real. Which at first I was like, um yeah, but then I guess, that's kind of a cool moment as she is beginning to see the Bible as unique and different than other stories and fairy tales.

Joshua was excited as last week it was his turn in pre-school to take Maxie the Monkey home. He was so incredibly excited. We also had a special monkey book that came with Maxie that we read a couple of times as well.

Last Friday was Grandparents day at the Christian Academy and it was very special as Poppaw, Grammy and Gigi all were able to be there. They had a special program and then Emily had fun taking us on a tour of her classroom.

Last weekend we took 6 other couples out to Wimberley with us from our Married Life class. It was a great time as we got to drop the kids off with babsitters/grandparents for the weekend and enjoy some great food, fellowship and time to renew our relationship with God.

On Wednesday Emily got to help Daddy teach the all the kids at chapel a new song from our church. She was pretty excited as she pointed out in the car on the way to chapel all the other kids who had gotten to get up on the stage multiple times and she had never had a chance to get up there.Whitney grabbed this video of Emily at Ballet on Wednesday doing her new umbrella dance.