Makes My Monday

Now that Britton is in one of the older Mother's Day Out classes, he is getting to do arts and crafts each week. When he brought home his first masterpiece, I officially made a "Britton's Artwork" folder for my file drawer.



Whenever I find one of these works of art in his bag, he gets so excited and, of course, I tell him how much I love it. Here is the first one of the year ... it's no Picasso, but it definitely Makes My Monday!

Quality Cousin Time

We were in Nashville this weekend attending the Together for Adoption conference at Christ Community Church. Aside from our personal interest in adoption (we are in the midst of an adoption for those who may not know), our church has a new adoption ministry. So we took several of the women who are involved in this ministry and they each brought one of their daughters. This conference totally rocked all of our worlds and we are so glad we got to go.

A big reason we got to do this was that Danny's brother, Ryan, and his family live in Nashville and were able to take care of Britton while we were away at the conference. I think it was the longest I have been away from the little guy ever. We got into town on Friday evening, but just in time to drop him off and head to the conference. We got in late that night, but left before Britton was awake the next morning. So we didn't really get to see him again until Saturday night. Danica and Ryan kept the boys quite entertained, though, and sent us picture updates throughout the conference ...


Playing with sidewalk chalk and bubbles.


Ready for an evening stroll (it felt kind of like winter in Nashville this weekend!).


Britton, Aunt Danica, Cousin Will


Rise and shine, it's morning time.


Aboard a firetruck at the Spring Hill Ham Festival.

Fun times! Thanks for taking care of our little boy!

Guys Retreat 2009

Ever since I graduated from the University of Texas in 1994, I have kept in close contact with a handful of men that shaped me during those formative years. In the beginning we all lived in Texas still and traveled together to Longhorn games, etc. But 10 years ago, we decided to be more purposeful in our time together...and add a spiritual component to our annual gathering. At the time no wives or children were really in the picture. Well, today that is much different with 11 kids between us now and 5 wives and us residing in Georgia, Alabama, Texas and Massachusetts.

During this retreat, we reminisce, catch up on our careers and Christian walk, learn of our families, challenge and encourage each other. Over the past 10 years, you can imagine there have been times of great joy and seasons of suffering and pain.


These men sharpen me like none other and I trust their evaluation of my life. These past years, we have had gatherings in the Texas Hill Country, North Carolina, several at Lake Martin in Alabama and even a farmhouse with four-wheelers and hunting (scary getting us all with guns in our hands!). These past two years we have been given a home in Stowe, Vermont which has been as beautiful as one could imagine.

Being that Joe lives in Boston, we all flew in a day early a caught the Red Sox vs. the LA Angels. The Sox won with a walk off single in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded and two outs. Incredible game especially from our front row seats upon the Green Monster!


We then made our way across New England (sadly before the colors have come out) and stopped for lunch at Dartmouth (props to Uncle Al - his alma mater).



The men are: John Ibsen (Jibs), Clay McDaniel, Scott Berry (always say the full name), Afshin "the Dream" Ziafat, me and Joe Januszewski (Joe Jan for the New Englanders)

Makes My Monday

Britton's great-grandfather Giffen stopped at our house when he was passing through town last week. Here they are having breakfast together. Britton insisted on sitting at the kitchen counter just like his great-grandpa. Love it. And, you guessed it ... it totally makes my Monday.

The Difference a Year Makes

VeggieTales (kinda free) Giveaway

Updated: Just found out that the cheapest shipping option is no longer $2.99. It is now $4.39. Guess too many people were taking them up on their offer!

Original Post:
If any of you out there have kids that love VeggieTales, you can get a DVD for $2.99. It is part of a promotional for their 15th anniversary celebration. Here's how it works:
Click here and play the little game (you have to search for the umbrella), then you will enter a drawing. Then you can get a "free" DVD if you pay the $2.99 shipping fee. You have a choice of 3 DVDs. Not a bad deal!

Makes My Monday

I love that my boy loves his daddy so much!

I also love that I actually remembered to do this post this week even it was a tad late. ;o)