So....it is really late and for some reason I can't really get to sleep. Both my favorite men are fast asleep tucked in their beds (or cradle). I have been in Atlanta for over a week now, and I am so excited I still have over a week left till we go back to Louisville. I had a great past week, until I got sick. I was throwing up all night one night, then it faded away pretty fast. It was pretty crazy. Everybody that I hung out with on Sunday pretty much went through it this week, crazy!! That was no fun. Christmas was great as well. It was so cute watching Truett on Christmas, obviously he doesn't have a clue what was going on, but he did get his hands on some wrapping paper (pictures to follow shortly). Today was another great day. The boys all went to see Avatar while Judy and I (Truett too) stayed home and lazied around. We did a puzzle, laundry, ate good food, and started a sewing project. I am trying to build my confidence with my sewing machine one project at a time. Right now I am working on place mats for my dining room table. We'll see how they turn out. Then I am moving on to a curtains, and then an apron.
Night one of my first overnight shift is over. I worked 8pm until 8am. I cut, well, at least 40 tenderloins, and I don't know how many rib roasts. I worked with my boss, Jeff, and we got finished with time to spare. My hands and back hurt but it wasn't too bad. I got home around 8:30am and was in bed by 9. Weird. I feel like I've tricked my body into some crazy punk'd episode. I slept for 8 hours solid - up at 5pm. Now I'm about to go back to work. Another 8 to 8. But after this shift I come home and my friend from down the street, Will, is taking me to the airport at 11:30. I'll be in Atlanta by 3:30pm. We may try to make it to the Christmas Eve service at CCMA. It all depends on flight times and traffic out of Atlanta.
I can barely remember what happened this year, and because I'm in seminary all I do is read (not really, but mostly), the best thing for me to make a list of is the books I've read. Here goes:
I feel a little like Kevin from Home Alone. Except for the part where I wished that my family disappeared. And except for the part where the bad guys try to break into my fun house of pain. I also don't have creepy neighbors that carry snow shovels and scowl frequently. I guess the only reason I feel like "the little jerk" is that I'm home alone until Christmas Eve. Shana went home with Truett and Zoe on Thursday morning. I can't go because of work. This is, by far, the busiest time of year for us at work. Where our meat department will do $32,000 in a really good week during the summer, we'll do $40k plus on the 23rd and 24th. So needless to say, there's no time off given.
It's 9:33 pm. I just got back from the U of L hospital. Jimmy had just gotten out of his 3rd surgery a few hours before. John and I got to go back to the ICU and see him. John explained a lot to me. Jimmy was walking home on Sunday night and came up on a few guys. This part is a little sketchy as far as details go. There was only so much the the police told John. He was basically in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was shot 8 times in the abdominal area. One of the bullets severed his femoral artery (the huge artery that goes from the heart to the leg). He was still conscious when the cops got there and was able to give a description of the shooter before he went out. When the femoral artery is severed you can bleed out in a matter of minutes. When Jimmy got to the ER the doctors were amazed he was even alive. Throughout the next several hours he was given 48 units of blood. 48!! That doesn't include the plasma. The doctors told John and the family that it looked grim and to expect the worst. However, people were praying. He survived the first surgery. Then the next. Then the next. The doctors saved both of his legs and he is now in an induced coma. He's on a respirator but could breath on his own if it were ok for him to be awake. He's in stable condition, but not totally out of the woods. Its a very real miracle that he's alive.
It's 5:05 AM, on Tuesday morning. I'm getting ready for work. I noticed that I had a voicemail on my phone from late last night. It was John Tucker (Canadian John... read about him below). He is involved in a ministry to men who are saved out of really rough, and most of the time homeless backgrounds. The ministry provides these men with a structured environment and a place to live. John lives with these guys in a big house right next door to the church they attend in downtown Louisville. Its not the best part of town. One guy in particular is named Jimmy. I've met Jimmy several times. He came to stay with John for a few weeks when John lived across from us. He's a great guy with a rough past. Jesus changed his life. Last night Jimmy was shot. I don't know all the details. Only what John left on my phone. He said its "touch and go" at this point. Pray that Jimmy lives. I don't really know what else to write about it, but I'm just asking for your prayers for this brother.
I saw this on my friend Andy Darnell's blog (link on the right). Isn't this why Martin Luther started the Reformation? So people like Jean don't have to depend on statues of Jesus to protect her dogs' right to poopie? This video cracks me up!
Here are some more videos of the most adorable kid on this planet. Can you tell we can't get enough of his laughter.
Us playing at my work on campus.
Josh playing with Truett.
Me playing with Truett.
Well. Its winter. yay. Winter.
I took this on my phone this morning. Yay. Snow. 
I haven't had much time to pay attention to Obama's plan for Afghanistan or the war in general, but I think I got the idea of what he's saying. To the Dems he's sounding more like Bush and to the GOP his pre-planned exit strategy is telling the bad guys our plans. Here's my quick theory on his plan and why its changed since his election campaign: When he was on the campaign trail he was planning out of ignorance. He made promises that he didn't know he couldn't keep. There were probably a lot of things going on behind the scenes that was so top secret that he had no idea about. That's probably the reason that Bush had to make some of his decisions about the war. There's so much stuff going on that we don't have any idea about. Once Obama was elected and got all the information he had to change his tune. Notice that when he got elected he didn't touch the war topic for a while. I know the economy was/is pressing, but he never mentioned it even in the face of pressure. Why? He was briefed on ALL of the information that he didn't have prior to becoming the commander and chief. He had to change his position. If that's the case, and I realize that this is totally my opinion, he should just tell us that he's gotten new information that he can't disclose that's caused him to change. It makes sense. It also makes Bush look a lot less stupid for his decisions. Anyway, that's just my opinion.
Dean and Judy came up for the week of Thanksgiving. We had a really great time. Truett was definitely the main event because all we did was hang out pretty much. We had a really good time. As always really good food too. Here are some videos from the week. Truett was always our center piece at the table and we all had a lot of fun with him. As you can see two of the videos are him in the bumbo on the dining room table.
Here is one with Dean playing with Truett. Dean seems to have the touch to always make Truett laugh.
Here is Judy with Truett talking his head off.
Truett at the dinner table again.
Most of you who know me that I am a fan of Toby Mac's music. Well, we took our students to the Winter Slam where he was playing along with some other great artists. We had a really great time. We even took Truett. No worries his head was full of cotton, but I am sure I got a few crazy looks from people wondering why I had a baby there. I only saw one other baby there besides mine.
Right now this is my favorite song of his. You can hear me jamming to this while driving down the street occasionally. Or hear me jamming with this in the ipod as I clean house.
You can see all of us jamming.
P.s. I said jamming a lot. :)
Last Friday the Joneses were out of town (they live below us) so we thought it was a good opportunity to pull out the Dance Dance Revolution game for our students. We had a really good time. Here is Scott playing with Truett.
This video is to get back at Josh for my drumming Rock Band video. If you haven't seen that you can check out our youtube videos for it.
