On my mind today

Obviously, I am working today, but not for long. My wife made me promise I would only work a half-day. I'm feeling better, but I still sound awful. I slept a good part of the day yesterday and slept like a zombie last night. I suspicion I'll be over this by tomorrow.

I've just gotten home from our last football game for the year and I'm not yet sleepy, so I thought I'd visit with you for a moment. I was in hopes football season could stretch out another week or two, but alas it was not to be. Our kids played hard and with passion - it just didn't work out this time. We lost a hard-fought game to Elysian Fields. 20-6. It was closer than score indicates, believe me. They scored a late one, I think to make themselves feel better about it. Elysian Fields has been to the playoffs annually for a long time and their experience showed. We started off a little tight - they didn't. But if you had told me in August we would go 9-2, win a share of the district championship and give our playoff opponent all they wanted and more, I'd have taken it in a heartbeat. It's been thirteen weeks since we started and it's amazing how much changes in that time. I didn't know a single student on the team when we started. Now, I know them...

My man Brink Bizzell is at it again! Now that he's 5 yrs old (happy bday!), he's drawn me a butterfly. I've got several others he's made for me, but this is one of my favorites. Enjoy!

I don't often discuss sports. Not because I don't love it, but because it's not the passion of my life. That spot is already taken. But I've got a few things on my mind this miserable afternoon. OUTCOACHED - again. Stop me if you've heard this before. I'm a big fan of coach Mack Brown and his style (my wife calls me a "Mack apologist), but let's be honest. Mack Brown and the UT coaching staff were (again) taken to the woodshed by Coach Bob Stoops - again. Talent-level, it was just about even. Yet for the 6th time in 8 years, our coaches found a way to lose a very winable game. Intolerably frustrating is a fair description. Combine that with poor decisions by (I believe) an injured quaterback and you have a loss. Another year of just hoping we can make it to the Holiday Bowl. Don't get me wrong - San Diego is not a bad place. It's my favorite vacation spot to tell you the truth. But that's not the goal. Nor is 2 conference losses before...

When you see my lovely wife, make sure to wish her a happy birthday. October 27th is her birthday - generally speaking, I try to celebrate it all month long. Why? We got married (May 6) the day before my birthday (May 7) and every year we take our vacation around that time so we always make a splash with mine by celebrating it somewhere else. In 2001, we celebrated in Houston at Minute Maid Park. In 2002, we celebrated at Turner Field in Atlanta. In 2004, we celebrated at Wrigley Field in Chicago. In 2005, we celebrated it at Petco Park in San Diego. In 2006, we celebrated at Tropicana Field in Tampa, FL. This year, we celebrated at Safeco Field in Seattle. Seeing a trend? Part of our vacation is to visit a different baseball park around the country. No, it wasn't my idea! It was hers! We honeymooned in Boston. You can't go to Boston and miss Fenway Park! Thus, a tradition was born. So, because I married so very well, I try to make her birth-month an extra special celebrat...

Last night in our evening service, I used my great-grandfather, James "Jim" Hudson, as an example of man many have never heard of but was powerful in the hands of God. After the service, two of our FBC members, Joe and Edie Lilly, told me they were kin to him as well! I'll admit, at first I was a bit skeptical, but they delivered a geneaology to me today connecting all the dots. UN-BE-LIVABLE!

I had to call our satellite company today - we had reached the end of our free preview of the movie channels and we didn't want to pay for them. I tried to cancel them when we first got connected to the service back in June but they charge you a bonus to cancel the free preview. What in the world is that about?!? But I digress. So I called them. Immediately I was greeted by a kind voice letting me know all kinds of things about my account. After running in circles with this computerized knucklehead for 10 minutes, I finally was able to get a live person - a luxury these days. By the time I got to a friendly lady named Kris, I was aggravated through no fault of Kris. I thought to myself about the phone menus and what that means. While it makes good business sense, it makes very little sense to distance yourself from personal relationships. Hmmmm. . . sounds remarkably like some churches I've visited. They have all the right things in all the right places, but have forgotten the ...

After we got home from church last night, I abused my wife in a shameful way - I forced her to endure "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector." If you've not seen it, let me warn you - it is a really stupid movie - and I like stupid movies! It had almost no plot - just one-liner after one-liner. The story was beyond unbelievable - Larry as a health inspector at 5 Star restaurants? The characters were poorly constructed. . . . But I laughed until I was nearly sick! If you're in the mood for a stupid show with no story, no characters and no plot, here's your show!

First a confession - we're M&M people in the worst way. We keep some around our house for rainy days. . . or sunny days. . .or snowy days. . .okay, any day at all will really do! :-) We found something curious in the last package. An M&M representative of the Trinity!

Julie and I are working around the house today - most just goofing off really. But in the midst of that, we discovered a couple of red wasps right outside the front door. Being good caretakers of a home, we decided to kill them with wasp spray. I shot what I THOUGHT was two wasps. I noticed a small crack they had come from so I sprayed in there as well and when I did. . . let's just say I got more than I bargained for. I thought it was just two wasps. I was severely mistaken. NINE more came out, angry and looking for trouble. Fortunately, I still had the wasp spray! :-)

So here it is! Our new kitchen! Hardly looks like the same house. I've attached a "before" picture at the bottom so you can see the difference. It was a FAT lot of work and it meant using our bathtub for a dishwasher for a few days, but oh how worth it! A shout-out to Johnny Avery of Avery Flooring in Corsicana for an awesome job done with professionalism and kindness!