Wednesday, December 20, 2006

2006 Year in Review

Events that I enjoyed:
* Texas football team won national championship. I went to Baylor, but glad for a Texas school to win.
* I love the Olympics and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was great. Shaun White was my favorite person who did well.
* I really got into the World Cup this year and enjoyed it very much.

Finance Committee -- great service and learning opportunity for me and my church.

Conference speaking -- was asked to lead a conference break-out session. It was fun to research, develop, and adjust a presentation then get to spend an hour with various folks putting all of my time and effort in front of them to help in their ministries.

Camping solidified as a family activity -- we went several times this year and really cemented camping as a "family thing."

Two specific deaths had an impact on our family. First, we had to put down Dodger, our long-time dog, this year. It was very difficult for the boys (Caris didn't get it) and they still talk about missing him. Second, our kids love Animal Planet and the death of Steve Irwin really made an impression on the kids.

Goals for 2007:
* Spend more one-on-one time with each of my kids.
* Hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt 5:6).
* Lose weight -- I want to get to at least 210 and then hopefully lower to a final goal weight of about 202-205 (according to my doctor).
* Be a more thoughtful husband and take the initiative to plan special things for my sweet wife.

Friday, December 01, 2006

November Scattershooting

Well, I really need to make time to blog more I really miss it. Here are some random thoughts in my head right now or things that have gone on lately with my family.

This last Wednesday, November 29th I was off of work to take my Mamaw to a test with her cardiologist. I wore shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals in the 80 degree high weather for most of the day. When I was taking her home around 6:00 p.m., the weather dropped 20 degrees in one hour as the cold front moved in! We had a high of 80 and a low of 36 degrees (Canadians, that's from 27 to 2 in one day)! Then on Thursday, the high was 36 and the low was 27 with rain, sleet, then SNOW! Our office closed early and I played outside with the kids making snow angels and throwing snowballs on our trampoline. My baby girl loved it and was giggling the whole time (except when she had snow on her face).

I heard today that the former Oakland pitcher Barry Zito is meeting with the Texas Rangers today. Man, I sure hope we get Zito but I think he's just posturing for some other team to give him more money. I'm excited about our new manager and the direction that we're heading but we need more pitching badly!

We had some of our family in town from Canada on Thanksgiving and we really had a blast with them. My wife's Uncle Craig married a great Canadian gal and they live up there now. Their oldest son and daughter are both married now (one in the Dominican this last Spring) and both of the couples came down to see us. We ate turkey, they went to the Cowboys football game, we ate Mexican food, danced at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth, and generally had a great time! The guys had planned on going to the football game, but Heather's uncle Terry made it even more special. He got a suite at the game and got a ticket for everyone including Granny who hadn't been out of her retirement home room in who knows how long. Channel 4 news did a piece on the whole thing and they were on TV! We couldn't find a babysitter for the kids on a holiday so I stayed home with the kids and Mamaw. It was very special for all of us.