Extremes

Last week it got warm. This weekend a cold front moved through. It was 15° F when I got up this morning. This sure keeps your sinuses messed up.

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH! Yes, we went to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Thursday evening. We had a blast! We saw the Circus of Dreams show (put on by their Blue Unit--there are three units).

We got there early for the pre-show. This is where you can walk around on the floor and meet the circus actors. Clowns abound, of course, and we were greeted by two clowns right off the bat. I wish I could remember the names of these characters as they were so nice to us and made us feel welcome. They set the mood for the rest of the evening for me. While on the floor we saw juggling acts, acrobatic acts, hat flipping acts, etc. They also brought out the elephants but the crowd was too thick for us to get close. (By the way, this is the one time a year they melt the ice on the floor at the GEC. If they don’t the 3 ton elephants will ruin it.)

When we got to our seats we were treated to a great show. This particular show has been written to not use the traditional circus rings. I think Vicki’s favorite were the horses. The kids loved the Siberian Tigers and the clown car race, but really, it’s pretty hard to to choose a favorite act. The seven motorcycles in the 18 foot spherical cage was cool too. I could go on....

It was late by the time the show was over. When we got out on the street the boys were impressed with the Bat Building (the BellSouth tower). When we got in the van Ben asked, “Can we go home and go to bed now?”

LET THE MIND GAMES BEGIN. Ben came home from school Wednesday (the day before we went to see the circus) complaining that his throat was hurting. Seeing this several times before we suspected strep so Vicki made an appointment with the doctor for the next day. One method of fighting this is with an injection which, much to Ben’s dismay, is given in the rear end rather than the arm. Vicki was glad they had this shot on hand as the pink medicine makes him hard to live with after four days. Did I say that Ben was not at all happy about this?

Well, he survived his shot and felt fine by that afternoon when we took off for the circus. Now Ben is telling Jenna that older kids only get their medicine in the rear end when they see the doctor. I think she’s bought into his “tail” too!

MY WIFE CAN SING! But I’ve known that for the past 14+ years. I reported back in June that she sang the first verse to Fairest Lord Jesus. Yesterday she sang all of Ancient Words and did a great job! I am really proud of her. This has been hard for Vicki as she has battled severe stage fright ever since I’ve known her so yesterday was a major accomplishment. I am so glad her audience is now greater than me, the kids and the shower.

Ancient words, ever true,

Changing me, changing you,

We have come with open hearts

Oh let the ancient words impart....

Joe

Cold, but No Snow

It is very frustrating to the kids to see the thermometer hover just above freezing while it rains and rains and rains. Such is life here in Tennessee.

HOOP ACTION. Upward basketball season is well under way. The kids played their third game this weekend. Ben is getting the hang of things and represents himself well on the court, but he has a lot to learn.

Jenna had a great game. If they had been keeping score she would have counted for 12 points, her best game ever! What is so neat about watching her play is that she is not a ball hog. She frequently passed the ball to her teammates. She also rebounded well. But what made her such a pleasure to watch, more than seeing her perform well, was simply seeing the joy of playing on her face. The skills she is developing are going far beyond honing her athletic abilities.

DICE ADVICE. I think the most popular board game in our family is Monopoly, Jr. Nate is starting to “play” with the rest of us. There are several spaces he likes to land on. Lunch and the Helicopter Ride were the favorites when we played Saturday night. What’s so funny is when it’s his time to roll the die he will whisper to it and tell it where he wants to go next.

FREEDOM. Yesterday morning Lori Swann was one of of the nursery workers at church. Sometime during the worship service she looked around and Nate was missing. She knew she had just seen him and figured he hadn’t gotten too far and sure enough, she found him quickly. After explaining to him how worried she had been and that it was wrong for him to go off like that she asked him why he did it. All he could say for himself was, “I’m sorry. It just felt so good to be free!”

AN ANSWER TO PRAYER. I haven’t mentioned it in a while but our friends, Brent and Cindy Roycroft, have been trying to adopt a baby for a very long time now. After many months of waiting they received a baby boy Tuesday. They named him Tyler Justus. Ty is precious and we are all extremely happy for them. Of course, my advice to any new parent: purchase stock in companies that make diapers and batteries.

Joe

An Uneventful Week

I am sort of at a loss to know what to write this week. I’m not complaining. A slow, uneventful week can be a blessing all its own.

WHO IS THE BOSS? So it came up at supper the other night about who the boss of our family is (not that we have any real pecking order at our house). In the conversation Vicki asked Ben who he thought was the boss of our family. You could see him turning this over in his mind a moment before he answered, “You are Mom.”

Vicki corrected him saying, “No, Daddy is the boss of our family.”

A look of utter astonishment crossed his face as he said, “He is!?!”

MORNING HAIR. Before Vicki gets too much mileage out of that last story I must turn around and tell one on her. For me the beauty of having short hair is the maintenance time is nil. Vicki can’t really get away with this so she suffers with morning hair that looks something similar to the Seinfeld character Kramer. The other morning as she came in the kitchen she was running her fingers through her hair. This action was making it stand in somewhat of a mohawk position. Jenna told her she looked like a chicken and a giggle festival ensued as Vicki began to cluck in agreement.

MY COUSIN NEEDS HELP! Morgan Swann is a senior at Davidson Academy. One of her requirements is to complete senior project. Morgan has chosen to do a mission action type of project. She was interested in doing something about AIDS victims in Africa and in her research learned that there are about 12 million children who have been orphaned because their parents died of AIDS. Morgan has decided to do something for these children and is in the process of collecting 12 million pennies to donate toward helping them. This is not a misprint. She is trying to raise $120,000 in pennies between now and the end of the school year. While Kenny fully supports her daughter in this venture he was heard to quote, “Youth is wasted on the young.”

So I am passing the word along and asking that you consider helping Morgan by collecting pennies. For those of you who don’t live nearby I am sure Morgan will take donations in other forms, but the purpose is to get an idea of the number of children this affects by seeing each one represented with a penny. Of course, if she is successful in raising 12 million pennies we estimate it will take at least two 18 wheelers to haul the donation to wherever it is to go.

Joe

No Time for Post Holiday Blues

This first edition of 2007 finds us getting back to the normal routine of life. The new year has gotten started with a lot of rain and average temperatures. As fun as the holidays have been, and we had a wonderful break, it is good to get life back in gear.

VISITORS FROM FLORIDA. Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob have been here for a visit. They got here Thursday and left for their home today. We all had dinner together at Pauline’s house Friday night, which wound up all our Christmas celebrations.

The cards are really being shuffled while they are here. Each time I talk to someone from Aunt Mar’s house there is a new Spades tale to tell. Vicki has been over there for a couple of late nights.

GINGERBREAD HOUSE. When Vicki taught kindergarten she always had a week of activities with Gingerbread Houses. The highlight, of course, was that each child made their own house. She is happy to report that she has finally brought this activity home to her own kids. Jenna, Benton, and Nate had the best time. Fingers were licked (Nate even licked Vicki’s) and candy eaten during the whole process! We hope to make this an annual tradition.

THE HUGGING PHASE. Nate is in a stage where he wants to give hugs. When he is ready he’ll speak up, almost shout really, and say, “Hug Daddy!” If I don’t stop what I’m doing right then he can get very insistent. I’ll need to store these up for the hug drought that is sure to come in about 10 years.

ENJOYING MUSIC. Mom and Aunt Mar have really suffered because their stereo with its turntable hasn’t worked in a long time. As a result they have a few dozen LPs they haven’t heard in about 30 years. To add insult to injury, there really isn’t a market for music by artists like Lawrence Welk, Floyd Cramer, etc. here in the Nashville area so they have no radio station to listen to. I have recently gotten an iMic which allows me to connect a turntable to the computer, and for the past couple of weeks I have been converting the vinyl to digital (Vicki says I am obsessed).

Mom was telling me that they were really enjoying the CDs the other night and asked if I had listened to any of the records. Of course I had, but I could tell she was fishing to see if I had liked the music. I don’t share my mother’s taste in music so I had to reply, “Mom, this has been a labor of love.” But to be completely fair, there have been a few tunes in her collection I have enjoyed such as the soundtracks from Oklahoma! and South Pacific.

TAKING COVER. Ben has one very strange habit. Anytime he hears someone coming into the room where he is he hides. In the living room his normal hiding place is crouching in the fetal position on the floor between the couch and the ottoman. Sometimes I hear him take such a dive for his spot I wonder if he hasn’t hurt his knees. This has gotten to be sort of a cat and mouse game where I try to enter a room as quietly as possible in order to catch him out of his hiding spot. When I do manage this he makes a half hearted lunge to hide and gives up saying, “Aw man!”

HEADLESS. So Nate and Vicki were at the cash register making a return at Goody’s when Nate walked over to inspect a mannequin. After looking it over he came back to Vicki and commented, “It doesn’t have no head!”

As Vicki looked around she said, “None of them have heads.”

He studied this a moment and replied, “At least we got a head!”

The cashier and other customers got a chuckle from this exchange.

BASKETBALL SEASON. The first Upward game of the season was Saturday. Ben’s debut brought a whole new dimension to the game. He guarded his man very well although he runs like a gorilla. He scored 2 points.

Jenna, much to Vicki’s surprise, is turning into quite the point guard. While she needs to learn to dribble with her left hand, she has an eye for finding an open girl to pass to. She had 4 points and several assists to her credit.

Joe