Wow! 250

As I write to report on Christmas and close out 2008, I am amazed to see that in a little over five years I have written 250 editions to our newsletter (or posts now that it is also a blog). I am truly amazed that I have stuck with it this long.

CHRISTMAS 2008. We have had a great Christmas here. The weather turned really nice -- warm enough that I even dug out some shorts to wear around the house. That’s a far cry from Monday.

As you may have guessed, the big gift around our house is a new Wii (however, a Nintendo DS was not under the tree). If you have not kept up with home video game systems the Wii is a step up from the GameCube (and a major advancement from the Atari 2600 I grew up with). The sound and graphics are better and the unit can handle more complicated games. It can also get on the internet (though it doesn’t do satellite connections well -- BOOO!!). The neatest thing is that the controllers are now wireless. They are also motion sensitive. On top of that, the Wii can also detect if the controller is pointing at the TV, and where on the screen it is pointing. Not only are you untethered but lots of games actually make you get off the couch and move around.

We have two game discs: Wii Sports and Wii Play. These discs include things like billiards, a shooting gallery type game, tennis, golf, bowling, and boxing. Watching someone play is about as fun as playing. For example, when Nate swings his golf club or baseball bat he sometimes spins a 180 and falls to the floor.

We have gotten the most laughs from boxing, not from watching what’s on the screen, but the person doing the fighting. This is because the player holds a controller in each hand and actually throws punches. Jenna truly does hit like a girl. Ben simply flails at his opponent’s mid-section. Nate, on the other hand, sends his body into all sorts of contortions and dance steps in his attempt to KO his opponent. I’ll have to say, the boxing game will make you break a sweat.

Of course, all this motion requires plenty of open space in front of the TV. You never know just how much space an active kid might require. Ben and I were bowling against each other last night. When it was his turn I did my best to move out of his way while still being able to watch the TV to see how well he bowled. Within about four frames I discovered I needed to be wearing safety equipment to guard against flying limbs. On my next trip to Wal-Mart I am going to look for a face mask ... and a cup.

THOSE RESTLESS BOYS. I was scheduled to run sound for last Sunday’s service. The boys usually don’t sit with me in the sound booth, and when they do they leave early for Children’s Church. This time they did sit with me, and by the second half of the service they were tired of sitting (there was no Children’s Church because it was Christmas Sunday). By the time the boys started getting restless we had gotten to some music in the service which was keeping me about as busy as any of the musicians playing an instrument on stage. Every time I saw them do something out of the corner of my eye something would happen to require my attention on the sound board. I corrected them as I could but was helpless to do to much because I needed to keep my mind on what I was doing.

At one point Nate got up and darted behind my chair only to trip over the chair leg. I’m sure the people below us were wondering if something was coming through the ceiling. I had already told Nate to sit once so when this happened I was none too happy. I spun around, grabbed his arm, and yanked him back to his chair. I know my feelings were pretty transparent on my face because after the service several friends who sat behind the sound booth and have boys older than mine ribbed me pretty good.

What made me laugh was what Lori Swann shared with me. Her son Wil, who is the same age as Ben, said that watching Ben and Nate made him tired. Wil, buddy, you ought to live with them. (A few paragraphs ago I had to run them and their sword fight out of the study where I am typing. The battle sounds are getting closer again as I type this ... yep, there they go. I’m about to send them outside to play.)

A PRAYER REQUEST. On November 3, 2004, I wrote in this newsletter the following request for prayer:

I heard some news yesterday that is really sad. Randy Chatman is a friend who is just a few months older than I am. He grew up less than a mile from my house and we went to school from the 1st grade through the 12th grade together. While we haven't seen each other much since graduation he has always been one of the nicest people I've known. He has just been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). I am at such a loss to understand and simply devastated for him.

Randy’s ALS progressed over the years. Recently it was becoming hard for him to breathe. Randy passed away yesterday. His parents, Bill and Anna, are crushed. (Mr. Bill raises the crops on Mom’s farm and I sometimes mention what he’s doing in the fields here.) Randy never married so his parents and older brother, Darrell, are the closest relatives he leaves behind.

As far as I know, Randy is the first of our high school graduating class to pass away. Randy was just four months older than I am.

Joe

Merry Christmas!

Winter arrived Sunday and from the feel of it the season means business this year. We got up Monday morning to a low of 9° F. Things have warmed up a lot since, but rain has moved in. Hopefully it will be pretty tomorrow since it will be too warm for a white Christmas here.

CHRISTMAS FUN. We are very blessed to have a community of family and friends here. And for me that includes the people I work with. Thursday my office had a Christmas party for lunch, and Friday our staff was included in the school system’s Central Office Christmas lunch. Both were really fun simply because I work with great people. Of course, the kids all had their Christmas parties at school on Friday.

Friday evening we went to another party at the Coffee Mill in Cross Plains where there were friends, food, and live entertainment. Last night we went to Kenny and Lori’s annual Christmas party. Tonight we went to our Christmas Eve service at church, and after that Mom, Aunt Mar, and Pauline came over for supper.

In the middle of all this we got a chance to celebrate Vicki’s birthday. Sunday afternoon we hit a matinee showing of The Tale of Despereaux (good, but the story was a little slow in places). When the movie was over we met Mom, Aunt Mar, and Pauline for supper at the Mexican restaurant in White House.

CHRISTMAS ANTICIPATION. Part of the fun of Christmas is seeing the excitement in your kids. I went in the boys bedroom after they had been sent to bed. Nate was sawing logs, but Ben was too excited to go to sleep. I can remember being like that. I will report on what the kids got for Christmas when I write next time. Right now I will share the boys’ letters to Santa which appeared in the Robertson County Times today. Here’s Nate’s letter:

Dear Santa,

I’ve been a good boy! I follow the rules at school and I only turned my card to a warning once. So...presents for me! I want 9 Bakugans and 3 holders and a [Nintendo] DS. They are cool and fun. Jenna and Benton and me want a [Nintendo] Wii. A Wii is awesome!

I’ll be the taster on the cookies before we put them out for you. (I’ll only eat one!)

Your friend,

Nate Swann

Ben’s letter appeared a few pages later:

Dear Santa,

I hope you had a great summer. For Christmas I want a Bakugan, a Nintendo DS, a Nintendo Wii, and a wireless game controller.

Your friend,

Benton Swann

Not to spoil the surprise, but Nintendo and the people who make Bakugans are going to love us this year. And I don’t mean to leave Jenna out -- I don’t think they do Letters to Santa after second grade -- but the kids have been dreaming and saving for a Wii for a long time and she’s contributed to the pot as much as the boys have.

Merry Christmas!

Joe

Catching Our Breath

Well, we haven’t seen any snow to speak of here, but we have had more chances for a wintry mix of precipitation this December than in previous years. A lot of school systems were closed in Middle Tennessee on Friday due to snow (we ran two hours late). Last night we got a minor ice storm which closed our schools today (though I was able to go into work without a problem). Ben is trying for one more day though (by wearing his pajamas backwards tonight).

MORE MUSIC. I seem to still be in the musical production business. I mentioned the children’s musical at church when I wrote last. As soon as that was over a crew moved in to redecorate the stage for the adult musical this weekend. I found myself behind the sound board for this production so I got a whole other round of rehearsals this past week. They performed Saturday night and Sunday morning and did a great job. Now that all this is behind us I think things will begin to slow down a bit. I know I was worn out. I was too sleepy to stay up last night and went to bed after supper. I slept about 10 hours.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VICKI. Wednesday was Vicki’s 39th birthday. The kids and I gave her cards, a CD, and a gift card to the iTunes Store, but somehow the rest of the celebration got lost in all the busyness of the holiday season. I am hoping to take her out for a birthday date this coming weekend.

CUTTING IT CLOSE. Vicki has said I must tell this on myself, so here goes. As I’ve gotten older I have found I need to trim my eyebrows (among other things) more and more frequently. I have a little battery powered trimmer just for this. The trimmer even has a guide comb to aid in trimming to a desired length.

The other day I saw I needed to shape my brows up a bit so I got the trimmer out. I removed the comb so I could trim the middle and actually have two eyebrows again. Then, forgetting to replace the comb, I started to trim my left brow. It was when the trimmer sounded like a weed eater choking down in tall grass that I realized my error. Upon surveying the damage I discovered I had two tufts of hair over each corner of my left eye. A good 70% of the middle had been shaved to the skin. There was nothing left to do but finish shaving all the way across and be thankful I wear glasses and have almost blonde eyebrows. Vicki has gotten a lot of enjoyment from this.

Joe

The Hustle and Bustle of the Holidays

Wow! What a full week and a half. ‘Tis the season to be busy. The day after Thanksgiving we dug out our Christmas decorations. Our tree is up and most of our rooms have a festive touch. However, we haven’t even gotten to the outdoor decorations, and I’m not sure we will this week either.

It’s been pretty cold, at least it feels like it has been cooler than normal for this time of year. We’ve even seen a few snow flurries which prompted the kids to wear their pajamas inside out hoping for a snow day.

ANGEL ALERT! A lot of our free time since Thanksgiving has been taken up with getting ready for the children’s Christmas musical, Angel Alert, at church. We were involved with some of the set decoration as well as setting up all the extra A/V equipment that goes with a production like this. When we weren’t at church doing that we were at church for rehearsal. I think Thursday night was the only time we weren’t doing something with the musical. (Well, there was Monday, but we had Scouts.)

The kids put on two performance, last night and this morning. I must say they did a great job. They really sang out and those with parts played them well. One first grader enthusiastically shouted the first song Friday night. He got one of the lines wrong, stopped and shouted, “Sorry, Mrs. Vicki!” (Vicki Schultz directed the choir) and went right back to singing. Nate was part of the preschool choir. Ben and Jenna sang in the older kids choir. Jenna even had a solo part, the first verse of O Holy Night. She sang it so well. Vicki and I were really proud of all the kids.

EVERYONE LOVES A PARADE. We had our annual Christmas parade on Cross Plains yesterday. It was a cold, cloudy day. I always laugh about the parade being longer than the town (it was by about a quarter mile), but it’s turning out to be a great community event. I think I heard someone say there was over 100 entries. There sure was plenty to see. We had enough floats to have a contest (the Cub Scouts won). Jenna and Nate rode with the children’s choir to promote their musical. Vicki walked the parade route handing out flyers.

Ben rode with the Cub Scouts. Their float was a huge improvement over riding in my old truck last year. A team of parents worked together to transform a lowboy trailer into a huge Radio Flyer wagon (the wheels were three feet tall). I had seen pictures of the float under construction and knew it would be big but was surprised to see it needed a semi to pull it. The float was really well done.

TOUR OF HOMES. Also in the mix of weekend activities was the annual tour of homes in the area. Vicki and I didn’t make any of the homes, but we, along with Jenna, hosted one of the locations on the tour (the Cross Plains Coffee Mill). This tour is a fund raiser for a local scholarship.

WORRIED ABOUT THE FUTURE. I’m sure all of us wondered about our futures when we were kids. I know I used to wonder who I would marry, if she’d be a local girl or from somewhere else. I remember being on vacation and wondered if I’d had a chance meeting with my future wife at the pool or the beach or something.

Nate had things like this on his mind the other day when he said to Vicki, “I’m scared about getting my driver’s license. I don’t know how to drive yet.” Vicki, trying to put his fears to rest, told him not to worry about that right now as he had plenty of time to learn. Fifteen minutes later he returns to express an additional concern: “I just don’t know who I’m going to marry!” She, of course, told him he had plenty of time before he needed to think about this as well. She went on to say, “All you need to worry about now is being the best five-year-old you can be.”

BLOG OF INTEREST. Lori Swann is on a business trip to Jerusalem. She left Tuesday and will return later this week. She is getting to do some sightseeing while there and has started a blog to record her experiences. If you’d like to read up on her adventures and impressions of the Holy Land you can do so at loriswann.wordpress.com.

Joe