I am going to make an effort to blog a little bit more, and I figured that taking a quick break in the middle of writing my second paper of the weekend is as good a time as any. This weekend has been my "Final Paper Writing Weekend." I began Friday night, doing some research and pre-writing. Saturday I worked on it all day, taking a break to get my hair cut and see our New Song Kid's Christmas Production. (Which was wonderful!) Finished Paper #1 last night. It was another paper on "A Good Man is Hard to Find;" A precis to be exact. I chose to make my topic the correlation of the Misfit to the Apostle Paul. I personally think it's a really good idea; we'll see what my professor thinks!

Today we had church, and then went to a friend's house to watch the Colts beat up on the poor Titans for the second time this season. Yes, my dear Titans' fans and friends, you knew, deep down that it was coming, despite your best wishes and hopes that it wouldn't be this way: it was! I figured I wouldn't get any work done with the game on anyway, so why not watch it fully. (Hey, at least I clipped coupons and made my grocery list while watching)

After the game, I came home, put some potatoes on the stove for potato soup (have to have dinner tonight!) and got to work. This second paper is on John Keats' poem, "The Eve of St Agnes." It's an interesting poem, and I am certainly not thrilled about writing on it, but out of the options I had, it really was the best choice. Right now I am researching Medievalism and getting ready to say a bunch of things about how Keats handles issues of human motive, why colors are important, and explore the sensory imagery. Blah! I love literature, and I love grammar and I love writing, really I do. But I don't love writing papers on things that I think are without purpose and frankly, a bit silly.

So there you have it: my view on this paper I am writing. :-) Okay, enough rant for now, must get back to that sensory imagery!!! Yay...........

B-day Fantasmo

Yesterday was just great. It happened to be my birthday- AND the superbowl!! How much better for me does it get. The day went something like this:

-Woke up, had a nice relaxing morning. Got to sleep later than usual b/c we have gone back to one service at church so I no longer have to be there at 7am....it was 8:30 instead.

-Had a great in some ways, sad in some ways service at church (we have some families leaving the church, so it's difficult to say goodbye) All in all, it was a great morning and good connections!

-Went to lunch with my honey at Moe's and had a great connection with someone we ran into there...love how God works!

-Stopped by Publix to pick up a couple of things....had another great connection with a couple Jordan knew from a previous job- found out they moved into the neighborhood next door...pretty cool....again- so cool how God works!

-relaxed until Robby & Ferris arrived- had fun chatting with them

-The Kellums surprised me (I was hoping they were coming, but didn't know for sure) to hang out for my b-day and watch the game

-Ian joined us, and we all had fun watching a GREAT game and eating yummy food!! (Menu: grilled shrimp, homemade guacamole, chili/cheese dip, homemade vanilla ice cream and apple pie, double tomato bruschetta)

-closed out the evening with the Kellums watching 'The Office."

Great day, great evening, and looking forward to a great and full week!

It's official, and I am definitely a little sad.

Tony Dungy will no longer be the coach of the Indianapolis Colts. At the end of every season in the NFL, multiple player and coaching changes happen. They move around, move on, retire, etc. Tony Dungy has been contemplating this for a little while and finally the time has come.

If you are a football lover and have never read Tony Dungy's book- you REALLY need to. It is really one of the best biographies I've ever read and although I knew a little about him as a person, it opened my eyes to the kind of man he really is, and gave me all the more reason to love supporting the Colts.

I will still be a Colts' fan, but I am a little sad that will no longer include Dungy as the head coach. Yet in a world of competing salary offers and little allegiance, Dungy has left his team in the best possible shape: he has been training and raising up a new head coach from within the franchise: Jim Caldwell. Caldwell knows the team, knows the players and as sorry as I am to see Dungy leave, I am excited for what next season brings.

It's pretty amazing to me just to see Dungy's legacy in the National Football League. It's a flawed system for sure....all the idolizing of players and coaches, but he really has been a shining example of what a follower of Christ can do in any situation.

Had a great weekend! It seemed to fly by, but it was great. Friday night we had dinner with the fam: Robby's parents came in town and his brother Jeff and fiance Heather joined all of us for dinner at my parents. We got take out from PF Chengs and enjoyed eating, laughing and playing Cranium before all heading to bed. Saturday I had to wake up to do some rehearsals at church and then had an incredibly relaxing afternoon....I got a lot done, but it was relaxing and fun...not hectic and stressful. I enjoyed sitting by the fire and working on some things...I am so thankful for laptops and wireless internet :-) Yesterday, (Sunday) we had an incredible service: it was our New Song Family Service, where we celebrate the season together as a family....we had some hilarious moments via video and some touching moments via song..it was great and turned out SO well. I am thankful for everyone who was involved. We had lunch with the girls and then I prepared the pork tenderloin I was making for dinner and got that in the oven. Watched a little football with a sleepy Laurel and a sleepy husband....kept checking my fantasy team, and then took a long bath. FABULOUS! Then last night we had 8 of our good friends over for dinner. The Clingers, Hughes, Owens, Kellums and of course, the Roes. We had a yummy yummy meal, everyone contributed, and SO much fun talking and laughing with everyone. I LOVE all those people and the opportunities we get to see them. Ended up staying up until almost midnight with the Kellums. I know- we're crazy, but it was totally worth it!

SO, here I am. I can't believe it's Christmas week!!!! WOW! Dylan is on his way here- YAYAYAYA!! We have some of Janel's friends coming over for dinner tonight, so I'm sure that will be interesting.....in a fun way!

Enjoy your time with friends and family and don't miss the little things!

We had a great weekend! It was full, but good. Saturday, I actually wore myself out so much I had to leave U-turn early because I'd made myself tired-sick, but I got rest so it was fine. Some of the biggest news is that Jordan and I have both come from behind and made each of our respective league's championship game! WOO HOO! We were both 4 seeds that beat the #1 seed to play in the Championship games. He's playing my dad and I'm playing Patsy Bass who I played last year for the championship and lost- so maybe this year is my year. Three years of Fantasy Football- three playoff runs....not too bad, if I do say so myself.

(I'll be offering draft advice for a small fee next year- haha! Just Kidding)

This is crazy!! Here's my tale...so far:

So, this is the third year I played fantasy football. The first year, I did pretty decent and finished 5 out of 10, the second year I did even better and finished 2 out of 10 or 4th out of 20. This year....it's been weird. We split our league into two: the "Premier" League, or bottom tier, and the "Championship" league, the top 10 from last year. I have been in the Championship League with many others: Robby, Ferris, Tres, Chris, etc. (My dad (by his choice) Dylan and Jordan are in the other one) So, my season has been weird to say the least. I won a few, lost a few, won one, lost one, it's been back and forth ALL season. BUT, what's so odd is that our league is SO competitive, that at one point we had SIX people tied for first at 6-4. SIX! Crazy. I've hovered around 6th, 7th or 8th all season, but been only one or two games off.

Last week I looked at the total points tallies for the season and realized I had almost more points than anyone else in our league thanks to my star RBs Westbrook and Williams. (top 2 scorers in the NFL last week) despite still being 7th in my record due to my matchups.

But last night....the impossible happened. We had 3 people who had clinched playoff spots with their record....and then three more at 7-6 vying for that 4th spot. I was rounding out 7th with a 6-7 record. I won my game (unless Patsy's kicker goes NUTS tonight, which CAN happen) and the three ahead of me ALL LOST! WHAT?! You are kidding. That put FOUR of us at 7-7, vying for the 4th playoff spot, and guess who gets it becuase of my total points: That's right ladies and gents! I am making the playoffs for the 2nd year in a row.

CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY and totally why I love fantasy football!

WHAT A FOOTBALL WEEK!

Ugh! My teams are getting off to a rough start on ALL fronts.

High School Football
- our dear Independance Eagles, who played for the TN state championship last year came out for their first home game and got trounced by the Centennial Cougars....who are reputably the worst team in Williamson County-usually....that is.

College Football
-in their big season opener against UCLA- the University of TN Volunteers couldn't seem to remember that scoring points is what wins a game, and they fell hard as well.

And then the worst of all

NFL football
- first game in the brand spankin' new Lucas Oil stadium in Indy, the Colts fell to none other than the Chicago Bears...WHAT?! I do have to say the Bears looked better than anyone expected....Lovie Smith & other decision makers made a good choice with Kyle Orton over "Sexy-Rexy" (as Robby calls him) and of course Devon Hester (except for his red-zone messup that helped the Colts score) is always a force to be reckoned with! But alas, not the way I wanted to start the season.

Oh well- at least it IS football season! That alone is enough to rejoice in, right?!

I don't need another reason to love the Indianapolis Colts, but maybe you do. In an interesting poll in an Indiana newspaper, they polled to find out how non-political figures stacked up next to Barack Obama and John McCain. How did Tony Dungy, coach of the Indianapolis Colts do? Out of a possible 10- being the highest level of respect, he got a 7.3. Percentage of people polled who said they had the highest level of respect for him, 33%. Maybe those numbers don't seem much, but consider this: out of a list of about 15 people, the only one to rank higher on the list than Tony Dungy?

Mother Theresa.

So- GO COLTS AND GO TONY DUNGY!! (and read his book if you haven't already- so good!)

Sorry I haven't posted in a week. There's been a lot going on and I haven't had the brain capacity to stop for a moment to post. I apologize! :0)

We had a WONDERFUL retreat for the Spring Hill youth this past weekend, and I am SO proud of my husband and all of his hard work and how well everything went. We had lots of junior & high school aged students and had an incredible weekend.

It's been nice and cold here in TN, but I am not complaining because I still think it's weird we hardly ever get snow here, so I love the cold weather!

Things have been exploding at New Song Spring Hill. We've almost doubled in size in 3 weeks and we are so excited about what God is doing down here. It's an exciting time for sure!

Super Bowl is this weekend, but I think it's going to be one of the most boring Super Bowls in a while. I hope I'm wrong, but my expectations aren't high. Eli Manning + the Super Bowl is just weird. I am always happy to watch football though.

We have a live recording coming up at New Song. It's called "Alabaster Heart" and it's scheduled to be Saturday February 16th and 17th. It's going to be a lot of work, but it will be pretty amazing. I'm excited about it.

That's my rundown for right now. SO much more I could say but I'm all outta time.

Ode to the Colts:
by Bethany Roe

From the very first kick, to that very last throw
We've supported you all the way.
We cheered when you won, and cried when you lost
On that horrible November day.

Hopeful awaiting, Marvin's return,
but quickly he fumbled and fell.
Alas it's the tale of a season that's through,
And mine is a sad one to tell.

Here we are dreading, Dungy's farewell
to a land of far warmer fare.
Will the team be the same and regroup to reclaim
Their title from Patriot care?

Although ending much differently than we would like
We can with confidence say:
"Colts, we are proud of your coach and your team,
And look forward to opening day!"

Ahhhh!

Eli's out for a month.

Dang.

Alright!!

Fantasy season is off to a booming start. (For those who don't know, I am lovingly referring to Fantasy Football, which I'm in my second season of playing) Don't worry, I had my doubts as well before beginning. My previous arguments of, "it takes away team allegience," and "no one cares about the teams anymore," still stand to a certain degree. But I do have to say- it was great watching Eli Manning hit up Plaxico not once, or twice but three times in the end zone last night in a game I usually wouldn't care anything about. A glorious 34 points for my dear Manning's little bro!

Another big surprise that many thought was a huge risk on my part was Randy Moss and his connection with Brady for a surprising 27 points. Brady and Peyton both took a respectful 29 points with Tony Romo and Roethlisburger's CRAZY unexpected starts! I thought they were crazy for picking those guys.

Some disappointments of the weekend (though not on my team) were Drew Brees and a measly 2 points (ouch!) Steven Jackson (BIG surprise) getting a big fat goose egg (0) and Rex Grossman with 3 (although I'm not sure anyone REALLY expected much more from him)

Tonight should be good- we'll see how Frank Gore does for me, but the football madness continues with not just one, but 2 Monday night games.

Football is back in full swing and I LOVE IT!

How 'bout them Colts?!


Last night we had the Clingers and Robby & Ferris over for dinner, which was so much fun! It's so great to spend time with friends like that. After everyone left, Jordan and I turned on the Colts & Saints NFL season opener. When we turned it on it was half time and they were tied 10 to 10.

From that point forward- the Colts ran away with it- literally. With weapons such as Reggie Wayne, Joseph Addai and near-perfection from Peyton Manning, the Colts proved that they weren't some onetime winning team. They are a force to be reckoned with.

Oh the joyous days of football have returned, and I am LOVING it!

Football is back!! So exciting! College ball started on Saturday with a few crazy upsets (excuse me, who is Appalachian State again?) and my dear Vols and their sad excuse for a defense losing out to Cal. NFL isn't quite here yet, but coming and last Sunday night we drafted our Fantasy Football teams. My league consists of Robby, Jordan, myself, Tres Winn, Chris Maple, Dylan, Jim & Brendan Fraser, Nate Sallie and Patsy Bass. Draft was stressful and it started off on a bad note as I didn't get any of my prized Colt's players in the first round. Last year I was lucky enough to get Peyton and Marvin, and really, it just doesn't do it for me if I don't have ANY of my faves....but, we'll see.

My top pick went to Frank Gore, which I'm a little nervous about, so we'll just have to see. My first victim is Tres' team, "Royal Flush" so everyone better wish him luck- he's going to need it.

Ferris is playing this year (Yeah Reese) and Robby and Dad coached her along pretty well on who to take. She ended up with a stellar team. Her league consists of Kelsey Shockey, Mark Mumford, Dad, Ernie, Christin Moore, Brian Elliot, Becky Crowell, Jason Gill, Dustin Whitney, and her. It'll be interesting. Dad won the whole league last year, but there's no way we'll let him get a repeat.

Alright, we're off to play some frisbee!

Colts ALL THE WAY, BABY!

Last night was amazing!!! Every year, around the first week of February, I always get a little bit sad watching the Super Bowl, because although it's a wonderful game and full of surprises, it's a bit depressing that it means no football for 6, almost 7 whole months. It's a difficult thing for me to grasp :-( But, last night was worth it! The Colts won the superbowl. OF course I am a bit biased, they are our team, but I can't think of a more deserving team in the National Football League right now. Overall, this team is even-keeled, very supportive of one another, very steady and classy. Head Coach Tony Dungy is always calm & collected, Peyton Manning rarely gets too ruffled, and superstar receivers like Marvin Harrison are content to just get the job done without all the hype and hoopla that characterizes so many others in their field. (T.O.- take a lesson....)This picture says it all- Harrison with his son after last night's big win!



Here, Peyton Manning, Tony Dungy and I think Dungy's wife celebrate finally having the Vince Lombardi Trophy. It's amazing when you think of the past few years- especially of the Dungy family. A while ago- I think 2 years ago, Dungy's 18 year old son took his own life right before the playoffs. Horrible, absolutely heart breaking. And if you watched the post-game show last night, you saw for yourself Dungy's faith in Jesus Christ spelled out before millions of people as he gave credit and glory to the Lord, instead of himself, and even redirected the banner of "first black coach to take the title" with a comment about the "most important thing to him."




Just amazing to watch things like this- I've just been told, though I haven't seen it for myself, that Lovie Smith (Bear's coach) & Tony Dungy took out a huge add in USA Today that is a testament of faith in Jesus that sends chills down your spine. I'm going to have to get a copy of that!If you've seen it, let me know. I can't wait to see it.




What a great end to an amazing season of football, and we had a great time watching it last night with great friends and family. Nathan & Bethany Gaddis were here from Florida, Ian came, Mom & Dad, Ferris, Robby, Chris, even Dylan came in town. Robby was pretty brave coming into major Colts' territory, but he handled it well and stuck by his team. Sorry again for the loss, Robby, but it was great to have you!

Blessings on your day and your week. May the peace of God dwell richly in your hearts and minds!

Greetings from a lovely TN

What a wonderful world! This weekend, specifically yesterday was so much fun. It was wonderful and I cannot believe that I didn't get any pictures from our trip to Florida. I guess it's because Jordan and I both worked a lot. I did get to take off a little early to go to the best jewelry store ever, "Best of Everything!" I found some fun stuff so it was totally worthwhile!

We got back on Friday and caught up on work and church and house stuff. There was a lot to do to get ready for U-turn on Saturday, Worship Arts Gathering on Saturday and the Thanksgiving Praise service on Sunday. But, God's grace was there and the weekend was awesome!

Frisbee was especially fun yesterday!! Jordan put me on his team (of course) and our raggety little underdog team (Jordan always gives himself the disadvantage) took the whole thing, keeping Jordan's unbeaten streak at Ultimate:Spring Hill alive! Kudos to my husband for being really good and using his whole team- the boy knows how to lead a frisbee team! :-) The pictures above are courtesy of Erin Lawlor. It was definitely cold though- I had to bring out my hat and gloves for the occasion.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching some football, I went to the grocery store for a huge amount of groceries (Tgiving is at my house this year) and then did a bunch of cleaning. We lamented as our dear Colts ended their undefeated season to the Cowboys. Ugh! Didn't they see it coming- the media had been all over it all week about the 3-4 defense and the Chargers taking them out last year. The Colt's have GOT to do something about their run defense! It's time for a BOWL!

More updates to come....got a lot of work to do :-)

So sorry so long!

Well, you have been patient and you have waited and you have been bearing with me in my delinquincy. I'm sure anyone who's moved into a house understands what Jordan and I have been doing the past week. It's been a crazy week and an incredible week, all at the same time. We had so much help on Friday painting and on Saturday moving in, it was amazing! (big thanks to Lindsey, Ian, JT, Dustin, Reese, Robby, Mom, Wendy, Tami, Chantel, Melissa, Aaron, everyone....) By the time Saturday night rolled around- I really felt pretty settled. Ferris, Martha & Merari had helped me organize my kitchen, Wendy Borst had totally clean our apartment for us- top to bottom, there were tons of guys who helped us move everything in and set it all up, Frank Borst, Robby & Pastor Rob helped us arrange the bonus room- I could go on forever about all the amazing people who helped!!

Saturday night Zach & Joy Griepenstroh & Ian spent the night and went to church with us in the morning. I made Thai Cashew chicken for everyone and we had a great time hanging out, eating, watchin' football and just chillin' in the new place! Sunday was a super fun and awesome day. We went to church early and ate afterwards, then actually got to come home for a bit before Ultimate Frisbee. The weather was gorgeous! I wasn't feeling the best so I didn't play, but I went and watched and took some pictures. (above are some of my favorites)

Then I went back to the house and Mom called b/c she wanted to come and plant some tulip bulbs- so I happily agreed! :-) Kelly Jiroch came over and helped me organize my china cabinet and do a couple of things. We ended up with a big group that night: Mom, Dad, Ian, Chris, Reese, Me & Jordan, Kelly, Robby, Chantel- we made personal pizzas- yummy, and watched some more amazing football! (Go Colts- Undefeated!) It was a wonderful weekend.

Monday, Kyle & Janelle Kellums graciously donated their whole day to help us prime the apartment- we had painted the whole thing before we moved in, so in order to avoid being charged, we had to repaint it all. We were so thankful for them!! The four of us went to Cracker Barrell for breakfast and then spent the day painting away. Thank you to K & J for your time and help- so wonderful!!

So, that's a quick and basic run down. I think things will be a little more "settled," as much as they can be anyway. Jordan and I are both back up and running with our work- which is good. It took us a while to get caught up. PLEASE come see us, if you haven't already. We love having visitors and we want all of you to come see us!

Now- for the house.....I've uploaded the pics to Shutterfly, so click HERE and come on a picture tour of our new house...it's the best I can do until you come and see it for yourself. :-)

BIG love and BIG thanks to all of you! We love you!