Two for One

To save my time and yours, here are two posts in one!  (And "two" is very significant as you'll see in a moment...)

T Turns Two

Today, T woke up from his nap chanting to himself "Aboo Day Day Do Di-un" (Translation: "Happy Birthday To Me").  Yes, the youngest Bird has entered the Two-Year-Old Zone.

The theme was balls and balloons.  The afternoon was filled with the fun of kicking 12 balloons around the family room with no purpose except to kick and make boy-noises while in the process of swinging his foot.

Before we ate, each child prayed to God, thanking Him for something about T.  Then after a great supper (provided by the wonderful Paulson family to help care for us while LeAnn recovers from her broken foot), we opened presents.  Each sibling presented T with their respective gift, which was followed by play with that gift.  The highlight gifts were the basketball hoop from the Bird Grandparents (T is surprisingly a really good shot!  But then again he is the grandson of Larry Bird!), and the blow-up football-ballpit from the Wojakowski Grandparents.

T is a special little boy, and it is such a blessing to have him part of the Birdnest.  "Abu Day Day" T!

Thoughts and Updates

• LeAnn finally put weight on her leg Sunday, and used it even more yesterday.  It's nice to have her mobile, but we'll all be glad when the cast is off.  But we are thanking God right now that it is only one bone.  My uncle was in a car accident last week where the woman who hit him died, and he was left with a broken foot, ankle, leg, and arm.  It's going to be a long road to recovery for him, but as I read an update from my aunt, he is very positive, joking around with the staff.  He got my grandfather's personality, and if I were in that situation, I would hope I would respond like my uncle has.
• We registered K yesterday for school.  Hard to believe I am the father of a middle school student.
• Had an AWESOME weekend in Indianola, IA visiting an old friend.  He and I played together in the church nursery when we were infants, and this past Sunday our youngest kids played together in the church nursery.  But not only did my family get to stay with his family, we got to see several other old high school friends on Saturday night as well.  I couldn't help but remark to my friend after everyone had left, "we sure have been blessed with some great friends".  Makes me wish they all lived closer to Cedar Rapids.
• Weekends like this last one make it hard to meet my weight-loss goal. :o)
• I'm going to Leadership Summit this week.  I'm also taking a college friend who is pastoring a young church in the Des Moines area (Dallas/Grimes area to be exact).  But I have to hustle home Friday for a wedding rehearsal.
• The more I work in my yard, the more spiritual lessons I learn.  The latest - I had noticed on Monday that some crabgrass had starting growing in my yard.  I knew I needed to kill it as soon as possible.  So on Thursday before we left for the weekend, I ran to Menards to buy some crabgrass killer.  I thought I had just a few spots in the front lawn and along the street.  Boy was I wrong!  The stuff was everywhere!  As I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed, I couldn't help but recall the first "character assassin" in the book Deadly Viper Character Assassins: Character Creep. When you allow your character to "creep" away from integrity, it starts small, but it just keep going and going and going, until you are doing something you never thought you'd ever do.  Rather than having a "pure" lawn of a life, you have the crabgrass of dishonesty or deceitfulness growing everywhere.  Thankfully, God is a God of radical grace, and his forgiveness will kill the crabgrass-sin we've allowed to creep in and spread, but it means submitting to His discipline.
• I'm way behind on everything - email, tasks, mowing the lawn, etc.  There's no way I'm going to get it all done before I have to leave early Thursday morning for the Summit.  I have GOT to get more organized to handle all of this!

And the last thing - I finally figured out why these "catch up" posts are good for me personally.  Last Tuesday, we had an all-day staff meeting (it's not as bad as it sounds - they're actually quite fun!) and one of our assignments was to share about the last 6 months of ministry.  But I can barely recall last week!  However, never fear - the blog is here!  My memory was jogged by going through my old posts, and I could complete the assignment without looking like I was brain-dead.  I think I may finally be understanding why some people journal...