Kowabunga!!!

i saw this picture on BOL tonight:



i didn't get to see the 1st quarter of the Bama game today, but i want to know how this turned out.

DC pictures

Whirlwind Weekend in DC!!!

to catch everybody up to speed, Brooke has been in northern Virginia for the month of September for a pharmacy rotation with school. she got to fly home on Labor Day weekend, but will stay there until September 30th. so, i flew up there to spend the weekend with her.

while we were there, we had a little mini-vacation. i flew all day from B'ham to Charlotte, then onto Baltimore (much cheaper to fly in to there than Reagan Int'l in Washington). she and Lori Beth and Josh (her hosts for the month) picked me up at the airport, and we went to Camden Yards for a baseball game! it was the O's versus the Red Sox. i think over half the crowd was for Boston. but it was alot of fun to be at a new stadium, and to spend some time with Lori Beth and Josh. they are so great to let Brooke stay with them all month long!

we got a hotel in DC so we could be close to our sightseeing on Saturday. we slept in Saturday until 8:30ish, then hit the town. Brooke had mapped out our course. we stopped and got coffee at a coffee joint. we decided to walk instead of trying to catch the Metro. we got to the main touring area, which they call the National Mall. we decided to go to the farthest eastern end of the mall and work our way back, stopping to see what we wanted. it was stinkin' amazing! there aren't words to describe how amazing these monuments and buildings are. we took a bunch of photos, and i promise i'll post them here soon. we saw just about everything we wanted to see: Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, US Capital Building, Library of Congress, US Supreme Court, Air and Space Museum. we didn't make it across the river to see Arlington Nat'l Cemetary and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier....just too much to do and see in one short day. plus, we were absolutely EXHAUSTED by the end of the day. remember how i said we decided NOT to take the Metro? bad idea. i'm still sore today. :)

Sunday, we went to church with the brethren at Mt. Vernon church of Christ. they took us out for lunch after worship. they are so sweet and so nice. Brooke took me back to Baltimore that afternoon so i could fly home. it was tough to leave her again, but we've only got about 9 more days apart! :)

i'll do my best to post some pictures tonight (here and on FB). hope you enjoy!

ps....we stopped at a sports restaurant for lunch on Saturday afternoon (so i could catch a little bit of college football). and lo and behold, the Alabama game was on one of the TV's!!! in Washington DC!!! i was shocked, but thrilled to watch the entire 1st half!!! we won 53-7, and moved up to #3 in the AP and coaches polls.

"I'm not a dog person..."

i know this reflects poorly on us Bama fans, but this is too good!!!

another month, another post....

i won't waste your time apologizing for not blogging lately.

Brooke is in the great state of VA! she left Sept 1st at 6:45 AM AL time, and arrived at her temporary home-away-from-home at 6:45 PM AL time. if you're scoring at home, that's 12 hours of driving! fortunately, it went well. she didn't get too bored or worn out. she said it's a really pretty drive.

while in VA, she's staying with a friend of a friend. Brooke's friend from church (Kelly Key) was best friends with a girl named Lori Beth in high school. now, Lori Beth and her husband Josh live in Oakton, VA, which is like 20 miles from where Brooke's internship is in Alexandria, VA. Brooke had met Lori Beth a few times when she came to B'ham to visit Kelly. so she and her husband are graciously letting Brooke live with them for the month of September! they are sooooooo great to do that.

the first week there, Lori Beth's grandmother passed away. she and Josh were driving back to AL for the funeral, and they learned that Josh's grandmother also passed away. :( fortunately, they could combine the trips into one, but that's really tough to lose 2 grandparents so close together. please keep their family in your prayers.

so, we ended up flying Brooke home during Labor Day weekend. this wasn't originally planned, but she was going to be alone in VA (with Lori Beth and Josh gone) for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday of a long Labor Day weekend. we had a great time. we spent the weekend at her parents' house. we got to go to skate night. and, Bama won big! :)

so i'm doing the bachelor thing. the house is a mess (sorry babe!). i'm working on home improvement projects to make the time go faster. i'm actually going to fly up to see Brooke next weekend (18th-20th). we're planning to tour DC. i can't wait to see her again.

hey brooke! i updated the blog!!!

my lovely wife has been beckoning me to update our blog. i have yet again become a slacker and fallen back on my posts. kinda like i tend to do on reading my Bible. here's to August resolutions!

so, alot has happened since our anniversary:

**i got to observe my Granddaddy's cataract surgery in Montgomery (thanks Dr. Swan!)
**we had our first 3-night VBS (versus our traditional all-day-Saturday VBS) that ended up being a success
**i went golfing with my in-laws in Decatur (me, Mr. Nicky, Chris, Brandon, Chad, and Cade). most importantly, i beat Chris. :)
**brooke and i took a vacation to Gulf Shores (thanks Jerry and Brenda!). Mark and JP came and stayed a few days with us at the condo....we literally laughed our faces off.
**i got a 2006 black Toyota Tundra that i have nicknamed "Rolando" (pictures will come soon)
**we had a birthday supper with my sister Kristi here in B'ham. her husband Scott surprised her with a birthday weekend getaway, and instantly raised the bar for the rest of us husbands. thanks Scott!
**i had the most unbelievable steak in my entire life. if you live in B'ham, find a way to go to Ocean and get the filet mignon. thanks Dr. Schaeffer!
**i became a part of history on Monday, August 3rd. our wonderful county (Jeffferson County, AL) has closed every branch office for car tag renewals except for the main courthouse downtown. this is a political push to strong-arm a new occupational tax. i stood in a line so long that i thought i was waiting to see Moses. after 3 hours of waiting (and moving only 20 yards in line), i decided to come another day for my new truck tag. next time you see a Jefferson County politician, shake their hand for the mess they've made. actually, just shake them.
**we are ALMOST done with the master bathroom. i know i've been saying that for weeks, but all i lack is rehanging the door and installing crown molding. it is entirely functional, though. and that's what counts.
**brooke had the month of July off from clinics. that's what enabled us to take a vacation and let her go to Maywood. now she's back on her rotation at the Poison Control center for the month of August. she'll be in Virginia for the entire month of September, so i'll be posting a signup list soon for who can bring me food. :)

so there's the scoop on our lives the past 6 weeks! i hope to get some pictures up soon. thanks for hanging with my inconsistencies.

Happy anniversary baby! i've got you on my mi-hind!

7 years ago today, i married the most wonderful woman alive. here are some of our best pictures together:

Time to catch up!!!

i am a terrible blogger. let's just get that out there in the open. it's not from laziness, and i can prove it with the following pictures and stories. but i am terribly sorry for slacking.

so, have you ever been cutting your grass on a beautiful sunny day, only to feel a drop of rain fall on your back? but then you realize, that there are ZERO clouds and you were standing under a tree. that's when the light bulb comes on and you realize that you just got pooped on by a bird. and this is what it looks like:



i had to take a picture b/c i knew Brooke wouldn't believe me. :) anyhoo, speaking of my amazing wife, she is stinkin' awesome. she started her 4th year of pharmacy school this month. her 4th year is entirely clinical....no tests or class. she is LOVING it so far. i'm so proud of her!

we recently finished our "Bama Room". my dad came up and helped get the chair rail back up. to celebrate the completion, Brooke got me my most coveted Alabama picture:



we're still trying to find the best place to hang it. meanwhile, brooke and i took a trip to the ATL for a Braves game. we had awesome seats in right field. if you're watching the game at home, just look right above the 390 sign in RF, just next to the Braves bullpen. we were on the 2nd row. the Braves lost 9-0 to the Rockies. Kris Medlin made his MLB debut. we were so close to Francoeur, i could have spit on him:



our annual Senior Member Appreciation Dinner (SMAD) was this past Saturday, June 6th. our theme this year was "Chinese Dinner Theater". we wrote a script and everything. it was so much fun, and the senior members seemed to really enjoy themselves. we are so blessed to have them! don't worry.....we hope to have a copy of the video on YouTube before too long. and i promise to provide a link. :) here is our couple shot:



and last, but certainly not least, we are soooooo close to being done with our master bathroom. remember how things looked before we started the remodel? how bout how things looked after everything got demolished? well, we have painted, laid floor tile and shower tile. i plan to grout Saturday afternoon. then, it's literally just a matter of moving the vanity and shower curtain and toilet in place. then we are D-O-N-E!!!!! that day, there will be much rejoicing.

here's a picture of the shower tiling. i had never done wall tiles before. we used "Rialto White" tiles from Lowe's. the floor tiles were from Mazer's. they are the large 18" tiles. we decided to add some accents to the white brick pattern. so, i cut the scrap pieces from the floor tiles into rounded 4" tiles to add some pizazz to the shower. i even cut some corner shelfs as well. it was stank-hard, but i'm very proud of how it looks.

The "Missing Link"?

brooke asked why i haven't posted anything recently. honestly, not much has been going on. my dad did come and help me work on the house last thursday. that guy is a machine! he worked really hard. thank you, daddyboy!

i took my stitches out friday night. that was interesting. i'll be keeping my goatee for a while until my chin completely heals.

one of my favorite websites recently is www.drudgereport.com. it's a news website that stays pretty current on the latest breaking news. i stumbled across this story, claiming to find the "missing link".

before you go any further, click on that link and read the story. i'll wait.






okay, welcome back. it's amazing to see the so-called "scientific" community clamor over this "discovery". they go as far as naming this the 8th wonder of the world. they laud this as a find that Darwin "would have been thrilled" to see. the gentleman in the video boasts, "people once asked where the link between humans and apes was....now we have it!"

this sounds like "Lucy" all over again. you remember Lucy, right? the latest proposed missing link that rocked the creationist view? fortunately, the truth came out, showing that this fossil was crammed into an evolutionary timescale that it couldn't possibly support, based on the facts.

it's amazing how all the media stories cram the evolution/Darwin view down our throats. they'll get one shred of data that might possibly support their view, and they run with it like it's iron-clad. you've probably seen plenty of shows on The History Channel to know that.

i'm afraid the media can be blamed greatly for evolutionary views and even the uber-popular global warming campaign. one of my favorite Michael Crichton books is "State of Fear". it highlights the agenda that ultra-environmentalists push.

so before you shudder from this earth-shattering discovery of a proposed missing link, realize that God has already told us the truth of where we came from. and realize that the majority of media members are likely atheists who would like nothing more than to spite Christians everywhere.

btw, this is just my crazy idea of how to explain why things look like there is an evolutionary pattern. bear with me:

according to Genesis 2:18-20, God tried to make a suitable helper for Adam. in my mind, He tried making a bird, but that didn't "suit" him.

then, He tried a cat, but that still wasn't good enough. then, a dog, but "man's best friend" wasn't a suitable helper.

then, He tried a chimpanzee. close, but still not right. then, maybe an orangutan. then, a gorilla.

so, maybe He kept making adjustments as He went, trying to make a suitable helper for Adam, until He decided to make Eve from one of his ribs.

so maybe that's why things seem to follow an evolutionary pattern, b/c God made things in a certain order or sequence as He was searching for a suitable helper for Adam.

clear as mud, right? :)

Hooray for stitches!

we had our championship game in our church basketball league last night. and wouldn't you know it, not even 30 seconds after getting in the game, i dove for a loose ball and split my chin open! fortunately, one of our team members is married to a nurse. she got me a large bandage so i could finish the game. but, we lost by 7.

so, after the game, i headed for the ER, where Brooke met me. 8 stitches later, i'm good as new!



i guess i'll be growing my goatee again until this heals! the ER doc was cool. i told him i was an O.D., and he sent me home with some of the suture scissors to take them out myself after a week.