Feliz Navidad

We have had a great Christmas Break!  We went to Puerto Vallarta, MX with my (Sarah's) family, and had a blast (pictures to come...).  We went Para-sailing, zip-lining through the rainforest canopy, and rappelling down waterfalls!  Enjoyable.  I had the fanciest food of my life in Mexico...go figure...and it was delicious!  

We came back to San Antonio on Christmas Eve, and went over to Andrew's house for some Karaoke with the Haverlys.  Again, that was enjoyable... Christmas morning we woke up early and went to my uncle's house to open presents, followed by a few games of badminton in the front yard and around-the-world on the b-ball court in the back.  My grandma won (although she stayed a bit closer to the net...), but I beat the whole family!!!  Seriously, I won the game.  I'm so athletic.

It will be good to get back home to Fort Worth, and to get back to work!  Don't get me wrong - I love taking a break, but I don't love knowing that its all piling up and I'll drown when I get home!

We love you all!  Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a fabuloso new year!

I'm a Diet Man

So...lately I've been looking into the mirror and I've notived there is taking more time to look at myself. No...i'm not staring at myself longer because I'm so good looking...It simply takes me longer to look at myself because there's more of me. In simple terms...I'm fat! Or at least getting there.

So what can I do? Lot's of options...I could run more (ok...that was a lie...i've only ran once in the past couple weeks...so i should say...I can start running again. I could eat less....and man...do i love food....but the thing I don't get is that most of the food I eat makes me feel like crap. So pretty much I am just eating crap. (Kind of like my bunny....but he literally eats his crap...they are called secatropes...and yes he eats those brown looking coacoa puffs straight out of the shoot. It seems he enjoys it though. I wonder if I have something to learn from him...hmmm...no), I could get my stomach tied (or whatever the heck you call that)...but that costs money and I sure have spent a lot of money recently getting my car fixed. So that's out of the question. I could drink more water and fool myself into thinking that I'm full when in fact its just water....but i already have to pee almost every hour...so this would make me go almost every 30 minutes. Over a period of a day...that would mean I would go about 48 times....and if it takes about 2 minutes for me too pee...that ends up being about 2 hours! No way...I ain't spending more than two hours in the bathroom...and that doesn't even include time for that other thing people do in the bathroom. OH...and like I said earlier...it already is taking me a long time to look at the "fullness" of my body.

So...i think i figured out a solution. I'm going start drinking diet sodas. Now you may be thinking...andrew that is redonkulous. Well let me tell you something...your are redonkulous for calling me redonkulous. Yep...i said it. OK back to diet sodas. I just drank a diet dr. pepper and it sure was delicious (or maybe I am just telling myself that so I can continue this wonderful diet...pun intended...or some may call it a double entandra (sp?...should i be using a word if I don't even know how to spell it....if that is true most people should stop saying they're or or their or there) Anyways..back to the diet. Jon tells me that Diet Cokes are the wave of the future...not really...but he sure loves them and says he can never go back to regular coke. Those are the only things I know are diet. But i'll drink those instead. So...if you ever see a regular coke in my hand...come up to me and say, "What you doin boi!" Then slap that drink right out of my hands (unless we are inside...because we don't want to get any on the carpet...especially if its in a fancy house...like where we are going to have AED this coming wednesday)....rather you may want to politely say, "Andrew, It would be much apppreciated for me to see diet _________ in your hands rather than a regular _________. Thank you very much sir." In response I will probably say, "That sounds swell."

You know...now that I really think of it....I really don't like diet cokes....maybe I should just drink water? Or Crystal Lite? Gosh...its really all just psychological. Do i really even need a drink? I don't know...I'm a Diet Man...that just sounds cool. I want to feel like a diet man...i want to fit into those 34 waist pants again....Am i sounding like a chick?

Uh...I love football! (little do ya'll suckers know...that by football I mean soccer...haha!) Did i just write my thought?

The Sovereignty of God

Isn't it great that we have a God who is absolutely in control of everything! In the midst of a world with chaos and confusion, I know that somehow, God is working through it. He doesn't just react to situations, he is working in the midst of them.

Exodus 34 gives us a description of our God. "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." What does that statement have to do with his sovereignty? Well, if God is absolutely in control of everything. And if He is compassionate and gracious, patient, loving and faithful...I know that all situations are for my good...whether they seem like they are the worst things that could possibly happen. Paul put it another way, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

I like this article by John Piper...it talks a little bit about this.

Bunny

So...I thought I was going to write something profound right now. But I don't really want to. I'm just going to tell you about a little guy I know named Bunny. He is pretty awesome. I inherited him through my marriage with Sarah. He usually gets up early in the morning...much earlier than I get up...and sometimes I get up around 5:30. Its pretty crazy. I can hear him making commotion around the house. Trying to get our attention. My first reaction is to say, "BUNNY! Go back to bed. Quit making all that racket!" But then I realize..."you know what...that scurrying around is pretty cute. I wonder what you are doing?" So I head for the stairs to the bottom floor of our house (where Bunny resides)...and there he is...at that bottom step, looking at me with his cute little eyes and soft fuzzy fur. Oh ya...Bunny is a bunny if you haven't figured it out by his name. He is waiting on that bottom step so that he can follow me over to the fridge for a carrot and some lettuce leaves. Oh man is he excited.

So...Sarah and I haven't been able to see Bunny in the past few months because we took him over to his Grandma's house as we were in Africa. We thought it wouldn't be wise to take him there because he might scare some lions and ruin the whole ecological environment down there. Idon't really know what that means...it just sounded smart. BUT this coming Sunday...we are going back down to San Antonio and we are going to be getting him back. Yep...Bunny is coming back home to Fort Worth.

So I'm beginning to think that you are beginning to think...is this a guy writing this blog? To that I reply, "yes" But a guy with a big heart. A heart for his bunny as well as his Honey...Sarah. Not in that particular order. Probably the other way. I need to think about that some more.

Anyways...here are some pics of the darndest cutest bunny ever. These are from the Haverly Christmas photo shoot of 2005. Maybe you might be seeing a 2007 shoot in the future.




















So...i better stop writing about my bunny now before you start wondering about my manliness. George...I know you are laughing out loud about this right now (some may call it LOLing). I call it comedy. Anyways...i don't know why i pointed you out right then. Maybe because I'm a name dropper and want people to know how popular I am. Everyone...that is George...as as George Cloonie (I wonder if that is believable?). I mean George Bacon the Dos.

OK...now I'm acting like an idiot and my whole family as well as Sarah's whole family is probably beginning to wonder where my mind went. I have asked that question a few times myself. Enjoy reading this last blurb...because when Sarah sees it, she will probably take it out.

See ya next time.

The Great Eel Encounters of 2007

Because Malindi, Kenya is basically on the equator, the tide comes in really high, and goes out really far, both in a very short period of time. There is a reef that is exposed when the tide goes out, and you can wade through a bit of shallow water off the beach, and go stand on the reef! There are all of these little pools that still have water in them, and some fun creatures live in there. The most fun were the Moray Eels!!!

I stuck my awesome waterproof digital camera (thanks, Tom) into the pool for some of the videos. The other one is Andrew standing in the water between the reef and the beach, trying to antagonize the eels. That's not streetwise. He thought it would be funny to have one of the missionaries' kids lure the eel out of its hole with sausage on a stick (they love the stuff) and then Andrew put his shoe in front of the eels' hole...again, not streetwise, honey.

Unfortunately, the plan didn't work. The eel outsmarted Andrew, and got back in the hole. I guess that's better than gnawing his foot off. Click below for another closer call with "Queen Mary," the big eel from episode number one (above).

My First Blog

This is it! We're trying out blogger. well see if we lke it. come back soon. how exciting.