Houston, we have a problem...

It may be a while before we can get more pictures on here. The computer died this weekend, but I'm seeing if Garrison can resuscitate the thing. Hopefully, we'll have the computer back next week & can put pictures of Bella's first trip to Memphis! We have been trying to get a picture or video of her smiling. She smiles alot these days & giggles, and then clams up as soon as she sees a recording device. She's crafty that little one, but we'll trick her into posing with a smile eventually.

Since there are no pictures, you get more of what's going on in my mind:

Most prevalent right now, the World Cup draw. For both of you that read this & actually care about soccer...the United States is in a group with Italy, Czech Republic, and Ghana. This is one of the two hardest groups in the tournament. Hopefully, they can advance and prove that they belong with the big-boys of the world. I'm sure there will be more about this in June. If anyone's looking for last minute shopping ideas for me...I'd like airfare, hotel stay, tickets to the World Cup (not asking for much, just the games America plays in), and enough money to pay the bills since I'd have to take off work without pay due to the length of the absence. Just an idea for those last minute shoppers.

Merry CHRISTmas!!

That's right, I said it! Merry Christmas, not "Happy Holidays" or some other term. In light of current events, I'm even more pro-CHRISTmas and more anti-everything-that-takes-away-the-focus-from-Jesus this year. As some of you may know, I'm not a fan of Santa Claus. You won't see any Santa decorations in our house. Don't get me wrong, we'll still let Santa visit Bella, but we won't be focusing on Santa. Our society has done everything possible to take Christ out of this time of year. Santa has become the emphasis of the season, not our Savior. The "Holiday" has become more focused on Santa than Jesus...I refuse to be part of that trend, and may even be leaning further the other direction than necesary. Nona can still read "The Night Before Christmas" but we'll also be supplementing that with reading the Nativity story starting this year.

Now what all of you are really here for...more pictures.