Back from the ski retreat:

It was a good time. We only had one green slope open from the mid-drop pff point, but the mountain is aparently a hidden gem as there weren't many people there. The rumor is that it stays light like that, so I may just keep going back there a few more times, but later in the year. I skied for two and nine-tenths days with a breif stop in the world of snow boarding.

Snowboarding is the hardest thing in the entire world. I hurt so badly from my ten minutes of snowboarding that I am genuinely concerned that I have broken part of if not all of my butt. I have breif flashes of pain that make me wonder if a hunk of my tailbone isn't floating around down there.

Either way, aside from the gruesome torture that snowboarding was, I had a great time and I think everyone who went had a great time.

Don't snowboard if you're a good skier and over 25. And here is the rest of it.

Santa's Blog:

I remember being little and hearing people on the news talk about Santa sightings. This reminds me of being little again. It's kind of the natural next step. Blogger featured it and I would have put it up sooner if I was paying attention.Santa's Blog.

And here is the rest of it.

The Luxury of A Professional Photographer Friend

What's great about having friends with marketable skills, when you yourself have none, is that you can ask them to do things for you. I did that to get my engagement pictures taken. They are exceptional, if any of you are in need of photography, expect professionalism and appreciate a fun attitude, then I recommend B.D. Andrews.

He got pictures that made a chubby, pale guy like me look like he might have a genuine shot at the girl in the pictures with him. Take the leap to see one of my favorites, I really think it captures the moment and the emotion from that morning.

Take the leap.

I'm glad I made her that happy.
I'm glad I have a picture.

A Godly Fiance: Proverbs 31

I'm going to be starting a series of posts on Proverbs 31, contrasting the Godly woman of those verses with my own fiance. My main hope in this is to earn massive brownie points and endear myself with her forever.

I of course am kidding, although, if I do score massive brownie points and endear myself to her forever, then so be it! Really, I hope to honor God by expressing my profound appreciation and joy that comes from the relationship He has blessed me with. The graciousness and abundance of blessing that has come from this relationship (soon Holy Union!) should preach of God's goodness, this is my humble attempt at getting that sermon out.

10An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
11The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
12She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.

Jennie is a rarity and I am lucky to have her in my life. I'm am even luckier that I'm blessed to soon have her as my wife. To hopefully keep you coming back I'm going to keep from rambling too much about why she is a special rarity. Scripture puts things to a fine point when it says a Godly wife(Fiance in this case) is more precious that jewels. There are few things that genuinely are priceless, for me, Jennie is most certainly one.

Why is she so priceless? Why would I never trade her for anything in the world? To a deeper point why will I attempt to never show disrespect to our relationship with my actions? Because, I can trust her. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a flair for the dramatic and with that comes a penchant for embellishment. The short hand is that, "I lie." I will talk about things that I know nothing about and tell stories about things I never did. Thankfully with the grace of God I've gotten some control over that.

The point is that I appreciate someone who is honest, completely honest. I love that I can trust Jennie's words and actions to be true to God first and myself. She's honest and thoughtful with her words, I do have no end to my gain because of her deep sense of honesty and the way that she lifts me up and is an example to a stinky lying sinner like myself.

I mentioned the thoughtfulness of Jennie's words, when we began dating we had a brutal honesty rule in place. It literally meant BRUTAL honesty. She and I would say exactly what was on our mind. It seemed like the best way to do things. We learned pretty quickly that you can be honest and polite without loosing any of the punch.

So, the brutal honesty became gracious honesty and Jennie fell into it quickly and naturally. Her brutal honesty was usually tinged with a bit of love and kindness anyways. I can trust my heart with her. I can trust my relationship with her. I can trust my feelings, hopes, dreams, and marriage with her.

I pray that when she looks back at her life with me she'll be able to say I did her no harm. That will be a good feeling. Really, I hope she is able to say that at the end of everyday. I love her, she's precious.

I call for a re-vote!

The top quotes list of '07 is a travesty. How could this not be the quote of the year. . .nay. . .the decade?

"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and Iraq and everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for us."
~Lauren Upton - Ms. South Carolina

What would your top quotes of 2007 be?

Oh, well, take the jump to see the rest of the list.


**Compiled from the Reuters article.**

1. "Don't Tase Me, Bro." -- Andrew Meyer's failed attempt at not getting tased during his eviction and eventual tasing at a speech by Sen. John Kerry.

2. My #1. . .see above. -- Take that Yale Book of Quotations!

3. "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country." -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's October comment at Columbia University in New York.

4. "That's some nappy-headed *** there." -- Shock jock Don Imus comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

5. "I don't recall." -- Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' repeated response to questioning at a congressional hearing about the firing of U.S. attorneys.

6. "There's only three things he (Republican presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani) mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11." -- Sen. Joseph Biden, speaking at a Democratic presidential debate.

7. "I'm not going to get into a name-calling match with somebody (Vice President Dick Cheney) who has a 9 percent approval rating." -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat.

8. "(I have) a wide stance when going to the bathroom." -- Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig's explanation of why his foot touched that of an undercover policeman in a men's room.

9. "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man." -- Biden describing rival Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

10. "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history." -- Former President Jimmy Carter in an interview in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper.