Us.

Eric took our picture. He's good. Click here for more of Eric's pictures.

BULL!

The olympics rules are you have to be 16 to compete. The Chinese women's gymnastics team is made up of babies. Those girls aren't 16. They're not even 13.

Needle in a Haystack

Today Tiffany and I worked in the yard for 2.5 hours. We cleared off what seemed to be 1000 pounds of forest debris: vines, leaves, pine needles, dirt, rocks, small trees and even trash that was decades old. Our pile of rubbish stood 4 feet tall, 8 feet wide, and 15 feet long. We then got ready to float the river in our canoe. After we had loaded the canoe on top of the car, and were about to pull out of the drive way headed for the river, we realized that Tiff's keys were missing.

We searched the whole house 3 times, and finally determined that the keys had to be some where in the yard. I walked the perimeter of the yard twice, and was ready to call it a lost cause. But Tiffany was determined to find them. I looked through the house a couple more times, cause I was certain there was no way they could have fallen out of her pocket. She decided to move through the pile one rake load at a time. She moved the location of our pile over the length of the pile. I came out a couple of times and begged her to give up, cause it was an impossible task. Finally, cause I was getting lonely inside - I came out to help. She was about 9/10ths of the way through the pile and this is what we saw.


Here's a picture, after the fact, of Tiffany standing by the pile.

Please remember this pile - when we finished our work - was 15 feet to the left of where you see it here.

I salute my wife. She is a trooper. I CANNOT believe that she found her keys. UNBELIEVABLE. I would have NEVER searched for them in that pile. Never.

On the other side of three-zero.

Well I've been thirty for a little over 24 hours now, and I must say that it's not that bad. Infact, the past few days have helped me realize how many are in my life that I cherish.

So Sunday night, my last full day as a twenty-something, Tiff threw me quite possibly the best birthday party I've ever had. Here's some of the elements:
Friends (including some from out of town)
Roller-Skating
Dairy Queen Heath Bar Ice Cream Birthday Cake (my fav)
Tiffany

The only thing that could have made it better was if my immediate family members could have been there. But that's alot to ask, seeing as they all live at least 800 miles away.

Such a wonderful party.
Here's some pics.














There's not a luckier man than me.

TOMORROW

I'll probably get up around 7 - feed STEVE - make some coffee - get the day going by reading some news, checking some blogs, and eating some breakfast - I'll head up stairs with some coffee and breakfast cause Tiff loves to drink coffee in bed - shower - shave - talk with Tiff about her day - after that I'll head to work - we'll have some meetings - I have a script I have to write so I'll probably get started on that - I promised Ben Rough (from Compassion) that I'd make him a new shorter version of the "Because of Compassion" video that we produced, I'll probably get started on that too - after work I'll head home and meet Tiffany and we'll take STEVE to the park and run his little but off - then we'll probably have some friends over for some food and fun, maybe - maybe not.

Also tomorrow I'll turn 30. No big deal - at least not yet. I've got a great wife, great friends, a great job I enjoy most of the time, my family is wonderful. --- I'm just starting to "get it."

To my family on this not so big deal day.

Tiffany - Love you baby. You're more than enough reason to get up every morning. You're the only woman in the world that can make me laugh out loud. I love my life, and mostly because you're in it. I am so proud to be your husband. I won't ever stop talking about you.

Mom - I don't get enough time with you. I could have never asked for a better mother. I love you so much. Thanks for all of the wonderful stuff I have inside of me because of you. Also, thanks for what you did 30 years ago tomorrow.

Dad - I love you dad. You're a great dad. I am so proud to say that you are my father. I talk about you all the time. Thanks for teaching me so many great things about life.

Jackson - Remember when we fought all the time? I'm glad those days are behind us. I am so proud to be your brother. I love you very much. I've learned alot from you over the past few years. I hope that we continue to get closer and closer as our lives go on.

Bignon - So much of my childhood is wrapped up in wonderful memories of you. I love you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

STEVE - be a good boy, or else. --- I'm gonna run your butt off buddy.

Obviously, I couldn't go into detail, and I wouldn't dare to begin thanking my friends - cause it would take forever and I'd leave tons of people out. But my life is great. I'm so happy that God has given me 30 years (tomorrow). Here's to another 30.

Going roller skating tonight in celebration.