As I am ending an old year and about to start a new, one thing I decided is my blog entries will be different. I am not really sure how right now but I know I love to change things so for now this is one thing that will take some changes. This entry for example is not about the kids at all but about my wonderful, amazing husband. In the picture, you can see Chris is wearing a shirt that says “Bruce Pearl is my homeboy” which he won in a dirty Santa game a couple of weeks ago. That shirt is one glimpse of Chris, he has an amazing sense of humor, he really tries to find the humor and joy in life and I know that cultivating that part of himself has not been easy at times. As we grow up, we are heavily influenced and bogged down by this world and the material and earthly concerns that come with adulthood, but Chris has tried to hold onto the joy that comes only from a relationship with Jesus. In fact, in Sunday school this morning he was teaching about new beginnings and the new year and one thing that really stuck out was although as followers of Christ we may have trouble and heartache ultimately we need to show others that we’ve “got this thing whooped” – and then we have to really live that way. I always count my blessings at the end of an old year and I try to write a list of all the things that will probably happen this year. I don’t want to be so tied up or busy that I miss out on the important things. When thinking of my husband and some of the attacks he has been under recently, I can’t understand why other people can’t see what I see in him. He is first of all a BELIEVER, and I mean he won’t apologize to anybody for who Jesus is and what He has done for him, even at work on a construction site. He lives his life in a way that our kids can say “My daddy is a good person who loves God” He works hard to provide for us financially. 40 or more hours plus school one night a week and then National Guard duty one weekend a month. And he doesn’t have a desk job, it’s an out-in-the-freezing-cold and rain kind of job. He sacrifices his own comforts for us. He wrestles and reads to the kids. He cooks for us and pays the bills. He encourages me when I am having stay-at-home mom blues. He’s eternally patient when I rearrange the furniture for the fifteenth time. Or when he is having to dig his clean work clothes out of a pile of unfolded clean laundry. He makes us laugh and he defends us at all costs. He has served in Iraq and many other countries. He is honest and forthright and punctual and giving. I don’t know how ANYONE could insult, criticize or belittle my husband but unfortunately we live in a fallen world. We live where people would rather hold you to their standards and judge you, rather than trust you to make your own decisions with God’s guidance. I am a little fired up about this right now as you can probably tell! But it felt good to get it out so…if you enjoyed it stay tuned. But if it annoyed you, just look at the pictures and move on! LOL