Hallelujah! What A Savior

Have I got the best Christmas presents for y'all! You don't even have to get me anything in return because thats just the way I roll. The Austin Stone is going through a series with the same title as this post. Check it out here: http://www.austinstone.org/resources/sermons/category/hallelujah_what_a_savior/
Learn what "hallelujah", how the three shepherds must have felt and about the one place in the bible where the word hallelujah is used and where you specifically might be mentioned in the bible. Trust me, this is a great series.

One of our worship leaders, Aaron Ivey, also teamed up with some of the pastors and staff and came up with a new Christmas worship song that is simply amazing. They have also made it free for download on the church website: http://files.austinstone.org/audio/mp3/Hallelujah,_What_A_Savior.zip
It is a zip file with 2 mp3s (original and acoustic version). If you feel like it, you can also get it HERE and leave a tip (or not, still free) for the artist. Finally, you can also get it from the artist's website here: http://aaronivey.com/
Either way, you won't be disappointed.


And last but not least...the History of Redemption. I could tell you about it, but there is already a great website that'll do the trick. Check it out: http://www.historyofredemption.org/
While you are there, don't miss the link to watch the sermon...it's God's story, a full sermon/story of the bible from cover to cover straight from scripture. I've said too much already, click the link and give yourself just a little time to watch/hear an amazing story. By the way, if you are still looking for a last minute gift, the History of Redemption would be prefect! Great story, great art and it comes with a disc to help memorize the scripture.

Merry Christmas!

Lucky 13

Tomorrow Holly and I celebrate 13 years of marriage. She's put up with a lot! Wacky. If she didn't love God, we would have never made it. Her love for me is about as close as you can get to the way God loves us. She chases after me every day, even when I'm difficult. When I mess up, she forgives me and that's that...she never holds it against me or later pulls out a "remember when." Pretty sure God picked her out for me and used her to show me how He loves us. She goes to all my football and basketball games. Helps me play with a band and watch the boys on her own while I mess around on the guitar. She is one of the best mothers who ever walked the face of the earth. Yeah, I'm blessed. Love you babe...happy 13th.

One thing that stands out about while we were up there and Holly's dad was marrying us...I had the Princess Bride wedding scene in my head and was really fighting back laughter just waiting for her dad to start with, :Marriage..." in that slow funny voice.

Just in case you live under a rock and have never seen the Princess Bride:

New Traditions: Part 1 of 2

This year we did a couple of things that we plan to turn in to family traditions. The first happened while we were vacationing in Arizona. What the first thing you do when you get to your room while on vacation? You jump around on the bed, right? You're basic tomfoolery. We jumped a lot. Threw the boys on the bed a lot, just plain ol' fun. We caught some of the action on camera and decided from now on, hopefully once a year, we will get family pics like this of everyone jumping on the bed together. Things should get pretty interesting once the boys get older and bigger! The last pic was perfectly timed with Holly and Jeremy in mid-flight! You should be see this more soon...

Our First Big Family Vacation

We took our first real family vacation last September. Destination: Arizona. We planned it our the Raider game in Phoenix against the Cardinals which was on the 26th. We DROVE all the way there with two 20 month old twin boys. The drive was actually fun, sort of. We stopped for a short day and half visit in El Paso. Here is our El Paso Photo Album. Visited with the parents, grandparents and check out my lil sis's volleyball game. The boys had their first encounter with popcorn there and loved it. On Saturday the 25th we packed up and headed for a much shorter drive from El Paso to Scottsdale. We made a quick stop in Tucson to see my big bro and his family. We would see them again on Sunday for the Raider game. Made it to our resort in Scottsdale with no probs and relaxed.

Sunday was a fun, long day of tailgating and the Raider game. My bro and a neighbor of his grilled up some tasty food for us then we got to see a great game with a disappointing ending as Janikowski missed a FG in the last seconds. Raiders should have won that game, but gave away too many penalties...not to mention the opening kickoff they allowed the Cards to return for a TD.

We set out to Arizona with a week and a half to spend on our trip and had only one thing planned...the Raider game. The rest of the time was just do whatever we felt like doing once we got there. On Monday we chillaxed at the pool and pretty much did nothing. It was awesome. Tuesday we were psyched to go check out the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium Holly found online. The zoo was tons of fun with the boys. Got a crazy number of pics too...there was this one really cool bird. Reminded me of one of the Skeksis from the Dark Crystal! It wasn't ugly looking like a skeksis, but it reminded of them...not sure why. Holly had a blast taking pictures of a osterich that was smiling at her. Reminiscent of the scene of Spencer and the ostrich in the opening credits of iCarly. What?? Here are our Raider Tailgate and Wildlife Zoo photo album. We left around lunch for a bite to eat. Boys got a short nap on the road and then back to the zoo to check out their aquarium. Really neat place...but it was crazy record breaking heat the weekend we were there.

The rest of the week was a lot more of nothing. Time at the pool and kiddie fountains and a morning hike at Echo Canyon Park. There were tons of people there on a weekday walking/jogging up this pretty big mountain. Good thing was there was a lot of shade for most the morning, bad thing was it was still pretty warm, but oh so pretty. This is our Final Days photo album for the trip. We had too much fun...it is gonna be tough to top it. These vids are from breakfast one of our lazy days and one from Echo Canyon Park where Jordan all of a sudden decide it would try to repel down the stairs.

CHOO CHOO TWAIN!!

Creepy story time...

Well, seems I forgot we had a blog. If you are on Twitter or Facebook, then you've probably already heard about our visit to the Austin Children's Museum (Kelli). If not, got a little story to tell. It's about a boy who falls in love with trains. All aboard...

Choo-Choo Twain!

Rewind 7 days ago, Saturday the 20th (it was my Dad's birthday that day, happy birthday again Pops!) and we headed out to the museum. The boys had been there once before with Mom, but it was my first time with them. Place is awesome, I had...I mean, the boys had so much fun! I got to play, sorry, they got to play with this thing-a-ma-jig that blows rings of smoke out into the air. A spinning metal disc on a table that you can roll smaller spinning discs and balls on. All sorts of little exhibits displaying the magnificent wonders of physics. There is also a choo-choo train that rides around on a track way up high, but you can climb some stairs and go up into a little glass room and watch it pass by right in front of you. The boys LOVED it. Video break!

Then we went down to partake in the museum's story time. The lady reading stories was a little creepy and the boys didn't really get in to it. So we left the story circle and played with toy choo-choo trains and a neat set of wooden tracks. Jordan really really fell in love with the trains here. He tried to hog them all up and decided he wasn't going to share any of the trains cars with anybody. So we put back all the trains and went to check out the rest of the exhibits. Had some more fun, but started getting close to lunch and nap time so we split. On the ride home Jordan made it clear what he wants for Christmas...peep out the vid:

Halloween A Year Ago

Yes, I know I have slacked big time in sharing JAG photos. Got some to share, along with a recap of the DR trip I'm still not sure how to go about sharing. May just enter stuff I journaled. Any who, I will be back with more photos.

For now, the boys 2nd halloween is right around the corner! Last year they were an angel and devil. This year I had so many ideas. Holly did too, but none of our were remotely similar. Holly's involved cutsie plush animal/flower stuff...blah blah blah. My ideas were very very cool. Stuff along the lines of ninjas, Matrix characters, lucha libre (Mexican wrestlers). Pretty much all my ideas, just couldn't see the boys wanting to wear masks, make-up on their face or any other kind of head gear. We settled for some store bought costumes.

If you follow me on twitter or are friends with Holly or I on facebook, then you've already seen the boys in their costumes yesterday. If not, then you will just have to wait until we get pictures of them in the costumes on Sunday when we go trick or treating. Can't wait to fill up my 2 bags, err, the boys bags, with tons of candy!

This weekend is going to be jam packed. We are putting together a shed in the backyard. Mike and Mike came over last weekend and helped us lay the foundation for it. Its a small, stylish 7x7 shed so we can store some of Poppi and Poppas things when they move in. Oh yeah, didn't we tell ya? The grandparents are moving in the first weekend of November! My main goal while they're is to convert them to Raider fans. We'll probably be working on the shed and cleaning today and tomorrow. Tomorrow I got a "gig" with the band at a halloween party in Leander. Should be fun...first paying gig! Then Sunday we go get our church on, go to my Old Testament class, then FOOTBALL!! Raiders should get 2 in a row on Sunday and then we go out in the hood to meet neighbors and tricks or treats.

DR: Makarios Video

Don't have to much to say right now, but here is a video from our trip. Does not show all that happened, but just small taste of the trip. Hadn't planned on taking video, so didn't record a lot and they are random clips put together. I just started taking vid with my phone and ended up taking just enough footage. Will be back with pics as soon as I can. Feel free to comment, e-mail me or call if you have any questions about the trip! This week is going to be busy...after that, I will try to post once a day and recount the trip.

Back From Puerto Plata, DR

First, go back a couple of pages to see some "new" posts. Holly blogged them a couple weeks ago and had asked me to proof read, but was bogged down with work and preparations  for our mission trip. They are all posted now.

A more current update, I got back in town safe and sound last Saturday. Had the most amazing week of my life in the Dominican Republic. God truly, truly is good. I am still processing everything that went on that week. I will be back as soon as I can to share the experience with y'all...but for now, this one picture does a pretty good job of summing up the week.

Photo by Kortni Wright, copyright 2010

Santiago, DR

Left Austin at 9:55 to DFW to Miami and we finally made it to
Santiago. We will be here for a night and in the morning head out to
Puerto Plata and our real host home. Can't thank all of you enough.
Overhelmed with the insane amount of support for this trip. Our host
home for tonight has wi-fi, so i was able to talk my beautiful wife
through text messages and see pics of my azing boys. Don't think I
will be online after this. The island looked a lot more tropical than
I expected. Alright, keep us in your prayers!!

Here are some pics of the sky/ocean near the DR and of our hosts'
place. They had sandwiches, chips and stuff waiting for us. It was
delish!

Sweet, sweet, Jeremy.

Recently we started noticing that Jeremy was pulling away from us emotionally. I thought at first his personality was changing, and I was sad but thought it was his way of becoming more independent. Then Frank mentioned that he didn't think Jeremy liked him much, and my response was "he doesn't like me much either". That was when we realized something was wrong. Our sweet, silly, full of JOY Jeremy was different. He was not making eye contact as much, and was not accepting hugs or kisses. He has been refusing hugs and kisses for a few weeks, we were not forcing them, but then he started pulling away more. We were not connecting at all. He seemed like he wasn't happy. He didn't laugh or smile much. (except with Jordan) He kept a grumpy look on his face most of the time.

Everyone that knows us, knows that we adore our boys. I spend all day loving them and reading to them and playing with them, but Jeremy needed more. Jordan on the other hand has never had trouble getting loving when he needed it. He will run give our legs hugs several times a day. If that's not enough he says "up please" and hugs us around the neck as long as he needs.

So I started watching Jeremy closely. I noticed that he always has his eyes on me even if he was playing. When I am reading to them and he gets up and leaves he needs me to keep eye contact with him. So that is why I have started always looking at him and smiling at him no matter what I am doing (glad I have the books memorized) so that he had that connection even when we weren't touching. Then I started just grabbing him every few min to hug and kiss and love on. He was grumpy with the hugs the first day, pushing me away and fussing, but soon started leaning in to them. The second day of this he hugged my legs twice on his own and was accepting kisses and hugs happily. That night we heard him laugh hysterically for the first time in weeks. He started smiling at us on his own and making eye contact constantly. Several people noticed the difference in him that day. Yesterday he pulled me to the floor gave me a huge juicy kiss and hugged me hard. He seems much less frustrated and able to handle stress much better, and has not bitten once.

He is now back to his goofy, silly, joyful little boy self. Smiling all the time.

The decline into himself was so slow, but coming back was almost overnight. THANK GOD! We now know that he pulls away when he is sad or hurt (emotionally) and we need to go to him. We need to constantly seek him out and cuddle with him especially when he is grumpy and pushing us away. I am so thankful we figured this out as soon as we did. I hope to teach him he is safe to seek comfort when he is sad or hurt. Thank you God for opening our eyes, and showing us what to do. We are still in shock and saddened by how close we came to loosing our joyful little boy. I will now be more aware of every change. This is a hard scary job. Glad we have God to guide us.

You learn something new every day.

Kirsten came over on Thursday to play and I learned something about Jordan while she was here. The boys were in their highchairs snacking while I was busy making the rest of lunch. The rule while eating is don't throw your food and don't feed the dogs. As far as I knew they had learned this well. Kirsten let me know that I was dead wrong. Every once in a while Kirsten would crack up. I finally asked her what was so funny and she said that Jordan was keeping an eye on me and every time I turned my back he would feed a dog. Little stinker. Then when I sat down to eat with them every time I took a bite she would laugh. He would sneek the dogs food every time I turned to take a bite. Guess Id better keep a better eye on them.

Stars

We stayed in my high school room in El Paso and the glow in the dark stars are still there and glowing. The boys loved them so when we got home, thanks to Daddy, we discovered glow in the dark stars in the boys room. They are so excited to see the stars every nap and night time. Makes going to bed even easier.

17-18th months

Wow its been 18 months and the 17th-18th months may have been the most fun so far. The boys have exploded in language, motor skills and personality. We may be in trouble. They can say anything they want now. Just a few examples are "Where are you?" Jordan says this whenever hes looking for something. He wanders the house yelling "Where are you?" They say "Help please, up please, more please, Bible, bubbles, nubbie and 1,2,3 go" They know tons of animal noises, signs and names. The other day when we pulled up to HEB Jordan yelled HEB. :) Not sure if that one was a fluke or not, but the other day he said it again when there was an HEB commercial on. They are saying things I didn't know they knew. Just now Jordan went over to the rocker, pushed it and said "rock, rock". When did he learn that?

They are so funny and starting to be a challenge now. The discipline starts now so we can never be tired or lazy. Jeremy started angry biting in El Paso and thinks time out is funny so that's going to be a challenge. Its hard to always have a consequence ready so were trying to plan ahead. We will let you know how that goes in about 20 years :) My goal is for my mom to see a difference in their obedience in a month..... I love a challenge. eek!

I am starting to have to carry a note book around to right down all the funny things they do. Today Jordan was walking on my wet floor. I told him to be careful the floor was wet, so he took baby steps and waddled all over my wet floor. Smart, silly boy.

*This was blogged back in July, we are just late going live with it

The Boys Are Back In Town!

And so is my amazing wife. After 2 LOOONG weeks in El Paso, they have returned home like the salmon of Capistrano. Feels so good to have them back. Boys are running around faster than before and talking more. I've been getting really good hugs from them both the last day. Just here to post some vids, enjoy! But before we leave you, some really awesome news. My trip to the Dominican Republic has been fully funded! You guys rock, such an amazing blessing to go and you all are a part of it. Got a lot of thank you notes to write now, I hate writing, but these will be the some of the best letters I've had the opportunity to write.

OK...the vids...


1. Spaghetti Face - Jordan got a piece of pasta stuck on his face, and he kept turning trying to find it.


2. Jeremy Dance - Jeremy came up with this flailing arm dance on his own. Kinda reminds me of the Bushwhacker's dance from the WWE.


3. The boys get so happy when the ice cream truck passes by...just imagine how happy they'll be when they actually get to have some ice cream!


4. Mmmm...ketchup - The boys saw us dipping at dinner one time and now they are ketchup fiends. Anything that can be dipped will be dipped...even their own fingers.

About a year ago...

We just got some pictures in the mail from the lady who has been photographing Holly and the boys for the Texas Department of State Health Services. The boys and momma have been modeling for her since the second day the boys escaped from the womb. There are some REALLY COOL pics of the boys in the latest batch...too many to scan in and share online. So you'll have to come over if you want to see them all. I don't think the boys actually made it into print this time, I don't know why...maybe they wanted to give other kids a chance so they wouldn't feel so bad. Kind of like in tee ball where everyone gets to play and wins a participation ribbon. Anywho, it reminded me that it was about this time last year when Holly and the boys were on the cover of the Texas WIC News magazine.

Here are just a few pics from the boys' photo shoot earlier this year for the State's breastfeeding campaign in August this year.

Sunday Lessons We Really Love

Been wanting to share this with you all. They meant a lot to us and we really hope you guys enjoy them too.


Marriage, Sex, Singleness & Divorce: "A 4-week look at some key things the Bible says about marriage, sex, singleness, and divorce; grounded in Paul's letter to the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 7)." [more]

1. The Purpose of Marriage 34:15, Matt Carter January 18, 2009 Matthew 19:3-10 [mp3]
2. The Purpose of Sex 43:00, Matt Carter January 25, 2009 1 Corinthians 7:1-5 [mp3], Jen Carter's letter to wives [pdf]
3. Singleness 34:39, Matt Carter February 8, 2009 1 Corinthians 7:7-9 [mp3]
4. Is Divorce Biblical? 39:18, Matt Carter February 15, 2009 1 Corinthians 7:10-15 [mp3]

Vids for Poppi

Told Poppi I would post these vids for her when she visited a few weeks ago. So here they are...

Dominican Republic Missions Trip

I am unbelievably excited to be heading to the Dominican Republic in August. Hopefully you all already got the letter about the missions trip. There are many teams from Austin Stone Community Church heading out this summer, about 12 trips and 150 people! I am blessed to be heading out with folks I work with behind the scenes at the Stone in the Audio Visual Lights and Camera crew. We are heading out to assist with the ongoing efforts of Makarios there in the DR. (Read more about Makarios HERE.)

The total cost for the week long trip is $1500. The first $750 is due by this Friday, the 18th. I need tons of support financially, but most of all...I need your prayers. Prayers for me to stay focused on my own personal prayer and study time, prayer for all the teams heading out this summer and prayer for all the paths we will cross. Praying the God will work wonders through us all and lift His people in the DR up.

If you did not receive a letter from me, don't fret! You can read/print it out right HERE. Please pray about it and if you can, send in the support card right away. We got our first pre-training meeting this Friday night. Will keep you all updated on preparation.

Photo Album Update

Sorry it took so long. Busy, busy past couple months. Got a photo album back log...4 albums to share. Been a while since we posted some JAG pics. So here goes...

• Bluebonnet Photos at Walnut Creek Park: These were taking back in April. I didn't notice while I took the pics, but I learned I need to use the flash when the sun is directly overhead to try and get read of the shadows on people's faces. Wish the pics of Holly and the boys were better.
• JAG April Pics: Pics of JAG life in the month of April. Starts with pics of a nest and bird eggs in our backyard. Towards then are pics of the baby birds in the nest! You also get pics of the boys. There is a funny string of pics of Jeremy, he can't keep his eyes open cause he knows the flash is coming. Pics of our backyard during a heavy downpour, the boys playing out front with bubbles and playing out back in the pool.
• Pond Pics w/Tio Zaiah: Isaiah was hear visiting back in the beginning of May. We took a bike ride to a nearby pond for pics.
• Mother's Day Pics: Not sure how in the world this happened...but didn't get ANY pics of mama! It won't happen again, I promise. These are just pics of the boys playing out back...it was on Mother's Day though :)

I will be back very soon for an update about my upcoming mission trip!

Muddy Buddy (ATX)

I know, I'm behind on sharing JAG pics with the family. Been a busy month with work and training for the Muddy Buddy, which by the way, was yesterday! I promise, I will be back sometime in the near future with JAG pics and vids. Feels like we spent a month in last weekend...so this is going to be a long post that could probably get boring quick. Look for BOLD headlines on what happened and for links to picture albums. Going to tell you about camping, the Muddy Buddy race, boating and jet skiing on Lake Travis and getting in my truck which was already occupied by a snake. Hopefully this doesn't get boring quick! If you just want to see the pics, check out the photo album HERE.

CAMPING: PEDERNALES FALLS STATE PARK
As I mentioned earlier, James and I have been running and mountain biking to get ready for this race. We kind of started the weekend of on the wrong foot. We planned to camp out at nearby Pedernales Falls Park in Johnson City so we could get a "good nights rest" and not have to wake up super early and leave Austin early to arrive in Johnson City by 7am. Well, waited to long to reserve a camp ground, but we were sold on the idea of having a fun Friday night, campfire and relaxing before the race. So we got the primitive campground. The primitive camp sites are a 0.8 mile trek from the parking lot. Not bad, we got bikes for James, Morgan, Isaiah and myself...easy ride. Well, we got there late. Big surprise huh? So we didn't eat before arrival as planned. Found out 2 things when we arrived: 1) the hike to the camp site is 2 miles, not 0.8 as we originally thought; and 2) no campfires allowed out there...bummer! There went our "fun" camping. Thats cool...we made the trek and set up base.

Now it is getting dark...we ride back to the trucks cause we need to go get dinner. The ride is not easy. Muddy trails, creek crossings, big inclines...Morgan was trooper and got through it all okay. We head in to Johnson City and end up stopping at Hill Country Cupboard. It boasts about having the worlds best chicken fried steak..."over 3 dozen sold." At this point we are starving and could have eaten at Burger King and had the best meal ever, but I think the food was pretty good. Dinner is over and we are back at the park, pitch dark. James pulls out his headband lights, one works and one is out of batteries...I had nothing to offer. Somehow it is enough light to get us back and finally are getting to bed. Oh, we left a sleeping bag in the truck. I open up the one bag and spread it open for me and my bro...luckily it didnt get too cold. We might as well not have brought it...offered little in terms of padding and we didn't get to cover up. I think we all woke up about 20-30 times that night with the rain, wind and lightning....good times! So the plan to be close to the race for a short morning drive was a major FAIL. We're just happy the rain stopped in the morning so we could pack up and get back to the trucks dry. As we pack up and take the tent rain shield/cover off, there are dozens and dozens of daddy long legs all over the tent. They are still there, we just rolled them up in the tent. We're still good though, a few bananas, granola bars, oatmeal and powerbars later and it is...

MUDDY BUDDY TIME!!

This is a race where teams of 2 alternate riding a mountain bike and running and alternating about every mile where there are check points and obstacles courses. The person with the bike goes first, reaches the check point, leaves the bike, does the obstacle course then takes off running. The person who was running reaches the same check point, does the obstacle course then picks up the bike and rides. You continue to switch off at every obstacle course. At the end of the race is a big mud pit where both teammates have to cross it together. The Austin, Tx. (Johnson City really) race was a short 5.4 mile race with obstacle courses about every 1.1 miles. I took off on the bike first, since we got there late, I'm behind the pack and have to be patient while all these slow people crowd the road...finally there is some space and I start weaving in and out of traffic trying to make up time. I am WAY better at biking than running, so I was determined not to fall back on my riding to make up for my slow run time. 1.1 miles later I reach the first obstacle, the High Walls. A wall, not really that high, with indoor mountain climbing type of nubs all over it and on the other side a cargo net to climb down. Was easy peasy. Now I'm running and suckin' wind. 2.3 miles into the race is the next obstacle, the Inflatable Slide...a very TALL slide. Straight up climb on a cargo net the a fun slide down. I'm down and then James starts pulling up so I take the bike and go. 3.3 miles into the race is the Balance Beams, so I ditch the bike and jump up...normally this would have been easy and it was, but it was more challenging doing it with Jell-o legs.

This next stretch was killer, mostly uphill and really muddy from all the rain. I started off good, slowed down and then finished strong...4.6 miles into the race and I'm at the Low Crawl. They have a net low to the ground and you gotta go army style crawling on yer belly to get through. I do and then gotta wait a little longer for James who had the bad luck of getting the bike ride on the worst leg of the race...it was almost impossible to ride most the uphill battle in the mud. He gets there in good time considering and I'm off again on the bike for the final leg. It starts off uphill but I get through it all the way and then relief when I see this loooong downhill ride and I let gravity take over. 5.7 miles later I am at the final Mud Pit and waiting on James. He arrives and we head for the pit and we hear the PA guy, "Here they come...your OAKLAND RRRAIDERS!!" James and I get through the Mud Pit and run the final incredibly muddy and slippery stretch to the finish line...we finished with a time of 54:17. We were in the 76-85 combined age group and finished 7th. Only the top 5 place...we were 37 secs away from top 5 finish.

It was really fun though and we got lots of nice goodies at the end. Really hope to do it again. Here is a vid Zaiah took of us finishing...

LAKE TRAVIS: PONTOON BOAT AND JET SKI
On the way home from Johnson City, Zaiah and I stopped at the Nutty Brown Cafe on 290 for some lunch. Tastee! Got home and then spent way more time cleaning bikes and everything else. Was much easier getting the mud on instead of off. Just as I finished, Mari and the girls pulled up. By 4:45 were back on the road and headed to Lake Travis. We rented a pontoon boat and a jet ski. We anchored in the cove, swam and took turns on the jet ski. The water was pretty cold, but once you were in it got easy. The girls had a blast on the jet ski, it was fun having everyone out there.

SNAKE IN THE GRASS TRUCK

After the lake we headed to Carlos N Charlies to meet the Bruces and the Dunhams for dinner. Holly, Mari and the kids headed there to meet up with them while Isaiah and I carried stuff back to the truck. I get in the truck, about to sit down and I noticed out of the corner of my eye some trash on my center console. It took maybe 1/2 a second at most for me to think: "who left trash on my console" and "it kinda looked like a snake." Of course I totally disregarded the whole snake theory...then the piece of "trash" moved and jumped back out of the truck. Look in and yup...its a snake alright. I saw him head to the back seat for more leg room. I opened up all the doors, but dude just wanted to chill. I get up close to snap a pic and he turns away, so grab his tail to yank him out, but he pulls back and slips out of my hand...and now hes mad. Coiled up and his little mouth wide open. Didn't have giant teeth, but I still didn't want them in me. After throwing the boys Burger King crown at it failed to get him to exit, I break a branch of a tree to try and lift it out. Few failed attempts and it finally turned away and "ran" out the opposite door. It was a fantastic 24 hours!!

Mike's Jiu-Jitsu Tourny

Spent most of my Saturday in Wimberley, TX. to check out Mike in his first Jiu-Jitsu tournament. Never heard of Wimberley before, it was a neat little town and the drive between Kyle and Wimberley on FM150/FM3237 was pretty. Really wanted to stop at several places for pictures, but several things prevented that: short on time, small 2 lane road with no shoulder or place to pull over, and rain. Hopefully someday we can go back just to hang out and explore.

So the tourny started at 10, but Mike's division didn't start to fight until 1 PM. Mike finally got his turn and faced off against one the meanest, rock-solid guys in the building. So Mike came after him right away and almost started a street brawl he threw him off the mat and they almost kept fighting behind the ref's table only 10 seconds into the match. So the ref stops it and gets them on the mat again and they go...again, Mike goes after him pushes him back and off the mat, this time Mike falls face down and his opponent falls on his head and Mike's forehead hits the ground.

Take 3...finally both are grappling and they end up on the ground. Hard to describe the pretzel twisting that begins...so just watch video. I was corrected about my Twitter post, Mike did not tap out, the ref stopped the fight. Which was probably a good thing, his arm was bending in his the human arm is not meant to bend.



In the end, Mike took home 3rd place after only one fight. He was supposed to fight for the 3rd place, but his opponent forfeited after taking an accidental blow to his chin in the previous fight. That was my first time watching a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, very interesting. The kids fighting were fun to watch, but don't think Holly would have enjoyed it. There were a couple of girls fighting against all the boys. It was cool to watch this one girl, she was maybe 12 years old, beat this one boy and then give him a big ol' happy smile and a hug.

Easter and Beyond

Been a long time...so here comes a quick (maybe not) update. Mari and the kids came to visit Easter weekend. Colored Easter eggs Saturday afternoon, Mari spilled the coloring and made a mess. Big bag of confetti disappeared off the counter top, haven't seen it since. That evening we went to IBM and got a bunch of pics with the bluebonnets. Then it was off to dinner at the County Line on the Lake. Long wait and there were not even any turtles in the river to keep us company. Here is the full photo album on Kodak Gallery.

Rewind a little further back into March and we had Poppi staying here with us for almost a month. The boys got to really get to know her and had so much fun with her. This Photo Album has all the March pictures.

And finally some videos of the boys. The first video is from March 4th when Poppi was here. She was letting the boys play with her glasses. The looked like goofy little nerds wearing her glasses.



This last video goes way back to October 18th, 2009. It is a video of Jeremy learning to go from sitting to crawling and then back to sitting up on his own. He got so happy when we cheered for him!

Bailey wearing Poppi's cap

Jordan's Surgery

As we were walking in to the surgery center for Jordan's eye surgery, I was praying that God hold him tight and protect him. Then I started to notice the children and parents around me. There were so many children with obvious physical and mental challenges. I changed my prayer to a prayer of thanks. We are so blessed to have two healthy boys.

Later Jordan was so good while we waited for the surgery I was able to look around and observe the other people there. The parents with the children that had wheelchairs and obvious head surgery scars were patient, loving, happy and content with their children and the long wait before seeing the doctor. The parents with the seemingly healthy children were impatient, complaining (about the wait and not being able to eat or drink in front of the hungry, thirsty children who had to fast before surgery) and yelling at their kids; who in turn were yelling themselves. Made me want to always keep the mindset that this may be my last days with them and I want to spend it patiently loving them.

1 Year (and 2 mos) Check-up

The boys had their 1 year check-up yesterday. Was late because the boys can't be sick for their "wellness" check and vaccinations. We've had almost a 3-4 week streak of good health in the house! The boys cried when they got stabbed in the leg with needles 4 times each, but they recovered nicely when it was done. Jordan had to get blood drawn to check his iron (it is better, but still a little low) and they drew his blood the "normal" way. I sat down with him and they checked his arm, he had a good vein. So they put that rubber strap around his arm, tapped his vein, I held him while a nurse held down his arm, then another nurse stuck the big needle in and drew blood. Jordan watched the whole thing and didn't even flinch. It was crazy.

JAG Stats (Percentiles)
Jeremy: Length 31-3/4" (70%), Weight 23lb 13oz (50%), Height 49" (75%)
Jordan: Length 30-3/4" (50%), Weight 21lb 14oz (25%), Height 48-1/2" (50%)
They didn't write the percentiles down for us...so that is coming off our flaky memory, but they should be really close.

And now its picture and video time! It's been a while since I posted pics, so got a few albums to share:

• Jan-Feb Photo Album
• JAG Playing Out Front Photo Album
• Garcia/Chisum Family Photo Album
• JAG Walking Around the Hood Photo Album

And a couple vids...

In this one Jeremy learned how to spin and both boys started doing it and falling down.



This one is from our after dinner walk yesterday. We got the boys a wagon this weekend and this is the first time using it for our walk. Jeremy loves to push it and was pushing Jordan. I would steer, but it was mostly Jeremy doing all the work!

Biblical Manhood

Sin of Laziness and Immaturity...that's me, right there. Been "wanting" to study for myself more on the great message God gave us through Matt Carter at the Austin Stone Community Church, and I just don't do it. If your reading and praying, please prayer for me to stay focused on studying His word.

I hope all of you, men and women, single or married, will take some time to listen to the Biblical Manhood series that was served up to us last month. It is short, a 3 week series, but it is unbelievably convicting and urgent that we understand this message. Am I one of the very few that has always thought Eve sinned first and was alone when she ate the forbidden fruit? Just more proof that I need to study God's word more.

So here is the audio for the first sermon, Biblical Manhood Part I. Listen online here or download the MP3 here. Here is their blog post to help you apply the sermon. I am not a "thinker," philosophy is just a killer scrabbler word to me. So I'd like to hear from you and what you think about part I. Going to try and spend a few days on this and then will come back and post part II. But don't wait for me if you want to keep going. You can find the rest of the series (and more) right here. Look for the sermons on Feb 14th, 21st and 28th.

If you are an iPod/Phone user, you can get their podcasts (free) right here.

Death in Adam, Life in Christ
Romans 5:17 - For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Just Some Videos

Got a few videos to share...

1. Stair Masters
Holly recorded the boys showing off their stair climbing and repelling skills.


2. Jeremy hiding Jordan under the sink
We never got around to putting on the child proof locks on the cabinets under the sink in the boys' bathroom. So we just took everything out from under the sink that is not safe. Holly heard Jeremy start to giggle, but his giggle sounded like he was having too much fun.


3. JAG Jammin' to Ellen
Holly and Ms.Karen watch Ellen in the mornings...this morning the boys had fun dancing to Ellen's music. Jordan REALLY had fun this morning getting jiggy wid it.

He's No Kermit

We were on a walk this week when I saw a frog sunning himself on the sidewalk. I was so excited to show the boys their first frog. I got it and held it up to them. It wasn't moving much so they weren't very impressed.

I put it on Jeremy's arm and it started to jump. That's when it got fun. The boys were cracking up every time it jumped. I grabbed my camera and tried it again, but this time it wasn't funny.






It was scary. Poor Jeremy started crying and Jordan soon followed. Stinky frog!