Watch Out!

Thanks to Amy Wright inspiring me to change our blog style, you may see the screen change frequently right before your eyes. While I am wanting to make it a little more appealing to the eye, my husband is sitting in the chair next to me with his laptop making sure it stays somewhat "manly". hehehe. Fun times! Sorry for the confusion and headache we may be causing. Looking forward to the end result!!

Azinger's 13th Man Brings U.S. the Ryder Cup

Before the Ryder Cup in Louisville this week, Paul Azinger the captain of team USA made it expressly clear that he wanted the crowds to play a major factor in the outcome of the tournament:

"I want to treat them like they're going to be our 13th man," Azinger said.

It comes as no surprise then that a large amount of the post-tournament analysis has centered around the impact the crowds made on the match up. Paul Mahoney of Golf.com and contributor to Golf Magazine writes:

They'll never get credit in the history books, but it was Paul Azinger's 13th Man, all 40,000 of them, who won the 37th Ryder Cup for the United States. Captain America's two-year plan to fire up his players and the Kentucky crowd worked.

So when Golf.com was looking for a picture from Sunday's final round at Valhalla that summed up the contribution of the 13th man, they needed something that was really representative of the crowds intensity. So where did they turn? Well look at the picture in the upper left hand corner closely, where you will find my dad perfectly executing a back handed, off balance high five to 22 year old phenom Anthony Kim.

When I interviewed my dad for this piece, he humbly refused, simply saying that he was just glad to be pretty much the most integral part of the U.S. victory. Yesterday, he was a retired football coach. Today, he's the poster boy for Azinger's 13th Man.

Access the entire story here, complete with above picture heading the article. Look really close and you can see my hand barely creeping into the right side of the picture.

We're Back!

We are very happy to say that as of 9:30 yesterday morning WE HAVE LIGHT!!!...and everything else that comes with electricity. What an exciting time this was for all of us. Tory and I did actually say to each other that we were kinda bummed to have it back because of how fun it was to "ruff it" and be forced to get creative. Although I do have to say, we really weren't "ruffing it" that much. Our very generous neighbor let us plug our refrigerator into his generator. We had cold food, a grill, and running hot water. Not bad. And the Lord has blessed us with some amazing weather. There were even mornings that we needed jackets. Praise Him!! Abigail and Nathan were troopers. They didn't seem phased really at all by the whole dilemma. They were able to take a bath with only light from a flashlight and Abigail was reunited with her princess flashlight (if you will remember the one she earned during her potty training days) that she was able to sleep with. Though we only spent 48 hours of the expected minimum of five days without electricity we are happy to be back in session and hope that the next time we "ruff it" is on a planned trip to the campgrounds.

Please be in prayer for others here including close friends of ours who have yet to receive their power back. Ice is melting and nowhere to be found, gas is running out and expensive, and a few with electric water heaters are now without hot water. We have seen the body of Christ work in amazing ways to help its people and minister to the lost. Pray for more of these opportunities. The seminary has cancelled classes for the week because of it's loss of power until yesterday as well, but have have been very generous in offering free meals multiple times this week. You can go here to read Dr. Mohler's brief thoughts on "our electric lives".

A Friend's Birthday!

One of Abigail's good friends, Matt, celebrates his 3rd birthday this week and we were invited to partake in the water festivities today. Brett and Lindsey are some very dear friends of ours from Texas and they have two handsome boys Matt and Seth. We had a great time and wanted to share some of the pics. As you will notice, Nate is ready to move in with them. They have every push toy and car you can think of. (Note to Nathan's grandparents.) Abigail was fired up about smashing the pinata with a bat and then getting to keep tons of candy. I think she would have slept with her red bag of candy if I would have let her. Thanks Hoyle's for a great party!!

This was classic...