Wow, I need to blog more (winter update)

Hey everybody, it's been a heck of a long time since I've sat down & blogged. In the past, blogging has always taken a lot of effort for some reason. It's much like writing an essay for school: I would think of a (sometimes deep) topic, & take my time rearranging it & crafting it until it's finally presentable. But because I've been so busy with school, I haven't felt like sitting down & spending the time on a blog. So I think it's high time to take my blogs less seriously & just write about whatever, especially the fun day-to-day stuff of life.

This time around, I'll just update everyone on our year & what's been going on with us; especially for all my Phoenix friends whom we miss so much. 2008 was a cool year. My school schedule has been great, so I've been able to be home a lot with Aidan & Sarah. Being a dad is awesome. I know this is kinda weird, but every time I look at Aidan I see a little me. He's like my mini-me. This age is so much fun. He knows how to make us laugh & is doing new things all the time that blow us away. We got Aidan a little drumset for Christmas. He loves that thing. He loves coming alongside me when I play drums at church. He's not content leaving church on Sunday 'til he's banged on the drums a bit.

2008 was cool because I ended up getting many of the cool shows I watched as a kid on DVD. So Aidan & I daily sit down & watch an episode of GI Joe, X-Men, C.O.P.S., or Gummi Bears. We've even starting collecting little action figures. Yup, I'm getting him started young. Aidan can point out Hulk, Spider-man, & Wolverine...That's my boy!

School has been going really well. It's funny. I had teachers at Community College in Phoenix that really tried putting the fear into us of what a University was like, & how different it is than CC. I guess in some ways it's true, but for me it's been an easy transition. I've had fun, interesting classes & great teachers. I've gotten all A's thus far (one A- !). Half of getting A's is just staying on top of the reading. My favorite classes so far have been Indians in American Culture, Museum/Historic Site administration, & War at Sea in the Age of Sail. This coming Spring semester will be my busiest semester at Fisher. But after that, my senior year should be pretty light. I'm taking off from drumming at church for 3 months, which should help ease my load. People ask what I'm going to do with a bachelors in History. I'm still not entirely sure. I love learning about stuff that I love; that's my primary reason for going to school. It's something I wanted to do for myself. After graduation, I'd love to work in a museum, historic site, or non-profit, but if not I'm fine with it. As long as I help pay the bills & enjoy what I do, I don't care.

Being in our own home has been awesome. We got blessed with a great house at a great price in a good neighborhood that's close to everything. We're within 5 miles of my school, Sarah's work, our church, & many of our church friends. I love living in the city. I've been a suburbanite all my life, so it's neat being close to everything. We've got an older home (made in the 20s), & I know nothing about home repair. But I know people that do. (Plus I've been watching Handy Manny for tool advice). Rochester had a very snowy December, but if I recall correctly, it was only 2 or 3 storms that required shoveling. No big deal.

No joke, the best part of having our own place is that we can watch movies at a good volume whenever we want. I hated having to keep the volume really low in our past apartments/duplex as to not offend anyone. There are movies that I'm dedicated to watching every December: Gangs of New York, Little Women, Cold Mountain, & Lord of the Rings. Because I'm on Christmas break, I've been watching the behind-the-scenes discs of all the LotR movies. It makes for a great experience. With our Christmas money, I think we're gonna get an LCD flatscreen TV. We're set on getting a 37".

Unfortunately, 2008 was a lackluster year spiritually for me. I totally slacked. I barely read my Bible or prayed. I could easily have set aside 15 minutes a day for that stuff but didn't. To make it worse, because of Aidan's age, we have to keep him occupied during church. I haven't been able to intently listen to a sermon at our church in ages. (And I still really wish our church had small groups. We were blessed at VCFNP & Oneplace with great ones). I'll have to start listening to my own church's podcasts. I'm resolving to do the whole Bible in a year thing this year, which I haven't done in a while. Everybody needs to check out The Voice. It's a new, refreshing translation that really takes you into the story. I've never enjoyed reading the Bible as much as I do now.

Well take care everyone. To all our Phx friends: we miss you, love you, & look forward to seeing you all (hopefully this summer). More blogs to come.