Some things

Well, it's Friday of my first week back in school and there's a few things to update y'all on.

Tonight is the final night of the summer softball season. We get to play twice: at 8:00pm and 9:15pm. The later game is against Bloodline, a team made up of a large extended family in our church (along with some friends) and our rivals. I'm really looking forward to it. This is my fourth summer playing softball with the men from our church. I love it because I get to play a sport (which doesn't happen much anymore), but more than that, I love it because I get to know people in the church that I wouldn't get to know any other way. Also, our games have tons of fans in the bleachers because bunches of people from the church come and watch our games, which just adds to the fun.

In other exciting news, our friends the Rehrers are in the process of adopting a little girl from Africa! That's really exciting and something Amy and I have tossed around as an idea for the future. It will be fun and informative to see them go through this process.

Some people have been waiting - with bated breath no doubt - to hear about why I shaved my head. In fact, I believe my mom's exact word was "yuck." Thanks mom. Anyway, two weeks ago I was trying to hustle so I could get to church in time for our weekly staff meeting. I needed to shave and my sideburns were also getting a little long, so I decided to pull out the hair clippers and give the burns a little trim. However, in my rush, I forgot to put a guard on the clippers! So when I whooshed upwards with the clippers, my sideburns did not get trimmed, they got shaved! Not only that, but I went past the sideburns.

I called Amy and told her what happened. I said that I thought I would have to shave my head. She said not to. I took a picture with my phone and then sent it to Amy. She said I should shave my head! That's the story.

New Sneakers

Remember when you were little and you got a new pair of sneakers and really believed you could run faster and jump higher? I used to wear my new sneakers (or shoes) to bed at night before wearing them outside because I was so excited about the new-ness.

That's how I feel today.

Alice has been sleeping "through the night" since she was 5 weeks old, but that really only means she slept for 4-5 hours at a time, which was wonderful in comparison to only 2, but not quite enough for mommy to function on a day to day basis. For the past week or so, she's been sleeping 8-10 hours at night, allowing mommy to now have a full week (minus one night) of being well rested.

The sun is brighter, the breeze is sweeter and the Lord has perfect timing!

Palm Springs and a New School Year

Sunday through Tuesday, Amy, Alice and I were in Palm Springs with Pastor Ron and Susie and their three kids: Mark, Jeffrey and Alicia. As you'd expect, it was hotter than hot, averaging about 110 degrees while we were there. We stayed in a two-bedroom condo that a generous person in our church let us stay in for fairly cheap. The air conditioning was cranked up (down?) the whole time we were there, making for an almost 40 degree difference between the outside and inside temperatures during the hottest part of the day. We took several pictures and videos, which you can view here.

This coming Wednesday marks the beginning of my fifth semester at Talbot. I'm taking Apologetics, Biblical Leadership & Management, and Exegesis in Acts and the Epistles. Yep, that last mouthful is my last required Greek class! That means two things: 1) People now will (mistakenly!) expect me to be proficient in biblical Greek, and 2)I can begin taking Hebrew in the spring!

Last night I checked online to see if any of my professors had posted syllabi and was ridiculously excited to see my Apologetics syllabus up. My professor, Garrett DeWeese, not only posted the syllabus, but also all the supplementary reading, the first day of class' powerpoint slides, and other miscellaneous links and resources. Besides the last day of class, I think the first day of class is my favorite day of the semester!

Today I have Alice until 11ish and then a church friend will be watching her. She's getting big, but especially growing long. Here's a video for you to enjoy!

Blog, Interrupted

So I was going to blog today about the 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World that started today. However, the inimitable Justin Taylor covered it well at his blog. I'm praying that God uses this next month to transform my own heart in my attitudes, understanding and love for Muslim people.

As long I'm linking, see what Dr. Mohler has to say about Prop. 8 being overturned last week. As always, expect insightful analysis.

Daddy-Daughter Day the Fourth!

Today was another Daddy-Daughter Day, and a pretty successful one methinks. Of course, when your almost-three month old daughter is wearing her Cal onesie (thanks Grandma!), it's automatically a great start!

Alice slept really well and we had some good play time before and after her meals. In the afternoon, she guzzled almost seven ounces of milk and then slept for almost three hours. This allowed me to read a bunch today and with school coming in two weeks, this was very much appreciated.

Go here to see more pics!