JEFF'S PASSPORT CAME!!!! Talk about last minute! I am very happy to announce that we are all ready to leave for Amsterdam. Our flight leaves O'Hare at 5:50 pm on New Year's Day. It will be a good eight hours, so hopefully I'll get some sleep in. I have been sick all weekend. I'm going on day five now and Lord-willing I will have this thing kicked in a day or two. I will leave out the details, such as, the cat-like hurling, high fever, green slime, and huge loogies...mmm...anyone else hungry now? Keep our crew in your prayers for the next 12 days as we embark on our journey. I feel like Frodo...only not. Oh yeah, I saw Catch Me If You Can last night, and I highly recommend reading the book! They left out all of the good parts!! Okay, maybe I'll blog from Amsterland. Until next time....

God, I really love my family. I want and hope for the best for them. It's so hard to actually do, though, because the best often means I must sacrifice and give them up. And I want to hold on so tightly. Right now I hold Jeff up before you. Bless his interview tomorrow. Please give him a clear head and a vision. Either open the door wider or close it. Please make it evident to him what it is you want him to do. And I would also like to pray for Dad. He has given me so much to be thankful for. He has been my support and strength for years, but more so in the last three. I thank you for him and I ask that you also bless his life. He is one I look up to and I love him dearly. I don't know what you have in his own future, but I lay it in your hands. Thank you for all of the men in my family. They mean so much to me. Amen.

Well, props to the dear poetest, Lucas Dowers for his fabulous column! And no, Doug, I had nothing to do with this one. It just runs in your family. For most of the world, today is Christmas Day. And a day well spent! First, I had the sublime pleasure of spending Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning at Amy and Phil's home. Now I am at the Dowers home playing Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo! How great is that?! I am moved. As you all should be. :) I will leave you all now with this thought...Remember the spoiled meat in the fridge. It may save your life one day. God bless you and Merry Christmas!!

[12/23/2002 4:56:17 AM | lucas dowers]
I have been pondering for awhile. I ponder about the flowers, about the way the wind blows through my hair, about why certain stars are shaped like the big dipper. I have spent a good amount of time at home sitting on my duff playing with my ding ding(guitar). I like to write songs. Songs about life, songs about death, songs about little munchkins that run in our yard and hide under the mushrooms when i come outside to find them. I never liked them munchkins. Some say they are smurfs, but i liked to think not. I for one do not care for the smurfs, they suck.(QUESTION FROM AN ANONYMOUS DONER) I was once asked a question how did u get so hot. I said yo baby, its all in the yoga, the mud faces, and the cucumber rings that you put on your eyes. Now getting off my funny side i like to be serious all the time when i get funny i like to beat myself with my shoe for a min. (Please excuse the master of poetry and finer writing for a min. while he beats himself with a shoe) O here i am, its good to be back. It is now time to share with you what i've learned in the past week. I learned that when playing catch with a squirrel you should not use a big rock because squirrels cannot catch very well. And i think that is all. Now its time for quote of the day. This is my personal favorite time and I hope its yours too. I get an incredible amount of insight. Here it goes "Eat while you can, for someday you may not have left to eat what you should of ate when you could of ate then" All i can say is wowzers. Pardon my use of utter vulger enlish for thou word must never be spoken again by this devine poetest. This quote was from johan noverkiki on my tiki taki jones. I hate to come to this for my mind cannot speak no more. i have closed all the pondering for tonight. i just want to relax and feel free with the dophins. I leave you, my little people( o how you have so much to learn)with this........the teeny tiny men between your big toe and pointer toe are not evil satan worshipers.

right

I have survived the grueling drive from Lincoln to Greenville to Danville. You don't understand. My muffler fell off yesterday as Nikki and I were scrambling around town. Now I have a six foot long pipe and muffler precariously residing in the trunk of my truck. And the maintence guy witnessed me throwing my body to the pavement as I screamed....well, that's not important. Tomorrow I will have the extreme pleasure of trekking up to Chicago to hang out with the Nardonis. Sleep deprivation, Greek stress, and too many hours in the car can explain my current exhaustion. My faulty hearing is simply a result of my mufferless truck. I stayed up until the ungodly hour of 1:30 am to see Two Towers. And, if anyone could help me out, please tell me where "Two Towers" is even mentioned in the movie. Maybe I missed it when I bruised my knee trying jumping the bar in makeout row. The end of the semester = the perpetual era of dismality. Time to relax. Time to wrap presents.

Splendid

Alright Jeff, I'm giving it a whirl.