It’s not actually Dale’s birthday…but he’ll be with his mom on his actual birthday this year so this was his “birthday weekend.”
The first thing he wanted to do was play football. So…we went over to Missouri State where he and Eli had a good brotherly battle. E, of course, couldn’t let Dale win and beat him by one point. READ MORE »
Amy was cleaning pictures off her camera and found this gem that we didn’t realize we had of Eli. It was taken at MarcyJo’s Mealhouse one afternoon just before closing time. Marcy had some cupcakes and just gave one to each of the kids.
Eli took his cupcake, held it in his hands and went “Oh cuppacake. I love you cuppacake. Now I eat you.” And he did.
Tell me that’s not pure joy.
While you’re listening to the top 5 Pete Wilson sermons of 2010, I thought I’d share a Christmas morning memory with you.
The way our apartment is designed, there’s one access point to the living areas from the bedroom hallway. That meant it was really easy to block access to the Christmas tree for three little hoodlums who had been spending most of the night watching Santa criss-cross the world on the NORAD Santa Tracker.
Not that our kids would have rushed the tree and ripped open gifts while the adults slept soundly in their bedroom, mind you. No children would do that, right? 
So I slid my recliner into the doorway and spent the night attempting to sleep in the chair thus providing a human shield for the brightly colored packages of various sizes that mysteriously were carried from our bedroom closet to the tree next to the fireplace. I know I dozed off at some point because my big memory of Christmas 2010 could only happen because I had fallen asleep.
It was around 6am. I opened my eyes and found myself inches away from the face of Eli. I have no idea how long he had been standing staring at me. I just knew that he had been there for a while. I don’t know if it was the peaceful look of determination or the calm way he spoke to me.
I looked at Eli, my beloved son.
He looked at me. The man who provides a roof over his head. Feeds him. Loves him. Allows him to sit on his back while watching Beakman’s World on NetFlix. Buys large bags of chicken nuggets at Costco because he loves “chicken and french fries” for dinner.
Straight face. No smile. Quietly, Eli spoke:
“Toys?”
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