Jalen Rose, Grant Hill, & America

I usually don't read NBA news, and somehow I got a very important story confused as an NBA story...not an American story...which this really is. The more I looked into it and listened, the less I wanted to comment, and the more I thought we should all listen.

Jalen Rose had this to say in a recent documentary about the Fab Five.

Grant Hill, a wonderful basketball player, student, and person, on the 92' Duke NCAA Championship team, had this piece in the NY Times.

This is a very interesting and important dialogue. It may anger, sadden, annoy, or bore you, but this is an important discussion for our nation.

I'd be lying if I didn't want to berate Rose. I hated everything about the "Fab Five"...which is why I had to stop and listen to what he was really trying to say...and there is more to Rose's statements than what is on the surface. I make no comment in regard to agreeing or disagreeing, other than saying, "Stop. Listen to his point." You can make your own determination.

A Weekend of Ups and Downs...but More Ups!

Purdue lost to, 10th place in the B1G, Iowa. A team everyone has mauled, except IU, we lost in what was amazingly only a one point loss. We didn't hustle or play hard, and the shots didn't go in the bucket. That always equals a loss in the B1G.

Other than that, though, it was a great weekend. The local Girl Scouts had an overnight and joined us for worship. It was fun having almost 30 girls and their parents join us worshiping God!

I've been wanting to fix some sound equipment issues, and I invited Terry LeMaster to check it out. Friends from CCUMC, Terry brought his whole family, and we had a great time after church.

Later in the evening, Steph and I did Youth Group. The bright spot of any week, the DVD was very powerful. John Ortberg's The Me I Want to Be is OK, but this video was worth the entire lesson.

What a great weekend!

Lots of News

All of our friends are having babies! Mookie, Todd & Tamara, and a few others have had babies this month.

Of course, these children are destined for greatness as all November babies are. Congratulations to all of our friends! And, we're glad that everyone made it OK!

Btw, if you don't get the Song of Songs tag, read the book...

Back From Vacation!

I'm back from a much needed vacation. It was a wonderful time...

I went to two days of continuing education at Duke. It was awesome listening to N.T. Wright and Rob Bell share their insights and thoughts regarding God and ministry.

After that we stayed at a beach house on Topsail Beach, NC. Wow! It was really nice...best of all, some friends of ours owned it and blessed us with a gift of staying there with no cost. Talk about a great vacation :)

If you're interested in pics from Uncle John's funeral, Duke, our trip just click on each of the links for my FB page pics! Sorry, but you have to be my FB friend to see them...

Outdoor Dog

Our dog has a body odor problem. No, seriously, she really stinks. It's purely a dog smell. I'm pretty sure it's not an unhealthy or bad teeth smell. I think that just like some humans, our dog has B.O. issues.

And it isn't the greatest experience that she is an inside dog.

As the weather cooled down, we (read "I") took Lily outside. She has a little house, a fenced in living area, food, water, and a huge bathroom. At first, the kids and Lily were very disappointed. The kids cried, and Lily paced outside the door. I might've cried, too, but it was because the loss of stench made me happy.

After a few days, though, we do think everyone is happier. Our house smells better, the dog isn't making that annoying sound of drying off her tongue (yeah, it's weird, she likes a dry tongue), and she seems to be having fun being outside. I enjoy watching her gorge on grass, then barf it all up. Very exciting, we have a bulemic dog.

She chases bugs, barks at stray dogs, and sunbathes to her hearts content...You can see that she is much less stressed, and she is much happier. Proving something I already believed....dogs were never meant to live inside...and when we treat animals like animals and not people, every creature is happier.

Grouchy Smurf

I'm just now getting over my back pain flaring up again. This was the worst it has been, and it took a while to get over it this time.

Unfortunately, the pain is severe enough to really get to me. It makes me uncomfortable (obviously), unable to sleep, stresses me out, and over time wears me out.

All of this leads to grouchiness. Extreme grouchiness. I tend to go quiet until the grouchy-meter hits the point of blowing, and in those moments I snap...often at the kids, whose yelling, screaming, and willful defiance test me on good days.

I couldn't help but think of myself as Grouchy Smurf the last two weeks. I knew I was grouchy, there was little I could do about it.

God bless my beautiful wife for putting up with me, loving me, and being there even when I wasn't the most fun person to be around.

Uncle John

My Uncle John is one of the most interesting men I've ever met.

It's important to know that my mom was an "accident" (of which I'm especially grateful of) born to her mother at 40. Her siblings were the same age as my dad's parents, so that will help you connect timelines...

Uncle John fought in World War II. He was in the 2nd wave of the invasion of Iwo Jima. What he saw and experienced there has been recalled as some of the worst fighting American troops have experienced. He never talked about it much, but I remember he spoke of being on sentry duty one night after the island was taken. An asian man began walking toward the line he was guarding. In Japanese and English he yelled out, "Stop or I'll fire!" The man's response was to start running toward him. In the moment of saying this Uncle John's eyes betrayed that he wasn't in Indiana anymore; rather, he was far away...as he continued, "So I shot him." And the story ended with a long quiet. He is one of our veterans who defended the world, and though he did his duty, he was reluctant to be the warrior.

On the GI bill, Uncle John studied Aeronautics and Aerospace Engineering. He went on to work for NASA. He was responsible for solving a major fuel mixing issue with the Gemini project. He also helped design some of the electronics of the shuttle. His last big project was helping with the Hubble telescope. I always remember him bringing pictures and talking about NASA (because I'd always ask). I loved when he'd send patches to me. I still have a couple of them. He oozed intelligence, American ingenuity, and a proud Builder sense of accomplishment.

I write this in honor of Uncle John, who today is suffering from Alzheimer's. A once proud intellectual has trouble doing the simplest of tasks. A responsible man is now dependent upon his wife to take care of him in every aspect of life. Here's to you, Uncle John. Thank you for the inspiration to love learning, to love exploration and space, and to believe in the power of the "can-do" attitude.

My God grant you release.

Isaiah Reading

My son, Isaiah, officially read for the first time last night! We've been working on letters and sounds and some words.

Last night Stephanie pulled out beginners' reading material, and I sat down with him to read. He read two books "Matt" and "Sam" all by himself!!!

As I posted on FB, it was a sacred moment for me. From this day forward, Isaiah will never be the same. The wealth of human knowledge passed on through millenia is now open to him through something we take for granted: Reading.

Being an amateur student of languages, I've experienced the difficulty of learning to read and write in new ways as an adult. I've also experienced the awe of having new information being opened up to me by learning a new language and writing style.

"Matt" and "Sam" are the beginning of an adventure for Isaiah. Interestingly, he and Sophia during the night will pull books out of their bookshelves and bring them to bed. When we come into their rooms in the morning there might be 5-10 books in bed with them. They love books. They love stories, and right now they do their best to put the stories together through the pictures...

And now, Isaiah will be putting together the stories with a whole new set of tools: Words. From now on, those books will be read. Most of all, Isaiah has begun the process of self-learning. He will no longer be dependent upon another person showing him or telling him (orally). Now he can read and figure things out on his own.

My little homo sapien is developing, and I couldn't be prouder.

Sick & Sicker

Well, the whole family is sick...Some of us have the respiratory stuff. Others of us have...well, the OTHER stuff!

I hate being sick, and I especially hate being sick to my stomach. It's funny how I haven't had "stomach flu" for years, and then we had kids. Bam! Every year now. Ugh. I wanted to commit seppuku at one point, but I think the worst is over now.

Poor Sophie was coughing so hard that she puked last night. Everywhere...Over everything...

Usually I'm the one to clean up the mess, but I had to defer to Steph. After a few failed attempts and a couple of heaves herself, I jumped into the fray, arms deep in puke and saved the night.

Moral of the story: Despite all this, I received a great treasure: A night spent on the couch holding my daughter, having her hug me and say, "You're the best daddy ever!" Despite the puke, the coughing, and the OTHER stuff, it was a precious moment.

Side note: I'm ready to not be sick.

I'll Be Home for Christmas

On Christmas Eve, 1944, @ 7:00 p.m. my Grandfather, William Need, came home from World War II.

It was a surprise to my grandmother. Earlier in September, he was told he was being released, but they cancelled that. So when he was told the same thing in December, he didn't want to get her hopes up and didn't tell her.

Imagine her shock when she opens the door to see her husband home from the war. Imagine their elation to be husband and wife, together, on Christmas. I can't imagine what it would be like to be torn apart for so long. It had to be the best Christmas present ever.

So now, when I hear "I'll Be Home for Christmas," I can't help but think of Grandpa and Grandma Need. What an amazing story...especially in light of the fact that so many wives and families around the world celebrated Christmas with tears and heartbreak.

And now it has a different meaning, too. For now they are home with their Maker this Christmas, and we miss them. Cheers to you Grandma and Grandpa! Your dreams came true, and you celebrated your Christmases together...and you still do.

Coaching in My Veins

OK, so I have to admit, I'm really enjoying the coaching gig.

As you probably have read here that I coached Isaiah's Pee-Wee soccer team. Now, I'm a "coach" for the Pee-Wee basketball group as well.

I really like how it is broken down. We are not playing games; rather, we are doing exactly what the kids need to be learning right now...the fundamentals.

There are 4 stations: Passing, Dribbling, Shooting, and Defense. Each station has its own coach, and the kids rotate in and out of the stations. When offered, I immediately took defense, the most underrated skill of a basketball player. I had a blast last Saturday, and I hope we all continue to enjoy it again.

Isaiah continues to say that he's glad I'm coaching his "teams", so as long as he enjoys it and I enjoy it, I'll keep at it.

I Have Morning Sickness

At 3:30 a.m., I woke up to vomiting...fortunately, it was my own.

I have morning sickness, and we're all glad it's me...because if it'd been Steph, well, Dr. Cly would've owed us a free birth :)

I hate being sick, but there are some benefits today. I'm really tired after a stressful month. It was wonderful to do nothing this morning....except....

Yesterday was my birthday, and my wonderful wife got me a fun present to fidget with so that I wasn't bored to death.

Rest. Play. Puke. What a day!

Soccer Dad

Isaiah just finished his first season of organized sports as soccer officially ended last night. I was very proud of the way he continued to learn the game. Most of all though it was good to see him get in there and get aggressive going after the ball, etc.

I also enjoyed coaching and hope to do it again next year!

He's Gonna Be a Socca' Playa'....He is...He iiiis...

OK, I never thought all that time of quoting Billy Madison to my wife's belly during her first pregnancy would actually bear fruit...but it has.

Isaiah is playing soccer and loving it! His first game, he was a bit shy, and he had trouble grasping that the ball wasn't meant to be touched with the hands. He wasn't very aggressive and wanted to stop early.

But by his second game, he was in there kicking, pushing, laughing, and screaming...all vital parts of the childhood soccer experience. I've been proud of the fact that each game he does a little bit better than the previous. Being his first organized sports experience, it's been a very interesting, entertaining, a pleasing life hurdle to watch as a parent .

As a coach, I've enjoyed being there for him and his team. I understand how parents get so wrapped up in the sports experience of their kids, but at the same time, I'm amazed at how serious some people are taking pee-wee soccer. Seriously, do we need to yell at kids for allowing a goal? And that's a grandparent! My #1 goal in this soccer experience has been to be a positive, encouraging male role model for the kids as they are first entering the world of organized sports.

Who knew it would be this fun? I love it that Isaiah is glad that I'm his coach. I love to be out there helping kids experience a big milestone in their lives.

This goes to show...Billy was right all along!