various things

Our trip to Texas and Missouri (briefly) was nice. We were gone a whole week, and I enjoyed the break. The families are good; my niece is as cute as they get (I know...I'm partial). once I get around to downloading pictures off my new digital camera, I'll try and post some on here. My dad's getting ready to retire next year, and he's pretty excited about it.

I'm frustrated these days because I put some things off and now have only 13 days to try and register for graduate classes for the upcoming spring semester. Only problem is, my username and password (given to me by the school) won't work on their web site (where you register) and of course the offices are closed right now for the holidays. !! we'll see what happens. I may be starting in the spring or fall instead. Oh well. Guess it'll be a learning experience either way, right? :)

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Lone Star State!

Today

Today, I'm working at Mattox Family Practice. Our good friend Dr. Mattox and his staff (his wife Kathy and our other good friends Ryan and Nicole) are out of town for the week, so Jeremy, Jeanette and I are taking turns answering the phones and manning the office while they're gone. It's nice -- I'm spending most of the day just chillin.' I've checked e-mail, done some web surfing...I brought my book and a movie, and I'm hoping to write a little as well. (of course, we all know how undisciplined I am in that arena). Anyway, just a little ramble.

'Tis the Season

Sometimes during the Christmas season I feel Scroogy: what's the point? I ask myself. Hopefully I'm celebrating Jesus every day. But still, it's important to really meditate on it now and then. And what about gift giving? Sometimes it feels like checking names off my list is more important than the giving itself. So I examine the reasons why I'm giving. Obligation? Or love. Honoring the gift given to me by the Father by giving something to someone else. So in that spirit, maybe I should be doing more charitable giving. Of course, that happens all year as well. And what about traditions? I had a long think about that last year, and realized that any time we establish traditions with our family or friends, it's not always (or usually) about the traditions themselves, but about bringing us closer together, celebrating our love for each other. So the key to keeping the holidays meaningful for me: being deliberate. At least, that's what I've come up with for now. :) Deliberately being thankful, loving, generous, thoughtful...at least, trying to be these things. I am far from perfect after all.

Peace

keith mccord

Mine and Jeremy's friend Keith McCord passed away Friday evening from cancer. He wasn't quite 30, married with a tiny baby boy named Lincoln.

It's odd. I'm probably a minority in this, but Keith is the first friend I've known to die; my other experiences have been with grandparents, etc.

Keith was an interesting guy. Pretty cynical, but we just gave him a hard time about it. He was super creative -- a writer, a musician, an artist. He loved computer games -- he and Jeremy could play for hours. Okay, days even when they'd get together for gaming weekends. He was a good friend. I got to know him best one semester at college when there were some difficult things going on; he had a lot of good advice. He and Jeremy were much closer than Keith and I ever were; they were housemates for a while. I know Jeremy will miss Keith.

Peace.