...was last Sunday, but we're just getting around to getting the pictures off the camera.



This week has been busy busy busy. Adam's Dad has gone off on his first business trip (only one night, much to the joy of Adam's Mom,) Adam has gone on his first prescription (Prevacid, as referenced in the previous post somewhere) and Adam has given us his first smile. We think. Maybe.

Last weekend, six of our close friends threw us a baby shower at church. I'd love to give you more details, but right now, we're battling a severe stomach bug... so we're not able to go into more detail. Big thanks are in order... and forthcoming! Until then, here are the pictures that Dad took and uploaded to AOL photos! (Thanks, Dad!)

Our church is part of Room in the Inn, a program to help the working homeless find a new start. Each Sunday night from Thanksgiving to Easter, our church hosts 25-30 men for the evening so that they can get a shower, a good dinner, a good night's sleep, a good breakfast and lunch the next day while they work and save to establish a new life.

Normally, the Sunday School departments take turns serving as greeters, servers, clothes washers, and overnight hosts. This year, our nights included Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, so it was tough for us to "field a team" with everyone traveling and having prior plans. Our coordinator called me last week and I agreed to work tonight (with Lydia's blessing, of course.)

This may go down as the most boring liveblog in history, but hey, it's my first try. :D

5:00 arrived - Leadfoot (Lydia) somehow beat me here even though I left home first.

5:10 - Lydia helps Miss Sherry, Betsy Kay and Becky set up the dinner and stash the snack bags.

5:25 - the guests start arriving. We have 28 tonight.

5:30 - I lead prayer and dinner begins. I'm given the duty of spooning out the barbecued chicken. Five women from The Next Door have volunteered to serve the dinners. Somehow in the hurriedness of the serving, we miscommunicate and prepare 27 plates.

5:35 - I meet Juan^*, who was shirked the dinner. It turns out that I habla about as much as he speaks English.

5:40 - Since I was the one who mis-apportioned the chicken, I drive to Wendy's to pick up dinner for me and Juan.

6:00 - Dinner's done except for me and Juan. We dine together and I explain in very broken Spanish that I don't really speak Spanish... I've just worked with little kids. He's very appreciative for the dinner anyway.

6:15 - Dinner's all cleaned up. The coffee is made, and the dinner helpers are headed out. Lydia gives me a new year's kiss. I tell her if she's still up for the ball drop to give me a call. Come to think of it, this is the first new year's eve we've been apart since we got married.

7:00 - The Next Door women head out to their New Year's party. That leaves me, Pete and Michael to hold the fort to tomorrow morning.

8:12 - The big attraction is the Green Bay football game. The pool games have wrapped up and it's getting quieter.

8:27 - Michael and I dismiss Pete. Michael told him to tell his wife that we said he snored too loud and told him he had to go home. He's coming back at 5:00.

8:33 - At a quick count, we have 17 who have already chosen to sack out. I'm on the web in the rec office and have a great view of the folks in the game room and the gym. Michael's in here reading.

8:47 - Lydia's online. All's quiet here on the front.

8:58 - Our last smoker has come in. I can tell he's supposed to be here because a) he has a name tag and b) he's in scrubs. When the men come in, they can check out scrubs to sleep in, and we wash the clothes that they bring. Tonight, the Next Door women are doing the laundry, making it an easy night for us overnight hosts. They're fantastic.

9:32 - The game is still on, but Chicago isn't really playing. The decaf is still piping hot. I'm in for my second cup.

9:37 - No more viewers for the game. We've got three pool players and 22 sacked out.

9:58 - Two at the pool table, two at the TV (seems to be a bit of renewed interest in the game.) Michael's in the kitchen, but I can't quite tell what he's trying to do... maybe just size things up for tomorrow morning.

10:09 - Brian^* comes to the window. "Hey man, I hurt my leg."

He's reinjured a wound on his lower leg and says that "blood is spurting out." Another guest comes to his aid with a towel and makes a pretty loose tourniquet around it. Brian says this has happened before, and he had to go to the hospital, so we call 911. The operator is great.

10:12 - A fire truck pulls up outside, and Michael goes out to help.

10:18 - Brian's still talking to the firemen. Michael says they're going to take him. Chances are we won't see him back... not because we don't want to, but because the ER on New Year's Eve will be a bit busy.

10:25 - curfew warning. Three guys in the gameroom. Brian's still outside with the firemen. I wish we had some sort of intermediate "quick medical" service between an ambulence and "get yourself in here." I guess that's a fire truck.

10:28 - The fire truck leaves.

10:32 - The TV is off, and our last two guests are in the gym for the night.

11:01 - just watched the ball drop on CNN. I'm headed upstairs for a sleep. My phone is set to wake me up at 5:00 a.m... hopefully there won't be any more posts before then.

^*The names of the guests were changed to protect their privacy.

Lydia and I hosted Christmas for some of our family this year at our house. It was a marathon of Tennessee tourism, but everyone enjoyed the time together. It started Friday night at dinner with Pop and Polly and Lydia's parents. Then, on Saturday, I gave Pop and Polly a tour of LifeWay. I think they've met just about every person whose picture is hanging on a wall in that building at some time in their church career.

Lydia picked up Mom and Dad and we all toured the new Schermerhorn Symphony center. If you have a chance to see this amazing structure, we highly recommend it. There are free tours several days a week. It's amazing how they engineered the space to lock out all of the downtown noise around it. Although we've sung in the space, we're really looking forward to hearing the space too!

That night, Mom, Dad, Pop, Polly and us went to the Grand Old Opry at the Ryman Auditorium. Pop has been a fan of the Opry since the 20's when he listened in Colorado on his crystal radio set. When we bought the tickets, we were stuck over in Section 8, but Saturday night was an Opry Live night on GAC, so the usher came to our row and politely asked us if we could sit in an empty row right in the middle of the floor. Uh, yeah. The show was great, filled with country Christmas music. If you run back the show on TV, you can just see Mom and Dad in one of the audience pans, so we can prove they were there!

Sunday, we went to church and Lydia and I kept the one year-olds while everyone else went to the service. That afternoon, Mom and Lydia cooked ahead for Christmas dinner. We went over to our friend Elaine's house for cookies and eggnog and then went to the Christmas Eve service that night.

Monday was a nice relaxed Christmas day, with a late breakfast and then a conference call between Nashville, Los Angeles and Oregon to do our family gift card exchange. Then, Lydia's parents came over and we all sat down to a great meal of turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, country ham, and all the fixins. Afterwards, we went and toured the Opryland Hotel to see the decorations and the lights.

Tuesday morning, Lydia, Mom and I hit a couple of after-Christmas sales and then came home to nap! Pop and Polly were originally going to leave on Tuesday, but extended their visit another day and joined us at the Frist Center for a tour of the travelling galleries there. Afterwards, Lydia showed Polly and Mom where she works and I showed Dad and Pop where I like to shop.

Wednesday morning, Pop and Polly left for Ohio, Mom and Dad got a LifeWay tour and then left for Texas, then Lydia and I blogged about it.

Please say a prayer today for the family of Morgan Reynolds. She passed away during the night after battling mitchondrial disease for her entire 2 1/2 year life. Her mother, Leslie, grew up at our church (she now lives in Atlanta). Morgan's grandparents and great-grandparents are still members of First Baptist. I don't know Leslie personally, but I know many people who do, and they all have wonderful things to say about her. Leslie is only two years older than me, and I cannot imagine being in her shoes today.

I have followed Morgan's life via their website, and felt a special interest since Morgan was just a month older than our niece Reganne. Morgan's older brother, Carter is only five years old, and I'm sure he is struggling with this reality today.

This is just one reminder that in the midst of this happy holiday season, there are those who are suffering tremendous pain.