on occasion i get up early and exercise. i’ve got a route that i follow in our neighborhood that helps me keep my love handles from growing into a pot belly. on many of those occasions there is usually something worth noting. one constant that i’ve noticed are the cats.

[note: i am not a cat lover. i can deal with them, but i will never own one. they are pretentious, self-absorbed, non-loving (unless they want something) creatures. i’ll take a dog any day.]

as i go along the way, there are at least 2-3 cats on every block for about half my route. they are sitting by the street and have a tendancy to follow me along their property and even a house or two past. they zip around my legs and look at me intently. i have to be rather careful not to either trip and fall or kick one, though the latter is tempting at times when they get in the way.

i discovered a while back that there are two ladies that walk a similar route, usually 10-15 minutes after i pass. one of those women carries a bag of cat food with her and stops at each house with a cat and puts a handful of food down byt the curb. she has them all conditioned that at a certain time each morning she will be there. over the months the numbers have risen gradually. i can only imagine how this has grown from 1-2 cats per walk to 15-20. i have seen the increase in interest. i’m wondering if word has gotten out in the cat world that an early morning kitty diner has opened in castle heights. pretty soon this lady will have to get a cart to carry the food!

it’s been a few weeks since i last updated - partly b/c of a lack of time and partly b/c of a lack of things to say. two significant things have happened though on which i would like to share my thoughts.

the first is the cabc prison trip that we went on 10 days ago. last year was my first year and i had these comments: freedom in prison (march 8, 2006). b-hood has already left her thoughts on her blog: prison trip reflections (march 9, 2007).

i really enjoy these trips, especially doing the grunt work since i don’t sing. (well, technically i do sing, just from the back row. back there i’m free to do choreography and sing with emotion, or just take it all in.) a lot of work goes into planning and carrying out these trips (kudos to b-hood for doing it), and it really is a lot of trouble that the prisons go through to make it happen. BUT, the offenders really appreciate it and the ministry goes both ways as they indirectly minister to us.

i love the camaraderie that the group has while we ride busses, set up equipment, eat, etc. we rotate busses each day, so the group is never really the same. it’s really the way fellowship in the church should be.

it blows me away to think about all the offenders in the state of Texas. there are people of all color, all ages, and all sort of situations. you look at them and wonder what they could have done to be there. you talk to them and many have been in prison longer than they were free. i talked to one guy who easily was under 40 who had been in jail for 18 years. i saw old men with walkers and young men in wheelchairs. you see people filled with the Spirit and you see others who make you wonder if they are just filling their free time.

just being in the building as a visitor makes me glad to be free and reinforces the fact that i don’t want to ever be in there.

now, moving on to the most special time. the Sunday that we were on the prison trip dana received the news that her granddad in north carolina had passed away. it was expected and a blessing in a way b/c he had been going downhill for some time. it is still a loss. the situation made it so that she would travel to the funeral and i would stay home with the girls. i was actually quite excited about the challenge, though a little nervous, too. she decided the morning of her flight to take kaitlyn with her, which turned out to be a good thing for dana and even better for me. the upshot was that i got the awesome chance to spend 3 days one-on-one with hannah.

i love both my girls and try to spend as much time with them as i can. obviously working takes away much of their awake time. but three whole days with hannah was awesome for both of us. she got my undivided attention and i got her love in return. we mostly played outside since last week was so pretty. we ate at her favorite places, went to the ranch to hike, drive the tractor and throw rocks, we watched he movies, we read, and we played games. i pretty much wore her out each day and she did the same for me.

dana taking kaitlyn was a Godsend, as she was able to bond more with her and kaitlyn provided some major joy and stress relief. of course, she didn’t mind showing her off to family and friends, either!

there you have my two significant recent events. enjoy!

now long overdue, i have now put up the pictures for november and december. these include some great pictures from thanksgiving and Christmas. of course, most of them are of the girls, but dana and i make occasional appearances. God has blessed us with 2 photogenic girls and also with photographer wife!

now that the great whiteout of ‘07 has happened…….i’ll say that i love this time of year. it just makes me laugh. at the slightest hint of winter weather weathermen go crazy and people react like we’re in for it…..food disappears from grocery store shelves, firewood disappears, reporters start hitting the interstate bridges for news stories, and the town shuts down. granted, there are many many people who make shutting down necessary - those that can’t drive on bad roads and don’t and those that can’t drive on bad roads who do. some of those think i have an SUV and it might have 4-wheel-drive, so i can handle it!”

i just enjoy the time off and love watching it unfold. most of the time everything is safe a few hours into it anyway. take this week for instance. 3 hours after everything was “closed” all our roads were easily driveable and we went out to target and heb. of course, hannah loved getting outside to look for icicles!

since the weather was not great most of the week, we did spend a lot of time indoors. so, hannah, being her creative and imaginitive self filled the role of sandra lee. she got behind her little kitchenette and said “let’s get cooking!” very cute. she makes the most of it!

i’m usually a little behind on my reading, but by chance this last weekend i actually got to read my Newsweek not long after i got it in the mail. it was the Gerald Ford issue. there was one article in the periscope section that caught my attention. did you know that there is a website that is encouraging people to deny the existence of the Holy Spirit in return for a dvd.

AMAZING!

if you record yourself saying i deny the Holy Spirit” and post that on youtube with a reference to their site, they will send you a video entitled “the god who wasn’t there.”

they base it in the verse of Mark 3:29 that says blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an eternal sin. now, i don’t know about you, but i don’t think the interpretation of that verse is a “one and you’re done” type sin. now, if you take that blasphemy with you to your grave, then the fiery pits of hell are probably where you will end up. i tend to think that our God gives you plenty (more than enough) of chances to get it right. i might be wrong and am willing to be corrected.

of course, in this chapter of Mark Christ is specifically talking to the teachers of the law who recognize the work of the Holy Spirit, but attribute the power to satan. Earlier in the chapter it mentions that even the evil spirits bow down to Christ’s power, yet these great teachers refuse to recognize Him.

it just amazes me how lost our world is today and what great pain our Lord must have to see it as such.

Here’s the link to the article: Blasphemy Challenge

(you can find the other site on your own, as i don’t want to give it any more exposure than i already have!)