Ann and I signed the papers on our first house yesterday afternoon. We thought long and hard before we bought a house, and after I have given this one a test drive for the last 26 or so years, I decided to stick with this one. Yeah, we bought our house from my parents. It is strange to own the house I grew up in.

The best part? We don’t have to move! When we came back home from Arkansas we moved in this house and rented from my folks for a year or so. The original intent was to buy or build somewhere else, but the more we looked at it the more sense it made to just buy this house. It’s home. It’s the place I ran from like it was on fire when I was 18 years old… but it turned out to be the only place I really wanted to be.

At some point i’ll go take a pic or two of the house and some nice surrounding views and post them up on the blog.

I had the thought today that for the first time in my life, home repairs are officially my responsibility. I had this thought when it took longer than usual for the hot water to get to the shower. I figured it was just my luck that the water heater would go out the day I bought the house. Luckily it was just because it was cold outside and the pipes were cold.

Owning a home. This should be interesting.

That quote comes from Dan Case’s blog. Dan is a friend and former boss of mine and this isn’t at all the first time that Dan has said something that stopped me in my tracks.

Dan is one of the people who stood by Ann and I when we found out that something was wrong and we would likely lose Caed.  I had a lot of people around me who were great and provided such great support but Dan and I had a special connection. I think Dan probably had the perfect boss/employee relationship, we respected one another and it showed. We were really a team. More importantly we held each other up. Dan supported me for the long months between finding out we would lose Caed and actually losing him.

I am rambling, but the point I am trying to make is that over the last few years I have earned a few scars. Some of those wounds behind the scars have been deep.. very, very deep. Losing a child and leaving a job I loved have proven to be some of the hardest things I have ever done. I know that wounds heal… with emotional wounds there are always scars even if they only serve as reminders of how God pulls us through things. I also know that a wound like losing a son is not something that ever REALLY heals in this life. It gets better, it gets easier to handle and the pain subsides over time but in the long run the scab only falls off when we are reunited after this life. I read this line on Dan’s blog and it really makes a great point. I can’t tell you that I have ever had an “event” that made the pain less, but I can look back over the last 18 months and see steps on the journey where God left a marker.

I think one of those markers on the journey is probably coming up soon when Ann and I go to Little Rock to visit friends.  I hope that this visit helps to heal some of the wounds that I caused, and some that I caused myself when I left Little Rock hard and fast. I haven’t ever felt like I made that right.

Man, what a weekend! Alabama looked very good, and the best part is that the coach wasn’t satisfied with what he saw so we should see some improvement over the next couple of weeks!

Auburn looked like they decided at the last minute to let the girls basketball team suit up to play Kansas State, but had an awakening in the last four minutes of the game to come back and win. It will be a costly victory in the polls, i’m afraid. Like my friend Grant said over on his blog, i’m  conflicted because until Auburn plays Alabama, I root for them every time, but the underdog fan in me just couldn’t help but cheer for Kansas State. Had KS not had so many penalties, AU would have fallen hard.

I think the best of all has to be Appalachian State putting the smack down on Michigan. I’m one of these guys who believes that teams like Michigan and Notre Dame (who also had their butts handed to them) get praise and adoration just for being Michigan or Notre Dame. SEC Schools have to grab, fight and beg for attention because their games are usually lower scoring and until recently the media hasn’t really understood that the incredible Defense in the SEC is the big factor there. No conference plays harder.

All in all, it was a great weekend. I spent quite a bit of time out working in the pasture where I plan to deer hunt this year. My brother and I got some green fields planted and a couple of new hunting spots picked out. I think maybe this year I will actually get a chance to take a deer. I can’t wait.

Have a great Tuesday!

Well, we’ve achieved another milestone in the world of parenting: Sleeping through the night! We put Micah down last night a little after 10 and he slept until about 5:45 this morning. That is the most he’s ever slept!

Of course, he probably slept that much because he has been really fussy. We think he is starting to cut a tooth. He’s 3 freaking months old, and we think he’s cutting a tooth… early, but not at all unheard of. The funny thing is, even when he is fussy he really isn’t THAT bad. Thanks to hours and hours of prayer, we have been blessed with a laid back kid! It’s SUCH a blessing!

Well, here is hoping that this was the start of a pattern and not just a fluke!