We're having a baby (actually two)!

Karen and I have begun the process of adopting two children from Ethiopia through America World Adoption. We have a blog that details our journey of adoption. However, the blog is private. If you would like to follow our blog email me at johnmark20@gmail.com so I can send you an invitation.

Here is a post that I wrote which describes some of our reasoning and desire to adopt:

Adopting in Our Family
Karen and I talked about adopting from the beginning of our relationship. Once we moved to Owensboro and God provided both of us with stable jobs, adoption became a reality rather than just a desire. Over the past few weeks and days, Karen & I have fielded many questions regarding the adoption process, the costs, and at the bottom of it all, the why.
When you read the statistics listed on Karen's previous blog post, and on the right side of our blog about the desperate situation for adoption in Ethiopia and in other countries, it's easy to cognitively recognize the need. Karen and I feel the call to adopt children in this desperate situation--not only because of the need, but because of our faith.
We are tremendously excited about starting our family by adoption and raising up children for God's glory. There are many things that I do differently--that's for sure! I ride my bike rather than drive a car. I drink hot coffee by the pool in the summertime. I would rather read a good book on a Friday night than go to a movie. American food is not my favorite food. If given the choice, we'd both chose anything but American food. But adopting children from Ethiopia before trying to have biological children, that's not what most people think is natural. Karen and I do not operate by natural thinking. Even so, I would agree; it's not natural. It is so much more. One might even say supernatural.
God has done something that is unthinkable by our standards. While I was far away from Him, a foreigner, his enemy, God brought me to His family. I call Him Father because His son, Jesus, paid for my adoption with a much greater cost than our AWAA fees- His blood. By the blood of my brother, I am not a stranger anymore; I am a son of God. The strangest part of God adopting me is that I did nothing to make this adoption possible. I was the ugly, estranged person that had nothing to give back. But God being rich in mercy and love brought me out of darkness and made me His son. I don't deserve the riches that God has given me, but I know whom my heavenly Father is and what He has done for me. It's not natural by any measure at all.

Ridin' & Killin'

From Bike Monkey:

I always considered pepper spray products such as Halt! to be the ultimate weapon in the battle against bicycle-chasing dogs.

The former mayor of Seven Mile, Ohio, trumps that with a .357 Magnum handgun.

"The man was bicycling through the small southwestern Ohio town with his wife when a 10-pound mixed terrier named "Precious" chased down the couple, knocked the mayor from his bicycle and attacked him.

He told police that he feared for his life and shot at the dog five times before killing it.

The Oxford Press reports that the former mayor said he is a former police officer and permitted to carry an unconcealed weapon.

Apple Fest 2008

Cindy and Preston came to Owensboro for a visit today. We enjoyed a great time at Reid's Apple Festival. Despite hating seasonal allergies that I was temporarily liberated from when we lived in Chicago, the Apple Festival was a wonderful event. Cindy and Karen both claim the Apple Fest no only rivals Princeton's Black Patch Festival but is far superior. I am not willing to go that far whatsoever. (Maybe I need to make a call to the general, David Amoss)
Karen and I had enjoyed Reid's orchard already on an earlier visited one Sunday afternoon after church at Pellville Baptist Church. But there was far more at the Orchard than apples. Let me go on the record that I LOVE fair food, which you can see for yourself in some of the pictures. It was all there: funnel cakes, apple cider, BBQ, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, polish sausage, fudge, pie and even deep fried candy bars and oreos. I call myself Templeton after the gluttonous rat in Charlotte's Web. I know, very self-flattering.
Besides the food, it was fabulous watching Preston have such a great time on the rides and with the snake. He had no fear at all touching the snake or handling it. Cindy and Karen thought at one point he was trying to kiss the snake. I know better; he was trying to bite its head off.
The rest of today, I'm going to enjoy some apple cider and pumpkin roll.

First Grade!!!

A friend of mine posted this video on his facebook. It's from the House church in Chicago. Check out this boy dancing!!! I'm still waiting on my gift of break dancing.

Owensboro, Kentucky - We are Here!

New blog

I'd like to highlight a new blog that was just brought to my attention - insidetheparsonage.blogspot.com. Amy Cooper is the author of this newly created blog. She is married to Paul Cooper who is coming to visit the city for his 30th birthday next week! Paul and Amy are two of my favorite people on this earth. Paul is an awesome preacher at Marshall Baptist Church in Marshall, Il. Listen to him here

Dog Sitting

Last week Karen & I enjoyed dog sitting our friends, Lauren & Jonathan's french bull dog - Mr. Thomas Jefferson. Bosworth & Jefferson enjoyed many walks, laying in the sun, chasing tennis balls, and their favorite - tug of war. Enjoy a couple of highlights from the week.

Happy Birthday to John Mark- Almost

John Mark re-read through the Chronicles of Narnia last year, and I remember his child-like excitement as he finished each book and was so eager to begin the next book in the series. I loved to listen to him talk about the books and the image of God C.S. Lewis so thoroughly depicted through Aslan.

I was so very excited to learn about one of my super fly coworkers, Sally Hale, who is not only a great and talented therapist, but come to find out is an awesome and famous artist! She created this picture of Aslan, and gave me a great deal on one of her prints! I gave it to JM for his 30th birthday (early-because I'm not GOOD AT ALL with keeping presents) I'm so excited for this print to be in our home, and I'm more excited to be able to share with people who may not know Jesus why in the world we have a huge painting of a Lion in our living room! And, of course I'm so very excited for my husband's 30th birthday! I love that I have my husband--in all of his wonderful and precious qualities! ~~~ such a wonderful gift from a Gracious and powerful God!

Here is an excerpt from Sally's Homepage Check out her website;she's quite fantastic: This painting is a further exploration of the character Aslan from C.S. Lewis' series "The Chronicles of Narnia", a lion who is an allegorical figure of God. According to Lewis, Aslan is "not safe, but good". This touches on the universal question "how can a completely good and all-powerful God exist with all of the evil and suffering that is in the world?" To express Aslan's un-tame nature, I painted the mane as wildly as I could; throwing paint on the canvas, scraping away parts of it with huge palette knives, etc. The morning after I finished, I took it with me to church and after awhile an acquaintance came up to me and pointed out a lamb in the mane. Once I saw it, it was unmistakable. I was perplexed, and wondered at its meaning. I looked and found in Revelation chapter five that Christ is announced as "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah", but in the next moment appears as a "Lamb that looks as though it had been slain." I believe that the lamb appeared to bring me, and others who would see the painting, comfort and faith. For though the presence of evil still confounds me and many others, the lamb reminds us that despite our lack of understanding, God IS loving. The fact that He was willing to sacrifice his own life to make ours infinitely better proves it.

Dr. Karen Hutcheson

This past weekend I had the privilege to witness years of work, frustration, and difficulty come to fruition when my wife attended her graduation at Spalding University. As a young woman who has attended school year round since she was 14 in order to graduate high school and college early, she has completed her academic studies finishing with a Doctorate of Psychology.
It was a wonderful time for all of our family to get together and celebrate Karen. Karen's parents, brother Kevin, his 18 month old daughter, Karlie came in from Texas along with my parents and host of family drove from all over Kentucky to recognize Karen's accomplishment. On Friday night we celebrated dinner at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. We entertained the idea of eating at Maido, but didn't think even with this great celebration we could rally the troops for an evening of sushi. Afterwards we indulged ourselves at the new Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen on Bardstown Road. On Saturday, Karen dressed in her regalia walked through the ceremony to receive her completed degree of Doctorate of Psychology. Her dissertation was "Integrating Developmental Theories to Enhance Child and Youth Ministry: A Developmentally Based Approach for Training Individuals to Teach Children and Adolescents Concepts for Christianity."
I am grateful to be on the end of Karen's path through her tumultuous road in the academic world of psychology. It has been a wonderful experience for me as a husband, man, and pastor to see the formation of this woman, my wife, and psychologist through such a roller coaster experience. As a writer, I would do injustice to the battles my wife waged as she stood for the Truth of Jesus Christ in such a dark place. Let me settle to say my wife's faith has only grown as she stood for God in her diligence to share what God has commanded His children to carry out in the Great Commission.
I would like to encourage those in the church to rely on resources such as my wife to be an aid for parents, teacher development, and horrible situations that lay outside the areas of expertise of pastors such as child molestation, rape, difficult cases of behavior that we could label in numerous ways depending on one's perspective of such issues.
Karen has accomplished a tremendous amount of goals and accolades throughout her academic career. I am extremely privileged to be a part of her life to witness the tail end of what see has done. While she is an outstanding thinker, public speaker, psychologist, she is an athlete; she has run marathons and finished a half-Ironman (70.3 miles). Her talents outnumber my vocabulary. She is nonetheless extraordinarily talented and beautiful. I can only speak in a small and finite way to describe how beautiful Karen is. I still find myself repeating that she is great and wonderful which don't speak much in description, but my opinion is that she epitomizes these words. I often tell her she is the most beautiful woman in all of time. Sorry gents, she is the one.
God has blessed me with an amazing woman. May God bless me to love her as Christ loves the church. God bless her as she loves such a sinner.

Cubs Game

Karen & I went to a Cubs game a couple of weeks ago. Neither one of us are big baseball fans, but we enjoyed chatting away the game with the friends we went with. Enjoy a few pictures from the game.

"Throwin Shapes"

Bicycles & Me

It all started with a tandem bike. Don’t misunderstand me, it was the first bicycle I ever rode, but my feet weren't touching the peddles. I was on the handlebars of our family’s yellow, tandem bike. Cindy & I would take turns riding with Dad. He would place us on the handlebars & peddle us around the driveway. We might as well been riding to the moon.
Eventually I learned to ride a bicycle, somewhere around six years old. After watching ET, I was determined to learn myself. I’m pretty sure I just picked us my bicycle with a Dennis the Menace fly wheel and rode off into the sunset.
When we lived in our old house, I didn’t ride my bike too much because there was little road space to ride. During our transition to building my parent’s current home, we lived in apartment on West Main Street above a dentist office. I know I was riding a BMX style bike but not sure what kind it was. It was my second bike and I loved riding it around town. As much as I tried, I never did a wheelie or jump over curbs. The bicycle must have weighed 200 lbs because I could never lift it over an inch off the ground. Any elevation and every curb was one more possibility. There were plenty of turn-arounds for me to try one more time over what I thought was the perfect jump site. After my huge heave and muscle strain, my wheels stayed on the ground. I still haven’t figured out the catch.
I didn’t have very many wrecks either, at least that I remember. I don’t recall any war story wrecks, but the lack of scars is proof that I didn’t have traumatic wrecks. My wrecks and scars have come much later in life; I’d say all of them have been post 21.
My mother didn’t rely on the safety of a small town to provide a watching eye over me while I rode. She diligently laid out boundaries about 3 blocks west & 5 blocks east. Despite my requests to ride all over town, her motherly care constrained me to these markers. I am thankful that helmets weren’t pushed as much as they are now, or I’m sure I would have had a helmet back then.
Sometime soon after we moved to our new house and I moved into the sixth grade, Grandmother entered a raffle at the grocery store. The prize was a brand new 10 speed bicycle. Her name was drawn, but I was the winner. I can’t tell you much about this lightning bolt except it was maroon, made of steel, and all mine.
In those days, I spent my days riding my bike or shooting a basketball. Some might remember me as a rough, Bill Lambeer-esque player, but in my middle school days I was lucky for the ball not to punch me in the face when I dribbled. Every ride was a ride of freedom into the unknown. True I had a road bike and I wasn’t quite in the wilderness, but at the time I felt like a pioneer exploring new terrain riding through fields barely a mile from my house. I have no idea how the bike held up over all those years.
Riding in Cincinnati was an entirely different monster. It didn’t matter where I was riding, there were enormous hills in every direction. One Christmas Mom gave me an insignificant present at the time – my helmet. It was a joke. I knew I wasn’t going to wear a helmet, but I still didn’t grasp the term “motherly,” and I’m sure Mom would say I never will understand how much she loves me. I know that is a good and marvelous gift. I will always be her son regardless of how old I am. As one attempting to be a young man in my early twenties, I still didn’t come close to grasping that truth.
Cincinnati is a mean city to ride a bike through, but it was there I found my first taste of speed. Riding past cars and faster than traffic on downhill slopes only fueled my love for cycling.
My mountain bike moved with me to Louisville and carried me through the streets of St. Matthews and the Highlands until it was taken from me – stolen in the middle of the night. Although my car was stolen nearly a year earlier from the same location on Broadway.
In 2004, I purchased a road bike, a KHS Flight 300. Years earlier I had seen Ironman competitions but simply wrote them off as an impossible dream. With a little encouragement from a friend, I was now set on becoming an Ironman.
Louisville is a great city to ride a bike - riding downtown, through Cherokee and Senaca park, or through Jefferson County at large. Before turning 16, the only thing a teenager can think about is getting a license so he can drive. After being trapped in a cage for all these years as a necessity to get from point A to point B, the freedom to ride 40, 50, or 100 miles by your own power is truly invigorating. The hills and curves of Kentucky provide beautiful scenery for long rides. I love riding River road’s flat terrain out to Oldham County. Past River Road the ride becomes more wooded and much steeper. Riding through the country past horse farms, magnificent houses, and patches of forest makes a great ride.
I was able to put a lot of mileage on my KHS for races, and I even bought another bike for racing, a Fuji – Team Super Light. Karen inherited the KHS, and we enjoy riding together (more about family riding later). I still had one more bicycle dream come true in Louisville and that was becoming a bicycle messenger. I know, lofty dream. I remember watching Quicksilver and being enamored with cycling in the city. To make a long story short, for three and a half days I was a bike messenger. I thought I had lived my dream never to return. However, my dream would be relived here in Chicago. I’m cycling away five days a week and still counting.
The bottom line is that I love to ride a bike. Getting on a bike for pleasure, fitness, or travel is fun. During the day I am working as a courier, but here's the catch - I'M RIDING MY BIKE. There is something freeing about propelling yourself around on two wheels. Feel the wind and sun on your face. Take a relaxing ride with you wife or husband. Speed through traffic. Race down the road and hit 50 mph. Park your car.
I encourage everyone who reads this to treat yourself to a ride. Shoot, treat yourself to several rides.

Messengers in New York

Cycling through Chicago

Three weeks ago I set out to find employment as a bicycle messenger. Some of you may remember my short career at the Bike Depot in Louisville, KY as a messenger. However, I spoke with Karen about this possibility in Chicago and she responded, "At this point, you can pedal until your heart's content." Those words were immediately emblazoned in my mind (Although Karen does question the authenticity of her statement).
As of April 28, I began my employment as a bicycle messenger with Standard Courier. My first day was a harrowing experience. Chicago welcomed me with brutal wind, rain, and cold temperatures. At the end of the day, I was soaked, freezing, shivering, and sore. But it was grand.
Since then, my hands and seat have adjusted to the posture of a cyclist. In the beginning, every morning was agonizing when I mounted up for the first pedal stroke. At first I was riding an old Panasonic, but have since changed to riding my KHS. Changing bikes was a total transformation for riding; it's smoother, faster, and much more comfortable. But at the end of my third week, I am thankful for the rest and relaxation of the weekends. The physical demands of the job have been relatively easy to adjust to. Don't misunderstand me though. When I get home, I'm worthless.
Riding through the city is an adventure! Surviving the obstacles of traffic, potholes, cabs, BUSES, and masses of people create many intense challenges. Chicago is very friendly toward bikers. Buses and people seem to create the biggest challenges for me. Squirming through the throngs of people at crosswalks can be difficult but dodging merging buses is scary yet at the same time thrilling. At this point, I'm not going into great detail about such experiences for my loved one's piece of mind.
I have made deliveries to some interesting places, mostly to law firms, marketing agencies, banks, and notably to Oprah's company, Harpo. I wasn't hypnotized, but I did notice several Oprah shrines and people begging for alms in the name of Oprah.













Here are a couple of other pictures from my day.




Chicago is a beautiful city. While this job is short term, I'm thankful for this opportunity to ride my bike all day, everyday. I look forward to serving as a pastor, but for now I will keep on peddling.

Praying for the Lost

Listen to Augustine's words about his mother's prayers and his journey to salvation (Book III):

My mother, your faithful servant, was weeping for me to you, weeping more than mothers weep for the bodily deaths of their sons. For she, by that faith and spirit which she had from you, saw the death in which I lay, and you, Lord, heard her prayer. . . . For nearly nine years after this I wallowed in the mud of the pit and in the darkness of falsehood, often trying to rise and then being plunged back again all the more violently. Yet all thsi time that chaste widow, holy and sober (such as you love), though she had now more hope to cheer her, never slackened in her weeping and her lamentations, never ceased in all hours of her prayer to weep to you about me, and her prayers entered into your presence, and yet you still allowed me to roll over and over in that darkness.

We have many friends and family members that do not know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let us be diligent in praying for them to know Christ as well as taking every opportunity to share the Gospel with them.

Running the Race

In December I suggested to my parents that they run the Derby half-marathon in Louisville, Kentucky. To my surprise, the suggestion was met with a slight optimism rather than an immediate dismissal. Little more was said after this initial conversation. Then my father, who is the editor of the Times Leader newspaper, committed to the race IN PRINT. Just so you understand, he not only committed himself but also committed his wife to the race. When I brought up the race as a possibility, he didn't say yes or no, simply nodded his head in contemplation. The next thing my mother reads in his editorial is that THEY are going to run 13.1 miles. I can't tell you how interesting it was to hear the conversation between mom and dad after the paper was out. Dad just laughed and laughed.

Needless to say, what seemed like a whimsical decision was the beginning of tenacious training. Up to this point in their middle ages, mom has always been a speed walker, and dad was a golfer. However, they began training and never looked back despite cold weather, physical pain, and old age. Mom and Dad were determined to finish the race. Mom even said the only way she was stopping for dad is if he dropped dead with a heart attack.

Race day came and everyone was confident, plus nervous, cold, as well as extreme confusion as to why in the world they were about to run 13.1 miles. Originally, I had planned to run the full marathon, but decided instead to run the half so I could see mom and dad finish their first half-marathon. I can't tell you how excited and joyful I was to see them turning the final corner at 7th and Market. Mom came to the finished in 2:38. I ran with mom during the last 100 yards or so of her race. I yelled encouragements to her that she had finished! She said, "I'm going to throw up when I cross the finish line." Although mom may have felt like throwing up, she crossed the finish line with no problems. Dad finished in 2:50. I was waiting for him in the same place and encouraged him in the same way telling him he had finished about 100 yards before the finish line. He was quick to say "I haven't finished yet." There was still enough stamina to carry him across the finish line.

The best thing about mom and dad running the half-marathon was listening to them tell others why they were running the race. Throughout their training and after the race, they continually said they did it because they love me and their daughter-in-law. Its true that Karen and I asked them to run with us. Throughout my life my parents told me how much they loved me and now into my adult life, they continue to tell Karen & I they love us and will do anything for us. I never imagined that would entail running 13.1 miles, but I'm sure they never did either.

India video

This is one of my favorite videos from my India trip. These children are part of the Mercy Home at RIMI's Bible school in Warangal.

Check This Out

I want to welcome my sister, Cindy, back to the blogosphere. She is not the only one to enter into the blogosphere recently. When Cindy decided to put some new posts on her blog, she also suggested to the cousins that we get together for a cousin blog. We have a great family, and I am thankful for each one of them.

In the US

Traveling through India was a fantastic opportunity. I landed in the southern state of Kerla and traveled to Salem, Warangal, Raipur, and ended in Nagpur. Everyone I encountered was kind to me. The food was extraordinary, and yes, there were cows roaming freely.
I went with Saji Lukos and Earnest Mall. The reason we went was to encourage leaders and pastors working to advance God's Kingdom. We visited some Bible schools and churches to meet with pastors and missionaries. They expressed their needs as well as informed us what was happening through their work. Overall, I was amazed at how religious Indians are. The majority of people are either Muslim or Hindu, and many people are very willing to engage conversation about God.
In Hinduism, the lowest and most despised part of the body are the feet. The lowest class of people in the caste system represent feet in their spiritual view. Braham priests represent the head; business men represent the belly; the lowest class represent the feet. A former brahman told me he would roll down the steps of a Hindu temple and crawl on his knees to the alter in order not to disgrace these gods. Then with joy, he told me, "but the Bible says, 'how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.'"

God is enough

RIMI

The church Karen and I joined has brought several answered prayers. The most life impacting change that has come from Uptown is an opportunity for me to join a missions organization, Reaching Indian Ministries International.

RIMI is a church planting, missions organization. Spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the number one priority of RIMI. However, my involvement with RIMI does not include a permanent move to India. The strategy of RIMI is to train Indians in leadership development and church planting strategies. There are 24 Bible Training Schools in various states, but the main training ground is in Nagpur, a 32 acre seminary, Mission India Theological Seminary. Through these facilities there are currenly over 1,200 missionaries and 4,000 house churches. RIMI also provides aide to the impoverished children throughout India with Mercy Homes.

Saji Lukos founded this missions organization 15 years ago because of the burden he felt for his homeland. God has given him a great vision and blessed him in many ways as he has followed the call to fulfill such a great task of taking the Gospel where there is no witness and strengthening those in need of suport. I am thankful to serve with this man and take part in what God is doing through him and this organization.

As a minister associate with RIMI, I have the opportunity to speak at churches and missions conferences to share what is going on through RIMI and describe how people can get involved. I even have the opportunity to go to India in two weeks. I will cover a lot of land during my two week trip beginning in Kerala on the southwest side of India and working my way to Nagpur in Central India.

Living in Chicago has not been as easy as I would have liked, but God continues to bless. I thank God for the way that He continues to provide grace in my life. Joining a missions organization and traveling to India was definitely not in my game plan or Karen's game plan. At the same time, we praise God for the way that He provides for us. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. I look forward to talking to many of you and sharing what God is doing in our lives.

When can I run?

Before winter set in, our dog Bosworth was in the best shape of his life. Once this bitter winter iced over Chicago, Bosworth has been one sad pup.

Avant What?

On Monday afternoon I took advantage of a sunny day in the punishing Chicago winter and made my way to the Art Institute of Chicago to take advantage of their Free February days. I enjoyed my brush with art walking through various exhibits such as American, Modern, Contemporary, European of various years, and Impressionism.
As I looked at various pieces reflecting on the work, the historical period of the time of composition, and the overall meaning, I was sure of myself as cultured.
Then I came to Sunday on la Grande Jatte. When I looked at the painting, I didn't think about the strokes, the lighting, themes, or any type meaning. Rather what came to my mind was, "hey, I've seen this before, almost like I've been in this exact spot before. It was in that movie . . . oh yeah, Ferris Beullar's Day Off."
I laughed out loud, then left.

Football Season's End

Last night's game concluded my favorite sport's season - football. At the same time, Karen feels no remorse for this season's magnanimous ending. Her excitement for the last game has been hilarious. I've enjoyed Karen's jokes for the past two weeks about the Super Bowl. She aimed her jokes in conversation to Bosworth telling our dog, "we're going to watch the 'Stupid Bowl.'" I laughed everytime she started her routine.

Even so, Karen watched the it with me and cheered throughout the game. However, we were cheering for opposite teams. I cheered for history to happen - the Patriots,19-0, the Perfect Season. She riled against New England and their controversies from Spygate to restraining orders. Moreso, she cheered for the young Manning to emerge as a great quarterback and lead his team to victory.

Football season is officially over, and sports goes into a slight hibernation for me. Karen, on the other hand couldn't care less about the season's end. But there's more excitement for next season. Prior to this season, I loved to simply watch the game. Now I love watching football with my wife. I must say that's been a typical discovery; I love to spend time with Karen (even if that means no football!). I'm thankful God has blessed me with such an amazing woman.

Uptown Baptist Church

Karen & I are thrilled about our new church. After moving to Chicago from such an awesome church in Louisville where we enjoyed a phenomenal Sunday School group, it has been tough looking for a church. We visited several churches in the city and found Uptown Baptist Church. Both of us are excited about our new church family. It is a vibrant church with diversity that we have longed to be a part of. Pastor Michael Allen says it's practicing for heaven ("every tongue, tribe, & nation") Check out the website uptownbaptistchurch.org
And just recently, the pastor's sermons have been added onto the website. Listen and grow in God's blessings.

The Votes are in

I noticed there were several odd things happening in my life that seemed too far fetched to be true. One item I did not include was my parents RUNNING three miles in 35 minutes. We're not just talking about a New Year's resolution either; they are committed to the Derby half-marathon in Louisville, KY. I am exuberant about my parents running this race. Karen and I are going to run the marathon so it is truly a family event. Thankfully, we inherited a treadmill from our previous living situation (thank you Hershael & Tanya!!!). If we didn't have it, there is no way we would be training for a marathon in Chicago. Although I love winter, it is unbelievably cold.

As for my parents, last week they were in Nicaragua. They travel every year to the National Newspaper Association meeting that is held in various cities, but this year was slated to be in Nicaragua due to the current NNA president's choice. Mom & Dad had a great time, but I don't believe they have any plans for a future vacation in Nicaragua. Jen, thank you for your vote, but it was true.

Hands down I thought it would be a landslide vote for Karen and football. Those of you that know Karen know her feelings on football, and they are not kind ("Football is the root of all sin and evil." Said slightly in jest.) This year was very different on Saturdays and Sundays during football season. Not only did Karen often encourage me to turn on a football game, she would sit down with me and watch the games. These kind acts over the course of weeks shows how wonderful my wife is. Not only did she encourage me to watch the games but she sat down with me engrossed in the many SEC overtime games as well as watching flamboyant, prima donna NFL players. I am thankful for her giving to me in so many little, loving ways. Thus, John Mark T., you guessed well, but wrong.

That means I did not meet Steve Martin. Great job Shelly! I have enjoyed Steve Martin since I was little. The past few years I have enjoyed reading his books. Born Standing Up, his latest release was superb, but my favorite is The Pleasures of My Company. I laughed out loud throughout this book. While Martin's humor has always had a philosophical bent to it, even today his writes from an existensial framework. His humor isn't for everyone, such as my sister and brother-in-law. Neither one of them cracked a smile after reading "Renegade Cows" from Cruel Shoes. I would love to spend time with Steve Martin, which is true but the reality hasn't happened yet.
Thanks for playing.

Please Comment

1. I met Steve Martin
2. Karen, my wife, cheers during football games.
3. Chip and Karen Hutcheson, my parents, are in Nicaragua.

Of the three statements, which one do you believe is false?

Mmm Butter

And it's going green.