Snowball fight!

From our only true snowstorm this season. Now all we have is rain. :(

A good story to warm up your spirits for Christmas.

There is a new story on ESPN that is a good read for this Christmas season.

Thanksgiving comes before Christmas

Here are some pictures from the Thanksgiving break. Thought I should throw them up here before Christmas comes around.

Only as good as the previous kick

When it comes to college football, it is no secret that I am a huge Nebraska Cornhuskers fan. The game last Friday was probably the first time I got excited about a Nebraska kicker. The 57 yard field goal for the go ahead points in the Colorado game was probably the most excited I have ever got for any kick in a game. There are some good videos up on YouTube on the kick (see here) (and the radio call, here), but today I came across a video from a fan in the stands - it is great.

Go Big Red! I am really excited about Husker Nation again, Bo Pelini certainly has brought back a good feeling to this program.

Lost Tooth & Sears Roebuck

Here are some new photos.

Me and my new pearl snap button shirt I found at a second-hand store. Then the other two pics are Elijah and his first lost tooth. As you can see in the bottom picture, he has another one he is about to lose. I have never seen a kid have loose teeth for so long. The last one definitely held on as long as it could, he never really worked good on them to get them out; he would just barely touch them.

Yuck

Just in case you were curious - nasty colds and law school just don't mix that well, especially with four weeks until finals.

Another one of those post things...

Hey, how about an update.

It's a rainy day & I don't want to do my work, so I'll post. I just found out that my wife's cousin and uncle were part of a triathlon team that won a race. Check it out, if for no other reason, check out Trout's haircut. I also found out they have a website for their band, Blue Coyote. Boy the things you can find out when you don't want to study. Speaking of studying (warning - lots of whining ahead) lately it has been: read until I want to poke my eyes out, go back and begrudgingly take notes, and then if I am not so mentally exhausted, try to add to my law journal article, which the other night took me three hours to write two sentences, what with all the citations and research just to get that little on the page.

But it's not all school, I manage to procrastinate and fit in other things. Like work - I work two mornings a week as a law clerk at a law office in Camp Hill. I actually get to do some really interesting work there, just recently I have worked on a free speech case, a first amendment retaliation case, and unfortunately a case where a family pulled the nutrition and hydration from their own mother at the hospital.

Sometimes, while reading, I'll mess around on the cpu so that I don't poke my eyes out. The latest distractions are a game called Scramble on Facebook and a Facebook game called Attack! that is really just Risk. My brothers and I challenge each other at Scramble, which is similar to Boggle, and I usually come out the winner, not always though: my brother David continually adds one of his friends that he thinks can beat me. On Attack!, you can join live games and they usually go very quickly, I have only had to continue one game during class once. (so far)

So yep, that is what is up out here. The kids and Nicole are doing very well. Both the kids received awards in their classes for being respectful and helpful to others, and Nicole, well, she is pretty respectful and helpful herself!

Take care everyone. Maybe I should add postings to my blog as one of my many distractions to get through Tax this week. [By the way, you know you are being consumed by your classwork when you are sitting in youth group helping the kids answer questions about the Prodigal Son, and you are sitting there thinking to yourself what the father's tax consequences are for breaking up his inheritance like he did so.]

[the picture above is from one of my bright spots from school this semester, our one class had a day long leadership seminar in Gettysburg]

'Bout time for a post

Hello,

This semester has been pretty hectic. Last week I had two papers to write, I also had two assignments due for law review. Let's just say the kids were a bit neglected a couple of weekends ago. This weekend was laid back compared to the one before. I still had a bit of reading to do, but I was able to take my time. I even did some of it while watching Jackie's first softball games on Sunday. She is doing better. She was actually the first one on Sunday to make contact at bat. The other team had a ridiculously good pitcher [fast-pitch]. By the time Jackie came up, she was the first one to face a new pitcher and made contact after two strikes. I think she was surprised (as well as all the coaches and players), she stood there for a bit not knowing what to do. I was just proud she swung the bat and made contact - we had tried to work with her the day before, and I got a bit frustrated. I should just be proud of how good she is doing for her first year and her age.

Cubs are in the playoffs! That should be wild - and hell on my study schedule, but it will be worth it if they go all the way.

Here are some pics from this summer and my internship. Boy do I miss it! One picture is from a late night (or I should say early morning!) euchre game, the other is from a quick Grand Canyon trip w/ the guys.

At least I did something productive this weekend

Elijah can ride his bike w/out training wheels now!

DC through the eyes of a child

We made to DC again a couple of weeks ago before school started. Here are some pictures the kids took.

Grand Canyon

Two weeks ago I made it up to the Grand Canyon, we got there before sunrise. Here are some pics from my camera phone.

I'm A Big Baby

Somehow I have made it through four days now without my family around. I was even able to do a couple of loads of laundry! Crazy! You never know how great you have it until your wife and kids head across the nation for a few weeks.
I had fun in DC on Friday night at the Nationals game. Ronnie Belliard hit 2 home runs and a double, which was a total surprise to me. Last time I saw him play - on assignment in Double A, probably recovering from injury - he totally dogged it, coming in late for the Harrisburg Senators, barely swinging the bat at the pitches he struck out to, and making a few errors in the field. He started at third for the Nationals, then moved over later to first, a position I totally had him pegged for weeks ago - a position more suitable to the effort I had seen before.
To help fill up the time, there are 6 softball games this week for our church, although, I will probably only make four of them. Tonight we had a double header. I finally got a couple of hits, and I made some plays at second on D. I had been so out of rhythm since getting back from Phoenix. Before taking two weeks off from softball, I was finally hitting everything, getting on all the time, but since then, I don't think I hit it out of the infield until tonight. Hopefully I still have some hits in me for the game tomorrow and on Thursday.
Finally, I'll leave you with one last story. Tonight, I had a chance to sit down and watch some of the home run hitting contest on ESPN, and saw Josh Hamilton hit 28 home runs in the first round - a new record. He was totally locked in and crushing the ball. It was fun to watch, and such a great story, especially with his high school and American Legion coach there pitching for him.

Cool tool

Click on the above image (or text) to see a word cloud
for my blog. It uses the words on the blog and the
ones that are bigger are the ones used more often.
See wordle.net

So Lonely, So Lonely, So Lonely

The kids and Nicole flew out west yesterday. Nicole will be gone for 2 1/2 weeks and the kids will be gone for a month. Sucks. At least I will be busy, but that still doesn't make up for a silent home.

After I got home from Baltimore yesterday, I had a softball game, but when I got home it was kind of depressing, I just sat at my computer, read some news and ate some ice cream. Not much else going on. Tomorrow I head to DC for a Nationals game and I think on Sat I may try to hit the Holocaust Museum in DC. After that it will be a silent night on Sat back home and a silent Sunday. At least I have work next week and 4 softball games. Next weekend I'll be in Philly for a conference and then the week after that I'll be in Lancaster for a week long conference that Pennsylvania Family Institute puts on for high school students.

Blessed

I suppose I should try to post more than once a month here.


For those of you that know, I am finally working this summer. I have an internship with the Alliance Defense Fund. As a 'Blackstone' Intern, I got to go to Phoenix for 2 weeks and stay at the Ritz-Carlton as the ADF taught us more useful ideas in two weeks than law school taught me in a year. I should clarify this - I did learn much in law school this year, but most of it from a liberal slant, surrounded by mostly liberal students. At Phase I of the internship I got the conservative slant. We had many of the best conservative professors and minds of today, as well as some leading researchers on the constitution (yes, it actually means something :), and not whatever the current Supreme Court justices are in the mood to make it mean). We even had Father Pavone, one the most outspoken pro-lifer out there, come and speak to us and give us great encouragement, as well as great insight. We also had Hugh Hewitt come and talk to us as well as the top attorneys from ADF that are trying many of the important cases on religious freedom these days.

Now in Phase II, I have been placed with Pennsylvania Family Institute and the Independence Law Center as an Intern. So far, after one week, I have helped out at a fund-raiser for a current lawsuit and have done much research on religious freedom cases.

Overall, I am blessed. Blessed to have been chosen by ADF to participate in the Blackstone program. Blessed to share this experience with 107 other like-minded individuals that are a joy to be around. Blessed to have such a great mentor to work with in Phase II. Blessed. (I could go on, but I think you probably get the picture.)

Soli Deo Gloria.

Antietam

Elijah and I drove down to Sharpsburg, MD today to check out the Antietam Battlefield. It was not as much of a tourist trap like Gettysburg is, but was definitely worth the trip. Whereas Gettysburg was fought over 3 days, this battle lasted only 1 day, with more casualties in a day then America has ever seen.

Ballet of Jackie

Here is Jackie putting together everything she learned for her performance. Rumor has it she helped out with the choreography. The teacher asked for ideas, and Jackie was the only one that suggested anything.

Another Catchin Up Post

Here is a video from awhile ago - from Easter. Elijah shares the story of Easter and then gives quite an unexpected spin at the end - you'll have to see it for yourself, I don't know whether to call it blasphemy or proper celebration. You decide.

Elijah and Nicole Hangin Out in the Hammack

The wonderful photography in the last three pictures are courtesy of E. Mau.