When we come back from the break: fruit bats. Harmless pets or deadly, disease reservoirs.

Today, I noticed the former bottom, now top part of the steering wheel cover is deteriating. I have had my car long enough to work through 3 different layers of protective steering wheel cover. So what will I do?

Go buy another steering wheel cover. They cost like $10 bucks at Target. A new car is thousands of dollars. I forgot to mention the car is and always has been paid for.

2.) my family/home life has stepped up. With Shannon working and the kids at daycare/preschool, my mornings are busy getting kids dressed and ready and sometimes driving them to school. Once Shannon and the kids get home, we do dinner, baths and bed and then our my bedtime. Free time gets gobbled up quickly. This has been especially true in our first few months of this new lifestyle.

But probably the biggest reason I have not written is 3.) I have not had much I wanted to write about. Lots of cool things have happened, and I am loving our new life in Nashville. But I did not feel like writing about the “ordinary” aspects of life. Nothing wrong with ordinary, but it felt a bit trite and commonplace describing the inns and outs of my life. I needed something else to motivate me.

I think I have found my tonic for post-lessness. On Sunday nights at our church, I am facilitating a small group study on the prayer of Jesus. It is based on the book The Prayer of Jesus by Dr. Ken Hemphill. Prayer has been a major driver of my spiritual growth these last 12 years or so since my rededication so I am excited to be in this study. We have 14 of us in the class. We met last Sunday and will meet another 5 Sunday nights.

I will be writing some about prayer, the book and the group study here on my blog. Maybe be short posts or long, but thoughts on prayer. I expect it will help me in the discussion aspect of the study to think through some thoughts here. I am sure I will then mix in more the ordinary topics of life which I have eschewed, but now that I have something else to motivate me. Not that I can post every day, but more often than every 6 weeks which is the current pace.

Now I have said. Now I have to do it. Pray for me.

Wild year. One that is hard to encapsulate in a post. Shannon and I were talking on the drive to my parents for Christmas of what we did together in each of our 8 past Christmases. I could not remember last year, but Shannon remembered that our friends the Joneses watched Jacob, my parents watched Ava and Shannon and I took a “stay-cation” taking day trips to different parts of Tennessee. “That was last year. Just 12 months ago?” I replied. It seemed so, so long ago.

So much has happened in 12 months that it is hard to believe it all occured in the same year. Not just living in 3 different places, but our mindsets. In Springfield, knowing only that we didn’t know what our future direction should be. Going to Orange Beach in hopes of finding that answer, but unsure of when and how that answer would present itself. In Franklin, with a clear vision for our future but new challenges in our new lifestyle.

So many people tell you that time flies and that your life, especially with your children, passes too fast. Maybe I will hold that view at some point in my future, but I am 34 now, with a 7 1/2 year marriage, a 5 year old and a nearly 2 year old. My verdict: time is just creeping on and it is great that way. Jacob at 5 years of age, ready to start kindergarten in less than a year; yea, that sounds right. Hasn’t flow by to me. Nearly 8 years with Shannon; I seems longer because I can’t imagine life without my wonderful soulmate.

One thing I am probably going to regret later is using this quote from an 80s movie. At the end of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Ferris says: “Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Everyone seems to agree with the sentiment of how fast life moves, but many don’t apply the solution Ferris suggests. You have to make a concentrated effort to look around to keep your perspective. By looking around, I mean really thinking about what is happening in your life. Going back and trying to recount how you got there, like Shannon and I did trying to remember our past Christmases. But not just now and then, but fairly regularly. Sometimes looking at the big picture but other times looking at the immediate past. It is something I try to do, and I testify that it generally works.

I confess that some periods of your life are a bit more “ordinary” than others which makes it harder to recall, but that also means there are periods of your life which are quite extraordinary. 2009 has been that year. The greatest gifts I received this year, in order:

1. Jacob’s salvation.

2. Seeing the healing of grief in Shannon’s life

3. Receiving direction from God on moving to First Baptist Nashville and our new family direction.

4. Having a wild and unpredictable year which made my 12 months of living seem like 2-3 years of life.

My worst fear apart from the death or harm for my family is having a life without abundance. Without fullness or depth or excitement or challenges or opportunities or goals.  A mundane existence where the days blended together and your life feels like it is flying by you without you making an impact on it or it making an impact on you. 2009 was anything but my worst fear.

Predictions for 2010? Yea, right. Could I have predicted 2009? I won’t even try and make a fool of myself by doing that. But that is the fun of it. I don’t know what is in store and I can’t wait to find out.

I have several cute pictures on the camera I want to upload when I get a little more time. Things should slow down when this month is through. All good.

In Orange Beach, there is a Target much more accessible, and now that I have visited it few times I know it is waaay better than Wal-mart. Unlike Wal-mart, Target looks like it has actually put some thought into its selection and choices, especially in the houseware and home sections which are prime areas for families. Their choices complement each other, and they are fairly stylish. We still shop Wal-mart, but it really has more an organized flea-market feel. Cheap, but also, well, cheap.

But just so you know that I have not become some super sissy bragging about the container section in Target, I also got Super Mario Kart for my Wii and a Slip-n-Slide for Jacob in my recent Target visit. I am still a big kid at heart. I just now like my pillows and window treatments to match.