Thanksgiving this year was celebrated at Mike and Jonalyn's house.  I'm not sure if the highlight was the bacon-draped smoked ham or the recently completed man cave.  Either way I'm thankful for them both.  Turkey is overrated. Perhaps if you draped bacon over it...  Anyway, after gorging on the ham we made our way to the man cave.  I thought it was awesome watching movies on the HD projector.  That experience pales in comparison to playing Wii on the HD projector.  We played one of those dance games intended to make you abuse your body while humiliating yourself in front of your family and friends.  Up until this point I didn't realize just how bad a shape I was in.  Actually, I am in shape - a pear shape.  Even so I have some pretty good dance moves (you can't tell from the pictures).  Despite nearly losing my lunch (perhaps this shouldn't have been a post lunch activity) and being out of breath for the better part of half and hour we had the best Thanksgiving in at least a year.

Martha busting some moves


Me getting down with my bad self.

We were having a family discussion the other night about riding bikes without training wheels.  As a motivation we promised them a new bicycle when they reached the goal.  Emily was the first to learn.  Remarkable she did it mostly on her own.  Courtney picked up the skill shortly after Emily.  The thought of a new bike really got them fired up.  Benjamin, however, is a different story.  I asked him what would get him excited about riding his bike and that we want to put a "carrot" out there to get him motivated.  He said, "I don't like carrots.  Put a Wii game out there."  I'll give him points for honesty!

You think you know your kids and then they throw you a curve ball.  The other day we were watching "Nim's Island".  It is the story of a 10 year old girl that lives with her father on an island out in the middle of the ocean.  Aside from a satellite internet connection they are pretty much cut off from the world.  They have supplies dropped shipped several times a year.  For the most part they live off the land.  In one scene she is making dinner out of various eatables indigenous to their island one of which was mealworms.  Of course I had to ask the kids if they would eat worms:

Emily: (head shaking "No" vigorously)

Courtney: (Huge smile and giggle) No!

Benjamin: (Long pause...deep thought) Well...only in the soup.

I should have asked a long time ago.  We could have saved a fortune on groceries! 

I'm not sure which is more astonishing - the amount of ignorance out there or the number of people that like to put theirs on display! The Dugger's are expecting another grandchild and of course anything child-related with the Duggers is always in the news. I was reading some of the comments posted about the story this morning.  I couldn't, nor did I want to, read them all since there were over 2000.  Many of the comments were dripping with hatred, sprinkled with judgement, and based on contrived "facts".  Even though most of the commentators had no idea what they were taking about they felt compelled to tell the world.   At first I was irritated at their audacity but then it turned to sorrow.  I started to think about the lives of those making these statements.  How many of them have never experienced the love of God?  How many are devoid of a personal relation with Jesus Christ?  It was a reminder that we live in a dying world in desparate need of a Saviour.

After nearly six years of self-employment I am back in the game working as an employee for someone else.  Self-employment is a great thing but one can only survive so long without a paycheck.  The economy has been hard on everyone and software developers are no exception.  I missed paychecks from time to time and covered my bases with savings.  The business hit a low this year.  I went two and a half months without a paycheck and our financial resources finally dried up.  A wise person once said that "If what you are doing isn't working you have to do something else."  Although a project did come in after I put myself back on the market, I continued my search.  The temporary income took a lot of the pressure off during the job hunt.  I was offered and accepted a position at Geneva Roth Ventures in mid-June as a software engineer.  Looking back, I'm thankful for the lessons God taught me, the business knowledge I've gained, and the skills I've been able to hone.  One of the most remarkable and comforting exercises I like to do is to look back on my life and see how God has orchestrated ever detail of my life.  Every step of the way He has connected me with the right people in the right place at the right time so that I could assimilate the skills and knowledge needed for the next step.  My current employer is very entrepreneurial.  We often discuss business strategy and development.  It is a great fit for me right now.  I can't wait to see where God's going to take me next!