I still don’t know if what I have is the flu or not, but whatever it is, it didn’t turn out to be a 24-hour-and-get-back-to-life sort of illness. We’re into Day 3 here, and though I’m better, I’m not anywhere near back to full strength.

I have had the honor of becoming much better acquainted with both my bed and my bathroom in the last few days, along with lots of opportunity for reflection. And because of that, I now have a much greater appreciation for…

* People who are sick more than once every 2-3 years. You are superheroes.
* People who are assigned “bed rest” for a few weeks. I used to think that this sounded like good work if you could get it, but after just a couple of days, I have a new opinion.
* The soothing taste of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup.
* The amount of liquid that resided in my body prior to Monday morning.
* Gatorade.
* The weight of my skull (I had no idea).
* People in the world who live without soft, two-ply toilet tissue.
* Ritz crackers.
* Crushed ice.

Tuesday was significantly better than Monday, but that isn’t saying much. Kind of like comparing Saddam to Hitler. Today is better than yesterday.

So here’s a 7-up toast to hoping tomorrow is even better than today…

I have the flu – or at least some mean stomach virus. Not pretty. You’ll be glad to know I won’t post any pictures.

Today has just too much in it to blog about… Great morning with our church family, followed by a great lunch with our friends, Tom & Laura…

But a BIG highlight of our day was seeing our friends, Win and Susie (pictured above).

I met Susie first, years ago now, while sitting on the bleachers at the University of South Alabama watching our daughters play club volleyball with a club called “the Edge” in Mobile, Alabama. We soon found out that both our daughters were “Mississippi girls,” which began a friendship between our family and theirs that was forged in countless Saturdays spannign several years sitting in gyms in places like Pensacola, Gulf Shores, Panama City, Tallahassee, and of course, Mobile.

Win and Susie are wonderful people, and they have raised an unbelievable daughter in Megan. It has been a true pleasure for all to us to be buddies with all of them.

When the volleyball ceased, we haven’t had the chance to spend much time with their family. Which was why we were so excited to receive an invitation in the mail last week to attend a “Christmas Open House” at their home today. We weren’t able to stay very long, but the time we spent there picked up our friendship right where it left off whenever we last had the chance to visit.

And when we left we promised to have each other over to our houses MUCH more often in the future. And in spite of the fact that statements like that often fall from the radar screen of life, we have every intention of keeping this promise.

I really enjoyed this morning. My wife & I had the opportunity to enjoy two different Habitat for Humanity house dedications, the first in Pascagoula, and the second in Gautier. There is still work to be done on both houses, so humming Bing Crosby’s “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” may be a bit ambitious, but they should both be close to moving in by that time.

The Carlisles in Pascagoula have waited a VERY long time for this dream to come true. Between land problems and Katrina problems, they have waited three years from their selection date to see this day, but through it all, they have been a model of patient endurance. This sweet couple and their four kids are oh so close now to moving into their very own home, and they can finally taste it.

The Lacie White family in Gautier has not waited nearly so long after their selection, but in life terms they have also waited a long time. Lacie has been a pretty amazing person in her ability to overcome life struggles while still taking care of those around her. It was a pleasure to see her tears today because they were good tears – tears of dreams coming true.

At Lacie’s new house (pictured above), my friends Gary Boswell & Rochelle Harper came out to inject the gift of music to the touching dedication service, and they were just perfect. I also enjoyed seeing my friends, Cole & Alison Raiford (Lacie’s family partners through Habitat), and the wonderful job they’ve done as volunteers. Alison cried all through the words she shared, and her heart-felt emotions added the perfect touch to the day.

If you’ve never become involved with Habitat for Humanity, you might think about doing just that. And if you need an extra boost of motivation to do so, keep your eyes open for a dedication of new house in the affiliate closest to you. That ought to do the trick.

My wife was decorating for the all-church Christmas party tomorrow night. My oldest daughter was babysitting. My youngest daughter was supposed to be spending the night with a friend. I didn’t know what I would end up doing tonight, but I had a sneaky suspicion I would end up helping decorate. Instead, my youngest daughter’s plans were cancelled due to her friend’s brother having the flu, so it suddenly became a father/daughter night (one of my personal favorites).

We started at the brand new McDonald’s less than five minutes from our house (so new we didn’t even know it was open for business yet – turns out this is day two). From there we went to downtown Ocean Springs, one of the neatest places in the world.

There weren’t a ton of Christmas lights downtown (as we had hoped), but I don’t care what time of year it is downtown Ocean Springs is a neat place to walk around anyway. And we enjoyed it tonight. Temperatures in the mid-50s (perfect jacket weather), a slight mist in the air with the fairly heavy fog, Christmas decorations in every store, and basically vacated streets – almost like everyone turned it over to a daddy and his little girl for a stroll tonight.

And it was good.

It’s been a nice day in many ways, and among the niceties was the elementary school sing-along I attended tonight.

The sing-along was intended for the 2nd grade, but we parents of many of the older kids got in on the fun when the music teacher invited the Songbirds (the elementary choir) to come and help out. (The picture is of Hillary and some of her Songbird buddies before the festivities began.)

There’s something simply fun about Christmas carol sing-alongs, and that something is made even better when you are being led by a bunch of cute kids.

It’s the hap-happiest time of the year, you know?

Now, someone bring me some figgy pudding…

Okay, boys and girls, I have an exercise for you guaranteed to sap the joy right out of your holiday season, followed by another exercise guaranteed to put the joy right back in.

“Why would I do such a silly thing” you ask? Well, it’s admittedly not the best marketing sentence ever constructed, but I’ll propose that the two exercises might very well be required coursework for those foolhardy people interested in following Jesus.

EXERCISE #1:
* Write down all the money you spend on people for Christmas this year (Joy gone already, huh? But we’re not done yet…).
* Next to each person’s name, label him or her as either fortunate or less-fortunate (fortunate being folks with food, clothing, shelter, health, parents, etc.).
* Get an elementary student to help you do the math & determine the percentage of money you spent on fortunate people versus the money you spent on the less-fortunate.

There you have it! Joy guaranteed to disappear before your very eyes!

EXERCISE #2:
* Take a gander at the picture above (My friends, Hollie and Stella, prepared this little gift basket photographed in my passenger seat. Contents: looks like fruit, candy, and a handmade note from a child.)
* Use the gift basket above as inspiration and develop something similar of your own.
* Take it to a nursing home (as Hollie asked me to do) or someplace similar where you will find LESS-fortunate people, and deliver it to someone there.

Okay, performing exercise #2 does not negate the huge discrepancy revealed by exercise #1, but it is a start. Planting a seed, if you will.

And maybe someday we’ll find ourselves entering the holiday season focusing entirely on the latter, and in so doing, making the math problem look a whole lot more like the math of Jesus.

Our church family welcomed another baby in the world last week when Daniel & Ashley Peebles met their son, Collin. I was in Arkansas at the time and had to miss the hospital visit with the family, but everything seemed to turn out fine without me.

Daniel must be an amazing photographer. The picture above is one of several that I’ve received via email, and when I spoke to Ashley today, I had to know the identity of the photographer!!! She told me that Daniel has taken a lot better pictures of the baby than the ones I’ve seen, but they were either too big to send by email or of little fingers, toes, etc. that they thought nobody would want to see.

I loved the pictures they sent yesterday of the first meeting between big sister (Charley) and baby brother (Collin). There’s a sweet picture of the two of them together, followed by a picture of Charley bopping her baby brother on the head (Daniel caught this one perfectly!). Last, there was a picture of Charley crying after her first spanking for hitting her baby brother. Priceless stuff.

Collin is still in the hospital five days after his birth due to his difficulty breathing, but he is doing okay overall. They hope for him to be breathing on his own by tomorrow or so, and then he will need to remain in the hospital for 48 hours just to be sure everything is okay.

So add Collin to your prayers, along with his wonderful family.

Tonight was our “men’s night out” at Buffalo’s Wild Wings in Pascagoula. Around 16 or 17 guys showed up to enjoy the all-you-can-eat wings, some Monday Night Football, and more importantly, good conversation with each other.

Marion Stone (foreground on the right of the picture) has been responsible for several great events since joining our church family – in addition to two big nights at Buffalo’s for the guys, he’s also coordinated fun for the whole family watching minor league baseball in Mobile, Alabama. We are VERY blessed to have Marion & his family as part of our church family.

Marion is in the Coast Guard, and he has to leave a few days before Christmas to help protect our nation for a couple of months. While most of us enjoy Christmas with our families, he will have to be away from his own.

Say a prayer for Marion (and many others like him) this holiday season.

Guess what today is at our house? That’s right! Christmas Light Hanging Day! (And no comments please on my skinny white chicken legs – Hillary took this picture, and she’s sensitive when her subjects are criticized.)

You’ll be proud to know that there have been no curse words uttered (yet), nor marital strife (yet). Then again, we’re knew at this Christmas light business, so give us some time (our neighbor is doing the same thing, but most of her lights don’t work this year – she is NOT in a merry mood. Yet.).

We’ve never hung Christmas lights before, but we’re appreciating a lot of new things since the hurricane caused us to start over without asking our permission. And, for the most part, this is a good thing.

Everyone sing along now…

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…