Family

I know it may be hard for some of you to believe that anyone who shares my DNA could possibly be in the Honor Society ... but it's true.  On Wednesday, Hannah was inducted into the Honor Society at Ranch View Middle School here in Highlands Ranch. Here's what it takes to be selected: Students with a 3.5 average in Knowledge and Work Habits with no "C's" are eligible.  Students will need recommendations from their teachers and an application telling about their community service, leadership, and scholarship. Tonya and I are very proud of Hannah.  She has worked hard in all her classes and has done a tremendous job making new friends.  Congratulations!

It's confession time.  Saturday morning I woke up, worked out, and decided to stop at the grocery store before going home.  Why?  Because I've developed this unreasonable attraction to King Sooper's chocolate donuts.  Not the puffy, glazed variety.  But the solid, devil's food cake. So ... I went through checkout with a dozen donuts, three cases of diet drinks, and a copy of the Denver Post.  In my sweat pants.

I bought my wife for Christmas a Samsung Moment (see below) that runs Google's Android OS.  Here's my first take: I really like it. As you may know, I'm a big fan of all things Google.  Apart from the "big brother" concerns of collecting all that data, I think Google has done a fantastic job of bringing innovation and usability to the web.  For years, Google.com has been my standard home page. Well, enough about that.  Back to the phone.  Samsung's implementation of Android seems pretty slick.  It flows well, looks beautiful, and installs apps easily.  One of the great things about the Android OS is it's open source approach.  I'm a believer in open source (PHP, MySQL, etc) -- the idea of opening up code to the programming community to use, tweak, develop, and improve. At first blush, I would be tempted to make my next phone an Android-based…

Over the weekend we loaded up the van and did a whirlwind tour of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.  While Oklahoma was fascinating, Kansas had to be the most exciting landscape we saw during the five days we were on the road.  While I regret not being able to see the 37-inch donkey advertised just east of Hays, Kansas, I'm sure I'll have another occasion to spend quality time in Kansas. We traveled to Petit Jean, Arkansas, to celebrate Tonya's grandma's 90th birthday.  Nearly everyone on her side of the family was there -- aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, and me.  We rented cabins and spent the days eating our way from cabin to cabin.  Brisket at cousin Ricky's won my heart.  Nothing quite says love like a good piece of brisket. Although I was battling an eye infection, it was good to spend time with Tonya's two brothers and her…

Today is our 19th wedding anniversary and Tonya and I will be celebrating by driving through parts of Oklahoma and Kansas.  I would say she has put up with me for nineteen years but the truth is ... it's closer to twenty-one when you factor in the dating years.  It has been an amazing time and yet ... I'm still amazed that she grew up as the daughter of a pastor and still married one any way. I'm still amazed at how kind and gentle she is with everybody. I'm still amazed at how she loves to study her Bible, alone and with other women. I'm still amazed at her love of singing. I'm still amazed at how she is raising our two daughters to be godly young women. I'm still amazed at the sacrifices she makes to live off a "pastor's" salary. I'm still amazed at how she gives…