:. i could be an ad man .:

Printed on the bag of cotton balls I just picked up at Target:

100% cotton

all natural

Puffy fluffs

: i see God .:

Here is a simple fact: anything good and perfect begins with God.

Is there beauty on this earth? It had its genesis in the Holy One.

Is there truth? He is the Truth.

Love? Yes, God is love.

I see God in every newborn baby.

I see God in the eyes of a mommy tending to her children.

I see God in the love between a husband and wife. Between mother and daughter. Between friends.

I see God in the highest mountain and the tiniest raindrop.
I see God in the birds of the air and the lilies of the field.

The earth is His, and all that is in it.
He is present among the children of men.

Open your eyes.

:. welcome to the world! .:

Thought I'd share a few early pics of Tate. I didn't take many with my dinosaur of a camera; I leave the real photography to the mad skills of Uncle Chris and his professional equipment.
These are pretty sweet, though!


And of course, after all that love, there's nothing like a little snack in front of the tv.

The Hulling Brothers Three . . . . be still my heart.

:. my daddy is a wino (and other gavinisms) .:

No, Josh hasn't started carrying around a bottle of Boone's Farm Apple in a paper bag (not to my knowledge, anyway). This post is about something waaay better than that.

I have a wonderful children's book called Daddies, in which a little boy pretends that he and his daddy are different animals. The illustrations are quite colorful and the prose is a very sing-song rhyme. (It was also translated from Slovenian. Really.)

When Gavin 'reads' the book, my favorite page sounds like this:

"My daddy is a wino,

we wallow in the swamp.

We make the whole world tremble

when we stomp, stomp, stomp!"

It gets me every time.

And then there's this. Yesterday, during Gav's Special Day With Grandma, he climbed up on my bed and said:

"Once upon a time there was one little Me on grandma's big bed!"

And if you know that lately he prefers to be called 'Me' rather than Gavin, you realize that is hilarious, indeed.

The boy is going to be a story-teller.

Anyway, just killing time here, waiting for baby to arrive. He seems to be a laid-back fellow, keeping a leisurely pace. That's okay. Probably exactly what a third child needs to be.

:. my new best friend .:

So I was at the grocery store this morning, and as Georgia was bagging my groceries, she asked if I wanted to drive up for them. I told her I made a vow long ago to always push my groceries out myself. I said it's the only exercise I get.
The lovely Sudanese girl checking me out turned and said, "Really? You look like you work out everyday!"

Naturally, I didn't say anything for a few seconds, because:
A) I didn't think I heard her correctly, and
B) If I had heard correctly, I didn't think she could possibly be talking to me.

I finally laughed and said, "You're too kind."
To which she replied that she was very serious.

We're going out for coffee next week.