Increasing Vocabulary

There are a couple of reasons why I love this picture. The first is that Matthew often insists on wearing his Dodger cap to bed. That is just fun with us. The second is that, as you can see, Matthew sheets, pillow, and comforter are all baseball-themed. In order to selflessly help Matthew increase his word count, I have been teaching him to identify all the teams by their logos. He caught on really fast, getting the Dodgers, Cardinals, Angels, and Red Sox (this one was easier since their logo actually has red sox on it). I realized that it was clicking for him a couple of weeks ago when I was watching baseball highlights and he said, "That's the Angels," when they flashed the Angel logo on the TV. He now has 28 of the 30 teams down cold. Most of the time he can remember the Devil Rays (the most insignificant team in the history of baseball, and that does in fact take the Expos into account), and he still has never been able to get the Twins. Seems like it would be an easy one, but there you go. The other special thing that I have taught him concerns loyalties. When I point to the Giants logo he says, "That's the Bad Guys." So True.
Well, we're painting our house this weekend (if the weather cooperates). Should be quite a project.

Summer

So, Summer is here, even though I am sitting in class right now. I am taking a week-long class through 1 Corinthians. It has been good so far. I am glad that this week is the only class I am taking during the Summer. It's good to have some time off.

Here are some things that I have enjoyed so far during this particular Summer:

1. The Park. It has been fun to get back outside with Mattew and take him to the park. He is getting more and more aventurous.
2. Darts. Once the weather gets nice I can take the dartboard out of the garage and put it up. I enjoy throwing them by myself. On top of that, Matthew loves to come outside and watch me throw. Best of all, though, is having the college students over and playing. Last Saturday a bunch of the guys came over and we did a couple of dart tournaments (although I had to do them in the garage because of weather). We played 301 and it was an absolute blast. We even had some sudden death overtimes. Good stuff. Lots of fun.

3. Reading. I get to read what I want now that school is out. I finished Bonhoffer's The Cost of Discipleship. I also read Telling the Truth by Buechner. Both were really great. It took me about three weeks to wade through Bonhoffer, but it was well worth it. Then I read Velvet Elvis in two days (and I did not spend much time on those two days reading it). It was a much faster read, and that was refreshing. Interesting. I liked a lot of it, loved some of it, and disliked a few of the parts. I guess that makes for a good read. Now I am reading some of the early works of the Church Fathers.

4. Family Time. It has been good to be able to be at home and not have to always be hiding away to get in some study time. We've got to take some trips to Borders, go for some walks, and then just hang at home.

5. Summer of Romance. Our church has been having a Summer focus on marriages. Karina and I got to go to a marraige conference that our church hosted back in May. Then last night our church started an 8-week series through Love and Respect. We attended and it was good. It will be fun to get to do that together.

6. Movies. We saw Spiderman 3, and I thought that was okay. We are going to try to get out to see Ocean's 13.

7. Vacation. Can't wait until July when we will meet up with Mom and Dad, Dave and Ami and Hadleigh (and new baby girl cuz), and Chris and Rubie. Napa Valley. Chilling. Meeting my neice. Can't wait.

Hope Summer is treating you well.