More Isaac Pictures

More pictures of Isaac!

Isaac Matthew Phillips

Isaac made his appearance a little before 3pm on December 27, 2010. He was 8lbs 15 oz and 21 inches long. Enjoy a few cute pictures!!

Meeting Isaac for the first time

Full head of hair

A family of 4

Isaac Matthew Phillips

Prepare to laugh!

Go to the video link and give it time to load. Prepare to cry, in a good way!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/rHtyzbqTQQ2wjD9q

Won't take nothing but a memory...

"The House That Built Me" by Miranda Lambert

I know they say you can’t go home again
I just had to come back one last time
Ma’am I know you don’t know me from Adam
But these handprints on the front steps are mine

Up those stairs in that little back bedroom
Is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar
I bet you didn’t know under that live oak
My favorite dog is buried in the yard

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself
If I could walk around I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me

Mama cut out pictures of houses for years
From Better Homes and Gardens magazine
Plans were drawn and concrete poured
Nail by nail and board by board
Daddy gave life to mama’s dream

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself
If I could walk around in I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me

You leave home and you move on and you do the best you can
I got lost in this old world and forgot who I am

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself
If I walk around I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me.

I keep listening to this song over and over again, and I can't figure out why. I even try to sing along but find myself actually getting choked up, unable to finish the words (not sad tears, happy ones). I get this picture in my mind of the house where I grew up. I think that is probably the purpose of the song. It's more than that, though. I can't figure it out.

233 N. Illinois

Morton, IL 61550

The little orange brick house on the corner of Illinois and Rassi with the one car garage, across the street from the Paluska's house, two doors down from the Pfisters, and next door to the Knaabs. Technically, we didn't even own the house until I was in middle school. The church owned it. That doesn't seem to make a difference when it's your home. I used to tell people that I could make it from the "big" room in the basement all the way up to the attic bedroom with my eyes closed and not hit anything. I knew it that well. I used to wonder who lived in the house before me. My problem was, I couldn't even imagine it belonging to anyone else. I went back one time. The summer after we moved to Kentucky, I rang the door bell of my own house and asked if I could look around. How strange. I've driven by a few times when I have been back in that town.

Why doesn't it feel the same? I guess I don't think it should be the same. I think my emotions are triggered in this song because I completely identify with the feeling that she describes. The feeling of happiness, comfortability, and family; the feeling of just knowing where you are and where you belong.

Lambert's spin on this song seems negative, but all I think of are happy things when I hear it. I don't know that the house in Morton built me, but I do know the feelings that the memory of that house ignite in my heart. I treasure them.

"If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory."

Reading with Ra Ra

Enjoy a short video of Aaron "reading". We had been "reading" for quite a while when Diane decided to get it on tape.

I don't know!

Everybody: What do you want for Christmas?

Me: I DON'T KNOW!

I hate that question. Seriously, I have no idea what to tell you. Just get me something, and I will be REALLY excited and happy about it. I promise. Really, I'm not just saying that. I really have no idea what I want. I don't even know where to start.

Wait, I know. I need a new brain. How much does that cost?

Buzzard and Puke

My mom and dad always used to tell me, "Don't get in a puking contest with a buzzard, because you're never going to win." Great advice. Let me break it down for you. Buzzards eat dead things and that would naturally make them very good at puking because dead things are gross. Since "you" don't eat dead things, “you” don't puke as often as a buzzard; therefore, the buzzard is ALWAYS the better puker. Translation: people who act childish and do things that are childish have lots of practice doing those childish things. They will ALWAYS be better than you at childish things, so don't stoop down to their level and participate. Somehow I thought that advice was restricted to middle school/high school. You might even be able to apply it to a FEW incidents in college, but those are few and far between and too complicated to be limited to the basic meaning because the older you get, the more mature people (and you) are supposed to get. Right? Could this actually be good advice for me as an adult?

Every once in a while, I'm the person I should be. Every once in a while, I choose the right thing. Every once in a while, I choose not to try to beat the buzzard at his own game.

For all the other times that aren’t the “once in a whiles”, I pray for my choices to be learning experiences, so maybe sometime those “once in a whiles” will be “sometimes” and maybe some day, “most of the times”.

The funny things is, I am just now realizing that sometimes I am the challenger in the contest, and sometimes I am the buzzard. Or maybe I am just now admitting it.

Thankfully, I have a God that is “EVERY TIME, ALL THE TIME.” He loves me, and He loves the buzzard, for he created both!

God, empty me of me so I can be filled with you. I don't want to be the buzzard, and I don't want to be "me" because neither one of those makes me "every time, all the time". I want and need YOU!

Empty Me by Chris Sligh

I've had just enough of the spotlight

When it burns bright

To see how it gets in the blood

And I've tasted my share

Of the sweet life

And the wild ride

And found a little is not quite enough

I know how i can stray

And how fast my heart could change

Empty me

Of the selfishness inside

Every vain ambition

And the poison of my pride

And any foolish thing my heart holds to

Lord empty me of me

So i can be

Filled with you

Ive seen just enough of the quick buys

Of the best lies

To know how prodigals can be drawn away

I know how I can stray

And how fast my heart could change

Empty me

Of the selfishness inside

Every vain ambition

And the poison of my pride

And any foolish thing my heart holds to

Lord empty me of me

So I can be

Filled with you

Cuz everything is a lesser thing

Compared to you

Compared to you

Cuz everything is a lesser thing

Compared to you

So I surrender all

Empty me

Of the selfishness inside

Every vain ambition

And the poison of my pride

Empty me

Of the selfishness inside

Every vain ambition

And the poison of my pride

And any foolish thing my heart holds to

Lord empty me of me

So I can be

Lord empty me of me

So I can be

Filled with you.

Filled with you

Empty me

Quick trip

On Thursday, I made a VERY quick trip to Tullahoma. Diane had to work until 3am; Mark was on a business trip, soI took off right after school on Thursday afternoon and left on Friday morning in time to get to school. Even though we only had about 3 hours to play, Aaron and I had a blast. After dinner, he ran over to my bag and was trying to dig out my computer. You can't you resist a boy who's pulling so hard on something that weighs almost as much as he does while saying, "Ra, Ra....Ra Ra!" Needless to say, we "played" with the photo booth on my computer. (yet another reason I LOVE my Mac!!!) Here are some of the pictures. Can you tell we had a TON of fun????

"Holding the Key" by Jason Gray

*Warning* Disclaimer applied!

I have recently been obsessed with this song. The verses, specifically, seem to speak to me. I haven't completely captured what I think the song means, but I like it, a lot!

"Holding The Key" by Jason Gray

I came here tonight with a mission

To confess what I'm trying to hide

But here in the hour of decision

I'd rather give you the company line

There are secrets I don't want to tell you

And wounds you might not want to see

But they keep me bound to my sorrow

And I really want to be free

And you're the one holding the key

You don't have to give me an answer

An answer is the last thing I need

There's no magical cure for this cancer

I just need you to listen me

'Cause you're the one holding the key

We were made with these hearts

Meant to be open

Then we locked them away

Afraid of being broken

But we're given each other to set it free

And you're the one holding the key

This dark room is perfect for hiding

But I don't want to hide anymore

You can't force the light here inside it

But you can help me open the door

You're the one holding the key

We were made with these hearts

Meant to be open

Then we locked them away

Afraid of being broken

But we're given each other to set it free

And you're the one holding

The key to the truth

Of what's really going on

Your listening ear

Is the grace of God

Love will take the shackles off

But you're the one holding the key

We all need it sooner or later

A safe place for telling the truth

I'm happy returning the favor

'Cause I'm holding the key for you

The newest addition: Cora Mabry

Here are a few pictures of my new niece, Cora! She is absolutely amazing. I was able to come to Kentucky this weekend to see Ryan, Gloria, Elayna, and Cora before they head down to Georgia. Enjoy!

Only awake for a short time!

Cora with her Eeooch

Very sweet!

Special time with Eeooch

Learning the hard way....

Something that has been constant in my life is the ridiculous habit of having to learn lessons the hard way. This wonderful blog is just a reminder that no matter how old I get, I still haven't changed. For the record, I do KNOW that I should wear my ankle brace every time I play basketball; however, who actually does what they know they SHOULD do, right? Anyway, so I decided to play a wonderful game of 4-on-4 with some of my students after school on Thursday. Enter my lesson learned the hard way. I had a wonderful wide open lane to the basket and did a textbook lay-up. It was beautiful. What was NOT beautiful was the landing. Apparently, when I came back down, I landed only on my right foot and decided that it would be best to put all my weight on the side of my foot - with a snap. Now normally, searing pain in your ankle would tell you to stop playing. Somehow, I am the exception to that instinct. I decided the best thing for my ankle would be to "suck it up and walk it off". Again, somehow, I am the exception to the rule. Anyway, after an awful night Thursday night I decided to try and "walk it off" at school on Friday. Apparently, still haven't learned the lesson. After a 7th grade carnival, dodging water balloons, spraying colored hairspray on about 30 students' heads, and chaperoning a dance, Natalie talked me into going to the emergency room after seeing my extremely swollen and black and blue ankle. Good news: after x-rays were taken we discovered my ankle is not broken, just a REALLY bad sprain. So, here I am, sitting on my couch with a temporary cast on my ankle. The nurse said I just have to RICE - rest, ice, compression and elevate. My wonderful sister came last night to take care of me until tonight and then my mom is taking over until Monday. Sadly, Aaron stayed with his daddy which was probably better because I can't play with him anyway. :( Abby is being very supportive! Here are pictures for you enjoyment.

Circles and Friends

Tonight, to celebrate my birthday, Natalie, Stephanie, and I went to Cheddars to eat and then to a two hour painting class. They actually walk you through, step-by-step, painting your own work of art! IT WAS AWESOME! I have never done anything like this before. We had a blast (although we really missed the fourth person in our group, Teri Parks)! While I am not the most artistic person in the world, I can't remember when I have had so much fun with such wonderful people! :) Here is a shout out to Natalie and Stephanie! Thanks for making my birthday amazing!

I have included a picture of my final product for your enjoyment. We took a picture with all three of us and our paintings, but it's on my phone.

Stephanie, Natalie and I with our "Circles"

Up close of mine! :)

Happy Birthday, Elijah!

Happy Birthday Eli!

Here are a few pictures of the wonderful celebration!

Fun Weekend

Here are some pictures from my weekend with Diane, Mark, and Aaron!

"All done, Aunt Rachel!"

Covered in Mac n' Cheese

Painted bathroom!

A boy riding his horse!

Petting the goats at the petting zoo

Pointing out the cow

So happy when he gets to ride! :)

The book of James

Disclaimer applied!

I love the book of James! As I sit here and reflect on my day, the words of James are on my heart. This book has always caught my attention. I even took a class at Harding about the book of James; Sadly, I wish I could remember all that information. The book is an oxymoron for me. Sometimes he challenges my maturity and actions by making it so simple. Other times, I have no clue what it really means.

Practical:"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Then he throws in the phrase somewhere else, "he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him".

Practical: "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless."

And another confusion:Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

While these statements are not in order and don't go with each other, they are a great example of my confusion. (and this is just chapter. 1)

I wish that I could say statements as bold as James, with the confidence that he proclaims each thought. I wish I could understand phrases that he uses. They seem to be common phrases that I have heard and said all my life but never truly understood in a deep way. How do you keep trying to be something that you don't really understand?

Here's what I know. I know my heart listens, responds, and is reminded of his thoughts even though I don't know what most of it means (which I know is weird). I know my heart desires to be what he describes as "religious".

More thoughts later...

New Song

Warning! Disclaimer from the previous entry is in effect for this post.

Come Ye Sinners by Todd Agnew

Come ye sinners, poor and needy
Weak and wounded, sick and sore
Jesus ready stands to save you
Full of pity, love, and power

Come ye thirsty, come and welcome
God's free bounty glorify
True belief and true repentance
Every grace that brings you nigh

I will arise and go to Jesus
He will embrace me in His arms
In the arms of my dear Saviour
Oh, there are ten thousand charms

Come ye weary, heavy-laden
Lost and ruined by the fall
If you tarry until you're better
You will never come at all

I will arise and go to Jesus
He will embrace me in His arms
In the arms of my dear Saviour
Oh, there are ten thousand charms

Have you ever had a word or phrase that hits you? I mean REALLY hits you? I fully admit that I have a very obsessive personality. I get stuck on one thing and it's all consuming. This is not limited to music, but at the expense of saving too much exposure of my weakness, we'll stick with that. Whenever I get a new cd, or even worse, a new song, I listen to it NONSTOP for a ridiculous amount of time. Such is the case with this song. The lyrics to this song are so powerful. One phrase particularly "hits" me. "I will arise and go to Jesus". Perhaps the music is the reason the song and phrase are so powerful for me, or at least that is what caught my attention initially. His voice is so resolved when he sings his words, almost like each line is a conclusion that leads to this phrase, "I will arise and go to Jesus". It seems to be his conviction that he so boldly announces. What makes this phrase so moving is the word "arise". Since I am never just satisfied with taking things for face value, I need to know more about this word. While I want to say that I have some profound discovery, I cannot. I'll work on that! It's just so intense. Even without a word study, I feel like there is so much depth to this small word. It inspires so much more than just an action of coming or going to something. In this case, Jesus. I almost feel like the word calls you out of something old and into a brand new understanding. For some reason, I have recently fallen in love with words that are "old" because of how much meaning they seem to hold for me. Loaded and multiple meanings! All this makes me even more curious about this word and why it is so inspiring. The ironic part is, while I was talking to Natalie about recent thoughts of this word, we started to notice that a lot of the songs that have recently hit me have this idea of arising. One in particular is called "By Our Love". This song seems to be an explanation of the old campfire song "They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love" and is extremely powerful. My favorite phrase in this song is "The time is now. Come Church, arise". Love it! Again, just a moving affect for me. It invokes such a huge desire for change in me.

All moved in! :)

2 apartments, 1 tailor, 10 people, and 4 new truck tires later, I am all moved in! :) I am now sitting in my new apartment and writing this blog post. :) I absolutely LOVE IT! My family and friends helped me move in and even helped me unpack most of my things! A huge shout out to Mark and Diane (Aaron), Matt and Lori(Eli), mom, Natalie, Shadi, and Diller (Ian). I don't know what I would have done without them! There is still LOTS to do but it's definitely looking great already! Here are some pictures I took after everyone left. It probably would have been more fun to take pictures while we were moving, but these will have to do! :)

Guest Room

Bathroom (duh)

My room!

Living Room

Kitchen/Dining room

Living area

Moving...

Yep! That's right. I am moving! Tomorrow is the start of a few very busy days! I get the keys to my new apartment tomorrow (Friday) morning, and I'm SO EXCITED! My mom is headed here on Friday to help me finish packing, and then my whole family and friends are coming on Saturday morning to help move. I have the best friends and family! :) I'm really hoping it doesn't take a long time to move all my stuff. I will be posting pictures of my new place really soon. I'm dreading doing the whole decorating thing all over again, but maybe I can get some of those GREAT family and friends to teach me a thing or two! :) I start school in a little less than 2 weeks so hopefully I can get settled in before things get too busy. Pictures soon! :)

P.S. Best part - I get to see my nephews. :) :)

"I am wrong and of these things, I repent."

Disclaimer: Be aware!! This post will be out of the ordinary in that it will not be about my normal obsession. :) Instead, I want to reflect on my recent thoughts. While I will continue my "normal" postings, I hope to include more of these types of posts sporadically in the future. Nothing profound. Just personal convictions and reflections.

"I Repent"

I repent of my pursuit of America's dream I repent of living like i deserve anything my house, my fence, my kids, and my wife in our suburb where we're safe and white I am wrong and of these things i repent I repent of parading my liberty I repent of paying forvwhat i get for free the way I believe that I am living right by trading sins for others that are easier to hide I am wrong and of these things I repent I repent judging by a law that even I can't keep wearin righteousness like a disguise to see through the planks in my own eyes I repent of trading truth for false unity I repent of confusing peace and idolatry of caring more of what they think than what I know of what they need and domesticating You until You look just like me I am wrong and of these things I repent

The song is called "I Repent" by Derek Webb. He is not at all concerned about being politically correct or trying to sugar-coat his message in any way. Usually, things repeated over and over in a song irritate me. It makes me think that the writer couldn't come up with any other words to fill up the time. I think what captured my attention in this song is more than just his sincerity of the repeated line "I repent". It's his urgency. He doesn't try to come up with some metaphor for life or being a better Christian. What does that mean anyway? How does a song somehow make you question your "righteous living" or lack there of? I feel like I can't just choose one line as my favorite because then I listen to the song again and change my mind. I'm still not sure what all the words mean in the song. Maybe you can find your favorite. They make me uncomfortable. Honestly, I don't think it's just the words, it's the way he sings it.

The line I choose today is

"I repent, I repent of caring more of what they think than what I know of what they need and domesticating You until You look just like me."

When I was growing up, any time we would leave the house to go hang out with friends or even just to go to school in the morning, we would go in to kiss my parents and my mom's parting words were always "act like Jesus" and "remember whose you are". So true. The question is, am I really interested in Jesus? Not the Jesus I want, but the Jesus who IS. Am I really willing to know and live like HIM? The answer is YES! As loud as I can shout it, YES! I am sick of making Jesus look like me. How long has it been since I have changed something about my life to reflect HIM? What if I really did look like Jesus?

Here's the thing, all these thoughts, reflections, and convictions are great. But the hardest question begs me to answer exactly does this demand of me? After listening to those repeated words, "I repent, I repent", I am forced to consider what is involved in the word "repent". I have to think that repenting is not just great thoughts or intellectual decisions. It has to be more! I think Derek Webb repeats the words because that's the action step I am missing. So many times in the past, I am willing to think about the change but never make it. God, give me the strength to be more!

I repent.

More mice and cats...

Well, we have different mice and different cats but definitely the same outcome. Well, I guess there is ONE similarity/person between my last post and this one, but we won't mention that. We'll just say we had a blast! Just enjoy the pictures!

P.S. Matt and Lori went to a wedding, and Eli and I PLAYED!!!!

While the cat's away....

WE mice, will definitely PLAY!!!! I thought you would enjoy some pictures of our fun while Diane worked the past 2 days! Some are very random and some are just down right cute! :) Here is what Aaron got to do...

Go as fast as I can!!!

Try to get into a little bit of trouble.

Found Aunt Rachel's ipod. :)

Go have lunch with mommy!

I miss my mommy, but I sure tried to be a happy boy!!!

Fun pictures with Eli

More pictures of the weekend!

Reading a Bible story before bed with Aunt Rachel

First time brushing our teeth

Sweet boy

Happy faces! :)

I actually got Eli to look at the camera when I snapped it.