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????