Browns... pathetic

Derrick Anderson was named the starter for Week 4. Did I call it or what?!!!

Another source from Honduras

I've spoken in the past about what's going on in Honduras and that the American media is totally out to lunch on its coverage and that the Obama Administration is way out of bounds. Here's another source for you that can provide more reliable information than you'll get here.

Support Free Honduras

I share this because I believe in supporting freedom and liberty anywhere it can be found. Tyranny must be opposed.

We showed well... to one family

Lincoln has been enjoying his trips to the playground.
On the home front, we had a couple come through the house last Sunday (the folks who set up a showing on Saturday didn't come... grrrrr...) and the feedback was great! No offer yet, but it's good to know our house shows well. The couple, described by their realtor as "very picky" said they loved the yard and the fact they wouldn't have to do anything big with the house. Now we just need traffic through the house. One of the murmurs in Hudson is that Howard Hannah steers their clients away from non-Howard Hannah homes. I'm not sure how that fits with the "[adherance] to a strict code of ethics" like I've heard on the radio commercials, but, oh, well. So we're keeping our house looking good for the day the right buyer comes through.

31

Linocln has been a chatter-box motor-mouth. He's learning more new words on a daily basis. He now pointing out every flag on Hudson Drive. Over the weekend we took him to one of the Hudson Elementary School playgrounds, and while he's still not entirely sure about the playground-thing, he loves to throw the mulch. We then took him on a walk where he actually had to walk... it was at a pretty slow pace, but he had a great time!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. My 31st was a fun day. The three of us went out to lunch at Vue with mom and dad (Grandma Paulette & Grandpa Doug) and Grandma Gates. While I had a great grouper sandwich, and we all enjoyed our meals, Lincoln out-ate all of us. Then we went back to their place for some Handel's Banana Cream Pie ice cream. Grandma Gates gave me a bunch of candy, which is always okay with me! I'm grateful to my parents for giving me a Smith & Wesson .40 cal M&P along with a CCW course. I need to learn to shoot it well before I take the class, but I do intend to exercise my Second Amendment right. Does that make me a right-wing extremist? Actually, I think it makes me an American.

Labor Day Weekend

It's Labor Day weekend, and that means another Birthday party at the Hertle's home. This has been one of those mile posts, in my mind at least, for the modern day Gates Family. The weather has been beautiful year in and year out for this party, the food is always good, the cake is always a winner, Scott and Jenn (Jenny for those in the Gates Family) are always fantastic hosts. The only difference is that each year we're all a year older. (Click here for last year's post following Lauren & Logan's party.)

Lincoln enjoyed his time with Uncle Jeremy last year, and this year was no different. He's also been having lots of fun with his "Pa."

The Beating	The Scrum

We finished our Sunday by going to Bugs Bunny at Blossom with Emily and Jeremy. Jenn and I have been to many concerts at Blossom. Some have been sparsely attended but usually the Independence Day celebrations are heavily attended. Last night was thoroughly packed. It was unbelievable. It was also really, really funny. The selected some great Bugs Bunny cartoons along with Daffy & Porky. New this year were Tom & Jerry, and this particular show was the world premier for that portion of the show. The conductor said that the official premier was going to be at the Sydney Opera House in the spring of 2010.

Here is one of the pictures they showed while the Blossom Festival Band played the score:

We had lots of laughs, and heard some great music.

(Holy cow! I appeared in two pictures in the same post. You can now count on another 4 dozen posts without photos of me.)

Vans

A shout out to Aunt Haley is in order!

Well, Lincoln slept through a good part of the Buckeyes' opener. That's okay, though... he didn't need to see the Buckeyes act like the game was in the bag in the second and third quarter only to make a game of it in the fourth. Don't sleep on Navy. He also needed to get a nap in before Elise's shower. Jenn and I got to spend some time with Elise and also got to see Michelle, Chris and Grady before we left. Michelle's currently looking at buying into a clinic,

Elise is just getting started.

which sounds awfully familiar, although the circumstances around her opportunity are quite different from mine: he former mentor and veterinarian died a tragic death and now the practice is for sale. Very sad to think about. So when she told her current employer about this, they offered her a buy-in to keep her around. What a dilemma. But back to Elise, it was a neat evening with some great food, and she got a good bunch of things for Isabella. Lincoln was a very good boy during the evening, and actually stayed up pretty late, well past his bed-time. We arrived home around 8:30ish, but Lincoln didn't want to sleep in this morning. Surprise.

Right now he's eating a whole piece of toast, breaking of a bite at a time. It's pretty funny to watch.

Sometime in the middle of the night, prompted by some recent events and encounters, I thought about how God so often works out good for those who aren't even seeking Him. Romans 8:28-29 comes to mind when thinking about people who love God, but I'm so glad that the LORD will literally seek out men and women who aren't interested in pursuing Him. I recalled the story of Jonah. Often the focus of this story is Jonah and the fish, but what ought to receive equal attention is that the LORD wanted to bring the people of Nineveh into relationship with Him. It is a prayer of the Gates family that those whom God is pursuing will respond to His love.

Little Twister

Tornado Classification
F-0 40-72 mph, Light damage
F-1 73-112 mph, Moderate damage
F-2 113-157 mph, Considerable damage
F-3 158-205 mph, Severe damage
F-4 207-260 mph, Devastating damage
F-5 261-318 mph, Violent damage
Big changes at the Gates home, and they're coming fast and furious. I arrived home during my lunch time today and Jenn said that Lincoln had been a little tornado all morning. He spreads the Tupperware lids all over the kitchen, and just when Jenn's picked them all up and returned them to the drawer, he's moved over to the drawer that contains Jenn's pasta-making materials, and he's beginning to throw the dowel rods all over the kitchen.

New today is his fascination with spinning around. He now apparently enjoys making himself dizzy enough to fall on his tush, then he spins on his little bottom until he can't sit up anymore. Then when he's gathered himself, he starts all over again, laughing all the way. All in all, I'd call him an F-0. I'll let you know when he becomes an F-1.

The following is intended for our record keeping:

Lincoln's vocabulary has expanded to: Mama, Dada, away, pug, dog, up, spaghetti, bath, pa (for Grandpa), car, lime, apple, avocado, flower, mango, Em, house, fan, bear, dino, lunch, please, more (via sign language), O's (for Cheerios), banana, berry, toast, boom... I'm probably missing a few, so I'll add them as I think of them.

We're looking forward to quite a fun weekend (and we're really glad our house is in order so we can enjoy the fun things this weekend): Lauren & Logan's B-day party, a Hopwood family visit, Buckeye football, Bugs Bunny at Blossom with the Ducharmes, and a Labor Day picnic with the MacDermotts. Wow. Look for pictures next week.

Growing up

Lincoln's first ride on the John Deere.

This certainly won't the the last time we talk about Lincoln growing up, but it's an appropriate title for this post. He's really been going through some big changes recently: saying lots of words, becoming more and more steady on his feet, climbing up and down the stairs, half-starting to feed himself with his spoon, wearing shoes... big strides have been made and it's really fun and special to watch.

We had our first open house this past Sunday, and there were no visitors. This didn't surprise us, as we rarely visit Sunday open houses ourselves, so we can't be upset that others didn't. And it did give us a definite date to get all the big things done in the house. Jenn and I didn't know what to do with ourselves on Monday evening after work with no home-improvement projects to be working on. Our house is as clean and finished as it's ever been. Now there's the matter of some living creature making noise in our attic 3 nights in the last month... but that's being taken care of today. Our realtor received a couple of calls last week showing interest in seeing our house, so those will probably be scheduled over the next couple of days/weeks.

Because our prize house is no longer available to us, we're going out to look at houses this afternoon. So we'll see what's out there today!

Lincoln can now walk from Grandpa's house to the car all by himself!