"Happy New Year"

Happy New Year…really. What would a happy year look like? Last night we had our neighbors over to watch the Huskers stomp over Arizona in the Holiday Bowl. It was a fun night of food, friendship and football. Some of the conversations last night caused me reflect on 2009. It seems like everyone I know experienced hardship over the past year. The world is filled with pain. In this past year we experienced or knew people experiencing miscarriages, job losses, death of a spouse, hurtful words from “friends,” infidelity, bankruptcy and even weight gain to name a few.

We live in a world where the person who wins “athlete of the decade” should also win be named “person with the worst moral compass.” Those who seem perfect really aren’t. Celebrities, athletes and even us common folk don’t have it together. Why is this? Because we live in a broken world. Things are just not the way they ought to be. No one needs to be told that there are things wrong with our world. No matter what your personal philosophy is, everyone knows that trouble exists and it WILL find you on any given day.

The apostle Paul writes in Romans 1:22-23 that man exchanged the glory of God for a lie. Created in God’s image, we were originally meant to have peace on earth. That “exchange” is evident in every generation as we face pain, capriciousness, broken relationships, and a general sense of misery.

So when we wish someone a "Happy New Year" is it just a trite statement that ignores the pain that’s likely coming? I never think of it that way. I always like the fresh start a new year brings. In fact, this year my goal is to end my love affair with cheese…or at least dial it back a bit! But back to my main point. Perhaps instead of “Happy New Year” we should say, “May God give you the strength to face the trials that WILL come with fortitude and integrity. And may the good times be a precious reminder of God’s grace and mercy and the peace he offers to all through Jesus.”

May your blessings be abundant in the coming year.

White Christmas!

There's no dreaming of a "White Christmas" here...it's about as white as it gets! We got a foot of snow the last couple days and we even have snow drifts up to 4 feet on the side of our house!

Here's what we faced when we opened the garage door to start the snowblower! Thank goodness his mom and stepdad's gift from last year was the hard-core snow blower!! We gave it a good run for the money.






Poor Forsberg had a heck of a time using the "bathroom" in the snow.


Fortunately, we had plenty to keep us busy inside. Here's Grandma Bobbie making EJ a Lightening McQueen cake on Christmas Eve day. She surprised him with the cake and a Thomas the Train electrical track after we got home from church.









EJ woke up at 5:30 on Christmas morning. That's early even for him! Christmas with a toddler is super fun, especially for Grandma who got up with EJ and entertained him until the rest of the house woke up. That was a great gift for Eric and I! Here's EJ coming downstairs to see what Santa brought..."Mack," the semi who pulls Lightening McQueen. EJ drove Mack to "California" which as across the living room to see Thomas' track to watch the train.






Here's some final pictures...a few more favorites from the holiday.








Due to his early wake-up, EJ went to bed early and the rest of us played Mexican Train Dominos and watched, "Elf." It was a fun Christmas for all! We hope you had a good holiday. Happy New Year!

Ho Ho Ho!

We went to the mall last night to ride the carousal and "look" at Santa. We didn't think that EJ would be willing to meet with the jolly ole fella. We were wrong. After walking by Santa's workshop and eyeing him a few times, EJ decided on his own that he wanted to see Santa. He was a little timid but ultimately made friends with him and smiled for the picture.

Christmas Greetings!

Seasons Greetings!

We hope that you are enjoying the holidays with your cherished friends and family. We are just digging out from a blizzard but loved the two days we had at home together. As for this past year, we had our share of ups and downs but we were able to identify God’s faithfulness through it all. We still love living in Lincoln and are grateful for our friends and neighbors here. We also had fun seeing friends and family all over the country through Eric’s baseball games and recruiting trips, my work trips, weddings and holidays. Here’s the latest on our family.



EJ is 2½ and loves life. His language skills are developing and we love communicating with him. For several months he called me “honey” which was rather endearing. He is a very polite child—says please and thankum (thank you) without being prompted and he recently apologized to the wall for accidentally hitting it when he walked by. He says bless you when I sneeze and when we finish our prayers he says, “Amen.”

While “thankum” is one of our favorites, we also think his verb usage is interesting. For a while now he’s been saying, “No, I don’t” for everything that he says “no” to. So if we ask him if he is ready to take a bath he’ll reply, “No, I don’t.” Last week, we were playing tickle and I got a great spot on his leg. He was laughing so hard. When I stopped, he grabbed his leg to tickle it himself and he immediately said, “Mommy, it’s not working!”

His love for Forsberg continues to grow and he calls Forsberg, “Biersey” and still likes to share his kennel. I thought it would be hard to teach him letters and numbers but he picked up on them easily. He is also really good at puzzles. This is, of course, when you can pull him away from playing with cars and trains.



Eric was grateful that the MLB signing date came and went without losing a lot of players like he did last year. He worked really hard this summer and fall to recruit players for the coming years and this year’s recruiting class was ranked #13 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball. As you can imagine, he is really looking forward to the 2010 season to get these kids out on the field. As always you have an open invitation to come and cheer on the Huskers!

My big accomplishment this year was passing my comprehensive exams for my doctoral program. I completed all my coursework and passed the exams so I have officially “moved to candidacy” for a PhD. Now I have to do a major research project called a dissertation. It will be over a hundred pages and will be guided and critiqued by three of my faculty. I have begun preparations for this and hope that the coming year will bring great progress on this. I continue to teach online classes and mini-terms for DBU and I taught several classes at Nebraska Wesleyan this year. I am going to cut back on my Wesleyan classes next year which is a big relief as I want to spend more time with EJ experiencing Kindermusic classes and going to the Children’s Museum. I am very cognizant that he may be my only child (born on earth) so I don’t want to miss any of this fun toddler stuff. It’s true what “they” say…it goes by fast!



Here we are picking out our Christmas tree--a fun family tradition--even in the freezing cold. So, that’s the latest here. We’re off to play in the snow, drink hot cocoa and enjoy the holidays. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy 2010!

Eric, Melissa & E.J.

Blizzard

The howling winds last night moved the snow into large drifts. The scene this morning was beautiful. This is EJ's tree...the one my parents planted for him when we moved in. My mom decorated it the last time she was here. It's going to be a pretty sight tonight with the lights on!

Snow Day!

The snow is falling in Lincoln! Schools and businesses shut down and the shovels and snowblowers got to work. After EJ's nap we let him loose in the winter wonderland of our front yard!

EJ was the master of his shovel! He loved it.


If you look behind EJ you can see how deep it was getting. So far, we've gotten about nine inches and the forecast calls for more tonight and tomorrow.



Our neighbors, Andi, Jeff and Cluny came out to play too. Both Jeff and Eric wanted to get ahead of the snow by moving some of it before the big drifts set in. Tomorrow's forcast is for a blizzard so they're on top of it! There will be more fun tomorrow as Andi and I agreed to another 10 minute playdate tomorrow! That's about all you can stay out in these temps!



EJ went on his first sled ride today. As you can see, he loved it...even when he "wiped out."

Sammi

Sammi loved her Christmas present and couldn't wait to get the box off before trying it out. She's also going to get an early birthday present next summer when her little brother or sister arrives! Congrats to her family!

Texas Trip!

Uncle Andy's team was playing in East Texas and the NU football team played for the Big 12 Championship in Dallas so we made a whirlwind trip to Texas. We were also able to see Eric's mom and stepdad and our friends, Rick and Kaye, and have a Christmas celebration with them.





All last week EJ kept telling me that "Anneeee" was taking him swimming. He couldn't wait to see him and even endured two days of driving to see him. As you can see it was a great reunion. They didn't go swimming but they sure had fun playing "launch EJ to the hotel bed." It's so fun to see EJ light up when Andy is around.


We met Grandpa Michael and Grandma Carol at Andy's game that night and then had a fun dinner out where Grandpa ordered chocolate cake and cheesecake for dessert. EJ had a Texas toast grilled cheese for dinner but still had plenty of room for the huge cheesecake!




After dinner we opened presents and EJ loved his "Shake and Go" Lightening McQueen racecar. Grandpa had fun playing with it too, but it was grandma who figured out the more you shake it, the farther it will go!





On Saturday we headed to Dallas and met up with Kaye and Rick for the big game. They were so sweet to give EJ a "CARS" workbench. It's adorable and EJ is having a blast "fixing" his cars. We are so fortunate to have such loving friends and family!


The workbench even came with goggles!



Our next stop was the new Cowboys Stadium and it was a sight! From the outside it looked like an enormous UFO ready to take flight. The most impressive thing on the inside is the centerpiece--a seven-story TV screen with amazing clarity and color.





Grandpa Michael was so happy when we finally got inside. He's a fan of the cowboys so it was fun to get to see "Jerry's World" with him. That's the nickname of the stadium--for owner Jerry Jones.



I found myself watching the screen more than the action on the field. You could see into the quarterback's eyes and you could see the blood dripping down the arms of the defensive line because of the picture quality and size. It was amazing. More amazing than that, however, was Ndamukong Suh's performance. He was spectacular...made Colt McCoy look like a rag doll on more than one occasion. Perhaps that's why he is a finalist for the Heisman! We'll be keeping our fingers crossed for him this weekend.

After the game we headed to Norman, Oklahoma for the night so we could get back to Lincoln. Since we were the last guests to arrive that night (or should I say morning since it was 3 am) they didn't have any cribs left so Eric and I put EJ between us in the hotel bed. I had no idea how much EJ moves, kicks and talks in his sleep. Let's just say I won't be sharing a bed with him again any time soon!