who knew?

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-cro1.htm

all this time i thought crocodile tears were the big, very sad kind. thanks lw for pointing out the semantical errorship of that last entry. and i'm pretty sure that semantical errorship is a phrase that i just made up, but i doubt there's a website to address it.

anyway, i found this information highly....informative. turns out, she didn't have "crocodile tears"at all; let me rephrase: ahem.

"Then I looked in the rearview mirror and saw ginormous tears cascading down her cheeks. These were the kind you might imagine streaming down the face of a bereaved animal that actually has the ability to produce tears. Her eyes were turning red and her bottom lip seemed as if it would surely reach the floor board."

hope everyone had a very merry Christmas today!

So Be Good for Goodness Sake

I've never used Santa Claus in parenting before, so I don't really know why I said it. I mean, we've just let the kids believe for as long as they want but have never, aside from the whole sitting in a lap and taking a picture thing, really encouraged or discouraged the whole idea. That is, until this week when evil took hold of me. Abby, our lone remaining believer in the jolly round guy, had been exhibiting quite a bit of what we affectionately call, "Abbitude". We were in the car, where all noises (especially whining) are magnified a hundred-fold. Anyway, I'd had enough. After all, we were already 5 whole days into Christmas break. Who can blame me? So I casually said something to the effect of, "Abby, Santa probably isn't even going to bring you anything because of all that complaining." Then I looked in the rearview mirror and saw crocodile tears beginning to stream down her cheeks, eyes turning red, and a bottom lip that was about to touch the floor board. Man. Well, I tried to patch that up but it only held for a little while because she broke down AGAIN at dinner. Clay said something about her needing to stop doing something, and there came the tears again. I asked her what was wrong and she barely choked out the words, "I don't want Santa Claus to bring me coral!"
"Coral?" I asked.
"Yes! (sobbing) That's what Santa brings to kids who are bad!"
It's so hard not to laugh in times like these. But it was no laughing matter to her. In fact, it took about 10 full minutes for C to console her and another five to explain that coral would actually be a nice gift. In the words of Junie B. Jones, wowie wow wow.

Book Review: Thanks to VB's recommendation, we've been reading the advent story, "Jotham's Journey" together since Thanksgiving. We've all loved it, so I'm suggesting it to everyone with elementary-aged or older kids to read in future years. Good stuff.

Amazing and Not So Much...

It turns out that Midland really is the hub of the universe. FBC has just hired a new worship leader. He's coming from Florida, but he and his wife grew up...that's right...in Midland. His dad was youth min. at Kelview back in the day. In fact, they're there right now, hopefully remembering to bring back a dozen sausage, egg, and cheese burritos from Jumburrito to earn my friendship. :-) Anyway, that makes 3 out of 6 FBC staff members whose testimony includes the phrase, "When I lived in Midland..." I, too, am flabbergasted.

Well, the Amazing Race has reached its conclusion this season. We were somewhat disappointed in it this time because all the people were so rude to one another. And it gives me no pleasure to see mean people winning 1 million dollars. They probably don't even tithe. But it was sort of predictable...all the meanness, I mean. Because it was the Family Edition, and how do you get teams of 4 family members to act nicely 24/7 in such conditions? I'm racking my brain and I can't think of any of you whose family wouldn't be painful to watch in a competitive, stressful environment like the Amazing Race. :-) NO offense; I'm sure you could say the same about us. But if we all ever do get together for an Amazing Race, I think it should definitely go through Midland....

Eight Thumbs Up

so everyone should go see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I'm saying it's the best movie of the entire year, even better than my other faves - Because of Winn Dixie, Cinderella Man, and Pride and Prejudice. and take your kids b/c they'll love it, too.

Holiday Musings

It's been a year. Here's some stuff I've missed lately:

going into Miss Caycie's and saying, "oooo, I like that" and then getting it the next day (hey, AL!)
C'view staff Christmas party and the sumo wrestler
having a personal photographer who chronicles our lives at no charge (hey, JB!)
Parker playground moms
Thanksgiving Around the Tables, except that last one was sad and then i got hives the next day
Home for the Holidays table with TS, VB, LW, and other Parker folk
Mornings at Oscars or Jumburrito (hey, SM!)
the c'view gym b/c it's the time of year I used to get to show SJ a thing or two on the bball court
Upward Bball
serving as AL's little servant girl at various holiday functions :-)
a little farther back, Christmas Eve after church - the Ash-bash.

You can all start to anxiously await the arrival of the Hopkins' Christmas letter. It's written, but has had to wait for metal chip in eye to clear, B's black eye and NOW big nose scrape to clear before adding a nice family photo. c'mon and admit it - you know you're excited.

do NOT try this at home, kids

We thought C had pink eye. Turns out he had a metal chip imbedded in his cornea. You see, sometimes when you're cutting the tops off fence posts and you don't wear safety goggles this can happen. Dr. JM let even let me have a look in the microscope and pointed out the circle of RUST that is still in C's eyeball. ewwwww. Doc says it should heal up with medicine and I sure hope so, b/c if not...he'll have to have it scraped off. double ewwwww.

Did you know that lipstick can go through the washer AND dryer and remain completely contained within the tube? At least with Clinique lipstick, I've found this to be true. The lipstick itself is ruined, but the clothes are clean and unblemished. However, I have NOT had similar luck with ballpoint pens. These tend to explode all over your clothes.

good times

well that was fun. here's the down-low:

*saw Dreamer with A while C&B watched Harry P
*saw Chicken Little with C's whole fam and celebrated M and H's birthdays
*played football
*ate turkey and lots of other good stuff with C's whole fam + the Ss
*played more football
*played cards til way too late/early (2 a.m.) with the Gs and Ss--what am I, 19?
*watched football
*watched C and TW finish the fence
*ate leftovers
*ate at Abuelo's and saw Pride and Prejudice with C, the fence guy and his wife. Have to say of the 3 movies I saw this week, P&P was my fave. and only 2 weeks to Narnia!
*facilitated SS discussion of M and the burning bush
*took a nap!

hope YOU had fun!

Turkey Day

Too much of a good thing is wonderful. - Mae West

With this in mind, C's 2005 reasons for thankfulness:
* Faithful Jesus, who illuminates every good thing with proper light
* A's public declaration of her trust in Him
* The friendship of my 39-year-old-but-still-hot husband
* A boy who admires his little sister but picks on her as big brothers are inclined to do
* A girl who adores her big brother but doesn't hesitate to kick him in the shin
* A mom and dad so lovable I'd let them retire on the back-forty.
* lots of family who don't live very far off anymore
* a job...i think i've mentioned this before...that i can do while wearing pajamas
* old friends - cell phones, email, Yahoo! Games, and a blog
* new friends - brunches, lunches, and dinners. movies, shopping, a day spa, a week in Abilene, Hand and Foot, a great house, girls' trip to The Woodlands, and a really, really, really large fence.

Of course there is a lot more stuff, but if I want to keep that job that I can do in pjs, I'd better get cracking today. I hope you have a wonderful week of family and/or friends, good food, and praise of the One who makes life worth celebrating. And since I can't sit at everyone's table on Thursday, I'll just go ahead and tell you: I love you. I'm thankful for you. And I hope the Aggies can somehow miraculously beat the Longhorns. Hullabaloo, everybody!

All My Peeps

Yay for the coldness that's coming today. I don't think that I mentioned it, but when I was in N'ville last week, it was the most perfect fall weather. 30's at night, mid-60's during the day...and so pretty! I also didn't mention the big fun that I had with writer-friends there. It is very cool to have friends who serve in ministry all over the country. I have writer buddies in Tennessee, Georgia, Oklahoma, Idaho, California, Virginia, Montana, Nebraska, Mississippi, Maryland, North Carolina, New Mexico, Vancouver, and other places that I can't think of right now. You should know that there are some incredible people writing Bible study curriculum; they exercise in daily life the truths with which they challenge others.

so how come y'all have been so slow on the comments lately? i see you're still visiting daily, but have been somewhat speechless (except for those of you who don't like to comment but who email your answers or tell me in person...i like that). how 'bout everybody comment me and tell me what you're doing for Thanksgiving.

you see, we BUILD to that

Thanksgiving coming up. I wonder if it will be 8o + degrees? Let's begin our preparations by contemplating the things we're NOT thankful for...

* e-tickets that don't divulge pertinent information (like which terminal you'll be departing from). yep, got there and had no clue. called clay-pot but the dfw site was down. of course, guessed wrong, causing unnecessary walking at both beginning and end of trip. argh.
* unseasonably hot weather
* rocks where there ought to be soil. makes fence post digging difficult for my hard-working honey-man.
* unidentifiable illnesses
* fantasy basketball players already injured, causing my team to hoover
* dust
* nasty HBO in my hotel room. unable to surf thru channels safely after a long day of work
* distance
* spam and SPAM
* movies that you expect to be good but end up being stupid and dumb
* dishrags that don't absorb water. i guess that's what they mean by linens 'n things
* memory loss
* having to wait until January for the season premiere of your most favorite show in the whole wide world
* Alias, season 5

p.s.

Great news & horrible news for my friends...Macy's lump is benign! She'll have surgery to take it out, but that should be the end of it. But Bobby's younger brother died in a car wreck Sunday night. Bobby told Clay on the phone today that this last week has been like a final exam when it comes to exercising faith. Keep praying for them.

Well, I'm off to N'ville tomorrow. Bummer, too, because I'll miss B's presentation as Walter Elias Disney in the school cafeteria Thursday night. :-(

Yea for video!

sometimes writing a title for this thing is just a chore

You know you're out of shape when....
every time you go to answer the phone the person on the other end says, "What are you doing? You sound like you're out of breath."

I think I've hit the treadmill one whole time since we moved in August (for various reasons such as illness, anters-play ort-way, and pure laziness). But I can still amaze the 9th grade boys with my man-like ability to heave the pigskin and spin a basketball on all 10 digits. So there.

We're building a fence. Usually when I say "we", I mean Clay. But last night Abby and I helped to set 8 or so posts. I think that Brandon is going to get in on the action tonight. And I would just like to say again, an acre is very big. Also, I must offer public thanks and appreciation to the Redwood guy for his expert hands-on help and advice.

No More Sickness

This week I've been busy writing discussion questions for FUEL (youth dvd curriculum). My book of study? REVELATION. It's been fun, actually; except for that one session that covers chapters 4-20. That one was a bit of overload. Anyway, I thought I'd give you some of the questions because you seem to have been uninspired to comment on my recent blogs. I don't blame you, really; I've been far too brief to expect banter.

Anyways...a sampling from the various lessons:
* Why wasn't it good enough that the church at Ephesus was hard–working and resisted sin? Why is love so important? What is your usual motivation to serve?
* Do you think that it is easier to stand strong under the persecution of an enemy or under worldly temptations? Why?
* What does it mean that Jesus is described as both a lion and a lamb? What does that mean to your life?
* Compare and contrast the judgment described in Revelation with the judgments that God pronounced in the times of Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Tower of Babel. What does this teach you about God?
* In what ways do people express pride in their hometowns? How can you express pride over the new hometown that awaits you?

so go ahead and ponder.

and while you're at it, pray for our little friend Macy A. in Midland. She has a mass on the back of her leg and has to have a biopsy on Monday. And pray for her mom and dad, Bobby and Josie, who have to endure the weekend after hearing the dr. drop words like chemotherapy and radiation after viewing Macy's MRI yesterday.

Recreation?

I almost had a "Meet the Parents" moment tonight in our last volleyball game when this guy spiked the ball with all his manly muscles directly at my head.

Church league volleyball is of the devil.

If only...

Clay and I just finished season 4 of Smallville on DVD, so I couldn't help but think last night that if the Astros had Clark Kent on their team they would have won that game.

Name Dropper, Part Deux

If I were a braggart :-), I might tell you that our friend who had the tickets for last night couldn't get the Diamond Club seats this time (yawn). It seems that he's a partner with EY and the team he oversees handles the Astros account. As such, he sits in the Diamond Club with Drayton from time to time. But sadly, they were forced to sit 21 rows up down the third base line. Still, Clay had a great time...everything except for the losing part, that is.

However, since I'm not really all that into boring you with such blatant and arrogant pretension, I'll tell you some other stories:
* Clay and D.N. found themselves across the aisle (same row, one section over) from my little bro and his wife. how cool is that?
* Brandon's 5th grade program at school is Thursday night. I thought I'd stir up some dinnertime conversation and asked him Monday night, "If your program were on Tuesday night instead of Thursday night, what do you think your dad would choose: the World Series or your impersonation of Ed Sullivan in "ROCK: The History of Rock 'n Roll". Hmmmmm?" He immediately and confidently explained that surely Clay would choose the program, because "Family is more important than sports." Good thing for Clay that Brandon still doesn't know any differently. But when I asked Brandon, "What if your dad was going to preach and your friends invited you to a Rockets/Mavs game that meant you'd have to miss church? What would you choose?" Brandon: "Well, I'm a kid. Of course I'd go to the game." And there ya' have it.
* The staff at church enjoys at least a weekly prank. So after hearing about our dinnertime conversation, they called Brandon's elementary school and asked LsS to have the principal send a bogus email, explaining that a District event has conflicted with Thursday night's program, which has now been rescheduled for Tuesday night. That was some funny stuff.

Gamer

Clay is going to game 3!

short version: guy from church calls and says, "I hear you're a big Astros fan. I have two tickets . Wanna go with me?" So being the great guy that he is, he called me (with what sounded a bit like trepidation--maybe a tiny fear that we'd have irreversible plans that he knew nothing about) and asked if it was ok with me. Of course, after asking the only question that really mattered: "How much?" and getting the answer that every wife loves to hear ("free"), I shared in his joy and gave my blessings upon his long-awaited mecca.

I think he might be more excited than he was on the day we married. :-)

You see, since he was but a wee lad, he has reserved a portion of his brain for the storage of thousands of useless Astros facts. He has since filled that part of his brain to overflowing. Yes, in 30-something years, he has loved his Astros, even when they would have been more aptly known as "Dis"astros. He has even chastised friends who were less than devout, climbing aboard and then down again this 43 year (or whatever) wagon.

Thanks to Nana, he's even already got the proper fan apparel - a League Champion t-shirt, hot off the racks. So, go Roy O. and the rest of the boys - Clay Hopkins will be in the stands!

lyrical thoughts

yea, Astros!

so i was driving this morning and thinking about your responses to the foresight vs. hindsight question. then this song came on the radio and it made me think about my own hindsight. so i thought i'd share because even though it's not where i am currently, it's where i have been before. It's by Mark Schultz and it's called "He Will Carry Me". Hindsight tells me that it is true. Foresight tells me that it will be true again.


And even though I’m walking
Through the valley of the shadow
I will hold tight to the hand of Him
Who’s love will comfort me
And when my hope is gone
And I’ve been wounded in the battle
He is all the strength that I will ever need
He will carry me

p.s. i love that i can go home, click a few buttons after hearing a song on the radio and have it on my computer for just $1, without having to buy the whole cd!

late night ramblings

Pujols. even though his name makes me laugh, i don't really like him...not one little bit.

birch.net - who ARE you? inquiring minds want to know.

p.s. everyone - feel free to comment on previous posts this time since i've gotten somewhat ahead of us all today.

game 5

GO 'STROS!