Movember

This is how Greg looked for all of November.  Oddly enough, he had very few questions as to why he was sporting a fu manchu.  Well, it's all related to one particular Aussie that we know.  He's a cancer survivor and Greg decided to support the cause.

Here's some info about it:

The Mo, slang for moustache, and November come together each year for Movember. 

Movember challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st  clean-shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month.  The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men.  Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, the men of Movember commit to growing a moustache for 30 days. 

The idea for Movember was sparked in 2003 over a few beers in Melbourne, Australia.  The plan was simple – to bring the moustache back as a bit of a joke and do something for men’s health. No money was raised in 2003, but the guys behind the Mo realized the potential a moustache had in generating conversations about men’s health.  Inspired by the women around them and all they had done for breast cancer, the Mo Bros set themselves on a course to create a global men’s health movement.  

Greg had opportunity to speak with a couple of guy about the movement and encourage them to remember to look into their health.

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 You know us, we're always ready for a chance to dress up in crazy outfits.  The company we had was awesome, the movie was good, not great but didn't expect it to me.  We're now reading Book VII so that Noel can prove to Greg that the book was nowhere near as boring as the movie made it seem...but familiar with Noel's book-to-movie-inherent-issues rantings, he never doubted it but is patient with Noel and likes it when she reads to him.

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We were able to take a couple days off to go to San Antonio for Thanksgiving.  In addition, we celebrated Ethan's 3rd birthday!

Good aunts give lots of piggy back rides

Habañero's burritos...yummm

Lewis the scary snapping turtle dog

breakfast courtesy of Hope n Joe!

Ethan's new Ice Cream playdoh machine...what kind of cruelty is it that they make an "ice cream machine" and then the whole time you have to tell the 3 yr old ice cream maker that it's not actually edible

hate to hold hands? no problem, just put your hands in your pockets!

sweet potato and apples maker!

Thanksgiving TV and football...evidently, the Rocky marathon currently

Dinner!

"just act natural", i said.

Annual Thanksgiving walk and park playing

playing Connect on Al & Mike's xbox360...it's pretty sweet, not gonna lie--hope n joe are playing ping pong

unfortunately, it records your moves and plays them back for you

dad killin' it at bowling

Collins ladies!

"dance" connect

Ethan's bday party!

giant presents are the best

start 'em early, start 'em right

power tool ethan, but safety goggles first

 It was a good month.  We did lots of homework in there, too...I know we did....

The First of Many

Our impromptu decision was to leave at 1230am on Friday. Much like meeting paper deadlines during undergrad, it seemed to make more sense to stay up all night and get the job done instead of waking up early on the due date to get everything done. But we're older than we used to be and all-nighters should not be considered an option in our near future at Seminary. To make up for any lost time, we opted to drive straight through to San Antonio from Chicago and skip the aforementioned "kamping" in Janis, MO.  Whatever time we thought we gained by leaving when we did, was lost with the number of stops for resting. There's a moral to this story, but Greg isn't willing to admit it yet.

Lest the first 1,200 miles and 23hrs of our trans-continental road trip sound like all doom and/or gloom, let the reader understand that we had a great time crammed together with a month's worth of clothes, food, and other roadtrip accoutrement (pronounced with an outrageous French accent, por favor)

2 near-death experiences in Oklahoma, make us somewhat hesitant to drive thru again... though since we were on a major interstate, we certainly do not hold the Sooner State or her residents responsible. Since Greg is writing this particular post, I can add that I look forward to a balance of scoresheet in the Red River Rivalry to happen Sooner rather than “Long”er in history.

2 big encouragements from this trip: an increase of Sonic and Chic-Fil-A billboards and the reminder that not even smelly close quarters that unfortunately included our cactus stabbing me as I drove, uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, too many unproductive/unscheduled stops, and a finicky ignition switch... none of these things prevailed against the power of our marriage as long as we had 16 decent CDs to sing along with together, sufficient caffeine, and the overflow of love and forgiveness from the Lord our Strength, who once again has proven faithful to prepare our way and sustain us through the journey... Blessed be His Name!