Saturday Shout Outs!

Before I get to my Shout Outs for today, I need to make a confession.  Yesterday I told you all that I would be avoiding Black Friday, and that my family and I would be seeing a movie, eating lunch and putting up our Christmas tree.  All of that happened, and it was a great day.  BUT...   For reasons I don't yet understand, the cosmos conspired against me right after lunch, and I wound up at Citrus Park Mall with my wife and mother.  Will was spared.  After a 4-hour death march through the mall (OK, so it was only about an hour- but still...) we went to Big Lots looking for a new tree, which we did not buy.  If you know me at all you know I am a buyer, not a shopper, so all of this "browsing" was more than I could handle.  It was all I could do to muster enough energy to put up our old tree when we got home.  But it's up and decorated, and I am still alive and kicking.  So now on to some Shout Outs:

• I had such a blessed Thanksgiving with my wife, mother and son.  God has given me so much when I deserve so little- but that is a definition of grace, isn't it?  We don't get what we deserve...
• Marilyn and I had dinner with Lauren Carr Cacciatore (FUMC-K) and her husband Brad a couple of weeks ago here in Tampa and had a blast catching up.  We had not seen each other in 9 years or so, but it was just like old times.  I am happy to report that we even found food she enjoyed- a major task when you consider that I once drove all over Atlanta trying to find her some KFC!  It was great seeing her, and she would still be one of my favorites...if I had favorites...which I don't, of course...
• I hope you all enjoyed the New York flashbacks as much as I did.  I'm still trying to get over Jamie Robinson's (Springfield Friends) comment that he didn't like Mama Leone's ans slept through Les Miz.  To quote Jamie from back in the day, "WHATEVER!"
• The little Holy Books (song by James Ward) video I put together to help people learn the books of the Bible is about to pass 2000 views on YouTube.  I just think that is cool. 
• Congrats to Sara Thacker Reiter, Darin Miller and all the rest of my friends who are Auburn Tiger fans.  The whole Auburn/Alabama rivalry doesn'tmean that much to me, but you beat Nick Saban.  I love it when good triumphs over evil...  WAR EAGLE! 



The Jones Family Tree, 2010

• We did see Tangled 3D yesterday, and all agreed that it rocked in the classic Disney animated tradition.  I was especially fond of the horse.  Oh- and as usual, our tree features mostly Disney ornaments.  We are very predictable!
• The Christmas movie season is upon us, and I have a problem.  All of my Christmas VHS movies (Scrooged, Home Alone 2, The Santa Claus and about 10 more) are missing.  We found the DVDs, but not the videos, which I have apparently put someplace special so they would be easy to find.  I really hate it when I do stuff like that!  If you have knowledge of the whereabouts of my movies, please contact me immediately.  If you would like to see my list of my favorite Christmas movies and shows click here!
• I had lunch this past Wednesday with Lisa Kraus Spires.  It's always great to see Lisa, and as always I learned something new about her.  Did you know she once assembled a Christmas tree upside down?  Did you know that she once caught a dish of yams on fire in her oven?  See what you miss when live too far from Tampa for lunch with us?  :)
• Susan Allen (NC Quakers), I would still love some pictures of Screech.  Especially if you have any of you guys in your homemade Screech t-shirts...
• Thanks to all of my Twitter followers who have become blog readers over the past month or so.  Now I guess I will have to keep writing a while longer- and that's a good thing!

That's it for now.  Hope to see you back here soon, and keep those comments coming!  E-mail me anytime at Youthguy07@aol.com   Have a blessed Sabbath tomorrow!

Because of Jesus,