OH HAPPY (SNOWY) DAY!!!

As often as we have fun in the sun during the summer, very rarely do we get to have fun.....IN THE SNOW!!! We doubled up on Friday and Saturday and had an absolute blast. From building a snowman, to making snow ice cream, to just pummeling each other with snowballs, the snow created an awesome set of memories. This was the first real snow that Caden and Lala had truly experienced. We got a dusting last year and Caden was able to slide down the hill and do a little bit, but nowhere near the fun that we had this weekend with it.

We spent Friday playing at our house and Saturday playing at Bitsy and Poppi's. Poppi broke out the lawnmower and the sleds and the kids got to ride around and have a great time. We also had a fun snowball fight, adults and kids!! :) Overall, the snow was a fun experience, but glad that I don't live somewhere that has to deal with lots of snow daily. Wouldn't want to do it. I will just take my 1 or 2 days every couple of years and be content and happy with that.

WE WILL MISS YOU SNOW!!

PUMP IT UP!!! (ALL TO OURSELVES)

This week, Pump it Up had an open playdate and the kids were really wanting to go somewhere to rip and run and just be kids. So we decided to take them to Pump it Up. I will say that anytime I have ever been to Pump it UP, there have always been a ton of folks there and I sometimes worry about letting mine run free because I am scared that they will get knocked off the climbing ladder or something of that nature.

Well this trip to Pump it Up was rare and unusual. We were the only folks in the building, having it all to ourselves. AND WE HAD A BLAST!!! Lala is now of age where she can do most of it herself. We are still a little hesitant about letting her run free, but she did awesome. It was so much fun to just let them jump around and be crazy. It was also so much fun to participate in the experience with them and not just watch from the side.

I will say that they are quickly changing and any memories that we build as a family are priceless. The most fun was playing "popcorn" with them and seeing how high I could shoot them off the blown up ball in the middle. I think at one time I almost launched Lala out of the entire cage. :) Caden has become very brave and that warms my heart as a dad, but also know from experience what that may hold. He was going down the big slide forwards, backwards, upside down, and towards the end got a little too brave!!

He decided to barrel roll from the top of the big slide. The first roll was good..........the second roll looked like Carl Edwards coming across the finish line at Talladega...... Half upside down and crashing into the side wall. Thanks to the Lord, he was fine, but I don't think he will be doing the barrel roll at Pump it Up anymore!! Caden said "That was sorta fun but sorta scary!!"

I thank the Lord everyday for my wife and my little monkeys and so glad that I have the opportunity to do fun things like this with them.

The family that plays together, stays together.

GUATEMALA

ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA JANUARY 14TH -18TH

Although it has been a few weeks since our wonderful wedding trip down to Guatemala, I wanted to take some time to recap the trip for you and show you some of the beautiful scenery. I also wanted to give a big congratulations to Jonathan and Luisa Moody!! The wedding was absolutely beautiful and we pray that God will continue to bless you and your marriage.

WEDNESDAY - JANUARY 13th - HEADED TO ATLANTA

I will try not to tell 5 million stories as I go through and update this blog but there are many that have to be told and have to be preserved. :)

As we begin the blog stories, Jonathan's Uncle Donnie will be a major focal point in most of the highlights. All I can say is that man is a hoot and we had an adventurous blast! Thank you sir for some hilarious, yet sometimes scary memories.

The funny highlight on the trip to Atlanta actually turned out to be a huge blessing from the Lord. As Shannon and I checked our passports 5 million times, I felt the urge in the car to just make sure one more time that we had them. We had carpooled with Uncle Donnie and met in Moody. Uncle Donnie lives in Adamsville. The original plan was to carpool and meet around 5:30, be in Atlanta by 9:00 and have plenty of time to sleep before the big flight out the next morning. Well somewhere around the Talladega exit, I asked Shannon to check one more time for our passports. As soon as the word passport came out of my mouth, Donnie yells, "Oh shoot!! We gotta go back yall. I left my passport at the house!" Keep in mind that Adamsville is a good hour from Moody. Part of me went "there goes 2 good hours of sleep" yet the other part of me felt that I would have rather it happened then than to get to the airport the next day and he not be able to get on the plane and be there that day for the rehearsal dinner. Needless to say, this was the beginning of crazy things to come. We arrived in Atlanta safe and sound, checked into the hotel, and got a good nights sleep.

THURSDAY - JANUARY 14TH - DINNER REHEARSAL

The early morning in Atlanta was peaceful and easy. Shannon was in good spirits as was I. It was nice to have a trip ahead of us being just the two of us. It had been awhile and we were really excited about it. On the ride to the airport, we shared a shuttle with a girl from England. I loved the way she talked and was happy that I had a wife who kept her talking. I think Shannon actually knew that I liked the way she talked, so thank you babe for the good work! :) No problems at all through the airport and we loaded and flew with no incidents.

As we touched down in Guatemala City, Guatemala, the landscape did not match the pictures that I had seen on the internet. We caught a van with the rest of the family and headed out towards Antigua. I remember taking in the sites and it reminding me very much of Honduras, which is just a rock throw away from Guatemala. As we reached Antigua, the first thing that popped out to me were the volcanoes in the background. They were huge and gorgeous. As we entered in to the main gate of our hotel, my breathe was taken away. On the outside is a wall that you have no idea what lies on the otherside. And as you enter, you are entering a land of absolute beauty. Flowers, water, plants, the awesome mountainside, ruins, hanging vines, parrots in the trees chirping. BREATH TAKING is the best description.

It took Shannon and I some time to really digest everything that surrounded us. We checked in and headed to the room and then had plenty of time to just explore.

TOUR OF THE CASA SANTO DOMINGO

















That evening was the rehearsal dinner. We walked from our room to a museum where they held their rehearsal dinner.

The walkway through the hotel area and through the streets of the city was lined with 3000 candles. It was stunning. At the rehearsal dinner, we were able to spend some time with Shannon's boss and his wife, Gabi and Kim. They are such wonderful people and I am so glad that the Lord has blessed Shannon with such a wonderful job and wonderful employers. We enjoyed the events of the rehearsal dinner and then headed off to bed. I could only imagine how beautiful the wedding was going to be.

FRIDAY - JANUARY 15TH - WEDDING DAY

We awoke and had an awesome breakfast buffett. The fruit was the absolute bomb!! I wish I had fruit like that to eat everyday. Shannon and I went down to get on the internet to send out a quick email that we had arrived and were good and to check on the kids so far. We then left and went to venture out into the city. It was very fun. We would not make it on Amazing Race, but I thought we made a great team in Antigua.

We were able to find our way to the square and to the market, and by the end of the weekend, we knew our way around just fine. We were able to go through an old cathedral that was run down. It reminded me a lot of Rome, so that was cool.

We then moved to the main square which was really cool.

At one particular point, one of the volcanoes began to spew out some smoke. I took some pictures of that and thought that was really cool as well!

We went on to the market was able to make some good deals. One of our favorite little hideaways for the weekend happened to be a little McDonalds, which turned out to not be so little and also had FREE INTERNET!!

So it just happened to be the hangout spot for us most of the weekend. It also was a very pretty setting, so it really wasn't all that bad. We didn't play in the city too long on this day because we knew we had to get back and rest up for the wedding.

THE WEDDING. WHAT A WEDDING!! Probably the most beautiful wedding I have ever attended. I can't describe it. You just need to look at the pictures below, and they still do not do it justice. They had the real Orchestra of Guatemala playing live music during the wedding. Bells were rung. Firecrackers were shot in conclusion. Unbelievable, with a wedding reception that was just as good. Shannon and I stayed till around 11:45, but were told that the party lasted till 3am. Hate that we are getting old and just can't hang with the young bucks anymore!! LOL

SATURDAY - JANUARY 16TH - ADVENTURES IN ANTIGUA

With no time constraints left on the trip, we were free to enjoy our Saturday and Sunday. We spent most of Saturday again roaming the city, taking pictures, and making purchases. We were able to spend some time in the square and enjoy our own little concert with some locals. Here is a video below of that.

CONCERT IN THE SQUARE

One of my favorite landmarks of the city was the Golden Arch which had the big volcano centered behind it. We were able to watch a local family with musical talent put on a mini concert for us. It was very cool to see and hear the instruments that they were playing. One kid was actually playing a set of turtle shells! See video.

MUSIC UNDER THE ARCH

We ended up coming back to this arch to eat dinner that evening.

We all came and ate at a restaurant located right under the arch called the Real Steakhouse.

We had a blast together and the food was great. It was an open restaurant with live music and enjoyable atmosphere. Fun evening!!

SUNDAY - JANUARY 17TH - HIKING WITH THE PRIEST

LA MERCED

With one more full day left to venture out, we decided to hang with the Moodys and Father Jonathan all day. It was very fun. We finished up our shopping at the market and had a good time hanging out.

Towards the end of the day, Shannon and Doris

went to the pool and the boys went on a hike. Father Jonathan, Daniel, and myself went on a hike to Cerro de la Cruz. The view was incredible. Watch the video below to see how a volcano appears from out behind trees.

The hike was not what we expected, being it only took around 10 minutes to get to the top. We expected it to take a lot longer. Once we reached the peak and we able to take in the view, we were there for over an hour just gazing at the beauty

of the Lord.

CERRO DE LA CRUZ

We had some good discussion time as well. We finished the evening by taking Father Jonathan out to eat for his birthday. It too was a very good time.

MONDAY - JANUARY 18TH - CLOSING OUT THE TRIP WITH A BANG! EARTHQUAKE BANG THAT IS

A great trip would not be complete without some major drama or major action. Well we finished our trip with both!!

We will start with the action. We woke up Monday morning, had most of our stuff packed and had to be ready to climb in the van to head to the airport by 10:00. We had a little bit of what Shannon calls "Guatemalas" left that we needed to spend. So we decided to go see the ladies who were selling items inside of our hotel. As we were looking at things to buy, the ground all of the sudden began to shake. The shop lady began to speak really fast in Spanish and grabbed me by my shoulders. I had no idea what was going on, yet could look and see that things were shaking back and forth. No damage occurred, but we did not figure out what it was until it had stopped. The lady was actually trying to get us away from the corner of a building so that it would not collapse on top of us. The earthquake was a 6.0 quake about 60 miles south of Guatemala City. We did not find this out until we landed in Atlanta. Thanks to all who said prayer for us during this time. We know it could have been a lot worse.

We closed out our trip with some scary drama. Uncle Donnie had bought 2 jade smoking pipes for a buddy at work from the street markets of Antigua. As we reached Atlanta, he was randomly pulled into customs, upon which the drug dogs detected something in his pipes that he had bought. As we attempted to wait patiently, 1 hour turned to 2, which turned to 3 and we knew that something was really wrong. By the grace of God, they let Uncle Donnie go and we were able to get our ride back home to finally lay to rest in our own wonderful bed.





This was the last picture taken as we left Guatemala. It was a trip of a lifetime and I am thankful for the many memories made!! It was also a wonderful opportunity to see the beauty of the Lord in a foreign country.

KU VS UT....I REALLY WISH I COULD HAVE HEARD "ROCKY TOP" ONE MORE TIME. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Sunday, my pastor, his boy, my brother, and I traveled to Knoxville TN to watch the #1 team in America, the Kansas Jayhawks, take on the Tennessee Volunteers. We left that morning and drove pretty much all the way there before we stopped for lunch. We ate lunch at Wild Wing Cafe. Great place to stop and eat if you are taking a trip towards the Knoxville area. We arrived and found a decent parking spot about an hour before the tipoff of the game. I will say that it was extremely cold and found it hilarious that our pastor's son was actually walking in and wearing shorts!!! Of course, they are from the north so to him, he said "This isn't cold, you guys don't know what cold is!"

We get in and find our seats pretty easy. We were very happy to see that although we were the opposing team and obviously going to be outnumbered, we were sitting amongst a ton of Jayhawks fans. So at least if we were to throw down, we would have help!! :) The place was packed out and was very loud. It was awesome to experience such a crazy atmosphere for a basketball game. I will say that I really thought with all of the junk going on with Tennessee's program, they were going to get killed by Kansas. And with my pastor being such a huge Kansas fan, I was hoping for this reason it would happen as well. Not the case.

As the game began, Tennessee played with a lot of emotion and Kansas seemed very flat and lethargic. As the game progressed, Tennessee was making EVERYTHING they threw up and Kansas was turning the ball over almost every other trip. I was amazed that the game stayed as close as it did with as horrible as Kansas played. I will not lie and say that it being a close game made for a wonderful atmosphere at the very end.

The photo above is one of my favorite from the trip. Some things I will remember is that Rocky Top is the only song known in the state of Tennessee. I will guess that it was played at least 30 times in a 2 hour span. Being an Alabama fan, it was pure torture to hear that song over and over. The other thing that I will remember is how the student section was too chicken to rush the floor in the end. If my team just beat the number 1 team in the nation, it would take masses of people to keep me and my buddies off the floor. Yet they did not even make one big push to attempt to get on the floor. Poor, poor, student section.

Thanks to our pastor for inviting us to go and hope we get to make it to some more games soon! Even though it was a loss, I know that he will continue his "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" chant as my brother and I continue our "Let's Go Duke" chant. How awesome would it be to have a Kansas vs Duke National Championship game. We shall see.

LET IT SNOW, LET IS SNOW, LET IT .......... NOT SHOW!?!?!?!?

As a teacher, Christmas break is a wonderful thing. There is lots of time to do lots of different things....like blog. :) But as the routine of school has come back around, the free time that was once enjoyed has now become limited.

So when the news broke that we were going to get snow on Thursday and Friday, "snow joy" filled the Whitt household. We were so looking forward to building a snowman, making snow icecream, and riding the sled down the hill. You can only imagine the disappointment when my children went down for their nap with flurries all over the place and woke up to .........sunshine and grass??? No snow. NO SNOW!!! DAD, WHERE IS THE SNOW??!!??!! I had to break the tough news that the snow had never truly arrived, and was not going to make an appearance. The rule learned which I am sure we have all learned by now is this. If the weather folks say we are going to get snow, we ain't gettin snow. It's the times where they say that we will only see flurries or not get any at all. That's when we need to truly run to the grocery stores. I am still of the belief that grocery stores and meteorologists are part of a secret society to take care of each other!! :)



Although the snow never arrived, it was very nice to have a day off to just chill. I was able to do a lot of reading and just enjoy the day with the wife and kids. I will say that I probably did too much reading, but thank my wonderful wife for not getting too upset with me about that.

We finished out the evening like many others watching the BCS National Championship game between Alabama and Texas. I was very happy that Alabama won, but one of the big things that will stick out for many is the fact that Texas's best player, QB Colt McCoy was knocked out of the game 5 plays into their first drive and never returned. Unfortunately, this drastically changed the game and put Colt in the spotlight in a totally different manner than he had been in the entire year. I am an avid Alabama football fan, yet one of the biggest things that I will remember about this game is how Colt McCoy stayed strong in his faith as he was interviewed by the media at the end of the game.

In his postgame interview, Colt McCoy stated, "I always give God the glory. I never question why things happen the way they do. God is in control of my life, and I know that nothing else, I'm standing on the Rock."

My FCA devotion on Friday was entitled "Praise in Defeat" and talked about Colt and his witness during this defeated time in his life. The focus verse was Job 1:21 which states:

".....The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Praise the name of the Lord."

It really made me think about how many times in our lives it is very easy for us to praise the name of the Lord when we are on top, when things are going well, when life is "easy." But how about when life is hard? Do we praise the name of the Lord when our car breaks down and we only have $5 to fix a $500 job? Do we praise the name of the Lord when we are physically injured and can no longer go about the routines of our day as we once did? Or do we praise the name of the Lord when we have a certain desire on our heart that we want fulfilled and "not right now" or "no" continues to be the answer from Our Father?

I commend Colt McCoy for standing strong and sharing his faith in defeat. It's so much easier to praise His Name when we are hoisting up the trophy or things in our life are going wonderfully well. But the Lord has called us to praise His Name in all things, good, bad, or ugly. I pray that our focus will be that the Lord IS ALWAYS in control and know that He loves us, regardless of our circumstances or situations. Praise His Name today in whatever situation you are in, because somebody out there is watching!

If you missed it, below is a link to Colt's postgame interview and also another youtube video called "I Am Second" that he and Sam Bradford, Oklahoma's QB, made. Both of these kids have been in the spotlight and have taken major stands in their faith and personal relationships with the Lord, and may God bless them for that.

Postgame Interview
I Am Second video

ROLL TIDE!!

Congratulations to the Alabama Crimson Tide for becoming the 2009 - 2010 BCS National Champs!!!

2010 - A New Way?

As my wife and I closed out 2009 with a wonderful dinner date to Flemings ( I would encourage all to partake of this restaurant at least once in your life!!), we began to talk about the 5 million things that are already on the calendar for 2010. Even though the first day of the new year has not even begun yet, there are things already looked forward to and planned out on paper (Tennessee vs Kansas basketball trip and Guatemala wedding trip to name a couple). The beginning of a new year is always exciting for many because it brings a sense of "starting over." The previous year is always different for all. For some, it was filled with wonderful memories such as getting married, finding out that you are pregnant, maybe getting a job just to name a couple. For some, it was a year of struggling with some painful/sad memories involved. The beginning of a new year always brings about a time of reflection and an inner want to make the next year better. New goals are set, bad habits are targeted to eliminate, and the overall persona of a clean slate comes as a refreshing thought to many. Yet, should it be a new year that always brings about the thoughts and development of a new way?

Jesus says in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Many times we lose focus of the fact that the Lord is chasing us and there for us daily. We often get caught in our daily routines and within those same routines, we have habits that we really don't like in our lives. Instead of facing these things and turning them over to Him, we just keep rolling along in life letting these things get the best of us most times. Know that although this is the first day of a brand new year, the way we feel about the first day of a new year is the way we can and should feel about each day the Lord blesses us with. We should live each day for Him meaning that every time we wake up and our feet hit the floor, we should evaluate where we are in our relationship and walk with Our Savior. Make everyday count as a new day, not a new way.

Our "way" should always be Jesus. We will all face our own personal struggles and challenges in this new year we have entered into. Many of us on this day will make a commitment to stop doing certain things, or start doing certain things. We will all experience the good and the bad of 2010. May our hearts be renewed daily yet may our "way" never change.

Shane and Shane sing a song called "Great Reward." This song is my prayer for 2010.

May God bless your 2010!!