Happy Birthday, Drewber!!!

One year ago today this little guy was born.




Like him, life has been nonstop since. Rebecca and I thought life with number two would be a lot like life with number one. I guess you just figure you combine to make a certain kind of kid. Turns out there are lots of possible combinations.

Andrew makes me laugh out loud. He loves to dance, laugh, cuddle, and play. Sometimes all at the same time. He hasn't found his rhythm, but he has found his joy.

When he wants to sleep he slams his head down wherever he is. Sometimes that is a warm shoulder, sometimes a hardwood floor. I'm still not sure which he prefers.

He doesn't climb around, he climbs over and through. He doesn't giggle, he bellows. He doesn't smile, he beams. He is a literal bundle of joy.

On Joshua's birthday I wrote that it is fun to watch somebody go toe to toe with Rebecca and come out on top. Now Joshua has his own toe to toe partner. I am amazed to watch a one year old who already knows how to rattle his brother's cage.

I'm thankful to be his daddy. I'm thankful God has given us this delightful little man. I love him with all I've got and somehow that capacity keeps growing.

Drewber, happy birthday. I'm thankful you're mine.

Oh, yeah. I also love how much he looks like my favorite monkey.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart

Rebecca celebrates another birthday today. I came home from work ready to spend some time with her and was met by two screaming children. Joshua wanted milk and Rebecca, and he wanted them 'now.' Andrew wanted something, but he doesn't speak English, so he just screamed.

She truly is my hero and best friend. I don't know how she keeps this house going. She is the hardest working person I've ever met. She is an amazing mommy and selfless wife. Her loyalty and commitment are only outshone by her joy. Her laugh is contagious and energizing. The way her eyes disappear when she smiles melts me.

This song by Caedmon's Call isn't the most romantic, but it is our current life. It isn't one you'd dance to at your wedding, but it probably should be. Rebecca, thank you for all you do. Thank you for loving the boys and me. We love you more than you could ever know. Enjoy a birthday dedication.

Sacred by Randall Goodgame and Andrew Osenga

This house is a good mess it’s the proof of life
No way would I trade jobs but I don’t pay overtime
I’ll get to the laundry I don’t know when
I’m saying a prayer tonight cause tomorrow it starts again

Could it be that everything is sacred
And all this time
Everything I’ve dreamed of has been right before my eyes

The children are sleeping but they’re running through my mind
The sun makes them happy and the music makes them unwind
My cup runneth over, I worry about the stain
Teach me to run to you like they run to me for every little thing

Cause everything is sacred
And all this time
Everything I’ve dreamed of has been right before my eyes

When I forget to drink from you I can feel the banks harden
Lord make me like a stream to feed the garden

Wake up little sleeper
The Lord God Almighty
Made your mama keeper
So rise and shine, rise and shine, rise and shine

Cause everything is sacred
And all this time
Everything I’ve dreamed of has been right before my eyes

Joshua Sledding and The Dark Side of Drew

I have put several videos and Andrew on this website. In all of them he is playfully grinning or meekly smiling. There is another side to this kid and we have recently been introduced.

Dorothy Sayers Quote

Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were the first at the cradle and last at the cross. They had never known a man like this Man - there has never been another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronized; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them as "The women, God help us!," or "The Ladies, God bless them!"; who rebuked without peevishness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unself-conscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there wan anything "funny" about womens' nature." Dorothy Sayers

Martin Luther Quote

“God has surely promised His grace to the humbled: that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another--God alone. As long as he is persuaded that he can make even the smallest contribution to his salvation, he remains self-confident and does not utterly despair of himself, and so is not humbled before God; but plans out for himself (or at least hopes and longs for) a position, an occasion, a work, which shall bring him final salvation. But he who is out of doubt that his destiny depends entirely on the will of God despairs entirely of himself, chooses nothing for himself, but waits for God to work in him; and such a man is very near to grace for his salvation.

So these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved. The rest of men resist this humiliation; indeed, they condemn the teaching of self-despair; they want a little something left that they can do for themselves. Secretly they continue proud, and enemies of the grace of God.

Some BBall and Dancing

Buckle Up and New Post at Coram Deo Sports

I'm not sure this is who you want driving your bus.


Also, check out the new post at Coram Deo Sports

Suffering - C.S. Lewis

"Does God want us to suffer? What if the answer to that question is 'yes'? The fact is, I don't think that God particularly wants us to be happy. I think He wants us to love and be loved. He wants us to grow up. You see, we are like children who think that our toys bring us all the happiness there is, and that our nursery is the whole wide world. But something has to drive us out into the world of others, and that thing is suffering. Put simply, pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world. We are like blocks of stone from which the Sculptor carves a form. The blows of His chisel which hurt us so much are what make us perfect." C.S. Lewis

The Only Humble God

As I was walking through the halls this week I saw a stack of three communion bread boxes. It was humbling to ponder God's humility.

I am broken when I consider the way God gladly condescends to love and save his people. He gave the children of Israel a tent and a wooden box with a cup to hold atoning blood assuring them their God was in their midst.

The tabernacle was an arrow pointing to Jesus who willingly came and dwelt among us and spilled his atoning blood on the cross.

The night before he was crucified, Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples. He broke the bread and drank the wine. The lamb was replaced by The Lamb. He told them to eat and drink in remembrance of him.

Paul told the Corinthians that the gospel is proclaimed whenever the meal was eaten.

Only the God of the gospel would lower himself to be proclaimed through bread. Jesus has promised to be in the midst of his people. He knows we are weak and forgetful. He knows it is hard for us to believe and trust when we can't see and touch.

So he gave us a meal. He dwells among us and teaches us about our daily need for him in our daily need for food and drink. He is humble enough to let a sacred meal be baked, wrapped in a box, and shipped to a church in order to show us he is with us.

Tomorrow is Communion Sunday at our church. It is my favorite service of the month. Each time I partake, I am more amazed at the condescension of Jesus and the faith it takes to believe the King of Kings would break and bleed for a sinner like me.

New Videos of the Boys