At least someone with the last name Manning....

is in the Superbowl. Peyton didn't make it, but Eli did. I had hoped that the Green Bay Packers and Brett Favre would win, as they probably have the best chance of beating the hated Patriots. But perhaps Eli and the New York Football Giants will surprise me and kick their butts. Maybe Eli can do it for Peyton!

Some Random Thoughts for the New Year

After a long and enjoyable trip to Florida for the Christmas holidays, we have returned to freezing Nashvegas (although it's supposed to climb into the 50's tomorrow). Several thoughts to share as we begin the new year:

1. Christmas is so much more fun with a toddler. Ella loved every present that she opened, even the socks and underwear! We also enjoyed the fruits of reading her a new book "The Fruits of the Spirit" in which she learned that patience means waiting your turn. She patiently waited while other family members opened pictures. What an angel. While at my aunt's house, there were 17 members of our extended family. Before going to bed each night, Ella gave a kiss and a hug to every person in the house. She is a very loving child!

2. Brad and I made it to see a movie, without paying a babysitter (which then makes a 2 hour movie a $40 event). We saw Juno, which neither of us were sure about. But, it was incredible. All of the reviews say that it had quick and witty dialogue and it really did. It is a little racy, but we thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it.

3. The 2008 elections have started! Tonight, Brad and I have the T.V. tuned to C-Span as we watch the interesting event that is the Iowa Caucus. How cool would it be to live in Iowa and get to participate in this awesome portrait of a democratic America. If you haven't taken the time to watch it before, you're missing out. In precinct 53, it looks like Obama is going to win. The only question is what will happen in the rest of the night and the next few weeks.

4. It's one of my favorite times of year, NFL playoffs. The Colts, having earned a bye, will sit out this week, but there's still plenty of excitement to be had. It would be even better had the Giants pulled it out on Saturday night and kicked the Patriots butt. I hate the Patriots and if they make it to the Superbowl, I might just puke.

I head to California next week for a Pastor's conference, and I'm excited to support my pastors, spend some quality time with some of my closest friends, and enjoy the California sunshine :) Until then...

A cute, but crass, Ella story

Ella learned a fun song for her Christmas program at school (I promise that a video is on it's way), and here's how it goes:

Where is Santa?
Where is Santa?
I don't know,
I don't know.
Santa's coming,
Santa's coming.
Ho! Ho! Ho!
Ho! Ho! Ho!

There is also a second verse about Rudolph. Well, we are in the beginning stages of potty training, and every day, Ella sits on the potty before we get dressed. This morning, it was taking an unusually long time, and so I asked her, "Is there any pee-pee coming?" And Ella responded "Yes, and Poopy, too!" Then slowly and quietly (with no prompting from me) she began to sing.

Where is pee-pee?
Where is poopy?
I don't know,
I don't know.
Pee-pee's coming,
Poopy's coming.
Ho! Ho! Ho!
Ho! Ho! Ho!

I wasn't sure whether to laugh, because it was the funniest thing that I have heard in a long time, or to tell her that we don't sing songs about pee-pee and poopy. I have to say, being the parent of a toddler is a funny, funny thing.

Does this look like a man who should be president?

An Actual Sign from the Nashville Zoo

I'm not quite sure what to say about this, I don't think that there's much to be said :)

Tis the Season for Danger

As Advent begins tomorrow, I thought that I would clean up our living room and get out our mangers. Ella has a Little People manger that a nice family in our church got her when she was born, and Brad and I have an olive wood manger set that Brad got in Jerusalem. I am not one for much decorating, my mother calls me a minimalist, but I like to get out the mangers once Advent begins.

Ella was very excited when I got out her manger, she immediately began jumping up and down shouting, "The Danger, The Danger". No matter how many times I try to correct her, she insists that it's a Danger. Not only that, but there is no baby Jesus in our manger, instead we have a Baby Moses. And, maybe you can see in the picture of our danger, there is a donkey cart. Ours is really a "stroller". I tried to put the fruit piece in there and Ella said, "No fruit, that's Baby Moses' stroller".

You would think that the daughter of a pastor and a PhD student in religion would do a little better, but apparently we have a lot of work ahead of us convincing Ella of the real Christmas story that doesn't involved dangers, Baby Moses and his stroller.

An Answer to Prayer

For those of you who keep on the saga of the Daugherty life, I am happy to say that as of today, we have found a daycare for Ella! She will finish out this week, and two days next week at Outlook, and then move to City Road Chapel United Methodist Church. I had called every place in the city (that wasn't completely out of the way) that we would be willing to take her to, and everyone had a waiting list. We had heard back from our "last hope" yesterday that they wouldn't be able to take Ella until late spring or early summer, and so we were back to square one.

Someone had mentioned City Road to us, but it is a little out of the way. On a whim, I called yesterday, and they said that they might have a spot. I set up an appointment for today, and when we arrived for our tour, they told us that they had officially opened the spot this morning. After our tour, we asked for a day or so to think about it, and if we liked it, we would return later in the week to put down a deposit. As we walked to the car, we realized that we both liked it, felt comfortable with it, and were ready to sign Ella up. We read over the paperwork, then walked back in and put down the deposit.

There are definitely things that we will miss about Outlook, and Ella has loved her friends and teachers, but we are excited about City Road. One thing that we are most excited about is that she will have a Bible story and song each day as well as prayer before all of her meals. It's nice to have her at a place that reinforces our faith.

Just when it looked like we were down and out, God answered our prayers, and isn't that just like God? Thanks for your prayers.