...so we're watching the history channel special entitled "An Alien History of Planet Earth" and Jordan is eating it up like it's the gospel. Of course, this is the kid who's favorite thing to do is draw aliens, and when asked to draw something God made in Sunday school draws a picture of a being with a huge head and big, round eyes. Marie comes home from work, and he says "It's true, it's true Mom, there really are aliens! It's on the history channel, and what is history? It's stuff that's true." Nuff said.

You know, there's nothing to get you thinking about your life like the death of someone else. I know that's an understatement, but hear me out on this. This is a picture of my biological father's tombstone, which probably says a ton about both him and me, and the subject for another blog. Last year my Grandpa Jack (his father) passed away due to complications from Alzheimers, and this past October Grandma Dede was killed in a head-on collision with a semitrailer on Interstate 90 in Bozeman, Montana. I had the opportunity to speak a short piece at her funeral in January, which was a momentus occasion for my extended family. We celebrated her life, our own, watched old 8 mm movies & slides of our childhood, reconnected and encouraged one another in living life. As fragile and unpredictable as this life on earth can be, I'm reminded of what real "life" is all about-Jesus says "I am the way, the truth, and the life." And in the words of an ol' Steven Curtis Chapman song, there's "more to this life, than living & dying." God, I really hope we're finding out just what that is.....Earl