"The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood."

Merry Christmas! As you know, this Barlow family was established July 7, 2006. Just before Thanksgiving we finished choosing the pictures for our wedding album. Thanks to the technology of the digital camera, there were literally a thousand from which to choose! Thank you to many of you who celebrated with us in person and in thought on that day. You are God’s gift to us.

Now, five months into our existence, we are about to celebrate our first Christmas together! We have purchased a Christmas tree, decorated it and the family rooms of our house. We almost have all of our moving boxes unpacked and put away. There may be one or two more in a corner somewhere...

We already have an addition to our family. We adopted Magnolia Suzanne Barlow (Maggie) in late August. She is quite energetic despite the stereotype of her breed (Bassett Hound) and the actors who have made it famous (Flash of the “Dukes of Hazzard” and Fred from Smoky and the Bandit). Her favorite toys include empty water bottles and our pant legs. At every nap time, she is convinced she is a lap dog. This will not last long, as she is getting very heavy.

We spend the majority of our time at First United Methodist Church of Long Beach. As Associate Pastor, Ben has been busy with planning for the youth group, making hospital visits, and leading Sunday worship. Emily has also been keeping busy by designing and painting a prayer room for the students and teaching them about worship. We love introducing the students and their families to Jesus and we are thankful that we are able to use our gifts together.

We hope that this Christmas season finds you remembering Jesus and His birth. May you and your family celebrate His life and look forward to His return with hope, joy, peace, and love.

Love, Emily, Ben, and Maggie

the mouse in our house...

this is the before picture, obviously. an after picture would have been too gruesome.

so it all started a few weeks ago. i was minding my own business watching a UK basketball game i had recorded earlier. i was sitting on the loveseat in the front living room; ben was in his recliner in the in the other living room. (yes we have two. really i just don't know what to call the two spaces so they end up getting called the same thing...) i decided i would like to have something to drink, so i paused my video and turned toward the kitchen when what did i see but a small, black something dart behind the couch.

"ben! i just saw a mouse or a roach!" i thought it was too quick to be a roach, but i didn't want to jump to conclusions...

"well what do you want me to do about it?" he didn't believe me. i shook the couch. nothing happened. ben eventually got up and came into the room. he touched the couch and the mouse immediately darted out between his feet.

"oh my gosh!" he jumped on the couch. what followed was half an hour of us chasing the mouse from corner to corner, yelling "there he is!" or "watch out here he comes!" we tried chasing him out the front door, but the door shut just as the mouse banged his head into it. we tried getting maggie involved in the hunt; she couldn't have cared less. we lost him somewhere in a pile of junk.

that was mouse #1. we had a funeral for him a few days later. i had to buy the mouse traps. i had a moment in walmart when i thought i ought to buy the catch and release traps, the humane ones...but really, if the mouse got in once, he'll get in again. it's him or me right? my other option is getting a cat, but that's not really an option because ben does not want a cat, at all.

ben seemed relieved after we caught mouse #1. but i said, where there is one mouse, there are many. and i was right. mouse #1 was evidently married with a couple of kids. i deduced this because a few days after the first funeral, we saw mouse #2 moving very slowing under our DVD shelves. again, maggie was unimpressed. she just rolled over and went back to sleep. ben, however, jumped up and ran the mouse out from under the TV stand. funeral #2 was the next morning.

i saw mouse #3 in the kitchen. i was headed for the sink and he saw me with his beady little eyes and retreated under the door and into the wall. (it's one of those doors that slides into the wall.) funeral #3 followed shortly thereafter.

so that's mouse #4 in the picture. i was on the phone with my dad when i just happened to look to my left. there in the corner of the dining room was a little gray mouse, looking back at me. that one darted behind the pillows we had stacked there. we got out our little trap and our little piece of swiss cheese and tried to intice the little sucker out of the corner. i snapped the picture, and then left the mouse to explore.

meanwhile i saw a mouse running down the hallway. he best not be going to my bedroom. and since all mice look the same to me i'm not sure if this was mouse #4 just getting some last minute exercise or if is indeed mouse #5. we still don't know for sure...