Right now I’m watching the first round of American Idol Hollywood Week (LOVE Casey Abrams), and I’m just going to jump in and start a post because I’ve been a little slack in the blogging department this week. Life and work have been pretty jam-packed the last few days, but they’ve also been really fun in the most unexpected ways. The little man has been fighting off a chest cold, so we’ve spent big chunks of our afternoons nestled up next to the balmy tropical mist of the vaporizer. We’ve read and read and read some more, and it has been DELIGHTFUL.

The reading, not the chest cold.

(By the way, I can’t really tell, but is Ford Focus an American Idol sponsor?)

(MERCY.)

(They’ve sort of taken product placement up to a whole new level, haven’t they?)

Anyway, since I’ve been a little out-o-pocket, I have some items that I’d like to share, oh thank you.

Please forgive the absence of narrative structure. Unless you’re willing to count, you know, numbering.

1. Ann Voskamp’s most recent post about marriage? Oh. My. Goodness.

2. Yesterday I read an article about Broadcast News, which just so happens to be one of my all-time favorite movies. And the article reminded me how much I love this scene.

link via Throwing Things

3. Sweet Kelli at Living in Grace finally – FINALLY – has a living donor for her kidney transplant. This is a HUGE answer to prayer for her and her family – something they’ve been waiting on for years. If you’ve followed Kelli’s story, you know what kind of a rollercoaster they’ve been riding in terms of her health, so the prospect of a transplant and a healthy life and growing old with her sweet hubby and seeing her kids get married – well, it’s just incredible. Such a blessing.

Because Kelli and her family have moved a lot over the last few years, each time going to the place where they felt that she could get the best treatment, the blogging world has been Kelli’s most constant source of community. About four years ago the bloggy people rallied and raised money to pay for Kelli’s COBRA expenses (if she’d lost her insurance, her treatment and transplant options would have diminished significantly). Several of us told Kelli that if she ever, Lord willing, found a living donor, we’d try our best to help her offset some of the transplant costs that won’t be covered by her insurance.

Next week we’re hoping to do just that. It’s an incredible privilege, especially considering that this time last year I really wondered if Kelli, who has spent the better part of the last 18 months in a wheelchair, would live long enough to find a donor and go through a transplant. But she did. And she will.

So all that to say: stay tuned.

4. I don’t really have a four. Which is sort of pitiful, isn’t it? I barely blogged all week, and I can’t even make it to four.

I have no choice but to hang my head in shame and then console myself with back-to-back episodes of “House Hunters International.”

Now do have a lovely weekend.

Love,
Me

So we’re really not big on the NFL in our house. I think we love college football so much that it’s hard to make room in our hearts for professional football. Plus, my daddy was never much of a pro sports fan, so when I was growing up our family’s Sunday afternoons were reserved for stuff like reading and napping. The closest pro team to my hometown was in New Orleans, and none of us really enjoyed sitting in front of the TV and watching the Saints lose.

All that to say: the Super Bowl is usually the only pro game I watch all year. Most of the time I don’t even know who’s playing until the week before the game, and I typically decide who I’m going to cheer for based on whether any former Mississippi State players happen to be playing for one of the teams. Tonight, for instance, former MSU tight end Donald Lee was playing for Green Bay, so, you know, GO PACKERS.

See? It’s all very logical and scientific.

In addition to the Super Bowl goings-on, we’ve had a perfectly lovely Sunday (church, fun lunch with friends, book time with the little man, plenty-o-laughter), and I’ve tried to soak up the day because there’s a crazy-ish week ahead. I’ve got deadlines-a-plenty breathing down my neck, and in the interest of not making life miserable for the people who have to live with me, I’m going to try to tackle as much as I can at the beginning of this week so that I won’t be a walking basket of stress by week’s end.

This is the exact opposite of any productivity “strategy” I employed in college, by the way.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a few links with y’all, and then I’m going to get as much rest as I can before I have to wake up at dark-thirty tomorrow. THE FUN NEVER STOPS!

– Lora Lynn’s post about Uganda is encouraging and heartbreaking and beautiful. LL and her husband flew to Uganda last week so that they could finalize the adoption of the newest member of their family. They have had some complications with the paperwork, and LL’s outlook in the midst of her (hopefully very short-term) disappointment makes her post all the more touching. You should read it.

– Kelli at Living in Grace finally has a living kidney donor – big, BIG news! After following her journey (I always feel like someone on “The Bachelor” when I use that word) for the last four years, I just couldn’t be happier for her and her family.

– I know I’ve mentioned this before, but Ree’s beef stew with mushrooms is so very, very tasty. I actually make it with beef stock instead of red wine (I believe my fundamental inability to appreciate red wine has been well-documented), and it’s just delicious. I also add lots of baby carrots. Because I’m CRAZY like that.

– Loved this post from Mary at Owlhaven about finding your own way as a mama. So good.

– I thought Chrysler’s Super Bowl commercial was really great. Unexpectedly poetic and beautifully shot.

– Finally, I am slightly obsessed with Drew & Ellie Holcombe’s new music video.

And when I say “slightly,” I mean I have watched it about 42 times in the last 2 days.

Hope y’all have a great Monday!