Daniel’s Pilgrimage

Our good friends Scott and Jan had their baby last night! Lucy Janelle Wiese was born last night at 6:05 pm weighing 6 pounds 9 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. We went to see them tonight and she is adorable. Mom was a champ and was doing great. That is a picture of the happy new parents. Seriously, have you ever seen a couple look better after just having a baby?!?! And here is one of me holding her:

My good friend Nate has been on me for a little while to get out on the court with him. So yesterday we went down to the court here on the hill and played some ball. I didn’t embarrass myself too bad so I guess it was a successful first couple games back. I haven’t played a game of basketball in quite a few years, maybe even since we got married(almost 6 years now for those counting).

I was amazed that my body still thought it could do the stuff it used to be able to do. My vertical leap is a foot or more less than it used to be. I’d still get over to the correct spot on help defense but when I jumped to contest the shot it always made it’s way over my hand. That was a sad thing for someone who once blocked 26 shots in a game. And my jump shot was horribly inconsistent. For every one I knocked down there was two that weren’t even close.

But overall it felt good to get to play a game I used to love and obsess over. Once my body recovers from yesterday I think I’ll try to get out there again. Hopefully I’ll slowly be able to work my way back into form. Stay tuned for further recaps.

I wrote two posts for over at hope like mad(my friend Brent’s blog) in the past 2 days. A bunch of us are blogging through the book Jesus For President and my posts are part of that series. They are here and here if you want to be a dedicated fan of mine and read everything I write.

I found these photos of our backyard not long after we moved in. Quite a difference from the ones below:

And then we cleared some stuff and they cleared the lots next door:

So this amazing lady that I get to share my life with had insane fantasies wonderful dreams of what our backyard should look like. She made them happen this weekend. Below are pictures of what she was able to accomplish(with some help from me, but we all know it wasn’t my idea or push). We just had friends over for some s’mores around the firepit and beers and it was a blast. Enjoy the pics:

Above from after day 1

Above from after day 2

After day 2 from another angle.

Looks good doesn’t it?