Progress!

4:00 pm. Just got off the phone with Ashley. The baby has dropped. She is now 2 cm dialated. The DR says Ashley probably will not make it to her due date (which is Jan. 21). Keep your phones close...we may be calling soon!

Loves Long Journey

Chick flick or not....Loves Long Journey is probably the best dang movie I have seen in a very long time. And who says its a chick flick anyway? It takes place in the Wild West! It has cowboys and indians! Someone gets shot! I mean come on...that sounds like a man show to me! What makes this film extraordinary is how full it is of Biblical wisdom and truth, and not at all full of filth, indecensy, and heresy. I would recommend this moving with two enthusiastic thumbs up!!!!

Benjamin David

Well, Mom beat me to the punch. I should have posted this on his birthday, but circumstances did not allow it. So, I "borrowed" Mom's picture instead. Click on "Mom" over there to see her article on Ben. Here is my perspective (for what it's worth).

Benjamin David Erdman...
I found out the meaning of his name while listening ever so intently to my Hebrew grammar prof in my first year of beginning Hebrew at Southeastern Seminary. I have to admit, when I found out what it meant, I was absolutely elated (that's a big word for VERY EXCITED). Both of his names are Hebrew in origin, and like many Hebrew names are packed full of great meaning. "Benjamin" means "Son of the right hand," or in a more personal tone, "Son of my right hand." In the Hebrew mindset, this means, top dog of all children. Dad's right hand man. (Yeah, well, don't let that one go to your head, Ben!)
David means, "Blessed one." So, Benjamin David can be translated to mean, "Son of the right hand of the blessed one." In other words, Dad is the blessed one because Ben is his right hand man (one of four in fact - Dad has four right hands...you didn't know that? My Dad is just cool like that...that's why he could always beat up all my friends dads).
I remember taking the vote in my class. Each of us boys were sent to school with two names for our class to vote on...Benjamin and Luke. I'm glad Benjamin won (he usually wins everything anyway).

All kidding aside...it is fantastically amazing that Ben is now 20 years old. I no longer have any teenage little brothers (Andrew just turned 25 in December!). I know Mom has shared how it has affected her having four boys, and all being over 20. Life is just funny like that.

It has been such a joy to watch been grow from a boy to a young man. And most of that has happened in this last year. He has so many incredible stories to tell of how the Lord has spared his life and continues to use him in so many wonderful ways!

He survived childhood for one...and believe me, I'm not sure how, except by the grace of God.

He has survived high school away from his parents.

He survived being popular in high school (not always an easy task, but Ben handled it well).

He survived a broken nose from a high curve ball (which ended his baseball career...as he put it when he was in the ER "I'm done with baseball.")

And as most of us remember, he survived an extremely violent moped accident early in 2008. How he could have walked away from that like he did was absolutely amazing. We all praise God quite often for how he protected Ben miraculously that night. I've seen the bike, and it was like being at Ground Zero in NY. It gave me a wrench in my gut, then gave me a praise in my heart that Ben survived.

Who knows what is in store for this special guy. His heart is right with God (he took care of that in 2008!!). He has a bright future ahead of him in football. He has a relationship with a young lady who seems to truly care for him. Who knows what lies ahead? This is all I know...that our love for you, Ben, will never weaken. We will always be here for you no matter what. Thank you for teaching me so much about life. Thanks for teaching me to duck when curve balls fly at me. Thanks for convincing me to never get on a moped. Thanks for trying to teach me how to throw/kick a football (and even though I am his big brother, I am not ashamed to admit that his throw hurts to catch every single time). Thanks, Ben, for caring about living a life that is more than recognition, parties, money, and material posessions.

Keep on seeking to honor the Lord in all that you do! You mean the world to all of us! We love you so much! You do not know how much it hurt me that I could not be there to sing Happy Birthday to you this year. BUT...someday that opportunity will come!

Love you man!

The Best Sort of Medicine

Up to this point, my new best friend has been my bottle of NyQuil. Well, just as I was typing the last posting, I was given an even better medicine. Ashley had just pulled her fudge out of the fridge (which she made in between cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, and installing doors) and was dishing it out to everyone. Abigail sweetly delivered it to me on the couch. She put the plate in my hands and then gave me a biiiig kiss on the cheek followed up with the most beautiful smile.
As you may have well guessed at that point in time I forgot all about my throat and nose. The whole world could have passed away and I wouldn't have even noticed. My head may be splitting, my ears may be clogged, my throat may hurt like crazy, and my nose may be stuffed forever, but I would do it all again in a heartbeat to get more of that sort of medicine. My heart is just fine now, even if the rest of me feels terrible. Abigail is learning quickly about Daddy and what makes him happy...a plate of food and a sweet kiss...life doesn't get any better than this!

Drips, Doors, and Diapers

Cold season has finally caught up to our house. Every last one of us is sick. It began with Abigail feeling bad the week after Christmas. I was the only one well for a good while. Then my number was called. And boy is this one is a doozy! To make things worse, I started my new shift this week (which is going very well by the way), so I'm sure I made quite a first impression as I look awful (at least that's what Josh Bruce says), can barely talk, and feel like I have huge cotton balls in my ears which means everyone I talk to has to repeat themselves at least once (run-on sentences mean nothing to me when I'm sick, so kindly overlook the poor grammar if you please). Conversations have typically been me straining to get the words out, the listener saying "huh" half a dozen times, then finally responding to me once they get the message, and then me saying "huh" right back to them. What fun. For some reason I do not get sick very often, but when I do it all but knocks me out.

So what are we doing about it? Well, I'm sitting on my rear end while my pregnant wife (who cooked and cleaned and kept two toddlers all day) installs a freshly painted interior door on the guest bathroom. Maybe you can stop her. I haven't had any luck. Diapers one minute, doors the next...I married one incredible woman. However does she put up with me?

Four Generations of "Seconds"

When I say "seconds" I am not referring directly to time. While the subject of this latest observation does involve time, it is indirectly, and is not the point. I also do not mean to refer to refills on food. While there is probably a very very long line of men in my family who return to main dishes for "seconds," this also is not the point of this observation.

Here is the point...it just dawned on me today, that I have a picture of four generations of second born children. Now, I'm not sure about my Grandfather (affetionately known as Papa Dutch). He may not be a second. I just haven't asked the question yet. I should know that. But in this picture you will also find Dad, me, and my son Nathaniel. All of whom were second born. Isn't that neat! I love this picture and will treasure it always. I'm so proud to be an Erdman.

Church

One of the greatest schemes of the Evil One in our day and age is convincing the world that the Church is a building. To say I "go to church" is a bit of a misnomer. The Biblical truth is that I am a part of The Church - the Body and Bride of Christ Jesus. The idea of "going to church" implies that I'm not presently there and, therefore, am somewhere on the outside looking in. If this were true, then the only time I partake in the fellowship of the redeemed is when I am within the walls of my church. This is simply unbiblical.

When I say I "went to church" I mean that I went to the place where our local fellowship of believers meets to worship God and apply Biblical teaching. But, in all reality, there is never a time when I am outside of the church. What a sobering thought this is! The relationship that I think so hard about every Sunday, is still a reality Monday through Saturday. The life I claim to have on Sunday, is the same one I demonstrate Monday through Saturday.

So, I went to the Sunday morning worship service at our church for the first time since Mother's Day, 2008. My new position and shift at work begins Tuesday of this week, meaning this was my first weekend off. It has been so grand! I sat with my family in church today!

There was nothing magical about our physical presence in the building. BUT it was a statement to all our fellow redeemed brothers and sisters that our family will worship together on Sundays from now on! That is something to be excited about! Now I can sit under the teaching of some of the wisest and most spiritually mature men I have ever known. Now I can set aside a part of my week and devote it solely to worship, prayer, and applying God's Word.

I love my church! BUT only because it is exactly how the Church of Christ should operate and function - as a family, a united body whose passion is to glorify God. If you want to come join us, just let me know. I will be there as often as I can!

'Crowning' Achievement

Well, okay, it isn't exactly my crowning achievement, but its the most creative title I could think of for this project. I originally went to Lowe's to cash in a Christmas gift card from the in-laws (God bless 'em!) for a nice pair of saw horses (a.k.a. poor man's work bench). It became a family outing since the weather was so nice. We took advantage of the opportunity to look into installing crown molding on the kitchen cabinets to spiffy things up a bit. Well, you probably guessed at this point that by the time we ate dinner tonight, the cabinets were donned with the molding we chose. It really wasn't that difficult. Tedious, I suppose. Nerve-wracking at times, too. Not exactly rocket science though.

I've never done this sort of installation, so this was certainly an adventure for me. Believe it or not, I only made one trip back to Lowes (which I think is a new project record!). I never realized how much it would transform the look of the whole kitchen.

What made the job a little easier was that they had in stock some prefinished molding that matched our finish almost perfectly. Which meant it would just be a cut and paste job, rather than a cut, stain, varnish, dry, then paste job. Not to mention, it was cheaper.

The finished product was well worth the frustration and effort. And believe it or not, I really enjoyed it! I got to use power tools again for the first time since we laid the hardwoods down back in the Spring. Can you believe they let me use power tools??? I'm talking real man's tools like a mitre saw! And a pneumatic brad nailer! Oh yeah!

I think deep down inside just about every man gets a sense of satisfaction and achievement out of cutting wood and making something out of it. It's almost like a man is not fully masculine until he can drop the blade on a nice, fresh piece of timber. Our God is so amazing at how he wired us! The ability to make things and the creativity to enrich the splendor of kitchen cabinets is truly a testimony to the creative genius of our Creator!

Praise Him as you enjoy these pictures, but please don't look too closely - I installed them, not God...he probably would have gotten it right the first or second time. In fact, all he would have done is spoken them into their installed state....okay, well, enjoy the photos!

Grandparents

I love my family! Ashley's parents joined us this past Sunday for our "Christmas" time together. They brought Ashley's sister April and her two girls, as well as Ashley's grandmother along for the ride. It was great to spend the time together. I hadn't seen them since June. We were long overdue. They stayed until Tuesday lunch time, then headed back home. They were hoping there would be a baby while they were here. (I think we all were!)
My Mom and Dad came in Tuesday night and stayed until this morning (Thursday) and helped us ring in the new year. We had a great time with some good old Ticket to Ride action, and some "horse doovers" as I like to call them (hors d'oeuvres). I wish my brothers could have been here to celebrate, too.
Our kids absolutely love their grandparents. I could not have asked for anything more! I had a great relationship with all my grandparents as I grew up (and still do to this day), and am thrilled to know that my children have such good relationships with their grandparents. My only hope is that someday we will live closer together so they can grow up close to each other. Oh how nice that would be!!!
We had such a good time with our family this week. And thanks to our parents, we had nothing to clean or organize after they left!!! Mom and Dad left everything spic and span! Now that's love!

At least someone in the house is having babies!

Well, pregnant fish #2 just had her babies this morning. They are really cute! I counted 12 so far. I actually watched the birth of about four of them. It was quite fascinating. That means we have at least about 20 some fish in our tank now. If there is anyone out there that would like to have some fish please let us know! We will give them to you for free! Of course, they need to grow a little bigger first. And, besides, they will not be too colorful until they are a little bit bigger.
And, no, we will probably not be naming them. We're having a hard time with naming our own as it is. I couldn't imagine thinking of 12 other names.