When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nation,
To bring peace among brothers and sisters,
To make music in the heart.

-Howard Thurman

When they say, “Don’t get caught in the Christmas rush,” they really mean it! In the past few weeks it’s been something at every turn. Whether it’s parties and get-togethers to go to, flu bugs and chest colds to get over (and still trying to get over), schoolwork to finish, candles to make and to ship, Christmas decorations to put up, friends to help move, Christmas cards to send out, shopping and more shopping and even more shopping to do, and even babysitting (yeah, I’m man enough to baby sit) - it’s been non-stop! Needless to say, I haven’t had even an ounce of time until right now to sit down and blog.

Is all this madness exhausting? Yes. Is it crazy that we wear ourselves paper thin this time of year doing this and that and who knows what? Perhaps. But all in all, I have to say, I love it! Christmas time is my most favorite time of the year. I love everything about it – the rush, the chaos, the mayhem – even if it does make me half-crazy. And now with only less than a week left until Christmas, I am eager to take advantage of every opportunity and make as many memories with friends and family as I can. Life is so short and these moments will fade so fast. So, you can count on this crazy goon to make the most of this holiday time, and I would encourage you to do the same. Spend time with your family. Make hot chocolate. Phone an old friend. Play in the snow. Get out and have some fun. You live only once! As my father-in-law once told me, "If you don't do something, you'll end up doing nothing."

• People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered - love them anyway.
• If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives - do good anyway.
• If you're successful, you'll win false friends and true enemies - succeed anyway.
• The good do today will perhaps be forgotten tomorrow - do good anyway.
• Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable - be honest and frank anyway.
• The biggest man with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest man with the smallest mind - think big anyway.
• People favor underdogs but follow only hot dogs - fight for a few underdogs anyway.
• What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight - build anyway.
• People really need help but may attack you if you help them - help them anyway.
• Give the world the best that you have and you will get kicked in the teeth - give the world the best that you have anyway.
• If better is possible, then good is not enough.

Here is an absolutely amazing story about a teenage boy, Ben Underwood, who can see in spite of being blind. Huh? After having his eyes removed because of cancer when he was three years old, he has sinced learned - all by himself - to navigate around the world using echolocation or sonar vision (basically the same thing that dolphins use to navigate). Ben plays basketball, video games, rollerblades, rides his bicycle, and lives a quite normal life. But his extraordinary ability is really nothing supernatural, it's just something that he has determined himself to do. His story is a true testament that NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE. No matter what the obstacles, you can - can - can achieve absolutely anything when you possess the right mindset and will to do it. One of the doctors in this video states, "The real story here is not his talents, but his attitude."

Here are some pictures of my son, Dalyn. Words cannot describe how much joy he brings into my life. I thank the Lord everyday that He has given me such an amazing opportunity and challenge to raise this little boy into a man. I hardly feel qualified for the task, but that will never stop me from trying.

The following pictures were taken by my brother, Jason. He started his own photography company, called SNAP! Photography, a couple of years ago and has been experiencing great success ever since. He has an amazing knack for capturing candid moments that turn into priceless memories the instant you look at the photograph. Here's a slideshow of more photos that he took of Dalyn while we all went on a hike in our backyard woods.

Just wanted to throw a little "techy" tid bit on here...... RSS feeds...... Really Simple Sindication..... Um, say whaaa? Yeah, that was my first reaction, too. But, trust me, RSS is an extremely useful web tool that can save you boat loads of time staying up-to-date with your favorite websites. So, okay, what is RSS, really? Without boring you with all the technical mumbo jumbo (I wouldn't know how to speak it even if I tried), it is basically a way to notify you whenever there is new content on a website. For example, through an RSS feed, anytime I update this blog, instead of you checking the site every half-hour (because I know you have nothing better to do) to see if there's anything new, you could get a notification of the updates via an RSS reader, such as Google Reader or NewsGator, or through your Outlook 2007 email program, or even through your Internet Explorer 7 browser. All you have to do is subscribe to the feed (don't worry, it's free!). It's really super cool. So, in case, you happen to be one of the weird goons out there that actually enjoy reading my crazy blog (What is wrong with you?), save yourself some time and look into getting the feed. Here is the link you will need to use to subscribe - all RSS readers are a little different, so leave a comment if you have any trouble figuring it out.....

http://www.acupwithjeremy.com/atom.xml