Luke David Allen

p7200056.jpg2 1/2 months ago, Sarah gave birth to our son Luke David Allen. He weighed in a 9lbs 7oz. and hasn’t stopped growing yet. At his last doctor’s appt. he was off the growth chart for height and at the top for weight. Becoming a father has been the most amazing experience of my life so far. Nothing can compare to it. Everyday I am amazed by what Luke does and by how much I love him. It’s true what they say that when you have a kid you better understand how much God loves each of us. It really helps define the role of God as a heavenly Father. Sarah is an amazing mother and I can’t imagine doing this whole parenting thing without her. Sometimes it is overwhelming how blessed I feel to have such a terrific family to share my life with. We are currently on our last few days of “Luke’s Midwest tour” where he got to meet his Aunt Julie, Uncle Bret, cousin Cadence, and his great grandmas and grandpa. More pictures to come soon.

my grandma

My grandma passed away yesterday from cancer. She went much quicker than expected but it is a blessing that she didn’t suffer long. I lived with her for a year before Sarah and I married so I got to really know what a great person she was. She rarely uttered a bad word about anyone and she was always helping others. She was a devout Catholic and church and family were her life. I think each of us is only blessed with a handful of people in our lives that truly love us uncondiitonally and would do anything for us. People who are our biggest fans. Grandma was one of mine. For this and countless other reasons, I will really miss her.

UM Stormtrooper

I admit that I am a geek but I found this picture from the Rose parade that I really like. It combines two of my favorite things UM and Star Wars stormtroopers.

Bowl season

This years bowl season is almost over so I figured I’d give my thoughts on it so far.
Biggest disappointment: Michigan, totally unprepared from a player & coaching perspective
Biggest fraud: Notre dame, another blow-out proving they never should have been given a bid. 9 bowl loses in a row. no quality wins in the much over-hyped and over-rated Charlie weiss era.
Best game: Boise state over Oklahoma. tons of amazing plays. David over Goliath. great game
Proof that we need a playoff: Boise State’s win. an undefeated team who will not get a chance to be called champion
favorite victories: Wisconsin over Arkansas and Penn state over Tennessee. I guess the big 10’s also rans aren’t so much worse than the SEC’s after all.
I am torn as to who I want to win the mythical national title. Part of me wants to cheer for the big 10 but it is Ohio State so that will be tough to do. Now that Michigan lost it really doesn’t matter to me much. If Florida wins, I hope Boise State gets a share of the title as the only un-defeated team in the country.
Best idea ever: An 8 team play-off so we can crown the champion on the field

looking forward to 2007

Here is another list of things i am looking forward to in 2007.
My son’s birth
seeing sarah hold our baby and care for it like she has always wanted to
becoming a home owner
completing residency
starting my career
sr high camp
wrestlemania 23
moving wherever we move to
worship (wherever we end up going to church at)
NCAA tournament in St Louis with Graceland friends
having boards completed
Disney world after boards are done with

2006 Highlights

here is a random list of things I enjoyed in 2006. They are in no particular order and I am sure I am leaving lots of great stuff off the list….I’m just typing what comes off the top of my head.
Feeling my baby kick
seeing sarah so excited about our baby kicking
Chipotle opening near us
Sr. High camp
Michigan destroying Notre dame
Baptizing 2 more people
Going to my 1st UM game
Julie coming up for our Young adult retreat
Our worship re-design
pregnant bellies at Christmas
my ipod
my new laptop: I love MACs
Vegas baby!
a year off from taking medical boards
my 30th birthday party
going to 2 Wings games, a Pistons game, 2 tigers games, and a Lions game
the Tigers inprobable run to the world series
my new Star Wars cabinets
becoming closer friends with my fellow residents at the clinic

Nintendo Wii

This is for the guys who may read this blog. I played the Wii this weekend and it is awesome. The interactive game play is amazing. I was worried the control would be difficult or not fluid (like the old NES track pad). The sports game package it comes with is great, especially bowling. Try it out if you get a chance.

BCS

BCS should stand for big crappy system. year after year, college football arbitrarily decides who is worthy of playing for the national title. It is the only sport at any level that doesn’t decide its champion via a postseason tournament. This year Michigan was ranked 3rd well ahead of Florida. After USC lost, Florida then leaped up to number 2 to take Michigan’s spot. I can make no compelling argument that Florida doesn’t deserve to play for the title but no one can make a definitive argument against Michigan either. The reasons one uses to rank Florida ahead of Michigan existed last week when Michigan was ranked higher than Florida. So what changed? Why isn’t there a post season tournament? It’s all about the Hamiltons baby…..There is huge money tied up in the BCS bowl system so university presidents continue to hide behind the lie of “we care about academics and don’t want the stuent athletes to miss another week of class.” every year someone gets jobbed: Auburn 2 years ago, an undefeated Utah team last year, Boise state this year, Michigan and so on. Meanwhile an undeserving Notre Dame team gets another BCS bid after getting blown out against the only 2 real tams it played all year. It’s a big crappy system that will never work. I hope someday the champion will be crowned on the field.

Young adult retreat

We just returned from another young adult retreat at Bluewater. It was an awesome weekend full of fellowship and spirit. We had 33 young adults come and we provided our own guest ministry. It was great to have Julie join us from St Louis and serve as our retreat pastor. It was quite a mix of people and there was lots of opportunity to serve as a minster. It was very gratifying; you could really tell that this experience meant a lot to those who attended. That’s not a feeling I always get at our home congregation. God really blessed us. I continue to be amazed at the blessings he provides for all of us as we grow in our minstry as young adults.

Voting

I decided long ago that talking politics is generally unproductive and stressful so that is not what this post is about. I voted Tuesday and I just felt good afterwards. I admit that half the time I feel like I am picking between 2 bad choices and that in the long run it really doesn’t matter. Still, we are so fortunate to live in the USA and we do have a choice. booooooooooo not having a choice….Hooray! democracy