Crouch's Conundrums

It's a beautiful day!

And we haven't had one of those around here in a while.  We've had a lot of cold, and a lot of rain, but not a lot of sunshine.  Today was perfect, sunny, bright, warm, and dry.  I should have been on a golf course instead of inside behind a desk.  Or at least outside working in the yard, there's certainly plenty to do there, if truth be told.

Cooper is just about 100% back to healthy.  Whatever he had is nearly gone, and he's definitely been in a great mood for the last two days.  Sunday, Easter Sunday, of all days, was a totally different story.  At our church, whenever you drop your kids off in the nursery, they give you a beeper to wear.  If they need you for any reason, they just buzz you, the little beeper vibrates, and you go check on your kid.  Well, I've never had one buzz me before, we've never had a moment's trouble with Cooper at church.  But, this Sunday, about one minute before I was supposed to start teaching the lesson, the beeper zapped me.  My first instinct was to pass the beeper off to Carrie, but she was nowhere to be found.  Nowhere.  I checked the hall, I checked the other classrooms (she has a tendency to roam and talk), but alas, there was no Carrie.

So, off I went to the nursery.  Now, it was about this time that it hit me that I had no idea where my kid was.  None.  He had just transitioned to a different class this Sunday, and Carrie took him to it, then she found me and handed me the beeper because she didn't have anywhere to clip it onto her dress.  So, I've got this vibrating plastic in my hand, wandering around "Children's World" looking for someone who might happen to know where Cooper was.  Thank goodness Christie Henry was there to point me in the right direction.  However, once I got about halfway down the hallway, I needed no more help.  I could hear him.  He was screaming.  I got to his class, and the teacher was standing at the door holding him and trying to console him, but he wanted none of that.  I instantly grabbed him, and he calmed right down.  I stood there a minute, calmed him some more, and tried to give him back.  Nope.  Wasn't going to happen.  So, I looked at my watch.  It was Easter Sunday, I was now about five minutes late to Sunday School, which I was supposed to be teaching, and I had a kid on my hip that wouldn't go to anyone else.  And mom was nowhere to be found still.  So, I did the only thing I knew to do.  I went back to class.

Thankfully, at least I thought, Carrie had made it back into our classroom, and was now looking for me.  Perfect.  I walked to her, and started to hand Cooper to her.  I say "started", because that was as far as we got.  As soon as I initiated the tradeoff, Cooper turned his head, turned his shoulder, drew back his arms, and started to cry again.  He didn't want to go to Carrie.  So, we tried again.  Same results.  A few other people offered to take him.  Nope.  Nada.  He wasn't leaving his current position for anything.  I tried setting him down.  No, didn't like that either. By this time, everyone in the class was making suggestions and offering help, but nothing worked.  "Me and Cooper was stuck together like peas and carrots", in the words of Forest Gump. 

By this time, it was fifteen minutes past time for class to start, so I had Carrie go ahead and make some announcements.  When she got finished, with Cooper kicking and screaming, we made the handoff in the hallway, and Carrie went off to the nursery while I went back in and began the lesson.  Carrie didn't show up in the class for another twenty-five minutes or so, and the lesson absolutely stank to high heaven.  (What is "high heaven" anyway?)

I had six pages of notes lined out for the lesson on Easter, and 2.5 pages through it, I looked up at the clock and realized that I only had five minutes left.  So, I trashed the notes.  Honestly, I really wasn't feeling too good of a vibe off of them anyway, and I think the class knew it.  The lesson was written by another teacher, and even though it was great material, it was WAY too much for a 45 minute lesson, and wasn't written in the way I like to teach anyway.  I was bombing out.  I'm pretty sure I saw two different people falling asleep, it was that bad.  So, I summarized the last 3.5 pages of the notes in about five minutes, we had a great class discussion, and I think it all worked out in the end.

But, just so you all know, I think I know what was wrong with Cooper, and why he wouldn't go to his mother.  It was what she dressed him in for Easter.  Cooper's used to wearing blue jeans and flannel shirts....you know, manly clothes.  But for Easter, Carrie put him in some kind of little outfit that was most definitely NOT MANLY.  It was all baby.  Let's just put it this way, when she was getting it ready for him to wear, I had to take the BONNET away from her.  Yes, the BONNET.  Cooper doesn't do bonnets.  I think he felt ridiculous in that getup, and he knew that his mom put it on him.  I think all the other little kids in his Sunday School class made fun of his new clothes, and he held a grudge against Carrie for it.  I can't even say that I blame him.  He looked like a little pansy-boy.  Apparently, I'm going to have to force-feed Dr. James Dobson's book "Bringing Up Boys" on Carrie so that she will understand the humiliation involved here, and the devastating, long-term effects that this is going to have on his psyche.

So, tonight, Cooper and I are doing VERY MANLY things while Carrie is in class.  We're wrestling tigers, chasing buffalo, cooking and eating high-fat meat, and then rubbing mud and blood on our faces and chests.  So, gotta go, I've got a lot of de-programming to do.

Happy Easter!

I've always found this to be an interesting website for many topics, and it turns out Easter is no different.  We hope that everyone has a great day, and we hope to see many of you really soon.

Cooper's First Haircut

Well, as I said in the previous post, Cooper was scheduled for a shearing on Friday, and he got one.  Carrie and Lori said that he was really good, and he even got to watch a movie while he was getting clipped.  They gave him a cookie cutter, a balloon, and let him go down a slide.  He had a blast!  You can see new pictures posted in the photo album on the right.

This morning, the Operation Brightside cleanup went really well, and we finished our portion in under two hours.  We got a lot accomplished.  On my drive home, I saw lots of the Operation Brightside trash bags set on the side of the road, so I guess this was their designated weekend for everyone to pitch in and help out.

UK played a boring game last night, which, since they won, I guess is good.  No excitement, just got ahead and stayed there.  I hope that's what UofL does this afternoon.

Dinner at Buca di Beppo was great last night, and dessert, coffee, and the game here at our house was even better.  The Hoerter's and Briney's joined us after dinner, and we all watched the game together.  Good times.

I got a nap this afternoon, Carrie is about to take one I think, and Cooper is relaxing watching a movie at the moment.  I'm feeling a little better, Cooper sounds somewhat better, and the headache that Carrie has had for the past two days is going away.  The UofL game is coming on in about 45 minutes, and we don't have any obligations until church in the morning.  So, for now, all is right in the world of the Crouches.  We hope that you all are doing even better.

What a week

Wow!  We've barely spoken this week, haven't we?  Let me fill you all in on a few things going on with us here lately.

First of all, I don't think I said it earlier, but we had a great visit Saturday and Sunday with Granddaddie and Grandmama.  They drove up for the weekend and stopped by Saturday, and then went to church with us Sunday.  They even came over to the house after church and stayed for a while.  Cooper had a great time, but I don't think he had as good of a time as Granddaddie did.  The two of them really get along pretty well I think.

Cooper's had a cough since last Monday, so I took him to the doctor yesterday.  The nurse took all of his vitals, the doctor checked his heart, lungs, ears, and throat.  Then she told us to go home.  She said all that he had was a cold, and didn't even prescribe anything for him.  She told us to keep giving him what we've been giving him, just to up the dosage a little bit.  Hmmm....OK.  You're the doctor.  They still took my co-pay though.  Thanks for that.  Cooper is still coughing, and now I think I'm coming down with something.  All my bones have ached for the last two days, my throat is sore, and I can't seem to wake up during the day, I'm tired all the time.

Last night at FAITH visitation we didn't do anything but stuff paper boxes with promotional material for our church.  We didn't have any really good prospects to visit anyway, and the church was wanting to hit up a lot of the subdivisions in view of Easter Sunday coming up.  The Brown's went with me, and we had a great time just driving around.  They're good people.

UofL won their Sweet Sixteen game tonight.  They looked REALLY good.  I don't know about them winning the whole thing, but I do think they have at least one more win in them this season.

Tomorrow Cooper is getting his first haircut, and then getting pictures made.  Carrie is off for Good Friday, so she's spending the whole day with him.  Tomorrow night, Lori is keeping Cooper, while Carrie and I go out to dinner with the Briney's and the Hoerter's.  Then, after dinner, we're all coming back over to our house to watch the UK game and enjoy coffee and dessert. Carrie fixed the dessert tonight, and it's a concoction of chocolate and peanut butter.  Yum!  Chocolate, peanut butter, coffee, and NCAA tournament..as I've said before, it's a great time to be a basketball fan in the Commonwealth!!

Saturday, I'm volunteering for cleanup with Operation Brightside around our office.  It's only for a couple of hours, but it should be fun, so long as the rain holds off.  I'm not real sure what we'll be doing, but I know they said that "they would provide the gloves and trash bags."  That sounds fun, right?

Sunday, we've got church in the morning, and then we've got people coming over for lunch.  As of right now, Lori, Lori's friend Amy, Jason, Brett, Kevin and Jessica Brown, Carrie, Cooper, and I will be having a smoked turkey breast with all the trimmings, if everything works out as planned.

Palm Sunday

All the little kids at church today were carrying around long blades of grass.  It took me until halfway through the worship service to figure out why.  Our Sunday School class has been on a marriage topic for the past three weeks, so my mind hasn't been on the Easter and Palm Sunday train of thought lately.

Our class held an Easter Egg Hunt at a local park today for about a dozen kids.  It was over nearly as soon as it had begun, but those kids sure looked like they had a load of fun.  It was nice to see everyone outside of the normal church atmosphere as well, if even only for a little while.  Carrie and Cooper stayed home (he doesn't care much for Easter Egg Hunts yet), but I went and had a great time.  The weather was as great as the company.

I picked up sushi takeout tonight, and Carrie and I watched the UofL game while eating spider rolls and spicy tuna.  Yum!  It was a great night, and the Cards won by a decisive margin.  GO CARDS!  Sweet Sixteen bound!  It's March Madness, Baby!

Oh yeah, and the Cats looked OK this weekend too.

A long time coming

I use that post title for two different reasons:  It's been a few days since I posted anything on here, and it's been a LONG while since we had weather as nice as we had today.  Carrie, Cooper, and I have been going non-stop the last few days.  I've been working on a special project at the office, Carrie's school and Relay for Life responsibilities are really starting to kick into gear, and Cooper....well, he's just Cooper.  He's developed a little cough that is mostly evident in the morning and evenings, but for the most part, he's doing great!

As I said, the weather here was great today, so Cooper and I played outside after work for a little bit.  You'll find a couple of additional photos in the Cooper section of the photo albums.  He still had on his St. Patty's Day green shirt, so I couldn't resist taking a few snapshots of him.  By the way, if you happen to know what Cooper is getting from his Nana for his birthday, PLEASE, don't tell him.  He hasn't figured it out yet, and Carrie and I are sworn to secrecy.  I don't think he even has a clue, it's going to be a HUGE surprise!

We've had two different couples in our Sunday School class have babies within the past week.  The Finleys, a seminary couple, had Caleb Wesley last Friday.  There are a few pictures of him on the right.  Also, the Riedlings had Rebecca Suzanne this morning, giving Logan a little sister to play with.  Everyone is doing well.  When I went to see the Riedlings today, they introduced me to Susan's parents.  They were very nice and polite and shook my hand and said hello, just as you would expect.  But, when Susan explained that I was Cooper's dad, they were very talkative and open.  "Oh, we hear about Cooper all the time!  We feel like we know him!  Nice to meet you!"  So, there you have it.  I'm no longer Andy, I'm Cooper's dad.  Wow, that didn't take long.  I'm quickly fading into obscurity.

Snow!

When we got up this morning, the ground was white, and the streets were just a little damp.  All the benefits of a beautiful snowfall, without all of the annoying ramifications.  The Perfect Snow.

I've noticed that quite a few people have posted comments on here lately, thanks!  I'm glad to know you guys are enjoying this.  I don't think my life is that fascinating, but apparently voyeurism is rampant among my family and friends.  John Ortberg says that everybody's normal till you get to know them.  Well, I know you people, and you're all a bunch of weirdos, but thanks for stopping by anyway!

Carrie is downtown all day today hosting a benefit scrapbooking event for the Relay for Life.  Granny even came up from Mayfield to attend.  They are scrapbooking all day, from 9 to 9.  I can't even imagine that.  That's just way too much estrogen in one room for too long for me to comprehend it.

Cooper is getting spoiled by his Mim this weekend.  Mim and Pop brought Granny up for the scrapbooking event, and Mim is keeping him all day.  I don't think she minds very much.  I don't think Cooper does either.  He's having a blast.  I think they'll both be worn out by the end of the day.

Dad and I are going out looking for me a new vehicle.  I've been driving Carrie's Altima for the past couple of years, and I'm really ready to get back into a truck.  So, between truck shopping, a UofL Conference Championship game, and a UK sub-final game, we've got a pretty packed day planned ourselves.

Huh?

Could someone please explain to me how this happens?

Link: TheLouisvilleChannel.com - News - Man Dead On Futon For Nearly 10 Years Before Family Notices.

First FAITH Visitation

Tonight was our first night to go on visitation with church. We've been in FAITH training for visitation for the past two months, and this week was the first designated week to actually go out and knock on a few doors.  Even though I've never really been on a formal visitation for the church, I wasn't very nervous about it at all.  I know the material that they want us to share pretty well, and after all, they pair two people that have never been before with a "leader" that has been.  So, basically I was looking forward to a interesting, fun, on-the-job training experience tonight.

Well, that's not exactly how it went down.  Actually, that's not even close to how it went.  It ended up that they were short on leaders, so they just told the four of us from our class to go ahead without one.  And, since I'm the Sunday School teacher, I was instantly nominated as the "leader" for our group. In addition, it appears that this is the way it's going to be the rest of the time.  It was at this point that the panic decided to strike.  I think everything that I had learned the past two months instantly was replaced by fear and nervousness.  It wasn't just me either.  I could tell that the other members of my team didn't feel real thrilled with the idea of going out without a coach.

However, thankfully, that feeling only lasted for a few seconds.  I was able to pull myself together, gather my thoughts and resources, and make a few decisions that needed to be made. I could tell that my team had done the same thing, and everyone was starting to get a much happier look on the faces.  We were getting excited!  This is what we'd been training for after all!

So, we set out on our first visit.  All we had was an address and a Louisville map, and it just so happened that there were two roads in Louisville with the same name.  We made a decision on which one we thought was most likely, and pointed the vehicle in that direction.  It was 30 minutes away however.  (Actually, it was probably only 15 or 20 minutes away, but we got lost a few times.)  And, once we got there, we quickly figured out that we were NOT in the right place.  The street name was right, but the house numbers were WAY off.  We had chosen the wrong street.  So, by this time, it was getting close to time to head back to the church.  On the way back, I called one of the prospects that lived between our current location and the church, in hopes of making an actual stop before going back.  The wife answered the phone, and explained that her husband was a student minister and that he had accepted a position at a church in Florida, and that they were moving next week.  She thanked me for the phone call, and I wished them well.  We never even got out of the truck for the whole night.

The great thing is, even though it seemed an apparent failure, Kevin summed the night up really well for us.  "We were obedient."  And that we were.  We went with the intention of sharing the Gospel with our friends and neighbors.  It just so happened that we struck out in that regard, but I think more importantly, it was a time of bonding for the four of us.  I love our team.  We had a great time, and we went through a range of emotions with each other in just a matter of a couple of hours.  We were excited, then nervous, then confused, then disappointed, and finally rejoiceful that we had set out on a journey together to fulfill our Great Commission.  I couldn't be more proud of our FAITH team, I think we're going to have a great semester!

Let's try this again

OK.  Here's the deal.  The layout and color scheme of the blog that I posted here yesterday was horrible.  Well, not completely horrible, but a little rough.  It was hard to read, and the layout of the page was inefficient.  In addition, this layout allows me to add a "Photo Album" that you now see on the right.  (No Granny, you're not a dummy, those pictures weren't there last night.)  So, hopefully, this page is a little easier to read, since the text is more contrasting and larger, and the photo's should be a little easier to access.  You'll probably notice that I've added a few extras on the sidebars, such as books that I'm reading and links to some favorite websites.

Well, enough of that.  I'm sure as long as you can see the pictures and read the posts, you could care less about the details, so I'll quit talking about it.  I'll update you on the weekend.

The Dave Ramsey Live event Friday night was great.  I listen to Dave's radio show a few times a week, and I didn't really hear much Friday night in terms of his teachings that I hadn't heard before, but it was great to see him in person and hear some more about family, history, and such.  I think Jake really got quite a bit out of it too, even as tired as he was.

Today in Sunday School, Dr. Bill Cutrer gave all the classes a "Sex and Marriage" lecture.  This is the same doctor that did the 3D ultrasound pictures of Cooper last year.  Not only is he a licensed, certified OB/GYN, he's also on the faculty at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, as well as a member at our church.  Lucky for us, huh?  He did a great job, managed to make everyone at ease considering the topic, and even had us laughing quite a few times.  I think everyone enjoyed it.

Cooper's feeling a lot better lately, and has been his usual self all weekend.  Tonight he didn't want to go to bed at his usual time, but after an extra bottle, he dropped like a leaf.  Sometimes we just all need a little "midnight snack" before bedtime.

Carrie took the final exam in one of her classes this afternoon, so for the rest of the semester, she only has class one night a week.  Cooper and I are pretty excited about that.  We like her to be home with us.  it just doesn't feel right when mom isn't at home.