Happy Birthday Bon!

Happy 30th to my Ambassador of Kwan, Bon I love you, I wouldn't want to do this without you.

Also, a funny story, I go to leave class last night and have no keys. Can't find them, retraced my steps 5 times, I know I had them walking in. So Bon had to get Monkey out of bed and come and pick me up at school. Luckily, I only carry three keys so it is not world changing to replace them. Just makes me feel like I am losing my mind!

American Idol

OK, time for some American Idol commentary.

The men suck, and there are a couple of girls who could get a record deal tomorrow. I am a big fan of Melinda, Lekisha and Gina. And any night you hear Mary J. and Evanesence you know it is good...

Speaking of music, there are some songs that make me break down and lose it. Even while I am driving, I am not going to lie, I am a sensitive man.

You have got to listen to this new song by Mark Schultz. If you aren't moved by it, I must inform you that you have no soul.

Good night...

Beautiful...

Bummed

I will begin today with some sports commentary. The Bears have traded Thomas Jones, one of my favorites, for Jack Squat! I have never been a Ced Benson fan, from his draft day tirade of insanity to his brokenness that will not survive a 16 game season. He cannot catch the ball and will not pass protect. Good luck Rex! We traded our best offensive player to flip 2nd round picks, what??? Clearly I need to enjoy this Super Bowl off-season, things look to be heading back to status quo. 5-11 here we come!

Adam Schein said it best here: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6533778

I am feeling a little better today, back at the office...

Big ups to Funk-E who made it through with flying colors and is resting at home...

Birthday

(Reese and Blake chillin' in their pajamas)

Happy Birthday Jum!

Morning update, my cough is worse, but it seems like the girls are doing better, so that is all that really matters.

I finished my Finance final last night and got it e-mailed in to the professor. Now I get to focus on our group project which is a financial analysis of Apple.

24 tonight...

I'm Back

I have honestly been wanting to sit down and update this thing about 15 times since my last post, but was hesitant because I didn't have any new pics downloaded. Well, I still don't but I wanted to throw up a Reese Retro Pic which was taken right around a year ago. Time has flown by.

Where to start? In the present, our entire family is afflicted with various degrees of what I like to call "The Crud". Which sucks, it is Reese's first illness above a runny nose and the first time she has had a cough. For the most part she has maintained her spunky attitude, but it has definitely curbed her appetite. (For everything but raisins that is)

Happy Birthday-eve to Jum, the big 2-6 tomorrow.

Big prayers go up for Funk-E, my sister-in-law, we are thinking about you.

Have had preliminary discussions about trying to get a flight down to Richmond to see SBraine, amazingly it has been two and a half years.

(Pause for coughing fit)

Work is still rolling, my pod-mate is leaving so Squibb gets a chance to shine, as I know he will. He has been an absolute stud thus far, I am so glad they gave him this opportunity.

Big fantasy baseball draft next Sunday, stoked...

Lastly, but certainly not least, I am really pumped about Four Corners right now. I have been blessed to have the opportunity to get more involved with the staff and am thoroughly excited. This church is on a course of greatness and I am enjoying the ride...

Revelations

This is a photo of the newest member to the Furniss Male Order, (FMO for short), Jake, the snake. Jum has scored a new pet in the form of a Ball Python.

I have come to realize some things over the last few days...

I am WAY out of shape and this must be addressed. The Y that Bon goes to is minutes from our house and I think it is time to bump up to the family membership...

Installing light fixtures is fun...

Last night was also the first time I had evered shoveled my own driveway, ah milestones...

Kudos go out to Bon who showed off some master negotiation skillz with DirecTV. The receiver in our bedroom is on the fritz already and Bon was able to get us Showtime for free for two months, in addition to a new receiver.

Looking forward to tomorrow and temps above freezing...

No Video

I was hoping to be able to post my tv appearance, but it has yet to be posted on the WCPO archive list. A number of friends got to see it, so it has been a pretty cool experience. Sitting in class now, ready to get started, I sure do miss my girls on Thursdays...

TV Time

Like you always hear, the early bird gets the worm.

Since I was the first one to arrive at work this morning, channel 9 decided to interview me and ask me about my commute. If I make the cut I will be airing on the news at noon today. (My television debut)

There is definitely some ice on the ground, but I really did not have any trouble this morning, except for the fact that I have an overzealous neighbor who makes me look bad by shoveling his driveway at the crack of dawn!

Congrats Mary

Big shout out to Mary J., one of my all-time favorites, for winning 3 Grammys last night! We caught bits and pieces of it, just a tough match-up for them since "A Time to Kill" was also on.

On a side note, for some reason I was wide awake at 3:30 this morning.

I am off to gather nuts and wood, the white death part II is coming...

Silence Lifted

I come to you now, after the completion of my self-imposed one week ban on communication. This is mostly due to my extreme disappoint and the inability to fully describe my feelings after Sunday evening. (Slightly melodramatic)

Reese is on Day 4 of a cold that has her nose running like Payton down the sideline against Detroit. (Fast and looking at lots of green)

Had my annual review at work and did not get fired, that's a positive.

We enjoyed our first day of sledding down our hill in the back yard yesterday, it is the perfect slope to give kids a thrill and to throw Bonnie like a broncing bull

Update coming tomorrow morning...

A Little Motivator...

4 Days until Domination...

Played some good hoop last night, I am clearly now a 15 feet and in player. (After air-balling three from downtown)

Big shout out goes to an old friend from Vanderbilt/Nashville who has accepted a job in the athletic department at Miami of Ohio and has purchased a home minutes from us. We are pumped to hook up with him again, Bon loves his t-shirts...

Part II

I feel extremely blessed to have Bonnie in my life. I could go in to great detail with the number of recent examples, but they are extremely numerous.

Busy weekend ahead with Reese's 1st Birthday party on Saturday and the football game of the decade on Sunday night.

Happy Birthday props go out to Amber today. Keep it real Funk-E.

Enjoy the second clip...

Clarification

I always kind of cringe when I tell people I am a "Christian" because of the preconceived notions that a lot of folks have. I am a "Christ-Follower", living my life for Jesus, with Jesus, and not by societal "rules".

Holla out to Dave Foster in Nashville and the guys at Four Corners, this is AWESOME!

Miami Anyone?

For the first time since I was 9 years old, Da Bears are going to the Super Bowl! It was a great game, of course, and as I type this I am watching the AFC game.

Now to the real important stuff. The move went awesome, with the Magnificent 7 carrying stuff, myself and six other studs, we knocked it out in a couple of hours. Super Mad Props go out again to The Godfather who delivered a sweet truck for us. We absolutely love our new house and have some great pics of Reese already to send to you.

A nice surprise today, one of our neighbors plowed our driveway and sidewalk this morning after the white death came overnight. We took Reese out to play in it, and I think the fact she was layered like the Michelin Man took the fun out of it for her. She did not like that very well.

24 tomorrow night, in the new house, holla!

Idol Returns

I forgot to mention in the last blog entry about the re-arrival of American Idol. We absolutely love this show in the Furniss casa and this year's start has not disappointed. And it all started with this girl...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy 1st Birthday to my baby girl, Reese, I love you, this year has flown by. Slow down the aging process for Daddy. There will be a big birthday bash scheduled once the move is completed.

In addition to that, lots going on in the last week or so.

- We are in the process of moving, the big move will come this weekend with all of the furniture and the official move of the beds

- The Bears are playing in the NFC Championship on Sunday!

- Have had a great visit with Jum, will be hard to see him go back to Alaska

- Our office has earned a company sponsored day trip to Belterra, with gambling money being provided! How sweet is that

Having Jum in town kind of got me out of blogging, but I am back.

Go Bears!

Was that a week that just past?

Wow, what a week, things have been crazy. Jum and Katie arrived on Wednesday, (see photo of Reese meeting Uncle Jum for the first time), and if you have never seen me cry, you missed an excellent opportunity. You know what one of the coolest things is? It's like Jum never left really, it's like we have been hanging out everyday for the last 13 months, we picked up on the same jokes and shared some funny stories, I am very blessed to have both of my brothers.

The house is nearly in our possession, looks like Thursday we will get the keys and start moving some smaller stuff and cleaning this weekend. The "big move" will be next weekend and we will finally be engulfed in our new home.

Don't want to overwhelm you on the first post back in a while so I will leave you with this...

GO GATORS!!!

Happy New Year!

Anybody who thinks much cannot change in a year, I will tastefully disagree. One year ago we knew two things, we were going to have a baby sometime, and we were moving to Cincy soon after.

Most of you know the story for 2006, but if you missed anything it is all pretty much logged here in the archives. It has been an amazing journey and we are extremely excited about what God has planned for us in 2007 and beyond. Honestly, at the end of the day I just want to enjoy my family and touch as many people's lives as I possibly can through Jesus Christ.

One of the biggest things I learned this year is that I do not, nor will I ever "own" anything here on Earth, I simply want to be the best manager of what God gives me.

I absolutely love Bonnie and Reese more than anything in the world, what a phenomenal year 2006 was. It will be hard to top on shear number of milestones, but I have learned that through God anything is possible. (I think there may be a verse a little similar to that in Luke somewhere).

One song meant a lot to us towards the beginning of 2006 and has become kind of a reminder of where to keep our focus moving forward...

"Walk by Faith" by Jeremy Camp, you can listen to it by clicking below...