I have this whole side of me that is pretty nerdy you see… I say that because I know that all of you are normally accustom to the overarching super rad Jordan. 

My friend Brett, graphic designer and web creator genius… has always been telling me about the world of wordpress.org and it’s extensive options and bliss… I’ve taken the dive just to learn really. So we no longer live here.

Do visit us at our new home, however please don’t brace yourself to be impressed or anything… I’ve not learned a thing yet. 

                                                        www.jordanandellen.com

After multiple helpings of Ellen’s homemade chicken ‘n dumpling’s, great strawberry goodness tasty something desert, and my pleasantly strong coffee… conversation continued around friendly games of wii tennis, bowling, and golf. 

Tomorrow will arrive with sunlight and more coffee.

Always good to see my parents.

We’ve been here and there and everywhere it seems. Do you think more when you travel? I believe that I do. Maybe it is because you are visually stimulated by the look of a different place. Or maybe it is the fact that you encounter people from far off lands for brief moments in time. 

We were probably directly above Indianapolis when I really just wanted to be home.

The absurdity that comes with unusual flight plans just kills me sometimes. Starting in Orlando and ending in Memphis doesn’t normally require a stop in Chicago, but for us it did. It’s like realizing that you’ve forgotten something at the store after you’ve already made it home. Not just like that, but a little like that. 

I love airports though. Things are accessible. Coffee is within arms reach and newspapers are everywhere. So I could sit in the delight of a layover for days… it’s just the first leg of an unnecessarily multi- appendage flight that sometimes aggravates the happiest of fliers. 

It’s interesting though. When you get off of the jet, pickup the guitar from the plane side attendant, bathroom break, get the luggage, carry the luggage to car… you immediately begin to feel the security of home. 

In the car you are free to have the conversation that you couldn’t have on the plane and didn’t have time for in the terminal. In the car you sit in a place that you’ve made friends with, listen to music you’ve somehow forgotten about, glance at a gasoline gauge picture that you typically don’t see as you crank up the car. 

Travel always teaches us new things about new people in new places, but sometime for me, it makes me appreciate that home smell you’ve worked so hard to forget.

Funny though, now that I’m home I’m ready to go again.

I had a great weekend. One I was looking forward to with great anticipation. It worked just like I expected it to work.

Ellen and I left Thursday morning on our adventure to the wedding of my friend Josh DeLoach. He was to be married in Louisiana so we decided to split the trip up a little. We stayed Thursday in Hot Springs, Arkansas… it was great to explore a new place. That is one thing that me and Ellen really enjoy doing. I was lucky to find someone who enjoys the potential spontaneity that comes with a road trip. Hot Springs was good. We liked the 24 hours we were there and may go back one day.

Driving into Louisiana was great. It was nice knowing that I would get to introduce my wife to these really important people in my life and vice versa. There is a comfort in that environment that is priceless. One where stories are plentiful, encouragement is everywhere.

So a great weekend. Crawfish were eaten… pictures were taken… people were made fun of… it’s just the nature of spending time with my friends. Can’t wait to do it again.

What a busy month. We have travelled many miles and yet, have hardly traveled our distance.

We did three graduations in a couple of weeks, i’ve been sick a couple times, and accomplished a marathon, (okay watched a marathon).

My brother in law Dave’s graduation was this past weekend in Louisville, KY. It was good to see him finish. However, watching him finish was cold. Somehow, even now I don’t trust that it is summer yet. I know it is, because all of electronic devices tell me so, but the temperature has just not been warm enough, long enough for me to trust a season change.

Louisiana should do a pretty good job of confirming this though. It always has. Ellen and I are leaving tomorrow morning for our little road trip. We are gonna drive a little over halfway to Shreveport to land in Hot Springs, Arkansas. She went there once when she was 7. I have never been there. We will check it out for you.

I must say that I am extremely excited about this wedding in particular. I have enjoyed all ten that I have attended in past several months, but for me weddings are always as good as the people that you see there. The bride and groom are always a given… but the people that you haven’t shaken hands with in a long time, mixed with a place you haven’t been in a while always creates a great environment for my enjoyment.

For me this environment will be Louisiana, which I strangely miss. The people will be roommates from my college years. About 8 of us lived together over a few years in New Orleans and Atlanta and then in about a week we spread thousands of miles apart. I remember the last time that we were together, two years ago. We were asking questions like: who will get married first? Is so and so ever gonna get a girlfriend? Now we will sit around a table with almost all of us wearing rings on our fingers. Two years isn’t very long… but it is.

I have made a pile of items that I intend to put in the attic. Things that go in the attic are things that I don’t use so much like Christmas decorations, empty computer boxes, and now wedding gifts. I’ve found that I also sort memories this way. Memories like my high school theatre career, my elementary exercise of building skate parks for my brother (in the back yard) and that time I forgot the words to “Jesus Loves Me” while leading worship at a traditional church in southern Louisiana. These aren’t things that I reference much. They aren’t necessary for my day to day, but they still make me happy. They still motivate me towards humility and pursuit of what I’m made for. I’m beginning to feel like that pursuit continues long past my next significant life change, and hopefully the one after that.

In one corner of my at home office you’ll find a sea shell. My dad left it in my car after he borrowed it to drive to a beach portrait when we were in Florida last. Looking at it simultaneously brings out images of my hometown and strangely a sense of responsibility for those closest to me. That shell was used to lure the smiles of young children and those young one’s parents paid for that facial expression. My parents used that shell to put me through college. They don’t know I have it. I probably won’t give it back.

It’s things like sea shells that I won’t place in the attic. Responsibility is something that I must never forget, nor do I want to forget how it’s effect on people in my life has carried me a long way in a short time. I imagine the sacrifice that I’ll have the opportunity to make for my kids one day, or even my wife right now… this must be the greatest time to understand the depth of importance found in even my easy decisions. The more checks that I mark off in my twenties, the more I realize that life is enormous. What once were bills and senior practicums are now life insurance and IRAs and I’m okay with that. It’s just that I hope I’ve filed everything correctly. I hope that the illustrations that God has positioned me in will be lived out in my imagination again when I need to remember those life lessons.

What strikes me most is when I begin to recognize the way God has made everything available to me. His word is enough, but along with that people and circumstance. He sets us up for success. Now if I could just figure out what He’s trying to teach me through my golf game.

Ellen is a cook…

and she is good at it! She cooks a few times a week and has become quite the steady reader of cookbooks. Last night we had roast beef. It was excellent. The one dish that she has made multiple times is chicken and dumplins… which is great. I love it very much.

Sporadic workouts…

At the moment we are excited about continuing our running routine. That could change, but we hope not. Over the last couple of months, we have run a couple times a week and then have dropped it… a few times.

We’ve been busy…

The last several weeks have been filled with middle school and high school retreats, birthday parties and yard work. Needless to say, it’s been pretty busy. However, we have gotten to do all of this together, which makes it way better. Middle School retreat in Kentucky was a blast two weeks ago, but the weather got cold. We are excited about the entrance of the warm weather. We have had the windows open lately which saves money and infuses the house with a spring scent. Try it

Coming Up

May will be busy. We will travel to Murfreesboro and Louisville for graduations, Shreveport for a wedding and I have a staff retreat in there somewhere too. This all happens while I try to plan summer camp for 250 students. Nedi Pot, EmergenC, and Flinstones to replace breath mints will be day to day.

Tomorrow we will head to Nashville to watch people run the Music City Marathon.

That’s all for now…

I received a lot of advice. A lot. To be perfectly honest I asked for a lot of it. I decided that since I was going to be getting a pretty good bit in an involuntary manner, that I might as well buy into it full force. So of course I decided to make up a game. This game is called “80% of what people tell you about being married all comes back to 3 or 4 things”. Basically I discovered that many of the men that I encountered told me the same thing. It all came back to things like honesty, communication and a resounding “your wife is always right”. Then of course I did get the usual never go to bed angry, try to help out around the house, just listen to her, just be quiet. One guy even told me the most important thing that she needed to know was how to make biscuits. Apparently he knows more about the husbands needs than the wife.

The thing is most of those people are right. Even in the few weeks that I have been a member of the team, we have proven true the importance of communication, honesty, respect… Men who had built 55 year marriages have to practice the same daily elements that I do. The truth is, as much as people seem to change, we really just walk around in circles. Everyone might be just like their grandfather, and for me that would be a compliment on both sides. So here I go, joining to the continuation of happy marriages that flow all throughout my family. We should be good just as long as Ellen learns how to make a biscuit.

This past weekend we spent some time with the students at forest hills baptist church. I led worship for their winter conference at a little place called Linden, TN. It was cold. At one point it was 8 degrees (eight) The kind of cold where you get worried about your blood freezing. It didn’t. Here are some photos.

Our friend Matt Nelson played the cello for us this weekend.

Jeremy (brother) and Jordan

Our friend Lauren with Ellen

Macy’s

Dillard’s

Target

Bed Bath and Beyond