Office, home, office.

In the morning, I did a little more sermon prep. I decided to go in a totally different direction with Sunday's sermon than I had given thought to yesterday. The key word is "sign."

I left to go home, but first a stop at the town hall. The 15th is the day that the water bill needs to be paid.

When I got home, I started hacking at the ice on our driveway. I cleared the end of our front entryway, but it has frozen over again. Our downspout is buried and goes under the front walkway; I think the buried part is clogged with ice, so it flows out at the seam right next to the walkway. Now, there's a bunch of ice that forms there, which, when it melts, flows down to the end of the driveway and freezes there. I hurt my wrist trying to clear it some.

I hung out with Robert and Molly after that. There wasn't much going on at that time. I watched some of the shows that I had on the DVR, so I was able to clear some space on there.

In the evening, it was time to start the Lutheran Confessions Study, again. We break for Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter, with mid-week services taking the place of the study. When last we had met, we just finished the Formula of Concord, article II, so this evening, we started article III. I enjoy reading the Formula of Concord; it's probably my favorite of the Confessions.

When I got up this morning, it was just starting to snow. All the models I saw on the morning news were predicting up to an inch of new snow. So, I drove to the office without a second thought as to footwear. It wasn't long into my time there that I wish I had worn my snow boots. We got about 5 inches that ended at about noon, the time that I leave the office to go home.

While at the office, I started "watching" Eureka, again. I usually have some video or music going as a distraction while I work. I find that I work better with something going on, even if only in the background. When I'm typing out my sermons, though, I keep the distractions to music, and this usually only instrumental. As for the work I did, it was mostly sermon study. I'll be preaching on the wedding at Cana, and Jesus' first miracle. I also got some hymn inserts ready for the next two Sundays.

When I got home, I started up the snow thrower to clear the driveway and sidewalk. Afterward, I took some salt to the end of our drive way, hoping to at least soften the ice that has built up down there, giving me a better chance of scraping it off.

The afternoon was spent with a napping infant and toddler on my lap. Once they woke up, it was time to prepare supper. Spätzle was on the menu again, as we try to finish up the pork roast and gravy from New Year's Day.

The night should be uneventful...

Today we made homemade pizza!

The morning was slow, more-or-less. I played the gold medal game in my Sochi Olympic hockey simulation, and trounced Canada. Now, I can get back to my Be-a-GM mode, but I think I'll take some time to catch up to it in games played in my Live-the-Life mode.

I had to run up to Walmart to get some more flour for the pizzas. So, off I went, with Mikaela in tow. I needed more ground pork, too, but Walmart was out. Next stop was Safeway. We got what we needed there, and I had a taste for red birch beer, so we stopped at Big-R to get some.

The time came quickly to start making the pizzas. Genevieve made her's (and Tirzah's) first as the regular dough rose. Then, as is usually the custom, I let the older kids top their own. They all tried to be a bit artistic with the toppings, but I think Molly's turned out the most artsy, even without her trying. As you can see in the picture, she made a smiley face out of pieces of American Cheese; air bubbles in the crust gave the face cheeks.

While the evening got a little stressful with the kids, in the end, it turned out alright. Pizzas were made. Sarsaparilla and red birch beer were sipped. A good meal was had by all.

The kids were sent to bed, and Genevieve and I watched the first three episodes of the new season of Community. It's a pretty good show.

It was a morning teaching and preaching baptism, though not only a baptism of repentance, a la John. Western churches normally celebrate the Baptism of Our Lord on the first Sunday after the Epiphany, though there are propers for the First Sunday after The Epiphany of Our Lord. ...to fulfill all righteousness: read about it here.

We spent some time at Safeway doing a little shopping. I told the family that if they could clear the table, we'd make homemade pizza tomorrow.

When we got home, Robert wanted to watch the Bronco game. So, the afternoon was spent doing that. Broncos beat the Chargers 24-17 and will host the Patriots for the AFC Championship Game.

It was slow after that. I did some file transferring from DVD and CD to our fileserver harddrive. Then from the fileserver to my phone.

I slept in this morning. It felt good. Normally, I'm up at my alarm (or earlier) at 5:30. I turned it off this morning and fell back asleep. I finally got out of bed after 8.

When I got upstairs, I caught up on a new television series that I missed: Helix. I'm not sure if I like it yet or not, but I'll give it a few more tries.

I played a few more games in my NHL 14 Olympic simulation. I have just one more game to go—the gold medal game against Canada.

Once I got those games finished, I rushed off to Napa to pick up a gasket. A member called me today to say that he had time to guide my repair of the truck, which I had asked him to do. He said it was a very easy repair, but I was expecting to do it when it warmed up enough. It wasn't a terribly cold day, with highs in the upper 40s, so we did it today. A short while later, and the valve cover gasket was replaced and the truck running again (not that it wasn't running before, but it shouldn't be run without the valve cover on it).

The sermon is prepped, dinner is almost ready, and it should be an uneventful night.

By now, my routine may be boring you. I don't blame you. I do seem to do the same things almost every day. Tuesday through Friday: office, home, sleep—with some variation.

So, it was an office day. I got Sunday's sermon written. Of course, I will review it again tomorrow and probably make a few changes. I still had some time left, so I created more introit and gradual inserts. I completed most of Lent. I may skip them completely, but I didn't do Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, and Holy Wednesday; the rest of the season is completed, though.

Back home for a bit, and I played my NHL 14 Sochi Olympics simulation for a bit.

Then, it was back to church for Bible Study. We finished Judith in the Apocrypha, but before we did that, we discussed a potential concern with the inerrancy of Scripture given the impending published of the 28th edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek Text, and the fact that there are, currently, 27 editions. The discussion was prompted by an article in Christian News, a "Lutheran" rag that I think tries to stir controversy where none should exist.

It was a simple day, today.

Like I said yesterday, an earlier day in that I left the house earlier than I do on other days. Up at 5:30, into the shower, and out the door to make it to the IHOP in Parker by 7 for Bible Study. We're going through Daniel. It's a fun book.

I guess the big news is that I took the van to Parker. Normally, I take my truck, but I need to replace the valve cover gasket. While I'm comfortable driving the two or three miles from one end of Elizabeth to the other with the truck, I won't be taking it on longer trips until the gasket is replaced. And I won't be replacing the gasket until the weather improves (I don't want to be taking things apart and doing this kind of work in freezing temperatures). So, for the time being, through the winter at least, when I have to leave town for business, I'll be taking the van.

Back in the office, and I worked on introit and gradual inserts through the middle of Lent. I had completed things through the end of Epiphany, so I got the three -gesima Sundays and through Oculi done today. Oh, and a little more reading for Sunday's sermon.

Time at home was pretty much uneventful.

A day at the office saw some preparation for the voters' meeting at the end of the month and some textual study for Sunday's sermon. I think I have a direction I want to go in, but i want to continue reading.

When I got home, I was able to create the last six players that I needed for my NHL 14 Olympics simulation and set that up.

This evening was spent at a church members' house for dinner. After they served us, they presented us with gifts for Christmas. I feel bad because I had to round us up so that I could get to bed for an early morning; not that I wake up any earlier, but that I head out of the home earlier than normal.

Finally, a day off! This felt like an especially long Christmas season, so it was good, after yesterday, to have a day off.

I spent the day doing most of the work on my NHL 14 Olympic rosters. Today was the deadline for them to be announced, and the bulk of the participating countries did so today. So, after some roster editing, adding in some created players from my Be-A-GM mode, and swapping out a few players who have injuries in my Be-A-GM mode, I have authentic rosters (as far as players on them...jersey numbers and line ups are a different story) for Canada, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA. I will add Finland, Russia, and Slovakia once I add a few more players that I have to create; I'm simply waiting to find out what to rate them.

Some pizza and the Matrix, and it was time for bed.