Howard Family Christmas Letter

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The following is the letter that we sent out to our friends and family (if we have your address) over the holiday season:


Season’s Greetings!

I hope this letter finds you doing well. Melissa has, once again, instructed me to write our family Christmas letter. So, I will try to recap all that has happened in our lives this past year.

Emily Grace continues to delight and amaze me on so many different levels! She practically runs everywhere she goes. She has two speed settings: Very fast and lightspeed. She loves to sing. Her current favorite songs are: Jingle Bells, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and (you are going to love this one) Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Recently, she has really gotten into ‘pretend’ playing. She has a little dish set that she will use to play ‘home-maker.’ She will come up to one of us and ask if we want anything to drink. We’ll say yes, of course, and she’ll go back to her ‘counter’ and pour us something to drink. She has such a maternal instinct already. She loves to ‘mother’ her baby dolls, making sure that they are properly fed and put to bed. She makes sure they each doll is tucked in with a blanky and says: ‘Night night!’ It’s pretty funny.

Last year at this time, Emily would always want to play with Sherlock and Sherlock would never really want anything to do with her. Now, the situation has shifted a little bit: Sherlock is always wanting to play with Emily, but Emily gets much more frustrated at Sherlock than ever before; especially with food issues. They still do well together, but it’s been interesting to see their relationship evolve.

Emily has really enjoyed the Christmas season this year. She was so ‘helpful’ when we put up all of our Christmas stuff. Our Christmas village is probably her favorite thing, and that tends to be a problem when you want everything to look perfect. She basically thinks the village is her personal ‘play’ village. So, needless to say, our perfect Christmas village from years past now looks like it has been hit by a blizzard, mixed with a tornado, and finished off with an earthquake. Last week, Emily came running in to us very excited about something. Turns out that she had picked a present from under the tree and opened it up. It wasn’t even her present, but she was as excited as can be about it. Later, she asked Melissa for ‘More Christmas.’ So the next few weeks should be fun!

Melissa continues to teach at DuBray Junior High School. She teaches eighth grade special education math classes. Like any job, some days are better than others, but this has been a great position for Melissa. She has a very supportive principle, has made some good friends among her co-workers, and loves the school. Melissa has agreed to help manage the nursery here. (She is a glutton for pain, I guess) She has done a really good job of making some much needed improvements. As she has gotten involved in more ministries, she has built some very good friendships with a few ladies at church. She is starting to feel more and more comfortable here; to the point where it feels like home to her now. I continually thank God for her. She is such a great mother, wife, and ministry help-mate! It’s such a beautiful thing to be married to your best friend! That’s what I have in her. She’s the best and I love her very much!

Ministry has been a bit of a rollercoaster for me this year. Our church experienced what I can only call ‘the great exodus.’ About 35 people left the church in six months time. (Long story) It was very discouraging. On top of that, the senior pastor was stranded in Oklahoma for six weeks waiting for his pregnant wife to give birth. (Longer story) So, I received a small taste of what it might be like to assume the role of a senior pastor. My job description has shifted and changed over the past couple of months and it has really made this job much more fulfilling for me. One of the things that I have been put in charge of is our new children’s midweek program. It has been very successful. This past Wednesday night, we had 39 kids attend our program. For a church that is running about 150, that isn’t too bad at all.

On a personal level, this year has been a blast! With the Cards going to the World Series, you can imagine how fun my summer was. I was able to fulfill two life-long dreams by being at Busch Stadium both on opening day and during a playoff game. (Actually, I was lucky enough to be at two playoff games… one of which was game seven of the National League Championship Series, in which the Cardinals won to go to the World series. It was pretty awesome!) We spent a week at Disneyworld, we finished our basement, and Melissa’s brother, Kevin, came to live with us over the summer. It’s been a busy (yet fun) year for us!

We hope all of you have a blessed holiday season. Our prayer for each of you is that God would reveal Himself to you in a very powerful way this Christmas season. May His love shine brightly in your home. Praise the Lord! He has given His Son to be the Savior of the world! Merry Christmas!

Josh, Melissa, and Emily Howard

Winds of Change

I’ve been kind of sad lately (sad might be too strong of a word). It doesn’t have to do with getting older, because I know that I am still young in the grand scheme of things. I guess it has more to do with seeing things end that I don’t want to see end. These things might seem silly to most of you who read it… but hey, I’ve always admitted that I am a different breed.

In May, I will take in my last Star Wars movie. This series has been a part of my life since I was three or four. There’s a certain element of sadness for me knowing that this will be the last new Star Wars movie that I’ll see. I have so many fond memories of this series from when I was a kid… I guess the end of this series finally symbolizes the end of a special part of my childhood.

U2 just put out a new album… but most of the band members are around 45 years old. I just don’t know how many more albums they are going to put out before they hang it all up. Their music is pretty much the only music that I’ve listened to for the past seven or eight years. It’s sad to know that there will be a day when I will have listened to my last new U2 album.

On Sunday night I attended a concert in downtown St. Louis. I was able to drive right next to Busch stadium. (It was weird seeing it empty and dark.) Part of me is sad that this will be the last year that I will be able to see games in that stadium. I’ve also had a hard time NOT hearing Jack Buck call games on the radio the past several years.

My daughter Emily is two years and eight months old. Why can’t she stay this age forever? She is so much fun… and she is still so loving and willing to cuddle… and she is the absolute joy of my life. I get sad when I think that in about ten years, she’ll probably want to avoid me as much as possible. I don’t like to think about young adult Emily… she is so adorable as the small, petite, and curious little girl that I know her as right now.

Christmas is right around the corner. This past week in church, we had a family light the advent candle and share that they used to have Christmas traditions, but as their kids grew up… most of their traditions disappeared. Thinking about changing Christmas traditions is really sad to me. I like the way I celebrate Christmas now… but I know a day is coming when how I celebrate Christmas will change.

One thing that I have really tried to do is take advantage of the ‘now.’ Will I enjoy U2 and Star Wars any chance I get until they are gone? You bet. Will I try to get to Busch stadium as many times as I can this next summer? Absolutely. Will I enjoy each and every Christmas that God allows me to celebrate? Yep. Will I try my best to ‘soak in’ Emily now while she is actually WANTING to spend time with me? Every chance I get.

I guess the one thing that I cling to in all of this is that God never changes. I don’t have to worry about his feelings and preferences shifting on me. I don’t have to wonder if there will ever be a time when He won’t be present or available. I don’t have to ever worry about being completely alone. Though He has changed methods and avenues of communication throughout history… His love for humanity, His holiness, His sovereignty HAS never and WILL never change.

Just because certain periods of life, that have brought me great joy, will fade into the past; that doesn’t mean that there won’t be more seasons of life that can bring me just as much joy in the future. Time is elusive and life is changing all the time; but thankfully, God is neither elusive or changing. And that is something that nothing or no one on this earth can offer me.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” -Revelation 22:13

Musings: College Football Postseason

Can I be honest for a moment? NCAA football should be embarrassed. Every season, the BCS manages to screw at least one team from a high profile bowl game. This year, in no particular order, these are the teams that have, at least, a small gripe: Auburn, Utah, Boise State, California, Louisville. Those are all teams that were either undefeated or had one loss and none of them will be in a bowl game that they deserve.

It is very possible, that this football season could end with four undefeated teams and three teams with one only one loss. The bowl system is so screwy… there will only be two match-ups between undefeated or one loss teams: USC and Oklahoma / Boise St and Louisville. Why not pair up Auburn and Utah? Why the heck is Pittsburgh in the BSC? (I know it’s because they won the Big East). It just seems like Boise State, California, or even Louisville deserved to be there over Pittsburgh.

I am annoyed that the Coach’s or AP poll help decide who goes to the BCS. I’ve never liked the polls. I’ve never understood why there are preseason polls. The teams that start high have an unfair advantage over the teams that do not start high. It is inevitable that at some point during the year, a top 10 team plays another top 10 team. (Try to follow me here, this might get complicated) If the team that is ranked higher wins, the lower team drops out of the top 10. Why? Didn’t the previous poll already predict that what happened would happen? Why would the team that lost to the team they were supposed to lose to drop in the polls? Why? WHY!?! Because it is an objective, non-intelligent method of ranking teams.

Here is a novel concept: What about a National Championship playoff system? I have heard many ‘officials’ in college football say that it would be terrible for their sport to have a playoff. Just like it has been terrible to have March Madness in college basketball. Just like it has been terrible to have the college world series in college baseball. Those have just been downright damaging to college sports, haven’t they? I mean, March Madness might be the least watched tournament in the history of sports. (Of course, I’m being sarcastic) March Madness is the only reason I even pay attention to college basketball.

You know what? I’ve got a better idea. If the bowl system is so revolutionary… why doesn’t the NFL adopt it? Forget the playoffs and Superbowl. (Nobody watches the Superbowl anyway.) Every team that finishes over .500 will be bowl eligible. We could have the Madden bowl. We could have the Marino bowl. We could have the Monday Night Football bowl. We could have the Fantasy Football bowl. We could have the Rose Pedal bowl. (This bowl would feature the winner of the NFC West with the AFC Central every year, no matter what.) Actually, let’s disband all the leagues and conferences. Let’s just do a writer’s poll to decide which two teams are the best and most deserving of the best bowl bid: Which of course should be called the Super-Orange Sugar-Cane bowl.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why the NFL has not done this yet. Ummm, well, maybe it’s because the playoff system actually works. Maybe it's because the playoff system generates excitement for the sport. Maybe it's because the playoff system produces huge amounts of revenue. Maybe it's because people actually like to seeing ONE team indisputably crowned the champion. (It’s called closure... most people like closure.) Maybe it's because the Superbowl brings in more TV viewers than any other television event of the year. Maybe it's because a playoff in the post-season makes sense!

Okay, I’ve complained enough. Here’s my proposal. Let’s have a 16 team playoff system. Let’s take some of the existing bowls and incorporate them in the system. There are eleven Class 1-A conferences. Give each conference champion an automatic berth and then give 5 'at large' bids. I counted… there are 28 existing bowls. Take 15 of them to do the playoffs and use the other 13 bowls for the 26 best teams that didn’t get into national tournament.

There is almost NO college football played during the month of December. Have the first round games be played during the second weekend of December. Have the quarterfinals played during the third weekend of December. Have the ‘final four’ play their games on New Year’s Day. Then have the championship game be played on a Friday or Saturday night, with at least a week’s time between the semi’s and the finals. With this schedule, you could still have the lesser bowls sprinkled throughout the last week of December, just like you do now.

I know that there are a lot of small details that would need to get worked out that I don’t really want to get into here. How to rotate the bowls so that they all get a turn at the bigger games; how to choose the 'at large' teams; how to ‘seed’ the teams; how to make sure that all the conferences choose their champions in the same way; travel details, scheduling details; TV and network details; and so the list goes on and on.

Let me give you an example of how this might work based on this year’s finish:

#1 USC vs. #16 North Texas
#8 Louisville vs. #9 Virginia Tech

#4 Utah vs. #13 LSU*
#5 Boise State vs. #12 Iowa*

#3 Auburn vs. #14 Pittsburgh
#6 Texas* vs. #11 Georgia*

#2 Oklahoma vs. #15 Toledo
#7 California* vs. #10 Michigan

*Means that they were one of my five at large choices.

With this model, there will be a few 9-2 and 9-3 teams upset… but, who cares? You lose two or three games in college football… and you run that risk. Two or three losses usually means you are out of the race for the championship. That’s the way it’s always been in college football. Here's the cool thing about this system: Conference championships become hugely important. Conference games take on a whole new life… especially in the smaller conferences. I seeded the above teams based on win/loss record… but there are several ways you could do this. I think this would generate huge amounts of money and interest. The smaller conferences would have to put up or shut up. Boise State would have to prove it in the first round against a tough Iowa team. Can you imagine how good the semi-finals would be if the top four seeds made it? All those teams are undefeated: #1 USC vs. #4 Utah and #2 Oklahoma vs. #3 Auburn. I would watch both of those games!

Here’s the possible schedule based on this year’s calendar:

First round: Saturday, December 11th
Quarterfinals: Saturday, December 18th
Semifinals: Saturday, January 1st
Championship: Saturday, January 8th

Anyhoo… I know college football will still be screwed up with their progressive, revolutionary bowl system (oh crap, there's my sarcasm again!) long after I’m gone from God’s green earth… but a guy can dream, can’t he?