For the record, Matt was really great. We heard about the event just a couple miles from our house 15 minutes after it started. So we grabbed our stuff and drove down quickly, waited in line in the cold. The event was supposed to end at 6pm, and he agreed to stay and sign for everyone who was in line by 6pm. He could have left at 6, many athletes over-value their time in this way. But he stayed, he was happy, gracious, and polite. He shook hands with Sam and me, and as I thanked him for doing this, he said “No problem”, in a tone of voice that almost sounded incredulous that I was thanking him.

He left a great impression – and we’re now bigger fans than ever. You never know if the pro athlete is going to break a kid’s heart by being rude. Sam was very excited to meet him (as was I), and a little part of me worried that he’d come away disillusioned. Instead, we walked away with signed hats (and my Duchene home jersey!) and a few copies of the above photo – but mostly we walked away with smiles that this kid (yeah, he’s only 20) might be a millionaire pro athlete – but his home is in Colorado and we get to cheer him on.

I don’t always do a year in review post. But as I sit soaking in the sounds of college football, I found myself thinking about 2010. On the outset, I started with a Year in Review that looked back on the epic nature of 2009 for our family – then fell off the blogging map until October. I blame Facebook entirely for this. My expectations for 2010 were rather subdued. We had seen significant growth in business, to the point that Mad Lab Media became our sole source of income for the first time. We had seen a couple of ginormous family vacations, and a year of really settling into Colorado as home. I only expected to have a year of further settling, less travel, and I really wasn’t anticipating anything huge of note.

As usual, I was wrong.

The early portion of the year was just as described – settling in, enjoying Colorado, and deepening our roots here. We didn’t plan on any vacations, at least not of the out-of-state kind. But as fall approached, we started to dream of a trip that’s been on our minds for a while now. So we packed up our minivan and starting venturing east to visit some dear friends in Memphis. We made it unharmed – our van however did not. As the transmission began to fail, we bought up another cheap van, and left ours to sell on craigslist. The new van became our new family ride, and became the biggest souvenir ever. Shortly after that, we attended a family wedding back on the Oregon coast. This time we flew the friendly skies of Frontier Airlines. So our year of no travel turned into 16 days on the road, to places old and new and all of it tons of fun.

This year, the business grew by 50% – from an entity that barely keeps us afloat to a legitimate, growing business that not only pays our bills but allows us things like vacations. We’ve been truly blessed.

This year, we discovered a house church network that has resulted in some new friends, and a new fun adventure in church planting. It seems to be the year we’ve finally released the dreams of typical “church planting” and embraced the path of living as the church. Don’t get me wrong, we have a lot to learn and a long way to go, but we’re at least on the track.

So that’s what 2010 brought. I do not intend to predict 2011, but I have a feeling it will be as unpredictable and exciting as any year has been up to now. Here’s to a year of family, friends, growth, and love. And a distinct lack of drama would be a nice addition to 2011.

Coming next – a bit of a turn in subject matter in which I rant about why Dish Network is an enemy to sports fans everywhere.

Our crappy but awesome Toyota Previa started to have some transmission issues while we were in Memphis, and since Memphis happens to be over 1,000 miles away, we thought it best to leave it there and not try to drive it across Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. So we hopped onto Craigslist (thank you Craig!) and picked up a new crappy but awesome minivan for the whopping sum of $700. It’s not perfect, but it should keep us going for awhile until we come up with something better. The Previa is currently for sale in Memphis, TN.

Then, we got home, and here I am out in the middle of nowhere (ok, actually I’m in the Lowry area of east Denver), and my Honda Passport, our faithful transportation companion for zillions of miles and over 7 years, has decided to no longer move forward. It acts as if the parking brake is jammed on. No matter what the real issue is… it won’t move forward, and I’m tired of it all. So it’s going to get towed to the mechanic for a diagnosis, then it either goes to the scrap heap or on to Craigslist for whatever someone chooses to pay me for it.

Which leaves us with one car. So now the question is… scrape together (another) $1000 for a dirt cheap car, that will be crappy but awesome and also paid for? Or bite the bullet, realize that driving a family around in hoopty wagons isn’t exactly the safest plan in the world, and take on a car loan for the first time since 2003? I’m leaning toward the loan. I really really really don’t want a car payment. It’s been great (and necessary) to not have one in recent years, but this is getting ridiculous. It might just be time to take the pain and hope we can get something decent for little money.

I hate cars.

Our Toyota Previa, in its parking place where we left it for the last time.