Five Four Three Two One

5= The minutes spent in the parking lot

4= The number of adults who were present and not paying good enough attention

3= The number of boys who were indescribably dirty

2= The number of baths it took (per child) to get clean again

1= The number of pig statues that were violated

Let me explain...

Bluffton BBQ is one of our favorite places to eat.  And by favorite, I mean one of those places that we find ourselves saying ridiculous things about (i.e. "I could drink the sauce."  "I would sell our children for a rack of these ribs." etc.)  Outside of the fabulous food, though, one of our favorite things about it is the fact that our boys love going there.  They pick their way through their meals like they do everywhere else, but...Bluffton BBQ has stolen our boys' hearts with this creepy pig statue (and the peppermints they can have when we leave). 

This poor pig is missing it's tail.  Where the tail used to be is now a half-dollar sized hole.  Perfect for putting parking lot rocks into.

Here's Jack showing me how old he'll be on his next birthday.  

(And how many minutes it took for him to look like a hobo.)

Here he is showing me how old he'll be on his birthday in 2015.

(And how many rocks he put in that pig's butt.  Divided by 100.) 

And just so you know, we roped our buddies in on the fun, too.  We want our sons to be leaders, after all.

So...in 5 minutes, 4 adults stood idly by as their 3 boys, who needed 2 baths each afterwards, violated 1 lonely, tail-less pig.  

Update:  This incident occurred several weeks ago.  I saw last Wednesday that the pig now has a new tail, and as weird as it sounds, I was so disappointed!  

Our Bluffton BBQ days are surely numbered.

And...I know we've taken a blog hiatus for a while, but that will change.  This is just 1 of many updates we'll be posting to catch up to the present.  We do this mostly because we know you love it so much:), but secondly, because we made a blog book for our parents this past Christmas.  It was such a fun and easy gift that they loved, so we have to have some posts to put into our next book, right?  

Hope all of you are doing well.  We appreciate every prayer you're offering up for John's Dad, Johnny.  Remember you can check out his care page at www.carepages.com.  Search "JohnnyUssery" all one word, and you should find it.  

Poppy Johnny

Please read the following message written by John several days ago:

As some of you may know, on April 23^rdDad (Johnny Ussery) was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.   Thankfully, he was able to undergo a ‘whipple’ procedure at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC on Wed, May 12^th.  They removed a third of his pancreas, his gallbladder, the duodenum, and a portion of his small intestine.  He was released on Friday and will remain in the New York area until this coming Tuesday.

Although there are moments where you feel singled out, we’re not the first family to battle cancer.  We’ve learned that when you feel as though your legs have been knocked out from underneath you…. You lift your gaze, and you find yourself at the foot of the cross.  At the cross we realize that God knows our fear and understands our pain.  We also recognize that He loves Dad more than we can possibly imagine. Dad and the family have been resting in His providence, and have been amazed to see Him at work. 

If you would like to stay posted on his progress, feel free to visit his Carepages.com site (just search ‘JohnnyUssery” (all one word) once you’re at the site).  

As you can imagine, this has taken a large majority of our emotional strength over the past several weeks, but we are so uplifted by the prayers that have been offered up for our family.  Thank you so much for praying for us and praying for Johnny's healing.  We trust in God's sovereign plan despite our lack of understanding at times, and we know that He hears our prayers.  Thank you!