the unlikely orange

looking back on this last year, i thought i would highlight some of my favorite posts from the year.  here are the links.  if you have a few minutes, you might find something you missed... the lego ketchup bottle cade teaches me to delight in the word i am humbled when i face off in the epic battle: greg vs. the snowblower i am no mere mortal (sniffle).  my kids don't feel like dancin.' i learn the power of dang genetics. i rant about earth day. caedmon explains worship. i preached my swan song.  i tell my second most embarassing story. i got in a fight with the new bunk beds.     i threw up in the susquehanna river.  i looked back on my first 1,000 posts.  i discussed my fear of the bricks.   i wrote an open letter to my kids about starting school.  'twas the night before steelers football  cade wants to punch the ravens inside their nose.  i made our annual family Christmas video....

i once took jackson for a day of work, so i thought it was about time to take caedmon in for a day with daddy at the office, as well.  above you see him all bundled up and ready for the commute (we walk the 1 block over to the church). here he is in front of the parking space that we don't use.  as soon as we got to the office, he sat in my chair and began to pretend to work, which involved a great deal of pointing at papers.  i had no idea how easy it was to do my job!  since then, i've tried this approach, but it doesn't seem to be working for me.  not only does nothing get done, i'm not half as cute as he is.  oh well. 

here are a few pics from our christmas eve here is jack and cade in front of the tree holding our countdown...  here are the boys on the chancel at church.... and here is the whole fam... here is jack putting out the cookies, milk and blueberry oatmeal for santa... and also caedmon.. hope your christmas was merry!

it's been an absolutely fabulous Christmastime here at the milinovich house, and we are blessed beyond our wildest imaginations.  i'll have some pics from the joy of Christmas eve/day up soon, but for now, here are some of our pictures from the weeks/days preceding Christmas.  hope you're enjoying a wonderful weekend!  on with the pics.... these first three are from Cade's Christmas program at school.  first he was a reindeer and then he was one of the three wise men.  he gave his performance a thumbs up! jack is so fierce!  rawr! we love our beautiful Christmas tree, and our lazy dog enjoys sleeping next to it.  this picture just feels so warm and gingery, the way we feel in our living room. hit "keep reading" to see more pictures!

a few months ago, at the genesis of the 2010 football season, i wrote this little poem about the steelers, inspired by coach lebeau's annual recitation of the famous clement moore poem.  my friends over at behind the steel curtain - a top-notch steelers blog - asked me if i'd write a reprise now that it is actually Christmastime.  so i obliged.  click on the "keep reading" link to read my newest steelers verse. 

oh man, it was a good night.  the night before the night before christmas.  the pens won against their bitter rivals in a dramatic shoot out.  the steelers won dominantly over an inferior team and put themselves in great position.  and i got to eat hot chicken wing dip.  priceless.  anyway, i know it's christmas eve, but i am obligated to do my regular post-steelers-victory post, so here it is: the steelers are 11 and 4, with one game to go.  if they beat those browns in 10 days, they'll have secured a week off and home field for at least the first game of the playoffs.  also, if the browns beat the ravens this sunday, the same outcome will be achieved, so, go brownies!  on to the epic pictures: james farrior, aka "potsie," just keeps amazing me with his play this year.  he is ageless. it was so good to have heath back.  forget what mark madden says, this guy is an epic steeler.  since returning from injury, die...

i know it seems crazy, but it is a steelers thursday today!  so instead of pictures of my kids at their christmas program, you get steelers content.  that's how i roll. actually, i don't really have to choose between my kids and the steelers.  i have found that the two worlds can be merged.  as you might have seen in this video , i have been working hard to raise two steeler fans.  and it seems, at least so far, to be working.  the steelers are already proving to be a muse for their creative talents, as one day jackson decided to make this out of bendy stix:  then, one day i came home from work, and caedmon had colored this (with quite a bit of help from his mom, i'm sure): i'm a blessed daddy, that's all i can figure.  needless to say, both of these artistic responses to the greatest sports franchise on earth are now adorning my mancave (which i will be happy to give you a video tour of in a couple of weeks).  keep the steelers art co...

o little seed of hope, somehow taking root in the inner darkness, being, as it has been said, "knit together," what a world awaits your wet arrival, a cavernous womb of brokenness. will you yet be born? you, who are both desired and despised, welcomed and, with a warrant on your head, will you still somehow choose this life, knowing you will be delivered to death? the world, in anticipation, waits. o, come.  be born this broken birth again. hallelujah.

this is a song called "wishing for this" by leigh nash (of sixpence none the richer fame).  it has become my favorite Christmas song for this particular year.  the video is just a bunch of pics, but the song is really good.  enjoy!

this Christmas in a bit different for me in that, several months ago i entered a small room in Bethlehem where generations of folks have gone to worship the one who was born there.  tradition holds great sentimental power, and many believe he was born on that exact spot.  truth is, we don't know that.  but regardless of the arguments of scholars or the validity of tradition, i know that i stood on the ground and breathed the air where a young girl also once stood and breathed.  her breath must have been short, what with all the heaviness on her shoulders and all that weight in her belly.  not just the weight of the baby, but of all that expectation.  the weight of the whole world.  and yet, despite all the mystery and angel-dreams, it was, a pregnancy.  a crave-inducing, hormone-raging, uncomfortable pregnancy.  and so she stood there, perhaps with her hands on her back for support, and she braced herself against her own fear, against her ...

once again this year i've created a short video just to give you a glimpse into what christmastime is like in the milinovich home.  as always, it includes a great deal of awesomely awesome dance moves.  also, a reenactment of a classic scene from home alone.  hope you enjoy!

a few days after the steelers played the ravens a few weeks ago, i was talking to my three-year old son Cade about how one of the ravens punched his favorite player in the nose and it was broken and bleeding.  he started getting upset about it, so i grabbed the camera and recorded the conversation.  i think you'll enjoy it.  (and don't worry, the scripture at the end is just a joke...sort of).  : )

  "his glorious sanctuary" paper collage on block of wood gregory a. milinovich "like after" mixed media collage on hardcover bookboard gregory a. milinovich above are two collages i recently sold, and i thought i would just drop in one final reminder that you can still buy a collage over at my store .  if you order quickly, i can still get it to you in time for Christmas.  also, if you would prefere, i can make you a gift certificate which you can give to a loved one for Christmas (just let me know if you'd like to do this).  remember:  for all of december you can save 20% on every collage in my store just by typing in the code: orangechristmas at checkout.  that's a pretty good deal for some original art!  just thought you might want a reminder!  here's a couple for sale that you might not of seen before... "brilliant" mixed media collage on hardcover bookboard gregory a. milinovich "coming into focus" paper collage on hardcov...

during advent at Catawissa Avenue United Methodist Church we've been inviting people to "come home for Christmas," which is both a literal invitation for those who have never been here before or who have been away for awhile, as well as a more figurative invitation for each of us to bring our whole selves home to Jesus.  it has been a good series, and this week we will be focusing on our home - both the church and our spiritual home - is a place where the ordinary becomes extraordinary.  it's one of my favorite things about Christianity.  we don't believe that God looks at this world and says, "Ugh.  Disgusting.  Look at them with all of their base and primal emotions.  And look at all that stuff.  The Earth is such a broken, dirty, disgusting place.  I can't wait until I come again and get the good guys out of there."  nope.  that's not the God we see in Scripture.  the God in the Bible doesn't reject the broken and blunt; doesn...

i don't know if you saw this picture from sunday's game, but troy made a game-changing interception which he returned for a touchdown.  this picture is a great shot of the smile on his face as he takes it in for the score.  i never realized what a good-looking guy troy is.  wow. 

wow, that has a nice ring to it, right?  ten and three.  last year at this time we were busy losing to the bengals and browns and raiders and chiefs.  not this year.  after the bitter taste that last season must have left in their mouths, they seem to want it more than the opposing team each week, no matter how dead set that team is on beating us.  like the bengals, who put up a pretty good fight, at least to start.  they looked like a team hellbent on being the spoilers to the steelers' playoff party, but ultimately, the steelers showed that they wanted it more.  it came in the form of troy polamalu's miraculous and super-human pick six, and then it just concentrically widened from there.  the steelers would not be denied by these injury-hampered bungles (not that the steelers aren't facing a laundry list of injuries themselves).  at 10-3, the steelers look to be in pretty good shape to lock up the second seed of the afc playoffs, but they...

who dey gonna' beat those bungles? we dey! 

here's coldplay's new christmas song, in case you haven't heard it.  i love it.  and the video is really cool.  enjoy!

-11 days until Christmas.  get busy being peaceful.  or be peaceful about being busy.  whichever.  just make sure you're not being naughty.  -does anyone else love the geico commercial with the pig saying wee wee all the way home?  i love that one.  -the steelers play the bengals this week.  did you know that the bengals haven't won a game since september 26th?  that's like 2.5 months ago!  i was going to do a whole post about the things that have happened since september 26th, but i didn't have the mental energy to compile them.  halloween, elections, thanksgiving, blah blah blah...the bengals are bad.  that being said, the steelers could very easily lose this game sunday.  do you hear that, steelers?  i'm looking at you.  stay focused.  make up for that mess against the bengals at heinz field last year.  which i attended.  thanks for that, by the way.  i will forgive you a little if you ...

well, we had our first real snow of the season this week, acquiring about 4 inches or so resulting in a 2-hour delay for jack's school.  he was up to the task of being appropriately excited about the snow, and had a blast playing in it.  cade didn't want to be cold, so he stayed in and watched.  you'll see from the pictures that we're decorated outside, and getting ready for the celebration of Christ's birth, not just by preparing our home with decoations, but also by preparing our hearts with expectation and hope.  life is good and expectant.  hope lies warm and life-full, even under a blanket of new snow.  and i thank God for children who make it so easy to remember that.  here's hoping you remember it, too, this season: hope is never lost.