the unlikely orange

yes, it's ravens week, which means its time to pull out the anti-ravens propaganda i can get my hands on.  i have several pictures of dead ravens, as well as some flacco jokes and more, but my go-to piece comes from my own household. it comes from several years ago when one particularly disgusting and fowl fowl from baltimore punched ben roethlisberger in his nose and broke it badly.  when i explained to my son Caedmon what had happened, he wanted revenge.  he was quite sincere and aggravated, so i got out the camera and filmed the exchange. the result, at least in my book, is classic.

the pittsburgh steelers, your afc north division champions. man, that feels good. the steelers showed up in prime time last night, even with a quarterback who had to keep running to the bathroom with a case of the browns, and beat the bungles for the second time this season, this time for all the divisional marbles.   steelers 2, bengals 0 . but it wasn't all rainbows and unicorns.  just as the kickoff was approaching, twitter starting going crazy with the news that ben wasn't out for warmups and that he had some sort of stomach bug, and all of the sudden you start to worry that ben won't be able to play.  and then when he comes onto the field, he looks like, well, like a guy with the stomach flu who would struggle to get off the couch, let alone play professional football.  but ben gutted it out (sorry), and played well enough to win, adding yet another chapter to the epic story that is ben's career with the steelers. and the mvp of the game was ant...

we want to wish a very merry Christmas, from our crazy, messy, loud, fun, and wonderful home to yours.  we hope you take time and energy to realize the significance of a God who would be so humble and driven by love to become as one of us.  be amazed...be aware...be filled with wonder. 

ho ho ho!  here is our annual christmas video, complete with ridiculous amounts of dancing, as usual.  basically, christmas at our house is a total blast, as you will see in this video.  we got to ride a holiday train, paint cookies, perform in concerts and plays and caroling, play in the snow, and so much more!  and as each hour crawls by slowly here at our house, the excitement and anticipation are building and building to a frenzy.  it's going to be fun!  in case you care to see, here are some of our previous Christmas videos....

they did it.  while they were in the midst of losing to the lowly bucs, the jets, the browns, and the saints, many of us were doubting it could happen.  but it did: the steelers are going to the playoffs.  after beating the chiefs yesterday, pittsburgh has not only secured a spot in the postseason, but given themselves an opportunity to fight for the division championship next week at home against the bungles on national television.  how fun is that?  it was a great present from big ben, antonio, and the steelers defense that bent like crazy but never broke yesterday.  merry christmas, indeed!  enjoy it, steelers nation! here we go steelers!  ho ho ho!

it was a bit of a nail-biter, but the steelers went down to georgia and got out with not only with a win, but with a winning record.  most importantly, they got themselves one step closer to a playoff berth, which they could lock up with a win against the chiefs next week.  if that happens, it would set up a week-17 matchup against the bengals that would decide the winner of the afc north. but i'm getting ahead of myself. first, let us say thank you to big play willie gay, who returned an interception for his third pick-six of the season.  that's the same willie gay that used to be everyone's whipping boy in the steelers secondary.  he's now your number one corner, whether ike is playing or not.  and that particular pick six yesterday was critical.  the steelers were showing both an ability to move the ball against the falcons defense, and to then trip over their own feet in the red zone.  the first quarter was all steelers, but they only h...

that's the view from our front door this morning at 8:30.  why am i out on the porch in my bare feet at 8:30 in the morning in the middle of a snowstorm, you ask?  well, to get away from my children, of course.  it is a snow day, and they are already on their third epic lightsaber battle of the morning.  it has only devolved into horrific screaming twice so far, so that's a win.  but this third battle isn't over yet, so i'm pretty sure the screaming is forthcoming.  i will let you know if i hear it from the front porch.  where i'll be hiding, and suffering from frostbite. hope your day is as loud and fun as mine!

"all aboard!....tickets, please!" on sunday we felt like we had boarded our own kind of magical train ride.  our day began with a fun and meaningful worship service in which we used the 2004 film "the polar express" as a lens through which to look at our faith.  we talked about Jesus and his disciples in matthew 18, when the disciples are arguing about who is the best follower, and who's got it all figured out, and Jesus silences all of them by bringing a child into the middle of their silly bickering and tells them that if they really want to live the full, joyful, peaceful, and abundant life, they need to start viewing life through the eyes of a child. christmas is a great time to take stock of how you are doing at looking at life through the eyes of a child, and "the polar express" is a great reminder of it.  when the boy opens that last little package at the end of the movie, and when he holds that bell up to his ear, we all lean forward in ...

in the very first game of the season, the steelers demonstrated to the entire league that they would be a team capable of potent offense and powerful, if not dominant, defense, while also being capable of being nearly completely impotent and pedestrian.  i wrote about that very first game that they were like dr. jekyll and mr. hyde, and that was not only a fitting description of the first game (a tale of two halves), but also of this entire season.  they've lost to the jets, who only have one other win.  they've lost to the buccaneers, who only have one other win.  but they've steamrolled some of the better teams, like yesterday's solid win in cincinnati against the division-leading bengals. once again, the defense wasn't all that great (a.j. green, yikes), and the offense had some moments where it looked like it just couldn't click, but then, when the fourth quarter came around, it looked like they could do no wrong.  much credit, of course, has to go supe...

hello from the milinovich household!  believe it or not, we're still here!  we had a wonderful thanksgiving, full of wishbones and football and the deep satisfaction of being surrounded by those who know you best and still love you anyway. thankful, indeed. now we have jumped headlong into advent, fully expecting Jesus to show up in all the traditions and mundane moments of these weeks.  we acknowledge a certain inherent craziness in the upcoming days, but we have also challenged ourselves to give the gift of our presence this year, to God and to others. on monday we went and got our Christmas tree, an annual tradition filled with such fun as finding the perfect tree, then walking 2.9 more miles away from it in search of a better  one; putting the tree in the stand in such a way as to make it absolutely impossible to stand up straight; and getting out the lights that mysteriously stopped working since last year,   fun.  actually, that's what u...