Enter our Blog Contest!

mystery animal
Originally uploaded by wailer2000.

Here is a picture of the ugliest animal the Underwoods have ever seen!!

Last week, at the Columbus Zoo, we were sickened by the sight ot it.

Can you name this gnarly-looking rodent? Let us know by posting a comment!

Friday Night in "Paradise"

reeee
Originally uploaded by wailer2000.

Here's Jennie and me, out on Friday, May 26 for dinner at Pancho's. We ate with Dan & Jill Bahry, our good friends from Green. Whenever we're in Akron, we tend to hit Pancho's 2 or 3 times during our visit.

Friday night's action....

Two waters with lemon.

Pancho's Appetizer "Nine Layer Dip." It's a Mexican feast with shredded chicken, mexican beans, cheese, onions, sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, jalapenos, and extra tomatoes. The Dip comes with four tortillas to fill up with food and eat like fajitas.

One large taco salad shell with a side of Italian dressing.

Total cost for dinner that night?

$6.99.

(For those of you who knew me when I used to rank Mexican foods, Pancho's is now of course the #1 Mexican Restaurant of all time, in my book. Best mexican beans on the planet. Best salsa this side of Cozymel's. Best Italian dressing in the world, YES, better than the Olive Garden's dressing. Best prices of any sit-down quality restaurant this side of the border. Best pico de gallo salsa I've ever had in my life. Best seasoned chips this side of "Hint of Lime" Tostitos.)

For Mexican food, atmosphere, service, and good times... well... Pancho's is hard to beat. Friday night, we were out on the Pancho's porch for four hours. A complete, four-star experience.

Then again, maybe the food isn't really a big deal. Any food tastes great when I'm with Jennie, Dan, and Jill.

Meet the Readers...

Gary & Luke 52706
Originally uploaded by wailer2000.

Here's Gary and Luke from Saturday night in Cuyahoga Falls. We got to hang out with the wonderful Smith family - Josh and Kirsten - and meet their three newly-adopted (and beautiful) kids.

It was tremendous to finally meet the kids in person, after reading a lot of the journey that Josh and Kir have been on.

We had an awesome time, and got lots of pics.

We love you guys, and are so excited, proud, and praying for you. God is using you in a wonderful way to touch so many people. When are you moving to Delaware?

Seriously, though... it's obvious God has you exactly where He wants you, and who could ask for more?!

Note: With the Smiths, we also enjoyed some great salsa, Donatos Pizza, and got to play and have tickle time with the kids.

Movie Review: The Da Vinci Code

I've got to get this out of my system.

Almost two years ago, I read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Bought it in hardback off eBay.

Over the past few months, most of us have been hearing about the movie. Last week, I heard about many Christian churches that are doing sermon series responding to the book. I listened to sermons by Francis Chan, a seminar by Mike Castelli, a podcast by Josh McDowell, and part of another podcast from Dallas Seminary. I read half-way through Josh McDowell's book on Da Vinci. This week, I read Lee Strobel's book that examines the claims of the Code.

One culture-watcher has estimated that 7 out of 10 churches are doing something to respond to and teach about The Da Vinci Code.

Finally, yesterday, I got to see the movie.

Let me share some random thoughts leading up to our movie....

The Book: From what I can remember of reading it, The Da Vinci Code was a complete thrill-ride, one of the most engaging novels I have ever read. As a big John Grisham fan, I like suspsense, character, and mystery. Da Vinci was all that and more. Fascinating riddles, symbols, and questions. Controversy about history, the church, and Europe. While I was indeed bothered by some of the untruths, and the clearly-fictional "end" of the story... I must say it's completely fun to read, and I read it in less than four days. For entertainment value, I'd give the book an A+. For historical accuracy, an F. But we read fiction novels for entertainment, not for historical or spiritual truth. That being said, let me move on....

The Issues: The issues raised by the book have been a source of debate, controversy, and History Channel specials. If people really do want to investigate this stuff, they will find that The Gospels in the Bible are solid, and that the "false Gospels" (Thomas, Judas, Mary Magdalene) were rejected for very good reasons. Dan Brown's use of facts is incoherent, unfounded, and clearly pushing a feminist agenda. Thank Dan's wife, she did much of the research.

For Christians, it's a good time to brush up on WHY you believe the Bible, and WHY do you believe Jesus is God?

For non-Christians, it's a good time to brush up on what you believe, and find that the Bible's claims are true! While it is convenient (and entertaining) to read in a book like this, we must really seek the truth - it can be found.

Lee Strobel: Strobel's book can be read in less than 90 minutes, and used as a great resource for further discussions. Give this book an A+.

If you'd like to hear more, just search for recent sermons by Francis Chan, John Ortberg, Dallas Seminary (podcast), Lee Strobel, and - starting this week - Knute Larson.

The MOVIE: Where to start? The book sales, the media hype, and even the church response had me thinking that this was the movie of the year. The one you shouldn't miss. People flocked to theaters yesterday, thinking, "Tom Hanks and Ron Howard - this is going to be tremendous!"

I would have been one of them, had I missed the early reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. When we left to see the movie, Da Vinci Code was scoring a 19% on the "Tomato-meter." That means that only 19% of the 105 critics at the time actually LIKED the movie. Well, I have been known to enjoy movies that the critics didn't like, so on one hand, I didn't give much weight to what the website said... On the other hand...

Question: How do you cram 500 pages of suspense and intrigue into 2 hours and 29 minutes?

Answer: You don't.

But Ron Howard tried.

For those of you who have neither seen the book nor read the movie, I urge you - If you "must" do one or the other, please read the book.

For those of you who would like to look at the historical and Biblical issues regarding the book - read Lee Strobel.

For you readers who want to see this novel "come to life" - the movie does a lot of that. The best part for me was seeing the actual places (like the Louvre and several others) where the novel takes place.

For parents who are wondering if this movie is suitable for kids - it's not. There's a violent catholic monk who chases our main characters around and kills several people in the process. Then, to atone for his sins, he goes back home and slashes himself with whips. It's PG-13, and it easily could have been rated-R.

SCORE: 2.5 stars. I wanted to go lower, but I figure it may have been more suspenseful for people who haven't read the book. I'm glad I saw it, but I hoped it would be better.

Disclaimer: At this point in my life, I am not one of those guys who only likes action movies. I actually prefer deeper movies with character, plot development, healthy and unforced dialogue, and powerful themes. Ron Howard's work could use more of that stuff. If you'd like to read other opinions from across the nation, click here.

Response?

lukesmile
Originally uploaded by wailer2000.

Luke laughs now. You laugh at him, and he laughs at you. It's awesome. It's great to see him respond, and be such a happy boy.

It's strange to think that Delaware is all he's known - his entire life!

And he's pretty happy about that too.

23 months on Monday...

allie reads
Originally uploaded by wailer2000.

And she already knows how to read.

Today, while Allie was coloring, I wrote out the word "Ohio" for her.

She watched me writing and said,

"Ohhhh"

"Aych"

"Eye"

"Ohhhh!"

Can you guess?

realbaby
Originally uploaded by wailer2000.

Which baby in this picture is the "real" one?

Kudos to Luke for displaying great fashion sense today.

Community.

whil
Originally uploaded by wailer2000.

Here's Allie, playing with her "Little People" and animals from Noah's Ark. She arranges them all together, facing one another at the table.

Randy Frazee calls this the "convivium."

A time when family and friends gather together for dinner at the table - a crucial point in our need for belonging, family, and connection.

Allie already senses this love for and need of friendships in her life. And she's sensing it in her toys too.

More Audio from Allie...

We're sitting together on the couch on Saturday afternoon. Allie jumps into my lap and says she wants to send some great messages to all her friends in internet-land...

Priceless.

Allie Audio Cast?

Yeah, I decided to go crazy and post two audio files in one day. On my previous post, you can see my "all-too-serious" attempt at an audio blog.

Now, you can hear Allie Underwood count to twenty and quack like a ducky. Just click on the below file for some priceless sounds...

Allie Sounds.

I won't be able to keep these files on for long, which makes the podcast idea nice, once I can figure it out. I mean, once I can have my expert friend guide me...

Can you hear me now?

Yeah, you've seen the commercials.

Somehow, you're still reading my blog.

Now - for at least one blog entry - you can listen to it. That's right, I've decided to try an audio blog for once. If I can get Josh Smith to help me do a podcast, I might go for that too. Someday, you might see the WailerCast available for iPod.

For now, here's today's first-ever attempt at an audio blog by Gary Underwood.

WailerCast May 17, 2006.

Yeah.

More pictures of Allie and Luke of course are to come. Happy Mother's Day, by the way. Mom and Dad were here for a late lunch at the Old Bag of Nails. Jennie's Mom and Dad were in town last weekend too. We are blessed to have great moms.

Jennie is also a great mom. It takes a ton of work, patience, love, and sacrifice to be a real mother these days. Thank God for you, Jennie, you are a great blessing and encouragement to me. Allie is watching, learning, singing, and laughing so much these days. She counts to thirteen. She sings "twinkle, twinkle little star."

You can tell I haven't blogged much lately. I'm pretty much down to blogging when I have pictures to share.

Blogs are so easily misunderstood anymore. And you never know who's reading. Or how they'll respond. Or how they'll misinterpret what you write. I guess I'd rather not complicate things sometimes, you know? Just keep it fun for updates on my family and friends.

I used to get a kick out of people reading my webpage or writing interesting comments about something I write. But I guess I don't care anymore. I'd rather just use this as a place to put pictures up for family and friends every now and then.

I feel much more like I do now than I did before I started doing this.