Having trouble saying good-bye to Christmas? Me, too. Here’s one more Christmas post, and also a way to celebrate the year that was on youtube.

(HT: Stacey)

Who knew Francis Chan was that funny?

(HT: Challies)

(HT: Microexplosion)

(HT: Microexplosion)

(HT: Z)

Tim Challies has come up with a stellar idea for the ultimate Christian novel, one that “seamlessly blends today’s most popular genres into one beautiful, compelling, cohesive whole.” So here it is:

Cassidy: Amish Vampiress of the Tribulation

That’s right. It’s an Amish novel; it’s a vampire novel; it’s an end-times novel. It’s the best of all worlds.

Here is the back cover text:

He is handsome. He is romantic. He is Amish.

Twenty-three year old Cassidy lives a simple life in the Amish countryside of Lancaster County. Simple, that is, until Slade Byler moves into the old Lapp farm. Cassidy finds herself irresistibly drawn to the handsome Slade; but she fears to share the secret that she alone knows. For Cassidy is an immortal, a princess in the long line of ancient Amish vampires. Will Slade’s love grow cold when he learns this great secret? Can she give to him a heart that does not beat?

Meanwhile, the strength of the Antichrist grows as he consolidates his power and seeks to destroy the peace-loving people of Pennsylvania. A blossoming romance unfolds between Cassidy and Slade as the world around them changes forever. They must fight to stay alive, they must fight to keep their forbidden love a secret, but, as Amish, they must not fight at all.

In this irresistible tale of intrigue and adventure, set against global upheaval, the bonnet meets the cape in a story sure to span the ages.

Click here to read an exerpt from this genius concept.

It was a quiet day in the Kelley household earlier this week. Jana had put our children down for a nap and had settled in for her own nap downstairs when she heard small feet coming down our wooden stairs. She rose, prepared to catch the violater of nap rules trying to make their way down to see mommy. What follows is a series of texts I got at the office.

Jana text: “A mouse in our house. I saw it myself! Ahhh!

Me text: “Where did you see it?”

Jana text: “Basement. On the door. Too scared to leave the couch.”

When I got home a few hours later, things had settled down. We decided not to tell the kids about our little friend, thinking that it might prove harzardous for our sleep that night. Surely the mouse had found its way into some corner of the basement and we’d just put out a few traps and get it.

Then the action started.

I was sitting in the living with Jana when suddenly movement in the dark dining room caught her eye: “O my! O my! O my!” I turned around and saw the scurrying. But when the “mouse” jumped from the floor onto the couch where we were sitting and I saw that it wasn’t 2 inches but 8 inches long, we quickly realize that this was no ordinary mouse. Either it was a biologically enhanced soldier mouse, or…

It was a squirrel.

By this time, the excitment of furniture being thrown around brought Joshua running into the living room. Fortunately, he had already dressed for our upcoming Star Wars play time. He was wearing his Yoda outfit – a camoflauge vest held together with a black belt with his light saber clipped to the side.

“What’s going on in here?” Joshua queried. So I answered him as soberly as possible: ‘Buddy, we’ve got a problem. There is a squirrel in our house.”

Joshua responded not with words, but action. After a moment of thought, he slowly unclipped his light saber and extended it to full length holding it in front of him as if to declare, “Game on, rodent. Game on.”

Thus the great squirrel chase began. We started in Andi’s room, with Joshua standing guard at the door with his saber drawn. When I moved Andi’s bed, I heard Joshua yell, “There it is!” And he followed up his warning with a tremendous whacking of his light saber on the ground, no doubt in an attempt to bludgeon the household invader. We went though several more cycles like this until the squirrel slipped past the Jedi, making its way into Joshua’s room.

More craziness insued as we tore apart his room, flushing it out, and yet the squirrel (who by this time was garnering much respect from both Joshua and I for his ability to escape) slipped through underneath the door and into the bathroom. We rushed behind him, war cries filling the house, and slammed the bathroom door behind us. This time we stuff a towel underneath it and knew it was just a matter of time.

I flushed the squirrel from behind the toilet (ironically, I literally flushed him out by flushing the toilet) and he ran toward Joshua. He was ready. And with a few hard thumps on the floor around the squirrel, it jumped from the ground into the bathtub where we promptly shut the door and closed him in. High fives all around.

I eventually worked up the nerve to get in the tub with the squirrel and then trapped him with a trash can and plastic garbage bag. We took him out the woods near our house and released him into the wild. Great afternoon. Great adventure. Great story.

And for your viewing pleasure, I present actual video documentation of the squirrel, along with a movie clip that seemed particularly appropriate (language disclaimer on the movie clip. language is fine on our documentation).

I’m sick. Joshua’s sick. Jana has been sick. Just a little perspective this morning.

(HT:joshntiff)