Anna's 3rd birthday pictures

These are from the family party, pictures from the princess' party will come later.

Sorry, no pictures

I promised to post pictures this weekend and forgot that we were going away for Easter. We had over 50 of Amber's family together for lunch on Sunday. There were 3 Easter egg hunts. One for the babies under 2. They were just on the floor for them to crawl to. Then there was 3-7 year olds in another room. A little harder to find. Then there was from about 10 to the oldest was an 80 year grandmother doing her first ever Easter egg hunt. Spread through out the outside. It was a good time. Tiring because we traveled 3 1/2 hours on Friday night and turned around and came back Sunday night. I will do my best to get them posted as soon as I can. Hope everyone had a great Easter.

New Job

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. I received a promotion at work. I am no longer just answering phones in the call center. I now work at the front desk and get to greet our customer who physically come in the doors. I answer the phones for our computer repair shop only now. Which is not a whole lot. I also do all the odds and ends jobs for others downstairs. I really enjoy the interaction with my colleagues and with our customers. It is better than just staring into a cubicle all day. I had posted a picture of what my cube looked like before. I will have to post my new view of the front doors and the outside from my new spot.

We celebrated Anna's birthday while we were home in Delaware. I promise I will try my hardest to post some pictures this weekend. I will also post pictures of her using her new presents. Like her bike, bubble gun, and princess dress up clothes. Okay thanks for checking in with me. I have a big decision possibly coming up at the end of the month so be praying for me please. Thanks again everybody.

My Visit With Rev.

We got to go home and see Rev. Bailey. It was a good visit. He was not doing well that day and we were told he may or may not know who we are. He remembered exactly who we were. He told us that his years of ministry were done and we had a lot of them in front of us. He said he didn't know how many souls we could save for the kingdom but to promise him we would save as many as we could. We promised we would. He then prayed for us and told us to take good care of our girls. The spark in his voice was gone as he laid on his hospital bed with the tubes in his nose there in his living room. But the spark in his eyes and what he had to say was still there as strong as ever. I pray that he will soon get to meet his Lord and live pain free for eternity. I pray he will soon here the words, Well Done!! Thy Good and Faithful Servant.

Anna is 3!!

She has grown a lot in 2 years.

Some Irish Blessing For You On St. Patrick's Day.

May the light always find you on a dreary day.
When you need to be home, may you find your way.
May you always have courage to take a chance
And never find frogs in your underpants.

May the sound of happy music
And the lilt of Irish laughter
Fill your heart with gladness
That stays forever after.

As you slide down the banister of life,
may the splinters never point in the wrong direction

Pawley Hammocks

So does anybody have a hammock? If so what kind do you have. I came across Pawley Hammocks. They are suppose to be the Original Rope Hammock. They seem to be giving away one of these original pawley hammocks, maybe I will wait to see if I win a hammock before I go and by one?

Pics from the Cavs game

I forgot I promised pictures from the Cavs game so here they are

...starting with the view from our seats.

Me, Ron, Kevin and Kevin

It was Brazilian Carnaval Night and they gave out Anderson Varejao wigs trying to break a record for most wigs worn at a sporting event. A note here...Ron's son, the first Kevin, is not wearing a wig. That is just his natural hair. ...Oh Yeah, and they did break the record.

Grant Hill and LeBron

I didn't even know Grant Hill was still playing?

Larry Nance Was There

Larry Nance was there too. He wore his wig with the rest of us.

And Usher

He is the one in the Washington Nationals hat.

LeBron Jams It Home

Or Ron Jams It Home

Great! Thanks LeBron

We realized on way home, apparently some people have lost their window office to a nice big picture of LeBron.

3 Years and Cake

Well Anna is just over 2 weeks shy of her third birthday. Her first two parties were both Dora themed parties. So we are encouraging her to spread her wings a little this year. Some ideas up for consideration this year are:

1. VeggieTales
2. Nemo
3. Little Einsteins
4. JoJo

Yes, she loves to watch Playhouse Disney!! So we shall see what she chooses. I'll be sure to post some pictures of the party.

Rev. Bailey

Well our original plan was to go and see Rev. Bailey on Amber's spring break at the end of March. But I was told yesterday that he had a dream the other day the he went to heaven. When he was there everything was peaceful and relaxed. But then he woke up and was not happy. He was ready to go see his Master. I feel bad. I am hoping he is not being left just for me to go and see him. I am going to call him tonight just in case and try to make plans to go home asap. Maybe next weekend? I no longer am praying for him to hang in there. It is not fair to keep him from where he wants to be for me to see him. So just pray that he has a good journey.

Pictures from the Super Bowl Party

The Girls and I, Resting Before Bed

For some more recently added pics of Ella go to her blog.

Rev. Bailey

A gentleman who has been almost like a grandfather to my wife and I is very sick. He is 96 years old and we always stop by for a visit every time we go home. (Delaware) He always encourages us in our ministry and supports us with food (mostly bags of candy) and money to take back with us. He is a great man and has been a friend of the family since my parents were my age. Actually since they were younger than I am now. When they first moved to Delaware he took them under his wing when they showed up at the church where he was pastoring. He has cancer on his kidney and they are giving him only 6 months. Hospice is going to come and bring a hospital bed for him at home. When asked which bedroom he wants to be in he replied, "the living room." You see Rev. is not one to miss anything that is going on. He wants to be where he can see everything that is going on. Where it is easy for people to still come and visit him. He has barely lost a step in 96 years and is a saint of the church in my book. Please pray that he does not suffer much and that he will hang in there until Amber and I get a chance to get back and see him one more time.

Happy Birthday Rachael!!

I became an Uncle 20 years ago today!!! I can still remember the moment I found out. I was 12 and playing outside. My sister lived in Iowa and my mom had gone out to be there. My dad came out an stopped me from playing with my friends long enough to tell me I was an uncle. I remember being very excited. I am even more excited now to see the wonderful woman my niece has become. Happy Birthday Rach!!

MacGyver was back!!!

Ok, so obviously I am happy the Steelers won. But for all of you who were neither Steeler nor Seahawk fans there were the commercials. My favorite commercial, and very well maybe my all time favorite commercial now, was the Mastercard commercial with Richard Dean Anderson reprising his role as MacGyver. Granted it was missing the great theme song and he didn't have his mullet, it was a great to see him back again. Maybe Paramount will see how popular this ad was and think about doing one more reprise role and make a MacGyver movie for all of us fans who miss the show that made duct tape and Swiss Army Knife household names. So leave a comment, which Superbowl commercial was your favorite?

STEELERS WIN!!!

It wasn't the prettiest game of all time. But the Steelers relied on what they did all year long: their defense, steady mix of run and pass, along with a great trick play to pull it out. Thanks for the ride Bus!! Way To Go Steelers!!! Pictures to come of our Steelers party later this week.

10 days of silence.

Wow, I cannot believe I have let 10 days go by with out posting. I have about a dozen blogs I read every day and there are about 3 of them that have come to almost a stand still on their blogging. I don't want to do that. I usually blog while at work and work as become quite busy lately. I am still here and still reading most everyone else's blog every day. Well not "everyone", but everyone's blog who I comment on. You have all been faithful to keep me informed on your lives and I have not been able to do the same. So some quick updates.

Anna is just about potty trained now.
Ella is sitting up on her own and eating solid foods.
My new job is not yet full time but keeping me quite busy the days I do work it.
I am very worried about an old friend. Old as in he is 96, and is having kidney problems. He is ready to go, but the rest of us are not quite as ready.

Ok so those are some highlights for now. I am also looking forward to our church having enough people to have our own church softball team this year. Thanks for checking in, I continuing to pray for those of you who are going through hard times right now. Thanks for sharing your lives.

Anna and her cousins at Christmas

They hardly look alike huh?

Perfect example!!!

Here is a perfect example of using the Kingdom for righteousness, peace and joy.

Whip or love and a gentle spirit

So I preached this past Sunday. And of course we had almost more visitors than we have had in a long time. And of course I had this silly part planned where I reenact a tv evangelist I saw on that was speaking about what my sermon was about that week. I figured no problem, I know everybody at church, it won't be embarrassing.

I preached from 1 Corinthian 4 concentrating on v. 20 and 21.

20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?

I basically said that the power we have is to be use with a gentle spirit. We tend to go after "the issues", gay marriages, abortion, intelligent design, etc... With a whip. Demanding our rights as Christians be heard. We are to follow Christ's example and lay down our rights. We need to remember behind every issue are broken and lost sinners. We need to remember:

Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit...

Notice the Kingdom around you and use it...for righteousness, peace and joy!!

Blonde Joke

Best blonde joke ever.

32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny

If you are a teacher, are married to a teacher (as I am) or just love good stories I highly recommend this book. It will change the way you look at teachers, even if you are one. This book will definitely make you laugh and it may even make you cry. He makes you wish you could be a teacher, even if you are one. It is definitely a good read and it won't take long to go from cover to cover.

Happy 2006!!!

So how was your 2005? I am kind of saddened to see it go. It was a year for not only my new baby, but for a lot of friends as well. It was also a year that a lot of my friends (blogger friends and life long ones) have seen the end of lives. I was going to make a comment here about the cycle of life. But unfortunately for many, they were lives cut very short of their cycle.

People ask why blog? Why get so wrapped up in the lives of people you have never actually "met"? Why grieve and feel loss for people you have never met?... Why not?

Why not have one more community in your life? Why not learn lessons from any where you can? Why not mourn for those who have lost their little one and go home and love your little ones that much more? Why not mourn for those who have lost a sibling and go home for Christmas and hang on to your siblings a little tighter? To those who have shared their lives. Thank you for sharing. I can only hope my prayers and thoughts in return are enough repayment.

So we look to 2006. What more will this year bring? More beginnings? More endings? More hellos? More goodbyes? More Hope? More healing? More friends? More family?...

More of God? Less of me?... I can only hope!!!

Merry Christmas??

Did you all have a Merry Christmas? My family and I had a great Christmas getting to visit friends and family. Building new hoiday memories is always a good time. Hope you had a great holiday as well.

A Christian Comedian

Never heard him myself. But he is a friend of a friend who is trying to get started. So if you need a Christian comedian for an event, check him out. Then let me know what you think.

Anna's first snowman

Busy!!

Been really busy lately with my new job. Mainly because I am learning everything there is to know on my own. So I am spending my whole day reading, finding more stuff to read, and trying the things I have read. It is certainly different then my previous job and feeling a little out of the loop. But that is okay. I think I will like this job once I have figured out what all I need to do and get a schedule down. I probably won't be able to update as much for a little while unless I do more from home which I may since work was nice enough to supply me with a laptop to use. But please be sure to stop in on me once in awhile and leave some encouraging comments. Hope you all are doing well. God Bless!!

I love my girls!!!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my girls? Ella will laugh at the drop of a hat. (Literally and figuratively) She is so quick to smile and melt my heart. Anna while she can drive me absolutely crazy at times is total sweetheart. I put her to "bed" last night. (I say "bed" b/c she refuses to sleep in the bed and prefers the floor?) She begins to play rather than lay down so I lay my head down on her pillow and pretend to sleep. She then gets real quiet and begins to get her covers together and cover me up and tuck me. She even goes over and turns off her night light. She then covers herself up gives me a kiss and says "I love you daddy. Goodnight daddy." She is soooo cute!!!

*Bonus

I was trying to think of something to blog so I blogged about my new job just moments ago. Just as I was finished one of my best friends calls me and leads me to this following picture of one of my other best friends he took while they stopped at Disney World on the way back from a business trip. It was just too funny not to post. So here is Lee.

SEO

I may have a new job with the same company before too long. I will be in charge of SEO, which is search engine optimization. The easy explanation is that I try to make sure that when people do a google, yahoo, excite, etc... search that our site for our company comes up as at least one of the top 10. It is challenging and I won't have direct interaction with customers anymore. Plus I will probably not be in the mix of all my colleagues but rather in my own space. But I think I will enjoy the challenge and if not they said I can always come back to where I am. So wish me luck as I venture into this new area of work.

Trick or Treat!!

Some more pics of the girls

The girls in their matching sweats.

Anna picking out a pumpkin.

Ella's fist cereal.

Anna "helping" Daddy.

Anna being silly!

I Wonder...

...how much or what I would need to blog to deserve one of these???

New Blog Fad

My blog is worth $564.54.
How much is your blog worth?

Goose Egg

That is what is on Anna's head today. She thought my e-z chair was a trampoline last night. As I went to get her off she turned to try and avoid and cracked her head hard on the corner of the wall. I was so freaked out. I am so glad that Amber was there. I cannot handle to see my little girl in pain. I picked her up and I ran and got the ice. I let Amber handle it from there. God must make toddler's head nice and thick. She was okay after just a couple of minutes.

Blue Like Jazz

Besides Greta, has anyone read this book? Or even one of his others like "Searching for God Knows What"? Just curious what others have thought. I think I am going to buy it here soon.

Fun @ Work

We have a warning sign on the door into our work area. It is a yellow caution sign that read "Watch For Flying Objects". We have 2 of these poofy balls and 2 of the regular foam poof balls that we play catch with. Or hit people with depending on our mood. The cool part is our boss participates too. How many of you can throw a ball at your boss why he is not looking and not get in trouble? It is still by far the not the best job in the world, but all things considered, it's not that bad.

Off to Pizza Hut with the guys today. Please be praying for a friend of mine. A long story, but his name is Ron, God knows so just pray. Thanks.

The Chiropractor

So I went to the chiropractor for the first time the other day. It really wasn't painful at all in spite of the picture. I had a real bad pain in my shoulder the other night and mentioned to the massage therapist. (We get massages every other week at work!) She thought my shoulder felt out of place and suggest I see a chiropractor. So since we have been taking Ella and she has been doing so well. (Here is that story) So I decided to give it a try. Turns out I had two misalignments. Supposedly this could be the reason for a lot of my headaches as well.

So the table adjustments were no big deal. The weird part was when he is holding my head and says to relax...no problem. Suddenly....my head is being twisted and making noises the bad guys necks make when Segal is twisting their neck. Except they don't seem to go...Wow that feels better thanks!!! They just don't seem to move anymore??? But it turns out I was still able to move afterward and everything was okay. Just not sure I could relax as well if their were to be a next time???

A thought from Albert Day

From The captivating Presence:

"I came to a new understanding why Jesus passed up the religious establishment of his day, the economically secure, the socially prestigious, and sought out the poor, the outcast, the sinner, the broken, the sick, the lonely. He felt, as we so often do not fell, their sorrow. He was acquainted, as we too seldom are, with their grief. On Calvary he died of a broken heart. But that hear was broken long before Black Friday, By the desolation of the common people. "In all their afflictions he was afflicted."

Most of the time we are not. We seem to have quite a different conception of life. We avoid as much as possible the unpleasant. We shun the suffering of others. We shrink from any burdens except those which life itself inescapably thrusts upon us. We seek arduously the wealth and power that will enable us to secure ourselves against the possibility of being involved with another's affliction. Lazarus sometimes makes his way to our door step. We toss him a coin and go on our way. We give our charities but we do not give ourselves. We build charitable institutions but we do not build ourselves into other's lives."

Sorry for the deeper than usual post...but I felt I needed and many of you may have needed it too?

Gran is coming to town

I go to pick my mom up at the airport in a couple of hours from now. She is flying up for a week to spend sometime with her very missed granddaughters. She is coming up from Florida and is really excited about seeing her granddaughters again. She has not seen Ella since the week she was born. I know, she lives in FL why aren't we going to see her. Answer, it is a lot cheaper to bring one person up here then to take 4 of us down there. Hopefully this summer we will make it down.

One Year

A Year Ago I found out what a blog was. This how I started this one...

I don't really have deep thoughts, but hopefully they are not shallow thoughts...thus Med. depth thoughts. Thoughts like, if your 18 month old daughter is quiet for too long before going to sleep, check on her she may have taken her pants and diaper off and have a left a mess for you to clean.

Thoughts like, despite doing things like that, there is nothing greater than seeing your daughter's big smile just because you came into the room. I know every parents says this but, I really have the cutest little girl in the world. Once I figure out how to post pics on here I will put one on of her.

12 months later I have a 30 month old girl and an almost 5 month old girl. They are still the cutest girls in the world. And there is still nothing greater than seeing them smile. Except now instead of just a smile, Anna RUNS from one end of the house to the other, arms out, screaming ...DADDY'S HERE!! There is no better way to start your evening when you get home!!!

16 years

It was 16 years ago today I lost my best friend, Tim. I wasn't even 16 yet when it happened. It is hard to believe that more years have passed since than year I had yet been alive at the time. He is still one of the largest influences on my life. If you want to know more about him you can click on Tim's Stories under my links. I will mark the day as I always do and have some pretzel sticks and iced tea. And call Lee to talk about old times.

I took some great pictures of the girls last night. I will try really hard to remember to get them posted later today.

The Chase for October

Okay so I am a huge Phillies fan. But since living in Ohio and having several friends who are Indians fans and having gone to several games with them, I have become a huge Indians fan too. So much so that while my wife was watching her season premier last night,(and since we have only 1 tv, 1 too many really, but anyway..) I couldn't get the Indians game on the radio inside so I went out to the van to listen to the game until her show was over. In case you are not aware, the race to get into the post season is close as ever in both leagues. As few as 1/2 to 2 games separate 3 - 4 teams from wild card spots or even division leaders. It has never been a better time to be a baseball fan!!!

Ouch

We are all feeling better now. Except I have an infected syst on my arm. Hope everyone else is doing well. Promise to put a real post up soon, just been really busy lately. Being praying for me, I preach on October 9.

*addition to the events

Somewhere along Monday afternoon I was alone with the girls for a couple of hours. Anna came out with a basket on her head and showed me her hat. Ella was laying on the floor looking up at me and giggling. And I decided I am so ready to be a stay at home dad. Now if I could just figure out how to afford it.

Very Ill

Series of events:

Months ago we plan to take Anna to the rides @ a local festival on 9/10.
Amber starts feeling sick Thursday night.
I start getting a sore throat on Friday afternoon.
Saturday morning my voice is gone.
A few hours later, Anna and Ella have fevers.
The rides for Anna are now cancelled.
Saturday early afternoon Amber thinks she is feeling better.
Later the same afternoon things get worse for her.
Sunday morning Anna seems to be better.
Sunday afternoon Amber thinks she may have an ear infection it hurts her so bad.
Sunday evening Anna's fever comes back.
Monday morning the doctor's office has no appointments.
Monday evening we all seem to be doing not too bad.
Tuesday we are all at work and baby sitters still feeling the effects of the weekend.
Tuesday afternoon you all read this and pray for us.
Tonight we will all feel better!!! Thanks!!

Fantasy Football

I had two live drafts, two nights in a row. One with a group of 10 guys, mostly from my softball team. Another with 7 others from my church including my wife and 2 other ladies. All 3 ladies managed to get the first 3 picks last night and did pretty well for claiming they did not know what they were doing. We shall see. Here is a list of my starters for my two teams in case anyone is interested.

The league with only 8:

QB - D. McNabb
WR - P. Burress
WR - A. Lelie
WR - H. Ward
RB - T. Barbar
RB - W. Parker
TE - A. Crupler / H. Miller Will both get starts
K - D. Akers
DEF -Philadelphia

The league with 10:

QB - B. Roethlisberger
WR - D. Driver
WR - D. Mason
RB - E. James
RB - T. Barbar
TE - T. Gonzalez
K - D. Akers
D - B. Dawkins
D - M. Strahan

Christian Confession

Click here to read A Christian Confession

Hurricane thoughts

I haven't posted in a week. There just seems to be more important things going on in the world. I found this post on one of the blogs I highlighted on Blogger Day. I usually try to write simple poetry to get my thought out as well. But Chris did a great job of expressing my almost exact feelings I am just reposting his post here. Hope Chris doesn't mind. You can find his blog here.

so this morning I sit, thinking about it all,
some days its enough to just stand without one fall,
what is my purpose and why am I here?
why does my heart fill with so much fear?
i don't like what I see and I don't like where I am,
and if i thought of the right changes, do I believe that I can?
doubts and questions, ponderings for sure,
there is no guarantee that makes this life secure,
darkness and beauty exist in the same breath,
while somewhere in New Orleans the air wreaks of death,
its not about hope, seems more to do with faith,
just some mornings i wonder how much more i can take,
so today the heart is heavy, i hardly even know why,
i wish i had the time to just let myself cry,
brokeness is not evil, most times it leads to good,
often leads me to the thoughts and the actions i should,
some days its just a battle, the reality is war,
its time for me to wake up for the Enemy is at my door,

may you find peace in your ponderings today,