Stand Still

I am standing outside of the DFW airport waiting for the shuttle to take me to the hotel. It is amazing how time to stop and think turns me pensive. I’m oddly thinking of the human will. Maleable by some standards but definitely stuborn. I have friends who are rather cantancerous, much like me, but who see the will differently. My buddy Dave sent me an interesting link (which is not easy for me to post now) that discussed techniques people use toinfluence or manipulate the human will. Churches are mentioned at one point in time, but I never identify with this because at least my current church avoids this tactic and instead leans towards letting the Bible’s text speak for itself. The Bible speaks of the will in strong language, but it doesn’t speak of manipulation… It is a sad thing to see the name of Christ so poorly represented. It is my will that I can be different – gentle, friendly and honest. Or at least less like Paul Crouch and more like the apostle Paul: a spunky Geek who spoke to the Greek.

The Sickness: Part II

Tonight I got a new keyboard.  Its a new Apple Wireless thingy.  You see, I had to get a new one because the old one received the puke of a two year old.  I’m feeling sick, Jessica is feeling sick, Abby is feeling sick, and Evie is most definitely sick.  Even Kurt & Becky are under the weather.  The sickness is annoying to say the least.  We missed church, we missed being with some friends whom we wanted to see… but we didn’t miss going out to the grocery store to buy things that will hype us up so that we can feel half-awake instead of mostly dead.

I have to fly tomorrow morning (Monday) so I’m super-excited to spread germs, receive germs, and generally make those around me miserable or question the safety of my company.  The good thing is that this new keyboard should cause me great discomfort for a few days in the hands department so that at least most of me is funky instead of just one part.*

By the way, too much vitamin C is actually diarhea inducing.  I know this because in Jr. High I fed my friend too much vitamin C because he liked the ‘cherry’ flavor of the C I had.  Little did he know that his immune system would kill most anything with that boost, but the explosive gastro-intestinal boost would kill his chances of getting a girlfriend.  Sorry, Matt 🙂

*I’m used to an ergonomic keyboard and this is not, but since my laptop is also not ergo, its good to get used to the ‘old’ style as needed.

Ret Her Into Your Heart

Clearly I have not talent and someone this age starting out with this much talent is going to rock whatever Idol they have in their country. Simon Scowl should watch out.

While our friends the Masons are in China we’ll be thinking of them – and this video reminds me of the cuteness that is their blessed daughter Nadia, who will clearly also rock the world, but probably for World Vision and not for YouTube. Have fun Masons!

Thankful Thursdines Day

This Valentines day I will simply state that I am thankful for my bride. Yeah, I’ve been thankful for her before, but she does rock the Casbah. In fact, speaking of rock, Abby was surprised to learn that Jessica liked rock music. For some reason the constant kids music Jessica would play to pacify the children led Abby to believe that Jessica would prefer to listen to kids music and the cranky daddy was the one who liked rock music.

Turns out my Ska, Rock, Classic Rock, Alternative Rock and generally music loving wife isn’t as big on Backyardigans as Abby had first thought. I’m thankful for that, too!

Trashing Her Own Plug

Evie threw her plug away today.  Her plug is also known as a pacifier or binky in other names, but either way, Evie put it in the garbage after her afternoon nap as we had told her she was a big girl and it was time to no longer sleep with it.  She had a hard time with things in the evening and even suggested we dig it out of the trash.  Being hygienically oriented, we did not dig it out of the trash.  She got up out of bed several times, but has not cried a whole lot.  She’s mostly wanted comfort for the loss of her friend.

This is a lot like Abby’s haircut, its one of those life events that is small but has some significance.  Evie is no longer a baby, she’s no longer just a toddling little kid, she’s able to do a lot of things and has developed fine motor skills.  Her vocabulary has much more growth left, but she can often communicate just what she is after.  This little girl is moving onto the next stage in life and I’m afraid that means that she’s all but left her baby and toddling ways and is now in process towards becoming an adult.  She’s hurtling through childhood and I think we’re in for a big series of life events – a series that will involve clothes, bikes, school and of course hot dogs and macaroni and cheese 🙂

Abby’s Hair

Abby got her hair cut yesterday.  Not trimmed, but cut.  Her hair has always been long but she came down stairs and asked me, “Daddy, mommy says I have to ask you if I can get my hair cut short.  Can I please?”  And in true non-committal fashion I said, “Let me go upstairs and talk to your mother.”  I went upstairs and conceded.  It is something that I knew would happen, she’s been asking for a while for shorter hair and it was well and good for her to start to assert some of her growing up decision making skills.  So her hair is shorter now, about shoulder length.  I’ve not got a picture yet, but I’ll be taking one soon and I’ll get it up on the interwebs shortly.

As a dad this is kinda cool, kinda scary, and kinda important.   Its cool because it is an opportunity to see my daughter grow up and mature over time.  Her desire to maintain a physical appearance that she’s pleased with is interesting.  She’s not one of those girls who has no will and is apathetic, she’s very opinionated, and her hair and clothes are part of that.  It is scary because she’s growing up.  My baby girls aren’t babies any more.  I have a very mature five and a half year old and a toddler who is showing that she’s wanting to be an independent five year old, too.  Its important that Abby cut her hair because I want her to start understanding about decisions and their short term, medium term and long term impact.  We joked that we couldn’t glue the hair back onto her so she had to make the choice understanding that.

She loves her new hair and has told everyone to look at it that she has seen (vanity? yup. We’re working on taming that, too).  She’s proud of her new look.  Frankly, I’m proud of my little girl.  She’s growing up fast, but I’m glad to see where she’s growing.  Its a blessing to be her dad.

Update: Girls Still Kinda Sick

We skipped church today because the girls are still not 100%.  Yesterday we were driving to the library thinking everyone was still better and then Evie puked twice as much stuff as is physically possible to fit into a body her size all over herself and the inside of our car (can you say, “yucky,” class?).  Then Abby came into our room this morning and announced that she wasn’t feeling well again.  Basically the sickness sticks with us, but I’m going to watch the Super Bowl this evening in an attempt to find out if my acquaintance, Shaun O’Hara, leads his New York Giants to victory, or if he’ll have to settle for having just gone to the Super Bowl.

Two Sick Girls

Jessica and I slept poorly last night as both girls were taking turns waking us up to hurl.  Its very, very difficult to watch your babies be sick.  Pray for them (its probably just a 24 hour bug, but either way, its tough), and us.  We don’t want to get sick, and we don’t want to have to watch our girls be sick either.

On the upside they still have a healthy appetite despite uneating shortly after eating.