That Thing She Does

It’s every father’s job to tell everyone how cute and adorable his daughter is and I am no different. As I think back to before she was born and we thought she was he I could have never imagined having a girl. Now I can’t imagine what life would be like if she had been a boy. (does that make any sense?)

Nevertheless, in the car tonight she was making a screeching noise. The noise was one that if a little louder could be quite annoying, or if it had kept on, but each time after the warble left her voice she would tell herself “no no” be quiet for a couple seconds, and repeat.

It was one of those time where you smile to yourself and force yourself not to look back. Thank goodness for rear view mirrors.

I hope to post some new video soon of our dancing queen. She’s got a routine that gives Napolean Dynamite a run for his money.

You might have noticed that the sidebar on the right is getting a little fuller. I joined google’s adsense program. More for the novalty I guess, but maybe I’ll make a little money. It is a free program that pays me everytime someone clicks a sponsored link. So if you would like to help feed a hungry mouth…or put little Mia through college, go ahead and click. That’s it just click.

I have even come up with a fun game for the ads. Google places ads relevant to the content on the site. So the challenge is to figure out what newsletter entry was the refference for that particualr ad. All right, it’s not Frogger but it can still be fun.

And now for the thought of the day……..”Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and the world laughs harder.”

You’ve been great. I’m out.

written on August 6, 2005 · no comments

Some New Photos

Mia and Regan at the Longs
I just finished uploading almost 4gb of photos from the past year and beyond to flickr. There are 4 new sets that were not on the old site.

The new photos include: Caleb’s Graduation, Abi’s Graduation, Our 4th of July trip to Indiana, and our Summer Vacation to Winter Park.

You can view the photos by going here.

Enjoy!

written on August 4, 2005 · no comments

The Updated Newsletter

Alright, so it’s almost August and I haven’t updated this section for about a month. So here goes. Interesting speeches at the Democratic National Convention last night… I especially liked it when Jimmy Carter took partial credit for ending the cold war and tried to compare the Soviets to Al Qaeda. And is Al Gore ever going to get over the 2000 election? Come on man give it up! It was 4 years ago and you still don’t have the votes. It was also rather humorous when Howard Dean was talking to Sean Hannity on Fox News and stated that the 9/11 Commission’s report claimed that there was no connection whatsoever from Iraq to Al Qaeda… Hmmm, he must have skipped over that part.

Anyway on to news a little more local. As the pictures and video testify our little Mia is growing up before our eyes. She is saying new “words” all the time. In fact I think she invented the term “travishamockery…” I have been getting a lot of practice in on my woodchuck voice though it is used for a purple elephant we have so creatively dubbed “purple elee.” Whoo-hoo! Who can hurl the smell the farthest?!

For those of you wondering, yes I do change diapers and I am good at it. In the effort to make everything some sort of competition and big league pipedream, I see how fast I can get the diaper off, bundled up into the shape of a football, and then into the trash can in the bathroom across from Mia’s room. Luckily the trash can is against a wall. I have been banking most of them in lately. Mia is impressed. She knows she has the best diaper-shooting daddy in the whole world. I expect this to be a competition at next years x-games.

Mickie is going back to work on Friday and she is not looking forward to it at all. She is cutting her schedule in half however which will be nice. This next semester I only have class on Tuesday’s so I will be able to continue to work full time. Nancy is coming up for the first couple of weeks which will be a nice transition. Mom has been here the last couple of days which has been nice. My bathroom got cleaned-with bleach. Not that I don’t clean my bathroom, but she is mom after all.

Caleb and I went to see the Bourne Supremacy last night. The theater had problems with their equipment and had to move us all to another theater. For our trouble they gave everyone 2 free passes. That was pretty cool. The movie itself was pretty good. I was on the edge of my seat throughout.

So, what else is going on? I got a cool new water bottle that is supposedly unbreakable, we had some really good ice cream at the Marble Slab last night and I haven’t played golf since going on vacation. I am looking forward to the men’s retreat coming up later this month. We will be going up to the camp in Clear Lake, IA. I am also speaking at a youth retreat in September which should be a lot of fun and a good experience.

Well, that is about all that is going on in our lives. Tune in next month to get all the dirt straight the source. You’ve been great. I’m out.

written on July 27, 2004 · no comments

No Baby, Yet…

Well here it is. Almost May and no baby yet. We thought it might happen last Saturday, but it wasn’t ready to come. We are ready how ever… Everything is still okay as far as we know. It is interesting how emotionally attached you become to a person you don’t really even know. I already love “it” (I hate calling it that..but we want to keep the surprise) so much.

I know that most of you can totally relate and this is nothing knew but it’s pretty cool. It is also interesting how emotional I have become about other babies and newborns. My Greek professor has a sister who recently had a baby that they thought would die and now his brother’s wife just found out that their baby is dying. I am not normally an emotional person but the thought of losing a child like that brings tears to my eyes even as I type. I praise the Lord for working in my life and giving me more compassion.

I am ashamed that I don’t pray more for this is my own family. We can always be confident that God is in control however and his will is perfect. The Psalmist said that “my times are in his hands.” What an incredible and personal thought.

My first car bit the dust last weekend. I loaned it to Caleb for the weekend and as he was driving it to Southern Iowa it blew a head gasket about 40 miles outside of Des Moines. The repairs were estimated between $1200-$1500. Needless to say I am not going to get it fixed. Caleb did however put me in contact with a guy who wanted to buy it. When the potential buyer showed up he wondered where the truck was. (I was standing right next to it) Come to find out Caleb told him it was a Chevy 1500 (It is really a small Toyota pickup) However he had driven 3 hours and was not going to go home empty handed. We had originally agreed on $250 and settled for $175. I was a bit sad but I will get over it soon. He was a good friend-a little rusty around the edges but reliable none the less. He will be missed.

Since we lost the truck we have been searching for a new car. We need something will more room, low miles and a good price… We are looking at Bonneville’s and Impala’s. We have test driven a few but haven’t found anything that works. We almost bought one yesterday but thankfully our heads took over our hearts and we didn’t buy it.

We got a new digital camera in lieu of the baby coming so I thought I would try it out. It has a neat video feature, so I thought I would take a tour of our house. Click this link for the tour. (you will need realplayer) and the video is sideways… I will update it soon.

School is almost done. We have finals next week. I need to do a lot of studying on Greek and Hebrew between now and then.

Well, I need to go pick up Mickie from work. Hope the Nuggets win tonight. Good to get emails from a lot of you. Dan and Lilian, we are praying for you.

written on April 27, 2004 · no comments