Birthday Dreams and The Best of Things

I remember, as I watch my children, how I used to wish and pine for the best birthday present ever. That thing I just had to have. You know; the latest G. I. Joe or the "cool shoes" or that book I just had to read(yeah I was a weird kid). And the party. The theme was VERY important! As I get older I am just really happy to be here and be so blessed with family and friends that truly ROCK. I say this because I recently had the privilege of adding another notch on my belt of ages.

I awoke to a breakfast of fresh made chocolate cake and hand made cards from Megan and the kids. Each one had decorated a birthday card just for me! No words can describe the joy those cards brought me. Megan's card was a true group effort and one of the most imaginative things I've ever received. It had no fancy drawings or frills, just heartfelt birthday wishes, sweet words of love, and every time I opened it...all the kids broke into a well rehearsed rendition of "You are My Sunshine"! I closed and opened it several times to make sure it worked; they never missed a beat. That morning was The Best of Things!

So... to all of you who have walked with me these many years and days, helping me arrive at this moment safe, sound, and better by association.

Thank you!

Lots of Things...

Well, much has happened since my last post. Silas has passed the 5 month mark, Halloween came and went with incredible creativity on the part of my wonderful wife and kids, and I also have a new job!

Funny how long it takes a man to settle down and find a career sometimes. I've always worked, but pretty much just because I like to eat and so does my family. Anyway God has blessed me with a career in an industry that I find exciting, challenging, and... well, just what I did not know I was looking for. I am now a "Roofing Professional" as the maintenance, service and, repair manager at my new company. I'm very grateful and absolutely love it.

Brianna brought home two excellent report cards, Cody and Meyson are doing very well Homeschooling, Carson is smarter than all of us, and Memphis has us all learning ASL. Silas is growing and learning everyday. She sits up, she laughs, she watches everything, and goes wild in her jumparoo. I could spend hours and thousands of words detailing how proud I am of each one of our kids. I will spare you that, however, and direct you to the infinitely more entertaining Blog of my Wife.

ASL: American Sign Language. We are learning. Not fast enough, but learning. It is fun, being able to speak to one another across crowded rooms, in noisy or quiet places, even sharing jokes at times. We take a class, as a family, once weekly at the local deaf services center. Some are more excited to learn than others but all in all, I believe we are doing well. Some of you no doubt are wondering; why? Well...

Memphis has been diagnosed with Verbal Apraxia. Basically something gets lost in translation between what he wants to say and the cute noises he actually makes. Suppose you wanted to make a fist and ended up with the "Hook 'em Horns" sign instead(heaven forbid). This is the frusration Memphis deals with when trying to communicate verbally with anyone. Enter the ASL experiment. It works! His frustration, and ours, has been greatly decreased. We look at it as a blessing and opportunity. A new language opens up all kinds of new things. I do not think the kids understand what a gift this will be to them later in life.

One last note. Our beloved Texas Tech Red Raiders are ranked #2 in the nation for the first time ever! It has been alot of fun for Megan and myself to cheer them on.

GO TECH!

It's a girl!!!

Well dear friends and readers, our newest addition has finally arrived!

Silas Nicole was born yesterday around 3:00 pm. She has curly blond hair, blue eyes for now and is a healthy eater. Silas weighed 7lb and 15oz and was 20.5 inches long! We are proud parents and very grateful for her good health. Megan is recovering well and hopefully we can go home on Wednesday. Silas is very lucky to have some of the greatest siblings ever and I am sure she will be smothered with an abundance of love.

On another note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our Brianna. She is a wonderful big sister already and now has another little sister to spoil.

I'm so proud of you Bri'!

A Night at the Ballet

On Saturday, Cody performed in her ballet school's annual recital and, of course, we went as a family to watch and support her. She was terrific! Her class' performance was brief as she is only in level 1; we are very proud anyway.
I had the great pleasure of being seated between my two girls, Brianna and Carson.
It turned out to be a night of pure beauty for all of us. Megan, glowing with both pride and pregnancy, was holding Cody's bouquet as we all watched the different levels perform. After one of the company's more intense dances, Bri' turned to me and said "that was awesome". I had to agree.
I have never considered myself a fan of ballet, yet...I feel I may have been won over by the beauty of it all. It is not that the dancers themselves were beautiful, which most of them are, I believe it is the fluidity and the delicate balance between the music and the movements on stage. I have to admit some of the dances almost moved me to tears. Why is that? You might say I am just a big baby, and my wife will probably agree. Really, I was spellbound and amazed by what this incredible body God gave us is capable of.

I am not a dancer. I am sure some have even considered calling the doctor when they have seen me try. I do appreciate dancing though. These days everyone is enthralled with "Dancing With the Stars"; and yes, I have even taken a few ballroom dancing lessons and enjoyed it very much. Ballet is now one of my favorite forms of dance, from a spectators point of view.
The dancers tell an intricate story with no words to muddle things up. Most of the perfomances were choreographed by the dancers themselves and one was dedicated, appropriately so as it was Mothers' Day eve, to the choreographer's Mom. It was called "Reach For Me" and I definately felt the story of a mother reaching out to her child.

The greatest perfomance of the night for me though, was during one of the more advanced "company" pieces, when Carson let herself be swept away by the music and proceeded with her very own ballet in the seat. At first I was torn between telling Carson to stop and watch what was on stage or watching her. To my own benefit, I chose the latter. Seated next to me Carson, eyes closed, perfomed wth her head and arms some of the "moves" seen on stage that night.
It was beautiful.

Accolades

I am so proud of my family! Each and every one. I'll start with my wife. Megan is a wonderful photographer as you'll see on her blog where she has posted our latest family pictures. She took all of them herself and...well, I'm just proud. Last week she made the best Eggs Benedict I've ever tasted, even making the hollandaise sauce from scratch. I am indeed a lucky man! Megan does all of this and puts up with me while being 29 weeks pregnant.
Thank you Lord for my wife!

Meyson, the 14 year old, is the oldest. He has a great heart and is probably the best big brother anyone could wish for. Watching his patience and actual joy, in playing with the smaller ones is...well; a great joy. Meyson is becoming a fantastic artist, has a quick (sometimes too quick) wit, and is a classic rock connoisseur. To my great pleasure, he also enjoys reggae.

Brianna is the singer. She left this week to perform with the National OAKE Children's Choir. Brianna was very excited, as she has never before flown in an airplane or stayed in a 5 star hotel. She has worked very hard for this and even earned a substantial scholarship to do it. Brianna, also is an A student.

Cody is the ballerina. She performed in our city's performance of The Nutcracker last Christmas and already has a part next year. She is very attentive to her younger siblings and wants to serve anyone who is sick (especially Mom) breakfast in bed, or at least bring them a snack. Cody may just have the most infectious laugh on the planet.

Carson. Carson is the smartest, sweetest, most exasperating, beautiful 3 year old in the world. She speaks with adult words and phrases and may understand their context better than I do. Her smile and fluttering eyelashes have totally wrapped daddy around her finger. Carson is another musical connoisseur, recognizing many songs within the first 3 notes. She also rapidly notices different versions of the same song, and of course...has preferences.

Memphis, my little boy. He is amazing. Precocious and wild. His eyes and playfulness light up the darkest of my days, inspire many smiles and much incredulous head shaking. He is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear and his "blankie". Memphis loves being outside and wrestling and jumping off of things. He loves to climb things and be thrown in the air. He is Memphis...'nuff said!

We have one more on the way. I'm proud of this one too, even if we have opted not to know if it is a boy or girl until birth. The baby is growing strong, kicking (sorry Megan), and causing great excitement in our home.

I could go on and on and each one of these, deserve their own blog and much much more but for now, I'll just say; I am blessed. And grateful.

Openly Thankful

Recently my daughter, Brianna, had a small two week science project to do for school. Though she is a straight-A student we did not learn of it until the night before it was due. Being in such dire need, she didn't hesitate to ask me for help. Megan provided construction paper, poster board, and artistic direction. Meyson and myself contibuted furiously drawn illustrations of seahorses while Brianna completed and compiled research data. As we put it all together, Meyson added hand drawn bubbles (Megan's excellent idea) to the background.

The project came out pretty well with everyone's efforts and Brianna got a passing grade. I asked Bri' if she thought the end result would have been better with more time and effort. She agreed that it would have.

When she gave her presentation, Brianna openly told her class about the work we did. She showed open and frank appreciation for our efforts on her behalf. She wasn't ashamed to say... "my Daddy did that for me!" or "my brother helped me with this!". As a father, I thought this pretty cool. Perhaps our efforts as parents, to teach the kids to be gracious is paying off.

A day or two later I was visiting with my friend, Johnny. We were discussing our individual Bible studies and he brought up Philippians 4:6

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God"

It seemed kind of familiar and the more I thought about it, the louder God's message spoke. How many times do we exaust ourselves with our own efforts before we seek His help, direction, or favor? I do it ALL the time. How often are we anxious or worried? I am more often than not. The Word says to ask with thanksgiving and have faith "do not be anxious..." Faith is pretty simply put in the bible and the best way I can see it, is in Brianna's actions here. Sure, she put off the project untill the last minute but never did she doubt that Dad would help her. Really, for the two weeks prior I would have been available for much more if she'd only said "Hey Dad, I need some help".

Brianna had no way of knowing how much help she would recieve that night from how many different sources. My relationship with God is sometimes like that. We just get so busy trying to do stuff or putting things off that we forget to ask our heavenly Father to step in. How much better would it be if we openly relied on Him and were thankful, even before the need. Just as I am my childrens' Dad; God promises to be ours...
"I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty" (2 Corinthians 6:18)

When Bri' needed help (even after bad planning and procrastination) her Dad and her brother and family stepped in. That happens to me. God has placed christian brothers and sisters all around in my life. Sometimes they come through with a timely word, a hug, or even a truck. Sometimes they pray with and for us and other times just knowing they are there is enough. I don't say often enough or openly enough that God helped me and is always there for me.

I have an amazing family; my Father helped with that. I love my new job; my Father helped with that too! Maybe one day I'll put that story here. My wife is a direct gift to my family and me from our Father in heaven. Yeah, I did meet her in sunday school. The first time I'd been in over 15 years in fact. I've got incredible friends ( I occasionally call them "Bro") They have enriched my life and been great sources of wisdom, support, and encouragement; my Father did that for me! My family has been there when when I was a single dad and couldn't see from one day to the next how we'd make it; my Father helped with that!

Why have I been so anxious? Even when my faith has waned, God has been there.