Next year

I hope to have a better blog, better relationships with those around me and drop some weight.

New Year's Brain Dump

I'm trying to come up with somethig witty and interesting for the blog to lure back my millions of readers.
Maybe this could be a "blog about nothing." Hey - it worked for some guy named Jerry.
My mind is fried and temporarily on pause after a series after a few sleep-deprived nights and long days. Jadyn hasn't really been an insomnia cause for some number of weeks and we're very grateful.
Well, it's off to the big"ger" city for a shopping excursion with relatives. More later.
Y'all come back now, ya hear?

We didn't see 'Eva,' but ...

We couldn't pass this one up - This is the Arby's on U.S. 280 in front of Wal-Mart in Alexander City, Ala. Usually I cringe at horrid misspellings or misuse of the English language, but somehow this was endearing. Maybe they ran out of "e's." Maybe the manager's name is Eva. But somehow it conveyed the spirit of the holiday in a warm, welcoming, although imperfect way.
It's been a wonderful holiday for us and we're sad it's coming to a close. We thank the Lord for our blessings - the greatest of which is His love for us through His son. Our most precious gift is our sweet Jadyn who we treasure so much. Thank you for sending her to us. She is truly our Christmas miracle.

Creativity vacuum in Hollywood

Maybe it's just taken me awhile to notice, but it seems the decision-makers in the traditional movie industry have lost interest and drive to develop fresh, new movie concepts.
The one notable exception appears in the animation arena - no overt duplication of ideas there.
I'm just growing weary of modern remakes of old movies.Normally, I try not to complain without having a solution. I do have a suggestion - that the major film studios develop teams, to include regular old Joes and Marys, to develop new ideas. Sure, someone would need to get creativity and writing credit, but if you have a "thinktank" generating fresh concepts, more people might actually show up to watch movies.
I don't have any ideas for a script myself. If I do, I think it needs to become a book first. :)

Been too long!

I probably have lost my entire fan base (made up largely of long-standing friends, family and a few recent arrivals to the fold).
I'm flying solo with Jadyn tonight so I might need to run back in to where she is (also because the first episode of "E-Ring" is on and I got hooked on the show after the first episode aired).
Got to work on the shopping for Amanda too along with a whole host of stuff to do before Christmas.
OK, more soon. I hope.
Fading out to my version of an old Van Halen song:
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Jadyn's crying... ."

Space: Above and Beyond

Amanda has a knack at finding out what I like and doing something about it, something I need to get better at myself.
She bought me the DVD set for the television series, "Space: Above and Beyond." I loved it and was slightly jealous of it because it's close in general theory to many daydreams I've had over the years about an ideal futuristic story, especially as it pertains to the combat aspect. Nahh, I don't think they stole it from me. :)
The series, from the brains behind "The X Files," revolves around a squadron of Marine space aviators who are thrust into the front lines of a war which resulted from a hostile attack on Earth colonies out in space.
For the most part, it came on at 7 p.m. Eastern time Sunday in the U.S. in the 1995-96 TV season on the Fox network. Apparently, the network never explained why they canceled it but word was at the time it cost them $1 million an episode, probably a lot at the time but certainly paled by the reported $1 million per episode per main actor the cast of "Friends" was getting when that series ended.
Over the past two weeks, Amanda and I watched the entire "Space" series, and finished it last night.
The final episode leaves one feeling deprived, left hanging and helpless. I'm perplexed as to why they chose to abandon the series completely.
The show "Firefly" was recently revived with a film called "Serenity." Amanda and I have started enjoying this show and are glad someone had the sense to bring it back to life.
"Space" is probably too far gone to be brought back to life, but it lives on in the DVD collection and in my opinion was one of the best shows ever on television.
Fortunately, some of the main actors in the show have enjoyed some moderate success since. (I found the information on these folks at imdb.com.)
Joel de la Fuente ("Wang") is a regular guest on "Law and Order: SVU" as a lab tech.
James Morrison ("Lt. Col. McQueen") has a regular guest spot on "24" as "Bill Buchanan."
Kristen Cloke was in the movie "Final Destination" as "Valerie Lewton."
Lanei Chapman is probably best known post-show for her performance as Whoopi Goldberg's estranged daughter in "Rat Race."
Morgan Weisser ("West"), Rodney Rowland ("Hawkes") and Tucker Smallwood ("Commodore Ross") have made various appearances in TV and film since the show.
It wouldn't hurt my feelings if one day somebody thought about picking up where the show left off, although that would be difficult with the original cast now nearly 10 years older.
For now, "Semper Fi."

"Helping white people dance"

One of the funniest songs I think I've heard in quite some time is "Alcohol" by Brad Paisley. Through exposure and the sheer fact that some "country" sounds oddly like palatable light to moderate rock these days, I've started getting into some of it.
In fact, "Alcohol" may be funniest song I've heard since "Celebrity," the song that put Paisley on the map a couple of years back.
Now, the song is in no way an endorsement for inebriation. "I got you in trouble in high school ... ."

The computer version of camping
Thursday morning, I got up to find a message on our desktop computer saying something like "boot disk failure; insert boot disk." I knew it was bad.
An IT guy attends our church. He already had our laptop, repairing it after I hit it with my fist. (real smart)
So we swapped him and we're hoping that he can salvage the important stuff on the hard drive, most particularly our pictures of Jadyn. We have a few on her blog.
In the future, we must find a way to back up the hard drive on a regular basis.
However, please don't take what I'm saying to in any way compare to the losses sustained by the folks who lost everything - some 1,000 or so who even lost their lives - on the Coast.
Meanwhile, the laptop is serving as our connection to the Internet.

Cookie dough
Yeah I need to lose weight for sure, but we bought several batches of cookie dough from a teenage friend of the family who was selling it and I wanted to at least eat some of the stuff we bought raw. Just this once. Hopefully.

Rough night
Any parents out there with suggestions on how to make the transition from a smaller bed or swing to a crib without anyone losing sleep, please pass it along. :)

Where has the indignation gone?

It's buried under time, and certainly under the numbers of war dead, but there was a moment when this nation clamored to set the scales right by the imbalance created by Sept. 11, 2001.
Decisions were made on faulty intelligence - hopefully flawed by miscalulation than by intentional deceit - to unseat Saddam.
Sure, the protracted nature of things in Iraq give us a sense that we shouldn't have done anything.
Where would be now if we hadn't? Sure it sounds jingoistic to some ears, but should we have taken the passive approach and wait 'til someone struck again before going forward?
To second-guess the current situation in Iraq, in my view, is to Monday-morning-quarterback decisions which are three years old, and undermine the sacrifices our men and women have made.

Blogger's Block

I'm off work sick today and I haven't been blogging much because I really haven't thought about how to use this blog as an outlet without venting about work or other stuff that just wouldn't be appropriate for this forum.
So that's why you haven't heard from me lately. We also do our baby updates on another Web site and I like to keep them there.
I also wanted to let some time go by after Rina passed away. While she wasn't someone we were in touch with every day (she resided in the western United States), she checked in with us frequently during Amanda's pregnancy and some afterward. Her death was just so shocking because of her age and we simply just didn't see her as someone who was sickly. I guess it's your time when it's your time.

Christmas list
She's one of four people who would normally get a Christmas letter from us this year who won't be there to get one.
We haven't contacted everyone about Jadyn's birth on our normal Christmas list because we simply haven't had time to generate all the letters needed.
We try to send the letters to people we probably won't see at Christmas, although at least one person who we do see at Christmas has told us to send one anyway. We'll see as we get it together this year.

Treating the ills
I visited a neat practice today to get my medications. A Nigerian-born physician and a nurse practitioner (from the Southeast) have a great little clinic here. They take some different approaches to things and I think it'll actually be fun to go to the doctor. At least it was today.

Yes I AM sick so I'm going to lay down next to the swing (see Jadyn's blog) and keep an ear for her. More later maybe.

Bobby ...

Is doing much better and we're greatful that he's up, around and OK.

In mourning

Our friend Rina passed away last night. That's about all I know right now. She was approximately 27 and her husband is left with three children to raise. Please pray for her family as they cope with this tremendous loss.

Prayer requests

Please pray for our friend Rina. Doctors are keeping her in a medically-induced coma while they determine how to treat a postpartum heart condition. She has three children, the youngest of which is 4 months old.
Also, our friend Bobby just suffered a heart attack and is on his way to a hospital about an hour away for treatment. Please pray for him and his family.

E Ring

"Easily one of the best shows on network television," raves some guy who doesn't get his name in a sound-byte promo.
The show gives us a glimpse of the politics of decision-making inside the Pentagon, probably slightly exaggerated to some degree but right on overall.
And, they don't use fake names of countries, like Booga-booga-stan.
They talk about real places, like Iran and Burundi.
Throw in Trevor Rabin's soundtrack and you've got a doozey.
Unfortunately, it's too smart for the "Dude, Where's My Car?" crowd and probably won't last a year.
But I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Not a fan

The Bush administration rightfully earned much of the criticism it received over its repsonse to Hurricane Katrina.
I also do think something smells funny about all the Haliburton contracts.
On the whole I do support the administration's approach to the War on Terror and I think people like Cindy Sheehan are a distraction to an effort which is right on the whole (I think the WMDs are in the hands of people friendly to Saddam, but that's just a hopeful wild guess.).
Anyway, I do have one significant bone to pick about the nomination of Harriet Miers - it looks a bit too much like cronyism.
If I were the president, I'd be inclined to nominate someone I felt personally comfortable with and who'd given me what found to be solid advice.
But the president isn't the one with final say.
She probably can handle the job but even though the lean toward bench experience among court nominees is apparently fairly recent, I think it's a good trend. I think the president is committed to Ms. Miers but will probably have to rethink his approach after she gets shot down.

Baby and job land

I haven't posted in a while. Sorry about that.
We've been busy dealing with some baby issues, some of them routine, others, well, we're just learning what works best for her in terms of feeding. On the scale of things nothing huge.
I'm also learning how best to do a new job, so it's been challenging but overall rewarding.
Gotta run check on the baby! More later.

What's wrong with Vanderbilt!?

This is the first what I'm sure will be several blogs on college football this year.
Vanderbilt came screaming out the gate, kicking butts and taking names!
They currently hold a share of the lead (albeit early) in the SEC East.
Somebody forgot to tell this current bunch that they're supposed to let everyone else in the SEC win, the Washington Generals, if you will, of the conference.
This is one of the fascinating things about college football - sometimes as much as you think you have it figured out, something surprising happens.
This is a pleasant surprise and I wish them well against everyone except unless they play Alabama for the conference title (what a thought!) in December.

I stand corrected

It looks as though the early reports of the demise of the D-Day Museum in New Orleans were greatly exaggerated.

I'm glad and I hope they can move forward from this. I still can't get my mind around why Ambrose is gone. I hope someone can step into his place and serve as well in providing other generations a sense of the men and women who kept this country secure before, during and after World War II.

OK ...

At the request of one the handful of regular readers of this blog, here's my side of the labor/delivery. (I'm saving an actual diary of the delivery for family use.)
When news came that Amanda's water broke, I still had about an hour's worth of work to finish. Not wanting to have it hanging over my head, I hurried to complete it. I got it out of the way, jumped in the van and got moving down the road.
We'd called ahead so they knew what they had coming.
Having dealt with the doctor before, I had a strong sense of confidence in his judgment about what was best. He'd alerted us that Amanda's birth canal might be too narrow for the baby to move through. So she pushed ahead with the labor and I kept track of what has happening (generally when the pitocin was increased, when we made decision about the epidural, the c-section, etc.). After a while, I needed some form of sleep, so I got a blanket and slept on the floor. Certainly it wasn't comfortable, but it wasn't anything like what Amanda was enduring.
When we started talking about the c-section, I was under the impression that Amanda the doctor left me with making the final decision, so I asked him point-blank, "What's the mortality rate?" He explained that it depends on the complication which led to the c-section. Somewhere along the line Amanda mentioned the multitude of our friends who've had c-sections who are still with us.
I eventually agreed that it was the best way we'd have a chance to see our daughter.
So, we got ready and I felt like it was over before it started. A couple of sharp, quick cries and we heard that our daughter had finally arrived. It seemed like we were watching them pull somebody else's baby out. Then they handed her to me.
I felt smitten in a wholesome sense, almost from the beginning. I want to do anything I can to help this child have the life she should have.
I'm not doing too well wit h the loss of sleep, but again, I'm not the one with an 8-12 inch incision, nor am I the one trying to do the actual feeding.
I'm coming to terms with the loss of a certain amount of control, but it's all for the good. We wanted her and we will do our best to provide for her.
That's it off the top of my head! Hope this fills in some gaps. More maybe later!

What she said :)

My wife's blog pretty much covers it all regarding the birth of our wonderful, long-awaited daughter Jadyn. I haven't forgotten that Amanda did all the work. I just went along for the ride and changed a few diapers.
I'm also not the one taking pain meds to get over the surgery.
For pics and all the details, please follow the link to my wife's blog!
Welcome to the world, Jadyn. We hope and pray the Lord's best for you and will do all we can to start you off on the right path.

(Potential) Clarity

If the reports are true that looters cleaned out the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, then I have a greater understanding why the late, fantastic World War II historian Stephen Ambrose passed away in what was arguably still his prime.
Not only did something he helped create get destroyed (again if this is true), he also made one of his homes in Bay St. Louis, Miss. More than likely, the house he lived in is also gone.
It's speculation at this point, but sometimes it helps to make sense of things, and that was one death I couldn't quite grasp at the time.
Quite possibly, the Lord spared him what was to come within the past few days.
It's at least a comforting thought.
More rants on Katrina as time and energy permit.
I'm out of both as of now.

Are the media slighting Mississippi?

In recent days, we've heard some complaints that national media - I'm sure it's largely about television outlets - have overlooked the conditions on this state's Gulf Coast in favor of the deterioration of New Orleans.
News decisions are weighed on unseen scales which can appear unfeeling.
Most often, the question is asked, "How many people will this impact for how long?" On a national level, from that perspective the question is easy to answer in terms of deploying assets - reporters, cameras, etc. New Orleans is a bigger story from that aspect alone in terms of flooding. Add the evacuation problems, the (at least limited) mayhem and the dead and we see why so much attention was paid.
But, some Mississippians argue - Why are our problems seemingly ignored?
At least much of New Orleans is still standing, they say. We have coastal towns which no longer exist - they were blown away as if by a by nuclear weapon and cities as much as three hours inland were impacted (Meridian, for example). Our northern cities are working feverishly to accomodate our neighbors from the south, opening shuttered schools and converting civic centers into long-term shelters.
Why isn't anyone paying attention to this, they ask?
As a native Alabamian, I've long suspected that national media look at the South with a jaundiced, superior eye. No one native to the South is capable of uttering a coherent sentence, the thinking seems to go.
However, in this case, I think the media are following sound news judgment on the whole.
Sure, Geraldo has, as is typical, lost his marbles a few times as word comes that some aspects of the New Orleans portion of the story have been overblown (the looting was supposedly limited to a very small area of town, for example).
But not all outlets are ignoring the plight of Mississippi and those of us in the state certainly understand how soundly the coast got licked. I know of a lady who was searching for nearly 20 friends from the coast last week. The loss of life and property there is still unfathomable.
If anyone reading this blog is unaware of the impact Katrina had on this state, please look at the following sites for a sampling (my efforts to make links don't seem to be working, so you may have to cut and paste):
The Clarion Ledger, Jackson
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
The Commercial Dispatch, Columbus
http://www.cdispatch.com/
The Sun Herald, Gulfport/Biloxi
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/contact_us/
WLOX-TV Biloxi
http://www.wlox.com/
WAPT-TV Jackson
http://www.thejacksonchannel.com/index.html
The Meridian Star, Meridian
http://www.meridianstar.com/
WCBI-TV Columbus
http://www.wcbi.com/hurricane2.html

The search for the perfect muffaleta

I went to college at the University of Alabama some (muffle, cough, shuffle papers) years ago and there was this shop called the International Deli that served a muffaleta (I'm not sure if I'm spelling it right) sandwich.
For those who don't know, muffaletas are New Orleans specialties. I can't remember what all they have on them, but I got hooked on them and went back several years later, only to find the place was different.
Since then, I've tried other places in the South which serve muffaletas and never found one which came close to the one at the Deli.
Last October, Amanda got to go on her first trip to New Orleans during our sixth anniversary celebration last October.
This was at least my third visit to the city, including an impromptu excursion one night from metro Mobile, Ala. more than 13 years ago.
We visited the French Quarter, the D-Day Museum, Cafe Du Monde and the Riverwalk shopping area. We enjoyed what we saw and pledged to go back. Now it may be a long time and the city may never be close to the same.
We stayed in an area off Gentilly which is probably under water and unfortunately, many of the people we rode the bus with into downtown are probably dead or were evacuated under the most recent extreme conditions.
A few blocks away, we went to a local restaurant which served what probably was an authentic muffaleta. I think I came away recalling that the International Deli version was pretty close to this.
Anyone with information on what constitutes a textbook muffaleta, please feel free to share as we try to remember the good things about New Orleans.

The Blame Game

America enjoys many sports, some of which people from within our own borders invented or perfected.
But our favorite is - who can we blame and how bad can we make them look? I'll take part a little bit but let me say this from the outset: There's plenty blame to go around. I don't think it can be placed at one person's feet.
No matter how badly people like Bill Maher want President George Bush to fall in disgrace, I don't think this situation has any one clear bad guy, though clearly there's plenty blame to go around.
By the way, maybe Bill Maher ought to take his scrawny butt down to the Big Easy and help out instead of flapping his gums about this being Bush's "Waterloo." I would go but I have a baby on the way, I'm still moving and I'm trying to find other ways to help.
Mayor Ray Nagin told people to go to the Superdome as a last resort, but for some reason, the resources weren't in place to help people when they arrived, so we had a literal stinking mess with death and the worst of humanity all around.
The feds appear not to have taken the initiative to overstep local and state authority, but that may be out of reluctance to set a precedent or simply not knowing where to start, not out of a lack of concern or turning a blind eye because the overwhelming majority of those left behind are black.
The situation in New Orleans for those who legitimately need help is horrifying.
Why did it take so long for help to start arriving? The answer isn't immediately clear, but I do wonder if our military resources are stretched way too thin.
Maybe there was a reluctance to send in the regular Army and use the same ammunition we're using in the War on Terror. It sounds like we should clear New Orleans on a house-to-house, block by block effort and apparently those resources are not available.
We should have had at least two brigades of regular Army ground-pounders in place by now alongside the National Guardsmen.
While everyone knew New Orleans was built in a bowl, why wasn't there a coherent plan to clear it out if something catastrophic happened? I have no idea, but maybe we need to learn a whole bunch of lessons out of this.
Ok, time to go make another move run. More later.

We're OK

We're in a part of Mississippi that didn't really get hammered, even though the wind howled and the rain blew - we've seen stuff like this before.
But we haven't seen - in this nation, in this generation - the destruction wrought on the Coast.
Sure, we've got a good deal of stress with the move still happening while we're waiting on the baby, and honestly, I haven't handled it well.
But all in all, we're OK. We're not missing anybody and we have a general idea where all our stuff is. It's not underwater and it's not scattered (not by natural forces anyway).
That's it for now. Maybe more later.

The move ...

is underway with the help of a bunch of wonderful people. We're loaded up and about to pull out with our first load to the new house. Thanks so much to all who've shown up!

I don't like multi-tasking

My wife says I need to blog more so here's a quick one in between what seems like 1 million things going on right now. (Apologies to Jackie for not posting on her blog. Please forgive me!)
I'm not sure what sadistic person came up with the notion of multi-tasking, but I noticed something recently when I tried to find books about how humans are supposed to do this - I don't recall finding a single one about how people multi-task - it was all about multi-tasking programs!
Well, it's off to the store with my wife so she doesn't lift anything heavy.
Prayers will be greatly appreciated in this massively stressful time of transition. Later!

It's a good day

Several people know that the due date of our expected child is Sept. 11.
Some have reacted that it's a terrible day to have a baby born on that date.
The likelihood the baby will come into this world then is remote.
But I beg to differ that it's a bad day for a good thing to happen.
We forget that all kinds of good things happened that day.
For a day, we forgot that we were black, white, Hispanic, etc.
For a day, we forgot that individuals weren't more important than people.
For a day, we forgot we were a divided nation.
For a day, we had dozens and dozens of heroes, many of whom aren't here with us today.
Too bad we've collectively forgotten what we forgot that day.
I've made a little disc - don't worry RIAA, it's not for sale - of songs and tracks (all paid for) relevant to the events of 9/11 and/or its aftermath - just to remind me that no matter how bad my day at work was, I've never had a day like that.
If the baby is born that day, I have a name in mind. Grandma doesn't like it but it will get strong consideration if she's born on 9/11. We'll just leave it at that for now, and that for all the bad that happened on that day nearly four years ago - it's a good day.

What I'm missing

This is a quick note before my wife (and baby) and I go out to eat.
Blogging seems to create a really interesting mish-mash electronic community of people we know in person and are learning about through posts.
My wife, YankeeAmanda, is having a lot of fun at this and I hope to join this crowd a bit more, though I try to keep relatively anonymous so I don't let my opinions get mixed up with my other work.
Most of the people involved in this hodge-podge would probably tell me just to get over myself and have fun.
Hopefully that's what I'll do!

Views on the War

In general, I'm in support of our nation's global pursuit of terrorists.
As a Christian, I'm conflicted about my visceral desire to see faceless cowards meet an untimely death at the hands of shadow warriors, exterminating the threat before it even surfaces - before they slice off the heads of innocent civilians, denotate improvised explosive devices with a cell phone from a mile away and snuff out life in random yet calculated efforts to disrupt Western civilization.
Scripture encourages us to pray for our enemies and see them come to know the Lord. Do these enemies pose a threat so great as to ride our anger to its ultimate conclusion? Or do we merely sit around and wait for the next high-profile target to fall victim to the deluded?
Somewhere in between lies the right answer.
In the mean time, I'll pray.
I'll also pray that somehow our military leaders use the knowledge gleaned from the tactics of the mujahadeen in Afghanistan against the Soviets to protect our men and women.
Somehow I've gotten the impression that our military leaders have said that they don't know how to combat IED attacks because we've never had experience with them.
Maybe they haven't said it, but it's how they're acting.
Maybe they didn't tell us everything they were doing, but the mujahadeen - whom we supported as I understand - used tactics very similar to those being employed by the "insurgents" in Iraq. Remember that bin Laden supposedly was among the mujahadeen at some point along the way.
Here's an example I saw on television:
The mujahadeen would get explosives, implant them on or near the road bed, then recreate tank track impressions over the explosive-laden area. Then, BOOM! (I saw this on a recent Military Channel show the name of which I never caught.)
So let's use the knowledge - whether we taught them how to do it or not - to save lives and get us back to the job at hand, securing Iraq enough to turn it over to the Iraqis.
I have a friend who's being deployed soon and I want to see her come home in one piece and alive. I don't think it's too much to ask that we do everything we can to keep our sons, daughters, sisters, brothers and friends alive as they go about their duties.

Baby Eve ... sort of

As we inch closer to the time my wife might deliver, we're trying to get more done.
I don't know if either of us really know what to expect. But I want this child to know without question that I love her and want the best for her.
We're buying furniture that will serve several purposes and work well for her, hopefully for a long time to come.
You can see nursery pictures on my wife's blog.

Dennis ... quit playing with the lights!

If I had thought of it, I might have yelled that last night as the power came on and off in fits and starts.
Right before my wife and I tried to get some sleep, I turned on a ceiling fan at the switch to get ready to turn off the light while the power was out. Just as I turned the dimmer switch to the right, the power came on again! Freaky!
Other than that, we fared well from the hurricane.
We're tired and will probably get some rest soon but our little corner of the globe made out OK.

Ultra Sound

Yesterday, we got another internal glimpse at the baby.
Ok, our daughter. :) It couldn't get any clearer than it did this time.
Yes, I held out some hope for a boy. But our overall desire for a healthy human being is coming true, thank you Lord.
Now, I'm taking a look inside myself to see why the gender might be an issue.
I guess I'm a little scared of being the father of a girl - all the stuff I don't know about being one and don't want her to become (haughty or manipulative, for example).
I'll guess I'll do what I know is right, ask the Lord and others for help and pray she becomes an incredible woman of mercy, compassion, strength and leadership. Yes, leadership, even if that leadership is quiet and selfless in its influence.
Guess that's it for now.
More later.

'I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies!'

The above line from "Gone with the Wind" aptly describes the depths of my knowledge about childbirth - there are no depths!
But that's starting to change.
This past Thursday, we attended the first of five sessions in a birthing class in the hospital where we expect our child will see its first light.
It's quite a mixed group of ages, education and life status but we all share one thing in common - somebody in our family is pregnant and it seems to help all the other barriers disappear.
I don't think I express enough how wonderfully blessed we are that the pregnancy is going well. There's certainly nothing to brag about - we haven't done anything to make it this way. I don't think I'm grateful enough that things are going well.
Time to check the re-paint on the baby's room as it continues to dry.
(Oh yeah - the existing paint didn't quite match the bedding.)
Bye for now!

Episode III

A heartwrenching end to a wonderful story filled with joy, sorrow, laughter, tears, hope, fear and almost every emotion in between.
Thanks to all involved in making this a memorable journey for many generations.

The family who couldn't dial

We've had our home phone number for nearly a year.
This morning, at 6:15, we received a telephone call from someone who misdialed our number.
Normally, it's no big deal. It's early, people make mistakes.
However, we routinely get calls from not just one person but at least two members of the same family attempting to dial some relative.
I told the lady this morning to please make a note of the correct number. She told me she had no control over it if she misdialed and hung up.
There are so many things which could help someone who had trouble dialing the phone it's not even funny - big button phones, pre-programming, having the number written down in front of you when you call ...
Lord, bless 'em anyway. :)

Baby update

We unloaded the larger pieces of baby furniture last Thursday and it looks really good!
It's another reminder of the fact our lives are going to change, but we're so thrilled at the opportunity.
However, some things in my life, such as diet and exercise and discipline to concentrate on necessary and important things, are going to have to change so we can enjoy our new addition for some number of years to come!

The name game

I just printed out "The Short List" - names my wife and I are reviewing as possible names for our child.
We're hoping not to give the child a weighty or otherwise unsuitable name. I also don't want to saddle the child with some wild expectation of what he or she will be like 20 or even 30 years from now.
I pray we will also include anything we're not considering now just in case we leave something off the list.
We want the right name for this child - bottom line.
We just got the baby furniture!
I don't want to try to put it together this morning. Feels like a good time for a nap after experiencing at 3 a.m. one of the worst thunderstorms I ever recall in terms of lightning. Flashes seemed to come at two to three a second.
More later!

It's a ...

Girl! At least that's the doc's best guess.
Way past my bedtime, so I need to hit the hay.
More to come as posting time permits!

Bridging the great divide

Amanda and I tried for nearly four and a half years to have a child before this most recent pregnancy. We encountered one miscarriage in 2001.
During this time, we've known our child(ren) would be born with one set of grandparents missing entirely from the equation of helping to raise and shape our child.
We're now facing the reality we'll have to tell our child(ren) about his or her (thier) paternal grandparents and hope such explanation does the job.
I've written notes about them for an anticipated day we'll be able to sit down and tell him or her about them.
Mom gave birth to me less a month after her 40th birthday. Dad was about six weeks from his 44th birthday when I came into the world. I wasn't quite 16 when Dad died, and I was within weeks of my 31st birthday when Mom passed away.
I've thought for years about making a DVD of people who knew Mom and Dad talking about them. As the years pass, so do the people who can tell our child(ren) about them.
We bought a video camera for the first time this past week, so maybe we can finally do it. Finding the time to get back to my hometown might be a trick, though stranger things have happened.
But we hope we can help our child(ren) have a sense of connectedness to their grandparents, even if it's through a television screen or on a piece of paper.
It's better than nothing.

Temporarily disconnected

Ahh... modern life.
It's strange what we get attached to and what we find important.
For about 15 hours beginning Tuesday afternoon, I felt exposed and otherwise out of sorts when I discovered I couldn't find my cell phone - a little bitty piece of plastic with some fancy electronic stuff and a battery in it.
You'd have thought somebody cut one of my fingers off when I realized it was missing.
Maybe I left it on the charger in the truck.
Nope.
Maybe I left it on my desk at work.
Nope.
Maybe I dropped it before I got in the truck.
Nope.
I began to think ... maybe I left it at ...
A phone call this morning to the place of business confirmed my suspicion, and the folks there kept it safe until I retrieved it.
The lesson?
Keep checking until you make sure you have everything you think you're supposed to have with you, no matter how insignificant you may think it is at the time.

Insomnia :P

Boy, I don't have insomnia bouts like this much. Probably something I ate or drank too late.
At any rate, this should be a good outlet for it.
Amanda and I got in about five hours ago from a trip to handle a few things in Alabama and celebrate three lives - one who passed away last Tuesday and two others who are still alive, although it's hard to say that our friend who is now with the Lord is dead - I believe she is very much alive and now whole.
All three made profound impacts on us in my hometown in a time when we required strong examples of courage, tenacity and faith. They also welcomed us as extended parts of their natural families, something Amanda and I very much need and appreciate.
Though we didn't have hours of direct time with Linda, her courage spoke volumes about her trust in Christ. Linda's funeral was fun. I don't mean it to sound disrespectful. I actually enjoyed saying farewell because it was a life well lived and she set the example for facing adversity - embrace and learn from it - don't let it kill you.
As I understand it, it was the aftermath of fighting three skirmishes with cancer over 16 years which led to her death, not the cancer itself. She left those of us who knew her with a sense that facing death can draw us and others closer to Christ.
At her funeral, we got to share the news about our expected child with people who prayed for the day to arrive, some of whom wondered if it ever would.
Linda's widower, Wayne, said he'd check it off Linda's prayer list for her.
The others - Carmen and Elaine - serve as spiritual mentors to us in many ways, mostly in their examples of following Christ and being real about it.
Some people who've served alongside these two held an appreciation dinner for them Friday night and we were glad to have gotten the chance to see the genuine looks of surprise on their faces.
Their children are among a core group of surrogate brothers and sisters to us - the Lord continues to use them to sustain and nurture us. We were surrounded by other friends the whole day who've been there with us through our own version of going through Hell and back.
We would have seen more people had there been time to arrange more visits.
Though exhausted from traveling and facing even more that evening, we left encouraged and emboldened, reminded we have an extended family of friends who love us and are behind us 100 percent.

Under the weather

I'm home early from work feeling kind of nauseated.
Sympathy pains? Eh, maybe.
I'm also under the weather in a different way - there are eight Mississippi counties under tornado warnings as I write this and the thunder's rolling outside right now.
Got a few ideas for future, longer posts. More as ideas develop into words and circumstances allow.

Air time

This is my first blog.
I'm not sure how long it'll be or what this will eventually become.
Something tells me this is going to be fun.
I started this blog yesterday - April Fool's Day.
I don't think I would've believed someone if they'd told me 25 years ago we'd be sitting at keyboards, sharing our lives and thoughts vicariously through the magic of a computer screen.
Well, hey.
This is a start.
The weather's nicer today than we'd expected, though it's really windy.
The in-laws are here and it's fun. I know I could have it worse in that territory.
Well, guess that's it for now.
More later.