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.