Abby's First Tent Camping!

Alternate Title: When Did We Get So Old?

(First off an apology - I did not get ANY tent pictures! When we set it up Abby was playing on the playground and I never actually saw her awake in the thing! Oy!)

Last weekend we went out to Mound Ridge for an All Church Retreat. Our first trip out there was last fall for the same event, but this is also where we went for summer camp last summer. Bottom line, Abby is VERY comfortable in this camp/retreat space, and that makes my soul happy. She knows the camp staff, and they know her. She knows the paths and how to get to the river or to the playground by herself. She knows all of the rules about fire, and how to beg for a s'more from the right people (i.e. not me) to get one without the work that most others have to do!

On Friday afternoon we took off early and picked Abby up on our way. She had been asking every day for two weeks if it was the day to go to camp, so you can only imagine her complete excitement about finally starting the journey! We got there and went to the main part of the property where lots of folks had begun to gather. Since it was still light out I let her know that we were going to go and set up our tent, then come back for dinner. (Putting the reward for participation out there in advance - go me!)

Abby stopped in her tracks - she did not want to camp in a tent anymore! After a bit of talking her down, we figured out that the tent is something new but that she really loves the cabin facilities there! We decided, and then convinced her, that we would try the tent for one night before deciding on the second night. She was happy because she expected a cabin-night, and we were happy because we wanted to get in the tent for at least one night so that she has that experience!

We drove up the hill so that we did not have to lug all of our stuff up, found a spot and pulled everything out. I scoped out the area for Black Walnuts, which are huge and lumpy for sleep. We got all of those cleared out and put up the easiest tent in the world. (As it turns out, I have a bruise to prove that we did not clear out ALL of them...)

(insert picture here, had I thought about it, which I did not.)

Fast forward to 8:30-ish and Abby and Anny head back for the tent. Abby went to sleep without a fight from what I have been told. She slept through the night, too! In the morning, though, she was quick to point out that she did her one night in the tent and we would be moving to the cabin on Saturday night. A deal is a deal, so we relented* and made that as our plan.

*Okay - so Anny and I realized at bed time that neither of us has been in a tent for camping since we went with a group of campers in July. July of 2002 that is! We both slept off and on all night. At 3:30 in the morning we had a conversation and had already decided that we both needed a cabin to get any real sleep on Saturday night. Abby thinks she won, we know we won - definition of Win-Win!

I was afraid that Abby's quick reversion to the cabin meant that she was not a fan of the tent, which would be a bummer. There are some incredible places that we would love to explore around Missouri and tent camping is a much easier way to do that. This was a test for us, in a safe place that Abby was comfortable, and it seemed to fail.

On Sunday when we were walking up to our car to leave Abby declared, loudly, that next time we come to camp we will sleep in a tent for TWO nights instead of one! Seems that all she needed was to know that the cabins are still there and available, but she really DID have fun.

That's my girl.

Abby Praying

Abby has taken to leading us in prayer at home - communal style! Wanted to share one of the prayers - this is a SHORT one!

Abby's Prayer from Anny and Rob on Vimeo.

Abby Tells the "The Story of Baby Jesus"

It is a bit long, but I wanted to post it to share.  As I was trying to convince Abby it was time to go to bed last night, she decided she needed to tell me the Story of Baby Jesus.  She was so meticulous, and told me three times.  Decided to grab the camera to record for posterity. :o)

The sound quality is not great, might have to look at a Flip Video camera sometime in the near future, but not right now. (The sound is cruddy because the camera is trying to auto focus over and over and over again.)


"Baby Jesus" from Anny and Rob on Vimeo.

Text from the video:
"The Story About Baby Jesus"
by Abigail "Abby" Monroe (pen name pending)

(prep time included three videos of just sorting the pieces, then looking for Joseph for another minute and a half!)

Scene 1 - playing with magnetic toys and metal fridge. Be sure to have annoying noise throughtout video because of camera trying to auto-focus every half second, blame camera guy...

Where is Joseph? Where was he? He isn't here? Where is he?
Once upon a time, Mary and Joseph.
They had a Baby Jesus.
Then one time, Joseph, and BABY JESUS is BORN!
Then this Angel goes up to the star...
And then the Kings came with the presents
And the presents were for Mary and Joseph. {Suggestion from Editor, perhaps parents should work on story, gifts are for Baby, not Parents}
(long pause for sorting)
The Kings brought presents, put them right there.
They brought the presents for Jesus's Birthday
One time he was born and then His birthday came up and, then somebody came, and then the whole kingdom!
And then the whole WORLD!
(dramatic pause. again)
Just the whole kingdom, and all of the people and animals came to see him.
And they were all a Factory from the rest. {Suggestion from Editor, Factory? Really?)
A whole factory.
It's Baby Jesus!
And then, that's all!

Overwhelmed

Not blogging recently.  Everything is okay, just hard to make time to "journal" all that is going on.

I did want to take a moment to say how overwhelmed Anny and I are by the outpouring of love and support that we are getting from our friends and co-workers.

Anny's teacher-friends threw her a surprise party, complete with Rob-who-should-have-been-at-work!  When I walked in I was not greeted warmly - Anny had a large, sharp knife in her hand and she *might* have pointed it in my direction in retaliation for not spilling the beans on her.  A few tears.  Lots of hugs.  Lots of smiles.

My office had a lunch yesterday at Tower Oaks Lodge.  I think I'm STILL full from lunch yesterday, and it's almost time to eat breakfast.  I was given several gifts, including a book called "What Would Rob Do?" and a Desk Vacuum Zamboni.  I am looking forward to the book, and looking forward to the fun of the new office toy! 

On Sunday we will be overwhelmed again at church, I just know it.  There is a lot of emotion there right now as our pastor is ill, and that will make it just a little bit harder.  We have only been at LPC for five years, but it genuinely feels like a lifetime.  The people at our church are like family, and that is even more true for Abby than for us.

And to be completely honest, I'm overwhelmed at the idea of leaving my family and the house that I grew up in.  Special shout out of "thanks" to Miranda Lambert for releasing this song this spring:



I grew up in this house.  I lived in this house during crazy times and during incredibly sad times.  I lived in this house when I met Anny, and have lived here for other incredibly awesome times. 

I have always been close with my family - and that was even more emphasized when my brother and I moved in with my grandparents, father and aunt in 1991.  We now see my three aunts and my brother, sister-in-law and new niece weekly at Family Dinner.  It's been really fun, and I will miss having those connections the most. 

And that all of that is without acknowledging all of the valuable friendships that will change as we move from one side of the Mississippi River to the other.  Even though we know we will be back here two, three or more times a year, but that does mean we can't pop over with burgers and hot dogs on a random Sunday evening.  Or can't email at noon one day to set up an impromptu Ikea dinner.  (Side note - I am going to miss Ikea!)

Above all I am excited, but it would be unfair to not acknowledge that I am overwhelmed in both good and bad ways.  I am afraid that I'm only talking about the positives and excitement that I have, and that is tending toward overlooking the things that I will miss. 

Grace Fight!

This evening on the way home from the grocery store Abby was singing in the backseat. She was mostly practicing her songs for tomorrows Father's Day program at daycare.  Too cute.

But then she pulled out the grace that she sings when she is in Sunday School.  It's fast, it's easy and it fun:

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - Thank You God for feeding me!

I told her that when we move to Saint Louis next month to live with her cousins she will be learning a new grace that their family sings before dinner. They sing Johnny Appleseed, so I sang that for her.

I'm not typing out lyrics, but here is a video example of other people doing it:



We then proceeded to have a Grace Battle - she would sing hers and then demand that I sang mine!  "Sing The Things I Need Song, Daddy!" 

This went on for about five minutes - and was awesomely fun.  I can't wait to teach her some of the Summer Camp graces that are so engrained into my brain from years at Camp Glenkirk!

Merry Christmas to All...

We're having an awesome time in St Louis, MO, with family.  Abby is having great times with her cousins Ellie and Ada.  We are getting to know the area and friends here.  Times are good for us.

I wanted to share with you the Prayer of Confession from the early worship service at First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood. 

God of good news for all, we are eager to draw near the manger but unsure of what we might see.
A child of love and peace is born into our world, a world of economic uncertainty and international conflict.
We have neighter lived in love nor cultivated peace.  Forgive us.
Birth forth tonight, in the midst of our community, love and peace for all people. 
In Jesus' name we pray.  Amen.

It's interesting to realize that the world we live in has changed so much over the last 2,000 years, yet we are still in a world of economic uncertainty and international conflict.  I would like to say that I have lived in love and cultivated peace, but I'm just not sure.  I am glad to be forgiven.

I pray peace for all of you as you celebrate whatever you celebrate. 

Happy Chanukah.
Merry Christmas.
Blessed Kwanza.

Annnnnd POP!

On Sunday we went to church, as is the norm, and stayed for the picnic. The picnic was nice. We got to chat it up with a couple that has just added a second child to their clan, and she's quite a cutie. We like them, but never seem to get together outside of church. Must work on that, but that's another post for another day. Today's post is about what happened on our way out.

Pop.

Okay, more like POP!

As I was gathering our scraps to put in the trash can (one napkin and a bunch of fruit that our lovely daughter threw on the dirty ground) I stood up. I thought it was natural - the trash can is over there, I am here, I need to walk over there, I should stand up. Unfortunately, Abby had the same idea, that she should get up quickly.

Since I was planning to walk, and indeed making movements toward that same direction that Abby was lunging, I changed direction quickly and rolled my ankle over a tree root. I heard the aforementioned POP! and got a little woozy. (Anny later said that I lost all of the color in my face.) I laid on the ground a bit to get the sky to stop wobbling so much while at the same time talking with Eric (the dad of the family spoken of earlier) and generally trying to act like nothing happened.

While Anny went inside to get ice, I determined that I was fine. On the way home I was spoken to like a child, which is honestly the best thing in such a situation. I eliminated the ER from contention because it was not swollen, but that was not really making Anny happy. Our final verdict (mine) was to go home and ice my ankle.

And so I did. For five hours.

Having been to emergency rooms in various states around the country, I have learned a few things.
If you want great care, go to a remote place! (Casper, WY)
If you want fast care, don't go on a weekend - unless you're bleeding.
Some hospital systems do things right, some don't. (right is in Metro Pittsburgh, PA)
It's never going to be pleasant, so just grin and bear it.

Needless to say, we waited until Monday.

We headed a bit out of our way early Monday morning, but were in and out of the ER in about an hour and a half. (GO Howard General!) The staff was very friendly, and mostly helpful, or so I thought. I got to explain over and over, though, that I could not take Advil because of my kidneys, but it appears that "nephritis" gets buried in all of the paperwork of a chart. (BAD thing!)

The diagnosis was a "good sprain" of my left ankle. I was given crutches and a good ankle brace, which it turns out the nurse put on backwards and just wrong. Lucky for me, my brother just hurt his ankle last month and was able to get me figured out on Monday evening. I went to work today but made sure my foot was propped up. I was sure to leave a little early to get ice on it and try to beat the traffic a bit.

The hardest thing is that I'm having to play too hesitantly with Abby. Anny has been in charge of baths, which I one of my jobs, and it kills me. I know that in a few more days it will be back to fine and I'll be back to my normal roughhousing with the kid, but she does not get it. Oh well.

It's Me - Alphabetically

I am following up to a post from July of 2006, which I wanted to do annually. Since I blew through many more months than 12, I'm going to post it now. (Yes, something was taking up my time in July of 2007!)

So, the following are things about me, some things you know, some you don't. Here's my list:


A - Anny - my wonderful wife. We celebrated our sixth anniversary in March, and will celebrate her first Mother's Day next month.
B - Blogging - I have two that I keep up, but am working on a more global third. I'll post more about it when it's ready.
C - Child - I had to be sure that Abby made it in the top five, but Anny is in at A. Abby is amazing and I feel like she has completed our little family.
D - Dining - Anny and I have learned the value of eating in shifts, especially when dining out. We're also learning that breakfast out is just as nice as dinner out, and it's usually less crowded!
E - Ecletic - My musical choices have grown a lot since I did this exercise last. I could spend all day goofing off with iMixes. Right now I'm pulling together a great mix for Abby's first birthday. Suggestions?
F - Family - There are lots more in the family than a few years back. In-Laws. Neices. Friends close enough to call family.
G - Garden - For several years now I have grown pumpkins. This year we are going to try for some eating-vegetables! Since my list is limited in what I can eat, it was fairly easy to pick out what to try.
H - Hockey - I'm looking to get back into playing, possibly as soon as this summer. I'm hoping to get into shape by forcing myself to!
I - Immunosuppresants - I take these twice a day to battle my FSGS. Yes, there are other meds, too, but these are the long-term ones that are supposed to be working.
J - Jason - My brother and I are much closer since we've moved up to Maryland. It's actually pretty cool to hang out with my brother. Definitely brings my cool quotient up a notch.
K - Kidneys - for obvious reasons.
L - LPC - The church that we go to. I'm on the Session and have become the webmaster too.
M - Myspace - Finally canceled my account. It was useless. Stupid popular tool that is no good for me.
N - Now - I'm trying harder and harder to live for right now. Yeah it's fun to think back to when Abby did this or that, but she makes every day cool.
O - Orange - Though I'm not supposed to have the fruit, Orange is my favorite color.
P - Parenting Group - Anny and I worked hard this year and it was a hit. We have gotten to know folks a lot better. I've been toying around with designing curriculum to share with others.
Q - Quest - I wish that Quest Diagnostics were more efficient. This is my health we're talking about!
R - Redhead - I'm a natural. Are you?
S - Signing - I'm having a lot of fun learning with Abby, and get really excited when she signs back.
T - TypingTest - I got 74 words per minute with 98% accuracy at typingtest.com!
U - Unwithdrawing - Look it up - it just means liberal. That's me!
V - Verizon - Wireless. Home Phone. Internet. Wow. We have been debating how much we actually need a home phone line, though.
W - Wii - Love it! I wish I played it more often, but don't have as much time as you might think.
X - XXX-XX-XXXX - My social security number. At least as far as you're concerned!
Y - Yawning - I've been less tired since the time change, but I sure could go for one good night of sleep right now!
Z - Zamboni - Z is for Zamboni is a children's book on the alphabet that I love to read to Abby.


If you want to participate, please just copy and paste and change as is appropriate. I'm not a huge "tagger" online.


(Yes, again I'm weak on the "X" line. Would love to know what you would put for X as it relates to your life!)

'Tis the Season (UPDATED)

So, there is the passion that I have that I don't blog about often. It's one of those things that people either accept because they are with you, or are confused about because they do not.

There are things that I blog about that people get, regardless of their life. My kid. My disease. My family. If you don't have kids, you still understand that kids change everything. Same with disease. You all have families. You understand family issues.

I'm.....

I'm.....

I'm a hockey fan.

People either get it because they, too, are hockey fans, or they say "huh? they still play hockey?" It's not like football, where you can like it even if you don't. Hockey is not as easy to follow because it's much faster.

I played for several years back in high school. I have picked up playing again, though at a much MUCH less competitive level than ten years ago. (more on that in another post later)

But more than playing the sport, I just LOVE the sport. I have dragged my wife to a bar to watch Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Finals. I dragged my daughter along to her first game at the whopping age of five months. She's not yet a year old and has been to two.

I was concerned that the birth of my child might cause me to miss a game last year. Seriously. We were told the estimated due date of June 18 and on the way home I was genuinely worried that I would have to choose between the birth of my child or catching some hockey. Even worse - at a bar with my very pregnant wife and she would go into labor during the second period. I would miss then end..... It didn't happen so I was relieved.

My favorite team is the Capitals. They were terrible at Thanksgiving, but have changed things up and are in the playoffs. It's exciting to watch, even on TV.

We've had people over each of the last two weekends to watch Caps games. They play again tonight. Game 7 out of 7. Win and they move on, lose and they play golf all summer long. I'm not inviting people over, but will be up for the whole thing. Here's hoping there is no OT.

Only three hours until game time. Woo Hoo! Let's Go CAPS!

Update: April 23
The Caps lost last night. Anny say's she's not happy about it, but I think she is. She can have her evenings back. Abby was still awake for the first Caps goal, and was clapping. I think I might be creating a monster....

Giving to Charities: How do You Decide?

Okay, you've got an extra $100 earmarked for giving away. Can't buy anything tangible, it has to go to a charity of some sort. How do you decide where that money goes? It's something that we talk about from time to time.


The first part of ours goes to our church. We support the ministry that happens inside the building, and the ministry that happens outside of the walls. Our combined funds there help to fund everything from electricity for the building, to housing two families that need a place to live while they get their lives in order.


Exactly $0 goes to the county police, mostly as penance for arguing with me (!!) about the police department coverage. I didn't really need to write that, but it bothered me so much that I thought I should.


More than a year ago I implored you to help with Multiple Sclerosis. That is a disease that my mother deals with. We get a letter asking for support her in her yearly walk each spring, and we do what we can. We have given money, but it never feels like we're making a difference.


This year a friend is participating in The Breast Cancer Three Day walk. She has acknowledged that she is crazy for trying to pull off sixty miles in three days, but she's doing it because she sees women every day in her office dealing with cancer of all kinds. (Men too) My grandmother and several friends have been affected by breast cancer. Some have survived, and some have not. We will support Charlene in her walk, too.


Well, I just found out that there is a walk in May to raise money for studying kidney disease, particularly FSGS. Wait, I have FSGS! It looks like I can get a shirt if I bring them $100. That's a lot of money for a shirt. We've talked about it, but have not decided if we're going to participate. Is it weird to participate in an event aimed at helping you? Should I be allowed to have a shirt for free for being a patient? (kidding)


But there are still other great causes, some health related but lots that are not. How do you decide to split your money? Do you give to only one place? In these days of high gas prices and soaring grocery prices - have you stopped giving or cut back?

(Sorry, this post is generally all-over-the-place. It was in my head differently.)

What IS God Like?

In our Parenting group we have been working through a DVD based curriculum and finished up this past weekend. One of the activities that we were supposed to do was "God is Like ......" We ended up in a laugh fest over trying to figure these things out.

I now ask you, oh Internet, how is God like: (responses from Sunday are in italics)

A) An Ipod? (holds volumes of music?)
B) Peanut Butter? (sticky, nutritious?)
C) Windex? (cleans your soul? poisonous if swallowed?)

There were a bunch of other things to compare God to, but these were the ones that stuck with me. So, what do you think for them?

New (and Contradictory) Sins

(For the record, I am not Catholic and do not subscribe to much of the theology and hierarchy. I am just observant.)

The Vatican released a list of new sins for the 21st Century. These do not take the place of the old standards, but add onto it. The new ones are:

• Environmental pollution
• Genetic manipulation
• Accumulating excessive wealth
• Inflicting poverty
• Drug trafficking and consumption
• Morally debatable experiments
• Violation of fundamental rights of human nature

Okay, some of these are just common sense as bad. Numbers 3, 4, 5 and 7 are blatantly so. I don't think that numbers 1 and 2 are good, but sins? Sometimes humans need to be the experiment. Trust me, I would jump at the chance to be a test subject if there was a chance that my kidney problems would go away!

Then there is number 6 - Becoming Obscenely Wealthy. Isn't that what the Catholic Church is known for? They have more money than....Sorry I can't type it!

To top that, there is a report that the Papal Visit to DC in April is going to cost upwards of $3 Million. How is that for obscene wealth!

Inclusive Christian Scale Results

Thanks to reading a friends Lenten Blog for her church I participated in an online study today that measures how religious Christians are in six different dimensions, described as follows:

The authors of the Inclusive Christian Scale have found over the course of previous research studies that religiosity could be thought of in terms of the following six dimensions: evangelical, Christian conservative, activist, golden rule, community involvment, and mystic.
The Evangelical dimension refers to a particular focus on prayer, evangelism or outreach, and faith as a source of strength.
The Christian Conservative dimension reflects a particular focus on avoiding acts seen as sinful, on a literal interpretation of the Bible, and on a transforming spiritual experience.
The Activist dimension refers to a focus on changing unjust structures in the world as a part of one’s practice of faith.
The Golden Rule dimension refers to a particular focus on attempting to live so that one treats others as one would wish to be treated. This dimension highlights a concern about many of the same issues found on the Activist dimension, but the focus is more on individuals and less on social structures.
The Community Involvment dimension underlines a particular focus on active participation in the church as a fellowship of faith.
The Mystic dimension reflects a particular focus on an intimate, pervasive relationship/connection to God.

My Scores:

EVANGELICAL: 83 %
CHRISTIAN CONSERVATIVE: 33 %
ACTIVIST: 80 %
GOLDEN RULE: 89 %
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: 88 %
MYSTIC: 75 %

Not at all surprised to see Christian Conservative lags so far behind the rest. I think that my Mystic dimension would have been higher five years ago.

Wanna take it? Do it, and let me know what you come back with!

A Short but Well Lived Life

Yesterday I had an experience that I hope to never be a part of again. On Sunday our pastor told us about a friend of her 10 year old son. He went into to hospital on Friday for a seemingly minor issue, was diagnosed with lukemia on Saturday, had a stroke and was dead on Sunday morning. There was no way to have seen it in advance, so there were not opportunities for family or friends to say goodbye.

She proceeded to tell us that the family did not have a church or pastor. She knew that she could volunteer our space, which she did, and we would welcome this grieving family with open arms, which we did. I made sure that Amy knew thta I could be at church for as much time as needed. When the family told her that they wanted to show a movie (slideshow) that was made about his life, Amy dropped me an email. Luckily my office is flexible enough that I can volunteer for things like this when they are important.

Our church is not big. On Sunday's we have seating set up for ~250. (We don't have pews, we have movable chairs. Very good idea when you only have one gathering place in your building.) The staff moved more chairs into the sanctuary to bump up seating to 325 on the floor. Chairs were added to the choir loft, too. As we began to see the number of people coming to the service, we began to add seating to our narthex, which we counted at 75 sitting. People were literally standing in the aisles.

This boy was only ten years old, but had lived his entire life in one place. His community knew him. His private school knew him and a ton of teachers came out. His fathers office has representatives, too. When all was said and done, we counted at least 450 people in attendance for the service.

He was ten. His family had only lived in Maryland for 10 years, but their friends, co-workers and community were all present. It was an incredible experience. But I don't want to do it again.

I could not watch the slideshow. Too many pictures are identical to ones that I have just taken of Abby. First food. Sitting for the first time. There weren't even graduation pictures. He didn't make it that far.

I hugged Abby a little tighter yesterday. I will hug her even tighter today.

I pray that none of us - no parent ever - has to have this experience.

Is "Green" Just a Fad?

I had an argument last week with a co-worker about the current push for Going Green. His opinion is that it's just a fad, and we won't care about it in two years. I think he's way WAY off, and that it's a movement that has been working for a while and is now getting to the front of people's thinking.

I know that there are some people that are making small changes now, and others that are changing the world. We can't afford hybrid cars right now, but we can switch to cloth diapers. Next car purchase, though, will probably go hybrid. (We're waiting on word about the rumored hybrid minivan!)

In his defense, we were talking about Green as it relates to churches. I don't think that any church has ever sought to work against the environment, but when all of your buildings are older than most of your members, it is often true that there is waste. A lot of churches, though, are replacing old, busted things with new, green things.

I don't believe that any church that is built from this point forward will have the same low-on-environment standards, either. As our church investigaed adding onto our building last year, there was clear committment to do as much as possible to reduce our environmental footprint. I was actually amazed that folks were thinking about these things, and my eyes were opened wide to the opportunities for churches to take real steps to be leaders in this movement.

What is your church (or work, or organization) doing to make itself greener?

Or, better yet, am I way off to think that this is more than a fad that will pass in a couple of years?

Three Weeks is Too Long

Not going to apologize for no real posts in what seems like forever. Kind of a lot has been happening, so I'm just going to do bullet points for now:

Abby has a full on tooth, and a second on the cusp!

Christmas was great. We got to spend time with family and friends alike. Some folks fit into both categories, which is even better!

We installed a new server at my office. It made it nice and quiet, as everyone else was basically out of the office. I got a good deal done, but not as much as I would like to have. I learned some stuff about servers, though!

New Years Eve we hung out with other parents of toddlers/babies for some fun times. We left at 8:30, but that was fine with us. Abby woke up in time to celebrate the time change in the mid-west.

On the other hand, she's slept through the night for a few nights.

Aunt Nadia (Abby's aunt, not mine) got to babysit while Anny and I headed different directions for meetings last week. Major downer is that Abby was tired and just mean about it. When she cries - she cries loudly!

I'm working on a presentation for church on Sunday. We're celebrating what happened last year as we continue to build excitement for what is coming. This is a completely new format (worship at tables so that we can transition into a pot luck lunch!)

What's new in your world?

How are YOU?

"How are you? "


What do you tell people when they ask "How are You?" I don't mean friends that you can be honest with, I mean folks you know through work, church, or other group. People that you like, but not people you would call if you needed something.


I only ask because I have fallen into a trap. I now have a standard reply, but I'm not sure that I like it.


Other: Hey Rob! How are you?
Rob: Can't complain. Doesn't do any good when I do.

I have two reasons that I don't necessarily like this:

1) Things are typically going really well for me! I have rough days, but overall things are on the up and up.
2) It's just not catchy enough for me!

A pastor I know through work always (always) responds with "Not bad for an old broad!" The first time I heard that I was confused. Can I agree, that she's an old broad? No. I just kind of laughed, which I think was her goal.

A man at church who has lived through some rough health issues recently also has a standard response. "Any day I can see the top of the grass and not the bottom is a good day for me!" The first time I heard this one I did not get it. Did he mean that he needed to cut his grass? Nope, he means if he's on top of the soil and not in it, things are good enough for him.

I want a catchy response. Do you use one? Do you want to come up with one for me?

So Much to Blog About...

So little Blogging time!? If only Abby would feed herself, then I could use both hands on the laptop in the morning. :o) Kidding, of course. I like to feed her, it's the only time I feel like I can tell people to butt out, it's our time. (Anny feels the same way, so we often bicker over who gets to feed her instead of who has to feed her.)

Some observations:


**I love that the radio now has 24 hour holiday music. I'm sorry to those that disagree, but almost every time I turn on the radio I'm thinking "Do They Know it's Christmas time at alllllllllll?"

**My kid is adorable. Freaking adorable. I won't deny it. Last night I was singing System of a Down to her, and she was giggly and smiley. Love it!


**No matter what project I take on at home, it will take longer than it should. I pulled out our kitchen faucet to replace it with a new one on Saturday night. Pretty easy project. Unless I'm the one that bought the faucet. There is an O ring that arrived smashed inside the faucet. i.e. I never could have had any control over it, but it makes the faucet leak. Badly. Oh yeah, the O ring is not available at Home Depot.



**THIS is just gross.

**I love my wife, and we're a good team. She's been sick and I've been sore, both during the last two weeks. We take care of each other. I must acknowledge, though, the she does a lot more taking care of me than I do of her. She's not even that mad that the faucet is taking longer than it should.

**I really like our church. We have been to two pot-luck-types of dinners in the last couple of weeks and have been reminded of how much of a family we have there. Our pastor is incredible and the other parents with young kids (and there are a LOT) are awesome.

**THIS is just adorable.

Hopefully I will get around to a real post this week. Don't hold me to it, though!

Baptism Weekend!

This post has been posted on both blogs, you're not losing your mind!

Everything went swimmingly! Anny and I snipped at each other twice, but aside from that the weekend could not have gone better, and for that we are thankful.

I picked up Anny's brother and family mid-morning from the airport and headed directly to destination number one: Wendy's! There are none left around their house, so whenever they go places that have Wendy's, a stop must be made. (I learned of this in July on our drive to Iowa as well.)

The Parent-In-Laws started their trip on a sour note, but made the most of a couple of days off of school. When they got to the airport they found out that their flight to Denver had been canceled completely. The next flight had only 3 available seats, so there was little to no chance they would fly out Friday. Their logical next step? Get gas and drive to Denver! It's only a four-and-a-half hour drive. They got in a bit later, but would not have missed this weekend for anything.

On Saturday we had a pre-baptism party to celebrate because a lot of folks were heading home pretty quickly either by car or airplane. We had a ton of family and friends over, and Abby was awake for part of it. She slept hard this weekend, so we think we might be growth-spurting again. We received some very thoughtful gifts and are once again finding ourselves overwhelmed by the generosity of others.

The baptism on Sunday was very nice. Abby was a little fussy as our pastor set things up (prayer, congregational questions) but once we handed her over, she was very calm and content. We had practiced putting water on Abby's head so that she was not caught completely off guard and freaked out. It would have been okay if she did, but it was better that she didn't.

When we were not with large groups of people, we spent a lot of quality time with Anny's family with a very relaxed theme. We intentionally did not schedule anything for our time since we had a four year old and two infants to work with. We tried a new restaurant on Sunday since our go-to restaurant closed in June. High marks from all of us!

Monday morning I took the Parent-In-Laws to the airport for their flight/drive home. Just us "kids" hung out until lunch time and we made a quick trip to Ikea! They don't have one in their city and had never been. I know they are looking at remodeling at least a bathroom and there are a ton of deals to be had.

It was a wonderful weekend and we both realize how blessed we are to have that many people that care about us.

Preparations A-G, No H

So I have to assume that most folks prepare for their childs baptism in some way. Arrange for a cake and some platters; do a thorough cleaning of the house; invite friends and family to be a part of the celebration of brining a child to the church (officially).

We paint. Actually, I'm beginning to think that we prepare for any milestone by painting! Before we were "ready" to bring a baby home, (if that's really possible) we needed to paint the nursery.
The weekend of the batism, though, we are going to have great fun with lots of people staying with us, and even more people coming through for meals or just hanging out. This has brought about another version of THE LIST.

I am a list maker and, more importantly, a list follower. When we were getting final things in order for Abby's birth, we made a large post it note for each room in the house, and systematically moved them to the "finished" side of the wall when they were done. Granted, a few of those have not been done yet, but that's another post, on a different day.

My MIL and FIL do not require much preparation. They have "their room" which actually has furniture that came from their house about 18 months ago. It still smells more like their house than it does our house, to be honest. (which is fine, just an observation)

My BIL and SIL, on the other hand, have not been here before. They had the first children, and it has made the most sense to make trips west rather than have everyone fly east. They are going to come for the baptism, and we're elated! But it means that we have to get some things in order.

Sleeping: We have three adult beds in our house, plus two for Abby. We're set for the adults, and are going to borrow an air mattress for Ellie the toddler. Ada the (will be) ten month old will need the pack-and-play.

That led to the decision to move Abby to her room. She turned three months old this week, and with the combination of her age and the need to let someone else sleep in the pack-and-play, we moved her into her own room Saturday night. She did amazingly! Slept for seven hours and when she woke, she happily stared at the mobile above her. If she made peeps through the night, they didn't disturb us because it was through a monitor, not 14 inches from my head.

She slept there again last night and did really well again. She woke up right at 5:15, which is when I've been aiming at. That gives us enough time to eat and get dressed before my ladies have to leave for schools.

Dining: Our dining room had some very old, very not-our-style blue wallpaper with birds and a colonial theme. Our dining room is also sloped. The front half of our house is. The combination of the wallpaper and the slope has been known to make people a little woozy while dining. Our little kitchen table will not fit six adults, a toddler and two infants, though. This means that we need to make the dining room into a dining area again.

I have already taken down the wallpaper, but now have to patch some holes and get some paint up. That should happen over the next ten days or so.

The lists usually work, hopefully THE LIST does again. I'll probably update here as I go along. We're glad to have a reason to get some of our house projects done!