We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Here are Daniel and Maggie in their Christmas outfits. Every year the grandparents buy them a wonderful Christmas outfit to wear. These are some mighty fine looking children. Behind them is our sweet little Christmas tree. We have yet to convert over to a pre-lit artifical tree. I grew up with an artificial tree, but after I married Davis I got to experience Christmas with a real tree. Not sure what we will have next year since we will have a crawling child in the house again, but I am sure our home will be filled with joy. As I hope yours is this Christmas. Merry Christmas!

Best of the Home Movies

In my last post, I mentioned watching some home movies this past weekend. The best of these, by far, is the video that my super-talented brother, Bennett, made for Christmas of 2003, when Daniel was about 1 and a half years old. Daniel's big present that year was a First Act acoustic guitar, so Bennett set the video to "The Guitar" by They Might Be Giants. Enjoy!

         

Daniel Christmas 2003

Ghost of Christmas Past

This weekend we pulled out some home movies from the past few years and watched the excitement unfolding on a few different Christmas days for Daniel and Maggie in their slightly younger years. I tend to be hesitant to watch home movies, largely because it can make me feel nostalgic for the days when we were all a little younger. My main problem with nostalgia is that I can become depressed, feeling like my best days are behind me. This is why I never look at any old yearbooks, and why I tend to shy away from investing in many rediscovered old friendships on Facebook. I don't want to reminisce about the good ol' days because, in my mind, that implies that the new days won't be as good.

Having said that, I actually thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas home movies that we watched this weekend. Seeing the joy and wonder on the faces of the kids as they took in all that was happening on Christmas morning was an absolute joy. I think part of the reason I was able to enjoy it this time was because I know it gets better from here. Daniel and Maggie are old enough now to get excited about Christmas well before it arrives, so their enthusiasm and appreciation continues to reach new levels. And, if I long for the cute sweetness of a new baby just discovering Christmas, we've got one due to arrive in late January that will get to experience all of this next year for the first time. And so, for the first time, these shadows of things that have been brought me only happiness, relishing memories of good times past, and eagerly anticipating those to come.

Favorite Christmas Movies

Today, in keeping with my "Christmas Favorites" series that I started yesterday, I was going to discuss my favorite Christmas movies. But then, as I was checking the blogs today, I noticed that our friend, Angela, beat me to it. So, I just commented on her post instead. You should, too!

Favorite Christmas Books

Every year when we bring the Christmas decorations down from the attic, there is a box of Christmas books that comes down as well. My favorite, without a doubt, is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I always read it first to make sure I've got enough time to finish before Christmas. It may be a little unadventurous of me, I suppose, to pick a universally acknowledged classic as my favorite, but I can't help that. It's a great story, and I love recognizing the parts that don't make it into the movies. Of these, my favorite is the line at the end that "he had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards;" that one always gives me a chuckle. There are some other great Christmas books that I enjoy as well. Next on the "gotta-read-it" list is a relatively recent addition by Dave Barry entitled The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog. This is a short but excellent story that may really have happened to Dave as a boy. I base this on the fact that it's extremely similar to a humor article he wrote back in the '80s about his own boyhood. The only other book that I absolutely try to get in is The Autobiography of Santa Claus as told to Jeff Guinn, mostly because of the clever way in which it's written, and all of the fascinating little-known facts about the history / mythology of Santa Claus. Very well done. So that's it. I just thought I'd share that, and also pose the question: "Do you have a favorite Christmas story?"

Postage-Free Christmas Letter

We got our annual copy of the Fatzinger Christmas Letter yesterday, written by our dear friend, Amy. It may sound a bit corny, especially since I talk to them almost every week at church, and thus have at least a general sense of how life's going for them, but I absolutely love reading that thing. Every year, Amy is able to recap the big events of their year and their current state of affairs with that same infectious joy and hope that she exudes when you talk to her in person. I get to the end of it and find myself wishing, once again, that I'd sent a Christmas letter to our friends and family this year. Of course, it's probably getting to be a bit late in the season for that, so I thought I might take a crack at it here on ye olde bloge.

Dear Friends and Family (and anyone who may have stumbled onto our blog),

This has been quite a year for the Hipps family. In some ways, it seemed longer than last year, but in other ways, it just flew right by. This year we went on our first real family vacation to the beach, Daniel lost his first tooth, and we found out that we're expecting our third child, another boy! And, while at times the wallet looks a little thin, we have managed to move our net worth about $10,000 closer to becoming positive this year.



I'm sure I've left out a lot of great things, but this year we started blogging again after a four year hiatus, so a lot of the high points have been covered right here! What else can I say? Our family is healthy, our children are smart and beautiful, we're about to be blessed with yet another little miracle, the election and related advertisements are finally over, and I got good music on my radio!

Merry Christmas to one and all,
The Hipps Family

Sunday School Lesson

In Maggie's Sunday School class, the lesson today was about John the Baptist, and how he prepared the way for Jesus by telling people that the Savior was coming, and that they should repent of their sins. While I do believe it's important that children know about that, I was a little surprised that this was today's lesson, since the overall theme of these weeks leading up to Christmas is "Preparing for Christmas." John preparing the way for Jesus struck me as only loosely related to Christmas, since at the time of the first Christmas, John was maybe 6 months old, according to the Gospel of Luke.

Anyway, later in the day, Maggie was playing with the craft she'd made in class. It's a paper plate with a drawing of water on it and 2 Popsicle stick puppets, 1 man and 1 woman. The plate is cut so that you can stand the puppets up in the water. Not having been one of the teachers today, I asked her what her craft was. She said, "This is John the Dunkinsman, and this is the lady he's dunking. And then they get married." Okay, so that probably wasn't exactly the lesson from class, but hey, at least she got that he dunked people and not doughnuts. Lesson learned, as far as I'm concerned.

Continuing Education

Today, Daniel and I were checking the weather on my iPhone (yeah, I totally just said that to sound cool), and the temperature was 45 degrees. So, I sang to him that it was "fowerty-fahve degwhees," which is my crude rendition of a line from the song "Beds Are Burning" by Midnight Oil. I'd never realized it before, but as I thought about the words to the song, it occurred to me that a) Midnight Oil is from Australia, and b) Australia probably measures temperature on the Celsius scale. From that, plus the fact that the full line from the song is "the western desert lives and breathes in fowerty-fahve degwhees," I concluded that 45 degrees is probably pretty warm to them. So I Googled it (you can view the process here), and sure enough, 45 degrees Celsius turns out to be 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Definitely not the chilly western Australian desert I'd previously subconsciously imagined. I also learned for the first time in my life exactly what the conversion process between the two systems is. It's just C = (F - 32) x 5/9, or F = (C x 9/5) + 32. I'm not sure how I failed to learn this in school, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was taught but not extensively tested because the teachers knew we'd never need it. It definitely didn't feel like, "Oh, yeah, I remember this." It felt like completely new information. Which is fine. Now that I'm an adult, I am a lot more interested in the type of information that I'll never have a legitimate use for than I ever was as a student. Like all that Base 6 stuff in math class. Raise your hand if your using that in your current job. Exactly. I can see no hands. There you go.

Tea Readings

Angie's been sick this past week with a horrible cold, and as such, she's been drinking a lot of tea. While I wait for the tea to steep, I like to read the box. Most of the tea boxes have some little piece of prose on the sides. It tends to be this very flowery, exotic-sounding language describing the blissful surroundings from whence the tea has been plucked and basically making tea sound much more like a relaxing weekend vacation in an English garden than a cup of hot water turned brown by a bag of leaves. Celestial Seasonings is probably the most entertaining, including quotes from philosophers in addition to the more standard pastoral scenes. The Bigelow folks have their own blog, and a catalog that reads like a poetry recital at a flower show. Even the generic "Publix" brand boxes have something to say, giving an extremely brief history of tea, worded as follows: "Tea originated in ancient China more than 5,000 years ago, and ever since has provided the world with a relaxing pause of refreshment." And, with that, I think I'll take a relaxing pause myself.

Breaking the Chains (and the Rules)

Ask anyone that I work with to describe me in 3 words or less, and the odds are good that, to a man, the answer you'll get is: "compulsive rule-breaker," particularly if I've had a chance to coach them on what their response ought to be. This post is only one example of how well-deserved that reputation really is. We've now been tagged twice, once by our friend, Angela, and once by our friend, Wes, to post seven (7) random / weird facts about ourselves. The actual wording of the rules for this are as follows:

*Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

*Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself.

*Tag seven other people at the end of your post and link to their blogs.

*Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So far, you've read through my complicity in the first rule. What follows will be my adherence to rule #2. After that, though, I'm goin' rogue, baby. Look out! There will be no further tagging or linking. I don't know what may happen to me if I break this chain, but I'm willing to take the chance.

Okay, really, I just don't know 7 bloggers who haven't already done this. I'm getting into the game late, and all the good taggees have already been taken. So, without further ado, 7 random facts about Davis (Angie may do one on herself later, but she's tired now. Pregnancy will do that to you.)

1) Okay, I suppose one odd thing about yours truly is that I don't mind the chick flicks so much. I truly enjoy the Jane Austen movies that we own, and have even been known to request You've Got Mail without prompting or provocation (we're watching it right now, in fact, at my request). I like the way it moves through the seasons, and since it starts out in the Fall, it puts me in an Autumn mood, with an eye towards Christmas. This oddness does not extend to Sleepless in Seattle, however; I am still male, after all.

2) Immediately after my 7th grade year, I toured Ireland for two weeks (I think, maybe just one; time was different then) with a boys' choir, culminating in a performance in Dublin for the Millennial Celebration of the founding of the city (of Dublin). As I recall, there were maybe 10 people in the audience who weren't with our group. Apparently, the Dubliners did not get the word that they were supposed to celebrate 1000 years of city-hood by watching a bunch of prepubescent boys sing. Still, we sang well, and the small audience of our chaperones and the event organizers was duly appreciative. Also, the rest of the trip was awesome.

3) I always thought I'd make a pretty good father: my dad is and always has been a great dad, and he always seemed to enjoy the role, so I felt confident I would enjoy it, too. Having said that, the day after Daniel was born, I completely freaked out. We got moved from the spacious delivery room to this post-partem shoebox, and I started to go a little stir-crazy. At some point, Angie evicted me from the room, and I went out to our car and cried and prayed for about 30 minutes or so, after which I was completely fine. Okay, not completely fine; still pretty shaken up, actually, but confident enough that I could handle suddenly losing the luxury of being completely selfish, of having *gasp* responsibility for someone who couldn't otherwise take care of himself. I went to the hospital gift shop, bought a teddy bear or a "Proud Dad" pin or something, and re-entered the shoebox content in my fatherhood and ready to help out. I think I may have fallen asleep in a chair immediately thereafter.

4) I have several relatively-recently-discovered food allergies, including: raw carrots, cabbage / sauerkraut, raw apples, certain raw peaches, and certain brands of refried beans (but not Taco Bell's, thank goodness).

5) Another fascinating tidbit about me is that I have recently acquired high blood pressure. At 33. Thirty-three. I'm not sure how this happened. I didn't ask for it, and I'm not sure who I would have caught it from. My cholesterol and all the other little things they check are well within normal parameters. Okay, I'm also a little overweight, but I don't see how that counts, as I have been a little overweight for a large (Ha!) portion of my life without HBP to accompany it. Weird.

6) I am an extremely efficient eater, and I inspire similar efficiency in others! Some folks just touch their chip into dip or salsa; I use the chip as a shovel, a bulldozer, to make sure I deliver as much of the salsa or cheese dip or hummus or whatever into my mouth as I possibly can. Just talent, I guess.

7) I am not terse. In conversation, I take the approach that if a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm looking to fill the Louvre. "Never say in a minute what you could say over the course of an afternoon," that is my motto. This really only tends to affect my friends, as I'm pretty quiet around people I don't know very well. Once I get to know you, though, you get to know me, through stories and anecdotes that tend to take a LOT longer than they would for anyone else to tell. Still, I'm sure it's part of my charm.

Okay, evidently I need to spend a little more time in self-reflection, as it took me almost a month to think of seven things that I even KNOW about myself, much less that might be interesting to others. Still, there you have me. Oh, and for the bonus round: I'm an expert on The Simpsons, seasons 1 through 8. Go ahead, quiz me.

Boo-yah

Living Vicariously Through My Kids

The kids and I are part of a playgroup through our church. Every Friday we have gotten together with other moms and children to play and hang out and even go on some cool outings. In the last three weeks we have been to Fish Scales (an exotic pet store), Gwinnett Environment and Heritage Center(GEHC), and Gilliland's Alpaca Heritage Farm. These have been some really cool trips.
At Fish Scales, Miss Julie opened up the store just for our group. She let our crazy kids run around and look at all the cool exotic animals in the store. She fed most (if not all) of them while we were there. My favorite was watching the chameleon eating crickets. My fearless daughter touched a bearded dragon, an iguana, and a turtle. She fed lettuce to all three of them and hugged the turtle. Daniel, who is more squeamish like his mother, only touched the turtle towards the end of our visit. He loved watching a small nurse shark swim around in an open tank. I just had a blast, and I think the kids liked it too.



At the GEHC we got to go on a nature walk and find things that were listed on our picture sheet. We found grass, a dead tree, an acorn, leaves, a snake and other things that escape my mind at this point. Then we got to tour the center. They had this cool interactive room for the kids that taught them about the water cycle, ways that we use water, and how water is cleaned. The kids loved to put these balls which were 'water vapor' into a tube that went up into the clouds (evaporation) and once enough water vapor went into the clouds it would rain down the blue balls and the cycle started all over again. They also had a cool theater in which they projected the film onto a wall of water. I hope the kids walked away with the knowledge that water is important/necessary for life.


Miss Angie at the alpaca farm taught us about the difference between a llama and an alpaca (it's all in the ear shape and size). Alpacas have spear shaped ears (llamas have banana shaped ones) and they weigh between 100 and 300 lbs (llamas can get up to 700 lbs). She also told us about how alpaca fleece can be used to make lots of things (we saw gloves, sweaters, scarves, purses, and stuffed animals). Their fleece is hypo-allergenic so those that are allergic to wool could use alpaca as an alternative. Then we got to feed the female alpacas some carrots. Maggie loved them, but Daniel hung back a little until one alpaca, Samantha, laid down ("kushed" in alpaca terminology). Then he felt comfortable enough to pet her back. Despite the cold and rainy weather we enjoyed ourselves. We may have to go back in the spring to see them shear the alpacas.

In my defense

My dear husband attributes my lack of blogging to the time hole of Webkinz World. I will say that I have lost many hours to earning Kinzcash to feed, clothe and furnish the house of Lily. Lily is the black-faced sheep that my eldest brother gave my daughter. I had no idea what we were getting into when I asked Davis to go register the Webkinz pet. But, in my defense I have had many other distractions that have prevented me from blogging. We have had field trips to a Fire station in Athens, Mayfield Dairy in Braselton, playdates at parks, story time at the library, and a stomach virus. This is on top of trying to maintain a household (i.e. cook, clean, grocery shop, etc.). But, even without all of those things I procrastinate on blogging because I am just not that great of a writer. Davis is just plain funny and can write some great posts that are very entertaining. My posts are just slightly informative if you are remotely interested in following what me and the kids do during the day. At any rate here are a few pictures to enjoy.

Communication Breakdown

I'd like to pretend that we've been away for the past couple of weeks just as a ploy to generate interest through our absence, but I can't. For one thing, that doesn't really make any sense, and for another, that's not at all why we haven't written. We each have our different reasons for our prolonged silence: Angie has (on behalf of our daughter) been sucked into the time vacuum that is Webkinz World, and I... well, I've been kind of wary of writing what's on my mind. Because what's been on my mind is... politics.

Due to my personal strong belief in and support of the FairTax, I started the primary season off as a supporter of Mike Huckabee, who is also a supporter of said FairTax. After he dropped out of the race, I really didn't care much for any of the remaining candidates. I mean, they were all likable enough as people, and I was actually interested in the early promise of a civil, informative general campaign season in which a couple of guys who weren't your average politician had debates and possibly "town hall meetings" wherein they expounded upon their differing policies for making America a better place in a rational and respectful manner. I think the Saddleback forum came closest to this (by the way, I take issue with the idea that either side "won" that forum; both candidates answered the questions and presented their ideas in a way that made sense, and you the viewer/listener were left to decide with whom you agreed). Unfortunately, since then the campaigns of both candidates have proven that they are, in fact, your average politician, and my hopes for a civil October have been dashed. Having said that, as much as I tell myself not to, I still can't seem to stop myself from reading the news stories about the name-calling and mud-slinging that is going on.

And so, I haven't felt like writing. It all just makes me mad. I thought these guys were better than that. I hoped at least one of them would be better than that, to give the American people a leader who takes the high road every time. Instead, I find myself wishing that Google Labs or someone would come up with a way of re-inserting Huckabee into the race. He may not be above that stuff, either (I think he'd be better, though he definitely showed one or two signs of low-road willingness late in his campaign, if I recall), but at least we'd have a candidate who would be pushing for the FairTax, and I could find solace in that.

In The Event of a Tie...

I saw this article today and thought the scenarios it describes would make things REALLY interesting this November. I especially enjoyed the paragraph at the end about the Election of 1800. Just thought I'd share it with you.

A Man's Man...

I am not. I've never been a grill-master. I don't know a thing about cars: can't fix 'em, don't know makes and models. I enjoy football when it's on, but I can take it or leave it. I don't get much into most other sports. Even within my interests, such as music, it seems the man's man knows things like all the various types of guitars and amps; I never have been interested, as long as mine came close to how I wanted them to sound.

I'm okay with this. In recent years especially, I've become more comfortable with the idea that I'm much more partial to Jeeves and Wooster than I am to Crockett and Tubbs, more a fan of Morrissey than Megadeth. Not sure where I'm going with this. I guess I was just reminded of it tonight when my wife grilled some awesome pork tenderloin while I looked on, and I spent a contented evening alone thereafter watching Holmes and Watson on PBS. Overall, very satisfying indeed.

A Solid Track Record

I believe it was around this time 7 years ago (good gosh! it can't really have been that long!) that we were just finding out that we were going to have our first child. When we made the discovery, Angie was pretty well convinced that we were going to have a girl, and she was already excited about the name Marguerite Rose. Then, a short while later, we found out we were having a boy, and we embarked on the arduous mental task of coming up with a boy's name. Honestly, it is only by the grace of God and his divine inspiration that we were able to come up with the name Daniel Caleb after a couple of months.

Then, about two years later, when we found out that we were expecting gain, Angie was convinced that, since we'd had a boy the first time, and I came from a family with 2 boys, that we would only ever have boys, and this one was going to be a boy as well. Fortunately, we still hadn't come up with a boy name by the time that we found out it was going to be a girl, so we were relieved to be able to use the Marguerite Rose appellation.

All this is, of course, leading to something, and here it is: today we found out the gender of our current infanticipation. In late January, we expect to give birth to a baby...

Yes, it's definitely a baby boy! Angie was convinced that it was going to be a girl, and, in fact, we already have an awesome girl name picked out that I won't be posting here so that we might use it in the future should the need arise. In the meantime, we must now set about the awesome task of coming up with a name for newest addition. So far, Maggie has suggested "Andy," and my brother suggested "Colloquium," or something like that. It was the name of a football player who was on television this evening, but I don't remember exactly what he said. I think it's fairly safe to say that we won't be using his suggestion. Maggie had also previously suggested "Chrysanthemum" for a girl, and so I believe my brother was also suggesting "Chris Anthony" in tribute to Maggie's desire, but I doubt we'll use that, either. Still, we're open to suggestions, by which I mean that we will give any suggestions their due consideration without giving anyone else credit if we do decide to use one.

So, what do you think? Feel free to contribute a name in the comments section. For inspiration, here's a recent 3-D photo of the little guy's profile:

Moving

No, we aren't planning to move to another house any time soon, the title refers to our baby. I am now over 18 weeks pregnant (it's hard to keep up with) and I have experienced the "quickening." It is a really neat feeling to experience a little life moving around in my body. I am looking forward to finding out if we will be having another girl or boy on September 8th. Hopefully seeing the ultrasound will be memorable event for Daniel and Maggie to. They have been so sweet around Ren and Angela's newest addition. Hopefully they will enjoy holding their sibling as much as Abigail. Time will certainly tell.

Action

I was reading through Acts 3 the other morning, and something struck me in a way that I've never noticed before. In the beginning of that chapter, Peter and John are going to the temple for a prayer meeting, and at the temple gate, there's a crippled beggar who, as beggars will, asks them for money. Rather than giving money, in verses 6 and 7, Peter tells the guy, "In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” Then, Peter reaches out a hand to him, and as he helps him up, the man is healed. Now that's cool, and since we've been talking lately about faith in action being the way God works, I thought it was a great confirmation of that... but that's not what struck me.

What struck me was the end of verse 12, where Peter says, "why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness?" This floored me, even though I'm sure I've read it before, and I think if someone asked me, "Do you have to be perfect for God to use you?" I'd have said, "No, of course not. It's not about me; it's about Jesus." But that day, it really struck me.

Several years ago, when we were living in Athens, I was in church, and there was a man up front in a wheelchair. I had the overwhelming sense that God wanted to heal this man, and that I should go to him and pray with him. I was nervous, as I'd never had anything like that kind of feeling before, but I decided to just embarrass myself if it came to that and go offer to pray with him. We prayed together for a long time, and it seems like I may have even had the idea to offer to help him up, but I know I didn't act on that, or if I did, I didn't make it clear enough that I was trying to do that. The man didn't get up, and after a while, we stopped praying and went back to our seats. In short, we gave up. I have occasionally wondered since then if I just didn't have the spiritual gift of healing, or if I had some hidden, unconfessed sin in my life at the time that prevented God from healing this man through me. After I read Acts 3, it struck me that;

a) God does the work of healing; I'm not healing, I'm praying, I'm lifting, I'm just the assistant,
b) perhaps, the spiritual gift of healing isn't a power that I can feel in my life; maybe it is simply the confidence that God will do the healing if I obey what he's telling me, and
c) also, maybe I don't have to be perfect, I just have to obey God. If he hasn't already revealed and convicted me of "hidden" sin, he's probably not going to let that get in the way of someone being healed. My feeling is that he'd teach me that lesson another time.

The main point that I got out of this passage was that it's Jesus doing the work; it's not just that something cool happens, it's that Jesus is at work. That just completely rocked my world, and I hope it means something to anyone else who reads this. Still, if it's just for me, that's pretty cool too.

Belly buttons, teeth and babies

"Belly Button (Round)"
by Sandra Boynton

So round. So profound. So great to contemplate ...
Belly Belly Button,
you're oh so fine.
I'm so happy you're mine.
A tummy without you
just wouldn't be right.
Little Belly Button,
you're a beautiful sight.
Belly! Belly button!

Since our sweet girl was a wee lass she has had a fondness for her belly button. Instead of owning a lovey or sucking her thumb, she rubs her belly button. I had never seen such a thing, but our pediatrician has a daughter who did it (she has probably since grown out of it) but it has never bothered me so I have never discouraged it. In fact, it's kind of nice because she can't lose her belly button, and she never complains when we wash it so why not have an attachment with your belly button. Now, as she has gotten older we have had to lay down some rules about the belly button rubbing. She is not to rub it when she has a dress on (i.e. no lifting up your dress to get to it). When we are in public she must "discreetly" rub it, which means that she must leave her shirt down, but she may rub it underneath her shirt. Nonetheless, her love for her belly button has persisted. Either she will grow out of it at some point or she will find a husband that loves her belly button as much as she does.

Our boy, Daniel, has lost his second tooth. It's right next to where he lost his very first tooth. He pushed it out himself during rest time and I can't tell you how excited he was when I went in to the room to let him get up a few minutes early. He held the tiny white tooth up to me and said, "See!" I said, "What is it?" and then he pulled his bottom lip down so that I could see the empty space. Two down eighteen more to go!

In baby news, I had a doctor's appointment this morning. It was just a routine check-up and everything looks and sounds good. We have our next ultrasound scheduled on September 8th. We plan to find out the sex of the baby. We already know what we will name the baby if it is a girl, but we have no boy names picked out at this point. We are also planning to take along Daniel and Maggie to the ultrasound. I'm looking forward to it.

Beach Vacation, Day Nouement

As promised, here's that sunrise. We did get up in time to see it, but there turned out to be an extremely large condo building directly between our east-facing balcony and the sun. Still, the sky was pretty, and it was a fitting way to end the week. The beach vacation was awesome. I think I can say without hyperbole that I loved every minute of it. The living room was by far my favorite room in the house because it had such an awesome view, a cool, mirrored wall to make it seem more open, and some really soft, deep, comfortable couches. It was the perfect place for relaxing with a book or taking an afternoon siesta.

I'm definitely going to miss that place for a good little while. Still, the vacation has to end sometime, and that time, unfortunately, has come. All the pictures that we took and posted on the web are available here, including shots of the other rooms and, obviously, some extremely cute pictures of the kids. Thanks for reading!

Beach Vacation, Day Six

Our last full day at the beach began with the sighting from our living room window of just absolute schools of dolphins swimming fairly close into shore. Efforts to photograph them were met with mixed results, but I did manage to get a few successful shots out of about 117 tries. Here's one now:

We were able to go back into the ocean again today, and the water has calmed so much that it is really clear near the shore, so we could see all kinds of fish and seaweed as we waded in. Also, it turns out that there's a sandbar really close to shore to which even Daniel could wade without the water going past his shoulders. I did have to carry Maggie out there, but it was really cool to stand up in the middle of the water on what felt like a second beach! Here's a shot of the kids and me out there.

We had all gone out originally, but then we saw a jellyfish, the kids got scared, and we went back to the first / main beach. It turned out, as we headed back to the beach, that there were a lot of jellyfish in the water, and there were even some public-service-oriented folks who were catching them and taking them to a well-marked place on the beach to die. Once the good people had cleared out three or four of them, the kids felt safe enough to wade back out with me to take the above picture. Here's a progression of the passing of one jellyfish:

After the picture on the sandbar was taken, the kids had enjoyed their fill of the ocean, and it was back to the condo pool, where Maggie and Daniel continued to improve their swimming to the point that I'm pretty sure they're taking part in the opening ceremonies in Beijing sometime tomorrow. Check your local listings for exact times.

The plan for the evening was to take a walk along the beach (a quick one, for the kids' sake), followed by one last round in the pool, where we could hopefully shoot some video of these two young gold medal hopefuls.

Sadly (read: devastatingly) for our dear kiddos, a storm began to roll in as we were making our way back from the walk and towards the pool, and lightning was spotted in the relative vicinity. They were forced to console themselves over ice cream, cake, cookies, baths, and books. After they'd been put to bed (but hours before they actually went to sleep), we played through another round of Phase Ten, which of course Angie won again, this time on points and phase completions.

If we can manage it, we're going to try to get up to see the sunrise, and if so, I'll try to post a picture. If that doesn't work out, here's what it might look like, based on this evening's sunset:

Finally, I'd like to close this week of vacation by saying, "Thank you" to Bennett and Lynley for inviting us to their family's condo on the beach, to Mom and Dad for helping to make this vacation possible, and, of course, to the sweet, considerate neighbors who left their wireless settings on the defaults so that we could enjoy free Internet service for the week. Without your help, this might never have been possible.

Beach Vacation, Day Five

It's safe to go back in the water! Everyone slept in really late for day 5, except the kids, of course. Since the red flags had been replaced with American flags, Angie took the kids down to the beach for the customary 3 and a half minutes of time in the surf before Daniel completely freaks out over the possibility of being stung by a jellyfish and requests to go home, or at least the pool, while everyone else stayed in the condo. I actually went down and joined them after they'd been in the pool for a while. Maggie's swimming is really improving, and Daniel never fails to have a creative new way to jump in and splash everyone. He's invented several new splashing techniques, with varying degrees of success.

In other news, Bennett and Lynley (my heretofore unnamed brother and sister-in-law, respectively) had to head back today in order to go to work on Thursday, so our afternoon was tainted with a slight sadness at the diminution of our party. Fortunately, we were able to forget our sorrows with a brief rest, followed by a trip about half a mile down the road to The Crab Trap for dinner,

and a sojourn into town to visit Souvenir City,

where Daniel and Maggie were able to buy some souvenirs of their beach trip with their own money thanks to Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace, Jr.

After that, all that was left was to put the kids down, get ready for bed, and stay up until midnight watching Becoming Jane. Not exactly beach-y, but hey, it's what the ladies wanted to see.

Beach Vacation, Day Four

Today was, again, a red-flag day, but we did manage to get some sand castle-building done at the beach. The day was mostly spent lounging, reading, and swimming with the children in the condo pool. We had all our meals at the condo, and after the kids went to bed, we played a vigorous game of Phase Ten (25th Anniversary Edition), a kind of very complex Uno. Angie won on points, although my sister-in-law was first to complete all phases. We stayed up WAY too late playing, eating cookies, and making jokes which were funnier than they might have been due to the delirium which comes from sleep deprivation. I personally felt it was one of the better days, but then my favorite way to spend time on vacation is to waste it. All in all, it was a very relaxing day. Highlights included Maggie's first sand castle, Uncle Bennett teaching Daniel new and better ways to splash the people sitting around the pool, and Maggie and Daniel making great strides in improving their swimming. There are, as always, even a few pictures here taken throughout the day.

Beach Vacation, Day Three

This morning when we looked outside, there were red flags all along the beach, meaning that it was too dangerous to go for a swim. So, after a leisurely breakfast / get-the-muscles-working-again time, we loaded up and headed to the Pirate's Island Adventure Golf putt-putt place near Lulu's, where we'd eaten the night before. This was a great mini-golf place with historical information about either of two pirates, Jean Lafitte or Blackbeard, depending on which course you took. We went on the Lafitte course, and I'm sure we were the better for it, both in terms of play and education. Everyone had a blast, and Maggie got a hole in one!

After putt-putt, we were getting hungry again. Breakfast may have been leisurely, but it was not particularly large. Also, with eight of us playing miniature golf, two of whom tended to drag things out a bit, 18 holes took over two and a half hours in the full mid-day sun. So, we loaded up again and headed this time to Lambert's Cafe, "Home of the Throwed Rolls." There are only 3 of them in existence: two in Missouri and the one in Foley, Alabama. Lambert's has special significance for Angie and me because we went to the one near Branson, Missouri on our first anniversary, when we were up that way visiting friends, and we remember the experience fondly. So it was great to get to share that with the kids. They loved it, especially when the waiters would bring around the bucket of fried okra and scoop as much as you wanted right onto whatever surface you presented to them (plate, paper towel, upside-down hat, etc.). The picture below is of a waiter throwing a roll to me. The roll is just above the lamp and kind of blends in with the red-and-white flag. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I actually snapped the photo with my right hand and caught the roll with my left, although by that point I was so stuffed I didn't want to eat the roll; I just wanted the shot.

The rest of the day consisted of almost everyone napping, followed by the four of us going swimming in the pool while my parents hung out in the condo and my brother and his wife played tennis at the condo across the street. We had a VERY late dinner (mostly leftovers from our enormous lunch) followed by a wonderful little post-birthday birthday party for me, complete with caramel cake, vanilla ice cream, and Simpsons-themed birthday cards with Homer re-capping some of his most witty remarks. If I'd thought about it, I'd have asked someone to take pictures of that, but we were having too much fun and I forgot to mention it. More pictures from the Pirate Golf and from Lambert's are available here, however.

Beach Vacation, Day Two

This is where the fun starts. We woke up at precisely whenever we felt like it and had a leisurely pancake breakfast in our living and dining room area overlooking the ocean.

After breakfast, we got our first real shot at the beach. It went pretty well, considering that it was the first time the children had seen the ocean in the light of day. I think Maggie enjoyed playing in it more than Daniel; he got some salt water in his nose a couple of times and announced that he was ready to head back to our real house. He settled down a bit and played a little more, but didn't seem really happy until he got to go to the pool. I suspect he'll warm up to the ocean as the week goes on. Maggie liked me to hold her arms as the waves were crashing in and letting them lift her up and try to carry her to the shore. We played in the pool for a bit after that, followed by a light lunch, and then EVERYONE took a nap.

Nap time was somewhat interrupted by the arrival of the firetruck, ambulance, and, on the beach right outside our windows, the Life Flight helicopter. We didn't get the full story, but it appeared that someone probably had gotten severely dehydrated and needed to have fluids pumped into them.

Anyway, after that excitement, the naps began in earnest, followed by the arrival of the grandparents at last! (Did I mention we're down here with my brother, his wife, and my folks? We are. Day 1 included my brother and his wife.) Once they'd gotten settled in, we packed up the vehicles and headed to Lulu's Sunset Grill (about 20-30 minutes away), which is a really great open-air beach-style restaurant owned by Jimmy Buffett's sister, Lucy. They have a volleyball net, a souvenir hut, 2 refreshment huts, and a massive sandy play area with beach toys for the kids. This was a good thing, as our wait time was an hour and a half. Yes, really. Fortunately, the food was excellent, and a good time was had by all, although after playing volleyball with a bunch of kids half my age and younger, I thought I might need that helicopter, too.

So, overall, we're off to a great start! I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring. More pictures than you probably care to see are and will be available here.

Beach Vacation, Day One

Okay, we'll see how this goes, but I thought I'd try to keep a record of our vacation. There's not a lot to tell about Day One, as we spent most of it driving here. We're in a town that is as far west on the coast of Florida as you can go; the Flora-Bama bar (they apparently opted for a state bar instead of a state line) is not quite 2 miles down the road. We did get to let the kids put their feet in the ocean before their bath, but it was already pretty dark out, and they won't really get the experience of it until tomorrow, although they're already VERY excited, as evidenced by the picture below:

Self cleaning house

As part of getting ready for going out of town at the end of the week, I need to clean our house. We keep our house picked up/mostly clutter free, but it still becomes necessary to dust and mop and scrub down surfaces that develop pink rings around them. Although I have now entered my second semester of pregnancy, I have not experienced a resurgence of energy. I still desire a daily nap and get tired with what feels like menial amounts of work. The problem is my son and husband have allergies and it begins to be a sneeze fest around here if I wait two or three months between dusting sessions. I am finding that I could really use a self cleaning house. Since we don't have one of those, I guess I am just going to have to break my tasks down into smaller more manageable parts and take a few days to get the house sparkling and fresh.

Returnin' From a Jet Plane

A quick post-trip update: I've been back for a few days now, but I wanted to make sure I said to everyone, "thanks for the support." To answer Mr. Rex10's question in the comments to the original post, I went to Memphis, which was a very short little jaunt. In fact, the trip over was more like riding in a flying bus than a bike - I'm pretty sure there were a total of 53 seats on the plane, including the pilot and co-pilot's seats and the bathroom. I did mention to the flight staff on the first one that I hadn't flown since 1988, and they tried their best to be accommodating. I also had some "less-drowsy" formula Dramamine, which I took about an hour before each flight, and I guess it worked like a charm. I sat by the window on both flights. What an amazing experience! I loved watching the clouds and landscape from above, and coming back over the big city at night was just beautiful! I will definitely not be anxious about flying in the future, should the situation arise again. It was a very good experience, except for when I forgot to take my laptop out of my bag before running it through the scanner on the way back, and the shocked security lady yelled out, "Who has a laptop in a BAG?" as if this was the most ridiculous place to keep a laptop she'd ever heard of, and only a colossal moron would leave one there at a security checkpoint. Oh, and while that was going on, security on the other end was running the cable tester through a full-scale bomb detection process (according to the inspector: "the machine can be setup to check for drugs as well, but we don't care about drugs; you can keep your drugs"). Those were embarrassing, but the rest of the trip I wouldn't mind going through again.


P.S. to Mr. Rex10: You need to know about this.

Beach preview

In preparation for our upcoming beach trip we decided to take the kids to our local man-made lake beach. Despite the greenish-brown water and little fish that swim in the water we had a great time. Maggie loves that she can touch the bottom and practiced swimming a lot. Daniel likes to dive under the water with his mask on and try to catch the fish or pick up rocks. One unfortunate thing that happened while we were at the beach was that I stepped on a bee. Boy was that uncomfortable. The last time I got stung by a bee I was in kindergarten living in Ft. Campbell, KY. I was playing bare foot at the park and stepped on a bee that was on a flower. Thankfully I am not allergic to bees, but I forgot just how uncomfortable a bee sting can be. I am just glad that it was me instead of one of the kids that got stung. Let's hope the bee sting is not a preview of our time at the real beach. We are getting really excited. Less than a week before we leave!

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

Tomorrow morning, I head out on a big ol' jet airliner for the first time in over 20 years. I believe this is the only experience in my life about which I can say, "I've done that before, but not in over 20 years." This is a big deal for me, although I have friends who seem to be on planes as much as they are in cars. The last time I was on a plane was, I think, June of '88. I was coming back from a trip to Ireland, the last leg of which was from New York to Atlanta. For the trip overseas, I had some sort of Dramamine patch to install behind my ear, and I used the last one on the trip back from Dublin to New York. On the NY to ATL leg, I was sick almost from the moment of takeoff to landing and even in the car on the ride back to Columbus. I was also exhausted, so I'd fall asleep on the plane being sick, and I'd wake up to be sick again. Not pleasant.
All this to say, if you're a Christian, and you're awake between 7:30 AM and 8:45 AM EDT this Tuesday, please say a little prayer for me, and for the passengers seated near me. I know we'd appreciate it. Thank you.

We're going to the beach!

In less than two weeks we will be taking off for our first family vacation (with all four of us - five counting the one in utero). We have been on approximately three vacations, our first being our honeymoon to Savannah when we got married. A year later on our first anniversary we went to Missouri to visit a friend of mine in which we stayed at their home. We did stay in a hotel in Branson , MO for one night and spent the day taking in the tourist attractions. Then when Daniel was a year old, and I was pregnant with Maggie, we went to Ohio to visit my mom's side of the family. That is the last "vacation" we have had. Davis and I have had two weekend get aways since having our precious children. One of the main reasons that we have not had more vacations is that we have been trying to get out of debt most of our married years together, albeit not in any way that was focused (until we came across Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover and went through Financial Peace University), but we knew we couldn't afford vacations. The only reason we get to enjoy this upcoming family vacation is because we have a wonderful connection (our sister-in-law) to a condo in Florida. Because it is a condo, we have the ability to cook food and store and reheat leftovers therefore keeping the cost of food down. And because we are on a budget we know exactly how much money we may take with us to spend. I know that we are going to have a ball. Maggie absolutely loves playing in the sand so she will be in heaven. Daniel and Maggie love to swim so we plan to wear them out. Maybe we will even come back with a little color in our normally transparent skin.

The Hunter

How greedily the predator eyes his prey, anxiously awaiting his chance to strike. Cautiously, he raises his head and, without warning, he pounces, easily devouring his unsuspecting quarry in mere seconds. The biscuit never even saw him coming.

Flight of the Narrator

Angie: "Maggie, please get your stuffed animals out of Mommy and Daddy's room."
Maggie (standing up and moving towards our bedroom): "And she got up and ran from the room, through the kitchen, and into the bedroom."

Our Maggie has taken to providing narration for her own life, and man, it is by far the best entertainment I get in my week. We still have the baby monitor in the children's room, and in the mornings we'll hear something like, "she dressed herself all by herself and headed to the kitchen for some breakfast." She doesn't do it all the time, and she often talks to herself while she's playing, so I'm worried that I might be missing some of the best lines. I think I might get a bunch of micro-cassette recorders and sew them into Maggie's clothes. Or maybe I should just head over to the local FBI office and ask for copies of the tapes from our house. At any rate, I hope this phase doesn't end anytime soon. As I alluded to earlier on Twitter, with as much attitude as she's been giving lately, sometime it feels like this powerful degree of cuteness is all that's keeping her with us.

A Blast!

For the past few years now our family has been privileged to spend the 4th of July with several of our dear friends. For reasons which will soon become apparent, I can only say that the event takes place at a private, undisclosed location that is probably not even IN Georgia on the multi-acre, privately-owned, family land of someone I'll refer to as Mickle Cowfman. The buffet is always abundant and incredibly delicious; there are always lots of things for the kids to do; and the finale of the event is an increasingly impressive fireworks display which would be of increasingly questionable legality, were it to take place in Georgia, but, as I mentioned before, it most likely does not. ;-) This year's event featured some of the world's most AWESOME barbecued pork cooked and served in the eastern North Carolina style provided by Mickle's father-in-law. There was a bouncy castle with slide, a toddler bouncy area, a trampoline, a swimming pool, and an industrial-strength snow cone machine. There was also some excellent live music, and Maggie made it through the whole fireworks display, which was a first for us! All in all, it was an outstanding celebration of our great nation's birthday!

Speaking of Exciting Developments

For those who may not know, the Hipps family is expecting a new addition on or around January 30, 2009! We've known for a couple of weeks now, but we wanted to make sure that all of our various pregnant friends that were due got their bundles unpacked before we made any official announcements. Angie is about 9 weeks along, and has already been through more nausea and exhaustion than she had with the first two combined! Here's a picture of the little peanut, as he or she looked in the photographer's studio this past Monday, June 23rd. It may go without saying, but just in case it doesn't, we're very excited about this! Woohoo! Ok, here' the picture. Sorry to keep you waiting. Here it is.

A Couple of Firsts

As we first mentioned here, Daniel has had a loose tooth for a couple of weeks now. On Saturday, in the middle of the afternoon with no prompting, he decided that he'd just bite down really hard on it to see what would happen, and sure enough, out it came. He didn't get the least bit upset by this - he was uncharacteristically calm, in fact - but he was clearly thrilled and very proud of himself.










Exhilarating stuff, to be sure, but there was also some excitement involved with the first that we had on Sunday when we went to a playground near our house. Towards the end of our time there, Maggie made the announcement, "Look, there's a Black Widow Spider just like in my Bug's Life game!" And, sure enough, there was the thing in the flesh, crawling along the sand, looking for children to poison, no doubt. Unfortunately, we didn't have the good camera with us, and the pictures that I took from my phone didn't do the thing justice, so I'll just have to do my best to describe it for you here.

It was really black. Also, it had a huge abdomen with a bright red hourglass on it. I've read that the red hourglass should be on the underside for the Black Widow, and that the hourglass on the top may actually be indicative of a False Widow, but as it didn't live long enough to bother correcting us for what was, perhaps, a case of mistaken identity, the truth must be forever buried with it. Whether true or false, the kids were sufficiently convinced of its black widow-ness that they ran screaming from the playground equipment, although I will say they didn't seem particularly scared. I think they may have just wanted to run around screaming. Which, come to think of it, is why we took them to the park in the first place.

Adequate Sleep

I think getting enough sleep is essential to having the brainpower and creative energy to blog on a regular basis. Just sayin'. G'night.

First Dentist Visit

This morning Daniel and Maggie had their very first visit to the dentist. Daniel is six and about to lose his first tooth so he was bit overdue, but without dental insurance you have to have the cash to pay for the services. Thanks to our economic stimulus check I decided that the entire Hipps clan should go to the dentist. Both Daniel and Maggie have 20 teeth (although Daniel may only have 19 in a few days) and no cavities. Maggie got her teeth cleaned first. She is our adventurous child. She did a fantastic job. The hygienist, Miss Dannie, said that her teeth don't have many gaps, which is desirable in young children, so she will probably need braces when she is older. It is also more important for us to floss her teeth on a regular basis. Daniel very hesitantly climbed into the chair even after watching his sister bravely undergo her painless cleaning. He did fine, but he still wanted me close by. Then Dannie was going to take two x-rays so that we might be able to see where his 6 year molars are in terms of breaking through, but Daniel gagged and that was the end of it. He started to tear up and get scared. Dannie was very encouraging and didn't force it since she wanted his first visit to be a positive one. Daniel and Maggie both got prizes from the treasure cabinet. Maggie chose two balloons, and Daniel chose a rubber ball and a plastic snake. Both left happy with cleaner teeth and fresher breath. Let's hope Daniel's X-rays go better in January.

The Element of Surprise

I have never been big on surprises. I can enjoy an occasional surprise, like my favorite meal for dinner, or an unexpected on-the-money birthday present, but in general, I prefer to know what I'm getting into. My son, however, takes this character trait to new and heretofore undiscovered heights of craziness. We thought we'd surprise the kids yesterday with an outing to a movie that Daniel, especially, has expressed interest in. The movie was Kung Fu Panda, and it was nearly a kung-tastrophe. The moment we arrived at the theater, he burst into tears, and twice during the movie he broke down and announced he wanted to go home. He was pretty tired, but I think a lot of it had to do with being surprised. I've noticed other unfortunate traits that I've passed on (video-game-related stubbornness, allergies, wheezing), but this one is clearly the most heinous. Or not. He may just be the kind of guy who likes to know what's going on. And, in the end, he said he liked the movie, so it's not like the surprise completely ruined the experience for him. Still, it's pretty rough knowing that, whether I like it or not, I've passed on some of my lameness to my son. Best to keep some parts of the chip firmly on the block.

With a Little Help From My, Um, Neighbors

I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to my peeps here in the 'hood. Specifically, I wanted to shout out, "THANK YOU FOR YOUR LAWN SERVICES!!!" Our across-the-street neighbor has, for over a year now, graciously allowed us the use of his riding lawn mower to plow the front 40. This has been a great blessing to us, as we only have a push-mower of our own. The rider takes about an hour and a half to get the job done, whereas the push-mower has taken over 5 hours on its worst day (averages about 3). So, it bears repeating, this has been a great blessing to us. Recent events have prevented us from mowing as frequently as we might like, however, and yesterday our next-door neighbor generously offered his mowing services for an extremely reasonable fee, in my opinion. When I came home and found that the lawn - whose impending maintenance had filled my work-weary heart with a nameless dread - had, in fact, already been maintained, I was overjoyed to say the least. So to my neighbors, once again, a heart-felt "thank you." Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

Shocking discovery made at bedtime

I can't believe it, but our boy has a loose tooth! I feel like I should have been a little more prepared for it considering that our good friends' son, who is just a few months younger than Daniel, lost his first tooth a couple months ago. But it is just not the same when it is your own flesh and blood. I was going over his teeth when he was getting ready for bed and I thought his tooth looked a bit crooked, then it moved! I was shocked and excited. Our sweet little boy is getting so big. He, of course, thought is was awesome since his best friend has already lost a tooth. Life sure is an adventure with growing children.

Question for the Board of Health OR Random Foreign Language Thought for the Day

In Spanish, a "perro" is a dog, and a "perrito" is a little dog. If a "burro" is a donkey, then shouldn't someone in authority be looking a little deeper into these so-called "burritos?"

How to Enjoy Sonic - America's Drive-In

I really enjoy going to Sonic. I think they have the best fast-food burgers, excellent onion rings, and a great variety of drinks (good shakes, too)! However, at times a family outing to Sonic can be a bit of a chore, so I thought I might offer up some tips to getting the most out of your dining experience.

1. If possible, don't go with children. Children are a gift from the Lord, but the best way to enjoy Sonic is to go with your spouse, order your food, and just sit in the car and talk to each other while the '50s music plays over the speakers.
2. If it's baking hot outside, eat in the car, especially if you've ignored number 1. There's no way you'll enjoy the experience if you've had to unload cranky children out into the heat.
3. Go with what you know. I am one who is more than willing to try new things when I'm at a restaurant, but at Sonic, I stick with the burgers. I don't see any need to try the chicken, and I'm certainly not interested in a Sonic burrito. I have to be in the mood for a chili dog, but I will occasionally go with that. If I want to be sure I'm satisfied, though, it's a cheeseburger, onion rings, and a Diet Coke®.
4. Don't stress about tipping. My rule for tipping at Sonic is that the waiters or waitresses on roller skates get a tip. They're putting in extra effort, and they're providing entertainment as part of the experience. Walking out with the food is part of the job, as I see it. Rolling out with the food is cah-ray-zy!

So, that's it. If you stick with these simple rules, you should have no problem enjoying your meal. If you follow these rules and still don't have a good time, you can comment here and I'll give you a full refund of the price of this advice.

Reminds Me of a Song

I don't particularly want to get too political on this our family blog, but I have noticed something in the course of the presidential campaigning season. I don't think anyone anywhere on the political spectrum would argue with the assertion that Senator McCain is not the best public speaker, whereas Senator Obama is eloquent and charismatic. Having observed a few of their speeches recently, however, I'm reminded of the song "XTC vs. Adam Ant" by They Might Be Giants, the lyrics to which speak to the battle between substance vs. style, "content vs. form." If I can get this music player to show up, enjoy! If not, the title of the song is linked to the lyrics for the song, and you can hear a snippet on the Amazon.com page for the Factory Showroom album.

(p.s. if you're deweb, I totally stole this music player from you. literally. if you look at the source code of this page, the player is running off of your website. if you're not cool with that, let me know how i can get the player on my own site and i'll fix it. sorry i didn't ask first. thanks.)

Joie de Vivre

Yesterday we got to visit our friends, Ren and Angela Buckland, and to see their new baby, Abigail! What a cutie! We are blessed to be friends with two other infanticipating couples whose due dates are upon us, and another who is due in October! All the expectancy and newness of life in the air just makes me happy. I can't wait to meet all the new little people who are blessed to have parents cool enough and smart enough to have friends like us!

Everything Except What I Should be Praying About

I have, for a LONG time now, struggled to get up in the morning and spend time praying and reading the Bible. I've gotten to the point where I can get up successfully and have at least a little time to do this more days than I don't. Now, though, my problem is with distractions. I get to thinking about tasks that I'm puzzling over at work, things I need to do around the house, things I want to do with my family, stuff like that. And that's when I go the "paper-Bible and prayer journal" route. Firing up the laptop for a Bible Gateway and YouVersion journaling day magnifies this, as I now have email and the web to add to my distractions. Surely I'm not the only Christian for whom this is an issue, right? How does one learn to focus? Suggestions welcome.

Laptops are for Lovers

Before we got laptops, my wife and I would have to check blogs and email from the PC in the other room, separated sometimes for hours as we siphoned through the reams of correspondence, personal and public, that had come in throughout the day. Now, we get to sit together on the couch, sift through the day's information and point out interesting stuff to each other. I know it's kind of lame, but it's a way to catch up without having to be separated, and I like that a lot.

I Really Do Like Being Employed

This week our company is doing our annual employee reviews. We've been asked to think about a few questions in preparation for our time in the hot seat. Number One on the list is "Why are you here?" Now, once I'd moved past my inclination to always give the most smart-aleck answer possible ("it's my annual review, and I was told I had to be here"), the question really did get me thinking.

The problem with the annual review being this time of year is that, every year at about this time, I start to get kind of burned out on my job. Part of it, I think, may be that the workload does slow somewhat when summer starts, and part of it may be akin to spring fever. Whatever the reason, it oftentimes happens in May that I would gladly do any job in the world that doesn't require the use of a computer (hence the dramatic decrease in May blog posts, incidentally). I'd rather be outside, or at least in an office with a window, or at a job where I can leave at 5 and go play with my kids. I long for a real two-week vacation that doesn't result in a panic attack from not having earned enough this month.

The thing is, it's just the time of year. For pretty much the other 11 months I'm completely in love with my job. I get to work with some great guys who are actually my friends. I get to help solve problems for my clients so that they can do the important jobs that they do. I even get to drive around town during the day to visit clients on occasion. And, I'm paid very well (by my standards, anyway) to do it. It really is a great job, and most of the time, I love it.

Just not at review time, for some reason.