Son

Husband

Father

Employee

Worship Leader

Writer

Brother

Entrepreneur

Friend

Mentor

Painter

Musician

Mechanic

Landscaper

Carpenter

To name a few.

There is only one of me on this side of the rope and the odds of me winning against that list looks impossible.

Over the next few days I will just let go of the rope of the ones that aren’t critical to engage fully with the ones that are.

My hands are pretty full right now anyway being a Son, Husband, Father, Employee and Worship Leader.

Some things need both hands.

The other stuff can wait.

A couple of short videos of Emily having a good time at Chesapeake City Park listening to the excellent U.S. Fleet Forces Band.

Emily loves to sing.

She usually wakes up with a song and depending on the lyrics, we can tell the kind of day we will have. “Happy Day” is a good day and when we hear it we roll over and look into each others eyes and consider having just “one more”. If we here “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen” or anything in a minor key we know we are in for it and use those days as teaching moments for our older two to reinforce the impact of unplanned pregnancy.

We may never be grandparents. Seriously, I think Elizabeth is content to own cats.

Apart from singing, Emily can count to 10 and has been doing that since she was 18 months old. She also knows all her primary and secondary colors and has started to draw and paint. She also started telling us to “stop it” when she doesn’t like the conversation in the car and is generally able to communicate what she wants and when.

She has always let us know what she doesn’t like, but it is kind of exciting to be able to figure out what she does.

I think I will introduce her to acrylic painting next week just for fun because I can’t seem to muster any desire to paint lately and have a bunch of canvases I am tired of looking at. As long as I pick a “Happy Day” we should be fine.

If I pick an unhappy day I may end up with a piece of work only Dali could admire.

Amazing performance – A homeless man joins in to sing praises to God!

Robert Gupta on Ted talking about the power of music.

1.  People that are constantly late.

2.  When I am late.

3.  Violins that are out-of-tune, especially in an orchestra.

4.  When I ask my children to do something and they tell me, “ok.  Just a minute…” and then don’t do what I asked.

5.  Sopranos that are flat.  As in musically, not chested.

6.  When I make a mistake while making dinner and the dinner isn’t as good as it could have been.  

7.  Retail service people that don’t provide service.

8.  Being told that the McDonald’s ice cream machine is broken.  (That is a lie, people.  I had friends that used to work fast food that told me they would tell people the machine was broken because they didn’t want to have to clean the machine.  Apparently, it isn’t that easy to clean.)  Can 3 stores have broken ice cream machines?  

9.  People that send emails telling me that Proctor and Gamble is headed by a Satanist.

10.  Forwards on email that have some sort of conspiracy in it, like saying Madeline Murray O’Hare is trying to take prayer out of school.  She is dead!  Snopes is an excellent site to find out if these rumors are true or not.

11.  Emails stating that Obama might be the antichrist.

12.  Little boys bathrooms.  (Stinky!)  Also cat litter that hasn’t been changed.

13.  Eggplant.

14.  Children that leave their stuff where they drop it.

15.  Being told, “I don’t like that,” when I tell someone what is for dinner.

16.  Going out to eat for a special occasion and having crappy food.

17.  People that get paid to do something that they don’t do.

18.  Gossip.

19.  Dog smell.

20.  Dog drool.

21.  Sniffing dogs.

22.  Jumping dogs.

23.  The smell of the fish department of any store.

24.  People that need to get the last word in.

25.  When someone insists that they are right and you have the proof they aren’t, but you don’t say anything because you don’t want to offend them.

26.  Emails that state “if  you don’t send this to 10 people in ten minutes, you will have ten years of bad luck,” or other such luck related statements.

27.  When children don’t study for tests and say they are ready to take the test.  The same goes for children that say they practice, but you can tell they don’t.

28.  People that use the “f” word in every sentence they speak.

29.  Age spots.

30.  Gray hairs.

31.  Nylon socks.  They make my feet sweat, which in turn, makes them smell horribly.

32.  Having to shave my legs and then getting a nick.

33.  Trying to wax/shave my bikini line.

34.  When someone yells at my kids.

35.  When someone is mean to my kids.

36.   40 watt light bulbs.

37.  Spit up on my shoulder or down the front of my bra.  (Yes, that has happened.  All you can do is laugh.)

38.  Pencils that squeak when you write with them.

39.  Sleeping too late in the morning so you’ve thrown away your day.

40.  The smell of raw chicken.

You can see I have a maternity dress on now.

Elizabeth played “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”

As Daddy would say, “Isn’t she beautiful?”

Alex was a big help–and big as well!  He’s growing up!

This is me giving last minute instructions to my students.

David was the one taking pictures, so we don’t have one of his pretty face, but I will try to catch him at some point.

I took the cover off so that you could see those little wires and jacks and tiny switch crammed into that one inch by four inch metal box. There are nineteen different solder connections to make for each box.

I probably should have thought this whole thing through a little better.

It took me over two hours to complete the first one, so I am looking at ten hours of work ahead of me.

See, this is what happens when Davie gets bored – he creates little projects to keep him busy.

Very busy.