What I'm Thinking...

Meara's 2nd Birthday Pictures

2011-01-02T08:51:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures of Meara when she turned two in November.

Do not save or print these. The copyrights are reserved for the company that took them.

Keith on drums, xylophone, and singing

2009-07-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

Like all boys, Keith love to make noise. He uses these two wood boxes as drums and plays his xylophone. This time I asked, "What song is this?" He starts singing "Joy to the World" while playing.

Keith has been doing doing this since just after his 2nd birthday, when he got the xylophone. Click here for a video I posted over a year ago.

Her dream? To adopt a special needs child.

2009-06-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

This morning I turned off my alarm when it went off at 5:15 AM and went back asleep on accident. I rarely do this. I woke up 40 minutes later, did a splash sink bath, got dressed, contacts in, applied deodorant, brushed teeth, and was ready to go out the door with breakfast in hand in only 11 minutes.

With the morning starting like that, I needed some brain wake up time, so I decided to take a break from the audio book of "Foxes Book of Martyrs" that I've been listening to during my commutes for about two week. I turned on the local Christian radio station. The morning DJs were asking listeners to call or email about a time when they felt really loved and what made them feel that way. I was about halfway to work when the female DJ read an email that went something like this:

For our 15th anniversary, my husband wanted to do something really big. He gave me options like a complete remodel of the kitchen, buying a new car, and others things. After talking, he finally decided to help me fulfill my life long dream, which was to adopt a special needs child. We adopted a little boy who is so precious. Now every time I look at the cracked linoleum in the kitchen, it just reminds me how much my husband loves me.

Most woman would jump at the suggestion from their husbands that they update the kitchen or get a new car. Not this woman! Most men would get an adrenalin high just thinking of what new car they would get or of upgrading their 1300cc motorcycle to a faster and more powerful 1600cc. Not this husband! This woman's heart was set on providing for a little boy that few would desire or even consider.

My point? If we each finished the sentence, "My life long dream is to _______," we would have a wide range of answers. Many would be obtaining something physical (a house, etc.) or having some experience (traveling the world, etc.), but how many would show the love and sacrifice that this woman's life long dream speaks of.

After the female DJ read the email, the male DJ was audibly chocked up the first sentence he spoke. I was chocked up right along with him. Her love is touching and inspiring. I'm not suggesting that every person must adopt a special needs child, or even that every person needs to adopt. What I am suggesting is that the hearts of most Christians are set on physical things or experiences that will excite us, and not on the things of God's heart. Where is God's heart? With the orphans and widows, the lowly and downcast. Examine a couple verses with me:

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27

He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. Deuteronomy 10:18

These are things that the Lord has been stirring in my heart a lot since the start of 2009. Shannon and I really are not attached to physical things ourselves, nor do we go chasing fun experiences just to feel good. However, the cutting truth is that we have not given much time or resources to help the most vulnerable of the world in years. When it hit me, that time has flown by with me having done so little, all I could do was repent. All I could do was have a heavy heart when I realized that God's church has nearly completely handed over to our government the job of caring for the orphan and the widows (and others in need). We are the ones with the mandate from our Lord to care for them, yet we are content in our disobedience to let our government do it for us.

You will be seeing more bloging, tweeting, and writing on Facebook from me on this topic and some others. My hope is to raise awarness, and provide some ways that you can get involved. Pray with me that God would stir our hearts until we are in line with His desires. Pray that His Church would become the bride that he desires, one that has affection set on Him and not the shiny plastic and metal goodies of our world. Pray that God would cleanse your own heart. All for His glory.

(If it interest you, you continue reading verses about orphans here.)

An Email Exchange- Feedback please!

2009-04-26T23:35:00.001-07:00

(this will be written quickly so I can go the bed. I'm not proof reading)

I get occasional emails from an organization that is for the prevention of Shaken Baby Snydrome (SBS). SBS is a very real and serious problem, as 5,000 children under 15 die every year just from being shaken violently. I don't know how I got on the email list for this org, but I've stayed on it because they put out good content.

Many of you may have heard last week about Apple somehow approving an application for the iPhone that had a picture of a baby crying. If you haven't heard, here are the sick details: the only way to stop the baby from crying is to shake the iPhone very hard. Once you've shaken hard enough, two red x's appear over the baby's eyes, simulating that you killed the baby. That's it, baby cries, you shake baby, baby dies, then try again to beat your time. Pretty sick! Well, as it should, news blew up that this app somehow got approved for download, Apple manager's removed the app just two days after it had been posted, and then issued a statement the following day saying the app was "deeply offensive" and "should not have been approved." They further said, "we sincerely apologize for this mistake." This satisfied me. Big companies will have mistakes made by employees. I thought Apple handled it well by pulling the app and saying it was "deeply offensive."

So, Saturday an email arrives from the SBS prevention org saying they are organizing a 15 city demonstration against Apple and AT&T (the exclusive cell carrier of the iPhone). Here is the important part of the email:

6. On Wednesday morning when we were made aware of this sick application we called on Apple to do 3 things:
a. Immediately remove the application
b. Steve Jobs to issue a public apology to the families and victims of Shaken Baby Syndrome and to provide a full accounting for how this was vetted and launched and to find out who was responsible
c. Develop a comprehensive plan to mitigate the damages it has caused to the many prevention advocacy efforts throughout the country

7. On Wednesday night Apple pulled the application WITHOUT COMMENT

8. On Thursday afternoon Apple issued the following written statement after considerable national media attention:
"This application was deeply offensive and should have not been approved for the distribution on the App Store. When we learned of this mistake, the app was removed immediately. We sincerely apologize for this mistake and thank our customers for bringing this to our attention."

It was pretty clear this was not an apology but a statement to the media to end the story and their responsibility. It was not an apology to the families and victims who are dealing with the consequences of Shaken Baby Syndrome every day! As you can see from our press release today, we will make sure Apple and their exclusive iPhone partner, AT&T take full responsibility for their actions/inactions.

I thought their response to this debacle was way over handed and replied, hoping for a listening ear, with the following:

I just wanted to say that I think you're being way over the top in taking this to the level of a 15-city demonstration against Apple. To be clear, I do not own any Apple products, so I have no consumer connection to them. Every large company makes mistakes, especially when humans are 'vetting' things. No doubt some employee reviewed this iPhone app, didn't see blood, sexual images, etc. and thought it was fine to approve, without considering the possible negative emotional impact on the general public. Once it was brought to the company's attention, they took it down, and within one day they issued a statement saying it was "deeply offensive" and "should have not been approved." I think they were clear that is was a mistake. Further they said, "we sincerely apologize for this mistake."

I think you're making a knee-jerk reaction to this, and you would get better press by thanking Apple for removing the application and agreeing that is was deeply offensive. My concern is that you are going to make yourself and your organization look worse and not good by not being understanding that companies make mistakes. I think more people would look at your cause and organization in a positive light by putting a positive spin on this, rather than jumping on any mistake a large company makes.

I was pleasantly surprised to get a personal reply and request for further feedback:

Josh,
Thanks for your response and your constructive criticism. Below is the letter we sent to the Apple and AT&T's Boards and I would like to know your thoughts on the actions we are asking them to take and whether you think these are reasonable. Also, for a few reasons we are not going to have 15 days worth of demonstrations (not realistic, it takes away from the positive message of the American PABI Heroes Tour, and there are a bunch of families who want to express themselves that arent in those cities). We are very hopeful Apple will take immediate actions to prevent a tragedy from occurring.
Thanks again,

(part of the letter sent to Apple and AT&T's board members):

Your legalistic, generic apology was clearly not directed towards the many families and victims suffering every day from the consequences of Shaken Baby Syndrome.

Here are three very concrete proposals I hope you will strongly consider and will demonstrate that both of your organizations are taking your corporate responsibility seriously:

1) work directly with Dr. Desmond Runyan and Dr. Robert Murphy (two of the leaders in the United States with preventing Shaken Baby Syndrome who are cc’d on this letter) to address the immediate children/adults who downloaded the “BABY SHAKER” app to ensure they have the proper understanding that shaking a baby to quiet a baby is wrong and harmful

2) Mr. Tim Cook (acting CEO of Apple) to attend the 2-hour panel discussion Dr. Runyan is Chairing with other leading national experts about Prevention of Abusive Head Trauma on May 6, 2009, at The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill; this is part of our 15-city National PABI Heroes Tour (www.pabitour.com)

3) After the 2-hour panel discussion, announce a joint effort between Dr. Desmond Runyan (UNC-Chapel Hill), Dr. Robert Murphy (Duke), Apple and AT&T utilizing the creative and technological resources of Apple and AT&T to work on the Prevention of Shaken Baby Syndrome and to offer a personal apology to the families and victims of Shaken Baby Syndrome.

And here is my reply back to them:

Thank you for your reply and request for further feedback from me. I completely understand the seriousness of SBS. My wife and I have a 3 year old and 6 month old, so I know how fragile infants are. I passionately love my children, and it breaks my heart to think that ANYONE could shake an infant, or even harm a baby in any way. I would gladly adopt 20 babies to prevent them from SBS or any abuse.

Having said that, I still think that your request is 2/3 unreasonable. Of your three proposals , number 1 is the reasonable one. I think it is within reason to request that Apple issue a statement speaking directly to those that downloaded the app, reinforcing the SBS is a killer and disabler and that no child should ever be shaken... etc.

Proposals 2 and 3 seem unreasonable. Because an employee at Apple that is tasked with vetting apps thought the app was within their policy and approved it, now you want the acting CEO to attend a two hour forum, and then commit to a joint effort that includes using their technology. This seems totally not in line with the offense that was committed. Had Mr. Cook, or a board member been responsible, I'd say they should attend a forum at the least, but they weren't.

If your child got in a fight, wouldn't you think it unreasonable for YOU be asked to attend anger management classes, and then be required to volunteer YOUR time to counseling youth that have anger issues. It just seems out of line for the offense committed to try to require Apple and AT&T to be drawn into a partnership with an organization they have no relationship with over a temporary mistake that a lower level employee made, when the company rectified it fairly quick when it was brought to the upper level.

Again, I think you would do more good for getting prevention of SBS publicity if you took the positive part of this (thanking Apple managers for responding in a timely manner once they were aware, and for agreeing that the app was deeply offensive) than letting passion/anger for a low level mistake take over and ask unreasonable demands of the company.

I'd be interested in your thoughts on this response. Time for bed. = )

Josh

So, is it just me or do you agree that the SBS organization is taking the wrong approach? Am I wrong? Somewhere in between?

Family Picture Day!

2009-04-18T21:21:00.001-07:00

Here are the family pictures we took today at Kiddie Kandids in Southcenter. Keith just turned three this past week and Meara is five months. The pictures came out great. We wanted to get one of Keith holding Meara, but Keith was feeling stressed out by that point and didn't want to. We'll just enjoy the cute ones of Keith holding her that we've taken at home.

If any family (or friend) want some pictures, comment or message me on Facebook and I'll let you know the price.

A Letter to Keith

2009-04-14T22:27:00.000-07:00

Keith,

This is the first letter I’m writing to you. Three years ago I welcomed you into the world with my own hands (home birth, I assisted midwife). All of my adult life, I’ve known I would look forward be being a daddy some day, but I never could have imagined the immense joy that I have felt over the last three years with you. From day one, I have been so happy to be your daddy.

Your first year was full of many joys as you developed, learned to sit up, hold objects, make new sounds, role over, crawl, pull up on furniture, and say “dada” and “mama.” You took your first real steps a week after your first birthday. You learned quickly how to chase and run. Still, every day when I get home from work, you say, “Run, dada?” and we run and chase each other through the house for 5 – 10 minutes. We do this at least twice a day Saturday and Sunday as well. It is always fun and it never gets old to me. It is special every time you make something with you toys or do something in another room, and come running to where I am saying, “Dada, come look! Dada, come look!” You want me to see what you did, and want to see my happiness in you.

This past year brought a couple changes for you. First, we bought a house and moved. You had no trouble at all adjusting to the new home, and went to sleep in you new room the first night with no trouble. A few months after moving, Meara was born. You were so excited about mommy having a baby. The months before Meara’s birth, you would ask me or mommy to swaddle one of your animals every night and you called it a baby and would snuggle with it. You were playing with Grandma in the living room when Meara made her first cry from our bedroom (home birth). You instantly came knocking on our door saying, “mama.... baby.... mama... baby... baby!” You really wanted to see your baby sister. Meara is now five months, and you have been a great big brother. Just last night, you asked to hold her and were so gentle hugging her and kissing her head, while saying, “Hi, baby Meara,” many times. You often show baby Meara your books and toya. Meara likes to watch you play, and when you notice her smiling at you, you get very happy. Mommy and I really look forward to when Meara and you can play and run together.

It is with much anticipation that I look to the next year of your life. In just the last six month, you’ve mastered you ABC’s, counting to 10, all the colors, most basic shapes, every animal we can think of, and much more. And, thankfully, long gone are the days you couldn’t communicate what you wanted or needed.

Having you as my son has opened my heads to the love of our Father God in incredible ways. I thank God often for blessing us with our intelligent, quick moving, soft hearted boy. Our God has such a wonderful plan for your life. The most important thing I can hope and pray for you is that you will develop a personal, real, and close relationship with God, and our Savior Jesus. I look forward to being a part of the work that Christ will do in you.

In the last three years, I have smiled bigger than I knew was possible and cared more deeply than I knew I was capable of. I have been frustrated one moment, and laughing our loud the next. Our good times far out number the hard times, and the sacrifice of being your daddy is done with much happiness. You are a joy to have as a son.

With all my love,

Daddy

Day of birth:

Recent:

Business Update

2009-04-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since that last blog post, so here's an update. Shannon and I made a list of priorities and a couple things topped the list above finishing building the business and launching. I'm working those couple things in the little free time that I have, so I can move on to getting the business off the ground. I still have every intention of launching the business, it just won't be as quick as I had originally wanted.

Shortly after the last post, I had some calls with some programs. As I said on the call with Dave Ramsey, I can just about sell it today (with a little finish up work), but it will be a fair amount of manual work for me to start. I wanted to talk to the programmers to see what the cost would be to build my 'stage 1' system that would give me more automation. The price came back higher than what I could afford (which isn't much). The programmers did have a great understanding of what I'm going after, the end product, and even had some ideas I hadn't thought of. Once I launch and test how large of a market I can tap, I may come back to them to have some work done.

Word is getting around. Since my last post, I've talked to two friends in Texas that don't read my blog. They both heard by word of mouth that I was starting a business. I shared the idea with them and both thought it was a great idea and offered me some good feedback.

So, that's about it for now. I continue to pray for wisdom and insight and trust God for the timing that I'm taking.

My Business & Dave Ramsey's Straight Talk

2009-02-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

If you follow me on twitter, you've seen me mention a business idea a couple times in the last week:

I've been sitting on an idea for about 1 1/2 years. I registered a website almost a year ago, built my system, and ran some self test. The service would be for small to medium sized business to use to contact and communicate with their customers, brand build, and offer deals and discounts directly to mobile devices (cell phones, PDA, iPhone). It would also be for non-profits and churches/youth groups to communicate with members. From my demos, it works great and I've received positive feedback from the friends and family I've demoed the system for. I'm not yet ready to give full details and the website, but should in the next 2 or 3 weeks.

At the New Year, I gave myself a goal of June 1st to decide if I was going to launch the business or not. Given that I would be doing this in addition to my full-time job, it would be a sizable undertaking to begin with. As I said above, the personal demos have been well received, but I've wanted to get professional feedback. Two weeks ago I reached out to a contact I made via twitter, who has been involved in entrepreneurial companies and with investors who will back start-ups. After emailing him the details of the service and how it would work, her are some of his comments:

"I think you've got a golden idea that seems ready for initial sales
efforts...If it is ready and you can start selling, it is very likely that you
could be easily living off this by the end of the year. I say that because
I used to work for an Angel investing group, so I've been on the investing side
of a lot of deals that were ready to go full-time, and it sounds to me like
yours might be."

Of course, I was very glad to get the positive professional feedback. Now, here's the thing- many start-ups now a days gain a foundation of clients/users, and then go for what's called Angel Investment. Angel Investor are are groups of people that have wealth and put up money to "back" small companies. Many times, this gives the company the money they may have needed to take their idea big time, but their are trade offs. The Angels become part owners of your company, and you now have a large debt (usually anywhere from $250k - $5 million) with a high interest rate, and now have outside pressure to make a profit. The decision I've been weighing the last week has been if I should try to win Angel investing after having an initial customer base and therefore proving my system, or just keep it all in house, build it as the profits allow, and not sell over part of my company to some wealthy guys.

This lead me to call into the Dave Ramsey show yesterday. If you don't know, the show is a national financial talk and call-in show. Dave is know for his straight talk and total opposition for going into debt. Knowing this, I had a good idea of what his advice would be on seeking investors, but I also wanted to see if he would offer perspective that I didn't have. Dave actually took a whole segment to talk to me and gave many great comments and a good perspective. I was able to catch the call on rebroadcast just after I got home yesterday and recorded it. Give it a listen:

Shannon and I are in agreement with Dave's comments- to start small, build it from the inside, and go one stage at a time. What's your feedback on Dave's comments? Hopefully some of my twitter followers that are entrepreneurs and into start-up backing will give some comments.

I'm going to start blogging my experience for others who may be interested to learn. Even if I end up deciding not to launch the business, it will still be a great learning experience with all the research and networking that I've been able to do.

(To my co-workers that follow/subscribe to my blog- I've cleared everything with Ethics. No conflict of interest exist, and I'm free to pursue this.)

Keith & Meara Floor Time

2009-02-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

Keith likes to lay on the floor with Meara when she has her tummy/floor time. Here are some pictures Shannon took of them together and a video of Keith giving Meara kisses. Keith has become such a loving big brother.

Snow out the window:

Jason Upton - "Father of the Fatherless"

2009-01-29T12:17:00.000-08:00

This is Jason Upton singing "Father of the Fatherless" and sharing the story of his own adoption in 1974. Many songs about God being a father, or us being loving fathers to our own children, really touch me. Their is just something about worshiping God for who he is as Father.

Thanksgiving with Meara

2008-12-02T12:58:00.001-08:00

Shannon just posted some great pictures on her blog of Meara and I taken on Thanksgiving. What a cute doll!

Check 'em out here.

Why Bell not Belle

2008-11-23T02:11:00.000-08:00

Here is more information on why we gave Meara the middle name Bell, like the metal object, rather than Belle, which was popularized by the Disney movie, the Beauty and the Beast, and means "beautiful."

As I said in the post announcing her name, a bell is an object that is used usually for joyous occasion or to call people together for a gathering (like church, school, or a community meeting). Most people think of joy or strength when they think of bells, especially the Liberty Bell, which has served as an icon of liberty and justice for the United States, and is inscribed with part of the verse Leviticus 25:10:

Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof Lev. XXV X

Another reason we chose Bell is that one of Shannon and My favorite songs is "Easter Song" by Keith Green, which opens with the lyrics:

Hear the bells ringing they're singing that we can be born again
Hear the bells ringing they're singing Christ is risen from the dead

What more joyous things can bells be used for than to sing out that we can be born again and that Christ is risen?

Here is "Easter Song" by Keith Green:

Lastly, we named our son Keith in part because we like Keith Green's music so much, and because he was so passionate for God and reaching the outcast, so it connects Keith and Meara's names together in way.

Best Big Brother & Little Sister

2008-11-19T21:28:00.000-08:00

Today we put Keith in his "Best Big Brother" shirt and Meara in her "Little Sister" shirt. Below are some of the great pictures and a video that we took. Keith is still totally infatuated with "the baby girl," and he's starting to learn her name. Keith loves to kiss Meara every time he sees her.

Yesterday, Meara became our newest one week old, and what a joy she is! Having Keith and Meara make us feel like one of the most blessed couples alive! It is certainly not all glitz and glitter, but every difficult moment is worth it. At Keith's age right now, he is requiring a lot of work in the limits and consistency departments. In between his loving & sweet nature, he tries to push the limits and do things he knows he shouldn't at times. Also, for the next year Meara will demand a lot of attention from Shannon. We both will get much less sleep than normal for months to come, but we really wouldn't trade it for the world! It is an absolute privilege to be trusted with the care of our children's hearts!

It breaks my heart to hear stories about parents not giving of themselves to their children like the children need. To quote a blogger I've been reading lately, Randy Bohlender, much of today's culture says:

"Kids are commodities, not responsibilities. Parenting is a magazine, not a life of sacrifice."

I can't say it any better. Our children are our responsibility and they require us to sacrifice. I am continually thinking of how I can love Keith more, and considering what he needs from me at the season he is in (I have more on this to say for a separate blog post). God's heart is for us all, but He loves these little ones with a great passion. We should all be praying that God would give us the passion for our children that he has for them. Just think how that could change a generation!

The Scare of My Decade

2008-11-17T17:44:00.000-08:00

This morning I had the scare of my decade.

It had been a while since Keith and I wrestled on our bed, which is one of Keith's favorite things to do. We got to wrestling this morning. I was playing pretty rough with Keith, tossing and flipping him like normal while be cracked up. After one flip, he rolled over on his back and started screaming with big tears. The worst part was that he was just laying their and hardly moving his legs or arms, like he may of had a back or neck injury and couldn't move. It was like the scenes in moves where the camera is looking down on the person when they say painfully, "I can't feel my legs." He just laid their almost motionless, while a horrible feeling was knotting up in my stomach.

See, lately when Keith gets hurt, he doesn't like to be hugged a bunch, he just walks around on his own crying until he's over it. So it was very scary that he was just laying their. This went on for probably three minutes (but felt like 10 minutes) while I asked where he hurt and is he OK, all while praying. I was on the verge of crying, hoping that he didn't have a serious injury. His tears finally stopped after what seemed like forever. I didn't want to move him in case he had an injury, so I asked if he wanted to keep playing to see if he could move on his own. He gave a whimpering "yes" and rolled on his stomach for about 10 seconds, and then he and sat up. I asked where he was hurt, etc., but he isn't at the age to be able to communicate that kind of detail. A couple minutes later he has jumping on me again like nothing happened. We played and made a tent under the covers for about 10 more minutes, but I was being much more gentle and I was still, and still am now, pretty shook up by what happened.

This afternoon Keith and I went to the park and got to see the "gucks" (ducks) and play on the playground. Keith had a great time!

And The Name Is...

2008-11-13T09:50:00.001-08:00

Meara Bell

Meara (MEER ah) (like dear or hear)- merry, jolly, jovial, mirthful. Origin: Irish/Gaelic

We really like the sound of Meara and it is also very unique. Mirth is not the same as myrrh, which was one of the gifts brought to Jesus from the wise men. Here is the meaning of mirthful and mirth:

Mirthful- (adj.) joyous; jolly. Full of gladness. Characterized by or expressing gladness: a mirthful laugh.

Mirth- (noun)- gaiety or jollity, especially when accompanied by laughter. amusement or laughter: He was unable to conceal his mirth.

Mirth Synonyms: Merriment; joyousness; gladness; fun; frolic; glee; hilarity; festivity; jollity

Bell- A bell is an object that is used usually for joyous occasion or to call people together for a gathering.

We had a good night. Meara slept well. We actually had to wake her to eat twice. Shannon and I were both up from 12:30 - 2:30 AM, and then I woke briefly with them at 4:30 AM to get Shannon water and a snack, then I got some sleep before Keith woke up.

We got some good pictures of her with her eyes open, see below. Also, here's our first family picture and one of Shannon's mom with Meara. I'll get the videos of Keith with her up when I can.

Thank you to everyone that has commented the last couple days with your congratulations and well wishes! You are all a blessing to us, and we appreciate your gladness for us!!

Update on the Fantastic Four

2008-11-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of Shannon and our girl. The pictures of me with her were taken by Shannon's mom on her camera and I have to get them from her.

We are all doing well. Shannon is feeling pretty good and the baby is resting and nursing well... thank you, Lord! (remember, Keith had to go to the hospital at 8 days to get a fluid IV because he wasn't nursing well and was getting dehydrated and too lethargic.)

And, we are very close to a name. I should be able to share it latter this evening when I put up more pics and some videos.

Keith LOVES his little sister. He can't stop giving her kisses, patting her head and touching her body parts while saying "feet!" "hair!" "knees!" "toes!" "elbows!". He got to hold her a little while ago and he was SO excited. We videoed and I'll get it up this evening with more pics. I'm also going to write out the whole birthing experience in the next couples day while it's fresh in my mind... ya know, since it's not every day that you deliver your own baby on your own. I'll share it when I'm done.

Meet Our Daughter!

2008-11-11T22:45:00.001-08:00

Our newest blessing was born at 6:22 PM (PST) today, November 11th. Yes, just 4 hours ago. She weighted in at 7 lbs., 5 oz. (Keith was 9 lbs., 8 oz.) and is 20 inches long (Keith was 21 3/4). She is beautiful and we are so thankful to the Lord already for having her.

We do home birth, which is so peaceful and great because you're at home! However, it does run the risk of labor happening fast and your midwife not making it in time. Midwives give a crash course on delivering a baby in unlikely event that this happens. Well, it happened! Shanon's labor really kicked in about 5:00 PM and bad traffic held up our midwife, so I was the midwife. I delivered our daughter myself, with the midwife in transit on the phone. It was awesome (not that I recommend it though)! I wasn't nervous, just doing what I knew I had to do. By the time the midwife arrived shortly after, she was already nursing very well and looking around at Shannon and I. She is now contently sleeping, and Shannon and I are about to join her.

So, add to my titles, obstetrician!

We have not yet decided on her name... such a big decision takes time sometimes. We'll probably decide in the morning.

Christmas Video Preview

2008-11-10T16:35:00.000-08:00

All of the Washington family relatives are making videos to show at Christmas. The ones who have no kids, Shannon's sister and her husband, are already done with theirs and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet. The ones that have grand kids and own a business, Shannon's parents, are over half way done. The ones with a toddler and a child due any second, Shannon and I, just started on ours today. I sat down while Keith was napping today to peruse for humorous things I could do. This instantly came to me and will be somewhere in our Christmas video.

The others only have dial-up internet (I can't even remember what that was like), so they don't check our blogs.

38 week Maternity Pictures

2008-10-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

I took pictures of Shannon this past Saturday, a couple days before her being 38 weeks pregnant. Here are a few of the pictures and a link to Shannon's blog to view the rest. Shannon is beautiful always, but she shines when she is pregnant!

Check out the rest of the pictures at: http://greenchandelier.blogspot.com/

Cheesy Smiles and Lovin' the Baby

2008-10-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

Lately Keith gets this awesome, cheesy smile when we point the camera at him. In the second picture, I'm copying him. In the video, Keith thinks I’m about to take a picture and doesn’t know I’m videoing, which was great because I caught his smile. After posing for a while and waiting for the flash, he looks at me like, “come on and take it,” and then poses again. Shannon and I have watched this several times and love it!

Keith is all into babies right now. We bought a new baby bouncer seat, which is still in the box in our room. Every time Keith is in our room, he points at the baby on the box and says with much excitement, “a baby, a baby!” At the appointment with our mid-wife last week, Keith was really doting over our mid-wife’s one month old that was there. Keith also likes to pull up Shannon’s shirt and kiss her bare belly, and pat it and say, “baby.” He also now likes us to swaddle his ‘frog’ (which is more like a bear) that he sleeps with. When it’s swaddled, he calls it a baby.

Here’s a video of Keith having fun with the “baby’s car seat” after I pulled it out of storage to get it set up in the car.

In other news, we’re now just three weeks from Shannon’s due date. Shannon is feeling good, other than being tired (partially from having a hard time finding a comfortable sleeping position). We’re now on weekly check-ups. We’re using the same mid-wife we did with Keith. Her office is north of Seattle, up where we lived when we first moved to Washington. Since we live down south of Seattle now, the drive to the appointments is 1.5 hours each way. This is a bummer, but we love this mid-wife and didn’t want to look for another. We’ll be done with appointments soon and then we’ll be using a local pediatrician.

In more other news, if an apple a day keeps the doctor away, you can thank Washington State for keeping you out of the doctor’s office. I knew apples were one of our top state exports, but I heard on the radio that the apple crop this year is expected to the 1.2 million boxes (up from 99 million last year), with each boxes holding 40 pounds of apples. To save you the math, that’s 4,080,000,000 pounds of apples coming out of our state this year. You’re welcome!

Who Am I Voting For?

2008-10-06T08:46:00.001-07:00

This is a reply to a question I was asked on someone else's blog. I mentioned on the other blog that I was not planning to vote for McCain/Palin, and was asked if I was planning to vote for Obama. Below is my reply.
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Am I voting for Obama? No

McCain and Obama aren't the only options, but most people think they are. The Republican and Democrat parties work hard to keep other parties out of debates, and therefore from getting much media coverage. Most Republicans keep voting for Republican just because they don’t want a Democrat to be elected, and most Democrats keep voting Democrat just because they don’t want a Republican elected. Think about it yourself; do you really want to vote for McCain? Probably not. Most of my friends supported two or three other candidates during the primaries, and hinted that they may not even vote if McCain got the Republican nomination. Most of those same friends will now vote for McCain just because they see him as better than Obama. So, they'll take the “lesser of two evils.”

Both parties know most of their supporters see them as the lesser of two evils, and therefore they can not afford to let the idea that a “3rd party” could really get involved in the races. Did you know that the Constitution party had 3 venues for debates scheduled and ready to go, but both McCain and Obama turned down the invitations to debate? Why would they do that? If they both showed up, you know the national press would carry it! So why wouldn't they let someone else in on the debates? They know most people in their party are much less than 100% content with their principles, and are taking the lesser of two evils. They can not afford to let someone else, a “3rd party,” show they have better ideas and become more attractive to the people.

If all Americans were truly exposed to the “3rd parties” (and especially Republicans exposed to the Constitution party) I’d say one of them would win the presidency within 2-3 election cycles. Does anyone truly believe we’re going to get real change from either McCain or Obama? Both parties have been promising the same things they are this time around for a while. Both parties have had the presidency in the last 15 years, and both parties have expanded government, reduced individual rights, taken Socialistic moves, and the Republican party has done nothing to end abortion on demand. The Republican party no longer walks out their principles. The only way we're going to get back to true principles is to elect a new party that actually still has those principles.

So, to the underlying question, who will I be voting for? I plan to vote for Chuck Baldwin with the Constitution party. I’ll say more about Chuck Baldwin soon, but I encourage anyone to hit his website to read about the issues, and watch the videos below and others on this site.

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the
sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." -- John Quincy Adams
Baldwin on the Issues:
Baldwin Commercial:

More Words, "God, Two, and Go"

2008-10-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

Keith's word learning continues.

"God"

Keith started saying "God" last week. When he says God, he raises his hands up most of the time because we sing songs to him while raising our hands to worship, so he has learned to do the same.

Keith gets two books at nap and two at bedtime. This past Friday, after I read his two books with him at bedtime, he started getting out of bed and pointing toward his books. I told him to stay in bed, but he kept getting out, so I asked him what he wanted. He went over to his books and, while looking at me and raising his hands, said, "God. . . God," to tell me he wanted to read his Bible. It, of course, touched my heart. I said, "Do you want your Bible?" He got very excited, so we made an exception and he had a third book, his picture Bible. = )

Video: When he sees Jesus, he points and says, "God." Keith also likes David and Goliath, at least enough to tell you where the rock hit Goliath and say "boom." Jonah looks a bit like Jesus in the book, so he points at Jonah and said, "God" also.

"Two"

We've been working on Keith answering the question, "How old are you?" He started holding up two fingers last week, but just said "two" for the first time yesterday. Some times he holds up two fingers on one hand, and some times one finger on each hand (to total two).

Video: Keith holding up one finger on each hand. Cute.

"Go"

Keith LOVES to run and play hide and seek (even though he gives his hiding place away by screaming from excitement when we get close to his spot). Many arrivals home from work go like this-- walk in door, put stuff down, greet Shannon, greet Keith, Keith grabs my hand and points and says "hide" to me. This means it's time to run through the house. I say, "OK, let's count... 1..2..3, now say go," then Keith says, "go" and takes off running. This starts 10 - 15 minutes of running all through the house and hiding.

"Blue"

2008-09-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

Keith has known his colors by sight for some time (we ask, "where is green, yellow, red..." and he points to the right one), but he started saying "blue" a couple weeks ago. Now he points out everything that is blue. It can be something on TV, in a book, on a toy, a wall in his room, his shirt, my shirt, or Shannon's shirt. If it's blue, he points it out. It's pretty funny and cute.

Keith saying Blue:

Call Me Uncle!!!!!!!!

2008-09-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

Meet Rachel Elizabeth Peterson

My sister-in-law, Meredith, gave birth to a little girl today. This is Jeremy and Meredith's first baby . Rachel Elizabeth was born at 11:58 AM (just before noon) Central time by c-section, and was exactly 7 pounds and 19 inches. Jeremy said he and Meredith both cried when they were holding her the first time. Rachel has brown hair. Jeremy said Meredith is doing well and resting good. Everyone is happy and healthy! Praise the Lord!

Here is a cell phone picture Jeremy sent me. She is incredible cute!! Shannon and I wish we could be in Texas to snuggle with her and be with Jeremy and Meredith.

Gorgeous! (Pregnant Pictures)

2008-09-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Shannon while she's been pregnant. Most women have a "happy glow" when they're pregnant, and that's very true of Shannon. She is very gorgeous!

We're really anticipating the arrival of our little girl in just seven weeks (or maybe less). We have not decided on a name yet. Keith wasn't named until hours after his birth, and it could be the same with our girl.

16 Weeks - May 24th

23 Weeks - July 14th
30 Weeks - September 1st
33 Weeks - September 22nd (today)

Below are other pictures we took today in our front yard, at the same time as the 33 week picture.

I played with the accent feature on our camera. Mostly black and white, with some green and blue accents. Pretty cool, huh? Very cute picture of Ketith kissing mommy too!
Countdown for baby girl: