Manuka's Place

Spring Training 2009

2009-03-01T22:13:00.000-08:00

Long time no post...I know. Just a short update today. This past weekend I took what has become an annual trek across the desert to the Phoenix area to catch some spring training baseball. It has become an annual trip with church and we had about 25 people this year. I call it a work trip because I usually do devotions with the group at some point (it is a veiled attempt at work at least). This year we took in three games. On Thursday we saw the Diamond backs and the Indians in a brand new stadium for Cleveland in Goodyear AZ. Good facility, no shade, but I will return. On friday we went out to Surprise (yes that is a town) to see the Cubs and the Rangers. Love that park! Great opportunity to get balls during batting practice. Good accessibility to the players and FREE parking. Saturday we made our way to Maryvale to see my Angels take on the Brewers. We sat in the shade the whole time and had the best location of the three. The weather was great the company was fantastic and if you ever have the chance to make the trip, take it.

I really hope that heaven will be a combination of Spring Training and Oktoberfest. That would be the BEST!

Well the most interesting part of the trip came today as I was catching up on a few websites I frequent. One of them is Uni Watch. This site is dedicated to uniforms of all kinds. It is right up my alley. So tonight I was reading the post from Saturday and when I clicked on the first link on the post I was surprised to see a picture of me. Here is the link to the post and if you click on the link labeled "let's kick back" and you will see me relaxing all by myself. I must say it was pretty weird to be reading a site that you frequent and see a picture of yourself. Anyway... if you like sports and anything uniform related you will enjoy the site. That is it for now. Talk to you all later.

Long Overdue Update

2009-01-20T19:09:00.000-08:00

Well, well, well...here I am typing away at the blog that has been long since neglected. Hard to say why I have not taken the opportunity to continue my updates here but needless to say that what was once a weekly thing will most likely continue to be haphazard at best. So don't get your hopes up of constant updates. If you really want to keep up with me on a daily or weekly basis, you might need to join Facebook.

In any event here are the highlights since I last posted:

#1- On the 23rd of December our family was in court to get the official stamp of approval. What we have know for a long time was recognized by the State that we are a forever family. It was a great day filled with positive emotions and good times. The next time you are at my house, please ask to see the video of that great day.

#2- Christmas was great and can be described in one word--Barbie! Barbie movies, and dolls, and clothes (Ken even got some) and last but not least, a new Barbie car! The girls were in heaven.

#3- The day after Christmas as Jill and I were out shopping and at a movie (first time in a while) our oldest used her scissor skills to give her brand new Barbies new looks in the hair department. Then she turned the scissors on herself and chopped some pretty big chunks out of her hair. She looks a little strange but she nothing a clip or two can't help.

#4- New Years was celebrated on Eastern time in our house, watching the ball drop live. It is funny how times have changed!

#5- This past weekend we celebrated the baptisms of our girls. It was a special thrill for me to be able to baptize them. Although our youngest wiped off each splash of water, I know that God has claimed these girls as his very own. After church we had a big party at our house. We had Juan Pollo cater the meal and as I have stated in an earlier post that is the BEST chicken in the world.

So there are the highlights. Many other things have happened but I don't have the time to go into all of them here. I pray that all is well with you and yours. Until I post again...

Big News

2008-12-02T22:12:00.000-08:00

So, I know that this blog has been neglected for quite a while here. It just seems that my time is very short these days. Thank God for Facebook updates so many of you can still keep up. But today is a day to broadcast.

On December 23rd our family will be in court to become a family officially. That is right folks, the long strange trip called adoption will be final before the end of the year. Merry Christmas to us!! After years of struggle our girls will have their case closed. What a relief!! Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers the past two years.

More info to come, but for now raise a glass and say a toast, because today is a day to celebrate!

October 31st

2008-10-31T15:17:00.000-07:00

Yeah, Yeah...busy, busy, no other excuse for not posting. I have a few minutes while the girls are napping to give you a quick update and a homage to this day.

Jill has been gone all week in Seattle at a conference so thanks to some good friends, I survived. The girls are really excited to go trick-or-treating tonight. Our oldest has a great butterfly costume but she is rebelling and will most likely go as Tinkerbell. Our youngest was going to be a ladybug but now that her sister is going at Tink, she wants to be Cinderella. We got some pumpkins today and I tried my hand a carving a bat. I think it went pretty well (I used a pattern, I'm not that good). I will post pictures later (maybe). The girls pumpkins are like Mr. Potato Heads. Jill has some cool pieces that make a pirate pumpkin and a princess pumpkin, potato head style. We will do those once the girls wake up.

My time is running out and I still need to do some cleaning up before the girls wake up but I wanted to leave you with a few videos for the other holiday today. Enjoy...

Nail Polish

2008-09-23T19:47:00.001-07:00

There are a few things that I do not do as a dad. #1 Playdough- I hate the stuff. It stinks, it gets all over the place, bits of dirt and sand get in it not to mention hair (gross). So the girls pretty much know not to ask me to do playdough. #2 Nail Polish- Some of you know I am very sensitive to smells and nothing sets me off more than nail polish and its evil cousin nail polish remover. That stuff is just vile. So, the girls paint their nails when I am not at home and that was the case a few weeks ago. This time was a bit different because the girls got their first crack at painting their nails by themselves. They loved it and when I got home I was greeted with the following from my oldest, "Dad, know what? Mommy let us paint our nails by ourselves and they are soooooo gorgeous." My youngest chimed in, "You wanna see mine? Mine are adorable!" They proceeded to show me their nails and now I must share with you. So please enjoy the magic that is my daughters self painted nails. If you click on the pictures you will see a bigger and more glorious version.

What a month...

2008-09-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a while and it may take some of you a while before you find that there is a new post but I have a few minutes to let you know that I am not dead or anything. The past month has been quite full. I have been adjusting to life after seminary and that comes with more meetings and other commitments at church that keep me busy. My ordination is on Sunday and I have been busy getting things in order for that. My home computer was in the shop for a week getting a new hard drive so I was out of computer land for a while. It was weird, I actually read the physical newspaper and a few magazines in the evening. It was quite refreshing. Nothing new to report in regards to the adoption, still waiting.

I did take my oldest to an Angel game a few weeks back. She had a blast and I think she will be my baseball buddy. She loved everything about the game, the snacks, the fireworks, the rally monkey, and dressing in her red shirt. She talks a lot about going back. I can't wait to take her. I leave you with the first picture I have posted of one of my children. My friend Sara took it at the game and I just love it. Enjoy...

Highlights

2008-08-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. We have had various family in town in between trips for me and trying to get in to the office on a regular basis and low and behold, not much extra time for posting. I guess this will be just be a highlight blog:

-The girls have finished up dance class, swim lessons and the last day of summer day camp is tomorrow so I hate to say that summer is wrapping up.

-The girls got new lunch boxes and they can't stop talking about them. Our oldest got a Tinkerbell one and our youngest has Disney Princesses.

-Jill has officially gone part time at school so she should have more time to devote to the student success program.

-I am off to San Carlos Mexico for a week of SCUBA diving with some buddies of mine. We are making the 16 hour drive and I am looking forward to getting away for a while.

- I know I have said this before, but we hope that adoption thing will be final by the end of October. It has been a long road and knowing how things go I will not be surprised if things go until January. Please keep praying!!

- We had a lot of family in town over the weekend. My parents were here along with my aunt, my sister and her family and two brothers. It was a blast being together again.

I am sure I could come up with a few more but I have to go to the bank and then get a haircut. I will be out of communication for about a week (and loving it) so I will post again late next week. Until then...

VACATION!!

2008-07-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

I am under the gun so I will make this quick. No free internet at the Welk Resort so the clock is ticking on my 30 min of internet use. We are all enjoying our vacation here in San Deigo. We went to Legoland yesterday. Very underwhelming. It was not bad, but not great. There were a few things that were run down, and some things that just did not work. It was evident that Disney was not in charge.

We did have an earthquake yesterday. We did not feel it but all the rides closed down for a while so they could do some safety checks. We touched base with our Long Beach friends and all was well with them and with our house as well.

We are taking a lazy day today, kicking back by the pool etc. and are on our way to Sea World in the morning. That is about all I have time for. I will post more later. Until then...

Standard Update

2008-07-22T20:16:00.000-07:00

I am back from Alaska and have just about caught up on sleep. This summer is turning out to be the babysitter shuffle with Jill and I passing at lunch. Jill has been working mornings and I go in at lunch when Jill gets back. This morning I took the girls to a movie. The Regal Cinemas in California show free movies on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. There is always a G and a PG option. We choose the G option today and saw The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything- A Veggie Tales Movie. The girls liked it but I thought it was a snoozer. In fact I think I did doze off a few times.

Jill also had to take a continuing ed class for our foster care license so I was on my own for swimming lessons, dinner, bath, and a video. As I type, the girls are watching Marry Poppins in the living room. This weekend is our niece's birthday party. She loves the color orange so she is having an orange party. It should be fun. We are also going on a short vacation down to San Diego. We will see some friends, spend time in the pool and go to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World. It should be fun. I will let you know how it goes later. Until then...

In Alaska

2008-07-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

Hey all. I am writing to you from beautiful Big Lake Alaska where I am joined by a team of others from church to teach VBS this week. Time is really short so I just wanted to direct you to our church's blog where we will be posting updates and some pictures from the week. Feel free to click here to go to the Bethany Blog. Talk to you all soon.

I am in Alaska mode!

2008-07-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

Well I made it. It is Tuesday and here I am giving an update. Not much to say today other than the countdown for Mission Alaska 2008 is on. I leave on Friday with 27 others from church to go to Alaska to teach VBS. I hope to blog about our experience next week on my work blog (www.bethanylutheran.blogspot.com). If it doesn't update then we have not found internet access but I am hopeful. This week brings with it the avalanche of phone calls to the airlines, the rental car company, the mission trip organizer, the site administrators, and a few others. Not to mention fielding questions from our own group. I am really looking forward to this year. Last year I had to leave early to attend class (boo!) but this year I am in for the duration. We have the largest group going this year every and that has its own challenges, but I am looking forward to seeing some old friends and meeting new ones. Well it is getting late and I need some rest.

One last thing, nothing new on the adoption front. The court date went well and we got good news regarding it but we still have not heard anything about finalization yet. I will keep you posted. I doubt I will post next week from Alaska unless we find a great connection. Talk to you in a few weeks.

A day late and a dollar short...

2008-07-02T21:09:00.000-07:00

Well it is now Wednesday night and I am typing up my Tuesday update. I guess better late than never. I really don't have much time but I did want to mention that we took the girls to their first movie in the theatre today. It was one of the girls friends birthdays and we all met at the beautiful El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Disney owns the place and they sure know how to do it up right. The place is beautiful, the pre-show was great and we all loved the Pixar movie WALL-E. I would highly recommend this film for all ages. If you are not fond of sharing a theatre with copious amounts of children, steer clear of the El Cap for this one.

The girls loved the movie. Our oldest was in heaven. She loved the "giant TV screen" (her words) and she was transfixed throughout the film. She laughed, she snuggled, and she asked a lot of questions. Our youngest was fine at first but towards the end she asked to go home. She even talked to the movie a few times which was super cute. After the movie we all went to their friends house for pizza and cupcakes. On the way home the girls fell asleep and are now zonked out in the next room. It was a great day and I am looking forward to taking them to another movie sometime soon. This is not a trailer but you can get an idea of what WALL-E is like from this short clip:

Have a great week and I will talk to you soon...

Where has the week gone??

2008-06-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

So my brother did a VBS post this week so I guess I will join him. This week is VBS at my home church. It is a blast but oh so much work. For the past few years I have coordinated the opening skits and this year I have taken over the whole opening program. I have not been the biggest fan of the curriculum that we have used the past few years but perhaps I can have some input next year. Our theme this year is "God's Big Backyard". It is a theme with potential and the kids seem to be having fun. Our girls are really liking VBS. I don't know what they will think next week where there is no more VBS to go to.

Our mission Alaska team also does a hot dog lunch as a fundraiser at the end of VBS so between directing puppets and cooking hot dogs it has been a busy couple of days. Not to mention that we had a flamingo triage set up today to fix a number of broken legs of our plastic gold mines. These birds have brought in over $2200 so far! If you are not sure what I am talking about you might want to scroll down and read the post about flamingos. Anyway it was quite a site with over 30 plastic birds lying on the stage in the gym. After about an hour they all got a clean bill of health and are off to infest more yards tonight.

Our mission trip to Alaska is coming up soon as well. We have been feverishly working on fundraising and we only need about $2000 more to make our goal. We leave on July 11th and return home on the 20th. It will be round two of VBS for many of us since that is the main thing we do in Alaska.

Tomorrow is a court date for the girls. We are cautiously optimistic that we may see the light at the end of the tunnel. We ask for your prayers so that this long and drawn out procedure comes to a close and everything will be final. I will keep you posted.

Well, I am going to cut it short tonight so good night and have a great week here in God's Big Backyard (sorry had a VBS flashback.......)

Summertime!!

2008-06-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

Summer has begun in our house and our schedules have been turned upside-down. This week the girls are going to Vacation Bible School with their cousins in Orange. So far it has been good but it is a drive in the AM and Jill and I have been juggling our work schedules to make it happen. The girls have been singing the songs and loving their time at VBS. Next week all the girls will be at VBS in Long Beach so the fun continues. The girls also started swim lessons today. This is their second year in swim lessons and they did not miss a beat. Our oldest was back at it floating on her back and jumping in the water. Our youngest was simply a fish...she was awesome and jumped in from the side on multiple occasions. We hope that by the end of the summer they will both be able to take some breaths and make it to the side of the pool without help.

With the end of the school year came a great surprise for me. When we picked up the girls last week we received a portfolio of the girls work for the year. It was a blast seeing the difference between what they did back in September compared to what they can do today. One thing that was neat to me was a sheet called "all about me". I found it fascinating how things have changed. Here is what our youngest said back in September:

Where do I live? (no answer)

My family is...mommy

My favorite animal is...a giraffe

My favorite food is...pizza

My favorite toy is... (no answer)

Here is what she said at the end of May:

Where do I live? A red house (well our door is red)

My family is... mommy, daddy, nanna, sister

My favorite animal is...an elephant

My favorite food is...bananas

My favorite toy is...cars

But the thing the really amazed me was her measurements. In September our youngest weighed 31 lbs and was 2 feet 3 inches. In May she weighed 36 lbs and was 3 feet tall. She grew NINE inches in one school year!!!! I knew she was growing but that is amazing.

Our oldest also had an "All About Me" page and here are her answers from September. It is a bit different because she had a different teacher.

My favorite color is...Red.

I like to eat...chicken nuggets

My favorite toy is...colors

My favorite story is...Mulan

I like to play...Teddy Bears

I like to wear...a skirt

When I am at school I like to...play on the swing

When I am at home I like to...play with toys

For those of you who know our oldest you can see that there are a few differences in this list today. Our oldest is not shy in telling you that her favorite color is most definitely blue, her favorite food is just about anything but she loves fruit, she still loves to color. Her favorite story is anything from Veggie Tales. She likes to play Barbies and still loves skirts. She loves to swing and at home she likes to sing and play with the housekeeping corner.

Well if you know me, you know that I like to keep stuff. I have a few boxes of treasures in the garage and in a few minutes the girls preschool portfolios will be added to the collection. I can't wait to pull them out in a few years and reminisce. Talk to you next week, until then....

Pedometers

2008-06-10T19:13:00.000-07:00

As I was strolling the dollar aisle a few weeks back with my girls, looking for celebration prizes I saw that there was a pedometer for just a buck. What a deal! (What does the Moorman bird say? Cheap, Cheap, Cheap!) I had always thought that having a pedometer would be cool. It would be neat to see how far one walks each day. I also thought that it would be a good motivational tool for me to stay active. So on May 23 I started wearing my new pedometer and did so every day for over a week. It was a good gage as to how active I was during the day. I started logging my steps every day as well. All was going well until on June 4th the darn thing broke. What can you expect from the dollar aisle? The thing did have a fatal flaw. The reset button was right up front and I unintentionally hit it on many occasions (see below). So now I am committed. I have gotten into a good habit and now the cheap step counter was not working. So off to Sports Chalet I go. After a bit of searching I found the pedometers and "walked" away with a new one (see picture) for a bit more than a buck. So my counting of steps continues and my goal is 10,000 a day. I will say I have made it only twice this past week but I did have two days of 9000+ so I am on my way. Today was 14,610 which included time at the gym and a walk to the grocery store. I guess my encouragement to you is to find something that works as stick with it. Until next week....

Flamingo Season

2008-06-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, two more weeks have gone by and no post from me. It seems that in all of my spare time since school has been out I have found ways to stay busy. Right now I am in the middle of flamingo season. What is flamingo season you may ask? Let me tell you...better yet, let me show you:

So I have been knee deep in flamingos and the season closes the end of the month. I hope that in the end we will have raised a good amount of money for our mission trip to Alaska. Well I am off to spread another flock to another yard. See ya!!

Wow...two weeks since my last post!

2008-05-20T19:04:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, so sorry for not posting last week but I was at the happiest place on earth with my girls. It was the first real day off I have had in a while so I used it to spend the day twirling in circles, waiting in line, and watching for princesses. I had to work all day today because of some scheduling reasons but I still wanted to post today.

Nothing new on the adoption front. Once again we are waiting for a court date. The next date is June 26th. And once again, we are hopeful that this will be the last one until a finalization hearing. I will keep you posted. We did find out that because things have taken so long, Jill and I have to renew our foster care license. That means that we have to take 18 hours of continuing education in the next few weeks. I have already completed six hours and Jill has done three. We both have to take the entire day off on Thursday to attend a foster and kinship care conference. It will be a long day but they will feed us breakfast and lunch at no cost. We hope to get at least six hours of continuing ed hours each for the day.

One quick thing from from our youngest. Her new phrase is "What in the heck in the world!" She says it when she is excited. We have just had a spell of hot weather here (90 + degrees) and we went to a friends condo to use the pool and when we told the girls, our youngest busts our her new phrase, followed quickly by her big sister who says, "Rock on Dude!" I am not sure where they pick these things up but they sure are funny.

I guess the biggest thing was my graduation a week or so back. Here are some pictures (thanks to my friend Josh for being the photographer).

My Great Aunt

2008-05-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow my Great Aunt Edna turns 100! What an accomplishment. She is my fathers aunt, my grandfathers sister and she lives in Indiana. She is something else. I have come to appreciate her more and more as I hear more about her. I want to share what her local paper said about her so you can get to know a bit about this wonderful lady. The following is from the Jackson County Tribune:

Her life, Her way

By JOANNE PERSINGER

Edna Moorman Dye remembers exactly what people said when she came home from Indianapolis and went to church at Borchers one particular Sunday.

"Edna Moorman's got a car!" was the first thing that was gasped.

"Oh, and she's driving it!" was the second.

That was in a time when women didn't, as a rule, drive a car, let alone own one. They didn't usually finish high school, either, and they especially didn't go away to the big city to go to business school.

Why should they, when they could go to work right away in a factory, or marry and settle down?

That might be what other young women did, but Edna had plans of her own, even when she was a youngster in school.

"When we were studying geography, I said, ‘I'm going to see that,' and everybody laughed at me."

As it turned out, Dye, who now lives in Seymour and will mark her 100th birthday on May 7, has been to all 50 states and several foreign countries. She lived for a time in Alaska before it became a state, and when she was 87, she visited the Panama Canal.

It would have been hard to predict the adventures she would have when she began life on May 7, 1908, in Bartholomew County. Born at home to August and Elizabeth Moorman, she grew up on a farm, complete with cows and pigs and chickens.

"We'd come home from school and Mom would say, ‘Change your clothes and feed the chickens,'" Dye said.

Kids today, she added, "don't know how good they've got it."

Dye and her sister, Frieda, and her brother, Roy, would walk two miles to school. Later, Dye drove a horse and buggy to school. She would get out for lunch 15 minutes early so she could feed the horse.

"Oh, those were the horse and buggy days," she laughed.

She graduated from Cortland in 1927, an accomplishment in itself. Many girls attended school only until they were 16, the required age at which the law allowed them to leave, but Dye was determined to graduate.

"I liked school," she said. "A lot of girls quit at 16."

Frieda had gone to work and was already making money, and, "the neighbors thought it was terrible" that Dye's parents were going to pay to send her to college when instead she could have been working and making money.

"Then, when I bought a car ...," she said, laughing again.

But Dye was off to business school in Indianapolis, studying shorthand and typing. Her first job was with the U.S. Rubber Co.

She kept busy with work and friends and enjoyed dancing. On a visit home, she also was planning to go to a dance, but this time, Frieda put her foot down. Go to the dance Edna might, but she would not be wearing that flapper dress.

It was at a dance, in fact, that she met her future husband, Byferd Dye, who was from Kokomo. Edna had a friend who had a brother at Fort Benjamin Harrison, where Byferd was stationed with the U.S. Army, and Edna and Byferd met and hit it off.

On April 25, 1935, they married - eloped, actually.

"We were married two or three months before we told anybody," Edna said.

Secrecy was required so that Edna could keep her job; she wouldn't have been allowed to work had it been known that she was married. So they said their vows in a chapel in Indianapolis, and eventually, Byferd got a promotion, enabling Edna to quit work.

Byferd stayed in the service, and a couple of years after they married, he and Edna started their family. Their two sons were both born at Fort Harrison. William lives in California and James, a pastor, lives at Southport. The Dyes' daughter, Jacque Schultheis, who was born in Texas, lives at Seymour. There are seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

When Dye's husband retired, they moved back to the Cortland area. Dye worked for the Indiana Telephone Co. for several years. She started out as an operator and eventually became a night supervisor before she retired.

Through the years, Dye has enjoyed dancing, quilting, playing cards and doing volunteer work.

She mowed her own grass until she was 87, and drove her 1975 Hornet until she was 91.

An open house is being held in her honor from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. May 11 in the social room at Lutheran Community Home. All family and friends are invited.

Lets all take a moment and thank the Lord for the blessings of life and family and give a shout for 100 years of life for Edna!

2008-04-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

With final exams next week and a ton on my plate this will be a highlight blog today:

(In no particular order)

#1- The girls had a court date on the 17th but their case was extended and the next court date is June 26th. Once again we are delayed. I pray that this is the last time.

#2- As a direct result of #1, Jill and I each need to put in 8 hours of continuing education for our foster care license. We had hoped not to have to do this but we have no choice. I will be in class for three hours tomorrow morning (not looking forward to that one)

#3- Our youngest had a nightmare last week and nighttime has been an adventure ever since. When the sun goes down the tears start. Our saving grace has been Nanna with the "monster spray".

#4- Even though Seminary is almost over it is looking more and more that ordination will not take place until later in the summer. I was hoping for June but it looks like it will be later now. More info to come...

#5- I have to make another trip to the doctor with the girls on Friday. If you know the history there you will be praying.

#6- Our oldest went to the dentist the other week and was a trooper. She had a great check-up and wants to go back. We will see how long that lasts.

#7- The girls just got back from a walk with Nanna so I got to go and do jammies and teeth. Have a great week...

The joys of a 3 year old

2008-04-22T15:15:00.000-07:00

Today I want to talk a little about the three year old I share a house with. She is just the cutest little thing you have ever seen but there is a good reason God makes them so cute at this age. Our youngest has been a bit of a pill the past few days. She has been a bit crabby and whiny and doesn't like to listen right now. I want to share a few of her stories with you.

On Saturday we were at Jill's sisters house in Orange. Our families try to get together at some point every weekend. At around nap time our youngest was being quite a pill. She was tired and needed to sleep but did not want to give up having fun. Jill finally scooped her up off the floor where she was moping and told her to stop being so cranky. Without missing a beat, our little princess quips back, "I'm not cranky, see my happy face!?!" She then proceeds to flash the greatest smiley face you have ever seen. It was hysterical. We were all rolling. Finally after some drama about a water cup she finally fell asleep for about 3 hours!

On Sunday night before bedtime, the girls were talking about what movie they wanted to watch. It was our youngest's turn to pick and she told us that she picked "Buzz Lightyear". OK, no problem we pulled out Toy Story put it in the VCR (yes we still have one) only to have her collapse into a ball on the floor of the living room in a tizzy saying, "NO! I don't want this one!!!!" Jill and I tried to make peace and tell her this is what she chose, but she would have none of it! I finally calmed her down with a few deep breaths and asked her again what movie she wanted and she told me "Bugs Lifeyear". For those of you who know your Pixar Animation movies you can see how she got confused. What she really wanted was "Bugs Life" but got confused with the character of "Buzz Lightyear" from Toy Story. She finally pulled herself together and settled in and enjoyed her movie.

We have been having a few glimpses of summer around here and last week during nap time it was quite warm. Now our youngest likes to be completely covered up when she sleeps. From head to toe. She calls it "hiding". Well it was over 80 degrees outside and she covered herself up with a double layer fleece blanket for a few hours. When Jill finally came to wake her up she was soaked. Not just moist but she left a spot the size of seven year old on her bed. She soaked through all her clothes,the blanket, the pillow, etc. Thank God for waterproof mattress pads! She was wreck! She thought she wet the bed, but no, it was just a few gallons of sweat from a three year old (YUCK!!).

One more...Our littlest disparately wants to be 40 lbs. Why? Because that means she can ditch the carseat and use the booster seat. We keep telling her that she needs to eat all her dinner and veggies, etc. so she can grow. We have been taking full advantage of this at nighttime too by telling her that she needs to sleep so she can grow. So the other day she gets into the van and goes right to the back where we have a few booster seats for our nieces. She sits down and tells me that she has eaten all her dinner and is bigger now so she can sit in the booster seat. I could almost see her heart break as I told her that she was not 40 lbs yet. After some tears and some coaxing I finally got her into her carseat. As of yesterday she was at 36 lbs so we still have four pounds of encouragement time to use.

OK enough about our little one. I will try to give equal time to our oldest at some point but the short story is, she is growing into a very polite young girl. She has her moments, but she has me wrapped around her finger and I love it. Talk to you next week

The Week that was...

2008-04-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

So here we sit...without a blog from last week. Believe me, I heard from the adoring crowd. Many of you waiting with baited breath for the happenings in my life. But lets say that life has gotten the best of me for a few weeks and blogging has not been a part of it. So to appease the masses here are the highlights of the past two weeks:

-I went on two field trips this week, one was to help the Jr. High at Bethany and chaperone a trip the California Science Center. Very cool indeed. The other was to the Santa Ana Zoo with the preschool. The girls loved to watch the monkeys and learned what an Emu is.

-I have been knee deep in my Seminary class and in particular Franz Pieper's Christian Dogmatics Vol. III. I have read and digested almost 400 pages in the past three weeks. I even had a presentation on a portion of it (can you say ex opere operato?)

-My last research paper for Seminary is almost done. Let me know if you want to read a paper titled "The Sinners Role in Conversion". Lots of Greek and the dreaded crux theologorum (don't ask).

-Taxes....blah!!!!!!!

- Confirmation was this past weekend at Church. I had two mentees that I have been working with this year go through the witness service and were both confirmed in the faith on Sunday. I could not be more proud. Good job Alex and Ryan! I am proud of you both!

-The girls have a court date this Thursday and I have been feverishly been getting all the needed paperwork in including going to necessary doctors and dentist appointments. Talk about time killers.

- I started teaching a new round of Bible studies last week and things are going quite well but it is taking more time than I anticipated.

- The best news of the week came in the form of an email I received this week and I share it with you:

Dear Brother in Christ:
As Director of Certification at Concordia Seminary, I am very happy to let you know that you were included in the motion that the faculty passed at its meeting on Thursday, April 10. The motion reads as follows: Moved, that the faculty express its satisfaction that each of the following men will meet all personal, professional, and theological requirements for the office of ordained minister, declare each of them to be of entry level competency and qualified for a first call, and recommend each of them, subject to the satisfactory completion of the appropriate course of studies, his receipt of a Theological Diploma or Certificate, and his receipt and acceptance of a call assigned to him by the Board of Assignments.
We praise God for his work in your life, and we rejoice with you as you move closer to service as a pastor in our church. May the Lord keep you safe and joyful as you complete your studies and prepare to serve.
Cordially in the Risen Christ,

Dr. Jeff Gibbs

Concordia Seminary
Office of the President
801 Seminary Place
St. Louis, MO 63105

So even though I have not had time to blog, things are going well for me. Please understand that you may not get another update for two weeks or so. Please don't think ill of me. Talk to you soon....

Celebration Charts

2008-04-01T21:10:00.000-07:00

Last week Jill and I decided it was time to get some motivation rolling with the girls. Getting dressed in the mornings and putting on PJs at night was starting to become a chore. The girls are big enough to do it on their own but would prefer some help. Jill and I were done "helping" in the normal way and decided to help with the use of a "Celebration Chart". Jill made up some good old sticker charts with spots for each time the girls get dressed without any help. It has been working great and we have been singing "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang as our theme song. Today our oldest finished up her first page and we went to Target to choose a celebration treat. We listened to "Celebration" on the iPod as we went and our oldest was so excited! She chose a dinosaur coloring page with some markers from the dollar aisle and she was just beaming. Tonight the girls each earned a sticker and our youngest will be making a trip to Target soon. The only downside to all of this is the fact that I can't get Kool & the Gang out of my head so would you please hit play on the following video so I won't be lonely in my funk groove. Please....

The Long and Winding Road

2008-03-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

Hey folks. With my tease from last week I bet you were all waiting for the great post about spring training baseball but lets just say I am TIRED! We left for the Phoenix area on Sunday afternoon and soon into the trip I remembered that traveling with two vans and five kids under six years old makes for a long day. We arrived in the valley of the sun way past sunset and promptly went to sleep. I shared a bed with my oldest and Jill had our youngest next to her. What that means is that mom and dad don't get much sleep. So after a long road trip and not much sleep I found myself in Maryvale Stadium watching the Milwaukee Brewers play the Los Angeles Dodgers yesterday. At one point, as I was baking in the sun (because I forgot to pack my hat) I looked at my friend Matt and said, "I will buy you a beer if you can tell me what inning it is and what the score is." No answer from Matt and I could not help either. Needless to say, two Angels fans watching national league teams play as we were "catching some rays (not the hint of sarcasm)" did not make for intent watching or critiquing of each pitch. We did have some great conversation and the group from my church had a blast. The best part was that as we were going into the stadium a bus pulled up and a bunch of the Angels got out to have an unannounced inter-squad game. The kiddos in the group got to watch it up close and got some cool autographs.

Today was another long day in the car and I am happy to be home. Now it is off to bed looking forward to another long day tomorrow. This time it is work and school. Overall the trip to AZ was great. It was wonderful to see family and catch a little bit of baseball. If you ever get a chance to go to spring training I highly recommend it. Good night and I will talk to you next week.

Totally forgot...

2008-03-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a week and as I was in my office working on the details for Holy Week, Easter, and beyond I realized that it was Wednesday and I did not blog this week. I tried to rationalize it by remembering that I did post twice last week but here I am typing away. I really don't have much time but I did want to say that I really feel like I have had a big weight taken off my shoulders. My time in St. Louis was hard but the outcome was great and I realized when I returned how many people were praying for me. One quick story. On Wednesday afternoon, Jill told one of her classes that I had "passed" and a few of the students thought I died. How funny is that! The mind of a junior-high student, sharp as a marble. Needless to say things are busy but I have some renewed energy. In a few months I will be done with school. I can't wait.

Well I am off to the grocery store with the girls so I will wrap this up. Talk to you next week from beautiful Phoenix Arizona, spring home to my favorite baseball team the ANGELS! Go Halos!!!

The result....

2008-03-12T14:08:00.001-07:00

I have been tested by fire and I have survived. I entered my interview at the seminary with many nerves and sweaty palms. After 90 minutes on the grill I was asked to step outside and about three minutes later they brought me back in and said that they would recommend me for certification. It was a big relief to be done and I didn't get myself into too many tough spots. I did get into a bit of a jam but one of the interviewers threw me a rope and saved me. I am sure I will have more to say later but right now I am in a bit of a fog, just happy to be done. Tonight we are going to Lenten service with some of the profs. and that should be great. I will be up early to get to the airport and will be back in SoCal just in time for class tomorrow night. Well that is about it for now. Talk to you later....

The Seminary

2008-03-11T18:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings from beautiful Clayton Missouri. I am in a Panera Bread establishment (actually the Saint Louis Bread Co. but the same thing) they have free wi-fi so here I am. The manager just told me that they are closing in 15 minutes so this will have to be short. I am here for my theological interview at the Seminary tomorrow. I am a bit nervous but think I will do OK. My interview will be at 1:30 PM Central time so your prayers will be appreciated. I got to spend some time with family yesterday that live in the area. I stayed with my folks and had dinner with my brother and his family and my grandparents came over as well. The weather is very nice. It was in the 50's today and won't get too cold tonight either. If you have never been to the seminary in St. Louis I highly recommend it. It is a beautiful place and it would have been neat to study here but that was not part of the plan. Anyway, I head back home on Thursday morning and am back in class in CA on Thursday night. No rest for me. Check back tomorrow for a longer post and an update on the interview. Until then...

Happy Birthday

2008-03-04T20:29:00.000-08:00

Today my youngest turned 3. She has been waiting for this day for a while now. She has been so excited to tell everyone she is 3 and has been practicing holding up 3 fingers. It is so cute. Today when she woke up we brought her two presents that she opened. She got a new pair of sunglasses and a new Barbie. She also got some cards in the mail which she opened. Of course she wanted to have cupcakes for breakfast but settled for yogurt. She said she had fun at school and came home with a great birthday crown. We went out to Ruby's for dinner tonight and she got her favorite- Mac'n Cheese. She also had some chocolate malt for a special treat. Over all it was a good day. I proudly say that today I am the father of two three year olds. Now that will change on Monday when my oldest turns four but it is kinda fun to say that at least for a week.

In other news. I am off to St. Louis next Monday for my theological interview at the seminary. I have some serious butterflies because no matter how much you prepare you never really know what direction things will go. It freaks me out a bit to sit in a room with some seminary profs who don't know me and I don't know them and what happens in that room could make or break my future. I would feel much more comfortable if the professors that actually taught me and know me would do the interview but that won't happen. For the past few weeks I have been pouring over my preliminary questions and rereading a few books, but I know I won't feel good until it is all over. I will get a chance to see some family when I am out there and I am looking forward to that. Of course this could not come at a worse time because I am preaching the next two weekends and am still taking one class and Easter is right around the corner. Anyway, I covet your prayers for safe travel and that my brain works next Wednesday. I will give you an update in a few weeks. Have a great week...

The Scorecard...

2008-02-26T22:02:00.000-08:00

So I am digging out from the avalanche that was last week. If you have not read last weeks post you may want to scroll down before you continue today. I will give you an update by the numbers from last weeks list. Here is the scorecard:

#1- Got an extension from the professor and am about 80% done with my project as of today. One more day and it should be good to turn in.

#2- Done...not done well but done none the less.

#3- Wow! Way behind on this one. I have 16 questions to answer and I am on #5...not good news for me.

#4- Done, and it looks pretty cool. I will put it in the mail to the Seminary in St. Louis by the end of the week and hope for the best.

#5- Done, and I felt pretty good about it. I have received more email about these sermons than any other I have delivered. I will be honest and I really just modified my morning sermon for the evening service and did not write a totally new one.

#6- All the music went well. I am always leery when the Sunday night service is the Seth show, meaning I do the music and the message, but it seemed to go well (until I kicked my guitar over after the last song. It would of been cool if it was a Who concert but it was church. Oh well...)

#7- Things are going quite well for chapel, but I did find out that I will be out of town on the day that I am supposed to be leading chapel so now I have a bit more work to do to make sure the students can do it on their own.

#8- The presentation went well. There were a lot of people there and we gave out all the applications we made and then some.

#9- Got a good start on my reading and we are on Spring break this week so no new reading until Monday.

#10- One down, one to go.

#11- Yikes! Got to get this done this week, not much time left either........

#12- I did get to spend time with Jill's brother for a while, but did not do everything I wanted (Jill took him to The Getty, I worked all day, I loose on that one.)

#13- I tried to be home to tuck the girls in each night and see Jill while we were both awake. I reached my goal.

#14- Did some good sleeping...and napping. But need to do more so off to bed for me.

Over all I give myself about a B- for the week. Not great, but not a total failure either. I still have a lot to do. So back to work and I will see you next week...

The avalanche is coming....

2008-02-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

Today is Tuesday. Before the end of the week I need to:

1. Write a three part Bible study as the final project for a class

2. Start and finish a paper for school

3. Finish my questions for my Theological Interview (more on this in another post)

4. Finish my ministry portfolio

5. Write two sermons for Sunday

6. Practice music for this Sunday night

7. Work on the day-school chapel that will be in a few weeks

8. Develop a presentation for the mission trip to Alaska

9. Do reading for my next class that starts on Thursday

10. Visit with my two Confirmation mentees (is that a word?)

11. Set up some meetings at Long Beach State

12. Try to spend time with some family that is visiting from out of town

13. Be a dad / good husband at home

14. Sleep

So enough said, I am going to bed and try to knock a few of these off the list tomorrow. Talk to you next week.

Steroids

2008-02-12T19:37:00.000-08:00

No, this is not a rant about Barry Bonds or the allegations lobbed toward Roger Clemens. This is not going to be an opinion piece on major league baseball or professional wrestling. No, this is about my youngest child….she is on the juice…well not the juice, the cream…no, not the cream but the puffer. Our little girl is pumping up the puffer to combat asthma. It would be nice if we were grooming her for a lucrative career in professional sports, A.K.A. “daddy’s retirement”, but we are not. Our youngest can’t get through the night without having some major coughing fits. If you are a regular reader of this blog you already know that when our youngest starts coughing it usually ends up as a street pizza, a technicolor yawn, calling Ralph on the big white phone, a…you get the point. So to have something that will quell these spells is quite welcome in our home. We are three days into the steroid era at our house and I will let you know how things are progressing. So far no asterisks on the floor.

btw- the image on this post is the actual chemical makeup of the steroid that is in my house (Yeah, I'm a nerd) Talk to you next week...

The Dentist

2008-02-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

I do NOT like the dentist!! I have had a few very bad experiences in the past with the good folks who spend their days with their fingers in other peoples mouths. When I was in high school I had a procedure that hurt so bad I didn't go back to the dentist for about 12 years. Some of you might be saying "EeeGads, really? Twelve years? Your teeth must have been a mess!" Well sorry to say, they were fine. No cavities, no problems nothing, just a good cleaning, the admonishment for not flossing and a check up card for six months, which I promptly forgot about and waited another few years before having to go back because of my wisdom teeth. Now I do not have time to tell that story but let me tell you, it is a doozie. The short version is, only a local pain killer and four hours later I stumbled out of the office. NOT FUN.

So my oldest had to go for her first trip to the dentist and the guy at the appointment center asked me, "So what about you? When can I schedule you in for a check up?" I almost said, "No thanks, I'm good." But something inside said, "O.K., how about next week?" So today was the day. I got there at 1:30 for a 2:00 appointment knowing I would have some paperwork and was seen promptly at 2:00. Twenty-two x-rays later the dentist poked around and said he wanted some more detail of tooth #14 (left side, top, near the back). Four more x-rays and he dropped the bomb. "Well, I think you need a root canal." "WHAT?!?!? I was just here for a check-up and some fluoride and a chastisement for not flossing. This is not what I was expecting." My heart began to race and then it got worse... "I can get you in today." I sighed, and relented, three hours later and after six more x-rays I walked out of the office not being able to feel one side of my mouth and freaked out a bit because I peaked at some of the tools that were going into my mouth, not to mention the cost after insurance (NOT CHEAP!!)

So here I sit, hopped up on Vicodin, and dreading going to sleep. I even have to go back in a week and a half to get a permanent crown. Well, I hope the worst is over, and it is probably for the better that it was done now and not later. So, the dental profession is still on my bad list but at least I have my teeth. Talk to you next week...

EXTRA, EXTRA!!! ADOPTION UPDATE!!!

2008-01-29T20:09:00.000-08:00

Got a call tonight from the girls attorney and found out that the appeal on their case was heard today and was denied (that is good news for us). However, one pice of paperwork was out of order and it needs to be taken care of by DCFS before a final adoption hearing can be set. So this is GREAT NEWS but we will have to wait until after April 17th which is when the judge will check to see if the paperwork as been complete. After that we can schedule the final hearing!! Thanks for all of your prayers but please continue to pray for patience as we wait the last few months until things are finished.

Wow...school...blahhh!!

2008-01-29T16:16:00.001-08:00

Yikes! It is the third week of the new semester and I am buried already. I just spent the entire day (8:00 AM to 4:00 PM) reading, and that was just to catch up to yesterday. I haven't even started on my next reading assignment. Needless to say, this will be brief today. My class is on Biblical theology and Exegesis. It sounds big and fancy but what it means is, "Seth has a lot of reading to do and one of the books is a dictionary!" Yep, the picture on this post is my book and it has, like a bagillion pages to it. Mind you I don't have to read every word but so far it reads like a dictionary...not fun. The class is very interesting and I am enjoying it but I am a bit fried right now. Off to get the girls from preschool and just be daddy for the rest of the night. I will be content to watch preschool programs, dress up like a princess, have some tea, and even paint fingernails just no more big words.... please....!

"I gonna huff and woof and blow you away!"

2008-01-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

Those are the words that came out of my youngest's mouth tonight at dinner. She is a little confused and is mixing up a few stories but they are all great. A few moments later she even said, "I gonna cough and huff and blow you away!" You see this morning on Sesame Street was a story about the Three Little Pigs and since then the girls have been trying to blow things down. This is not the exact scene from Sesame Street but it was quite similar:

This comes right on the heels of one of the funniest few minutes of the past week. Our youngest got her jammies on all by herself the other night and Jill tells her, "Honey, you blow me away", which was followed by our little one blowing on mommy. Jill was a bit confused and then she did it again and said, "Go away mommy! I blow you away...good-bye!! It was the darn funniest thing I have seen in quite some time. Our life is just a barrel of laughs these days.

On another note. My oldest did blow me away on Sunday when she proceeded to parade around the house carrying her little girl broom up in the air and singing a song about church and Jesus. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I'm carrying the cross like at church!" It was awesome, she was doing her own procession and opening hymn. It is amazing what God can teach a three year old. Until next week....

Razor Scooters

2008-01-15T20:07:00.000-08:00

Jill and I have been wanting to get the girls some scooters ever since the preschool got some new ones a month back or so and our girls just love them. Our little daredevils are still in three wheel territory in scooterland but the razor scooters are not to far off. Now a new razor will set you back at least $30 minimum and can go for much more. That being said, razors would have to wait for at least the girls birthdays (both in March) or even next Christmas. But last Saturday my youngest and I were headed to Trader Joe's for some one on one time when I spotted a garage sale. It was still early in the day (8:30 AM) so I though we should swing by and see if there was still anything good. As we got out I spotted three well loved razor scooters and a mini skateboard. I asked for prices and was told $3 for the skateboard and $15 for each of the scooters. Now I never have cash so this would pose a problem since my wallet had a total of $4 in it. I called Jill and told her of the find and she said to go back home and pick up some cash. Back in the car we went to get some cash and then back to the garage sale. I walked up to the money guy and told him I would give him $20 for all three scooters and the skateboard. He countered with $25 and I pulled out all my cash and said, "All I got is $24, will you take it?" He nodded and I gathered up my new found treasures and put them in the back of the minivan. I was stoked to say the least. On Sunday the girls tried them out without much luck but their older cousin was pretty good on it. That evening we had a few people over to watch football and for dinner and we had a blast (Go Chargers!!!!) Later that night, I realized that we were out of coffee. This is not an acceptable state of affairs in our house! Jill promptly dug out some Starbuck's cards and directed me to get some beans. I asked a few of our guests if anyone wanted to walk to get some coffee. My pal Ingrid agreed and then we were followed by my brother Josh, and our friends JT and Ben all on the scooters! It was a hoot. Three grown men racing around the streets of Long Beach on razor scooters. You would have laughed if you would have seen them but they did not care, they were loving it. Well to wrap it up the boys had one final race down Pavo street and we were all safe and sound back home. It was a great weekend and I can't wait until the girls are able to zip up and down the sidewalk on their scooters.

Pictures from Mammoth

2008-01-09T18:54:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my friend JT here are some pictures from the weekend. Scroll down for the regular Tuesday post.

My minivan is under there somewhere!

Digging out the Subaru.

Ben and I stuck in a snowdrift.

The Tuesday Tease...

2008-01-08T19:53:00.000-08:00

Not much time tonight to write a full post so here is a tease of what is bouncing around my head tonight:

#1- Spent the weekend in Mammoth with the college ministry of the district and witnessed about 5 feet of snow in three days. I had to dig the van out twice. Pictures may be coming if I can get them from JT.

#2- School starts next week and I am not quite ready for it to begin.

#3- The other night we forgot to put a sippy cup in the fridge for my youngest and she was found at 3 AM sitting on the floor staring into the open fridge moaning, "Where's my Miiiiiiilk?????"

#4- The Chargers won a playoff game!!!

#5- My sister is selling Shaklee. Don't know what that is? If you want to go green in your house in 2008 check out her site by clicking here. (More to come on this topic, I promise!!)

#6- I stumbled across some great music the other day. Do yourself a favor and check out Cary Brothers on iTunes or just pick up his CD titled "Who You Are" you won't be disappointed. You might know him from the movie Garden State. Here is a sample:

Well that is just a tease, more to come later...or next week. Until then....

French Toast and Fire Trucks...Happy New Year

2008-01-01T19:28:00.000-08:00

With the drop of the new million dollar, energy efficient, crystal clad ball in times square 2008 is officially here and let me say to all of you HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! New Year's Eve around our house was not to eventful (New Year's Day is another story but that will come later). Jill's sister and family came over as well as my brother and some other good friends. We ordered a bunch of pizza and had some "adult style beverages" and tried to survive five loud cousins having a great time with each other. There were some screams and some misunderstandings (mostly from the kids) but for the most part all were well behaved. The kiddos and a few grown-ups that will remain nameless turned in early and there were five of us who watched the ball descend from its lofty perch above Times Square for the 100th time. We popped the corks of a few bottles of bubbly and toasted to the new year. Then by about 12:45 I was dozing off on the couch. I guess I can't party like I used to.

The one thing about having five short ones in the house who all got to bed at a decent hour is that they woke up with the sun. Needless to say the late night revelers were a bit groggy and not too excited with the pitter-patter of little feet at the crack of dawn. Eventually I shook the sleep from my eyes and started creating a breakfast feast which included bacon, sausage, french toast, OJ (mimosa style for those needing a bit of the hair of the dog), and fresh fruit. Soon after starting, the house smelled of coffee and bacon. It doesn't get much better than that. After breakfast the cousins watched the rose parade and my oldest loved it! She loved to see all the princesses and I think she might have watched it twice (got to love KTLA channel 5 for all day coverage).

The rest of the morning was spent playing, having lunch and resting on the couch. The grown-ups had appetizers for lunch / dinner while the Rose Bowl was on. And my wife cut up her wedding dress to make dresses for the girls (but that is another post all together). Soon after that the real fun began. While cooking said appetizers our smoke detector went off. Now this is not anything new. Let me give you some history. As a child there were times where things got a little too done in the kitchen back in Garden Grove and our smoke detector was close to the source of the smoke. Now when it would go off we would all jump into action. Not to get out mind you but to quickly make the ear piercing sound stop. We all had jobs, it was like the military. One of us would grab a Time magazine to wave in front of the offending nine volt air-horn, another would open the back door and still another would open the front. It all worked like clockwork. Fast forward to 2003 and with the addition to our house we received brand new smoke detectors. Our first big meal cooked with the new addition finished we were greeted with the most haneous noise of all five smoke detectors working in concert to make our ears bleed. I of course jumped up in great Pavlovian style and grabbed the nearest magazine and began furiously fanning to stop the noise before I went deaf. I soon had trained friends and family and when the horn would sound we would be at battle stations in a matter of moments. Every time we cooked we had to be ready. Today was no different. Soon after the first blast we all had our duties completed and the sound was abated. Abut five minutes later it started again and would not quit. I went to the garage and got out the big guns and brought back the box fan to do the fanning job. We seemed to be in the clear when the smoke detector started to beep, telling us of a low battery. I feverishly tried to determine which of the five was the culprit but in the end I just changed all of the batteries. In the midst of this the chirp became a full fledged alarm again. This time the cooking was done and the children were starting to get annoyed. Ten minutes later, with all the batteries changed, golden silence was heard once again. Just as I grabbed another drink and settled in to the couch for the second half of the game the real fun started. The smoke alarms started up again and this time there was no stopping them. I dashed around and checked the batteries again with no luck and eventually I gave up and called the fire department. Thanks to my good friend Josh T. I had the number for the Long Beach Fire Department in my cell phone so no need to tie up 911 on New Year's Day. In about 10 minutes the fire truck arrived and we were busy feeding children oranges and cheese on the porch in the glow of the Christmas lights that are still on the house. The firemen combed through the breaker box and crawled in the attic, they checked all the offending little white beasts and eventually identified the culprit. In their estimation the detector in the hall was somehow faulty and when they unplugged it, silence was most graciously greeted once again. So my thanks go out to the brave men of station 18 from the LBFD for helping us out tonight.

Looking back it makes sense that this one smoke detector was the one that would not allow us to open the oven on Thanksgiving and would force us to keep our windows open even in the chilly winter evenings while we were cooking. Since about 6:30 tonight we have had peace in the land. We didn't want to risk it and the kids all had cereal and milk for dinner tonight. So lets review:

Late night and and early morning...check.

Fabulous French Toast and a mountain of breakfast meat...check

My wife cutting up her wedding dress...check

The Fire Department at my house.. check.

Cereal for dinner...double check with milk on top!

Well that was my day I don't even have time to tell you about my nephew Logan and how he shows his muscles. Lets just say, Legend........(wait for it)...........dary! I hope your day was as memorable as mine and I pray that this was a good sign of things to come for 2008. Until next week...

P.S. Sorry for no pictures today, my internet connections is really slow.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...how naked are your branches

2007-12-26T12:17:00.000-08:00

Here I sit, December twenty-sixth (I'm a poet and I didn't know it) deciding how to describe Christmas 2007. Let's begin with the fact that this is a stinkin' busy time of the year for us Church workers. In the last three days we have had seven services, of which I participated in all seven. This included an 11 PM service on the 24th followed by a 10 AM service the 25th with some Santa duties in between. I was plumb tuckerd out! It has been nice to be able to relax today. The girls and I have just been hanging out and playing with new Christmas toys while the women folk are at the mall (I shudder at the thought). Give me preschoolers any day over the mall on the 26th of December! Saturday found me at the grocery store hunting for all the ingredients for two Christmas dinners. We had Christmas on Sunday with Jill's sisters family and I tried a new recipe for lasagna. Let's just say it was AWESOME. I really don't want to give away my secret but I stumbled upon a great website that has some scrumptious recipes. If you have some time check out www.thepioneerwomancooks.com. You will not be sorry although your waistline might. Here is the recipe for her lasagna. Don't laugh at the ingredients because when they all come together it is a party in your mouth:

1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1 pound hot breakfast sausage (Jimmy Dean’s bulk)
2 cloves minced garlic
2 14.5 oz cans whole tomatoes
2 6 oz cans tomato paste
2 T dried parsley flakes
2 T dried basil
1 t salt
10-oz package of lasagna noodles (the wavy kind) (boil adding ½ t salt and 1 T olive oil to water) al dente

Mix together:
3 cups lowfat cottage cheese
2 beaten eggs
½ cup Kraft Parmesan cheese
2 T dried parsley flakes
1 tsp salt

1 lb sliced mozzarella cheese

In a skillet, combine 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, 1 pound hot breakfast sausage, and 2 cloves minced garlic.

Cook until brown. Drain off about half the fat (or more, to taste).

After that, add two 14.5-oz cans of whole tomatoes, two 6-oz cans of tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of dried parsley flakes, 2 tablespoons dried basil and 1 teaspoon salt.

Mix together thoroughly and simmer, uncovered, about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, boil a 10-oz package of lasagna noodles. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to the water, as well as 1 tablespoon olive oil to keep the noodles from sticking. Cook the noodles “al dente” so they’ll still have quite a bite to them. When they’re finished cooking, drain, rinse with cool water, and lay the noodles flat on a sheet of aluminum foil. That way, they’ll be easier to handle later.

While the meat mixture and noodles are cooking, mix 3 cups lowfat cottage cheese in a bowl with 2 beaten eggs. To the cottage cheese, add 1/2 cup Kraft Parmesan Cheese. 2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes, and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix together well.

Now, go ahead and build your assembly line: meat mixture, 1 pound sliced mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese mixture, and cooked lasagna noodles. Lay four cooked lasagna noodles in the bottom of the pan, overlapping as you go. Spread half of the cottage cheese mixture evenly over the noodles. Then lay 1/2 pound of mozzarella cheese slices on top of the cottage cheese mixture. This particular brand of cheese was cut very thin, so I had to double up the slices to make 1/2 pound. Don’t let this throw you off—some brands are cut thicker, and would only require a single layer of slices. NOTE: I prefer sliced mozzarella, but you can certainly use grated mozzarella if necessary. With the spoon, make a line through the middle of the meat mixture so you’ll distribute it evenly. Spread a little less than half of the meat mixture over the mozzarella cheese slices until it’s evenly distributed. Repeat and finish with meat mixture.
Top with a pretty generous layer of good ole Kraft grated parm.

Now pop it in a 350-degree oven for 20-30 minutes, until hot and bubbly. (Alternately, you could cover and freeze it, unbaked, at this point or cover and refrigerate, unbaked, for up to two days before baking.)

This dish was a hit that is for sure. Then on yesterday I made my grandpa's famous Muscacholi. It is super good too!!! Here is the recipe for that one:

1/2 pound ground beef

1/2 pound ground pork

3 slices chopped bacon

1/2 cup diced mushrooms

1 onion chopped

2 cloves fresh garlic chopped

2 6 oz can tomato paste

1 12 oz can Italian style peeled tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 bay leaf

1/4 cup red wine

1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaf

3 Cups grated mozzarella

1 cup grated chedder

Parmesan Cheese

One box of muscacholi, cook according to directions for "al dente" (don't overcook)

Cook bacon in large frying pan. Drain fat, add half the onion and garlic to the same pan and cook till you can see through them. Add the ground beef and pork and brown. Drain fat, and scoop meat into a large pot. Add remaining onion and mushrooms along with red wine to frying pan and saute. While sauteing, use a potato masher and break up the browned meat into small pieces. Add mushrooms and onions to meat. Add tomatoes, one can of tomato paste, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Stir well. Add 1/2 cup of water if you feel the sauce is too thick (even more if needed). Simmer for one hour. Add other can of tomato paste, stir and check your seasonings. Let simmer for 15 more minutes. Remove bay leaf.

Cook pasta according to directions but do not overcook! Pour sauce over cooked muscacholi and add 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, stir well. Put in a 350 degree oven for 45 min. Add last cup of mozzarella, one cup of chedder and some parmesan and sprinkle it over the top and put it back in the oven until the cheese is all melty (YUM!).

I cook my sauce the day before and put it in the fridge. I think it tastes better that way. Here is a picture of the finished product (note: I doubled the recipe this year).

So with full bellies and happy but noisy children Christmas was going quite well...then there is the tree.... Remember the tree from the post from a few weeks ago? Well this tree with the nest was not the best at staying hydrated. We had noticed quite a few needles dropping the past week or so and about four days ago we noticed that they were falling at an alarming rate. So much so that we were sweeping up every few hours. It became progressively worse and by Christmas Eve there were some definite bald spots on the tree. It was looking pretty bad. We all started cracking up when we would hear the avalanche of pine needles every few minutes fall upon the presents below. By last night quite a bit of the top of the tree was bare and then I decided to see just how dry the tree was. One touch to a branch and it released its entire load of needles as easy as new fallen snow. I was intrigued and with some help from some friends we shook the tree a bit and the following pictures will describe much better than words will:

So the tree is naked and has been relegated to the street, but of course we saved the nest and put it with all the ornaments for next year. All in all it was a great day with family and friends as well as good food and drink. I pray that you all had a blessed day as well!

Well I hope you have enjoyed this edition of cooking and Christmas trees, until next time.....

Christmas 2007

2007-12-25T15:38:00.000-08:00

Kinda a busy day around here. I will post later... possibly tomorrow...off to eat some yummy muscacholi... but here is a tease: The Christmas tree is naked!!! Really!!!!

Move In Day- 2007

2007-12-18T14:12:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe that it has been almost a year since our girls moved in with us. It seems like not too long ago I was blogging about their arrival. Looking back at the year it is amazing to see how far these two girls have come. Both girls came to us with joyful smiles but hurting hearts. It did not take long for us to bond as a family and I can’t seem to imagine my life before them. I remember vividly the events when our girls first walked through the doors of their new home. They were both hungry so they sat at the little red table in the dining room and ate cheerios. My oldest did the talking since her sister did not have much of a vocabulary. Speaking of my youngest, she could not even get up on the little chair without help the first day they were here. For months bedtime was rough. Countless tears and screams, stumbled trips in the dark to calm nervous toddlers; that was our life, and I loved it!! It was not long before I was quite competent at changing a diaper at 2:00 AM in the dark, silent as a ninja. Those first few months were quite noisy around our house; lots of screams and grunts and tantrums on the floor. But in the midst of it all was the formation of a family. Built with hugs and kisses, ketchup dip and applesauce, we were all being changed and it was great. Our girls have grown up so much in the past year. Most of the screams have been changed to laughter; grunts have become words (lots of words!!). It is not uncommon to hear the "ABC song" or "Angels We Have Heard on High" at all hours. Colors, numbers, and shapes dominate the girl’s thoughts and they just love to be silly (silly shoes, silly cereal, silly pants, silly songs, silly anything). Dora and Diego have been teaching them some Spanish and Elmo and Cookie Monster help them learn other new things, not to mention what those Disney Princess are teaching them. Our girls are quickly ascending the size charts and we are on the lookout for shoes in size 8 and 9 now! They are thriving in preschool and they love playing with their new friends and learning about Jesus. One of the highlights of my day is being able to sing with them at bedtime. A few months back I taught the girls a song that my Oma sang to me when I was a child. It is called “Müde bin ich geh zur Ruh”, and like my Oma, I sing it to them in German. They now sing right along with me and at times it brings tears to my eyes. It has been a year filled with amazing highs and even a few lows but through it all it has been the best year of my life. Have a great week!!!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

2007-12-11T22:29:00.000-08:00

For the past few years I have purchased my Christmas trees online. For some of you this may be hard to believe. Many of you would never even think of buying a tree sight unseen, but I like it. It is kind of a mystery. The mystery of the tree started a few years back when Jill and I went to the local home improvement super-center to buy a tree. As we arrived the crew was unloading a new shipment of trees and Jill asked if we would have one off the truck. They were still all wrapped up in netting and you could not tell what they looked like. I didn’t really like the idea but I daily live under the following mantra, “Happy wife, happy life!” With the mystery tree tied to the top of the Subaru off we went and when we got home, we were greeted with a tree with… lets just call it character. It was a tree only a mother could love, and Jill thought it was the best. For a few years we just picked up trees without looking at them and I soon began to like this new tradition. A few years later I decided to take this one step further and purchased a tree on the internet, again sight unseen. The first year we had a rather robust and even symmetrical tree, but they all haven’t been that way. This year I placed my order right before Thanksgiving from a place that I had not tried before, and as promised our tree arrived via UPS on my front steps this past Friday. The girls helped me open the box and they were so excited to see their Christmas tree. Our tree grew up on a farm somewhere in Michigan and had no idea it would make a trip to beautiful Long Beach California to fulfill its destiny. As I slid the tree out of the box I noticed that some of the farm came with the tree. It had some mud on the branches and some dead leaves stuck to it. As I placed it in the stand and cut off the net I was greeted by a wonderful surprise. Up in one of the top branches was a well-crafted birds nest. It was the best! The girls wanted to know where the birdie had gone it was a crack-up. So this year our tree came with one decoration of its own. Now the tree is up, the twinkle lights are on the house and it has been downright cold here in SoCal (it was 42 degrees yesterday morning!!) The holidays are in full swing and my girls can’t wait for Santa to bring them presents for Jesus’ happy birthday party. Here is a picture of the nest for your enjoyment. See you next week…

A Special Weekend Post

2007-12-08T22:11:00.000-08:00

For my good friends who sat on my couch tonight...Enjoy!!!

My Tuesday post...on Wednesday

2007-12-05T09:09:00.000-08:00

So last night after the girls went to bed, I started watching some mindless TV thinking to myself, "I can't believe I don't really have anything else to do." Well, lets just say this little blog slipped my mind, even after I had told a few people what I was going to write this week. I guess this adds some spice to my life.

Like I have mentioned before on this blog, I try to take Tuesdays as my day off. Not that Tuesdays are the best day for it but it just seems to work in the calendar of my life. On that note, I took the girls to school yesterday and then hit the gym. I really like going to the gym and try to get there at least three times a week. Some days it is a chore but I have really enjoyed listening to my iPod while working out. Lately I have been listening to some podcasts. Specifically I have spent my workout time with the Kevin & Bean Show from KROQ radio here in LA. I basically grew up with these guys and their morning show and now I can listen to them on my time instead of 5:30-10:00 AM. The podcast is not the whole show but the highlights and they are quite funny. They make an hour on the treadmill go by pretty fast. So back to my day, After the gym I had to go to the bank. I needed to actually go into the bank itself and it was kinda strange. It has been a long time since I have gone into a bank to do business. I am an ardent supporter of the ATM and if I can't do it there, I usually don't do it. So there I was standing in line which brought back all kinds of memories of being a kid an going to the bank with my parents. One time when I was quite young, I was dressed up like a cowboy and my mom let me "hold-up" the teller and she gave me some money. Life was simpler back then.

After the bank and picked up a sandwich and checked out what was playing at the local cineplex. Nothing really struck my fancy but I decided to try Fred Claus. It was an enjoyable 2 hours of entertainment. I do feel like it is Christmas now. A few things really struck me while I was in the theater. First of all I was the only one there for the noon show! It was really surreal. No bothersome loud talkers, no fussy kids, no one spoiling the next scene, just me and the empty red velvet sets. The second thing was, during the movie one of my favorite Christmas songs was used in the climactic scene. The song Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses is not that well known but I have loved it since the 80's. The Waitresses have a spot in the heart of most of us who grew up in the 80's especially those of us who like the TV show "Square Pegs" since they did the theme song from that great show. I love the 80's!! That is all for today see you next week and until then please enjoy the following videos:

The Waitresses Square Pegs
Uploaded by Celtiemama

What's for dinner?

2007-11-27T19:43:00.000-08:00

With the busyness of our household dinner time can be a bit interesting. With my schedule keeping me away from home a few nights every week, it is hard to sit down with a nice meal. The crock pot has been my friend the past few months and I have learned to make some yummy meals in it (kahula pork, BBQ beef, stew, soup, just to name a few). But finding time to make something is a bit of a challenge. A few weeks back my wife went to Dream Dinners. At this wonderful place, you get everything you need to create a great meal in a short amount of time. All of the measuring has been done and the directions are easy. Tonight we had the following dinner:

Grilled Sirloin with caramelized onions and gorgonzola cheese: Tender, aged sirloin steaks are grilled to perfection, nestled in a bed of caramelized onions, garlic and rosemary and finished with a melting layer of gorgonzola cheese.

It was easy, and delicious. If you have a busy schedule (check) and like to eat (check) give them a try.

Enough with the commercial for Dream Dinners; at said dinner tonight I sliced up some nice sirloin cooked a perfect medium and put it on my oldest's plate and about two minutes later I hear her say, "Uh-Oh daddy, this chicken has a boo-boo." First of all, in our house all meat is chicken, even after we say its beef, and secondly, since the meat was a bit pink it had a "boo-boo". Jill and I laughed and laughed at that one. She wanted me to fix it which I promptly did and she at all her "chicken" and was part of the "clean plate club".

Not to keep my youngest out of it, while she was sitting on the potty tonight mommy had said that her back was hurting and she then says, "I will ask Jesus to make your back better, O.K. mommy?" It was the best. Just now as I was typing this I called to Jill to ask exactly what she said and after I got it my youngest calls out from bed, "You're welcome mom!" I LOVE my life!! Until next week...

Teachers Conference 2007

2007-11-20T21:43:00.000-08:00

This past weekend marked the regular trip to teacher’s conference. Each week before Thanksgiving, Lutheran educators from the southwest mass together for fellowship, food, fun, and even to learn a thing or two. These events have been a highlight for me for years. It is always great to catch up with old friends and see all the new kiddos running about. This year was the first year with said kiddos for us. For the past few years Jill has served on the program committee for the conference so she is super busy. We did ourselves a favor this year and brought along our own babysitter. That was a stroke of genius in and of itself and it freed me up to do some catching up with old friends. I did do my daddy time in the pool with the girls and we took a few walks and looked at the ducks and flamingos too. Since I am not a classroom teacher now, the only thing I really do at the conference is host a happy hour in our suite (thanks LEC) and go to the banquet. This years theme was “Champions in Christ” and had a sports theme. This year instead of a dressed up affair it was jerseys and team shirts for all. This made for a rather rambunctious crowd. We all had rally towels did chants and cheers, and even chanted “Rachel…Rachel!!!” for the director of schools. Things started getting a bit wild when Jill announced to the banquet that in the centerpieces were temporary tattoos, along with big league chew, peanuts, and cracker-jacks. Pretty soon many people were tatted up. At one point I found myself applying a tattoo to Dr. Jack Preuss’ cheek (the president of Concordia Irvine). It was all over then, the party really started. It was by far the best banquet at a teacher’s conference.

The speaker for the night was a guy named Ben Glenn. It is really hard to explain what he does but he is called the chalk guy. He tells his story in a very humorous way about how he has overcome ADD and Dyslexia. The last part of his presentation he draws an amazing picture with chalk. I can’t even explain it, but in about 5 minutes there is this amazing piece of art where there was once just a blank wall. Check out the following videos to catch a glimpse of what he does:

One the way back home we stopped to see the dinosaurs on the side of Interstate 10. You know, the ones from Pee Wee’s big adventure? Anyway, we are sitting in Burger King having lunch and in walks a few guys that obviously are part of a road crew or something; orange vests, work boots, bandannas on their heads, long hair, dirty, you know. My oldest takes one look at them and says, “Ohhh, look daddy, pirates!” I am laughing just typing this again. Then she says to me, “I don’t like pirates, they are scaaaaary.” It was so funny!!!!! The “pirates” are soon joined by some more of their crew and my oldest says, “Uh-Oh daddy, more pirates, better watch out.” I just looked at our baby sitter and we just could not stop laughing. But it gets better. As I got up to get a refill, I was followed by one of the “pirates” who walks by our table and winks and smiles at the girls and guess what? Yep, a couple of gold teeth!! You just can’t make this stuff up. We about lost it and had to leave Burger King. With both girls now saying, “We don’t like those guys.” I don’t think they were scared, but they both thought that there were pirates having lunch at Burger King. I will say this; my life is never boring. Thanks for reading. See you next Tuesday.

At the Movies...

2007-11-13T18:51:00.000-08:00

Being the parent of two preschoolers has taken time away from one of my favorite activities...going to the movies. There was a time in our lives when Jill and I went to the movies every Friday night. It was grand; a nice dinner a good flick and quality time with the wife. These days we are lucky to keep up with our TiVo watching while "encouraging" our girls to go to sleep. How I long for the good old days. Lately, Jill and I have been seeing movies by ourselves. Jill goes out on a Saturday afternoon during nap time and I get to go on some Tuesdays. It is odd going to the movies by yourself. Back in my bachelor days I used to go to see a movie by myself and it took a while to get used to it. Well, Seth...what is your point? I went to see Bee Movie today. Here is the synopsis from Yahoo Movies:

Barry B. Benson is a graduate bee fresh out of college who is disillusioned at his lone career choice: making honey. On a rare trip outside the hive, Barry's life is saved by Vanessa, a florist in New York City. As their relationship blossoms, he discovers humans are mass consumers of honey and decides to sue the human race for stealing bees' honey.

If you have not seen any of the promotion of this movie then you must live under a rock. Everywhere you turn there is Jerry Seinfield as a bee. Every commercial break and every bus sign seems to have something about this movie. With all the hype and my love of the Seinfield TV show I was expecting a lot and in the end I was left a bit disappointed. It was not a bad movie, but not a good one either. A predictable story and jokes that could "bee" seen a mile away. I am sure it was not worth the $9 I tossed on the credit card but my day was not ruined by it. I think if you have elementary age kids they will like it.

Treasures

2007-11-06T22:13:00.000-08:00

So my new plan of blogging on Tuesdays was almost derailed before it began. Here is the scoop. I had to do a "take home" test today for my Systematic Theology class. So I spent the morning (and into the afternoon) in my office at church finishing it. Therefore my brain thought it was Wednesday. To top it off I have not been feeling very good so I have been on some cold medicine. With that one..two punch my plan was almost thwarted. But alas, here I am typing away on a new post.

My girls have treasure boxes. What is a treasure box you ask? Well for my girls it is a box they put things in that they think are valuable. My wife got my oldest a box a few months back and she has just rediscovered it. In currently contains: superhero cards from a kids meal toy, a key chain flashlight, a princess makeup compact, a plastic wallet, and a few pennies. Last night my youngest wanted her own treasure box so being the creative one that I am got her some tupperware. She thought it was great and now she has a few treasures in it. Last time I looked there was a monkey (from the barrel of monkeys game), and some super hero cards her sister gave her. She also wanted to have some money like her sister. As she was settling down for the night she misplaced her penny and we heard the following words from the back of the house, "Oh man, I need help!! I lost my money for Jesus!!" Ahhhh the joys of youth. She had her treasure and was ready to give it away for her chapel offering (sounds like a sermon illustration to me). She took it to school today (along with the quarter I gave here) and she put it in the offering for chapel. She was just so cute keeping it in her pocket while we went to school and she kept checking to see if it was still there. I was so proud of her as she walked up to her teacher, dug into her jeans and pulled out money and said, "This is for Jesus, OK!" I was beaming, and so was Jesus. Until next week...

I'm not dead....

2007-11-01T22:12:00.000-07:00

I know it has been forever since I have posted but let me just say I have been super busy, even more so than usual the past month. I don't really have time for a full post here but let me give you some highlights:

School is going well. I have finished one class and have two more to complete this semester. I have just two more to finish in the fall and my course work will be done. I also have to pass my theological examination which is sorta like defending your thesis. I have to travel to Concordia Seminary St. Louis and sit in a room with three professors and they get to ask me anything they want. Pretty daunting and intimidating but I hope to do well.

No new news with the girls adoption. We are still waiting to hear from the court regarding the appeal. Halloween was fun. The girls both had great costumes. My oldest dressed up like her favorite TV character, Dora the Explorer. She had the whole outfit with a backpack and a map. My youngest was a ladybug with wings and antenna. They were a but unsure as we left the house about trick-or-treating. We practiced for a few days about what to do and about four houses in, the had it down. They were so cute. Before we went out we carved some pumpkins and had dinner. I made pizza thinking this would be a great treat but the girls both rejected it totally. The chose to eat green beens, cottage cheese and V-8 juice. What kids choose this as their dinner? My girls have the strangest taste in food. The usual breakfast these days is bran flakes and raisins. Are you kidding me??? How many preschoolers choose bran flakes and raisins? Not to mention they both LOVE V-8. I don't understand and I really can't complain. Jill is gone this week so thanks to some great friends the night was a success (Thanks Ing and Josh!!!!!). This morning my youngest wanted candy for breakfast...thanks a lot Great Pumpkin!

The girls are loving preschool and making friends. My youngest figured out the potty thing pretty fast. The first few weeks of school were dicey but after that she has been great. The girls just took school pictures and they are the cutest.

I have told myself that I will try to post once a week on Tuesdays (my day off) for the rest of the year. We shall see how that goes. Until Tuesday....

It is almost that time......

2007-09-26T22:32:00.001-07:00

I love October baseball!!!!! Enjoy........

The joys of preschool programming...

2007-09-24T15:02:00.001-07:00

Having two preschoolers in the house makes for some interesting TV viewing. I can't tell you how happy I am that we have TiVo!! My house is filled with Dora the Explorer (Viva! Dora!), Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (theme song by They Might Be Giants!), The Wonder Pets (at least the music is good), and Hi-5 (Like if ABBA did a kids show....on crack). Now of course there are still the great princess movies and other Disney fare but for the most part the girls love to sit on the couch and watch a few episodes of TV. For those of you who do not have young kids here is a sampling of the shows that run in our house:

Oh those Red Sox Fans

2007-08-31T21:35:00.000-07:00

A few times on this blog I have bemoaned the fact that Boston Red Sox fan needs to check himself / herself soon or they would wear out their welcome (read my rants here and here). They are a rude, myopic, and downright unpleasant group of people. I don’t seem to be alone in this. Since their 2004 championship things have gotten worse. This past week I came across two great articles to this point from Page 2 of espn.com. I want to give you a taste of what others are saying so you know that this is not just my opinion First up is Jim Caple. The full article can be found here but this is what he has to say:

No one can stand to be around Red Sox fans anymore. And they're everywhere -- a recent USA Today article labeled the Red Sox baseball's new biggest attraction. Forget a fence between the U.S. and Mexico. What we really need is a wall, a moat and a minefield around New England to keep the spoiled citizens of Red Sox Nation from sneaking into the rest of the country and taking over seats in major league ballparks that should go to hard-working local fans. Everywhere the Red Sox play these days turns into a road version of Fenway Park, with Boston fans occasionally drowning out the hometown fans with their "Let's Go Red Sox!" chants. They were so over the top at a recent game in Seattle, I was surprised the Mariners didn't play "Sweet Caroline."

SportsNation Have fan rivalries gotten out of control? Give us your take, come vote in our polls. Whether this is an inspiring show of team pride by passionate fans or an annoying lack of manners depends on how close you have to actually sit to these people. They call themselves Red Sox Nation, the same arrogant way the Cowboys call themselves America's Team. And the whole thing is getting a little old. Could I get a little help here from Miss Teen South Carolina? Where the hell is Red Sox Nation anyway? It seems to me Red Sox Nation only exists when the team is winning, like a country that only shows up on U.S. State Department radar when oil is discovered. Wherever Red Sox Nation is, I just wish Bush would invade it.

Enough already. Get over yourselves, Red Sox fans. Better yet, follow the lead of White Sox fans. Their team went 88 years without winning a World Series. They went 46 years without even playing in one. Yet when they finally won in 2005, they had the decency to keep their celebration to themselves. And if their fine example isn't enough, then maybe this will be enough to sober you up: You're acting like Yankees fans.

AMEN, Preach it brother!!!

The second bit of literary gold comes from a lifelong Sox fan and fantastic sports writer. If you have never read a column from Bill Simmons do yourself a favor and click here. Here is what he has to say about Red Sox Nation, and the scores of post 2004 bandwagon fans (full article here):

I flew down to Tampa for last week's series and can report the following: Sox fans made up 70% of the crowd, overwhelming Devil Rays fans, most of whom were in the Matlock demographic, anyway. From a noise standpoint, if you closed your eyes, you would have thought you were in Fenway. (Well, until you opened them and saw the dome on the ghoulishly outdated Tropicana Field, or the brownish-red shag carpety stuff on the warning track that was pulled from Austin Powers' flat.) Three sights were especially shocking:

1. Entire families dressed in Sox gear, including some clans who traveled from New England for a vacation. Before our team won it all this rarely happened, because few fathers wanted to subject their kids to merciless berating. Now there's a coming-out-of-the-closet feel to these road games: It's okay, you can wear your Manny jersey, honey. Nothing bad will happen.

2. Attractive females wearing Sox gear. Even during the Pedro era, you were more likely to see a no-hitter than a cute woman in team colors. Now they're everywhere. And honestly, I just can't get over seeing a woman who isn't built like Doug Mirabelli wearing a Sox jersey.

3. The scores of post-2004 newbie fans. Do these yahoos even know suffering? In Tampa, the guy behind me (a Sox "fan") and his girlfriend (a D-Rays fan) were doing the whole "giving each other crap" thing, which would have been fine if he hadn't returned with two beers during a Tampa rally and said, "Wow, you got the score to 5-7!" That's post-2004 Sox fans for you: They wear crisp new hats and think Wade Boggs was a country singer and that the score is 5-7.

Again, I'd rather be a Sox fan in 2007 than 2003. I just wasn't prepared to root for the Yankees, and as sad as this sounds, we've kinda sorta maybe turned into the Yankees. Like them, we spend more money than everyone else. Like them, we make expensive roster mistakes (Drew, Lugo, Matt Clement, Edgar Rentería, et al.) without any repercussions. Like them, we're detested by opposing fans because we invade their stadiums and taunt their teams. And like them, we're sucking in all the soulless bandwagon kids who pick their favorite teams in first grade based on winning percentages and superstars.

What a burn, a Sox fan said they were turning into the Yankees, Ouch!! If you were a Red Sox fan before 2004 please, please, please tell the guy in the brand new J.D. Drew jersey and clean retro cap to stop being a jerk. Real fans respect the game and those who play. Real fans respect a guests home. Now be nice, feel free to root for your team, but don’t bring your rude disrespectful behinds into visiting parks thinking it is the new Fenway.

Do yourself a favor. If you live near an American League park and the Red Sox are coming to town. Call a sitter, buy tickets to the game and don’t let Red Sox nation take your home field advantage from you.

"Daddy, why are those guys dancing in their panties?"

2007-08-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

We were in Maui at the Old Lahina Lu'au. It was our second day on the island and the Mai Tais were flowing. The show had just started and the hula dancers were taking a break. The guys were on stage dancing away and when they were done my oldest looks back at me and the magic flows from her lips. What a great quote. I just said they were part of the show. Then she says to me, "Where did all the princesses go?" I just cracked up. In her mind the female dancers were the princesses. Before I could say anything else she says, "Did they go to Disneyland?" At this point I just said yes and let her live the dream. As we were leaving we took some pictures with the "princesses". My girls were in heaven, and I couldn't be happier. Enjoy the video I found on YouTube from the Old Lahina Lu'au:

I am back!!!

2007-08-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

Well I think it is about time to get this thing up and running again. It has been an eventful summer and I has a lot to blog about but a full post will have to wait for another day. Here is the quick version:

Alaska was great but short for me (since I had to come home for class). We were blessed beyond measure and I look forward to going again
My second summer class (on Worship) went by quickly and I learned a lot.
The day after class was over we packed up the minivan and drove to Napa to see my sister. We went to a wine club event while we were there and it was awesome.
We were home for less than 24 hours and then took off to Palm Springs to see some family. It was hot but the girls loved the pool.
Were home for three days to do laundry and do homework (and I had to pack and move my office) then we were off to Maui.
Maui was fun but tiring with five kids four and under in the same house (our rental house is pictured above). I did get to dive one day and we all went to a Luau.
Got back last Wednesday and since then I have finished two projects for summer school, registered for next semester, tried to organize my new office and am gearing up for the fall at Church.
This summer has also seen dance class for my oldest and swim lessons for both girls.
Jill started back to work this week and I start school next week.
Pre-School is closed the next two weeks and we don't quite know what we will do for childcare at the moment.
My youngest is still on again, off again with the potty. She has to make great progress the next two weeks or no school for her (and no childcare for daddy!!).
There have been some awesome things that I will write more about later but let me give you one tease...This came out of my oldest daughters mouth "Daddy, why are those guys dancing in their panties?" I hope you are intrigued

Talk to you later.

Alaska or Bust!

2007-07-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Today is the day! At 7:30 PM today I am leaving on a jet plane with 22 others to share Jesus in Alaska. This is year #4 for this trip for me and I can't be more excited. Alaska is a magical place and I don't say that lightly. It is the most beautiful place I have ever been too (Ireland comes in a close second). What makes Alaska so special is not only the beauty of the landscape but the beauty of the people. Over the years we have met and become close friends with some awesome people. I can't wait to reconnect with them and share stories of the past year.

I truly covet your prayers for the next week or so. Please pray for safe travel and that hearts are opened to the message of Jesus. I will give you an update when I return. Until then...

P.S. Yes, I did take the above picture (if you click on it you can see a bigger version of the picture). Words and pictures cannot even begin to describe Alaska but Lord knows I will try.

Pee-Pee in the Potty

2007-06-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

I know I said I was taking a break but this will be short. My youngest went pee-pee on the potty for the first time tonight!!!! We did the pee-pee dance and got some special treats it was grand. She boogied down and did a bunch of "wee-hoooos". Now I know this is just the beginning and we have a long way to go, but you should have seen her face. It was priceless. She was so happy. OK off to try to get some much needed sleep zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........

Got to take a break

2007-05-31T22:53:00.000-07:00

I have just started round one of my summer sessions. I will be eyeball deep in school for a while so something has to give. I will be taking a break from this blog for a bit to leave time for family, work, and school. I will try to give you an update sometime in later in June, until then...

Smoking or Non?

2007-05-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

Excuse me? Did I hear that right? I had not been asked this question in years. Living in California has spoiled me. All restaurants and bars in California have been smoke free for years. But I am getting ahead of the story a bit…

I am safe and sound in Cincinnati. To be honest I am really in Florence Kentucky. The airport that serves Cincinnati is in Northern Kentucky and the hotel is a few miles from the airport so needless to say I have not been to Ohio yet. The conference is going well and the speakers have been great. I have met a bunch of people and over all I am satisfied. It is not life changing like the Origins conference I went to last year but I wasn’t expecting that. Now the real reason for this post…

We were all on our own for dinner and after my last session I went to my room, clicked on the TV and promptly fell asleep. About an hour later I woke up and realized that I missed any opportunity to meet up with anyone for grub. I shook the cobwebs out of my head and gave some thought to what I was going to eat. I did not really relish the thought of spending $25 on a steak in the hotel restaurant so I headed out the front door and started walking. I guess it is a bit of culture shock for me because at least in this part of town there are no sidewalks. So here is this fish-out-of-water from SoCal walking down the side of the road on my way to Applebee’s. I decided to pass up the bar and grill next to the hotel just because I wanted something I could count on. So I walked about a quarter mile down the road and looked at the front door and half of tri-state area was waiting for a table. So I look over and there is a Cracker Barrel right next door. I had heard that this place was awesome so I walk on over and the same thing. I think to myself OK, no big deal I will just go across the street and see what I find. As I walk to the intersection I see another strange sight. A mom puts three kids in the back of a pickup with a shell and closes them in. She proceeds to say, “Hang on back there and be nice to each other”. That would get you in so much trouble in CA. I make it to the light and there is no crosswalk. Now this is a big intersection, a quick dash could be dangerous. I look down the road and see another light leading into to a shopping center with a few stores and eating establishments. So, off I go again. A few minutes later I am standing at another light with no crosswalk. Hunger is now setting in and I wonder to myself, “How is a guy supposed to get something to eat around here?” I decide to make the dash for it and once safely across I find a Steak and Shake. I think what the heck, I haven’t had a burger in months and I will walk part of it off running back across the street and walking back to the hotel. I walk in and am greeted with, “Smoking or Non?” Here is where we started. I said, “Excuse me?” He repeated and I said, “non”. He led me to a table about five feet from a guy who was smoking while he was drinking a chocolate shake. My stomach nearly flipped. By this time I am hungry and order right away, eat my double burger, wilted salad and fries in haste, leave some cash on the table and bolt out the door before my clothes start reeking of smoke. Now I have a decision to make, go back to the hotel the way I came or play frogger on the big street to get to Target. By the way, did I mention I forgot my toothbrush? I decide to put my quarter in the machine and I take my chances dodging the bevy of fast moving American made trucks and cars. Safe on the other side I make my way to the entrance and count no less than five used cans of Skoal tobacco. Once in Target I almost feel at home. The same smells of popcorn and new clothes filled the air. Then I look to the left and what do I see? Fireworks, yes you heard me right, FIREWORKS in Target! We are definitely not in SoCal anymore. What a country!! I half considered how I could get a case of sparklers back to California in my carry-on but then quickly considered how poorly I would look on CNN Sunday afternoon. Now I am about a mile from the hotel and off I go again to play in traffic. With a full tummy and a tooth brush I make it back to good old room 508 to watch Deadliest Catch and catch some shuteye. So lets review:

Seth’s adventure in Northern Kentucky:

No sidewalks- check
Kids in the back of pickups – check
Long lines at Applebee’s- check
Gobs of chewing tobacco- check
Smoking in restaurants- check
Fireworks in Target- double check

I will be back in SoCal on Sunday night. Until then…

Off I go....

2007-05-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

I have survived finals and think I did pretty well and now I am off to Cincinnati this morning for a Conference with Lutheran Campus Mission Association. They are the mission arm of the LCMS that does work on college campuses across the US. It should be fun. This will be my first trip away from my girls for more than just one night so we shall see how it goes. They did great when Jill was gone for a week so they should be OK, it is me I am more concerned with. Well, I have to make lunches still and my Airport Shuttle (aka my Pal Ingrid) will be here in 30 min so I gotta go. I will try to give you a more detailed update soon. Until then...

Finals....blaaahh!!!

2007-05-07T23:16:00.000-07:00

One more paper to write...two more tests to take...two more books to read...I think I can, I think I can, I think I can............It is all over on Friday....................

It was warm...part II

2007-04-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

Warning: Graphic content, weak stomachs stop reading now, you will thank me!!

If you haven't read the post "It was warm..." Please do so now before you continue. Ok, now that we are all up to speed let us continue. Jill's mom took our girls this morning over to Orange to play with their cousins for the day since Jill had a bridal shower to go to and I had a ton of work to finish. It was a peaceful but quiet day around the house as I did some homework and checked in on the NFL draft every once in a while. When Jill got back we got in the car and headed out to Orange for dinner with the fam. I made some yummy pollo asado and we also picked up some fresh tortillas, rice and beans from the Mexican market down the street. Just as I was dishing out my girls food, my youngest comes stumbling in from outside coughing and coughing. Her eyes are red and watery and the look on her face told the whole story. Those of you who know the other post know what comes next. There she is in the middle of the kitchen and she pukes all over the floor and all over her self. It was some serious projectile vomit! I started cracking up at this point because seeing that little girl heave is quite a site. She empties her tummy and as Jill and I start cleaning her up she looks up at me and says "Daddy, I 'pilled" (translation: I spilled). "Yep, you sure did honey!" For those of you who have spent time with my youngest, you can almost see it and hear it, hands outstretched, palms up, shoulders shrugged, that raspy high pitched voice saying once again, "I 'pilled, on dah floooor". Now I really start laughing. She was right; she sure did spill all over the place. This time I held back, and let the puke hit the floor and didn't catch it. Well we grabbed the Clorox wipes and cleaned it all up just in time to sit down and eat dinner. What a life I lead and I wouldn't change a thing!!!

Culture Clash

2007-04-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

Thanks Bill Simmons for pointing me to the following:

Now that is what happens when cultures collide!!

I don't get it!

2007-04-17T16:23:00.000-07:00

I will never understand the members of Red Sox Nation. What kind of a person throws a piece of pizza at another fan, from the same team? Aye, Aye, Aye!!! It makes me glad I don't work at the stadium anymore and have to deal with those crazy people. Don't know what I am talking about? Watch this:

Even the Red Sox announcers think this is funny. Yes there is comedy here, but it is mostly just sad and pathetic. (btw, I know this makes two posts in a row dealing with pizza, cut me some slack I am on a diet)

It was warm...

2007-04-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

We were at dinner last night at CPK visiting our friend Sarah who is a server there and at the end of our meal I found myself engaged in doing something I would have never dreamed of a few months ago. Let me back up a bit. Our good friend Sarah is a senior at Concordia and she makes her living right now as a server. We like to go and visit her once in a while and last night was the first time we took our girls. Our girls love Sarah and they really enjoyed seeing her. My youngest has been battling a cough this week and she had been coughing a bit most of the day (this is some background info for the upcoming story). My girls did a good job eating and right when the special treats arrived at the table my youngest starts to cough more. She says she doesn't want the ice cream and I think that is strange so I put some on her lips to let her taste it. She is not impressed. I of course want her to enjoy her special treat so I put some more in her mouth against her will. Well she starts coughing even more and then it happens...I should have seen the warning signs but I didn't. It was like a volcano and she proceeds to puke all over herself, all over the high chair, all over the floor and instinctively I start catching said puke in my hands. What was I thinking??!! I was amazed at how much was in her little tummy and then I was amazed that I am trying to catch the warm vomit. Needless to say our special treat time was over. My oldest is across the table asking, "What happened?" And I just say, "Your sister blaaad." I was amazed at how unfazed I was about the whole thing. There was a street pizza under the table and my daughter is sitting there covered in puke with this look on her face that was priceless. She was so bummed that she had to take off her favorite shoes, but they were covered in the remnants of her dinner. About 15 napkins and wet wipes later, and a fresh set of clothes, we left the restaurant to go back home. I guess it is true; you will do almost anything for your kids. Talk to you all later.

I know, two posts in one day....

2007-04-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to do an upgrade on the layout for a while. I will be fiddeling with this for a bit so please let me know if you see something funky and I will try to fix it. Thanks for reading...

Best Friends

2007-04-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday in the van my oldest says to me, "Dad, know what?" "What honey?" I say. "Dad, you my best friend!"

My heart just melted. It was the best!!!

Then she said, "Not mommy, but you daddy!" I am glad Jill was not in the car!!!!!

Kids are amazing! Thier way of showing love is awesome. My girls are the best and I love them so much!!!!!

Just a quick one here....

2007-04-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we took the girls to Disneyland again. This time we had a bit more time and we went on a couple of rides but we did not venture out of Fantasyland. We saw the princesses again, rode the Casey Jr. Train, went on Story Book land and rode the Carousel. We have found that walking to and from the parking structure is much easier than trying to wait in line and load up two girls and a stroller on the tram so on our way out we walked through Downtown Disney. We passed a kettle corn vendor and Jill just cannot say no to kettle corn. It was the first time the girls had popcorn and they liked it. Which brings me to the real reason for this post. Yesterday while we were sitting at home my oldest comes up to me and says, "Daddy, I wan some pa-porn." "Excuse me??, What did you say?" (this time slowly and deliberately) "Daddyyyy, I wan some paaaa-porn!!" We all just started cracking up and laughing out loud. My oldest then says, "Whaa Happen??", and we all just ask her to say popcorn over and over. We laugh and laugh and she just thinks we are silly. Good times indeed. I got to go. I have two tests today and I am not ready for either. Talk to you soon.

Two of the most amazing college games of the year and they are not from the NCAA "Big Dance".

2007-03-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I switched on the TV to check what time the UCLA game was going to be on and the NCAA Division II final was about half over. Well, I had never heard of Winona State or Barton College but that did not stop me from watching the second half. I found out that Winona State hasn't lost in over a year and are the heavy favorites in the game. The clip starts with about 45 seconds left in regulation. Winona State has the ball and is at the line with a six point lead. I don't want to say more, just enjoy...

Game #2. Concordia University Irvine (my Alma Mater) was involved in a tremendous four overtime game with favored Robert Morris University in the semi-finals of the NAIA national tournament. They made an amazing shot at the end of the first OT to send it to a second, then an amazing shot that sent it to a third OT and then a truely unreal shot to send it to a fourth OT where they pulled ahead for good. Unfortunately the Eagles ran out of gas and lost the next night in the finals. Enjoy the clip.

Adoption Update

2007-03-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

There is now an appeal on the girls case. What that means is there will be another hearing and we are in a holding pattern. Of course this brings up all of our fears again. It really sucks!! I don't know what I would do if my girls have to leave home. It would just be devastating. Please pray for us and for the girls legal status once again. I have had a hard time going to sleep the past couple of nights just thinking about it. The social workers have assured us that they believe everything will continue with formal adoption placement after this hearing. They feel there is nothing that will change the courts mind, but you never know. The court has been known to make some goofy decisions in the past and you can never count on the past to predict the future. In any event, we covet your thoughts and prayers and we will keep you posted.

Bethany Lutheran Podcast

2007-03-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

Our church has started podcasting our sermons and now I have one up that you can download and listen to. Our Lenten series is titled The Road Less Traveled and a few weeks ago I spoke on the Road of Truth. Not trying to pump myself up but I like podcasts a lot and you can add this podcast to your iTunes and the latest one will download. Or you can just listen on-line. Listen as you walk or in the car. Click here for the link and enjoy. Feel free to listen to my senior pastor Kevin Kritzer's sermons as well. He has taught me a lot and is a great mentor. Enjoy!!

The New Me...Thanks Dan Marino

2007-03-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

Back in January I said to myself, "Seth, you have got to do something about losing weight!" I have struggled with this for years and to make matters worse I have a bad thyroid that makes losing weight really hard for me, not to mention I like food a lot. I tried the Atkins diet and it worked but made me a bit nuts. I worked out like a madman for a while then gave up when after three months of being at the gym five days a week I lost five pounds! What is a guy to do? Then on ESPN they started running ads for Nutrisystem featuring Dan Marino and a bunch of other athletes who lost weight on the program. I decided to give it a try and it has been a good thing so far. have lost over 30 pounds since January 7th (the day I started). Here are some pictures of me. The first one is from the end of December and the last one I took about 10 min ago. I have a long way to go still but I am feeling better and fitting into some clothes I had put on the shelf hoping to wear them again. (The smiles in the pictures means nothing, I am not less happy, just a point of comparison). I will give you another update later. Have a great week everyone.

Graawn-paa (a.k.a. Grandpa)

2007-03-09T20:41:00.000-08:00

My girls crack me up!! The other day I overheard an exchange between them that went something like this:

"Where's Graawn-paa?"

"I non't know!"

"Oh...here he is!! Hi Grawn-pa, you wanna play wit me?"

"I love you Pa-pa, Muaah (sound of blowing kisses)"

This went on for a while with each girl taking turns playing with what I thought was a pretend Grandpa. But they kept going for quite a while and I started thinking to myself, what is going on? It sure is nice that they are pretending so nicely. So I go out there and check it out and, yes they were pretending but little did I know they have a toy that they call Grandpa. It is part of a Fisher Price Little people set and you will never guess what character... Give up? Scroll down to see who it is......

Keep Scrolling....

Yep it is good old Noah, and yes that is what my dad looks like (until he shaved his beard after Christmas). My girls look at pictures of my dad and know what he looks like and now they play with him every day. If you ask them who this guy is they both say "Graawn-Pa!!" It is the cutest thing ever. Thanks Dad for being an inspiration to my girls. They love you tons!! Thanks to my friend JT for getting the good picture of Grandpa Noah for this post.

Warning: The following post contains references to bodily functions, continue at your own risk!

2007-03-01T21:54:00.000-08:00

So, being the father of two girls under three there is a whole lot of talk around our house about bodily functions. We have regular conversations about poo-poo and pee-pee. There is the occasional talk of tooting as well as snot, wiping, and various other things. It is amazing how much time I have spent in the past two months dealing with or talking about the bowel habits of my children. When the girls moved in, our oldest was already potty trained; we thought we had it made. But little did I know that being potty trained and getting the pee-pee in the potty are two different things. No need for details but I will never understand the plumbing and physiology of females. So why this topic you ask? Well three things. First of all our youngest has started to tell us when she has thrown the deuce in the diapers, which is a nice thing and makes cleanup easier but she also will now ask to go pee-pee on the potty. It is the cutest thing in the world seeing that petite little girl sitting on the john, holding on to me saying "Come out pee-pee, come out", and then grunting like she knows exactly what to do. The other two things both come about because of my adventures with the girls this week. We had to make another trip to see the doctor and things went much better this time. I had so many snacks and games that we could have stayed the night. But when it is two little girls and daddy for hours on end, nature does call. So the other day as I maneuver the stroller into the large handicap stall (thank you ADA) my oldest does her thing (don't get me started on those stupid toilet seats with the gap, I mean why is it there? It just freaks my daughter out and she has to sit sideways and then we hope her "aim" is ok, but I digress). So as we are in the stall I proceed to use the toilet as well. So there I am going #1 and my youngest looks into the potty and says, "Ohhhhh, Bubbles!!" She was so intrigued by the bubbles it was all I could do to hold my aim and keep her hands out of the water. Ahhh, the innocence of youth. On Wednesday I had to take the girls to a DCFS visit and then to a local Lutheran School where I was a judge for the Science Fair. The girls were great and had a good time. We did visit the potty before we left and on our way out of the restroom, my oldest says (as we pass the urinals), "Hey look its daddy potties." What a crack-up. I never thought of if that way before but she is right. Thanks for listening to the pee and poo stories. I could go on but the FCC might ban this site. Have a great week!!

I own a minivan...

2007-02-17T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well the day has come. I am now in the enemy camp. Jill and I finally realized that we needed a bigger car that is easier to put kids in and out of, so we caved and purchased a [gulp] minivan. I have always said that I would never own such a vehicle because it is a slippery slope from minivan ownership to wearing sweats and baseball cap all day looking forward to dropping the kids off a school and get home to watch The View and then settle in for a day of laundry and soap operas. Geeze, I hope General Hospital is a good as I remembered. So, I have never haggled for a car before so I bought a book on how to buy a car. It did me well and I didn't get totally screwed in the deal. I wasn't as strong as I could have been but the guys I was working with were very nice and from what I could tell very genuine. My sales associate, Greg was not your typical sleazy car salesman, he took the time to show me multiple cars and we drove three of them. He spend time with me and did not push me into a vehicle I didn't need. When all was said and done I got the van for $500 above invoice. My experience at Cabe Toyota was great and would recommend anyone go and see Greg Burgin. Tell him I sent you and he will take care of you. Well I have to go move car seats from one car to the van so I guess I will pick my manhood off the floor and get to work. Here is what my new car...um...I mean van looks like:

The Gaelic Games

2007-02-14T22:17:00.000-08:00

So way back in 1999 I was in Ireland as part of a month long European adventure. The week we were there I was exposed to a wonderful sporting event. The Gaelic Games are uniquely Irish. Two sports dominate the games, Gaelic football and hurling. Being the sports fan I am and being away from the US for a while I was very intrigued by the goings on in the Irish sports scene. These events capture the attention of the entire country as local county pride is on the line. While we were there the stage was being set for the All-Ireland final in these two sports. As I learned the sports trade off weekends with football taking one and hurling the next and vicea-versa until the finals in September. To make a long story short, I got wrapped up in following the games one weekend. I vividly remember standing in the train station in Galway watching the beginning of one match and then standing with hundreds of people in the train station in Dublin watching the end of another match. It was magical. I loved getting swept up in the excitement of a wonderful event. I was even able to let a fellow traveler know who won the earlier match. That afternoon will be etched into my mind for years to come. Since then I have been fascinated by both sports. Gaelic football is like rugby, soccer, and Australian Rules football combined into one, while hurling is sorta like lacross but much cooler. The rules are pretty basic, get the ball through the uprights and score one point in the goal is three points. And yes the rules are pretty much the same for both games. Anyway, why bring this up now? Well thanks to good old YouTube I found some footage of hurling that I would like to share with you. It is from the All-Ireland final of 2005 that pitted county Cork against county Galway. Take a break from work and watch what some call the fastest team field sport in the world. Others call it a lifestyle. Enjoy:

Medi-Cal

2007-02-06T20:21:00.000-08:00

I know it’s been a while since I have posted but I have not had the time nor the energy to put into in the last couple of weeks. Once again thank you to all who poured your hearts out in compassion to me and my family at the passing of my mother. Your cards, your thoughts and your prayers have helped in so many ways. Things are getting back to normal around here (whatever that may be). The girls have been adjusting well and we have cleared a couple of big legal hurdles. Nothing I can talk about here (but call me and we can chat). We are still not out of the woods and still covet your prayers.

So today was the girls well-child checkup at the doctor. Now let me begin with saying that I love my country. I love my state, but we have some serious problems in our healthcare system. The girls are on Medi-Cal. For those of you out of state think of it like the federal Medicare system but with more benefits and options (not to hard to beat Medicare so don't get your hopes up). The saga that was today began weeks ago when Jill and I started looking for a medical provider that would take Medi-Cal benefits as well as new patients. Well we soon learned that this is like searching for the Holy Grail. I must have made 25 phone calls one afternoon (no joke, and I hate the phone). I ran into brick wall after brick wall. I was asked, "Do you have straight Medi-Cal?" Here’s me on the other end of the line..."Is there something else?" Tort response from the lady on the line..."Well if you don't know then it is just straight Medi-Cal and we don't take that!" What I wanted to say..."But you are in the Medi-Cal provider book, so you should take it, right? And if you don't, take your stinkin' name out of the book so us rookies don't make these mistakes!!!" What I did say..."Thank you for your time, can you direct me to an office that does take it?" Pause...pause...pause..."Um, I can't do that...(click.........hum of dial tone) Well eventually I talked to a nice lady who put me in touch with the Long Beach Children’s Clinic inside of Miller's Children’s Hospital. So I gave them a call and we got ourselves an appointment in just three short weeks!! (note hint of sarcasm) Anyway, today was the day of the appointment and after a stressful morning meeting at DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services) in Glendora. The girls and I hit up the golden arches for some lunch. All went well until my oldest had to go potty. I put her off until we all finished lunch and then packed up everything and took one girl in my arms and the other by the hand and went to the men’s room. As we are going in my youngest proceeds to dottle in the doorway and gets her fingers pinched in the door. Now she is screaming bloody murder in the bathroom that has the acoustic effects of a Bose speaker and there is now blood coming out of my ears and the five men in the bathroom all looking at me, like what the [bleep] was that??? So I say I'm sorry and we head for the only stall in the small bathroom but the light is out in the back so it is dark and there is graffiti on the wall and on the toilet seat and my oldest makes a face and says, "No, no daddy, don't wanna go potty!!" O.K. so out we go right into the midst of a birthday party, screaming toddler in hand, past Ronald McDonald and sneak out the back door. We get the to car and I notice that my youngest is missing a shoe! She is still screaming and I hear my oldest say, "Daddy, she dropped it in the baffroom." Thanks for telling me now!! So back we go into the McDonalds, through the birthday party (again), my youngest, still screaming and back into the bathroom to pick up her shoe. Now it is back through the birthday party for a third time and out to the car. Now I have to strap two kids into car seats and get on the road to pick up Jill and off to the Children’s Clinic. We get to the clinic right on time, but of course we have a mound of paperwork to fill out. Now, I was ready for some of this but being a clinic that does not deny services to anyone based on their ability to pay, there is more paperwork than refinancing your mortgage. Now of course this makes perfect sense right?? Make the less fortunate (possibly less educated, and I am not making a judgment call) fill out more paperwork then they have seen since the last time they were in school all while their child is crying because they are sick. Into this milieu we plunge and Jill and I try to keep our kids from catching every childhood illness known to man that is floating around the joint. Our appointment was set for 1:15 but after paperwork and waiting, we were called in at about 2:15 or so and got the regular things done (weight, height, temp.) then off to get the anemia test. We are shuffled off to a back room and around some cardboard boxes and my girls get the first and not the last stick of the day. So now you think off to the exam room and the doctor will see you in a few minutes, but no, back to the germ infested, now trash covered waiting room. We hold up in a corner and try to distract our girls with fruit snacks and water (yeah that worked for about 10 min.) Another hour rolls by and they finally call us into an exam room. We met with the very nice resident who ran through all the questions and tests etc. She was lovely and didn't miss a thing, but it took a while. Now she is off to consult her attending and we wait some more. Finally, we visit with the attending and find out we are in for some shots, a prescription, and blood work. So now you would think it is off to see the scheduler to make a follow up appointment and to get our injections but no, back to the dungeon known as the waiting room. There are far less people now and less crying. We wait some more and finally we are called in. We head to the injection room, which I swear, must have been the supply room at some point. Not very well organized, junk everywhere and we are in there with two other families, just standing right next to them about three feet away as their kids are getting their shots. Now more forms to fill out and get back. Then my youngest gets stuck twice and she is like, "What is going on???" It is her third Band-Aid of the day. It is now 5:30!!! We had been there four and a half hours and we had an appointment!! Now we have to run up the pharmacy and get the prescriptions before they close so we hit the stairs to save time. Picture this if you will, a large overweight, mid-thirties, going grey, new father, wearing a backpack, holding two more backpacks in one hand and a not happy toddler in the other bounding up the stairs to make it to the pharmacy before it closes. I wish I could have put it on video. I could play it before meals as my new diet plan. U-G-L-Y! But I digress... We make it to the pharmacy and then off to the lab for blood work. Of course that means more paperwork and waiting and fuming, and now hunger is setting in. Both Jill and I are cranky and the girls have not had a nap all day and finally they call my youngest in to get her blood drawn. This could not go well. There I am, just barely allowed to hold my youngest again after letting her get stuck three times already and now I know what is coming but she has no idea. We sit down and she sees the needle and starts to fuss. Then the lab tech tries to find a good vein. She goes for one in the hand but after a good start it runs dry. Take that needle out and my youngest is now screaming (again). And she is no dummy as she sees the lab tech getting ready to go again and she freaks out. Luckily for us the acoustics in this small room were now where near that of the restroom of the Lakewood McDonalds. The second time is a charm by my little girl is now so worked up she is sweating all over and crying like crazy and now I am sweaty too from holding her and feeling horrible that she has been stuck five times in one day. Finally we go back out and Jill takes our oldest back, she is excited to get a special band-aid like her sister but doesn't understand the price she will pay. As I bribe my youngest with more fruit snacks, trying to get her to trust me again, I hear some more screams from the back of the lab. Only one stick is needed for her and finally we get to wipe some tears and blow some little noses and head back to the car. It is now about 6:30 and I ask Jill if she has any cash to pay for parking. She looks at me and says, nope...I say to her I have nothing either. (Boy we are good parents, Uggh). Luckily for us we find an ATM in the hospital and we take out $20 plus the $1.50 convenience fee (how convenient). We get the car out of hawk and head to Carl's Jr. for a second meal of fast food for the day (I told you we were good parents). Back in the car my youngest falls asleep but I have to take Jill back to work so she can get her stuff and shut down her room. It is now about 7:30 and I am headed home with two sleeping children. I cruise the neighborhood until Jill gets home so we can team up on the girls and get them to bed. Finally back home after almost 12 hours and off to bed. Not much crying, just exhaustion and then sleep.

So my big beef of the day is not really with the clinic, although it has its problems. It is not with the doctors or nurses who are doing their jobs and learning and serving a place that is needed in the community. It is even not with the Medi-Cal system itself. My beef is with our politicians who have created this monster. Most of them have good HMO's or other comprehensive care so when they make decisions on health care it doesn't really effect them. Now don't get me wrong, I am not in favor of universal healthcare, it may be good for some of our Canadian brothers but they have to wait forever to get things done. I just wish there would be some compassion in the political process and not the constant fixation on the bottom line or even worse, getting re-elected. I have had it up to my eyeballs with the myopic blowhards in Sacramento and in D.C. who worry too much about themselves and forget who they represent. Now I rarely talk politics with people because these discussions just divide and never solve the problem so I am not looking for a fight or even a discussion on this one. Lets just call this Seth blowing off some steam after a hard day of being a daddy. As my neighbor said to me a few weeks ago, "Parenting is the hardest job you will ever love." Ain't that the truth. I love it every day and I would not trade in these experiences for anything in the world. So, I have to put up with some governmental garbage, so be it. The rewards are amazing.

Thanks for listening and kudos to you for getting to the end of this long one. Have a great week!!!

Mom's Memorial Service

2007-01-25T20:34:00.000-08:00

Today was the memorial service for my mom and I decided to say a few words in the form of a letter written to my mom during the service. I share it with you in her honor and memory.

Dear Mom,

I know I haven’t written you a letter in a long time but I just had to tell you some things that have been on my mind recently. I was thinking the other day about the gift I gave you when you moved into Tustin Manor. The small stained glass frame with the saying “Mom, I will never outgrow my love for you” has been etched in my mind. That saying cannot be more true. I have been thinking of when my love for you first bloomed. Was it before I could remember as you held me in your arms, or when you played with me as a toddler? Was it when I fell down and you kissed my skinned knee? Or was it there even before? I know I felt it as we waited for the AVON lady to come. Would you order something for me this time? I felt it as we watched TV together. You would watch Sesame Street with me and I would watch the Guiding Light with you. I felt your love when I could smell your perfume when I was in your arms. I always felt better when I knew you were close. I felt your love even when you turned on the vacuum cleaner that scared me so. I know you were right there to help me find my things that had fallen in the magic crack of my bed and the couch. I felt your love as you sent me to take a nap before Wallace and Ladmoe would come on TV. My love for you grew as you took us kids to the doctor and on your errands. I remember when you let me dress up in my cowboy outfit and “rob” the bank. I remember our trips to Babbit’s grocery store and if we were good to Thriftys for ice cream. I remember chicken noodle casserole and sloppy joes, and Mus-go on Fridays. As I grew older I remember watching you read your books and I wanted to be like you. I remember seeing you teach VBS and Sunday School and longing to hear your Bible stories. Thank you for teaching me about Jesus!! I will never forget our move out to California when the car broke down at McDonalds and we stayed in a hotel. It was the first time we ever stayed up late enough to watch Saturday Night live with you and Dad. We always wondered what you guys were laughing about when we went to sleep. As dad stayed behind to fix the car you took care of us on the bus and didn’t mind Josh’s constant cries of “Cow-na-forna!!” My love for you grew as I grew and spent more time at school and away from you, but you were always there showing me how to live. As you taught Sunday school, sang in the choir, and sat with us at church, I learned so much from just watching you. My love grew for you as I sat on your lap and you showed me how to sew on a button and to use a needle and thread to fix my pants. You will never know how much you helped me by teaching me how to make pancakes and cookies and other things, and even to do my own laundry. By the time I was in my teens I looked forward to tater tots and “This Old House” every afternoon after school. You were starting to struggle then but my love for you never struggled. I was a hard day when you moved out but I knew it was for the best. I remember our Saturday trips to Spires for Beefeaters, and Breakfast. As you got more sick, my love grew stronger. I missed having my mom around every day but I held on to what you taught me. It was a harder day when you had to move from Tustin to Torrance. Dad and I looked long and hard for a great place for you to live. My love continued even though I seemed to be distant for a while. It was hard seeing you change so much and when I would see you, my heart would break. I struggled seeing you slip into a silent world. I thank the Lord for a place like Golden Cross nursing home. They took such good care of you there. Vida and Linda and the rest always made me feel welcome and they treated you as you were their own mother. I will never forget the day Dad and I sat at your bedside to tell you that you were a grandma when Matthew was born. Your eyes lit up and I could tell you were excited. I hope you saw us as we sat by your bed talking to you and praying. I hope you felt our love as we tried to take care of you the best we could. Mom, there are so many things I wish you could have been there for. The graduations, birthdays and wedding celebrations were not the same without you there. Your spunk and vigor of life were missed. I am sorry you missed seeing Dawn follow in your footsteps in the classroom. You would be so proud as she carries on your love of teaching. I am sorry you didn’t get to see Dawn be the wonderful mom and wife she is. I am sorry you missed seeing your little baby Josh grow up. He might have had a rough start but he has more than made up for it. You should see him now, he is so much like you, you don’t even know. You would glow with pride if you could visit him at MI. He does such a great job, thanks to your good start. I am sorry you missed all my basketball games in high school. I wish you could have heard my camp stories and I wish I could have cried on your shoulders when I had girl troubles. I wish you could have seen your newest grandchildren. Don’t worry, I will tell them all about you. I wish you could see what a success you sister has become. She loves you so much and is a wonderful grand-ma. I wish you could have sat and brushed Kirsten’s girls hair. She and Jennifer have grown into wonderful ladies and they miss their Aunt Mar terribly.

Mom, I will NEVER outgrow my love for you. As I got to hold your hand for the first time in years last week, I hope you felt my love for you, which began when you first loved me. I know that today even as I grieve your loss I am strengthened by your faith. I know that Jesus loves you and was at your bedside when none of us could be. I know that he held your hand when things were tough. I know that he called you his own in Baptism and that he loves you more than I ever can. Today you get to experience his love first hand as you join your parents at the feast of the Lamb. If you are lucky they will break out the cards and you can play some pinochle with them again. Just don’t let Amo count the cards this time. This is a sad but joyous day and I know that you would want us to dry up our tears and light up a good cigar and celebrate your newfound freedom in paradise. Mom, I love you with all my heart and I look forward to seeing you someday in heaven, and when I do I will wrap my arms around your neck and breath deep to smell your perfume and all will be right once again.

All My Love,

Seth

(The picture above is my parents with my older sister Dawn circa 1969)

A Sad but Joyous Day

2007-01-16T21:45:00.000-08:00

Some of you know, but many of you do not that my mother has been very ill with an undiagnosed neurological disorder for many years. She has been in residential care for almost 19 years. For the most part she has been healthy but unresponsive. On Saturday I received a call that she was being taken to the hospital with a high fever. They started treating her for a severe infection in her bladder. I stopped by to see her on my way home from a Moms retreat I helped with that was in Malibu. She was not doing well by the time I got there. I was able to hold her hand for the first time in many years and pray for her and with her for about 15 minutes. At that time I told her that I love her and thought it was a good time to go and be with Jesus. At about midnight I got a call from the doctor saying they thought that the infection most likely had spread to her blood and her prognosis was poor. God in his grace finally gave my mother release from the chains of disease Monday morning. It is a sad but wonderful day as she is now at home with Jesus and celebrating the feast of the Lamb with her parents once again. It was not an unexpected day, but it has still been difficult. I covet your thoughts and prayers as my family will soon gather for a memorial service that is a long time in coming. The memorial service will be next Thursday January 25th at Bethany Lutheran Church in Long Beach. We have asked that memorials be given to the Bethany Student Success Program. My mother was a Lutheran Educator for years and she always had time to help kids. Please pray for safe travel for the members of my family as they travel in the coming days. Thank you for all of the support you have given my family already. We have been uplifted in ways you can never know.

All is well

2007-01-15T08:59:00.000-08:00

I am not dead or anything. Just super busy. First of all parenting is going great. The other day my youngest went through five sets of clothes for various reasons. She fell on the blacktop right as we were going into the DCFS office and was a mess, then she leaked through her diaper, then, I left her cup of milk too close to her at lunch and she poured it down her front, then she had a massive blowout (parents you know what I mean) than necessitated a stop in the bathtub to wash her off. Of course her sister had to take a bath at the same time so now I have two kids in the tub, right then the social worker calls and my older one needs to go potty at the same time. So here I am with my cell phone curled up with my shoulder trying to hold a slippery wet toddler on the toilet hoping she doesn't fall in while making sure my youngest doesn't drown herself by dumping water on hear head all at the same time trying to talk to the social worker. Ahhh, good times! Thank God most days are not five outfit ones. Most days are spent playing dress up, and dollies, or watching princess movies, or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (I highly recommend this show!!). Not to mention that our senior pastor is away in India on a mission trip so I have had a few more duties and responsibilities at church. So far only one member has been called home to heaven, but there are a few on hospice and could hear heavens bells soon. I also have a member who got into some serious legal trouble and she (yes, a she) is being held in jail at the moment. Lets just say this situation could be on Law and Order for sure or at least Cops. So needless to say I have not been able to post for a while. Thank you to Dr. King for this day off so I can get my breath. Thank you to all who have been praying for our girls and their situation. Please keep praying. We still have many hurdles ahead of us. Until next time....

Windows Vista

2006-12-30T15:31:00.000-08:00

So Windows Vista is finally going to be launched soon and I can't wait. As an avid Macintosh user I always love to see what the geniuses up in Microsoft land have cleverly come up with on their own. (Note tongue firmly implanted in cheek) Now thanks to David Pogue of the New York Times we can get a sneak peek of what those wacky guys in Washington are up to. Enjoy!!!

Move in Day!

2006-12-21T22:11:00.000-08:00

Just a short post to let you all know that our girls moved in today. As I type they are sound asleep in the next room. We fought SoCal traffic to get out to the foster home by 6:00 and we were a bit late but no big deal. We had a lot of papers to sign when we got there but the girls were ready to go as soon as we walked in the door. After all the formalities, the girls said some good-byes and blew kisses as they got in the car. They stayed awake the whole trip home and they both wanted cereal for a snack. Mom helped us get PJ's on but the girls had a hard time going to sleep. A lot of tears and lulabys later they were both zonked out. Tomorrow is a day filled with getting to know the house and bonding. We ask for your prayers for this time as well as for the girls legal situation. Nothing is ever a done deal until you hear it from the judge. Please pray for us and our situation. I think that is what is most concerning to me. All the other stuff about being a Dad will be ok, but I have absolutely no control over the courts and that scares the you-know-what out of me. Well, I have to wrap a few more presents and then try to get some shuteye tonight. Thanks for all of your cards and emails. We greatly appreciate them. Talk to you when I can...

It's a Girl...No, It's two Girls!!!

2006-12-08T17:03:00.000-08:00

Jill and I are proud to announce that we will be welcoming two beautiful girls into our home December 21st. It has been a long process but we will be blessed by the addition of these beautiful girls. Due to their legal status I am not able to mention their names or post their pictures on any public page on the internet, including Blogger.com. I will also need to ask you to not mention the girls by name on any page you may have (including myspace). If you want more information, please send me an email or give me a call. In any event, Jill and I could not be happier and are looking forward to being parents. We covet your prayers as the girls make a big transition into their new home. Thank you in advance for all of your support. Please understand if posting becomes rare for a while. Have a Merry Christmas!!!

I have been wanting to post this for a while now...

2006-11-28T08:47:00.000-08:00

In the world of the Internet, this is really old but I think it is one of the coolest things I have seen. The band O.K. Go! shot this video for one of their songs and released it only on YouTube.com. It has received over 2 million hits not to mention how many times it has been shared and copied. The video is all one take (not the first take of course), with no edits to it. It was so popular that the band did the routine live on the MTV music awards this year, pretty awesome. Enjoy!!!

One other thing...Jill and I have a meeting with the Department of Children and Family Services Today. We would appreciate your prayers and we will keep you all informed. I will post about Thanksgiving in a day or so, if I have time. Until then....

Lotsa stuff going on...

2006-11-22T16:06:00.000-08:00

Well, where do I begin? First of all school has been kicking my butt. It is not really all the work (although that has been hard as well). It is the drive that is killing me. I don't know how people do it every day. Fighting the traffic on the 405 everyday sucks!! Mind you, I do own a hybrid for a reason and the carpool option is nice but it doesn't always help. My historical theology class has been great but has really stretched me. Going from the beginning of the Christian church to the present in ten weeks is really just a blur. Trying to keep the Gnostics apart from the Antinomians etc. has bee rough. But Hebrew is the killer. Man, I know for sure that I will not be getting an advanced degree in Biblical languages any time soon. Don't miss read this. I am doing fine in the course, but it is soooo hard. My research class is the most I have ever worked for a one unit class. I must have put 40 hours into that thing this semester and I am still not done. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. One more paper to write, two more tests to take, and one more project to do and the semester is over.

Right now I am just happy that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Jill and I are hosting again this year and we couldn't be happier. My sister Dawn and her family will be here. My brother Josh will be here too. Both of Jill's sisters and their families will join us along with some other great friends including Ingrid, Sarah, Brandon, Laura, Josh T. and possibly a few others. Pavo Bob will make is triumphant return as the main course. If you missed last years Thanksgiving post, you know that I brine my bird and here I stand, I can do no other. In my mind it is the only way to go. Nothing makes better turkey than brine time!!

So my camera died this week. So sad!!! I have to find a place to get it fixed next week sometime. I turned it on and it made some awful sounds and gave me an error warning on the screen. I hope I can get it fixed because I just got an underwater housing for it for when I go SCUBA diving next summer. There are also some pretty cool pictures I took that are stuck on the memory card right now.

This past weekend was our District Youth Gathering. It was held in Rancho Mirage near Palm Springs. It was AWESOME!! Great worship band, great speaker, and my pal Ingrid was one of the ones in charge. She did a fantastic job and the event went off without a hitch (that I could see). It was great to be there and experience it. I also ran the College Ministry booth for the weekend. As soon as that was over I went about five miles to Palm Desert for the Lutheran Educators Conference. Jill is on the program committee for that event and she, and all of her teammates did a great job. It was fun and we got some good VIP perks. We stayed in a suite with an awesome view of the golf course and the mountains. Good times. It is always good to see old friends and make new ones.

On the adoption front, not much I can tell you today. I will have more info soon. If you want to read into that be my guest.

That is about all for now. Thanks for still coming back to visit day after day to the same post. You are all more loyal than think I would be. Talk to you all soon.

I promise....

2006-11-22T08:12:00.000-08:00

I promise to post later today. It sure has been a while and I got a lot to say but first I have to go to work and then to the store for supplies for turkey day. Be back soon.....

Update...

2006-11-12T21:34:00.000-08:00

Yeah I know it's time for a post. Things have just been crazy. I think this is the theme of my life right now. School is good but ohh sooo busy. Hebrew Vocab is killing me. Just when I seem to have a handle on it...bam...20 more words to know. And then for each new word I memorize I think I loose two others. Oh well, I can see a pinhole of light at the end of the tunnel. Just one more month to go in the semester.

Jill and I got a letter in the mail last week that our social worker got a promotion. Good for her, bad for us. Now our file goes to a new social worker who does not know us except on paper. We haven't met her yet and I don't want to judge but I hope it all goes well (says Seth crossing his fingers knowing the working with any Govt. agency never goes well).

For the past year I have been serving on a College Ministry Taskforce for the PSW district of the LCMS. It has been good and I got to design a new sticker for our ministry. It was fun to use my new found skills in graphic design to put out something pretty cool (at least I think it is cool). The true test will be next weekend at the District Youth Gathering when we will pass them out to a bunch of High School Kids. I hope we don't see a bunch of them on the floor because the kids thought they were lame.

Anyway...Jill and I are heading out to the Palm Springs area on Friday. Our friend Ingrid is the "boss" of the DYG and we are supporting her. Then teachers conference starts next Sunday. Jill is on the planning committee for that whole shindig so she has to be there early. It is always a great time getting together with old pals from College or other teaching gigs. It is usually a pretty good party, and there is learning too.

Well I have been up since about 5:30 this morning so I am going to hit the hay. Blog at you all soon...

Post #101

2006-11-01T21:35:00.000-08:00

I just realized that yesterdays post was the big #100. Thanks for journeying with me the past year and a half. Sorry for not updating as often as I would like. So yesterday, Jill and I had a very fun Halloween. We sent out invitations to every house on the block to stop by our house as they are out trick or treating and grab a water, or juice box, meet their neighbors, and kids could bounce in the bounce house. It was awesome. We had quite a few kiddos jumping in all sorts of costumes, from tinkerbell, to Dale Ernhardt Jr. It was a blast. We got to meet many of our neighbors and start some community on our street. We will see where this all goes. We hope to make it a yearly tradition. Enjoy the pic, I forgot to get the camera until later so no kiddos bouncing...sorry!

Yes, it is a super cool Scooby Doo Jumper!!! Thank you Jump for Fun. Check them out and you too can get some super cool jumpers for your next party.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T15:51:00.000-08:00

Or happy Reformation day or whatever you are celebrating today. So for those of you who do not live in SoCal or have never been here in October let me tell you that we do not have a typical fall season. October is know for the Santa Ana winds and temperatures in the upper 80's to 90's for three or four days at a time. Then the wind will blow again from the ocean and it will be quite chilly (for us, like in the upper 50's low 60's).

So two weeks ago Jill and our niece Maddie carved some pumpkins. They had a great time. It was the first time Maddie had done this and she had some mixed emotions about it but it was fun. Enjoy the following pictures:

So the pumpkins are carved and placed on our front steps. The next day we had some Santa Ana winds and it got hot.

WARNING: SCIENCE CONTENT (from Wikipedia)
Santa Anas are a type of f fohn wind, the result of air pressure buildup in the high-altitude Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. This air mass spills out of the Great Basin and is pulled by gravity into the surrounding lowlands. The air circulates clockwise around the high pressure area bringing winds from the east and northeast to Southern California (the reverse of the westerly winds characteristic of the latitude). It is often said that the air is heated and dried as it passes through the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, but according to meteorologists this is a popular misconception. The Santa Ana winds actually form during autumn and early spring when the desert is relatively cold. The air heats up due to adiabatic heating while being compressed during its descent. While the air has already been dried by orographic lift prior to reaching the Great Basin, the relative humidity of the air declines rapidly as it descends and warms in its final stages as it passes over the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges. The air is then forced down the mountain slopes out towards the Pacific coast; the air mass is further heated by compression as it drops in altitude before reaching the Los Angeles Basin and western San Diego County at typical speeds of 35 knots. The southern California coastal region gets its hottest weather of the year during autumn while Santa Ana winds are blowing. During Santa Ana conditions it is typically hotter along the coast than in the deserts and the humidity plummets to less than 15%. As the Santa Ana winds are channeled through the mountain passes they can approach hurricane force. The combination of wind, heat, and dryness turns the chaparral into explosive fuel for the infamous wildfires the region is known for. Wildfires fanned by Santa Ana winds burned 721,791 acres in two weeks during October 2003.

So our poor pumpkin spent the next week baking in the sun and I noticed that it was not doing well. Then the next day I found the following sad jack-o-lantern looking up at me from the porch:

I guess thats what we get for living in SoCal and I wouldn't have it any other way. Have a great day and don't eat too much candy!!

Not a lot of time here so lets get this post rollin'

2006-10-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

So I am woefully behind in an online, go at your own pace class I am registered for this semester. It is a basic intro to research class and it has one major flaw in my book--you have to go at your own pace and my current pace for this class is zero. I have to hustle my bustle to get it done before the semester is over. I have sequestered myself the rest of the morning to get three of the nine lessons done. I think it can happen, it is only a one unit class so with some effort I can be done in a few weeks.

One of the reasons I am behind in the above is that my other classes are taking a big bite out of my time. Hebrew is awesome but takes mucho amounts of time. I am getting a strong A right now but to keep that up I end up spending lots of time with my nose in my book and listening to the vocab in the car. So far so good. My class in Historical Theology is fun as well. There is a lot of reading but having the love of history in me, I find it fascinating. We took a test this week. Four questions, two hours...go!! I took the whole two hours and I have know idea if what I wrote was exactly what the professor will be looking for. I did pull out the big boy vocabulary and I used "elucidate" and "milieu" as well as a few others.

On the adoption front. I know I haven't posted about this in a while and there has been a reason. Jill and I have done all the classes, filled out all the paperwork, jumped through all the hoops, etc. We though that was the hard part, but we were wrong. The next process is not only tough mentally but also emotionally. The process goes like this. Our social worker works as our advocate and interacts with social other social workers who try to match us for potential placement of children. Usually once the social workers have gotten together they give us a call and give us some information and ask if we want to continue. If we agree they gather all the paperwork and make a presentation. All the details or problems try to get worked out and hopefully a connection is made. It is hard to not get your hopes up when you get that phone call. And let me tell you it is also hard when you know you need to say "no". We have been matched and unmatched a few times and each time it is very hard. For now we just wait for another phone call and start the process again. We covet your prayers not only for us but for the children that will be placed in our home and also for those who will not. More updates on this to come...

That is about all for now, I have to get back to homework. Talk to you all soon.

here you go...

2006-10-15T22:42:00.000-07:00

Some of my friends and family have been giving me a hard time for not updating lately. So here you go. Just some pictures from disneyland....

Even Better...

2006-10-04T22:09:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh the wonder of the pharmaceutical industry. I feel better today. I can even hear a bit out of my ear today. Still in some pain but not nearly what it was a few days ago. I just wish I had time to sleep in and not worry about anything for a few days. I fell asleep at my desk this afternoon. It is either: a)the ear infection, b)the Hebrew vocab, c)the pain pills, or d)all of the above. I think I will take D for $200 Alex. Thanks for the calls and emails wanting to know how I am. I feel loved. Got to go study my Hebrew vocab cards. I have another quiz in the morning...

Better...

2006-10-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

I received four, count 'em, four prescriptions from the Dr. yesterday. Well she isn't technically a Dr. She is the Nurse Practitioner who saw me at the Urgent Care office. I feel slightly better but not much. I did go to class this morning, and I think I am going to regret it. I just popped two pain pills and it is off to beddiebye for me. I will give you an update tomorrow if I have a chance. Until then...

Pain

2006-10-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

I have the most wicked ear ache of my life. I stayed home all day and tried not to move. I finally took some pain pills. I am going to the Dr. in the AM. OUCH!!! I hope I can sleep...

I must be doing something right....

2006-09-27T23:47:00.000-07:00

Because everything seems to be going wrong.

I don't know were to begin. I haven't the time to give great details so here are the highlights (or lowlights):

The 405 sucks! Even with the carpool lane
Hebrew class is great but five days a week?!?
I played badmidon today for the first time in yonks! It was awesome but I am sore!!!
Our new sermon series is gonna be great! (As long as I get everything done that Pastor Kevin needs)
Mac's rule...PC's drool!! My computer at work is becoming a giant, slow paperweight!
It would be nice to spend time with my wife when she is not asleep.
I went to make copies today and the copier was off (20 min to warm up)
I went to set up the projector for class no power cord
I went to check out a laptop no cord to connect to the projector.
I went to Kinkos to give them my artwork for a banner for church, it was in the wrong format
Made the cover for the Sunday bulletin, had to go back and forth to and from home 4x in one day!!
I have a new class that starts tomorrow and I have to read a book before it starts.

I say again, I must be doing something right, because everything seems to be going wrong.

Twelve Hour Turnaround

2006-09-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning not unlike many of the past mornings thinking, "Didn't I just go to sleep???" The nights seem to be rather short these days. I had class until 10 PM last night and now I have to turn around and be on the road by 9 AM. I was joking with my friend David the other day and told him my life is just 12 hour turnaround. He said that was a cool name for a band and now if anybody takes it I have proof that it was my idea. All kidding aside, my schedule sucks this semester. I travel the 28 miles to Concordia University Irvine every day and sometimes twice, depending on responsibilities at Church. I can't tell you how happy I am that I own a Prius. That car has saved us a ton of $$$, not to mention the cool sticker that lets me go solo in the carpool lane. Without that thing it would take me well over 90 min to make the 28 mile commute on the darn 405. As far as my classes go, they are not that bad. I like the pace of my Hebrew class. When I had Greek it was compacted and very intense. This class moves at a much easier pace and is easier to follow and not get behind. My class on church polity has been good and informative, but not a brain stretcher. I start a class on Historical Theology next week. There is a ton of reading for it but it should be fun. I have been looking forward to this class. I started teaching two new classes at church. One is on evangelism and the other is on Christian Mentoring. They are going well so far. I have been "the guy" the past two weeks with Pastor Kevin being in Germany. Thank the Lord there has been no big things. We have had our share of people in the hospital, but God in his mercy has not called any of them home (yet). That is about all right now. My life revolves around school, church, and sleep. If you see a white Toyota zooming down the 405 in the carpool lane, just wave and say a prayer for me. Talk to you all later.

Long Time

2006-09-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

So sorry for the lack of blogging! I always have good intentions but the follow through is a tough one for me. I started seminary classes two weeks ago and they are not too hard but hard enough. I am taking a class on Church Polity. What is that you ask? It is how the church (LCMS) is organized and how it does its "business". The class also has a team ministry focus and that should be fun. I am also taking Hebrew. I am convinced that Hebrew came straight from aliens or something. It is wierd. There are hardly any words or letters that have an equivalent in English, Spanish, Greek, or German (the languages I am familar with). I feel like I need some sort of decoder ring to figure this thing out. So far so good. The big bummer of the semester is that my Hebrew class meets five days a week in the morning. For those long time readers of this blog know, that means I have also have night classes two days a week so on Monday and Thursday I just stay in Irvine and do homework or some work for church in the Library. My wallet has taken a hit too with the increased driving to and from school.

Nothing new on the Adoption front. Our social worker has been on vacation for about a month so have been in a holding pattern.

I think I am getting sick. I have felt rather blah all day and now my throat is scratchy. I think I may go home and go to bed. I still have a sermon to write but if I don't go to sleep I may be out of it for a while. Type at you all later.........

The Boston Massacre- 2006

2006-08-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

I love baseball. Just everything about it fascinates me. Many of you know I worked at Angels Stadium for four seasons and I got to see some great games. I enjoyed four games of the World Series in 2002 and got to see my team win it all. But the worst times at the stadium were when the Red Sox would come to town. I posted a story about this before and you can read the details here. The Angels open up a three game series with the team from Bean town today and Anaheim better get ready to host the biggest bunch of myopic fans the world has ever known. Please take a minute to check out my friend Rich's blog about his feelings of Red Sox Nation. I can't agree more!!! It was great to see the Sox lose five straight to their arch rivals from the Bronx. I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear this past weekend. Go Angels!!!

Seth go to Petco!

2006-08-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

I got a call from my friend Matt who lives in San Diego the other day and he invited me to go to a San Diego Padre baseball game with him. I looked at my schedule and lo and behold, I was free!! So I jumped at the chance to visit another Major League stadium. I had been to the old Quallcom a.k.a Jack Murphy stadium in San Diego a few times and it was not a very baseball friendly park. It is a much better venue for football. Anyway, the new baseball stadium is nestled in the historic "Gaslamp" district in downtown. What a cool place. There are tons of cool restaurants, clubs, and bars surrounding the park. By about 5:00, when we got there, the surrounding area was a buzz. We had some beers in a bar about two blocks from the park and by the time we left it was wall to wall people heading to the park. What a good vibe. It reminds me of the vibe at PNC park in Pittsburgh or SafeCo field in Seattle. The stadium itself is very pleasing to the eye. It has all blue seats and a lot of tan tiles and steel. There are two large towers that serve as light-towers but also house luxury suites. The towers hearken back to features of the old Padre's stadium when the team was part of the Pacific Coast League (minor league baseball) back in the 1940's and 1950's. Our seats were on the field level, first base side, a bit outside the baselines. Like many of the new baseball only stadiums, this one has its perks and quirks. There are a ton of luxury suites, an upscale area called the Toyota Terrace (right behind home plate), a couple of five star restaurants, and enough angles in the outfield wall to give Euclid a headache. A couple of the coolest things in the park include a place just outside the outfield wall called "The Park in the Park". It is a grassy area with a bit of hill for people to sit and watch the game, or throw the ball around. The is even a mini baseball diamond the kids can play on. My favorite part of the stadium is the old Western Metal Supply Co. Building. This building was on the property when construction started. It has some historical value to San Diego and the designers incorporated this building when they made the plans for the stadium. One corner of the building serves as the left field foul pole (quite a cool feature). The bottom floor is home to the Padre's team store. The roof is a group party area complete with its own bleachers, and the middle three floors are luxury and party suites. One really neat feature is that from the team store you can walk out at field level and watch the game from the left field corner. I stayed about an inning and watched the game from there. What a great way to honor the history of the area. We had a great time at Petco Park and I cant wait to go back. Enjoy some pictures I took:

Our Seats were about twelve rows down from here.

The Western Metal Supply Building.

Me on the field level just outside the Padre's team store.

From behind the fence by the team store.

Behind right field in "The Park in the Park".

Long Awaited Pictures.....

2006-08-08T20:56:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pix from my adventures this summer. I have many, many more, but these are some of the good ones

Watching Fireworks on the 4th from a super secret location

Mission Alaska VBS @ Big Lake!
Big Lake Alaska
(Mt. Mckinley is in the background of this one
but it is over 350 miles away so it seem so small.)

Hatcher Pass Alaska

Beautiful Alaska Flowers

Sunset in San Carlos Mexico (no photoshop here just the raw image)

David @ 40 feet

Jill and I are off for Napa tomorrow to taste wine...and to see my sister. I should have some more good pictures then. Later.....

Alaska Pictures

2006-07-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

I have not had the time to dowload any pictures from Alaska yet but you can check out My Pal Ingrid and her blog to see some of the events from Alaska. Enjoy!!