Every once in a while I like to jump over here to this old blog and relive old times.  It is fun to look back at the days before there were kids in the house or before I was even a pastor.  As of this writing I have just transitioned out of full time pastoral ministry and now work for a great organization called 1517.  The girls are now 17 and 18 years old.  People continue to filter through the Pavo St. house and I still love to cook.  For now, I do a lot of sharing on Twitter and spend free time doing a podcast with my friend Rich.  You can check it out HERE.  You can also find me on Facebook and IG but to be honest. I scroll more than I post these days.  I do miss long form blogging and perhaps I will do some more of it now that I am not in the parish anymore.  Who knows?  Perhaps in a few years time I will look back at this post and smile.  Until then...

Blogger are you still alive?

So, I've been kicking around the idea of long form blogging again.  I got away from it almost 9 years ago when Facebook and Twitter began to dominate the social media landscape.  Sometimes things are better said when you spill some serious ink (or pixels in my case).  So, for now this is just a thought.   I will ruminate on what I might write, but feel free to explore the wonderful posts of the past.  There is some crazy stuff here!  I'm sure a bunch of the links are dead and the formatting will be all hemajang (look it up!)  Adios for now!

Spring Training 2009

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

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

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

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

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.