Another Halloween...

Well... we took Joel to OC tonight to do a Trick-or-Treat in the women's dorms. The girls were so nice and friendly to all the kids that came out... We really appreciated it. Joel was great! At about the last 2 doors, he finally got it! GET THE CANDY! A couple of the doors, he said his "helwhooooo" and a cute "bye". It was a good night. BTW... he was a giraffe.

Tomorrow is Friday! Yea! Weekend is here. Lindsay is getting a little more active and I think that Jeanise is REALLY ready for her to come... but not ready if you know what I mean.

Gotta go to bed... it's late. Here are some pictures of tonight.

Oh ooh... now we've done it...

It has begun... my son is now communicating in language that his mother and I can interpret as "english."

We all came home the other night from some outing... Joel found his toy cell phone in the floor, picked it up, opened it, held it up to his ear (upside down) and said, "Hewwwwoohhhhhhh." It was almost "Elmer-Fuddish" and it cracked us up! This was the first... and we got it on tape! It was pretty funny. Then on Sunday, he walked into his class and said, "Hewwwwoohhhhhhhh." It was just too funny that now he knows what to say and what it means. He's doing all sorts of things now that we've been waiting for... the list is just starting.

He's a pretty funny character.

Anyway... that's it for now. Had a wonderful Fall Break... really didn't do anything... a friend of mine called my Saturday in my PJ's an "I-don-wanna" day. I like that... and IT SURE WAS!

Wanna see pictures of my kid?

I'm in one of these kinds of moods... you know where the proud parents is soooooooooooo proud of their kids that they just have to show them off?!?!!?

Well... Joel is such a smart kid. For his birthday, last weekend, one of his presents was a "magna-doodle". One of those toys (like an "etch-a-sketch--for those of us in the "old school") where you can draw on it and erase. PERFECT for our child, who has used up a ton of paper on his new drawing hobby.

Anyway... Joel brought me his magna doodle the other night so that I could draw for him. I thought, "HEY! I start the alphabet with him." Well... unbenonst to me (sp?-oh well) he starts telling me what they are BEFORE I EVEN WRITE THEM! WHAT!?!?!?! He got thru the letters A - L... stopped a bit... continued with a few more... stopped at 1 or 2... then finished the alphabet. I thought, "THOSE MOVIES ABOUT LETTERS AND NUMBERS ARE REALLY PAYING OFF!" Well... I was just so proud of my son! Gave him a big hug and kiss and thought, I'm ready to put this kid on JEOPARDY! Hold those horses! Actually, Jeanise has been teaching him his alphabet for a couple of days. At first, I felt bad because I hadn't really taught him anything or didn't know that he and mom were even working on it. But then I was thrilled, because at least he's learning from his parents... not Elmo. :-)

Lindsay countdown... 3 weeks! AH! Getting those last minute honey do's done befor she gets here.

Later.

We came... we saw... we... PARTIED!

Well... it's official... JOEL IS NOW 2 !!!!! We had Joel's birthdays this week. That' s right... 2 birthdays. We had 1 Friday night with family and then Saturday night with friends. We had a blast. Joel still didn't quite know what to think about a whole bunch of people huddled around him and all the new toys that suddenly "appeared" in that strange "stuff" around the toys. But mommy did a good job of tearing all the stuff that didn't matter, so that Joel could have the toys.

From grandparents, Joel got a Radio Flyer wagon and a beginners' train set. Joel just loves them both! and can't stop playing with them. Uncle Robert, got him a toy that lets Joel hammer cartoon people and they make all sorts of racket... he REALLY loves that! Joel partied HARD this weekend... so hard that he litterally just CRASHED in his bed Sat. night when we got home. And even slept in until 7:30! Wish that was all the time. And so does mommy...

Joel got a bunch of other presents and stuff too... but it's really late and I'm about to fall asleep at the computer. Have a great week!

Importance of celebrating...

As I'm sitting here checking emails and reading the online newspaper (why buy it in paper form, when there's an online paper, right?)... I hear Joel's baby-monitor going off. His morning routine is to wake up at some point while I'm getting ready for school and start counting! He doesn't "talk" very much... a lot of babbling still... but the vocabulary is slowly coming about. Anyway... one of his toys that counts (a basketball goal!-- gotta build those skills too) counts to 10 and then yells "YEA! ALRIGHT!" Well... Joel likes to get to 10 and then says "YEA!" (or in OK... his is "yea...A"). To us... it's really cute and a celebration that he actually made it to 10. For him, though, it may just be another "number" or something that you do after you get to 10.

I've started something a little new... I've been keeping a "do" list (not 2-do list) in a planner that was given to me at school at the beginning of the year. As I get stuff done, I check it off. Now this may be nothing new to some of you, but I'm so scatter-brained sometimes, I forget what I need to do or what needs to be done 1/2 the time. So yesterday, I got to check off ALL 15 OF MY DO'S! As little as they might have been, I leaned back in my chair and celebrated... I ACCOMPLISHED SOMETHING TODAY! Didn't have to worry so much about whether or not I forgot to do something today... I had proof that I had it done. I felt good and celebrated with a "YEA!" right in my classroom (no one was there... don't want them thinking I'm strange or anything... HA!).

Long story short... find something to celebrate today or this week. If you can't find anything... count to 10!

BTW... the Celtics are coming to OKC on DEC. 7th! YEA! (there I go again...)

Getting closer...

Jeanise mentioned last night that we are at the 5 week mark... AH! How time flies... although maybe not for Jeanise. Lindsay has been pretty active lately and is "exercising" quite frequently. Guess she's getting ready to start playing with her big brother.

Speaking of which... Joel turns 2 this week... WOW! He's getting big! He's a really good kid and we're blessed to call him ours. He really loves building with blocks... trains... and basketball. YEA! When we come home, pull the car in the driveway, he always goes, "AHHHH!" for when we're playing basketball and he dunks it, he says that. (dad taught him that--if I am getting too old to do it, he might as well learn, right?) He also likes the word "uh oh" which dad also taught him. Mommy has been on the academy-part of his learning... he can count 5 - 10 (with a yea! at the end) and is working on the first 4 numbers. He also can spell his name!... and every other word he sees spells J-O-E-L... JOEL as well. It's too funny to be in the middle of something and you hear J-O-E-L... JOEL ! Too funny...

It's been a pretty good weekend. Friday, we had Homecoming at school... it was also the day that I received approval for my Grant! WHOOOOO HOOOO! First grant that I've ever written and it got approved! I'm stoked! The grant was for ~$1000 digital cameras for my newspaper and web design classes. They each have a project for the school that a higher end digital camera is needed. I'm pretty excited and will probably get to go get those later this week (I hope). The weekend then, went very nicely... weather changed--cooler... and I spent Saturday hosting a friend, my dad, and Jeanise's dad, to watch the OU vs. TEXAS game. A little disappointed in the outcome, but Texas did play well. Sunday was nice... went to lunch after church and mowed a few lawns before our Connections' group met. And yesterday (Monday) was just an all-around good day!

Basketball is going well. The kids are working hard! We're pretty young this year, lots of sophomores and a few juniors... and our senior leadership is getting us where we need to be. I'm really excited about starting the scrimmage season.

Well... Joel just woke up (6:40 am) and I guess I'll close this, say goodbye to him, and head out to school. You all have a great week!

Amazing love...

Isn't it amazing? You're probably wondering... what? Well... it just amazes me how a 2 year old can really just make you shake your head. Joel is approaching those "terrible 2's" and is letting his little personality out. Now, don't get me wrong... he's a good kid some of the time too... but today was a bit interesting. Long story-short... he decided that he was going to throw his ball thru our nice TV set. Mommy asked him not to do that (now, he KNOWS what mommy said... and KNOWS that he aught to do what she says... but DOESN'T DO it... hm). He then picks up another ball and does it. Testy little kid, ain't he. Well... Joel has picked up the "no" word and proceeds to do what HE wants to do... knowing the consequences are lingering around the corner. After the 3rd time, Jeanise turned him around, got in his face this time and said "Mommy said NO." He then told her NO and slapped her on the arm. NOT GOOD! Jeanise didn't spank him... 'cause that was about the time that I walked in. It's funny how he's testing the boundaries and showing us what HE wants to do and how HE wants to do it.

Funny how we do the same things to God... we know that there are rules out there that God has established and for us to follow. But there are moments when WE want to do them and HOW we want them done. And we even know what the consequences are when it happens...

... So where's the good part? When it's time for Joel to go to bed... he knows it's time and what the routine is. He climbs into his bed, puts his head on the pillows, curls up into a ball and waits for the flooding of kisses from his mom and dad. No matter what the day has been like, mommy and daddy love that little snot... I mean that kid and all is forgotten. We're so blessed to be loved by a father that operates in a similar way. It's just amazing to me. Getting excited to have another one join us in November. Lindsay is getting excited to, because she's driving Jeanise bonkers!

Nite all!

Thought-provoking Friday...

In our men's bible study on Tuesday, we've begun reading a book, "Running on Empty" by Fil Anderson (isn't that a strange way to spell "Fil"?). We have just started the introduction and the author asks us one question that really struck me, "what is the condition of your soul?" This was a question that was asked at a convention that he had attended with a friend of his. His response was that he really didn't know how to answer that question.

I immediately thought about... mowing lawns... hm... go figure that one. It's interesting how I take a lot of care in the people's lawns that I mow weekly... versus mine, which gets done about every 1.5 to 2 weeks. (Side note: I had a friend at PCWest who told me the same thing... he took better care of the baseball/softball fields there than his lawn at home--needless to say, he won "field of the year" 3 years and went to Greece and was on their field crew for the Olympic fields). Anyway... I thought that this idea of lawn care also fell into the "spiritual" care as well. I remember being at OCA last year and taking more care into the younger people's spiritual lives than my own. Now, I was blessed, uplifted, and encouraged by those kids and faculty there... but I don't feel that I took good care of my soul. I could take care of others (or so I thought), but didn't do a very good job of taking care of my own.

I think that this book is going to help me focus on the question of "what is the condition of my soul," by opening my eyes to God and what he has in store for my spiritual walk with him.

On a separate note... Deer Creek made the news last night (Thursday). Not in a very good way, though... some of the DC kids valdalized Piedmont's football field and did A LOT of damage to the stadium. Aught to be an interesting day at school today...

Hope everyone has a great week!

I'm going with my friend, Shane, to Stillwater to watch the OSU COWBOYS (you have to use your announcer-voice there or it just doesn't work right) play Colorado. Shane invites me to one game a year and we're getting this one in before Lindsay comes. We have so much fun, and I can't wait to go!

A Father's prayer...

I've found myself, several times this weekend, thinking about the future of my children. I'm reading several "leadership" kinds of books (1 coaching, 1 fatherly) and both share similar messages about being a leader. I could go on and on about how I want my son to be like _________ and my daughter to be like __________. I could also go on and on about how I hope that both my kids don't have to experience _____________. It could make a father's mind race on and on.

But everytime that I start thinking about all of the "bad" things that could happen... I just remember that the key to my childrens' future is... dah dah dah DAH!... love. It's my job to let them know about "love." First of all, let them know about God's love for them. Let them both know that he loves them so much that he prepared a long history for them to get to know him. Let them both know that he has a love for them that will last forever! Second, then, let them know that their parents have the same love for them... Jeanise and I have prayed for our kids to come into our lives and we have been so blessed by God's gift of Joel to us, that it's hard to imagine 2 gifts that would make us that blessed. That's a lot of love at this house and it's exciting! I think that this is what God truely intended for "parenthood" to be about... and I'm so glad to be a part of his (ok this is going to be really corny... but what else do you expect?)... CIRCLE OF LIFE. :-)

Have a great God-week!

Another week... another WEEKEND!

Alright... I just spent the last 10 minutes writing something down... only to have it go into "web oblivion" when I spell-checked. So, I'll make this short.

I've re-done the settings so that people can now share comments... hope that it works. I'll try and get more typed out later. Joel and I have a "guys-time" to get to.

Later

And now... the REST of the story...

Well... it's been several days since I've posted something... so I'd better do something now...

Saturday... mowed 5 lawns! Couldn't believe it, but I got it done. Finished just in time to watch OU fall apart in their game. I kinda' feel sorry for the coaches right now... they've had so much success and I just KNOW that they're sitting in their offices going, "ok... so what ELSE can we try to do?" When you have the experience and the tallent (together) you're gonna get success. OU Fans... we have to be patient for a bit.

Yesterday... Tuesday was our school's open house. We ended off-season practice earlier so the everyone (coaches mainly) could go home, shower, spend time with the family before coming back to the school at 6:15 pm. So 3;15... I'm in my truck, pulling out of the parking lot, driving in front of the school and see our wonderful Edmond Sheriff's dept. monitoring the speed of vehicles passing the school on the main road. As I begin to pass them, I notice that the red & blue lights on the car facing me turn on as I'm passing him and he's pointing to ME! to pull over. 40 mph in a 25 school zone! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Now... I get to school before the cows wake up and leave around 4 so I never see the flashing lights of the school zones... so I just did like normal... 35 speed limit in front of the school (ok... when the lights were flashing... I looked at my speed and I was REALLY only going 38). Not to mention... we just finished lifting and I was a little "wiped and light-headed" as it was. Long story... short... I sat in my truck for 15 minutes while 1/2 of the basketball team waved at me driving by... only to get a WARNING! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LUCKY.

Anyway... moral of the story... don't speed............. IN FRONT OF DEER CREEK HIGH SCHOOL!

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Nite.

Hm... what now?

Interestingly enough... I find myself sitting at my computer with good intentions to grade papers for my kids tomorrow. WHy is it that I can motivate myself to do things at school, but am sparatic about them at home? I always "mean well"... just can't keep the motivation going (BTW... my papers, key, and book is starring at me as we speak... well, uh... write).

I find myself drawn, now, to various coaching web sites that I frequent. Then reading several friends' blogs to see what they have to say... only to fall thru Alice's rabbit-hole to my own. (wow... pretty poetic) I guess this is a time that I can look back on the day's events and just thank God for what he's blessed me with.

If you were to tell me 2.5 ~ 3 years ago that life would really be different with a child in the house... which many did anyway... I would have (and did) just laugh it off and wonder, "hm... yea sure." I first of all just want to say... I'm so blessed to have my wife! God knew what he was doing when he opened my eyes in her direction. She has been the "driveway cement filler" in the cracks of my being. (just FYI... out in the driveway tonight, noticed a crack in the middle, and thought "I need to fill that"... that's where the analogy came from... not too random there). Then... there's my son... who in his eyes, I'm the biggest thing since the invention of the "sippy-cup." Ok... maybe not the sippy-cup... but DEFINITELY... ok... I'll have to ask him one of these days. Anyway... you can just see the look in his eyes when I come home or when we're outside shooting baskets. He laughs and does his "dunk-AH!" even when I miss a shot. He thinks I'm awesome... that's a good feeling. Can't imagine what life will be like with 2 KIDS in the house! There's a whole lot of love in this house and it's about to grow. I LOVE IT!

Which then brings me to my answer at the beginning of this post... why am I distracted when I get home? Because there is a lot of love and laughing to be spent at home. A whole lot of reading books over and over and over again in 1 sitting. A whole lot of watching "Wheel of Fortune" and watching Joel clap for the people who win. A whole lot of cuddling with the love of your life on the couch... sharing a movie together after the kid(s) are a sleep. A whole lot of nights when you fall asleep, peacefully, and haven't finished that prayer to your heavenly Father that you had started.

I know that I'm guilty of focusing on the negatives of life... and dealing with the occassional positive. But there are some many positive things in my life, right now... and I feel like I'm wasting them away by not taking full advantage of them.

Lord, please help me to be the man that YOU want me to be. Help me find the words, actions, and the confidence to be an example... and a leader. Help me to always put you first and imagine what YOU might do in every situation.

(ok... this was REALLY long...)

And today's word is...

OK... I normally don't have serious "moments of inspiration" but one occured this week... or maybe it was later last week... I don't remember, but here it goes.

I was explaining to my class a particular concept about Computer History (now I know it was last week... oh well) and I used the example "a.k.a" (don't remember the specific example though). Anyway... it suddenly occurred to me that "aka" means... also know as... ! AH! I've been in school for how long and never knew that?!?!!!?!?!? Those of you who wonder how slow my brain REALLY works... how 'bout 20+ years for the lightbulb to turn on!?!?!?!?! :-)

That was just too funny. Anyway... weekend is here, and I'm finally getting on top of things. I have my lesson plans done and turned in BEFORE the weekend starts (whoo hooo) and now I can enjoy the weekend and mow.

Off to take a bit of a nap before our football game @ 7:30.

First posting... ah... uh hm...

Well... we're off and running. I had started to do something like this in another blog arena... didn't like it so much... so I've moved.

We went in for a 4D ultrasound of the baby yesterday. What an experience! It was like "cheating" to see your baby's face before it's time. I'm not going to complain, though... it was too cool. If I think about it and/or I figure out how to do this, I'll put pictures up.

Ah... figured it out. Pretty neat, huh? We kinda think that she's going to look like her brother. Guess we'll see for sure very soon. We've been very blessed with our first-born... and I think that God will bless us with the next one. Mom is hanging in there and doing well.

School is going well for me. I like my new school and the kids are pretty neat. There are some that are a bit "squirrelly" but it's nothing compared to places that I've been before! Not a whole lot of tardies or absence problems here. Basketball is going great and I think that we're going to do really well this season.

On a different subject, I know that OU played badly this weekend... I just hope that they can re-group and find a way to forget about it, focus on the games ahead, and play like the Sooners are capable of playing. That's my 2 cents worth.

Getting really excited about the NFL starting up. I'm not in any fantasy leagues this year, but maybe I can get back into it next year.

Gotta run!