Perfect Day

Today was the perfect day for me. Most people enjoy Thanksgiving, me not so much. I can't stand any of the traditional food (turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie), and our traditions aren't so much. My Aunt does a great job of trying to get the family all together. However, each year it feels like everyone is just fulfilling their duties before getting to their plans. We are usually home around 1pm. We watched movies and had burgers, and it was nice. But definitely not something to look forward to.

Then came today. My wife and sister decided they were going to be with the other crazies and left the house before 4am. So I was going to watch Makenna for the day. She woke up at about 6:30 am. We got to hang out all day the two of us until mommy took over about 7pm. It was a perfect day. I put everything else out of my mind and just focused on her all day. I do have a new respect for mom's that get anything done during the day with a baby. It is HARD to clean the kitchen while holding a fussy baby. We laughed, cried, watched some football, ate, pooped, napped, and played with Miles. It was perfect. This last week has been amazing. I have put things that have been occupying my time on the back burner and just focused on my family (the three of us, 4 if you count Miles). Today holding my little girl, I realized I have been gone for much of her first two months. All the little moments we shared today, I didn't really have any of those before. Mommy was taking care of her while Daddy was out committing to too much. So we had a talk today (it was a bit one sided because she only ooohhhs right now). I promised her I am going to look at what is on my plate and start trimming. Especially with the busy work season coming, I need to start prioritizing my time, and my girls need to be the top of the list.
I don't know what exactly this means for me, but it will mean more days like today!!!

Duh Time

What is Duh time? Duh time is something I need in my life. Don't be deceived by its title though, it is not a time of stupidity or stolidity. It is a time where I like to sit and do nothing productive. However, I don't like to zone out. I like to be entertained and stimulated during this special time. This time is usually right before my "zone out" time of the day, and right after the time I am productive for the day. It is often around midnight and consists of History Channel shows on DVR. I would much rather read a good book (usually American History or deep theological books), but lately I have settled for the TV. Duh time for me has to be non-fiction, until now. I always liked the show "The West Wing," but never made it through every season and every episode like shows I currently am devoted to. So recently I bought the complete series on DVD (it came from China through Ebay). This show stimulates my mind like crazy. I have to often pause the show because I am having my own moral or political debate in my dome. It has already lead to some conversations with my wife about things we usually don't talk about. Most shows of its kind are just left wing agendas. This show, make no doubt about it created and produced by left wing Hollywood doesn't take that route. It presents many sides to many arguments and let's the viewer reach conclusions, the whole while including amazing writing, acting, and character development. I watched the whole first season and 4 episodes of season 2 in two days. My duh time went from an hour at night, to a 2 day fest. It was great though. It was the first time since Makenna has been born where I didn't have to be somewhere or do something. We got to enjoy each other as a family, and then entertained ourselves and minds watching the West Wing.
Aaron Sorkin put out another masterpiece in "Studio 60" on NBC, but it was cancelled. Why, because American's are stupid. Things that actually make you think don't get ratings. Great writing doesn't get ratings. We want spoon fed plots and punch lines and would like to end the hour feeling good about ourselves. We want entertainment to be an hour of escape and not a reflection of reality. We want to imagine every Doctor at the hospital hangs out in the on call room and sleeps with every other doctor within the period of a year. We like to watch a detective always pursue 2 suspects when finding out it was the Butler all along. And...
Wow, I had to stop that. This post has taken a totally different turn and I am going to end it now before it is 52 pages long.
Point: I like Duh time. I like west wing. I don't like stupid Americans.
The End

Text message

Receiving text messages from my wife when we are both home is nothing new to our marriage. However, most of the time, over the past 7 years they offer a good reason to leave my office (if you know what I mean, wink wink). This is the one I just received. Oh how times have changed.

I can't move

So the Men's retreat went very well. The speaker was good, hopefully the music didn't suck, and I think a bunch of guys took steps to growing as men. However, today when I woke up, I couldn't move. I get sore. You know when you go skiing for the first time of the season and those leg muscles you hardly use ache the next day. Well my whole body is that way today. I don't think I have a muscle in my body that is not screaming in pain. The reason...the annual summit football game. See, these guys spend the weekend growing and sharing with each other, and it is amazing. However, on Sat. from the hours of about 1pm to 4pm, it just gets nasty. It is like an old testament battle against the other side. I got laid out several times by a guy about 6' 5" 250. Yet, everyone that I have talked to that can't move, will be right out there next year.

Summit weekend

Well today I took my girls to the airport. They are going to Atlanta to go to a blog party. I hope they have fun. I will not get to sit at home and miss them, as I am leaving in the morning to go to the Santa Cruz mountains to the New Cov Men's retreat...errr... Summit. There are about 160 guys going, and I will be leading worship for the weekend. I am looking forward to it. I never get to lead worship for adults anymore. So there will be no hand motions, no back and forth noise competitions, and should be a great time.

Election Woes...woe

Well the much anticipated election has come and gone. My vote will be counted in approx. 10 days. I had to fill out a provisional ballot. So evidently, when you change your address with the DMV and you also choose for them to update your address with the Secretary of State, that process takes several weeks.
The reason I am sick to my stomach is for one reason. Before yesterday, it was obvious Obama was going to win. No big news. People wanted something different because they are not happy for whatever their reasons are.
There are liberals and conservatives. Everyone has their reason for having their views. I accept this. My views mostly come from my belief in the Bible. I think that neither side is neceissarily Biblical, and I am sure Jesus wouldn't vote for any. However, I have come to my convictions based on Biblical principles that influences my vote. So Obama won. Not my choice, but I do not think that people that voted for him should be locked away in alcatraz.
Then there was Prop 8 in CA. A constitutional amendment to ban Gay marriage. Again my moral convictions influenced my vote on this. However, I realize that many do not share my same morals and values and viewed a no vote on this a step for equality. I disagree, but I can accept there different viewpoint. I do not hate them, and do not think they should be locked up in Alcatraz. I do think that our local churches were way off base in promoting this the way they did. I think their message was "Homosexuals, even if we have not persecuted you enough and you were thinking about joining us for a service, well now by our non-stop promotion of this proposition we are going to make sure you never step through our doors." I think Jesus would be very disappointed in how this was handled.
Then there is Prop 4. This is the reason I am sick. A yes vote means that a MINOR, yes I said MINOR, has to wait to get an abortion until her parents or guardians are notified. This proposition was defeated in our state. If the church wanted to get on board with a proposition, this is the one they should have been waving their signs about. Does the church not care more of God's mandate of parenting then the sin of homosexuality? Prop 8 not passing doesn't take away your right to have a marriage under God's design. However, Prop 4 not passing does take away your right to be a parent under God's design. Hmmmmm.
Then the voters??? Who in their mind thinks parents should not be informed if their daughter was raped or is getting an abortion. You think that we should leave parenting up to health care professionals and the government? I respect different views in every little mark you made on your ballot yesterday...except this one!!! I think everyone who voted no on this proposition should be locked up in Alcatraz.

Thats all for politics for me. Back to Diving, and Wining, and pics of my little angel to come.

Sunday Rap

I spent a lot of time lately researching, purchasing, installing, and trying to program lights in the Chapel at New Cov. This is where we do "kids church" every Sunday morning. I was very happy with how they turned out, although I need to make several minor adjustments to improve them. Here is a low quality video from this past Sunday. Brent and I did a rap to tell the story of Jesus healing the Lepers. I think the lighting and fog machiene really contributed to the whole thing. Second service was wayyyy better, but the camera died so you can see our first attempt. The kids loved it. Just helping Randy and asking him a bunch of questions when he was still here helped give me some direction (not to mention calling him and asking him a bunch of questions along the way). I wished he was still here to help me, but I had to make do without him.