Cool New Bike

Just a couple of days ago (or weeks, whatever), I blogged about Grace riding her bike, I stated that I knew what I needed to buy her for her birthday in just a few short months. And just today, a neighbor came by and asked us if we wanted a little girls bike, and of course we said, "Yes!"

Isn't that AWESOME. Grace thinks it is, and so do I. The bike is actually really nice too. The only negative is... I have to figure out what to get her for her birthday, man it was such an easy decision before... what to get, hmm, what to get.

Father's Day Weekend!

Jodi's family came down to visit. On Saturday, Jodi and the girls gave me a cool mug and a Calvin and Hobbes comic (my favorite as a teenager). If you can't make out the words on the mug, it says, "you are the BEST DAD." Inside the cup it says, "We Love YOU!" with a smiley face, and on the other side Grace wrote, "I love you daddy," and Jodi painted it in for her. The cup is cool, so on Sunday, cause I'm still working Sundays, I brought it to work to show it off to all my co-workers. I start getting Sundays off starting the 9th of July. Needless to say, my father's day was great!

And, Earlier this week Grace graduated Kindergarten, which she was super excited about. Now she stays at home playing Guitar hero and Rock band, which she can beat songs on the guitar on the 'easy' level now, and I'm pretty proud of her on all of her accomplishments, especially her reading. She's beginning to really enjoy reading and just flying through books faster than we expected she would. Just a few months ago she started getting the hang of reading, and it's just so exciting to see her progress.

No pictures of this, but I can't forget the awesome BBQ Ribs that Jodi made for me. I threw them on the grill, but she did all the real work. She boiled them, which we've never heard of before... boiling ribs - hmm? And she made the sauce, I just threw them on the grill for 20 or so minutes and brushed them like crazy with her scrumptious sauce. Man, I love grilling.

I guess, I've been a little out of the blogosphere for a while

Memorial day weekend we went to Cannon beach with some of our friends Jenna and Andrew. Andrew's sister and her husband came along as well, and we had a good time hanging out. Here's a pic of the kids and I enjoying ourselves at the beach.


Then later that evening we had some dinner with them back at their pad. After dinner us guys took to the kitchen and talked about almost everything, from dihydrogen monoxide, politics, religion, welding, electronics - almost everything. I didn't even realize how all over the place our conversations were until Jodi pointed it out to me later that night, but they all related. Think about it, dihydrogen monoxide is H2O (aka water for the chemically challenged), Penn and Teller did a show on getting hippie libs to ban water, which led us to the sheep in this world who will be voting for Barack Obama, then of course got us talking about the end of the world as we know it - see the connection there - needless to say, sometimes just talking with your peers is good, whether it makes sense to the outside listener or not.

Now, this week we had a nice little church get together with the other happy couples of our "Homebuilders" bible study group. I made some hot wings and some sweet & tangy wings for the party.

A few weeks ago Grace decided she wanted to try and ride a bicycle. I did everything I could to be the Dad and push her along and let go, but she wanted nothing to do with it. "Fine," I said thinking that she would just give up, but I was wrong. She borrowed other children's bikes up and down the street and now she's a pro... well, a very good novice.

Anyways, check out this short clip of her really pedaling, and I can't even say I helped. She's such a determined little girl. She's also reading really well too. I'm so proud of my little girl.


I guess I'll have to get her a bike now, of her own.

Fun Weekend, but I Need Another

Last weekend, as many of you may know, we came up to Washington to visit some friends and family. I thought Jodi had everything planned out, as we were coming up for her to spend time with her mother on Mother's day weekend, for our neices birthday, and for a friend's baby shower party. But, things weren't really planned out, and it almost seemed like I had no idea what was going on from hour-to-hour and neither did my wife. Needless to say, I was able to fit time in for me, so I could chill out a little and get away from the chaos of living with the in-laws for the weekend, watching other people's kids, cooking up dinners, sleeping in someone else's bed, and all the other stuff that make not being at home hard and tedious. Needless to say, it was good to see everyone and visit with friends and family, but I need another weekend, and luckily for me, mine starts today. I'm still feelilng kind of under-the-weather, so hopefully I will be able to recouperate over the weekend and get back to one-hundred percent before next week.

A Possible New Schedule

There's more to this story, but the gist of it is that I'm trying to shift schedules at work. Right now, I work Sunday's and I would like to get Sunday's off. Partially, I want more responsibility and I want to go to the church I feel the most at home. At work, I think that I know enough now where I can run a shift, be in charge of the day-to-day operations, and answer to Intel; we call this guy "The Lead". So, basically I would become "The Lead" of this other shift and I would have one guy under my cognizance. No huge step, but I think it's something that I need, so that I feel like I'm going somewhere and progressing within my company. So, now that I've explained the concept of the lead, I can finish my story. Right now, I feel as though my lead still treats me as a trainee, and for me to really make my move within this company and industry and be recognized for my talent and ability, I have to step up to the plate. I'm not looking forward to the schedule change with the exception of getting Sunday's off, because now I will work every Friday and Saturday... ugh! But, I am looking forward to a change in roles, and a different atmosphere on a new shift. I realize that this new position is not a big deal in the eyes of the management of my company because it's not even really considered a leadership position, but I think it will help me progress and learn as now I will be the guy that Intel and my company will look to for answers. I'm also excited about going back to church, especially after going to SWHBC for only six months and then trying to find another church that met on Saturday's only to realize that I couldn't find anything that fit my needs and style of learning and worship as well as SWHBC could. I'm truly looking forward to Worship and Fellowship at my church.

Finally, Back to a "Normal" Schedule

As normal as only having to work 6 days out of the next 14 days can be. My oldest daughter, Grace, had a play for kindergarten, that I was able to make it to, where she was one of the little piggies. I was surprised at how well she did in front of all those people.



Friday night, I had a couple of guys come over and Jodi and I made some finger foods... some ridiculously spicy hot wings, cream cheese and chive wontons, artichoke - they don't seem like they go together, but they were so good. Then we played Rock Band.

Then on Saturday we went to cannon beach... possibly more video to come. We had a great time.

Haven't blogged in a while

Yeah, so I haven't blogged in a while. I've been kinda busy lately, putting in over 60 hour weeks and just trying to enjoy the time I have off with my family. I'm not complaining, and I've done worse for longer, but I'd rather give up my time on the computer for my wife and kids. Needless to say, I am at work now, and have a little bit of time to spare.

Things are going well. The job is going well, I just got another raise, and I'm excited about that, especially since I previously had mixed feelings about my place in the company.

This is about no one in particular, but even speaking to some of my married non-Christian friends and some Christian ones, they say to me that people can fall out of love, or there's no reason to stay married to someone if that person makes you unhappy. I've also heard many people on the verge of leaving their spouse say, that they've never loved their spouse, or there was always some doubt in their mind that this was the right person for them and point back to how they met or the situation that somehow "forced" them to marry. They've even said, "How is it that there is only one person in the whole world that you are meant to spend your whole life with, and what if I chose the wrong one?"

It is my belief that these people are lying to themselves. Why would they lie to themselves? They want to make their actions not wrong, relieve some of their guilt on their consciences for their decisions, and just make excuses for giving up. We try to explain love away as a feeling, but love is not a feeling; love is patient, love is kind, love is a lot of things, but it's not something that fades away over time. You love your kids (if you have them), and you don't fall out of love with them, but somehow you've fallen out of love with your spouse.

That feeling you have that you call 'Love' is probably not love, most likely not even lust, it's you trying to come to terms with your state of emotions and you are calling it love. You are unhappy, or depressed, or maybe you bicker and complain with your spouse a lot, and this unsettled state of emotions is what you claim is "not in love". That feeling is your excuse to say that it's okay for you to give up. It's so easy to start to believe these excuses, making it all the easier to give up on your vows to God, your spouse, and your families. Marriage is hard, it takes work, and it's always easier just to give up. Don't start believing that divorce is your only option; it's better to not even think of it as an option. Once you start tricking yourself that you never "loved" your spouse, that option becomes your main one. It's all physics from there, you know, "the path of least resistance."

Mark 10:

1 Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them
2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"
3 "What did Moses command you?" he replied.
4 They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away."
5 "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied.
6 "But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.'
7 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,
8 and the two will become one flesh.'So they are no longer two, but one.
9 Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this.
11 He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.
12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."

I think that there are instances in which divorce is an option and 1 of them is listed in the bible, which is adultery. In my personal opinion, if your spouse beats you, or hurts you or your children, that is also a permissable reason for divorce, or at least a reason to put your spouse in prison for a long while. For most other issues, help should be sought out, counseling, whatever means necessary to hold fast to your marriage and determine the root cause for your state of being that you think is the loss of love toward your spouse. Remember a marriage is 100-100, not 50-50. You need to give your all, and yes, sometimes it's difficult when your spouse is not giving their all, but you can't give up. Open lines of communication by both parties will help in the process. It takes a long time to build on trust and only a moment to break it down. Remember you and your spouse are one, don't forsake the members of your body, they must be fed and nourished and taken care of; don't neglect your spouse, your children, or your marriage.