Home Full of Laughter

Having kids is certainly draining physically, emotionally, financially, etc....but holy cow the laughter and joy and pride and fun and adventure by far outweighs the negatives.

We're sitting here in the living room after dinner, and Connor is enjoying one of his favorite activities. When Wendy and I are sitting at opposite end of the couch, he'll run up to one of us and say "Push me!". Wendy pushes him in a fit of giggles, then he runs over to me to do the same.

Just a couple minutes ago, he was standing on the couch and started sliding down and off the couch; and he got this dramatic surprised/excited look on his face and asked "What's going on?!" Wendy and I had a great laugh from that one.

Then he watches me type a little bit, and to encourage him learning his name, I start typing: CONNOR NEAL and ask him to tell me what letters/words I'm typing. He gets really excited as he realized it's his name.

Now he has calmed down a bit and is working on a puzzle. He's pretty good at it. He'll try two pieces together until he finds two that fit. "No....no....no....YES!"

Update...Continued

6) It's been a big blessing and a lot of fun to have a regular group of guys to meet with to play poker. Most of them are guys from church, and the others are great too. Aside from the camaraderie, these guys are great players, and I'm learning a lot and improving my game. Texas Hold 'em is just straight-up awesome.

7) Remember our favorite sailor, Scott McMullen?



Last week, while waiting in DMV to take care of car registration and new plates, I got a call from Scott. It was midnight in Bahrain, and he had just gotten off duty. So we chatted for about 20 minutes and caught up a bit. He's doing well...his shifts are 12 hours on/12 off, 3 days on/3 days off. In case you don't know, he works in intelligence and monitors communications of all air and sea craft in the Persian Gulf. And since he's a Petty Officer, 3rd Class (I don't know what that means) he's allowed to have off-base housing.
Oh, and he said that in a couple months, he'll be transferred to a ship off the coast of Japan....or something like that. Pretty cool, eh?

8) One of the things we've tried to do since moving out here is sample local "eateries". There's a decent breakfast burrito to be had a couple blocks from our apartment at a hole-in-the-wall mexican place. Sonic Burger is common out here, but I think it's pretty weak-sauce and not worth it. (Although we get dessert there fairly often) Last Friday, we tried a popular sit-down restaurant that's advertised on tv and radio called "Black-Eyed Pea". Oy vey. Not good. But we'll keep trying.

9) On the TV front, these are the shows I'm watching (and enjoying): Chuck, House, The Office, Journeyman, Numbers, and....I'm getting my foot in the door with Heroes. I guess I'll have to find a place that's renting season one.

Long lost update

Well, it's been a while since an update again...mostly because nothing dramatic has happened I guess, but also because I put it off. But there are a few interesting things to talk about.

Forgive the dry structure, but I think it helps me get the update done. (I've always done better with structure vs. free-form)


1. At the men's retreat a couple weeks ago, most of the men (including myself) committed to getting plugged into an accountability group that would meet once a week for at least a year. We're not talking "let's go through a Bible study guide together" kind of thing. More of a hard-core, deep secrets/issues intense thing. Of course I say this having only met with my guys once so far. But the three of us immediately connected and I'm really excited about it.

3. My group decided to try a fast this week in order to ask God about something we wanted answers to (each of us had different questions). I did mine on Monday....and I'm not sure how I feel about what happened. I don't feel like I "accomplished" anything spiritually, and broke my fast a little earlier than I planned, but one of the guys in my group encouraged me by pointing out that you can never fail when you are trying to get closer to God.

4. Cosette. Ok, we all know how cute she is...but did you know that she's a freaking genius!?
Connor's great, God bless him. But Cosette's vocabulary is expanding exponentially at an age way earlier than Connor. Wendy's got a list of her words here: http://weetoesandnoggins.blogspot.com/2007/10/talking-up-storm-were-in-shock-everyday.html

5. Good news: I found out this week that my company offers $1,800 per year in tuition reimbursement. Hmm...

More later...I'm tired now.