Urgent Prayers Need

This prayer requests comes by way of old friend. Please be in prayer for Stellan, Stellan is 8 months old and has a heart condition that has taken a major turn for the worse over the past several days. You can get more detail on his Mom's blog, but please pray.

Ughh!!!! Beat down 18-2. Next game at noon.

Gonna try mobile blogging for the first time. We have a softball tourney today and I figure I'll post updates throughout the day.

Are You Sure?

I'm still trying to get my head around this whole being a dad thing. Thursday we found out that the baby we've been calling "CinnaBun" is a boy and since that's the case it looks like his name will be McKinley David. So my head has been filled with thoughts of watching football and baseball together, reading any number of books together, rocking out in the car (check the video below for a glimpse) and all the things that I'm sure every dad wants to do with their son. Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of these same thoughts before we knew the sex and I even pictured doing them with a little red headed girl. My mind also drifts some times to thoughts of failing or being completely inept at being a dad. Everyone I know seems pretty confident that I'm gonna do fine, but there are times when I don't share that same confidence. Like any dad I want the absolute best for my child and that includes the best dad. I have no doubts that before He created the earth my Heavenly Father planned to entrust this child to to Shasta and I for this time and this place. I just find myself wondering why and asking "Are you sure about this. God?" I am totally in awe of the fact that the Creator of this universe, whose desire is that everyone know him as the perfect father, has chosen me to be a picture of a father to McKinley and while there is some trepidation there is decidedly more joy and nervous anticipation. But it's the kind of anticipation you have as the roller coaster is chugging up the hill before that first big drop. Hands up y'all HERE....WE....GOOOOOOOOOooooooo!!!!!

What a Bargain

If you know me you know I love C.S. Lewis. Well last week Shasta and I headed to the outlets in Hagerstown and of course we went by Book Warehouse. As I was browsing I found a complete unabridged Chronicles of Narnia box set. The set includes all 7 books in one volume as well as unabridged CD recordings of all the books. The CD versions are read by folks like Kenneth Branagh, Michael York, Lynn Redgrave, Patrick Stewart, etc. The retail price on the box set is $99.99, but I got it at Book Warehouse for $29.99. Shasta and I both love to read and it's something we definitely hope to pass on to CinnaBun. Growing up we didn't have TV in our house until I was in 4th grade so my entertainment was pretty much anything legible that I could lose myself in. I still love to read but now I have to make time for it and most of my reading is done before I go to bed. This usually means I get 2-3 pages read, start to doze off and after several futile attempts to recover, Muffin says "babe take your glasses off you're falling asleep." We also picked up several books that I'm excited to share with my child. A Hans Christian Andersen treasury, a family faith treasury, and of course The Curse of the Bambino (the child will know Yankee history :D). Suffice to say, I think this will be one of the parts of being a dad I'm gonna like.

A little patriotic flavor

Patrol Magazine has an article with some really good renditions of the our National Anthem. My particular faves are the Cactus Cuties, N'Sync and Whitney Houston versions. Let me know what ya think.

Still Here

Well it's been a little while hasn't it? The past few months have been interesting and fast paced. For those of you that may not now, Muffin is expecting our first child. She told me on Easter Sunday and we are both extremely excited. I would be lying if I said I didn't find the whole prospect of being a father a bit intimidating. I am also feeling extremely blessed and humbled by the whole circumstance. Everyone asks me whether I want a boy or girl. In all honesty I don't have a preference. When I talk about the baby I say he alot. But when I picture the baby in my mind, I almost always see a little girl. So I have to say that I will be happy with whatever good blesses us with. javascript:void(0)

We were shopping last night and went by a book outlet, they had a childrens book called Dad's Bald Head. Which of course we had to buy, it's actually a really cute book and one that will be reading to CinnaBun soon :D

Worth The Wait

I know it's been a while since I blogged so I hope this post will in fact be "worth the wait" for you guys. The contrast in my last 2 Easters has been an incredible one. Easter 2008 was spent with my mom, just 6 days before she passed. I was informed that Easter 08 was earlier than it had been in like 90 years and was able to find another blessing in what at the time was a lot of pain and hurt. This Easter was a special one as well. Shasta and I were doing some rearranging and she laid 2 baby outfits beside each other, one boy and one girl, and asked me "Which do you think we'll need first?" I asked something to the effect of "What are you trying to say?" and she said "well we're gonna have to pick soon." So came the announcement that Shasta is expecting and we'll have a little one before 2009 is over. There were many joyous phone calls and more than a few happy tears from friends and relatives. My friend Julie wanted to scream but couldn't because she had a nasty cold and her voice was shot. So here I sit again, blessed way more than I deserve, about to start a family with the most incredible person I know and the words that come to mind are "Thank you LORD, I could not ask for more."

So much for customer loyalty

I have been a customer of my current ISP pretty much since they came to town. I was the first person on my street to convert my dial up account to DSL, I took advantage of their unlimited long distance, dove in with both feet when they offered bundled DSL, phone and satellite service. You could say I'm happy with the service and offerings they provide. I even stuck with them when their stupid computers didn't bill us for long distance for over a year and all of a sudden it all appeared on one bill. However the treatment I've rec'd in the past few weeks have left questioning whether they are worthy of my loyalty. It's not that the service has suffered or degraded at all. It's the way they seem to not care about those customers that have stuck with them and remained loyal. Back at the end of February I called to see if there was any way I could save on my bill. I had heard rumors that they were offering free laptops for customers who locked in for a certain amount of time and figured I'd see if it was true. The very nice rep I talked with said it was and she'd get me all set up. Well after several minutes she said that she could give me the laptop and save me $35/month on my bill if I took advantage of another promotion they were offering. I said heck yeah. Well after a minute or so, she said she couldn't do the laptop because I wasn't eligible, but I could still do the promo that saved me $35/month. I asked why I wasn't eligible and she just said her supervisor said I wasn't. I told her to go ahead and sign me up and then asked if I could talk to her supervisor to clarify why I wasn't eligible. She put me on my hold and after about 5 minutes I hung up and didn't think anymore of it until the other day when Nathan knocked on my door. Nathan was all excited because he could offer my some savings on my bill and, wait for it, a free laptop! I chuckled and explained that I had tried for the free laptop but I wasn't eligible. Well Nathan was not one to give up easily, he called his supervisor and after about 5 mins, they to determined that I wasn't eligible, and advised me to speak to someone at my local office. Well I went to my local office and explained my situation to them and they were extremely sympathetic and even worked my bill so I got an extra $20/month but I still don't have the laptop. I asked them if they realized that this left me with no incentive to continue as a Frontier customer once my current contract expired. They actually nodded and said they wouldn't blame me for exploring other options! By the way, Frontier is still offering the free laptop, rightchere! I am apparently not eligible because I take advantage of their new service offerings as soon as they come out instead of waiting until they start tying them to promotions like the one I am not eligible for. It seems Frontier would rather score a new customer for the short term than worry about keeping the those of us who have stuck with them happy. Fine by me, we'll see what Comcast offers when contract renewal time rolls around.

A Year Later

So I was in church this morning getting ready for my Sunday School class when Muffin comes in and says "Pam's(our pastors wife)looking for you." Since I had just seen Pam I didn't really think anything of it and just said "OK". About 5 minutes later Pam sticks her head in the room and says "Hey D, I just wanted to make sure I gave you a hug and make sure you are doing ok today." It actually took me a second to realize that she was talking about the fact that today is the one year anniversary of my Mom's passing away. My friends Sam and Joy also mentioned that it was the one year anniversary and I've told several folks that while I certainly miss her I think I grieved a lot for her while she was sick and in the home and since I know Momma is so much better now than she was I can't be sad for her, and I absolutely do not wish her back here.

My wife has an awesome list of some of things about Momma that we all miss on her blog and I really do encourage you to read it. I promise you'll smile and you my even tear up a bit at reading it but it's worth the read.

For those of you that didn't know her or never meet her, I'm going to tell you 2 stories that I think capture her personality.

When Shasta and I first started dating she lived about an hour away from us and didn't have her own car. So I would pick her up on Sundays and we'd go to church, have lunch, spend time with family or friends and then I would take her home. Well on the third Sunday that we did this, Shasta and I were in the kitchen cleaning up lunch dishes and Mom starts giggling in her recliner. Shasta and I both asked what was so funny and Mom, in this giggly, giddy little school girl voice says "I see red headed grand daughters." At the time it freaked both Shasta and I out a bit, but Mom probably knew before I did that Shasta was the one for me. I am so incredibly thankful that my wife and mother had Naomi-Ruth relationship.

One of things that I am thankful is that Mom actively started attending church with me at the Chapel in the last 3-4 years of her life. If you've never been to the Chapel it is a, well, unique church. Shasta has said it's like having church in your living room. It is very relaxed and things like back and forth banter with the pastor are not uncommon and happen quite frequently. One Sunday morning during prayer request time Mom requested prayer for my Aunt Libby who had a quadruple by pass earlier in the week. I shared the story of how we had visited with her and Libby had said she was in so much pain, she didn't know why God didn't take her home. I told the Chapel what I had told Libby in the hospital which was that God wasn't ready for anymore of those smart mouth Knott (mom's maiden name) sisters just yet. Without missing a beat Mom blurts out, to the whole church, "I'm sorry I ever adopted that boy." The whole church was in stitches for several minutes.

Mom I miss you and I love you, say hello to Poppa, Jesus, Dad and Guilo when you get a minute and I'll see you soon :D