Phillies

For Phillies fans, this is a familiar article. A Chicago sports writer is puzzled with the pitcher commonly known as Gavin Floyd. Click here for the article.

Exciting 2 games against the Mets....makes you get "greedy" and want 2 more...

Big Brother Dakota

He likes to hold his lil' brother...if just for a few moments.

Immediate Love

It's awesome to think about how God's love can so easily be reflected...even to people we've first met.

There are many examples of Jesus doing this...to the people he healed, to the woman at the well, etc.

I had to think of this when Cole was born. Kristy and I were experiencing the emotion of the baby being born, and the excitement of finding out if the baby was going to be a boy or girl. However, the minute we saw Cole, we had immediate love for him. It wasn't something we needed to think about, process, analyze....it was "Wow! Our child....he's precious and we love him".

You have to think that just a small picture of God's love for us... "not because of who I am, but because of what you've done, not because of what I've done, but because of who you are..."

Adjustments

As expected, this baby has brought about a far amount of adjustments...some expected and some that are a surprise.

Cole has gone from a rather stable environment on the inside, to one that is not so stable on the outside...but he has really followed the S-E-P mantra (sleep, eat, poo-pee).

Dakota has done remarkedly well for now having to share attention. He really has a lot of affection for his little brother, and often wants to help Kristy with diaper changes, comforting baby, etc.... He is pushing the limits, but that could be because Kristy and I were m-i-a during weekend.

I've been staying up later, waking up more during the night, and have totally disrupted my sense of "schedule", in terms of work and family life. On the other hand, I've been eating really well with people bring great food, and great desserts.

Kristy..... Obviously her body went through a lot with childbirth...but she's also walking around with 10 fewer pounds...or close to it. So add her sleeping, or non-sleeping schedule...that factors in too. However, she's been doing less house work since her maid...err..husband has taken over some duties.

The biggest adjustment....well it has to be Kristy. Think about 10 lbs going anywhere in the body... it's an amazing...yet painful experience (as I've witnessed).

It's a Boy!!!

It gives me tremendous pleasure to announce the birth of Cole Jaxon on Thursday, 8/23/07.

Cole is BIG boy, weighing 9 lbs 15 oz, and is 20.5 feet, no make that inches, in length.

Dakota met Cole last night, and gave him a present of soft,chewable barn animals. Cole, ever the gracious brother, left Dakota play with them right away.

Kristy is doing well, after a "short" 12 hours of labor (Dakota was 22 hours). Like with Dakota, she had 15 minutes of hard labor....but was aided well by the efforts of her husband/coach, who valiantly held her hand and encouraged her on.....and occasionally winced at her pain....and his own, before he took his wedding ring off the "squeeze hand".

All that being said, what an amazing process. I got that "WOW" feeling in me when I knew that we were moments away from meeting our new son or daughter. We praise God for this incredible miracle of new life.

You can see Cole's baby picture by going to http://www.welcomenewborn.com/ and following the instructions with the password "baby".

Weird Sicknesses

Okay, so I'm sure someone just made this up to give other people something to worry about. A guy talked at church about stewardship of time. In that talk, he gave an example about how some people are always feeling "hurried" and it's actually being classified as a sickness (hurried sickness to be more specific).

He gave examples of the "symptoms". Do you get agitated while waiting in line (check). Do you observe others and then notice when leaving if they left before or after you (check). Do you rely on technology and feel lost without it (check). Do you read quickly, but not thoroughly. And so on....

I guess some people are like this. I feel I have a handle on all the things I checked above...I can exist without my cell phone, wireless internet, laptop computer...but it makes my life easier when i have use of them. I feel I have it balanced (what's that dear....a river in Egypt? de nile?)

I should google hurried sickness.....okay 510,000 articles in .16 seconds...maybe someone didn't make it up.

On a weird note...did you ever stop to think about why we use rats for medical experiments. I know, I know...it's probably the whole similar cell structure thing....

I had to think of a "Seinfeld type" observation...you hold a rat up to your friend... and ask the question above then say "you know, I think I see the resembelance". I mean really, we don't have tales (editors note: we may have tales, but we don't have tails), while we like cheese, it's not our main affection/affliction. I guess a few of us might get caught in huge traps if we say a box of Krispy Kremes in the center, unguarded...but really, whoever thought up the whole test on mice/rats?

Also...I think I have a sickness that I made up called "phantom cell phone vibration". I think my cell phone is vibrating, but I go to pick it up, and there isn't a call there. Now...for those who are really mischevious, they could call me hang up, call me again a few seconds later, hang up...and that would do the trick...but it would also register on the call log.

Anyways, I don't know a cure, except to remove the vibration option, but then I'm stuck with just a cell phone ring which may or may not annoy those around me. At least with vibration you can get the call before it alerts EVERYONE around you that you are receiving a call.

Of course, there was the time in Goshen when I had a cell phone that responded to voice commands. So, I would say "Kristy" and it would dial Kristy. I would say "Ken" and it would dial my boss. After awhile my assistant manager in the cubicle next to me thought it was weird that I would just be saying random names out of the blue... Kristy..... until she associated it with the cell phone.

At least she wasn't delusional...

Chincoteague, VA

This weekend is the annual trip to Chincoteague, VA. Last year Kristy and I (and Dakota) went for the first time in 5 or so years.

This year we are staying home (for obvious baby related reasons). Though we are quite envious of everyone "down there".

For those who have never been there, the neighboring island is where everyone goes swimming, and occasional "wild" (use term loosely) ponies are spotted. I'd give you the name of the island, but I don't want any family friendly filters to block my page...let's just call it but-ateague.

Last year I spent a good portion just sleeping. I think one of Kristy's cousins said "why would you go on vacation and sleep". Why indeed. Actually it was quite refreshing, and relaxing.

Dakota loved camping, and for the most part the sand, and waves. Though one in particular took him down, and then it was building sand castles for the rest of the day.

Hopefully next year...

Babies & More Babies

While we eagerly wait for little one to enter the world (Dakota put his claim in for a brother) we are excited about the baby news from Goshen! Congrats Joe & Kris, between you, Chris & Heather, Micah & Angie, & ??? (other unknown expectants) the church shouldn't have any trouble sustaining it's incredible growth.

Kristy and I commented about how our drive has quintupled (emphasise drive...not babies), since the last time we had to go the hospital. From 5 minutes to 25. It's good Kristy doesn't tend to have fast labor! We already know a couple who had a baby in the car because they didn't get to the hospital in time, but I'm sure it won't happen to us.

On a side note, nice murals Angie! They looked really great! I'm sure Lilly could have a pretty awesome room at home, if she doesn't already...

Another Dakota Moment

Recently, in the middle of the afternoon, Kristy said to Dakota "I Love You Dakota".

Dakota replied "I don't want to go to bed yet!".

Poor guy thinks we only tell him we love him at bedtime.

There's been too many times he makes us laugh, and laugh, and laugh.

Mapquest Gas Prices

I found it interesting that Mapquest now offers users a place to compare local gas prices. I don't know how accurate it is, but I was able to compare prices in Lancaster to prices in Goshen, Indiana.

You can check out this feature by clicking here.

Ouch....36-1

So last night we had another church league playoff softball game. Our previous opponents (UZ) ended up playing 12 innings...before losing by a run to the #1 overall seeded team. They played them tough...and for those scoring at home, that's an additional 4+ innings of softball.

We on the other hand, played the last place seeded team, # 16. Of course we liked our chances.

It ended up being a game where you could derive very little satisfaction.....except if you were Sheldon, who hit a nice towering home run, and then almost hit another when we batted around that inning.

Let's put it this way, we almost batted completely around twice in an inning (i.e. one batter would have been up to the plate 3 times). That's almost unheard of.

We got 8 quick runs, before 2 outs were recorded, and went into "pull-back" mode. We still hit the ball hard, but we didn't take extra bases in running, or send in extra runs to pile it up....and we STILL ended up with an embarrassing 35 extra runs.

We called off the "dogs" but it looks like it wasn't enough. However, to everyone's credit...what could you do?

You try and not show up an opponent by being overly aggressive when the game is at hand. However, to camp at one base while the ball rolls into the fence doesn't seem classy either.

That's why there was very little satisfaction in winning this game.

Quiet Strength

Okay, I admit. I was one of the doubters. I knew Tony Dungy was a great coach....the man took a boring Buccaneers team, and made them into a formidable, NFC contender....who would often lose to the Eagles in the NFC playoffs.

What I didn't know, is if he would ever win the "big one". People theorized about how, since we hasn't your typical "screamer" coach, that perhaps he could never win the Super Bowl....to "get over the hump"....from good to great.

After reading his latest book, I came away thinking "wow, this guy doesn't want to be defined as a football coach". He believes in the striving for excellence in his job, but he doesn't limit his self-worth to the football field.

Another theme that he had in the book is trusting/relying on God, at all times of life.

I recommend this book to the sports fan an non-sports fan alike. It was a great read because I'm a football fan, but the principles discussed in the book go far deeper than the gridiron.

Trade Deadline

It would figure that 3 contenders in the NL East all made moves. One team got Mark Texeira (a BIG time player), one team got Luis Castillo (a nice consistent secondbasemen) and one team got Kyle Lohse.

Yep, while the Braves and Mets, well, especially the Braves, made huge upgrades to their team, the Phillies got Kyle Lohse.

To their credit, they did get Iguchi, who may turn out to be a better option than Luis Castillo.

And some baseball people said they should get some credit for being the only team to get starting pitching. To me, that's like saying to a someone at the buffet table, looks like we all got omelets, hashbrowns and pancakes...but hey...good job for getting a piece of toast.

Of course I don't think their playoff chances are, the, um, aforementioned..."toast" ....yet.

Also, they gave up still another minor leaguer to get Mateo from the Mariners (another Gillick special). There's a reason we don't have a very good farm system.

I saw Ryan Franklin's having a pretty good year for the Cardinals...as a reliever. I guess he finally came around to that idea.

Oh well, should be for another interesting end of summer for the Phillies. Like Joe has said, the baseball season usually winds down (in his case, the Cubs) in time for football season (Notre Dame). With the past few years being the exception, we've followed the same patterns...Phillies falling out of contention in August, Eagles starting pre-season games, and by September, Eagles-Redskins on Fox beats out Phillies-Nationals on CW in terms of must-see Sunday afternoon sports.

Maybe this year will be different .... history says otherwise....

Mail-o-rama

Then there's now a mailbox on our property.

After confusing our mail-person for a few days, we now have a post and mailbox in place.

Perhaps it was a sublimal resistance to getting more bills :)