Happy 60th Birthday Bev!

New Year's Day Reflections

New Year's Day is a great day. 

The television is on.  Hockey is getting ready to be played in Fenway Park, the Capital One Bowl game has kicked off, and the Ducks will be hitting the gridiron in the grand daddy of them all later this afternoon. 

But New Year's day is great beyond all the sporting reasons.  It's a great day to reflect on the past year.  To think about the year that has been and all the blessings that God has given us.

Yet, reading the newspaper, it is easy to forget that we are blessed!  Look at some of this morning's headlines:

"2009 started with hope but quickly turned to shambles"

"Keeping it real in the year ahead: Onward we now go, out of the decade of illusion, and disillusionment and into the new normal of the Two-Thousand-Teens."

"Recovery for Oregon elusive"

Living in the most powerful empire the world has ever seen, I think it is easy for us to forget just how blessed we are. 

Check out some of these stats (taken from Rob Bell's book Jesus Wants to Save Christians):

• America controls nearly 20% of the world's wealth.  There are around 6 billion people in the world, and there are roughly 300 million people in the US.  That makes America less than 5% of the world's population.  And this 5% owns 20% of the world's wealth.
• One billion people in the world do not have access to clean water, while the average American uses 400 to 600 liters of water a day.
• Every 7 seconds, somewhere in the world a child under age 5 dies of hunger, while Americans throw away 14% of the food we purchase.
• Nearly 1 billion people in the world live on less than one American dollar a day.
• Another 2.5 billion people in the world live on less than two American dollars a day.
• More than half of the world lives on less than two dollars a day, while the average American teenager spends nearly $150 a week.
• 40% of people in the world lack basic sanitation, while 49 million diapers are used and thrown away in America every day.
• 1.6 billion people in the world have no electricity.
• Nearly 1 billion people in the world cannot read or sign their name.
• Nearly 100 million children are denied basic education.
• By far, most of the people in the world do not own a car.  One third of American families own three cars.
• One in Seven children worldwide (158 million) has to go to work every day just to survive.
• Four out of five American adults are high school graduates.
• Americans spend more annually on trash bags than nearly half of the world does on all goods.

Human history has never witnessed the abundance that we consider normal.  America is the wealthiest nation in the history of humanity.  We have more resources than any group of people anywhere at any time has ever had.

God bless America?

God has.  And we should be very, very grateful.

So this is what I sit here on my couch and reflect on this New Year's day.  I reflect on God's faithfulness to me, my family, my state and my country.  And it is here that I publically announce my thankfulness for:

• My beautiful wife and the celebration of 5 years of marriage
• My brand new bundle of joy daughter
• Health
• Roof over my head
• Food on my table
• Family and friends
• Medical knowledge of quadruple bypass heart surgeries (Tom's heart surgery)
• God's gift of miracle conceptions (Abbey & Dave)
• Employment & the opportunity for Brook to stay home and raise our daughter

I am so grateful for God's blessing and abundance.  For me and my family, it is our prayer that during 2010 we do not forget the blessings God has provided us and that we can use our blessings to bless those who need it the most. 

Wishing you a happy New Year!

A week of Christmas

Our adventures started on Monday (probably should insert a photo of the packed-full Hyundai, if I had one) as we loaded up our vehicle, dog, and child and headed North to Seabeck.  Over the mountains and through the woods, to Grammy's house we went.

We enjoyed lots of food!  As you can see to the left, Dave cooked up a great-tasting turkey for dinner.  On another night, we made lots of Thai food: Drunken noodles, Pad Thai, and homemade PF Changs lettuce wraps.

The game closet got cleaned out as we explored each and every game held deep within.  A stimulating game of Outburst, a tense game of Jenga, Tribond, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Headbanz.

Sweet Naptime

Yesterday Michaela was showing off her moves - see, she almost rolled all the way over!




























Today Kenji decided naptime is better with a buddy.

Four Months of Fun

According to our doctor, Michaela is growing well and is a healthy little gal. At her 4-month appointment today, Michaela weighed in at a whopping 12 pounds, 15 ounces (apparently I've been exaggerating how heavy Michaela is to those of you who have asked recently!) and is exactly 2 feet tall. We were told we should be expecting to see some rocking and rolling moves on Michaela's part in the next month or so. At this point it seems Michaela prefers rocking on her tummy like a beached whale to pushing herself up on her arms or rolling from back to front or front to back. That's okay, though, because for now I know that if I put her down in one spot, she will be there when I turn around again.

The official unofficial 4 month photos:

"Oh, hi Mom! It's great to see you!" (It's been so long...?)

"Looks like you won't put the camera down until I make some sort of cute face..."

"I am so bored of this photo shoot right now, and I'm on the verge of breaking down into tired hysterics as a result of my shots this morning."

And last but not least, just because some folks didn't believe me when I said I'd put Michaela in the laundry basket for safekeeping while I changed the sheets on our bed:

Christmas Lights

Baby Yoga

Happy Friday, everyone! In honor of the impending weekend, Michaela and I decided to try something new and fun today. At one of my baby showers I was gifted a yoga-for-babies DVD. It looked interesting, so I spread out the yoga mat and popped it in. What should have been an indication to me right away was Kenji's reaction to the menu screen. It pictured a cute little baby sitting in what is apparently "baby ready for yoga" pose. Kenji took one look at the TV and began growling fiercely, fur standing up all along her back. I tried to reassure her that the baby was not actually dangerous, but Kenji would not be convinced and I had to put her outside.

But back to the DVD... the intro has a professional yoga mother with every highlighted hair perfectly in place talking about how these exercises encourage bonding (great), help babies' digestion (Michaela doesn't have much of a problem with this) and take "nearly twice as long of naps" as they do without the yoga routine (greater still!). As we followed the short routines along with the mothers and their beautiful, sweetly cooing babies on the screen, I began to notice a disparity between the TV babies and my own. My own refused to bend her knees and thus form the "chair pose." She began cackling mischievously as I encouraged her to do the chair pose, and stuck her legs out even straighter. While TV babies looked lovingly at their mommies, Michaela began to wiggle and complain, looking as if she would rather be elsewhere. During what was supposed to be calming and soothing for the babies while they lie on mommy's tummy and listen to her heartbeat, Michaela began grunting and started scooting her way up towards my face. I put her back on my tummy and she courageously began the climb again. When all was said and done, Michaela was crying, not cooing. It also turns out today wasn't the day for the double-length nap. It took her 45 minutes to calm down and then she only slept for another fitful 45 minutes. Hmmm. Maybe we'll try again another day, or maybe we'll stick with our own exercise plan.

The past few days have been full of excitement. For example, today Michaela and I took our first trip to the car dealership together to get the oil changed. Thrills and excitement for everyone. On another day, the natural-born shopper in our family revealed his true colors by bringing home a cute Blazers onesie outfit. (A sidenote: I figured out that bibs really are helpful for something and not just fashion accessories. They make quick work of substantial baby drool.) Thanks to her daddy Michaela was able to strut her stuff and cheer loudly for her favorite team...although she's not allowed to watch any TV, so we had to give her the play-by-play so she would know when to yell and/or cheer. Look how cute my favorite Blazers fans are! Aunt Abbey and Uncle Dave came down for a weekend visit, and Michaela was spoiled by being held (a lot). She doesn't seem to mind. The grim face in the picture isn't an accurate depiction of Michaela's feelings, I'm sure. She grinned at Abbey a lot, too! We also had the fun of going to our friends' home for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner together - something we hope to make a tradition. This year we are all blessed with the addition, or impending addition, of children. Thanksgiving next year is going to be a noisier, messier, but just as joyful affair.

Three Months of Mommyhood

Over the weekend, Michaela reached another milestone - 3 months of age! Adam and I are also celebrating. We figure it should be easier from here on out - or at least less sleep deprived, right?! So, at 3 months, what is Michaela doing? Well, as seen above, she loves to show how strong she is... she can support her entire bodyweight on her stiff little legs. She is also proving to be a little thumb-sucker. Don't let the sleeping angelic face fool you, though - right now she has awakened from her all-too-short nap in the next room and is screaming her head off. I'm trying to tell myself it's just because she misses her mommy. Lastly, Michaela participated in her first game of Bunco on Sunday. Granted, after being oohed and aahed over for about 15 minutes, she proceeded to fall fast asleep on my shoulder, but no one should take that as a commentary on how exciting Bunco is.