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My Kids science wife

Under Pressure

Karyn (my wife) told me that everyone at home has been trying to pull apart these two plastic baby sipping cups that have been pressed together for days (not sure for how long). The smaller cup was so far inside the larger one, that there was no edge to hold on to.

two stuck together cups

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crying family My Kids News politics Spiritual thoughts wife

A Moving Poem

I want to move to a place where there are no tears and there is no sorrow, but that may have to wait until beyond tomorrow.

There is suffering here until death from our birth , we must strive to bring healing while we’re still here on earth.

If we don’t do this- I ask you, who will? We can’t leave our poor earth to those who would kill.

I will pray for the healers to not leave prematurely, while those who love evil can go fast and early.

Unless they would change, and join in the fight- to defeat selfish suffering and uphold what’s right.

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for sale ipod My Kids

iPod Touch (2nd Gen) For sale – 8GB

My sons Noah and Josiah are selling their old iPod Touch.
iPod Touch For sale (2nd Generation)
They want about $40 for it.

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child family My Kids

Recording

I like to record myself and my children sometimes. It seems to capture more emotion and personality than a photo alone could capture.

Home Recording

I ask my kids about themselves and what is on their minds before we head to a friend’s barbecue.

-Ezra

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child family My Kids

Solo Dad day

Today, while Karyn prepared for and attended her sister’s wedding shower, I hung out with all five of my kids. I dug out the baby backpack from the garage and let Gideon try it out for the first time in his life. He did fine in it. I was grateful to be able to have use of both of my hands too.

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Karyn had ingredients for making lunch left on the counter for me, so I prepared nachos. After lunch, I had the kids clean up the kitchen and their rooms before watching some “My Little Pony” on Netflix. I heated up the Medela bottle of milk in the fridge and fed Gideon.

20130406-213634.jpg

Later, we all walked to the park, crossing a precarious crosswalk where local drivers do not normally observe the speed limit or notice pedestrians stepping foot into the street. This time, I asked all of my kids to raise their hands and wave at the cars coming, and it proved to be very effective. All of the cars stopped appropriately and waited for us to safely cross the street. This method sure beats my previous method of yelling and shaking my angry fist of fury as cars continue to approach us like we were a bunch of worthless grocery bags blowing in the wind.

The kids all played hard at the park and chased each other around. It is good to see them doing that outside which creates so much noise that normally irritates me inside the house. I should remind myself next time I catch them running around in the house that it has been a while since we have gone on a nice walk to the park. We had to walk quickly home, because Karyn called to let me know that she had no key to get into the house, and I am pretty good about making sure all the locks are secured before leaving the house.

This evening we went to visit grandma Arlene’s house, ate some sandwiches and had dessert (orange sherbet) while socializing.

I don’t normally blog about a given day in my life, but a friend gave me this iPad compatible keyboard he got as a gift, and he gave it to me because he does not have an iPad. I just figured I should really test it out. Even though I would not want to carry something like this around with my iPad, I am pretty impressed with it. pretty much feels the same as my Mac’s bluetooth keyboard. Thanks for reading!

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family My Kids Spiritual thoughts wife

The Sponsored Move

FaceTime call with Karyn, Zion, Eden and me
I read Genesis 45 today, and was thinking about how nice it would be to have such a generous offer as this:

“You are also directed to tell them, `Do this: Take some carts from Egypt for your children and your wives, and get your father and come. Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.’ ”
-Genesis 45:19-20 (NIV)

Because my family can’t be replaced, but all of my possessions can be.

Once I have a possession that replaces another, the unused possession becomes relatively useless to me, and simply becomes a burden to manage.

My first thought as I imagined this offer from Pharaoh was to think of it as a generous company sponsored distant move. Any distant move at this point would not be very appealing to me. I really like living in California.

After further consideration, I thought: God did make this offer to me. He is preparing a place for me and I am encouraged to invite my family to come, but not to worry about bringing my possessions, because He has more than I could ever earn to provide for me and my family in this new place. I may have to wait a lifetime before I leave, but it will seem like only a moment in history.

My take-aways:

  • Family Matters
  • Possessions Are not worth worrying about
  • Pay attention to the king
  • There is at least one better place than California
Categories
My Kids News

Eden

I have a second daughter as of Sunday, February 21st, 2010. She is perfect, so it seems. Karyn is doing well too. One week before her due date, 7 lbs and half an ounce. Nineteen and three-quarters of an inch long. The hospital has wifi, and I am off work to bond and lend a hand, so why not blog with the other hand?
Photo on 2010-02-22 at 08.57 #3.jpg

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My Kids

Photo Walk

(Written a while ago, forgot to finish, publish too)
When I got home yesterday, upon entering my house, I was stunned to smell a strong gasoline odor. I asked Karyn what happened, and found out that she had mowed the lawn and that the mower leaks gas. Confused, I wondered why she would have the mower in the house. She was busy doing tasks walking from here to there and I prodded to figure why the smell was so strong in the house. She said that the mower is in the garage and that she just opened the door to get clothes from the dryer not long ago. I am guessing that she had gotten acclamated to the odor, because she did not seem bothered by it. I suggested that I take the kids outside for a while until the odor dissipated.
She agreed, and I went through the house opening windows and doors, switching our air conditioner from recirculate to ventilate. Within a minute, the atmosphere had been refreshed. The kids were all excited to go for a walk though, so I grabbed my camera and phone and walked with the kids outside.
We were going to walk just around the block, so I wanted the kids to hold each other’s hands while I led them and took a few photos. Josiah, understanding my intent, arranged Noah and Zion with himself to stand in order by height for a posed group shot in front of our van in the driveway.
They walked down the sidewalk precariously strolling, Noah and Zion veering often away from the concrete into the decorative rock landscaping and stumbling, frustrating me a bit, knowing that there would be tears when they fell. I prefer to avoid the tear management problem altogether, if possible. We stopped in front of a field of foxtails, which are a novelty to Josiah, and consequently, Noah, and to a lesser extent, Zion. They plucked a few of them and before boredom was unanimous, we continued on.
Next we saw a curious tree stump, with stakes holding caution/cuidado tape around the sight. I wondered what the warning was about, since I hadn’t thought of a tree stump being where a tree had been for years as something to catch a passerby by dangerous surprise.
After a bit more walking we saw a hydrant. I asked Noah if he knew what it was; he didn’t know. Same question to Josiah, and he was at a loss for the name of it but wanted to assure me that it’s purpose was explainable. “that’s where the firemen put their hose onto to put water on fires” he explained. Not to bypass Zion, I asked her if she knew what it was, and she did not know.
I thought the hydrant looked cool, and I always like my kids in a picture, since a still inanimate life image does not have the lasting value of any image featuring people, and my kids are great examples of people loved and almost always avialable to me.

(lost interest in finishing this, so short ending below:)

…I finished walking around the block and took a few pictures. See my images on Flickr. I am user “ezravision”

Categories
My Kids

Daughter

I wonder what it is about a daughter that really catches my attention. She seems to really seek my attention, not that my sons don’t, but she looks for my attention to be on her. My boys usually want me to see what they can do or accomplish to impress me with their accomplishments and skills. Not Zion. She wants me to be delighted in her for her charm or smile. She is pretty good at this too, because sometimes I have difficulty focusing he camera when she suprises me with something surprisingly delightful while the camera is at my eye. Now that she is grasping language so much better, she delights me in language as well as through expressions on her face.
In this photo, I decided that it would be better cropped with a sideways orientation, but Zion, always wanting to accomodate whatever I choose to do decided that a sideways beautiful grin might better fit accordingly in the resulting image. She knew it better than I did.

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My Kids thoughts

Everyone is sick

I was sick the other week. I am glad not to be still, excepting the occasional cough. My wife, Karyn still has a ways to go before she is back feeling 100%.
Josiah feels a little sick, but he says he is feeling better.