I can't believe how fast time has flown by this year. Can you believe it's already the end of September?! Seriously, that means that all of the 'holidays' are starting again, which usually means enduring several joyous yet stressful months... but I look forward to the insanity, haha. The best thing though I've been feeling lately has been a rush of energy from the weather. The summer heat and humidity, you know the kind that just melts you when you go outside, has finally subsided and a recent cooling, which signals the fall, has started to slide in. Its hard to explain but I just feel better. I think I need to take another trip to the mountains soon to catch some fresh air. Now if I could just find the time...
Speaking of time, I'm going to use this post today to catch you up on like 2 MONTHS worth of events that I have neglected to share. I've been in blah mode for basically the whole summer. It was hard having only one income this summer while Kimi was off waiting on the school year to begin. We were limited in what we could do but we made it. There were some MAJOR issues at my work that frustrated me to no end. I take pride in what I do, which is helping people. But with several negative events which occurred in such a short time, I had begun to ask myself if this is where I need to be for the foreseeable future. It's not just about me, it's about my family and making sure any decision I make is the right one since it will affect them as well. I'm still asking myself these questions but I am going to put off some of my anxieties about them for a bit, and just relax. I need to learn again how to listen to God's voice, especially during stressful times. I would like to ask you all to pray that I would understand deep in my being Psalms 46:10. I have it memorized but that's head smarts, not heart and spiritual smarts. "Be Still and Know That I Am God." As the leader of my family, I need this written on my heart, having God's guidance on the big and small decisions I make in my life and for my family. So if you would, pray for me, okay?Where to begin... okay, I'm just going to make a list and go from there. Sounds good to me. Here goes...
1. Little Miss Makenna is walking like crazy! She is still slightly wobbly but her little feet try to go a million miles an hour everywhere she goes. She has such an independent spirit about her. She wants to 'do it herself'... on everything! From eating to walking to brushing her own teeth. She gets upset if you try to help out too much. It's so cute. We went to the park the other day and she climbed up to the top of the slide over and over again, but she needed daddy's help to get back down. Check out this picture I took at the park. She wanted to walk everywhere. We tried to get her to swing with us but she was just terrified by how it made her tummy feel. Check out the other pics here.
2. My mom finally got MARRIED! I know, you're thinking, how could you not tell us about that?! Sorry guys, again it was that blah thing. Anyway, she and Scotty went on a cruise to Alaska and decided it was the perfect time for a wedding ceremony. They had such a hard time planning the wedding in such short notice that they weren't able to secure a minister or a spot to actually have the wedding without spending thousands of dollars to do so. A funny little thing about Alaska is that since there is such a very small population, they have this rule on the books that ANY person can do the ceremony and legally marry two people ONE time without having to get licenced by the state. They just need to fill out this little form and voila! SO since Scotty had his brother, his sister-in-law, and his twin sister there, it worked out perfectly. His brother did the ceremony and his two sisters were the witnesses! Too funny! They said their vows on a beautiful day with clear skies at the base of Mt. McKinley to the tune of their own version of "going to Alaska, and we're g-o-n-n-a get marr-ieddd" That cracks me up but I couldn't be happier for the two of them! Congratulations mom and Scotty!3. Kimi and I both turned 27 years young in the past two months. My birthday was on August 7th and Kimi's was on September 7th. What did we do for our birthday's? Did we take a road trip out of state? Did we go camping? Did we have any adventures whatsoever? Nah. Unless you count eating out like 4 times in celebration. Not that we didn't want to do any of those things. It's just that the timing of our birthdays this year was terrible. Mine was on like a Tuesday and hers fell on a busy weekend (not to mention the start of the NFL season...). We did however receive some presents from friends and family that we turned into some cool stuff for us. For Kimi, I took her on a shopping spree to Ann Taylor Loft, Kohls, Old Navy, and JC Penny's for a weekend of glitz and glamour. She bought more outfits than I can count and let me tell you, she looks hot. You should have seen the smile that was on her face for days. She even didn't have to shop on the sales rack this time because of such good deals she got everywhere. That was nice for a change.
For my present, I chose to upgrade my gaming system. I purchase an XBOX 360 and pre-ordered HALO 3, which comes out Tuesday the 25th. I'm at a loss for words on how to describe the breath-taking pictures that are involved in high definition gaming but rest assured, it is absolutely amazing. It is so much fun playing online with my brother too. I'm thankful for the fun but it is causing me to lose sleep now because I just can't seem to put it down. I guess I'm going backwards a little with my goal to get outside more... 4. I have been fortunate enough to be able to go to two OU games this year already! The first game was against Miami, aka "The U". Once upon a time, The U was a good team. A very proud team. Then things started to fall apart for them last year when they got into a major brawl with the instate rival, FIU, then ranked like 117th out of 117 in the nation. They fell to a .500 record or so and their pride was bruised. Beginning to get back an ounce of pride after having won their first game of the season, they traveled to Norman, Oklahoma for their first true test to see what they were made of in 2007. Apparently, it was paper mache... because we tore through their defense like they didn't have one! Oh it was so much fun! We have seats on the 20 yard line with a perfect view of the domination that OU was handing out. All of the closet Miami fans that showed up for the game were pumped up for a showdown. Unfortunately, they left with tear-streaked green and orange makeup, heads hung down low. My neighbor across the street puts up his Miami flags every Saturday in defiance of the OU dominated region. Wonder how he felt after the game? Haha! There is so much emotion involved in college football, you can't help but love it. It's not really even worth talking about the second game, Utah State, because it was like OU was playing against a junior varsity team. We left at half-time because the score was already up way high. The only highlight worth noting after we left was ONLY the 3rd longest play in OU history... Murray, one of our like 5 running backs, took a hand-off for a 92 yard run up the sidelines for a touchdown. See, I told you it was a junior varsity team...
Oh, this one is for Brenda. What is the difference between the Texas Longhorns and a mosquito? You can slap a mosquito and it stops sucking! Thought she would enjoy that one...
5. This one involves Kimi's grandma. She has been having some health problems lately that are somewhat serious. Kimi and I received a phone call at around 3am one day in August from Kimi's grandma, asking us to take her to the hospital. I drove like a madman to her house, running stop lights and fish-tailing corners to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Without going into to much detail without her permission, she is doing okay now but is still having some issues that are persistent. If you would, please say a prayer for her health and her spirits. It's hard going through what she has gone through but in her own words, she's a "tough old bird". Haha. We are doing over her house tonight to watch OU play Tulsa, so hopefully that will bring a big smile to her face.
6. Last item today is to ask for your prayers again. My friend, Andrew Coloney (the guy who I built his photography website for last year, http://www.patriotphoto.us), has just received orders to go to Iraq for I believe 11 months. He and his wife recently found out they were pregnant with his 2nd child, which will now be born while he is on the other side of the world. He's torn between serving his country and being there for the "life moments" that his family is about to go through. If you would, please pray that God takes care of him and his family during this trying time. Andrew, I want to say thank you so much for fighting for our freedom... for my freedom. Your dedication to and sacrifices made for our country is deeply appreciated by many many people. Be safe, my friend. If any of you want to send him a note of encouragement, shoot me an email or post it here and I'll make sure it gets to him.
I have several more things to post about but I will put them off for another day. Sorry again about how long I went between updates. I read someone else's blog recently that made the point, comments = love, so please send in your comments when you get a chance! I've always wondered how many people actually reads these thoughts that I put down on paper so I'd love to hear from you guys. Enjoy the game tonight!
Jason
ps. BOOMER!...
