Office Hours

he loves going to my office.. he'll say, "hey dad how 'bout we go to your work?" or he'll say, "I think we need to go to the office after you pick me up from school".

when we get off the elevator, he takes off like a race horse to beat me to the door of my office and sometimes he'll duck into the break room and hide from me till i walk by and then he'll jump out to scare me.

it's Tuesday night and "the guys" are on their way to hang out at dad's office. Noah knows his way around and especially has a handle on taking care of pushing all the buttons to get the to third floor. there are two elevators side by side and we always play a game of each of us picking one to stand in front of to see if our elevator wins. then it's always a race to see who will push the button once inside. it's a win win for me because when he wins, i win too ;-)

33 Years Old

Chris turned 33 this year and he's literally been around the world or at least it seems that way. For 3 years, he was stationed in Germany and then lived 3 years in Montana. After that, he was in Korea for a year before settling down in Texas.

He lives in Spring, TX and is a student at Sam Houston State University working on a degree in counseling. He has 5 boys, Benaiah, Donny, Michael, Zane, and Raul.

Though there has been quite a bit of distance between us, we've always been close and our relationship seems to be even closer now than its ever been. We both have similar life stories and its funny to laugh at things we've both encountered and overcome. He's truly a great son and i'm so proud of him for being an awesome dad and so loved by all of his boys. there's nothing like being loved by your boys!

Free Parking

one of our favorite places to play is at the park. the atmosphere is so nice and the space is wide open to run, climb, chase, slide, ride scooters, dig in the dirt, play with dump trucks, pretend to build a fire, hide-n-seek, and of course we have to take some time to pretend to be superheroes. one of the first things that happens to me when i step onto the woodchips of the climbing area, i act like i turn into a gorilla and noah loves loves loves that to happen ;-)

on this particular park day, he had a blast riding on his scooter. he is 4 and noah is so entertaining and so much fun. there is never a dull moment and he has so much to say about everything.

from the time we open the door, these little legs never slow down until he steps back into the car or truck to get in his car seat.

the air feels so clean when its a little cool and the sunshine feels so nice and warm. its funny that we can spend hours of clean fun at the park and it's absolutely free. I am so blessed and so happy to be able to love my family and take care of them. God Grace is sufficient to meet every need and has blessed us abundantly.

noah is so resourceful and has an incredible imagination. he love playing with sticks and will pretend to build a fire by stacking them in a pile. as you can see in this pic, we're roasting marshmallows.

we definitely get our exercise running and chasing this big around and believe me.. its the most enjoyable exercise ever!

Terrie usually picks noah up around 4pm from preschool and sometimes head to the park and I'll catch up with them when i get off.

Family time is priceless and its what i think about all day long. I am determined to put my family second only to God and to love them as God loves the church.

I've climbed a mountain (Chimney Tops) more than 10 times and its an amazing hike! I've white water rafted down the Ocoee river several times and its one of the greatest thrills i've ever experienced. But out of all the things i've ever done, being a dad is my favorite.

I have been fortunate enough to be a dad to three fantastic and incredible boys. Every time I hear their voices, i'm reminded of how blessed i am to know how much i am loved.

Each day is a brand new day and i have never been more certain about my identity as i am now. i am amazed at how much God loves me.

Valentines

Well.. my sweetheart got a dozen roses, Ghirardelli chocolates and we had a white table cloth lunch date today at a thai food restaurant.

We decided to get internet so i'll be going to pickup a wireless modem today. It'll be nice to do a little bit of web stuff at home now.

I'm learning some cool things to do with html, java script, and something called jquery.  I'm working on  developing an online course for the college of nursing. Loving my job here at UA and

i am so blessed to have a position where i can sit at my desk and work without a lot of pressure. Come to think about it, it's the first computer office i've ever had to myself. kinda nice to shut the door and crank up my heater while sitting in front of my mac with THREE monitors.. yeah that's right 3!  Ugh-ooh! raugh raugh raugh (in the voice of tim allen from the show called Home improvement)

Chris and I talk everyday and i talk to Enoch about every two days. I used Skype with Chris the other day and it was so cool to see him smiling and telling jokes on camera.

Enoch called yesterday to talk about invention ideas. it's something we've always done and it would be cool to get a patent one day. Chris and I are always talking about writing a book. It so cool how we all think so much alike.

My dream is to one day be able to see all 3 of my boys all the time.

But for now, God has given me so much joy to spend everyday with this tough guy and laugh everyday.

He has also given me a closer relationship with my big boys than ever.

Work and School

i love the conversations we have on our way to work and school. this morning, i looked in the review mirror and was admiring this little big guy and saw him holding a cell phone in his hand so I picked up my cell phone and pretended to be calling him. I said hello is this Noah?... his face lit up and he opened his phone and started talkin to me and said, hello. I said hey buddy whatcha doin? he said, i'm on my way to work.. I said are you taking dad to school and he said yeah.. I said what are you gonna do at work.. he said, uh.. i'm gonna watch dinosaur train ;-)

(btw, dinosaur train is one of his favorite cartoons on netflix)

New Opportunities

There is something to be said for new opportunities. It's fascinating to watch the wheels turning in the beautiful mind of our little mr. fixit guy. He loves tools and while at one of his favorite stores (O O O O'reillys) I picked up a little screw driver which fits perfectly in his cute little hands. I decided to give him a new opportunity to take out a screw from his bedroom door and Voila! It was a victorious moment to see the expression on mr. fixit's face when he successfully removed a screw from the door with his screw driver. Great job little buddy!!

We have to understand that when our lives are not necessarily going exactly like we want, that there may be some new opportunities lurking around the corner. If we can give ourselves a little bit of encouragement (David said there were times that he encouraged himself) we will see a familiar expression come over our faces when we successfully complete the task that is given to us.

I know God's Grace has been shining on me all of my life and especially over the past few years. He has graciously picked up my crumbled world and set me feet on a solid rock. There a song in my innermost being that is bursting from heart and I cannot help but feel that something amazing is about to happen again in my life.

The great thing about being a child of the King is that there are always new opportunities just around the corner.

Sometimes it just may call for a little expertise and elbow grease but in the end, the expression of success is worth it all!

Superheroes are so cool!

Terrie and I love taking Noah to the park. It's a beautiful thing to watch our son have so much fun. Of course, while I was using my one-handed-camera-taking-powers to take this snapshot, our beautiful super hero, who at the moment loves pretending to be Captain America, is hiding inside the playground climbing gym waiting for me to come find him.

Noah and I both use several aliases.. usually when we first get to the park, i transform into a gorilla that is focused on chasing noah/superhero all thru the playground, until he recognizes that he should use some of his super powers. usually he remembers to use his pretend blow-darts to shoot at me (from indiana jones - raiders of the lost ark). then he immediately goes into shooting me with his pretend bow and arrow (green arrow superhero) then he transforms into a superhero he calls "the green lantern" which in his imaginative reality is really the "hulk".

Yesterday we were walking from the parking lot to the playground and he said, when we got to the playground he was going to be Captain America so I asked him who could I be.. and he said, uh.. you can be spiderman.. so i quickly used my hand with fingers gesture to shoot an imaginative spiderweb on him and he thru up his hands on his face and said ugh.. as though he had something on him.

Some of his top favorite things to do are: pulling our shirts off, poking out his chest (like the big russian guy in (indiana jones - lost ark - airplane scene) and wrestling on his bed, racing me down the walkway in front of our apartment, chasing me with his pretend blow darts and bow and arrow, hooking things up with a chain or rope on the back of the truck, playing kickball in our pj's down the hallway, but i think when it's all said and done, his all time favorite is digging in the dirt. it seems that imagination pours from him when he sits down to play in the dirt. it's a beautiful thing!

Good Morning Angels...

After every Sunday service, we have a routine of spending a few minutes of quality time in the park area just outside the church building. On the short walk to where we hang out, Noah will definitely choose his weapon of the day (any nice stick will do for a good sword or gun). In this picture, his taking a break from a recent sword fight with me and trying to finish off his sucker that he got from children's church.

There's no lovin' like good lovin' and nothing better than sitting in the beautiful warm sunshine with some high-quality hugs from our little tough guy.

I truly believe that God wants to give us great things just as we want to give our children great things. I am persuaded that God truly forgives His children and has greater things in store for us than we could ever imagine.

Truck Chemistry

This truck has been an icon in Noah's life and i suppose it will always be in the family. Since he was born, we would take rides down a little side dirt road and then we used it to pull a hayride for his 3rd birthday. He loves that he can see much better from his carseat and  looking in his rearview mirror to see big trucks as they get ready to pass.

It's been a platform for his imagination to create all kinds of things. Sometimes it's his workshop and he'll play with some tools and and loves lugging on a big iron chain and using the hooks on the tailgate. Give him a rope or a couple of tie-downs and he will tie up everything in the back. Occasionally we have nerf sword fights and shootouts from the back of the truck.

It's amazing to watch him explore in the front of the truck and pretend to drive. I can't begin to tell all the funny things i've heard him say in our truck adventures but recently we were getting in the truck and he said the truck had a smell but he couldn't figure out what it was. I told him the truck was old and an old truck sometimes smells old. He said, hm..

As I was clicking his carseat together, I said, you know, this truck was born in 1990 and I was born in 1963... so I'm older than this truck. He paused for a few minutes while i cranked the truck and was about to pull out of the parking lot when he said, Dad... your not old ;-)