On Our Way Home

It's Saturday morning and we're in Bartlesville, having spent the night here after leaving Midland yesterday around noon. We're really looking forward to making it home, but it may take slightly longer than usual. I guess Omaha and that whole region has seen quite a bit of snow and ice over the past week, and is even getting some light snow this morning.

However, I checked road conditions through the State Dept. of Roads for Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri and all looks fine for where we need to go. If you see this today, please pray for good travel and conditions and for our safety. :)

Another Size Update

I forgot to update everyone on Zac's size, which we found out after his doctor's visit this past Monday. This big boy here to the left is now 30 inches long and weighs in at a solid 20 lbs, 11 oz. I know that's not huge, necessarily, for other 10-month-olds, but considering where he began and how early he was, it's big enough for us!

Crawling Boy

Zac has been doing this little commando crawl thing for a bit now, but within the past few days has really started getting good at it. And, as he should, he often makes his dash for the electronics.

Christmas Vision

I was all set to share a picture of the stage at our church today, even took two pictures with my phone, but neither came out good at all. I'm so disappointed, because it's pretty remarkable. Hopefully Katy and I will remember to take her camera next week and we can get a better picture to share, but as a teaser, imagine Narnia with 4 big trees created from paper mache, I think. Also a bridge over a babbling brook, water and all, which a guitarist stood on while playing during a special of U2's "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". The stage is pretty incredible, but so was the song.

At any rate, we just began a series on Christmas, of course, which focuses on being treasured and recognizing the true vision of Christmas. It got me to thinking, during service (you know, when I should have been fully concentrating on the message), of what I really treasure in my life. I'm thankful for the treasure of a God who loves me enough to let me vent when things aren't going how I want them to go, Who is patient with me and leads me with a firm hand in the direction He has for me, for us as a family. Even as I am struggling with our move to this place, this desert, I know that if my focus is entirely on God, everything around will become a non-factor in my level of happiness.

I also treasure Katy, who has brought me a level of peace and comfort I knew I was looking for, but thought I'd never have. I treasure my children very much; Claire, my beautiful 12-year-old who is so caring, so loving and so funny that I never tire of talking to her; and Zac, my handsome, hilarious little bundle of joy, constantly pushing the boundaries of fun with his cute little habits, like clapping his hands when he wakes up, even if he's actually unhappy.

I know both Katy and I can honestly say we treasure our families very much, with wonderful parents who have loved and led us down the right path and done a great job of teaching us how to be good for each other and good parents ourselves. And, despite the challenges siblings throw on you growing up, or even in adulthood, we both very much love them as well, and not even begrudgingly! :)

Thought you might enjoy two pics today, since I couldn't get a good one from church to make it three. This one of Claire is of some pictures they just had taken for Christmas at Olan Mills. I hope it's safe to put this up here, as I just wanted to share something current of Claire for all to see. :) Then this one of Zac was taken this morning when we got home from church. We've moved him into the bigger car seat when in Katy's car, and it turns out it's pretty good for sleeping as well! Take care, all.

I Make This Hat Look Good!

OK, y'all were due more pics and I finally figured out how to easily copy pics from our phones to the PC via Bluetooth, so today I uploaded new ones! Woohoo! We'll work on video again this week. So, this picture we took tonight. I walked upstairs to reset our router after our Internet connection went down to find Katy laughing almost hysterically at Zac. In the picture, you'll see the jammies he is wearing and what is supposed to be an accompanying hat. The jammies and the hat are 6-9 months for the size. While most of what Zac is currently wearing is 12-month stuff, and he has for a month or so, still, you'd think that if something fit, the hat that went with it might also fit. I don't think Zac has a particularly large noggin, so that can't be it. At any rate, it was funny enough for me to run back downstairs to grab the phone to take some pics to share with you tonight.

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. While we didn't get to share it with family this year for the first time ever that I'm aware, we did get to share it with some friends and enjoyed our day off quite a bit. I must admit that this morning in church, when the pastor asked if everyone was stuffed on Thanksgiving, Katy and I felt a bit of remorse that we didn't get that normal opportunity. I even told Katy that overeating on Thanksgiving has NEVER been something that has bothered me as it does some people, yet we didn't get that chance. That's OK, though, as I fully intend to remedy that during our week in Bellevue for Christmas. :) God bless, all, and I'll have a new post up soon.

What's That? Let Me Taste It

I've been wanting to put up a post for a bit but had been hoping to remember to take a picture to capture the moment I planned to write on. Since my memory is fading faster than West Texas can take my health, I'll just write now and share the thoughts.

We've all watched as babies learn new things about taste and texture and shapes, etc. Just watching your child learn each new thing is fascinating. For quite some time now, Zac has been in that mode where everything he sees he wants to touch and, if at all possible, put it in his mouth. It's like his brain thinks, "What's that??? Oooooh. I wonder what it tastes like!"

I'm not really sure where the psychology of all this plays out or where it comes from, and it's not at all important to me that I do know. What I can say with certain confidence is that it's one of the funnier stages babies go through, and watching your own son or daughter try to taste everything in sight lends just enough humor to help get you through the fussy times. These fussy times happen more often now that Zac's awareness of things around him is increasing, so he'll keep himself awake far too long due to his interest in other kids, or animals or whatever is happening in the room, etc. The only time we can guarantee he's sleeping at a regular time is bedtime, which varies slightly by night, but once he's down, he's down.

Ah, then...peace...and dry toys...and furniture...and shirts...and blankets...and cats.

Toe Blowing

Yes, I know, not the most benign title in the world, but it grabs your attention at least a little bit, doesn't it? On Wednesday nights, we are in a couples Bible study through church and it's in Odessa. Now that Zac is in daycare in Odessa, that means I'm picking him up after work. From a time perspective, it doesn't make much sense to then drive back to Midland, turn around and head right back to Odessa, at least not every week.

On Wednesdays we have to eat out anyway, due to timing, so we try to eat cheaply. Taco Bell was the choice this week, and in typical fashion around here, it took about 15 minutes to get our food. At Taco Bell. When nobody was in front of us. Yes, that's how bad food service is here. It should pick up once the oil bust occurs and there are more employees around, but the main reason it's bad is that the workers don't care.

Anyway, during that wait, I fed Zac some dinner, chicken & vegetable I believe, and then we were playing. He got a kick out of me blowing on his toes, so I decided to capture a little of it on my phone and here it is. :)



On another front, Claire is getting to be online quite a bit recently, so I get to chat with her now. Makes it a lot better when I know we can connect more often!

That Washcloth Belongs To Me

In light of how poorly the Huskers played last night, I need positive things to focus on. Zac provides them at every chance, and was doing the same thing this video shows during the first few minutes of the game and again today at lunch. So I captured it to share a little of his laughter, which is always a good thing. It'll show on the right, but I'm embedding it here as well.

Time for New Pics

Well, it's time for some new pics. I've updated the slide show on the right with 14 new ones tonight, and wanted to add a couple for you to view, one of Zac's teeth and one of him sitting on the stairs. He's taken to sitting here and there lately, but we don't think he realizes that he can actually do it. He'll sit for a good minute or two sometimes, then other times just plop right over.

So here those are, and now I get to share a little of Katy's excitement from work today. I haven't grabbed the pics off her camera, but a building just a few doors down from hers, one slated for implosion next week, caught fire today. So it was quite the scene downtown and made leaving work a little tougher for her. On the good side, she had some excitement to talk about during the day and had a chance to see a lot of smoke, if not the actual flames, which were apparently visible a bit earlier than when she headed outside. We went to McAlister's tonight for supper (those of you who lived in the South at all know what I'm talking about) and the firetrucks, ambulances and police cars were still prevalent all around downtown, with several streets still blocked off.

Dexterity

I think every weekend there is a specific intent to take more pictures, get a new video or two, and get them up on the blog. Unfortunately, the best plans don't often seem to come to fruition in these new days of feeling constantly overwhelmed with things to be done, where time runs very fast.

Zac did pick up a new thing this weekend, making the connection between watching us clap for him and clapping his hands for him, to actually doing it on his own. He's now, of course, very proud of himself when he claps and we try to affirm him as much as we see it. Since he's feeling pretty much back to normal, he is back to his regular happy self most of the time, also.

Some good news to share is that we have found an in-home daycare option and will be able to remove Zac from the current daycare situation we hate at the end of this month. We could do it now, but financially, we'd already paid for the last two weeks of October and don't want to be poor stewards with the money God has given us. What's cool is that his new care provider will be the wife of the singles pastor at our church. She has two children of her own, the youngest is one year old, and we know she'll take great care of Zac. Though the cost will be slightly higher than what we presently pay, it is still well below what we'd expected and he'll receive much better care and individual attention than he has been, plus he shouldn't end up sick nearly as often either. Praise God!

Zac Size Update

Thought we'd pass along a quick size update. Zac had to see the doctor on Friday because, well, because he kept us up all night Thursday. Maybe this will be a new rule we put in. Keep us up all night, go see the doctor. Anyway, they found he was getting an apparent ear infection, so he's on antibiotics for that now. A side effect of seeing the doctor is getting weighed. So, we decided measure him today as well to go along with the weight.

Thing is, what we measured has him shrinking by an inch from last month, which can't be true. So we'll re-try it once he wakes up from his nap and go again. He is 19 lbs, 2 oz now, which is not a huge weight gain, but he's likely leveling out a bit at this point.

Who Needs Sleep?

As parents, Katy and I have been very, very lucky so far in that Zac has always been a good sleeper. It only took him a fairly short time after getting out of the NICU to where he would sleep long portions of the night, and he was somewhere around 4 months or a little less when he began fully sleeping through the night. So, we've been a little spoiled.

Until last night. He went to bed around 8, seemingly in good spirits and doing alright, but woke up a little after 11, crying for some unknown reason. I really, really need a baby-to-adult translator for this boy. Anyway, that started a very long night for the two of us, with small respites in between, until maybe 4 a.m. or so when Katy was finally able to put him back in his bed for good. Until then, he had no interest in sleeping unless it was with Katy holding him.

He seems to have a bit of a fever, and did throw up around 1:30 a.m., plus his nose is stuffy and he's had a cough for about a week. Our small group on Wednesday nights has 3 nurses, and they felt like his cough sounded just fine, that it was nothing to worry about. We believe he may be teething again, which would contribute to many things, but his crying was not from his mouth. We're pretty sure it was his tummy. I am home with Zac this morning, then Katy will come home so I can go to a meeting I have at 10. Then I'll return and she can get back to work as she has some financials to get taken care of today.

Hey, we can sleep in tomorrow, right? HA! If only Zac agreed with that idea. :)

Rolling & Talking

Two new videos, one with him rolling over (first time we've caught that on video) and one with him talking, which he usually doesn't do when the camera is on him. :)

Patty Cake

I uploaded a new video today of Katy playing patty cake with Zac. It should be displaying on the right side before too long. He loves playing that with her, and always gets a kick out of it. We've been trying to get a video of him rolling over for over a week now, but he just hasn't been cooperative when we've specifically tried catching him. We'll get it up there eventually. I had hoped to add a new pic to this entry, but he's not much fun at the moment and that makes him much less photogenic than usual, too, so I'll try to get one up later today or tomorrow.

Katy and I had opportunity to go to our first small group meeting this past Wednesday night. We're in a group with many couples, and we're pretty excited about the chance to spend time with them even outside the study, plus several have already volunteered to watch Zac for us. That means we might actually get a date night sometime soon. You don't really understand just how badly you need that once you have children until you go several months without a break. Yeah, we could use it. :)

NOTE Added 2:04PM: I seem to be having issues getting the correct, most current videos to display. As such, I'm going to now insert the patty cake video here and create a new post with the latest videos I posted.

Moving & Rolling

Time for an update! Zac has begun rolling over on his own and is moving around really well. It's exciting getting to watch him grow and learn new things and pay attention to more stuff. I added a video today to the right side showing Zac moving around a bit. I didn't catch him rolling over, but we'll document that and add it once we catch it. This pic was taken on the 19th of this month. Zac is very proud of his tongue at the moment. :)

A Tooth...And More Sickness

I had hoped to have a pic up tonight, but we'll have to add one later. Zac finally has a tooth coming through. Katy found it yesterday as it hadn't quite fully broken the surface, and today it's a little further through. He's doing quite well with it, just having the typical runny/stuffy nose and all.

Also, today we tried green beans for the first time. We were prepared for him to fully reject them, and thought he would given how bad they smelled, but he didn't seem to mind at all. We were a bit shocked. We've been buying jar foods to send to daycare lately, and included in that mix have been some fruit and granola mixes, along with a yogurt mix and some that have multiple fruits with either rice or oatmeal, so he's handling all of them fairly well.

And, Katy and I are under the weather again, both fighting massive sinus drainage. It's very frustrating, because neither of us has had to deal with this much at all over the past year or more, but this is twice within two weeks for each of us. I know we each have allergies, but honestly, we spend most of our days inside and use air conditioning in the vehicles at all times. I'm concerned it may have something to do with our townhouse, so today I picked up some vent filters like we used in Omaha. They're too small to fit these vents, which are on the walls, but I'm hopeful I can make something work out of it. Please pray that our house sells soon. We have to get out of this place for our mental health as well as physical health.

Found Us A Church Home

Well, we have found a church home. You may recall a previous post where I mentioned we'd narrowed it down to two churches. We had intended to visit both of them again, but decided after re-visiting Crossroads Fellowship this past week that it is where we feel the most comfortable.

From the moment we checked Zac into the Nursery, which I can only describe as ridiculously high-tech, very well organized and full of enough play areas that Katy and I seriously considered skipping out on the service, we felt this was the right fit. While we had enjoyed the worship the first Sunday in August when we first visited, it felt like even more of a fit this week. Great band, great message and service, and of course the most important part, movie theater seating. See, after spending almost a year at Heartland Church in Omaha, which met in a movie theater, we've become a bit spoiled and now seem to feel as though we "deserve" this seating design. While they aren't as wide or comfortable as the ones in the actual theater, don't rock and don't have cup holders, they do the trick. :)

Size Update

I just went to a baby size chart online and entered Zac's current measurements; 27.5" long, 17 lbs, 12 oz, and a head circumference of 17.5 inches. Here's what got me. In terms of length, at 7 months he is in the 50-75th percentile range for length. And he was 9 weeks early! Everyone seems shocked when they find out he's only 7 months, even more so when they hear how early he was born. I guess we didn't realize just how big he was becoming. :)

Zac A Bit Under

All week we've been battling something with Zac that we thought was related to teething. He's had all the classic symptoms, but no teeth, and it continued beyond when we thought it should. Today the daycare called Katy at work this afternoon and let her know he was in OK spirits, but every time he had to go to the bathroom he cried, and he wasn't taking his bottles well.

So Katy left early, picked him up and took him to an urgent care, where they diagnosed him with a yeast infection. I checked with one of my employees and she advised her son had the same thing happen when he was close to Zac's age. They also weighed him while he was there and he came in at 17 lbs, 12 oz. I know he was still wearing a clean diaper and a onesie, but that doesn't add up to much, so that's a bit more weight than I thought he'd put on. Katy just returned from picking up his prescription, and we're going to feed him bananas daily to try to solidify things. Hopefully we can make him more comfortable and help him heal.

Please keep him in your prayers this weekend, and if you don't mind, continue praying that our house sells soon. It'd be a big help to stop paying two house payments! :)

Claire's Birthday!

Today, September 10th, is Claire's 12th birthday. Twelve. Am I really that old? Is SHE really that old? I am blessed to have two beautiful children. You know how they always joke that a child looks like their mother? I'm wondering if, since the link between Claire & Zac is me, maybe it's ME that is responsible for these two great-looking children. Although, if I espouse that idea too much, I might never hear the end of it. :)

I thought that in honor of Claire's birthday I would put up several pics, starting from a long time ago until something more recent. Unfortunately I don't have anything super recent on the computer, so this will have to do. The black and white one is Claire at a little over a year old, as if you couldn't guess. It's one of my favorite pictures of her to this day, among the many that are ridiculously cute.

The second is in 1999 when I lived in Jackson, MS. This is her with her Uncle Dan's cat, Zoom. She was a little over 2 1/2 in this picture, close to 3. 1999 was a very lucky year for me, as God had told me to move to Jackson even though I didn't want to go. Little did I know He would bring Claire to Mississippi!

The third pic, with frosting on lips, is from Claire's 4th birthday in 2000, held at a church in Omaha. She always has been extremely photogenic. I must say that her little brother also seems to carry this ability.

In Fall 2006, I had a little fun with Claire's hair color in anticipation of a spirit day at school, if I'm not mistaken. Either that or I found a great deal on colored hair sprays and REALLY wanted to try them out.

And then this last picture is from several months ago, as Claire was able to spend some time with her little brother Zac over a weekend in Omaha. I know she misses him as much as I miss her.

Teething?

Well, we've been waiting for a tooth to pop through for a few months now, but Zac is definitely showing all the signs associated with teething. Over the weekend he had a sporadic fever, runny nose, and has continued to have some pretty awful diapers to deal with, and those are multiple times per day.

Last week I was fighting off a cold the entire week, so I thought maybe Zac had just caught a bit of that bug, but then again, there was one child in his room that had a runny nose as well, so possibly that was it. But then again, :), a lot of people here are getting sick at the moment, so I know something has been around. Katy is not feeling as well tonight, and went to bed early to try to get a handle on it.

All we know is we hope Zac is actually going to produce a tooth sometime here because he seems more than ready and we're ready to have him stop being bugged by his gums. Since every child in his room currently has a runny nose, maybe they are all going through the same thing. :) And, at his present rate, we'll go through diaper rash ointment at an alarming rate. Poor little guy is not too happy when a diaper change occurs at the moment. This is the first time he's had a rash of any sort or even been under the weather!

Big Zac

I've been so bad about posting more often than once a week that I thought I better get another picture up here. Took this picture tonight just to try to gauge how big Zac is getting. As you can see, he's suffering from a little bit of sinus action, but he's alright. I measured him Saturday, unofficially, at 27 1/2". If that's true, it'd mean he's grown 1 1/2" since the end of July when we took him in for his 6-month checkup.

Zac is doing all the fun things parents look forward to like beginning to hold his own bottle when he takes it, grabbing onto things and using his hands more, and he is just about rolling over. He's there, and sometimes will push himself onto his back using his face, but hasn't quite grasped the idea of rolling completely over to his tummy and then back, and using his arms to help out. It's fun to watch, and hopefully we catch it the first time it occurs on video so we can share with everyone else. :)

So football season is upon us, or as some parts of the country call it, "Fall", and I'm super excited. People down here are excited about the high school season, but I guess if you're not a part of it, it doesn't seem any different than it does up in Omaha or Lincoln or anywhere else. While fall temps have hit Omaha and even Kansas City this past weekend, it's still in the 90s down here. Woo...hoo. :) Actually, I know I'll be very grateful for warmer temps once the snow and ice hit everywhere else but here. Then again, they said it never rained and as soon as we got here, it began raining consistently. They say it rarely snows or has ice, but how much do you want to bet this year will be some type of record? That would be just our luck. :)

Last, I know that since I've not updated the site as often, we're getting fewer comments and yet I know people are reading. We were a little surprised not to receive ANY comments to the last posting, especially. So do us a favor and, if you do read this, drop us a note here and there so we know we're getting through. We'd sure appreciate it! Thanks all!

New Pics

OK, so I apparently stink at putting updates on here ever since the move. Sorry about that! We normally grab pictures off Katy's camera via a dock that attaches to her PC for some of these things and during the move, a clip inside broke away from the motherboard and now a necessary cooling feature for her video card cannot work. There are other ways to get the data, so I've resorted to that this afternoon/evening to get some pics uploaded to you today. These are both very special, as I'm sure you can tell.

One is of the three of us just outside the front door of our palatial, top-notch townhome (or at least it SHOULD be for what we're paying). The other is to give everyone an idea of just how much Zac's hair has grown in the past several weeks. Apparently the Texas sun has helped a lot.

On to other updates. We're enjoying a long holiday weekend, as Katy begins her new job on Tuesday. Now, figuring out the logistics of getting all of us up and out the door, Zac off to his new daycare and Katy off to her new work, without knowing how long it'll all take, will be fun (despite what Katy thinks). Hopefully we'll figure it out fairly quickly.

My job is going fairly well. It's more responsibility than I had expected, but with that comes a great opportunity to stretch and improve my own management skills, and I'm enjoying that part of the process. I feel it's going well so far, but ask me in 6 months how I feel about it because by then, I hope to be much more comfortable in my understanding of our business and the practices we have in place.

This morning we visited a new church, Crestview Baptist, which was a better fit than what we tried last week, to be sure. We believe it's now down to this church and Crossroads Fellowship over in Odessa. Pray with us that God will lead us to the one He has in store. Another very exciting thing happened this morning, depending on how you look at it. Sometimes it's easier for Katy to just take Zac in the shower with her, rather than give him a bath the night before. We try not to disrupt his sleep patterns too much and it works out this way occasionally.

So this morning I handed him to her in the shower and removed his diaper, which appeared very dry and empty (key word there) and to my surprise, he was not so clean on the back side. I alerted Katy to this and very shortly after a very audible "plop" could be heard hitting the bathtub, followed soon by another "plop". After I composed myself, I managed to grab some wipes and a fresh diaper (as I had already thrown the other away) and clean up the tub area so they could continue their shower...after Zac first decided to start his own "shower". Yes, it was quite the morning, but at least we laughed quite a bit about it (albeit likely only because Katy wasn't hit directly by the, well, poop. Happy Sunday everyone!

Katy & Zac Here!

Just a quick note...Katy, Zac and Nell arrived late Thursday night, Friday morning at about 3:15 a.m. It was a long night for all, and I know most of us didn't get much more than 2 hours of sleep or so. My boss was kind enough to give me a short day Friday after I had to work a short day Thursday when the movers arrived, and we celebrated Katy's 51st birthday with dinner at On The Border. Why 51? It's a long story related to some confusion at Sears several weeks back. Why On The Border? Because of course, where else do you go for Mexican food in West Texas? (he says with tongue very much planted in cheek)

I had people lined up to embarrass Katy with a song, but she declined dessert and I couldn't find the person who'd agreed to get people together for it, so we had to skip it. That's OK, though, because she enjoyed her birthday dinner and we enjoyed the evening together.

Nell left Midland this morning at 9:40, or was supposed to, on her flight back to Omaha. What a huge help she was to Katy these past several weeks, helping her pack and then driving down with her so she'd have extra assistance when I couldn't help out. We're very, very thankful for such a good mom and mom-in-law. Pics to be added soon! We need to download a pic of us in front of the townhouse here in Midland that Nell took for us yesterday, so I'll get that in before long.

Zac & Nana Picture

Wanted to share this pic with everyone. Katy sent it along the other day after Nell decided to see how well Zac fit into the personal carrier, whatever it's called, that we had but hadn't used yet.

As you can see, I purposely picked the one shot where Zac looks the best...unfortunately for Nell it's the one where she's the least photogenic. Sorry about that, Nell! For everyone else, enjoy!

More Rain in Midland

I hope everyone enjoyed the last video posted on Tuesday. I can tell you one thing; being down here away from Katy and Zac has not been a fun experience for me, but those videos and pictures she sends me really make a difference. Also, I get to talk to him every night on the phone, which is fun. Last night he decided to talk to me a bit, and the previous night he laughed once on the phone, so that just makes my day! On an ideal day, I get to talk to Katy, Zac and Claire and that helps my day feel complete.

So the title of this post was about the rain here. I'm beginning to question the honesty of all the people down here who told me we never get rain in this part of West Texas. I've been here barely two weeks and we've had rain on at least 5 or 6 days, several times with quite a bit of rain. It's been raining since early morning at least, and continues to rain solidly. Remember that picture Katy took that we posted previously showing the flooding in the streets? Yeah, today it's worse because it's been continual. With no sewer system to speak of, it doesn't take much rain to create flooding, so on my way home from running errands this morning, I went through several patches of water at least 6 inches deep. I think I know now why so many people here drive big 4x4 trucks. In Nebraska, we love our SUVs and trucks, but here, it's truck, truck, truck all the way. Being in a car at a stop light makes you feel very small.

New Video!

Look at this great video Katy took tonight after Zac had eaten his cereal. He's holding on to the washcloth she is pulling on, truthfully kind of the way a dog will hold onto a towel in its mouth if you pull on it, just without the growls. :)

What Rain Does To Midland

Two pics for you tonight. Katy just e-mailed me some pics she took last Friday night when we got a huge thunderstorm here in Midland...the place that never gets rain. Since they don't have a sewer system here, the rain just pools and floods the roads. Being in a car instead of a truck or SUV in this is pretty tough since the water is so high. Maybe that's why so many people here drive huge trucks.

The second pic is of Zac, taken either last night or tonight as Katy had finished feeding him before bed. As you can see, he had decided the TV was much more important than anything else. Ah, just like his Dad!

Tale of Two Cities

Well, Katy and I are now in two separate cities. She flew back to Omaha this afternoon and arrived safely this evening. Still unsure of our absolute timetable, but the sooner we can get the house packed up and her back down here, the happier we will both be.

On the job front, Katy did indeed get that job I mentioned in Monday's update with West Texas Gas. We're both very excited about this opportunity. Additionally, we feel we have found a good daycare for Zac, and simply need to get the application completed and back to them so he can join up when she begins her new job. She has flexibility in her start date, and may not begin until after Labor Day.

I just wrapped up my second day on the new job and am more convinced than ever that this is the right next step for me. It's a great opportunity and God has just put so many things in place that it's all very satisfying. Once Katy and Zac are down here for good, all I'll be missing is Claire. :) And when the furniture is here, I'm sure the place we're renting will feel a bit more like home. Every day brings a bit more comfort and moving forward gets a little easier.

Delayed Updates

A quick note here, folks, to give an update on things. I know many are probably wondering how everything is going with the move to Midland. We've been just swamped with stuff to do and buy. Oh, the buying. If you've ever had to move someplace without all of your stuff, think of the little things you have to buy that you need. Like a broom and dustpan, trash bags, a place to sit, soaps, toilet paper, etc. I could go on for awhile. When we bought a bunch of things Friday at the Wal-Mart here, we had a FULL shopping cart. I don't mind shopping, but looking at all that money going for things we already have on hand back in Omaha was tough. :)

Trying our best to get settled in a bit. Katy had a GREAT interview this morning with West Texas Gas Co. and is in the middle of one right now with Accountemps. She has another scheduled for tomorrow with a trucking company. I think she's going to get the one with the gas company. She had a great feeling about it, as did I, and it feels like a great fit. The office is about 7 minutes from our townhouse. In fact, most everything is within a 10-minute drive. Even my job over in Odessa will take 15, maybe 20 minutes to get to in the morning.

We have to register the car today, which isn't cheap for new Texas residents, but it has to be done. We'll do my Jeep next month after we complete the move. Katy flies back to Omaha Wednesday afternoon and then we're still looking at Labor Day for the move down here. I'll try to get pics here and there posted. Sorry so many delays lately!

New Video & Update

Hey all, I've been super slow in getting updates out here the past week just because we've been incredibly busy. It seems like every day there is more and more to do with preparing for the move to Texas and finding free time to do even simple updates here has been tough. Hopefully it'll settle down sometime here in the near future.

I posted a new video today, which should be showing up on the right-hand side here pretty soon. Temporarily at least, I'm going to insert it here into the body of this note and it should be available immediately. The size will be bigger and quality lower, so viewing it from the menu on the right will yield better quality. Oh, and here is an update on Zac's size. He had his 6-month checkup yesterday and he's now 16 lbs. 1 oz. and 26 inches long. For a 6-month-old, he's in the 25th percentile now. You may recall that a few months ago, he was barely on the charts. Just for fun, if he was a 4-month-old, he'd be in the 75th percentile for weight and 75-80th percentile for height. We like to look at that right now since they said he wouldn't fully catch up for 9 months to a year. :)



As for our trip plans, Katy and I are driving down to Midland tomorrow, Thursday so we can arrive Friday and sign our lease papers for the townhouse we've rented. After much prayer and concern about finding a suitable place to live, God provided an opening at this complex in Midland Monday and we jumped at the opportunity. With just a 7-month lease, it's perfect in terms of giving us the time we need to sell our house here and gives us plenty of time to find the right house to buy down there.

Katy will return to Omaha next Wednesday by plane and then our present plan is to load up the house and move it all down over Labor Day weekend. Hopefully it will have sold by then, but if not it'll just have to be shown empty instead of furnished.

Shopping, Sleeping, Planning

Well this week has been pretty busy and with so much to do yet, it's not slowing down anytime soon. :) Yesterday I began shopping for some additional work clothes. Having worked in a casual environment the previous 3 years, I don't have much that works for "business casual" as a style. So I need to add some items to the wardrobe.

This is not easy on Zac, if only because he no longer stays asleep while in his car seat the way he used to. It could be because he's outgrowing it. Take a look at how close he's getting to the top of it in the pic to the left!

When he was younger, he loved the car seat and even preferred it for sleeping. Now, he'll often drift off in the car but shortly after we reach a destination, he's awake. This is problematic if I need to do something outside the house during one of his nap times because he ends up cutting short his nap. Yesterday he never did get more than maybe 45 minutes of continuous sleep, so by the end of the night he was pretty tired. Despite all that, he maintains a pretty good attitude and is still easy to work with. Today I have more shopping to do, as I found very little yesterday, but we'll wait until he's done with lunch before worrying about it. I want him to get a good nap this morning so he's a little more rested for later, when we'll be out most of the time. The pic today is from the other day after we'd returned from running some errands. He has a little toy lion that attaches to things and can be pulled down. He's taken to enjoying it when we're driving and in this pic was resting on it. :)

Planning is in full swing as Katy and I try desperately to figure out what we want to do with regard to moving. We keep going back and forth on things, so I'd ask for your prayers for clarity as we work through all the options. Cost, availability of apartments, waiting on our house to sell and being unsure of when Katy will be offered a job all factor into this. As you can see, it's a lot of variables to be concerned about!

Home Again...For Awhile

Sorry no pic today. I had intended to take a picture of Odessa while we were there this past weekend once I found someplace beautiful or pretty or, well, just anything other than sand and trash...BUT I COULDN'T. :) To say that West Texas is devoid of scenery would probably not be a fair statement, because surely some people find that terrain beautiful, but you sure have to look hard to find the beauty. :)

It's interesting, because we feel very strongly God is sending us to Odessa for a reason, though we don't yet know what that reason is. To me, it was important to follow through on my commitment to God that wherever He leads, we'll go, without throwing my own comfort zone or fears into this. Had we visited the area first and let that be a determining factor, I doubt we'd be making this move. But we're making the move because God said to go, and though I am confident God works with the path we choose, I am even more confident that when that path is His chosen one, the rewards are greater. I firmly believe I could've told God that I really never wanted to leave Nebraska and that if I'd begged Him to provide for us here, He would have. But as strongly as I feel that, I know in my heart that I always need to be open to His bidding, no matter the location.

I can very honestly tell all of you that this is not my preference. I'm a home-body, someone who enjoys his home and his state and city in Nebraska very much and has only a desire here and there to travel other places, even outside the country. However, I learned a long time ago that God wants to use me in different ways and teach me in different places so my relationship with Him can grow and He can reach others with me if He so desires. He has repeatedly moved me over the years away from Nebraska to work on different things in my life, to show me new experiences, to help me be an influence to others, or simply to put me in the right place to fulfill His plans. Since graduating from high school in 1985, I've lived in California, Saskatchewan (yes, that's Canada), Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa and Mississippi. Of those, Oklahoma was the only place I truly enjoyed other than Nebraska. I'm hopeful this section of Texas proves to be more enjoyable than East Texas was back in 1994. I think it will be. The people are very nice and gosh do they love football.

The key in all those moves, and in being in all those places, was that each time I felt God wanted me to be there. Sometimes He brought great spiritual healing; sometimes He used me to be an influence to others; sometimes He just needed to get me somewhere to set me on a path to something else He had in mind. When I'm up in Heaven one day, I WILL ask Him, assuming I will retain curiosity in Heaven, to show me the map of what He had planned. It's fascinating on the one hand, scary, unsure and unknown on the other.

Saturday we spent the day driving all over Odessa and Midland and some surrounding areas, looking desperately for a house or apartment to live in. No dice. The housing market being what it is, anything that was available was vastly overpriced and that which was affordable was not where we'd be willing to live, especially with a small child in tow. We think we've now found an apartment complex worth moving into. It is brand new and in a nice section of Odessa. It's a bit more than we'd like to pay, but it's temporary anyway so we'll live with that until our house sells here and we can find the right place there. All things considered, we may end up paying more to live there than here, which was not in our plans, but sure looks to be the way it will be. Biggest worry right now is timing and moving and money and... :)

UPDATED/CORRECTED 7/23: We had a very nice time Sunday meeting Curtis and Marilyn Brewer, friends through some relation of Katy's Dad's Mom, I think, from Mississippi. At any rate, Curtis is the music minister at First Baptist Church in Odessa and they've been there 25 years. As he put it, they visited, turned the job down three times, then eventually accepted it. He thought they'd put in maybe 5 years and be out of there, but 25 years later, they love it. Wonderful people and we're so pleased to have good contacts in the area.

Visiting Texas

We are in Odessa this weekend, getting a feel for the community and hoping some type of rental property will fall in our laps, if that's what God intends. The real estate market is extremely tough down here due to a big influx of temporary workers for rebuilding a refinery and an oil boom in the area. As such, rentals are very hard to come by, and that includes apartments. For the few homes available, prices are at $1/square foot, which is just ridiculous for this area, but it's simply the law of supply and demand, so we understand it. If you're lucky enough to find an apartment, well, for one it's an apartment which is always tough to live in, but prices are not so great on those, either. At least they aren't quite as high. We have a line on a few of them to check out on Saturday, but have prayed about it tonight and feel that if we don't both feel definite about renting one, we won't waste the money on them.

Please pray with us that God will make it clear to us the direction we are to go. With my job not yet beginning, and Katy searching (though she should hear Monday or Tuesday on an interview she had down here today), we can't exactly state we have a specific income. That could be problematic for renting anything, and so it's quite possible that initially it'll be hotel living. If Katy doesn't have a job right away, or the house doesn't sell right away, she'll very likely stay up in Omaha. That'll make the process a bit smoother for when she does come down, I think we're deciding. We've gone back and forth on how we feel about it, but that does seem to make the most sense...at least today. :)

We figure if we don't find a place to live this weekend, then maybe God has a different plan in mind. Could be something else will come available we wouldn't have been able to know about, or it could be our house will sell quickly so we can begin searching for one here ASAP. This is a good time to get into the market down here, I believe, based on the boom and steady incline in prices. The sooner, the better, and if we were in a position to simply invest for later, I suspect we'd just be spending the weekend looking at tons of houses to buy instead. :) God Bless, everyone!

Some New Pics To Share

Just wanted to pop a few new pics up for everyone today. Several new things lately if you haven't checked it out in awhile! The one of him sleeping is just last night, and he one of him holding the bottle is from yesterday's lunchtime. We're trying to get him to hold it so we can be more lazy. :)

Zac Laughing Video Posted

Zac is getting closer and closer to just letting out a big, huge laugh that goes on for awhile. In the meantime, we can get him to chuckle a bit quite often, so I grabbed some of that tonight while Katy was making him laugh after meal time. He loves when she plays with his mouth with a washcloth. You can find this video on the right-hand side with the others!

Moving to Texas

Most, if not all of you, have now been told either by us or a family member that we are moving to Odessa, TX very soon. I received a job offer Thursday late afternoon and, after much prayer and sleeping on it, we decided Friday morning to accept the offer. The company I will be working for is Telvista, which handles customer support for other companies both in the US and Mexico and, if I'm not mistaken Argentina is a possibility before long.

My role will be to manage a group of supervisors, who are responsible for a number of agents, for a specific contract. I believe I'll initially have 8 or 9 direct reports, expected to go up to 11 or 12 here before long. Those supervisors are responsible for about 150 employees at present, going up to 200 or so within the next couple of months. It's a great step up from what I did last and puts me on a path to be running bigger things down the road, which is my goal.

If you don't know, Odessa is in West Texas, along Interstate 20, probably 4 1/2 to 5 hours west of Dallas. Yeah, that's a long ways out west, but I'm told by both my pastor and my worship pastor that it's a nice area with nice people. I spoke to a few of them Saturday afternoon while researching apartment costs and was very pleased with how personable they were.

Please continuing praying for us, everybody, as this is a difficult process. We have quite a bit to do and not a lot of time, including getting our house ready for sale this week, researching everything from places to live to utility costs to moving our things to whatever you can think of. It's a lot, but we are secure in the knowledge that God chose this place for us, so He must have great things in mind. If we hate the town, even, that's OK. He moved me back in 1999 to Jackson, MS and I absolutely hated it, but spiritually that year was a wonderful time of healing and growth. I know God has wonderful things planned regardless, so we're just going to go at it full-speed and have fun!

Zac the Hawai'ian Dude

When Katy's parents were in Hawai'i in the spring, they brought back this cute little outfit for Zac. It didn't fit him at first, and then before we knew it, he was outgrowing it. Today Katy dressed him in this for church in the one and probably only time we'll be able to fit him in the outfit. It's very distressing, knowing something brought so far will only be once, but we wanted to at least get pictures taken to share. This is a good one of him smiling.

Huh?

Every once in awhile, Zac will give us this "Huh?" look. It seems to happen often at night when Katy wakes him up for his last feeding around 9 or so. Thought we'd try to capture it last night and this isn't perfect, but it's fairly close.

Sorry I haven't added much to this lately. I've gotten off schedule the past few weeks with the wisdom teeth, the power outage, then the girls here with us last week. We did put a video up yesterday which is now showing on the right side and it's Katy playing with Zac from about 10 days ago or so.

However, with so much of our family out of state, and with Katy's parents having just moved to D.C. for awhile, I need to be better about getting pictures up so Zac can continue to spread his joy. :)

Not a lot of new news on the job front, though I am supposed to have a second interview with a company named Telvista some time this week. Please be praying with us that God will provide continued guidance and peace throughout this long process. I'm not feeling negative about it as I had been a few months ago, and I know that has everything to do with laying it in His hands. He is preparing something to be a good fit for us, and I know it's not that far in the distance. We can wait it out a little longer. :)

Touching Base

I realize I've been away for about a week, and I apologize for no new updates in that time. Today is the first day since last Monday that I've felt almost 100% normal. I still ache a little bit in my mouth, but it's controllable by Advil now as opposed to my need to take stronger medicine before. First it was Percoset, and then by Saturday they had changed me over to Vicodin, which for me was a much better solution.

We spent the weekend with Katy's parents, as we lost power on Friday afternoon when a storm blew through. We did not have power restored until yesterday (Monday) afternoon around 2:30, and it's always good to sleep in your own bed, though we are very, very thankful for her parents and their willingness to take us in.

This evening we are heading down to watch Claire play her last softball game of the regular season and then to bring the girls back to Omaha with us for a week. It'll be a late night, especially for Katy and Zac, but it's worth it.

New Video

Grabbed a video this morning of Zac playing with Nana. It should be showing up on the right side where the videos are before too long. Enjoy!

Well, Numb But OK

Alright, so I have weird numbness in spots and still sit here with gauze to stop the bleeding, but overall I feel surprisingly well from the oral surgery this morning. What's funny to me is that I was wide awake one moment, then the next thing I know I'm waking up. I would've thought I'd have drifted off slowly or at least sensed the tiredness coming on, but it was literally a case of being awake one moment and absolutely out the next. Very cool, since I didn't want to remember any of this.

Now, we'll see how the swelling goes. I have quite a bit, but overall I'm not yet uncomfortable. I prayed this morning that God would keep the discomfort and swelling down from normal levels so I can feel well and in good spirits to take care of Zac. For now, his Nana is keeping him for me this afternoon until Katy picks him up after work. I'm not allowed to drive for 24 hours, but that's OK. :)

I Like To Share

I suspect that by the time most of you read this, it will be Monday some time, or later, instead of Sunday night. It is likely, then, that while you are being wowed by my incredible writing, humor and wisdom, one-third of that combination has just been removed.

You guessed it, Monday morning I am having 3 of my 4 wisdom teeth removed. When I inquired of God as to why I had to have this done, He simply replied that it was time for me to "stop hoarding all the wisdom and let some others get in on it for a bit." I think the method for being forced to give up some of my apparent great wisdom is pretty lousy, but I can see His point. Really, how fair would it be for me to be the only oracle when others could also get in on the act?

Some of you may be wondering why they are leaving one of my wisdom teeth in. Well, I'm sure there are actual dental and medical reasons for this, but my personal opinion is that if they remove that last one, the next sentence to leave my mouth around the house will be something akin to "I love Hot Pockets!", followed by a toothy grin and a watery "Phhhbbbtttt." That's it. I genuinely fear for what is to come. I really do.

UPDATE, Monday Morning 10 a.m.: Alright, nothing on the wisdom teeth as that happens in about 45 minutes, but wanted to include this pic of Zac I just took while he's out cold this morning. I've decided that when he is sleeping is just one of my favorite times with him. And no, I'm not trying to be funny. It's just that when children are sleeping, there is nothing else to consider other than watching how amazing they are. He's so cute, you know? I like to simply sit and watch him sometimes. It makes me feel good inside. :) I did the same thing with Claire, too. It was always so enjoyable to watch her sleep. So peaceful, so carefree, so happy.

Changing Routines

One thing that's always interesting about children is watching them grow in so many different ways. Up until just a few days ago, Zac's routine was very predictable. He'd wake up in the morning, eat and play for about 90 minutes, sleep for two hours, then do it all over again until evening when he'd eat his last time and sleep through the night. He generally has his last meal around 9 or 9:30 and after that he sleeps until at least 8 in the morning. Yeah, I know, it's great!

Well the other day he decided he's going to begin staying awake longer at times during the day, and not at all consistent with what he had been doing. So sometimes now, he'll sleep maybe 30 or 45 minutes during a 4-hour period, typically earlier in the day. And even later, he'll sleep at the most 90 minutes, usually, instead of a few hours. This is all just part of him getting older, sure, but it's still fascinating to watch.

I think as parents we have to achieve superhuman patience and focus sometimes, but it's made easier when we pour ourselves fully into our children. I missed out on much of that with Claire from the time she was about 2 years old on, but that's why I focus so much on her when we do spend our time together and talk on the phone and e-mail. I love watching her grow intellectually, physically, spiritually, socially. It's just so much fun to watch her grow up, and I LOVE watching her play sports. She really must be my daughter to have such a love of sports! I'm so proud of her for her perseverance and ability to maintain a positive attitude in the midst of sometimes not so positive things. She is really a gift God gave because He knew she'd do great things for Him one day.

Katy and I feel the same way about Zac. We know he was a miracle and given all we had to go through to get to this point, it makes it that much sweeter that he is so healthy. He's so much fun to watch as he figures things out and I love watching kids anyway try to work through things in their minds. Katy and I were discussing last night that Zac is probably intellectually where a 4-month-old would be, but his motor skills are closer to that of a 2-month-old, which aligns with what we were told to expect given he was born so early.

It sure hasn't stopped his growth, though! Every week he grows just enough to not be able to wear even more clothes. So in case anyone feels like sending him some summer 3-6 or 6-9 month stuff, feel free! We're running out quick! :) I told him this morning that his daddy needs to get a job so he doesn't have to walk around as a little naked boy. By the way, the pic above is from yesterday afternoon. He drifted off after his Nana fed him and he slept like this for about 3 hours. Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I put up a new video on the right side the other day. Enjoy!

Father's Day Weekend

Well, we are almost through this Father's Day weekend. Here in Omaha, the NCAA College World Series began yesterday and this town will be consumed with the event for the next week and a half or so. We love hosting the CWS and college players all over the country love coming here. I believe we've been hosting it for 50-some years so far and we just signed a contract with the NCAA to host it for an additional 25 years beyond our existing contract, thanks to a new stadium being built downtown.

Keeping with the sports-related theme, Katy and I drove down to KC yesterday to watch part of a tournament Claire's softball team was playing in. Unfortunately, the games started so early we were only able to catch the last 20-25 minutes of her second game, then the third game of the day later that evening at 6 p.m. In between, we had lunch with everyone, and then spent part of the afternoon with her before going back for her final game of the day. Though her team didn't play as well as they'd hoped in terms of results, they did give great effort. It's hard to play your third game of the day, though, 8 hours after the second one ended. I know, since I've done it before in tournaments as well.

Claire gave me a super cool Napoleon Dynamite card, key ring and Pet Tornado (not kidding), all of which I just love, for Father's Day. This morning, Zac greeted me with a 3-D card featuring monkeys on the front, which he finds fascinating, and a great older movie, "The Thrill Of It All", starring Doris Day and James Garner. Very funny movie. Then Katy gave me a pop-up card (my favorite kind) and the DVD for "The Number 23", which was a thriller starring Jim Carrey that we saw last year. Great story and very suspenseful.

We then headed off to Chad & Mickie's church for the baby dedication of the twins this morning, and off to La Mesa for lunch, which is a very good Mexican restaurant with a few locations around town. It's been a good day, though after yesterday's long travel day and getting up so early, we're taking it easy the rest of the day. Happy Father Day!

The Weather Continues

By now, everyone has heard of the tornado that hit the Boy Scout camp an hour north of Omaha last night. After the tornado hit the camp, it continued east to the town of Moorhead, IA, where storm chasers making a video for another production were also broadcasting their feed live to channel 6 here in Omaha. The video can be found here: Tornado Video

Katy and I were watching it live as it happened and it was really something. Unsure if you can tell in this video or not, but their vehicle turned 180 degrees at one point as the winds spun them around. They were driving a large SUV, and I know one of the windows was broken by the hail that hit them. The pic above is one Katy's boss found and sent around. I believe this must be from either Moorhead or Little Sioux, which is the town nearest the camp.

Interviewing Update

OK, everyone, time to call all the prayer warriors. :) I had a third phone interview this afternoon with Ticketmaster's VP for domestic call centers. I'm not happy with the way I interviewed in the beginning, and thanks to this gentleman's comments part of the way through, I now understand why I've felt fairly blah about every interview I've done in the past 4 or 5 months.

When I began this job search process back in August last year, I was passionate. I was fired up, ready to move on to a new challenge and extremely excited about the opportunities presented before me. My passion came through in my interviews. I sold myself and my ideas and drove home my experience and how it would benefit me in the position they were interviewing me for.

Then, sometime in December or January, I began to feel I was losing that passion, that focus, due to some unforeseen failures in landing jobs I knew were mine. It's difficult when you come in second on multiple jobs, to watch job after job go to someone else when you were one of the finalists. Part of the trouble with being out of work so long is you begin to lose that passion and it's harder to call upon it.

Today, I found it again. We were through the primary part of the interview when the VP mentioned to me he wasn't sure if I was ready for this job, that it was a step up in responsibility and he wanted to be assured he brought in the right person who was ready for the commitment. He said I was a very nice person, and that was the reason he'd continued pushing through the interview, plus the previous two people I'd spoken with had said very good things about me. That's when I jumped. I dove into the conversation with that passion that's so much a part of me, especially in my work life. I ran off a list of things I was ready for, the details I'd had to go into over the past 3 years at Intuit, how I'd been preparing myself for this type of step up for all that time and how the people I'd worked with felt I deserved to hold that type of role. Basically, I stopped selling myself short and decided to stop worrying about being the nice guy so many interviewers seem to want.

Well, he liked it. He said in the 5 minutes I spent extolling my abilities and explaining why I deserved this job, he'd seen the passion that had been missing earlier. That's when he shared with me that the previous two interviewers had been impressed with me.

So you know what? I've been sitting on the sidelines for too long, letting others decide my fate. Katy and I have been praying in our devotions that God will influence the decision-makers who will determine my next job. I think it's time to ask everyone else out there to pray with us on this as well. I believe Ticketmaster is the right type of company for me. From everything the other employees have told me, it's the right company, in the right place, with the right family atmosphere, with the right desire to be the best. I truly hope this is God's will, for me to have this position, but if it's not, I know He's got something even better in mind. Thing is, why not pray NOW that THIS is it? God, You alone are worthy of our praise and worthy of our prayers. Only You can make something where we previously saw nothing there. I know You are orchestrating my life to where I can be of the best service to You. I'm ready, so let's do it now. :)

Zac Size Update

Wanted to pop in here with a quick size update for Zac. He's 18 1/2 weeks right now, meaning he's in his 4th month, though we know he still does some things like a 9 1/2-week-old baby since he was 9 weeks early. :) He had a checkup today and received some shots. It's the shots and his extreme tiredness that kept me from taking a picture to post up here today, but we'll get one up in the next day or so.

So here are some particulars on size. He's 12 lbs, 8 oz. and 23 1/2 inches long. Now, at his last visit about 5 weeks ago, he had been measured at 23 inches, though I know that was wrong, that he was really 22 1/2 inches. Today, in fact, I had to make the guy measure him a second time to get his true length because he initially measured him at 23, even though you could see his heels touched at least the mark at 23 1/2 inches. So, we'll go with that measurement, though he's really closer to 23 3/4. If he was a regular 4-month-old, he'd be in the 5th percentile for height (was 3rd percentile 5 weeks ago) and 10th percentile for weight. I don't know where he fit into the scales last visit. I didn't have Dr. Ogden give me an adjusted percentile for what is considered his true age (generally take a month off) but maybe Katy can ask that when she goes in tomorrow. That's it for today. :)

Close Call

This picture shows the neighbors just to the north of Chad and Mickie. If you look at it, their home is the green one in the middle of the three you can see. Though they escaped this type of damage, their deck furniture was not so fortunate. The table was mangled and up against their backyard fence with the glass blown out, and the umbrella covering was sucked up and tossed over their house, ending up in a neighbor's yard across the street from them. So if there was any question before as to whether or not the tornado ran through their neighborhood and yard before...

Tornado Path

The Omaha World-Herald newspaper posted this image of the tornado path and strength. If you look at the lower left of the graphic, that first neighborhood it goes through is where Mickie & Chad live. It initially touched down maybe 4 or 5 blocks southwest of their home as the crow flies. That's a bit too close for comfort! Add to this that the National Weather Service botched their job and didn't even issue a tornado warning until 2:26 a.m., 9 minutes after the tornado initially touched down.

What boggles my mind on this is that I know when I lived in Oklahoma the National Weather Service issued tornado warnings based on radar, not on spotters, because you can't always trust the eyes or location or visibility of a spotter, especially at night. The radar images and the wind patterns indicate whether or not a tornado is forming. We know this now based on all the years of research, much of it based out of Oklahoma University in Norman, OK. I'm bothered that the personnel here didn't issue a warning when they could have as a precautionary measure. We're very fortunate nobody was killed in this.

Tornado!

No, that's not our house. :) It's from the area that did get hit last night.

Now, Katy and I are big fans of weather, and as much as we enjoy it, I think Claire might like it even more. Well last night we had a chance to enjoy it a bit differently than we have so far this year. Though the La Nina weather pattern has shifted the jet stream north the past two weeks so that we are now seeing some fun weather, we hadn't received anything in Omaha until last night.

At about 2:30 a.m., I woke up to silence. Silence is key because we always keep a fan running on high for white noise so I can sleep. One of our circuits had tripped and that shut off a few outlets, but all else was fine. While I was laying there, however, I could hear fairly strong winds and certainly see plenty of lightning outside the windows. Apparently winds in our neighborhood, or very close, were about 70 mph. After not being able to get back to sleep, I decided to turn the TV on in the living room to see if anything interesting was happening. I used that one because it's hooked up to rabbit ears for local channels in case the satellite was out. As I turned it on, I heard the weatherman stating our county was no longer in a tornado warning. Interesting, I thought, since the sirens hadn't been on at all. Just then they started, though it was far too late and they shouldn't have at that point.

For the next 90 minutes, I watched storm information roll in about a tornado that had touched down in the Millard area, which is southwestern Omaha. This is the area where Katy's sister and her family live. The tornado had not touched down in their neighborhood, but they were right in the path as it did indeed touch down about a mile northeast of them. Most of their damage appears to be minor, some shingles off here and there and especially on a backyard shed, but a neighbor's fence was blown down. The image above is in the neighborhood where the twister touched down a little before 2:30, I believe, this morning, around 139th & Z, which is a few blocks north of Harrison for those who know Omaha.

Again, sirens didn't go off until after the storm hit, according to residents of that area. I suspect the tornado wasn't showing on radar in time to get the warnings out...or at least I hope that was the reason because otherwise, I would think someone at the Weather Service office is going to be in a bit of trouble today. Fortunately, nobody has been reported injured and the damage seems to be just frayed nerves and property.

Quick job update...Ticketmaster decided to hold off and make a decision on things this week due to some unforeseen delays, I'm told. Still no word from anyone else, but honestly, as long as God is in control and I believe He is in control, I'm not horribly worried. I feel this will all be solved pretty soon. :)

Washcloth Head

Last night, Zac was having a very fussy time. We are under the belief he is getting close to starting to teethe, as he runs a little warm off and on right now and has times where he is just not at all pleased with anything. As we were trying to watch a movie and he was having another meltdown, Katy placed a cool washcloth on his head to help him feel a little more comfortable. Well, it helped!

Another Job Prayer Request

Didn't want to make a post without sharing another picture of Zac, so that's why he's here even though I've titled this about a prayer request. :) Today I have a second phone interview with Ticketmaster for a position I think is a great fit and is exactly the direction I'd like my career to go. I'm hopeful God agrees with that. :)

The interview is at 3 p.m. CST and is with Ticketmaster's national director of customer service. I'm surprised I'm interviewing with him instead of the head of the call center down in Texas, but I am actually very appreciative the top guy is handling it. That tells me he has a real commitment to making sure everyone on his team fits the culture and mindset toward customer service they want to see.

Please continue to pray with Katy and me that God's will stays first and foremost in our thoughts and desires. We feel strongly like He has made it clear what direction we are to go, but sometimes when you get that spark of understanding, you can run with it a bit too much off on your own and lose sight of things a little bit. We want to make sure our focus is on what He has designed above all else.

NOTE ADDED: The interview went pretty well. I'd like to feel extremely confident about it, but as with any interview, there are always things you think you could've responded to a little better. The good thing was that I felt we developed a good rapport and he's definitely someone I would enjoy working for. Next step is to hear back by the end of next week. Continued prayers are appreciated!

Big Boy Food

Zac is now eating cereal for us. He began taking a spoon or two on Thursday, by Friday was up to eating a tablespoon of the cereal once, and by Sunday we had him up to two tablespoons, twice a day. This supplement to his bottles, which we've upped to 6 oz. per feeding, should make up for the new amount of sleep he's decided to give us at night. Last night, he ate at 9:30, fell asleep sometime after 11 or 11:30, but didn't wake up until 6:15 this morning. This makes for very happy parents!

NOTE ADDED: After just changing Zac, I have come to the realization that the benefits of adding cereal to his diet are not all "benefits". In fact, one particular aspect of the change seems to be manifesting itself in a very special way. In short, my son now sometimes carries an odor I can only describe as "Rural Nebraska Feedlot". Ummm, joy?

A New Pic

Katy took this pic of Zac last night and we wanted to post it to get something new up here for all to see. OK, that's not entirely true. Maybe it was just to post a photo of him picking his nose so we can show him when he's older. Regardless, Zac is lying on his play mat here, the same one in the videos on the right. He loves the hanging toys and watching them, but he hasn't quite gotten to the point of excitement when having tummy time, where he can view the patterns and enjoy the mirror set for him.

He's doing very well, and recently has decided to begin sleeping for 7 or 8 hour stretches at night, which makes our lives a lot easier. After he eats, if he wakes up 4 hours later (his normal feeding pattern during days), we can even coax him into going back to sleep for a few extra hours. As such, we're introducing him to the joys of cereal, which in itself is a very separate "joy" for us. So far, so good, though, as he's taken it pretty well the past two days. We bought a booster chair with tray that adjusts to height and reclines a bit that fits on our kitchen chairs, and he'll begin eating in that today sometime.

Quick job update...I had a call Friday morning about a position with Pamida. For those of you in the South, Pamida has stores that are similar to a Shopko or Target or something along those lines. Essentially, a smaller retail outlet with lots of variety. They need someone to manage their help desk at the headquarters here in Omaha. The interview went very well and the people were very nice. They want to move quickly, but I believe are going to speak to one more person. In one sense, Katy and I have kind of set our sights on moving, but if God wants us to stay here in Omaha, we know it'll be for great reasons He has planned!

Some Specific Job Prayer Requests

As many or all of you know, I've been out of work since the end of August, 2007. It's been a long road, and many times we thought I was about to be hired. Though the process itself has been fairly smooth, I felt I was missing something God was trying to tell me. Two Sunday ago He made that very clear to me. While I'd been praying all along that God would open the door for the right job that He had waiting for me, I was neglecting to pray more specifically within His will. In other words, what I needed to pray was that God would lead Katy and me to the place He had set aside for us to serve Him best...and then just let Him use the job as a vehicle to get us there, whether that's here in Omaha or elsewhere. Once I recognized that, I prayed about it immediately in church when it happened, then told Katy when we returned home that day. Her look of "I can't believe we missed this" said it all. So that was two Sundays ago.

Last week, then, I had multiple contacts from people regarding job opportunities. Until then, and I'm not kidding, not a single contact in over two months. Two opportunities have, to date, risen to the top and we could use your prayers regarding them. One of them is right here in Omaha, working for The Nebraska Medical Center. I interview for this one today, actually, at 3:30. For those unfamiliar, this is the hospital side of things here. What happened was that about 7 years ago, Clarkson Hospital and The University of Nebraska Medical Center merged. The hospital side is still largely referred to as Clarkson, but their technical name is "The Nebraska Medical Center". The other side is still the University side, or UNMC. I worked for UNMC when I first moved back to Omaha in 2002 and hated it because of the awful atmosphere. The hospital side, however, was known as being totally different. OK, enough history.

The position with them would be managing the leads and other desktop support techs in their IT department and would act as the right-hand-man to the head guy for that area. What is appealing about this job? Well, it's in management, which is important to me and I'm told the boss has created a great atmosphere, which is also important...and that's about it. I've been trying for years to get out of the computer (IT) industry and finally had done it, but now may be sucked back in.

The other job is with Ticketmaster and is based in Pharr, TX. If you're wondering where that is, you can see it on this map. Yes, that is Mexico at the bottom and the Gulf of Mexico on the right. I've had an initial interview with HR for this one and expect to receive a second phone interview with the hiring managers within the next week or so. This job is so appealing to me because for one, it's as the manager of the customer service area, mostly focusing on managing the supervisors who manage the 150 or so agents in that department. I love those duties and it's not in the IT area, which is also appealing. Cost of living is affordable down there in south Texas, and I'm told it's a great place to raise a family. Also, did I mention it's NOT in the IT area? :)

So my prayer is this, that God would close doors I am not supposed to walk through. He knows my propensity to jump on a job because it's offered, especially when I wouldn't have the liberty of waiting (the hospital job is a right now kind of thing) or feel like I could due to our present financial situation. My fear is I'd be very unhappy at the hospital job, but maybe I wouldn't be. So if I would be happy there, it'd be great if God would make it clear to me. Right now, I don't have any peace about the job at all, and my instincts are generally right. For example, I'd love to relocate to the Tulsa area, and I loved living there, but I don't feel God pulling us in that direction even in the slightest. I do feel a pull to Texas, however, and that makes it more difficult to entertain this position here in Omaha.

What do you do when you need work and have an opportunity? You look into it, give it your best, and let God handle the rest. Please pray with us that God will indeed handle the rest and remove any possible confusion over the path I should take. Thanks all!