The D word

My wife tells me (all the time), I've lived a sheltered life.
I'm not sure that's really true, but I agree that there are many things in this world I've never experienced, nor do I want to.

Divorce is one of them. I've never been divorced. Never will. (when we said death do us part, we both meant it!) :) I've known people that have had divorces, but I've never been around a couple that was going through a divorce (except my grandparents, and they don't really count cause I was too young, and they always got back together).

Anyway, that's changing. My wife works with a woman that's splitting up from her husband, and planning on a divorce.

Now, I'm not getting into anything about them. This post isn't really about them really, it's about marriage.

Because of all of this, I've really been thinking about what my wife means to me.
I could not imagine living my life without my wife! The thought of it makes me sick.

While looking for a CD last night, I stumbled upon some old Bryan Adams CD's that I had. Well, I've been listening to them. Just a little bit ago, Everything I do, I do it for you came on. I've probably not heard this song in over 8 years, possibly more. But this song really spoke to me about how I feel about my wife.

So honey, when you read this, please take the time and read closely.

Look into my eyes - you will see
What you mean to me
Search your heart - search your soul
And when you find me there you'll search no more

Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for
You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for
You know it's true
Everything I do - I do it for you

Look into your heart - you will find
There's nothin' there to hide
Take me as I am - take my life
I would give it all - I would sacrifice

Don't tell me it's not worth fightin' for
I can't help it - there's nothin' I want more
Ya know it's true
Everything I do - I do it for you

There's no love - like your love
And no other - could give more love
There's nowhere - unless you're there
All the time - all the way

Oh - you can't tell me it's not worth tryin' for
I can't help it - there's nothin' I want more
I would fight for you - I'd lie for you
Walk the wire for you - ya I'd die for you

Ya know it's true
Everything I do - I do it for you

Any guy that may read this, back up and read the lyrics to the song.
No really, do it, it will just take a second.

In my personal opinion, that is how each and every one of you should feel towards your wife (of special someone if you aren't married yet). Stop when your wife talks to you and listen to her. And for heavens sakes, tell her you love her! We are all so busy that we don't take the time to be couples. And without that, you'll end up right where our friends are at now.

Anyway, I guess this is enough for now, I may come back to this subject later.

Oh, and honey, I love you.

Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: What You Need to Know

While doing some reading on the Net, I found this article on PC Magazine's web page. Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: What You Need to Know

It's a good read even for the non-technical people out there.

As many comments I've read have said, "wait". I tend to agree. Don't go buy one of these players until you either

a. Know who is going to win this battle
b. Don't care, and are willing to throw your money into the format (and possibly be wrong).

Of course, if you do not have a High Def TV, then this doesn't matter, not yet anyway.

As for me? I think the Blu-Ray will eventually win, but that is my gut feeling and not supported by any evidence.

How does my Garden grow?

Well, for cucumbers, jalapenos and tomatoes, pretty well.

I've picked a LARGE handful of jalapenos, about 4 or 5 cucumbers, and I've seen several green tomatoes.

My basil is doing well, as is my oregano.

Yummy!

Fathers Day

Sunday, as you know, was Fathers Day.

Right before we went camping, I got a couple things that would be useful on the camping trip. I got some table cloth holders, a collapsible shovel and a rubber mallet. This was really cool.

Well, Saturday night I was surprised when we were all standing around talking, and I was given another present. I got really excited, because it was in a Victoria Secret bag (ok, not really, but that was how I played it, I recognized the bag from the perfume I had bought my wife). But I got 3 wonderful cards and the Narnia movie.

Here is a rare picture of me and the kids.

Anniversary Gifts

A couple weeks ago, I posted that my wife got me a great mp3 player for our anniversary! (And she told me that I didn't even tell that she got it for a HUGE bargain (about 1/2 off).

Anyway, someone asked what I got her.

I got her a bottle of Dream Angles Heavenly perfume by Victoria Secret.

She loves that perfume.

Mystery Snake

Tonight, when my daughter got home from work, she came running in all excited about a snake in the road.

We grabbed flash lights and went out to look at it.

Here is what we saw.


We both really like snakes. And neither of us could identify this snake. Since we didn't know what kind it was, I wouldn't let her catch it. (which she really wanted to do).

I've come in and looked for some time trying to find this snake on Google, but no luck. Maybe someone knows what kind of snake this is. (clicking on the pictures make them larger).

I know it is probably not poisonous, but I didn't really want to take that chance.

You've got to be kidding

File this under "You've got to be kidding".

according to this Breitbart.com story it appears that Presbyterians can now change the divine Trinity of "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" to other gender neutral wording.

Some options listed in this article were:

Mother, Child, Womb (not gender neutral)
Rock, Redeemer, Friend
Lover, Beloved, Love
Creator, Savior, Sanctifier
King of Glory, Prince ofPeace, Spirit of Love (um king and prince are men, they missed the gender neutral here)

Ok, Now listen to me. I am NOT bashing Presbyterians. I guess I'm just a nice conservative Baptist that thinks that we should leave the wording in the Bible alone! I'd be upset if the Baptists suggested this change.

Here is a quote from the article: One reason is that language limited to the Father and Son "has been used to support the idea that God is male and that men are superior to women," the panel said.

I've always liked this saying.
God made woman (Eve) from man's (Adam's) rib, not from his head for her to be his ruler, or his foot to be trampled on, but from his side to be his equal.


This is also on a church by church basis from the way I read the article.

Update

I know, it's been a while. 8 days in fact since I've last updated. I think this is the longest I have gone without updating.

Where to start...

Soccer
Well, I didn't get to see any soccer games from Wednesday till yesterday (Monday). The USA is still in the mix, but they will have to win their game Thursday and Italy has to win theirs. If Italy doesn't win their game, then the US will need a lot of points to make it to the next round.

VBS
Vacation Bible School started last night. I do believe this is the smallest VBS start I've ever seen. We only had 9 kids last night. The point isn't really the number of kids that come, but what they get out of it, but more kids would have been nice.

Camping Trip
Last week, we went on a camping trip. We camped at Twin Points at Skiatook Lake from Wednesday through Saturday. It was a very nice trip. It was hot, but we had a good strong south wind the whole time. That was good for the heat, but it made getting out on the lake impossible. We tried Friday night, but I was afraid I was going to capsize the boat, so we headed back to the dock.

On Thursday night, my boy was riding his bike that he got for Christmas. He hasn't ridden it much. So this was a good time for him to practice. He was doing pretty good. I took him up a hill to have him come down so I could take some pictures. Well, it started off real good, but he got going too fast, and had problems stopping. Needless to say, he crashed. And he crashed good! Scratched up his bike and his knees. One was bleeding pretty good, but once we got the mud cleaned off his knee, it wasn't bad. I was proud that he handled it as well as he did, or he might have really gotten hurt. It also made me happy when he got back on the bike Friday morning. I was a bit afraid he wouldn't get back on it.

There was a chance of rain Friday night and into Saturday. We knew this, and almost came home. But this is Oklahoma, and so until it actually rains, who knows if it really will. I asked my boy if he wanted to go home or stay one more night even though it might rain. He said he wanted to stay. So we put the rain tarps on the tents. The neighbors Friday night sat up late into Saturday morning partying. I really wouldn't have cared, except they were noisy as could be. So, I didn't really get any sleep till they went to bed which was around 2. Then their dogs started barking at a raccoon after all had gotten quite and I finally got to sleep. Well, the 'coon finally moved on and the dog was quite and I got more sleep. Then the rain moved in. Lots of lighting and thunder. And the tent started leaking. So did the rain flap. It was dripping on my wife. We talked for a bit about going in or staying through the night. We decided that we would go home if our boy woke up. If not, we would stick it out.

Well, the next morning (around 7ish or so), we got up (the rainflap finally quite leaking sometime during the night. I had put a towel where it was dripping on the bed so we could try to sleep). We started packing up camp to go home. Got most everything put up, and woke up my boy. He asked why everything was wet. He had slept all through the storms in his own tent. My wife and I just laughed about that.

We finished packing up and went into town for breakfast (between the raccoons and the rain, or planned breakfast was wet). After that, we headed home to unpack, reset up the tents and wash and dry them out.

Misc
Saturday morning as we were headed home, my daughters ex-boyfriend decided to try to choke her and then hit her (at her work), so he was arrested for assault. My wife went up to check on her, and I stayed home with our boy and unpacked. Yesterday, my wife and daughter filed a protective order against him.

Through all of this, I missed going to a birthday party of a guy I work with. He turned the big 30! (sucka). Anyway, gratz again.

Well, I guess this novel is long enough.

later

Soccer

Are you ready for some football?

This is day 4 of the World Cup. I'm watching my 10th game so far at this moment.

The lack of posts has been a combination of being busy and the World Cup.

This has been fun. I've got no idea how I'm going to keep up on all the games with some camping this week and VBS next week.

I don't need to sleep do I?

World Cup Starts TODAY!

Oh yea! Time for some soccer.

3 games a day (except today and there are only 2).

I need a larger hard drive of my DVR.

Anniversary Present

My wife can pick out such cool presents!

Yesterday, for our anniversary, she got me the Philips PSA612/17 mp3 player.

It's a 4 gig player with FM tuner, Recharable battery, and a stop watch.

It's really cool.

Anniversary

Today is my 8th Wedding anniversary!!! We were married 6/6 at 6:00 (in 1998).


We joked that if it was a horrible marriage, then the date/time was a sign. If it was a great marriage then it was a joke. It's been a joke. (The date/time thing, not the marriage.)

It's been a wonderful marriage!
We've had good times and bad times since we've been married. But that's to be expected I guess.

The good times have defiantly out-weighed the bad times.
We've only had a couple fights, and not many more arguments.

It's so wonderful being able to say that my wife is my best friend.
Course when you get married, you not only marry the other person, you get the family with them. hehe We both got family we probably would never have expected.

Anyway, I guess that is enough rambling, since that appears to be what I'm doing.

Happy Anniversary my love!

Up, Up and Away

For my father-in-laws 70th Birthday, all the kids and spouses got together and bought him a hot air balloon ride for 2.


Today was the big day.

They were to meet behind the Chili’s in Owasso at 6:45. As I was pulling up (to take photo’s), my in-laws (Linda and Vaughn) had just parked. Shortly after that, the man from Airgasmic Balloon Adventures pulled up. We had to wait for some more people to show up before we could get started. Plus, they had to figure out where they were starting from but that start was based on wind direction and speed and where they would put down later.

While waiting, they filled a black balloon up and let to float off and watched it to figure out the air currents. The balloon basically went straight up. (I thought that was smart, course that’s their job to know what they were doing). Anyway, once the last group of people got there, we headed to the 8th Grade center for launch.

We got to the 8th grade center, and they let off another balloon. This time, is slowly drifted to the south west. So, they decided to go to Freedom Baptist Church which was at 177th E Ave & 96th St N.

Off we went again.



We get there, and they started unloading and setting up the balloons.






There were 2 groups of people going (and 2 balloons). 3 people is all those baskets could hold!
At approximately 7:30, they lifted off.

They looked excited, but also a bit nervous (in my opinion anyway).







I called my wife several times cause she was extremely interested. After I told her they were up, it wasn’t long till she left work and started chasing them herself. She said the honked and waved, but when I asked Linda, she said she didn’t see her.

I enjoyed chasing them around in the car. The sun roof made it nice to be able to stop and take pictures without even getting out of the car.






During this, I had gone to QT for breakfast and a Dr. Pepper. When I got out, I started chasing them again. I almost missed the landing, but luckily I knew the area enough that I could get to where they were at without much hassle.


As they were coming down, from where I was out, it looked like they were going to land in the trees. But once I got to a better location, I could tell that their pilot knew what he was doing and was aiming for a small (very small from my point of view) clearing. At approximately 8:15 they had a very soft landed.






The ride wasn’t quite an hour. It would have been a bit longer, and they would have traveled father, but because of light winds, and locations to land they were only up for about 45 minutes, and traveled about 1.5 miles or so.

When they landed, the whole neighborhood came out and watched. Everyone grabbed cameras and took pictures and watched. It was even one couples 50th wedding anniversary. The woman said that they made their day! (Man below in green shirt and his wife is in the blue pants and white blouse).


I gave Linda a hard time cause the took a disposable camera with her instead of her digital camera. Hopefully I'll get some pictures from her camera scanned in and add them later. I'm sure they were beautiful, if the pictures come out.

Linda and Vaughn both had a really good time.

(Click on the images for larger versions.)

Home Improvement Projects update

Last weekend, we replaced the shower in the house.

We started around 4:30 Saturday afternoon, and worked till 1ish.
Started again Sunday around 1:30 p.m., and worked till 2:00 am.
I got up with my wife got up for work and worked from around 8:30 till 1:00. The shower was done except for cleaning and hanging the shower curtain.

We took off to Independence Kansas to go to a cheap water park and picnic, putt-putt, and a little train ride. Saw my parents and sister on the way home. We got home around 11 that night.

If I was going to take a shower in the morning, I needed to clean the bathroom and hang the curtain, so I proceeded to do that. Got the bathroom clean, and went to hand the shower curtain, and the curtain rod was too short.

*sigh*
Off to Walmart. I got a new shower curtain rod and went home (almost 1 a.m.), went to hand it, and it was about 2 or 3 inches too long.

*sigh*

Off to Walmart. I got a smaller shower curtain rod, went home, hung it, and it fit! Put the curtain on it. Looked at it and the shower curtain was about 6 inches too short. So I had to lower the curtain rod, but it was still too short, but would have to do, I was not going back to Walmart. I went to bed around 2:15 or so I think.

The next day, I got a new shower curtain and a new shower head. This one has the massage function and a hand held too.

The next day, my wife rearranged some stuff, and now the shower is very nice.

I'm glad we replaced it, but it was a LOT of work!

We still have to do the trim which I'm sure will be a pain, but then we'll really be done.

All told, to this point in getting the shower installed, we had 6 trips to Lowes and 4 trips to Walmart all in 3 days.

I told you I hate home improvement projects.