Another Reason I Love My Wife

Here is another reason why I love my wife. She would NEVER ask me to do this at our wedding.

If you can't see the video then go to this link.

My Batman

When I came home tonight, this is the first thing I saw. Now, you might think my initial thought would be "oh, how cute" but it wasn't. It was, "I want one." Yes, I was immediately taken back to seven years old again and thought "how cool is that." This even has a folding batarang and there are other accessories you can get as well.

I'm glad I have boys..

Tragedy

Yesterday I found out a dear friend of mine had experienced a horrible tragedy. I am saddened, heartbroken and angry. How could this happen I ask? Why does a little girl have to grow up without her Daddy? Why, why, why?

I don't know the answers and probably never will but I know my God is big enough to handle my questions and my doubts. I know he is in control so I am just going to turn it over to him and pray for my friend and her family.

I'm not much for words in situations like these so I am just going to go and pray some more and hope they know I am here for whatever they need.

Dallas Cowboys' Stadium

I haven't posted an update lately so here is the latest pic of the stadium.

Valet Parking

Anyone who knows me wouldn't be surprised by the fact that I don't like valet parking. Why pay someone to park your car?

But, this weekend when Shelley and I went out to dinner, I realized another issue I have with the valet.

The restaurant was located in an area where my only choice was to valet park. But, as I sat in the restaurant I started thinking about the 7 year old Durango with 100,000+ miles whose power door locks don't work and I became a little embarrassed. What will the valet think when he locks the doors and they make this loud squelch or will he notice the spilled Cheerios in the back seat. And when he returns the vehicle and he tries to open the passenger door so my wife can get in but the door won't open because you have to crawl through the drivers door and manually unlock it, what will he think?

Why am I so self conscience and why do I care what a valet thinks?

I guess we have another topic for our next counseling session...

Shots

Yesterday Seth had to get some immunizations and I had a lot of mixed feelings. He was very aware of what was about to happen to him because we had tried to really prepare him. Plus, it didn't help that this was our third attempt at this over the last several weeks because the doctor kept running out of the medicine. But, this made him very scared and it was breaking my heart but I was also thankful at the same time.

I had flashbacks to when I was a child and how much I hated going to the doctor. In fact, this distaste for the doctor's office carries on today. But, one of my mother's favorite stories of my childhood is about one time when she took me to the doctor for a well visit. She had me in the "well kid" waiting room and I'm sure all I could think about was the fact that they were either going to take my blood or I was getting shots that day. This stress led me to throw up while we were sitting in the "well kid" waiting room and my mom says all of the other moms stared her down for bringing this sick kid into the "well kid" waiting room.

I tried to relay this story to Seth to show him we had all been through this and things had turned out just fine but he was having none of it.

But, then as I heard his screams and cries and saw the tears, I was also very thankful for them. When Seth was born he was a preemie and had several health issues as a result. This led him to have to go through numerous tests and procedures. He had a variety of sensors attached to his body and nurses and doctors were always poking and sticking him with something. I remember when he finally got to a point where he wouldn't even flinch or cry when the poked him with something. This broke my heart that my little boy had to go through these things.

So, yesterday I was thankful that getting shots to him is something he doesn't experience very often.

Our First Date

I'm a few days late on this but ten years ago on February 16, 2007 my wife and I had our first date. It had been about nine years since I had been on a "first date" so to say I was a little nervous would have been an understatement.

God had stepped in a few weeks earlier and blew the engine in my hail damaged 1989 Olds Cutlass Calais that didn't have any heat so I was driving a brand new Ford Explorer. "I had that going for me, which is nice." Shelley informed me several years later that if I had picked her up in the Cutlass, my chance of a 2nd date would have been slim.

I arrived at Shelley's wearing my typical kahki and a button down dress shirt. She on the other hand was wearing jeans, a flannel shirt and hadn't even put her contacts in. She was obviously trying to impress me.

My elaborate plans included dinner and a movie. We went to dinner at Pappadeauxs and I would again find out later that she didn't like Pappadeauxs.

While waiting for Dinner was when the most memorable part of the date happened and has come to define our relationship. When we arrived at Pappadeauxs we had to wait for a table so we sat down on their patio to wait. Before the conversation went any further, Shelley slapped her hand on the table and exclaimed, "I'm a conservative Republican. I just want to put that out there right now." Well, that is interesting I thought. I had just planned to talk about the weather.

The evening proceeded without any significant occurring. We went and saw the movie Absolute Power which proved to be ironic considering our political beliefs and who was President at the time.

After the movie, I took her home and then we had that awkward moment as I walked her to the door. I remember us standing there talking uncomfortably but I think I blacked out because I have no memory of what happened next. I know I didn't kiss her but I'm not sure what happened. I wouldn't be surprised if I shook her hand or something really dorky but I will have to let Shelley tell that part of the story.

A Busy Week

I haven't been posting much this week because it has been a very busy week.

I am finding that starting a business (www.livetoshoot.com), working a full time job, and looking for my next new job can take up a lot of hours in the day.

I have been praying for opportunities and as usual God has provided. Now, the opportunities have become their own problem. Funny how that works. Now I am praying that God will show me the path he wants me to take and that he makes that path available to me.

Shelley and I also celebrated Valentines tonight. The boys went to Oklahoma so we were able to actually go out for a real dinner. We went to a place called The Grape. It's nice to be able to go to a restaurant and not worry about what is on the kids menu.

Now I get to go watch something besides The Wiggles.

More on Giuliani and the 2nd Amendment

Joseph Farah over at WorldNetDaily wrote a good article on Rudy Giuliani and his history of gun banishment. Read it here: Hunting the 2nd Amendment

My Testimony

Shelley and I are currently taking a bible study on evangalism and we have an assignment to write our testimony in 100 words or less. Here is mine:

I grew up in an alcoholic home. This led me to search for stability, a father figure and the life I had dreamed of when I was a young adult. I wasn’t finding any of those things because I was searching in the wrong places. I finally thought I had found that perfect life but one night I found out it wasn't as perfect as I thought. Now my life isn't perfect but I have found peace and joy but it isn't because of anything on this earth but because I found a relationship with my heavenly father.

Happy Valentine's Day

Shelley, Happy Valentine's Day.

I Love You

They Call Me Daddy

My seventh post is now available on Dadbloggers.

Read it here.

Online Shopping

I gave up buying most stuff via traditional channels several years ago. Once high speed access became available and more stores started offering online shopping, I found myself going to a store less and less. Also, I'm not very good at "shopping" but sometimes I forget this.

This weekend our bedroom TV died so Sunday I headed out to purchase a TV. After about two hours and going to stores like Best Buy, Circuit City and Conn's, I started to remember why I don't do this. I had found very little options to choose from, had only one sales person even acknowledge me and spent probably $10 in gas.

So, I went home, pulled out the laptop and within an hour had identified about 30 TVs that fit what I was looking for. I then narrowed the candidates to 2, was able to read full specs on each tv and read 10-15 actual customer reviews on each. After approximately 1.5 hours I was putting in my credit card information and selecting my shipping method. I even got free shipping and didn't have to pay sales tax. Now, it won't be here for 3 - 5 business days but if I can go 21 days without a Diet Coke, I think we can get by with one tv for five days. (Shelley and I even pondered not replacing it but then realized that might be a little extreme.)

Cowboys Hire Wade Phillips

I know I am a little late posting on this but here are my thoughts on the hiring of Wade Phillips.

In this post I listed Wade Phillips as someone I was indifferent towards and that is still the case. His hiring isn't a very exciting or sexy hiring but some consider it a solid hiring.

He has extensive experience as a defensive coordinator and has been a head coach for five seasons and only had one losing season. He has also been to the playoffs three times but has never won a playoff game.

It really comes down to winning for me. If he wins then he has my full support and if he doesn't he won't. He seems to be very personable and I think the environment at Valley Ranch will be more pleasant. It will be nice to have a head coach that talks to the local media as well.

Right now Wade Phillips is my Dallas Cowboys' head coach and he has my full support. We will just see what the future holds.

The Police

The news that the Police are reuniting and will be playing this week on The Grammys caused me to flash back to my senior year in high school.

I went to a Police concert on Thanksgiving night in 1983. It was their Syncronicity tour and it still is one of my favorite concerts. I got free tickets to this concert because I was the only one who had a car big enough to take the 7 people who were all going, the "silver four door luxury machine." It was a 1979 Pontiac Bonneville and I had become the official chauffeur for our group. I also remember I got a $2 bill as change for something I purchased at that concert and I carried that in my wallet as good luck for almost 15 years.

I had also started dating a girl who would become my on again, off again girlfriend for the next five years. That Christmas we went to my grandparent's house and I don't remember how long we were gone but it probably wasn't more than 3 or 4 days but it felt like we were separated for months. We were at that point in our relationship where we spent every available moment together and if we weren't together we were talking on the phone. This was before cell phones so when I was at my grandparent's we couldn't talk because it was long distance so I had to resort to writing letters. I wrote her a letter every day we were there and in one letter I used the lyrics from the Police's song Every Breath You Take to communicate my feelings. I admit I was a dork.

Oh, cant you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches
With every step you take

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
Ill be watching you

Since you've gone I been lost without a trace
I dream at night I can only see your face
I look around but its you I cant replace
I feel so cold and I long for your embrace
I keep crying baby, baby, please...

I am so glad I'm not in high school any longer...

Giuliani No Friend to Gun Owners

I haven't had a political post in a few weeks so I thought it was about time. I found a good article from The National Shooting Sports Foundation (www.nssf.org) on Rudi Giuliani's record on guns and how he is now trying to camouflage that record as he tries to win the Republican Presidential nomination.

- In June of 2000, Giuliani become the lone Republican mayor to sue members of the firearms industry.
- Giuliani strongly opposed legislation blocking suits like the one he filed against members of the firearms industry. In 2005, with strong bipartisan support, President Bush signed legislation in law that barred such lawsuits.
- He has flipped-flopped on whether he continues his longstanding support for restoring the Clinton-era federal ban on some semi-automatic rifles.

Watch out for Rudi, he may be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Read the article here.

10 Years Ago Tonight

Ten years ago tonight I met my wife. You can read the story here.

Happy Anniversary Honey! You changed my life.

Looking for a job

As many people know I am currently looking for a job because in the next few months my job is going to be eliminated because of some "corporate restructuring." It is actually called the "IT Transformation Project" but I like to call it "Jeff is losing his job project."

There aren't many things I hate worse than looking for a job. I would rather be back in high school trying to find a date for Prom. At least the rejection saved me money instead of having the prospect of bankruptcy. Bankruptcy isn't a realistic consequence but you get the point.

The stress and anxiety is starting to increase and this is mainly because of the lack of response or success I have had to date. I know God is in control and he has a plan, I just might not understand his plan or his time line.

But, the thing I find interesting is that I am stressed out because of the lack of success I have had but the ironic thing is that I haven't really applied for any job that I wanted. So, why I am stressed out about not getting a job I didn't want in the first place?

I just want to know what the future holds, don't you?

Bee Movie

I bet this movie will be a hit.

Congratulations Michael Irvin

Yesterday, Michael Irvin was elected to the Hall of Fame making him the 10th Dallas Cowboy to be put into the Hall of Fame. Many people may not like this choice based on Michael's off the field issues but if you watched the Cowboys of the 90s you know Irvin was the heart of the team. His statistics speak for themselves but it is no coincidence that after Michael retired the team went 8-8 and 5 -11 despite still having Hall of Famer Troy Aikmen and future Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith.

Congratulations Michael!

On another note, I found it interesting that Norv Turner was at the announcement ceremony with Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett.

Evangelism

Our church offers a variety of Bible studies that can last anywhere from 4 weeks to 16 weeks and be on a variety of topics. Shelley and I have take many of these over the last 9 years and we have never been disappointed. So, when Shelley asked me if I wanted to take one of the classes that started this week, I said "sure."

Our decision process as to what class to take involved factors such as day of the week the class is being held and who would be teaching. We didn't really pay attention to the topic except just eliminating the ones we had already taken.

We found a class on a night that was good for us and was being taught by a Pastor we really liked so we signed up. As the Pastor started teaching and he uttered the word "evangelism", my heart sank. "Oh no, not evangelism, anything but evangelism" I thought.

By the end of the class I was glad we were there. The pastors teaching the class talked about their own failures at evangelism but the most important thing they left me with was that conversion isn't my responsibility. Wow, I always thought it was but now they are telling me that my responsibility is just to spread the word. I never heard it presented this way.

Now, I am looking forward to this class...

Win 2 Super Bowl Tickets

This weekend our church is giving away 2 Super Bowl tickets which include airfare and hotel. They will be given away during either the 5 pm or 6:30 pm Saturday night services.

To find out more and directions to the church, go here.