Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's day to the three great men in our lives. We feel truly blessed by you! You've all done so much for us in our lives and we are so thankful for all you've sacrificed for us.

Dad L: You have always felt like a dad to me. You are so kind and loving and I can see so much of you in Royden. We know that Jesus is at the center of your heart and we are so blessed to have your example in our lives. Thanks for raising such an incredible son who takes such amazing care of me...he is so patient with me and I know that he learned that from you.



Dad T: Well, we all know we don't have the most ideal relationship in the world but I'm still glad you are one of my dads. I'm doubly blessed. I know that you love me even though it has been hard to show given our distance. Thanks for always keeping in touch with me and for helping me through school. You also gave me some pretty great genes so thanks for those too-apparently I'd have a pretty flat butt if weren't for you-so Royden thanks you;). Rumor has it that those aren't the only good genes you gave me, mom always said I got my smarts from you too. I love you and hope you come visit us sometime.



Dad N: I could go on and on, and on and on, and on and on. You are the best dad and I love you so much. Thanks so much for not dumping mom when you found out she had a kid :). I'm sure me as a hyper 7 year old just made you love her more. Thanks so much for loving me so well. Thanks for always listening to me and taking me seriously even when we all know that I'm a paranoid android. You are so talented and generous and have spent many hours of your life fixing things for me...like my bike, my car, my house and my occasional broken heart. Thanks for all of the affection and patience you've shown me through my life, and thanks for making me marry Royden. Just kidding. Thanks for loving him so much and for thinking that he was coolest guy I knew. I always have such a blast with you and can't wait until our next date so come visit me darn it!



Since we know that all good things come from above, we thank the Lord for all of you. We pray that He will continue to work in your lives and transform you more and more into His own image and likeness. We believe that when you are empty He is full. We know that He can satisfy all of your needs, fulfill all of your desires and can make up for all of your shortcomings.

1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

Rain

I know that we have many other things to blog besides random flowers right now. But I was outside this evening taking some photos that depict the rain we've had this weekend. Also thrown in are some random flower picks from the plants Ruth planted this year. Also some shots by Ruth.









Before giving any praise to either of these photographers, or Canon who made the praise worthy lens we used, give Glory to the real creator of the shots. Thank God for the beauty that He gave to us for our pleasure and His glory.

Childhood

I'm only 27.
Well.. today I'm only 27, I was 26 yesterday. But the gap between the adult and the child in me is growing at a rapid rate, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm just beginning to notice that I'm relating less to children than I used to. It annoys me to hear them whine or cry because I'm pretty sure they don't have a good reason. It makes me angry when I see them trying to manipulate and lie to get out of a bad situation, because that's not how you're supposed to handle bad situations.

Do I have anything worth whining over?

Do I ever feel the need to lie?

And it's those questions that reconnect me with my inner whiny, lier.




With that said, I need to make it very clear that the children I spent this weekend with were neither whiny nor manipulative. They were incredibly well behaved. Being around them just reminded me how most kids are not.

I make it sound like a have a disdain for children, which I think Ruth will attest that I don't. I love kids, and I can't wait to have some of our own. This weekend I just realized that for the past few years I've been struggling to grow up and become a man. I've been trying to become a responsible, trustworthy, God-fearing, leader to protect and love my wife.

But in the process, I started listening to NPR's Fresh Air, and This American Life! I enjoy the newspaper and for more than just the funny pages! Going to bed at 9:oopm is a special treat! I like a hot cup of coffee more than ice cream. I try to make it home in time for live political debates instead of Batman.

For goodness sake I like debating the real estate market and interest rates!



Alright, let's not get carried away, I do make video games and draw comics for a living. I do own a pet mantis, and I do have a pet lizard arriving in the mail tomorrow for my birthday.

I was just making an observation. It's good to grow up.

It's also good to remember where you've been, and what it was like while you were there.




Which brings me to - context! (yeah!)
Ruth's friends Michelle and Masaya came for a visit this weekend and brought along their 4 girls under the age of 5. It was full house, and kind of brought me face to face with my lack of fatherly skill. I think I'll be a good father, there's just a few things I need to learn - like when you pick up a 4 month old baby from behind she doesn't know that I'm not her Mom. It was great for Ruth and I to observe how Michelle and Masaya make this busy family work. They do great, and we all actually had quite a bit of fun.

We went to the zoo on Saturday. I love the zoo.







Here's the thing about the zoo - the animals are always sleeping...



whoops! That's the other zoo.

So what I realized is; Zoo's are pretty much retirement homes for animals. What would you do if someone approached you and asked if you'd like to be fed the rest of your life without having to work for it. Free room and board. Free food. Friends. Medical care. Daily visits. Sounds like Florida to me.

And this looks like and old man who doesn't recognize me and can't find his pants...



Despite the clarity, there is actually a solid piece of plexiglass between me and that old man in this shot.





It cracks me up that this bird needs a name tag.



Here are some random pics of the other zoo animals in their natural habitat.






Thanks for the visit guys! God's blessing on you and your family! We will pray for His hand in your life.

Spring purchase

Ruth and I have been in this house now for a year. As all home owners know, there are a list of projects to undertake once you move into an old house. Sometimes even a new house. There are just always things you want to change. Well one of the things we wanted to change the most - we finally changed this week. It's the second largest amount of money we've spent on the place so far.

Can anyone guess what I'm standing on in this picture?



Our trip to Europe. That's what I'm standing on.



This is a picture from our inspection before we actually owned the house. As you can see, the driveway was the buck toothed grin of this beautiful bride. We loved her, but she sure needed some dental work.

Paving is pricey! And if you want it done right, you need to come up with a good game plan...



We actually agreed on what we wanted, but were just unsure of how it would look. Plus we were putting our flower beds into the hands of two guys with steel toe boots and a dump truck and a back hoe. It was scary.




I wish I could have sat around at home and watched them tear my front yard up into little chunks, but I was busy at work trying to pay for it all. Praise God for the jobs and money that gave us the ability to do this. It sure is nice to make big improvements like this. I left for work on Thursday and the driveway was just gravel. I came home and it looked like this...



Nice! That house has a beautiful black smile. It's an odd thought to think that paving our driveway adds value to our neighbors houses too. They totally owe us!

It was hard to spend all that money thinking of all the other things we could have done with it, like fly to Europe. D'oh! Oh well. But then as I was observing the pile of old asphalt that was ripped up, I had a Solomon moment; There's nothing really new under the sun. The sun rises and sets, and hurries back to where it rises.

And maybe this pile of black junk was once someone else's trip to Europe. Now it's headed to the dump.

The A-Team!

There's a number of weddings we need to hit this summer/spring. The first one of the year is the A-teams wedding. That's Aaron and Annie Patterson. They met at our community group, and dated for roughly a year or so before they decided to take the plunge.




I'm a little late on this post. They've been married for two weeks already. I also took very few pictures. I felt the need to take this wedding "off" and just enjoy being there. But it was hard to resist the dance shots. Especially our good friend Richard getting down.




Classical YMCA shot. We had a good time.





Congratulations Aaron and Annie! Ah...as if they're reading. They're on the beach in Hawaii.