The Great Easter Road Trip

For Easter, we took a trip to Michigan to visit Sam's great-grandparents.

Blast from the past?

We went to the Volo Auto Museum this past weekend. Most of the "museum" is actually a classic car dealership where you can purchase restored and very highly polished vehicles. There was one room, however, which was worth the price of admission.

Waking Up

I (can't) do it myself!

I suppose I don't find it coincidental that my last post was about learning obedience and trusting in God's authority, and now He's challenging Allison and I do to exactly that. We are looking at a couple of big decisions (nobody be scared... it's all good!) but so far we are only at the point where God is giving us a general direction and telling us to get going. We don't know the ending point, and we certainly don't know how we're going to get there. Those are the details of understanding that are important and inconsequential at the same time. They are important because they need to happen, but they do not rely on our understanding. We have to trust that He is already taking care of them.

I appreciated our friend's comment on the last post as well. She said that after asking "Why?" children begin to proclaim "I do it myself!" Those words have already rung true for us. What we're looking at is much bigger than what we can do for ourselves, but I already find myself scheming and conspiring at all hours of the day (and night) about how I plan to make it happen. If this is truly from God, we need to follow as he leads, and continue in obedience to his directions. That's not to say we won't be involved in the process too, and we still need all of the wisdom we can get so we make sound decisions. However, if we strike out to accomplish this on our own, we will ultimately strike out altogether. We can't do it ourselves, and if we did, I'd be worried about where we ended up without God going before us.

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Why?

This evening as I tried unconvincingly to persuade the three-year-old to put on his coat, he repeatedly asked me his new favorite question:

"Why?"

I answered him a few times, but when the line of questioning began to circle back on itself, I ended it by saying, "I'm not going to answer that. You just need to put on your coat."

As I pondered the situation and thought about how I will answer our own child, it occurred to me that it's all about need-to-know. Understanding was not required. Obedience was.

Sometimes that is all that God requires of us. He has His plans and reasons, but like the three-year-old our understanding is limited and unrequired. Ours is to obey and trust that His purpose is good.

My Valentine

Delight!

Mommy and baby had some fun this morning after sleeping in. Even Sam likes the weekends better.

Still alive

I bet both of you thought that I forgot I had a blog. Admit it.

I had lunch with a good friend on Tuesday. He and his wife have a baby girl who was born last summer. When their daughter was about two months old, I asked him what surprised him the most about being a father. His answer was how much attention babies need, going well beyond typical feeding and changing diapers. They know if you're distracted by the TV or phone, and want your undivided attention.

When we had lunch this week, he returned the question to me, now that Sam is nearly 11 weeks old.

My answer is that I was completely unprepared for the drain on my mental capacity. The combination of processing so much new information and consistently sleeping less (and in less healthy fragments) is a potent and dangerous combination. Within a week of Sam's birth I was carrying around a pen and pad of paper 24 hours a day because if I didn't write things down, my brain would not retain even the simplest pieces of information. That worked well for a while, but my thoughts still became disorganized, and bits and pieces were left behind on pages I'd already filled out and crossed off. I have now upgraded my pad of paper to a smartphone so I can literally store all pertinent thoughts, ideas, shopping lists, data, tasks, schedules, phone numbers, addresses, maps, and emergency numbers in a single location, keeping everything organized by type and priority. I can even check my email and facebook. At times I wonder how I ever kept all of that straight, with or without the baby.

Of the many things I took for granted before Sam was born, I miss my mind the most.

One shot

In a weird way, this photo is one of many reasons I love my wife so much. She let me buy the camera more than a year before we had Sam, so I've had plenty of time to practice with it. Sam held this pose just long enough for me to grab my camera, adjust the lens, and take ONE shot before he moved. Because she'd given me time to learn and prepare, it turned out perfectly. Thanks Honey!

Giraffe Sweater

Warning!

Today I learned an important lesson on our department's paper shredder.

Siting!

What does Santa Claus do on the day after Christmas? He goes to Young's Dairy for lunch.


I think I see his suit in the back seat!

The things I hold most dear

Santa Baby

Lilies and Roses

One thing I promised to Allie is that after Sam was born, I would buy her a beautiful arrangement of flowers.


Today I followed through on that promise.

Week 1

Sam has been here a whole week now! We're having lots of fun with him and enjoying his pleasant, patient temperament. As long as we keep him well-fed, he stays happy and sleeps well, so we're doing our best. Both he and mommy are doing well, and we're all getting as much sleep as we can. He's also enjoying the visits of family and friends, and if everything goes well in the morning, he'll be coming to church.

In my "spare" time, I've been having fun taking photos. You can see them at my photos website.

Samuel Griffin

10lbs 5oz, 21-1/4in

In other strange news

Since we've been married, Allie and I have never had a "home phone." We've each relied exclusively on our cell phones. With a baby on the way, we talked over several options and decided to add a third line to our family plan so that we could leave one phone at home as a "home phone." We didn't think it would cost us more than $9.99 a month plus fees, which made it cheaper than signing up for traditional phone service.

I went through the process of adding the line this afternoon and much to my surprise... it now costs us LESS with three phones than it did with two! That's right! The cell phone company gave us the phone for free, activated it for free, and added it to our plan (which we had to renew for 2 years... no problem), and it now costs us $2 less every month than we've been paying.

I wish we would have known about this sooner!!

...And counting

The one birth scenario that Allison and I did not prepare for is now upon us. We did not expect to get to Sam's due date without him being born. We prepared for very early, sort of early, and only a little early. We have had suitcases in the trunk and a car seat installed since the second week of October. We've had our hopes up for the last month since the ultrasound showed that Sam looked to be much bigger than expected. At the last doctor's appointment, we thought the 8 1/2 to 9 pound estimate meant he couldn't wait much longer. I've had my phone on every minute of every day in case contractions began, and I've lived in a perpetual state of "ready-to-drop-everything-and-drive-Allie-to-the-hospital" in order to be prepared for any scenario.

I was not ready for Sam to stay put this long.

He's so uncooperative.