Monday, December 24, 2007

List of Fours

The fun thing about reading other people’s blogs is that you often stumble across something that makes you think, “Hey, that sounds like fun. I’ll put that on my blog, too.” But, if you do this, it’s probably a good idea to link back to that blog just to let them know that someone does indeed read their stuff and to avoid the blogiarism (new word!).

So, that being said, here’s a list of fours that I found over on Jefferson Street Realist. Why four? Why not?! Enjoy.

1. Four jobs you’ve had in your life: Mall security guard, painter, accountant, analyst
2. Four movies you could (and do) watch over and over: Bourne trilogy (does that count as 3?), Gladiator, The Italian Job, The Princess Bride (although admittedly it’s been awhile since I’ve watched it)
3. Four places you’ve lived: Pensacola, Fl; Cheyenne, WY; England; Roanoke, VA
4. Four fiction books you can’t live without: Ted Dekker’s Circle Trilogy, Black, Red and White; John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress
5. Four non-fiction books you consider essential: The Bible, a dictionary, a thesaurus, John Walkenbach’s Excel 2003 Bible
6. Four TV shows you love to watch: Heroes, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Amazing Race
7. Four places you’ve been on vacation: Outer Banks, NC; London, England; Colorado Springs, CO; Edinburgh, Scotland.
8. Four websites you visit daily: House of Smooches, This is Roanoke, PCCBoard, Tom in the Box
9. Four of your favorite foods: Pizza, Spaghetti, Chinese (especially the Red Palace), grilled cheese sandwich
10. Four places you’d rather be: Home, home, home, trackside.
11. Four albums you can’t live without: There’s not any album in particular that would fit this category, but if I absolutely had to pick, it would be anything by Third Day, TSO, Selah, or Josh Groban.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Another Day, another decade

Wow – I’m 30. It’s funny though. I don’t feel as old as I thought I would feel when I was 20. This has definitely been a very eventful decade. Let’s recap.

1997 saw me at Pensacola Christian College. I was engaged to a girl that I thought at the time was THE one for me. A series of events showed me that I was in no way mature enough for the responsibility of marriage. I still had a lot of growing up to do and God had finally gotten my attention. I also boughy my first car (a 1990 Ford Taurus - a good car that took me many miles!) In 1999, I met Sarah in two different classes at college and we became good friends. There was definitely something different about her that attracted me, but it took a long time to bring her around to my point of view. :) I graduated that same year and headed off for a short stint in Texas. A few months later, off I go to the lost colony of Roanoke, VA in search of building a friendship and hopefully more with Sarah. Two years later, we were married and thus began what I think has been the greatest marriage I could have ever asked for. Sarah is a wonderful, beautiful woman who is everything I could ask for in a wife and more.

During the next few years, we (in no particular order) purchased our first house, took a few trips (including one to Great Britain), started my MBA at Liberty University, and began our journey of adoption. In 2006, the Lord blessed us with two Guatemalan-born sons and life got a whole lot busier! Carlos and Jeremiah are so full of life and energy, especially Carlos!! I also finished my MBA that same year and had my appendix removed. Early in 2007, we purchased a house in Rocky Mount and never thought that we would need all that room so soon. Christmas 2006 we had decided that we wanted to begin another adoption journey, this time domestically and prayed for a little girl. We expected the wait time to be perhaps 12 months or more – but God had other plans. Natalie was born in April and came home at the end of May. I proudly say that she is my little princess and I’m sure some might say she has me wrapped around her little finger! THEN another surprise – Sarah got pregnant!! Baby Ben is expected to make his grand entrance towards the end of February.

Whew! What an eventful decade! I have been truly blessed with a wonderful family and way more than I deserve. Here’s to another 30 years!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Welcome to the 21st Century

Have a cookie.

I finally took the plunge and created a Facebook account. Not sure why I didn't do it sooner. I've already gotten in touch with some old college friends that I hadn't heard from in years. Pretty cool stuff. So anyway, if you're on Facebook, look me up.

On a different note, Natalie is not only crawling around everyone (and quite rapidly!) she has also managed to learn to pull herself up on to her feet. It's kind of funny because she can get up, but doesn't know what to do when she gets there and ends up stuck since she can't get back down. Almost every morning that I get her up, she's standing in her crib, gripping the rail with this terrified look that says "Help!" It's cute in a pathetic sort of way.

That's all for now!