A Happily Married Couple Experiencing the Joys of Everyday Life

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Fantasy Football


Nothing gets me in the mood for the NFL season like our annual Fantasy Football draft. I have some decent players on my team this year. Nothing amazing, but an okay mix. We'll see how it works out. My team includes...

QB
Tom Brady
Philip Rivers

RB
Frank Gore
Willis McGahee
LenDale White
Matt Forte

WR
Braylon Edwards
Andre Johnson
Jerricho Cotchery
Brandon Marshall
Chris Chambers

TE
Dallas Clark
Greg Olsen

K
Stephen Gostkowski
Neil Rackers

DEF
NY Giants

Friday, August 29, 2008

Obama

Listened to his speech - bunch of blah blah blah...a lot of fluff...and very boring. We'll see what McCain has to say next week. It's probably going to be a very agonizing and annoying election season.

Posted by ShoZu

Monday, August 25, 2008

Veg Day 8/25/08

Well today was of course Monday, which means it was our family's weekly veg day - our sabbath together that gives us a chance to rest, enjoy each other, enjoy our God and the creation He has made. We began by waking up from a great night of sleep (defined as a few good periods of sleep in between feedings without a lot of interruption). So we woke up pretty refreshed - all three of us. We vegged out for awhile and even took a short nap together on my bed as a of late - the inflatable mattress on the living room floor (as I have mentioned in other posts, we have camped out in the living room for now). 

Once we got motivated to move around, we showered up. I brought Elias in with me and Natalie washed him up. He is beginning to like the shower. Once we got around, we went to Pizza Hut and enjoyed the buffet lunch. Then it was off to Foster Park. We enjoyed a beautiful afternoon at one of our favorite parks (it was the park where I proposed to Natalie). 

After feeding Elias, we walked the trail in the park. I got to try out my new iPhone app that uses GPS to track how far and how fast we walked - it continues to blow my mind (best purchase in the recent past by far)! We took some pictures of the flowers, as well as some pictures of Elias at our favorite places in the park.

We got home and Elias slept. Natalie and I did a little house work. Then we went to eat with Natalie's parents at Casa (we had planned to grill out, but were more than happy to take them up on the offer to join them). Natalie and I ended the day with a quick drive through the Starbucks drive-through, and enjoyed the rest of our evening at home.



Elias wrapped in his towel after his shower.


Feeding Elias in the park.

One of the many beautiful pictures Natalie took.

Natalie and Elias sitting on the park bench.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Check Out Dreaming Tree Designs

If you get a chance, check out Dreaming Tree Designs by our friend Tracey B. She is so creative and puts together awesome stuff. She made a shadow box for us and a baby onesie - both of them are great! So check it out and consider buying something from her. The link is

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Why I Don't Like Church Marketing...

I have had several conversations recently with people who are frustrated with certain situations or people in their churches and are thinking about leaving to go somewhere else. It has lead me to consider this dilemma that people face at times (myself included), and the unfortunate contribution that church marketing makes to this.

When I say church marketing, what I mean by this is the effort that almost all churches make to communicate to complete strangers why their church is the right one for them. It is usually filled with promises like - our church is safe, welcoming, non-threatening, kid/family friendly, real, relevant, casual, contemporary, etc. 

The reason I don't like this kind of church marketing is that it causes people to believe that there actually is a church out there that they won't have to face any problems in. In other words, it makes people think that all they need to do is find the right church, and they won't have to deal with any of the messiness that they experience in other churches. As a result, they jump from one church to the next looking for this, disappointed each time when people aren't perfect.

The reality is that church is messy - no matter what church family you are a part of. It's a result of the fact that churches are made up of people, and people are messy. And just like our families involve many ups and downs together - good times and bad times - church families are no different. So don't let your expectations be falsely established based on the well-intentioned marketing promises made in every church's bulletin, website, or brochure. Instead plug into the life of a church family and embrace every up and down you face as part of the process of doing life together in your pursuit of God and His best for your life. 

Happy Birthday Aaron


Happy Birthday to our good friend Aaron. We enjoyed some pre-birthday ice cream cake at their house last night with his family and friends. Have a great day man!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Veg Day 8/18/08

So I know our personal blog has probably been a bit boring lately since we haven't had any pictures. The problem is that we have only been taking pictures of Elias lately (probably thousands of them by now), so we don't have any of anything else. We encourage you to check out Elias' blog for pictures and updates more specific to him.

As far as what our day was like today on our second veg day together as a family...we started things out with a quick trip to the vet so that Louie and Layla could get a couple of shots and a checkup. Since we were out and about, we made a quick run to Dunkin Donuts. That's two weeks in a row now - I know they're not healthy, but they are so delish!

When we got home, we turned on the Olympics and took turns taking naps throughout the day. It was very restful after quite a few very sleepless nights. This afternoon we got a few things done around the house and watched some King of Queens. Grandma Holly and Joel stopped by for a bit after doing some "getting ready for college" shopping. Later on Grandma Gina and Aunt Becky stopped by to visit as well. They watched Elias while Natalie and I went to Wal-Mart to pick up an air mattress (we are camping out in the living room right now) and then to Casa's  for dinner (thanks to a gift card from some Pathway Church friends).

More Olympics tonight (don't know what we'll do when they are over)! Took a quick shower, brought Elias in with me. We had a great night last night with Elias sleeping much of the night. He has been sleeping all day today though, so tonight may be an all-nighter. We'll see how things go. Thanks for staying tuned into our blog despite our lack of pictures. We will try to resume as soon as possible.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Veg Day 8/11/08

Since Natalie and I both have Mondays off now, we are beginning to refer to Mondays as our family "veg day." Its our day to veg out, do whatever we want - to relax and do something fun together as a family. As a pastor I obviously have to work on the weekends, so we are going to be very intentional about making Mondays our day just to ourselves.

So today was our first veg day together as a family. We took it easy this morning, not getting around to do much until 10 or 10:30. We got around and took Elias on a little road trip. We had to go to Target to return a few items and to buy a few more. We purchased a toy box for Elias to store all of his toys in - even at only two weeks old he already has so many. We also purchased some picture frames to put Elias' twenty-four hours old pictures in (the ones that we had professionally done at the hospital). They look great. I don't have a scanner at home, otherwise I would post them here. You'll just have to visit our home or my office to see them - amazing!

After Target we came home for a little while before taking Elias to his two week check-up with the pediatrician. Everything went great...I have included a more detailed update on his blog. We came home afterward and took a nap together. We put the travel bed that Grandma Holly bought us on our bed and all three of us enjoyed a good hour of snoozing. 

The rest of the night has been great just relaxing at the house. Elias is very content. We are so glad to be home. Tonight some friends from Pathway Community Church gave us a gift card to Casa for dinner - we couldn't use it though because their computers were down. So we pieced together a dinner from some leftovers. Afterwards we enjoyed some sugar creme pie from Natalie's Grandma Mary - it was awesome. Now Natalie and Elias are sleeping and I am watching the Olympics.

It's been a great day - a great start to our Monday Veg Days. No work, no major agenda, just some great family time together. 

Sunday, August 10, 2008

$30,000.00 "Vacation"

We are finally home (hopefully for good) from our two week long $30,000.00 "vacation" at a wonderful Fort Wayne resort known as Dupont Hospital. We are now experts if any of you are planning to visit there anytime soon :-)

Although it certainly was not a vacation for us...Natalie and I talked about how in a strange way it has felt like a vacation since we have been out of our normal routine for so long. As the Master Card commercials say though...

2 days of induced labor and 4 days of recovery - $20,000
3 days of neonatal intensive care for jaundice, weight loss, and dehydration - $10,000

Bringing the most amazing little guy into the world and making sure he is healthy - priceless!

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Prayers for Elias (and us)

Please pray...

We currently are at Dupont Hospital and plan to be here in the NICU for the next few days minimum. 

Little Elias has a very high level jaundice and is in need of urgent attention, which he is now receiving. He is being poked and prodded as we speak in order to assess his current situation. In our conversation with a neonatologist, it was explained that his high jaundice levels are due to a few things...

First, Natalie's blood type is O+, Elias' type is A+...at times when the mother has this type of blood and the baby has this type of blood the mother's blood fights the antibodies of the baby - and this is what is happening in our case.

Secondly, jaundice levels elevate with dehydration, this happens when the baby is not getting the milk supply that is needed. This is also a factor in his current situation. 

Overall, Elias is being monitored by nurses in the NICU, has an IV with fluids to attempt to flush out his system of jaundice, is being treated through multiple lights and is being tested to fully assess his current needs.

We are praying that his current treatment will decrease the high levels (21.5) and that he would not #1) have any brain damage from the high levels, which can happen and #2) that he would not need a transfer exchange (full blood transfusion in order to discontinue the complications between Natalie and Elias' blood types).

We thought we would be home tonight...watching the BEARS game, unfortunately we are here. We have hope that God will see our little man through all of this without complications and that God will restore our strength ( as we are very discouraged and tired). It is very hard to see his little face covered by goggles and it's even more difficult to hear his cry when he has been poked with needles for the multiple blood draws and IVs. We are just asking for your prayers during this time...

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Getting Used to Life with Elias...

We updated Elias' blog and included some new pictures from his first week of life with us. I am sorry that we have not had a lot of updates for this blog. I will try to keep you posted as much as possible. For now...let it be sufficient for me to summarize by saying that we are basically working around Elias' schedule of sleeping, crying, smiling, eating, burping, pooping, peeing, and starting all over again. Natalie is recovering well. I just got back in the swing of things on Tuesday with work and school. It is as clear to me now as it ever has been - things will never be the same again...and we could not be happier. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we learn and adjust as we go. Look for Elias updates on his blog.