Gas Prices

I ran out of gas today. Luckily, I was across the street from the station when it happened. I was sitting at a red traffic light, first in line, westbound on 26th Street and 10th Avenue South when my engine sputtered to a halt. Embarrassingly, I was in the lane farthest from the gas station located on the right side of the street. At this point, I had around 8 or 9 cars patiently waiting behind me. God made men smart and strong strictly for these types of situations.

I quickly switched into MacGuyver mode, theme music playing in my head and everything. Emergency lights engaged, check, vehicle in neutral, check. With no traffic coming across, I single-handedly pushed my car across the intersection, changed lanes and made a sharp right turn heading for Kum & Go on the corner. A nice gentlemen met me in the parking lot to help push me toward the pump while I steered. Thirty-some dollars later, I once again had a full tank of gas and I was on my way. I probably need to start riding my bicycle from now on.

Unbelievable

Yesterday I was feeding Maci one of her favorites...Cottage Cheese! She seemed to savor every bite. We've been working on identifying parts of the body off and on now for a couple of weeks. She gets her eyes and nose mixed up sometimes, but she is pretty clear on where her hair and ears are. Just for fun I decided to venture off the beaten path to body parts we had never taught her. "Maci, ok where's your...hands," I asked? Without skipping a beat she wrung her hands together! Amazed, I kept going. "Ok Maci, where's your...Tummy," I questioned? Immediately, she patted her stomach. "Good Job," I congratulated! This went on for a little while longer. Maci somehow knows where her legs and eyebrows are as well!

It's unbelievable what our kids pick up on, even if it's unrehearsed. I think I 'm going to see if she knows how to operate the weed-eater this evening. That would be a tremendous help.

Extreme Closeup

I think every husband should have at least one super closeup shot of his bride. Of course all the wives will object to this statement, but humor me. Fellas, when is the last time you studied your wife's face? She'll think you're wierd, but deep down inside she wants you to look at her. Try it tonight!

Going-away Party

6.20.05

Several kids from Xtreme Youth Church threw us a surprise "going-away" party yesterday. Thanks Anna and family for opening your gorgeous home for all of us. We ate tons of food, laughed and hiked to the park to play on all the playground equipment! The monkey bars rock!The weather was stinkin' hot and the mosquitos were deadly, but we had a blast nonetheless. The Northwest is home to some incredible kids up here! We're going to miss every single one of them.

Maci's Blue Period

12.02.04 

The Baby Story, Part 3

The nurse came in a little over an hour later to check on Sarah's progression. During her nap, she moved to 100% effacement and was dilated to just about a 9. The nurse began to prepare us for the transition phase. At this point the epidural was doing its job, we were able to watch all the contractions on her monitor. Sarah felt pressure, but no intense pain. It was amazing to see Sarah with a renewed sense of vigor. Jolena Adams, our best friend and inherited sister, was able to be with us throughout the delivery.

Ladies I recommend, if possible, have one of your best girlfriends in the room along with your spouse. Looking back, Jolena really was amazing in helping us focus on Jesus that afternoon. By the time the doctor came in the room, Sarah was encouraged and ready to begin pushing. Some last instructions were covered and away we went!

I cannot describe in words what it felt like to see my baby coming out to see us for the first time. Up to this point, I could only rely on imagination. But again, reality was hitting me every second. Sarah was pretty psyched although...she said some pretty odd things while she pushed, things the nurses had never heard before like, "Oh, this is fun," and "Oh, look her head is so small!" Apparently most women aren't very thrilled when the bottom half of their body is doing things it doesn't normally do. Sarah, although, was having a blast!

I didn't know how I was going to handle watching Sarah go through so much turmoil, but it was over before I knew it. Doc said to cut the umbilical cord and I was right there to make it happen. I was a pro! (This is my version of course!) Maci was born on January 19th, 2004 at approximately 1:24 in the afternoon. She was 19 3/4" and weighed in at 6lbs 3.5 oz. I watched the nurses clear her airway and clean her up a bit. Looking cute with lots of black hair, I got to bring Maci to Sarah bundled up tight!

Maci was unusually quiet the entire time. In fact, the only noise she made amounted to some little grunts and extremely short whimpers. I was excited, but at the same time I was seriously alarmed inside. I knew something wasn't right. I went through all the Hollywood movie files in my mind and I distinctly remembered kids screaming when they were born. The nurses tried to comfort us by telling us some babies didn't cry, which was true, but I wasn't buying it. This was different...

The Baby Story, Part 2

I was still pretty tired and wanting desperately to head back to our house to fulfill my nightly sleeping quota. This was the real deal nonetheless and Sarah was beginning to transition nicely. Sarah was wheeled into her room and hooked up to her monitor. She was diagnosed with Group B Streptococcus so she had to have an extra IV to treat it.

Almost suddenly and without warning, I recall Sarah beginning to move into pretty heavy labor. We had been at the hospital all of one hour! We'd attended a four week birthing class, so I snapped into ultimate husband coach mode. I reached in my pocket and snatched out my whistle and the cadence began. Yeah, right! Sarah didn't want any part of it. The only counting cycle that day would've been me inspecting knuckle prints on my forehead. I'm exaggerating. Sarah, though beginning to travail, was very pleasant to be around.

I remember just doing whatever she told me to do. I watched her move into deep monster contractions. Sarah was doing so well. I'd never seen Sarah work with such intensity. The combination of the faces she was making, and watching her deal with the pain of the contractions made me cry. I could tell she was getting tired. It went on for what seemed like hours.

Sarah's plan all along was to go natural, but the nurse suggested, that because the contractions were coming so heavy and they were lasting so long, she may not have much strength to push when the baby came. We were believing to not have to medicate during the process, but we decided it was better. And thank God for whoever came up with the blessed epidural. After it was administered, it was smooth sailing. Sarah actually had the opportunity to take a nap, and I without hesitation, joined her...

Good news and crumby news...

Crumby News: I'll start of by saying that I'm totally amazed by my daughter. She is probably the toughest little girl I know. Yesterday she was exhausted because it was way past her bedtime. Being the daughter of a youth pastor lends itself to having a messed up "schedule" especially on Wednesdays. Anyway, Maci goes into this crazed delirium when she's tired (the gift from dear old dad). She wanders around tearing the house apart.

As she stumbled about in her stupified state, she tripped over her little play house... At that moment I spun around, my back being to her upon the trip, and had to watch her fall flat on her face. I tried not to scream... I did a good job at that I might add. I had this feeling that I'm sure every parent gets when their children injure themselves. I wish I could've been there to catch her before the fall. I feel a sermon coming on...

When Maci falls, we try not to react as if the world has come to an end. But, this was a pretty rough fall. So, of course, she hesitated and then the cry began and the tears fell. I immediately ran over and picked her up. Sarah rushed over to console Maci, but since I'd witnessed the whole thing, there's NO WAY I could let her go! Thank you Sarah ;)

Maci cried hard, but not very long. It lasted about a minute or so, this is why I think Maci is so tough. I would've hammed it up to earn an academy award...She looked up at me, tears streaming, and I saw some blood filling her bottom teeth. It was all I could do to keep it together! To make a long story longer, Sarah helped me inspect the wound (my hands were shaking) and all it amounted to was a teeny-tiny little cut on her bottom lip. Not a moment later she was back to bouncing around like nothing happened... She inspires me...which leads to...

Good News: Maci went pee-pee in her potty this morning for the first time! She sat down on her little seat and I sat on the toilet and pretended to strain. Sarah and Maci passed toys back and forth for entertainment purposes. After my pretend session, a minute later, I hopped off the toilet to continue getting ready for work. One-two-three... PEE PEE. I heard Sarah congratulating Maci on a job well done. I ran back to the bathroom, looked in her little potty and sure enough... there was some pee-pee in there! We cheered and Maci tried to reach in and touch it. "No-no, yucky," I said!

The Baby Story, Part 1

The day our daughter was born was an interesting one. Sarah never had a single contraction until the day Maci was born.
On the morning of January 19th, I recall Sarah waking me up telling me her back was hurting. Since she didn't know what contractions felt like, she assumed it was just some brand new fun back pain. Half asleep, I reached over and felt her tummy. It was rock solid! I mumbled... "you're having a contraction." As I started to come to, we looked at the clock and began timing their frequency. They were pretty regular about 10-15 minutes apart. It was like two or three in the morning so, being the super-supportive husband that I am, I fell back to sleep. The next thing I knew, I felt Sarah tapping me on the shoulder. I woke up (again!) and noticed she was breathing pretty hard. She said her water had broken sometime while I was asleep. Her contractions were getting notieably heavier. I quickly realized, after Sarah's strong prompting, that this was for real!
... BUT... WE WEREN'T READY!!! I was saying things like... "The nursery isn't put together yet,...and that little bag full of stuff we need to take doesn't have anything in it!"Like a trooper, Sarah found her book "What to Expect When You're Expecting", flipped to the right chapter and between contractions began to call off the list of things to pack. I ran around the house getting whatever she wanted. As I was running I kept thinking and probably vocalized that this had to be a false alarm.
The house was a complete wreck. This couldn't be happening, surely we would be back in a couple of hours to make our home somewhat hospitable again.
On break from college and returning to Missoula later that afternoon, my younger brother, Aaron, was staying with us and some how managed to sleep through all the commotion. I distinctly remember hopping over him in the living room, telling him that we'd give him an update as soon as we knew if he had a new neice or not.This had to be a false alarm...

Nope! We checked into the neonatal unit and discovered that Sarah was dialated 3 cm and was beginning to efface considerably...

Right On Brothah!

Taking time to pray...

So little

Finally

Mommy holding Maci for the first time 2 days later

Back off...I'm sleepin!

Knocked Out

Nice and Warm

Bundled Up

Tiny Hands

Happy 1st Birthday

Maci Olivia Green 1.19.04

Maci n' Mommy 12.04 

Bling

This is our money maker pic :)

Maci is 16 months old!

The Journey

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote my very first resignation letter. It was the most fun/sad thing I've ever had the opportunity to create. It's scary because it marked the beginning of the rest of my life... so here we go!