Out of state experience

Well our little bub has left the state of Texas for the first time in his young life. We as a family are now in Hot Springs Arkansas for a few says visiting his great Grandma and a few other folks from his mommies fam. It was a long ride from the Houston are to Hot Springs our little guy was a trooper the whole way. He slept for the most part but had a little crying spell towards the end of the trip which Meemah in the back seat did a great job calming him down.

As I told my wife I will take 45 minutes of him crying during 8 hours on the road over some of the horror stories out there of traveling with kiddo's.

But he had a little practice on Saturday as we drove 3.5 hours from Dallas to Houston for Christmas with his meemah and pawpaw while not forgetting about his TUK (Texas Uncle Kyle). For those who are not in the know he has two uncle Kyles one in Katy, Texas and and I also have a brother Kyle living in Jos, Nigeria. Hello I am Toebee and this is my brother Kyle and my other Kyle.

Well anyways we had a great Christmas day with her Fam and Caden cleaned up on the toys. Even though it was promised they would not go over board on the gifts. Oh well we will forgive them for it is their first Grand Kiddo.

When presents attack! His iFlop is taking a cheap shot on the boy from behind, to the face even.

See all the toys, there were to many they were clamoring for air.

Hope you all had a Blessed Christmas and I will write once again upon our return from Hot Springs on Saturday.

Caden and Clause

" Ahh mom, whose this guy?"



This time last year it was just my wife and I and an unknown growth within my wife. As you can see it, he, Caden, has grown a bit. From something unknown to us, known to Christ, to someone awesome.

Pray for our Fam as we take our first long trip with the little guy. He is usually a pleasure to be around but who knows whether that pleasure transfers well to long car rides. First we are heading to outside Houston, Texas to visit Caden's Memaw and PawPaw for his first Christmas. They by the way are not excited at all. It is only like their first grandchild and all.

Secondly we are then traveling to Hot Springs, R-Kansas to visit his Great Grandmom and other parts of his family who are also excited to meet him for the first time as well. It will be many hours on the road, we shall see real soon how much of a road warrior we have.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a great week!

"The View" from here, CRAZY!

This morning as I was at the gym I noticed on one of the TVs, that they have for our viewing pleasure, as I strain to move my body working out is some text from this dear old book that I know. The Bible.

So I flipped over to the show and to my surprise it was "The View". You know the view from the left! It was actual text from President Bush's Christmas Card that he has sent out for this year that Babra Waawaa (Barbara Walters) received. One of the ladies started to criticise the card and asked if it is being sent to Muslims, Atheist's and the sort. She went on to say how "un PC it is" for the President to share this view with the general public.

Well then later on they went over cards that some of them sent out and on one of the ladies cards she had a photo of herself hugging a monkey. The reading underneath stated something like, have a wonderful holiday season as your ancestors have in years past.

So how is it PC for one to share her thoughts and beliefs of evalution on her card but not one to share his beliefs in Christ? Yes it is the President of the free world but he is still a person with beliefs that he would like to share.

It just seems to me to be two sides and one side seems to be right and the otherside, the Christian side, wrong in some peoples eyes.

On a relative story I have noticed a couple of things on the back of peoples cars this "Holiday Saeson" that state "Keep Christ in Christmas". Yes Christ is no longer in Christmas but as I see it today that Christmas as a whole is slowly disappearing in todays society as well. It is now just a plain ol' Holiday! If the trend continues this way it will be interesting yet very scary to see what Christmas in 20 years will look like. Will it just be another day off of work? An opportunity to get your drink on? Or will Christmas return?

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

This last month!

Hey there sports fans, Toebee here!

Who you may ask, well I am the originator of this Blog and the one who should be keeping up with it. But as you can see it has been a while. I have a few pictures to show you what has been happenin’ within my life.

First off we had an awesome visit from my big brother (OK he is a bit smaller than me, really) from Wisconsin. This was their first visit to meet our little guy Caden. Caden is doin' great but I think he has gone thru a bit of withdrawel from his cousins. They wanted to be around him all the time to hold him and to feed him. It was great!

Here is my Old bro along with his Fam and my little Bub.

This was too cute of a pic not to include for you to view, Caden with his cousin.

The 3 cousins on a slay! Not outside since we do live in Texas by the way.

As you know we are a Packer Fam and they recently were here in Dallas to play the cowboys. Well the Pack lost, but not by much may I remind you. IT could have easily gone the Packers way.

Well today we went to a Christmas Party for one of Cadens Docters and they had a couple of Cowboy Cheerleaders. So to have a little fun we went over and had a picture taken with Caden.

Here is the pic, ya notice how smart of a boy I have? He's crying, not due to the ladies but who they stand and represent.

Wanted to include one more picture from the Gaylord Texas Resort.

I took the picture looking up towards the Christmas Tree and glass dome above that has the "yellow star of Texas". I thought it turned out to be a great picture of the tree and star above.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Am I?

Have ya ever had a song lyric hit ya well after ya started listening to it. Well today a song came across that I have heard many times. It was "Circles" by Switchfoot off the Oh! Gravity album.

One line hit me and struck me.

I will not expand on them due to the strength of the line.

"Am I alive in my purpose?"

HUH?

This afternoon my wife and kiddo came and took me to lunch. They decided to take me to a Chinese Buffet, the only way to go for Chinese food in my book.

Well we ate and our waitress brought us our bill with three fortune cookies, one for the kiddo and one for each of us.

I opened it up and do not understand. I will list both sides for you since one side has the saying and the opposite side has your “lucky” numbers in case you are a betting person.

Fortune: “Your lucky number for the week is seven.”
Lucky Numbers on opposite side: 11 13 21 32 40 46

Do you see what I see? Help me to understand this, please.

In town

I know yesterday was Halloween and I did my best to dress up for the day. My costume consisted of wearing shorts, a shirt and my walking shoes. The reason for the shorts in my costume is that it is the one day all year that I could wear shorts to work, so I did. The "costume" was a year in the making since last year I thought about it but did not do it and I remembered it to wear the shorts this year.

Well last night we went tricker treating at the Dallas/ Fort Worth Airport and came away with a pair of grandparents for our boy. OK not exactly the trick or treating that most people are accustomed too. It was actually to pick up my parents since they arrived from Orlando last night to meet my little boy Caden for the first time. This week has been a great week for the little guy since he had some arm time with both sets of grandparents and has four more days with my parents. Pretty cool.

Grandma at one point took the boy over to the flight attendants and stated joyfully “This is why we came to Dallas”.

Here are two picks of them for ya,

This is their first arm full of Caden, we know there will be many more of those arms fulls for the grandparents to come.

Grandma holding onto the sweet little boy.

Have I accepted His gift?

Have I accepted it today?

I was thinking and praying last week on my drive into the office and came up with something. Most likely it means nothing new to anyone else but to me it makes sense and is something that I need to keep in mind. We can hear something hundreds of times and it have no effect on our lives until we figure it out and personalize it.

Well I realized something during my time with Him on my drive in.

Ya know how people always say that you need to accept the Gift of the Spirit into our lives to make our lives complete? That when there is an alter call it is usually someone accepting the Gift of Christ into their lives. This is the one gift of eternal life that is usually given.

Why is it just once that we need to accept a gift from Him? Ya know what else the Lord has for me? He has love for me, strength, wisdom and heaps of blessings for each one of us each day. Why then do I not accept the gift of his love, strength and wisdom each and everyday?

He is there everyday holding out his hands for us to take a hold and guide us thru our day. Each and everyday he is there whether I care or not he is there. He is there to heap blessings upon me. Holding it out there for me to grab and be blessed by his love, strength and wisdom each and every day.

I have started to accept his gifts each and every morning on my way to work before I begin the day. Then at night I can then go thru the things from the day and thank him for his gift he offered and I accepted.

Man what an easy concept, so why has it taken me so long to realize it. This will look different for everyone but give it some thought and look to Him who has blessed us with so much.

Check it out

I have just edited a video my my little bub and have posted it on our family blog. It is not the best quality due to having to save it in a smaller version (lower quality) to fit it on the blog.

I tried to capture the sights and sounds of his first month of life.

Please do jump over and enjoy.

Click here ABTS-TRA, ABTS-TRA Click here

Thanks,

PS This editing thing is still very new to me so please know that as well.

Howdy y’all!

How are y’all doin? Well I am doing great these days. I am feeling much better since the kiddo has cut his hungry time to just one time during the night which my wife usually feeds the little guy herself. We have used a different nipple for his bottles that have bigger opening so it does not take him as long to feed so she is not up for over an hour anymore as he is fed.

If he wakes after 5am until about 7 then my turn happens before I depart for work. It works out great I must have to add.

Man I have to say that the weather the last week or so has been just perfect! 6o’s at night and 80’s and no humidity during the day. If I could have that year round that would be most ideal for me. This whole summer was actually really nice for Dallas as well. Typically it has about 2 months or more of temps over 100 degrees and zero rain. It rarely got over 100 and it rained a ton for Texas which kept the temps mucho better.

The fall has hit and ya know what that means don’tcha? Christmas. Well at least this year since I have already seen a few different store with a few Christmas things up already. One being Wally World (Wal~Mart by the way) and JC Penney’s this weekend had some stuff up.

That is almost 3 months of Christmas stuff. What does every American want for Christmas? A year and a half of Political positioning to be the next President of the U.S. of A. What happened to just the half year of political wrangling that typically went one. Just think that means the mud will fly more often and harder by the time we come around to actually voting for one of the clowns out there at this time. Ya thought it was bad before, well we have not seen anything like we will see most likely this coming year.

We have already had 17 debates for both sides put together. OK that is an exaggeration, yet only a slight one at that.

Wow this post goes from joy all the way down to the depths of disgust thinking about all that we have to put up with for the next YEAR.

Sorry about that.

Does me saying “have an awesome day” help bring ya back to good things and thoughts?

Why oh why could I not be so genius?

Do you know what is going on in this world today? Let me recap a few things for you. There are people killing other people cuz their god told them to, there are wars happening, people are dying due to addiction to drugs, abortions, abuse, racism, depression, suicide, students killing other students, gang violence and the list goes on.

Did you know that Al Gore won a Peace prize due to his global warming stand? Has that not divided people in certain instances? But I digress cuz I believe I have found the one invention that will bring peace once and for all to the world that we are a part of.

It is an invention that most of us will hit ourselves for not thinking of it ourselves earlier.

Introducing Toilet Golf!



Online description: This is the potty putter. It's a miniature green and rug for in front of the toilet. What amazes me is that the guy in this picture needs to play golf and read a magazine. $18

Maybe you can get a nice package deal with the Fish Bowl Toilet (That I featured in a past fume) and the Toilet Golf mat! Sweet!


Does anyone wonder why the rest of the world looks at American as having to much?

Hard to believe that someone had first of all thought of this product and then produced it for sale.

I can see now the PTGA (Professional Toilet Golf Association) league now taking applications.

Maybe I could be so bright and genius eh?

I've Got’s da bestest wife

Have you ever had one of those days where you try to figure out why you are in such a sour mood? Well yesterday was that day for me.

Let me remind you that we now have a little 5 and ½ week old child that moved in a month or so ago. Yea I know it is a shock to you that I have a child now, so I do apologize if I did not make mention of this small little detail earlier.

I left the office yesterday at 4 pm and made it home by 4:40. Well my wife was in bed trying to take a nap which ultimately she could not fall asleep. Well that was not my experience at all. I fell asleep and my wife woke me up around 6pm, an hour an a half later from when I got home. Yikes, six o’clock! Am I going to sleep now at bed time?

Yeppers, I will and I did sleep just fine. After feeding the boy we went to bed around 9:30. I Fell asleep right away. Was awoken once by a screamin’ kid but that was it for the night.

.

Man did we have a great night with the kiddo? Did he sleep thru the entire night? Well not really, I learned that he was fed twice during the night. Not sure at what times since I was a sleep, very blissfully I might add. Typically my wife wakes me during the earliest feeding to give him his bottle after he nurses for a while with mommy. He does both at this time.

Thank you my Love for allowing me to sleep thru the night.

Man what a difference a nights sleep is on my body. I feel close to 100% better than I did yesterday. That's all it was, a lack of sleep.

THANK YOU THANK YOU

my dear. You are the bestest!

My little guy

If you look over our family blog or my wifes blog you will have seen other pics of our little boy. I have chosen some of my favs from his little photo shoot a few weeks ago.

My Bub in Daddies arms. I am not sure how my wife is doing it but living in a house with two of the best looking guys in the world must be tough.

As you know as you have read in the past I love my little guys facial expressions. He makes some of the cutest faces aroud, how can I not just sit there and stare at his little expressions?

Caden flexin' his little guns for ya.

The outfit that he is sporting is an outfit that my mother saved for him. It is an outfit that I wore when I was baptised as a baby back in the early 70's.

As you can see from most of my post recently have been of and about the little guy. As you look at him how can I not be a proud papa? Ok plus my life now has revolved and changed a bit since his arrival.

To see other photos from same photo shoot visit:

Allys Afterthoughts and/or Abtstra Abtstra

Awesome

Good afternoon sport fans.

Can you believe that both Wisconsin Football teams of importance are undefeated at this time?

Wisconsin Badgers 5-0









Green Bay Packers 4-0

Ya know that I hate the Dallas Cowboys do you not? Well I do. But right now they have a quarterback who is Brett Favres Mini-me. I (my wife and kiddo came for a short time as well) went to a sports grille to watch the Packer game yesterday since it was not airing in Dallas due to the Cowgirls game.

The TV I was watching was next to a TV with the cowgirls game on it. Man it was a trip to watch the greatest QB of all time and a QB that is Brett Favre reproduced. Romo is something special to watch especially if you are a Favre fan. They are they same player almost. I know Romo is a Cowboy and I am giving him credit due to his game play.

OK he grew up in Wisconsin watching Brett play every Sunday during the season. Which worries me later this year when the Pack play the Boys here in Dallas on November 29th. Romo would love to beat the guy that he has watched so many times and has game like.

Hope to get tickets for the game.

Today we were at lunch and I touched my sons little belly and one arm would shoot up from his side. So I filmed it and now share it with you. It is a little dark but you can still see my hand touch his tummy and his little arm on the right of the screen shoot up.

Who got da Smarts?

Smarts #1 UAW – I understand we all have wants and “needs” in our daily grind at the office or wherever we work. But really going on strike for job security? What happened to the days of actually working hard and making the best product out there to retain job security? I know the strike is over, so this means that GM buckled.


Smarts #2 Mr. Vick I know it is a stressful time an all with the doggies and your lack of future in football. But drugs? Really Mike you can think of better things to do than to smoke some marijuana. Ya do know that you are still in trouble dontcha? Are not drug tests part of your life right now? Do I remember right that he had found God in all of this so far? Must have been the drugs talkin.

Smarts #3 Mr. Smoker - A week or so ago I pulled up to a red light and looked over to the fella in the car to my right. He just took his last puff of smoke and decided to throw the cigerette butt out the window. My world is his ashtray I guess. Well the window was not exactly open all too much. So as he proceeded to let go of the cigerette out the window it fell back into his car. The frenzied panic was something to behold as he tried to first find said cigerette and then properly dispose of it out onto the street.

One great thing that my wife and I did recently was to sign up for unlimited texting on our phones. This way she always has a camera close by and can immediately send a pic of the boy. The reason it is great is that I get to see the boy during the day and see how he is doing.

Two photos that have come thru this week are below:






Man to be a father is so very cool to me. Well at least at this time in his very young life, I know there will be times where that thought will be tested greatly.









My wife just sent me this quick pic of the boy. He is starting to show a bit more of his personality in his smiles and movements. Which again is the coolest thing ever to watch this little guy start smiling and such.

His Grace, how amazing!

The Almost -

Amazing, Because It Is

I was so scared of everything you put in front of me

I've been arching every part of me

Just to see See

Why you need me to be

The boy you need me to be

Amazing grace

How sweet the sound

That saves a wretch like me

I once was lost

And now I'm found

Was blind but now I see

I just wanna see

I'm the type of person who lets fear drive

I'm the type of guy who lets it drive

Cause I'm addicted, I'm needy,

I'm lost without you

I need you

I need you

Amazing grace

How sweet the sound

That saves a wretch like me

I once was lost

But now I'm found

Was blind but now I see

Amazing grace (amazing grace)

How sweet the sound (how sweet)

That saved a wretch like me (that saved a wretch like me)

I once was lost

But now I'm found (you know I'm found)

Was blind but now I see

Amazing grace (you're amazing)

How sweet the sound (you're amazing)

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost (it feels so bad when you're lost and alone)

But now I'm found

Was blind but now I see

This song has hit me hard recently due to some things that I am just now starting to deal with properly in my life. Stuff that has been part of the fabric of who I have been and unfortunately has also defined me way to much. I need to dispose of these things once and for all, the "band aids" that I have been using to cover them for short periods of time have fallen and left me feeling miserable way to many times.

Ya know the greatest aspect of this song is that Christ has never had to find me. He knows me and has always known me. I never knew me! Especially the way that he wants me to know myself thus translating into knowing Him ultimately. For me to be found is within myself, I am in the process of being found, again not by Him since he has always known me but to find myself within him.

Looking into my boys innocent little face right now is just way to awesome. To know that this life is now my responsibility to reflect the love of Christ into his young little life. He deserves his fathers love, he also deserves his father to love himself. I have come a long way from where I have been but have a long way to go to truly feel true love for myself.

This truth is truly hard for me to throw out there for all to read but there it is. I have avoided it (put my little band aids on it) for far to long.

It is time for me to truly be healed through his

AMAZING GRACE!

How sweet is that sound?

Click here to go to purevolume.com and listen to a few of their songs including

"Amazing, Because It Is."

What a weekend

It was a great weekend on many levels for me.


1. It was my wifes Pop pops (Grandpa) 90th Birthday Saturday.

2. The Wisconsin Badgers won, Michigan can't say that once yet this year.

3. The Green Bay Packers won as well, OK both games were ugly but a win is a win, right?

4. Figured out that it was not my iPod messing up but my PC at home. Fixed it and now my iPod works again.

5. Got to spend some time with the kiddo while watching my kids fav teams. If it wasn't for that I would not have watched any football all weekend. NOT! I would have watched anyways.



Quick Poll: Vote to the right ----->
#1


#2

My Boy and my fav pics

Hey there y'all. I know some of you know and some do not know that my wife gave birth to our little boy. It all happened on Thursday night at 5:50 via c-section. Alycia's blood pressure was just to high so the docter decided to deliver the little guy that night.

I have included a couple of my fav pics of the little guy and his parents.

Caden meets his mommy within minutes of being taken from his safe yet dark home within his mommy.

This is my personal fav. They do this hearing test on the little feller before he is discharged from the Hospital. It is somewhat hard to see but they put these little like headphones on his little ears and play sounds. There then is a sensor on his forehead that counts brain activity due to the sounds. He passed the test by the way without studying, just like his mommy.

Well this pic is me holding my little bub. Ain't he a little itty bitty thing compared to his Pops. It was game day so daddy wore Caden's favorite teams shirt just for him. GO BUCKY! By the way they won just for him.

He is near and dear to daddies heart.

We each had to wear a hospital bracelet so I thought this picture would be neat. I was right.

Check out Abtstra to see a few other different pictures.

In Concert the BREACH BOYS, Featuring our son CADEN!

If you are frequenting our family Blog, Abtstra Abtstra, as well as Toebees Fumes you have read this post most likely. Just letting you know.

Wanted to update you on some news concerning our first kiddo. This past week we had a sono and found out that our little guy, Caden, is breach at this time. For those like me who do not know what that means it is when the kiddo in the womb is not in the right position for his arrival to the world. His little head is up by Alycia's ribs right now and his bottom is down near her bladder. We believe he has been in this position for a while know so he must be very comfy.

So with that being said we have scheduled a c-section two weeks from today on Monday September 10th. We are praying that he does decide to flip one last time before then but if he is far to comfortable how he is right now then he will arrive and meet the world on the 29th.

We have another sono scheduled for Wednesday so I will update you all after that time and let you know how he is situated. Also we are hoping to make sure that he is a little guy rather than a little girl.

Alycia is doing great, a bit tired but doing great. She has one week back to work under her belt. Today is when all of the kiddos return back to class so please pray that for her with that. Dealing with all of the kids in the school can be rather challenging so please pray that she will make it for the next two weeks before the birth of #1 for us.

We appreciate your prayers for both of them.

In Him who created us and our little boy,

Check out my latest poll

Hey there all you fumers out there! This is your King Fume a talkin. I know most of you have been seeking something I have not done in a while on my site. No I have not forgotten how to be funny smarty pants! Even though that is true to some degree I am having a kid real soon so not the time to be all funny and everything.

Well as usual ya got me on a rabbit trail with this blog. A POLL!! What! your blog had a poll? You are asking yourself, sadly yes I DID and not to be confused with that I DO have a poll on my blog. I am already married so I did not just marry anyone else when I just said I DO. OK yet another rabbit trail ya got me chasin down. You are all too good at takin my mind off the end game.

I have a few ideas for a poll in mind now I just have to execute them. No, not that type of execute silly people, where are your minds? Not with mine I guess. Both of them have photos that have yet to be taken. I have waited the last two weeks on the photos to be taken by themselves but they have proven the age ol' saying of "their not going to take themselves". You guys are rough I know that is not how it goes officially but it works doesn't it?

Well anyways check back next week and check out my first one.

2 tings for ya!

2 quick hit topics that I have thought of recently.

1. Mean People Suck. There is a lady at my office that wears a sweatshirt around the office due to it being too cold inside I guess. Well on the front it states “mean people suck”.
My question is “Is she not a mean person for saying that someone else sucks?”

2. Playing a game you love for millions or dogfights? Hmmmmm. That is a tough choice. I know we all have choices and we all have made the wrong ones from time to time but really dogfights?

Lost Cravings

First, the Lost part. My iPod!! Ok not the whole unit but everything in it was washed clean somehow. Tuesday night I was at the PC and decided to try and download a few pod casts and transfer them to my iPod. Wednesday morning I was driving to work and nothing was playing when I hit “play”. I soon realized that there was nothing in my iPod for it to play. WHAT? Everything gone. Over 1800 songs, Movies and TV Shows all gone. WHY ME? WHO DID THIS TO ME? Conspiracy theories abound.

Well took it to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store last night and they said that the unit is still good, something just happened. What happened? If anything popped up on my computer screen asking “Are you sure you want to delete everything in your iPod dummy” I did not see it or agree to it.

Luckily I have most of my music backed up on an external hard drive when I put in a new hard drive earlier this year. So now I have to go and put all my songs back in the system to enjoy my music. I was lost without it. So right now I am at 383 songs. Happy Together once again!

What Cravings Toby? As you know my wife is preggo right now and she has come and gone with cravings. First it was Mashed Potatoes and Gravy; forget the 2nd one but she is now doing the Ice Cream thing. No pickles, where did that ever come from as a craving? I have yet to hear anyone have that as a craving.

That is not my point on the cravings. Hamburger and Fries. No it is not hers. It is mine! Is it due to her pregnancy that I am craving a Hamburger and Fries all of the time?

As you can see I did not lose my cravings, I just lost somethings and my craving for H&F have grown!

Open for interpretation

Ya gotta love small towns and the back roads sometimes, especially the signage ya see.

In a past Blog I made mention of this signage and this past weekend had an opportunity to actually take a pic of it. It is near the Texas/ Okla Border by Moss Lake in Texas. When I first saw it it made me laugh and just looking at it now still does make me laugh.

Your initial thoughts and how do you interprit it?

“prepared meals”

This past weekend my wife and I attended a Spiritual Retreat with our mission Candidate Team from our Church. We utilized my wife’s relative’s home on Moss Lake near the Oklahoma Border here in Texas.

It was a very awesome time spent with God for most of the Day Saturday. I will not go into details at this time since it was a time for each one of us to connect with Christ and to listen for his directives. With my time alone with Him he took me “back to the basics”. I realized this weekend that from time to time we need to get back to the basics in our relationship with him. With all of the things going on in each of our lives we let it get so complex that we lose focus on what our relationship with him looks like.

An analogy that I came up with is “prepared meals”. In America today you can go to almost any store and purchase any meal already prepared. Sometimes we take these meals home, cook and eat, while sometimes we may add a bit more spices or another ingredient to make it just perfect for our tastes. This is the same in our walk with Him. If we have had a relationship with Christ for a while we tend to deal with Christ in this fashion. We go to Church, listen to sermons on the radio, and listen to Christian music, read books (other than the Bible), Sunday School Classes and other similar ways to be fed.

This all equals how “prepared” our relationship with Christ really is to most of us today. What happened to actually preparing a meal from scratch? Convenience and Time have consumed us. Do I really know the intricacy or intimacy of Christ if my spiritual diet is already prepared for me? What I found this weekend for my answer is NO! How can I know and truly appreciate a meal if I have no idea of how it is made and how to prepare it if I have never done so or have not done so for so long?

Same with being fed spiritually. He has the true ingredients for us to maintain a healthy life in Him if we just take time to walk thru His store (the Bible) and find the ingredients He has for us to be fed.

He has a great Store that I visited this past weekend and was fed from. My challenge is to realize which Store are we shopping at? Are we shopping for convenience or for the ingredients to make the best meal to be truly fed?

Back to the Basics meant Jeremiah 17:7-8 for me this weekend. Maybe later this week I will share what these basic truths fed me this past weekend.

1 month from today!

Are you ready for some football? Yep folks it is that time again. 1 month from today starts the Foot ball season, College Football to be exact. First game is on September 1st at 2:30 pm against Washington State University.

Just thought I would let y’all know so you can get ready.

Oh yea my kiddo is due around then as well. That’s big news as well, right? Well at least my wife will not complain that I am watching too much football if I have the little guy decked out in his Badger stuff watching the games with me. Then Pro Football begins a week later on September 9th against the Eagles.

Caden my son, welcome to the world…
of FOOTBALL!

Oh yea, hopefully the Brewers will be in the Playoffs about that time as well.

SWEET! Can you feel it?

1756-1769

OK since I have had my iPod I have wondered how long and what might play for the last songs on it when I have it set to shuffle. Yes only Toebee would want to go thru all 1769 songs in his iPod and see what the end holds. Kinda like all y’all harry potter peeps.

Yes mine is a bit sillier than that but if you knew me you would say “yep that is Toebee”. Well anyways here is my listing. I have noticed on some blogs they have their Thursday Thirteen so I thought I would create my own. It is not official since I am not connecting it with anyone else so I guess I am stealing this idea from someone else. Thanks for the idea.

Last thirteen songs to play on my iPod of 1769 songs.

13. Afternoon Tea – The Smithereens
12. Dizzy – Goo Goo Dolls
11. Love is the Movement – Switchfoot
10 This Cats on a Hot Tin Roof – The Brian Setzer Orchestra
9. How Wonderful – Leeland
8. With You – Linkin Park
7. Spin – Lifehouse
6. Happy together – Turtles
5. Walk with my Love – Ty Tabor
4. Take you Back – Jeremy Camp
3. Learn You Inside Out – Lifehouse
2. My December – Linkin Park
And the last song on my iPod to play is:
1. My Obsession – Skillet

At least this time around these are the last 13 songs to play.

It took me about two and a half weeks to get thru all of the songs. No not 24/7.

Beauty of an iPod of this size is that I just listed to 1769 songs without one of them repeating itself in the last 2 ½ weeks. Sweetness. I know my wife does not like to hear this but there is so much more room for music, hehehehe.

Just imagine carrying around how 160 Cd's with 11 songs each to listen to that much music!

OK since it is Wednesday when I am posting this it is my PRE Thursday Thirteen.

Soon to be worn out by the little guy

I know on one of my last posts I made a comment on some of the clothes that we have received from friends and family. Ok we have bought a few of the items as well. I have taken a picture of some of those outfits and when you take a look over the pix you will see why I like the outfits.

A few bibs that we have received one that reads "daddy's allstar" and "I love my Daddy" along with a couple that signify daddy's fav teams. The only one we bought is the Badger Fan one.
Can you read these? If not let me share with you what they say. hehehe

My Daddy is a... Super Hero, Daddy's Team and If you think I'm handsome you should see my daddy.

Each of these were given to us as gifts. Really they were.

Just some new Wisconsin Gear for the kiddo, each of these we did purchase while in Mad Town! In the middle there is a Milwaukee Brewers bottle for him as well my wife found here in Dallas! The same Wisconsin gear that is pictured above with a New Milwaukee Brewers outfit thanks.

How could you not buy a pair of overalls for a little boy, Oshkosh B'Gosh overalls from Oshkosh, Wisconsin for goodness sakes.

Mommy was feeling a little jealous of all of the daddy stuff she had to go out and purchase something that mentioned mommy!!

Dear, whether or not he has a little outfit that says i heart mommy he will love you greatly.

Can you understand why I would get giddy over the gifts that were given for our little guy?

Have you heard?

My wife and I are starting our journey down the road to becoming missionaries and have decided to share the road with y'all. We have set up a blog letting everyone know how we are doing as a family, where we are in the process and how everything is proceeding. Most importantly it gives you an opportunity to learn more about us and how you can pray for us as a family and for our future work for him.

One of the neat features on it is a Map for you to let us know where in the world you are as well. At least I think it is kinda cool to see where everyone is at in the world and be reminded of each one of you. It is also awesome to realize that God's Love and support for us and those within our lives is worldwide. We all tend to get tunnel vision from time to time and see all that is immediately around us while forgeting about who and what is hapening around our own country and most importantly around the world.

So come over and join us from time to time and learn more about us as a family and where we are in our own process for His future. As you drop by let us know where in the world you are along with how we might be able to support you as well.

This will still be my own fumes and what is going on in my own little thought world. For the summer I have slowed to one maybe two posts a week. Sorry about that. Oh well now have two to have upkeep on.

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READ ALL ABOUT IT!

July 4th in Milwaukee

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Here are a few pics from our trip to Milwaukee over the July 4th weekend. As you can see I am a cheapo and went for a FREE slide show feature. Not the best but it gives you the opportunity to move the pix around to see each one individually.

To all the family and friends we had an opportunity to see while there THANKS for a great time!! To those we did not have an opportunity to meet up with we apologize and will look forward to seeing you next time.

Well enjoy.

Preggo brain revisited

Preggo brain revisted

Can a guy get Preggo brain?

I am starting to believe that us males can get it when in regular contact with a pregnant woman.

Monday morning I got up for breakfast before heading off to work. I walked into the kitchen grabbed the milk out of the fridge and placed it on the counter. After closing the fridge I walked over to the pantry and got the cereal. Cinnamon Toast Crunch for those of y’all who would feel slighted if I did not mention all details.

Well I walked across the kitchen, grabbed a bowl and poured myself some cereal. Then walked back to the fridge, look inside and did not see the milk. I thought to myself, “man I could have sworn we had milk”. Proceeded back to the bowl of cereal I just poured to enjoy and dejectedly poured it back into the box. OK, really into the bag inside of the box for those keeping track of all my moves.

Shuffled back to the pantry, saddened by the events that just took place only to turn around after placing said cereal back into pantry and see the milk sitting there. Still not believing that I just took it out I proceeded to feel it to make sure that it was still cold. This way in case it was warm I could blame my wife for leaving it out from the night before.

Well it was cold.

Dear, I can sympathize with your mind. But not all too much with what your body is going thru. Thanks for carrying Caden for nine months!

By the way we had a great vacation up to Milwaukee and other locations within the state of Wisconsin. Once I get my pictures downloaded and all I will then post some. The day after we returned my wife’s parents and a friend of hers with her kiddo were in town and stayed with us for the weekend. Cute little kiddo. My mommy in law would not let the kid go, getting practice for her own grand kiddo I guess.

Well when they left all I wanted to do was to be lazy! So that is what I was. Maybe that is why I had the whole cereal and milk episode since I shut my mind down way too much.

Oh well!

Off for the 4th of JULY!!

Tomorrow morning my wife and I depart for Milwaukee for the next five days. We fly back in the afternoon on the forth.

It should be a great time in all that we do and with all those that we can connect with while there.

Have a great 4th of July!!

Name that vehicle

A few weekends ago my wifes family had their yearly reunion, this time it was at Moss Lake in Texas. Very close to OK Land up north there.

It seemed to actually look like a lake, as much as it can here in Texas. What i mean is that I did not see all the trees and stumps left as they filled up the land to make a reservoir. It was a gloomy and rainy weekend so there was no real opportunity to get out on or into the lake.

OK part of not getting out on it was they had to look for hours to find a set of keys to ones pickup truck to move the boat into the lake to enjoy. Only to loose a good number of hours out of the afternoon to get out there for his son to realize that he had them in his pocket. Yes they were in his pocket!!

At one point I took a walk down the road only to stumb le upon a treasure I would like to share with you. I did not bring the camera along on my walk so I had to drive back to take the pics as you can tell in one of the pictures with my car in the background. Below you will find a few pictures I had taken for your sheer enjoyment.

And this treasure can be yours!

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Yes it is FOR SALE for $700! That is a new and fresh for sale sign on it. If interested let me know and I can let you know where it is located. Can you tell what kind of vehicle it was?

I wanted to take a picture of a sign as well but forgot to take it the 5 times that we passed it. It read something like BYOB & PIZZA. It was a little corner store. Are they telling me that I should bring it there and eat while being merry drinking or that I could get both for the gathering I am going too? Well that is the small town I guess.

Global Warming Fact or Fiction?

We here it on the evening news, TV Commercials, in the Newspapers, Magazines, Billboards, Movies and almost everywhere else that global warming is going to be the end of life here on earth.

Well I have come across some great articles for the other side of the argument. I think most people are hearing just one side of the argument without hearing the other side. People tend to believe everything they hear especially when everything they hear is one sided.

I wanted to have little snippets from each article after each Link below but it would be too long of a post. So please read the below articles for more.

Article one - Local scientist calls global warming theory 'hooey' (University Wisconsin Professor)
It also has a rebuttal at the end. Why do all of the articles you read about how bad global warming is ever have a rebuttal against after the article? Why only after the articles going against it?
Fun fact within the article tells us that Mr.Reid Bryson, 87, retired in 1985, but has gone into the office almost every day since. He does it without pay.
"I have now worked for zero dollars since I retired, long enough that I have paid back the people of Wisconsin every cent they paid me to give me a wonderful, wonderful career. So we are even now. And I feel good about that," said Bryson.
After reading that about Mr. Reid, whom do you trust?

Article Two -
Scientists Surprised by NASA Chief's Climate Comments
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin Questions Need to Combat Warming.

Article Three - NASA chief regrets remarks on global warming
In video, Griffin says he wishes he’d stayed out of debate on climate effects.
Why did he give in? Way too much pressure from the radicals spouting Global Warming rhetoric. Stick to your guns next time Mr. Griffen, speak and stick with it next time.

The only other excerpt I will share is from the rebuttal from Article 1 at the end of it.

"But I would say that the chances of that based on all of the best information at this current time are incredibly slim. And even though that possibility is out there, it would be irresponsible of us as a society not to act based on the best scientific information we have at the moment, which is that humans are causing the warming of the planet," she said.

I do agree with her in the extent that we should do what we should do to help the environment. We have been entrusted by the Lord God to take care of His land for him. How do I know? Because the Bible tells me so in Psalms 24:1 "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;"

Do I believe in Global Warming? Yes! Do I believe that it is as the scientists all say? No! How do we know that what they are saying is truth? We don't! Could it not be this way cuz the Lord has made it this way for this day and age? Yes!

We need both sides of stories and so far most everyone is listening to one.

Lost

Lost readers!

Wow pretty bad that I am putting an APB out for readers, not just readers but my loyal readers. OK it is a relatively small number to begin with but there were a few out there.


I have dedicated this and do this for you, my people. OK that is not true, I do like doing it but I like reading the responses that I get. When I get them. But if it would make you feel better then I do it for you my faithful readers.


If I need to put out a reward for them to return to reading and responding I might just do it.


Anyway it is summer and most people are not looking over the web as much as they do the other parts of the year. I can admit that I am far busier now here in the summer than most parts of the year.


With this being the case I am going to kill my readership even more by not updating as much. So I promise at least once a week but I will try to update twice but most likely it will be only once.


So if you feel like it respond real quick by saying "Hi".