I sometimes wonder what God muses about in his "spare time" when His thoughts drift to His children. I daydream often about my children especially at work which quite often pulls me off my game. Despite this I would say it is time well spent and I think that God would think so too.
Samuel, my oldest just turned eight years old a month ago tomorrow. Those familiar with the LDS faith know that baptism in our church does not happen till age 8. Before then they are saved by grace and baptism is not required of them. They go to heaven where they become heirs to all of the blessings of God there. I take comfort in this considering I have three siblings who all died as infants and while there would be many who would say they are in hell because they were not baptized, I look at each of my children from Samuel down to my 3 week old son John and wonder how a loving merciful God could consign such beings to Hell? I do not believe He does and I take comfort in it.
Rachel my oldest daughter is always quite bubbly and light-hearted. She loves so much and is always willing to share the tiniest bit of information like it is the best thing ever. She is best friends with her sisters and together they get into all kinds of trouble. Alone, she is learning a lot and I really see a brilliant light in her eyes, a light that will not easily be extinguished.
Bethany, Rachel's usual partner in crime is a bundle of sunshine herself. She is starting to get a taste of some of the struggles he will face in life but her happiness will always rise to the top when she lets her concerns go and lives in the moment, for today and places her worries behind her. She is a unique spirit and the one that I think I identify with the most of my children.
Adrianne is one of the smartest most wry little firecrackers I have seen. She has a bit of Fred and George Weasly in her and I am seeing more and more of it all of the time. She hasn't figured out the safety doorknob cover on her bedroom door yet and she is potty training. A potentially hazardous situation but one which I am sure will present new challenges when she figures out that doorknob. For now she just lays down by the door and cries dolefully under the crack in the door till my heart melts enough to go and get her.
Megan is still in that transition phase between baby and toddler. She has Adrianne as her mentor to look up to and learn all kinds of little shenanigans. She is loving to the core and seems more inclined to hug you than tweak your nose. She used to hate being out to bed by me but we have worked out a little routine and she lays right down for me now so I can place a blanket on her. She looks like she is trying to be a good girl but more often than not she is the one I lock cabinets, doors and the refrigerator door for. A darling little troublemaker.
John my newest has reminded me so much of what it was to be the father of a new child for the first time all over again. With him I have gone full circle and again we are raising a baby boy with dark hair and big blue eyes. He like his brother before him has already made his first visit to the hospital and like Samuel had to have a spinal tap done to check for meningitis. The difference is that I am home alone with the other five kids and my darling wife and my beautiful baby boy are alone in the hospital again. I cannot be there to comfort either of them nor hold either of them in a way that I would like to. My arms feel empty now and long to hold my son again. I certainly hope his residency there tonight and tomorrow is not the beginning of a downward slope of problems that will give new meaning to the words "My arms feel empty" Despite my feeling and knowledge that he would go home to his Father in Heaven should he depart this life early, I am selfish that I want my children to all grow up, marry and have families of their own. I am meant to die before my children and ideally with my wife on the same night in our sleep well into our latest years. I keep thinking that I could not die right now, I am too busy doing good things. Each day as I see them approach me, I am reminded what those good thing are.
I am proud to be a father, a parent, a husband, and a child of Him who sent me here. I could never thank Him enough for what he has given me.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Portland, Oregon and vicinity
Many in my life know that my brother is getting married this weekend and that we are in Portland for the weekend. It has been 7 1/2 years since I was last in Portland and though I was intrigued to see a lot of the old familiar sights again, I definitely noticed a difference between Portland and Salt Lake City. So much of the infrastructure in Portland seems aged and though not wearing out, not likely to withstand a decent sized earthquake. I was on I-5 at a point called the Terwilliger Curves when I passed under an overpass. The support posts looked like they would snap just under a normal load not to mention an earthquake.
The second impression I got was how all of the cement work looked dingy and dirty. Having lived here, I am aware that a good chunk of that is just moss but even where I saw moss around it on the cement looked dirty. It is certainly not a lack of care but it just makes me appreciate what I see in Salt Lake City that though dry, the surfaces look much cleaner. Salt lake still has a way to go but it is looking nicer all the time. Portland just looks like it is in decline.
We Plan on going to the beach while we are here but the forecast seems to be rainy with a chance of more rain on top of periodic bursts of rain. Also depending on where we are it might rain. Keeping this in mind, we might be looking at the possibility of driving to Newport to look at the aquarium as part of the beach trip.
We have also decided against going south to return home and decided to return home through Idaho. If we had more time planned we might have still gone. However, my trust in the van to get us through the sparsely populated areas of California without breaking down was waning. Though it is still running fairly good I can hear some of the old quirky things coming back again and the ball joint situation seems to be getting worse. New ball joints just weeks ago and they already seem to have gone bad.
I have taken some pics as well as some at the Temple. Watch for them on Facebook and I will see you all later.
The second impression I got was how all of the cement work looked dingy and dirty. Having lived here, I am aware that a good chunk of that is just moss but even where I saw moss around it on the cement looked dirty. It is certainly not a lack of care but it just makes me appreciate what I see in Salt Lake City that though dry, the surfaces look much cleaner. Salt lake still has a way to go but it is looking nicer all the time. Portland just looks like it is in decline.
We Plan on going to the beach while we are here but the forecast seems to be rainy with a chance of more rain on top of periodic bursts of rain. Also depending on where we are it might rain. Keeping this in mind, we might be looking at the possibility of driving to Newport to look at the aquarium as part of the beach trip.
We have also decided against going south to return home and decided to return home through Idaho. If we had more time planned we might have still gone. However, my trust in the van to get us through the sparsely populated areas of California without breaking down was waning. Though it is still running fairly good I can hear some of the old quirky things coming back again and the ball joint situation seems to be getting worse. New ball joints just weeks ago and they already seem to have gone bad.
I have taken some pics as well as some at the Temple. Watch for them on Facebook and I will see you all later.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Getting things done
I am a "to do list" kind of person. I look for different way of keeping the thousands of things I need to do organized in such a way that I can take care of the most critical things first. Somethings like, "Break down the broken dresser and take out to garbage" are one time deals and feel good crossing off my to do list. Others, such as paying bills and the like, make me feel like I am running in a hamster wheel. I see it coming up and I wonder to myself, "Ugh! Didn't I just DO that?" Unfortunately most of my list is of the hamster wheel type.
It also seems like my list can be divided into different categories of work. Home business, Outside yard, outside car, home repair, housecleaning, work related, volunteer, dad stuff, husband stuff, etc and each of those have their own priorities. Even those are further subdivided into things, the kids can do, kids do with help, Elizabeth can do, stuff we have to do together, stuff only I can (or am willing) to do. After a bit of thinking about it, it starts to blur until it is difficult to know where to begin and of all of the beginnings, which one is screaming loudest.
Most unusually, that is when I am in my element. I am a multitasker by nature and as a multitasker, unless I am using a good portion of my capacity, I bore with things quite easily. For example, as I type this I am ripping music from my CD collection for a trip next week, monitoring the washing and drying of laundry and will be after this post is done, straightening up my office some.
May not sound like a lot right off, but I am often doing or monitoring several things at once and at times I can get a lot accomplished in a short space of time. Yay me.
Every once in a while I look at the things I need to do and sometimes wish I could take some time off and just get everything caught up. Everything done that is waiting to be done. I have ahd projects, even some little tasks that have been on the back burner for years but still have not been done. Priorities change, tasks change, even roles change and many of the things that had been working their way to the top of the list get buried again by a pile of new stuff.
I would like to find a good way if doing it without spending so much time managing it. At times I spend two hours planning, organizing, and preparing two hours worth of work. Sometimes it is easier to forgo all of the formal stuff and just plow right in. Of course I have been burned by that and two hours of work became ten hours due to problems, setbacks and even sidetracks that would have been prevented with proper planning. Imagine that! a catch 22 working its way in. Whee!
Still despite these problems, I still get satisfaction from wrapping up a big project or getting caught up on something I should be doing all along. For instance, I have washed a lot of laundry today and I still have a couple of loads to go before calling it a night. In the meantime, I would love to get more stuff done so pardon me while I check "new blog post" off on my to do list and get on to something else.
It also seems like my list can be divided into different categories of work. Home business, Outside yard, outside car, home repair, housecleaning, work related, volunteer, dad stuff, husband stuff, etc and each of those have their own priorities. Even those are further subdivided into things, the kids can do, kids do with help, Elizabeth can do, stuff we have to do together, stuff only I can (or am willing) to do. After a bit of thinking about it, it starts to blur until it is difficult to know where to begin and of all of the beginnings, which one is screaming loudest.
Most unusually, that is when I am in my element. I am a multitasker by nature and as a multitasker, unless I am using a good portion of my capacity, I bore with things quite easily. For example, as I type this I am ripping music from my CD collection for a trip next week, monitoring the washing and drying of laundry and will be after this post is done, straightening up my office some.
May not sound like a lot right off, but I am often doing or monitoring several things at once and at times I can get a lot accomplished in a short space of time. Yay me.
Every once in a while I look at the things I need to do and sometimes wish I could take some time off and just get everything caught up. Everything done that is waiting to be done. I have ahd projects, even some little tasks that have been on the back burner for years but still have not been done. Priorities change, tasks change, even roles change and many of the things that had been working their way to the top of the list get buried again by a pile of new stuff.
I would like to find a good way if doing it without spending so much time managing it. At times I spend two hours planning, organizing, and preparing two hours worth of work. Sometimes it is easier to forgo all of the formal stuff and just plow right in. Of course I have been burned by that and two hours of work became ten hours due to problems, setbacks and even sidetracks that would have been prevented with proper planning. Imagine that! a catch 22 working its way in. Whee!
Still despite these problems, I still get satisfaction from wrapping up a big project or getting caught up on something I should be doing all along. For instance, I have washed a lot of laundry today and I still have a couple of loads to go before calling it a night. In the meantime, I would love to get more stuff done so pardon me while I check "new blog post" off on my to do list and get on to something else.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Weight Loss Update
I weighted in this week and I am down to 345 lbs. which is down 5 lbs. from last week. I have jogged three times since I began for a total of 4.3 miles and over 500 calories. Not a lot but a good start. I plan on continuing to jog daily except Sunday and I have accumulated a decent size of music I use for exercise. "Final Countdown" "Danger Zone" among others. Quite Motivating. It works really well in High pressure production situations at work. I just hope I can keep it up. Root for me!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sledding
Utah has some of the best powder snow for skiing on the entire planet. Many people know that as well as many avid skiiers. The winter Olympics held here was the center of many world records for winter sports and events still continue to be held in the venues created for the olympics. However, skiing is also an expensive sport, one which many, dreaming to be involved in, only get a few token chances to participate in, but even rarer are the times they actually get on the slopes.
For the poorer of us there is the perennial favorite of sledding. Here in the Salt Lake Valley where I live, there are many places for sledding and many of them set up particularly for that purpose. One is not far from my house in the West Valley city park where a large burm about 30 feet in altitude give or take, gives some moderate hillside space for sledding. We have been there twice in the past week alone and I plan on returning while there is snow ont he ground to sled on.
Another popular venue is Sugarhouse park which is quite a bit more fantastic for sledding and tubing than our little hill. One can reach what would really be maximum speeds for sleds and tubes and actually be moving down the hill at that speed for more than a few seconds so one can really enjoy the ride. Not for the faint of heart or fragile of body, I have not yet sacrificed my kids to this sledding idol as I have not wished to bring broken bones into the history of playtime injury in my family.
I have in my youth gone sledding at flat iron mesa park in Sandy, just southeast of my home about ten miles. Long steep hillsides also adorn this park but whether they are still open for sledding or not I do not know. Quite steep, they would be candidates for speed trials at sledding. This park incidentally is also excellent for kite flying in the spring as it captures the canyon winds and the view from its western edge of the valley is quite breathtaking in the right circumstances.
Sledding, a perennial favorite, is one way in which parents who wish for thir children to ski or snowboard can get them accustomed to sliding downhill at decent speeds so when they try it upright on waxed boards, it is not a sensation that they are unfamiliar with. Wishing I could ski, I still find more joy in watching my kids take to our nearby hill -- making memories like mine.
For the poorer of us there is the perennial favorite of sledding. Here in the Salt Lake Valley where I live, there are many places for sledding and many of them set up particularly for that purpose. One is not far from my house in the West Valley city park where a large burm about 30 feet in altitude give or take, gives some moderate hillside space for sledding. We have been there twice in the past week alone and I plan on returning while there is snow ont he ground to sled on.
Another popular venue is Sugarhouse park which is quite a bit more fantastic for sledding and tubing than our little hill. One can reach what would really be maximum speeds for sleds and tubes and actually be moving down the hill at that speed for more than a few seconds so one can really enjoy the ride. Not for the faint of heart or fragile of body, I have not yet sacrificed my kids to this sledding idol as I have not wished to bring broken bones into the history of playtime injury in my family.
I have in my youth gone sledding at flat iron mesa park in Sandy, just southeast of my home about ten miles. Long steep hillsides also adorn this park but whether they are still open for sledding or not I do not know. Quite steep, they would be candidates for speed trials at sledding. This park incidentally is also excellent for kite flying in the spring as it captures the canyon winds and the view from its western edge of the valley is quite breathtaking in the right circumstances.
Sledding, a perennial favorite, is one way in which parents who wish for thir children to ski or snowboard can get them accustomed to sliding downhill at decent speeds so when they try it upright on waxed boards, it is not a sensation that they are unfamiliar with. Wishing I could ski, I still find more joy in watching my kids take to our nearby hill -- making memories like mine.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Resolutions Bah Humbug!?
A new year is coming which is no news to anyone else, but with it comes resolutions of all kinds. Resolutions or promises to oneself and others to be better int he new year are often overly optimistic and usually involve bars set too high, leading to a quick and often messy abandoning of those goals. I for one have a weight loss goal and I now have the tools I had requested to do it. I won't assign any numbers to what I want to lose, I just want to do better. Sounds good, right?
I guess there is also a danger to setting the bar too low. All of us need to progress right? And many of us need to progress faster than we are currently progressing. I think it would be best to start with one of the more impactful areas of our life which for me comes back to weight loss. So many of the areas in my life would go better if I just lost weight. I am talking a lot of weight too not just a problem ten pounds keeping me away from my favorite pants. I am talking about 150 lbs total. I weight 350 so I am not unreasonable in my desire. Do I expect to lose it all this year? No. If I could get down to 275 this year and then get down to 200 by the following year, I would be doing good. So I am going to go for that. I will resolve to lose 75 pounds this year/get down to 275 pounds. That would be life changing in and of itself. This isn't a resolution I can break in the first day or so as it is an ongoing effort toward a goal at the end of the year and it just gets harder if I procrastinate but not impossible unless I make no progress till around September.
I will keep a log here and just give a total weight at the end of each of my posts throughout the year to keep everyone updated.
I have other resolutions as well and they are of a similar nature in that they are progressive over the year and not of the "screw up once, that's it" kind of goal.
Let me know of your thoughts if you have any. I would be glad to hear them.
I guess there is also a danger to setting the bar too low. All of us need to progress right? And many of us need to progress faster than we are currently progressing. I think it would be best to start with one of the more impactful areas of our life which for me comes back to weight loss. So many of the areas in my life would go better if I just lost weight. I am talking a lot of weight too not just a problem ten pounds keeping me away from my favorite pants. I am talking about 150 lbs total. I weight 350 so I am not unreasonable in my desire. Do I expect to lose it all this year? No. If I could get down to 275 this year and then get down to 200 by the following year, I would be doing good. So I am going to go for that. I will resolve to lose 75 pounds this year/get down to 275 pounds. That would be life changing in and of itself. This isn't a resolution I can break in the first day or so as it is an ongoing effort toward a goal at the end of the year and it just gets harder if I procrastinate but not impossible unless I make no progress till around September.
I will keep a log here and just give a total weight at the end of each of my posts throughout the year to keep everyone updated.
I have other resolutions as well and they are of a similar nature in that they are progressive over the year and not of the "screw up once, that's it" kind of goal.
Let me know of your thoughts if you have any. I would be glad to hear them.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
New Blog Address
I am starting this blog to replace my old one listed at http://genealogymark.blogspot.com which I will no longer post to.
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