A Year of Kaelyn

I know I'll be smarting from UC's Orange Bowl loss for weeks to come. So since I'm feeling down, I need a pick me up and figure now would be a good time to reveal my project from last year.

Starting a year ago, I decided I would take a picture of Kaelyn for everyday of 2008. I started off pretty strong . . .

. . . I missed my first day in the first week of January.

After I realized that there was no way I'd have the discipline to take these pictures every single day, I just kept the camera handy so I could get as many as I could; I decided that even if I wasn't totally consistent, it would still give me a great overview of how Kaelyn grew over the year. I'm extremely glad I did it, as there are some great stories behind the pictures. One day, Kaelyn might really appreciate it.

I really tailed off near the end of the year, but took her picture on 265 days of '08. I threw them together in a video, added some tunes. I like result. She's a photogenic kid.

Because I added music that Youtube doesn't like, the one there had the tunes I picked out removed from it. If you have Quicktime downloaded on your computer, you can enjoy the full experience as intended here. Otherwise, enjoy the safe-for-Youtube, cheezy public-domain music background here.

I know the New Year already started, but this might be a project some of you might want to try. I'm sure many of you would do much better in sticking with it.

Happy Merry Christmas!

[at least that's how Kaelyn would phrase it]

Christ is born, and we're rather happy about it. Even attended a Christmas Eve service last night. I can't remember that last time we merely attended one and didn't have a responsibility to fulfill. Kelly's dad did a great job reading the Christmas story to the kids.

We've spent some wonderful days in Lexington and are headed north to my family in Cincinnati this afternoon.

Good thing I brought the Explorer so we can haul back all of Kaelyn's toys.

Deck Them Halls and All That Stuff

This has been an enjoyable Christmas season as Kaelyn has started to recognize the significance of Christmas. Tonight we reread the Christmas story with her and she's starting to get it. The live nativity scene by Krohn Conservatory in Eden Park has been a good reinforcement.*

Another great part of the season has been the Christmas shows. Of course, Kaelyn loves the Grinch so we've seen that numerous times throughout the month. But she's developed a certain passion for Charlie Brown's Christmas. We DVR'd it early in the season and have been playing it every few days. Until the little girl came along, I never noticed the frequency with which Charles Schultz had the kids use the word "stupid," but Kaelyn has yet to employ it in her vocabulary. She has, however, taken to quoting the lines, "Rats" and "Oh no, I've killed it."**

The best part of the whole is the dance scene during play practice. Kaelyn loves to impersonate all the different dancers. She prefers the side-to-side head bob that the twin girls do. My fave is the boy in the green doing the zombie. I'm sure there's some kind of personality test that tells you all about yourself according to which dance you prefer.

It's funny that with all of the newer animated Christmas specials that our 21st century girl prefers the one made over forty years ago.

___________

*Last night, on the way home from church, we noticed that they had placed a menorah on the other side of Krohn Conservatory. I'm very cool with that, as this is still America and I think everyone should be allowed a place at the table, but I was not impressed with the display. I've seen some beautiful menorahs in my life and this one would not fall into that category. Additionally, I believe Hanukkah started Sunday night and not a candle was lit.

**At first, I had no idea where Kaelyn heard "I killed it." In my demented mind, I honestly thought she might have been watching South Park behind our back, claiming to have killed Kenny. As you know, it is actually what Charlie Brown says when he hangs the ornament on his sickly tree.

Things Seen [Part Two]

Took my camera to church a few weeks ago and snapped some picks of Kaelyn on the front steps. She found a caterpillar and was loving it. The picks turned out pretty noisy [my fault not adjusting the ISO] but there was still one that I liked despite it's photographic flaws:

And She's Still Hot

True, it's probably a tad embarrassing to post a celebratory birthday greeting for the wife a day late. But settle down: she's cool with it.

I started teaching a new class at the alma mater last night and have been pushing hard to prepare for it. We took a few hours off yesterday afternoon and had a great birthday lunch at Red Robin out in Milford, then returned home where I was back to prepping until leaving for school last night. After class [which runs to 10pm] I called Kelly on the phone and we talked until I pulled up out front. We spent the next couple of hours talking about our life, expressing thanks for all that God has done for us.

So since we spent so much time chatting, I had no post up here for her birthday. But thankfully, Kelly is the kind of person who isn't disturbed by her husband's tardiness.

So happy 31st plus a day, babe. And The Office is back tomorrow night, so even if you were mad at me, you'll soon forget.

p.s. The picture with this post is from my nephew's birthday a few weeks ago where they rented an inflatable jumping apparatus. Kelly was the first adult in.

Road Trip

I'm in an incredibly busy season of life right now: I'll be teaching a new class starting Tuesday, I'm taking a class at Xavier, in addition to regular Echo stuff. Still, when a chance presents itself to hop in the car and drive to Toledo with my two favorite ladies, then everything else goes to the back burner. Kelly was the keynote speaker to a Christian writers conference today, so Kaelyn and I joined her for the experience.

We drove up yesterday and headed to Maumee Bay State Park along Lake Erie. The beach was deserted, the weather was perfect, no admission charge,— and Kaelyn loved it. While Kelly spoke at her conference today, Kaelyn and I ate Chinese food and took in some local sights. We spent a few hours at the Toledo Botanical Gardens [might I add: no admission charge] throwing sticks into a pond. We drove back tonight, all of us a little exhausted because of being thrown off our routine by a night in a hotel room.

Even though I feel a tad stressed as I sit here tonight because of the workload ahead of me, I'm somewhat recharged because I had a great time with my girls. NOThing [emphasis: "Not One Thing"] makes me smile like Kelly and Kaelyn. We have the best times together.

My life . . . is a great life.

X

I had one of those life maps all worked out.

I anticipated that my first decade out of college would be spectacular. It would consist of a quick ascent to ministerial success [clergical rockstardom, if you will] that would afford me opportunities for financial security and national acclaim. I'd be speaking at conferences, writing books— I'd be respected as a ecclesiastical genius.

Yeah, um, didn't quite work out that way.

The reason I start the post concerning our tenth anniversary this way is because I believed I'd be living a totally different life now. If you told that naive young lad in the picture above that he'd be living in the city, pastoring a church of forty people, and living in relative obscurity, he might have ushered himself to the back room and had a good cry. But despite the deviation complete implosion of my ten-year plan there was one thing that kept me sane.

Yes, I had Kelly.

How I convinced that girl that I was worthy of marrying is beyond me. While some might suggest that her acquiescence on August 1, 1998 proves her own mental imbalance, I would agree; you have to be pretty messed up to want to spend the rest of your life with someone like me. But perhaps that's why we get along so perfectly: we're just messed up enough that we offset each other.

I don't mean to boast but [ah, hell, we made it this long so I'm going all out] our marriage is amazing. Sure we have our fights, but we know how to fight. We get it all out and then move on, usually laughing at each other within minutes. Kelly is a constant encourager [which I need more than I realize] and she enjoys the little things in life which are easy for me to provide. She never hesitates to go along with my crazy ideas and has proved it by living in four different places this decade. And, like me, she is passionate for Cincinnati. Not only did she take my last name, by she adopted my hometown and has made it her own.

Obviously, I could write a book about all that my wife has meant to me but the most important thing today is that it doesn't feel like it's been ten years. It feels like we're just getting started in this thing. I still wake up passionately in love with the woman next to me, looking forward to my life with her.

So my ten-year plan didn't work out. But at least I got one thing right, and that was Kelly. Regardless of what happens in the decades to come, I know the person standing by my side is unwavering. And that, my friends, is better than any kind of rockstardom.

And with the way God has provided for me during the past decade, I'm beyond blessed and fully satisfied.

Happy Anniversary, babe.

AB

I've been blessed with two biological brothers, but God has always provided other men that have been like brothers to me. Of those, none can compare my friend Aaron Burgess who is celebrating a birthday today.

I knew Aaron from college and really didn't like him . . . at all. When I took a job at the alma mater, Kelly and I were looking for a home church and Aaron had just become the minister at my grandparent's church. After a lunch together, we decided that his church actually needed us and our friendship was formed. We developed a solid friendship, based on a mutual passions for God, ministry, our wives, and baseball. We supported him through those years, and ministered together until I took a ministry at Aaron's home church.

When we thought about starting a church, Aaron was the first person I talked to and he immediately offered to be a part of it. He and his wife Dorota joined Kelly and me at the very beginning in praying for Echo. And three years later, they've relocated downtown and our committed to the city as much as we are.

The thing I really haven't realized until the past few years is that Aaron is an unbelievable encourager. I almost expect my phone to ring Sunday nights after church; it's Aaron, complimenting my sermon in a brutally honest way. Outside of my family, I have no greater advocate. He selfless wants my success. It's a very good thing to have someone like that in your life.

So thanks for eight good years of friendship, man. And have a Happy Birthday too.

That Sucking Sound . . .

. . . is the sound of a superstar being wooshed away from the city. It looks like Ken Griffey Junior has approved a trade to the Chicago White Sox and the experiment is over.

We were moving into our second apartment in Bridgetown when his trade from Seattle was announced over eight years ago. This was following up an unbelievable 1999 season where the Reds [under Jack McKeon] made it to a one-game playoff to win the Wild Card. It seemed like the pieces were in place and, with a new stadium under construction, I honestly believed that a World Series was in our future.

But it wasn't.

Junior was often injured. His conspiring with Barry Larkin led to Jack Mack's ousting. The owner of the franchise went cheap, until he gave Larken a ridiculous contract extension that hand-cuffed this team.

It's been eight miseable years. I really didn't have too many problems with what Griffey did on the field. He was injured: not much you can do about that. But I would offer that in his time here in Cincinnati, he held back the franchise to the extent that his absence will be better for everyone.

While I appreciate the athletic brilliance of Griffey [mostly displayed before he arrived in Cincinnati], he was not worth the price. Griffey is an amazing ballplayer, but he is not a leader. In fact, in my opinion, he is a leadership vacuum. Barry Larken deferred in his leadership after Griffey showed-up, almost expecting the superstar to take the lead. But he didn't; that's not his style. Even though Sean Casey didn't produce enough on the field to warrant his [at the time] large salary, he should have been retained for his leadership abilities alone. Who's the leader on this team? Griffey's presence trumped everything: he can't lead and he really can't be a follower. But as a superstar, he was always the center of attention.

As the Reds continued to bring in young players who needed someone to guide them, management brought in managers that could not overcome the leadership vacuum created by Griffey. Jerry Narron benched Edwin Encarnacion for not running out a flyball last year. That's why Griffey wasn't too keen Griffey did the same thing on multiple occasions last year and nothing happened to him. McKeon demanded that out of Griffey and he was run out of town [to Florida . . . where he won a World Series]. When you have a system with two sets of rules, there can be no unity. And the ballclub has suffered.

Depending on what happens to Dunn, I think that Brandon Phillips is primed to emerge as the on-field leader of this team. No way this would've been possible with Junior here. And, perhaps, this will allow Dusty Baker to be a little more harsh with this club. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.

I have no ill-feelings for Griffey. In Chicago he'll have a more demanding manager who is the undisputed leader of that team. It'll probably be good for him.

It's the end of a Reds era. And I'm ready to move on.

UPDATE:

With Adam Dunn traded to the Diamondbacks, this truly is the end of an era in Reds baseball. I would just suggest that this makes it even more important that Edinson Volquez pan out to be a perennial All-Star pitcher. Otherwise, the Josh Hamilton trade is even more of a disaster with the state of the Reds' outfield.

Friday Foto

Busy. Crazy busy. That's my life right now. Eventually I'll update on my teaching effort, but I'm getting ready to start another class next week. For two weeks, the classes will overlap and I will struggle to post anything substantive here. But I'll drop a little something here and there. For instance:

This is a pic I took earlier in the summer downtown.They have a great kids area where the water is abundant . . . and colorful. Fountain Square is becoming one of Kaelyn's favorite Cincinnati spots.

The girls are off to Lexington. I have a wedding to perform tonight so I'm going to do that, hammer down my tasks for Sunday, and meet them there tomorrow morning.

Busy, but very, very happy.

Isn't She Lovely

My wife is amazing.

No one action leads me to make that observation. It's just that, in every aspect if our relationship, she always comes through without failing. She's absolutely wonderful.

That's all.

Smile [because they say so]

One of Kaelyn and mine's day-together activities is stopping by Sam's Wholesale Club to eat a pretzel. The food is cheap and delicious— two things I can definitely get behind. We went today, not just for soft-pretzel delight, but also to pick up a bulk order of diapers.

Those of you familiar with "the Sam's way" know that, when you leave, they check your receipt against the items in your cart to ensure that you haven't shoplifted anything (I still find it somewhat hilarious that I belong to a club that assumes I'm a thief. But those pretzels and bulk pricing make me overlook the infringement of my rights). The door-checker person then takes their highlighter (usually yellow) and runs a line through the receipt giving you final permission to leave their store.

This is peculiar enough, unless you have children. Then the door-checker person goes one step further.

Before I describe this, I at first assumed that this practice was native to one rogue highlighter, or perhaps a weird policy limited to my local store. But then I went to another Sam's Club and the exact same thing happened, so I'm pretty sure it's company policy.

You see, when the door-checker person sees that you have a small child with them, they release their inner-Picasso and use their highlighter to craft a drawing for your child. It doesn't matter if there's a line of people waiting behind you, they draw the kid a picture. Most of the times, it's a smiley face. But if the door-checker listens to NPR, they'll perhaps draw an entire stick figure for your child. Nevermind that they're using a highlighter so it's impossible for most mammals to even recognize that there's anything there at all, let alone a picture. Finally, the door-checker proudly hands it to the kid, announcing, "here you go, sweetie."

Kaelyn's not very old and still amuses easily, but she has yet to be impressed with any door-checker artwork. Why they tell these people to draw highlighter pictures for kids is still confusing to me.

But even though this is awkward enough, the thing that still amazes me about this practice is that THEY USE THE BACK OF YOUR RECEIPT TO DRAW THE PICTURE. I'm not sure if they fully recognize that the point of the receipt is that it validates your purchase if you need to return it. It is not a canvas, nor is it something that should be awarded to my child. I need that piece of paper, but you drew all over it and gave it to a two-year old. What if (for some insane reason) my child actually loves that little piece of art you made? Then I have to wrestle it away from her just in case I need to return those 100 rolls of paper towels.

In the end, I suggest that you either get another piece of paper or just screw it all and hand out lollipops. My daughter draws better than you and I just want to go home.

Father's Day Hook-Up

.Less than a week to go on my intensive Xavier class, so there are some things I haven't caught up with yet. One of them would be acknowledging the Father's Day greatness bestowed upon me by the wife and daughter.

They're now playing Diff'rent Strokes reruns on BET and I'll tune in to remember the entertainment of my childhood. Memorial Day Weekend there was a marathon that was DVR-able. The theme song of the show [written/performed by Growing Pain's Alan Thicke] is now a Kaelyn favorite. She loves to dance around to the song. The week before Father's Day she started singing something that I didn't understand and, apparently, it was the Diff'rent Strokes theme song. Kelly was inspired and made me a Father's Day video, a great first attempt at iMovie, by the way.

Although Father's Day was a busy day for us, we had a great time. I love my girls. Check out their video here

PHOTO CREDIT: The photo with this post was taken near Kaelyn's first birthday by Kristin Worthen whose wedding we were privileged to attend last month.

It's Back!

Tuesdays With Kaelyn, that is. Sure, it's been a year since our last contribution [a Mother's Day treat starring Mr T], but another Mother's Day meant that we needed to get back to filming. View the new video by clicking here. Just so you know, the reason we rarely make these anymore is that Kaelyn would prefer to spend our day-off playing than making videos. Maybe as she gets older, she'll prefer to flex her acting ability instead.

Three Amazing Ladies

First to my mother, who is absolutely amazing. She's the most dedicated servant I've ever known. Second to my mother-in-law, who is absolutely amazing. She's endlessly encouraging and helped to raise my wife to be just as amazing.

And, finally, to the mother of my child, who is absolutely amazing. She may have the least experience of these three, but she is following in the other two's footsteps and giving her all for our family.

Three amazing ladies who make my life wonderful. I'm truly blessed to have you in my life.

Happy Mother's Day.

Fun Run [Part Two]

The nice thing about running the Flying Pig was my home-field advantage. I'm fortunate to live so close to downtown because I was totally familiar with the marathon course. Plus, I was able to see my family twice without too much work for them. Nothing necessarily surprised me during the run, except the totally different sensation of running with thousands of people in the road as opposed to solitary runs on the sidewalk. As I left the fam and proceeded up the second half of the killer hill, I began to have some conversations with other runners. I continually heard people mention how beautiful park and the area was. I'd respond by bragging that I live here and see it everyday. The irony of the conversations was that these same people lusting after our park could probably live her themselves if they really wanted. So in those brief conversations burning up the hill, I felt it was my duty to work public relations for Walnut Hills.

At the top of the hill, I was about 7 miles in so I decided I would get my first drink at the water station. I had absolutely no desire for Gatorade so I tried to avoid it all-together. Of course, unbeknownst to me, I ended up getting some Gatorade and drank it without realizing it. This killed me because, although usually enjoying the beverage, I wasn't used to drinking that stuff while running.

Then came the split were the half-marathoners departed from the full-marathoners at DeSales Corner. That's where the race began to open up and I felt I could actually breathe. Unfortunately, as there were fewer runners, I never found a good pace person to track down. I think I actually ended up slowing down a little on this stretch. I probably lost some time there.

But then I started the descent down Gilbert Avenue. It was here that my knee started acting up a little, but at least I knew that I'd be passing in front of our condo soon. I saw Kaelyn at the distance. She was having fun running up and down the sidewalk [something we don't let her do regularly because of the traffic flying by on the street]. I picked her up, got a kiss, said a few words and went down the hill for the last couple miles.

As I hit Central Parkway I finally started to feel a little tired. There's a section of Central were you basically have to backtrack, meaning that you run past the turn you'll eventually have to take. And, my knee started to throb, but I knew I only had about a mile to go so I sucked it up.

Running down Eggleston I decided I would push it as hard as I could. I started passing people pretty well. The last turn onto Pete Rose Way [I was doing it all for him] I knew the end was near so I was chugging it pretty hard. As I approached the finish line I could've passed this father and his college-age daughter, but they were having a touching moment so I figured it was well enough and finished a tad slower than I wanted.

As I walked through the masses of finishers I got my free junk and felt pretty good about what I had done. I finished in 2 hours, 6 minutes. I would've like to finish under 2 hours, but I really hadn't set it as a goal or anything. I just wanted to finish and not suck. There were about 350 men in my age group [age 30-34] that ran the half-marathon. I finished at around 200 among them. All-in-all, pretty average. And that was cool.

As I started to walk back to my car, I realized that my day didn't quite work out like I had planned. When I parked the car in the early morning, I had locked my keys and wallet in the car so I wouldn't have to worry about keeping them with me. At that stop in front of our condo, Kelly was going to hand me the key on a rubberband and I would keep it on my wrist to the finish. Of course, the exchange never took place, so I was stuck down by the river with no car key. I happened to see an old college buddy down there who lent me his cellphone. I called Kelly and told her I would just walk the 2.5 miles home.

It was weird to pass people still running the course. I was going the other way, having already finished, and they had a few more miles to go. And for the second time that morning, I was climbing up the hill at Gilbert. I made it to the front door about forty minutes later, went in, and sat down, knowing that I had traversed around almost 17 miles this morning. Another 9 miles, and I would've gone a full marathon.

Oh, and we had church tonight, but I wussed out and decided to sit while I was preaching. My knee is really hurting, but it'll be fine by tomorrow.

Ending thoughts here:

First, I love my city. Cincinnati is awesome. The crowds of people who came out and shout encouragement to people for hours just speaks to the kind of people in our town. That, plus the beauty it possesses, [both natural and man-made structures] are among many things that make me proud to call this place home.

And finally, sitting here typing up these thoughts, I can't help but think if I'll do this again. I'm just not sure. As I admitted before, I really don't like running too much. The accompishment will be fun to reflect on, but I'm still not convinced it's worth the boredom of training.

I mean, if I run the half-marathon again, it would just be to shave off minutes. And, for me, running the full-marathon is still a major time commitment, one I'm not sure I can do while pastoring a church, finishing grad school, and still trying to have some kind of family time. I imagine that I'll wait about ten years, hit a point in my 40's where I'm looking for a new challenge, and give it a go then.

But at the end of the day, I had a blast. And even if I don't run, I'm already looking forward to the Flying Pig next year.

Fun Run [Part One]

OK, so I thought I'd let you know about my day running the Flying Pig Half Marathon. It's a little lengthy [so much so that I made it a two-parter], but I want to get it all down so I can remember how it went. So if you wade through all of this, you must really like me. I went to bed early last night. Fearing that I might sleep through my alarm, I set the alarm on my cellphone. Good thing, since the volume on my clock radio was muted. If I didn't have my back-up, I'd probably would have slept right through. Fortunately, I had all my stuff laid out and was out the door in five minutes.

I parked on the eastern side of downtown, since the race ended over there by the Reds stadium. I found a nice space right in front of P&G and proceeded to walk almost three-quarters of a mile over towards Paul Brown Stadium. I had planned on meeting my friend John who was running the full marathon, but just couldn't find him. I practically walked all around the stadium looking for him. I finally gave up, which was probably a good thing since Kelly said he was smoking me. So I ended up navigating the course solo.

The scene at the starting line was hilarious. Some people were loose, some people were incredibly serious. The lines at the port-o-lets were insane. You were supposed to stand near the area where you projected you would finish. I figured it would take me 2 hours, 15 minutes, but didn't bother pushing to get that close, so I hung out at the 2 hour, 30 minute starting group. The closer it got to the actual start time, the more people surged forward. As it started getting past 6:30 and we were still standing around, an anxious tension worked through the crowd. Then the word came through about a fire down on Eastern Avenue. It not only delayed the beginning of the race but proceeded to add some extra length to the full-marathon course [lucky them].

Almost fifteen minutes later, the race finally started. It took me 7 minutes just to get to the starting line. Once I hit it, I started a slow, somewhat annoying jog. I was just trying to find space to work through the crowd. What really ticked me off was the large number of walkers who were consuming space. Don't get me wrong: I don't mind that people wanted to walk the course, but they shouldn't be ahead of people trying to run. It was all I could do not to run into people.

Before I knew it, I was in Northern Kentucky. In my training runs, I never drank water before six miles in so I avoided the early water stations all together, which helped save me some time. I spent the first four miles weaving in and out of people, using other people to keep a good pace, and making decent time. As I headed down Seventh Street, I found a guy I used to play soccer with; I hung with him for about a mile. Unfortunately, the late start gave the sun more time to come up so the straightaway through downtown, while very awesome, was blinding. The end of seventh began Gilbert Avenue [my home turf] and I was more than ready for the big hill. Plus, I knew that Kelly and Kaelyn would be waiting for me halfway up at the entrance to Eden Park.

As I reached the intersection there were my girls with our friends Paul and Carol. They had made some signs for me. This is what greeted me:

Yeah, that #11018 was my marathon number. I stopped and chatted for a little more than a minute with them and began my trek through the park.

I'll come back with part two to let you know how the race ended up.

Just Overheard On The Baby Monitor

Our napping-though-partly-awake daughter singing the following Rihanna lyric: "Um-brella . . . ella . . . Ay! Ay! Ay! My um-brella . . . ella . . . Ay! Ay! Ay!"

Good Enough For Me

I know I shouldn't do it, but I continually gravitate towards comparative living. I define "comparative living" as reflecting on your life by putting up against someone else's. Basically, if there's anyone that I know that is from a similar background as me, and has taken a similar career path to that of my own, then I will critique where I am in comparison to them. I'm not convinced it's a healthy way to live life. It's a constant problem I struggle with.

I'll admit that I engaged in some comparative living this afternoon. Kelly was in the office so, on our day-off together, Kaelyn and I drove to Bright, Indiana to help out my sister-in-laws preschool. I did some songs for the kids on my guitar. There was about forty or so total kids for the sing-along.

SIDENOTE: working a crowd of kids at a Christian preschool is tough. They're really not the laughing type. Sure, I could have said the word "poop" which would have earned some laughs, but I didn't want to leave Mandi a mess to clean up after we left [I mean, from concerned parents because of my potty language. It's not like there would have been any actual feces involved].

As I drove back to the city, with Kaelyn knocked out in the backseat, I thought of other guys in ministry my age who have "arrived." I'm not quite sure I can quite relate to that process of arriving. Instead of speaking in front of thousands on a Sunday morning, or traveling across the country to do a book signing, I'm singing "Shake a Friends Hand" to a bunch of preschoolers.

Not exactly where I envisioned being after ten years of ministry. This is when I lust after what others have. Not their possessions, but their influence. I feel as if I could be doing more but am relegated to lower tasks, like playing songs for children.

But something that happened earlier in the afternoon helped me reevaluate my constant comparisons.

When I went to sing to the preschoolers, Kaelyn didn't like it. In fact, she hated the idea of sharing her daddy. She burst into tears, breaking into her hyperventalating cry. Eventually she had to be taken out of the room by Mandi. When I was finally finished with the songs, Kaelyn came back in. I picked her up and she nuzzled into my neck and immediately stopped sobbing. It was in this occurence that I had the epiphanal moment of my day:

This . . . kid . . . loves . . . me.

She doesn't give a rip what I do as long as it's with her. It's an unbelievable feeling— something that brings a wave of contentment into my life, driving the jealousy and envy from my soul. I don't know who else has this feeling, but I imagine there are a lot of people who would covet it.

And that should be good enough for me.

Tuesdays Are Gone

Some of you have commented to me that you miss Tuesdays With Kaelyn [if you're unfamiliar with our video series, an example can be found here]. I thoroughly enjoyed making the videos, but we've hit an extensive dry patch, with almost a year since the last video. This is not without reason. Among them:

1. Kelly no longer works in the office on Tuesdays. Wednesday is now our day together. This is probably not a legitimate excuse, but Wedensdays With Kaelyn doesn't have the same ring.
2. Kaelyn isn't quite as cooperative. Believe it or not, it was easier to film her when she was younger. She's still a ham but she tends to pull back whrn the camera's on.
3. I'm lazy. Since she's more active we have a lot more fun. Today [yes, Kelly switched here work day to Thursday this week] we went to the UDF in Mount Adams to eat a bagel. Then we went over to the playground by Playhouse in the Park and had a great time. Since we're always doing something, there's a lot less time for video editing, especially if I want to get any work done while she's napping.
4. Other projects in development. Kaelyn and I are actually working on a more extensive project that is taking awhile. It might not offer the instant gratification of a Tuesdays video, but I'm excited about it.

We do have some videos that I need to get online sometime soon. I'll try working on them in the next week or so. Until then, here's a picture I took on my Mac while we were sitting here watching some soccer. While I type, she was just chillin' with me.

I think that demonstrates that, Tuesdays or not, we have a great time.