Somehow, seven years have passed since Dawn and I said our vows and started our life together. It would be foolish of me to pretend that we've always been perfectly happy, or that we haven't had moments where we wanted to punch each other, or that marriage has proved to be an easy endeavor.

But I can say this, at least: for me, the good moments have far outweighed the bad and the difficult. And when I look at Dawn, I still see the girl who seemingly out of nowhere sent me head over heels in love and changed my outlook on life in an instant. I still can't believe that she ended up going out with me, much less marrying me, and occasionally, as we sit in the living room together in the evening, it strikes me that there's nothing nicer in life than to just be with her.

I'm blessed beyond anything that I deserve, that's for sure, and all I can do is humbly thank God for giving me such a wonderful, beautiful wife.

Oops. Forgot about this blog.

Hard as it is to believe, our little girl turns one today. Somehow, a year has passed since that morning where Dawn surprised me in the wee hours of the morning with news that BABY WAS COMING NOW.

In one sense, a year is a long time. A lot can happen in a year. Just look at how much Adriana has grown and how much more she can do now than she could do one year ago today! But in another sense, a year is nothing at all. Will is already four and halfway through preschool. Dawn and I are coming up on our seventh wedding anniversary in April, which is amazing considering that I'm pretty sure that it's impossible that seven years have passed since we got married. It's all a blur.

Many, many things have changed in our lives over the last seven years, but one thing has remained constant: God has been good to us. He has consistently provided for us; not always in ways that we would expect or hope for, but He has always met our needs.

Those of you who know me well know that I'm something of an anxious sort to begin with from time to time, and goodness knows that we're living in very uncertain times economically and socially. I spend a lot of time these days worrying for my kids - what kind of world is going to greet them when they reach adulthood? What kind of country will they live in? Will I be able to instill a lasting faith in their lives? Will they be able to withstand the onslaught of culture that seeks to undermine that faith? And I worry, and fret, and shed a few tears. The good thing about all of this is that it usually ends up driving me to my knees, to the one place that I can go with all of my fears and worries and anxiety about life: before the throne of God. And that always reminds me that no matter how messed up things may be here, no matter how out of control I may feel, no matter how daunting the challenge that faces me, ultimately there is nothing that happens that falls outside the sovereignty of God. There is a plan. And there is a God who is powerful enough to triumph over evil and chaos; who has, in fact, already done so. And He is strong enough to hold my baby and my little boy in His hands, no matter how hard the world tries to snatch them away.

Adriana - may God bless you as you grow. May He give you an enduring faith in Him, and may you always place your hope and your trust in Jesus. I love you so much! Happy birthday, sweet bear!

How wonderful to see Grandma again this year at the family Christmas party, and how wonderful for Andie to have a chance to see her Grandma Great again, and to show off her new Care Bear! It's still bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter...

A couple of real doozies from Mr. Will this evening:

• we're on the way to church this evening for the Wednesday night dinner extravaganza, and Will took Lansing bear along (that's the bear (that's what was on the menu). "No," Will replied, "Lansing wants to eat some bear food." I was curious, so I asked what bear food was. "It's what bears eat." I decided I needed to be more specific. Will, what's in bear food? "Nothing." End of conversation.


• Dawn and I were just making Will's bed so he could hit the sack for the evening, and he was having a grand old time telling us his "jokes" and generally being crazy. At some point, the conversation turned to the possibility of putting a bunk bed in his room and turning it into the kids room, and moving the computer desk back into Andie's room, which had been the "office" before we had kids. Will was very enthused about getting a bunk bed, and spent a good deal of time telling us about how he was going to sleep way up on the top bunk.
  
  We finished getting his bed ready and it was time for his bedtime prayer. So he kneeled down by the side of the bed and started a typical Will prayer where he thanks God for his mommy who loves him very much, for his little sister, for Noah's Ark preschool, etc. And all of the sudden he breaks away from the regular format to ask a question of the Lord: "Wait wait wait! Would it be ok if I asked to have a bunk bed in my room? Really? I can have one? OK! Thanks! In Jesus' name, AMEN."
  
  Yeah, Will went over mommy and daddy's heads, and appears to have gotten the go-ahead from God himself to get a bunk bed for his room. Faith like a child, indeed.

It's an adventure at our house sometimes.

One more, then it's off to bed.

That was Will's exclamation whenever he filled a square on his Thanksgiving Feast Fruit Loop Bingo Card. Here he is mid WOOOOO:

Dawn has started the FlyLady program again, so when I got home there was the distinct smell of cleaning going on. Upon investigation, it was the bathroom that was sparkling, and she was quite pleased with herself for having gotten all of the bath toys cleaned, soaked in bleach, etc. This was additional motivation for me to clean out the shower drain, which occasionally needs to be... cleaned out, in order to flow nicely.

We even took down the vent cover and washed that and dusted for cobwebs, something that we may never have done (at least in the corner above the toilet). All that to say that while the rest of the house may currently be in disarray, a great deal of pride was taken in the bathroom this evening.

Tonight, coincidentally, was also bath night, and about 30 minutes ago, Will and Andie began the maiden voyage in the sparkling clean tub. They were doing their typical splashing about, and I had just finished up my first lesson toward my DVD Studio Pro certification and had begun washing dishes, when I got the dreaded "honey, come here and look at this."

It was a poop bomb lined with grape-chunk projectiles. And in the middle of the greenish-tinted water with little chunks of grape floating around her was the lovely Adriana, looking just as innocent as an angel. If it wasn't for the little pile under her, she would have gotten away with it, too.

So Will hopped out, we set Andie on a towel, and mommy proceeded to empty the tub (slowly - there's that drain again) and began to clean up the poop while daddy tried to keep Andie from crawling out of the bathroom, a task he quickly gave up on, seeing as how she was basically dry and it's funny to watch her bickets moving on down the hallway.

Sorry, no photos!

I'm wide awake.



I'm not sleeping.

Tonight was the Acton Annual Dinner, and Dawn was hands down the best looking girl in the room.

Woo hoo! I'm a lucky guy.