I will praise the Lord at all times.

I will constantly speak his praises.

I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart.

Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together.

I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.  He freed me from all my fears. Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.  In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; he saved me from all my troubles. For the angel of the Lord is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.  Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need. Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.

Come, my children, and listen to me, and I will teach you to fear the Lord. Does anyone want to live a life that is long and prosperous? Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies! Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.

The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right; his ears are open to their cries for help. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil; he will erase their memory from the earth.

The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time. For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken!

Calamity will surely overtake the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished. But the Lord will redeem those who serve him. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Psalm 34, New Living Translation

I’m casting my cares aside
I’m leaving my past behind
I’m setting my heart and mind on You, Jesus

I’m reaching my hand to Your’s
Believing there’s so much more
Knowing that all you have in store for me is good, is good

Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
And I won’t worry about tomorrow
I’m trusting in what You say
Today is the day

I’m putting my fears aside
I’m leaving my doubts behind
I’m giving my hopes and dreams to You, Jesus

I’m reaching my hand to Your’s
Believing there’s so much more
Knowing that all you have in store for me is good, is good

Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
And I won’t worry about tomorrow
I’m trusting in what You say
Today is the day

I will stand upon Your truth
(I will stand upon Your truth)
And all my days I’ll live for You
(And all my days I’ll live for You)

Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
And I won’t worry about tomorrow
I’m giving You my fears and sorrows
Where You lead me I will follow
I’m trusting in what You say
Today is the day

Lincoln Brewster, “Today Is The Day”

I’m a scripting function, short and stout
Here is my handler, here is my out
When a method calls me, hear me shout
“Strip those slashes and print without!”

Credit goes to Scott for his amazing creativity.

1. I love how she often debates between tea and hot chocolate.
2. I love her preference need for the oval-shaped pills, not the round ones.
3. I love her little piles of rosebush clippings spread about the yard (laid straight and neat, though, mind you).
4. I love that she can eat an entire meal without taking a single sip of water, despite my constant reminders.
5. I love that she absolutely loves food.
6. I love that she continues to play Carcassonne with me despite the fact that I have crushed her every game (save one) for the last two years (and especially in last night’s game, I beat her by 59 points).
7. I love that she seems to be allergic to taking out the garbage and the diaper pail contents.
8. I love that she likes to sing me the theme song from “North & South”.
9. I love that her head lines up right with my chest.
10. I love that she tells me what I like (”You like it and you know it!”).
11. I love that she is an amazing mother.
12. I love that she is an amazing wife.

I love you, sweetheart/PWPP/MT/BB!

Well, apparently Renée didn’t like that I was singing, as it had disturbed her slumber, so she quietly and politely “shushed” me back to sleep, where I just basically stopped singing, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

P.S. And I’m thankful… sleep is a precious commodity for us these days!

• Diapers for Noah
• Diapers for Samuel
• Wipes
• Extra change of clothes for Noah
• Extra change of clothes for Renée
• Bib for Noah
• Bib for Samuel
• Burp clothes for Noah
• Formula for Noah
• Formula warming container
• Ice pack
• Noah’s medicine (on ice)
• Syringe
• Infusion pump
• A/C power adapter for pump
• Collapsible pole
• Feeding bag
• Gastrostomy tube for Noah
• Blanket for Noah
• Blanket for Samuel
• Cell phone
• Daddy and Mommy’s brains
• … and sanities

(and in case you were wondering, this list is really for our benefit, because we are prone to lose paper amidst all the rest of the craziness ’round these parts!)

Have a wonderful day today, my bride!

Or, read the original story.

Mark: “It sounds so weird when there’s no birds chirping outside; it’s really relaxing when they chirp.”
Renée: “Yes, I have always wondered, where do they go all winter?  Mexico?”
Mark: “The southern hemisphere, where’s it’s summer.”
Renée: “Oh, okay, so Mexico.”
Mark: “Uh, no.”
Renée: “I mean, Chile!  Chile!”
Mark: <laughs>
Renée: “Looks like you’re going to be teaching our children history, too!”
Mark: “You mean, geography?”
Renée: “Uhhh… yeah!”

Thursday morning started with an ultrasound of Noah’s head to check for any abnormalities, just as a precaution, since he has yet to master the coordination between breathing, sucking, and swallowing, making it very difficult for him to eat. Thankfully, the ultrasound came back completely normal, showing no abnormalities. We as his parents were able to breathe a sigh of relief… for a moment.

Early Thursday afternoon, Renée received a call from the hospital asking for both her and I to be available for a consultation. Renée wanted to know what the need was, and the nurse explained that she and several other nurses had reason to think that Noah showed signs of Down’s, cerebral palsy, or other disorder, and that one (or more) of these was to explain his slowness in learning to eat. They wanted to have a geneticist come by to examine Noah and run some tests to make sure everything was okay.

Of course, this sent Renée and I into hysterics. Despite the nurses trying to console us by noting that the tests were only precautionary, every single possibility ran through our head of what could be wrong. It’s difficult when the suggestion is made to simply discount it and put it out of our heads.

Needless to say, we didn’t sleep exceptionally Thursday night. Since we’re still slightly sick with colds, Renée’s mom and my dad went to the hospital when the geneticist came by Friday afternoon to examine Noah.

An older gentleman, the geneticist is very well-respected in his field and is nationally-renowned. After his 40-minute examination of Noah, he turned to talk to my father and mother-in-law. He explained that from his examination of Noah, there were over 350 diagnoses that he could completely rule out. He concluded that everything about Noah was completely normal and there was nothing noteworthy at all to even warrant further testing. He mentioned that his jaw was perhaps slightly underdeveloped and that his tongue was slightly large, but anyone who knows me and Renée know that those traits are inherited (bless his heart, poor kid). Those two things may be reason enough for his difficulties in eating, but just require time and more practice to get better.

What an answer to prayer! All of my family felt as though a gigantic burden had been lifted from our shoulders. We are so thankful that God is continuing to protect our little boy and grow him up. He IS drawing us to our knees to show us that He is in control.

Frankly, this is really, really hard. Every single day is a struggle. But like I mentioned before, God is carrying us through everything.

On another note, since Renée turns 30 on Saturday (happy birthday, sweetheart), I thought it would only be fitting to surprise her with something she’d never expect. Thursday night, her best friend Tiffany flew in from Houston and walked through the front door to surprise Renée with a much needed hug and much-needed company; she’s here with us until Sunday. Actually planned since early December, her visit comes at an opportune time to help us with everything.

Please everyone continue to appeal to our Father for His help in our time of need. We continue to appreciate all the support we’ve received from family and friends!

For those who don’t know, on Friday, January 11, around 11:50am, Renée, my brother Scott, Samuel, and I were involved in a car accident while heading westbound on Lomas right in front of the University hospital here in Albuquerque (I was driving). Someone traveling eastbound was attempting to turn left into the hospital parking lot by sneaking through two lanes of stopped westbound traffic, but we were in the right-lane, which was flowing freely. This person tried to cross and was too late for us to avoid hitting her, so we ended up t-boning the vehicle.

It’s our belief that our Toyota Camry gave up the ghost (the other driver’s car was worse); fortunately, though, everyone else is okay, save for myself; I have airbag “road-rash” burns on my neck and lower-right cheek, as well as some hearing loss in my left ear from the explosion of the airbag and the impact. Unfortunately, since Renée was 34 weeks pregnant, they took her and I to Presbyterian hospital in an ambulance for observation.

The trauma from the accident sent Renée into premature labor, five weeks early. So, after 20 hours of labor, at 8:39am January 12, 2008, Renée delivered naturally a beautiful, healthy, 5 lb. 10 oz., 17.5″ long……

Baby Boy!

So Noah Paul Horlbeck entered this world with a crash! Unfortunately, He is having some slight difficulties breathing and eating and is currently in the neonatal intensive care unit, so please continue to pray for his health. He’s already been there for a week; we’re praying it’s not much longer.

The Lord has provided for us in amazing ways this past week, so thank you again to everyone who has supported us so much during the traumatizing time—your prayers had everything to do with helping us through! Although we’re one car down, we’re one family member up and our spirits are high!

Check out Flickr for pictures. Check out Scott’s blog for another tantalizing version of the story.

Things are still pretty much going as they were.  Renée, Sammy and I had a lovely Thanksgiving in Houston with her family.  I can honestly say I haven’t been at that large of a table with that many family members before.  In addition, Sammy learned how to scale the slide at the playground and say the word, “Momma.”  Big news from this little boy!

I only have two more weeks of work until the winter break.  I’ve been trying to figure out what my break is going to look like this year and I think the word “break” describes it perfectly.  I’ve been working a lot as of late and I’m ready to do nothing except be with my family and relax.   (And, of course, I’m sure the occasional house project will creep up.  It always does.)

I’ll write more soon about a specific topic rather than this general one.  This is just to get this thing refreshed a little bit.  Until next time…

This came after our normal Bible time with Samuel.  Every night before Sammy’s bedtime, all three of us get together on the couch.  I read a chapter of Scripture and then we go around and repeat one thing that stood out to us as we listened to God’s Word.  (There’s the extra caveat that you have to remember something unique—so if it’s already been said, you better have something else!)  We go from youngest to oldest, with me as the reader last.  Samuel is always very happy to point to the picture of Jesus on the wall; Renée and I then discuss the things we remember.

Afterwards, we often sing a song or two, but then we always pray.  We thank the Lord for the blessings of the day and pray through our struggles.  We lift up our friends and family and trust God with our issues.  It’s a very relaxing and peaceful time to lay our burdens before the King and acknowledge His place in our lives.

Normally, Samuel sits still on my lap with his blanket over him while I pray.  But tonight, for whatever reason, he wanted to sit next to Mom.  I’m only a moment into our prayer—head slightly bowed, eyes closed—when I suddenly feel a pair of little lips upon mine.  I open my eyes and see Sammy smiling at me, only an inch from my face.  I thank him and we continue praying.  I keep one eye open and see him lean over and give Momma a kiss.  She thanks him too, and we continue praying, eyes closed.  (At least, Renée and I had our eyes closed.)

Suddenly, I feel a hand on my cheek push me in—and my lips meet my wonderful wife’s.  Sammy had also pushed in her face to mine!  We both giggled a little bit and pulled apart, only to be immediately pushed back together by Sammy, who had a huge smile on his face.  Again, we embrace then pull apart…

…only to be brought together by Sammy yet again!

This continued for several more kisses, and then we stopped praying with a hearty, “Amen”.  It was so sweet to have our little boy kiss us, but it was even sweeter to see him delight in Renée and I kissing.  So, we did indeed say, “Thanks,” both to our little cutie-pie, and to our own Dad.

Which leads me to two other blessings that I have experienced with my family. One is Bible time. Every night before Sammy goes to bed, we read a chapter out of the Bible and go around, youngest to oldest, and ask for one thing that each person remembers. Sammy is getting pretty good at remembering that we read about “Jesus” by pointing to the painting on our wall. Then, I get to hear also what Renée learned from the Scripture. We’ve read through almost the entire book of Psalms (only one week’s worth left) and it’s great to just remember a single thing from Scripture that God has impressed upon our hearts through the reading. For me tonight, it was the fact that we run to God so He can “hide” us from our enemies and our sin. What a neat concept! We then pray and thank the Lord for the day and ask Him to help us obey Him better. We all need as much help as we can get.

The second blessing is so fun: being together, the three (four) of us on the couch after we pray, and just loving on one another. Tonight Samuel kept putting his hand on my head and making me “bow” my head like I would when we pray. When I put my head down, I’d pull him toward me and start munching on his tummy, and he’d laugh like crazy! He also grabs my ears and makes me look like a monkey, and laughs. And there’s nothing quite so sweet as seeing him lean over and kiss the baby in Renée’s tummy.

As Renée was carrying him off to his crib tonight, he looked at me, waved, then smiled, and blew me a kiss. I tell you again, nothing is so sweet as the blessing the Lord has given me through my family.

Although we haven’t gotten a ton of sleep, we’ve been having a pretty good time.  We arrived late Wednesday night; we’ve been running lots and lots of errands since then.  We had a fun time at the bachelors’ party Thursday night, and Joash got a lot of poetry-reading in.  (We also pigged out on sushi.  I was amazed at how much Bowen and Rock ate.)

Last night was the rehearsal and the dinner, which was a ton of fun.  All of their friends and family are so fun to be around, it’s likes an instant family, which very well represents their church.  I even got to play a little bocce ball at the park last night, creaming Scott and Steve five-to-one.  Rock, rock on!

So today is it.  Joash and Matthea tie the knot.  Then we get to party.  The hardest thing about this wedding is not having my bride here with me.  I miss them terribly!

Tomorrow and Monday Scott are I sight-see around Vancouver and Seattle, and then it’s back to hot, dry Albuquerque.  We’ve had a lot of fun, though, and I have certainly improved my driving skills.  It’s going to be hard to go back to the States now!

This was a good reminder to me of things that I’ve been trying to grasp lately. I’ve been rereading Don Miller’s “Searching For God Knows What”, and it’s been intriguing how much he advocates the idea of a relationship with Jesus, versus simply obeying rules. For some reason, with God, my human tendency is to always try and simplify things down into that common set of rules, of do’s and do not’s, when in reality, it should be more like the rest of my friendships. I long to speak and listen more naturally to Jesus, as I would Renée or any good friend.

I think I’m still trying to break old habits that I learned as a child. You see, when you’re a child, you really don’t have any idea of the importance of relationships. In fact, sometimes I think that ignorance was bliss: you’re friends with someone because you like doing the same things together. You explore together, ride bikes, play together, and all the while bonds of friendship form that can last a lifetime.

Why is it, however, that every time I mess up or sin, I feel like God is no longer going to be my friend? Why do I feel like the relationship is done for? That’s not even how human relationships work (well, the healthy ones), and this is the Lord, who is infinitely greater than us. I want my relationship with Christ to be similar in appearance to my other relationships, but of course as deep as the Lord can take me where I’m am at. I’d love, in the simple things I do, to talk with and work with Christ as if He’s right next to me.

I think it’s only when I start living in this way, and treating my relationship with Jesus so, that my life can be radically changed. For if I’m investing so much in doing this, I’m going to start seeing things the way Christ does (for I cannot but help to be influenced by Jesus) and have him help me change my life.  I can become secure in my identity as God’s child and start living purposefully without focused concern for my own wellbeing.

So after I chided Renée, I apologized by taking away all her food (just kidding).  Now we’re going to try to take a little bit more relational approach to our prayer times.  And I’ll just keep getting her all the donuts and pizza she wants.

Just thought you all should know.

So, Renée started doing some research online and came up with several possibilities.  She even started checking eBay to see if anything was available for cheap.

Last week, she and Sammy came to the office to have lunch with me, and we were chatting with my coworker about bikes.  He mentioned that he had one that his little girl used—in fact, the exact type that Renée had found online!  He mentioned that it was too small for her now, so I asked if he might allow us to borrow it to see if we like it; we could pay him for it if so.

The next day, my coworker brought the bicycle seat in; I took it home and attached it up to my bike right away.  I went out and bought Sammy a helmet and got him all geared up to go.  Renée, Sammy, myself, and Renée’s mom all went out to the parking lot behind the West Mesa Aquatic Center for our test run.  The verdict was:

Sammy likes it!

Thus, the last two nights, all three of us have been tooling around the neighborhood and having a blast.  We even attempting driving up the I-40 pedestrian overpass tonight, with great success.  I thus foresee many summer evenings trips to McDonald’s for a little “refreshment” in the form of ice cream.  Thanks so much for the seat, Nick!

We then headed over to your and my favorite bulk-shopping paradise for a few needed items.  As we were checking out, the checker noticed that Sammy was being particularly cute and tied a balloon around his wrist, and boy was he excited!  Every time that we have visited a grocery store or any other fine establishment with balloons, he goes nuts pointing at them all and exclaiming in his refined English, “Unh!  Unh!  Unh!”  So, tonight was a very special treat for him—and he enjoyed playing with it all the way home.

My night was made as we finished Bible and prayer time.  As I said, “Goodnight,” to Samuel, he leaned over to me and planted a big slobbery kiss right on my lips.  It was so sweet.  He is such a blessing to us and he makes us so proud!

But now, my eyes are crossing so I shall be on my way to the land of sweet slumber.  One more day until the weekend!

“What’s so funny?” I managed to mumble out.

Amidst more non-stop laughter, Renée managed to get out, “My mom… she’s… a hippopotamus!”

Of course, I was amused at this, smiling as I tried to go back to sleep.  But it was what Renée said next that made me laugh out loud:

“I feel… so sorry for her… … … sorta!”

Now, as everyone knows by now, this is not an uncommon occurrence in our household.  Some of the most memorable one-liners [known to man] have happened via Renée sleep-talking.  Usually, I smile, try and remember what she said (because I know she won’t), and then drift back to sleep.

Poke.

This time was different.  “Didn’t you hear what I said?”

Poke.

“Why aren’t you answering me?  I’m talking to you!”

Poke.

By now, I’m trying to contain my laughter over the fact that I have now been poked three times by Renée—in her sleep!  Of course, she’s very upset in her dream that whoever she was talking to was not answering her, but she just happened to poke me outside of the dreamworld.

Most importantly, the survey is presented as a resource to help Christian girls (and guys), not a list of legalistic rules, and it is accompanied by the Modesty Survey Petition (which tons of guys have signed) which encourage young women to focus on the heart, not the hemline, to honor their parents, etc.

TheRebelution.com presents the results of the survey as a big St. Valentine’s Day gift from 1,600 Christian guys to all Christian girls—and I can’t think of a better one!

Go check it out: www.therebelution.com/modestysurvey

But also make sure you spread the word to all your friends. We want as many Christian girls as possible to see it on Valentines Day, so forward the link on.

We were sad to leave our friends, however. We had so much fun while there. We learned how to milk a cow, which is not as easy as you may think. We also got to participate in a turkey slaughter, which was both gross and intriguing at the same time. (For all you hunters out there, it is decently gross to gut the turkey, but not horrible.) I got up on a 25 ft. extension ladder with a hair dryer to melt off a thick layer of ice on their satellite dish for their Internet connection (only to realize later that the real reason that the connection wasn’t working was because the send and receive cables were backwards). I also braved -24° windchill to help chop up a tree that had been downed from the previous week’s ice-storm (which also left 3/4″ of ice on the ground). We also celebrated Greg’s 40th birthday (and in Jewish tradition, when you reach 40, you’re an elder) and gave him lots of gag gifts, as well as the real gift of Carcassonne (Renée and my new favorite game). The rest of the time we spent hanging out in the house with the Dunns, working on schoolwork with the children, and watching Samuel adjust to his new environment: learning to interact with nine other people, learning to climb up and down stairs, and learning to say “thank you” in sign-language.

While we have fun with the Dunns, we are also always so refreshed. It is so relaxing to be on a farm away from the busy city life we’re used to and enjoy simplicity. We celebrated the Sabbath together and enjoyed reading God’s Word as a family, meditating upon what we read, and then celebrating our commonality in Christ together over meals and prayer. Renée and I feel spiritually nurtured and poured into by our conversations with Greg and Kirsten and love discovering the truth of Scripture with them. I guess this just means we’re going to have to plan another trip out to visit their family.

I think we’ll wait until it’s just a tad warmer, though.

As many of you may know, I finally made the “switch” and got myself a shiny new MacBook Pro. I love it. I think it’s a solid-piece of hardware with a pretty solid operating system. So now, on a daily basis, I use Mac OS X at home on the MacBook Pro, Kubuntu Linux 6.10 on my home server, and Microsoft Windows XP on my computer at work. I’m having the fun experience of discovering all the quirks on all three operating systems.

Throughout using the various operating systems, I found a program for Linux that lets me use remote file systems as if they were locally mapped on my computer (called sshfs, using the FUSE framework). This is a totally-awesome program for web development, as it allows me to have a locally-mapped folder that is actually a remote folder. Thus, I can edit and save all of my website-related files from the comfort of my Linux computer, using editors that are locally installed and not resorting to shell editors such as pico/nano or emacs (although I love emacs, even though I’m not knowledgeable of all its whistles and bells).

Most web development programs, such as Dreamweaver, rely on pulling down a copy of the website to your local computer, designing/developing the pages on your local computer, and then pushing them back up to the website. This is fine, but you have to worry about synchronization issues. They also often use slower and insecure protocols like FTP. I now don’t have to worry about those issues since I maintain a separate development server from the production servers, and I do all my editing/testing on a development server specifically set up to be a development server (instead of running a LAMP/MAMP/WAMP installation, for instance).

When I “moved” to Mac OS X, I got excited because underneath the glitz and glimmer it runs FreeBSD, a Unix variant. Linux and Unix, of course, have some shared history, and there was a FreeBSD port of sshfs. Unfortunately, however, it didn’t work on OS X. This was bad news to me since I had gotten used to working with sshfs and having my productivity soar.

Just today, Google announced a port of the underlying framework for sshfs (called FUSE, recall) for Mac OS X. Man, was I excited! I went and downloaded all the source and followed the very tedious instructions for building the silly thing, but in the end, it worked like a charm. This is great news and I plan on following the thread of development closely, as most of the commands only work in the console and are not by any means bug-free. But it does provide a workable solution to a problem that I had before. Thanks, Google!

If any one is still reading by this point, I’m amazed and thankful. Thanks to the geeks in the crowd (I think I counted one, maybe two) and happy coding/developing/etc.!

You see, last week Renée’s best friend Tiffany and her husband Trey came into town for a visit. We were all going to spend a night at a cabin in the east mountains (thanks Andy!) and then return to Albuquerque the next day (you can see where this is going).

After picking up Trey and Tiffany at the airport, we fought rain and snow and cruised over to my parents’ house to drop off Samuel for the night. We then gunned it out of town to the cabin. By the time we arrived, several inches had already fallen, and we all went out to play in the snow–engaging in a short snowball fight and building a tiny, tiny snowman. In the back of my mind, I’m thinking to myself that it was probably not a wise idea to come up here (especially since there’s supposed to be another renter staying Friday night, which meant that we would have to leave no matter what on Friday), but I try to put my fears aside and just relax.

I wasn’t very successful at not worrying (boo to me for not following Matthew 6:33) and didn’t sleep but a couple hours that night… and, I woke up to nearly a foot of snow the next morning.

We weren’t going anyway, that was for sure.

I called the owner of the cabin and he mentioned that he was on his way over in his huge truck to help us out if we needed since things weren’t bad on the roads (i.e., I-40 and Route 66). When he finally arrived, however, he told us that it was extremely slick all the way up the mountain to the cabin, and thus not to worry about leaving. He told us the other renters weren’t going to make it. He then got his stuff together and left us alone for the weekend.

So, finally, Sunday came and the snow stopped. We were able to get out without too much difficulty and make it back to town, despite the numerous road closures in Albuquerque.

We fought the snowy, icy driveway five times (trying to keep what would eventually be around 30″ of snow at bay); we fought a shortage of food (thanks to our next-door neighbor for the awesome pot of chili and other rations); but we had so much fun diving into the snow, knocking snow off trees, drinking lots of hot chocolate, playing some really fun games, and watching several movies.

It won’t be a winter I’ll soon forget, that’s for sure.

The lecture room fell silent and the professor began his lecture. Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, “Here I am God - still waiting.”

It got down to the last minute when the Marine stood up, walked toward the professor and threw his best punch knocking him off the platform and out cold. The Marine went back to his seat and sat down. The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence.

The professor came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine , “What is the matter with you? Why did you do that?”

The Marine calmly replied, “God is busy today protecting America’s soldiers who are protecting your right to behave like an idiot, so He sent me.”

“Borrowed” from David Mozley

Update: please read the following entry.

Now, there’s an additional piece of software on there called PhotoBooth, which is basically a simple webcam picture-snapper. It has some fun effects, though, including “xray”, “comic book”, and more. Of particular interest to us was “dent” and “bulge.” See which one you like best. (Even Samuel got involved!)

The other development is my favorite. Just today at lunch, Samuel learned to wave “Hi!” at us! He knows what his hands are, and when Jess came over this afternoon, he waved “Hi” to her too! This is the first big communication he’s had with us besides smiling, laughing or crying, or turning towards us when we call his name.

Fun times ahead… each month gets better and better!

Renée

1. Back scratches.
Okay, this really is #1… but back scratches are also the only exception to the rule of “It is better to give than receive.” Mark is definitely the most gifted at this. And he reminds me all the time that he is earning jewels in his crown, reaping great rewards in heaven for loving me this way! Other runners up are my mom, Sarah Platypus, cousin Aimée, and my great Aunt Alice.

2. Cosby.
This includes the Cosby Show… the funniest, cleanest show that will ever grace the TV, and Bill Cosby in general. I love his audio CDs. I can so easily relate to it all, it makes me laugh every time. And weren’t Cliff and Claire the cutest, most fun and romantic couple ever on a sitcom? I love the episode where Vanessa sneaks out of the house and Cliff and Claire turn the couch around to face the door and wait for her to come home. And also seeing Claire go off anytime the kids lied to her face - the ultimate offense!

3. Dunkin’ Donuts.
Whether it’s iced or hot, their flavored coffee is simply the best. It’s yummy and cheap. And what could be better than hanging out with the old Pépêres over a chocolate glazed donut and a french vanilla with cream and sugar please? If you know me really well, you also know I despise Starbucks and their burnt, overpriced coffee that makes your clothes wreak like poop after being there for 10 minutes.

4. North and South.
The Emmy Award-winning powerful adaptation of John Jakes’ best-seller tells the story of two families who are geographically and ideologically placed on opposite sides of the war. I watched this mini-series on TV in 1986 and was totally in love with George, played by James Read. I love everything about this movie. The friendship between the two main characters, the costumes, the crazy Southern and Irish accents, the way history is portrayed, the musical score, and all the drAma!

5. American history books.
Can’t get enough of ‘em. Whether I’m learning about wars, people, or how life was lived, I just dig it! Recent history books I’ve read are The Killer Angels, The American Dream (the 1950s), and Founding Mothers: Women Who Raised A Nation.

6. I know it’s only supposed to be 5, but I couldn’t resist including this…. beer, brats and burping! Yes my friends, root beer (IBC is the best), green chile bratwurst and a severe burping contest between my husband and mother is just what I love to do on a Friday night.

Mark

1. Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate is good stuff. I can barely stomach milk chocolate anymore when dark is available. My favorite is Dove; Hershey’s special dark is good, too. The favorite candy bar of the moment is Milky Way Midnight. Mixing a little bit of bitterness with a little bit of sweetness is awesome!

2. Techno
Strictly speaking it’s not the genre “techno”, but that was a good way to kind of lump it all up. Specifically, my favorite is probably vocal trance, but trance and melodic trance do nicely too. I used to love eurodance but it got too bubblegum-ish for me, although many of the chords employed in eurodance songs and the predictable movement is still pretty cool. I can get that with trance too. I quite enjoy much of the drum patterns and the minor chords that trance music employs, and adding voices to it (they have to sing well, of course) just enhances the feeling. Nothing like pumping up the bass when no one is home and blowing my neighbors away.

3. Organization
Seriously, I love to be organized, whether on my computer or with everything else in life. Typically, I will find a reason to program some database to handle my organizational desires—even if it’s only for like three things. I can’t help it!

4. Reading computer programming manuals
You would think that when I go to the library or Barnes & Noble that I would like to read about something other than what I do all day at work and what I come home and inevitably do at home—but I can’t! I love learning about new programming languages, ways to do my work better, new strategies and patterns for programming. I occasionally pick up a computer magazine, though, to see what the latest trends in technology are—even though I usually stay up on it on the web. Sigh. What can I say? Geek through and through.

5. Halo (2, specifically)
Although not as big a guilty pleasure as it once was, I don’t mind playing with friends one bit. These friends are usually Tim and Scott, and sometimes my friend Randall. But I really can’t play with any one who eats, drinks, breathes, and lives Halo because they just have no life and prove it when they slaughter me mercilessly. I rather enjoy just chillin’ with my friends, busting a couple caps and laughing at it all when we’re done. That doesn’t happen when the lifeless Halo dreadnaughts step into the neighborhood. Fo’ shizzle!

6. Getting my toenails clipped
I hate clipping my fingernails. I hate clipping my toenails even more. That’s why I never wear sandals. No, just kidding—they are kept trimmed. But only by my most sacrificial wife. She won’t admit to it here, but guilty pleasure #7 for her is being my toenail cutter! So if she has the opportunity to clear and cut my toenails in an ever-so-precise manner, she’ll jump at it. But only after a shower.

Now, Renée was “tagged” by Jess to put a post up about my top five guilty pleasures, so I’m gonna tag some others and hopefully it’ll make their weblog too: TJ, Scott, Charis, Joash, Mattskee, and David!

“No guilt in life, no fear in death / This is the power of Christ in me / From life’s first cry to final breath / Jesus commands my destiny / No power of hell, no scheme of man / Can ever pluck me from His hand / ‘Till He returns or calls me home / Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand”

I must say that I have not been living my life in the manner that this song speaks. I feel like my life has been weak, fearful–fearful that the power of hell or a scheme of man could pull me from right relationship with God. But to live with abandon to the cares of the world and to live fully as Christ commands me to live–I can only imagine what that might look like! Making decisions that take my family from the status quo of the world and all its ways and instead plants us by “streams of living water”, by the throne of Christ–those are the decisions that I want to make.

After a good Christmas with Renée’s family in Houston, I’m beginning to realize the necessity of staying closely bonded to my wife and to my Savior. Just in the few times that Renée and I have had dates since Samuel was born, I have been very refreshed and glad to have a few moments away from all the things that have to be done to just spend time with her. Thank you to her parents for giving us some much needed time together! But furthermore, I’m ever realizing how much Jesus is to be my lifeblood: the power of Christ in which I’ll stand.

The other song that has greatly affected me is Relient K’s Christmas “carol”, “I Celebrate The Day.” The chorus resounds,

“The first time that you opened your eyes / Did you realize that You would be my Savior? / And the first breath, that left your lips / Did you know that it would change this world forever?”

Being a new father, I can’t imagine thinking this about Samuel, or wondering if he had thoughts similar to that. I see him bouncing up and down in his little bouncer, attempting to reach the little toys above him, and I admire his curiousity; I smile at him after he’s finished a meal, seeing him smile back, and laughing at how well he recognizes me; I watch him as he sleeps, silently (and sometimes not so silently) thanking God for the beautiful baby boy that he has given me.

But there’s more to the song. The last line of the song goes,

“And I / I celebrate the day / that you were born to die / so I could one day pray for you to save my life”

I sit here with tears in my eyes, imagining what elation Mary and Joseph must have felt at the birth of Jesus, but also knowing the agony that they would someday have to endure at Jesus’ death. Yet, there was reason to be happy–because through this act and His subsequent resurrection, Jesus saved them.

And me. I don’t think words can do justice to the miracle of Christ.

Seriously, we’re pure nerds. I scored a 56% on the nerd scale, as did Renée, even though we answered the questions differently. I also scored 47% geek and 30% dork, whereas Renée was 35% geek and dork. I was actually quite surprised I wasn’t more of a geek, but… whatever. These tests always tell the truth.

Why don’t you give it a try and note your results? My favorite question was whether I had a T-shirt containing any reference to pop culture from way back when. Two cheers for Nintendo and Barrel of Monkeys!

So, I got out of bed, rewrapped him, and got back into bed. I noticed that his back seemed slightly damp, but I think that it wasn’t anything important and get back in to bed to try and sleep one more hour before getting up, preparing for work, and feeding little Samuel, so as to let my beautiful wife sleep.

Today is Samuel’s two-month birthday! I can’t believe that the time has flown by so quickly. It’s so weird to think that I am now a father and I’m not going to stop being a father. I keep having this feeling in the back of my mind that we are only “baby-sitting” Samuel for some length of time, and then we will have to give him up. Of course, this is true in the spiritual sense, but it seems real in the physical sense, too. Quite strange, actually.

Both Renée and I love being parents, despite all the various liquids (and some not so liquid) that end up on our shirts from time to time. We simply adore our little boy and are so blessed to have been given the responsibility of parenting him. He brings us such joy as we look into his little eyes and he looks into ours, and we both smile.

We’re getting ready to pack up the sedan (soon to be a minivan, I’m sure) and head out to Houston to visit Renée’s family for Christmas. The rumor is that they’re all fighting over babysitting duties. Perhaps Renée and I can go on a date!

Oh, by the way, to continue the story, when I went to feed Samuel this morning, the damp feeling returned. Indeed, Mt. St. Horlbeck had erupted in monumental proportions, and we’ve got the stained diaper to prove it. And I look over at Samuel, and all I see is a big grin.

I’m loving the winter season so far. We finally got our first real cold front, so of course I had to make Tiffany’s famous chicken ‘n dumplings, yum! Then for Thanksgiving we hung out all day at Mark’s parent’s house. It was nice and laid back, and we watched Sahara that evening. Very far fetched, but entertaining. (We missed you Aunt Elaine!) It was fun to see Samuel interact with his grandparents and Uncle Scott too–we got some nice footage of that.

Today Samuel is eight weeks old. I grossly underestimated how awesome it would be to be a mom. Each week Sammy is taking more things in and growing a bit bigger. He smiles a lot and recognizes us now. It’s amazing how one smile from him can make our whole day. We think his eyes are starting to turn brown too. He weighed in at 10 lbs. 2 oz. and is 23.5 inches long now. Translation: long and lean, like his Uncle Paul, and his fesses are just as tiny!

I absolutely love seeing my boys together. Samuel gets so excited to see Mark when he comes home from work, and there are certain things that only daddy can do to make him light up inside. It’s precious. Tonight we’re taking Samuel to the Nob Hill Shop ‘n Stroll for some cocoa, caroling and shopping down on good ol’ Route 66. Fun times.

Only 19 more days until we arrive in Houston to visit Mémêre, Pépêre, and Uncle Paul for Christmas. I’m getting all my MP3s ready so we can sing Christmas songs the whole way there. I can hardly wait to see all my family. Auntie Pauline, get that mac ‘n cheese ready!

So life is indeed different now, but much better. I so enjoy coming home from work in the evenings not only to my beautiful wife but to my handsome son. I gather more joy from watching him soaking in everything around him than I thought possible. I love to lay him on my chest and watch him as he tries to figure out how to use his arms, then his legs, and then both in sync. Now that Renée and I have a schedule set up, I even look forward to getting up with him at 5am to feed and change him. (Well, feed him, anyway.)

It’s fun to share in this adventure with good friends, too. Although we haven’t seen much of them since Samuel and Kenny came along, it’s neat to think of the adventures that we will be having. Being only eight days apart, Kenny and Samuel are sure to become friends!

As I think back over the previous month of change–in roles, in sleep patterns, in lifestyle–the thing that stands out to me is the incredible grace of my wife. To look at her and see how she has turned into a wonderful mommy, how she so willingly and graciously gives up herself so that Samuel is fed, cared for, comforted–truly amazing! How wonderful the bond that God creates between a mother and her son.

And how wonderful the bond between father and son. It’s given me a brand new appreciation for the bond between Father and Son.

We’ve uploaded some photos for everyone to view and comment on. Enjoy! Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to pray for Renée as she recovers from her abdominal surgery and for me as I try and figure out what it means to be a father!

1. Forbidden fruits create many jams.
2. Avoid the crowds at Christmas… Visit with us this Sunday!
3. God prefers fruit of the spirit to religious nuts
4. God answers knee-mail.
5. What is missing in ch_ _ch? U R.
6. Read the Bible… it will scare the hell out of you!
7. For all you do, His blood’s for you!
8. We are not Dairy Queen, but we have great Sundays!
9. Having truth decay? Brush up on your Bible!
10. Are you wrinkled with burden? Come into Church for a faith lift!

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live! Choose to love the LORD your God and to obey him and commit yourself to him, for he is your life. Then you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

I read these verses the other day and they stuck out to me as incredible simple. God gives us two choices: life or death. If we choose to follow Him, He will bless us incredibly; if we don’t, then curses naturally fall upon us. Then, I noticed how passionate God truly is for people to follow him: “Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live!”

Compare this to Christ’s statements of being the way, the truth, and the Life (John 14:6) and also about how He came to give life, and to give it to the full (John 10:10). To me, it seems a pretty simple choice, yet I realize how often I choose death instead because for the moment, it satisfies. But in the long run, it leaves me empty and still wanting inside.

In other news, our dear friends Andy and Jody just gave birth to their first baby girl, Murphie Jane. A shout-out to you all and congratulations on the birth! We will be joining you in a couple short months! (How exciting!)

After a good workout with my friend Tim this morning, I come to work to shower (you all know the drill). I got in the shower, with no apparent signs of critters lurking about. As I reach for the shampoo, I notice the ugliest, hairiest cockroach I have ever seen crawling up the shower wall no more than three inches from my fingers! I step back in absolutely horror, trying to figure out what to do.

In a moment of sheer courage (given to me only from God above), I step out of the shower, grab one paper towel, get back in the shower, reach ‘n crunch, and then throw away in the trash can! I didn’t have the nerve to wipe off all the bug guts though–just most.

You know, when Renée and I were in Houston last week (update coming), I didn’t see one roach, and it was stinkin’ humid there. Why, oh why, must I come to New Mexico and stand mere inches away from one for my roach encounters? UGH!

After much heated debate, the answer to the question is…

(as Tim said), number 5. Quite hilariously, Tim is right—it wasn’t a dream, but reality! About a month ago, I rolled over to kiss Renée in the middle of the night. No sooner had I finished kissing her that she said, sleepily, “Hey, did you know that you kissed my armpit?”

I sheepishly replied, “Actually… I did,” realizing the terrible truth just before she told me this. We burst out laughing and went back to sleep.

1. That Mark gave Renée a beautiful stocking for Christmas, in the finest stitching she had ever seen—but was terribly confused as to when Mark had enough time to work and hide in the closet to needlepoint
2. That Katie Couric from the Today show had awesome, tantalizing chocolate-covered glazed donuts and wouldn’t share any of them with Renée, resulting in Renée’s pathetic attempt to pawn one off of Katie with the words, “Oooooooh…. I… want… that… donut….. YUM!!!”
3. That Mark’s brother Scott was giving Renée a piano lesson, finished up, and then gave her a hug, but wouldn’t let go; strangely, this coincided with Mark rolling over and spooning Renée in bed; as Mark placed his arm around her, she yelled, “Scott, let go of me!”
4. That Renée was walking along the sidewalk on a beautiful sunny spring day when out of nowhere, the largest fattest woman fell out of the sky and crushed Renée; all Renée could say is, “Ow, my back! Oh, my belly! Ouch, my back! Ow, my belly!”
5. That Mark kissed Renée’s armpit, not really understanding what he was kissing
6. All of the above
7. None of the above