The calm before the storm

It's like, 4:30 in the morning right now.  Sometime around 3 Stepheni woke me up with a grab at my ankle.  She was kind of hunched over-like, "I think my water just broke".  Geez, all these announcements when a guy's trying to get some sleep.

She had in fact sprung a leak, and it just kept on coming.  She kept leaking as we started making some last minute preparations, texting the parents, calling the midwives, packing a few last things, checking Facebook.  You know, the important things.  Stepheni described the amniotic fluid as colorless and odorless, and while I would say so, I would say so mostly. I smelt the towel that she conveniently soaked through, and I got the urge to clean, eat fried foods, and cry all at the same time.  Potent stuff, do not ingest.

The midwife on call instructed us to wait until about 9am when the hospital desk opens and go in there, because as of right now Stepheni isn't having any contractions.  Not the greatest because the contractions are supposed to come first and then the water breaking, because apparently there is a greater risk of infection if the contractions don't follow soon thereafter.  So in a few hours we will go in and they may induce her to help things proceed, simply because of the chance of infection.  Not ideal, but I hear that babies make hash of your plans anyways, so we might as well start here.  I gave Stepheni a blessing and we pray that things continue naturally without the need of drugs or intervention.

So now, I'm chilling here, pretty excited, waiting until all the hoodlums go home so I can go out and put in the carseat and load up the pillows so we can go to the hospital at 9, probably making a stop somewhere they serve unhealthy food before we do, y'know, for Mom.  ;-)

Let it be known, that during all this, Stepheni has been completely rational.  I dunno what they are talking about on TV where the parents are freaking out and going crazy when someone's water breaks. Bah, Hollywood.

Oh yeah, I don't have to go to work today!

With Friends Like These

"I value the friend 

who for me 

finds time on his calendar, 

but I cherish the friend 

who for me 

does not consult his calendar."  

-Robert Brault

Stepheni was in a bind tonight, and I wasn't there:  She had spent a few hours cleaning already and was quickly wearing out.  Turns out that being nearly 8 months pregnant does something to your endurance.  She had sent out an email earlier that week, asking for help, but she hadn't heard from more than one couple who weren't going to be able to make it until later that night and there was more than just an hour's worth of work, even for a few people.  She was upset and stressed out, and I felt helpless to do anything from Texas.  I couldn't think of who to call, having already bothered my friends about it several times previous to this about the same thing.  Try as I might I couldn't think of anyone, so I made a sheepish post on Facebook asking for help, but no one bit.  So I called up Gordon, and quickly he agreed to get Mike and John to go along with him to go and help.  They are there now, and I am so grateful for friends like these that go at a moments notice to help where they can.  Not to speak any less of others that are going over a little bit later, my gratitude goes out to everyone that is helping out my sweetheart right now to leave Rexburg.  So far as any of them know, we won't see each other again, but I think that we are all banking on the hope and trust that we will.

So, thanks guys.  I wanted to buy you something, but it seems to cheapen the gratitude I feel for your service and love.  So all I can say is thank you, and say that I will find something to do for you sooner or later.

So to those that went to help Stepheni at any time since I've been gone, thank you.  We've received so much love and support from so many in the ward and many have gone way beyond any reasonable expectations.  You're our dear friends and I hope that we can be of service at some time, despite the distance between us all.

What makes Everquest so appealing?

So tonight, I broke down and loaded up Everquest on my computer for less than an hour.  Less than an hour because it only took me that long to realize that it would go no where and that my time with my wife, family, job, and life in general are too valuable to me to give up.  It was nostalgic though, having spent over four years playing the stupid thing I still remembered how to get around and all the back alley ways through Cabilis and the book to the Plane of Knowledge in the Field of Bone.  But dining around in Luclin and killing a few things got me to thinking about the sheer amount of time that it requires to get anywhere in the game.  Definitely a turn-off.  I mean besides being appealing to people who somehow think they have nothing better to do than grind out levels until you can raid and then spend a few hours a night on the thing, how do such games keep our attention?

Well, first, redundantly, it's appealing to those that don't want to do anything else.  Great, besides that.

One thing I noticed is the sense of accomplishment there is built in to each little facet of the game.  Lots of inventory items, lots of levels to grind out, lots of sub levels to grind out, lots of monsters to kill, etc.  I think sometimes they built a game how we should be considering our goals in life.  It's hard to have a little bell go off each time you level in real life; sometimes it is hard to track how far you really are getting in life.  But, there is a sense of accomplishment that can be achieved when small simple goals are met, especially in a group setting, which leads me to my next point.

We are social creatures.  I definitely sympathize with those out there that struggle socially.  I was there for a while in my life as well, luckily the mission kind of helped me with that.  Foremost there is something nice about not knowing who the other people are really.  You can be whoever you want to be, be that kind, mean, male, female, outspoken or aloof.  There is a certain amount of power that comes from being able to stop and think about a situation without giving anything away and then act as you can on the internet.  But accomplishing things in social situations and with people to chat with and even help or to help is kind of nice.  It's even better when they are real life acquaintances or friends that you are doing it all with.  I don't have any studies, I am just kind of going off my own feelings and experiences from the past few years.

Thinking of this and other fun aspects of these games, it gets me to thinking about how we should be considering our own lives to make them more interesting; to get us more involved in our own flesh and not in games like EverQuest or Halo, magazines like Us or People, or soap operas or sitcoms.  All these things stem from the same source and rob us of our time.  Rob because in reality they give at best, very little in return, and at worst, nothing.

So let's do things with others.  Be involved in a community of some kind, be that church or a club or some online gathering doing something creative and good that builds you as a person.  Volunteer and give of yourself to others.

Then let's consider the little accomplishments in life, because that is what leads to the big things.  The fact that we are here today and living and reading and loving and breathing and part of something, anything is a miracle of no small merit.  So let's be grateful and take satisfaction in everything good that we do.

That's what I think.

Packing

I've discovered it's one of my least favorite things
(Note the dead look in my eyes)

I mean it's great to clean and to see from a general level of chaos
come a certain amount of order.

Maybe it's just the moving all the boxes from Rexburg to San Antonio
and how much it will cost that is such a bother.  The bees are all the contractors
that want to take my hunny, I mean munny.  Our friends have come to help, Mike and Zak so far.  Thanks again, guys!

But this is all for a good cause, I remind myself.  

And, really, it is all because I got a job down in San Antonio.  

Thank you for all your prayers and support, and thanks to USAA for hiring me!  
Back to packing!

Graduation!

Yep, it's true:  I'm all gradumicated, even if auto-correct indicates that is not a word.  I have promptly stifled it's pleas with the "add to dictionary" button, forever and officially adding it to it's repertoire of useful, and more importantly fun, words.

But more important still, I am now a college graduate.

And yet more important than that, I have a job.  Yes, a real 9-5 job down in San Antonio!  Super excited. Because it means food, shelter, and better furniture!

But really, Stepheni and I are so grateful for the opportunity for work, especially in these economic times (cliche but true), and at such a wonderful company as USAA.  We will have the means to invite baby Etienne into our family with food, shelter and insurance!

Graduation was a little late in coming, but I am glad that I took the path that I did.  I managed to get a bunch of other random credits and fill out my education nicely.  Could I go back, I would take more computer science classes and less entry-level science classes.  But, as it is I am rather happy with my degree and the embellishments I accrued along the way.

I encourage everyone to get an education.

The parents and I in the gorgeous BYU-I Center!

There is my little head!

Smile!

Bumping elbows with the big guy (recent kidney transplant)
and Elder Ballard behind us.

Woot!  Mom in the background!

I put this up because Jolene and Mom were in this one.

And we got Julie out from behind the camera for this one ;-)

Family is awesome!

Being away from home

Being away from Stepheni for days at a time, is one of my least favorite things; I think it's even more keenly felt by her.  It's lonely for starters, and awkward when I reach out and take a perfect stranger's hand forgetting she's not right there.  For anyone else out there, we do some things to make the time apart more bearable.  

1.  We text.  A lot.  If it's busy, this isn't possible, but if it isn't then we are chatting it up some.  Keeping involved with each other at a distance is more possible each day:  texting, phone calls, FaceTime-type things, etc.  Speaking of which:

2.  Video Chat!  This is kind of fun, I remember before we were married and while I was at home loading up Skype and just leaving it on as we went to bed.  It was kind of nice to look over and see her and it made for some chaste pillow-talk while we were still engaged.  ;-)

3.  Read scriptures and nightly prayers over the phone.  Actually I've gotten some comments about this, but all of them positive.  We try to make it a point to read scriptures together and pray as often as we can when we are together, and continuing this as we are apart reinforces that.  

4.  Find something to bring home.  One time it was a rock I found while on a field trip to Yellowstone (I picked it up outside of the park).  Last time it was chocolate from Trader Joe's (Yum!).  Next time, who knows?  

5.  Take pictures just for them.  Sometimes I take a picture thinking about Stepheni and send it to her via MMS texting, or email.  It's easy and quick and a way to share a sunset, a pretty scene or a flower together.  

Seattle, with my friend Justin at a Sushi place.

I will be leaving tomorrow to go to my interview for USAA in San Antonio, and I will be doing exactly these things while I am gone.  The bottom line is to keep in contact while you are apart!  Good luck!  

Any other advice from the readership would be appreciated!

Back in her arms again

It's great to be back from Seattle.  The expedition was great but it is nice to be back with Stepheni and not waking up alone again.  I would really like to go back there someday to spend some time with Stepheni there touring the city and eating at the restaurants there.  Justin and I walked by the famous Ruth's Chris steakhouse and had enough time to look at the menu.  It wasn't too expensive:  We would have just had to cut everything in half and share the plate of food they brought us to afford it.  I'll go back one day ;-)

Stepheni and I had some time to go shopping today, and we ended up buying Lady and the Tramp and Puss in Boots, both of which we love!  It ended up costing us a pretty penny, but we feel like it is a good investment for our kids one day as they are good, clean Disney movies and Blu-Ray.  We had a chance to talk about what we want for our children in terms of entertainment and came up with some ideas:

1.  No cable:  We don't watch it as it is, and we don't feel that cable TV has anything to offer to our kids.  If we want some educational material then we can go out and buy it.  Stepheni brought up as well that keeping the TV off for the first two years of Etienne's life will be fairly easy and what she would like to do, but we will have to decide what to do with our second child as Etienne will want to watch TV and the other may not be two already; something to think about.

2.  One family computer:  While Stepheni and I will have our tablets and phones, we feel like it is important to have one family computer (probably an iMac due to the family settings it has) and have that be available but supervised.  We've talked about the importance of using the tools that are available in the world but knowing how to leave inappropriate content is an important skill to develop and something we want to teach our children.  YouTube is full of great information but it is also full of garbage as well, the same goes for Facebook, LinkedIn, and the internet at large!

3.  Look at the ratings and reviews.  Looking at websites like Common Sense Media, imdb Parents Guide, Kids in Mind, and Parent Previews are great resources to find out why movies are rated the way they are, and teaching our children to look at ratings and gauge whether it sounds like something good to go to  even with G and PG-rated movies will teach them to make good moral decisions early on.  Thinking back to the counsel given to us to "be in the world but not of the world" is something not only wise but necessary in this day and age.  There is a lot of great content out there, but knowing how to filter through it and find what is good and wholesome therein is a necessary skill for everyone that wants to lead a wholesome and uplifting life.

Thanks for reading.