18 June 2008

Father's Day 2008

What a wonderful Father's Day, my first with Michaela, fourth with Andrew. My face says it all; I'm a proud dang papa! Had a wonderful, easy-going day after the 'morning rush' of class and preaching. And my present? Susan was gonna get me a new 'wah-wah' pedal because mine seems to be on its last leg; however, I am convinced I can fix it with a new part and some silicone grease compound on the rocking gear. So instead, Susan decided that, although my chest and back are getting pretty toned, she still finds my 'guns' (biceps) pretty pathetic(!) - so I am now the proud owner of "The Perfect Pullup", which I plan on installing in the doorway in my office that leads to the baptistry! I use the "Perfect Pushup" pretty much every day in my office; Now I will get a complete upper body workout in the comfort of my own office! (Note: putting exercise equipment in my office has been genius; I never forget to do push ups, and its a great way to get energized during the day when I get droopy! Try it!)

What a blessing from God that I am fortunate enough to see another Father's Day, this time with another little child; what a wonderful wife and kids God has given me ; "How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord."

Happy Michaela

Michaela photos below; also remember she will be three months old in three days. See above for some neat Father's Day Shots that I am quite proud of.

Silly Kids at bedtime...



Andrew's new fortress and the big box...

Andrew now has a new slide in the backyard, thanks to Grandma. I call it his new Fortress. We also had a little fun with the big box that it came in.






11 June 2008

"Found her Thumb!" and "Trapped!"


Recently Susan witnessed quite a discovery - not only is the thumb helping Michaela sleep (as it did Andrew), she appears to be left-handed- Trapped by my own child...at least I have the remote nearby!


Grandma's Visit

Recently I had to go to Texas to perfom a wedding in San Antonio. While there I got to spend some really good time with family and friends and made aquaintence with a new neice and a very-new-just-born nephew.


While away, Grandma came to visit Susan and the kids. Here are a few photos;

The thing I keep forgetting to tell people about...

Amidst all the things that have been going on recently; the new child at home, the added workload of sermons, the trip to Texas for the wedding, etc., I keep forgetting to tell folks (mostly family) what interesting thing has been going on "on the side", so to speak.

About 7-8 weeks ago I was contacted by the National Bone Marrow Donation Program. Back in 2000, at a bone marrow screening at our church, I had given my consent to donate bone marrow if I was ever found to be a match for somebody. (I had forgotten I had even done this)

They called and informed me that I was a potential match for a leukemia patient. After numerous 'health interviews,' a large blood draw, etc. I assumed I would not hear from them again, because even if you are a recognized potential match, they say odds are 1 in 12 that you will actually be enough of a match to donate....so I assumed I would never hear from them again...

Well, I did hear from them; and I am a match for this particular patient (they will only tell me he is a 53 year old leukemia patient - I have no idea where he lives or if he has family or anything). So I was given a physical at the hospital, more blood was drawn, etc. And now I donate tomorrow morning at 7am. I have been going to the hospital since Sunday to receive daily injections of a drug that causes my bone marrow to produce massive amounts of bone marrow stem cells, which are released into my blood for lack of a better place to go. This has made me feel very weird (kinda sick) and my bones ache, but nothing too uncomfortable. With all these stem cells swimming around in my blood, tomorrow I will get hooked up to a machine where they will take my blood, take the stem cells they need out, and put my blood back in. The process takes about 5 hours.

Kinda neat, huh? Once they have my stem cells packed up, a guy will take them, get on a plane immediately and go to the patient (wherever he might be). They will infuse the stem cells ASAP, for right now they are 'zapping' his bone marrow - if he doesn't get my cells quickly, he'll be toast. But, here's the deal; they informed me that if I did not donate and they couldn't find another match, his chances of being alive this time next year are about zero. If I donate, his chances of being alive and starting a normal healthy life again this time next year jump to about 80%. I'd be selfish and a real blockhead not to do this. So someday, somewhere, a guy about 20 years older than me will be walking around with my immunity system!

Anyway, sorry I keep forgetting to tell people things like this that I do - I just get a little busy and forget to share.

Mark