day 105

since the library has been on break from storytime, we have been going to smart start on thursday with susie. well today in that aspect was no different, but unlike other times we have been there several of your storytime friends showed up. savannah and mrs. diane came just to drop something off and they ended up stayng for about an hour so you and her could play, it was really a fun time for you which makes me happy.

love you.......

day 104

today was aunt nina's late day at work, every wednesday she has to work till 5:00pm and we usually go out to marlow's to eat before i head out to church. but today was just a little different i have 2 band practices one before church and one after, for a youth revival that i am playing at along with kailyn, joe and tim. so when aunt nina got home we had to do a tag team thing with you, cause as soon as she got home i had to leave. but never fear as i have told you before i will always be back!!!!!

love you......

day 103

mrs. lovelace came to see you today, she is the guardian ad litem for DSS. she came to see how you were doing before we go back to court in 2 weeks, she also brought you 2 dolls in homemade crochet outfits on them (and yes i have pics)

you really like mrs. lovelace you wanted her to see your new playroom and your paintings from smart start. she seemed really pleased with the progress you have made since coming to living with us a year ago. we also made a sign for your playroom today at smart start, you even helped make it.....well all but the last 3 letters when you lost interest and wanted to play with something else but you were having fun so that's all that mattered.

love you........

day 102

today is memorial day, it's a day where we take out time to thank everyone who has served in the armed forces to protect our freedom. so aunt nina and i have big plans for the house today, we are going to clean the back room out and make it your playroom plus we will have a living room again. :0)
so after most of day work in the back cleaning it is finally finished!!!! yaaaaaaayyyyy!!!!! and you really like it, i think you like having room that is all your's that way you don't have to worry about making a mess. we put all your toys back there and on the walls we put all your painting from smart start, which if i say so myself i think it looks COOL!!!!! so i hope you enjoy it for many many years to come!!!

love you.......

day 101

much like all the other sundays that come around, i was gone when you woke up but aunt nina said the first thing out of your mouth was "al." after church we came home and had some lunch, then i was off again had another band practice to go to for a gig we have at a youth revival. while i was gone aunt nina said you fell and bumped your head on the floor, she told me when i got home that as the tears flowed i kept calling for me. i guess we really have created a bond since i've been out of work, which is a good thing if you ask me!!!!

peace.......

day 100

this morning your sissy called and wanted us to go to the park with her and kevin and candace. all 3 of ya'll just had the best time running, swinging, jumping and sliding. then after ya'll got all hot and sweaty we decided to take ya'll to sonic's for ice cream, and boy was it yummmmmmmmy!!!!!! after we got back home sissy and the kids hung out here while sissy napped off and on, then we all had supper together. so i guess you could say we had a family day which we alway love to do. we also got a copy of the smart start e-newsletter in the mail and they also sent you a book. i went to the back room and found a frame for it and it now sits on the entertainment center right beside the T.V. i know you are starting to wonder and yes there were pictures taken today, so here is one from the park......

peace.....

day 99

this afternoon aunt nina finally got to go to smart start with us, she really liked it. we watched as you painted and played for the better part of 2 hrs. we also found out today that your picture was in the smart start enewsletter, which we thought was cool. they put it in there because i was telling them all about how excited you got when you got your book in the mail. then it was time for a little starbucks and back home for the night.....hopefully there will be something good on tonight, ummmmmm we'll see!!

peace.......

day 98

you were such a big helper tonight, aunt nina, you and me all went to uncle jody and tracy's house to help build some furniture for their new baby that they are expecting on august 19th. but for you the big thing was when you were sitting on tracy's lap rubbing her belly and the baby kicked your hand. somehow i think he knew just how special you were and wanted to say hello and that he would see you soon.

peace......

day 97

i have noticed over the course of this blog just how much you focus changes. i started this blog so that i could blog about my journey after i was laid off. as i read back over this blog i see how it has changed more into everything about my baby girl. so i guess i named this blog appropriately the journey, the journey into something i thought i would never be........a DADDY!!!!!
which as i said a few days ago, it's the greatest job i've ever had. if you can call something you love this much a job...

peace..........

day 96

what another beautiful day in the neighborhood!!! we went to have coffee with uncle eddie today, he also had finished the rest of the pictures from sissy's wedding. i'll tell you one thing he did an amazing job on them, even sissy loved them. after we left from hanging out with eddie we leave and went to smart start where you got to play with candace for about 2 hrs, we also saw sissy and lloyd too. funny story about you playing, was that you told me before we went that you was going to play for 2 hrs. i said 2 hrs isn't that a little long to play, and you told NO 2 hrs. so i just laughed and say ok...

peace.........

day 95

there was a milestone moment in my baby girl's life today, she got her first ever piece of mail today. i know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but if you would have seen her jumping and dancing around with all the excitment in the world you would understand why i said it was a milestone. it made today such a great day just because of how excited she was about it. when my wife got home from work she came running into the room with her book she got in the mail still all excited showing it to her. it just put the biggest smile on our faces just watching her, so here's a pic i took of the big moment........

peace......

day 94

a few days ago my best friend who also blogs posted a link about a child's astrological personality profile. now i'm not one for astrology but i thought it would be fun to put baby girl's birthday in and see what it had to say about her. it's a little long but here it is in it entirety......
Young Libra......
Libra is an Air sign represented by the balancing scales, which are also used to signify justice. This sign is related to the planet Venus, and takes special delight in all things beautiful, including music, design, architecture, and fair relationships. Children born under this sign will favor harmony and order. The bodily organs associated with Libra are the kidneys. Kidneys purify our blood, which is akin to how Libra takes pleasure in pure things. What is necessary in life can also be made beautiful, according to Libra. Librans gravitate to symmetrical beauty (again, note the kidneys). Do not be surprised if Libra children are neat and orderly! Early in life they will heed your words about keeping their room tidy, but do not expect this kind of obedience in every facet of their upbringing! They may find their own ideas much more interesting than yours, so you will also find yourself having stimulating conversations with children of this sign. In fact, Libra is the sign associated with the law. Not necessarily lawyers one sees on TV, but the law itself: a pure set of ideas created for the purpose of maintaining harmony for humanity. Libra is a noble and high-minded sign. Nothing will upset Libra children more than unfairness. Whether this is encountered on the playground with peers or at home with siblings, you will know their bitter reaction to being treated unfairly, or even witnessing a lack of fairness. It may be necessary to explain at an early age the hard truth that life is full of injustices. Libra prefers black and white. Hopefully you can be the one to gently help your young Libra understand that sometimes the truth lies in the gray area of emotion, and begin to help them cope with that by establishing what fair relationships are about.

peace......

day 93

i've always heard parents say "i need a break!!!" and i having no children of my own have never understood why. now that i am raising a 2 year old going on 20, i still don't understand why. sure it's nice when they get the chance to go somewhere or are invited over to play, but i start missing her about 10 minutes after she is gone. which was in case today when baby girl went to her grandmother's house for the afternoon to play with some of her family she doesn't see very often. i find myself wondering what and how she is doing and staring at the clock on the wall, because with every minute that passes is a minute closer to her coming back home. since i was laid off i am with her all the time, so for me there are no breaks. but i don't want any either because she my responsibly, so where i go....she goes!!!! and that's just the way it is and the way i want it to be! this is the job i never really wanted....but now that i have it I LOVE and treasure every minute of it.

peace......

day 92

the bad thing about being laid off and going to the beach is that we could only afford to stay one night, which is better than not at all. so today we started our trip back home after a busy fun filled day yesterday. this morning we went back to the beach one last time to hunt a few more sea shells, and for the first time ever i found a whole conch shell. the points were a little knocked off but all in all it's as close to a perfect conch shell as i have ever found. we also went to barefoot landing before we left, mostly because there is a pizza place we love to eat at when we go to the beach. we found out when we got there that that was where all the bikers were staying, the parking lot was full of motorcycle vendors of all kinds. so here is a pic of a few of the treasures we found while at the beach. i can't wait till we can share more memories like this with our baby girl, because it is truely the best thing in the world.

peace........

day 91

it's finally time to go to the beach wooooohooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so after a 4 hour drive the first words out of baby girl's mouth when she saw the ocean for the first time was "WOW." she loved playing in the sand but she wasn't to sure about the ocean, she would let me take her out to where the waves would crash on the shore and my feet. but she wouldn't get down for nobody everytime i tried to set her down, she was like a spider monkey trying to climb up me so i would hold her again. :0)

we had a great time with our baby girl!!!! it was also bike week at the beach this week so she also got to see a lot of really nice looking motorcycles close up.

day 90

this morning we met uncle eddie for coffee and since he is the one with the fancy camera, we had us a small photo shoot today. we went to this water fountain that baby girl always has to see and point out everytime we pass it, so wanted to have her picture taking with it so i could tell her later in her life about her favorite local attraction. here's a couple of the pics from today....

day 89

today has been play day for the most part, we started out at a playground for a while. baby girl went swinging, sliding, climbing and playing a little kickidy kick ball. then it was off to smart start so that she could paint, draw and play in the rice table. all in all it was a great day with my baby girl.

peace......

day 88

off to wal-mart to get some stuff for our beach trip later this week. it will be baby girl's first trip to the beach, i can't wait it will be a blast watching to see what she does when she sees the ocean for the first time. here's a great quote that i really like...............
Life is the art of drawing without an eraser. ~John Gardner

peace.......

day 87

it is official.....yesterday marked our 1 year anniversary with baby girl, it's amazing how fast a year goes by. today is mother's day...so it was the perfect day to celebrate!!!!

for me since we have rolled into the 2000's this decade has truely sucked, seeing as how i'm on my 3rd lay off in less than 6 years. but baby girl has been one of the brightest spots in my life in those 9years. i cannot imagine my house without her in it to brighten it up with her childlike joy and laughter. the pictures so just how much she has grown since we first got her, AMAZING!!!!

peace...............

day 86

this afternoon was a birthday party for our oldest niece's daughter she turned 4. so the family got together for a little party with some cake and ice cream, and the kids played and played and played. it was nice just to hang out with the family talking and laughing watching the kids run around like they were hopped up on sugar, ohh wait a minute............they were!!! hahahaha
i guess the old song was true about my baby girl......"turn out the lights, the party's over" cause when we left, we were barely 2 miles up the road and she was out till 9:30am the next morning.

peace........

day 85

when you live in smallsville like we do, you know the town the one where they roll up the sidewalks at sundown. but once a month during the spring and summer months they have the night out in downtown. where the businesses on main street stay open till 9:00pm and there are all kinds of things for kids. last night we went and ended up going on a carriage ride, it was the first time baby girl had ever rode in a horse and carriage. here is a pic to show our fun last night

peace.............

day 84

just like every other week since i've been laid off, today was storytime at the library. mr. roberts (the guy reads the stories) always does a couple of songs during storytime, but today when he was getting the cd ready my baby girl looked at me and said "dance it with me." so since i was sitting in the floor, i stretched out my legs so she could stand between them and we danced. those are the times that i love and cherish!!! but storytime has come to an end for about a month, so next week will something new and different, i guess you could say it's going to be a journey. :0)

peace.........................

day 83

in light of this book my friend has been reading it has gotten me to thinking about my own walk with god. i think sometimes as christians we tend to get stuck in what i like to call the moses syndrome. simply saying we would rather our pastor hear god for us instead of us doing it ourselves, you see when someone else is hearing god for us then there is no work on our part and we continue to be lazy. and we can blame him when it doesn't work out the way we wanted it to. i think sometimes we are afraid we will mess up if we try to hear god for ourselves, when in reality i think that god will honor the fact that we are trying and will nudge us in the right direction if we are going the wrong way he did that with paul in acts 16:6-10. he started going in one direction and god told to go in another, and because he was not afraid to try and maybe even made a mistake many people were saved and baptized.

peace........

day 82

just about every week i have with my best friend and we talk about music, current events and things we are reading at the time. we have been doing this for around 5-6 years now, and it is still something i look forward to every week. he has been reading a new book by a pastor out of washington, dc that has really been challenging to him and he has been sharing some of the quotes in it that have stuck out to him. so here is another quote from that book, that i would like to share with you. i hope it encourages and challenges in your walk with god.
the primary reason most of us don't god move is....
simply because we aren't moving.

peace.......

day 81

my best friend started reading a book and sharing some of the little nuggets he's found in it. it really has some really thought provoking quotes in it, one of which i wanted to share with you today. this quote will really make you stop and think, i think simply because it's just that true.
"we start dying when we have nothing worth living for.
and we don't really start living until we find something worth dying for"

peace......

day 80

time to go get some free funny books, because at comic book stores around the country it's free comic book. so a buddy of mine and myself went to see what we could get our hands on and to check out the sale. after we left the store we decided that we were going to a bigger comic book store next year, in hopes of a much much better sale. today was also the first offical day with my new tattoo and everyone who saw it really liked it. i have never regretted ever getting any of my tattoos and the more i look at this one the more i'm glad i got it. i will forever have my baby girl on my arm and by my side no matter where i am or where she is.

peace........

day 79

well it is finally here after months and months of waiting, it is now time to get my new tattoo. like every other tattoo i have i do not regret getting it because it looks AMAZING!!!! so here is a picture of the new addition to my body art.

when i got home i showed my baby girl and she just looked at it for a minute, then i said who is it and she said "MYNA." then i asked if she liked it and she said "yes...like it." of all the tats i've got this is definitely by far my favorite!!

peace.......

day 78

today once again like every week other was storytime at the library. baby girl had a great time as usual, listening to the stories, dancing and playing. but tomorrow is the big day, the day i've been waiting for TATTOO DAY!!!! more tomorrow

peace.....