Life #2: 7 Years ago Today

Seven years ago today I woke up with an upset stomach from about 4 hours of sleep. I was in a new apartment and sleep didn't come until about 4am. I knew I had a ton of stuff to do that day and the lack of sleep already had me a bit frustrated. On top of that I was so anxious about the events of June 24th, 2005 that I could barely focus on whatever task I was trying to complete at any given moment.
The significance of that day is one that still holds quite a bit of importance with me even today. It was the day that I married the absolute love of my life: Dianna. It's not a day that I had been dreaming about since I was little boy. It's not a day that I had been dreaming about even at the age of sixteen when I met my would be future bride. I was, however, a twenty year old man that knew he was making a great decision to wed a young, beautiful woman who would do nothing but make his life immeasurably better. That being the case I wasn't entirely sure why I was so nervous.
As the day went on I gradually became more and more confident and genuinely excited about the upcoming moment where I would say, "I do." It could be because I spent most of the morning and afternoon with my future brother in law (Who by the way is now one of my best friends. For example, we have inside jokes that  even my wife doesn't really get.) as well as in fervent prayer for peace and confidence from the Lord.
Today Dianna and I celebrate our seven year anniversary. Turns out I did make a pretty great decision. Dianna and I have a rambunctious, intelligent, and crazy two and a half year old little boy and a sweet, gentle, and beautiful eight month old little girl. She is an incredible mother who is capable of whatever she can think of. I have put her through so much crap, especially in the last four years. It has not been easy. If you don't believe me just ask her. There have been times where we have been totally faithful and there have been those hellish times where we have not. There have been times where I have walked with God and even more times where I have not. That said, we have always been blessed. We have always been taken care of, especially when we have done incredibly foolish and unwise things. Our current situation is far from what we imagined when we thought of what our lives would be like seven years ago. But my bride has been so faithful both to Christ and to me every step of the way. I know for a certainty that divorce isn't a word in her vocabulary when it comes to me...murder maybe, but never divorce. Life isn't perfect but our God is! He is the only reason that we have even an inkling of happiness or joy in our marriage. Boy has he given us more than just an inkling!
I've heard many older and wiser couples talk about how around 7 to 12 years into their marriage they hit a huge roadblock. Things became so tough that thoughts of separation crossed their minds and they were, to say the least, challenged. I don't know if we've faced that point in our marriage or not and I'm definitely not looking forward to it. But I do know that we will make it through and even thrive with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ at the center of our lives and marriage.
I love you Dianna! You are the greatest blessing I've received. Thank you.

Life #1: A 2 year old in the Nelson Atkins Museum

My little guy.

JK Rowling's inspiration for Voldemort's pet.

I am currently on a 10 day vacation. Nothing too elaborate just resting and spending time with my awesome family.

Today we had decided to go to the zoo. My 2 year old son loves to watch the polar bear they have. This big bear loves to literally swim in circles around his artificial ocean. My wife and I thought this would be a great opportunity to go since yesterday it was 65 degrees outside. Well living in the meteorologists nightmare that is the Midwest by the time we arrived at the zoo it was snowing. No, I'm not kidding. So we called an audible and went to the nearby Nelson Atkins Museum instead. I figured we go there for a bit, my incredibly curious son would break some priceless piece of art, followed by our hurried, and most likely forced, departure.
I was pleasantly surprised by how well the little guy did. He was genuinely enjoying some of the historical artifacts. Now granted I did get a great workout following him and preventing any maiming of priceless pieces but we managed to prevent any tragedies. He stopped and neighed at the horse statues, stared at an Asian lion statue (which he thought was a dog), and tried to sit on some 175 year old chair (he settled instead on the stroller).
Its so easy to look at my son and think (and correctly so) that he is a 2 year old and then underestimate him. Robbing him of the opportunity to enjoy something that my 27 year old self enjoys. As a father one of the hardest things to remember is that my son longs to be with his daddy. He wants to do what I'm doing. He wants me to approve of him and share the whole experience with him. I got a little better at that today. Boy do I have a long way to go. Thank God for the opportunity today and all the ones yet to come.

This STILL looks awesome!

Had to explain to my wife that this wasn't for sale.

This is a bit scary. I want my Mummy!

Monet: one of my favorites.

Thoughts #1: Longing to forget 1985

1985. My birth year. The year Super Mario made his debut. The Goonies made famous the "Truffle Shuffle". And the Kansas City Royals won the World Series.
I thoroughly enjoy the wonderful game of baseball and that's saying something for someone who was born and raised as a fan of the Royals. I am exhausted every time I hear about the '85 Championship. It was 26 years ago!!

This desire to pontificate on this particular subject is brought on by a book that I am reading: Moneyball.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the current status of the MLB if you have the ability to spend the most dough then you have a greater chance to make the playoffs. Now while I'm generally a fan of capitalism I like an even playing field in Pro sports. The Yankees 2012 payroll will be just under $200 million (1st in the MLB) the Royals will be just under $37 million for 2012 (30th/last). The Yankees are spending 6 times the amount. How can the Royals compete with that? They can't...at least not head to head in the money game. They would have to take a completely different approach.
This is the problem that Moneyball addresses. The book centers on the Oakland A's GM Billy Beane. Somehow Beane has consistently brought the A's to the playoffs despite always being in the bottom third of the MLB payrolls. He takes a completely different approach as to what he looks for when drafting and signing players. He and his organization put value on attributes that many organizations, to some degree, undervalue. This has led to the A's going deep into the playoffs with (at the time) relatively unknown players.
I could delve deeper into the book and explain more concisely what exactly the A's are doing right. But that's what the book is for. That being said it would please me to no end if the Royals took a risk and implemented a radical new approach to winning baseball games.
I have yet to finish the book and will soon after enjoy the movie, after which I reserve the right to make any addendum's to this blog that I see fit.
Here's hoping that 2012 sees the Royals do something exciting.

A beginning...

Why start a blog?

I'm not really sure to be honest. A possibility would be that I have a perspective and I feel like I want to share it.
The nature of my blog will be simply from my life. Family, friends, work, gaming, sports, interests, humor, and most importantly my personal walk with my Savior.
This concludes my very first post...but definitely not the last.