#1

The new rankings just came in, and I don't know if you guys knew this but . . .

Thanks Dash.

If you haven't seen The Book of Eli yet, go do it. Or come up to my house tonight at 7:00. Very good and even a little thought-provoking.

Dash, Kaed and I ate at Stuffy's for breakfast the other day and they're having a contest for new kid's menu items. If they like your idea, they'll name it after you. I made 2 submissions: DashHash - scrambled eggs mixed with hashbrowns, topped with country gravy; The Kaedster - waffles and peanutbutter (tastes like a maple bar!) topped with fresh strawberries. We'll see... This was the quickest I've ever seen Dash fall asleep after doing some sort of activity. We'd woken up just about an hour and a half prior to the shower too. Amazing.

Up around the house there are many wild bunnies. Last weekend Kaed and I were walking in the field above my house and I saw a couple rabbits playing a very spirited game of what looked like "tag". I said, "Oh Kaed, look at those rabbits playing over there!" and sure enough, as soon as Kaed looked, the bigger rabbit mounted the smaller one and started going to town... Thanks nature.

School's out today and I've just completed my 10.3rd year. Crazy.

Don't Think I Don't Think About It

Dash had his 3 year old wellness check-up last week and he got 2 shots. He was cracking me up the whole time saying things like, "Dr. Wu where are youuuuu?" He cried for a second on the second shot but stopped as soon as saw the stickers. When the nurse left he rubbed his thighs and said, "Ugh, I hate that shot doctor." At age 3, young Dashal appears to be just under average height and weight compared to his demographic. No suprise there. Kaed is the same way.

We've got a guest speaker at church Sun-Wed this week. I really like him (Jay LaRue). Here's a couple of points in his message last night worth sharing (with my paraphrasing):

1. Dash has my DNA in him which means if we were seperated for the next 20 years, he'd still do some things like me (or look like me) because we have a lot of the same blueprints. We will be alike in a number of ways because we're the same family - I'm his dad. Now, I'm not Kaed's dad, but even by spending time with me he'll pick up on some of the things I do and choose to do them in a similar way - not everything, just some things. In short, Dash will be known to some people as "Andy's son" because he'll look and act a little (or a lot) like me (kind of scary). Kaed could as well - to a lesser extent - because of the time he has spent with me.

When will we, as Christians, be known to others as sons and daughters of Christ because of how we look to them? Just like we look like our biological fathers, when will be identified by looking like our Spiritual Father? Do our traits resemble the traits of Jesus? That's tough...but good.

2. "Don't go to church. You'll feel better about yourself. I didn't think I was a bad husband until I went to a marriage retreat. I didn't think I needed to hear about forgiveness until I found out how many offenses I was carrying. I thought I did a couple of things pretty well until I realized it was just when I was by myself. . . But I go to church because I'm not interested in the things of myself. I want the things of Christ. It's ok to let go of our flesh because we should not be self-centered or self-absorbed; rather Christ-centered and Heavenly-minded."

Nothing to revealing, but very good to hear and meditate on. Chew on it.

Class and Culture

Last night I thought I'd expose Kaed to something new and took him to Kelso High School's band/orchestra Spring concert. It went well. Parts of it were long, but overall he says he liked it and maybe will want to do it someday. I'm glad. Music has always been pretty important to me and I'm thankful for learning the violin and cello early on in life. Eric and Nick played the violin too. Let me throw a shout out to Mr. Simonsen, out orchestra teacher, who from 4th grade thru high school, had me convinced that he actually went fishing with Larry Bird.

(as soon as we walked out to the truck both of us let out huge farts we'd been holding throughout the concert....)

Ever try pulling off a "that's what she said" joke that's "clean"? They're not nearly as funny. But I did it a week ago. In one of my classes. The looks on the faces of my students was priceless. And I didn't jeopardize my career.

The last 2 nights I've woken up in the exact same position as when I fell asleep. That's some good sleep right there! It might be the first time that's ever happend back to back.