I decided today that not remembering my password for this blog wasn't enought to keep me away anymore. I feel bad. It has, after all, been 1 year, 7 months, and 18 days.
So let me bring who ever might read this up to speed. I still live in Ojai with my beautiful wife, Darcey and daughter, Zao and our dog, Tank. Zao is 2 going on 16. I still work selling plumbing fixtures and appliance.
A lot has happend since I last posted anything up here. There have been huge trials and challenges. There have also been amazing victories and things to celebrate. In the last year, we've really made a point as a family to focus more on God. This has had suprising effects on every part of our lives. Beleive me, we are still very, very, very far from perfect, but we're becoming closer to the One who is perfect.
The funny thing is that I first started this blog as a way to keep track of our journey through life together. With the family growing, this was suppose to be a great way to record, comment, share, vent, and remember the "every day" and the "this and that" moments in life. Zao came to us and blew the roof off the place. Darcey and I have had it better than we ever thought was possible. And (I'm not joking or exagerating in any way) it gets better every day.
So I'm ramping up again. This time with a new little one. We're pregnant with number 2. The baby is due August 15th, 2012. I think that puts us a little over 4 months along. This pregnancy has been a little different from the first one. There's a lot less fear. There are a few more expectations. The excitement is the same, uncontainable. I wanted a girl the first time and I got her. And now I'd like a boy but it goes without saying that there wont be a shred of disapointment either way. The running joke is that if we did so amazing with our first kid, just imagine how good we'll do on the second try.
I think the plan is to have a water birth. I know the beds at the hospital were pretty hard on Darcey's back. I hope sitting in some warm water will help her muscles relax and give her a less stressful enviroment when it comes time to deliver the baby.
This baby couldn't have come at a better time for me personally. For some reason that I dont understand, I went through a few months of doubt. It just hit me one night and wouldn't go away. It was like a bird on my shoulder. I would try to ignore it but it would skwak and skwak and eventually take a poop on me, leaving me not feeling very good about myself. The doubt was against my faith. It was against my motives and even my very heart. A lesson I've learned from this is God loves to take advantage of a great opportunity. He loves to fix broken, repentive hearts. I can honestly say that I asked for Him to show himself to me without any specifics. He did that in a lot of small ways. He also did it in one big way. A few days after this prayer Darcey told me she was pregnant. And he didn't stop there. Growing close to God has helped me grow closer to Darcey. He's provided for us and allowed me to be stronger to resist things that used to control me. I can say from experiance, God is Good.
