Roy's World

Proud mama world meet Cameron and corbin

2010-12-24T10:19:00.001-06:00

Proud mama world meet Cameron and corbin, originally uploaded by IAxB.

Proud mama world meet Cameron and corbin

Swagger Waggon, here we come, and a minor Freak out!

2010-10-10T17:13:00.000-05:00

Well obvious to many people except us! there is no way we are going to fit the whole family comfortably into the Rav4. Fortunately we have a good way out of our lease and will shortly be ordering a Sienna. Swagger Wagon here we come! Hopefully we will have it shortly after the Twins are born. Things are obviously progressing rapidly, we are into the third trimester. The babies are healthy the pregnacy so far has been blessedly uneventful. Other than the fact that at this point my wife is very, very, uncomfortable! Our dining room is rapidly filling up with baby supplies. Nesting has commenced, yet we have no where to nest just yet. This is beginning to be a stress point in our lives. We are attempting to finish out part of our unfinished basement for our 11yr old son to move his room to. He is very excited about this, we are too! Our daughter will move into his old room and the twins will go into her room. Looks great on paper! At this point however we have no progress in the basement. I know it will get done, my Father-in-law is in charge of this project so we are waiting for things to happen around his schedule. I just hope we have time to move and paint everything and set up a crib or two BEFORE the babies get here. cause if the babies get here first, they are going to end up in pack and plays in the living room, cause we can't use the dining room/nursery cause it is full of stuff to go in the babies room upstairs! AAAAAGGGHHH! OK Freak out over! I have faith that things will get done in a timely fashion.....I HOPE!

fun, but not practical!

2010-09-01T22:22:00.001-05:00

DSC03886.JPG, originally uploaded by IAxB.

On Being Practical

2010-09-01T22:17:00.002-05:00

Up until now thanks to my wifes job, we have been able to have a lot of fun with our vehicles. You see, due to her working for a major automotive finance company we get really good deals on new cars from that company. With only two children so far in our life we have had fun with our cars. We have driven Scions for the past 6 years, we belong to a Scion club, and I've modified my 2005 Scion xB out with a lot of fun stuff. My wife has driven 3 different Scions in the last 6 years as well. From the 2 door sport coupe to both the 1st and 2nd gen of the xB. When we made the decision to have another child, we decided that I could keep my xB since I've spent a lot of money on it already, and she would get rid of her xB in favor of a car that could carry two kids and an infant more easily. We settled on a Rav4 with the optional 3rd row seat. The plan was Infant and one child in middle row, Middle schooler in the tiny 3rd row seat by himself. This was our first practical car choice order. It was motivated "how are we going to fit everyone in the car?" not "this is a really cool fun feature I want in my car!" This has been a tough thing for me to deal with. I've always had fun cars. I'm glad I still have my fun car, but on the other hand I feel like I've had to get my first GROWNUP car... Did I mention that the Rav4 is still a really awesome car, but its ordering was totally motivated by practicality, whats the fun of that? More on how twins plus the other four of us will fit in a Rav later.....

20 weeks!

2010-08-22T21:18:00.000-05:00

Wow somehow we have reached the 20 week mark! This is very exciting, we get an ultrasound at every visit right now, this is really cool because I get to see my baby boys every 4 weeks! It is fun to see how much they have grown. For the record the boys are now 13oz each! Growing well and looking healthy by all the ultrasound pics. Now since these are not our first kids, we do have some experience with pregnancies. I have noticed that my poor wife has reached that uncomfortable stage much quicker than with either of the previous pregnancies. Of course this stands to reason since there are two babies instead of just one. I found some photos of my wife when she was about 8 months pregnant with our daughter. No I won't post them. She would kill me! But the point is her baby belly not quite the same size it was at 8 months with our daughter, but close, it won't be long. My biggest concern as we prepare for these two little guys has been a worry about how we are going to afford daycare. We both work full time and all our healthcare benefits are through my wifes work. With our income level one of us staying home full time is not an option. What we ended up working out with our bosses, is this, my wife will go into work about a half hour earlier than she is now. I will go in about 3 hours later than I do now. what this will work out is that I will be able to stay home with the babies while she works, and then I will go into work after she gets home, and stay til 10:30 pm instead of 8 pm. I will lose about 10 hours but still maintain full time status. this all works out to costing less money than having to pay a daycare provider for watching the boys. This also gives the advantage of the boys being raised by parents instead of daycare providers.

Week 16 Post

2010-07-21T22:12:00.001-05:00

Well we are heading into week 16 of this pregnancy. The babies seem to be growing like crazy! Bridgit was quickly out of her regular clothes and into maternity clothes...You can read about that on her blog. So far we've been fortunate, the pregnancy has been going very well, no major complications. A couple quick things. Bridgit admitted the other day that she has been milking it. Meaning she has been taking advantage of my over concern for her well being. She has had me lifting stuff and moving stuff around from her throne in the living room. Now I've known she has been milking it but because I love her I'm willing to spoil her.. Heck its what I try to do anyway. It was just a small victory to hear her admit she was milking it! Will I keep spoiling her? heck yeah! is it worth it.. Heck yeah, she is after all the mother of my children, and thats good for something. Differences I've noticed so far with this pregnancy, she is tired a lot more! during the first trimester, she literally would fall asleep anywhere, anytime. Since we've entered the next trimester this has improved, but she still fall asleep anywhere and anytime. Tomorrow we have an appointment for an ultra sound! This is exciting, it will be my first time to see the live ultrasound, so far I've only seen the pictures. I can't wait to feel the babies moving. I love to hold Bridgit and hold her belly! Its my way of getting close to the babies!

First picture of the twins

2010-06-26T16:04:00.001-05:00

First picture of the twins, originally uploaded by IAxB.

Wow, maybe I'll revive my Blog....

2010-06-26T14:53:00.000-05:00

So I discovered that it has been almost 2 years since I've posted on my blog. Well, now my life becomes more interesting. My wonderful wife and I have 2 children, an 11 yr old boy and a 7yr old girl. After 7 years of saying we were done, we decided to have one more child. My wife is now 12.5 weeks pregnant, and this past Thursday we found out we are expecting twins! This is very exciting and very scary at the same time. I have done some looking and discovered that most of the blogs out there by parents are "mommy blogs" Specially the twin related ones. They really focus on the womans point of view and on the things a woman/mom is going through. Well I decided to put a twist on it and try to write one from a guys/dads perspective. We will see how I do, and if there is any interest. So check back as I try to document my wifes pregnancy, and then as we add these two precious little ones to our family. Right now its been fun watching my older two kids react to the news of Mom being pregnant first of all, and then later discovering that they are getting not one but TWO! siblings. This is a planned pregnancy so it was not a surprise to us, but when we sat the kids down to tell them that they were getting a sibling, it was obvious that it was the last thing they expected. In fact when we called them into the living room for a chat, they thought they were in trouble! After making them try to guess, we told our son that we were going to finish the basement and make a room for him down there. He was excited because he has been begging for this for a while. He exclaimed , "awesome, I thought you were going to tell us Mommy was pregnant or something." I said,"your right, Mommy is pregnant!" His jaw about hit the floor, and he went running upstairs. I called him back down and by then it had hit our daughter! She screamed and was very happy and excited. Our son being the grown up 11yr old exclaimed, "thats freaky!" all settled down and they quickly became very excited about the prospect. We overheard our daughter that same night whispering to herself, "my dream came true!" apparently she has been wanting a younger sibbling for some time. Now on Thursday we found out we were having twins, so we quickly told them and showed them the ultrasound pictures. Once again our son kind of freaked out, and our daughter was instantly thrilled. So for the last few days we've been having fun trying to pick out more names, and running through ideas for how we will cope with not one but two babies at the same time.

Christmas has come and gone!

2008-12-27T20:43:00.000-06:00

Christmas has come and gone and I haven't updated my blog in a long time. We tried hard to keep our family focused on the real reason we celebrate. Yet our kids still are looking for more. They want more presents and more presents. Both kids got quite large gifts too. Aaron got a new guitar and Lillian got a nintendo DS. They. Were the only gifts they got because of the cost. Still they want more. How so we refocus on Christ. How do we help them remember that Without Christ there would be no reason to celebrate. If Christ had never born there would be no celebration. It is hard to keep that in focus when every where you look it's buy this buy that give me this give me that. No mentionof Christ. It's all about Santa and presents. I actuually had a co worker who was quite upset when I told her we didn't do Santa s At our house. So maybe next year we will work harder to keep more focused in the real reason we celebrate

Tractor trailer ride

2008-11-27T21:12:00.000-06:00

No Thanksgiving in Milan is complete without the tractor trailer rides!

I am Thankful

2008-11-27T21:10:00.001-06:00

Today being Thanksgiving day, like many people I have stopped to reflect on what I have to be thankful for.

The short list because there really are too many things to list.

1. First and foremost I'm thankful for my Lord and Savior.

2. My wife Bridgit who loves me and puts up with me being an techie Geek.

3. Our wonderful Children who really are great. Even when I say they drive me crazy!

After those three things the rest are really just filler. But there are far to many to list. A good job, a decent house, dependable cars. And on and on. So if you haven't already done so. Take a minute. Stop and figure out what you have to be thankful for!

Random thoughts

2008-11-09T17:08:00.001-06:00

We should be getting ready to do to Imago Christi to listen to the Eddie Picard quartet play tonight. But we aren't. We are relaxing at home this evening.

Last night after church we drove down to Iowa City to visit some friends we hadn't seen in a while. We had a very nice time playing Mexican train dominos and chatting. It resulted in us arriving home after Midnight so we decided to forgo evening activities tonight and have a quiet evening in.

Cousins

2008-10-25T16:21:00.001-05:00

Cousins, originally uploaded by IAxB.

Lillian and cousin Adriana hangin out on Lillians Birthday

My baby is 6!

2008-09-28T10:10:00.000-05:00

Friday we celebrated Lillians 6th birthday! So not only is my baby in school but she is a 6 year old. It is frighting to me how quickly she is growing up. And its not just her, Aaron gets taller by leaps and bounds. He's a young man now and it just amazes me to see how mature he is. We were looking at full size guitars yesterday because he has outgrown his parlor size guitar he has now.

I'm just so amazed at how quickly time has flown by but very proud of my kids at the same time!

Ray Blue

2008-09-21T10:02:00.000-05:00

Last night at church jazz musician Ray Blue performed during the service then have a 2 hour concert after church. He is an amazing jazz and blues musician. He plays the saxophone so immediately gets my bias. I really enjoyed the concert, it was one of those shows where you just can't sit still. It is really cool to see a musician who is willing to give all the Glory for his skills to God.

First day of school!

2008-09-16T09:15:00.000-05:00

Changes

2008-09-16T09:14:00.001-05:00

Well the kids have been back to school now for going on 3 weeks. For our house this has meant something new. Lillian started kindergarten! Its amazing the changes we see in such a short time already. While she has always been a very outgoing child she is more confident now than ever. Aaron also changes with each year. We have watched him turn into a confidant young man. We love to listen to him play his guitar. He is also training in boxing with a friend. It will be interesting to see which of these interests bears the test of time. Personally I hope its the guitar. He's so good at it and I really enjoy him playing it.

The twins birthday

2008-08-10T17:34:00.001-05:00

The twins birthday, originally uploaded by IAxB.

Today we celebrated my twin niece and nephews Birthdays. David really got into his cake

Downtown CR on Friday

2008-06-16T08:01:00.000-05:00

Reflection

2008-06-16T08:00:00.001-05:00

It has been a very interesting couple of days. If you watch the national news I'm sure you know that Cedar Rapids has experienced a very large amount of flooding. We were lucky, we are far enough from the river so flooding wasn't an issue. However we did have a water shortage so we had to use our water for drinking only. So we couldn't shower or do laundry. The good news is we were able to get out of CR and visit my parents so we were able to shower and do a couple loads of laundry to get is by. And as of yesterday we can take showers and do laundry on the odd and even days according to our house numbers.

The waters have started to recede and clean up is being planned. Its good to see an end in sight. It is interesting to observe that no matter what we as men build. God is always more powerful. We don't know why he allows floods like this but there is always a reason. Hopefully we as Christians will react and respond to this time of difficulty in a way that brings glory to him

Bridgits pretty car at a recent car show

2008-06-07T22:25:00.001-05:00

IMG00039, originally uploaded by IAxB.

We got a fire bowl

2008-06-06T20:48:00.000-05:00

Actually its a square but we really like it. I predict many evenings relaxing around it

Memorial day

2008-05-26T17:14:00.000-05:00

So today we had a high of about 78 or so. The kids are dying for warm weather so even though it really wasn't that warm the kids neighborhood kids had to get out swimsuits and water balloons. Didn't last very long but they sure had fun!
Roy

Aaron in highchair

2008-05-25T13:49:00.000-05:00

So today Aaron got stuck in a highchair at Culver's
Roy

Smart car at recent car show we attended, one of the first I've seen in IA

2008-05-24T15:48:00.000-05:00

Roy

Fuzzy the Catapiller

2008-05-22T21:10:00.002-05:00

sooo this morning my daughter Lillian woke up all bundled up in her blankets...Bridgit brought her all wrapped up into our bedroom to snuggle with Daddy for a bit. Pretty soon the bundle of blankets started to move, out popped a little head, "my name is Fuzzy the catapiller" She said...I laughed. Well it didn't stop there, apparently when she crawled out of her blanket she became a beautiful butterfly and flew all over the place. Oh we had to call her "fuzzy" because that is her name, I had to introduce her to her daycare person as Fuzzy...She went by Fuzzy all day today, and then when it was time for bed tonight she wrapped herself up in her blanket, and said "I turned back into a Catapiller"... So we no longer have a daughter named Lillian, we have a catapiller/butterfly named Fuzzy the picture below is of Fuzzy... Enjoy, I've laughed all day... oh did I tell you she refers to herself in the third person.....

Meet Fuzzy the catapiller

2008-05-22T21:10:00.001-05:00

Firsts

2008-04-05T20:04:00.001-05:00

Tonight at church I got a little teary eyed. We had comunion tonight, this in itself is enough to make me teary, but tonight I got to watch as both my children took communion too. It was my 5 year old first time. We don't make a big deal of the first time some one takes communion but it was still very special to me. She had asked Bridgit about it earlier today and Bridgit asked her what she thought it meant and why we did it. Lily made it very clear in her explanation to Bridgit that she understood why and what it meant. And since she had excepted Christ as her Savior last fall there was no reason not to let her partake. It is a very joyful thing to have both my children safe in the Lord and eager to follow his commandments. My continued prayer is that Christ will be glorified throughout their entire lives.
Roy

Aaron Comes home tomorrow!

2008-03-28T08:42:00.000-05:00

I can't wait, I miss the kid! He's been gone for nearly 2 weeks and its killing me. I can't wait to hear all about his trip, and see all his pictures. I think it will be really cool to hear about Nicaragua from his perspective, I also hope he has gained a better understanding of where Grandma comes from, and of how things are very different in different parts of the world... We pic him up tomorrow night, his plane comes in @ 8:45PM! its going to be a loong day!

Differences

2008-03-19T13:04:00.001-05:00

Its amazing where you can be when things hit you. This time its sitting in the McDonalds playland. I've come to the realization that most first children or only childs are experts at entertaining themselves, while younger siblings have always had an older brother or sister around to entertain them and to "think" of something to do. What made me realize this so clearly? Well Aarons in Nicaragua for two weeks with my parents, so Lily has become a temporary only child. As I watch her play I see that she has very little idea how to play "alone". She has always had Aaron or the other kids at daycare around to play with. The result is that she comes to Mom and Dad to play with her. Now I play with my kids but this is a constant thing. She needs feedback. The idea of going and playing with her dolls with out a "real" person to interact with is very difficult for her

So maybe being an only child will expand her creativity. I know she misses her brother, ok we All miss her brother, but I think overall this trip will allow both kids to grow in ways we hadn't thought of. We expected Aaron to grow, just hadn't thought of how Lily would be affected. I'll try to explore this topic further just before Aaron gets back.
Roy

things are getting a little hectic, again...

2008-03-10T11:08:00.000-05:00

Well Aaron leaves for Nicaragua with my parents this Saturday! We and he are very excited about this trip... the only Challenges are that we just realized that we should check and see if he needs any extra vaccinations before he leaves, the problem is all the travel clinics around here, either don't take kids, or the ones that do can't see him til NEXT week....lot of good that does us. We are hoping the Dr at the Office Iris works at will squeeze him in and see him. He might because he's family to a Staff member, normally he doesn't see kids either....at the very least we'll be buying him some immodium to take with and hope that will help if he gets the Travelers curse... At any rate can't wait for his reaction to this awesome chance of a lifetime.

All dressed for the Wedding aren't we hansome

2008-03-04T08:22:00.001-06:00

once again I've waited too long since my last post

2008-03-04T08:12:00.000-06:00

Well just realized that it has been close to forever since my last post...OOOPS a lot has happened. Most notably we had communion for the first time at the Imago Christi church plant. It was a very emotional time for many of us. Communion always is but to be part of that first time for a new church was truly amazing. I look forward to remembering Christ's great sacrifice for us many many more times as part of the Imago Christi congregation. the other notable thing is that we took a family trip to Florida a week and a half ago. We went primarily to my cousins Wedding, but also worked in time to go to the Miami Seaquarium, well worth your time if you make it to Miami, and to the Fort Lauderdale Beach. Our kids got to swim in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. Lily dove in and came up sputtering "who put Salt in it?" she asked. We all got a great laugh about that.

Gotta love a snowday

2008-02-06T14:20:00.001-06:00

I love a Snow Day

2008-02-06T13:29:00.000-06:00

Well between yesterday, last night and today we've gotten a LOT of snow. Enough that School was canceled AND BOTH Bridgit and I didn't have to go in to work! Now normally if both of us our off its because we have a ton of stuff planned so we run, run run. Today however we have nothing planned, and because of the snow have planned nothing. Its been really nice to spend a Quiet day with the kids! I think God Sent all this snow to force our family to stop, slow down, and enjoy each other, So I say thankyou Lord for this Beautiful day!

amazing how things affect us...

2008-01-29T19:59:00.000-06:00

Well I spent much of today checking a couple of Blogs from people I know who live in Kenya. Trying to catch up with what is happening there. It saddens me to see that the politicians are so wrapped up in the blame game that they have made no effort to really stop the violence which has exploded there since the elections in December. As You know the past two years I've traveled to Kenya to help fit people with eyeglasses. We were to go again this year but with the violence not showing any signs of letting up we will be postponing this trip until hopefully next year. I never really paid much attention to what is happening in Africa until I went there and made friends, and still know people who live there. This Awareness has made me stop and really look at much that is going on around the world. We live a pretty sheltered life here in the US and it is easy to forget and ignore what is going on else where in the world. Traveling has opened up my awareness, and I am attempting to pay more attention to the whole world. I Pray for the Gods people in Kenya and all around the world, that they may live in peace and without fear. if you are interested in reading more about what is happening in Kenya I suggest you check out Daniels blog he is an American working with orphans and street kids in the Rift Valley, and area that has been heavily affected by the violence. The Rift Valley is also where Eldoret, and Kip Karin are located, the area's where we have gone to work with people. I ask that you pray for God's people and workers, there and anywhere else, where they are serving Him living in Danger.

More things I've been thinking about...

2008-01-20T21:53:00.000-06:00

ok I know I haven't posted for a while, I promise I'll be better about it. January has been very interesting so far. Most notably in my mind is that the Church Plant we are involved with Imago Christi is now meeting. We are currently meeting on Saturday nights, and then on Thursdays for Prayer. After 3 services we seem to be averaging about 50 people a night, many from the coalition of churches that are supporting the plant. It is exciting to see people in from the neighborhood, and from Coe and Cornell Colleges. I was recently asked to take on some supporting responsibilities with the plant, and accepted them readily. Both Bridgit and I feel that since this Church Plant is in our neighborhood, we are being led by God to support, and commit to it. We plan to eventually call this our home church. This of course raises other things that need to be adressed. I'm currently serving as a Deacon and a Sunday School Teacher at Noelridge Park Church, one of the supporting Coalition Churches. We feel called to Imago Christi so in March when voting for Deacons happens, I plan on not reupping, I don't think it is fair to the people I'm serving at Noelridge to continue on as a Deacon there when I'm being called to Imago Christi. This is something I've wrestled with because since we currently don't have Sunday School at the new church we plan to continue attending Sunday School and Wednesday activities at Noelridge for the time being. It will be difficult to leave my Sunday School kids too, they are a great group of Middle School and High School kids, who have a thirst for learning about their God and a Habit of making me commit to projects that are very very large, and complex... I think I always end up learning more than they do. But as we grow as a church at Imago Christi I know we will be adding Sunday School and other activities, so I believe I will be teaching kids again, but it is also time for a much needed break from it after two solid years of teaching. Another thing that has been much on my mind lately is my Grandfather, he just turned 96 last week, and last Sunday we didn't expect him to survive to his Birthday. He had stopped eating and drinking and was very minimally responsive. They moved him to a nursing home in Cedar Falls, and Hospice care was arranged, after a couple days the report came in that he is eating and drinking again, and may soon be able to take meals in the lunchroom with the other residents. Knowing that he is ready to go home to be with His Lord, I think God must still have some plans for him to keep him here. When we visited him last Sunday, we shared with him that both our children Have accepted Christ as their own personal Savior, and he seemed to hear and comprehend that. This was something that we have left up to the kids to share with others when they were ready, since it is such a personal thing, but we felt it was important for him to know. The violence is Kenya still is a concern and we continue to pray for the people there. Both those we know personally who work in the mission fields there with Empowering Lives International, and other organizations, and for the people of Kenya that the violence will stop and peace will once again be restored to this beautiful country. We continue to plan for our next Spanda trip in October with Dr Fitzgerald to Kenya in hopes God will allow us to serve there again this year. Our son Aaron is gearing up for a fun and exciting trip to Nicaragua with my parents in March, he is nervous and excited about this at the same time, so is his mother, I think I'm just excited. I can't wait to hear about his reactions as he learns about and sees where his Grandma Myriam grew up. It will be his first trip ever out of the US and his first time on an Airplane too. It think this trip is very important because it will help him understand some of his heritage better. Sorry about the rambling, I promise I'll post more often and keep my posts shorter.

Things on my mind...

2008-01-03T20:18:00.000-06:00

Well today much of the country watching Iowa very intently, the Iowa Caucuses are going on as I type, some of the precincts are reporting, and at this time many networks are already declaring Mike Huckabee as the GOP winner, the Democratic bid is a little more mixed with Obama, Hillary Clinton, Edwards all very close together. While this is going on my mind is spending much more time elsewhere. I'm sure that most of you have heard about the violence in Kenya following their recent elections. This weighs heavily on my mind as I listen to reports of violence in Eldoret, a town very close to Illula, one of the ELI Orphanages, and about an hour or so away from Kip Karen, the other village we visited on our Optical trips to Kenya. I know many people there, and while Adele is safe in South Africa, where she was visiting Family over the Holidays when the violence broke out, I think of Juli and Allison, as well as the native staff. The Americans are likely fairly safe, but then Natives are more at risk. I think of David, and Cosmos, as well as Phoebe and others, as far as I know they are all of the Kolengen tribe, but that doesn't mean that they will be excluded from the violence, I ask for your prayers for these people in Kenya, that they will be kept safe, and that God will bring peace back to this country, for a first hand record of the events take a look at this blog... Daniel works with some of the street kids in the area and is still in Kenya, he updates often. the other thing that overshadows the Caucuses in my mind is my Grandfather, My Dad adn his siblings made the difficult decision to place him in Linn Manor care center. He doesn't think he needs to be there, and was very confrontational, and upset. Pray for peace for him and for my Dad and Aunts and Uncle knowing they made the right decision...

This time of year

2007-12-23T22:34:00.001-06:00

A couple days ago I posted a disgruntled blurb, frustrated by the way people act this time of year. The more I've thought about this, the sadder I've gotten. First of all I refuse to say Happy Holidays, I'll say Merry Christmas, because that is what we are supposed to be celebrating this time of year. This morning we were a few of the 13 brave souls who made it out of our houses to church, after a very beautiful fluffy LARGE snowfall. Our Pastor couldn't make it in to town from Troy Mills so the associate pastor did a short sermon, he read the Christmas story, the story of Christs birth, and discussed it from his own unique viewpoint. a couple of things that struck home is how we get so wrapped up in the commercialism of Christmas, that we even as Christians lose focus and forget what we are celebrating. I've been happy the last few years, because the Gift giving has gotten more under control with our various families. My kids actually are ready and eager to talk about how we are celebrating Christs Birthday, and how its not all about the Presents. Its nice to see them speak this way. Not that they don't want or aren't grateful for the presents they do get, but the can intelligently discuss what this time of year really means. While I know that likely this isn't even close to the actual date of Christs birth its a nice time to stop and say Thank you God for your Son, and Happy Birthday Jesus, because if he hadn't been born there would have been no Death or resurecction, and with out that we wouldn't have the hope of eternal Salvation. My final words to everyone is to Have a Merry Christmas, and truly enjoy this Celebration of Our Saviours Birth.

Blogged with Flock

This happy joyous time of Year

2007-12-18T22:11:00.001-06:00

As most of you know I'm an Optician. While this isn't officially retail, it is still sales, amd we are affected by the Holiday rush just like most retailers. However we are affected much differently. We do see an increase as patients are trying to spend extre flex dollars. But what we see more of is People who NEED glasses for various reasons(broken,lost) and have already spent too much on Christmas. The result is Grumpy demanding patients many times. So the Holidays to us don't mean happy they mean extra stress. So much for HAPPY. Man I can't wait for them to be over so people can return to their normal selves
Roy

Little things

2007-12-08T13:15:00.001-06:00

I was reminded recently that sometimes little things we do can be very important. I was also reminded that sometimes we let those slide and don't realize it. Or something that is little to us may not be little to someone else. So it is important to pay attention to those little things and not let them slide. They often reflect how much you care or pay attention to people close to you. So I've made a commitment to pay attention to the little things
Roy

Anniversary

2007-12-03T10:34:00.001-06:00

Well Wednesday will be our 9th Wedding Anniversary, it has been a wonderful 9 years.Bridgit and I were able to get away for a day and a half with out the kids, despite the Ice storm. We went to Ames and visited some friends, but mostly just enjoyed some much needed alone time. We've discovered that Date nights and the occasioanal kid free weekend are very important to the health of our relationship, gives us a chance to step away from the crazy pace of life and rediscover how much we are in love with each other. So Thank you Honey for a wonderful weekend... I Love You I look forward to many many more wonderful years...

"I was being Brave"

2007-11-15T23:54:00.000-06:00

So my 5 year old had her 5 year check up today. Now Papa has a tradition that if the grandkids are brave and don't cry he buys them icecream after their shots. So I sent Bridgit a text later in the afternoon to see how things went. I got a phone call almost immediatly from my Daughter. She said " I was brave Daddy but it hurt so I cried anyway". Needless to say Papa is getting her icecream anyway.

It got me thinking many times I try to put on a Brave face. But today my Daughter taught me sometimes you can cry and still be brave.
--
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Roy

Musings of a Middleschool/Highschool Sunday school teacher

2007-11-10T22:48:00.001-06:00

one of the things I try to do as a teacher for middleschool and Highschool students is to try to have topics which are applicable in their everyday life. From things like making the right choices in school, to trying to help them see the importance of living their faith in their everyday lives, not just at Church on Sunday. I'm always looking for topics, one of the ways I do this is to give them about 15-20 minutes of conversation time at the beginning of class. I try to engage them in conversations about their lives. As they talk I try to listen for things in their lives that concern them. I've discovered that at this age, what is important to them varies tremendously. Other things I listen for is to see where the conversations, and questions lead during the Sunday school lesson, a good example of this is last week we were having our lesson, and some how the question came up of evolution. Now my entire Sunday school class believes in God, but still the question of evolution is something that they need to deal with because evolution is what is taught in schools. As a result of their questions I found myself looking for a way to help them build, and understand why there is such a huge difference between creation and evolution. I found a wonderful resource on line which has a 12 week program on Creation vs Evolution, it is aimed at highschool, and adult Sunday School Classes. I think I will use this as a general guide for the next several weeks, it is a very well put together course by a group of Scientists who are also Christians. It should make for some interesting discussions. I ask for your prayers as I enter into this challenging topic.

ok everyone here are my Safari pics

2007-10-17T10:35:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Kenya Safari thoughts..

2007-10-17T09:52:00.000-05:00

Between my wife and Shelley...people I know are going to make sure I post up about every part of my trip. I've been hesitant to post up about the Safari this year because while it was great fun it really wasn't what stood out the most about the trip. Adele really strongly recommends a safari to missions teams because it allows a short time to process before returning to the "normal" life we are accustomed too. It is a good strategy and Safari was a wonderful time. The camp was amazing, we had an awesome guide named Jackson. He had been a guide for 17 years, so he knew a few little secrets to get us close to some of the animals. Highlights this year for me were getting to see a mother cheetah and her juvenile cubs up very very close, also getting to see an elusive black Rhino was awesome! The other exciting part was getting to see the Wildebeests crossing a river. No we didn't get to see any Crocs get lunch but it was still pretty amazing just the same. We also saw a Kori Bustard which is a rare bird and some juvenile fish eagles feeding on a mud fish. While all that was fun I think the part I treasure most was standing out in the night sky, drinking a Tusker with Rob, Adele, and Allison, looking up at the Milky Way, trying to find the southern cross, listening for animal noises, and just enjoying each others company. it was a fun time I will certainly treasure.

check out my pictures from my trip!!

2007-10-13T22:38:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

some of the boys dancing at our welcome

2007-10-13T22:34:00.001-05:00

Africa trip wrap up!

2007-10-08T14:17:00.000-05:00

Well its October 8th, I'm back from Kenya, we didn't have internet access the last several days. So this is my wrap up. On Tuesday we saw about 95 patients in clinic, fitting those who needed them with glasses. Doctor Fitzgerald and Kingus continued to work with Julius to further his training. I worked with Cosmos continuing is training on the autorefractor it amazed us all how quickly and eagerly the native staff learned. Michelle and Sharon got to go on a home visit to a very poor woman who had 6 week old twins who were starving, because the woman had no food, and produced no milk, so she was trying to feed the babies Ugali, a corn flour and water mixture eaten as a staple by adults... they were able to buy her some milk, and food and make provisions to continue to care for her. Wednesday we saw another 80 or so patients, David the ELI director in Kip Karen told us that some of the patients had traveled as far as 80 kilometers to have their eyes checked. As we wrapped up on Wednesday evening, David proceeded to tell us about stories and phone calls he had heard and recieved from the people we had helped. He told us of an old man who was very near sighted, he couldn't see his cows that were 50 feet away from him. He was always looking for his cows asking everyone if they had seen them. He called David to say he could now see his cows anytime he wanted, he had spent all afternoon looking at all his cows!! Another woman after I fitted her with a pair of reading glasses, looked at me and smiled and joyfully told me that now she wouldn't have to bother people to read her Bible to her, she could now read it her self!! It was a Joy to be able to serve just the little bit we could. The people we were in contact with continually praised God and gave him credit for everything in their lives. It really made me reevaluate my own personal faith. It was a great experience for me. Tuesday evening after supper we had the chance to go for Chi at Maru's house, Maru is a driver for ELI, he told us his life story, how he came to work for ELI and to know God, he was a taxi driver, and an alcoholic, he used to steal from his boss,because they paid so little, his wife was a christian and was faithful in her prayer, he would ask her why she bothered to pray because their living conditions were so poor, then he finally got a job with ELI and began to see how God worked in their lives. He now has two Biological children and is boarding and paying school fees for a friends child who's family helped him go to school when he was a child. He also has two more children he considers his own who are orphans, they lost their mother to aids. He and Julie a ELI american staff member were going to the Empath clinic, an Aids clinic in the area, they saw this Grandmother their crying, She had brought her daughter who had Aids to the clinic to see if they could help her, and she died shortly after arriving. This poor woman was alone and no one was helping her, so Maru and Julie bought a matress and helped her take her Daughters body home, when they got thier they discovered that the dead woman was the bread winner, and had left behind two young children... Maru went home and talked to his wife and to Julie, and decided that they could gladly house and feed the children if someone else could pay school fees. ELI decided that they could do that, so ELI pays for school, and Maru has taken they children into his home and now speaks of loving them as his own, it is a beautiful story, truly a picture of how Christ loves us! Wednesday after we closed the clinic we donated our laptop computer with several medical and Optometric dvds to the medical clinic. the staff was very grateful and excited to receive this gift. Wednesday evening they had what they called a "bye bye" dinner for us. it was a bit overwhelming as 60 or so people from the village and ELI staff filed into the room to eat supper with us. then there was some speeches and thank yous from key people. they Sang some songs to us, traditional Colengen songs and dancing and then they closed the evening out by singing "How Great Thou Art" in Swahili... singing the chorus in English at the very end... it was very touching to me. we were then asked to each say something. I don't think a single member of our team managed to make it through our individual thank yous with dry eyes.. What an amazing adventure... OH and I think almost everyone on our team promised to come back again... I'll post pics and some highlights of our two day safari later.

Monday, Wow what a day

2007-10-01T22:41:00.001-05:00

we saw 132 patients yesterday at the clinic... started a little after 8 finished up after 6 it was crazy...most of the people were very appreciative of any little thing we could do for them. I we had a few people who reminded us of you American patients, but for the most part it was an absolute joy. what was really cool was to see the native kenyans doing much of the care giving. Dr Kingus and Doc both were excited to see things they've only seen in text books, but something that is a little frustrating is that some of the things we saw were very treatable in the US but here there is nothing we can do. But as David, the ELI administrator reminded us, we do what we can, we can't help everyone.

Over all its been an exciting experience, I can't wait to see what we'll see today!

Praise God!!

2007-09-30T13:50:00.001-05:00

Praise God!!!God Is Good!! These are phrases that I got to hear repeatedly today! I was blessed to have the opportunity to go to church here in KipKarin. I am struck by how everyone here is giving constant praise to God for everything in their lives. the Church service was 2 solid hours of constant praise, there were to sermons on by David the local ELI Director and one by Randy a gentleman from Cedar Rapids who is here with his family through their church New Covenant Bible church. Both messages were very moving and very direct, with plenty of plain simple Gospel. After church we, (Everybody who was at church) walked over to the dedication of the new Optical and Aids wing of the Medical center which Dr Fitzgerald helped fund. Once there after much singing and dancing they unvailed a plaque which read "this center dedicated to God by Dr Fitzgerald on Sept 30 2007. We treat,God Heals" they also had Dr Fitgzgerald and an older gentleman from Cedar Rapids who was also visiting plant trees in memory of the occasion. Then they had the gentlman anoint the center with oil to Gods service. After that we went in and set up equipment and saw a few children from the other Childrens home at Illula. Dr Fitzgerald and Michelle, and Sharon went to visit Hannah, a woman whos face is being disfigured by a non cancerous tumor which is inoperable and will eventually suffacate her. they took her Morphine and an eye patch so that her eye which is displaced by the tumor to the side of her face could be covered so she could see again.. she was seeing like a bird does, two different things at once, very confusing to the human mind. What they were most impressed by was her happiness and faith in God even in her difficult situation. So all I can say after todays adventures IS PRAISE GOD, GOD IS GOOD!! it is good to be reminded of this again, and again as we spend our time here today...

Hello from KEnya

2007-09-29T12:22:00.000-05:00

HI from Kenya!! we arrived safely in KIP KAREN this morning. We walked through customs in Nairobi even easier this year than last year. Tomorrow after church we will go to the clinic and set it up, and begin to see patients. Our edger should arrive in Eldoret tuesday, then we will get it set up and I'll train someone to use it. I'm just so excited, and reminded every minute how little my faith in God is. the people live their faith every minute it is amazing. Please continue to pray for us and our safty.will post more later

It's time!!!!

2007-09-27T08:32:00.000-05:00

Well today we leave for Kenya! I've been awake since early this morning, full of nervous energy. My mind is racing trying to check and recheck everything I've packed. I can't wait to see some of the people we met last time, and the new people we'll meet this time. I pray for a Boring and safe flight as a good friend of mine would say. And I really pray that God will help us get through customs with no problems. Those are the first two and probably the biggest hurdles on this Journey.

Next time I post I'll be in Nairobi!!!
Roy

Stress

2007-09-23T20:22:00.000-05:00

Wow!!!! I'm starting to feel a little stressed out. We leave Thursday for Kenya! I'm sitting here right now staring at a list of stuff I need to wash and pack. And yet I still feel like I'm forgetting something. I just pray that everything will work when we get there and that we will have remembered everything too. Also please pray with me that we will have an easy time getting through customs. Still not sure on the power situation in the village we are going too either. We may only have power when we run the generators to operate the equipment.
Roy

Time

2007-08-30T23:28:00.001-05:00

Well time is fast running out. In less than a month we leave for 10 days to Kenya. I will be accompanying Dr Fitzgerald, Dr Kingus, Michele Burnes, and another woman who's name slips my mind. We will be visiting a village where we spent only one day last year for almost the entire trip this time. While there we will perform eye exams and fit glasses to those who need them. We will also help them set up, and learn to use some donated eyeglass manufacturing equipment. Ome of the labs we do business with has been very generous to donate this equipment as well as lenses. This will allow the people we are helping to make more exact glasses so the eyewear will be more effective.

I am very excited about this trip andask for your prayers that all goes well both in the preparations and for the trip itself as well
Roy

just some fun pic from earlier in the summer

2007-08-21T18:27:00.001-05:00

2007-08-21T13:55:00.001-05:00

My sister in law Sarah is in the Hospital.... she is the mother of those two precious babies in the picture below. She will be ok and will be released tomorrow, she had fluid in her lungs, thats improving a lot. What has me thinking though is watching the heart ache and pain both she and her husband Brett are going through, to be in the hospital away from your new born babies, unable to take care of them is heart wrenching. I can't even begin to imagine what Sarah is going through, and then to watch Brett deal with the agony of worrying about his wife in the hospital and needing to be there, and yet at the same time worry about his new born children and needing to be home with them. As a husband and a father I can empathize a bit with Brett, I thank God that I never have had to go through that. Thankfully there is plenty of family here in town and Brett was able to spend the night last night at the hospital with Sarah while the two Grandmas, Iris, and Barb stayed at the house and watched the babies, this afternoon Brett is there with Grandma Barb caring for the babies, and I believe Grandma Iris will be there tonight. helping Brett out... I just ask for your prayers for Brett, Sarah, Zoe and David, that they all get through this and that some sense of normalcy will return to their lives, of cours with twins I'm not sure that there ever will be "normal"

Aren't these two cutest!!

2007-08-19T21:46:00.001-05:00

I'm an uncle again!

2007-08-19T17:33:00.001-05:00

This is rather exciting news. Bridgit's sister Sarah and her husband Brett welcomed twins into the world on Tuesday! David and Zoe are wonderful kids while they are not my first niece and nephew, it is still very exciting. Watching Brett and Sarah with the twins really drives home how easy we had it by having our kids one at a time. I'll post up the required pictures later after I download them from my camera.

Its fun to watch Lillian with her cousins. She is so eager to help in any way she can from washing bottles to changing diapers. Her favorite thing to do of course is to hold them! One at a time of course!
Roy

July 4th fun

2007-07-05T12:11:00.001-05:00

Wow what a holiday week its been. I'm still trying to recover from it. And I don't mean in a bad way. Mostly I'm just tired. After Bridgit got off work on Tuesday we drove both cars up to my parents in Garnavillo. Once we got their I washed all thee xB's, Moms, mine, and Bridgit's. Had to get them ready for the parade. Then it promptly rained. So the next morning yep I had to touch them up again.

Finally made it uptown for the parade and met up with our friends Alex and Rachel who brought up their xB from Ames. That made four cars total. It was a lot of fun. Many people in the area had never even seen a Scion before much less four of them! We had banners for mom's cake business on two of the cars. After the parade we went back to Mom and Dads for a delicious lunch of chops and potatoe salad finished off by a delicious tres leche cake. We finished off the day by watching Garnavillos excellent fireworks. Good thing both Bridgit and I took today off to recover. I'll post some pics up when we get home
Roy

Ouch

2007-06-30T22:53:00.001-05:00

well I've discovered that I'm getting soft. Today we (my brother-in-law Craig) and I tore upsome old landscaping and redid the landscaping at my parents place. In reality it was a very small project but it did involve a lot of manual labor. I think I used muscles that I haven't used in ages. I'm sure I'll be more sore tomorrow than I already am

It was a much needed project and I actually enjoyed doing it. It was a great chance to spend time with family. I also washed and waxed my moms Scion xB in preparation for the upcoming July 4th parade. Over all a very busy and rewarding day. Now I'm off to what I'm sure will be a very deep sleep
Roy

July 4th thoughts

2007-06-25T23:37:00.001-05:00

So what do you do to celebrate the 4th of July? We usually go up to my parents and watch my hometown parade and spend the day with family. This year we have pretty much the same plans but with a little twist. This year both Bridgit and I will actually be IN the parade. We will be helping promote my mom's cake business and our car club. Bridgit, myself, my Mom or Dad and a friend of ours from our car club will all be driving our Scion xB's inthe parade. So if you happen to be in garnavillo dor the 4th of July celebration this year look for the four boxes in the parade and be sure to wave. You won't miss us!
Roy

Thoughts

2007-06-13T22:23:00.001-05:00

As I've been starting preparations for my next trip to Kenya with Dr Fitzgerald, Spanda Inc and ELI I've had too fill out some paperwork for ELI. One of the questions was "how would you describe your relationship with God?" How would you answer that question? I really had a difficult time answering it. My first reacton was "oh it's great". But then I looked deeper and while in many ways its very good there is really MUCH room for improvement, two ways I personly see for myself are: I need to pray more and study my Bible more. And those are just two ways! I know there are many more ways I need to improve it.

So now I extend the same question to you.

How is your relationship with God.
Roy

Test

2007-06-10T19:48:00.001-05:00

Just testing a fun new way to post to my blogg. I'm trying to use email
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular

eyeopening...

2007-06-03T21:19:00.001-05:00

well, I kinda got a little taste of being the parent of a teenager this afternoon. I'm not ready for that yet, is what I discovered. The 16 yr old girl who babysits for us sometimes, spent the afternoon at our house. she is a very well spoken and intelligent girl.... I do teach 6th-12 Sunday school, but that is just for an hour every Sunday. What I found today is that while she is a great kid a conversation with a teenager will stretch the very limits of what you know with their questions. Its not like talking directly with another adult but very far away from the conversations I have with my 8 and 4 yr old... I'm glad in reality its a gradual thing and I'll adapt as my kids age. I do have a new respect for parents of teenagers, thats for sure... and this one is a good kid too, not a troubled teen or anything like that!!

Blank Park Zoo pics.(click photo for more)

2007-05-14T17:20:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Sunday Zoo fun

2007-05-14T17:09:00.001-05:00

Well after the big car show on Saturday it was only fair that the kids get to have some fun. Soo we took them to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. It is a real nice zoo. Very small but it was just what we needed. We really enjoyed our time there. I'll post pictures in a minute.

technorati tags:Zoo, Vacation, animals

All Scion Show 4.0

2007-05-14T12:44:00.001-05:00

Well this past weekend was the ScinergyIA/Wilsons Scion, All Scion Show 4.0. This is the 4th year we've done this, and boy am I tired. it is a three day event, with a roll in starting on friday, a show on Saturday, an evening drive, and then a Sunday Farwell drive. We had a blast take a look at the pictures, there were some awesome cars there! and best of all all the show t-shirts we sold, the funds went towards my expenses for EYECARE KENYA 2. So I'm excited we raised quite a bit Wilsons donated the costs to make the shirts so all income is towards the show. Bridgit and the kids had a great time too. Bridgit won a new steering wheel for her car, but it won't fit hers, It WILL fit mine though! woo hoo leather wrapped wheel... I'm excited. and then a girl in our club who won a set of grill for an xB, drives and xA, she just gave the grills to Bridgit, so this afternoon I'll put those on her car for her... they'll look awesome... anyway I'm rambling.

Sunday we went to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. I'll post pictures from that later, the kids had a blast.

ALL Scion Show 4.0 Click on the picture so see more pictures

2007-05-14T12:39:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Self Discovery!

2007-05-02T09:57:00.001-05:00

Well I discovered a little something about myself yesterday. I don't do home improvement very well! I guess I've always known this but I proved it to myself again yesterday. We got some beautiful counter tops from my parents, only one little problem, they need to be tweaked a bit to make them fit our counters. this involves measuring and remeasuring and cutting and splicing. I'm very fortunate to have a very capable father in law to help me out. Ok who am I kidding, he did most of the measuring and remeasuring and cutting. This project will look very nice when its done but it may take a while to complete since then next two weeks are very busy for us. Bridgit I promise it will get done! and You'll love it. I only tremble to think what the results might be if I had tried to tackle this on my own.

OK so Bridgit and I love our cars we took a few pics today!

2007-04-28T20:40:00.001-05:00

take a look at Aarons birthday party

2007-04-28T12:05:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

I'm tired!!

2007-04-28T08:51:00.001-05:00

Well we experienced our first Birthday party Sleepover at our house last night!  Aaron turned 8 yesterday and we caved and allowed him to have 3 friends over to stay overnight last night.  Let me tell you the volume level in our house shot waaaay up.  4 boys are VERY noisy.  Plus they decided they were going to stay UP all night. AND I gave up around 11:00 pm and went to bed.  Then Bridgit stayed up til 2 or so and finally made them crawl into there sleeping bags and just leave the tv on.  most of them fell asleep for a couple of hours, I think Trey said he was back up at 5:00 am he said, I'm not sure but I think all but one got up around then.  they stayed quiet for a while but then the noise started.. I got up and fixed them Pancakes, I'm just waiting til around 9:00 when their parents are to pick them up!

its official there's now three in the family!!

2007-04-19T23:29:00.001-05:00

its official there's now three in the family!! Originally uploaded by iaxbbcp.

Now that Bridgit has her xB and My parents have theirs we have become a 3 xB family, Bridgit's is the Dark Blue, Mom and Dad's is the Brighter red, and Mine is the dark burgundy

My xB

2007-04-19T23:12:00.001-05:00

one of my favorite pictures of my xB, I've made a few changes too it lately, I'll have to get some new pics...

Musings...

2007-03-21T20:05:00.001-05:00

I went to a funeral visitation tonight...a highschool classmate of mine passed away, he was only 32 years old. He died of cancer. This really hit me hard, Brett was one of 2 or 3 male friends in highschool that I really got along with. He is also the first person from the Garnavillo Highschool class of 1992 to die. It really drove home my mortality. Brett was a very easygoing friendly guy, he was everyones friend, He fought cancer in his mid twenties and thought he'd beat it, then about 2 years ago it came back, hes been fighting ever since, now I knew his cancer had come back but didn't realize how serious it really was. When I got the call that he had died, it really shocked me. As I drove the hour and 15 minutes up to Arlington this evening, a song played from my Ipod playlist. It is a song by Casting Crowns called "Here I Go Again". It talks about getting up the nerve to talk to a friend about Christ. I was saved when I was 14, and to tell you the truth, I don't think I ever Talked to Brett about Christ. I don't know where he is at this moment, and that really bothers me. as I walked past the casket there was a place to kneel in front of his casket, I watched as some relatives kneeled and crossed themselves, in a brief prayer, Brett was religious, his family is Catholic, I don't know if he ever really heard the Gospel, I feel like I failed in my responsibilty as a Child of God to spread his good news. And if the people kneeling to pray were praying to get him into heaven its too late. As I left the funeral home, I've resolved to make more effort to share the Gospel with everyone I know... and the Song "Here I Go Again" echos in my mind... Listen to it sometime, really listen...

ice and snow!! what fun!!

2007-02-24T18:07:00.001-06:00

well, its been a really interesting day weather wise here in IA. Started out with freezing rain, now its kind of a slushy icy hail/snow. My work closed early today, so I've gotten to spend the day at home iced in...we've watched a lot of movies, and tv, I stocked up on some good snack foods, Church is canceled for tomorrow, the worse part is the large chunks of ice falling off the trees, keep setting off my car alarm. that and the power keeps flickering because the power lines are heavily coated with ice.

Its on nights like this that I really wish I had a fire place, because its a great night to cuddle up in front of a fire place...with some hot chocolate... I must say over all I'm kinda enjoying the weather, I'm cooking a lasagna for supper, and it smells so good.

time for a little rant, please bear with me...

2007-02-12T11:44:00.001-06:00

Ok I promise not to do this often, but I just have to air my feelings... The Dixie Chicks won a whole bunch of awards at the Grammys last night. The one that really gets me is Country Album of the year...First of all, they themselves no longer consider themselves country, Second, they have alienated most of the Country audience with their political remarks, and blatant political agenda in their music lately. Third of all this newest album has gotten little to no Country radio play. Yet some how the Grammy people chose their album. this proves that these awards are in many ways politically motivated by Hollywood. It couldn't have been much clearer than when Al Gore was chosen as a presenter for and award. Ok I haven't heard thier album probably won't ever hear it, by my choice. It may be really good and worthy of some of the awards they won, but it ISN'T A COUNTRY ALBUM so it shouldn't have won that award.

OK rant over.

stuff

2007-02-02T21:04:00.000-06:00

Well another week is almost over, Lillian is doing well, pretty much healed from her Sledding crash on Sunday. She still tries to milk her wounds for extra attention now and then. I've discovered that I'm too out of shape to go sledding again, I'm still pretty stiff and sore from sledding too. I guess we are learning a lesson in patience this week..Bridgit's new car is sitting at the dealership, but she won't be taking delivery of it until wednesday. I'm sure we'll drive out to the dealership a couple times before then to make sure it doesn't get lonely. I'm sure we'll survive but I think She's more than ready to give up her 2 door for a 4 door again. Specially one as cool as her new one. Plus she still gets to stay an active member of Scinergyia!

Sledding can be dangerous!!

2007-01-28T20:33:00.001-06:00

Ok, so today we had Church in the park, yes on January 28th we had church in the park, in Iowa, oh yes it was in a nice heated lodge...So after Pastor Richards sermon on why its ok to enjoy leisure time activities, the kids and most of the dads headed out to the HUGE sledding hill. Now I should mention that two days ago it was over 40 degrees out so the ice had started to melt, and now its really, really cold like 10 degrees was the high. so the sledding hill was pretty much ICE. we went down a coupl of times, it was a blast.... Aaron was a big boy and had to go down by himself.. Lily and I went down together, after several successful and fun trips down Lily and I were at the top with no sign of Aaron, and our sled, so... another person at the top had a sled she had borrowed, and didn't want to go down again so Lily and I decided to take it down one last time and return it to its owners... WELL this sled was really really fast, I was holding on to Lily with one hand, and trying to slow down and maintain control with the other.... We hit a Big BIg bump and went airborne... I lost my grip on Lily and she flew off the front of the sled. some how I ended up with her boot in my face. and she was more or less under the front of the sled face down! I quickly flipped off the sled and we came to a sliding halt... the first thing I saw was blood everywhere, I couldn't tell what part of her face it was coming from, she was crying and we quickly rushed her into the lodge at the bottom of the hill, there in the bathroom we discovered the blood was mostly from a bloody nose, and some scrapes on the left side of her face. I cleaned her up, stopped her bloody nose. she has a scrape on her nose, and on her cheek and by her eye.. she looks pretty tough right now, and likely will have a pretty good shiner tomorrow. I feel like the worse dad in the world right now.. I know it was an accident but she was with me when it happened and that is hard to accept, I shouldn't have let it happen, at least thats what keeps going through my mind.. it had been a fun uneventful day til then. but someone pointed out to me later that it could have been a lot worse, she doesn't have any broken bones or need any stitches, so God was definitly watchin over us. Dad feeling guilty so she's milking it and getting whatever she wants...

AARgh....

2007-01-20T21:15:00.001-06:00

I was trying to write a post with some pics and it failed miserably, I guess I'll have to try again later...

95yrs old!!

2007-01-13T21:09:00.001-06:00

Wow! This afternoon we celebrated my Grandfathers 95th birthday, its not actually til the 17th but today was the celebration. This caused me to stop and think for a moment. My Grandfather has a lot to look back on in his life, a very successful marriage, 4 great kids, including my Dad. A successful business. but yet what was it he wanted to talk about today? He is concerned because he feels he's losing his ability to voice his thoughts, he has trouble saying what he's thinking, he is easily confused. These all bother him understandably, yet He reminded me how thankful he was that my Grandmother didn't go through that. She had a stroke, and lost the ability to walk but never lost her ability to speak, until almost the very end. My grandfather frequently mentions how he is ready to go be with her...

so wow, how does this affect me.. I admire my Grandfather, he was always very strict as a child, he wasn't someone who I ever felt I could relate to, maybe its because his first focus was Always on God, his greatest concern was always that all his Children and Grandchildren come to know God as their Personal Savior. As a kid it made him seem stern and sometimes forbidding to me. Now with my own children I understand that concern. What is my life worth if I don't live it for God, and my children don't learn to love God the way I do.. I'm fortunate, my son told us about a year ago that he had asked Jesus into his life. He's 8 now and we do see him trying to live a life that shows that. My daughter is only 4 and I'm not sure she fully understands the importance yet. So I continue to try to show them by example, what it means to be a Christian, and Why its important to have that relationship...I just pray that God will lead and guide my Wife and I as I raise my Children.

What a holiday season

2006-12-28T20:41:00.001-06:00

Uh, can't wait until Saturday is over... for most retail businesses the rush is before Christmas, for Optical its the week between Christmas and New Years, as people realize that they have XX flex dollars to spend before Jan 31st or they'll lose it, or their benefits change to after jan 1 and they want to get an exam or glasses on then current plan.. I'm so tired, I've worked 10 hr days since Tuesday, and tomorrow and Saturday look just as bad, plus we have year end inventory to do after we close on Saturday...

and on top of that, I'm still not 100 percent over my flu and junk from last week....

Christmas actually went really well, with the exception of Aaron being sick on Christmas day... everyone had a good time and the family gatherings all were pleasant and unstrained... It was nice to see my Sister who lives in Texas, and her adorable teacup chihuahua.

ok gonna go crash now.. later

double Uck!

2006-12-21T09:08:00.001-06:00

well, as of tuesday night its been my turn, high fever, hacking cough, it really sucks...I think my wife would tell you that worse than staying home with two sick kids is staying home with one sick kid and one sick husband.. I'm sure I've been a bigger pain than the kids have been.... Today is my second day off of work... hopefully my fever will break and I'll be able to work tomorrow, specially since this is one of our busiest times of the year.... Lily is home with me today, she probably could have gone to the sitters, but she still had a slight fever... so why take a chance...

UCK!

2006-12-19T08:43:00.001-06:00

Well, not much less exciting than staying at home with 2! sick kids, Aaron is starting to feel enough better that he's getting bored, and starting to be a little obnoxious. He's definetly going to school tomorrow! Lily doesn't seem to be as Sick as Aaron got, but she "needs" a lot of attention. Hopefully both will be well enough tomorrow so they can both go to school and daycare. Neither has taken a bath today, so we have that wonderful sick kid smell in the house.

I learned something this weekend. Having 2 company Christmas parties AND out Church Christmas program, wears me out... we had a great time at both parties, but by Sunday we literally got up went to church, ate lunch came home slept, got back up went to the Church Christmas Program, came home and went to bed...we were wiped and so were the kids, cause we all know that when babysitters, or Grandma and Grandpa watch you, they never get to bed early either.

ok gotta go tend to kids....

Cool

2006-12-14T08:45:00.001-06:00

Just downloaded this great little widget thingy that lets me post to my blog directly from my browser..this should be fun! makes it easier to add stuff. Sorry you'll have to bear with me as I discover all the fun little things I can do.

my wife tells me my blog is boring...

2006-12-13T08:23:00.000-06:00

So I thought I'd share a fun little bit of the joy of having a 4 yr old in the house. This morning as we are frantically rushing around trying to get ready to go to the sitters.. I try to get her to take her bath quickly... well telling a 4 yr old to rush is impossible so it turns into a 20 minute bath with her sobbing because I'm making her hurry... so then we get done and I tell her to get dressed, she sees the outfit I have picked out and immediately has a problem with it. so we get it straightened out, she gets dressed, its now after 8:00 am the drop off deadline for her to get breakfast at the sitters, we rush to get her coat on, but wait she has to run back up stairs to put her LIPSTICK!!! on.... I'm thinking if she's like this when she's four, what lies ahead for the teenage years?!

2006-10-25T22:04:00.000-05:00

my thoughts on Africa a Week Later

2006-10-15T21:43:00.000-05:00

Well I've been back from Kenya for a week now, its been a crazy week, recovering from jetlag, catching up with my family, getting back into the work routine... its good to be home...but...I'd go to Kenya again if I felt God was leading me that way...

So what stands out... the people, they were so warm and caring, thier faith in God is so strong. The Children they were simply amazing, they were so happy, and warm and giving... their smiles warmed up any day... it was nice to be able to help a little.

I'll never forget having Chia with Mama Chiri, or Henry jumping and laughing when his new glasses helped him see. Adele thank you for being our guide to the culture and allowing us to discover this wonderful country.

Will I be back, if God leads, without a doubt. Hopefully for longer next time.

I did enjoy the Safari too, I just kept thinking about Gods wonderful creations, seeing them like that and not in a zoo is truly the experience of a lifetime....

Last day here

2006-10-07T09:36:00.000-05:00

well today is the last day here, we are getting ready to head home, after spending a couple days in the Maasi Mari(sp) on safari winding down, we hit a tourist market here in Nairobi to find souviners, I Promise I'll post pictures when I get home. This has been an awsome expierence, it is really amazing to see the way God is working in Kenya, ELI is an excellent organization, and they use a lot of Native staff, so it is a growing mission...the work is incredible, and then to see the Animals God Created in nature is just unreal....simply amazing, I took nearly 600 photos so I'm sure one or two of them should have turned out. to see more pics check out this link http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c2/IAxB/Kenya%20trip/

Day 4 kenya

2006-10-05T04:04:00.000-05:00

Wow time flys when you are busy, we have seen about 250 patients or so in the last 3 days, it has been an increible experience, teh Kenyans are all so welcoming and grateful for any help we can give them, we had a lot of fun in Ilula with the children in the home,checking thier eyes, very few needed glasses, Yesterday we were in Kip karin, there we were doing follow up for Dr Darrel, one old man that sticks out is Henry, he was blind in one eye with a dense cataract in the other, when we fit him with some glasses, he just started to laugh , he was so happy to see even a little bit out on the hills, I fell in love with kip karin, it has no electricity yet, it is very rural, the sense of community is wonderful, there is an ELI childrens home there as well, just filled to full capacity last month. the staff and Director of the home and the medical clinics there, gave us a very heartfelt good bye and made us promise to come back, an easy promise to come back because I love the area so much...We trained teh medical clinic staff so they can continue to do eye exams after we leave, they use a generator to power the equipment,Julius, Grace, Phoebe,and two others were all very quick learners, the ladies can use the auto refractor very well and Julias is very good with the slit lamp, so they can prescribe glasses, adn treat eye infections and follow glaucoma, Someone mentioned that there is a disease called Africa, it gets in your blood and you cant stay away, I understand that now, we have all promised to come back, and we all mean it... Doc is already talking about future trips. I can't wait! Well now we are off to Safari for a couple days, the next time I have acess to a computer will be back in the states, bye for now.

Day 2 in Kenya

2006-10-02T06:11:00.000-05:00

Wow, so much to talk about, I don't know where to start. from the "livestock" on the runway in Nairobi, to Doc getting us through customs, by being stubborn and not giving an inch. We didn't have to pay taxes on any of the equipment. We stayed at a mission in in Nairobi, very beautiful, then on Sunday, we had time to kill before our flight to Eldoret, so we went and fed the giaraffs at the preserve, I have a great picture of one Licking the food right out of docs mouth, ,then we went and saw the Elephant orphans. that was fun too. Finally we arrived at the Childrens home after a very rough flight to Eldoret, The welcome was amazing, we shook each childs hand, then they performed some dancing and singin for us, I have a great video of that, then it was time for hugs and playing, I tell you these kids are amazing and loving Today we started the eye exams, what an adventure I'll talk more about that tomorrow. I can definatly tell that God has a great work here!! Everything I see around me reminds me of that all day long.

Welcome to my World

2006-09-28T14:40:00.000-05:00

Hi, My name is Roy, I'm an Optician for Dr Fitzgerald and Associates in Cedar Rapids IA, I created this Blog as a way to document my medical missions journey with Dr DeAnn Fitzgerald, and Dr Ellen Miller to a small orphanage in Kenya, while there we will be doing eye exams for the children and staff members, we will fit those who need them with glasses and do any other care we may need to perform for them while there... check back frequently to see what we are up to.