Way behind but a few quick updates
- September - The Disney trip was awesome, we had a wonderful time despite our flight getting canceled and having to drive at the last minute. At least we didn't have to miss a full day and a half of vacation like we would have if we had waited for the next available flight. And we did get a full refund on our tickets. One of these days i'll come back with the full story.
- Right before we left for Disney, my godson tried to commit suicide. He was in the hospital for a while. Blames his mom for leaving his dad. Not that the two of them were ever happy together. He seems to be doing a bit better now that he's living with his mom again.. but I don't know. I worry that he'll do it again. All I can really do is pray for him though.
- October - lets see, we had Halloween and Jay's birthday. Kara dressed as a mad scientist for Halloween. Jay turned 38. My sister and her girls came to visit for a weekend and we did Dollywood and Boo at the Zoo at Creation Kingdom in Snowflake VA. Saw a friend of ours there and her son Gabe. He was dressed as a ninja. Leading up to boo at the zoo he had been very excited about his outfit and had been telling me how stealthy he'd be and how awsome the weapons were. So that night after we had seen them, on our way home I was telling my sister about this, and an almost asleep Kara pipes up from the backseat and says "Yeah, but he was wearing a red ninja suit... and who can see you in the dark when you are wearing red.... uh... everyone! Ninjas wear black." And then she was out like a light. Apparently Gabe had talked up his costume a little too much for her taste.
- Work is going okay. Still getting plenty of freelance. The realtor gig is a little uncomfortable because it is really relaxed and I'm use to a very structured and well... stressful work environment. I like it though. I just never know whether to stay or go when I finish my work. It's weird. And I sometimes wonder if I'm really any help at all with stuff. But I like it. Like I've told Jay... I just ride this train til it ends. At least it's a little extra money.
-The holidays are kicking ups. Got most of the Christmas shopping done other than my inlaws and Jay. Kara is mostly taken care of.
- My little girl is growing up. Yesterday when I picked her up from school she rolls down her window and yells out to one of the boys "I will kiss you Chance!" we had a nice discussion about how kissing boys was off limits until she is much older.
- And then the biggy from yesterday. She asked about Santa Claus. Actually she's been asking questions about Santa for the last couple of days. For example when we were buying things for our Operation Christmas Child box she asked why Santa brought things to some kids but not to others. Were those kids bad kids? I told her no, they weren't bad kids, they were just in a poor part of the world and that Santa might not know about them. Then later after she had mulled that over she asked "So is Santa like God or something? How can he see who's been good and who's been bad all the time?" and I answered her with "well parents have a direct hotline to Santa, we keep him informed" Then last night she finally out and out asked the "is he real" question. At first I gave her my standard answer for that which is "what do you think?" usually she'd say "I think he is" and I'd say "well there you go." or sometimes I'd say "He's as real as you want him to be" which has sufficed for a long time - that's what my mother use to say to me. But this time she asked "but what does that mean?" So I kind of paraphrased something I saw on pinterest because I didn't want to lie to her. Basically I told her that a long time ago he was a real person named St. Nicholas but now he's more of a fun game that we play. Everyone becomes Santa at some point or another and it's a way to show God's love to others. We talked about how the surprise of it all is the fun thing and it's fun to imagine elves and stuff and to see people dressed as Santa and some of them really are like the real St. Nick and that she'll still get surprises on Christmas morning no matter who is giving in the name of Santa. But that as far as a real magic person that can come through chimneys and hit every house all in one night that was all pretend. I also made her promise not to tell other kids the secret. That everyone needs to find out on their own and it might ruin the fun for them if she told them. Here's hoping I did the right thing. I hope it doesn't still any of the fun of Christmas from her. This parenting business is hard.
- Right before we left for Disney, my godson tried to commit suicide. He was in the hospital for a while. Blames his mom for leaving his dad. Not that the two of them were ever happy together. He seems to be doing a bit better now that he's living with his mom again.. but I don't know. I worry that he'll do it again. All I can really do is pray for him though.
- October - lets see, we had Halloween and Jay's birthday. Kara dressed as a mad scientist for Halloween. Jay turned 38. My sister and her girls came to visit for a weekend and we did Dollywood and Boo at the Zoo at Creation Kingdom in Snowflake VA. Saw a friend of ours there and her son Gabe. He was dressed as a ninja. Leading up to boo at the zoo he had been very excited about his outfit and had been telling me how stealthy he'd be and how awsome the weapons were. So that night after we had seen them, on our way home I was telling my sister about this, and an almost asleep Kara pipes up from the backseat and says "Yeah, but he was wearing a red ninja suit... and who can see you in the dark when you are wearing red.... uh... everyone! Ninjas wear black." And then she was out like a light. Apparently Gabe had talked up his costume a little too much for her taste.
- Work is going okay. Still getting plenty of freelance. The realtor gig is a little uncomfortable because it is really relaxed and I'm use to a very structured and well... stressful work environment. I like it though. I just never know whether to stay or go when I finish my work. It's weird. And I sometimes wonder if I'm really any help at all with stuff. But I like it. Like I've told Jay... I just ride this train til it ends. At least it's a little extra money.
-The holidays are kicking ups. Got most of the Christmas shopping done other than my inlaws and Jay. Kara is mostly taken care of.
- My little girl is growing up. Yesterday when I picked her up from school she rolls down her window and yells out to one of the boys "I will kiss you Chance!" we had a nice discussion about how kissing boys was off limits until she is much older.
- And then the biggy from yesterday. She asked about Santa Claus. Actually she's been asking questions about Santa for the last couple of days. For example when we were buying things for our Operation Christmas Child box she asked why Santa brought things to some kids but not to others. Were those kids bad kids? I told her no, they weren't bad kids, they were just in a poor part of the world and that Santa might not know about them. Then later after she had mulled that over she asked "So is Santa like God or something? How can he see who's been good and who's been bad all the time?" and I answered her with "well parents have a direct hotline to Santa, we keep him informed" Then last night she finally out and out asked the "is he real" question. At first I gave her my standard answer for that which is "what do you think?" usually she'd say "I think he is" and I'd say "well there you go." or sometimes I'd say "He's as real as you want him to be" which has sufficed for a long time - that's what my mother use to say to me. But this time she asked "but what does that mean?" So I kind of paraphrased something I saw on pinterest because I didn't want to lie to her. Basically I told her that a long time ago he was a real person named St. Nicholas but now he's more of a fun game that we play. Everyone becomes Santa at some point or another and it's a way to show God's love to others. We talked about how the surprise of it all is the fun thing and it's fun to imagine elves and stuff and to see people dressed as Santa and some of them really are like the real St. Nick and that she'll still get surprises on Christmas morning no matter who is giving in the name of Santa. But that as far as a real magic person that can come through chimneys and hit every house all in one night that was all pretend. I also made her promise not to tell other kids the secret. That everyone needs to find out on their own and it might ruin the fun for them if she told them. Here's hoping I did the right thing. I hope it doesn't still any of the fun of Christmas from her. This parenting business is hard.