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My daily commute is about 24 miles one way to and from work. Not bad, gives me a little down time, time to think, time to plan, time to just wind down from the day.  I will admit it, the commute has gotten old of late. Traffic has been awful. Today for example, to drive 24 miles to work, it took 1 hr and 15 min. But something happened this morning on my commute, a quick thought as I watched the  the time on my GPS drift further and further away from 8:00 am. As I approached the cause of the delay, I saw a family standing on the side of the road, beside their car. And my frustration with not getting to work early as I had hoped, went away. It went away because, that could have been me. That could have been my wife with the kids. It could have been something much worse than a broken down car.

So even on long commute days, I can still learn a lesson about patience and more importantly, the value of what is important in life.

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We met with the speech pathologist last week and Baby B has progressed so much, that they have actually gone from 2 sessions a month to only 1.

Baby B is on average, adding 1 new word a day to his vocabulary. It might not always be very clear what he is saying, but he is definitely talking. Every night, we also sing 4 songs and he is the one that starts saying names and animal sounds for Old McDonald. He is also copying words that his brother is saying too, like, “I Not” and “I Okay”.

So, we are all taking a collective sigh of relief and just grateful for the speech lessons that he has had thus far and that he will continue to have until the end of the year. Then he will be retested and then we find out if he qualifies again or if we have to go to a speech therapist on our own.

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There are a few topics in life, that 1) I know little about and 2) that I thought that I would never have to discuss and one of those is potty training.

We are 1 week into potty training the boys and thus far, we have had a lot of success. Both boys have been really interested in potty training and thus far only 1 accident.
I will be first to admit, I’ve not read 1 sing book or blog post on what to do and what to expect, I give my wife 100% credit for spear heading this project. All the way down to
the boys getting 2 M&Ms for each time that they pee on the potty. And when I heard that they were getting the M&Ms, I didn’t think for one minute that they would be excited
about the candy, but boy was I wrong.

So, now with almost 2 weeks down of potty training, I think that we are off to a good start.

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Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Matthew 19:21

I was reminded this week of this Bible verse and it really hit me out of the blue.  This past Wednesday morning in our weekly office meeting it was discussed our normal holiday tradition of adopting a community family. As the specifics of the family were read aloud, i.e. ages and what they wanted, I kept thinking about all the things that I have and how much I take for granted, especially when the father of the family was asking for a used coat, because it was getting ready to turn colder. And as the office quietly discussed what everyone wanted to do, this verse popped into my head and said that I would go this weekend and purchase enough canned goods, pasta, etc to last them several weeks. Sure, there are others that could have done it, there are others that do not have children that have more expendable income than we do, but I can’t take these things with me when I die.  And there is just something magical about giving to others.

“Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ”
Acts 3:6

My job as a father is to set an example for my boys and if I can do that, then that is worth more than anything in this world.  So I recounted this story to my mother yesterday on the phone on my commute home and the other end of the phone was really quiet and I heard my mother sniffle and she just said that she was proud of me. My mother has taught school for 45 years and she told me how she had often purchased coats for some of her students or shoes for students and that they would just happen to end up on their desk and would ever know where they came from.

My mother showed me that giving to others, was the greatest gift that you could give and it meant even more, if it was done without recognition.  So today, I ask, what are you doing to help others in need? I can skip Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts this week and pay for a lot of canned good items for a family in need and what is really more important, another cup of coffee or providing a meal for a hungry family?  What is holding you back from giving to others? And it doesn’t have to be a lot, $1.00 can buy 2 canned goods, but it is something that I encourage everyone to start doing more spontaneous giving.

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It isn’t very often that when the phrase “Tentative Agreement” is used and people are excited. Well, this might be one of those rare moments, as news has just broken that there is a Tentative Agreement within the Senate to reach a budget deal.

What does this mean, well not really sure yet? All of the details of the agreement have yet to be released, but for the moment this looks like we will be able to reopen the Federal Government and get a lot of Americans back to work. But let’s be honest, it is time. The political rhetoric has gone on too long and it is time to put partly politics aside and let’s do what is right for the country. Enough is enough.

So as the news is breaking and will be throughout the day a few things to watch or that I’ll be paying close attention to are:

  1. The House of Representatives and see what they are saying/doing.
  2. The stock market & how it views this. My guess is that if the agreement is in fact done, then there will be a favorable view and the markets will be up.
  3. The other countries, especially China, as they are in fact the largest holder of our debt.
  4. Leaders of both parties. Who comes out and says that this deal was done for the good of the country, not party politics.

As a political junkie, I love this stuff. As an American, I am beyond annoyed with our political parties and I am very disappointed in both sides of Congress.

But, one thing I do think that will come from this, is that politicians will realize that their jobs will be up for re-election soon and how many are going to lose their seats.

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Every year, I set the goal to start reading The Bible again and each year, something seems to get in the way of that time. I have always put an excuse or put something else above that time to read, but not now. For the last 2 months I have set aside 10 minutes a day to sit in quiet and read The Bible. And yes, I realize that 10 minutes is not a lot, but how much free time do you usually get with twin boys?

Quiet time is hard to find and there is always something to be cleaned, something to be straightened, but I realized that I was putting aside something that not only I wanted to do, but needed to do as a father. I needed to prepare myself in a different way, look at things in a different way, prepare my children for a life of growing up with going to church. And for me, the first step was picking up The Bible. Ok, I’ll be honest, yes, I own actually 2 Bibles, I’ve been reading the The Bible on my phone using the YouVersion.com app.  Is it cheating? Maybe? But I am reading The Bible and isn’t that what counts?

Our society is changing, let’s be honest and it is really changing in the way of the church. The traditional churches that we one knew are on the way out. Sure, I think that you’ll see some that will be in existence, but churches are now held in basketball gyms, The Compaq Center (Joel Osteen), a bar in Denver, coffee shops, on the beach, and the list goes on and on. And with that, churches need to reach people in a new way, i.e. The Bible app.

So, I’m back on my goal of actually reading The Bible and just started a year long devotional and have really enjoyed the quiet time and reflection that I have in reading it. I just hope and pray that this new journey will help me be more patient with my boys as they grow and allow me to share with them my faith, but also help them find out their own.

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Every feel like life just throws more at you can handle? Well, this has been me for the last few weeks and when people have asked how I am doing, I just simply reply with Sometimes it rains and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t why I have used that explanation of how I have been doing, I just have.

But in life, sometimes it rains and things are just difficult to deal with. Last night my wife and I were just talking about the things that were going on, our future, etc. and I just laughed and said that I was tired of it raining for a while on us. And after I said that, I heard the rain drops hit my grill outside. Maybe that was God’s way of saying, it’s ok, I’ve got you covered? I don’t know, but it provided a few good laughs and some relief.

As I was driving into work, I tried something different, I turned off all things that made noises and I listened. I listened to the rain hit my windshield. I listened to the silence. I tuned out all the crap going on around me and listened, because even though sometimes it rains in our lives, I feel like we at least have the protection of cover. I feel that we can always look at someone else and realize that our crap, isn’t really as bad as we thought.

So as I look outside and see the rain falling, I have caught myself singing this Lyle Lovett song, enjoy.

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I was a little more than nervous about the boys going to preschool. For many reasons, security/safety, what would they learn, would the other kids make fun of Baby B because he isn’t talking?

But I have to admit, I was wrong. Completely wrong and I am so glad. I’ve noticed such a huge difference in the boys that I am just amazed. Baby B is talking more, he is more loving, and he is listening so much better.

I never would have thought that 2 days a week at preschool could have made such an immediate impact, but I was wrong, and glad to admit that I was.

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As the clock struck midnight, our Federal Government was officially shutdown and over 800,000 US employees are now not getting paid.

And the sad part, is that this story is going to remind you a lot of when you were a kid, playing with friends in the sand box. One person would get the toy truck for 5 minutes and the next person would get the toy truck for 5 minutes and so on until someone didn’t want to play with the truck anymore. It is called compromise. And today, it is something that our Congress, a body of elected officials who can not play in the sand box with each party.

So today, as 800,000 employees are trying to figure out what they will do next, our members of Congress go to the airwaves and point figures and our Federal Government remains shutdown. And the shutdown is really because Congress has two different paths and views and neither party is willing to sit down and compromise.

So as the shutdown continues, Congress gets paid and the American public grow more frustrated with the broken system.

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Communication is critical in everything that we do today. Whether it is verbal or non-verbal, but it is really hard when communication is not always there.

With Baby B, the communication is getting there, but there is still a struggle. We have noticed that in the last 2 weeks, he has begun saying 15 new words. That is AWESOME. But, at the same time, his brother was able to tell us in detail when he fell down what hurt.  It is hard when your child hurts, but it makes it even more difficult when the communication is not easily spoken.

This is why we have focused so much on teaching the boys basic sign language. Both have already gotten please, thank you, more, and love you down pat.

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