Unfortunately lately, the weather has been WAY to hot to do anything outside so Saturday pretty much was an inside day. Scott and I watched golf, where I found out Noah seems to enjoy, or maybe a better phrase would be “tolerate” watching golf on TV. The girls all had their laptops out playing “Sims 3“. While Kaely and Leanna went grocery shopping, and a quick stop to Goodwill. After they got back, the girls, Kaely, and I played a few games of Clue. Saturday night it was way to hot for a camp fire so it was more games inside.

Noah’s baby dedication was yesterday. It was nice to have a lot of family present for Noah’s dedication to the Lord. First Baptist Church welcomed us, like always, with open arms. Pastor Don, who is a great person, and someone who I feel I could ask any question about my religion (and I have gone to him about stuff in the past) was the pastor who helped dedicate Noah to Christ. His words to us were strong and powerful, and really made me think about what we were doing. Dedicating Noah is more than just Kaely, Noah, Myself with our parents up in front of the church to show the world we want Noah to be a Christian. It is  a pact that Kaely and I took to make sure we are the best examples in life for Noah to see how being close with God can and will make you a better person. We need to go to church more, I will be the first to say we don’t go enough. I need to respect and listen to Kaely more, there are numerous times when she talks to me, and I give her the generic “Yes hun” answer and realize later I have no idea what she said. On top of that, I also need to pray more. I pray when I feel threatened, worried, or if I need to ask the Lord to watch over someone. I rarely call upon the Lord and tell him “thank you” and I should know what it feels like to be someone who is called upon when there is only problems as I have worked in help desks for the last four years. To make an already long story short, Pastor Don opened my eyes today, and helped make me realize I need shape up if I want Noah to become a Christian.

I hope you all had a great weekend as well. Let me know what you all did this last weekend in the comments below. Have a great week and God bless you all!

Blogger’s Note: This post’s image was taken by my very talented cousin Angie Sanders. She has her own Photography Studio. Her Studio’s site is located here.

Saturday morning I was up getting Noah’s breakfast ready while Kaely was finalizing all of our packing and making sure I didn’t forget anything. I put Noah on his back on the living room carpet while I made his breakfast. When I had his bottle ready for him to eat, I made my way to the living room and Noah was on his stomach. It was the first time he had ever rolled over, and we missed it! I called Kaely to the living room to see what had just went down, and we were both a bit upset for not seeing it happen. However, Noah sure does not like to disappoint because we put him on his back again, and not thirty seconds later he rolled over again. Needless to say he had two very proud parents.

After all of that excitement, we packed into my in-laws’ minivan and headed for Dubuque’s Grand Harbor Hotel and Water Park. The park was all indoors, and was planned that way because we did not want Noah to burn (all Kaely’s doing, I don’t think that far in advance).  It had three big slides and a very small lazy river. Really, not a bad water park considering it was free with our room. Anyway, we found out Noah does not like cold water, but enjoys the moderately warm water. We first got him in the shallow cold pool, and he would put his feet and legs in the water no problem, but as soon has you got his Little Swimmers wet, he was not a happy camper. The lazy river is where Noah enjoyed most of his swimming. Either sitting on Mom’s or Grandma’s lap, He would just sit in the water and just look around. Overall Noah didn’t hate, or love the pool, I think he was just happy to look around at all the new things!

Though he didn’t get to enjoy the fireworks because he feel asleep, he did get to watch his aunts play with sparklers for a while. It really amazes me that Noah is so aware of his surroundings, and if he experiences something he has never seen or done before, he really takes it all in. Aunt Kimmi and Aunt Olivia loved showing Noah how sparklers worked, and Noah just sat there taking it all in, with a grin on his face. He did not like the snappers that Kaely and Kimmi, myself and Kimmi, and Scott and Kimmi (see a theme here?) were throwing at each other. Though he never cried, he did give us his signature pout and puppy dog eyes.

With yesterday being the 4th of July, Kaely and I have today off as well. We have some cleaning to do, and laundry to catch up on. Other than that we have really have no plans other than maybe watch a movie and hang out. Life sure is grand when you can spend three days with some of the people you love most and still have an extra day away from work to putts around and just relax. How was everyone’s weekend? What did you do for the 4th of July? Post in the comments with your answers!

Tomorrow we will be heading up to Dubuque, IA to stay the night at the Grand harbor Resort. Its a water park/hotel that we will be with Kaely’s family. This weekend will be Noah’s first time swimming, hoping to get A LOT of pictures of him in the pool.  Hoping to get a post of him enjoying, or being terrified of the pool. I think he will like it though.  This post is going to be kept short as I have a lot to do around the house since we will be gone this weekend. Still boggles my mind why we think our homes need to be spotless when we leave on vacations. It’s not like we will be here to enjoy it! Anyway, hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday and has a great weekend and a safe 4th of July!

Image courtesy of Grand Harbor Resort’s homepage.

Noah is also getting quite the personality. He seems to always have a grin on his face. The only times hes not grinning is when he is sleeping or is hungry. Nothing can get me grinning faster than when Noah makes eye contact with me and gets his big ol’ cheesy grin (see picture). All my troubles melt away when he starts cooing and giggling.  I know everyone who has raised an infant has experienced this, and have told me for years that moments like this will make everything better. Before experiencing this, I never understood what they meant.

Being a father is the greatest role I have in my life. With husband, Christian, son, grandson following suit. I see myself trying harder to be a better person for Noah. I know he is watching me, he may not be able to understand everything I do, and why I do them, but I know he’s watching. All I want to do is make Noah and Kaely proud to call me “dad” and “husband” respectively.

A note to Noah:

Happy three months Noah, you have no idea how proud of a father you have made me. I don’t get to show off often in life, but you definitely give me something to show off. Keep growing and learning throughout your life. Do your best to stay faithful in the Lord, and come to your mother and I if you ever have doubts in your faith. We love you and will always be there for you, and remember to have fun while growing up.

Their album “Over and Underneath” brings so much light to my life. They  have a very contemporary sound, with some slower songs that have so much meaning it needs to be slower for all to understand it. Yet, they have some very upbeat songs that just want to make you get up and dance. The song that most people will be able to recognize is “Hold My Heart”.  This song is about taking the step forward, and not giving up on prayer. It asks us how can the Lord listen to each of us individually. As in the lyrics, it says:

“One Tear in the driving rain, one voice in a sea of pain.  Could the maker of the stars, hear the sound of my breaking heart. One life, is all I am. Right now I can barely stand, if you are everything you say you are, would you come close and hold my hear”    -Tenth Avenue North “Hold My Heart”

The Lord listens, and this song explains that. Our God is always listening. To you, me, your friends, and family. He hears all of our thoughts, prayers, and concerns. The coolest and greatest thing is, our Lord is so powerful, he can listen to us all at the same time. He may not give us a sign, or show us he is listening. However, it’s those times when God does give us a sign, showing us we Christians are doing the right thing in following in our Lord and Savior.

Music is a great way to open your heart to the Lord. Some people have a hard time going to church and listening to others talk about the Lord. This is  really not that uncommon unfortunately. Music can bridge that gap. Everyone can relate to one kind of music, and Christian music can be rock, country, hip hop, you name it, there are groups out there who are preaching the Lord’s Word through music. If you are not comfortable going to church to learn more about our God, I invite you to try listening to some Christian music. Find your genre, and use my best friend Google, and do some searching. I promise you, you will not be disappointed.

Some of the other side jobs include working on dispatch, which I help out with when I am available anyway. Though it will only be when the regular dispatch member is out on vacation or is sick, but a good perk none-the-less. With this being a procurement position, and me having little to no procurement experience, I am definitely looking forward to the challenge of learning the lingo and taking classes to further my expertise in this field. It’s odd and definitely freaking me out that I am now a “buyer” for a major company. That being because my father has been a buyer for the local municipality (power, water, cable, and internet) for over ten years. Never in a million years did I think I would be in the same field as my father, though I guess the childhood version of myself is jumping up and down because I always wanted to be “just like my dad”.

The only bad part about the new position is I will be leaving a team that I have bonded with. I have created great friendships on the tier one team, and I will always cherish the memories. I will really miss the day-to-day conversations that happen in the tier one row. On a good note though, I will still be in the same building so if I need a good laugh, I am only a few rows away.

It is amazing to see the Lord work his powers. I have been telling Kaely that I want to try something new inside the HNI Corporation. Though with only two years under my belt, and not having a degree (oh how I cannot wait until Fall 2010 to come), it will be almost impossible to get a promotion with the current economy and the number of IT professionals out there looking for work. It truly pays to pray with our Lord. He may not respond today or tomorrow, but if you keep talking with your Lord and Savior, he will hear you and he will give you signs. He did for me by this promotion. Faith, family, hard work, and a great attitude on life can take you a lot further in life than you may think. Always strive for perfection.

With Father’s Day come gifts, which was pretty cool too. Noah got daddy(me) a brand new putter, and I am looking forward to playing with it very soon. However, the greatest part about Father’s day is what made me a father to begin with. Noah, he is the most important aspect in my life (sorry Kaely, Noah bumped you back to the second best aspect in my life, though I’m positive its the same in your case). The memories that have been created with Noah in my life make me a better person.

Noah has pulled me away from some of my old hobbies and has made me look at the more important things in life. Family, friends, religion and maybe one or two hobbies. I don’t have time or the want to do everything that is out there anymore. Which if you know me, is not how I used to be. I am no where near perfect, just ask Kaely, she will tell you I have my faults, but I feel since Noah’s birth I have been a better person. I pray that Noah keeps me on this path to be the best father I can be.

You can pick up Resinol at almost any pharmacy, and it isn’t to expensive either. It works great for diaper rash, as well as sunburns, bug bites, poison ivy, small cuts and more. I know when we put it on Noah, it normally only takes one or two applications to clear up any and all rashes. It doesn’t have a a picture of a baby in a diaper on it so you don’t feel goofy putting this stuff on in public either. As the picture shows, it has a very plain look to it and the color of Resinol is skin-tone and has the consistency of glue paste. Another cool thing is, they haven’t tampered with the recipe of it since it was created by doctor  Merville H Carter nearly 100 hundred years ago.  I guess if you got it right the first time, why try and perfect it? I never thought I would be the one doing research on baby rash ointments, but look at me go!

I am no expert when it comes to baby remedies, but I do know that I would recommend Resinol to anyone who was looking for a multi-purpose ointment that works great on diaper rash. What type of diaper rash cream or ointment did you use on your kids? What did you like about it or dislike about it? Have any horror stories when raising your children? I would love to hear about them. Finally, do not forget to subscribe to my RSS feed!

The chance for anyone to fulfill just eight of these nearly 300 prophecies is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (that’s one in a quadrillion).

Then I went to a web site called CARM (Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry) that went even further into the odds of even just 48 of the prophecies being fulfilled by Jesus Christ and the site states:

…Stoner considers 48 prophecies and says, “we find the chance that any one man fulfilled all 48 prophecies to be 1 in 10¹⁵⁷, or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

The estimated number of electrons in the universe is around 10⁷⁹.  It should be quite evident that Jesus did not fulfill the prophecies by accident.”

How is it then that Jesus fulfilled all 300 prophecies about him? Easy, we have to remember that Jesus is not a man, he is God, he is the Spirit in the form of man. This just goes to show you that God is no joke, or conspiracy. He is real, and He is ours, just like we are his. All we have to do is trust the Lord our God and he will perform amazing feats with you.  Today’s reading is one of those prophecies from the prophet Isaiah. Lets hear what he has to say.

Todays Reading: Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7

² The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.

⁶ For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor,  Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷ Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

These verses are all from Isaiah telling us God is there for all mankind, even the ones who do not currently know him. Then Isaiah tells us that “A child is born, to us a son is given…”. The prophecy of Jesus’ birth is right there before us, however, this is no ordinary child. He goes on to say “…he will be called a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” . Isaiah is speaking about Jesus Christ, and this isn’t’ after Christ’s birth, but hundreds of years before Christ was born! God doesn’t always speak to us, or everyone, but when he does, give us signs, or speaks to us through prayer; we must listen, no matter how foolish it may sound. God knows everything and anything there is to know, and he will not lead you away from him. Amen!

Handcent SMS – Sure every phone has text messaging. But with Handcent SMS, you can completely customize the look, feel, and sound of your text messages. Why not make your text messages flashy? Cost: Free

Listen – This app alone has made my Ipod Nano collect dust. I no longer need to sync up my Ipod daily to get all my podcasts. This is a HUGE benefit for me! I get Biblestudy Podcast, The Instance, and a plethora of How Stuff Works podcasts on my phone when they become available. Definitely a “must-have” application in my book.  Cost: Free

SkyDroid – This application is for all you golfers out there. Have you ever wanted a *Sky Caddie*, but cringed at the price tag and yearly fees? Well with SkyDroid you get the same accuracy (within 4-7 yards on average) as a *Sky Caddie*. This app is not free, but well worth the puny price tag on it. Cost:  $0.99

RunKeeper – This application is another GPS application. It tracks where you go, how long it took you to get there, and so much more. On top of that, it maps it out on Google Maps for you. This is not just for runners, it has walking, skateboarding, biking, roller blading, rowing, and much, much more. Cost: Free

Are there more? You bet, but if I give them all to you now, then what will I write about next week? These all can be found on the Android Market. They all work on 1.5 and 2.1 Android OS as well. I would love to hear what some of your favorite apps are.  In the weeks to come, I will be doing more in-depth reviews on specific Android applications. If you are looking for an app that does something specific, post in the comments and I will see what I can find, test it out and do a review on it for you.