Recently, on a trip to Old Navy, Ryne and I ended up in the fitting room while his Mommy tried on some jeans. They happen to have a 3 sided mirror section where everyone can simultaneously indulge their narcissism and answer the age old question, “Do these Jeans make my butt look big?”

Ryne was looking around for his Mommy, when suddenly he found himself face-to-face with three identical triplet boys all being held by replicas of his own father. At first he was happy…he found some new playmates. Then, he noticed all the men who looked just like Daddy, which caused his eyebrow to furl, and then I knew we were about to have some questions.

Son: Umm…Daddy?
Dad: Yes?
Son: Have I gone cross-eyed, or are you seeing this too?
Dad: Yes, I see it too. It’s called a mirror. It shows your reflection.
Son: What’s a reflection?
Dad: The mirror is soooo shiny, that when you look into it, you can see yourself in it.
Son: I’m trapped in the mirror?
Dad: No, you’re out here with me. You’re not trapped anywhere.
Son: Oh, is that so? Then let me down so I can play.
Dad: Ok, so you’re trapped in my arms…but it’s for your own good.
Son: I’m going to let that go for now, because I’m much more interested in my “reflection.” (Where does an
11 month old learn to use air quotes?) So, please explain to me one more time what that is…it’s me, but it’s not me?
Dad: No, it’s not you, it’s an image of what you look like, but it’s being bounced off of the mirror by the light
because the mirror is so shiny.
Son: So, the little boys I see in the mirror are all images of what I look like?
Dad: Yes! There you go! You got it now!
Son: So I look like that, right now?
Dad: Yes.
Son: YOU LET ME GO OUT IN PUBLIC LIKE THIS??? MY HAIR IS A MESS AND I’M WEARING THE SAME SHIRT I
SLEPT IN!!! Not to mention…is that…is that DRIED FOOD I see on my chin???
Dad: Son, it’s hard to make sure we get all that food off your chin when you go all Jackie Chan on us while
we try to clean you up. I actually don’t even see what you’re talking about.
Son: That doesn’t surprise me. I’m sure if we relied on you to make sure food is cleaned off of me, I’ll be
taking this spot of who-knows-what out with me on my first date.
Dad: And you think talking to me like this will ensure that you live that long?
Son: I have insurance for that.
Dad: Insurance??
Son: Yeah, you know…that lady behind the door over there? She’s got my back.
Dad: You got me there…she is quite a push over. But I’m going to warn you now: She has her limits. Mommy
will put you in your place if you talk to her like this. You won’t be baby-cute forever.
Son: But I am for right now…watch this… (He turns to the fitting room attendant and says “Hey!” with his
cute flirtatious baby grin. She, of course not knowing baby language, has been oblivious to the rest of
this conversation, and proceeds to fawn all over him telling me a couple of times how cute he is and
that he’s just so precious and he should be on TV).
Dad: Yeah, I know. That’s a special gift you have, but it won’t last forever, so enjoy it now.
Son: Dad?
Dad: Yeah, Buddy?
Son: Can you take me away from the creepy doppelgangers?
Dad: You don’t know what a reflection is, but you know the word doppelganger? Oh never mind, let’s go,
kiddo.

Today was my first official Father’s Day as a Dad. I still semi-celebrated last year, cause that little fella was almost out in the world. I honestly didn’t know how I would feel about it. I know how I feel about my own Dad on Father’s Day, but I’ve not been in the position of being the celebrated one.

My wife gave me a great day. I got to take a nap, watch some baseball with my son, have dinner cooked for me, and I got to top it off with a night with the guys playing video games and drinking my favorite Beer…Root.I wanted to write a post about this Father’s Day, but all day words eluded me as to what I wanted to write about. That’s why you’ll see this post on Monday. I wondered if I should give you a “conversations with Dad” post about what Ryne thought of the Holiday. But I decided against that…because he hasn’t been talking as much lately since a lot of the time, we are telling him “no” to something he’s trying to do. Instead I wanted to point out some influential Dads in my life and why I am wishing a Happy Father’s Day to them.

1. My Dad
My Dad and I have not always had the closest relationship. When I was younger, it seemed we didn’t really relate. Don’t get me wrong, I never doubted his love for me, and he told me often, but I just seemed to relate more to my Mom at that time. As I got older and later into High School and into College, my Dad and I just seemed to click. Baseball is what united us at first. We would talk about Chicago Cubs Baseball every day of the Season about what had happened that day, breaking down players’ performances and griping about what managerial moves was…or wasn’t made. This is a ritual we still follow, though our talks have slightly decreased now that I have my own little fella who requires so much attention.

My Dad is always there to give me advice. We don’t always agree on things…because he’s extremely stubborn… and I am definitely my Father’s Son. I always listen to what he has to say and weigh it with what I’ve been thinking myself. Whenever I get down or things go wrong…He’s there to listen.  He knows he can’t make everything better. Being a Dad now myself, I’m sure that the thought of not being able to make everything better for me tears him apart inside. But the fact he’s there to listen…the fact that he’s just there makes him one of my Heroes.

2. My Father-in-Law
My Father-in-Law (FIL) is special to me for several reasons, not the least of which is being half of the couple that brought my beautiful wife into this world. One special example, though is what he did for me on our wedding day. The morning of our wedding, I got extremely nervous. I’m talking nausea, shaking, and sweats. It had nothing to do with Jamie. I’d known I wanted to marry her only two weeks into our relationship…and that was four years prior to our wedding day. No, I think it was because of the ceremony. I know most of you who know me well might find this to be a contradictory statement, but I really don’t like to be the center of attention. I was afraid I would forget words or repeat the wrong words (I only found out a few weeks before the wedding that the saying was “lawfully wedded wife” and not “awfully wedded wife.” Go ahead and laugh…I sure would.)

When your groomsmen are ushers, they have duties to perform before the groom heads out to take center stage. So, this left me in a back room all by myself, alone, without other people…with only my nervousness to keep me company. My FIL happened to come back to that room for some reason…I don’t even remember what it was. But he noticed I was a little out of sorts and asked me what was going on. I told him…and he didn’t even hesitate in his response. He simply came over and put his hand on my shoulder and started praying for me to be calm and to be able to remember everything I need to. That moment has been with me ever since. I barely remember any part of the ceremony…but I remember that moment like it happened four hours ago.

3. My PawPaw Prestridge
My Mother’s Father taught me a lot of things that we extremely useful, though I don’t currently have a use for knowing them. I do believe that one day I will need the knowledge however, and it will be there…all because of him. He taught me about composting and why it’s good for a garden. He also taught me about how to dig ditches so that water actually drains, instead of backing up and washing out your driveway.

He’s also taught me lessons that are useful and that I hope to never have to put into practice in the same way he’s taught me. He’s taught me how to remain faithful in the face of tragedy and the unexpected. You see, my PawPaw has lost two wives to cancer. My Grandmother Betty, died from breast cancer when my Mom was 12. My Granny Gail died from cancer a few years ago. She was the one I knew all my life and it hurt so bad. I don’t have enough space here to tell you what kind of loss that was for our family. But my PawPaw has remained faithful to The Lord even through these tragedies. I imagine my Granny still sits beside him in Church in some form or another. I’ll tell you another thing…you’d be amazed at how one man’s eyes light up at a Great-Grandchild.

4. My Pop Gilbert
My Pop Gilbert passed on something very special to our entire family…Bass Fishing. I know this may seem weird to some of you reading this, but Bass Fishing is something very important in our family. It unites us all in some form or another. My Mom fishes, my cousins fish…my wife fishes. She’s pretty good too…we have several pictures to prove it. I remember going fishing with him when I was younger. He did his best to teach me how to fish…his way. He wanted to help me to unlearn everything my Dad taught me. It didn’t really matter about that, though…it was just fun spending time with him. He also loves having a great-grandson. I think it shaves about 20 years off of him when Ryne’s around.

5. PaPaw Gaston.
PaPaw has pretty much treated me like family since the very first time he met me. The very first time I drove to Trinity, AL to date the lovely Jamie Nelson, his granddaughter, he allowed me to stay in his home. Not only that…they gave me a key! PaPaw is an amazing man. He’s 80, and still goes and works his cattle farm. He’s just a very caring man who helps out anyone in any way he can.

The 5 men have my love, my respect, and anything else they need that I can possible give. These 5 Men definitely deserve a Happy Father’s Day.

By Ryne Gilbert:

Yesterday I ate Spaghetti for the first time. A lot of stuff I eat these days is for the first time. I really liked the Spaghetti a lot. I like chicken fried rice, too. It’s just the right size for me. With all this new and tasty food Mommy and Daddy have given me, I have one thought that keeps creeping in…Why have they been holding out on me? For months and months all I got was milk. Don’t get me wrong…I love Milk, and I thought it was so awesome, but I didn’t know there was anything more than milk. Then they introduced me to steamed apples, spinach, and broccoli. Well, I liked those a lot too, but they were just a compliment to the milk.

I’ll never forget the first time I noticed Mommy and Daddy ate something different than what they gave me. I had just finished some milk, and then I look up and see them eating noodles and sauce and bread sticks. Can you believe I actually gave them the benefit of the doubt? I believed that they were eating poorly and giving me the best they had. I felt bad for them. I wanted them to eat as well as I did. All I could do was just sit and stare as they ate what I thought was crappy food. I can’t believe how I was duped.

I don’t know what changed and made them decide to start giving me the good stuff, but I am pretty upset that I haven’t gotten all of this goodness before now. They told me something about having no teeth and food sensitivities and yadda yadda yadda… It doesn’t matter. It was all a bunch of gobbledygook that basically said, “we didn’t give any to you because we wanted it all to ourselves.” I get that, I just wish they could be honest about it. I don’t know why they think I couldn’t handle it. I mean, after all, I was the one who taught Mommy how to feed me on my very first day here.

I guess I’ll forgive them. They’re human and they’re going to make mistakes…but they’re the only parents I have, so I’ll roll with the punches and go with it. At least they’re giving me the good stuff now. Here’s some pictures of my experience with the spaghetti. By the way…did you know spaghetti was not only a food but also a fashion statement?

BEFORE

AFTER

*Editor’s Note: The sippy cup he uses was mine when I was his age…and it’s full of coconut milk.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before…

This past weekend, I took a trip with my two sidekicks, Daddy and Mommy. We went to a far away, exotic land called “Aldridge.” On the way back, we got stuck on an island. There was a monster made of smoke, but he kept to the other side of the island for the most part. There quite a bunch of people in the beginning, but as time went on, there were fewer and fewer people. There was a boat that came to the island, but then it left to go to the other island across the water.

I had a lot of people who wanted to spend time with me and get to know me. They were nice. Then we all started getting swept through time. We would spend time in the 90’s, 80’s, 60’s, and 50’s. We never stayed too long in one time, though. It was amazing how much we saw as we traveled through time.

It got more and more scary as time went by, though, and it was clear that someone would have to step up and save the island. Being a Super Hero, I of course volunteered to be the one to save us. So I decided to fight the Great Light in the Sky that seemed to be controlling everything. As our battle waged on, I became so sleepy that I just could not hold my eyes open. I’m not even sure what the Great Light in the Sky was doing to me.

Before I knew it, I was opening my eyes and we were back in our car driving towards home. I asked Daddy, “Was it real?” He said that everything that happened was real. I asked him, “what was that place?” He replied, “that was a place that was made so that we could all be together.”

Apparently I beat the Great Light in the Sky and restored everything to order…just like I always do!

TheBrandNewDad Epilogue: What had happened was… This past weekend we went down to Alabama for a family reunion of some of my extended family. This was the first time for Ryne to meet a lot of them. We went to the wrong place first where someone was grilling (i.e. burning to a crisp) some meat and there was a large black smoke column. We have a large family ,and they all passed him around and he had a good ol’ time hamming it up for the camera. He got to be there as some of the more, um, “distinguished” members of our family told stories of long ago. The most important part, was that he got to swim in the lake for the first time. Here’s a video:









In the end, the time spent in the sun proved to be too much and he got real tired. We decided that was our cue to leave. We put him in the car, and by the time we’d driven a mile to get to the park gate, he was already sound asleep. He had quite a time, and we all had a great time watching him. I love my little guy.

Ryne Pulling up in Bed and Watching Your Baby can Read





Ryne Practicing for the Showcase Showdown on The Price is Right





Ryne’s First Meal feeding himself: Brown Rice, chicken, peas & carrots.





Ryne watching YBcR and dancing to “Head and Shoulders.”

We’re only two months from the big 0-1 and it’s unbelievable how much my little guy has grown since he was born. All the new stuff he does on a daily basis just amazes me. He learns new skills so quickly that I can’t even keep up. Here’s a list of new things going on with him:

1. 3 Teeth; Two bottom fronts and top left.
2. Pulling up on his own on objects other than Mom and Dad, though he doesn’t pull up in his crib.
3. He has two toy boxes in the living room. He has quickly graduated from not knowing how to get the toys out to pulling the box over to spill them out to now sitting by the box and pulling them out one at a time.
4. He’s walking like a champ holding onto Mommy or Daddy, but this past couple of weeks has been moving holding onto other things.
5. He’s been singing along with the radio, though without words…mostly humming.
6. He’s starting to get the hang of waving bye-bye.
7. He’s learning to clap and recognizes the word “clap” from our Your Baby can Read DVDs.
8. He has learned the “High Five” and enjoys it quite a bit….unless he’s in an ill mood.
9. He’s feeding himself well with finger foods and occasionally with a spoon.
10. He, unlike his father, apparently likes Mexican food, and had some chicken, refried beans, and guacamole from Las Maracas this past Sunday. He ate as much as his Mommy would give him, and since it was her idea, I made sure she was on Diaper Duty for the rest of the day.

It’s so funny how fast time goes by, and I know it will only continue to do so. I mean, he’s still in diapers, and I’m already hearing verses from ” Cat’s in the Cradle” in the back of my mind. I’m really excited for all his progress, but I’m struggling to keep up. He’s a lot more mobile and demands a lot more of my time, and so I haven’t updated this as much. I’ll try to be better about that. He also has entered into a phase full of tantrums…speaking of which…

Some of our friends know her as Jamie. Two people know her as Daughter. Two people know her as Daughter-in-Law. To regular readers of this blog, she is TheBrandNewMom. But to the most important person who calls her something, she is “Ma-muh.”

She is my wife, and pretty much the rock of our family, aside from Jesus of course. She’s humble, caring, and Freaking Gorgeous. I definitely out-kicked my coverage, if you know what I mean. She makes things better just by being around. There’s no debating it. TheBrandNewSon came into this world knowing that Ma-muh makes things better. When we’re alone sometimes and things don’t seem to be going his way…who does he want? That’s right…Ma-muh. Don’t get me wrong…he’ll say my name all day long and smile and laugh with me, but when something needs to be done or he doesn’t feel his best…he knows who to call for.

She makes things better for me as well. As I have nursed my bruised ego for these past 11 months, she has been there to help me pick it right back up. For someone who writes many words during the week, words still fail me to describe her awesomeness. She will think this is all unnecessary and untrue. She’ll probably get a little upset at me with such a Public Display of Affection. But, I can’t help it…I love this woman, and so does our son. And it’s because we have him that today is HER day. Happy Mother’s Day, Jamie. You’re the best…and thanks for sharing life with me.

P.S.  , b bf b[’\fgdfdzsddgjjjjhjygxdfvghuui ioio i (That’s Ryne’s way of saying he loves you too…he typed it himself!)

When I first signed up to review the book, Plan B: What do you do when God doesn’t show up the way you thought he would? I didn’t realize that I would actually be using the book to help review my own life. Never has a book captured my attention, convicted me, and caused me to change my line of thinking quite like Plan B. And that was all within the first 25 pages.

Combining personal stories with the Biblical stories of David, Joseph (of The Coat of Many Colors fame), Ruth, and Joshua, Pastor and Author Pete Wilson tells the story that is universal to all of us: We will all have a Plan B moment. That moment when our own plans don’t turn out the way we thought they should and we have to start over on those plans or start a completely new plan altogether.

Central to the theme of the book is that while we sometimes associate our own plans succeeding as being in God’s favor, that doesn’t mean that because our plans fail that God has abandoned us. This was especially relevant to me as I continue to travel through my own Plan B moment. I understand the temptation to think that God has abandoned me when things seem to always go wrong ,and have given into that temptation more than once.

Plan B has helped me tremendously to understand that while I may not know what God has in store for me, I can always remember that he IS with me. Everyday, many people begin their own Plan B moments. I highly recommend this book for them.

*Note: Thomas Nelson Publishers provided me with a free advanced copy of this book for review, however opinions expressed are mine entirely.

We’ve had some interesting weather in Nashville so far this year. First there was the “Snowpocalypse.” And now we’ve had “Splashville.” If nothing else, we Nashvillians can certainly come up with kitschy Catch Phrases. This flood is has been pretty bad, though. For a more serious post about the flood, check out It’s Not Just About Me. Here is some video we took of various stuff from around the North Side of town. ..including our own back yard.

This is of the one and only way for us to get out of our apartment complex:

This is of our Backyard:

This is below Old Hickory Dam:

Steps Leading to a Fishing Spot (Usually the fishing spot is 40-50 feet below this point. Also, I thought I was just taking snapshots, not video…so, sorry.

More video of Old Hickory Dam and Lock

When Ryne was first born I wrote about how all diapers were not created equal. When we were still naive and thinking about the rainbows and unicorns side of parenting, we decided we weren’t going to be picky about what types of diapers we were going to use. We didn’t want to be “those parents” that have to be so particular with their child. Then IT happened. That fateful day when everything that was supposed to stay on the inside was on the outside. Since that fateful day with the most horrible of wardrobe malfunctions, we have stuck with Pampers. A diaper has to contain the devastation…that’s its only purpose in life. Pampers does that well. Sure, we’ve had a few mishaps with Pampers along the way, but in almost every case, I can say with a good amount of certainty that it was a poor fastening job by Daddy or Mommy. Diapers are like a Dam with a Lock. They’re supposed to hold back the flood, but that only really works if you make sure to close the gate.

Then a few months ago, my Pastor, Aarron, tries to convert me. Imagine that….a Pastor trying to convert people. He tries to tell me that Target has a Store Brand that works just as well as Pampers. My first thought was that the stress of planting a church had finally gotten to him. We had seen the devastation caused by not following the  “Thou shalt have no other diapers before me” commandment from Pampers. We just weren’t ready for that kind of change in my life. Notice, I said it was a few months ago that he had told me.

Fast forward to this week. Still without a job after almost 11 months, I am looking for any way to cut expenses. Aarron has still been praising the Target diapers, so we finally broke down and decided to give them a try. At $7 less a box, we figured it was worth at least an experiment. I still was not without reservation. I was ready to try them, but I told myself that the first time they malfunctioned, Aarron was going to get possibly the worst Pastor’s Appreciation Day present in history.

Our whole family was skeptical. When we opened the box, TheBrandNewMom examined them closely to see if they even looked like they acted like Pampers. TheBrandNewSon was waaay confused. The first time I went to put it on him, he raised his eyebrows at me in a worried and perplexed look, as if to say “Hey, Dad….you realize that’s not a Pampers diaper, right?” I calmed his fears….even though I was bracing for the worst. We let him play and then he took a nap. Then he got up and ate, and played again. He didn’t have any poopies….but he did have about a quart of liquid in there. The Target diapers held their own there. But that was not the main test of concern. I can handle a small leak of liquid. It’s the other stuff that gets me. Well, that time came and went as well, and again, the Target diapers passed with flying colors (no pun intended).

So, about a week later, we’ve still had no malfunctions, though there’s been plenty opportunities for it. So, if you have a Target in your area, I highly recommend Up and Up Brand diapers.

Ready for Foam Battle

Just knocked down the MegaBlocks tower Godzilla style.

At the Park.

There’s a why to the whole concept of the book I’m writing. I purposefully didn’t share it before I shared other excerpts…though that purpose remains a mystery to even myself. I’m just weird, what can I say?

King of Kings: If you’ve grown up going to church like I have, you’ve heard this phrase tens of thousands of times. It’s one of the names the Bible gives to God. He’s the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. It’s in countless praise and worship songs, hymns, and recited prayers. This is what he is to us, but it’s hard to understand exactly what this means for a lot of people, especially in the United States or younger generations of Europeans.

I believe the Bible uses this title because that’s what people could easily reference for a relationship with God back then. Can’t you just hear Moses speaking to the Israelites, “You think Pharoah’s awesome? Well, my God is cooler than the other side of the pillow.” Ok, maybe not…but I think the thought was that everyone lived under some sort of kingdom rule. The king was to be respected, obeyed, and feared. Then, you throw in, that God is the KING of Kings, and that clues you in on just how awesome he is.

Growing up, the only frame of reference I would have for a king is one that came into power from pulling a sword out of a stone, or maybe the father of Prince Humperdinck in William Goldman’s The Princess Bride, or maybe Elvis. While Elvis died before I was born, there were reported sightings of him in supermarket tabloids well into my teens. In other words, I just don’t have a good idea of what it means to live under the rule of a king.

I have never been called to court. I have never had to work land for a king in return for living on the land. I have never had to go to my hometown for a census because my king decrees it. I have lived my life under an amazing amount of freedom. While it could be said that all of these things are done by proxy in the form of earning a wage to pay for items, and taxes paid to the IRS, I still am not commanded to do so under threat of death by the Crown.

There is, however, another title that the Bible gives to God and that is Father. I can relate to this much better in my relationship with God. I have had a father since 1981. On July 9th, 2009, Ryne Nathaniel Gilbert came into this world, giving me the title of father. When you become a father (or mother), I believe it is in that child that God chooses to reveal Himself even more to us. Every lesson we teach to our children mirrors a broader lesson God is trying to teach to us. Often times, just like our kids do with us, we fail to listen to those lessons. I am still trying to relate to God being the King of Kings and what that entails in my relationship with him, but I am definitely learning what it means for him to be my Father.

When you spend all day, every day with a person, you usually don’t see changes in them. With your spouse, unless it’s a new hair color or something drastic, most changes seem to go unnoticed. It usually takes someone on the outside to see changes and comment on them, like a little lost weight here, or some gained weight there. I’ve learned that this does not apply to the little guy living here.

Spending all day, every day with my son is a blessing. As much as TheBrandNewMom and I would love for our circumstances to be different, we realize that having at least one of us here to take care of him is a great gift. Still, even though I am constantly with him, changes seem to come very drastically and without warning. TheBrandNewSon is a goal setter. He decides that he’s going to do something, and then he makes it happen.

When we wanted him to roll over, we would put him in the floor for some tummy time. He hated tummy time. He got to be so defiant about it, he would lay there and just go to sleep instead of actually trying to roll over or scoot a little. One day, he just decided that enough was enough. We had him laying on our bed with us, and he just flipped right over very matter-of-factly. Once he did, he felt he was accomplished. He knew he could do it, so there was no need to prove it again. It was a couple of weeks before he would do it again.

After he became a roller, we tried to get him to crawl. For weeks, he would get up into crawling position, and then he would crawl….backwards. Finally, he made up his mind that it was time to crawl, so he did…he wanted something and he went and got it. Again, he had accomplished his goal, another life skill learned and it’s been a while for us to try to get him to crawl again. He’s crawled a few times, but mostly he would kind of pout as if to say, “I did this once, you know I can do it, so why are you asking me to do it again? I am not a circus monkey.”

Fast forward to the last week. He’s been crawling whenever he wants to get around. He’s decided he wants to crawl and explore now. Today was exceptionally eventful. Today I put him in the floor and he crawled a good 4 feet away to get to the MegaBlocks he likes to eat…er, play with. when he got done, though….he crawled back to Daddy! Then, he proceeded to pull up on me and stand up (another one of those pesky life skills we’ve been working on)! I picked him up and put him in my lap. We laughed and played “Tickle Monster.” When we were done with that, he slid back down to get in the floor and crawled back over to the MegaBlocks, and repeated the whole process until he had tired himself out and it was nap time.

It seems like so much time passes, and then BAM! He decides he’s ready to graduate to a whole ‘nother level of baby awesomeness. I’ve definitely learned that I have to quit watching for milestones, though. It makes the time fly by that much faster. You keep looking ahead to the next milestone, and you miss out on all the cool little stuff that happens in between. This is advice I shared with a new Twitter friend, Chris, who’s Twitter name is @twistedxtian if you want to follow him. He’s a dad who’s studying to be a Pastor…in Canada. He has a 6 month old, affectionately called “Bean.” I see stuff he writes on his blog, and remember what it was like when we were going through those same things. While they’re only 3 months behind us, it feels like an eternity.

I remember holding Ryne on my chest a couple of days after he was born and wishing for nothing else but that time would stop and let me freeze in that moment forever. Now, if it had, I would have missed a lot of really cool stuff…like having my son look me in the eye and say “DaDa.” There are so many moments to hold onto, but they just keep fading away and are replaced very quickly with new ones. I don’t mind him growing up, but I would like it to go at a slower pace. I would like to know one thing… Who ordered the Miracle Grow?

As Ryne gets bigger and bigger, I can’t help but notice that his feeding times are resembling less and less hunger and more and more addiction. I would even say that by the time he gets ready to eat, he is actually fiending for the next fix.

It used to be that he would wake up every few hours ready to eat and it would be a cry and we knew what it meant. Now he keeps his eyes closed and starts stretching his neck looking for a fix. He puckers his lips, searching for anything that will relieve his cravings.

As I’ve written before, Ryne figures out that the pacifier is only plastic pretty quick. It’s even worse when he’s searching for a hit of milk. He will get the pacifier in his mouth and suck so hard that you think he might actually get what he’s wanting. This lasts for about four sucks and then…boom! The pacifier goes flying and all his crying fury is unleashed upon the world.

I haven’t noticed it, but I am sure there are baby equivalents of the shakes and cold sweats going on as he cries (more like a yell). Then, we pick him up to feed him and his search for that fix kicks into high gear. He bobs his head back and forth looking for anything to feed the craving. Necks, shoulders, biceps, anything is fair game as he tries to get what he wants.

When his mommy finally starts to get him into position to feed, he gets even more impatient. He knows it’s there, and he can’t wait to get it. His efforts to get it as fast as he can actually result in delaying the good stuff. He tries to help pull it in, but this actually results in him pushing it out. He bobs his head and latches on to the wrong sides. Jamie has to actually physically restrain his arms to get him to feed.

Once he’s finally got what he wants, his whole body relaxes and he assumes his feeding position. He puts his right fist up by his temple and his left arm kind of holds on to mommy. Breast milk has a sleep-inducing effect, so he gets very calm and complacent as he finishes. Suddenly, all is right with the world. That is, until he needs his next fix.

1. What did you think when you found out you were possibly going to meet the man you were named for?

Well, I have to be honest, I think it was more of a big deal to Daddy. Daddy’s told me about him, but he retired 12 years before I was born. Still, I thought it was cool how excited Daddy and Mommy were about the whole thing. They talked in high-pitch voices and forgot things they were talking about. They were acting like I do when I see food.

2. What were you thinking about while you were waiting at the gate to get into the ballpark?

I was thinking, “why are we here this early again?” I know Daddy and Mommy were excited and all that, but I’m sure there was a nap somewhere with my name on it. Somewhere that wasn’t in the Sun.

3. What were you thinking about while you had to wait for Mr. Sandberg to change into his uniform?

First of all, I was thinking, “why do I still have this dirty diaper on?” I thought Mommy and Daddy wanted me to make a good impression. Here’s a Hall-of-Fame player that shares my name, and I’m going to meet him smelling like Pig-Pen from Peanuts.
Second of all, I’m thinking, “How long does it take to change into a uniform? I know when I change into RynoBoy, it doesn’t take me nearly….wait…wait, um, never mind. He…He…I was just kidding about the RynoBoy stuff…you can’t print that!

4. What were your first impressions about Mr. Sandberg?

He was older than I expected. I don’t know why I didn’t think about it. I mean, Daddy’s old and he grew up watching him play… But he was, like, OLD…like, Papa old. He was nice, though. He better be glad he wasn’t a jerk to me. I was packing a diaper bomb, after all.

5. Are you content to be named after Mr. Sandberg?

Absolutely! I only hope to be as accomplished as he is someday. Plus it’s a freakin’ awesome name. The chicks are so gonna dig me.

6. What did you think about the singing of the National Anthem?

I thought The Oak Ridge Boys did a great job. I was slightly confused as to exactly when the National Anthem started to end with “Agiddyup ba-oom papa oom papa oom papa mow mow.”

7. What were your first impressions of live baseball?

The players were taller than I thought at first. I was glad to learn that Baseball isn’t a strange game played with 12 inch tall men. The grass was very green, too.

8. Do you want to go back to another game?

As long as I don’t have to wait 2 hours for it to begin, I’d love to. I want to go back and see the Sounds play when I can pull for them, because if the Cubs are in town, I just can’t do it. I want to go to a lot of different ballparks as well. Maybe to Wrigley Field next.

9. Is Baseball something you want to pursue yourself?

Well, it may be. I thought I’d probably knock out a few more items on the ol’ bucket list first, you know, like crawling, walking, talking in complete sentences, potty training, those sorts of things.

10. How awesome is your Dad for letting you experience all of that?

I don’t know that he let me experience all of it as much as he forced me to experience all of it. Regardless, it was a really fun night, and one I will remember the rest of my life… As long as Daddy and Mommy keep showing me pictures and telling me about it.

*Read all the way to the end for a very important announcement!

Friday, April 16, 2010 will go down as one of the greatest days in my life. I would hope that it would be one of the greatest days in the life of my son, but at only 9 months old, I know the only memory he’ll have of the day will be through photographs. As I told you here, we named our son after Ryne Sandberg, the Hall of Fame second baseman of the Chicago Cubs. When you name your child after someone famous, you aren’t really sure that your child will ever get to meet that person. Well, on this particular day, all the stars aligned for that to happen…

Ryne Sandberg is currently the manager of the Iowa Cubs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They play in the Pacific Coast League, which happens to be the league of….The Nashville Sounds,  our hometown team. This entire past weekend, the I-Cubs were in town to play the Sounds. This places my son, Ryne in the same town as his namesake on the same day at the same time. If this was a RynoBoy Adventure, this could possibly mean the Universe would implode…but not in this case. What it did mean was a chance for us to let our son meet the man we named him after.

It’s an opportunity that almost didn’t happen. On Thursday, the front end of our car exploded. Well, not literally, but the brakes, rotors and two front tires all needed to be replaced unexpectedly, which severely depletes funds when you’re still laid off from your job after 10 months. We got a magical little piece of paper in the mail however granting us a free ticket to a Sounds game. Lil’ Bit doesn’t need a ticket, so this meant that we all three could get into the game for the price of one ticket. Sounds like a Discover Card commercial doesn’t it?

Unexpected car repairs: $420
Ticket to Baseball Game: $10
Chance to meet person you named your child after: Priceless.

Well, it was definitely an experience worth $10. We knew we wanted to try to get an autograph, and the GOLD prize…a picture of our Ryne with his namesake. We got to the ballpark at 5:00. Gates opened at 5:30, and first pitch was at 7:05.
We waited for the gates to open and enjoyed the oohs and ahhs over our cute little Cubs fan.

When the gates opened, we made a beeline for the visitors’ side dugout. The I-Cubs were taking batting practice, and Mr. Sandberg was throwing. He looked like he could’ve suited up and played that night himself. Well, we waited…and waited. BP was over, and then they had to go change into their uniforms and come back out, so we waited some more. I don’t know if you’ve ever taken your 9 month old to a baseball game where there’s nothing to watch but the field, but Ryne handled it like a champ. Finally, Mr. Sandberg came back to the dugout, and then we anticipated our chance to meet him.

Finally, he came out of the dugout and over to the stands to talk and sign stuff. This process was not without worry and anger for me. First of all, I kept thinking, “I named my son after this guy, so I sincerely hope he’s not the biggest jerk in the world to us.” Second of all, there were some seedy people with all this crap for him to sign so they could go home and log onto eBay. I even saw one guy with an inventory sheet. Now, I understand all about making money, but that ruins it for true fans. He only has a limited amount of time to meet and sign (He does have an actual job to do, after all) and you want to fill that time with him signing your trinkets? Ugh.

Anyway, he finally made his way down to us and he signed a baseball for us. There was so much commotion that we didn’t even have time to ask for a picture. I was disappointed, but definitely not giving up. He made his way back down on his way back to the dugout, and as he stopped to sign some more stuff, I simply said, “Mr. Sandberg, I named my son after you, so can we get a picture of you with him?” He was very gracious and obliged us. Ryne was so enamored with who this guy was, he wouldn’t look at the camera, he just kept looking at Mr. Sandberg. I snapped my fingers at Ryne to get him to look at the camera, and then..Mr. Sandberg did the same thing…I thought that was funny…but Ryne just kept on looking at Mr. Sandberg. I figured that was just as awesome, and we thanked him for taking time. Such amazing memories.

It was, of course, Ryne’s first Baseball game as well. He lasted 3 whole innings. Of course, considering we had him there 2 hours before the first pitch was thrown out, I am waaaay impressed. He fell asleep before we even left the parking lot of the stadium. He then stayed asleep to a full hour after we arrived home. Meeting a Hall-of-Famer tires you out I guess:)

So, I had planned to give you Ryne’s thoughts on meeting his namesake, but we’re going to do this Q&A style. Leave a comment and ask him anything you want to know about it and he’ll answer in tomorrow’s post.

Nashville Peeps…If you ever want to  get  ticket packages to Sounds Games, give Kevin Hall a call at 615-690-4487 ext. 107  I’ve never met him in person, but he is an amazing person to deal with!

It all began with Pavlov’s dog. Ring a bell, and the dog begins to salivate. So it goes with Ice Cream trucks. The difference is, there is apparently no repetition needed to train a child to have a fit at the sound of the Ice Cream Truck. There must be a strand of DNA in babies that responds when they hear it.

Ryne has never had Ice Cream and there is no possible way he even knows what it is. Saturday an Ice Cream truck came through our complex. He heard the siren call oh so faintly and began jittering and reaching towards the door and generally pitching a fit to go to the door. It could just be that he liked the music, but there are a dozen things around the house that make music and he doesn’t react like that to any of them.

So…a mystery remains until the next time an ice cream truck comes through.

Great Sidekicks come around only so often. Great friends come around even less. So, imagine my horror and anger when my best friend, and keeper of my Super Hero secret was kidnapped right from my own base camp. Jimmy and I go way back. This was not only an attack on Jimmy, but it was an attack on me…and I took it very, very personally.

I searched the scene where he was taken. There was some kind of paralyzing agent sprayed on Jimmy to allow them to take him. I found the residue in the camp. I know they had to use it because Jimmy would never allow himself to be taken alive. I also knew immediately who had taken him: The Evil Dr. Daddicus and his Partner, The Baroness Mommy Von Milkstein. They’re always trying to take over the world. I have yet to figure out why they taunt me so much. I always win. At that moment I made the decision not to wait for any ransom demands, but to instead fly immediately to their Lair and get Jimmy out. He was going to be free and I knew I couldn’t sleep a wink until that happened.

I must admit that the thought did cross my mind that I was flying into a trap, and that they expected me to come right away, but I wasn’t worried. They aren’t the brightest villains in the comic book, if you know what I mean. Well, having said that, I was in for quite a surprise when I got to their Lair. They had moved it offshore and underwater.. There was no way to get to it except by a submarine, of course, unless you’re a super hero and you’ve got the friends I do. My friend Sally Seahorse (who is a fantastic singer) came to the surface, created a bubble for me to ride in, and then escorted me down to their Lair.

I busted in and searched until I found where they were holding Jimmy. Actually, they weren’t holding him at all. They were all having some tea as I walked in (prepared to kick some hiney). They apologized for keeping him so long and that he was free to go. I was very curious as to the nature of their visit, as this seemed all to easy. At that moment however , I didn’t care. I raced to hug Jimmy, thankful for his survival, then with the help of Sally we rushed back to the surface and back to our base camp.

Will RynoBoy find out the true nature of Dr Daddicus and Baroness Mommy Von Milkstein’s plot?
Will Jimmy remain the same friendly, care-free giraffe he’s always been?
Tune in next week. Same Rynoboy time, same RynoBoy Channel!

TheBrandNewDad epilogue: What had happened was… One evening last week, Ryne’s dinner didn’t completely agree with him, or it agreed with him too much. Either way, when I went to check on him in his crib before I went to bed, he had thrown up some of his dinner. He had avoided most of the catastrophe, having moved to a different part of the crib. Jimmy, however, didn’t quite make it. He was soiled, to say the least. Well, we had to wash him in the washer, but Ryne also had to be woken up so we could change his sheets.

I took Jimmy and put him in with the dirty clothes then went back to change his sheets while Jamie changed him. Then came time to put him back to sleep. Ryne doesn’t like to sleep without his friend Jimmy. It was hard to get him calmed down without his best friend around. So his other friend, Sally the Sea Horse sang him a song (which she does every night…Sally’s a sea horse that’s kinda in the same vein as a Glow Worm). And we comforted him as much as we could. He finally fell asleep…but the look on his face said he wasn’t happy about it.

The next day when Jimmy was finished being washed and dried, Jamie brought Jimmy for me to see if I thought he was clean and dry enough. Ryne was in the living room, and caught a glimpse of Jimmy. Now, he’s still not walking, but I believe at that very moment, he could have done one of those cheesy scenes of he and Jimmy running towards each other in a field. He kicked his legs, reached out his hands and started yelling (not crying or screaming, but kind of a whooping) for Jimmy. Jamie handed him to Ryne, and Ryne clutched Jimmy to his chest and squeezed him so hard, I would sware I could actually hear the thing wheeze. Ryne and Jimmy were finally reunited.

Why can’t we keep a friend like that as we grow up?

¹¹ We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. ¹² In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³ Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:11-14 (TNIV)

Mark and Paul attend the local First Baptist Methodist Assembly of the Catholic Nazarene. They love God with all their heart. They decide that the best thing they can do for their community is to go witness to their neighbors on Monday nights. One Monday night, they go visit Steve. The three of them would never be the same.

Mark knocks loudly on Steve’s door.
Steve gets up and opens the door to see who it is.

Mark: Hi sir, this is Paul, and I’m Mark. We’re from the First Baptist Methodist Assembly of the Catholic Nazarene up the road. We’d like to come in and tell you about Jesus. Is that OK?

Steve: “It’s Monday night, I was watching “Chuck,” but I guess I can TiVo it.”

Paul: “Great! So, have you ever heard about Jesus?”

Steve: “I went to Vacation Bible School a couple of times when I was a kid.”

Mark: “Did you pray the prayer of salvation?”

Steve: “I’m not sure I know what that means.”

Mark: “Well, then, I have a very, very important question for you.”

Steve: “What’s that?”

Mark (in his best T.D. Jakes voice): “Do you believe that the Lamb was slaughtered so that His blood would cover you so that you would be washed white as snow and not perish?”

Steve: “Huh?”

Paul: “Are you sure that if you were to die right now that you would not be thrown into the lake of fire?”

Steve (wondering whether or not they want to kill him and/or teach him about white supremacy): “Ohhhhhhhhhh….you meant THAT prayer of salvation. Oh yeah, I prayed that years ago.”

Mark: “Wonderful! Would you like to come visit us this Sunday at The First Baptist Methodist Assembly of the Catholic Nazarene? We have 3 services for your convenience!”

Steve (ushering them quickly toward the door): “Oh yeah, that sounds interesting, I think I have to work, though” (he doesn’t).

Mark and Paul leave very satisfied with themselves, that is, until a few minutes later when they’re picked up by local police on suspicion of Arson and Animal Cruelty as a result of a quickly placed call by Steve. Steve, meanwhile has reaffirmed to himself his old rule of not opening his door to strangers.

There was a time when the majority of Americans knew who God was, or at least who He was taught to be. Through many different transformations in our culture, this is no longer the case. You can go almost anywhere (even within the so-called “Bible Belt,” and find people who do not know who Jesus is, and may not have even heard the name before. These people are the people who need to hear about him the most, but we as Christians have forgotten what the Bible tells us about reaching these people.

First of all, when someone doesn’t speak your language, you have to communicate in theirs. This is what I would call “watering down the Gospel.” I know that phrase has a negative connotation, but I want to reclaim it for a different concept. In the above story, Mark and Paul started with a genuine passion for seeing their community come to know Christ like they knew Him. The only problem is that Steve didn’t speak their language. As  mature Christians who’ve been taught within the Church, Mark and Paul knew who The Lamb was, why He was slain, and what it meant to them personally to be covered by His blood. To Steve, it sounded more like a rational reason for the existence of PETA. Steve needed to hear a simplified, un-churched version of what Mark and Paul wanted to tell him.

When my son was born, the only thing his stomach could handle was his Mommy’s milk. As he got older, we introduced solid foods, but in a watered down, pureed form. As he continued to get older, we didn’t water his food down as much. We let it keep getting bulkier and bulkier. Can you imagine what would have happened had we given him some grilled chicken and vegetables when he was just born and new to the world? He would have choked! He was too new. Not only would he have not had a clue about what it was, he wouldn’t know how to process it. This is the case with Steve. He not only wasn’t sure of what Mark and Paul were trying to tell him about, but he was unable to process it because it wasn’t simplified enough for him.

One thing to be sure of when telling people about Jesus is that it’s hard to tell someone about Jesus without showing them the love of Jesus. If someone you don’t know comes to you and tells you about something you’ve never heard of, you’re going to be thinking, “why do I listen to you about this?” “Why should I take your word for it?” What if Mark and Paul had gone to Steve’s house and asked him if he needed any help with anything around the house. What if they just walked up and introduced themselves just to meet him and get to know him? As time goes on, and Steve sees a difference in the lives of Mark and Paul, he will ask them why, and they can tell him about their relationship with Jesus. They can tell him that while they still have struggles, and not everything in life is even close to perfect, that relationship gives them hope.

As more believers come into The Church, it’s important to disciple them and teach them so that they can move on to solid food and move away from the milk. However, it’s important that in order to introduce them to Jesus and to who He is, we’ve got to simplify the story a bit. We’ve got to water it down.

Dad told you guys about my first Christmas, and since I’m getting a little older (I’m almost a whole 9 months old), I figured I would just tell you about my first Easter myself.  Oh, and by the way…if you want to keep up with my thoughts and what I’m doing day to day…I have my own Twitter Feed now.  But…back to Easter. I didn’t know what to expect since it’s only my first one. It’s been one of the most eventful days I’ve ever had…and it’s only 9:45 AM.  I’ll try to give you a rundown of the events so you can get a glimpse into my crazy life.

It all begins with the shopping. I’ve had my Easter outfit for weeks. Mommy and Daddy just love it. I don’t know what’s so special about it…it’s just clothes, but apparently I’m adorable in it. I still don’t know how this is different from all my other clothes, because I make everything look good. Anyway, we went down to Alabama to Pelham to spend Easter with my Aunt Tiana and got there on Saturday. We played some games, mom put me in this chair that ate me and swallowed me down (BrandNewDad Note: It was a beanbag chair). Mommy and Daddy played something they called pool, but there was no water at all, only a table with balls that they hit around. Nana T and Papaw JimBob (BrandNewDad Note: Teresa and James, Jamie’s parents) got here, and we went to a place called Longhorn Steakhouse. My best guess is that this is where those Texas guys ended up after Bama beat ‘em up in January. I was sleepy, so I just chilled and chewed on my keys. I still don’t know what they go to…but they feel so good on my gums.

We went back home and I played for a little while, but Mommy laid me down for bed. It was only then that she informed me we were getting up at 4:00 AM to go to a Sunrise service. I was like, “WHAT?” She said we were going to the Cemetary where Uncle Todd was buried for a Sunrise Easter Service. I don’t know what she was thinking. The only people in Cemeteries at that time are Vampires just getting home from a night out. Since I am only 9 months old, though, I don’t really get a say, so I did what any normal 9 month old would do: I cried…loudly. It wasn’t over anything in particular, I just wanted to be sure Mommy and Daddy would be as exhausted as I knew I would be. We all finally went to sleep around 11:45.

4:00 came early. It’s one thing if I wake up hungry at 4:00 AM, but it’s a completely different thing to be snatched away from a wonderful sleep. Mommy gave me some Breakfast and then went to take a shower while I watched some music videos. I’m not sure I was really supposed to be watching them, but I’m sure the people on the TV shouldn’t have been doing what they were doing…especially on the Lord’s day. To make matters worse, I didn’t even get to wear my special clothes.

We went to the cemetary and it was still dark when we got there. Lots of people came and then the service started. The sun didn’t rise, so I asked Daddy. He said that the sun did rise, but the clouds were blocking it. I thought that was awfully rude of the clouds. He also explained it was a SONrise service, because Jesus, God’s Son rose from the dead on Easter. Dad had explained Easter to me before today, and I am very happy about two things: 1. I’m glad my Dad would never let anything like that happen to me. and 2. I am very glad that Jesus’ Daddy did.

The service started and this man led us in singing. I thought he sounded very funny. Daddy told me that anyone singing to Jesus was making a joyful noise to Him. I don’t know what he was hearing, but I’d have given my best friend Jimmy to have Lewis and Mary Lea leading us at that very moment (BrandNewDad Note:Our worship leaders at our church). He hit one note that chased off some geese as they honked angrily. Then the speaker did his thing, and it was good, but by this point I was so tired from getting up so early that I started to get a little cranky and made Mommy hold me. Lots of people told Mommy I was cute, and I never get tired of hearing that. After the service we dropped by Uncle Todd’s gravesite to talk to him a little bit. I drifted off to sleep. The next thing I know, we’re in the middle of Willie’s house of chicken and waffles eating breakfast (BrandNewDad Note: it was actually Cracker Barrel).

I’m sure more will happen today, so maybe this is just part 1. Have a Happy Easter!!!

I remember that on Christmas 1987, the most wonderful thing in the world happened (well, at the time, at least). The Nintendo Entertainment Center came to my house. Yes, there it was in all its gray, darker gray, and black magnificence. I wanted to be Japanese, so that I could understand the Japanese games. I wanted to beat all the levels in Super Mario Brothers, but I couldn’t pass up warping through worlds to beat the game faster. Tetris gave me an appreciation for Tchaikovsky, who still remains my favorite composer.

As awesome as it was, Nintendo was incredibly simple. I sometimes wish that parenting could be as simple as Nintendo. Think of all the do-overs you could have with your kid if they had a game controller? As soon as the baby is out of the womb, you quickly punch in the old up up, down down, left right, left right, BA Start….and you’re golden! Your kid has at least 30 lives….but you’ll never really have to find out, because they’ll beat the game before then.

Today I was feeding Ryne and he obviously didn’t like what I was feeding him. I kept giving it to him, and he was eating, but in between every bite he was crying. I didn’t understand what his problem was other than he just wanted something else. Can you imagine how great it would be if every time your kid malfunctioned in this way that all you had to do was blow on them like a cartridge and then they worked like they’re supposed to?

Ryne also has a problem complying with my don’t-do-anything-awesome-unless-I-have-a-way-to-capture-it-for-posterity rule. If he does something awesome, you can guarantee that it won’t be while I have video or audio ready to capture it. Today we were having one of our “conversations.” I was saying, “Hey Buddy,” and he would say, “Hey Da Da.” During this, I would tell him, “I love you.” One time after I said it, I noticed he mouthed it back to me. I got real excited and said it again. He started playing again, and I just kept talking to him. Then without warning, he busts out in this deep, matter-of-fact voice with “I LOVE YOU DA DA.” There was no 50 syllables to get it out, no wasted time. He just said it plainly. Well, I hit the ceiling I was so excited. I immediately tried to get him to say it again….this time with my iPhone in hand to try and capture the moment. Alas, he has a technology radar and WILL NOT perform on command. When this happens, you literally have a “tree falling in the woods” scenario. There’s no record of it, so did it really happen? With a Nintendo child, you simply press the reset button until you get the desired result.

Unfortunately, there is no game controller for your kids when they’re born. Unless you join the NRA…then they come with the NES light zapper.

This is the third excerpt I have posted from my upcoming book, “Changing the Diaper of Our Soul.” The first excerpt is When Your Kids Hurt, You Hurt More. The second excerpt is Changing the Diaper of Our Soul.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”
- Matthew 6:25-27 (English Standard Version)

There were times when my son was younger that he needed his pacifier in order to relax and fall asleep. To be more accurate, his mommy and I needed for him to have his pacifier in order to relax and fall asleep. Those first few months as a parent, every second of sleep is worth much more than Gold. He wasn’t actually a fan of the pacifier. From the time he was just a few days old, he would take his hands and fling it out of his mouth whenever we tried to give it to him. It was quite a paradox: No matter how much he was comforted by it, he still wanted it to go away.

On the other hand, for our sanity, we had to get some sleep. This meant we had to find a way to get him to keep the pacifier in. We learned that while we couldn’t make him keep it in, we could keep putting it back in until he fell asleep. This created another problem, because once he saw us coming to put it back in, he got excited and made it that much harder for us to get him to sleep. Our final solution was to face him away from the door to his bedroom and then when he spit out the pacifier, we could sneak in and put it back into his mouth without him seeing us. You could even see a perplexed look on his face as he realized the pacifier was back, brought to him by an unseen hand.

We know the things he needs even though he is unaware. We know when it’s too hot or too cold for him. We know when he should be hungry or when he needs to be changed. We meet his needs, and he doesn’t even know that he has had a need for the most part. If he’s hungry or has a dirty diaper, he knows something is off  and he’s uncomfortable, but he doesn’t know the solution or how to get there.

The same can be said for our relationship with God. God has plans for us. God knows where we need to be and how we need to get there. His plan is perfect. The hardest part about God’s perfect plan is that,  from my own personal experience, His time line rarely meets with our own expectations. I suppose it’s hard to be in a rush when you’ve existed forever, and will continue to do so. God knows all variables for our lives, and why certain things have to happen and when they have to happen.

This is a truth that I must face and have faith in everyday. I am currently unemployed, having been laid off from a job I loved. I was in a situation I was sure God wanted me to be in. God has now closed that door.  I am searching for the next one that’s going to open. I am blessed that God continues to provide our needs, which is what he promises to do, but I struggle with the “wants” as well. My current situation is definitely not the situation I want to be in. I would love to be going to work every day and be able to let my wife stay home with our son, because that is what she wants to do.

The hardest lesson to remember is that we’re not promised our wants. This is actually fantastic news for all of us. Think back to when you were entering your “formative years.” I think back to all the prayers I tossed at God when I was younger. If God had answered every prayer that I had while growing up, I would be an Architect-Archaeologist living in Australia. My wife would be a girl that I haven’t even seen since I was in elementary school. We would have 2 kids, a girl and a boy, who were born as twins. I would  play Pro Football in my spare time as I spent my main energies perfecting my abilities of invisibility and the power to stop time.

While I’m sure to some people that doesn’t sound like a terrible life to have, it’s not the life I was meant to live. God knows what we need and when we need it. God knows when he has to say no. The things we want are usually things that we will use to fill the hole in our lives that He is actually supposed to fill. The things we want are usually things that will only serve to pacify.

I’ve written quite a bit a bit about the dreams of my son and what infants could possibly have to dream about. I’ve written about the Sweet Dreams, and the Nightmares. But what about the parent dreams? Parents have recurring dreams about their children. They sometimes dream that:

They lose their child.
They forget they have a child.
Their child is on a cliff, and they can’t get to them.

OR…If they’re like my wife, they dream that their child (who is completely physically incapable) has climbed out of the crib and walked into the bedroom and is now slowly stalking us in our sleep, not unlike a certain demonic doll from cheesy 80’s movies.

Last night I had a dream. It wasn’t about my son, it was about football. More specifically, it was about my high school football team and my role on that team. Nevermind that my high school no longer exists. Nevermind that I had not been back there since 2000. Nevermind that the last year I played was 1997. No, the only thing that matters is that on the night of March 28, 2010, I was back on the team at T.W. Martin High School. It was the first game of the season and we were playing our arch rival, who, in my dream was some team in University of Wyoming yellow and brown. It was a very important game and our whole season was apparently riding on that night. In practice, our coach kept telling us how important it was for us to do our job so that we could win the game. That was basically all the instruction he gave…”Do your job.”

I was so pumped up to be playing again (in my dream, I realized that I was 13 years removed from playing football), and I was excited that I was going to “do my job” and we were going to win the game and be champs (even though it was the first game of the season). I decided to rest before the big game so that I would have all my strength to be able to “do my job.” So, I went into the field house and took a nap.

The next thing I know is that I’m being awakened by the sound of cleats on the concrete floor of the field house. I jump up, realizing everyone is ready…but then it hits me, they’re coming back into the field house. The game was over. I kept asking, “why didn’t you wake me up? I didn’t hear anyone wake me up so I could “do my job.” I was told that they didn’t need me to “do my job” after all, and that they won the game anyway. I was simultaneously disappointed and relieved. Then I woke up (for real).

Immediately upon waking, I realized the meaning of the dream, and it was almost a literal allegory for last night. Before bed, Jamie informed me that she wanted to try to keep Ryne from waking up for night feedings because he should be growing out of that by now. Her plan was to have me go in and calm him back down and get him back to sleep if he woke up. I needed to do it, because if she went in there, he would automatically assume food was on the way and he would pitch a fit until he got some milk.

So I went to bed thinking to myself that I needed to make sure to get up if I heard him crying and settle him back down. I had to psych myself up for this because I didn’t want to sleep through it, or have Jamie forget that she wanted me to go calm him down and just do it herself. So I reminded myself as I was falling sleep to “do my job.”

Then morning came. At 6:30, I woke up in a panic. I knew I had not gotten out of bed, and I had not heard him crying. So I asked Jamie what time he had woken up. And…he hadn’t. He slept right through the night. I had not needed to “do my job,” and we had a victory. It is super scary that my subconscious was playing all this out so vividly in my dream. I have other dreams that are very weird…but they almost make no sense at all in relation to anything else. I will share those at another time. Do you have any recurring dreams or just weird dreams in general? Please share by leaving a comment at the top of this post!

I’ve had a pretty good grasp on the English language for many years now. I’ve been through17 years of school and at least a thousand church services. I’ve attended dozens of seminars and spoken on the phone with people all over the U.S. and Canada. I’ve watched way more TV than I should and listened to waaaaay too much talk radio. With all that I’ve heard in my lifetime, the sweetest and best words have only come within the last several weeks. That’s when my little fella decided he wanted to say “Dada.”

I was thrilled when he started making the noise, but I knew it was just that: a noise. Then one day it just clicked for him and he looked up at me and pointed and said it. My heart flooded with joy because I knew that he knew who I was. At the same time, he learned “Mama” as well. He also learned “Nana,” which is what both his grandmothers go by.

He also learned really quickly that we really responded when he called us by our name. Now when he’s hungry or has a dirty diaper he doesn’t just start crying, he puts a parent’s name with it. He cries out DaaaaaaaDaaaaa….which is slowly becoming Daaaadddyyyyy. Or he cries out, Mommmmmmaaaaaaa. It’s fun to listen to him when we lay him down for a nap or to go to bed at night if he’s not particularly sleepy. He cries out, “Daaaaadddyyy.” No response from us, so then he yells “Mommmmaaaaa.” When he still gets no response, he even gives “Nannnnnnnaaaaa” a shot. I find this to be quite humorous since neither Nana lives close. It’s like somewhere deep down he just knows that one of his Nanas would pick him up and give him all the attention he wants at that moment. Is that in our DNA? It sure seems that way, because that seems early in life to learn that lesson.

Speaking of parental manipulation, He’s got it all figured out. He knows that with me if he’s hungry or has a dirty diaper or gets sleepy and cries or calls my name…I will rectify the problem. He also knows that I won’t let him just cry because he wants to be held instead of laid down in the floor (he’s got to have some tummy time so he can crawl and learn to walk), so he doesn’t really try to pull stuff over on me. As for Momma…he’s figured out that if the tears collect in his eyes a little bit, well, Momma’s putty. He’s going to get his way….some of the time. There’s times when I almost have to physically restrain her, but she does somehow manage to summon the courage to let him do some things on his own. This isn’t easy to do, but it’s necessary for him to grow the way he needs to.

The best part of him being able to speak a little is that we can now have conversations in English. We’ve been having conversations in Baby language ever since he was born. My translation for you guys is what fuels a lot of the blog posts. He’s been able to say “Hey” and “Hi” ever since he was about 4 months. He knows what it means, too. If you come into a room, and he feels like talking to you, he’ll tell you “Hi.” Today we were having such a conversation. I would tell him “Hey Buddy,” and he would tell me “Hey Dada.”

Ryne will hardly do anything on demand but eat…and even that’s becoming a little more complicated, but I was lucky enough to grab just a little bit of our conversation on audio. You will need Quicktime to be able to play it. If you don’t have it, you can download Quicktime by clicking HERE. It’s free and don’t worry if you don’t use a MAC. It works for PC as well. To listen to a little bit of our conversation, click HERE.

These two awesome people are my Aunt Tiana and my cousin Abigail. Tiana was married to Mommy’s Uncle Todd. You may remember Dad telling you guys about him. Last week, they came up for a visit from Birmingham and we had a great time. I told Dad I wanted to tell you all about it because he sometimes doesn’t tell stories right.

They drove up last week and we went to a magical place downtown called Adventure Science Center. You should have seen all the stuff you could do there. You could walk on the moon or float in zero gravity. They had air cannons that shot tennis balls…but you couldn’t shoot them at other people. My cousin Abigail even lifted a car off the ground all by herself! In the middle of everything, they had a huge treehouse. It was 4 stories tall with rope bridges and slides and ladders where you could climb up to every level. Since I can’t walk yet,  I couldn’t really enjoy it…but Mommy did!! She went through it and played just like she was a little girl! Can you believe that? Abigail loved it too…I think she could’ve moved in and been just fine.

There were other things that were cool like a huge human brain you could walk through and a lazer tag game where you could kill viruses. Most of this stuff I couldn’t do because I’m too little….but give me a little bit of time and I can’t wait to go back!! I mostly just laid back while Dad pushed me around in my stroller. It’s probably the best view of everything. All these people had to walk and climb stairs…but I got to just lay there and chill. The end of our time there was with Mommy and Abigail riding in some kind of spaceship. It flipped them upside down and twirled them around so fast that it made my head spin. Mommy was excited though, because apparently she couldn’t do that kind of stuff when I was in her tummy. I didn’t know I held her back so much, but oh well…

That night we went to Australia for supper. The Onions were in bloom, so that’s what they ordered. Everyone got a steak except for Dad. Aunt Tiana got a steak that I think I still heard mooing. Dad ordered some kind of pasta. I don’t know what that’s all about. We were in Australia, not Italy. I of course had my normal diet that day of milk, apples, spinach, and some rice cereal that has my medicine in it. Mommy and Daddy think I don’t know it’s in there, but I really do. It tastes terrible, but I figure I’ll just make things easier on them and eat it. I figure they wouldn’t give it to me if I didn’t really need it. After that, all the grown-ups and Abigail watched a movie, but I went to bed. I was pooped.

The next morning we went to The Pancake Pantry. There was a long line out the door. I figured I would just kill some time, so I flirted with the ladies. I like to tell them Hi, just so they know I’m there. I’ve learned that all I really have to do is get their attention…and then it’s hard to lose it after that. I’m not stuck up, I’m just being honest…God doubled my cuteness gene. Once we got inside, I was amazed to see pancakes. I don’t think I had ever seen them. Apparently I’m allergic or something so I couldn’t have them…but they looked like little heavenly pillows, so that kinda wasn’t fair.

We then went to Opry Mills Mall because we were going to look for some cowgirl boots for Abigail. They’ve never been to Nashville before, so we actually ended up looking more places than we thought and ran out of time. After that, Aunt Tiana and Abigail had to go back home to Birmingham. Abigail was going to start Horseback riding lessons. I am so glad they came up, and I am excited that we’re going to see them at Easter!!!

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
-Ephesians 2:7-10 (The Message)

I remember the first dirty diaper Ryne had. I had never changed a dirty diaper in my entire life, yet as soon as I realized what the problem was, I was compelled to make him clean again. The diaper change itself was a harrowing experience, as I had both sets of his grandparents and his great-grandfather in the room. There were thousands of diaper changes’ worth of experience watching me as I decided I was going to change the diaper.

I felt like a soloist at Carnegie Hall as I opened his diaper to double-check. I kept thinking, “there’s so many people in here, and I’ve never done this. Do I ask for help, or fake it?” The room seemed to close in on me, but that could just be the effect of 8 people in a 10×10 room. As I got the diaper open, my worst fears were confirmed that this was indeed a “dirty bomb.”

When babies are born, they don’t have normal poop at first. They first have to get rid of all that goo that they were swimming in for 9 months. So what comes out is this black tar substance that closely resembles Nickelodeon GAK that has gone bad. Bravely, I took center stage in front of my audience and went to work. I took out all the tools I thought I would need: diaper and wipes. I removed his old diaper and began cleaning the affected area. It was what you might call a “political diaper” because there was a smear campaign going on. It was definitely more than a one-wipe job. I handled it quite well, however, if I do say so myself. I made pretty good time and Ryne was surprisingly cooperative for a newborn. Then it happened; every parent-with-a-son’s worst nightmare: He peed. This was before I learned the lesson to cover him up during changes. The only saving grace was that he seemed to favor laying on his side and had turned to the side when he did it. The only casualties were his blanket and his t-shirt.

It was at this moment my restoration project also became an underwater salvage mission. I got him dried off and cleaned up. A brand new diaper was placed correctly, and I changed his T-shirt. He cried a bit when I had to change the T-shirt, but once I got the new one on he stopped crying as if to signal “I’m clean now.” I picked him up, very proud of myself to have handled such a situation with no prior experience. The crowd roared with appreciation (in my head). The actual crowd that was there just continued to ooh and ahh over the baby. That’s OK, I know that diaper changes are a thankless job.

Now, after at least a thousand diaper changes under my own belt, I think about why I am able to do something I once would have considered quite disgusting. The main reason is that he is my child, and he is unable to clean himself. When he soils himself, he knows that he has done something that he regrets. It makes him uncomfortable and unhappy. He knows that when it happens, the only way to rectify it is to cry out.

It is the same way with us and our Father. When we soil ourselves with sin, God wants nothing more than to change us and make us clean. He knows that there is no way for us to do it ourselves. He waits for us to realize that we cant do it on our own and cry out to Him and ask Him to make us clean. He wants to change the diaper of our soul. He wants to take away the bad and exchange it with a newness that will make us whole.

I also know that Ryne is going to do it again. No matter how many times I change his diaper, I know that in a few hours (and sometimes not even that long) I will be changing it again. He can’t help it. It’s his nature, just like it is our nature to soil ourselves with sin. It’s not our human nature that makes us sin. Humans were created in the image of God. It is our fallen nature that causes us to sin. God knows that we are fallen, and He knows that He can clean us. The only difference is that God sent His Son, Jesus, to make a single sacrifice to cover all our sins. While we will soil ourselves forever, there was only one change that God had to make to cover them all.

There are many things that are unknown about RynoBoy. That usually comes in handy when you’re in his line of work. There are many rumors going around, and he asked if I could take some time and go through the rumors and separate the fact from fiction.

Rumor: Superman wears RynoBoy pajamas.
Status: TRUE

Rumor: Before bed, the Boogeyman checks his closet for RynoBoy.
Status: FALSE (RynoBoy would never be that obvious)

Rumor:  RynoBoy can win a game of Connect Four in only three moves.
Status: TRUE

Rumor: The Manhattan Project was not intended to create nuclear weapons, it was meant to recreate the destructive power in a RynoBoy Diaper Bomb. They didn’t even come close.
Status: TRUE (Just ask his Mommy or Daddy)

Rumor: RynoBoy does not own a stove, oven, or microwave because revenge is a dish best served cold.
Status: TRUE (Who would give these things to a baby?)

Rumor: RynoBoy does not eat. Food simply recognizes that the safest place to be around him is in his own body.
Status: TRUE

Rumor: RynoBoy is the reason Waldo is hiding.
Status: FALSE (Waldo would know hiding from Rynoboy is pointless)

Rumor: RynoBoy will never have a heart attack.
Status: TRUE (His heart is way too smart to try and attack him)

Rumor: Google will not search for RynoBoy because it knows you do not find RynoBoy, he finds you.
Status: FALSE (Searching for RynoBoy will give you several results, but you do have to search at your own risk)

Rumor: Aliens DO exist, they just know better than to come to a planet that RynoBoy is on.
Status: TRUE (Area 51 regularly sends out warning beacons)

Rumor: When RynoBoy does pushups, he doesn’t push himself up, he simply pushes the Earth down.
Status: TRUE (With all the earthquakes lately, we’ve asked him to slow down the pace a little)

These are but a few of the rumors going around about RynoBoy. I hope this has been enlightening to you so that you can know more about this little man. Feel free to share any rumors you’ve heard, and we will try to confirm them for you, or finally put them to rest…like all the people who have tried to fight RynoBoy.

Sometimes people ask me what it’s like to be a superhero baby in a world full of “normal” people. I try to stay humble because despite my superpowers, I’m just a regular guy. I can hang
out with the little people. To prove this point, me and my friend Jimmy went to downtown Nashville this past weekend to see the circus. It was amazing. They had Elephants, Tigers, Wildcats, Bulldogs (2 different kinds!!), Gators, Razorbacks, Gamecocks, Volunteers, Commodores, and Rebels. The animals morphed into Giants and then they played Quidditch like in Harry Potter… except without brooms. They were like 70 feet tall and threw a ball around and made it go through a hoop.

It was so very exciting. I didn’t know there were so many other people in the world with such awesome abilities. Yet here I was with dozens of people who could morph from animals into giants and fly! The Quidditch matches were amazing. For some reason, Jimmy and I were partial to the Red Elephants. They just seemed like the good guys, and they were from around where Jimmy used to live. Everyone was real good, and we cheered for basically everyone…except the Volunteers. They cheated by wearing this vile color of orange that no one could look at directly. It’s ok, though, because in the end, they were soundly beaten by the Wildcats. The turning point I believe is because everyone in the Quidditch Arena wore Blue to counteract that hideous orange. The final match pitted the Bulldogs from the state of Mississippi against the Wildcats and it was amazing!!! I was sure the Bulldogs were going to win, because everyone knows dogs are better than cats…Just ask my SuperHero friend, Dexter. This was a little different though, because these Cats were wild.

It was such a fun time. I didn’t have to fight off any bad guys and I got to watch Jimmy eat popcorn and Hotdogs until he turned green. Have you ever seen a green Giraffe? It’s almost as funny as a purple Iguana named Xavier. I firmly believe Nashville is the new Quidditch capital of the world!!!

Epilogue from BrandNewDad:
What had happened was… It was actually the SEC men’s Basketball tournament we watched. And it was actually watched in our living room, which is about 10 miles away from Bridgestone Arena. There was no actual morphing of animals into humans, although some of the humans might actually be considered giants. He did watch the games with Jimmy and seemed quite amused at some of the reactions Jimmy had to some of the plays on TV, although one wonders what reactions a stuffed toy giraffe is capable of. And we did cheer for everyone… except for that team in that hideous orange color. As for me, I was just happy that his eczema flare up was dissipating, although I did spend a litte time lamenting the fact that Alabama is so horrible in Basketball

“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” There are likely no words in history that have hurt a father more than those words. As translated by The Message, it means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” These were the last words of Jesus as he hung on the cross. It wasn’t just his God that Jesus was talking to, but also his Father. While the Bible does not share explicitly what God was doing while Jesus was dying, I imagine he most likely couldn’t watch the proceedings.  His Son, whom He loved, was bearing some of the cruelest torture that humans had ever inflicted.

Not only was His Son dying, but Jesus also felt abandoned by His Father. Here was His Son beaten and battered and about to die all while feeling He had to do it alone. The worst part of it for God had to be the fact that He was the primary cause for all the pain. He had sent His Son to this fate. That’s how much He loved us: He was willing to put his own child through the pain for us. A parent hurts so much more when their child hurts. To know that you caused the pain of your child cuts deeper than any knife.

I’ve never sent my Son to die for anyone else, and you would die of asphyxiation if you’re holding your breath for that to happen. I have however caused my son to hurt. The pain that spreads through the heart of a parent when they do something that hurts their child is almost unbearable. My son has Eczema. We don’t know exactly what triggers outbreaks, but we do know that he has a sensitivity to dairy that is an automatic outbreak if he gets any in his system.He is eating solid foods these days, but his Mommy still breast feeds him as well because there’s vital nutrients and immune boosters in there. So, whatever Mommy eats, he eats as well.

One evening  I was preparing dinner for my wife and I. Because of our son’s food sensitivities, we have taken to reading labels like they’re the Great American Novel. We did let one item slip through the cracks, however, when we bought some spaghetti sauce that we have always bought. We didn’t check the label like the other stuff we’ve been buying and we were hit with a surprise when, you guessed it, it contained cheese. Luckily, we caught this error before we fixed any spaghetti, and replaced the sauce with an organic sauce that contained no cheese or milk. On this particular night, we were going to have Chili. I had everything cooking when it came time to add some tomatoes to the chili. As you can imagine, adding tomatoes to a meal is hard when you’ve forgotten to buy the tomatoes. I had everything almost ready and really didn’t have a chance to get to the store. I looked through our cupboard to see if we had any tomato paste or sauce. That’s when I saw the milk-infested spaghetti sauce. I thought to myself, this recipe doesn’t call for much tomato, I can add a little of this sauce to get a bit of a tomato taste in there. The thought that didn’t enter my mind was, You’re an idiot. You and your wife just had a discussion about how this sauce is an enemy to your child’s well-being.

My wife came home, and we both ate and enjoyed our meal. It was quite tasty and, of course, poison to my son. The next day his face was swollen and red. His eyes were swollen and teary. His skin starts scaling and flaking off. To top all of that off, he was teething pretty fierce. We looked at our poor little guy and we kept going over in our heads everything we had done that could have contributed to this outbreak. It all came rushing back when Jamie mentioned how good the seasoning was in the Chili we ate. I was about to gloat about my secret ingredient being the spaghetti sauce when I suddenly remembered the conversation with Jamie about how she couldn’t eat it because of the milk. I was immediately sick to my stomach. There hasn’t been this much terror over a secret ingredient since Charlton Heston discovered that “Soylent Green is people!”

I immediately went into apology overdrive. I promised my son that I would never hurt him again, he could have a car, and there may have been a promise or two about buying him his own private island. I don’t really remember the specifics as I was too distraught to think clearly. I looked into his puffy, teary eyes to see the pain he was going through. To know I was the cause of that suffering was almost too much to bear. As hard as it was to see him going through it, though, I knew he would come out the other side OK. I don’t believe I could watch him die as Jesus did, and I’m not sure that God was able to, either.

Through this time, I have learned much more about what God has actually given us as our Father. When my son was born, he weighed six pounds and 9 ounces. He was so small that he had to grow into his newborn clothes. I remember the first time that the nurse placed him in my arms. At that moment I knew that I would give him the universe at that very moment if he asked. At the very least, I would die trying. I loved him so much, and all he had done was to just come into this world. I had known him for only seconds, yet he was more important to me than anyone else in this world.

Sometimes, I take a look at my son in his crib and I think about him as God must have thought about Jesus. I imagine that in 30 years or so, he will be taken and beaten. He will be tortured within an inch of his life. Then he will be made to carry the device of his own death through town as people spit and hurl insults at him. He will be nailed to wood with spikes through his tender skin. He will have a spear thrust into his side. As the heat bears down on him, his body will finally be so broken that it gives out. Yet before his final breath, he will ask forgiveness for the people who do this to him. He will do all this because he loves those people so much, just as I love them. He will do this to pay for their transgressions. He is perfect, there is no blame with him.

It takes an iron will just to write those words. Just thinking about my son enduring that pain makes me want to hurt a lot of people and keep him safe forever. This makes the sacrifice that God and His Son made for us all the more amazing. God loved me so much, he was willing to let His Son go through all of that just so I would be able to have a relationship with Him. Even knowing that my Son would come be with me for three days and then return to Earth with a healed body would not allow me to put him through that. It is an infinite love God has to be able to do that for us. And I am positive that when we, His children, hurt…He hurts more.

As you may recall from my now famous (infamous?) 3 AM post, one of my life goals is to have my book published by the time I’m 30. Well, 30 is 12 months, 18 days away. I have decided to make my book more of a part of this blog so I can get a better feel for it and you guys can have a preview as well.

BUT I NEED YOUR HELP!

I have some very loyal readers and I am very thankful to you all. But I need you to help me more. One thing that will help me a lot as I shop my book around to publishers is to let them know how many readers I have of my blog, so that they know I already have a built in audience of people who would want to buy the book. I need your help to get more readers.

1. There are 82 members of my BrandNewDad Facebook group, but it would help to have more than that. Each one of you can invite people to join the group. If you would, please take a little time to send an invite to your friends that you think would want to read it. Include a little note that says something to the effect of “I like to read this blog, and I thought you might like it too.”

2. For those of you who follow me on twitter, please take a few moments to re-tweet when I post a link to a new blog.

3. See that little box at the bottom that says “Share and Enjoy?” You can use it to share a link to the blog directly to your facebook or twitter simply by clicking the icon for either of those. There’s also a place to submit to bookmarking sites like Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us, and Technorati. These are very helpful for you to submit to as well. If you’re not aware of these sites or how they work, you should check them out.

4. Email links to the blog. If you email a lot, especially if you’re the type who likes to forward emails to your entire address book, please consider emailing links to my newest posts when I put them up.

5. If you have a blog, please link to mine, and I will link to yours as well.

6. MOST IMPORTANT!! Please start commenting on the blogs and give me feedback. Did the post stink? Did it make you shoot milk out of your nose because you laughed so hard? I need to know these things and it will help make me a better writer. And please leave the comments on the blog. I appreciate those of you who message me comments on Facebook, but it would be much better to offer them here. Even if you think it was horrible, I can take it! If you’re worried about putting in your email, I swear to you that you will not end up on any email list or anything like that. It’s just an added measure to keep people from posting Spam in comments.

All of these things will help me to grow my audience, and will help me look better to publishers as a potential author.

So what’s the book about?

My son of course. Actually, it’s about how being a father has given me a completely new perspective on my Heavenly Father. I have a very deep faith, and that directs pretty much everything I do. I am going to start sharing excerpts as blogs so you can get a feel for how the book is going. There will still be other things such as “Conversations with Dad,” “Ryno Boy,” etc… because they’re funny and I like them too.  So, I am not changing the blog, only adding in a little more.

The first book excerpt post is forthcoming…..