Overnight growth

Last night I went to bed... this morning I woke up and Micah grew some eyebrows, his eyes turned blue, and his face is bigger. Overnight he has become a little man!

Micah performs...

So we have taken Micah out numerous times already in his very short life (1month and 4days). And it seems like every time we bring him out he knows that people are going to be watching him, so he becomes super chill kid. He'll sleep through anything--anything, a volleyball practice where Angela has him strapped on her running around the court, a sunday morning middle school service, a new year's party, a birthday party, etc. Or he'll be wide awake and just look all over the place with big eyes taking everything in not making so much as a whimper. So he does well around people.

I pray that he keeps this up. I'm glad that he enjoys people. I pray that he becomes a person who really learns to love others!

No promises

No promises of consistent blogging here... but I just wanted to share some thoughts.

Being a dad is amazing--to know that I am holding a living breathing miracle. It saddens me that people throw around negative statements about their kids. I hear it all the time working in the middle school ministry at BRCC. I guess at some point they stopped understanding the wonder of what God had given them. 

I know I know, this is where people will say, "You just wait." I pray however that I stay naive and stay overwhelmed through it all. I am grateful for this opportunity that God has given me and Angela.

Hello

Hi blog world.
Life is full of change right now and it is really stretching me. I've been convinced by some friends to start playing basketball 3 times a week at 7am. This is good because it gets me up early and gets my day started. Ang and I have started coaching volleyball at Jefferson Forest High School, meaning that we have 3 hours out of hour day dedicated to that. So work at Blue Ridge is definitely different. While at BRCC I have to work harder to stay focused (and not thinking about coaching)--another good thing. I'm also losing my office and becoming a "nomad" until Ang gives up her office to me when she has our baby! Oh yeah our baby--another change and another good thing! So practice ends at 6pm and then back to BRCC work. Some nights that isn't over till 8:30pm. And we have a nice old house that I've started a "side project" in. So free time at home is something I spend too much time having, because I have plenty of house stuff to do. So life is good right now. I am adjusting slowly and seeing how the changes are growing me.

Blogging

So I'm pretty bad at blogging.

Enough said.

I'm bad.

Christmas time!

So I am pretty cynical. My sarcastic, make fun of people side comes out during the holidays, especially around my family. I know Angela is always laughing beside me while at gatherings because I'm always under my breath making fun of the weirdness of others--she is fun to have beside me during these moments. And we'll drive away from the evening party, holding proudly the hideous doily that we won playing the weird Christmas game that my grandmother made up that took 3 hours for us to play--and I'll make some comment about why I hate Christmas. 

I don't really truly hate Christmas... I'm just selfish.

I read this quote the other day by a guy who started a foundation for kids who don't have dads:

"It might be easy to run away to a monastery, away from the commercialization, the hectic hustle, the demanding family responsibilities of Christmas-time. Then we would have a holy Christmas. But we would forget the lesson of the Incarnation, of the enfleshing of God--the lesson that we who are followers of Jesus do not run from the secular; rather we try to transform it. It is our mission to make holy the secular aspects of Christmas just as the early Christians baptized the Christmas tree. And we do this by being holy people--kind, patient, generous, loving, laughing people--no matter how maddening is the Christmas rush..."

-Fr. Andrew Greely

So I'll probably still be sarcastic this Christmas--laughing a lot on the inside and with Angela. But instead of being bitter towards others not quite acting the way I want, I'll just laugh and love them. While exchanging gift cards, giving $30 to Starbucks to my dad and him giving me $30 to Panera Bread; and instead of me thinking "why didn't we both just keep our $30 so I could spend it where I want?"; I'll remember that my dad loves me and I love him, and that I should be thankful for that. I will keep my joy this Christmas and remember the words of Mr. Greely.

Merry Christmas. 

Matt look a likes

For some reason I have a face that reminds other people of someone they know. When I went to college there was apparently some other guy that looked like me. I never met this guy, but I did meet his friends a lot... them thinking I was him. Weird.

The other day at the YMCA some guy said I looked like Jeff Gordan.

And then some people at work said I looked like Chris Tomlin.

And finally some others mistook me for Pedro Sanchez the guy in Napolean Dynamite.

Sharp Top Hike

2 sundays ago we went hiking to sharp top with some of the most patient people (my middle school staff) and 20 middle school kids. I had Owen, Tyler, and Heath in my car until halfway down the road I realized that I had forgotten Eric! So we quickly pulled a Uturn and went back to get him. Most of the trip there was me yelling at my guys about trying to hit cars driving by with french fries.

We had a great time--got to the top of the mountain and kids jumping all over rocks without anyone dying. It's hard to keep a leash on MS boys jumping around from boulder to boulder. Mark and Jack took half the boys and Hannah (who could beat up any boy but is too nice to do it) down a different side of the mountain to see a recked WWII plane.

My wife is the cute one with the blue hat. I don't think Natalie (the "I'm Bossy" t-shirt) has ever been up the side of a mountain, so that made it worth it... she is a hilarious girl who really does beat up boys! Hannah has the pink hat.

Our new Pets

Angela and I swear that we will never have pets. We hate hair (mainly because I lose enough of my own already) and we don't want to take the time to keep something alive besides ourselves (scary thought if we have kids). Anyway we just moved into a gianourmus house and with it we have adopted some pets. It just so happens that we have a small pond that came with the house and in it are about 5 goldfish and a bunch of other little things that swim... not sure if they are fish. And we also have 2 cats. They just hang out around our house. The one really freaks Angela out because it sits outside our front door where the window goes to the ground--and she'll randomly be walking by and see the cat staring in the window at us.

I love our pets though. Mainly because we could care less if they die, we don't have to take care of them, but they still seem kind of attached to us. It's kind of like being a babysitter where it's cool to hang out with the cute kid but you can leave as soon as thier parents come home. With our pets we can leave anytime!

We've nicknamed the one who stares at Angela "Killer".

I might be sad if Killer dies.

Kids are amazing! Find a cool on and hang out with them...

Ok so this kid is amazing. He's like 8! Think about what he's going to be at 30 years old!