Adopt a Family

For the last few years, instead of drawing names and swapping gifts or gift cards, etc our extended families have adopted a family from our church, Hope Lutheran. This has been a great experience to help a family that is having some kind of difficulty..maybe a lost job, or suffering from illness, or even have recently lost a loved one. We have been able to provide for these families when they likely would have had NOTHING.

So, this year we are at it again. We received our family from the Church and we are super excited to make their Christmas something special. This year we adopted a family with 3 young kids and their Mom, who sadly just recently lost their Dad/Husband. The mom was a stay at home mom that is now struggling to find a way to provide for the family. The thing that strikes me the most when we get the "wish list" is that it is all clothes, blankets, socks, even underwear....all the "staples" that any of us probably take for granted...there are no iPods, or action figures, or toys in general.

This is a great time of year and we are so happy that we started this tradition. Not only do we love it, but the kids get it too and it helps shape who they are and we hope makes them feel more grateful for all that we do have. I encourage everyone to think about doing something similar.

Merry Christmas!

Giving Thanks

This week is Thanksgiving...In case you didnt know that already. Besides consuming mass quantities of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, vegetables, rolls, etc. we take time to really think about the reason for season. Now, we could get all historical and think about that first meal with Pilgrims and Indians, but we would rather focus on the things that we are truly thankful for in our lives. We thought we would list just a few...and this is definitely just a few as we could go on forever with all the things that we are truly thankful for.

Friends - We have been fortunate to built some amazing friendships. Friendships that have led to so many great memories...of which will be Thanksgiving this year where we will be celebrating with our great friend the Doerrs...and playing in the annual Turkey bowl with the Landskovs.

Family - We are blessed to have our families so close to us and have them active in both our lives, but also our kids lives. This year, our extended family grew by 1 more with Felton's arrival. Steph and I have both been fortunate to meet baby Felton and the girls are excited to meet him this Christmas.

Faith - Since Steph and I were little, we grew up in the Church, specifically Hope, and we are thankful to continue to be involved there in a variety of ways as we raise our girls. Hope has, and will always, have a special place in our hearts.

Fortune - For us this goes beyond making money at a job...which don't get me wrong is a true blessing...and extends to things like Health, Laughter, Giving, Learning, Improving, Changing, Hobbies, etc. There are so many treasures in our life that make us feel amazingly fortunate.

Ironically, we cleverly summarized all these to start with the letter F. Which by the way is the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of Maddie's report card today...she earned straight A's for the 1st Quarter at School! Well done Maddie.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

San Jose Trip

This past week I had the chance to fly down to San Jose for work; a conference as well as customer visits. Mixed in there, I also had the chance to visit with The Perry Family (Ryan, Stacey, Haas and Felton). They just moved into a great new house, and it was great to be able to stay with them and hang out.

Leaving town is always tough because I know that makes Steph's job even harder..layer into the mix a crazy amount of rain and strange weather and it can be really tough. Luckily we are surrounded by family and friends that make things a little easier (I hope).

The big finale was my flight back to Seattle on Friday night...for those of you in Seattle, it was day 2 of the thunder/lightning show..and guess what, I was right in the middle of it (at 20k feet!) the last 30min or so was crazy bumpy. We had come through the clouds and were over north Seattle when there was a bright flash, a loud pop, and big jerk of the plane..yes, lightning hit the plane. Probably the single most scary in-air thing I have experienced (that and an US Marshall tackling a dude and sitting on him in the aisle). There was this odd 5 sec quiet as we all determine if "this was it!" When all was well, there was some laughter and chatter to keep us occupied for final decent. Anyway, all safe now, and glad to be back home.

Thought I would share some pics I took while visiting...and a little video of Felton saying Hi to everyone :-) and Haas on his scooter!



Felton saying Hi


Haas on his Scooter

The Halloween haul!

Sent from my iPhone

The Week: Friends and Family

This week was a whirlwind of sorts for a variety of reasons. For starters, the kids were out of school all week as teachers has both parent conferences as well as a development conference our of state. We had our conference for Maddie...whew, we have some work to do :-) Just kidding...She is doing great. Mrs Norton is an awesome teacher and Maddie is really enjoying learning this year. For KK we had a family potluck night where we were able to meet some other families in a casual atmosphere.

Wednesday started to get a little nutty as Steph left at about 5am for a visit back to Nebraska where her grandma is packing up to move to an assisted living facility in St. Louis. St. Louis is where steph's uncle lives and there is a great facility for her grandma to move to. With steph out of town, and kids out of school, we had a bunch of great friend and family helping out with the girls. Wednesday they spent the day with Roberta. I think they not only had a great time with her, but also with Grace and Andrew (Roberta's grand kids) once they got out of school. Thursday we had one of their favorite babysitters, Katie, over in the morning...then Nana J took them in the afternoon. Mixed in there was a play date for KK with her friend Sara, for a Tap Class! The day finished off with Soccer practice and dinner at Pegasus on Alki. Friday, the girls spent the day with the McAllisters - their BFF's :-)...Maddie had an overnight, while KK spent the afternoon with her classmate Sophia. That night KK and I had a quiet night. Dinner at home, Slurpee for dessert, and a movie.

Times like these where we remind ourselves how blessed we are to have such great friends and family that our kids can be with. Other than a broken door at the McAllisters, I think they behave themselves pretty well-gulp! Sorry Rob, the girls are looking through all their play stuff for coins and money to help pay for what ever is needed to fix it. So far, they have about 9.58.

Steph gets in Monday night after her 5-6 days in Nebraska...Looking forward to having her home.

Start of School

Well, school has actually been "in session" for about a month, but just now getting around to posting about it. The start of school has been great....Maddie now in 3rd grade and KK in P4. Both love school, their friends, learning, and Hope.



With 3rd grade Maddie is busy busy...her teacher is super tough (just kidding Mrs. Norton)...she has a good amount of homework, lots of reading time, weekly memory and spelling tests, etc. Right now she is reading a mystery book as she prepared for her 1st book report! She also was elected to Student Council a couple weeks ago.




Kenzie is in P4 with Mrs. Tornow. She is one of just 3 girls, but she loves it. Her best bud Lukie is there, and is making some new friends as well. This week we have a fun Pre-School family social which will give us the chance to meet other kids and families.



As much as KK likes P4, she is right on the coat tails of big sissy...and I think she wishes she was in 3rd grade too :-)

Gloria's Miracle

Been meaning to write up a blog post about this for some time, but with Labor day, the start of school, family in town, and work travels...just havent had the time. (more on all those things soon) However, got a few minutes between sunday school and church this AM, so I thought I would "make it happen."

One of the greatest things that about this "story" that has happened, is exactly what I think Gloria would have wanted, and that is the fact that this story is being told and re-told over and over. Through the web, through face to face conversations, through blogs, etc.

About a year ago we bit the bullet and got a facebook account. Yes, only 1 year on that mammoth social networking site. In the "rush" that is social networking I began to find old friend from all walks of life..work, family, friends, etc. This included some of the guys that I played baseball back in the day. Since I played from the time was 9/10 all the way through HS, I had the opportunity to know a lot of different guys. One of those guys was Doug Strauss. My memory isnt great, but I distinctly remember being a cool, fun guy..always having a good time and great teammate. Like i have done with many others, I discovered Doug on Facebook and was re-introduced to some things that have happened in his life since baseball days, that I had heard about. His daughter, Gloria (1 of 7 kids) was diagnosed with a rare, uncureable bone cancer. Gloria's story, as well as the story of the entire Strauss family, was chronicled by Times Sports writer Jerry Brewer after he did a story about Kennedy HS basketball (where Doug coaches). Over the course of a year or more, Jerry, who was touched by this family, this litle girl, and her story...spent time with the family and this situation...until the final end, when Gloria passed away. Since that time, Jerry has been working with the Strauss' on his first book that brings their story to life. I wont go into a lot of details, because one of the purposes of this post is to encourage you to get the book and read for yourself.

OK, so I rambled a bit there, how does this related to now....Well, through the FB connection, Doug invited me to the book launch event for "Gloria's Miracle." I had seen it a number of weeks before, but never got it on the calendar. When the day of the event finally came, I just felt called to make it to this event. So, on the way I home, I called Steph and we said let's do it. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we made it. There we had the chance to see Doug for the first time in probably 20 years...reminace about some of the common friend we have, get a book signed, etc. The main part of the event was to program of personal messages, readings from the book, musical performances, etc. We had to leave a bit early because the kids had school the next day, but we really enjoyed our time.

So, what the big deal...whats the punch line Mike? Couple things. First, you never know what people might come back into your life and for what reason. So, keep an open mind, look at the doors that might be put in front of you and be ready to go through them. Second, the kind of inspiration you get from a little girl that is faced with a life ending illness, but has such a positive faith-focused attitude. Again, i'm not going to go into a lot of detail because you need to read the book...and you can get the "full story" here http://www.gloriasmiracle.com/

It has been a blessing to be able to share Gloria's story and I hope you will take a look.