If you come here often you know I love to talk about my wife.  I try not to do it all the time so I am not THAT pastor that is always talking about his smokin’ hott wife (yes, hott with 2 t’s).  Don’t get me wrong.  She absolutely is.  SMOKIN’ hott.  But I try to broaden my horizons and blog subjects.

As you may also know we just had a major change in our calm, couple, married, do-what-we-want-when-we-want lives.  5 months ago a perfect little present wrapped in slobber, spit up and giggles joined us.  Well, my wife has really embraced her new role and is loving it!  She is officially a stay at home mom.  She now has the most important job she will ever have.  Being in ministry with me, she knows that we go through hard times and experiences in live for more than the “just because” reasoning.  So she has relaunched her blog as a full time mommy blogger!

For you guys out there, (apparently) mommy blogging is a big deal.  When we didn’t know what to do with our newborn issues, I would google and she would search mommy blogs.  Her answers were always better than what I came up with.  But now that she has refocused her efforts and is poised to take the mommy world by storm, I wanted to let you all know before you get swept up in it!

Go check out the all new The Mom Diggity.

Tell your mom.
Tell your wife.
Tell your friend’s wife.
Tell your maternity patients.

Trust me.  It’s the bomb diggity.  (Yeah, I said it.)

Our Alaskan vacation is nearing the end, but we are still staying in the “I Can See Russia From My House” state for a few more days.  So that means that today those of you at Kingsfield will be jamming with Colton again!  Today for me, though, offers a couple firsts.

In the morning we are hitting up the Big Wild Life Runs (giggle) 5K in downtown Anchorage.  I have never done a run (although we are gonna walk) like this before and I have never had the desire to do so.  But, for some reason my wife has a run like this on her Bucket List so we are gonna get it knocked out with a bunch of family!  Then after we have settled our Lance Armstrong (minus the bike) adrenalin down we will be heading out to Alyeska for our first night away from our 4 1/2 month old daughter.  It will be weird not having her around for that long and we will definitely miss her a lot, but it will be great to get some time away and to ourselves.  Doesn’t hurt that Alyeska is beautiful and we might get to touch a glacier.

So since I am gone again from the normal Sunday morning at church, here is a little bit of the expected soundtrack to my Alaskan Sunday.

All Manner Of Disney Songs (because that’s how my family rolls)
Spamalot (if my sister, Reagan, goes on the 5K with us)
Bon Jovi (pretty much a staple)
Foo Fighters (if we actually run some of the 5K)
John Mayer’s Album Battle Studies  (because that’s the only CD that’s been in my wife’s car for months now and I am not sure what a road trip would be without it now)

Last night the wife and I were out on a date and walking through a park around a lake when all of a sudden I was assaulted by a woman question.  All the guys know what I mean.  It’s the hypothetical question that tend to have a major impact on the rest of your life.  That kind of woman question.

So as we were walking through the park and enjoying the sunset with a happy child squealing away, my wife hit me with the question.  So if you could choose, would you want a boy or a girl next?  Would you want a boy then a girl?  A girl then a boy?  A boy then a girl then a boy?  Granted, since we are married and already have one this question isn’t quite as difficult or out of left field as it would have been 3 or 4 years ago.  It’s also not as bad as many others, but still.

Am I just not normal or am I just a guy?  I don’t plan these things out.  Sure I’ll take a boy next, but I don’t really get much of a choice.  And the sequence?  Beats me!  Guys don’t really sit around and talk about these things.  I don’t remember the last time I was sitting at the poker table with several other guys and one of them asked me how many kids I wanna have and what order they would be in.  Might as well ask what I’m gonna name them, where they will go to school and what they will do when they grow up!  Guys just don’t work that way I guess.  Who knows.  Maybe it’s just me.

I wasn’t real sure of my answer.  So what about you?  If you haven’t had any kids, do you consider these things?  If you already had your kids, did you plan it out?  Did it work out that way?

One year and 2 days ago I gave my wife the best birthday gift I could have ever given her.  Because of the awesomeness of this gift we had to count it as her birthday and Christmas gifts all wrapped into one.  Even if that is the case and she had it to do all over again, I am sure she would do it in a heartbeat.

367 days ago my wife got the one thing she has wanted the most.  A little baby girl.  We didn’t know all that yet or any of the details at all, but needless to say, we had a pretty good birthday.  Fastforward to today.  My wonderful, amazing, sexy, awesome, and every other positive feminine descriptive word you can think of wife turns __ years old today.  (See that?  I didn’t even get myself in trouble for asking or telling a woman’s age!…That is a bad thing right?  Well, if not you can ask her yourself.)

KK, the last 3 or so years of my life with you have been the absolutely best.  I cannot begin to describe (except by beginning with that) how much I love, respect and cherish you!  (Can guys use the word cherish?)  Happy birthday, baby!  Sorry I ruined birthday presents for the rest of your life.  None of them will ever be as amazing as our little Jessi James!

I hope you have this much fun on your birthday this year!

…since I bragged on my wife.  That’s not cool.

My wife is gorgeous.  I don’t deserve her.  I don’t know why I have been blessed with her.  But she is so much more than just gorgeous.

My wife is sacrificial. – She gives and gives and gives and gives for us.  She has been through more pain and aching and pain than I think I could ever bear.  And she does it all out of love for those she loves.

My wife is loving. – She loves us through the good times and the bad.  She loves me even when I do stupid stuff and don’t know that I have upset her.  She loves me enough to want to work through any difficult situation we get in.  She loves the baby through the tears and spit up and screaming bottles.

My wife is supportive. – We have been through a lot over the past couple years.  We have seen highs and lows, changes upon changes.  But through it all she has never stopped supporting me.  She supports my ministry.  She supports my likes.  She supports my everything.  And that is all before we even get to how much she supports our baby girl!

My wife is an amazing mother. – Not only is she the things listed above for our daughter, but she is an amazing mother.  She is patient when the baby is screaming.  She is loving and playful when the baby is ready to play.  She teaches her and prays for her.  She takes amazing care of our little one.

I consistently wonder how in the world I got to have someone so awesome to be my best friend, love and support.  Guess I’ll never figure that one out.

With the invention of children into a family comes the neglect of the spouse.  I think one of our founding fathers said that…or not.  But if we are not careful it is absolutely true.  Then when 30 years passes and the kids are all gone you are left in an empty, quiet home with someone you don’t even know!  Can you look at your spouse right now and say that’s not a big deal?  Nope.  Well at least I hope not.

When Kara-Kae and I got married (and those of you who can remember the beginnings of your marriage) we didn’t struggle at all to spend time with each other.  It’s not hard.  It’s what you do!  Even throughout the pregnancy it wasn’t difficult.  Actually during the pregnancy we tried to hang out with each other even more knowing that the next stage in life would be taxing on our relationship.  Then into our world comes our precious little daughter.  Maybe it’s not hard for you if your kids are not cool, but ours is.  All of a sudden there is someone else in our lives that we are giving all our attention to and whose life ours now revolve around.  Even with the best intentions it is extremely easy to start to let the spouse drift away while you both are focused on something else so important.

But if we don’t do something about it we are going to end up in a relationship that isn’t where we want it to be.  Fighting.  Arguing.  Going to bed mad.  Not spending time together.  Basically an obligatory relationship instead of a loving one.  So through our talking and being honest with each other we realized that we needed to do something about it.  I didn’t even realize until we talked that it was something we weren’t doing!  So Friday nights (days and times many vary) are our weekly non-negotiable date nights.  It’s my day off so I won’t have a day that I don’t see the kid(s).  Last night was our first one.  It was great.  It’s still a little difficult to figure it all out, but just making the added extra effort to spend time together is a good start!

Maybe you need to grab the spouse and have a talk.  Make sure you aren’t missing out on something that you need to be feeding!

Do you have a weekly non-negotiable date night?

I had something else planned to post today, but I had this dream again and so I changed my mind.  I don’t know if this happens to you, but when I remember my dreams, which isn’t very often, I have a few reoccurring ones.  When I was little, I used to have the same dream every time I would get sick.  Everything in my dream world moved much slower than me and it was all controlled by a big machine that looked like a large propane tank.  Crazy.  I have had a few more over the years but I never really found a connection to when I had them like the sickness when I was younger.

But this most recent one was really weird to me.  Each time I have the dream the storyline is the same but the details and situations change.  I am trying to adopt Jessi (my real life daughter) from this lady.  The lady has some schizophrenic issues.  One minute she is a sane coherent woman and the next she is more or less demon possessed.  She is married to someone I seem to think is the devil.

Now before I move on, I just want to clarify, the crazy demon lady is NOT Kara-Kae (my amazing wife).  Kara-Kae doesn’t appear in the dream.

Through the process of adopting Jessi, she is already staying at my rather large house with a pool and actually sleeping peacefully and restfully in my bed, which she doesn’t do at the crazy lady’s house.  The situation of this dream is during one of those nights.  The crazy lady shows up in the middle of the night and we are arguing about Jessi.  While she is sane she is supportive of the adoption, but when she switches she is violently opposed.  Her devil husband is against it as well.

That’s it.  Then I wake up all battle ready.  I know my daughter is not the spawn of the devil.  She is an amazing little gift from God that gets prayed over every night (crazy dream or not).  I know my wife is not a crazy person, too, so don’t try to put words in my mouth and get me in trouble!  Maybe it’s just a weird dream that I have.  At least I’m always fighting to save my daughter!

So, you go.  You got an interpretation?

Wow.  I sound like the crazy person.

As a brand new daddy I am finally getting to enjoy Father’s Day from a different angle.  It’s kinda weird having a day set aside for you (other than your birthday…which isn’t as big of a deal after you turn 21…until it’s a big deal because you don’t want them anymore).  But since Father’s Day is tomorrow, a Sunday, I expected it to be rather normal with a slight addition of some flair.  You know, the normal work in the morning, special BBQ lunch, Sunday afternoon nap, hanging out with the two coolest girls and possibly tossing in some Wii Fit.  Seems like a pretty nice day.  Nothing too special.

It's just...awful.

Well that’s what I was prepared for.  I should have known better because I know KK likes to surprise me with things (although most of the time she ends up giving it away because she can’t keep it in).  But yesterday morning almost noon I was surprised with an early Father’s Day!  It was great!  Completely unexpected and amazing!  Not only did I get to sleep in until nearly noon, but KK and Jessi Girl came to wake me up!  Then I got breakfast lunch in bed as well as a really sweet note and Tiger Woods Golf for Wii AND a family donation to charity: water!  After playing with Jessi for a while we headed out for a walk through downtown Huntington Beach and a beach stroll.  We had snow cones and Yogurtland and even played a couple rounds of golf.

It was a great day and one that I wasn’t expecting.  I was expecting a lazy day off but was blown away by my family!  I love them so much!  They make for one great first Father’s Day!  And I’m really glad they didn’t buy me some awful tie!

Well, it’s been a while since I have posted a video of my baby girl, so this week, guess what!  Yup!  Here she is!  This video was actually from a few weeks ago and she has progressed so much since then.  It is a little difficult to get real good video of her because when a camera/iPhone is in front of her she locks onto it and gets distracted (as you can tell in this video).  But she is still ridiculously cute and hilarious.

If you are like me and like to watch videos of my daughter, go to KK’s YouTube channel and keep up with the new ones as they get posted!

I am so blessed.  I am blessed far beyond what I deserve.  I am blessed with a job.  With a huge family that supports me.  With beautiful surroundings.  With a dog that pees every time I get home because he is so excited to see me.  With material things.  With freedom.  With so many other things.

But more than all that l I am blessed with my wife and daughter.  I cannot physically write out all the ways that my wife is amazing.  I can’t physically do it.  She loves me.  Takes care of me.  Cooks for me.  Runs errands for me.  She is such a good mom, too!  She has an amazing ability to comfort our daughter.  She loves her.  Takes care of her.  Sacrifices so much for her.  I could not ask for more.  But I got more.  I have a little daughter who I can’t get enough of.  She is healthy and strong.  She has the most capturing smile and laugh.  I literally can’t get enough of it!  She smiles and laughs and I just want her to do it again!

I don’t know why I have been given so much.  I can’t imagine living without them now.  I don’t know why, but I am so blessed.

I love you, girls.