TOOTSIE ROHLS

Almost 2 yrs old!

2011-07-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that Toby will be 2 next week! Where has the time gone? He is doing SOOO much right now and I feel like each day he learns how to say some new phrase or understands a new concept that just blows me away. He is talking in 3-4 word sentences now and I don't feel like there is a word he can't say! He can count to 10 and do his ABC's with some help. His memory is absolutely amazing and he really only has to see or hear something once or twice and it's locked in! He is full of personality and is such a funny kid! He is also starting to really sing and dance, his favorite song is Baby by Justin Bieber and we have to listen to it about 10 times a day! He is doing much better playing with other kids, sharing, being sweet and getting so excited to spend time with his friends. He loves to pray and shuts his little eyes real tight and it is probably the sweetest thing I have ever seen. Mark and I just can't believe we get to be parents to such an amazing little guy. I love this little man so much and just can't believe how fast he is growing up!

Here are some recent pics and some new expressions.

Easter - Celebrating Jesus and havin fun with the family!

2011-04-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

He loves him some music

2011-04-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a video that was shot a few months back but is a classic to show off his sweet moves. enjoy!

Crazy Dancing Boy from Kendra Rohl on Vimeo.

Adventure Days

2011-03-07T12:22:00.000-08:00

Something both Mark and I feel very strongly about as parents is cultivating a sense of adventure in our kids. Discovery, creativity, exploration is all a God given desire that yearns to be fulfilled in young and old and we want to provide ways for Toby to have those adventurous experiences from an early age.

Some of the ways that I try to do that as a stay at home mom is through music, dance,

art and the outdoors. A good portion of each day is spent playing and listening to music and Toby truly loves it! His favorite things to play are the drums then guitar then keyboard. He has great musicality and it's so cool to watch him respond and react to different types of music. He is also quite the little dancer! He has this crazy shoulder shrug dance that morphs into all sorts of other moves including booty shakin, break dancing and a hilarious squat and scoot dance. (you will see an assortment of these moves in the videos to be uploaded later today).

Another thing we have been doing a lot of is painting and he really loves it. He will bring me his paint brush, paint set and brushes and ask to please paint. We have started using this pine bench in our backyard as the main canvas for his painting which is a lot of fun and he has also painted on 2 small canvases, one of which hangs proudly in our home and the other was a gift to Vanessa (Toby's birthmom). He doesn't so much use crayons or markers because he just wants to eat them the whole time for some strange reason so we are sticking with paints as the main medium for now.

Thankfully, here in AZ we have a good portion of time where the weather is beautiful so we take full advantage of that and have a lot of outdoor adventures. The pics you see in Flickr are of the more recent explorations where we visited an old cotton gin, the big field across from our house by the airport and a bunch of other farmy/field areas (also scoping out new photo locations in the process). I want Toby to have that thrill of discovery and exploration and it is so much fun to watch him roam around and pick up sticks, through rocks, knock over flowers, etc. I can tell that he loves it and that makes me love it all the more.

Joy in the trial.

2011-01-24T20:52:00.001-08:00

I had a very amazing experience today at a job I was doing in Paradise Valley. I was sent to a job to fix some outlets and a fan that wasn't working, nothing crazy just a quick in and out. I went to do the door, rang the bell and knocked but there was no answer. Just as I was about to pull away in the van the lady came out the door in her robe, telling me she was about to get in the shower and she was sorry but asked me to come in and she would get changed. She showed me the issue with the fan in her daughters room and said she would show me the outlets after she got her husband up and dressed in the master bed. She told me her husband has ALS and needs help getting ready before I go into the bed room. I checked out the fan and found the problem quickly, but she was still in the master bedroom getting her husband up and dressed, so I made sure I knew what I needed and waited for her to come out. After she came out she informed me that her son was going to be coming home and he is autistic, just so I know. The husband wheeled out of the bedroom and said thank you for helping them today and asked if I needed anything taking breaths from his respirator between every other word. I told him I was good thank you, and went into the bedroom with his wife, she showed me the issues she was having with the outlets and where they were located. She needed them fixed soon because they were the outlets used for his respirator, feeding tube, and hospital bed. At this point I was beginning to see what an amazing woman she was, raising an autistic son and caring for her ailing husband.

As I was leaving to get material, after her son came home, she informed me that her son likes to give gifts. As I was walking out he handed me a bundle of junk mail and news paper held together with scotch tape, one of the best gifts I have ever received. After getting the material and returning to the house I met the daughter as her, her brother and father were headed out the door. I was fixing the outlet in the master bedroom and the wife walked in, I felt an urge to tell her how beautiful her family was and what an amazing woman she was. The answer I got back was not what I expected but not surprising either. She said the only reason her family is the way it is, the only reason she is the way she is, is because of the Lord.

After fixing the electrical issues in the house I spent the next two hours in the kitchen with the husband, in his chair, and the wife talking about the Lord. They shared their testimony, the difficulties raising an autistic child, dealing with ALS and the most difficult of all was raising a teenage daughter. But the overwhelming foundation to their story was the joy of the Lord. The husband used to be a body builder, very fit and proud of his body, he told me it took the Lord breaking down his body for him to truly see what his purpose was, what his joy was. He told me that he never learned to read, left home at 14 after being abuse by his parents and dropped out of school at 16. He had his wife write meeting notes for him for his employees because he didn't know which words to use. He also told me that after being stuck in a wheel chair he taught himself to read by reading the Bible, he would ask his wife what words meant and how to sound them out. He now knows how to read and understands the Word. Something, he said, he wouldn't have done without ALS. The whole time I was talking with them the son kept coming in and out giving and taking another package from under my arm adding more and more material to my next gift. I unwrapped it when I got home and found more junk mail, news papers, and a box of Old Maid playing cards.

We shared back and forth about life, the gospel, and gave each other encouragement. They helped me to see that the Lord is good, always. The Lord was good to them before ALS, before autism, and before teenage rebellion. The Lord is good when he is near death from feeding tube malfunctions, when he found out the hard way that he couldn't swim anymore, when their son has grand-mal-seizures.

I walked away with this. I went through a "dark night" with our infertility. I have seen others around me deal with hard times. I don't want to diminish what I have gone through, or my close friends and family. But I saw something in them that I want to be able to say, to truly know deep down, no matter what I am facing, God is good. I wanted to hug them, thank them, to help them in some way. I wanted to ask the Lord to heal that man. But I know something now after talking to him, this is his joy, ALS is a part of his life but his focus is the Lord and Him glorified. I am amazed at how the Lord speaks into my life, and who he uses to speak, and I pray that I am used that same way.

So I leave you with this challenge: what struggle, trouble, trial are you facing right now? Again, no qualification or comparison to the things listed above, we all face trials that overwhelm us, whether physical, financial, life or death. What is stealing your joy, your focus? Is God good all the time? Will you yet praise Him through your trial?

Communication is key

2011-01-13T11:58:00.000-08:00

Things have changed for us in the last few days in that Tobias seems to be learning new words and signs at a rapid pace and that is a very good thing. He can now pretty much tell us what he wants or doesn't want with a combination of signs and words and it makes things ooohhh so much easier. Instead of just pointing and grunting and getting frustrated we now have little mini convos and it's just fantastic. I can't believe how big he is getting though, long gone are the baby days and we officially have entered into toddler time and that is proving to be a lot of work but so much fun! It's really an incredible feeling to watch your child actually processing, learning and responding to things as you are teaching them and I know this is just the beginning so I'm really looking forward to the coming months. I need to post a couple new videos of him using his new found vocabulary and also his new dance moves, freaking hilarious I tell you!

Christmas, Disneyland and the New Year

2011-01-03T19:13:00.000-08:00

I can't believe we are already a few days in to 2011, where has the time gone? We had a wonderful holiday season with a much anticipated visit from Bing & Debbie over Thanksgiving. What a treat it was to get to spend time with them and just be together. Bing & Mark built a side patio for us that is just phenomenal and we are using it every day!

Toby got to take his first trip to Disneyland just before Christmas and it was such a blast! I love the Magic Kingdom for my own reasons but there is something truly magical getting to see it through the eyes of your child for the first time. We thought he may be terrified or overwhelmed by all the characters, rides, sights and sounds but he actually loved it all! We were at the park for a good 13 hours and he was a champ, he is really such an amazing kid and we had a fantastic time together. It was especially nice to have my mom, brother, sister in law and nephew there and we had our own little Christmas celebration with them that was so special. (pics from the trip on Flickr)

Christmas morning for us was pretty laid back. Tobs awoke to a train set around the tree that he was pretty excited about and a few presents to open that captured his interest for a few minutes but as is the case for most toddlers, the packaging and unwrapping of the presents is the most fun. We then headed to my dad's for a late breakfast and more presents and a lovely Christmas dinner. All in all, an absolutely wonderful Christmas but we really did miss all the Rohls!

New Years was spent with our good friends Kyle & Mel and a ton of other people and we had a great time! Toby made it all the way to 11:15 but just couldn't keep his eyes open another minute and crashed out on the couch with dad until midnight when he awoke to a room full of people ringing in the New Year.

As we reflect on 2010 we can say with great assurance that our God is good, giving, gracious and glorious! We have so much to be thankful for and are looking forward to what 2011 will hold!

Tobias and his crazy ways

2010-11-28T22:51:00.000-08:00

Wow, time is flying by and we just had an amazing Thanksgiving with Bing & Debbie! Such a blessing having them here and we had the best time just being together. Toby is getting bigger and more amazing every day. Walking, running and getting into all sorts of mischief, he is a fun little man. This is a little video we just shot of his new way of saying "mama". So hilarious!

Tobias says "mama" like a little man from Kendra Rohl on Vimeo.

Tobias is such a goof ball!

2010-10-05T10:05:00.000-07:00

This is a little video of Tobias waking up from his nap and me sneaking in to scare him, he thinks it's hilarious :)
In other news, Toby has one other top tooth fully out and 3 others about to poke through. His current favorite thing to do is push his stroller or a shopping cart or any other thing with wheels around and my challenge is to try and direct him so he doesn't run into everything!

Lots of fun these days!

Toby likes to be startled - cracks him up! from Kendra Rohl on Vimeo.

Toby is walking!

2010-09-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official, my little baby is not so little anymore and he is walking all over the place! It's amazing to me how just a week ago he could only take a few steps and now he walks all around the house by himself. This is a video I took a couple days ago of him strolling around and he also does his dog sound and his "oh man" as a special bonus. More videos and pictures from our trip to the lake to come!

love you all

Untitled from Kendra Rohl on Vimeo.

Toby's 1 yr old!

2010-08-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a little video from the Tobster's 1st bday party. He didn't really know what to do with the cupcake at first but he managed to get into it and enjoyed it quite a bit. In the video you can also hear him say Mama which of course is one of my favorite new things he is doing :)

Toby turns 1 - my how time flies from Kendra Rohl on Vimeo.

Growing up so fast

2010-08-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

Wow, so many new things since I last posted! We went to Oregon to visit our amazing family and had such a wonderful time. I will be posting all the pics from our trip on Flickr so check back for those!

Toby now has 2 teeth on the bottom and is starting to take steps independently which means walking is just around the corner and I will officially be the proud mom of a toddler. Hard to believe he is 1 year old already, time sure does fly! He is very into all things musical which of course we are sooo excited about. He dances when music comes on, his favorite toys are musical instruments and he sings every sunday during worship. the video posted here is of him playing the guitar. It's over a month old but still so fun to see how he really tries to make the strumming sound instead of just slamming on it. I think he shows real promise in his guitar playing!

In other fun news, cousin Caroline has moved in and we love having her here! We have been having such an amazing time with her and the Lord is doing incredible things in her life, it's truly a privilege to be a part of it all. She and Toby have become fast friends and she can really get him cracking up (video of that to come soon).

All in all, things are going amazingly well at the Rohl casa and we feel blessed beyond words and so grateful to the Lord for all that we have in our life right now.

Tobias loves to play the guitar from Kendra Rohl on Vimeo.

Basketball & Manhood

2010-08-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

Maybe I am getting old, maybe I have lost a step or two, but why is it that the pickup basketball court today has become the proving ground for manhood. I remember growing up, playing some very heated games of basketball, lots of verbal shots were being fired and maybe a hard screen was thrown now and again. But today and maybe the last few times I have played I have lost a love for the game. Today for example: first time in about a year I have stepped foot in the gym to play with people outside my childhood friends. I got there shot around a bit, made my free throw and ran the first game. First and last. I was on a team with people I know, have played with before, and some I haven't, we lost 8-11. I got the ball once in the flow of the offense, and you know what I did with it? I clanked it off the rim with a difficult shot that I shouldn't have taken but did because that was the one and only time I was going to see the ball on offense. I know basketball, I understand the flow of the game and probably set more screens, make more slashing cuts, and box out more then any pick up player out there. But I am not here to whine about not getting the ball or loosing the game.

This was the disconnect I saw tonight. I don't understand why the guys playing need to use the game to make known how masculine, tough, and dominating they are. Prime example: big guy one goes into the lane for a lay-up, takes a tap to the nose as the defender makes a good play on the ball. Without his Fisher-esk flop the foul wouldn't have been called. But instead of taking it up top he comes right at the guy and pushes him, as if to say "you just threatened my livelihood, called my mom a gerbil, and kicked my kid in the face, now I must break you". Listen I understand competition, the heat of the moment, but really? You got tapped on the nose, sack up hulk, it's just a game! In fact just a game that is being played by other desk jockeys, white collar, blue collar, and unemployed 30+ men. Last time I checked there were no scouts from the Suns or even the Mercury for that matter sitting in the stands, hell the only people sitting in the stands are the losers who couldn't make a free throw to get into the first game.

The court has become the only outlet some of these guys have to show that they are in-fact, men. And that is sad, maybe they are getting shut down at work, or at home, emasculated in some way in the outside world so they need to show the true size of their junk to a group of guys who are otherwise there to have a good time. I know that in that group of guys I played with tonight it's about 50-50. 50% hot heads and 50% guys who want to run up and down a court, dribble a little, take a shot or ten, and go home and ice the ol' bones. I know I used to be over competitive, and under talented in my younger years but I have traded that for a bit of maturity and a true desire to just get some run in and most of all have some fun. I realize now what my father must have been trying to tell me for so many years out there on the court and, I get it now. Manhood doesn't show itself in my stature, in my ability to make others do what I will them to do, not even in how strong I am. It's sad because these 50+% of men represented on that court tonight still need that. They still need to dominate to feel strong, to intimidate to feel powerful and to "score" the most in life to feel appreciated. I guess I see through those lies now, tonight out on the basketball court. I didn't want to hang around for the second game not because i would sit out for 20 or so minutes and my legs would stiffen up, or that the next game would be much like the first where I was a inbounder and screen setter, I just didn't want to test anyones manhood.

Here is a quote that caught my eye from an unlikely source (based on my great disdain for the patriots) :

"Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, 'Hey man, this is what is.' I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, 'God, it's got to be more than this.' I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be." When Kroft asked him, "What's the answer?" Brady responded, "I wish I knew. I wish I knew. I love playing football and I love being quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I'm trying to find."
Tom Brady interview with Steve Kroft, 60 Minutes

As much as I don't like Tom Brady he has a point, there is more out there, more then our physical accomplishments, our status in the workplace. Something that my father has exemplified for my brother and I is that true since of Godly manhood; a strong powerful man that can pick up any would be harasser and put him in his place, that is gentle and kind in his authority and leadership. Why do guys, big strong masculine guys, listen to my father? Ironworkers on big jobs yield to his leadership even if he is the "new" guy on the job? Because of a genuine Godly masculinity that doesn't need the bravado and arrogance to speak for him. I think I understood the folly of my youth today, and I strive to be a better man. Like my father is, and like my God wants me to be.

Tobias feeds himself - in a way

2010-07-06T12:37:00.000-07:00

Toby is pretty much ready to be done with baby food as far as the kind in the jar goes. He really prefers finger foods that he can feed himself so I'm now trying all sorts of different fruits, veggies and meats to see what he will eat. One way I have found to get him to eat the jar food that he isn't so crazy about is to help him to use the spoon to feed himself. He thinks it's quite hilarious for some reason :)

Tobias loves to feed himself from Kendra Rohl on Vimeo.

Tobias loves to dance!

2010-07-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

This little video is of the Tobster doing his booty scoot dance. It's so stinking cute :) In other news, Toby popped out his first tooth! He didn't even show any signs of teething but all of a sudden one day there was a little top of the bottom right tooth poking out. I hope all his teeth come in this easy :)

is anyone reading this blog still by the way or were my posts to infrequent to retain any followers??
love you all
Kendra

Untitled from Kendra Rohl on Vimeo.

Tobias is sleeping through the night!

2010-06-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

Hello world, yet again I have gone a month without posting, what is wrong with me? Wait, don't answer that :)
In Toby news, he is sleeping through the night! 10 - 12 hours straight, what a champ! Naptimes are easy too, just lay him down in the crib with his plug and he falls to sleep on his own. I really never thought we would get to this place but here we are, thank you Lord!

No teeth yet but the dr says that is good because the later the teeth come in the healthier so I'm fine with waiting. At his last visit he was in the 50% for weight and 95% for height meaning he is average weight for his age but above average height, Mark is soooo happy, he has big sports dreams Tobs!

Here is a video that was actually taken a few weeks back so of course he looks different now since he seems to change every day :) He had just woken up from a nap and set up the camera to see if I could catch him laughing when I come in to get him.

Tobias up from his nap - he likes to be startled from Kendra Rohl on Vimeo.

love you all!
Kendra

Fun in San Diego

2010-05-24T11:23:00.001-07:00

We arrived in San Diego last Sunday and will leave tomorrow so it's been a nice long time in beautiful Cali with my family. Mark's work needed someone to work in San Diego for the week and since we have our family out here, it worked out great! Tobias has been loving his time with cousin Christopher and they are so cute together. He loves playing with their dogs (a huge golden retriever, bulldog and black lab) and my brother really knows how to make him crack up. It's been great to get out of the heat and see the ocean, makes me miss living in the beauty that is Cali but I'm ready to get back into life in Phoenix. Here is a little video of Grandma Sandra and Cousin Christopher making Toby laugh.

Mother's Day - a day of celebration indeed!

2010-05-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

This Mother's Day was one filled with so many emotions for me and one that I will remember forever. Waking up to the sound of my son softly cooing in his crib and walking in to see his smiling face and tiny arms reaching up to me is something I love every morning but this day seemed exceptionally special. It still seems surreal that I'm a mama this Mother's Day when so many before this were so painful and empty. I think the years of waiting have made being a mom that much more amazing. I can honestly say that I love every single part of being a mama, the stinky nasty parts, the giggly snugly parts and everything in between, there is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for the gift of our amazing son Tobias.

During worship today at church the Lord reminded me of a season I was in over a year ago that was very difficult and filled with searching questions and important answers. I remember during the prayer time after a sermon at church about worship and idolatry the Lord asked me a simple but incredibly stinging question "If I never blessed you with a baby, never allowed you to be a mom would you still worship me?" "Would you live your life as a joy set before you in full confidence that My plan for you is the best and if it would bring Me glory for you to be childless, would you live your life for Me with a heart overflowing with joy".

I wish I could say that I answered that question with an immediate and hearty "Yes Lord of course!" but that was not the case. I really had to search my heart and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal my true motivation for love, service and devotion to Jesus. Was I serving Him because I thought it would be in my best interest and that if I worked hard enough or prayed long enough He would give me what I wanted? Was I holding this unanswered prayer of a baby hostage to Him and saying "Lord, I need you to do this in order for me to fully love and serve you, if you don't give me a baby I just don't know where we will stand?" There were times when those questions were in my heart but by God's sufficient grace He finally allowed me to lay my request at His feet and leave it there, in full confidence that no matter what His answer was, He was in control and I would love, serve and follow Him joyfully no matter what. It was a pivotal shift in my view of God's sovereignty and grace and my response in worship and devotion to Him. I'm so grateful for that time of raw, wrestling, angry and difficult conversations with God because through them He was able to show me more of His glory and love than I thought possible.

Thanks be to God that His answer was YES and that shortly after I had let the "need" for a baby go into His hands He put a heart for adoption in Mark and I and within just a few short months we were holding our son. Jesus continues to write His story of redemption, grace and goodness all over our lives and I know that no matter what happens along this journey, He is my Savior, my first love and my all in all.

Thank you Lord for my son, for my husband, for this life of beauty so undeserved!

Toby is crawling!

2010-05-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

click on this link to see the video of Toby on his first day of crawling. I need to take another one cause he is so stinkin fast now! Let the childproofing of the house begin!

http://vimeo.com/11516084

Not so much once a week I guess :)

2010-04-27T22:19:00.001-07:00

okay, so clearly I'm not keeping up with my once a week post, best intentions but then life somehow seems to mess with all my well laid plans :)

Things are crazy good and crazy busy around here and Tobias is starting to crawl which is making life really interesting for me! It's now a fun game of what tiny particle of fluff or trash or stray button, hairtie, etc. can I find before he gets it into his mouth and he is really good at finding random stuff on the ground so I have to bring my "A" game every minute of the day.

We have been doing tons of photo shoots lately and really enjoying ourselves! You can check out the latest work in the Engagement & Wedding portion of the Indie Image collection on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdrohl/collections/72157607019946711/
It's been so much fun shooting some of our favorite people and they sure do know how to work it in front of a camera which makes our job so much easier.

I've added some new pics of the Tobster too, he just got a little haircut and he looks even more grown up! how can it be? He is going to be 9 months old next week, oh how time flies.

Toby and I are headed to Tombstone & Bisbee tomorrow for a little sight seeing adventure with my Dad & Joan so that should be fun and I will be taking lots of pics of the wild west and will post them someday, better not commit to a time frame at the rate I'm going :)

love you all!

Toby on location

2010-03-29T22:54:00.000-07:00

here are some pics of Tobias on location where we did some friends' engagement photos this saturday. He spent a good deal of time on the blanket just being silly and making people laugh. See the Flickr link for more pics :)

What a trooper!

2010-03-29T22:42:00.001-07:00

I just have to say that our little boy is such a good sport about being dragged all around Phoenix for photo shoots and the like. This past weekend was packed from sun up to sun down and Tobias couldn't have been a more delightful little boy the whole time. He is truly a treat to be around and with each passing day he seems to get cuter and add some new dimension to his charming personality which just makes us fall more and more in love.

He is making great headway towards crawling which is exciting but means lots of work for me in baby-proofing our casa! Lots of new sounds every day and he is very intentional about them too, as if we should know exactly what he means. I think he is going to be an early talker if I had to make a guess.

Excited for cousin Caroline to get here tomorrow!!!!

I will write a post about our finalization of our adoption soon but feel like I need to give it a bit of time and attention so it may take me a few days :)

love you all!

Serious face silly boy

2010-03-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

This is a video of Toby up past his bedtime, on grandma's watch of course :) His new thing is to give you a real serious look and then flashing a huge smile with real flirty eyes. We managed to capture a couple of his looks here but I will try to get a clearer video with our other camera. enjoy!

7 months already!

2010-03-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I know it's been wayyyy to long but I'm finally writing a new post! I can't believe it's already been 7 months since we brought our little boy home, my how time flies! Tobias is growing so fast and it seems that he is doing something new every day! My goal is to post weekly about my life as a stay at home mom with lots of pics and even some videos! sheesh, I'm doubting myself even as a write these words but I'm going to make a go of it :)

I am LOVING being a mom, it is truly amazing and Mark and I are having the best time with Tobias. He is such a goof ball and has quite the sense of humor already. As soon as I can figure out how to post video I will load some up from the last few months so you can see how he has progressed and what he is up to today. He is eating like a champ, sitting up all by himself and playing with a wide assortment of toys and is really into anything that makes music. The sleeping is getting better, longer stretches and more consistent so thank the Lord for that! He says DaDa pretty much all the time and were pretty sure he knows what he is saying. he says MaMa when he cries in the middle of the night and it's just the cutest/sadest little thing. He laughs all the time, especially at the pups and Mark has quite the series of circus tricks that he does with him to get him going, not for the faint of heart though so when I post that video I will make sure to post a disclaimer for all the "nervous Nelly's" out there :) All in all he is practically perfect in every way and an absolute joy!

We go to our final court hearing this Wednesday to finalize the adoption and we are so excited. I guess it's a really lovely little ceremony to make everything official and I will have to write more about that experience later. For now, enjoy the new pics, they are from the last 3 months of the little man's life and there will be more to come, I promise :)

love you all,
Kendra

Welcome home Tobias Aaron Rohl - our beautiful baby boy!

2009-08-31T19:40:00.000-07:00

Friends & Family!!
I'm sure most of you have heard the amazing news that we have been blessed with a perfect baby boy born August 4th 2009! We wrote the story of how he came to us so check it out here:

Tobias Aaron Rohl - his name means God's Goodness and that is truly what has been felt through this whole journey!

Mario & Leah Engaged

2009-05-11T22:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot from Mario and Leahs' recent photo shoot. More to come on the fickr site.

MDR Photography

2009-04-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

I have had the pleasure of doing a few photo shoots with some of the seniors in our church. Check out the photo page link to the right. Love you guys, cant wait to see you all (Oregon crew) in may.

Celebrating Two Births

2009-03-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrate Mark's day of birth and what an amazing 32 yrs he has had so far. I have only had the privilege of knowing him for his last 11 years but what an incredible time that has been. I love this man with all my heart and I'm so grateful to the Lord for bringing us together and continually growing our relationship. There are so many qualities I love about Mark; his sense of humor, tenderness, compassion, boldness and devastatingly handsome good looks. Mark is truly everything I could have dreamed for in a husband but so much more. Babe - I love you so much and am so thankful to God, Bing & Debbie for bringing you into the world on this day!

The second birth we celebrate today is the birthing of a new chapter in our story of adoption. We turned in all our paperwork to the agency today which begins our 2 month home study process which hopefully leads to us being certified adoptive parents! Then, we wait.... Wait for the call from the agency that there is a birth mom that wants to meet us or that there is a baby at the hospital that is ready to come home with us. Basically, we are within possibly months of having a baby! This is exciting and terrifying all at once as I'm sure any of you with children can attest to. I had a dream last night that I think sums up my feelings about this journey we are launching into......

In my dream I was getting on a roller coaster and was really nervous but wanted to go on the ride. I had a friend with me who was sort of a combination of a few people in my life who remained in her seat, calm, peaceful and ready to go where the ride takes her. I on the other hand was having a complete panic attack! I didn't think my seat belt was fastened properly so I kept screaming to the guy not to start the ride, I wasn't ready! He came over and sure enough, I was belted in just fine but there were all these other belts around me that I wanted to use too but couldn't find anywhere to attach them. He assured me that the one that I had over my lap would work just fine and that I was secure and had nothing to worry about.
The ride started, click click click went the coaster up the giant hill. My heart was racing, I wanted to tell them to stop so I could get off but at the same time I was really excited to be on the ride. I closed my eyes as tight as I could, grabbed onto the seat and off we went down the first big drop. I screamed OH SH#@! Nice right? I was completely terrified and thought oh no, I can't do this, I'm not going to make it! I look over at my friend and there she is, cool as a cucumber, looking around enjoying every minute. I started to relax a little and then all of a sudden I was loving the ride, laughing, yelling and just having the best time! There was a moment when we came up to the top of another drop and I could see the whole city around me, it was beautiful. The words of our pastor's message on Sunday rang in my head "don't be so focused on the destination that you forget to enjoy the journey". For the rest of the roller coaster ride there were moments of sheer terror but more moments of incredible joy and in both emotions I was enjoying the journey for all it was worth.

I think that sort of sums up how I'm feeling about our adoption process. We are at the click click click part of the roller coaster, starting up the hill only to launch out into the great unknown where undoubtedly there will be moments of incredible excitement, great fear and unspeakable joy! I'm beyond excited about what the next few months will hold for us and I know that with Jesus, Mark and I all on this ride together it will be a great ride indeed!

Eight Years Ago....

2009-02-23T20:52:00.000-08:00

I married the woman that I couldn't have even dreamed of. I was thinking tonight as we were out about how I fell in love with Kendra, watching her on stage in Guys and Dolls, knowing that the star of the show had the hots for me. Watching her sing in a swing band, sing to me, in a bar full of guys wanting her hand. She would sing Fever right to me, like she did on the way home tonight. Today I took her out on the town. First we went to Ulta to get her the new fangled hair iron that she has had her eye on. Then we drove down town and parked, she was asking me the whole time what we are doing and where we are going, to be honest I had only one plan for the night and that was dinner later, but I was going off the cuff during the day. So we walked around the up and coming area of downtown Phoenix and checked out the old buildings, new condos, and little nuggets that we will take in another day. One of the most recent, and much needed, additions to town is the lite rail train that runs from north Phoenix to west Mesa. We hopped on the train and headed to Tempe to walk around the college district of Mill Ave, had a coffee at a local shop, walked around and window shopped, then hopped back on and headed back into town, literally ridding into the sunset. After arriving back in town we headed to the only place I had planned to go, La Piccola Cucina, a small mom-and-pop eatery in Phoenix. It had won "best of" Phoenix last year and Kendra and I are always up to going to the local spots over the chain. It was an old house turned restaurant, run solely by mom and pop, and daughter. It was us and two other couples, enjoying the food and vocal styllings of pop. After being wished well by the two other couples, married 42 and 21 years respectfully, we drove home wondering what this next year will bring. More family time, more friend time, a lot more ministry time with our leadership at LCC, but what we are most excited about is the prospect of bringing a child home soon into our 9th year of marriage. We have had tough times, we have been blessed, but we know that we know that we have each other. That we love, and have love. Thank you everyone who has loved us for 31 and 28 years, thank you to those who have loved us for 4. We couldn't have done it without all of you, we couldn't have done it without the Lord. Also I want to thank those of you that have helped recently with our adoption fund, to find those cards in the mail has really blown us away. Know that everything we get goes in a special box and will be dealt out as the charges come in. You are amazing, thank you. Babe I love you, you amaze me. My beautiful, my star, my song. I am blessed, blessed indeed.

An update on our story.

2008-12-01T16:22:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,
Mark and I were asked to write about our journey of starting a family and since some of you only know bits and pieces of our story I thought you might like to read more about how the last few years have played out for us. The worship leader from our church, Kyle Campos, who many of you know, has a blog and his latest series is called "God in our worst times" where he has asked some people to share about how God has brought them through difficult times in their lives. You can click on God in Our Worst Times: “Our baby is Faith” to read our post and click on http://feeds.feedburner.com/OurRisingSound to subscribe to the blog so that you can continue to be notified of new posts.
Feel free to check it out if you would like to :)
love,
Kendra

Our Friend Alyssa on MTV

2008-11-20T20:48:00.000-08:00

So a long story short our friend was on MTV, Made. Well apparently she has a big fan base all over the world. Check out the link here to read others but I had to post this one. (Sorry if I offend any of my french friends with this, wait do I have any french friends?)

"Hello! sorry my english is bad beacause i am french!
I see theese video on made! and, and I have a lot have fun! wouhahaha hoho ect..
also because it resembles me, delay, always funny, second degree a lot!
on top of that I also am in the artistic world professionel, I am drummer, and music professor! but my pass time favorie is humour! And outside her, it really corresponds to all that I like at a woman! physically I had the blow of lightning, and its mentality, is identical to mine, they would say my ame sister! I would really like to meet it! but the language, the country separates us, then I have moin of chance that any American of etre happy with her! Snif!
So i'm a men so tired"

Thank you Dennis from France.

I love Jelly....

2008-11-18T11:30:00.000-08:00

So, here is the story. On a recent trip to Oahu to visit Jr and Kate, I did as much face time with the ocean as I could. From the first day I got there to the day I was leaving I made sure to get into the water at least once. The water there is warm and a beautiful shade of clear that lets you see the bottom and everything in between. The first day I went swimming went off with no problems, I had a good time boogie boarding with my pops. The second time, well the second time was the first time getting stung by what I like to call "PMoW". aka Portuguese Man-o-War. The first time I got stung on the foot, I liken it to getting stung by a bee kinda but also getting whipped with a small willow branch at the same time. Questions like "do I pee on it" or "how long is it going to sting" were going thru my head, but on a scale of pain this was about a 6 maybe 7. The second time I got stung was around my wrist, (there are pics below the wrist on is out of focus but you get the point), now I am used to getting my arms beaten and whipped, we would play a game at work where we get a bit of wire and whip each other with it. Sometimes we would even make shapes, a heart or even the company logo and "brand" it on our arms with welts. So this wrist thing was uncomfortable but familiar. Now I can't remember if I got hit again before the last day, must be all the toxins in my system, but I will skip to the last day. So I am out there and I can see them floating on the surface of the water sailing along with the wind, so I would push them away with the boogie board and continue my swim. After about 10 min of not seeing any all hell broke loose, I must have insulted one of their mothers or something because they came at me with such force, knocked me off the board and held me under water till I couldn't breath. I struggled to get to the surface, clawing at the water hoping someone would see my flailing, then just as I was about to yield to their grip, they let go and all was calm and I stumbled to the beach. I know, sounds crazy right? Well even though it didn't go down like that it still felt like that. See, I was out there and it seemed like the made a ninja attack on me, it might have been one or could have been 12, but the stingers were doing a number on my sides. As I got out of the water I was pulling the long (3ft) tentacles off of my body. They were wrapped around my arm and hand and up and down my sides, you could even see the little blue stingers on my skin. I went back to the house and had a swim with the Finner, got all packed up and headed to the Ward for some last minute shopping. As we were down there I was feeling worser and worser, like I went on a binge the night before and I had all those toxins in my system. The flight home was good, I was kinda uncomfortable the whole time but as the hours past so did the hangover. I did have welts for a few days after, I was able to show the guys at work, who got a kick out of it. Anyone that knows me and the things I have gone thru (if you dont know what I have gone thru should I do a post about them?) can have a good laugh at this one, I know my family in Oahu did.

I represent myself good....

2008-11-06T21:17:00.000-08:00

Really it WAS funnier the first take.

My Boss

2008-11-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

As some of you know my boss Rick had an accident at work a month ago. For those of you that don't the story goes a little something like this. He was working at a job we were called to to replace some pipe and feeder wire (big stuff) to some panels at a warehouse which was broken into and copper was stolen. There were three pipes that were cut on the inside of the building and they were taken down and the copper was stolen. As he and Ponch were checking out the job they noticed 5 others that had been cut into as well. Three were cut all the way and another was cut halfway. That one still had live wires inside so during that inspection they found a disconnection switch that was stuck in the on position. Now normally when you cut into a pipe that has live wires you blow up your saw and the breaker trips, but either they were lucky and hadn't cut a hot wire, or there was something wrong with the disconnect. As Rick was trying to shut the switch off something went wrong. Ponch was on top of the panel, (it is a big panel on the outside of the building that feeds other small panels inside the building), and he said he heard a loud boom sounding like a shotgun. When Ponch jumped off he saw Rick stumbling away, the panel is enclosed in a chain linked cage with the door on the right and Rick was in the left hand corner. After the explosions had stopped for a second Ponch waived Rick over to the gate and the made it out as the panel started blowing again. When a panel or a wire fails it melts instantly and explodes sending the molten metal and flames out. The initial blast, (I will post pics of the panel later, you will see it's a blast) was the one that got Rick. It burnt off the front of his shirt, just the back and his collar remained, and Ponch said he was alert, talking and breathing fine. His chest and arms were burnt real bad, his face was browned and his ears were burnt bad as well. From here I will go to the hospital part.

The report from the hospital was he had third degree burns over 44% of his body, he was sedated and had a breathing tube. They feared that his lungs were burnt and susceptible to infection, and he was going to have to have multiple grafting surgeries to repair his burnt skin. I went to see him after two weeks. As much as I had heard, as much as I understand about what happens when a panel blows, all of that didn't prepare me for what I saw. Now it was real, my boss who I respect as a leader, motivator, and who just happens to be real funny, is wrecked in a hospital bed. I talked to him, told him about work and how I was keeping an eye on things while he was there. Here is another bit for ya, I have been there for two months now, maybe three, all the others: Dan, Jeff, Ponch, Alex, have been with each other for maybe 10 years. They have worked in other companies together, and then with VF since its birth. So I am the new guy in an established company of guys. I say that to make the point that I have a connection to Rick not only as my boss, but I also see the relationship that he has with the other guys, and the brotherhood that is the electrical trade. Just not union. While I was talking to him he would look at me, or my way. He would move his head when I would ask him questions, and when we prayed for him I looked and he had his eyes closed for a bit of the prayer. I don't know how much he will remember, if he saw me, or if the motions I saw were just him moving around in time with the ever moving outside world, but for me, I saw him there. I saw him trapped inside the sedation, the fiery man that is Rick trying to get up, trying to speak, trying to move his heavily bandaged arms. I told him that I cant wait for him to get back to work, to lead and motivate the guys like he had last month. As much as we bicker about it when he does, I know now that we need it more then ever. That since of normalcy, comfort, the "all is right with the world" feeling. Boss's lead and motivate, employees bicker and follow.

The news as of today is good. His artificial skin graft didn't take (pig skin is what I heard) so he will have to have another in a few days. They say he will be coming off the breathing tube in the next couple days, which means his lungs are clear and strong. And that he might be up and about in a wheel chair by the end of next week. I was at the job site where it happened today, I saw the panel, the cage, the destruction on the inside. I had to take it all in, just look at it, imagine. I found two buttons from his shirt at the left side of the cage. The same place he stood when he got back on his feet. It was surreal, sad, and frustrating. There were bits and pieces of metal, carbon, even flesh. I don't say it to be crass or sick, it is the reality of what I took in.

The day after it happened I was working in an old panel at a beautiful old church. I was standing next to it when a relay wire shorted and blew. Sparks, or molten copper shot out and it made a loud bang, a flash and it was done. But it shook me. I have been doing this for 8 years now, with various elements of danger and routine, and this has shaken me. Shaken to the core. I was talking to Kendra about it later that night, questioning if I still want to do it, still have the passion for it. I do. I have never been reckless in it, I hate getting a shock from touching a metal door knob after walking across the carpet, let alone 120 or 277. I have been careful, but this shook me. Knowing that turning off a breaker could result in third degree burns brought any level of invincibility crashing down. I bet we all question routine when something pulls the rug from under us. Do we get back on the bull after watching the last guy get gored.

Thanks to all who have prayed for him, for those that kept him in their thoughts. He is doing better. He still has a long road ahead of him but I think the dark night has passed. I will keep you up to date on his condition, and hope to be able to speak to him soon. I am sorry this came out disjointed, thoughts and emotions seem to come and go but I felt the urge to write it. Love you all.

Going going ........

2008-11-05T17:17:00.000-08:00

Oh well, on to the next challenge. Hey I know, since we are all in the voting spirit. You decide 2008.1, what should I do next?

Pics now up!

2008-10-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

Go to the link and check out the oahu pics! Stories to come and also the jelly-fish sting pics as well. Mom can you send me that email I asked about?

Oahu, and family

2008-10-24T21:19:00.001-07:00

Before I get to the pics and the days posts, I wanted to share a post on my family. In this case it is about my brother, sister, and two sweet, sweet nephews. In reading JR and Kates' posts prior in going to Oahu, I got a sense that they were unhappy, and overall not having a good time on the island. After spending a week with them I realized this wasn't the case. Here is what I saw. In the weeks time I noticed how difficult it was to: work from home while, Kate manages two babies and a toddler. Let me explain that one a bit, so JR works at the end of the hall, door shut as to keep out noise and Finn. At the end of the hall there is a baby gate to keep out Jake ( Henry doesn't yet crawl). JR gets breaks from the phone and spends the time helping where he can, plug this one, change that one, chase the other. After all the kids are awake and JR is on the phones, Kate feeds, entertains, and changes the three, while also making sure Finn doesn't hurt Jake who doesn't hurt Henry who doesn't take Finns' truck or gator. This balance goes on thru out the day JR working and breaking, Kate feeding changing and feeding. I didn't see from PHX how much work it was, they live in Oahu, how could that be so bad? Then when its over they get to leave the kids and go to the beach, take a swim then later catch a movie. But who is watching the kids? They are, so in order to do those things they need to pack up three kids, (two if Scott is home) and that, if you have any kids even one is a task in itself. i could go on and on but the point is my outlook has changed on how life is in Oahu. JR, Kate, you guys are doing an amazing job. You took on a task that sounds like paradise to the rest of us, but is difficult to maintain every day. I know that now, you are great parents, great aunt and uncle to Jake, and a great brother and sister to Mandy and Scott. I know there is fun times during the grind (not food) I was a part of them. I just want you to know I have a greater respect for the task you took on, I want to thank you for making our trip more then we ever expected. I hope you are afforded a day out like Kendra and I got, a time to explore the island in a two seater drop top. But for now, thank you. Thank you for showing how it can be done, and for being human enough to show it's not all fun and games. Thank you for living in such a beautiful place, thank you too Scott and Mandy for opening up your home, surf boards, cars, pool and comfort for my family. It meant the world to us to be together like that. Ma-halo.

A sample

2008-10-23T22:05:00.000-07:00

I have over 600 Oahu pics to go thru and edit, here is a sample.

Coming soon

2008-10-23T01:23:00.001-07:00

Pics and a day by day (from what i remember) of our wicked sweet Oahu trip. Ma-halo for reading.

Lunch

2008-09-22T21:42:00.001-07:00

Hmm

2008-09-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

And all this time I have been asking for a blessing, thank you sir for setting me straight, now I will ask to be punished.

Lunch With J & J

2008-09-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

Again Lunch with J&J

2008-08-31T21:57:00.001-07:00

Lunch with John and Josh

2008-08-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

Katy Perry (Hudson)

2008-07-26T00:06:00.000-07:00

So she used to be Katy Hudson, now she is Perry. She sings a song about kissing girls and people really like it. Before they were famous.

JMM part 2

2008-06-04T23:42:00.000-07:00

Check it out here.

Hospital visit take ? 10

2008-06-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

So i have been bed ridden for the weekend with various symptoms. Fever, cough, sore throat, back pain, joint pain, and vomiting. After a while i could barely make it from my bed room to the living room without blacking out. I felt better after church sunday and went out to have lunch. That went well for about 20 min then i was sick in a whole new way. After returning home i decided to take a look down my throat to tell where the pain was coming from. The back of my throat was all red and swollen and I had little white spots all over. My fever came back and it was a steady climb so we went to the ER to get some antibiotics and pain pills for the back. I mistakenly told the doctor that my fever, last I checked, was at 106. He looked at me wide eyed and had a bit of a chuckle, guess i was ment to be in a coma at that temp. After a brief exam which included him sticking a swab down the back of my throat and asking me to say awwww, he determined I had strep throat. 4 out of 5 symptoms. I was really shooting for the 5th but came up short with a solid passing grade none the less. We filled the script and went home to rest. At the hospital I was given the option of getting a shot of penicillin or going home with the pills, he asked if i was allergic to pen and i told him i wasn't sure but I am allergic to a select few food items. Again a chuckle and he sent me on my way with the pills. Two hours after taking the pills i was in bed, covers off cause kendra is a furnace and touching her skin while having a fever causes mine to melt, my head, fingers, and back stated to itch. First sign of allergic reaction to pen? Hives. I go to the bathroom and turn on the light, sure enough welts and itchy spots in those places. While i was looking in the mirror i heard james asking "Do i look swollen to you?" As I returned to bed Kendra was on the phone with the ER, I think she has em on speed dial now, and they said stop the pills, take benadril and come back in the morning for a different prescription. As I am sitting in bed, chuckling to myself, I see a mosquito on my head board. Yep a freaking mosquito. Not hives, a freaking mosquito. So at that point i had a tough decision to make, risk third degree burns from exposure to Kendras' spider spooning or mosquito bites that send me into a panic thinking a am going to die due to anaphylactic shock. I took two more penicillin this morning and no mosquito bites have been found.

John Mark McMillian

2008-05-31T10:45:00.000-07:00

We have part one of the interview done with JMM before the concert last month. Check it out here.

Work and Pain

2008-05-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

Ok i know i am no good at this blogging thing but here we go. As Tyson sleeps at my feet (oh which reminds me, he is getting fixed tomorrow) my elbow hurts. I spent the weekend in Vegas for some fun and a UFC fight. UFC is a fighting league where guys get paid to punch, kick, knee, choke and try to break arms legs and ankles, and I love it. But that post is coming as soon as I get a few pics of the weekend. Anywho i bring up vegas cause i think it started there, the pain that is. I think i got Hold em elbow. A condition which occurs when a player gets a blister on his or her elbow from playing to much texas hold em. So my left elbow all of A sudden started bothering me on monday and when i inspected it i noticed a large blister right where i rest it on say a kitchen table or in this case a poker table. I didn't think much of it, i mean come on its a blister am i a wuss? So i went about my work day with only slight discomfort for the next two days. Today, today is a new chapter in the pain. Im gunna get a bit graphic cause its funny for those that know me and know the strange things that have happened to me in the past, ie: various nut allergies, almost killed by surfboard, bitten by some bug and taken to hospital, extreme reactions to ant bites. Ha freaking ha. So today i wake up and my elbow hurts more and now the blister is back, or so i thought. Just off to the side of the blister i feel heat and I see a pocket of nasty. As we all know this is a classic sign of infection, but why did my blister get infected? Well we can start by how I got the blister in the first place, a poker table in Vegas, but i think its more recent then that. You see I have been working at a job here in the phx that would make pest control and health inspectors ill. The building I am working on used to be KFC, right before christmas they closed it and it has been sitting vacant ever since. Recently it was broken into and all the copper was stolen from the panels and ac units and we were brought in to re-pull wire and hook everything back up so new tenants could move in. Well apart from the nasty 1/4 inch layer of grease on everything there are an extreme amount of cockroaches, pigeons, and rats in the building. The first day i had a huge roach climb my leg and almost make in into my shorts. Since the thieves destroyed the ac units on the roof the pigeons moved into the duct work inside the building leaving piles of poo where ever there is a register for the air. I opened up one panel and the bottom of it was overflowing with dead roaches, they like the heat the panel gives off i guess. The roof was nasty, pigeon nests everywhere with all stages of egg, half embryo and baby birds cooked by the heat. Well the new ac units were installed but the guys didn't clear out the birds from the duct work and now there are a number of dead birds in the ceiling some sticking half out of the registers in their last hopeless attempt at escape. This is how i think I got the infection in my elbow. We have been installing a new main panel in a closet kinda on the outside of the building, but right where we are installing it is where the drain is for the roof gutter. A roofing company came by and cleaned the roof by washing it down so all the pigeon poo and half babies and feathers and nasty drained right down then dried at my panel room doorstep. In the installation process i have been rolling around in that fine little dirt pile trying to get a 56 inch panel into a 55 inch closet. Every day i come home a pile of filth, a few days i just wanted to burn my clothes. I was taking a shower today and felt the urge to use a wash cloth and scrub myself till i bled, you know like they did in mid-evil times, a good blood letting. It reminded me of being a kid and mom would come up with that wash cloth and it felt like a cheese grater on my face. I needed a cheese grater all over by arms and legs today. I sent out a picture the other day of a few goodies I found at the job, i called it the three main food groups of KFC. If the infection gets worse I will go get some antibiotics, as far as staying clean at the job, not so much, I don't do well in pants and long sleeves due to the heat. I have been draining my elbow all day and it seems to be getting better, but time will tell. ( I had to add that part just for gross factor).

Also Kyle wrote on this after I sent him the pic you can read his thoughts here.

2008-04-21T23:05:00.000-07:00

Thank you China for warning us.

2008-04-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

Dang I was going to try this one on my fall salmon fishing trip. Back to the lure drawing board.

2008-04-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

I watched Juno

2008-01-12T19:30:00.000-08:00

It is a beautiful movie, very funny, great acting, and nice to see young talent in movies who make you feel rather than make crude jokes and do drugs. I recommend this move.
Before I went into the movie I got a call from my mom. She was asking me what my thoughts were on adoption, if i had thought about it for Kendra and I, and if I hadn't, to pray about it. If you are reading this asking yourself why I would be talking about adoption let me splain.

Kendra and I have been trying to get pregnant for three or four years now. Just until the past year we just thought we weren't going about it the right way, it wasn't the right time of month, or i had been drinking to much mountain dew. Things of that nature. We decided to each get a physical from a doctor to maybe see if our parts were working up to par starting with me. I had a bad test the first time, a horrible experience that i have posted about before. Then a month later I went back in to re-test, this time i studied, and i had a miraculous change of results. With this new found vigor we started the path of getting Kendra checked out. She has a regular cycle each month but as we have found out that means nothing. She is healthy, beautiful, and in her exams they have found nothing wrong. There was another test they had to do and that involved injecting a dye into her fallopian tubes and watch the path it takes from her ovaries to her uterus. I sat in the doctors office waiting room, pretending to read magazines and watch the t.v. I wasn't aloud to go into the exam room because they were using x-ray equipment to fallow the dye down the path. I paced the hall, stopping any doctor/nurse/lab tech/ i could and asked how things were going, can i go in, when can i see my wife. As one doctor left the room Kendra was in I could see her lying on the table, with another doctor bedside, I could make out the sound of her crying as the doc explained what was happening on the screen at the end of the table. "I'm sorry but we cant let you in because of the x-rays" were word that I couldn't bear to listen to. Were they hurting her? What were the words coming out of the doctors mouth and why did i want to punch her so bad for making my wife cry? Kendra came out and we sat in waiting for a few min before they called us in to go over the results. I found out that they weren't hurting her physically, but our emotions were about to go through hell. They found that her tubes failed to make the path from point a to point b. The dye didn't enter her uterus like it is supposed to, but instead stopped. Just stopped. After some discussion we found the reason behind the blockage. When Kendra was 16 her appendix burst. She stayed home thinking it was a flu or food poisoning for a week. As things progressed and got worse she went to the hospital and was admitted before finishing the paperwork. The doctors couldn't believe she was conscious, or even alive. They put her on a major antibiotic, it was actually a form of kemo or radiation they use for cancer, to fight the infection. Since she had made it this far with the burst appendix in her they didnt want to do surgery and risk spreading the infection even more, so they left it.

The doctor told us it was the first time he had heard of a burst not being surgically repaired. Because of the severity of the infection, scar tissue formed inside her abdomen. That scar tissue has formed around her fallopian tubes pulling them away from her uterus, thus breaking the chain of life. He was even concerned about doing a surgery to repair or even explore her abdomen. He fears that even the first cut to open her up might cut into her intestines or other organs that have been moved because of the scarring. Not to mention the fact that such a surgery wouldn't even be covered by insurance because of the fact that its not a "medical or life threatening" procedure it falls under a fertility procedure. He explained that invetro was still an option because her reproductive system, all though not complete, was doing everything right. Still an option but again not covered. I know it is expensive to have children but out of the gate we would pony up 10,000 for a 95% chance. A good chance for sure, I would take those odds any day, and still might.

I know in my heart that I will have children of my own, that my daughter Faith is going to look like her beautiful mother, and I will get to feel her kick and listen to her heart beat inside K. Adoption is something that I haven't thought about all that much because I am hanging on to hope and faith that the promise I have in my heart about my children will come to pass. I know adoption isn't a "fall back plan", adoption is a wonderful life saver for the abandoned and neglected generation of today. I feel it is the place of the Church to rise up and raise these children. Do I feel its the thing for me? I see my wife pregnant, i see the doctor smile as we see our baby in the ultrasound, i feel her kick. It's a reality to me, the hope is fed by faith. Are we going to do invetro? Kendra and I have talked about it a few times but not at length. Do i feel like i am giving up for considering it? Yes. I feel like i am selling God short, selling my faith for 10,000, just to have a child. Is that from God. No.

I liked this movie a lot. It was funny, i related to a few of the characters in the story. But as it ended I realized that I was still alive, still breathing, and I realized my heart was breaking. As we walked out of the movie K asked me if i liked the movie. I was silent because forming words would have made me weep, awkward for a lobby full of teens. As we walked to the car I thought about the pain in my chest, the hope, the waiting. I broke down as i reached the car, wept like I haven't wept in a while. I remembered. "Hope deferred makes the heart grow sick." And I felt my heart breaking. The pain of this experience had been forgotten, no not forgotten it had been there all along, just managed. Our friends and family are having more children, some of them are having there second or even third since we have been trying. They tip toe around K and I not wanting to hurt us by telling us their wonderful news, I don't want them to feel that way but i understand, they have seen our struggle and have seen our emotion. I don't blame them for having more, blame isn't even a word I should use. I am happy for them, to see their families grow. The Lord tells us to be fruitful and multiply. The funny thing is K and I were never good at math. But we hang onto the promise and the word. Thank you for loving us through this. We love all of you and cant wait to one day tell you our good news. With all my heart I love you, as much as it hurts right now.

Top 2

2007-11-11T20:53:00.000-08:00

Mark Dean Photography or 1000 Words Photography

Love you all vote away

A Challenge to Family and Friends

2007-09-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

OK, so since i have been asked by 10 people this month if i do photos for head shots, weddings, pregnancy, and even product pictures i figured i better get serious and get a business name and even some business cards made. But here is the thing, i have run into a bit of a block when trying to think of the name for it. That's where all of you guys come in, i need your collective creative guineas. The person who submits the name that i chose gets a free, (yeah I am going to charge for these things now) photo shoot of their choice. Need some family pics taken? How bout your Christmas cards coming up? Senior pics? So please submit as many as you want, no purchase necessary, void in um nowhere.

The Post Below

2007-09-11T17:24:00.000-07:00

If you are planing on watching the movie 3:10 to Yuma dont read the post below until after you have watched it.

3:10 To Yuma

2007-09-11T17:14:00.000-07:00

I just watched this movie last night with my bride and loved it. A nice action flic with a bit of blood and with blood comes violence, and a bit of language but other than that a solid movie. Apart from that though this is why i liked it, it plays out a great story of adventure and danger for a father and a son to partake in. Now granted there was a lot more adventure back in the old west days, everyone carried a gun, there was a lot more open range and a lot less law enforcement to keep the piece. But this story goes a bit deeper than that. Now i get into some spoiler stuff so if you haven't but are going to watch it then plug your ears. The father was wounded in the war between the north and the south, a wound that led to the removal of his leg, he is a cattle rancher in the Arizona desert during a drought. His oldest son has no respect for him as he watches the landowner burn down his barn in the middle of the night, watches them go with little to eat and his younger brother struggle with TB. The only source of pride he has is that his father lost his leg in the war from a sniper. Witch as we find out later in the movie he lost from friendly fire while he was running away from the battle. The father stumbles upon a great opportunity to not only get some much needed cash for his family, but the self respect that has been drained out of him for years. The scene is played out as the father comes into the house one last time before heading out on the epic journey. A dialogue between him and his wife after she asks why he is doing this and why he doesn't just stay home.

"I am tired of being dirt poor. we have nowhere to go. I'm tired of the way the boys look at me, and I'm tired of the way you don't. I've been standing on one leg for three years waiting for God to do me a favor, and I'm tired of waiting."

Both the main characters in the movie are men by the worlds standards, a cattle rancher and a wagon robbing outlaw. But as the movie progresses we find the hard exterior is a front and they both are broken inside. One cant live up to the war hero he has made himself to be, and the other is a boy of an alcoholic father who died when he was young, and a mother who abandon him at the train station. The under story is of the boy who wants to look up to his father, who needs a hero and needs to be called out as a man. A story that every boy from the beginning of time has lived out.

It is important for men today to be the hero's their children look too, to be present in their homes and absorbed into their lives. Sure i don't have any children (yet) but i know the importance of this. I know that I wouldn't be in the place i am today if it wasn't for my father, leading and shaping my life. Letting me be a boy, be rough, wrestle and play basketball with me. To show me what it means to be a man, provide for the family, and love my wife. Was he perfect, no, but that's the great thing about it, in his imperfection i learned. As men we want to be looked up to, as a leader, adventurer, wild at times, but also the safety, and the lover. It is no wonder that the majority of gay men had no father or strong male presence in their lives. It has led them to seek that male attention in unhealthy and dangerous ways.

It is equally important for men to feel wanted and appreciated. To feel like they are fighting battles and winning the prize. They want to be respected and see their prize blush and swoon over them as they come in the room. To be desired and loved, and boasted about. To ultimately get the girl.

Recently Kendra and I have been released to start our connection (small or home) groups from our pastor. My connection group is focused around calling out the men of today out. To be men that some of them weren't released to be by there own fathers, like the outlaw in the movie, and also, not the man they have painted themselves to be, like the war hero. God placed an order in the house, the man is the head (not in a chauvinistic way) and the leader. and its time that we learned to do it the right way and honor our wives and raise our children. To stop passing it on to the women to be the leaders and the ones who try and train the boys to be men. They don't how and it only leads to problems in that boys life later down the road. I could go on for a while but i really feel this is a important piece and has been missing for way to long in our world today. If you have the interest please read Wild at Heart by John Eldredge, it reflects the importance of this natural progression. Love

At last!

2007-08-08T20:36:00.000-07:00

Man I have so many friends that this applies to, where to begin.....

How sweet it is

2007-06-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hello people how ae we today? Nice, well Kendra and I are doing good, things are begining to heat up here, dips down into the 90's at night. (JR its a dry heat, you still got me beat). Nothing has changed on the baby front, still thinking over the sugery/invetro delema and praying in the meantime for another miricle. Please continue to lift us up in your prayers on that issue. Work is kicking into high gear for me, we have a lot of jobs and we are working long weeks but i have learned to ride the waves pretty well. Josh and Jose (workmates) are doing great at picking up the slack and making things smoother for me which in turn makes things smooth for the whole co. Kendra is ever battling the wieght of being a good friend/strong leader at her job. Putting the smack down when needed but most of the time she works for the bomb squad it seems, always defuseing some issue. I am working on some ideas in my head for photo stuff, it seems it has been on the back burner for a while, but a restored passion has come upon me. I have an engagement shoot tomorrow and then a wedding in Mexico next march for the same couple. I still love to shoot children (kinda sounds a bit sick, but in the right context) they dont shy away from the camera like adults do. I love it when people commit to the picture, it makes me feel good, and in turn the pics seem to turn out better. I will be more dilligent in posting photos, i have been going through my iphoto and deleting some of the not so's, I have 8000 pics in there and not all of them need to be taking up space. I have found some friends here also have a passion for photo and I plan on forming some sort of group so we can help chalenge eachother. Kendra is teaching some of the local kids hip-hop, and then thursdays she goes to the gym with some women from church and takes a hip-hop class there, pastors wife included. They have a great time the lot of them, like a bunch of little school girls giggling and huddling. I am continueing on my quest to loose weight, what i have lost hasnt found me, i took a left and pointed right, classic bait and switch. I have lost 20 pounds but more importantly lost two pant sizes. I am currently going to physical therapy for a back injury i sustained on the softball field, freak batting acident, i was swinging...... did i mention i was 30? They are working me pretty good there, helping to strengthen my core and get my bones cracked. I miss my neph Finn tremendously, he is so freaking cute and i swear i hear him scream everytime i go to JR's blog. Anyways thanks for reading, ask me a question and i will post on it. Love you.

Check it out

2007-05-30T21:28:00.000-07:00

Our churches new name and web page. Check it out here.

New Pics

2007-05-16T17:35:00.001-07:00

there are some new pics on the fliker site so go check em out by clicking the photo link on the right

First of many

2007-05-16T16:52:00.000-07:00

So the other night Kendra and I come home from eating out at My big fat Greek and on our way home we see an accident happen. One car making a left after the light had changed was met by a car running a red head on, then red light runner continues to drive away much to the consternation of the other driver. He sped off after her, which is exactly what i would have done, his was a new Jeep, he didn't even have the plates yet. Hers was a beat up little geo or something and from the brief look I got at her she looked to be a bit anebreated as well. But thats not the pic for this story.

As we pulled into our hood I saw flashing lights coming from our cul-de-sac, Is my house on fire, did Tyson get stuck in a tree again, or did our neighbor flip his Jeep trying to turn it too fast? I was right, he came into the sac at to high of a speed, as he made the turn his foot slipped off the clutch and whammo over he went. He was okay and as he and another neighbor were trying to flip it with their Toyota all the cops in Goodyear came blazing in to save the day. They tried hard to convince the guy he had been drinking, but he told them again and again it was a simple mistake of underestimating the center of gravity to speed ratio that caused the topsy turvy. Anywho all was well, no one was hurt and the entire neighborhood got to hang out in my driveway. Good thing I just vacuumed it.

A Post

2007-03-29T19:56:00.000-07:00

This is not Mark, this is Debbie sitting under strict orders from Mark to post something on his blog. I'm not sure that I can write under so much pressure, I mean it's like Joni Mitchell said on her "Miles of Aisles" tour, you just can't say to Van Gogh, "Hey paint another Stary Night Man!" So I guess that's me saying that I am an artist who needs inspiration to be clever and under this heavy pressure I can't just preform.

One thing I will say is that I am so happy to be here, a friend of mine said recently that I need to be present where I am and enjoy the moment. I am enjoying the moment and the moments. Mark ribbing and bossing me, mornings with Kendra and coffee and raisin toast, our dog Scout chasing their dog Tyson, lunch with my old friends and Wednesday night home group with my new friends. I'm enjoying the moments of answered prayers and small and large miracles, like the recent reversal of Mark's swimmers, the new test that says that he has more than enough. My faith rises to say that Kendra is next to receive and I am not alone in this, I am in a community of the faith filled, the ones my age who have lasted through the trials and the young who are audacious enough to believe with no evidence. I am reunited with a daughter in a new trial and I bring my faith to the challange and I belive in miracles and that old patterns can experience new hope.

One day, in mid-May we'll fly from here to see our other son, our grandson and our Kate and then we will return here to make the drive back to our "real life" in Oregon the first part of June, I will live in those moments too, I'll be "present" and I will give thanks, in the meantime, writing this has won me some time in front of the tv with Mark, Kendra, and Bing, we'll watch the recorded shows we love, we'll decide if we agree with the Idol judges and we'll be present and enjoy this moment.

Hey

2007-03-15T22:29:00.001-07:00

Im 30!!! Get excited

Awesome....

2007-02-15T13:46:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know, Kendra and I have been trying to get pregnant for 1 1/2 years. We recently went to a doctor to get me tested. (by the way that experience was awkward) Today we got the results, I am infertile!!!! that's great news. That's just what i needed to hear, not only was the experience at the doctor emasculating, but now I have no seed. How am i feeling? Hurt, pissed, confused, and piled on with the last posts and other goings on in this ever so fabulous year of 2007, very depressed. Oh but don't loose hope, we get to go back in next week and find out what kinda pills and trials and tests they can do. If any of those are a success then maybe, oooh just maybe they can stick a needle into Kendra's egg and inject it with my steroid and testosterone laden seed, mix it together in a dish, and place it back inside, just the way it was meant to be. I am sorry if I sound overly sarcastic or brash but i have run out of emotions the past month and joy and happy never made it home from news years eve.

Jury Duty

2007-02-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

Some of you may know that i have been on Jury duty since Monday of last week. This is something that i have always wanted to be a part of, I think the system isn't corrupt and placed into the hands of people who are impartial and fair the proper outcome can be reached. The case I was on involved five children, CPS, and the mother. CPS claims that they have given the mother every chance to regain custody of her children, and the only option from here is severance and adoption. I sat through 7 days of testimony and evidence, objections, examinations, cross examinations, opening and closing statements. We as the jury had the case for 6 total hours i believe before we came to a decision. We had to decide on two claims from CPS, if one or both were found to be proven then severance and adoption was the next step. I didn't feel that a co dependant personality was considered a mental illness, 6 others did. We all felt CPS had provided sufficient resources for mother to regain custody of her children. We all felt it is in the children's best interest to no longer be in the care of their mother and at that moment, severed the parental rights of the mother. Today on valentines day I told a mother that she is "mentally ill" and that she is no longer the parent of her five children. My heart breaks for her, her children, and the remaining family on mothers side. For the last three years she has been fighting this, and in a day its over. I always wounder ed what it was like to sit in on a trail. To hear lawyers do their thing, to hear the bailiff tell all to rise as the jury came in and out of the court room. My broken heart is for her, having her children taken away from her. For me, seeing those with kids not take care of them, but not being able to have any of my own. For me, taking away other peoples kids, but not being able to have any of my own. Ask me to judge a thief, ask me to judge a murderer, ask me to judge a drug dealer, but don't ever ask me to take someones children away ever again. I have always wanted to be a part of a trail, no one said it would be easy, but no one said it would be this hard.

Freaking B of A

2007-02-12T20:54:00.000-08:00

Before I have a heart attack i have to get this off my chest and onto the fish wrap which is my blog. I have a bank account in both Arizona and California for reasons I am not quite sure at this point. So maybe two months ago i was using my check card from BoA and noticed that it was scanning off and on and also the three digit code on the back which allows you to make on-line transactions was rubbed off. I had then made the decision to call BoA and order a new card. So begins my ulcer trail. First off you cannot call the number on the back of your card from your Arizona account and expect to talk to a rep concerning your California account. So, after trying to go through all the right automated channels I finally spoke to a breathing person, I ordered a new card with them and hung up the phone. A week later I received my new card, called the activation number and began using my new card. After trying to make a purchase with my AZ that was declined i had Kendra look the balance up online, -400$. I was having a hard time figuring this out and had her look at all the recent transactions. She started naming them off and as she went through them i noticed something odd, they were all to Home Depot and Lowes, and other establishment of that nature. Well it was queer to me because those were all purchases I was making with my newly ordered CA card. Well using my awesome sleuthing skills i compared the numbers on both cards and, you guessed it Watson, identical!! So to sum up so far, old card dead, new card ordered, new card received, used, overdrawn, sleuthed.

Haha funny i thought. Called BoA and ordered the "right card." Made sure to verify the card number to make sure "we" didnt make the same mistake again, and also verified the address. Then I waited, three weeks passed and still no card. So i called again, verified the card number again and also the address and hung up. Waited another 8 days, no card. So lets sum up. Old bad, new bad, ordered not received, ordered not received.

Haha pissed. Called BoA tonight. Talked to the rep in my ever so restrained I am going to burn the place down voice, and explained my predicament. She told me that she only has on record the time i got the new bad card (AZ), and the most recent time i ordered the new card, (#2 must have been lost on the freaking Tandy computers that they seem to be using at the call center). So I convinced her to send me a new one, again verified the number on the address. Wait what? Can you repeat that? No my address is not on Mason Street in Santa Barbara!!! I haven't lived there in almost 4 years. So i asked her to explain to me why i have been receiving monthly statements for my AZ account, my CA account and our BoA credit card but for some (earmuffs) reason the address "tied" to my debit card is my old place on Mason. She had no logical explanation for me and her, "I understand, I am sorry we will get a new card out to you right away" was certainly falling on deaf ears. I wanted to scream into the phone so loud her mother went blind. How is that freaking possible? So now i have to wait until next wed to get my new card because it gets shipped this wed, thu fri tue wed (monday is a bank holiday), just my luck right? So lets sum up.

Bad card, new bad, re ordered (3)x, wrong address, two weeks. If i don't get the card on wed in two weeks i am closing all my accounts and STRONGLY encouraging everyone in my path to do the same. The only redeeming factor is we have a friend at BoA who helps us in resolving all the overdraft fees. Oh and by the way BoA is an acronym for Bunch of (earmuffs)

New 1955 Willys Custom!!!!

2007-02-02T16:15:00.000-08:00

I want that!!!

2007-01-09T21:57:00.000-08:00

WOW

What I did in the last 4 months.

2007-01-08T16:05:00.000-08:00

Took pictures of baby Hailey

Met Flipper.

2007-01-08T15:48:00.000-08:00

Got 2nd place in 80s night at the Main Squeeze.

2007-01-08T15:42:00.000-08:00

I got my hair cut.

2007-01-08T15:38:00.000-08:00

I looked at flowers.

2007-01-08T15:37:00.001-08:00

I took engagement photos for Lina and Jose

2007-01-08T15:35:00.000-08:00

I went to antartica

2007-01-08T15:32:00.000-08:00

Finally got back in the water.

2007-01-08T15:23:00.000-08:00

Oh so sorry

2006-11-08T18:25:00.000-08:00

Please forgive the spelling errors, for some reason my spell check isnt wroking. Sorry Mom.

I have realized that i have been seriously lacking in my posts. Fortunatly i havent been taken from james link list quite yet, so i figure now is a good time to get some news out there. Things have been kinda the same around here, just cranked up to 11. I am working 60+ hours a week, which is good at the end of the week when i get my paycheck, but lately the "end of the week" really doesnt exist. For the first time in a long time i worked on a sunday. Uhhhhh, not on a sunday! Yes, it was my own decision, i really needed to get some things done before an inspection, and sunday after church was the only time i could get er done. Kendra is working like crazy as well. They just had their founders day yearly celebration and K was getting as much done out there as she could. She just recently had a review at her job and they relized how awesome she is and made her the "head" or "lead" at the welcome center. It will translate into a nice bonus at the end of the year, and also a pay raise. She is great at whatever she does, she has an awsome work ethic, rarely if ever takes a day off, she is always haveing to cut out early because she has so much "gone fishing" time stacked up. I am so proud of her and all that she has accomplished. Her hip hop class in Verrado with the kids is going good, she had a performance at the Founders Day Main Sqeeze varatiy show, and the kids did great. you should have seen K in the front row, coaching her kids in the moves. Speaking of Founders Day, the band Train (drops of jupiter, meet verginia) played at the event, I had good seats from my Main Squeeze booth. Josh and I were serving all sorts of colada smoothies and having a great time haming it up for the smoothie patrons. Church is cranked up as well. K and I have our respective groups on wednesday and thursday, then everyother tuesday one of us has a meeting. We are finding it hard to find time for eachother between work and church, but we will find a balance and catch up to this season in our life.

Oh here is a story for you. The other week K calls me at work and says hey do you want to go to a soccer game tonight. Heck yes I do. It was haloween night and after we helped out at the Harvest part for church we went to the new Cardnals stadium to take in the futbol game. Now when K called me she said "do you want to got to a club usa v. chivas de gudalajara soccer game. Club USA, nice I was thinking I was going to get a preview of some up and coming american soccer players poised to make the national team. We were going to be in box seats, and for my first time at the new stadium that wasnt such a bad deal. We get the and i noticed that everyone around us had their respective teams jersies on, none of which said USA on them anywhere. I also noticed the anouncments about parking, what you can take into the arena, and saftey were all in spanish. No I know Chivas is a team from Mexico, but hey, where is the American representation here! Well as we met up with Liz (the ticket holder) she informed me that it was a Chivas v. Club America game, which in Mexico is a gynormos rivalry. Club America has the word America but all other american ties ends there. So now it all made since, the jersies, the painted faces, and the mexican wrestling masks, we were in for a treat. This was my first real live "international" soccer game, and I told K as we were going in that she was in for some fun. I told her that all the soccer games she had seen in the past will pale in comparison to what we were about to witness. 60 drunk USA fans cramed into a small pub off state street has nothing on a stadium filled with pasionate futbol fans. As we were walking in we had just missed the first goal, but you could feel it. The sound was intense, and it didn't stop from there. On our way to our box we were side tracked by Liz's hook up there at the stadium and she told us it was "dead" over in our box and to follow her to another box. We made our way around and entered another box with about 10 people, eating and drinking, enjoying the game. I shook the hand of the man of the house and took my seat. The stadium is amazing, with the retractible roof open and the mild fall air, the sound of the horns and the sea of red and yellow jersies, nice. I learned that the field that the players were on actually retracts outside to reviel a concreet pad undernieth to acomidate concerts and other events that dont require a field. I learned all these things about the staduim from the CEO and Presadent of Cardnals stadium, we had been escorted to the owners box. Now if thats not the sweetest way to watch a game. He insisted we eat and have a beer, one of the nicest multy millonares i have ever met.

Well family and friends, i am not going to offer another empty promise of weekly posts, but i will do my best to get info out a whole lot faster. Oh and by the way, there are some new Name that House pics on my flicker site and I expect to see some comments on them asap. Listen to me, asking to hear comments when i take weeks to post, so selfish. Love you all

A bit like my Dad

2006-10-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

Kendra got these two chicken coop doors from her mother and they were sitting around the house. I came home the other day and got this idea on what to do with them. I think it came out nice, what do you think?

Another New Toy

2006-10-12T21:09:00.000-07:00

This is m new 20" iMac that i got in a going out of buisness sale at CompUSA. Nice...Also taken with my new 8meg Canon Digital Rebel......Nice

Another Photo Update

2006-09-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

Take a look at the photo link to the right to see pictures from the wedding and our trip to Santa Barbara. Thanks for looking!

Oregon Pics

2006-09-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

To see the pics from orgon click on the photo link to the right.

Oregon 1

2006-09-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

The first day got off to a great start. My dad and i got up at 5am and met Doug and Jamie down at the launch to get out on the river and start slaying the fish. We pulled up to the river, (I can not give up the fishing holes), Doug set all the poles and we waited. The boat on the inside of us caught a fish and after they got theirs in the boat, and Doug was starting to poke some fun because of the color and size, one of the poles in our boat started going off, quickly we all came to attention, Bing Jamie, and myself all grabbed the poles that didn't have fish so we could get them out of the water and out of the way. Doug set the hook on the fish and handed the pole over to me, my first fish of the season, nice. It gave a nice fight, made a few runs after getting to the boat, but after maybe 10 min tops, I had it in line for Doug's net and got it in the boat. I was just happy to get one on after hearing that the season was going a bit slow before I had arrived, I take no credit for the amount of fish caught that day, but it was a good day after weeks of not so good. We didn't get any bites after that so decided to call it a day, when we got back to the launch there was a biologist there and he took the stats of the fish. 42inches and 37 pounds, longest one he had seen all season.

After fishing I went to hang out with my cousins Chantelle and Crystal down by the river, much like we did as kids. After sitting in the camper for a while and taking turns asking when we were going fishing, Luke (Chantelles boyfriend) and myself went down one of the inlets and tried our hand at trout fishing. I was using worms and I caught 1 sucker, and 1 perch. Luke on the other hand was fly fishing, and he didn't catch anything, but watching him was like watching A River Runs Through It all over again. Fly fishing brings a peace and poetry to fishing that I had never thought of. But i still caught more then Luke! After fishing again i went back to Mom and Dads, hung out, went for a walk, and visited with some of their friends.

So after day one, I had a great time fishing, thanks to my guide the River Raider and his sweet new boat. i got back to my roots pulling suckers out of the creeks and passing time. But the best part was getting to just sit. Sit with cousins, aunts ,uncles ,parents, and friends, and watch the river flow by, just like it did when I was a kid.

I will add pics to go with the stories tomorrow, please stay tuned.

Soul2Soul

2006-08-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

That is Tim on the left and Faith on the right. This is the first song of the night and they popped up out of the floor, never turning to look at each other. They actually didn't look at each other till the end of the night, kinda building to the last song which was very close.

Breath of Fresh Air

2006-08-30T22:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Kendra, Tim, and Shauntelle, and I went to the Tim and Faith Soul2Soul tour. It was a great concert, not only are both Tim and Faith easy on the eyes, they both sounded great live. They started out with their smash duet "Like we never loved at all". Then Faith took the stage for an hour, singing her hits from years past to her new song Sunshine and Summertime. Then Tim came out and rocked the place a bit more. After he was on stage for an hour Faith came back out and they did some more duets. Mostly stuff I hadn't heard before, but i was really cool seeing them interact together on such a grand stage. Knowing that they are married and able to go on tour together and produce such an awesome sound, i cant imagine how that feels for the both of them. They ended the night with yet another duet i hadn't heard before, the were sitting on two chairs in the middle of the stage facing one another, one mic between them, they took turns singing. It was a very intimate song, and could have been seen as a bit awkward to watch, but you could really feel the love they had for each other, and their music as well. It was really a breath of fresh air, I have been put off by music recently on TV because you see all of these teen icon sorts, lip syncing their songs, paying more attention to the latest dance moves then to doing what got them to that point and singing. Music now days is more about the right image and less and less about actually being able to sing. Reminds me a lot of Milli Vanilli, but now it just seems to be the norm. As U2's Bono put it when on stage at SNL after the "Ashley Vanilli" episode, LIVE LIVE LIVE LIVE!!!!! If you aren't going to sing, then don't put on a silly headset mic and pretend you are, just be a backup dancer to someone who really can sing. Thank you Tim and Faith for restoring my Hope in some of the music of today.

The Dodger have won 11!!

2006-08-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

And the Raiders won their first preseason game. All is right with the world.

Arachnids

2006-07-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

These two were taken at the hospital before the IV, this was the worst of it.

Arachnids

2006-07-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

Okay the first pic is my left arm, I had an I.V. at the hospital. A cocktail of antibiotics, steroids, and pepcid. Tour de France here I come. The right arm is the infected one, the redness is celulitis, the swelling had progressed passed my elbow, and the infection was making it's way down, and for that matter up my arm. I still don't know what bit me but it did a good job. I never got a fever or sharp pains. They sent me home with pills for infections, some more steroids, and some pepcid (benadryl). The swelling has gone down almost all the way, still some redness but the steroids and antis should take care of that.

So lets recap the injury's I have had. Surfing cut my leg, got bit on the knee by a spyder, got bit on the arm by?, blew out the tip of my finger playing softball, broken nose (2), carrot, if you can think of any others, feel free to let everyone know. Thank you all for your concern, I hope this makes you laugh, I know JR did. Love you all. Oh and by the way, after she put the needle in for the IV i lost all color in my face and my wife and the nurse were snickering at me. First guy with a mohawk to pass out from an IV!!! good times

Interactive

2006-07-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

Hello all, I hope all is well with the lot of ya. I have come up with a new game for all of us, to bring back some fond, or humorous memories. If you click on the "More Photos" link you will then see two photo albums. One contains pictures of homes we all lived in in Santa Barbara, the other contains pics of basketball courts we played on at one time or another. Here is the thing, I want you to first tell us all who lived in the house, then share a funny, fond, or moving story about a time you spent in the house. With name that court alls you have to do is tell me the place, street or school that the court is on/in. Got it? I am excited to hear what you all have to say, and new houses and courts will be posted at random so keep checking back. Thanks to all of you and we love you guts.

Sleep Baby Sleep

2006-06-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

Family

2006-06-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

This past week K and I were in Indianapolis at JR and Kates house. We had the most amazing time getting to know Finn, my nephew. He is a perfect little boy, crys when he is hungry and when he needs some changing, which I didn't have to do while I was there, but just hangs out the rest of the time. It is an amazing feeling to hold a child, a baby, but I never knew how it felt to hold one so close to me. Finn and I had a chance to bond quite a bit, and now I miss him madly. While I was there I got a chance to do some work around their house, I added some power out to their garage and a phone in the office. JR, my father, and I spent a few days remodeling the back porch, we took out the walls and made it more into a deck for summer sitting and fire-fly watching. It was fun working with the both of them.

I was excited to see my brother in his new life. The house was awesome, much bigger than the pictures lead to believe. The attic project will make the living space 2x bigger and will add room to grow for their family. Kate has done a great job of making the house a reflection of the both of them. I got to watch the first US soccer game at a cool bar in the down town area of Fountain Square with JR, and the experience was not overshadowed by the loss. As we toured the areas important to Kate and JR I began to realize why they were there. I know that JR made the move east for Kate and partly for himself, but I was worried for him. I know that having a friend in your spouse can bring you through a lot of things, but having community is extremely important. I had my wife with me in San Diego, but outside of the family we had there, we had no friends, and we didn't survive there. JR and Kate have some amazing friends there, the most important thing I brought back with me. I now know that they will be fine, with the community, and that means the most to me.

My parents came a few days into the trip and seeing them with Finn was awesome. Their first grandchild, and their two sons with their beautiful wives. I know that they are proud of both of us. I couldn't picture a life like this when we lived in Solvang, but I know God could, and I know that its through Him that we are all in the places we are now. We spent a day at Kates parents house up at the lake. We took the pontoon boat out for a spin, docked at a restaurant and ate while the sun went down. I made a fireworks purchase earlier in the day and I couldn't wait to set them off. As soon as we got back to the house I brought them down and my bro and I set up at both ends of the U shaped dock and fired away, not five minutes into it though, God decided to laugh at us. First it was some distant lightning and thunder, but that quickly led into wind that knocked our sparklers over, and then some thick heavy rain that basically put them out and sent us running up the stairs to the cover of the house. During our stay there I had the pleasure of getting my pride handed to me yet again by my father, and brother, and Tom (father in law). We had a round of golf, keep in mind I play more than all of them, I live in golf Mecca. My father won, he plays once a year at the most, then Tom then JR, I stopped keeping score for myself at hole 11. My first shot was the best of the day, a drive smack down the middle of the fairway. I was the only one on that hole to be playing the proper fairway, all three of them were deciding to take a short route and cut across the 17th hole. All down hill from there but when it counted I outdrove my bro. Stickin it to him when I can. Then a few days later we played frolf (Frisbee golf), again I was doing good with the drive but my short game sucks tar off boat bottoms. And I stepped on a bee. Whatever.

I had a wonderful time getting to know Kate JR and Finn in their life in Indy. It was an honor to be with my family and to welcome the next generation of the Rohl clan into the world. I am happy for my brother and Kate. I am happy for my parents, proud grandparents. And I am better for making the trip and meeting the people of Fountain Square who have taken my brother in and befriended him. Thank you guys for everything.

I Have A nephew

2006-06-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

Check him out here.

New Link

2006-05-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

Hey guys check out the new link to your right labled more photos, it takes you to another place i have photos loaded.

Pedro Gonzales

2006-05-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

Sedona

2006-05-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

Kendra and I took a weekend trip two hours north to Sedona two weeks ago. I needed to recharge after working an unGodly amount, plus we just needed to get away from it all and be together. We booked a room in the Super 8, if you know our honeymoon story you know how we feel about motels. The drive up was nice, watching the landscape go from desert, to hills, cactus as far as the eye could see, and then there we were, red rock everywhere. I can only imagine what the grand canyon must look like, driving into the valley where Sedona is Kendra made the comment, "people who have never been to the Grand Canyon must think this is it." It is a small mini Grand Canyon, the cliffs and trees, red rock and water had a calm that was very inviting. As soon as we got there I saw a neon green sign on the side of the road, something something sale hand written on it, so I wiped around and we went to our first yard sale in Sedona. Kendra and I used to do it all the time in SB but haven't had much opportunity in Goodyear, and figured we would start our relaxing trip doing relaxing things. We also soon found out that the prices in SB are very near the prices in Sedona as far as yard sales go. Moving on we found this cool shopping area tucked away down by the creek side, it had lots of fancy shops and high priced art but the buildings and landscape made for some great pictures and hand holding. Check in wasn't for a few more hours so we stopped and asked a few questions about local hikes, you can do anywhere from short mile hikes to overnight stays. We found one we wanted to do, paid our 5 dollar fee and started up a dirt road to the trail head. On our way we stopped a man driving a pink jeep and asked if our altima would make it on the dirt road, "is it a rental?" I told him no and he said I would have to take it slow. It was about five miles to the first trail head we saw and we decided to stop and get out. The one we were hoping to get to was another 10 miles down the road, and at a bumpy dusty crawl of 10 mph we opted out of the hour long drive. The hike was a "moderate" two mile round tripper. It was great to get out, I have done a few hikes in the White Tank mounts in Verado, and was up for the challenge. Half way up you have to sign and date a book so if you get lost they know when you were there. I learned that I need to take more water on hikes with me, and that Kendra can hike with the best of them. We almost missed the whole point of the hike, Devils bridge is what its called, and as we neared the top there is a fork in the path, we took the one to the right which takes you up a steep incline, and onto a plateau overlooking the valley below. (see pic of me and K below)After spending a few min catching our breath and enjoying the view we started to head back down the trail. I thought to myself, why would they call it Devils Bridge if there wasn't anything resembling a bridge anywhere around. Then as we reached that same fork I thought, hmmmm lets just take a look around this corner, (and it really was just right around the corner), Devils Bridge. Nice, we almost missed the whole purpose of the DB hike by taking the high road, since when did the high road become the wrong road?

After getting back into the car and making the dusty ride back to town we checked into out hotel room, changed and hit the pool. There we were, just the two of us, I took a quick dip and then laid down with my feet in the water. I woke up an hour later and smiled, garage sale-hand holding-hiking-quick dip-sleep and sun, I was happy. We cleaned up and searched for somewhere to eat, that somewhere was back at the shopping area described before, some good food, conversation, I lost my sunglasses, and then back to bed so we could rest up for the adventure that was to come.

The next day we got up early and asked the front desk where would be a good place to go. Jerome she said. Jerome is an old mining town set on a hill side above the Sedona valley. Complete with mine shafts, a bit of a ghost town, and a ton of history. We spent most of the day walking the hilly streets enjoying the day and sights. Buildings half decrepit make great pictures. Some of the more historic buildings have placards out front telling of their past, old hotels twice burned down, two story building facades were all that remained. A building for women of "ill repute" was a block off the main street, with "husbands alley" leading down to it. Some of them had been purchased and refurbished, like the old theater that once played silent movies. It reminded me of the theater in Claskanie that my mom dreams of reawakening and what that might look like. The hotel that burned down was a two story hole in the ground with an ornate fence in the front. The new owner was taking up collections for the rebuilding of it and had trash cans and buckets set on the basement floor so passers buy could test their aim and help rebuild history a penny at a time. As I was reading the history on it an old man and his wife were trying their hand at tossing change into the outhouse toilet, the man threw his coin, it bounced off the fence and right down his wife's shirt, the look on her face as he reached to retrieve it, right there on the street, was priceless. After a sufficient amount of walking we made our way back to the car and were heading out when a sign that read, Ghost Town --->, caught our eye. We headed up the road to the old mining shaft now turned gift shop and paid our two dollars to tour the grounds. (see pics below)

It takes moments like this to recharge and reconnect. Kendra and I are doing great, both very busy in our respective jobs. Kendra is showing the DMB (Verado) head hanchos she works for, how lucky they are to have her. They needed a way to attract people to the welcome center where she works after the model homes have been moved out of the down town area because phase two is starting soon. She purposed that they get a trolley and give tours of the area, homes and future resort location that ended at the welcome center, they ate it up and she has written the script for it and will be giving the tours starting next Saturday. She has also heard from a few mothers of small children around Verado that want their kids to be in dance classes but there just isn't anyone giving them. Hello! Kendra placed an add on the community web page and has received several responses already. Can you imagine, Kendra teaching dance to children? I am so proud of her for how she has stepped out in the last year, she is so smart and talented, and it's amazing to see how God is using her where she is at.

Scroll down to view some of the pics from the weekend. Love you all.

Jerome Junk

2006-05-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

Kendra took this one. This was an old mining spot in the hills above Sedona and Cottonwood. It has been turned into a "ghost town." I loved this place for all the photo ops there were, it has been turned into more of a graveyard for cars and trucks than anything else, you can see the old mine shaft where they dug for gold and copper, there are shacks and lean-to's set up with authentic items from the time period. But I was more into the trucks, thanks to my father. There were all kinds there, and in all states of life and scrap. Studebakers that I have never seen before, and I have seen a lot based on my fathers interest in them, and my searches for all things Studebaker for him. We will have to devote a whole day, maybe two, next time my parents come, to letting my father wonder around his heavenly waste land. Pedro Gonzales Gonzales Gonzales was there greeting all the guests, near the saw mill that had been placed years after the miners had gone. This area is by far my favorite place I have explored here in AZ. I have yet to make it to the real ghost towns, the grand canyon, and camping in flagstaff, but this, this is number one.

Jerome Junk

2006-05-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

Cool shopping area in Sedona

2006-05-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

Walking through this place I could only think of Old Peseo in Santa Barbara, this was our first stop coming into Sedona, the weather was nice, it was great to get out of the city, and even more amazing to see trees and water.

A little shop on the edge of Sedona

2006-05-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

This was a cool little shop when you first come into Sedona. If you look close you can see Kyle playing the guitar.

On a hike to Devils bridge

2006-05-19T15:40:00.000-07:00

I set the camera up on a small branch and as the shutter clicked the camera moved ever so slightly. I didn't think I would make it in time but I did. What a beautiful area.