Bring On 2007.

No long soliloquies today,
just one simple wish,
a better
New Year
than last.

Happy New Years!

Our Anniversary.

Christa and I were married sixteen years ago today at St. Micheal's Lutheran Church in Reno. The Church was beautifully decorated with poinsettias and evergreens for the Christmas season. Our favorite time of the year was from Halloween through New Years with its deep reds, golds, and greens.

I still remember seeing her for the first time in her wedding dress. She was stunning. I had such a feeling of pride that a women this lovely had chosen me. We had found each other and were stronger together than we could ever be apart.

It was a simple service, attended by those people most important in our lives. To top it all off, when the service was over we walked out of the church and there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. Perfect.

Christa, I love you and miss you.
Happy Anniversary.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Happy Birthday Christa.

For those who don't know, today is Christa's Birthday. Today wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. This does not mean in any way that it was easy. We, as a family, talked about Christa more today than we have in a while. Difficult, but good.

Rowen decided we needed to get Christa a birthday cake. I reminded him that if we did it did not mean that Christa would be joining us. He asked if she would have cake in Heaven and I assured him that she would have a wonderful cake with ice cream on top.

I spoke with the children about lighting a candle for Christa on her Birthday. How this act says that we remember her and miss her greatly. I think they understand and overtime will find this act comforting.









Happy Birthday my love.

Peace and Long Memories,
Marty

Merry Christmas and Thank You.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season. I want to thank everyone who has helped my family and me through what has been the most difficult year of our lives. Each of you should be so proud of the way that you of have gone above and beyond for us. I am humbled. You each have shown that you understand what Christmas is truly about,
"It is better to give than to receive".
You have given us the best gift of all, a gift of the heart.

So to all of you I say thank you and my the peace that is Christmas come to you and be with you for the rest of your lives.

Peace and Christmas Cheers,
Marty

And More Funny Stuff.

Picture Time Again.

These are photos that my Mom took when she and my Dad were here for Eilish's 10th birthday.
Part of the fun in posting these is that I then get to comment on them.
I hope you enjoy.

So these are my three little "angels".

Starting at the right, could someone tell me what that look on Rowen's face means.
I have my thoughts.

Doesn't Eilish look nice in the dress she picked out for her Birthday outfit?

Yes, that is a hole in Elora's jeans. No, that is not her best pair of jeans. Yes, they may be her favorite pair of jeans. No, I didn't know she blew the knee out until I saw the picture.

Please Papa Robert please. We promise to blah blah blah blah blah.
Or
Help me! I'm being mugged by three of Santa's elves who have entered the country illegally.

And last but not least, this handsome, young man is sporting his new "Warriors in Pink" t-shirt and looking rather dapper.

I'll try to post again later.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Need I Say More?

A Series Of Unfortunate Events Or Someone "Upstairs" Is Having A Good Laugh.

Today was the perfect cure for writers block. I consider myself lucky to have made it through in one piece. Let's start at the beginning.

Rowen was the first up this morning. He came into my room around 8 am which is late for him. He crawled into my bed and was still for about ten minutes. Then Eilish came in and he decided it was time to play. This is how are Sunday mornings usually are. We woke up Elora and decided to go get breakfast. After eating, we went over to Kohl's to get a small gift for Amber because the kids were going to spend the afternoon over there while I went to work.

On the way home I clipped the curb at an intersection and blew out my tire. I was able to pull into a parking lot and the give the kids their first lesson for changing a flat tire. I was still in a good mood and able to keep the really "colorful" language to a minimum.

We got home and I made the kids some lunch which two out of three ate. Anymore, if I can get two out of three to eat, I'm doing pretty good. Everyone finished and it was time to get ready to take them to "Saint Shelly's" and then head into work.

I went into my room to change my pants because the pair I had on were a little grungy after having changed the tire. I grabbed my favorite pair of cargo pants, pulled them on, zipped them up, and the zipper gave out on them. I know there are plenty of jokes to be made a this point, I even thought about them myself. Then I thought, "I hope this isn't one of those bouts of bad luck that comes in threes".

As we are headed out the door, I remembered that I didn't have my cell phone. I looked in all the usual spots and didn't find it. "Where did I leave the stupid thing." This is where the little light bulb turns on in my head, because I knew exactly where it was. I went down to laundry room, opened the washer, grabbed the pants I thrown in the wash because they were covered with tire dirt, and pulled my phone out of the pocket. I killed another one.

Now your thinking, well at least that is three, at least the "curse" is broken. HaHa. I had been at work for about fifteen minutes when, as if the bad mojo had to get one more little jab in, I picked up a pen to write some notes and it bleed ink all over my hand.

I really feel lucky to have mad it through the day without seriously hurting myself. Not to say that I won't feel some aches and pains from changing the tire this morning.

So how was your day?

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Snow Funny.

Blogger Having Issues

I have had a couple people email me that they were not able to post comments. I checked the homepage for blogger and they say they have fixed the problem.

I will try to post tomorrow. I'm suffering from a bout of writers block or at least I can't think of anything interesting. Blog you soon.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Holiday Fun

Dinner with Dr Mehr.

We had and interesting evening. I went to pick up the girls at school and ran into Dr. Mehr, the art teacher at Lee. She invited us over to her house for dinner. So after we picked up Rowen and ran a couple errands, we went over and broke bread with her and Eilish's second grade teacher, whom I won't even try to spell her name as I know I will mangle it. She is living the military wife life now. Dinner was really nice and the company was great. We finally got home around 9 pm.

I was able to show Dr. Mehr three of Christa's pictures that I just got framed. She, along with the guys who framed them, seemed to be pretty impressed. Once I get them hung I'll take some pictures and post them for all to see. They turned out really nice.

I got nothing done at home that needed to. So I guess I will spend part of my day off tomorrow doing housework. O joy O joy. Gotta go.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Winter Humor.

Considering 2007.

I was looking for something in the computer and came across my "Goals for 2006" file. The good news is I only need to change a couple as many still apply and need to be accomplished. Here is the list:

Goals For 2006

Live within our budget.

Plan meals in advance. Healthy and within our budget.

Get rid of the clutter. Live simple.

Set direct payments to avoid being late.

Finish incomplete home repair projects. Finish organizing the garage.

Start having “dates” without the children

Catch up on photo albums.

Exercise program.

Start attending church as a family.

Keep up on the kids doing their choirs.

Organize the two downstairs rooms. Set up studio. Get rid of all extra furniture and stuff.

Organize all paperwork.

Make all legal preparations needed.

Get “cable”.

Big Goal:

Start small business

I didn't get much done on this list. I'm going to have to make a much better attempt at achieving the goals I set for 2007.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

More Funnies.

Nice Words About Christa.

I got this email from one of Christa's friends that she worked with at the University. I think everyone who knew Christa will find this story interesting.

I enjoyed working with Christa immensely at the Extension office. I
can only imagine the countless deep conversations you two must have
had based on the few that we had. There is one conversation in
particular that for whatever reason has always been a source of
comfort for me. After a friend of mine had passed away in a car
accident I was lamenting with Christa about my frustrations with bad
things happening to such good people. We touched on the subject of
religion. I explained that while I believed in a higher being, I was
not well versed in the area since I did not grow up going to
church. My mother could never find a church in our very small
community that met her expectations so we missed out on that
opportunity. Unfortunately, this makes it harder rather than easier
to find comfort with the powers that be when trying things happen.
Essentially, my faith is tried. I asked the age old question to her,
"If there is a God, why does he allow such bad things to happen to
such good people?" She told me of a religious studies course she'd
taken and they had similar discussions and one explanation that had
come up was that, "An all-loving God, does not interfere." For
whatever reason, it was the best explanation I'd ever heard even in
it's simplicity and vagueness.

During my senior year in college my 17 year old brother, Chris, was
killed in a car accident a few days after Christmas in 2003. At a
time when the popular explanation, "everything happens for a reason,"
just wouldn't suffice, Christa's offerings during that one
conversation stood as a great source of comfort. When I returned to
work I remember Christa asking me how I was because she said she knew
how I looked at things in times of tragedy such as this. I was able
to to discuss my grief comfortably with her a couple of times when I
couldn't with others.

I just wanted to share with you how Christa touched my life in a way
that will stay with me always. My own mother even enjoyed hearing
about that exchange that enlightened me in her own grief.

As I have always said Christa may not have been a religious person but she was definitely a spiritual person.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Spreading The Christmas Spirit.

My mother has been sending me some very "interesting" things to help bolster my Christmas Spirit. She is worried about me.

I've decided to share these little gems with everyone. If they are old news to some, I apologize. I thought they were pretty funny.

What ever you do, do not click on the following link. If you do, don't say I didn't warn you.
White Christmas

Peace and Holiday Cheer,
Marty

Picture Time.

My mom took these pictures while she was here over the Thanksgiving holiday. The first one is of Rowen relaxing in his superhero sanctuary. I'm going to buy one of those shoe holders that you hang on the back of the door to put all his superhero action figures in. It should look pretty cool.

This next picture is us putting up the new Christmas tree. It fits perfect without having to completely reorganizing the furniture. Christa woulld have really liked this tree.

And last but not least, let's meet the design team; Eilish, Elora, and Rowen. This season of Christmas decorating wasn't near as tramatic as past seasons have been.

I hope this Advent prepares you the peace that Christmas is.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow.

Is there a better way to start December than with fourteen inches of snow on the ground? I think not. I finally got the car dug out today, so in celebration we went and saw Deck the Halls at the movie theater. My suggestion is save your money and watch it on television next year. On the way home we stopped at WallyWorld to buy provisions. Seeing that we have been snow bound for two days, actually one and half but who is counting, we were starting to run low the staples like instant oatmeal.

Only two girls from Eilish's gymnastics team made it two St Louis. Their families drove over the night before. The other twelve girls, and their coaches, were snowed in in Columbia. I-70 was shut down most of yesterday. One of the families that made the meet, didn't get back until 6pm today.

Christa's parents are coming to Columbia for Christmas. They will be here from the 19th through the 26th. Christa's mom has been attending the Episcopal church in Carson City. I thought I might see if she wants to attend mid-night mass while she is her. That is if we can work out the logistics of childcare for it.

I hope everyone is well and survived the first assault of Old Man Winter. Anyone want to put money on how long it takes one of the "talking heads" to say that this proves there is no global warming?

I think I've picked up a head cold so I'm going to bed. Going to have to thank the kids for that tomorrow.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty