Oh, What a Tangled World Wide Web We Weave

I apologize up front to those millions of Stumpy Faithful. However, my hands are tied. I have been unfairly maligned over on his blog and decided to reveal the truth. Yes, what you are seeing is the original photo. I had removed Stumpy to protect his reputation, but now it is clear. I HAD to pose for that praying photo. You can see I had no choice! I am not sure what his flock did to the photo after I posted it last week, but it is a forgery. He that hath ears, let him hear.

Got a Streak Going

Well, I've been posting pretty much daily. Why should today be any different? We saw Charlie Wilson's War today. Fun, but too much nudity and cursing. Yeah, it was like a weekend at Keith's place.


When we were at the zoo yesterday, I found this sign by the bathrooms. It was kinda weird, so I captured a photo to share with all of you. Don't you wish you could have known Arlene? Do you always go before you went (whatever that means)? She did.


Then, last night, Bella decided the cushions on the fireplace would make a fine bed. She was playing sleep for us, so I got some shots. Yup...add another 13 or so to her total.

Zoo During the Light, not Zoolights

Well, we went to the zoo today. It was a little cool,. but the zoo was cool, too, so it worked out. It was weird to actually WANT to sit in the sun in PHX. Nana and Bella rode the carousel. Bella chose the hummingbird to sit on. By the way, this added another 8 photos to her total. Kendall only added 1 more. Still, Kendall is ahead of Bella's pace. She has 168 pictures in 18 days. It took Bella 2 months and 10 days to get there. Just think how many their NEXT baby will get.


The tiger was catching a drink while we were there. No, wait, I was going to say this is our kitty and that we had been feeding her too much lately. Too late now, I guess.


We think maybe we saw Stumpy there. After all, he never seems to post anymore. I hope this means he has some new inspiration.

Father Knows Best (Family, too)

Man, I hate it when everybody else is right and I'm wrong. We had a discussion last night about my photo taking, specifically about how many I had taken of Isabella in the last 21 months. What do you think? Is it over 1000 or under?


Well, they were right. It is over 1000. I thought I might be in trouble when they pointed out that Bella is over 21 months. The current count is 1325. (This includes photos from Keith, Dad and Rick on vacation and some from Lyndsay throughout the past 2 years. Still, my own count exceeds 1000.)


As for Kendall, she is less than 3 weeks old. So, I don't have quite as many...yet. Her current number of photos is 167. This is the first look we got at her 20 minutes after she was born.

Zoolights

Well, a bunch of us (except Lyndsay. Get well soon!) went to Zoolights. It was Kendall's first trip.


Here is the walk of lights with the lights timed to follow the music. Cool, man. However, I thought it was not quite as good as past years.


Here are the same lights after we took Mom's Magic Medicine. Yeah hah!


And finally, an artsy shot. I knew I took the tripod for some reason.

Christmas Snaps (Not the Finger nor Ginger Type)

Well, here Bella and I are kissing Kendall. OK, this was not really today. It was yesterday, but I didn't post it yet. They came by our house for a visit.







Now this was on Christmas. And this wasn't even everything. And this is also just Isabella's gift stack. I'll get to the upstairs gifts, and the car later. Merry Christmas.

The Wedding Photographer

Well, I have finished my first wedding as the official photographer. Congratulations, Paul and Kari. May God bless you and your marriage.

By the way, way to go, Preacher Bro. Driving in and then having to return 7 hours to home after the ceremony for church is above and beyond the call of reverend duty.

Opening Presents Tonight

We are opening gifts with Kyle, Lyndsay, Bella and Kendall tonight. So, I decided we needed a tree in the blog. Here is their family in a photo tree.

No job offers this week. I did submit my resume to one company and one church.

I should be back before then, but if not, I hope each of you has a happy and Blessed Christmas.

Kendall Came By

Kendall came by today and spent some time. At first, I thought it was Minnie Mouse....


Later on, I realized it was Kendall all wrapped up to stay warm. After all, it only got up to 64 today.


Oh yeah. Kyle, Lyndsay and Bella were here, too. Bella and someone stayed outside throwing the ball to Morris all afternoon. She loves to be outdoors. Hmm, I think she may end up a Ouray lover like the rest of us.

Well, Interview Sometime

It seems holiday absences are interfering with scheduling an interview with CGI. I am waiting on them right now.

In other news, I did actually submit my resume to a church for a Music/Worship job. Wow! That is much scarier than applying in my profession of the last 30 years. And it is not even at Preacher Bro's church.

In other other news, Bella is spending the night Friday. Then, she stays with us until the wedding. What wedding? Well, I'm SURE that Paul blogged about it. No?!? Weird. Maybe he can do like Kyle and get his bride to assume the update duties.

Finally, thanks for the birthday wishes. It was a nice day.

Interview Soon

CGI will schedule an interview with me this week. I am also going to talk to Laveen Baptist Church (I think) about a Music/Worship position. What can I say? I don't know where God is leading me right now. Keep praying.

Job Search Prayers

I had a phone screen interview this evening for a company based here in PHX. She said they will have an office interview scheduled soon. Keep this opportunity in your prayers. I want to be in the position God chooses and not take one just because it is offered.

And Then There Were Three

What? I thought you said they had a second daughter so there are four of them. Yup, I did. I was talking about how many are sleeping here at my house now . Just Kathie, Alison and I. Bella was here the last 2 days and nights, but went home a little while ago with her new sister. So, there will be less diaper changing at my house for a couple of days. The other night, I told Bella it was time for bed (it was 10pm!). She started crying, so I went to straighten a bit and give her time to calm down. Instead, she got her blanket and pacifier and followed me from room to room, still crying. I laughed, but still put her down. She was gone in less than 5 minutes. Well, not gone, just asleep.


Here is another photo of Kendall Noel. This time, you can see here eyes and that she is a tiny thing. Check out those cute little scrawny legs. It is from yesterday morning when I first saw her. Isn't God amazing, creating such a perfect little baby? Welcome to the world, littlest Walker.

New Granddaughter!

Congratulations, Kyle, Lyndsay and Isabella. Kendall Noel arrived safe and healthy last night at 10:01pm. I think she weighed 6lbs and 14oz and was 20 inches long. I was not present at the time since I was at the house watching Bella. So, Kathie took the day off and she and Bella and I went up to meet Kendall. I took 94 pictures today and Kathie took some more with her camera. So, more photos will be shown soon.



They plan to come home tomorrow. I am sure Lyndsay will give us more when she gets home and has a chance to catch up. I am not sure when that will be, because they will now have two little ones around. Whew! Parenting is truly for the young.

Pearl Harbor Day Update

I must be turning old. I have been having to visit the chiropractor lately because of a back pain. It turns out I have mild scoliosis. Yup, trying to catch Rick and Lindsay. Hey, Linds, is it OK to be doing all this running with scoliosis? Do you use those foot things (I forget what they are called...I AM getting old)?

I have applied for 3 jobs. I guess my friend couldn't find anything, and I am out of money. I am also getting overly bored at home.

We are going Christmas light looking tonight with Kyle, Lyndsay and Isabella. That should be nice. I hope it does not rain too hard.

Christmas decoration update: tree up, interior knick-knacks up, tree decorations up, outside lights not up.

iTunes update: songs loaded from CD - 3575 songs, from download - 435 (I found an old stash of some of the CDs from when Kyle was downloading a lot), from LP - 1517 songs. By the way, I can only find CDs for A Few Good Men and Peace of the Rock by the Gaither Vocal Band. Does anyone have digital copies of the other early LPs? I need New Gaither Vocal Band from 1981, Passing The Faith Along from 1983, New Point of View from 1984, One X 1 from 1986, and Wings from 1988.

Job update: jobs offered - 0, jobs applied for this week - 3, listings I am reviewing - 1


Let's end with a Bella picture. Here we are reading the paper on a recent visit.

Christmas Thought

Most of my loyal readers are employed, and that's a good thing. It implies, for most of you, that when you go back after the holiday, everyone will want to catch up. The most common question will be "Hey, how was your Christmas?"

What I want you to think about is how you answer that. Against what will you measure? How many presents? The quality of those gifts? Which football teams won? How many family members were able to get together? The fact that you did not get the flu? The fact that you did not have to work for a few days?

You can guess where I am leading? How do we measure the value of the Christmas season without Christ? And how would we explain that at work? I hope it is a great time for each of you, and that we all remember the reason for the season.

OK, enough of that. How about a photo of our session yesterday with Santa and Isabella? She was not as sociable as last year. As a result, Kyle ended up in the pictures, too.

We All Need A Good Laugh Sometimes

These always tickle my funny bone. I came across this list while surfing today.

1. Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. "We don't have half dozen nuggets," said the teenager at the counter. "You don't?" I replied. "We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply. "So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?" "That's right." So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets

2. I was checking out at the local Wal-Mart with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those "dividers" that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the "divider", looking it all over for thebar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code she said to me, "Do you know how much this is?" I said to her "I've changed my mind, I don't think I'll buy that today." She said "OK," and I paid her for the things and left. She had no clue to what had just happened.

3. A lady at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. When I inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM "thingy."

4. I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car." Do you need some help?" I asked. She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Doyou think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery to fit this?" "Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm, too?" I asked. "No, just this remote thingy," she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries. It's a long walk."

5. Several years ago, we had an Intern who was none too swift. One day, she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost out of typing paper. What do I do?" "Just use copier machine paper," the secretary told her. With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five "blank" copies.

These do remind me of a personal crazy incident. I cannot remember where it was, but I ordered fried chicken. The waitress kindly informed me that they were out of chicken. "OK," I replied, "I'll have chicken-fried steak." Sir," she said, "I just told you we were out of chicken." True story.