The sweetest thing ever

Andrew here just to share something that happened over the past weekend that I don't ever want to forget. 

Last Sunday, 5/31/2015, we celebrated our good friends' daughter's birthday.  Ian and Ashly threw a Laboratory Birthday for Blayne who turned 8 earlier in May.  And if you know the Millers, I really mean that Ashly did all the real work and Ian concocted some crazy stuff for the kids to do.

One of the "experiments" that Ian developed was designed to teach the kids about fire or gas or something or other. I don't really know as I was doing what parents of the non-birthday kid are supposed to do at a kids party.  I was in the living room watching the baseball game.   Meanwhile he was explaining the experiment to 20 kids ranging in age from 4 to 10.

As it was kind of quiet in the living room, I decided to check out what was happening in the garage with the party.  I immediately knew something was up when I opened the garage door.  Ian saw me walk outside and his eyes lit up.  "Andy, just the guy I need.  Please come help with this experiment," he shouted as all 40 little eyeballs turned towards me.  I couldn't say no now.

I didn't know what I was getting into as I slowly sauntered up to the front of the makeshift classroom garage.  At this point, I looked over and saw a bubbling cauldron with some sort of soapy liquid inside.  No worries there.  As he began to speak, I noticed the propane tank with blow torch attachment.  Yes, I said propane tank with blow torch attachment!

My thoughts were jumping between "I wonder what he was doing with that" to "I bet the kids are gonna love the fire experiment" to "OMG I am standing next to Ian and he has a blow torch."

I vaguely heard him say something about how jealous he is about my hair being so luscious and thick as he removed his ball cap to show the very few strands of hair that he has left on the top of his shiny melon.  I thought, "yes, my hair is nice, where is he going with this?"  He grabbed some of the soapy liquid and put it on top of my hair.  He quickly grabbed the propane torch before I could move or realize what was happening. The crowd oohhed and aaahhhed as they watched my hair go up in giant fire ball.  It was then that I, along with everyone else in the garage was overcome by the smell of burnt hair.  The fire went out very quickly as the soapy liquid was actually the result of pumping propane through a tube into a bucket of soapy water.  The propane "bubbles" burn very rapidly, but not before they had singed my hair creating the noxious vapors.  The kids were all abuzz about the flame and I was still trying to process what had just transpired as I rubbed my head and got a handful of burnt ends. 

The leader of the experiment asked me to stick out my hand to show off the experiment again, this time without burning my hair off.  I stuck out my hand as he filled it with soapy liquid, then held the torch up to it.  The result was an impressive fireball that burned out in less than one second.  I thought to myself, "This is pretty cool," but little did I know it would lead to one of the sweetest moments in my life.

Please keep in mind that these fire experiments are being performed in front of 20 kids under the age of 10.  As Ian poured another ladle of bubbles into my hand to set on fire, from the back of the room, I saw Kate get up.  She didn't run.  She wasn't crying.  She wasn't yelling.  She was very calm.  She navigated her way through the tables very intently.  Without saying a word, she reached up and grabbed my hand.  Pulling me away from Ian, she never took her eyes off mine.  She was leading her Daddy to safety and nothing was going to stop her.  As I noted, she was not hysterical or theatrical in any way.  I could tell she was frightened but also determined to get me out of there.  I had no choice but to give in and let her lead me away.  It was the sweetest thing I had ever seen.

Afterwards, I sat down with her and explained that Uncle Ian would never do anything to harm me, and that the experiments were all in fun; I was never in any danger.   I hugged her and told her not to worry, Daddy wasn't hurt and that I appreciated her leading me to safety.  We then walked over to Uncle Ian and he said he was sorry for scaring Katie.  As she scurried away to play with the other kids and eat some birthday cake, Ian leans over and says "Didn't realize that it would burn your hair so much.  That was pretty cool wasn't it?"  Good thing my kid's birthday is coming up.  I might just need a volunteer.....

Lessons in humility

Hello all!  Marlina here.  I know Andy has been keeping y'all current with new house updates while I have been doing lots of other stuff (that I can't remember right now!) and I am just so incredibly excited, happy and exhausted by all that's been going on!  We are slowing getting things settled and unpacked and just have a few little things that need to be done for the house to be "finished".  Luke and Katie have settled in pretty well and I think we have ALL been sleeping really well every night.  Luke and Katie are both back at school now so we are tweaking our routines a bit to adjust for the new reality of being in the new house.  For one thing, Luke is now a "west walker" at the end of the school day and that means that we get to pick him up on the golf cart!  Soooo fun!  Well, I guess it will be when it's not raining like it was yesterday and probably will be today.  Which brings me to he main topic of this post:  lessons in humility.

I generally try (really hard) to have my "stuff" together so that I am prepared for just about any situation (which is why my Minivan is called "Carmageddon") and, for quite some time now, this has been working out just perfectly.  Until Sunday, August 10th when I got my first lesson.  Luke had indicated that he wanted that night to be our first night sleeping in the new house.  The movers were coming the next day for the big stuff but the beds were pretty easy so Andy and I said "sure thing, buddy" and got to work.  I was standing on the tool box that is in the bed of Mordu and, after getting our king-size bed onto the truck, decided to do my very best "Kerri Strugg" dismount backwards while wearing flip flops and while I did "stick" the landing, my left ankle has been in near-constant pain ever since.  But we slept at the new house that night!!

Lesson 2:  I love my iPhone.  I love it so much that for some reason I decided to keep it tucked into my sports bra for the entire move on Monday.  It was not really happy with that public display of affection and rewarded me by completely freaking out and the screen was either black and would not display who was calling/texting or it was red and angry looking.  I fretted over this thing for 4 days!!  Andy got really annoyed with me and finally I had to suck it up and pay $100 for a new screen.

Lesson 3:  I have already said that I love my iPhone.  I love it so much that our main front door lock is iPhone-enabled which means that I can unlock the door with it.  I had not had time to get the lock set-up yet and Terri, our builder, kept telling me to do so but since we usually go in downstairs, I wasn't worried about it too much.  Well, last Wednesday, I needed to go inside to get something and when I went in downstairs, I discovered that I could not go upstairs because the painters had been there putting polyurethane on the stair treads.  Ok fine, I do have an actual key for the main front door upstairs so I tried that.  Turns out that was a key to the construction lock which had long since been removed.  I was pretty much locked out of the house until the stairs were dry, 3 hours later!!  I immediately set up the iPhone lock so that won't happen again!

Lesson 4:  The day after we moved in was a play day for me and the kids so on Wednesday, we really, really needed to get some laundry done.  I was excited about using our brand new washer and dryer so I loaded it up and went on to other things.  When it got to the spin cycle, I thought our house was going to fall down!  It was sooooo loud and the washer moved so much that the kids and I were kinda scared!  I let it finish the load and put the clothes in the dryer and started a second but much smaller load.  Same thing happened!  It was so crazy!  Then Andy's Uncle Danny came over and we ran it empty and it didn't make a noise or move at all.  So I did another load and this time it moved so much that it scratched the paint on the OPPOSITE wall and scratched it's own front door!  That night, Andy and I tried to level it again and it did it again.  I scheduled service for this past Tuesday.  They said they would be here between 8am and 12pm.  So I made arrangements for my mom to pick Katie up from school because I figured they would arrive at 11:55am.  That morning, they texted to say the technician was on the way.  Rats!  I did NOT anticipate them being that early!!  So, I left a note to call me when they arrived, then called our friend and neighbor, Craig, to go sit in my driveway while I took Luke and Katie to school.  This is at 7:55am.  I drop Luke off and head to Katie's school.  At 8:10am, Craig calls to say they are here so I tell him how to get in.  I drop Katie off and get back to my house at 8:32 to find that the technician is gone.  Craig said all he had to do was remove the 4 shipping bolts (which had gotten sheared off from all the shaking) and the 4 spacers that the plumbers didn't remove at installation.  All is quiet and peaceful now at laundry time!

Lesson 5:  Yesterday, our friend, Ashly, asked if I would pick up her daughter Blayne, when I picked Luke up from school.  Sure thing.  Then it started raining so I chose to go in Carmageddon instead of on the golf cart because I was not sure what the school was going to do.  Well, Katie and I left at 2:45 to secure a good spot in the car rider line.  I tried to stay out of traffic and, since it had been raining, the shoulder was all muddy so I went right into the ditch!  I called Ashly to tell her, then I called a tow truck who said it would be 40 minutes until he could get there, then I called Unk to see if he was close and could he help me.  By the grace of God, he was in Clear Lake Shores and would head my way.  George, who is our Public Works guy in CLS, passed by and saw my predicament.  Ashly came and got Katie, George got a chain and Unk pulled me out!  Then, a Kemah police officer arrived followed by the tow truck.  The cop told me that I didn't have to pay them since they didn't pull me out and went on his way (after scanning my driver license to make sure I am not a felon!) and Unk waited with me a few minutes to make sure the tow truck guys didn't give me any trouble.  All of this happened before school was dismissed at 3:15!!

This has been an incredibly humbling time for me.  I am reading the book of Job and so is Andy.  We talked a little bit last night about it and I asked him if thought it seems like Job is whining a little bit.  Andy said that Job had suffered the worst day in the history of time and deserved to talk about it and that maybe his "sin" was the sin of pride and of thinking that he was blameless and perfect.  We all know that there has only been one perfect human being to ever walk this planet.  Hmmmmmm....maybe that's the lesson that I need to learn from these past 2.5 weeks....Lesson learned!

Also, BTHOsc!!  Gig 'em, Aggies!

Warm up the house

I just had to share a quick one....

On Sunday, Marlina, I, and the kids headed down to UH to check out the new football stadium.  While we were there, not only did I throw a touchdown pass to Luke, but Katie also won a $15 Visa gift card.

Well, evidently, that money was just burning a hole in her purse because she talked Mom into heading for Target on Tuesday after school.  She ended up purchasing a Disney Princess doll set.  She was so proud of it, she rushed me as soon as I walked in the door yesterday afternoon.  I asked her what was going on, and she proceeded to show me her new toys.  She then asked me if I knew why she got these toys.  I replied that it was because she had received the gift card.  She replied, "No Daddy.  I got them for Warm Up the House."  It took me a second to realize that Marlina and Kate must have been speaking about house warming gifts sometime in the not too distant past.

That girl is something else!!!!!
#one proud dad

Moving Day

8/11/2014

Well what a long journey it has been.  Today we moved into the new house.  Not some of the stuff, not most of the stuff, but all of our stuff.  Grandma Sharon was kind enough to watch the kids today so that Marlina and I could "Take Care of Business".

We rented a U-Haul truck which we picked up at 9:00.  We also hired some moving help but they weren't scheduled to show up till 10:30.  So that left us a hour and a half, we loaded Carmageddon (Marlina's minivan) and Mordu (my big brown truck) and set off on the 3 mile journey to the new place.  We quickly unloaded and were back at the old place by 10:20.  The movers showed up on time (hallelujah) and then the TCB really began.  They had the truck loaded with all the couches, dressers, drawers, tables, chairs, lamps, boxes, bags, and mass quantities of other misc junk in no time flat.  We left the old house by 11:30 and were at the new house by 11:45.  The new house is a two story house with a garage underneath.  The garage has 12 foot ceilings!  Needless to say, there are a bunch of stairs and I am very thankful we hired some moving help.  Those guys managed to navigate the winding staircase to the kids floor while carrying an eight foot long couch on their backs/heads.  Without scratching a wall!!!!  They had the truck unloaded in no time, and thus Marlina tipped them very well.  We couldn't have done it without them.

We released them at 1:00, and then we headed to return the U-Haul truck.  Stopping for a quick bite to eat at Buc-ee's, we filled our bellies and Carmageddon.  Then back to the old house for more stuff.  This time, it wasn't so easy.  We had the movers move all the things that were already boxed up.  Now we had to box the rest and make it quick.  Although the movers moved fast, we still had a bunch of work to do.

I think we made four more trips that day/night.  We finally finished pretty late that night with Luke's lego table the last to move.  He arrived at the new house later than night, ran immediately to his room and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his toys stacked neatly.  "They made it safely," he said quietly.

All in all, it was an eventful day with lots of running back and forth.  I hit the wall a few times, but Marlina wouldn't let me quit.  Keep going, she said.  You can do it, she said.  Don't drink that beer, she said.  At the end of the night, we got to sleep in the new house and it was all totally worth it.  The only casualties of the day were my left knee and Marlina's cell phone.  But the cell phone is a post best left for her to write.

It is not totally complete, but we are out of the old house.  Please officially change our address to 906 Elm Rd. Clear Lake Shores, TX 77565.

We got it!!!!!!!

Mark today down; Wednesday August 6, 2014.  We got the Certificate of Occupancy!

The last few weeks have been quite harrowing, however, with much hard work by everyone involved, it all came to fruition today.  From the painters to the carpenters, to the floor man, to the garage door installer, a big thank you from Marlina and I.

Now comes the fun part of moving.  And as an added bonus, both my partners are gone from my office this week, leaving me to run the company while trying to move.  Additionally, I volunteered (they asked me way back in March) to help out at the church all this week for sports camp.  Nothing like adding a few levels of stress to an already tense environment. No wonder my hair is turning gray.

We are excited, nervous, stressed out, and blessed.  We look forward to finishing the house, as we still have more items on the checklist.  But at least for now, we can move in.

Hurrah!

A

Sneak Peek

Here is one quick sneak peek for you guys out there......

We are getting closer...........

Just give me the keys already

Ok, so last week I had a bit of a meltdown.  I officially told Marlina that I was done making decisions, and that I was ready for someone to just hand me the keys.  I am tired of delays, I am tired of excuses, I am tired of making decisions upon decisions upon decisions.  I am tired of mistakes, I am tired of paint colors, I am tired of dirt, and I am tired of the freaking rain.

Worst of all is that I took most of my frustration out on Marlina.  It is not her fault.  Those who know me well know that I don't yell and get loud.  I usually complain a lot and am in a generally foul mood when something doesn't go my way.  Did I mention that I complain a lot?  Well, guess who gets to listen to me complain?  Thats right, its my lovely wife.

Well, that was all in the past. I am still done making decisions, but I am not going to complain about them any more.  Or at least I am going to try.

Besides, I am too busy packing to complain.