it's that time again...

well, it has only been about a month since the last post, so i guess i should update the world as to what is going on in my life. i do enjoy the process of putting my thoughts in the blog, however life with four kids somehow seems to take up most of (actually just about all) of my time...

as a quick update all the pets are doing well (see previous post). at least i think the bird is well, he is still at the bird store. for some reason it takes well over 12 weeks to wean the bird from hand feeding. oh well. baseball and tee-ball are super and the boys are playing well. at the last t-ball game when elijah was about to score, he stuck out his tounge at the catcher and gave the universal sign for, "neener, neener, neener". then he ran around home plate avoiding the tag and scored. that is why i love t-ball...

the highlight of this years sports season was Anita's vicotry in the second annual SPAMM march madness college basketball tournement. she beat out several seasoned veterens to take the trophy for the second year in a row. that is two SPAMM tournaments, two victories for anita. at least i didn't have to pay to ship the trophy to someone else...

















well, that is about it for now. i will post again, since i know you all wait with bated breath for my updates. at least that is what i keep telling myself.

why i love my kids even though they manipulated me

by the way, i love being able to watch 'lord of the rings' on my ipod while i blog. technology is cool... so here is the story about how my kids and my wife took advantage of me.

it all started innocently enough about one or two months ago when anita (that's the wife) began asking if the kids could each get a pet. i said nicely, 'no. we have a cat and i am simply waiting for her to move to kitty heaven, then we can begin to talk about another pet.' this went on for several weeks with anita (said wife) giving more and more information as to what kind of pet each kid wanted: madi a hamster, brevin a cockatiel, and elijah a guinea pig. still being the head of the house i held firm in my decision not to have any more pets despite the pleas and begging and the line, 'pets are good for kids because they help teach responsibility.' so does having a job, but i don't have my kids looking for work at mcdonald's or some other fancy restaurant.

then it happened. as i sat down to eat dinner, which i slaved over the stove for at least an hour, there they were; 3 written reports from each of my kids as to why they wanted their pets and how they planned on taking care of them. not only that, they also explained how they would help pay for the cost of each animal. elijah and brevin offered up some of their birthday money and chose to forgo having sodas when we were out at restaurants. madison was simply going to pay for her hamster by herself. all three ended their reports with an, ' i love you daddy'. totally manipulative.

so we got madison her hamster, sylvia. brevin got a cockatiel; actually we paid for it, but don't get me started as to why it is not in our house yet. elijah got his guinea pigs (moses and elisha), that's right pigs. two. don't get me started on that one either.

but now that we have a veritable farm in our house, i must say that it is all pretty cool. i dig the pigs and the hamster and i know it will be fun to see the bird sitting on the shoulders of my kids. sinclair loves all the animals and it has been fun to see her play with them

enjoy the pics of the pigs, the bird and the hamster. more to follow. pictures, not animals. trust me. i've decided.

i'm back...

good to hear from me!

well, it has only been two months since i had the chance to put a few thoughts down. as you can imagine quite a lot has transpired since my last post and i don't think i could sum it all up in one post. however a few highlights are probably appropriate for now.

madison got her braces and unlike a lot kids her age, she really was excited to have them. she knows that in a few short month (18 to be exact) she will have straight teeth and an even more beautiful smile that the one she had before the braces. those good feelings evaporated after the first day when they started to hurt and ache. but she is a total trooper and doing well and taking good care of that investment.

brevin wrapped up anpother season of Upwards basketball and this year his offense really came to life. he averaged 10 points a game and played his usual aggressive defense. he has started his 5th year of baseball and is now in AAA. he is one the padres and i have the joy of being his coach. his defense and his hitting are improving with every practice and every game and he loves being around his teammates.

elijah, well what can i say about this boy of mine. he has started his first year of t-ball and is totally loving it. except for the first practice when he was accidently hit in the face and he refused to continue. however, after that little event, he was all good and had a blast at his first game. all you have to do is look at the video below to see what i mean.

sinclair continues to grow and allow her personality to come out. she is walking, babbling, eating lots of good food; like lollipops and cookies and ice cream, and bonding with our family. she loves being outside, laughing, playing peek-a-boo, and reading books. we are blessed to have this little nugget in our lives.

anita and i wrapped up teaching and leading a parenting class at church and are looking forward to a little less chaos around the house over the next couple of weeks. i won't be able to tell you in this post how my sweet, innocent, and God-fearing children (not to mention my loving wife) manipulated me and took advantage of my kindness and generosity. i am still bitter about the whole thing and might need some therapy to resolve my issues. or, maybe i can just blog about the whole thing and that might make me feel better.

new years resolution

i know that it has been a while since i posted something, but as you can imagine with 4 kids, the holidays can get a bit on the crazy side. so here is a short update...

my brother brian and his wife megan were in town and we got to spend a lot of time with them. it was totally awesome, especially eating at 'the pink chopsticks'. this is the restaurant where we ordered food for sinclar's welcome home/ 1st birthday party.

anita performed at our churches christmas eve services and it both worshipful and beautiful. the cool thing was anita's parents,my parents, and brian and megan were all there as well. after the service we went to chili's for dinner (perhaps a new tradition?).

having sinclair home was totally awesome!

we had a great time with our friends the colemans on new years eve. we were so engrossed in conversation we almost forgot to turn on the tv to watch the ball drop. we actually forgot to open the sparkling cider and wine to make a toast. oh well, we had a blast none the less.

and lastly for new years resolutions; i don't make any. why you ask? mostly because i have absolutely no intention of keeping any, so why create an opportunity for disappointment and sadness? instead my good buddy ed schofield and i are continuing our tradition of "word of the year". last year my word was 'presence' (another post later to explain what that meant in 2008) and this year my word is 'dedicated'. be on the lookout for how that word will play out for me this year.

anyway that is just a short snapshot of the last few weeks...

posting again soon...

some great recent pics...

sinclair enjoying the christmas season...




the beach...


her daddy...

and now a pic of my boys having fun at the san diego zoo...


i'm not sure what my wife was looking at when she took this picture, but man is it funny...!

i must be on a video kick

going to biola were some of the best years of my life and these dudes totally captured what it is like to be on campus, go to basketball games, eat in the caf, worship, live in the dorms, and make the best friends ever (i even got to marry my best friend from biola). this video won a youtube contest for a short video on why your college campus rocks.

check it out...

and #1 is...

best ever...no need to say anything else. i know it is a long clip, but well worth all the time.

my favorite movies part 2

i saw the first time when i was in jr. high. totally changed my life at the time, and i still think it speaks volumes about our commonalities, hurts and fears, and dreams no matter what our backgrounds.
here is #3... "the breakfast club"



i saw the usaf thunderbirds fly when i was 5 years old and that started my obsession with jets and flying. after i saw #2 on my list, i thought for sure i knew what i wanted to do for the rest of my life. God had other plans for me and i would never change what i have now for what might have been. still, this movie is totally awesome.

at #2..."top gun"

my top 5 favorite movies part 1

there are some who say it is really tough to pick your all time favorite movies. my favorite movies list has not changed in at least a decade, athough the movies may change places (except for #1 which always has been and always will be #1) from time to time. all these movies have made an impact on me; either my dreams, my view on people, or in my understanding of life. some of the clips may be a bit long, but i believe well worth the time.

i have decided to break this post into two parts; one today and one tomorrow. so, without further ado... here they are beginning with #5.




"get busy living, or get busy dying". one of the best lines ever...

#4:

just a really cool ending. if you have not seen the movie, then skip the clip.

hope

there is much to be said about hope. president-elect obama wrote a book titled "the audacity of hope" and star wars episode IV was called "a new hope". the bible has quite a lot to say on the subject; much that is hard to wrap my head around. i read the following this morning in my bible..."even when there was no reason for hope, abraham kept hoping- believing that he would become the father of many nations" Romans 4:18. that is just incredible, no reason to hope, yet hope did not diminish and God counted it as righteousness for abraham.

i love a lot of movies but the clip below is from one of my top 5 all time favorites, "the shawshank redemption". this is a great example of hope discovered, hope believed in, and hope fulfilled.

enjoy.




perhaps my next postings will be clips from my 5 all time favorite movies...

my karate kid

i can't wait till they teach him the 'crane kick'...

the cool thing is that he really loves his tae kwon do class and is passionate about it.

perhaps a video will be posted soon.

politics

nnnnnnoooooooooooo.......!

don't do it matt, don't bring up that topic. not here, not now, please.

well too bad, it's my blog, so read on with caution...

actually, i don't want to write about anything political at all. mostly because several conversations, blog postings, and responses on that very topic has resulted in unjust accusations, hurt feelings, unfair criticisms, miscommunication, misinterpreted statements, and a small but painful family war of words. the bummer was that true dialogue and debate was never really part of the discussion (i'm to blame for my part in this as well). i believe that the issues written about (i.e. health care, taxes) are critical and need to discussed. the question isn't "are these important issues or not", but rather, "what is the best solution to resolve these very complex issues". we may never agree on what is the best strategy, but we can at least come to terms that we all have the best interest of others in mind and care deeply for others in need.

i did not vote for obama. however, i do believe that he has best interest of the united states in mind. i am not convinced that his foreign policy is strong enough, or that his tax plan is actually going to stimulate and grow the economy, or that his stance on health care is the best. all that being said, he is now my president and it is my privilege and duty as a citizen of the greatest country on earth to pray for him, and support him as best i can. there are some in the media who have said that if mccain were elected president they would move to canada. that is both tragic and stupid.

ultimately, the president is not in control. neither is the congress, or the house of representatives, or the state or federal government. God is and always will be in control, no matter who sits in the oval office and what laws and policies he signs. with that in mind i know i can sleep and live and work in peace.

a poo update

just wanted to let everyone know that my wonderful wife, and now the families chief pooper scooper, successfully delivered sinclair's poop in a tube to the lab on monday. now we wait for the results to see if sinclair has parasites.

maybe anita can get a spot on the tv show 'dirty jobs'. that would be cool.

there's poo in my fridge!

or alternatively titled... "why scrubs really is like real life"

if you have not seen the above mentioned video, then stop reading, scroll down, watch the video, and then resume. otherwise this post will make a whole lot less sense and your thoughts (or concerns) about me might be validated.

so...anita took sinclair to the doctor for her one year check up earlier this week. all in all it went not so well for sinclair as drawing blood and sitting for a long time was hard for her to handle. after the inital check up was done, dr. wu asked anita (i wasn't present, so i do not have to help in this) to obtain a 3, count them 3 stool samples from sinclair so they can check for parasites. the only thing they gave us was several small tubes and a plastic bag. if i was there i would have also requested a haz mat suit and a large pair of tongs.


so...'since everything comes down to poo'.. sinclair has "pinched us off a big fat clue" and we now have several plastic tubes filled with poo and some sort of liquid. i have no idea how the poo got there (a plastic spoon perhaps?) and the truth is i don't want to know.





all i know is that there is poo right next to my lemon juice and very close to the milk i love to drink late at night.

perhaps i will only eat food from the pantry until the poo is removed and the fridge has been tented, fumigagted, cleansed, and de-germed.

go 'dores!

huh, what's that you say...go 'dores? but matt, we thought you were a tennessee volunteer fan? what's up with the love to nashville crew and not the knoxville one?

well, here is the skinny. the vanderbilt commodores are now 5-0 after beating a very good auburn team that beat a very mediocre tennessee team last week. this is the first time since wwII that vanderbilt has been 5-0 and they just might crack the top 10 in the next couple of weeks if things keep going this way.

i'm still a big vol fan and i'm not jumping on (or off the bandwagon), however... the smart kids who have some real game deserve some real props. and for my step-mom who never lost the faith...enjoy the clip.

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?categoryId=2378529&brand=null&videoId=3626045&n8pe6c=2

motivation

today, just not feeling it. not sure why and not really sure as to how to keep pushing forward. the desire for results is there, but the motivation to get to those results is not. maybe i just need to pick up the stupid phone and start making calls, or get off my rear-end and do something, anything.

then again maybe i need to laugh.

check out this site...http://despair.com/viewall.html.

read a few, laugh, be motivated, and get something done...anything. it'll make you feel better. trust me.



here is one i have not seen before...

why i like the tv show scrubs...

since we don't have cable and rabbit ears don't work in socal, we watch all tv shows on dvd via netflix. now i know that quite a few of you have seen this, but for those who have not, this is awesome.

hey it's good to be back home again...

yes, this is a direct reference to john denver, thanks for noticing :).

i am sitting here at 8:20am at the table with elijah on my left eating honey nut cheerios and sinclair on my right sitting in her booster seat playing with her stack em' cups. everyone else is still asleep; all in all very cool.

even though the transition back to pacific standard time has been somewhat tough on us all and i had to go back to work, it is really good to be home. i tell everyone that even though sinclair has been with us less than 2 weeks, it seems like she has been part of our family her whole ten months. that is something only God can work out and that has made this whole adoption really awesome.

so today we are off to dance class, buying cleats and a new baseball glove for brevin, house cleaning, paying some bills, and trying to fix the garbage disposal. i might even get a chance to see some college football on espn.com.

it is good to be home...

coming home...

well, tomorrow is the day that we are leaving china for home. part of me is excited and ready, although there is a large part of me that is somewhat sad to be leaving.

i'm not totally sure why. it could be that i like having someone else making all my meals and cleaning up after them, or having someone else do all my laundry and make my bed and clean my room and bathroom. or it could be that i have had one of the most exciting, wonderful, and eye-opening experiences in my short 35 years (oops, 36 now).

i am fairly certain that i could not capture all that i have seen, felt, or experienced in the short space that this blog allows, so i thought i would add some of the pictures that on some level capture what we have been blessed to experience.

enjoy...

me getting ready to leave lax for seoul, korea...

chinese people think we are so cool, i think...i hope...maybe we are more like a side show?

yup, that's a standard toilet for onesies and twosies...i looked for the sit down kind or waited till we got back to the hotel.

standard kitchen in the local nanchang village

good friends...now even better

food in china

yup, that says steamed chicken feet in soy sauce. yummy.