Priya and a hot bathroom

Priya says today as Shoji was curling her hair in the steamy bathroom, "Mom! I am a getting so hot, this bathroom is so hot!!! I am going to get dramatic!!"

Henry Nouwen

I believe that people can make choices and make them according to their own best aspirations. I also believe that people seldom make these choices. Instead, they blame the world, the society and others for their "fate" and waste much of their life complaining... Henry Nouwen

Priya's Question about growing up

Priya has been saying the funniest things.

She is singing this song all the time about "Daisy Dukes". Apparently the bus driver plays all the popular songs on the way to school. I was getting all mad inside because I was not happy with it. But instead, I calmly asked her what Daisy Dukes are. She said so cheerfully and wide-eyed, "You know mom, like the flower daisies and a duke holding them!"

This one is for Annie (from Ryan) : tonight we were at church and Priya comes back up from the bathroom with Stephen and she is waving an open tampon in the air! "Look mom, look what I found! What is it mom?!" And Stephen is like - "yeah, mom, what is it?!" Ryan and I just burst out laughing, so embarrassed! Ryan said they should talk to mom about it later...

She asked this summer about how babies come out of your tummy. So I told her! That evening we were praying for Shiji's baby and she asks "Mom can you pray for me when I have a baby? I'm a little scared because I'm afraid that it would be hard for the baby to fit through such a small hole (belly button?) and its going to hurt!"

Oh boy! Here we go...

Priya and Stephen write their names in the wet cement

I got a call from a neighbor... "hey do you spell your daughters name... is it P-R-I-Y-A? I think she wrote her name in the sidewalk they replaced.."

So that night after work I take a little walk over and sure enough... its' not a little initials, like PMB or anything.. is it a very clear and neat "P R I Y A" right in the sidewalk... I am thinking oh oh.. this could be expensive if I got to pay for this! So I called over to Priya, and I ask her if she knew what I wanted to talk to her about. Her face was as guilty as could be. She said, "yes, it is about my name in the sidewalk"

So, I am thinking this is not that big a deal... but I know some of the neighbors and they might! So I tell Priya she might have to pay for that from her money if they make us fix it. She is a little upset and goes home. So I cross over the street to the other side and start for home. I get halfway home and Whamo!! in another spot where the side walk was replaced... I see another big "PRIYA" and a "STEPHEN" and I see flowers, and designs, stars, and swirls written into the new cement!! It's 10 times worse than the other spot and Stephen did it too!!

I just laugh and then hope the neighbors don't find it for the next 5 years!!

Stephen's Prayer

This is a prayer Stephen picked up at promisetowne from his friend Henry...
"Dear God, thank you for this day, thank you for loving us, thank you for the whole-wide world.  Thank you for all the happy things we do, you are Father happy too.  Amen"

Ammachi and Appacha come to visit

What a fun week with Ammachi and Appacha!  We have had a brilliant display of Indian food every night.  Plus plenty for lunch, mommy is taking care of us and keeping everything in order.  Daddy is helping too, although he has a thyroiditis condition that is not so fun for him. 

Yesterday, they got Stephen a DS - game system with the game cars and he has been thrilled!  Last Sunday we got to go to the American Girl doll store and they got Priya "Marie Grace" a new American girl doll!  She has been playing with it non-stop!   We also got to visit Thungachin Uncle and Shibu and Jimmy.  We had a great lunch thanks to Uncle and then watch the Bears/Packers game over at Shibu and Solly's house in Woodridge.  Packers trounced them 27-17 and should have won by 30!  It was a nice time to hang out and many hugs were exchanged.  It is really amazing to see how quickly the years pass.  Jimmy's baby Jonah was adorable!

Time is passing we are getting older, trying to enjoy each day and every moment with our family.

Dad and Stephen playing chess

Stephen is almost 6 and he is really picking up on chess.  He knows all the moves and can even see a move or two ahead.  Pretty impressive.  I was playing him tonight and I had a big advantage.  So I back off and trade a couple pieces with him and then I get all caught up in trying to checkmate him with my Queen and rooks in the middle of the board.  I KID YOU NOT, without me even seeing it coming, the little squirt slides his queen all the down the board and sticks me with a back row mate.  I couldn't believe it!!

Dad fishes off Fort Lauderdale with Hurta

We caught lots of bonita!  and lost a monster Wahoo we think, no Mahi  I mostly just drove the boat with the arm in a sling and the bad ribs.  Just missed Hurricane Irene!  Next year May!

Stephen's first day of school

Here it is! Kindergarten!

Dad Falls off Bike - Breaks collarbone and rib

It was official - I will not get through life without breaking a bone. Broke two in one day (8/5/2011) after a spill on the old schwinn varsity deluxe. Two blocks to the Walgreens on sandbloom should have been benign enough but not this day. On my way back from the Walgreens with a soda in my hand I looked over my shoulder to see if any traffic was coming as I crossed algonquin road and at the very moment I look over my shoulder, my chain came off. Looking one way and foot going the other, I hit the deck and landed on the bike. Of course in a very guy like fashion I pop right up and pretend nothing is wrong, even though I know something is wrong. So I pick my bike up and pretend to put the chain on and straighten my glasses as I let the cobwebs clear... I actually get the chain on and ride back home, it was quicker and easier than walking with the bike and soda (I wasn't giving up my soda to the street!). So I get home and even though it is not hot out I am sweating like a pig, feeling nauseous, and a little light headed. I decide to lay down on the sofa for a few minutes, get up to get a drink and then get light headed again and end up on the floor for a bit, after 5-10 minutes of that I feel a little better and sit up on the leather sofa. I know my ribs hurt but not that bad. My shoulder definitely hurts and I start to move it around and I hear it clicking! I take my hand and feel my shoulder as I move it and I can feel the bone out of place. I can actually move the bone around a little. I can't tell you what a weird feeling that was, moving a bone in a place it was clearly not suppose to be. I was surreal, almost felt like an out of body experience, like I was the doctor looking down at my shoulder seeing the bone move, very weird. But at this point the pain is not that horrible, it's not good, but it's like a 5 out of 10.

So at this point I know I have to go to the ER, but how am I going to get there? Call an ambulance and get charged $1500 bucks... I'm probably going to die before that happens! I think to call Matt and Rachel next door but they are not home! I think about some other neighbors who are most likely home but from what I know of them, they don't drive much, they have a 8 year old car with like 10K miles on it. At this point I feel safer just driving myself. Oh, yes where is my wife of 11 years at this point? at the zoo with friends not answering the phone. I think she sent me to VM like 3 times... So I get in the car and drive to Good Shepherd Hospital. I am actually feeling okay, but the car ride over there mellows me out and when I park and try to get out of the car the pain factor just went to like 7, I was very certain something was really wrong in my ribs too. So I go into the ER and thank goodness there is not a big line. I am second in line and I have only wait a couple minutes. I get checked in but I can't get my personal information out to clearly, and the nurse asks if I hit my head, I tell I don't remember. That was not a good way to state it, her concern just tripled. I quickly clarified that I am quite certain that I did not in fact hit my head (I may have left out the words "hard" or "very hard") and I did get my phone number out correctly after a couple tries.

So I got into the wait room and they take vitals and they do a EKG on my heart, not sure why? And the nurse has the gall to tell me that it is going to hurt. She says, get ready to squeeze the arm of the chair a little cause the EKG is going to shock me a little in the ribs. She says "get ready, are you ready?" opps were done... ha ha ha!! It actually cracked me up but it hurt too much to laugh. She/we had no idea I had a broken rib at this point. Then she escorts me to the next room and says I need to take off my shirt and put the gown on, as she leaves. So I start to take my shirt off over my head and WOW!! the pain just went to like 8.5, in fact once I got my shirt off, I got light headed again and could not even get the gown on. The next nurse comes in and says, "whoa... you don't look so good, I'll be right back..." in about 2 seconds she is back with a big needle filled with morphine and sticks it right in my good shoulder. And man did that ever work magic. I could actually, nearly instantly, feel it starting to work. It cleared my head right up and it made me feel completely normal, other than some pain in my ribs and shoulder which was now back down to a 4 out of 10. But the dizziness and light headedness and nausea was gone. I really couldn't believe it, amazing stuff.

Then I get taken to x-ray and that wasn't quite so fun and they move you around and make you lie down. The doctor comes in and tells me that the end of my clavicle is broken and that I have to wear this brace/immoblizer thing for 4 to 6 weeks. If the pain doesn't get better in a week I might need to have a pin put in. Doesn't say anything about my ribs, which makes me feel like a wuz. Shoji does call me back and is of course very concerned and she comes with a friend to pick me up and we stop at MacDonald's as we head home. Just like other big events in our life! Then the next morning the doctor calls my cell phone and says, "oh forgot to mention that you also broke your 9th rib too... C'est la vie"

I really thought that once I hit 40 I was going to make it through life without breaking a bone but it was not to be.

Priya Spotting a Carnival

We drove by a wooded park in Algonquin and Priya is peering through the trees and she says, "Oh! I see a carnival... I see a faris wheel and oh, oh, I see porta-potties!!! lots of porta-potties!!! it is definitely a carnival!"

Shush!

Priya, Stephen, and the neighbors made up a new word they love. Shush! Which is whip cream out of the can. It is called Shush because when you apply it to your cake or ice cream it goes shhhhhushhhhhh! Very clever little ones we have.

Now I am using the term all the time, at Starbucks I ordered a iced latte with shush! The barista loved it and and now Starbucks is using it! I think we should copy-write the word...

Kids at the cousins!

Stephen says: "I am stuffed!"

The 4th of July!

Priya's Ballet Recital 2011 - Oooo child

Or visit to see it in full screen:
http://youtu.be/6nef9FPREBU

Priya and Marriage

At dinner tonight, out of the clear blue Priya said, "I want you (Dad & Mom) to pick for me so I don't get divorced." She said that some of her friends have to split time between their Mom and Dad or some of them live with a Mom who is not their real Mom. So with that she wants us to pick for her. Seeing a once in a life-time opportunity, I quickly said "done!" Just kidding... Instead, I decided to ask her what things she thought would be important in picking someone to marry. Without any hesitation she said,

"They have to be good at math, nice, faithful and care about God, and is nice to children."

I think we will have ice-cream tonight!

The Family in Connecticut

We had fun with Alan and Shiji and Maya - in the pool and around West Hartford.  Priya and Stephen really learn alot about swimming and had fun!  We even had the fun of home repair of the A/C unit.  Glad that Appacha got that figured out!!

Everett Boldt - 5/4/1921 - 4/28/2011

Henry Nowan on Christian Leadership - In Jesus Name

This is an excerpt from his book "In Jesus Name" - it comes shortly after he move in to live with a group of handicapped people. It is so moving and compelling.

The first thing that struck me when I came to live in a house with mentally handicapped people was that their liking of disliking me had absolutely nothing to do with any of the many useful things I had done until then. Since nobody could read my books, the books could not impress anyone, and since most of them never went to school, my twenty years at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard did not provide a significant introduction. My considerable ecumenical experience proved event less valuable.

When I offered some meat to one of the assistants during dinner, one of the handicapped men said to me, "Don't give him meat. He doesn't eat meat. He's a Presbyterian."

Not being able to use any of the skills that had proved so practical in the past was a real source of anxiety. I was suddenly faced with my naked self, open for affirmations and rejections, hugs and punches, smiles and tears, all dependent simply on how I was perceived at the moment. In a way, it seemed as though I was starting life all over again. Relationships, connections, reputations could no longer be counted on.

This experience was and in many ways, is still the most important experience of my new life, because it forced me to rediscover my true identity. These broken, wounded, and completely unpretentious people forced me to let go of my relevant self - the self that could do things, show tings, prove things, build things - and forced me to reclaim that unadorned self in which I am completely vulnerable, open to receive and give love regardless of any accomplishments.

I am telling you this because I am deeply convinced that the Christian Leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self. That is the way Jesus came to reveal God's love. The great message that we have to carry, as ministers of God's Word and followers of Jesus, is that God loves us not because of what we do or accomplish, but because God has created and redeemed us in love and has chosen us to proclaim that love as the true source of all human life.

Priya on temptation

Priya: on temptation, "I saw candy in the closet and thought should I eat it or not eat it???  Then my mind blew and I ate it."

Stephen's bedtime stall tactics

As you are saying good night after books, stories and prayers, Stephen is coming up with ways to keep you in the room. Lately it's a question or two.

Tonight he said... "Dad, Dad, wait.... ummm... where do light bulbs come from?"
Then he said... "Dad why does Yoda have long fingernails in movie and short ones on my picture?"

Canadian Heat - Fishing with Eleanor & Everett Granite Lake

My most memorable time with grandpa and grandma was our trip to Canada where we flew into Granite Lake, north of Thunder Bay, Ontario. We went right after school was out. I think I was a college sophomore 1991. It was early to mid-May and we packed all our gear, long underwear, sweat-shirts and coats, boots, the works, after all it has been known to snow in May in Canada. Everything is going smoothly, the drive was nice, the flight in was good, we get all settled in our little outpost cabin in the middle Canadian wilderness. Except we notice one little thing, it’s a little on the warm side. No matter we figure the next day will be perfect. So we go to bed and wake up the next morning and it is down right hot, like mid-90’s and humid, and all we have is jeans and flannel! The next 4 days are a pressure cooker and we are just getting baked. We are sleeping on top of our sleeping bags in our underwear, grandma included. Then on about the third night we hear grandma scream about 1 am and shoes start flying around the room, everyone wakes up and there was grandma scared out of her mind because a little mouse decided to crawl into bed with her and take up residence in her hair while she was sleeping. I can’t remember how funny it was at the time, but it has produced a life time of laughs for me and the family. Thanks gramps and grandma for just being you, for taking us fishing, and sharing in what are truly the best times of my life.

Love, Ryan, Shoji, Priya, & Stephen