X Marks the Spot

I hope that one day you'll get to see my son's bedroom. We really put some effort into his theme and the decorations. I have the following people to thank:

Jas - thanks for going with this idea. We made the cutest little Pirate in the world. I am so blessed to have your inspired ideas of decoration. You really perfected your role as project manager for his nursery.

Mom - Thanks for the baby furniture. That was a huge financial contribution and we always get compliments on it.

Meredith - Thanks for the knick-knacks. You've made his room a ship.

Dad - Thanks for putting up with my harassment about that toy chest. You have been an example of fatherhood to me that I've needed. You just love them. That's what dads get to do sometimes...they just show love. Thanks for your handyman skills and your tools. You're the man GPJ.

RuthAnne - That's incredible. That's all we could say when you painted something on his map. I'm going to record people's reaction to that so you can see what effect your work has on people. When they come into the nursery they see the nice furniture and then they see the wall and the oo's start roaring in. Thanks for being apart of the beginning of our parenthood.

Thanks to all those who filled it with toys and blankets and clothes. He loves them. We love you.

Graciously Thank You.

As I was rocking my 5 week old baby to sleep this morning, I had a spout of inspiration. We had put up a decoration that consists of vinyl stickers applied to the wall. The stickers were dashes and a big x marking the spot at the end of a trail. We started them at his doorway. They draped across the ceiling to the other side of the room where the trail ends with a big "X" over his bed. I got to thinkin' about (what an awesome southern phrase) that X and what it could represent. I think I was worried that he might grow up and think something ominous about that X over his bed.

Telling Jasmine my thoughts about this X, made her realize we needed to give it another symbol and meaning to calm my worries. She said X marks the spot of our little treasure. Ben. Ben is my little swashbuckling treasure. He is the greatest thing that ever happened to me, besides of course marrying the woman he knows as mom. I sat in the big rocking chair in his nursery trying to get him to go to sleep. I was thinking about some great fathers in my eyes and what made them so great. I've always admired parents who had a theme for raising their children. Sitting in the nursery with my son, the light of inspiration hit me. X Marks the Spot.

Home marks the spot. Family marks the spot. Love marks the spot. Living the Gospel marks the spot. X is the place where you want to be. It reminds you to come home. It reminds you to be in the right place. It shows how family will support you in that spot. It indicates that X is the place to be. So Ben when you're feeling lost or confused, look to the light and know that X marks the spot.

This is a funny video of Ben singing. This one's for you Lyric.

Becoming a Father

On March 3, 2009 at 7:56 a.m. I added a title to my life's career: Father. Let me back up a day and tell you the whole story in it's entirety.

Jas and I went to the doctor's office Monday morning and she got checked by Dr. Black to see if she had progressed any and to decide what needed to be done since her due date had come and gone by about two weeks now. Dr. Black sat us down in his office and said the words we slightly shuddered at, "I recommend a c-section." We were uneasy about that, but relieved that something was going to happen. After verifying via stress test, that we didn't have to do have the procedure that day, we came home to Meredith (my mother-in-law) and began to plan out the day and what we should do to prepare. It hit us pretty hard after that: we were going to be parents tomorrow. It was like being called on a church mission and being asked to report to the MTC the next day. We ran alot of last minute errands and went out to eat at Tokyo's with family. The best part of that day was seeing our good friends Aaron and Laurie and meeting up with them for ice cream. It seemed all four of us were anxious, but only two of us would be having a baby the next day.

On Tuesday, we arrived at the hospital with two bags each at 6 a.m. Jas, Meredith, and I almost needed a luggage cart to haul around our stuff. Jasmine went into the triage room in Labor and Delivery and they hooked her up to the monitor (where she was having constant contractions) and gave her an IV. Our math equation that day was:

Jas + needles = bad

Jas almost passed out from just an IV. She made it through. They passed me some "hospital nomex" to slip into and I was ready to hold my son or to make peanut butter, whichever came first. They brought Jasmine to the operating room and said I would see her soon. She got her anesthesia and was strapped down. I came into the room with our camera. The already had her stomach open. I was told to sit behind her visibility screen towards her head. Jas was a bit out of it. She was very concerned that she couldn't feel her toes. I reassured her, "it's just the drugs." Dr. Black then told me to get ready. I was told to stand up. He tugged at something inside her stomach and out came the head. With one more fluid motion tug he delivered a little baby covered in "stuff" and screaming. He held him up for me to take a picture and then I was asked to sit back down. The Neo-natologist took the baby and brought him to the warming light. They suctioned and tested and prodded. We could hear his cry. We could hear his strong cry. I was directed around the operating table and told to go to the baby. He had a makeshift beanie on his head and was swaddled very tightly. He was quiet again. I cut the umbilical cord while the "Neo" took pictures. They swaddled him very tight. She then let me hold my son for the first time. I cried a little.

Benjamin Aaron Hall was born at 7:56 a.m. at Mermorial Hermann Baptist Hospital in Beaumont, TX. He weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.

Still in the operating room, I brought Ben to see his mother. Jas and I rejoiced together as we experienced the bundle of joy newly born into our lives. We posed and posed as the "Neo" turned the OR into a photo studio. Then Ben was put into a small glass cage for transport and we wheeled into the hall where the grandparents saw him for the first time. Tears welled from their eyes as they saw the next generation of Halls pass by them.

The nursery across the hall had a nurse taught by Dr. Hall nine years ago who did Ben's arrival procedures. He had eyedrops. He had blood sugar tests. He was weighed again. He had his temparature taken...two ways. He got a bath and he got his head washed. That's when we noticed it. Ben had hair...alot of hair...an enormous amount of hair for a baby! The nurse said, "I think I may need a blow dryer," as she was drying his hair. Ben was the cutest baby in the nursery.

The following pictures illustrate the story I just told.

It's going to be a good month

The Terrible Towel

Gold fibers of cotton woven together and imprinted with a two word phrase describing one of the most terrifying sites in the National Football League, Myron Cope's "Terrible Towel" is a symbol of fan loyalty and football excellence in the regalia of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Anybody who knows me, knows that I have been a Steelers fan, since about 1983. I've never been to Pittsburgh, nor has my father, but we recognized the tradition of excellence displayed by the Steelers and we've celebrated that pattern for years. The terrible towel struck again in Tampa Bay, FL as the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals bouted for 60 minutes on the Gridiron for the SuperBowl Title of 2009. Needless to say two hard working teams fought to get there and one team would emerge victorious. I knew who it would be, others were skeptical; delusional even. The game came down to the wire, but I believe Pittsburgh Head Coach, Mike Tomlin, summed it up when he said, "These guys don't blink, they just deliver." The Steelers delivered a knockout touchdown, to capture the title with 35 seconds left on the clock. Many records were broken on Feb. 1st. The Steelers took sole possession of the Superbowls won title beating Dallas 6-5. What's my perfect day? Yesterday.

The Steelers are number one.
Period.

Bowling and Babies

I hope you enjoy the videos. Eden, they're big files. My e-mail will not allow that much stuff. We'll have to find a different method for getting these to you!

Whacked

What's wrong?
Did the universe have a new black hole?
Did we enter the twilight zone?

Have you ever felt like where'd we go wrong?

I guess I'll start at home. Deanna has a boyfriend, who in the beginning no one liked, but he's getting better. She wants to marry him. He wants to slow it down but he will marry her. His apartment was damaged by Hurricane Ike so he is living at my parents house in Kelli's old room.

Kelli's boyfriend came down from Michigan to live here, but has no plan on gaining employment and lives with Kelli in her apartment. He is Emo. Emo is him. He's a little feminine and very quiet.

Lyric is living at my parents house while looking for an apartment.

Mom and Dad are whacked out that as soon as they got rid of the second child, they filled the house with two more. They're afraid they're never going to make it to empty nest.

The reign of Bush is coming to an end. Sarah Palin. Bailout plans.

I'm going to be a father.

Bridge City was underwater from Hurricane Ike.

It's all a little surreal for me. It's just life and I know that, but it just feels weird.
So there take that

What a month

So, Jas and I went to Houston to celebrate my birthday (Aug 30) and to go to the temple. We had alot of fun, but with Hurricane Gustav brewing in the gulf we decided to pack our things before we left and just go to Fort Worth straight from Houston. So we did. Lamar canceled class on Tuesday in preview to the storm hitting us. It felt like a game winning field goal for the Dallas Cowboys...missed wide right. Gustav passed us by. However I think the hurricanes are in alliance. Hurricane Dolly hit South Texas and Gustav hit Louisiana and Mississippi. I think we all knew Ike was going to be an issue. So for the second time in two weeks Jas and I traveled to our Fort Worth sanctuary. (It's the best place to be during a storm.) Hurricane Ike hit as a strong Category Two and was massive. It could have covered a quarter of Texas and all of Arkansas. It killed 60 people. People in Missouri had a tropical depression warning! That's not something you really have to worry about in the midwest, but Sept. 13 was an odd day. I got back into town on Wed., Sept. 17. I had power at my apartment. My apartment manager cleaned out my fridge and threw away everything...even things that wouldn't spoil in our refridgerator. That really ticked us off. The evecuation made us miss our doctors appointment that might have told us the sex of the baby. When I got back, many people still had no power and couldn't use the water. We couldn't use the water till that Saturday. Trees were down everywhere, but some places were starting to clean up already. The damage this storm caused was alot less visible than Rita three years earlier. My refinery suffered some damage, but we'll be back online soon. Most already are. Bridge City is a city that lies between two major waterways and when the storm surge came in nothing stopped it. It wiped out alot and put up to 10 feet of water in people's homes. Life is getting back to normal for those who have wind damage. It may take a while for those who have water damage. The church helped a lady clean out her garage and house and we ended up throwing away probably $200,000 worth of baseball cards, comic books, and records. I held the first edition of The Justice League in its plastic cover in my hands and then threw it the trash. That was sad. This lady had six feet of water in her house. Jas came back Tuesday Sept. 23. I was no longer a bachelor. I did however get paid some nice overtime at work. I made in one week what I normally do in two! We're ok. We left and came back and we were ok. My family is fine. If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.

The Fam

If I had to liken my family to any other family...I couldn't. We're a unique bunch. Where to start...ahh here's good spot.


Kelli is a composer who got bored with composing as soon as she got her degree and is now going through college again to get a degree in Computer Science. She is 26 and lives in a tan room at my parents house. She likes her laptop. Kelli also has a second life. However unlike Dwight Schrute, Kelli's second life isn't because she's bored, it's because she seems to be sick of her first one. Everything in her first life seems to be an annoyance to her. Kelli likes anime and other fantasy and fictional things. Kelli is fun and has been my best bud since I came out of the womb. We've grown apart some since I've moved to other things, but she's still my sister.


Deanna is sick. Deanna has been diagnosed with multiple diseases. My favorites are Talktomuch and Yuppiewannabe. The one that affects her body though is Renal Failure. Her kidneys have shutdown. We do not have a cause and we do not know how long she can last without a transplant. Deanna has had a fistula put in her arm for easy access for dialysis treatments every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 5:30 a.m. She also has had her stomach stapled to help her lose weight faster. She is literally melting away (probably over 200 lbs!). She has been my hero and my champion ever since she's been diagnosed and I know she suffers from it and she's sick every other day, but she has shown great resilience in dealing with this. I think she's living her life a different way because of it. Deanna is a salsa dancing, interior decorator and is very social.


Iva is professional. Mom is my resource. She has a decent answer; if not the right one. She is a director and a worrier and a nurse and a teacher and a counselor and everything else a mother should be. She works hard and has always expected the same out of all of her children. Iva is 90% serious and 10% funny. She is a quasi-decorator (she is heavily influenced by Deanna). Now she's totally obssessed with the grandbaby on the way. She's fun and creative.


Dad is coach. Coach is Dad. He's become alot wiser in his old age, but is still as fun-loving as ever. I'm grateful that I had such a wonderful example in my life of how to be a hard working father and how to be a good husband. My memories with my father are dear to me, because I was his only son and we got to do boys stuff together. We have enjoyed camping, fishing, vacations, fishing, building, fishing, and fishing. He's dedicated. He would drive 45 minutes to work. Work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. teaching resource students and then go from 3 to 6 p.m. coaching football or basketball. He then would drive 45 minutes home and do dishes, laundry, or ANYTHING else that needed to be done. ((I work for 6 hours come home and claim sanctuary on our couch...I have alot to learn...but with the baby holder doing the internal work, I am grateful that I had that example to show me how to get things done.)) Games. That is the second word to describe my dad, games. Every week and every dull moment, he wants to play a game. He's very good at games too. He taunts us just enough to get them angry enough to play with him. He's a fun dad. So that's my family. I'll have to post some pictures later.