I just watched "The Help" for the first time. I read the book back in November. Jasmine had to help me remember parts from the movie that were also in the book, and tell me the one scene that didn't play out like it did in the book.
I found that both the book and the movie hit so much on the same theme. Back in their day, you couldn't make it without this one quality and without this theme in your life, what were you? Have you guessed it yet?
Courage.
It means you have strength. It means you don't give up. It means that you put your fear aside for what's right. It means you take care of business.
Courage.
You can't have enough. It's God-given. The Lord makes weak things strong.
Courage.
It's the fuel for change. I wish I had more.
I'm gonna get more.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Thursday, December 31, 2009
2010
This is going to be the most awesome year ever!
I will indeed graduate from Lamar University. I will not be giving any of my money to them for a while. I have accepted a position with Valero Energy Corporation in the St. Charles Parish of Louisiana. We will be living within 20 minutes of New Orleans. I have thought alot about what I want my career to be. I knew I wanted to be an engineer. Electrical, no doubt. But what part of the engineering world do I want to participate in, business or technical? Then I got married to a girl who has her dream job and does it quite well. So much so that as her employer I'm willing to give her a raise.
Jasmine is a mother. That is all she ever wanted to be. This teaching stuff is for if the true source of income doesn't provide like he promised (although, he does). Jasmine's job has no earthly glory nor is it entirely glamorous. Ben certainly makes it easier with his cute dimple, cleft chin, curly hair, and killer smile, but Jas makes even the hard stuff look easy.
What else is there to do in this life than to have kids, raise them, and wish that you get to see them have this experience too? The way I interact with my kids will fuel them for failure or success. They're going to do something...it might as well be positive, so my Resolution for 2010 is single-fold:
I will do what I must do to keep myself physically and spiritually healthy in order to discern what it is that I must teach my kids so that they will succeed physically and spiritually.
I could take that statement and break it down into sub-goals and ideas, but it means a change in behavior and thinking. Shedding the last bit of selfishness, that keeps me from thriving. Letting go of social inhibitions and keeping my career in tune with the needs of my family. That's my career goal. Whether management or technical it doesn't matter so long as I can come home at the end of the day and be there...be a Father.
I have the most supportive wife and I love her more. I have great friends, who I laugh and work with. I can't wait to teach Ben all that I know about this life. I feel immensely blessed for those who have sacrificed to help me reach some success and I eagerly await new encounters that my shape my future.
Happy New Years.
I will indeed graduate from Lamar University. I will not be giving any of my money to them for a while. I have accepted a position with Valero Energy Corporation in the St. Charles Parish of Louisiana. We will be living within 20 minutes of New Orleans. I have thought alot about what I want my career to be. I knew I wanted to be an engineer. Electrical, no doubt. But what part of the engineering world do I want to participate in, business or technical? Then I got married to a girl who has her dream job and does it quite well. So much so that as her employer I'm willing to give her a raise.
Jasmine is a mother. That is all she ever wanted to be. This teaching stuff is for if the true source of income doesn't provide like he promised (although, he does). Jasmine's job has no earthly glory nor is it entirely glamorous. Ben certainly makes it easier with his cute dimple, cleft chin, curly hair, and killer smile, but Jas makes even the hard stuff look easy.
What else is there to do in this life than to have kids, raise them, and wish that you get to see them have this experience too? The way I interact with my kids will fuel them for failure or success. They're going to do something...it might as well be positive, so my Resolution for 2010 is single-fold:
I will do what I must do to keep myself physically and spiritually healthy in order to discern what it is that I must teach my kids so that they will succeed physically and spiritually.
I could take that statement and break it down into sub-goals and ideas, but it means a change in behavior and thinking. Shedding the last bit of selfishness, that keeps me from thriving. Letting go of social inhibitions and keeping my career in tune with the needs of my family. That's my career goal. Whether management or technical it doesn't matter so long as I can come home at the end of the day and be there...be a Father.
I have the most supportive wife and I love her more. I have great friends, who I laugh and work with. I can't wait to teach Ben all that I know about this life. I feel immensely blessed for those who have sacrificed to help me reach some success and I eagerly await new encounters that my shape my future.
Happy New Years.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, February 2, 2009
It's going to be a good month
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.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
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!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
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
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
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