Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Seven years ago today, my beautiful wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Although there was some complications in her delivery, she was actually one of the easiest births my wife had with the fewest complications. We tried to have her naturally, but after the emergency c-section that had to be done for Brayden, it wasn't working quite right. It seems as if the placenta was connected at the wrong place and every time Kimberly went into contractions, Abigail's heart rate dropped to dangerously low levels.

But, she is a perfectly healthy little girl. And how she has become such a girly girl is beyond me. She has three obnoxious brothers who pick on her and rough house with her every chance they get. But somehow, she has managed to cling on to everything girly.

Until she was six, she absolutely refused to wear a pair of pants. She used to say that she wasn't pretty unless she was wearing a dress. In fact, if Mom was wearing pants, she would tell her that she wasn't pretty today. Now, of course we told her over and over that what you look like and how you dress was not how to judge if someone was pretty or not. But to a four year old mind, that concept made absolutely no sense.

She has matured past that age, and become a young girl of incredible grace and beauty. Not only is she beautiful on the outside, but she is truly a remarkable person on the inside. I don't think she even has the knowledge of how to treat others badly. Barring occasional spats with her siblings, she is always quick to point out her friends and what they mean to her.

As she grows older, my prayer for her is to become totally submersed in the Father's love for her. I pray that God continues to build the confidence that is already growing in her. Confidence in her abilities, confidence in who she is. Confidence in her knowledge of the love that her savior has for her.

Abi, I love you Baby Girl.

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Yet Another Road Diverging

After three years of trying to sell real estate, I have finally decided to call it quits. I am at peace when it comes to leaving the business, but it hurts to admit what some would call failure. I have spent a lot of money to try to stay in the game, but it hasn't paid off. I have had to admit to myself that when it comes to this type of selling, I am no good. I have no idea what the future holds or where I will be next year. I just have to learn to take that little foot shuffle of faith and rely on Jesus. Pride gets in the way of that. It's a struggle that I deal with daily.

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A Word to My LDS Friends

Yesterday, I posted a blog regarding the controversy between the HBO show "Big Love" and some members of the LDS church. Since then, I received some comments concerning why I felt the need to post such a message to my blog.

As most of you know, I am not of the LDS religion, but I live in a community that has a higher per capita percentage of Mormons than Salt Lake City. I have lived here the majority of my life. As such, I cannot help but to be fascinated and intrigued on any news I hear concerning the church. This news bit was seen on ABC's Good Morning America yesterday and I found it quite interesting that first, ABC felt the need to report on it, and second that some members of the LDS church were so upset. Now, since I am not LDS I cannot fully appreciate the significance of the Endowment Ceremony (or most temple ceremonies for that matter). But I do find it interesting that it has to be secretive.

Just as most of you know that I am not a Mormon, you also know that I am a born-again Christian (worse yet, I have theology and pastoral training). This means that we have very big theological differences. BUT, I consider my friendship with each and every one of you more important than any differences we may have. I believe Jesus has given us a higher calling to love each other. He never called us to argue doctrinal differences, but he admonished us over and over again to love each other. I am a work in progress full of faults and problems. I ask each of you to give me the grace I need to work out my salvation and become more and more like my Lord every day.

On a side note, I would love to have conversations with you in private via email if you would like. This blog, facebook, or any other public forum is not the place to have this conversation.

If you have any comments or opinions on this or any other posts on my blog or facebook, please let me know! I would love to hear what you think.

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