I must say Germs suck — that’s right, they do.  Especially when they come and attack a sweet innocent little girl. I have not been on the computer much lately because I have been spending time taking care of my family.  My little girl (who turned 1 last Thursday) has been sick for awhile.  First there have been ear infections…..she has had between 8-10 in the last 6 months.  Needless to say she needs tubes.  That surgery is coming March 5th.  But beyond that she has had a couple of viruses that has made her miserable.  She had a stomach bug which is bad enough (I was the brunt of most of the projections) – but she was getting dehydrated because she could not keep anything down.  Thank God we did not have to go to the hospital for IVs or anything and she started to feel better.  But once she started to feel better things got worse…….she suddenly got a fever that would not go away.  This time we were sent to the hospital for a battery of tests- which all came back negative.  The doctors said it was some kind of virus but they did not know what.  After four days of the fever  she got a rash.  The good thing of the rash is that we finally found out why she had the fever.  She had Roseola which is a virus that shows a fever followed by a rash.  It is very contagious so like most of the sickness she has experienced this year, she most likely got it from the day care.

The really sad thing about being a parent is to watch your child suffer with some sort of sickness (or in anyway) and there is very little that you can do in order to help them.  You wish they they can understand what is going on but she is so little and so sick that she has no idea.  I am thankful that everything was gone by her birthday (February 14th) and she was healthy and happy for her birthday party on Saturday.

I have been struggling lately as well….I lost my voice around Christmas and I had to have tests done and I have been diagnosed with Reflux Laryngitis – it is manageable but I still get hoarse after talking a lot or singing, but in about 4-5 weeks I should be 100%.

That’s all the major stuff on the home front.  “The boy” (my son) is doing well and he is going to be four years old later this month.  I can’t believe he is already four years old.  I know it sounds sappy but I still remember when he was born, and holding him for the first time.  Now he is his own little man and he is doing his own thing.  Tonight we prayed our bed time prayer with his Godmother.  Even though he was being shy (he only prayed the “now I lay me…” prayer and not the Lord’s Prayer with her) I thought it was great. He was really excited to do it and to watch him interact with her over the phone was great.  He was excited but shy– I could tell he was being shy because he had his hands in his mouth, dead give away.  I hope it can be a regular thing and we can do it with his Godfather as well.

I am taking a Chataism class this semester and we are talking about the Ten Commandments, the Creeds and Lord’s Prayer.  I have been thinking  about them and how to connect them with my children.  I think at this age he is just being familiar with what they are is good enough, but it is something I hope to explore in this class and in the years to come with my children.

I just finished watching “My Dad is Better Than Your Dad.”  The premise of the show is for dad’s and their children compete in challenges both physical and mental to see which combo can outlast the rest.  Like any reality show there is an element of “you stink” at the end.  I don’t know if I like that aspect when it comes to children.  It is one thing for adults to get in the mix and try and win money and make a fool of themselves, but when you drag children into it you can really harm them, by them thinking that it was their fault that they lost or that their dad is not good enough.  What do you think?

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On Wednesday we will have the regional assignments for our first call.  A Bishop representative from each of the nine regions, and a seminary are currently in Chicago talking about 200 and something candidates going into the first call process.  They read about each candidate and pray for them and then decide which area they are going to send the candidates.

This Wednesday a phone call will come into the seminary from Chicago from our Seminary Representative.  The community will have a worship service and then all the seniors will gather at the presidents house to find our regional assignment.

As someone awaiting their decision it is really nerve-racking.  My wife and I hope that we are assigned to Region seven.  On the one hand it would be flattering that another region would really want me to come to their synod, however I know what would be best for us and our family.

For Region Seven the bishops from each synod (Upstate New York, Metro-New York, New Jersey, Northeast Penn, Southeast Penn, and New England) personally interview each individual assigned to the region and then assign the go behind closed doors and fight for us to come to their synod.  (Well I hope they would at least want me)  I have let most people know that we would like to come to the New England Synod.  That’s where our family is and most of our friends, so we would like to be close.  We would like that support which we dearly miss.   We especially miss it now because we are separated from our second home (the seminary)  this year living in Souderton.  But we have and continue to manage.

So that is what is going on with us recently, that’s only part of what our lives have been recently.  It never ends….but we are in a very exciting time in our life, there are many possibilities that lay ahead of us and we are going to need lots of prayers and support the next few months as our future is played out in the hands of people who only know me by a piece of paper.