Things That Do Not Happen In Mankato, Minnesota

Graham Family Christmas Letter 2010

2010-12-24T22:38:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve 2010

Life is quite fast. With children at the ages of five, three, and one, life feels as if it moves at light speed for Jill and myself. That’s why today is such a wonderful day to relax and celebrate Jesus together. No responsibilities of work or otherwise, and no real agenda beyond spending time together as we praise our Lord for the most amazing gift of all time – salvation through Christ.

This morning, we enjoyed watching a new layer of Minnesota’s beautiful white fluffy snow fall onto our yard while it seemingly begged us to play in it. Today can officially be a pajama party as even after our morning showers we climbed right back into our “cozy” pajamas as the kids would say. We even got to make puppy chow while listening to Christmas music.

A little recap (written by Jill) on the wild year of 2010 for the members of the Graham Family:

Brooklyn has grown into such a beautiful little girl. She started preschool this year and enjoys it so much. She has a wonderful teacher and a classroom full of friends (one of which she has already asked to marry her). What a cutie. She lost two teeth this fall, can’t seem to stop writing her numbers and letters, and is taking large steps towards reading on her own. Oh how I wish I could sometimes freeze time, if only for a moment, to enjoy all these milestones for just a little longer. Her latest endeavor is quite the project. Completely infatuated with fairies, she is bound and determined to catch one. That’s right, she plans to catch a fairy of her own. In fact, she has been collecting very specific items that she will use to build a fairy house (complete with peppermints and graham crackers so as not to let that poor fairy go hungry). We adore watching her amazing imagination continue to grow.

Jeremiah is all boy. Who would have known that anything from straws or spoons to toy screwdrivers could be “pew-ers” (aka guns that he accompanies with the sound affect “pew pew”)? He has a love for “fido fightow twuts” (firefighter trucks) and pirates. He will point out a “ladder” in almost anything (typically mommy’s legs when she’s reading books on the floor with her feet up on the couch) which often turns him into a firefighter, climbing up and down the ‘ladder’. When he’s not a firefighter, he’s a pirate. Apparently, stems from artificial flowers make perfect swords! Our quiet little daydreamer has such a creative little mind.

Savannah is packed full of so much energy. She is strong-willed and very determined. She even knows how to throw a terrific tantrum. What a blessing she is. She’s running everywhere, learning more and more sounds each week, and utilizing her baby signs. Her favorite: “mo” (more). She loves dancing circles around the living room while listening to music, and will drop anything she’s doing to bring us “buh” (books) and snuggle in our lap for a good story.

Jill likes to have projects to work on in her “spare” time (though she’s not always sure she even remembers the meaning of “spare time”). From sock monkeys and curtains, to tutus and super hero capes, she has grown quite fond of her sewing machine. The better part of her days is spent having the best dance parties with her favorite little people, building forts, riding bikes, taking walks, and now playing in our backyard winter wonderland. God has truly blessed this family with three amazing children!

Mike – In 2010 I lived in three different states and at four different addresses. Change has been my only constant and I am learning and growing because of it. My adventures, mistakes, and experiences have taught me more than I can ask for – I only hope and pray that I use them as a stepping stone to mature from. I have been writing quite a bit this year and believe it has helped me grow from my experiences.

Today I am so happy to have my four favorite people in my life every single day. I praise you Lord Jesus for Jill, Brooklyn, Jeremiah, Savannah, and for everybody who reads this letter. God, please bless all who read this with the desire to know you more and with a delightful Christmas Holiday.

Merry Merry Christmas,

Michael, Jill, Brooklyn, Jeremiah, and Savannah Graham

Dec 20th, 1998

2010-08-28T23:13:00.003-05:00

Recently a friend of mine asked me to share my transformation story. I typed it out in an email and decided that it would be fun to share on my blog. This is my story, the short version, of how I became a Christian:

I grew up in an “American Christian Family” that went to church two or three times a month. Growing up in that church, it seemed as if I was always being preached at like I was already a Christian and I was being repeatedly told the dos and the don’ts of leading the life of a good person/Christian. I rarely felt involved or excited. I did believe in God growing up and I often prayed (usually only before meals, before bed, or before a track or cross country meet). That was the extent of my faith.

When I went off to college in the fall of 1998, a friend that I just met at school invited me to his church. I was surprised at how much I actually enjoyed the church. I actually followed along with the sermon, took notes, and wanted to come back. I had just turned 19 years old and truly and thoroughly enjoyed learning about Jesus for the first time in my life. When I got back to my dorm room, I actually dug out and dusted off my Bible that I received as a gift in 2nd grade from our Presbyterian Church. As I opened it, I remembered the only reading of it I ever did was when I first received it. I would often read Genesis to my younger brother in the afternoons, because I thought I was supposed to read it. I didn't really know how to read a Bible, what to think of it, or even what questions to ask; I had little direction for how to handle such a book.

On December 20th, 1998, I went to that same Baptist church again with my new friend Dave. It was a beautiful cold snowy winter day in Wisconsin. I vividly remember the pastor, Kendall, describing what it is like to be a Christian and have a personal relationship with Jesus. This idea of having a personal relationship with Jesus was wonderfully new to me. I was eating up every word he was teaching. I kept thinking how cool and fun and exciting this all was, my blood even felt to be pumping thicker and faster; and this was even at church! Then, Kendall asked us if we wanted to confess our sins to Jesus for forever forgiveness, to start a relationship with, and to follow Jesus today. I felt like Kendall was speaking directly to me and me alone. Right then and there I gave my life to Christ, asked him to be my Lord and Savior, and joined in a prayer to admit to God my sins and ask for forgiveness of them through the death of Jesus on the cross and the resurrection; and I told Jesus I wanted him to be the master or my life, that I would follow him for the rest of my days.

Two days later, I joined Dave to drive home for Christmas break with my family; my first true Christmas! It was a three hour drive for me, and I probably talked to Dave for about 2 and ½ of those hours asking question after question - giving him little time to answer before asking another question as I was so excited about this gift of my new faith. I was actually excited to read my Bible, to pray, to journal, to talk to others about Jesus and to figure out what it means to really be an authentic follower of Christ. I am coming up on celebrating my 12 year anniversary of giving my life to Christ, and it has been quite the journey to say the least! I cannot be more thankful for Dave, for Kendall and his family, for many other family and friends who have loved and challenged me in my faith, for the Holy Spirit’s guidance of me through so much, and of course for the gift of Jesus humble and sacrificial death on the cross and the resurrection!

Looking back now, I remember at 19 years old I felt stupid to ask somebody questions about Jesus and the Christian faith. I grew up in a country where the Christian church is the most popularly attended religious event in our nation, so I felt like I should already know the answers to the questions that were burning in my heart. I was too afraid to ask. Thankfully, Kendall spelled it out for me and even gave me an invitation. Please don't feel your questions and/or curiosity is silly. The most simple question could be the start of an incredible journey.

My faith has been an unforgettable adventure. I challenge you to search your heart,

Michael

Thank you Mom and Dad

2010-08-25T08:10:00.002-05:00

Thank you Mom and Dad. Tuesday night, 11:01pm, August 24th, 2010

I believe that I have made it clear to both my Mother Carolyn and my Father Gordy, over the past 4.5 years (our oldest child, Brooklyn, will turn 5 in November), how much I appreciate them. I truly believe that I have most always been a strong lover/supporter/encourager of my parents, and it has become so evidently clear since I have become a parent myself that I am incredibly and unforgivably thankful for their sacrifices as parents.

After a statement like that, I could go into so many different awesome stories. But tonight, in my limited view of life on earth, I can only legitimately share a personal story of what Jill and I do to provide for our children. More specifically, I am inept to share the daily worthy battles that Jill goes through as a stay at home mom of 3 children under the age of 5. So instead, I can only share my personal experience.

Jill, Brooklyn, Jeremiah, and Savannah – this is what life is about. Let me give a little play by play:

Today I arrived home from a long day of work at the office at about 5:22pm. I drove in to see Jill and the kids playing in the yard. Savannah, at 9 months old, was all but smiles and reaching out towards me for a good hug. Brooklyn, at 4 and ½, hid behind Jill and kept telling me how I wasn’t “supposed” to find her yet. Jeremiah came striding out from the garage on his “Strider – bike” and couldn’t be anything less than smiles with a chapped lip - because he can’t stop his cute little habit of licking his lips all the live long day.

After a good smooch from Jill I could tell she was anxious to “cash in” on the offer that I briefly spoke with her about on a quick call while I was at the office. She mentioned that she had wanted to possibly go shopping at a store with some of her “fun money” and I said okay. (You see, Jill and I each get $20.00 per month as an allowance to spend however the heck we like. Jill is much better at compiling many of these $20.00 months together, as I seem to spend the money within moments after it gets into my hands). Anyway, I grabbed Savvy from her and sent Jill on her way to a few minutes of “no children bliss.”

Let’s be honest, every mother needs a few moments of silence. Without children yelling, or crying, or whining, or screaming, or begging, or asking, or teasing, or provoking, or pooping, or telling, or even talking for crying out loud. I know, that last sentence may seem either a little bit harsh, or maybe a little bit hysterical. You pick.

We all waved goodbye as Mommy drove away in the car. Although Savannah was happy to see me, she was already a tad concerned. Brooklyn and Jeremiah immediately started to fight over the black basketball. Crap, Jill left one fight too early. I would have to figure out this one on my own.

Actually everything went fine. Dinner time was a loud and messy 30 minutes though. Savannah couldn’t stop exercising her vocal chords (often at her loudest decibel possible), Brooklyn often kept telling me how Mommy does things differently than I do, and Jeremiah would eat nothing but peanut butter out of a blue bowl with a little orange spoon.

The whole bedtime was a hoot. Jill came home towards the end of it, and I was desperate for anybody with a couple of boobs willing to calm Savannah down. I know I know, maybe it seems I am being melodramatic. But I dare you try to do a bedtime routine with 3 young children when one of them is quite dependant on breast milk to go to bed.

So after we get the monkeys to bed, I am grateful for a few minutes of silence, but Jill really wants to talk to an adult. That makes sense; her conversations all day have been with a 9 month old, a 3 year old, and a soon to be 5 year old. I suppose that a conversation with a 30 year old male might be pretty nice, but right now, I just want to world to go silent for a few short minutes.

About one hour into my quiet evening with my beautiful bride, I need to start getting ready for job number 2. Yep, at 10:30pm, I report to the group home that I work at. I love the people that live here and the staff that support it. As much as I do enjoy my work, it is always hard for me to leave my family at 10:15pm, to not sleep in my bed with my wife, to not be there if a child has a bad dream, and to get ready for job number 1 in the morning without even getting a good morning hug from any of the fantastic 5. I know, there are plenty of people who see their families much less than me – so please don’t hear this as whining, I am simply just relaying my “play by play.”

There is something very unsettling about putting my suit on a hanger at 9:30pm in the evening, so that I can put it in my car, so that in the morning at 5:45am I can wake up 15 minutes prior to the residents in the group home, so that I can go directly from one job to the next at 7:30am in the morning.

When I said goodbye and goodnight to Jill as I left for work at 10:15pm, she asked if I would see her during my lunch break tomorrow. No, tomorrow is a Wednesday. On Monday’s and Wednesday’s I donate plasma on my lunch break, and I don’t get to run home quick for a nice meal and a few cute hugs. Donating plasma not only pays me a helpful $40.00 per week, I even get one hour of silence to read a good book. Not a bad trade for my fluids.

When I type all this, I feel as if it sounds like I am asking for sympathy. Not in the least. I am proud to be a hard working parent. I love my family and everything we do for them.

The story of how we got to where we are today is a long winded one for another day, but I am thankful for my busy life. I work 8-5 M-F in an office job with my father and sister-in-law, I work 4 overnights a week at a group home, and I donate my plasma twice a week on my lunch break. I do know that every single second is 100% worth it. There is nothing and nobody in the history of existence like Brooklyn, like Jeremiah, like Savannah, and like Jill. Jill and I would do everything we are doing and so much more, time and time again.

Please Lord, understand our heartfelt efforts, and even though we may be off-track at times, please take our efforts into account and please please please, bless our children like no other. I love you and I love them. I would die for them in an instant, and we both know that.

In another light, I would never be the responsible adult that I am today had it not been for Brooklyn and Jeremiah and Savannah and Jill. I am glad for the man I have become because of them, and I believe that my further experience as a father and husband will only bring me to greater places. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for giving me the opportunity to be a father and husband. I hope you continue to challenge me in these roles.

Back to the reason I started writing tonight:

Mom & Dad – I can’t even begin to imagine all of the sacrifices you made for me. I have so many very personal and sometimes selfish dreams that stay on the “backburner” while I do my best to give Brooklyn and Jeremiah and Savannah the best platform I can, to go after their own lives. I know you did likewise for me. I love you, in 3 words, may not seem sufficient, but I really mean every word. You are the best, thank you :).

Okay. In a few hours, I need to face the world again. Thank you for reading my thoughts. Praise you Jesus for my many blessings.

Michael at 12:21am

oh yeah, a few pictures from our goofy dinner the night before (when Jill was with us):

I Feel Like a Toy

2010-08-22T12:49:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago on a Tuesday evening, Brooklyn told me that she hurt herself while jumping on her bed during her “quiet time” that afternoon. When she started to demonstrate where she landed and how she got the “owie,” I quickly realized that she crotched herself on the bedpost. She didn’t seem to be as alarmed as I was about it. To her it must have felt just like any other bump or bruise she gets from being a busy child. Anyway, Jill took a look at it, and it truly did seem like no big deal.

The next day however, Jill said it was much more swollen and red. After calling the Nurses Hotline, the nurse strongly suggested coming in to get it looked at. Of course the nurses on the Nurses Hotline are most always going to suggest coming in since it is hard to give any real medical advice without actually looking at it – but this time, due to the location of the bruise, I felt it was the right choice to be on the cautious side and bring her in to see the doc.

After Jill enjoyed a wild visit to the doctor’s office with 3 children under the age of 5, she came home with some medication for Brooklyn. That night, after applying the medication before bedtime, Brooklyn made an interesting comment. Brookie and Jill were walking to her room and Brooklyn said “I feel like a toy.” Jill responded “oh, does the medication fill a little bit silly?” Brooklyn replied “yeah, I feel squishy.”

I would love to know what toy she was picturing in her mind.

Anyway, the next morning I was eating cereal with Brooklyn and asking her about her ‘toy’ comment, I said: “Brooklyn, did the medication make you feel a little bit silly?” Brooklyn immediately told me very directly “Daddy, I know that I am real person, I just felt like a toy.” She then continued to eat her cereal.

I love Brooklyn so much. I love my conversations with her.

PS - the pictures on this post are uploaded from my phone, so we will see how well the quality works for this. Below, Brooklyn did dishes for about 30 minutes. It was incredibly cute, she wanted to do some work to earn some money to buy a princess toy from the store.

Writing Again

2010-08-04T15:33:00.000-05:00

It's been 4 months since I last attempted to write in my blog.

Wow.

I have had real writers block in trying to tell about my experience in the Army and now back home so soon. Many times I tried to squeeze my experience into a shorter story so it could fit into a blog post that wouldn't be 20 pages long. Anytime I succeeded in shortening my story it still seemed way to long to read in a single blog and it still truly cut my story short.

I had quite the experience and I believe it is worthy of sharing with others. So, I started to write a book. Even if the only people who ever read it are my own wife and children, then it will be worth every minute. Here is a snippet from a rough draft of the book:

"However, my theological commentary will be mostly left out of this book. I want to just tell you my story and pray that it spurs you on to deep conversation with your friends and family about your understanding of God. I have this idea that when we hear somebody else’s God story, it reminds us of something in our own story and we can learn from each other and get closer to the heart of God by sharing our stories."

That being said, I am back to blogging again and I am excited about it. I love being home with my wife and children. Praise you Lord for my incredible blessings,

Michael

An Address!

2010-02-05T09:28:00.006-06:00

(written by Jill)

We got our first letters from Mike yesterday! It feels so good to hear from him. It sounds like he just started his actual physical training Monday. Up until then, he was going through processing at the Reception Battallion. He said that they kept him up until 2:00am that first night he got there (after being awake since 4:00am that morning...and only getting 5 hours of sleep the night before that!). I'd be desparately searching for a cup of coffee the morning after that! He said he has his uniform and dog tags and has already gotten his hair cut. One day, apparently his 'group' was missing a person, so they all had to stand at attention outside in the snow for over an hour and a half! He mentioned that his feet hurt after that (I don't doubt it!).

He is in the Alpha 2 platoon and his line number is 101. Apparently he is addressed by his line number and not his name. Fun ;-). He also seems to be getting along well with a few guys already. He's mentioned the name Vingeault a few times. He even said that one other guy in his platoon is a 21Delta (diver), which is kind of rare since there are only about 150 engineering divers total in the Army. There's a guy, two bunks down from him, that likes to call him "chap" or "chappy" since he knows Mike wants to go back to Seminary some day. He thinks Mike should be a chaplain.

So, this was all from letters he wrote over the weekend. I actually got a call from him last night. He was very homesick for us, and it wasn't easy for me to hear over the phone (in only a 3.5 minute converesation none-the-less!). He said all the physical work was fine and he can do it, but he just misses us terribly. Lots of our love sent through letters are the best thing for him right now! I hear this far into basic is the hardest, emotionally. So, here is his address. I encourage everyone to send a thoughtul note if you get a chance :-).

SPC Graham, Michael D. 0953
A-2-10 Inf Regt 2nd Plt
495 Iowa Ave, Unit 12
Fort Leonard Wood, MO 65473

Be sure to write the number "2" on the back of the envelope and circle it. This specifies which platoon the letter should be sent to. He can also only recieve letters and photos (due to lack of locker/storage space). It's against the rules for him to recieve packages bigger than that. So, we can shower him with letters!

Ship Day

2010-01-27T15:36:00.003-06:00

I am currently in the DFW airport, in about 90 minutes I will be on a plane to St Louis, and then I will be on a 2 hour bus ride into Fort Leonard Wood to start my Basic Combat Training with the Army. I am excited to finally get there. I was supposed to ship out on Monday, but due to a couple hold-ups at MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) I am finally getting to leave today.

The two day hold-over was frustrating, but it did provide me with a few extra hours with Jill and the kids. We said our tearful good-byes on Sunday afternoon - one of the hardest moments of my life. Then both Monday and Tuesday I showed up at the house around 1pm & was allowed to stay until dinner before I had to go back and get ready to process at MEPS again the next morning. How confusing it must have been for the kids, after just telling them on Sunday that it would be a long time before they get to see Daddy again. Well, I will take the blessing of extra playtime and hugs with them.

The whole week before hand was emotional for me as well. There were many "lasts" in the past week that brought me tears: last dinner together, last quiet time coloring with Brooklyn, last quiet time playing cars with Jeremiah, last night sleeping in the same bed with Jill, last time smooching Savanna's wonderfully big cheeks, last time going to the Ft Worth Zoo as a family, last family prayer together ... etc. I know it's only 13 weeks before I will see them again, but children seem to grow and change fast.

We have had many good family and friends show great support to us in many ways, which immensly helps us in this transition period -- thank you very much, you are appreciated more than you know.

Jill - once you read this, could you please post the picture on this blog of the kids & I flexing for the camera on Sunday afternoon? Thanks honey.

Again, thank you for your encouragement and support. I will see you on the other side.

Mikey

Graham Fam Timeline

2010-01-11T11:08:00.002-06:00

As Jill, the kids, and I are trying to get ready to embrace another big change in our lives, I have spent plenty of time trying to process through all my feelings on this new challenge. Suddenly, I have felt quite passionate about recording as much of the Graham Family story as I possibly can. We keep a Graham Family Quote Book in our home now and record a vast array of interesting things the kids say -- as you can imagine with a 4 year old and a 2 year old, who both love to talk, the quote book is a wonderful read. Also, Jill and I have both started these blogs, and below I have created a timeline of our family. (The Pierson dates from early on are not accurate, as they are just educated guesses from me)

Anyway, I am a better person for being able to hear other peoples' life stories, and I enjoy being able to tell my own as well.

I wish you a blessed day,

Michael

Graham Family Christmas Letter - 2009

2009-12-27T17:39:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2009 was a wonderfully wild year. Life is an adventure, and we don't intend to miss out. Our journey this year has brought us across the States and further.

Spring -
On March 29th, we said good-bye to our home in Mankato, MN and to many friends and family. Our purpose: to get a Master's degree from Seminary. Our school: Southwestern Baptist Theological in Fort Worth, Texas. I promise you, driving through the night across the States with two toddlers in the car wasn't easy (not to mention wiping away the tears from a dreaded good-bye to some of our very favorite people). Our spring Texas experience was warm - the kids enjoyed playing outside every single day in the beautiful weather, Jill got to go through the morning sickness of this pregnancy without the support of family baby-sitters around, and I landed my first paying church job. Living in campus housing we were only 3 miles from the zoo -- so we became members of the Fort Worth Zoo, where Brooklyn and Jeremiah are able to let their imaginations run wild. Brookie & Miah have become the best of friends, it is so incredible to watch them play and interact together. They are 20 months apart, and they love each other so much. It makes me think about how much I really do love Stephanie and Nathan, and how there is nothing that can compare to the deep relationship of siblings.

Summer -
HOT. Living in a different part of the country is a wonderful learning experience, and I would reccommend to all. As Jill's baby belly grew, so did the daily high temperature. Many back to back days in the triple digits. The summer also provided another move for us. My new job was a Minister Intern at a church in Plano, TX. The hour long commute was helpful to me for learning Greek in the car, but I missed the time with Jill and the kids. So on July 1st, we moved into our current home in Carrollton, TX. We are now able to be only 4 miles from the church and learn what it means to be a Minister's family. The internship at Prestonwood Baptist Church was an incredible experience. The church has a staggering 29,000 members and provided us with daily opportunities for impact and for learning. As I kept busy learning Greek and working, Jill teaches piano lessons out of the home and enjoy's her ever changing days as a stay-at-home mom. Our new home provides a fenced in back yard where Brooklyn loves to utilize the rope swing and the trees for climbing, wereas Jeremiah loves to run and hit home-runs! We also had the priviledge to learn how to exterminate cockroaches - gross, gross, gross.

Autumn -
The weather cooled off, but was just perfect for a Minnesota family to enjoy the outdoors daily. We have gone on many family walks, including the "Graham Family Flashlight Walk" around the neighborhood before bed time, and I have been able to grill out most every single Saturday and Sunday. We have been blessed to enjoy so many family and learning moments this year as we continue to grow and change. Our favorite moment this fall came at 9:28pm on 11/09/09. Savannah Kate Graham joined us at 9 lbs and 12 oz, measuring 21.5 inches long. What a beauty she is. (I even got to snuggle with her for a nap today). Both Brooklyn and Jeremiah adore her, smooch her, and talk about her often. It is so incredible to watch Jill mother Savannah along with Brooklyn and Jeremiah -- it is quite clear how much she loves being a mom. Also, our Thanksgiving was just perfect, my parents visited from Minnesota (for the 2nd time this year) and the kids couldn't stop hugging them and playing with them.

Winter -
Savannah is starting to be awake a little more often and is sharing more smiles with us. Brooklyn and Jeremiah are both quickly expanding their vocabulary and entertaining us with their questions and comments. We are lucky to be getting ready for a few more visitors: Jill's Family, and my siblings Stephanie and Nathan along with his bride Heidi are all coming for a visit in January. We love our experience here in Texas, but we love our family and friends much more. Lastly, we are gearing up for another big change - the Army. I enlisted for active duty for 4 years starting on January 25th, 2010. I know, the adventure continues. Many have asked the obvious - what about school, your family, etc. The short answer is that we are continuing to pursue God's leadership and guidance in our lives. We believe in our God, our country, in all of you, and that this is part of our overall big picture plan. We don't have all the puzzle pieces to the big picture yet, and this next "puzzle piece" may look a little rough around the edges, but it truly does fit. We believe we will learn and experience much - and if we approach it with the correct attitude, we can grow abundantly from this future journey. It will also provide us with the financials for school, as we plan to continue my 3 year Master's degree at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, MN.

Today - I am relaxing for this last day of my Christmas break and I am going to grill for dinner, Jill is dying diaper covers (she cloth diapers the kids), Brooklyn is playing with her new dollhouse accessories, Jeremiah is analyzing his new train set, and Savannah is sleeping in her swing and keeping warm with a Boston Red Sox blanket (thanks Uncle Nathan and Aunt Heidi).

We wish you a wonderful 2010. We challenge you to make time to read an extra book or two this year. We hope you take life's curveballs as the adventure and opportunity for learning they are. We pray for you to grow closer in your relationship with God. We love you and miss you.

May God bless you and keep you,

The Graham Family - Savannah, Jeremiah, Brooklyn, Jill, and Michael

No Bitting & No Eye Poking

2009-12-15T09:52:00.002-06:00

What started out as "The Brooklyn & Daddy Game" has evolved quite a bit. The game goes like this: at some point in the evening, without any warning, Brooklyn attacks me. Normally I would “attack” back and a fun wrestling match slash rough-house game would ensue.

Chaos, it is so much fun. There truly was only one rule to this game – Brooklyn could only do these sorts of behaviors with Daddy and only when we were playing this game (she has held true to this rule so far). She could jump on me, throw things at me, climb on me, tickle, hit, whatever. You can judge me all you want for my fathering skills, that’s fine. It is all in good fun, and we really do laugh a lot when we play this game. Pillows become swords and they hit my face about 982 times in a short 20 minutes.

We started this game when Jill was about 6 months along with Savannah. We sure as heck weren’t going to have Brooklyn jumping on or towards Mom, so I turned out to be the best solution. Kids just seem to have a certain energy that they sometimes need to get rid of. I am more than happy to be part of that process.

As you can imagine, Jeremiah very soon got involved in our game. It is an absolute blast. They team up together against me and they often choke on their giggles they are having so much fun. Even though I get quite tired in the middle of it, I hope it never ends. (sometimes I even have to get into the bathtub with my shorts and shirt on just to get them in the tub, and yes you can guess it, this game can happen in the tub as well).

Now that 2 monkeys are teaming up against me, the game has escalated a tad and I have had to add a couple rules to the game. The first two rules added were:
1 – No eye poking
2 – No bitting

Both of these were pioneered by Brooklyn and both towards me. I had to put an immediate stop to it because, to put it simply, it hurt. :)

This past weekend I had to had 2 more rules:
3 – No standing on Daddy’s neck
4 – No hitting heads with anything but pillows

Too funny. I can’t believe I had to create a rule called “No standing on Daddy’s neck.” I love them, they are so much fun.

Have a great week, only 10 days until Christmas.

The Great Walmart Toy Isle Adventure

2009-11-24T11:33:00.001-06:00

You would think that coming home at the end of a work day to cute kids like this would be easy as pie.

Well, when you add that smiling batman sporting boy with his older sister, both into the toy isle at Walmart, with a non-multitasking dad, is when chaos occurs.

It all started out so harmless. I walked in the door yesterday after work and was flooded with questions, comments, stories, "come find me" requests, ... just a typical Graham family welcome home. Brooklyn & Jeremiah were at the table eating a snack and I smooched Jill and Savannah, who were snuggling on the couch. I then joined the kids at the table to get some hugs and a report on the wild day. I kid you not, less than 30 seconds later I turned to ask Jill a question and she was sound asleep. I am going to assume that she was a little tuckered out from caring for two toddlers and a newborn for the last 10 hours.

Like I said, my solution seemed harmless. I nudged Jill to briefly wake her to inform her of my wise plan:

"I am going to take the kids out to the store with me for a while to give you a break." Jill perked up and excitingly questioned "you are going to take all 3 children to the store with you?" Are you kidding? Me, a newborn, with a 4 year old and 2 year old in Walmart for an hour sounds like a recipe for disaster. "No honey, I think 2 kids all by myself in Walmart will be wild enough for me. Plus it looks like Savannah is going to sleep for a while, and you will be able to get a much needed nap."

I informed Brooklyn that we get to go the store to return her broken birthday gift and that she can pick out a new present. She was thrilled, and so was Jeremiah. However, that doesn't mean it took me any less than 30 minutes to get them all set and buckled up in the car and ready to go -- you see, I was without the help of the miracle worker, Mom.

To my surprise, once we were in the toy isle in Walmart, it only took Brooklyn 1 minute to pick out her replacement toy and Jeremiah obediently stayed in the cart the entire time. As we started to walk away from the toy isle with Brooklyn's new Princess Ariel doll, Brooklyn said "Wait, we need to get a toy for Jeremiah too!" What a good sister.

Again to my surprise, Jeremiah had picked out his toy very quickly -- a Lightning McQueen car from the Disney movie Cars. The adventure arises from where in the toy isle we were now standing. You see, Brooklyn's doll was on an end cap, but we had to emerge ourselves deep into the middle of the toy isle to get to Jeremiah's beloved car toys. Now they both stood in the cart completely surrounded by hundreds of toys that made noises and did all sorts of other wonderful things.

They both dropped their chosen toy and at the same time were trying to climb out of the cart. Brooklyn was yelling "oh Daddy, I want that one" while Jeremiah was pointing a different direction saying "that one, that one, that one." All fine and good, I want my children to enjoy our time out of the house, except I was concerned that our cart with a faulty wheel wouldn't perform correctly when 2 children are basically leeping out in opposite directions.

The kids ended up fine, both in my arms as we made our descent to the floor. Soon they were both running in their own directions and I had fallen onto my butt on the floor. No big deal, so far only 2 other adults had seen us in our newfound Walmart toy isle adventure.

Every toy that made noise got pressed at least 15 times, every toy that looked like it could be ridden on, was ridden on by both of my wild kids (even if it was a pony that only amounted to about 6 inches in height), and many toys even had "fights" with each other. In my estimate, close to 300 toys were pointed to at point with the added words "I want that one!"

Fun fun fun. No big deal right? My kids were enjoying themselves, no toys were being broken yet, and we were actual customers buying something. Truly, in the end it really was no big deal, we had a great time. Its just that often other parents would walk through the toy isle and there we were: toys on the floor impeding their path, Brooklyn ridding a very small toy that looks like she might break it, Jeremiah pushing the same sound button on a toy repeatedly the whole few minutes another customer is within earshot, and there I am, just standing there watching them, and doing absolutely nothing about it. It probably looked like I had zero control over my own children.

When I finally decided to try to get them back into the cart to go home for a now late supper, my efforts were useless. Nothing worked. No bribes of candy, no bribes of going home to watch their favorite show, no bribes of ice cream, nothing. Every once and a while I would get Brooklyn into the cart like I asked, but Jeremiah is getting into his terrible two's now (which he inherited from me) and just wasn't interested in leaving his toys. So of course Brooklyn would get impatient, get out of the cart, and ride another toy down the isle.

I seriously don't recall how exactly we made it out of the store. I didn't yell, I didn't bribe, no time-outs, it just happened. I think I just grabbed them, put them in the cart, ignored their cries for more toys, and as I walked I kept pointing out other things in the store that we were now getting closer to. Somehow, we made it through the checkout isle, into the car, and back home safe.

Mind you, we were in the toy isle for about 70 minutes, not kidding. Jill needed rest, so if the Walmart toys got a little extra used yesterday, so be it.

Okay, long story, I know. I have two other pictures I want to quick tell you about:

Jill ventured to the softball fields last Thursday night with all 3 kids to watch me play my last softball game of the year, bless her heart. You can see the kids watching through the fence above. While playing, I literally felt like a hall of fame hero. They were both constantly cheering so loud for me, it was incredible. I have always enjoyed playing baseball, it is my favorite sport, but this was a true thrill to see them so excited about watching me play.

Below, is Brookie-do and I on the celebration of her 4th birthday on Sunday! I love you so much Brooklyn, I am beyond lucky to be your Dad. :)

January Texas Travelers

2009-11-14T14:07:00.001-06:00

Stephanie, Nathan, and Heidi,

I originally typed this up as an email to send to only you, but I am so excited that you are coming to see us that I decided to share it with the blog-world. I also wanted to share it in the blogosphere because I think you are all sacrificing to be here, and it makes me proud to call you my siblings. I love you. So without further adieu, here is the email I was going to send to just you three:

I am BEYOND excited that you are making the trek down here to Tejas to come see us :). I means more than you know, truly. Thanks.

Stephanie, I heard a rumor from a bird that you were going to go on a trip with your college friends (that you rarely get to see and still hold a good relationship with) but instead you decided to come visit us.

Nathan & Heidi, I heard a rumor from a bird that students in medical school don't actually get paid to be in school, that they have to pay for their classes & essentially they are doing a negative money deal for a few years to get their education & that you are still planning to spend money to come see us.

To all 3 of you: Wow, thanks for your sacrifices to come see us, we are FIRED UP. We are lucky, not only have you as visitors, but as family :).

So, the trip. A few details:

- I know the most important and fun part is to BE WITH EACH OTHER. Along with that, I wouldn't mind it if we could see a site or two. As it turns out, this is likely your only opportunity to visit us in the great 6.7 million person populated Metroplex of Dallas-Fort Worth. Within due time, I will send you an email with a handful of ideas that would be fun slash cool sites to see. For instance, the JFK museum would be very interesting, so are the botanical gardens and Zoos here. I know the Zoo seems like a childish idea, but if you are anything like me, the Zoo is as much fun for me as it is for the kids. (I like to think I am a little bit of a wild animal myself).

- We are planning on grilling out a couple of times while you are here (I know its crazy for us Minnesota-folk to fathom it, but people tell me you can grill all year 'round in Texas ;). So don't plan on bringing money for food, we will feed you well.

- Lets try to get a few good group pictures -- you know it will make Mom tear up to see us all together :). We love you mom!

- I suppose that we could all say a few prayers for Kyle, as he will get to have Pipes & Hadley all weekend to himself :) Bup-up.

I love that you are coming. I can't wait. We will have 5 hugs waiting for you when you get here. Have a great 2 months until then,

Mikey

Savannah Kate Graham

2009-11-10T06:46:00.004-06:00

Savannah Kate Graham came into the world last night at 9:28pm, Central Standard Time, Monday November 9th, 2009, the year of our Lord; wonderfully weighing in at 9 lbs 12 oz, and measuring 21.5 inches in length! What a delightful and beautiful little girl she is :).

While I was on the phone telling her proud Grandparents, Carolyn & Gordy Graham, she let out some of her first and very cute little squaks. The nurses in the nursery tell us that she is a "long cryer" meaning that she lets out big long crys before taking in a good breath to again let out another long cry. Cute, she already has an incredible personality :).

She has latched on and nursed well from Jill a handful of times. The nurses tell us that we need to be careful in touching her face and head as she is bruised up from her journey out into the world. Jill's last delivery, Jeremiah was 6 lbs & 11 oz, so Savannah is quite the story too :). The nurses also tell us that she has skipped newborn diapers and moved right on to size 1. We love her so much.

My sister Stephanie and her husband Kyle Anderson, have proudly accepted the role of the Godparents. Thanks so much :).

We are one proud family :). Thank you to Kathy & Suresh Matthews for watching our two other monkeys, Brooklyn & Jeremiah, while we are here at the hospital. We are so excited to see the looks on the faces of Brookie & Miah, when they see their new sister. Yesterday Brooklyn told me that she predicted her baby sister to come out of mommy's tummy without any hair, but when we brought her home she would have hair on her head and that it would be pink.

Savannah is now snuggling with Jill, and the two of them are quite enjoying building this mother daughter relationship :). Praise God for a beautiful and healthy baby girl! What a miracle you are Savannah! I love you honey. Thank you to everyone who has given us so much support and love in prayers and otherwise. We love you too. Have a wonderful day after Savannah's birthday!

Leaping Brooklyn

2009-11-01T10:22:00.006-06:00

This morning I was trying to earn some "points" with Jill as I was cleaning up the living room & the kitchen. (I have no clue where these so called points tally, but I was told that I would be wise for doing so ;).

For God's reasons, which I am yet to figure out, I have never been as physically flexible as the rest of my family. So sqautting down to put back a DVD on the bottom shelf without tipping forward or backwards a little bit while doing so is quite rare for me.

Oh, I should tell you of this new little hobby Brooklyn has. She is growing in her athleticism, her energy, and her love to play with her daddy. Lucky am I. She absolutely loves to jump on me, at me, into me, towards me; it seems that as long as her body is leaping through the air towards me (even when it involves a crash) it is a good idea in the mind of our dear Brooklyn Samantha.

Of course, Brookie decided to leap onto my back while I was at the book shelf -- and as normal, she did so without any warning.  Just before her cute little body collided into mine, I was on the balls of my feet trusting in my God-given ability to balance, as I alphabetically placed a movie on the shelf.

When she hit me, my body had two likely reactions. One - in effort to save Brooklyn from getting hurt, I could move forward with the force and inevitably let my face smash into the book shelf. Two - in effort to stay away from a lovely feeling on my face, let the jump throw my balance backwards. However, that could result in my body weight falling onto Brooklyn.

Aparently my immediate reaction was to avoid both of those scenarios by trying to stand straight up.  Given that I could feel Brooklyn's little arms wrapped around my neck, I knew she could hold on just fine. In fact, I might even be able to run a lap around the kitchen with her clinging to my back & turn this all positive.

When I stood up, I was first impressed with my quick reaction. Except wait, my 30 yr old body gave this subtle wiggle-wobble back-and-forth as I straightend up.  Brooklyn's grasp loosened, she fell off, her feet hit the floor first, and then her butt bounced off the hard wood floor. Oops.

She seemed just fine, and was ready to leap at me again. I however, quick took the opportunity to teach her that as much as I love to wrestle and play with her, she does need to ask first before jumping onto me when I am not looking. Brookie's facial response tells me she didn't think that sounded like much fun, but she hasn't tried it again in the past 80 minutes.

Oh yeah, last night was Halloween. We had a blast. If you want to see more pictures or read more about that, check out my wife Jill's blog:
http://minigrahams.blogspot.com/
But I will leave you with one Family picture. Yes, I am the goon wearing the Superman outfit that my Mom bought for me when I was 16. The blue tights still fit (kind of).

A Beautiful Picture

2009-10-31T04:12:00.002-05:00

This blog post is a "recycled" story from a letter I emailed out to many, back in May. But I wanted to post it becuase I am ever so thankful for my supporting family:

There has been an odd sense of confidence in my every step since we have been in Texas. Apparently moving a family of four (soon to be five) from MN to TX is not supposed to be an easy task. Many people that we meet here tell us we are brave. Of course I thank them, but again this calm confidence has been with me the whole way. I believe this beautiful confidence exists within me for two very specific reasons.

1) Trust in our awesome God! You may have heard the good old saying “don’t tell God how big your challenges are, tell your challenges how big your God is.”

2) Our amazing family! Not very often does a day pass that I don’t have this beautiful picture in my mind of all of you at 4470 Washington Blvd, in your cowboy gear, giving us an encouraging send off. I can’t believe someone didn’t snap a group pic. However, I will always carry with me a perfect mental picture of all your supportive smiling faces from that day. It literally brings me to joyful tears just writing about it right now. We could not be a more lucky family. Thank you thank you thank you. May God bless you for your generosity, care, and love.

Jeremiah's Top Ten Quotes

2009-10-31T04:01:00.000-05:00

This blog post is a "recycled" story from a letter I emailed out to many, back in May. But I wanted to post it in case that someday this blog becomes a resource for my kids to read about their childhood:

Jeremiah's Top Ten Quotes from May of 2009
1 - "huh, a too-too-tain! a big one too-too-tain."

2 - "boat! a boat! boat." (boat means “bird”)

3 - "base-bat" "Sa-ta-bow" (baseball bat and soccer ball)

4 - "kike-o!" (Strike out)

5 - "yook, its tars!" (look, its cars)

6 - "JUUUUICE!!!!" "Juice and Juice"

7 - "outside and the pout, outside and the pout, outside and the pout" (outside and the park)

8 - "hey ho hey hey hey...ho ho ho ho...he he he...hey ho hey hey hey"

9 - "Boot-ie, way owe you?" (Brookie, where are you)

10 - "Dama, Dampa? Dama? Dampa?"

Explanations
1 - Jeremiah will stop in the middle of absolutely anything he is doing when he hears the train coming by and excitedly tell us about it. We live only about 2 to 3 city blocks away from a busy railroad that has trains frequent it about every 15 minutes. Jeremiah is quite a happy boy.

2 - He loves birds & will do just about anything while chasing them to be able to touch one.

3 - The sports fanatic that he is, we have to be careful he doesn't whack Brookie with his baseball bat.

4 - He loves to sit on my lap and watch the Texas Rangers on TV and yell "strike out," whether or not it was a strike or a ball or even on commercial break.

5 - Jeremiah loves lining up toy cars in his room, in the bathtub, at a friends house, (probably in his mind), and loves to tell us about cars when he sees them -- even if we are on the freeway surrounded by cars and he says it every few seconds.

6 – If we say no to juice, he only yells it louder. If we then explain that we don’t yell in this house and that he could have either “milk or water” he responds back smiling with “juice and juice?”

7 – It may be a tad warmer here on some days than in MN & all this wonderful boy wants to do is to go outside and to the park; and we sure do.

8 – Jeremiah loves forcing himself to fake laugh, and will often tumble into a true laughing fit from it.

9 – Hide and seek is a perfect game for these monkeys. Jeremiah loves to look for his sister.

10 – Usually a couple / few times a day, Jeremiah will just stop and ask where Grandma & Grandpa are. He sure does miss them.

Adventures in Multitasking

2009-10-31T03:46:00.000-05:00

This blog post is a "recycled" story from an email I sent out earlier this week. But for my "archiving" purposes, I wanted to put it on my blog.

Over the past 10 days I have been enjoying my new job as an Office assistant, seriously. Even though I am more of the sales guy than the assistant guy, I am still enjoying learning new things and I believe I am doing well.

Anyway, today I had a "fun" moment where multi-tasking hit a "climax" if you will:

Picture my cubicle - completely set up and organized by my boss's last assistant (whom I have not met or talked to) so I truly don't have any clue where most things are. This afternoon,

- on the right side of my cube is a stack of "To-do" items
- in front of me is a stack of "packets" I am putting together over the course of the day when I get a few free minutes
- on the left side are 3 different client files that I am currently working on. I was only working on one, I swear, and then in the middle of it my boss dropped a new file on my desk with a higher priority so I started working on that. Of course, that happened one more time. So to clarify, there are 3 different files that are "in the works." On top of them is a box with his replacement cell phone that just arrived in the mail.

So I better get crackin' and get that new cell phone running for him ASAP.

This is were it gets good.
- On my left ear, I am talking on my office phone (ext 2010) to an AT&T rep to set up the new phone
- At my fingertips is my computer as I am reading on how to update the wireless sync to the computer with the new phone (I want to be efficient with my time, and get Scott back his fully functioning phone as soon as possible)
- On my right ear, I am making a test call from the new cell phone to make sure it works. I dialed Jill for the test call.

Just as Jill answers...
- I see that Scott's line (ext 2011) is ringing (which I normally answer from my phone to screen calls for him)
- I also see that Scott just started a conference call, so he can't answer for me since I am "tied-up"
- Scotts daughter is calling in on the cell phone on my right ear

My mind may have exploded at that moment, smoke may have come out of my ears... I am not sure.

I'm not sure exactly what I said to Jill, but it probably wasn't the usual sort of "Michael response."

As this all wrapped up moments later, I kind of wanted to sprint a few laps around the outside of the office building, and scream at the top of my lungs while running -- not because I am crazy -- but just to get rid of my pent up energy, from remaining calm and collected in a "client friendly environment."

In the end, to be fully honest, I didn't dislike it. It was kind of fun. I liked knowing that Scott didn't have to mess with all that administrative stuff & he could focus on what he is best at - working 1 on 1 with his clients.

I think I grew up a little bit today. Good thing, as I turned the big 3-zero this week. Wild.

A Conversation With Brooklyn

2009-10-31T03:07:00.000-05:00

In May of 2009, all four of us were watching the movie "Everyone's Hero." It is an animated film that both of the kids love because of the talking baseball in it. The main character is a young boy named Yankee Irving, living in the 1930's. His father works at Yankee stadium, and one night while he is on duty, Babe Ruth's bat is stolen. The next day, the owner of the team comes to Yankee's house to fire his father from his job for letting the bat get stolen on his shift. Of course the plot of the movie is the journey of the boy trying to get the bat back to save his dad's job. It is truly a fun movie, directed by Christopher Reeve (Superman). Jeremiah loves it because of his absolute reliance on needing some baseball, football, or soccer in his system every single day, and Brooklyn loves it because of the 'silly' humor of the dialogue between the baseball and the boy.

Anyway, after the show was over, Brooklyn had a thoughtful look on her face. I waited a few moments to see what was on her wonderful little mind. Brooklyn broke the slience with "Daddy, umm, ... so you were fired. That's why we had to move to Texas, because you were fired." First, I told her how smart she was for asking such a good question. Then I responded to her with "In the movie, you are right, Yankee's dad was fired, but my boss didn't fire me and tell me I had to leave my job. I actually decided to stop working at that job so we could move to Texas so I can go to this good school." Brooklyn said "Oh, okay Daddy" and it looked like her face filled with relief, and then off she ran to go play with her dollhouse.

What a brilliant sweet little girl. She was concerned that somebody was mean to her Daddy, and relieved to find out otherwise.

A few nights later, I was tucking in Brooklyn for bed and we got to have another cute conversation. This was on Sunday night, the night before I was going to start my new job. I informed her that I wasn't going to see her in the morning, that I wasn't even going to be home until supper. Of course she wondered why, and I told her I was going to work the next day. She immediately smiled, put her arms up in the air and said "but Daddy, we don't work in Texas!" Well that makes perfect sense to a three year old that saw her daddy leave for work most every day we lived in Minnesota, and now just had her daddy around every single day of the whole month we have lived in Texas. After informing her that I indeed was going back to work and explaining why I need to go to work, we hugged it out and she went to bed just fine.

Here is a fun picture of the kids from that month. They are sitting on "Big Jake" in the Fort Worth Stockyards:

Exterminator

2009-10-27T22:33:00.000-05:00

Last week we had another fun experience that we only get to have due to our move down south -- a visit from the exterminator. It was his second visit to our home, but I would love to share with you the ridiculous story of how we came to know our very first personal exterminator.

     Jill and I moved from Mankato, Minnesota to Fort Worth, Texas on March 30th, 2009. What a wild ride with two toddlers in the car (but that is a story for another day). Three months later, due to a job opportunity I had, we moved to the other side of the "Metroplex" into Carrollton (which borders the cities of Dallas and Plano).

     We moved into a home that we rent from a friend I met at school (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary). We are incredibly lucky, we rent the home for about $200 less than any apartment complex I found in the area, and we have about 500 more square feet than any apartment complex I found in the area.  Does anybody believe that God answers prayers?  ;)

     The second night we lived here, a while after the kids were down for the night, I strolled out into the kitchet in just my shorts and t-shirt (no shoes or socks). When I opened the fridge I thought I saw something odd out of the corner of my eye. So I looked over my soulder and before I could even comprehend what I saw, I immediately leaped backwards out of the kitchen. Considering the current size of my love handles I was quite impressed with my athleticism.  Now that I was further back, I could get a "safe" look at this critter. Even though I had never seen one before in my entire life (at the ripe age of 29), in a split second I could tell it was a disgusting two inch long cockroach! Gross gross gross.

I promise you, the screach I let out did not sound masculine in any sort of way.

I did what any man would do, I ran to tell my wife that we had roaches. Gross, gross, gross.

     That night, we did not get much sleep at all. Are we a couple of pansies? No. We simply are from the wonderful frozen tundra of the Midwest and have never had an encounter with such a wretched creature before. We didn't know if they could fly, if there were 100 of them, if they would crawl into our bed at night, if they were easy to kill... we didn't know a darn thing about 'em.

     We decided that our best first step was to talk with some people from our Bible Fellowship class at church and see it they had any pointers for us.  Due to the late hour of the night we would have to wait until tomorrow and learn to fend for ourselves for one night.

Needless to say, we were restless and couldn't sleep, no matter how tired our bodies were from settling into a new home all day by moving furniture and boxes around. So we camped out in the living room together and put an episode of "Friends" in to zone us out. I wish you could have seen us try to sleep in the living room that night:

- We were both wearing shoes, because we didn't want to wake up to use the rest room and run into a roach without the ability to sqaush them with our shoes.
- We kept all the lights on, because we thought that because they were nocturnal, maybe the lights would fool them into thinking it was day time.
- We made sure that not a single part of our bodies were touching the ground (as to give the roach an easy route up to our sleeping area) so we both slept curled up on the couch and shared our one chair to rest our legs on.
- Sadly, any time I woke up with the sensation to use the restroom, I would try to go back to sleep -- hoping that I could hold it until morning so that I wouldn't have to face a roach.
- A few different times we commented on how much we missed living in Minnesota.

Anywhoo, I don't want to write a post that is so long that nobody wants to read the full story. So I will finish by telling you that we learned a lot over the next few days about cockroaches from our new Texas friends. We even learned the phone number to an exterminator. He is now one of our very favorite people in the whole world. Seriously.

I look forward to sharing a Brooklyn & Jeremiah story with you soon. Until then, I sure hope that you don't see cockroach antennae sticking out of an outlet socket -- because when I did, I didn't say nice things.

May God bless you and keep you,

Mikey