Group 1 Crew

I’m dead tired but I have to take a moment and say how awesome it was to meet one of my favorite groups, Group 1 Crew. Many may not know my past history and my interest in popular music. I love music and especially funk, dance, and hip hop/R&B. But nowadays the lyrics and messages in this music is horrendous. About a few months ago I came across a group on Itunes called Group 1 Crew. I listened to song that was played on the TV Show One Tree Hill various times, called Forgive Me. It moved me to tears. Not only was the beat and track so awesome but the lyrics sang right to me. Since then I’ve been hooked, but never as much as today. I decided to pack the family and travel 3 and 1/2 hours to Milan, TN to see them perform live. It was no disappointment. They were awesome. Pablo, a member of the group, gave such a stirring testimony about following one’s dreams and allowing God to lead one to serve a greater purpose. I was very touched by that especially during these times where I feel a bit disconnected with my life purpose. Even more awesome was the fact I got to talk to the group one on one and share my story with them. We had a great time talking and took some photos and got autographs. I even got to pre-order their new CD dropping Sept 16 for only $5. It was great! I pray they continue to have the success and strength to continue creating great music and inspiring young minds toward God.

My Projects

Without getting into much detail I have two exciting new projects in the horizon. One is the writing of a book. I had my second meeting with the co-author today and we have a tentative outline drawn. We should have one more meeting in two weeks and then the writing should begin. Very excited about this. Can’t say what it’s about, but it should be good. We have high hopes for it and what we can do for other people.

The second project, or better said, offer, is to work part time as a medical consultant for a European company that is introducing a new product to this country. I would be in charge of research, speaking to other professionals regarding the technology and giving keynote addresses at conferences and meetings. I’m very excited about the potential here. I had a conference call with the president of the company this last Wednesday and it went well. We will be meeting face to face sometime this month when he comes to the US with his family for business/vacation.

Homeschooling

Well it was a tough decision, but we decided to put all our kids back in homeschooling. We have been blessed with knowing so many good families both in our ward and from our neighborhood who home school. The majority use the Thomas Jefferson Education Model described by Oliver DeMille. My wife just got done reading his other book, Leadership Education: Phases in Learning. She is so passionate and excited about this that even with challenges and uncertainties, I could not say no. I haven’t seen her this passionate and excited in a while. My excitement is that I really want to teach my children the basics of literacy and math, but greater yet, the morality of character. The future of our country is “uncertain”. The foundations of morality, character, leadership, and integrity that built this great country are vanishing in place of materialism, power, greed, deceit, “experts”. The only hope is to do the best we can to counter this and raise children who can be great and good leaders. I’m excited about this too. We’ll keep you posted.

Laryngitis Sucks

Since about Tuesday I've been sick. Got laryngitis. Voice is still gone. Not very happy. Family makes fun of me when I try to sing. It's pretty funny.

Your Prayers Needed

I don't want to get into too many details here but we have some big challenges and decisions to make here in the near future and would ask for the prayers and support of all our family and friends.  Thank you for being there for us.

Poor Jaidon

So our little one Jaidon is not almost ten months old and he sure does get around pretty well.  This evening he was playing in the living room.  One of the dangers we have with him are his brother and sisters.  Despite our best efforts to baby proof the home, they leave lots of great little toys and crap out for him to insert into his mouth, and he does so very well.  Our kids recently received buttons from the library that have safety pin backs and say read on the front.  Well Jaidon discovered one of these and must have thought it would be good to eat.  I found him crying.  At first his mouth and lips all looked black...I couldn't see well in the dim lighting of the living room.  As I got closer I could see the word READ in his mouth.  I went to try to get the button out of his mouth but I met resistance and more crying.  HE GOT THE PIN STUCK IN HIS TONGUE.  We panicked.  Fortunately with very little effort we safely got the pin out of his mouth and threw it away.  We are both very glad he is okay and very happy that this, hopefully, will be our last baby.  We're both getting too old for these adrenaline rushes:)

Jumping

We've had a hard time telling Monsi to stop trying to jump over the neighbor's house.

Electrocution

So is it possible that Hyrum's incident one week ago where we found him unconscious could have been electrocution....you decide!

Bath Fun

We tried giving Jaidon a mowhawk.  He loves baths so much as you can tell.

Sleeping and Pooping All at Once

Hyrum might kill me someday for doing this, but I couldn't resist.  This is one of our favorite photos.  Hyrum loves to take his time pooping in the toilet and frequently will recline back and relax.  Well, he got to comfortable one day and....need we say more.

So I had to go today to pick up my stuff at my job that I had left when I took off rapidly on Friday after our incident with Hyrum.  Afterwards we went to the park for a bit.  Madeline was swinging on an adult swing when she slipped off and bump the back of her head.  My wife started searching for injury and instead found a huge stick stuck to her scalp.  Yuuuuuck!  We hate ticks and though we love it here in Tennessee, ticks abound here all over the place.  Since we've been here we've had 3 already and prior to being here we really have not ever had any at all.  There were two in West Virginia.  I lived in NY in Lyme Country and yet never had one tick.  Knock on wood, I think I'd pass out if I get one.  Madeline is both ok from her Tick and her fall.  

Scary Moment

This Friday we had a fright.  About 12:30pm, Monsi and Madeline told Elisa (who was putting Jaidon down to sleep) that something was wrong with Hyrum.  When Elisa came out to the hallway, she found Hyrum on the floor.  He was unresponsive.  She of course flipped and called 911.  When the ambulance got there he was still not responsive.  He had a fever of 102 F, which none of us knew he had.  Elisa called Richard at work.  Richard immediately left work to come and get Jaidon so that Elisa could ride the ambulance with Hyrum.  We took him to Williamson Medical Center near Nashville.  When Richard arrived home, he found a house full of neighbors.  We live in a very small cul de sac with a few homes and everyone knows our kids well.  When they saw the ambulance pull up it freaked everyone out and they came over to offer whatever assistance they could.  Richard grabbed Jaidon, found a neighbor to watch Monsi and Madeline and headed to the Emergency Room.  Monsi was very upset and worried that her little brother would die.  Those two are very close.  When Richard got to the hospital, a member of the church, Brother Dotson (from another ward), was there to assist in giving a blessing.  Hyrum was still not responding very well.  He would cry when they messed around with the IV line.  The doctor came in and did his thing (he wasn't very nice).  Following the doctor's evaluation, Richard and Brother Dotson proceeded to give Hyrum a blessing.  About 1/2 hour after the blessing he began to perk up and eventually ask for something to eat and drink.  This was about 2 hours after all this began.  The doctor wanted to do a CT Scan and a Spinal Tap but when we saw Hyrum start to perk up with opted to just have blood cultures and lab work done.  The blood work was all normal.  We decided to just take a script for antibiotics and care for Hyrum at home (at this point he was watching cartoons and acting his old self again).  We figured, since we don't have insurance and probably already ran a huge bill with the ambulance and ER visit, that if we needed a spinal tap or CT scan we could do it at Richard's work for no charge.  Hyrum continued to run a temp that day but by Saturday morning he was without fever and doing well.  He spiked another about noon but that was it.  We think he may have had a febrile seizure.  He's had 4 of them but none since he was two.  We are still puzzled with all this because no one really witnessed what happened.  We are just glad he is okay.  This experience quickly reminded us of how fragile our life is and how we need to constantly remember what matters most.  On a side note, Richard has vowed never to leave without kissing each of his children.  That morning he left and all the kids were in bed and he did not want to wake them up.  If Hyrum would have had something terrible happen, Richard might not have forgiven himself for not kissing him that morning.  Love all your family members and treat them as if this were their last day with you.  Cherish all the time you have together.  We are grateful he is ok.  Our financial picture is very fragile right now and pray for your prayers to allow us to pay our upcoming bills.  Richard is truly empathetic of the many out there who do not have health insurance and can't afford it.

Entering the Blog World

This is Richard.  We used to have a blog on our Family Website but it was too difficult for my other family members to add to.  This should be easier.  We are inspired by the Nicolay's family blog.  Be sure to come often and see what is new with us.