http://www.pleonast.com/user/chessman recent pleonast.com entries by user chessman en-us http://www.pleonast.com/user/chessman?l=5&entryID=605708 2008-12-03 http://www.pleonast.com/user/chessman?l=5&entryID=605685 ...and a lot of people in my life reflect that. Thanks to my wonderful wife for bearing and raising my chldren. She is amazing and wonderful and I love her. she is my greatest blessing, truly far above rubies :-) Thanks to Faithlyn and James, who are probably under more stress through this than I am. They are outstanding young people (they have and amazing mommy ;-) and I love them immensely. Thanks to my parents for changing plans and taking care of me and my family. Thanks to my mother-in-law for working like crazy to rush out here, and for taking wonderful care of Jensie so I could rest. Thanks to my father-in-law for spending hours at the copy machine to facilitate it. And he didn't even get to come out and see the baby yet. Thanks to Andrew and Rebecca for rushing out to help (and for TONS of help getting ready for the baby). That act like they're just paying us back, but they continue to go well above and beyond the call of duty and show true, loving friendship. Thanks... 2008-12-03 http://www.pleonast.com/user/chessman?l=5&entryID=605426 Carys was born today at 14:38. She weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces, was 20 inches long, and had a head circumference of 13.75. She and mommy are doing well and she's eating like a champ. Her sugars are doing OK and Jensie's blood pressure seems to be coming down. Thanks for your prayers! :-) (BTW 1, 2, and 4 worked out as requested, God had a different plan for 3.) 2008-12-02 http://www.pleonast.com/user/chessman?l=5&entryID=600867 Me: Umm, what was that? Faithlyn: Him :-) Because when there was just nothing He was there. Wish some adults could grasp that 2008-11-19 http://www.pleonast.com/user/chessman?l=5&entryID=597560 I have CDO. It's like OCD except with the letters in alphabetical order, like they're supposed to be. My OCDs include always stepping over a sidewalk line with my left foor, counting my steps (highly not recommended in concert with other activities I engage in,) flexing my knees as if walking whilst sitting still, and even counting those steps. Also, if I'm in a parking lot, I extend the lines and treat them like the aforementioned sidewalk lines. Also, I will make weird noises with my mouth. Sometimes it's rolling an "r", making little spitting noises, puffing out just the front part of my upper lip. Every time I make the effort and stop doing one, another one pops up and starts annoying me and everyone around me. Here's hoping one day I get on a kick to compulsively neaten my house. Who else has OCDs? 2008-11-09 http://www.pleonast.com/user/chessman?l=5&entryID=588431 Faithlyn prayed for me at work today, because Jensie told her I was having a hard day, and she prayed at dinner thanking God for making daddy's hard time easier (actually thanking Him that she could pray for Him to help daddy :-). And then tonight, she loaded the dishwasher after minimal guidance from her daddy. She did ask a lot of questions, but I've never gotten it loaded with so little time actually in the kitchen :-) 2008-10-17 http://www.pleonast.com/user/chessman?l=5&entryID=588086 Started classes this afternoon toward a Master's in Adult Education. I got to introduce myself as working on this degree so I can preach when I retire :-) It's kinda neat to be a student again, but it's gonna be a lot of work. In the past, I took mostly math/science classes, but these Psych and Curriculum Development classes have lots of papers and projects. Oh, well. I think I will learn a lot, and I may be able to finally put together the class on eldership development I've wanted to as a class project. :-) 2008-10-16 http://www.pleonast.com/user/chessman?l=5&entryID=584853 To be sung to the tune of "Gilligan's Island"... Amazing grapes how sweet the taste, I love to eat them up. Or squeeze them into fresh grape juice and drink them from a cup. 'Twas grapes that soiled my brand new shirt and grapes that stained my pants. How juicy are those grapes that squirt, oft imported from France. Through many vats and strainers pressed, and ready to be packed, in bottles of the finest glass, and placed upon a rack. When grapes have sat ten thousand years, they ferment into wine Which doesn't taste nearly as nice as fresh-squeezed from the vine. When grapes have lain ten thousand years, a-drying in the sun, you'll have just raisins lying there, when dehydration's done. - partial credit (and royalties) to a certain individual who may or may not choose to reveal himself... 2008-10-08 http://www.pleonast.com/user/chessman?l=5&entryID=584442 James can fit in a 16"x12"x10" box. And it will still seal. With room for packing material. It makes him a bit nervous, though. He might be claustrophobic. 2008-10-07 http://www.pleonast.com/user/chessman?l=5&entryID=583966 We had a singing tonight, and I got distracted by a pet peeve. Why do we skip verses of songs? I understand skipping a verse or two of the invitation song, especially if the preacher was long-winded, but we miss so much good teaching by skipping verses. And several places we've worshipped, on sing nights they only let you do 2 verses per song (I guess the theory is to get more songs in, so go quantity over quality :-P). That just drives me nuts, especially since most of my favorite verses are in the middle of songs. Sigh. And, of course, allowing myself to be annoyed, or even slightly distracted by that, is totally absurd, but I have to fight it off, and often unsuccessfully. On a much more positive note, my children (who tend to have LOTS of trouble staying focused during singings because they don't know many of the songs yet) both had shining moments. James figured out the chorus to "Why Not Tonight" and belted it out for a full measure after everyone else finished :... 2008-10-06