Anyhow… Abby’s 1,692 week-old Daddy has been asked to post some more pictures, so here they are. Enjoy!

(NOTE: If you’re reading via email or a feed reader, you might have to click through to the site to see the pictures)

(And here are a few of her big brother…)

Amy was in labor with Abby for a little less than five hours — our nurse (and friend, Amy Guest) called her “Ninja baby” because she was hard to pinpoint, and then elusive when labor started. Just when we started talking about a C-Section, though, Abigail decided enough was enough, and she came right out (we suspect there were a lot of people praying, too).

Amy’s mom (“G.G.”) came shortly after, and my mom (Grandma Linda) brought Grady. He held his baby sister and sang “It’s raining, it’s pouring” to her, and asked her if she liked Sesame Street. We did the picture thing, and now everyone is resting (except for Grady, who is running and playing somewhere in the hospital with Grandma Linda).

NOTE: Having trouble uploading pictures on the hospital wi-fi — will post more to this blog as am able.

Yesterday I was having a Samson moment. Because of some stuff happening in my life right now, I was feeling shorn of power, shorn of favor, and shorn of identity. Like Samson, it was mostly a situation brought on by my own arrogance and/or stupidity, but also like Samson, there was a certain amount of betrayal involved.

So what did I do?

I cut off my beloved long hair of course. I’m an English major: I believe in symbolism. Today I am more tame, more owned, perhaps more humble (though that’s always a stretch), but hopefully also more dependent on God now than on my own abilities or the judgments of others.

P.S. Telling me that my “new” haircut looks better than my “old” one would *NOT* be the appropriate (or kind) thing to say.

So we did the Chuck-E-Cheese thing. Not my favorite (noise, chaos, junk food), but at least we didn’t have to clean up, and Grady (of course) loved all of it. More pictures are here. Among his favorite two presents were:

1. A set of foam swords and shields I picked out for him. Yeah. Daddy and Grady both Like.
2. A reversible Super-Hero cape Amy’s mom made for him (I had one of those when I was his age, too!)
3. Two plastic action figures, Superman and Batman, who were overheard having the following conversation in the car-seat yesterday afternoon…

BATMAN: Let me go! I want to go back to my mother and father…they take care of me!

BATMAN: That’s pretty cool, Superman. Will you teach me how to do that?

This past weekend, Grady and I left suburbia behind for our first-ever-Daddy-and-Grady-camping-trip. We both thought it was pretty cool.

The original plan had been to camp at one of several campgrounds near one of the many lakes in the Dallas area, but due to the volumes of rain we’ve had this summer, all were flooded, and closed. Fortunately, some friends of ours have a ranch/farm/bed&breakfast way out in the country north of Frisco called Bison Hollow, where the youth group has had our last two confirmation retreats. They were generous enough to let us set up camp out by one of their barns, with the added benefit that Grady got to feed goats, too!

In addition to roasting marshmallows, playing horseshoes, taking many forest hikes, “breaking in” my brand new porta-potty, playing baseball, snacking on trail mix and all the other fun stuff associated with camping, we brought along some cheap plastic water guns, and had been playing with them earlier in the day. Later, when Grady said he needed to go potty, I introduced him to the glories of being a male in the great outdoors — we used a tree.

Grady: Daddy, you’re just like a water gun!

Daddy: Yes, Grady. Please don’t shoot me.

Anyhow, the rest of the pictures are here.

Oh, and if you (or anyone you know) love the pictures enough to buy it, we’re listing it at $135,000 — a great price for a “starter” home in Suburbia. And Ginger, it’s less than a mile away from the soccer stadium.

UPDATE: Just two days on the market, and we’ve had an offer. We might even take it!