Two Years, a Little Math, and the Surprise

The sad thing is that two years time can pass so quickly that sometimes you don't even realize where the time went. Of course, we know precisely where it went, if we sit down and think about it long enough. Let's see, 24 hours per day, 365.25 days per year (we collect that 0.25 day this year with leap year), 2 years, ... hmm, 17,532 hours. SEVENTEEN THOUSAND!!! I don't think I can account for all those, can you? I know I slept a few of them, worked several of them, went to church for a few of them, but how can that add up to 17,532? According to the best docs, we're supposed to sleep around 8 hours per day, I'm lucky to get 5 or 6, so that's a little over 4,000. Not a threat to Rip Van Winkle yet. Work. Oh yeah, that's where it went. Wait, about 8 hours a day and not including weekends or vacations, so that's less than 4,000 hours. I used to work a lot more than I do now, but please don't tell my supervisor! But between sleep and work, that's about half the time. Now, what about the rest? Church, about 4 hours a week, so that's 2*52*4, or 416 hours. A smidgen, I'm embarrassed. OK, we went on a few vacations, 7 days each, ... that's 168 hours a pop. Not even 1% of total time?? Mental note, more vacation time is warranted. Aha, Upward co-director and now director. That's it, that's where it went. I guess the old saying "Time flies when you're having fun" really is true. But the point is, do we really think much about our time and how we spend it? I guess that's why I only post once or twice every two weeks. The plan: Need to add some dates with Connie, some one-on-one time with Austin and Lily (and Lia, later on). And up the amount of time spent in prayer. There, I love it when a plan comes together. The next two years should be better accounted for.

OK, I'm sitting here thinking this is 2007 and trying to figure out how it is already two years since we saw the first picture of "Melissa" as she was known on Lifeline's web site. Then I thought "It's not 2007, I think it's 2008?" Let's see, we first saw "Melissa's" picture on 16 January 2006 and we immediately knew she was what God had in store for us for the rest of our lives. She even reminded me of my brother, with the look on her face. Not now, but certainly in that first photo, my first thought was "she looks like Wes?" Somebody help me out, it is 2008 now right? We told Lifeline that we wanted to adopt "Melissa" and began the necessary "stuff" immediately. Since God had this thing planned all along, He set everything on an accelerated schedule and by July she was ours. She had a new big brother and a beaming mommy! Her Dad was just trying to figure everything out. Little did he know how much fun God had in store for him over the next year and a half. Lily was born in the year of the monkey and she is more fun than a barrel of them. Every morning on the way to school, Austin and I laugh about what she did that morning. Every night, Connie and I laugh about what she did over dinner. Serious and silly, drama queen and comedian. Little girl and little lady. That's our Lily Grace. Yes, it's hard to account for every hour over the past two years, but we know in our hearts that time doesn't matter when God gives you a blessing. Just enjoy it and be thankful for it. Check out the dresses. This is a girly girl!

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2007

Oh, I nearly forgot the surprise. Lily had her three year checkup this past week and everything went well. She's inched up the growth chart, now weighing in at a whopping 5%. She is tall however, besting 25% of her peers in height (that's tall, right?). Her doctor says she's going to be petite - that must have been a tough call.

The surprise? Checkout the pictures below, I was hoodwinked, tricked, lead astray, misinformed, ... What's going on here? This wasn't supposed to happen until she turned 16. Maybe. Oh, well. I still have control over the age for starting dating. Right ???




Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, and Lily Grace (and Lia Faith somewhere)
Green, Party of Five