What time is it? October?

Wow, Two months went by quick. This whole parenting thing is quite the consumer of time...It's been pretty cool getting to watch this little one grow. Lucy turned 3 months on August 19th. She is learning to use her hands right now, ie: pull chest hair, beard hair and hold her bottle up. She enjoys going to eat mexican food and recently took a trip into Austin to have lunch with Uncle Johnny Mike and Uncle Cody Foote. She enjoyed looking at the mid century furniture at Uptown Modern where her uncles work. Her favorite to look at were the crystal chandeliers. Other than that we've just been trying to stay cool and change as many diapers as possible. I think we are doing ok on the latter. Hope things are peachy keen in your world, if you need a good laugh follow this link to the video....

Good times...

It has been quite the ride the last month. Lucy turned one month old on the 19th and she just keeps getting cuter. I'm in deep trouble here if this keeps up. Robin is doing an amazing job being a momma. I haven't heard one complaint or gripe, and she has had more than her fair share to deal with the last month. We as a family are going through some pretty big changes! It has been exciting and somewhat daunting at the same time, but we are excited about the future and just letting it all play out. The band I have worked for going on five years is calling it quits in October. They have had quite the run and it will be good for them to get a break. At first we were kind of worried with a new baby, and me losing my job but it has been wonderful to have this time with Lucy instead of having to get right back out on the road. That was the one thing I was dreading was that first goodbye when I would leave momma and baby at home for two weeks. I've decided to finish up the dates I'm committed to with my current group and I'm working for a promoter a few day a week in Buda through January. This will allow Robin to have a couple of uninterrupted days of work a week as well. I haven't decided if I will take another job on the road again.

As far as reading I am finishing up the Stieg Larsson trilogy(fiction) I got into, finished Hedges book American Fascists, and am in the middle of a book about the '53 CIA supported coup to overthrow the democratic government of Iran entitled All the Shah's Men by Stephen Kinzer. I have also been reading excerpts from a book recommended to me by a dear friend. It is The Best of Crux with articles by Klaus Boclkmuehl and others. You can find it online here for free. I promise to have some more road stories as the band plays it's last 14 or shows through October, and I will leave you with some links that I have found interesting lately....

If Saul had been a Texan...

I love Steven Colbert...

Great video of a highschool student interviewing a very uncomfortable senator...

Cool website for those aspiring expats...

Lucy Faye Devin Schoepf

May 19th, 2010 at 1:11pm Lucy Faye was brought into this world. I sat in the room adjacent to the OR by myself with my scrubs on waiting forRobin to be prepped. I wondered how pitiful I must look not knowing what to do with myself, and how it must be routine for the nurses to see the male species in such a paralyzed state all the time. I entered the OR and made sure to keep my eyes strictly focused on Robin's face as to not pass out. The last time I was in an OR was to have my appendix taken out at 11 years old, not a very good memory really. Anyways, Robin was awesome, drugs worked and little Lucy came out butt first pooping on everyone and I was instantly in love. Now, I did not witness this because I did not take my eyes off Robin until they had Lucy in the little incubating deal, which is pretty warm. I know this because I didn't realize how close the top of my head was to it, or why my head was so hot while I was staring at this little human being. First lesson of the day learned. I don't know if it was the heat or the bloody something flying by out of the corner of my eye that I tried not to think about, but I snapped out of it and the nurse said "She's all yours, you can touch her." I got to take her over to Momma, careful not to look sideways on the way, and show her the beautiful daughter she had so beautifully, ungrudgingly and diligently carried inside her the previous nine months. Our little family together in the flesh for the first time. Every moment since then has been the best moment of my life. Not kidding. Good stuff these little girls. Let's see, favorite thing to do right now is rock her to sleep, completely silent except for her little coos and such. What else...watching Robin feed her is amazing, and when she cries and her little bottom lip quivers I realize just how much trouble I am in. Even just losing track of time staring at her while she sleeps is incredible. Ok, enough gushing...here's some pics, more to come soon, these are just phone pics, camera still needs to be emptied on the ol' computer.

Yes!

It's rare that a story like this makes headlines...love it.

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/When-losing-a-golf-tournament-really-makes-you-a?urn=golf,238912

...must be nice rocks...

Well, looks like someone hasn't been listening to their Larry Norman lately...

Neither have these guys...

See, they could have gone and spent our money on so many other things. All they would have needed to do was listen to a couple of Larry Norman songs, right? Required listening before going to work with NASA or choosing a life in politics, "Readers Digest" and "Great American Novel."

"It's 1973, I wonder who we're gonna see
Who's in power now? Think I'll turn on my TV,
The man on the news said China's gonna beat us,
We shot all our dreamers, there's no one left to lead us.
We need a solution, we need salvation,
Let's send some people to the moon and gather information.

spoken: They brought back a big bag of rocks.
Only cost thirteen billion. Must be nice rocks." ~ Larry Norman, excerpt from "Readers Digest"

"Great American Novel"~ Larry Norman

i was born and raised an orphan
in a land that once was free
in a land that poured its love out on the moon
and i grew up in the shadows
of your silos filled with grain
but you never helped to fill my empty spoon

and when i was ten you murdered law
with courtroom politics
and you learned to make a lie sound just like truth
but i know you better now
and i don't fall for all your tricks
and you've lost the one advantage of my youth

you kill a black man at midnight
just for talking to your daughter
then you make his wife your mistress
and you leave her without water
and the sheet you wear upon your face
is the sheet your children sleep on
at every meal you say a prayer
you don't believe but still you keep on

and your money says in God we trust
but it's against the law to pray in school
you say we beat the russians to the moon
and i say you starved your children to do it

you are far across the ocean
but the war is not your own
and while you're winning theirs
you're gonna lose the one at home
do you really think the only way
to bring about the peace
is to sacrifice your children
and kill all your enemies

the politicians all make speeches
while the news men all take note
and they exagerate the issues
as they shove them down our throats
is it really up to them
whether this country sinks or floats
well i wonder who would lead us
if none of us would vote

well my phone is tapped and my lips are chapped
from whispering through the fence
you know every move i make
or is that just coincidence
well you try to make my way of life
a little less like jail
if i promise to make tapes and slides
and send them through the mail

and your money says in God we trust
but it's against the law to pray in school
you say we beat the russians to the moon
and i say you starved your children to do it
you say all men are equal all men are brothers
then why are the rich more equal than others
don't ask me for the answer i've only got one
that a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son

That's all I got today.

Readings...

Here's some things I have found interesting as of late...

article about Joni Mitchell calling Bob Dylan a fake...huh?

One of the best books on war I've read (he's not a pacifist)

Profit Over People by Noam Chomsky: Neoliberalism and Global Order (1/2 way through it)

cool Bible link sent to me by Don Roberto

Take me out to the ball game....

Here are the pictures I promised of the ball field built by Mandi's Ministries. It is specially built with a baseline made of a rubber type material. This allows kids in motorized chairs to get around the bases. It was awesome to get to see one of JCs games. Like I said in the last post, people from all over Oklahoma are utilizing this field. It was great to see all the kids interact with each other, and watch the great sportsmanship each of them had.

Here is Randy and JC playing catch...and JC running the bases below...