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“’I Saw God Today’ is such a well-written song. It means a lot. Sometimes we take a lot of things for granted, especially anybody that’s had a child. When they first see them, if they’re in the delivery room or not, when they first see that child, it truly is a miracle and you just realize that all of these things that God has given us and how many blessings that we have around us all the time that sometimes you just take for granted. But if you just step back and take a look around you’ll see what beauty we have around us in the things that He’s created for us.”

Listen to George’s quote

Speaking as one who has seen his two baby girls come into the world in the delivery room, I can say that George is right on the money. I honestly don’t know how anyone who has had a child can look at the miracle that they are and not see God.

As it turns out, my dad was right… and while I know the coming years will be sprinkled with the occasional run in between my two baby girls, you can see that there is an instant bond between them that I know will be the beginning of another beautiful friendship.

From the time she met her in the hallway of the hospital, Allison has taken immediately to her baby sister. And that love has continued here at home. Amazingly, there hasn’t been any jealousy, only love and sweet concern for her baby sis. She even wanted to go show Peyton her outfit this morning as soon as she got dressed… and she is very quick to offer a loving pat, a kiss on the forehead or a very sweet “I love you Peyt”

Here are some of the first photos of the two sweet sisters together…

The way everything went down still seems so surreal. Among so many other things, it gave me an ever greater respect for the medical profession. It’s weird to think that if this had happened 100 years ago, my wife and unborn baby would’ve died… but today, some talented nurses and doctors were able to fix the problem and then send me home with a happy and healthy wife and baby. What makes this even more surreal to me is that last night Corissa and I were watching TV and the story line of this show was about a guy who lost his wife and baby to a placental abrasion, which is what Corissa went through. On the TV story, the wife and baby bled out and died… which helps explain why we had the full team of doctors and nurses tending to us in a very urgent way. I know that Corissa and I were both very scared at the time, and now seeing this story, it helps me understand the sense of urgency as well as the seriousness in the room on Saturday night… and why they had four nurses taking care of Peyton with oxygen and other things in a way that I hadn’t seen them do with Allison after the delivery. In a strange way, I almost have a little post traumatic after shock thinking how close I might have been to losing them.

After everything was alright and Corissa was in recovery, the surgeon was telling me that it was fortunate the tear was so small. She told me that if it had been bigger or if we had waited and not gotten to the hospital so quickly, it would’ve been very bad… and now having seen that story on TV, I can see just how bad it could’ve been. I’m not trying to be morbid about it, but knowing how serious that condition really was, makes me feel even more fortunate and thankful that things worked out.

And I am also so thankful for God’s hand on us as well as your prayers. What could’ve been an incredibly sad night was instead a joyous one that saw the successful birth of our second baby girl. Many of you have probably heard George Strait’s song I Saw God Today, which I wrote about in a previous entry… but it seems to resonate even more in my reflection on Saturday night. In it, he talks about how blessed we are and how if we just slow down and look around, we can see God all around us and all of His blessings and gifts. And by way of remembering His gifts in my life, I just wanted to take a minute to list just a few of the countless times I’ve seen God in undeniable ways over the last few years:

• April 26, 2008 when He saved my wife and daughter.
• November 21, 2005 when He gave me my first baby girl – which was not a sure thing given my cancer. To many people, she was a miracle baby… my nurses often remind me of how lucky we were to be able to have her… and now Peyton too.
• September 15, 2004 when He effectively cured me from cancer through Dr. McCelland’s hands in surgery.

And those are just some of the big, obvious, milestone type events. But in many smaller ways, I can see God any day that I am willing to step back from the craziness of life and look around a bit… I can see Him in:

• My baby girl’s smile
• My wife’s heart
• Kindness from a stranger
• An open parking spot
• Health of my family and friends
• The love of my family and friends
• A sunrise, sunset or rain storm

Throughout my entire life, He has been all around in so many ways, and not just in the good news times. As I wrote a few years ago, God is good even on the days that we don’t feel it. And when I step back and take the time to look around, there is no question that I am lucky man by any standard.

And if you are reading this today, I encourage you to stop for a moment, push back from your desk, take deep breath, take a slow look around at the landscape of your life and I’ll bet that you’ll see God today too.

Then, at 9:54 pm, on April 26th, a beautiful 6 pound 2 ounce, 19 inch long baby girl was born… meet Peyton Grace.

Thankfully, both Corissa and Peyton are doing well. It was a bit of a scare there for a while, but God’s hand was on us and on the doctors and nurses taking care of us. They did a wonderful job and we are so thankful to them and to all of you that were praying for Corissa and Peyton… Once again, as He always is, God was so good to us…

While the trip to the hospital tonight was unplanned and scary to say the least, we were quickly surrounded by friends and family who were there to take care of Allison while we were in the operating room… as well as by the prayers from several of you that couldn’t be there. We are so thankful to all of you.

And then, at 10:00, Allison finally got the meet her little sister in person, who was now just a tender 6 minutes old…

Though the above photo doesn’t show it, Allison was excited and very, very sweet to Peyton when she first met her… gently rubbing her head and blowing her kisses… And I was reminded yet again of what an amazing little girl Allison is. This proud father just can’t say enough about what a true joy and blessing she is and I can’t wait to see her be a big sister. Tomorrow we will take her up to the hospital for a little more quality time with her new sis, which I’m sure will result in several new photos.

Before we finally left tonight (several hours past her bedtime I might add) my sweet little daughter wanted to walk by the nursery one more time and say “bye-bye peyt” (which is about as good as she can say Peyton right now) and blow her a few more kisses. Her heart and sweetness continue to amaze me… at just 2 and half, she is already a better person than her father is, and I just hope I don’t get in the way and mess her up.

I also have to take a second and say that my wife is absolutely amazing. She handled a really scary situation tonight with such poise and courage and I am so proud of her. She is truly something special and far beyond what I deserve… and not just tonight, but every day. I’m so grateful that God blessed me with her. You really just can’t say enough good things about her.

It’s now past 2am on the morning of the 27th, and as I look back on the last 7 hours, I am overwhelmed. For about the 5 millionth time this week, tonight once again reminded me just how blessed I am… an amazing wife, now two wonderful little girls, a great family and so many friends…

My cup truly runneth over.

The big challenge for me at this point is to get through the mountain of work I have right now. I’d really like to be able to take some time off when Peyton’s born, but we’ll see if that works out. The upside is that I’ve been going without much sleep for a while now, so the new baby won’t be nearly as much of an adjustment to the sleep quotient as the first one was.

Here’s hoping that Peyton doesn’t decide to show up early and that I can get all my work done before she arrives…

And speaking of countdowns, the clock is ticking on our time here in this house as the work has begun on our next home…

They have formed up the slab on our new home, and if all goes smoothly, I will be moving my three girls to their new house in about 5 months… lots of exciting things happening around here these days… we are very blessed.

While we were there, we got to walk all around the Strip… checking out New York, New York, The Bellagio, The Venitian, and The Monte Carlo – which had a great little Brew Pub where we watched a lot of basketball on their 3 large projection screens and countless plasmas hug all over the place… below, you can see two of the larger screens…

While I could’ve definitely done without the smokers that seemed to be everywhere, especially in the casinos that you have to walk through to get to just about anywhere, it was a good time… at least they couldn’t smoke in the restaurants. I do have to say that it really made me miss Austin and the smoking bans just about everywhere, but it was a really fun experience.

We ate a lot, and it wasn’t cheap, especially at Emeril’s restaurant… but it was some good food. We rode the monorail, watched more games in Barry Manilow’s converted performance theater in the Hilton that they turned into a March Madness HQ… and even hit up Jay-Z’s 40-40 club to catch a few games on the true 16 foot by 9 foot HD screen with our feet propped up as we sat in couches on tiers like theater seats…

And then on our last night there, we went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel, and took in the Bellagio water show from 460 feet above the strip… it was an amazing view…

All in all, it was a good time… and while my bracket is the worst it has been in years, I didn’t really care that much because watching the games in Vegas with the guys was worth it.

You’re gonna miss this
You’re gonna want this back
You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you’re gonna miss this

click here for the complete lyrics

Lately I’ve been thinking about just how much joy in life I don’t fully grasp because I am always looking forward to the next milestone down the road. If you’re anything like me, you couldn’t even begin to count the number of times your words or thoughts have begun with the phrase “I can’t wait until…” or “things will be so much better when…” But the truth of the matter is that while it may be fun to look down the road to what we think will be better days, so often it steals the fullness of the joy we can experience from today. As I’ve told Corissa before, one day, today will be the good ‘ol days that we’ll miss.

A perfect example is my work from home / stay at home dad status. Sure there are frustrating days when I think “I can’t wait until Allison and Peyton are in school so I can have my days back and be more productive” – Notice how that last thought started with the dreaded “I can’t wait until…” phrase. But the truth is, I am going to miss these days. I am so blessed to have this time with my baby girl, and I know that one day I will miss her constantly wanting my attention and wanting to climb in my lap while I’m trying to type an important email. And as mind numbing as they sometimes are, I’m gonna miss snuggling with her on the couch watching My Friends Tigger and Poo, Little Einsteins, or Beauty and the Beast for the 34th time this week. As Trace said, “these are some good times, so take a good look around. I may not know it now, but I am going to miss this.”

Just think how much happier we would all be if we lived in today and stopped looking forward to tomorrow so much. For one thing, we never know just how many more tomorrows God still has in store for us… and even if I have another 70 years ahead of me, I don’t want to spend any of them wishing that I had taken a little more time to enjoy the ones gone by before they were just memories.

I have to say, stuff like this is why I love country music. It’s just like Jeff Foxworthy said at the CMT Awards, “it’s about the things in life that really matter” You should click here to read his comments, they are definitely worth the read.

My hope for myself – and for you – is that we will recognize just how blessed today is. Even with whatever challenges we may be facing, today is a blessing… and at the risk of repeating myself, these are the words that I want to remember and add to the roster of words I want to live my life by:

These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you’re gonna miss this

The whole idea of being able to travel back in time to see places you’re interested in or even to observe times you experienced already but just want to see again is very appealing. And I won’t even start about how cool it would be to get to see the future (and of course bring back my own Grey’s Sports Almanac so I could hit it big in Vegas)

This weekend, I had a bit of a mini-time travel experience as I finally got around to a long overdue project and I transferred several of my family’s old Super 8 movie reels to digital tape. Now, for those of you that aren’t familiar with Super 8, it’s the stuff that makes VHS look like space age technology. Watching anything on those old projectors is almost like traveling back in time all by itself. It’s the old reel to reel stuff that requires a dark room and a projector that rattles with the film clicking sound that most of us aren’t quite as fond of as the 7.1 Dobly Digital Surround Sound on our BluRay HD DVDs.

Anyway, as I was watching the old footage, it was incredibly interesting, and it was a bit of a Marty McFly experience for me. First, I saw my dad back when he was an infant…

I saw him being spoon fed, saw him crawling around, and playing in his crib… the kinds of things I might have seen in pictures before, but it’s very different seeing it in motion. Seeing my grandma feeding him was a really surreal moment. I also got to see my dad in a few football games, including one at House Park, where I played a few games myself.

It was so strange to see him in a football uniform, especially looking so much like my little brother. It was also really cool to see what House Park looked like back when he played there and to know that in about another 20 years, I would be playing there too.

I also got to see myself as a baby, which was also really surreal. Again, I have seen so many pictures of myself as a baby, but seeing myself in action was cool. Below, I am just about to take my first steps…

It was amazing to see my first steps (click here to watch) especially given my current status as father who just recently watched his own daughter take her first steps just over a year ago. Talk about messing with the space-time continuum in my head.

I also saw the traumatic footage of my first make out session… which took place when I was about 9 months old, and was with my, um, cousin…

The only redeeming thing about it was that I seemed to not like it at all (this photo was taken just before I was attacked)  If you watch it, you will see my reaction and be reassured, as I was. Of course, I will still be talking to a counselor about this traumatic experience that I have clearly been repressing for the last 34 years.

Now, it clearly would’ve been more fun to be able to go back in the DeLorean and to be able to really see and hear it in full living color – did I mention the projector I used was a silent movie projector? But it was still a cool trip, even though I never left my office.

Obviously, in the multiple hours worth of footage, there were several other interesting things to watch, like clips of my dad as a kid at Disney World, Six Flags, Dealy Plaza (not long after President Kennedy was assassinated, and people were still laying flowers at makeshift memorials, which was kind of weird to see on my family’s reels) on top of the Empire State Building, Christmases, a prom of some sort or another that he was taking my mom to when they were dating in high school, my parents wedding, my first year, Michael’s first year, and all these friends and relatives that I haven’t seen in many, many years. I even got to see footage of my great grandma in Brazil… lots of crazy stuff like that.

So, I guess until somebody outside of Hollywood can invent a car that can race back through time when it hits 88 miles per hour, I’ll just have to experience those bygone days of yesteryear through the magic of Super 8 movies… and I am thankful that we do at least have that.

I’ve been to church, I’ve read the Book
I know He’s here but I don’t look
Near as often as I should… yeah, I know I should…
His fingerprints are everywhere,
I just slowed down to stop and stare,
Opened my eyes and man I swear,
I saw God today

From George Strait’s newest single I Saw God Today

It’s no secret that King George is my favorite artist. I own every album he’s released, all the way back the the first one in 1981. In all that time and in all those tapes and CDs, there have been dozens and dozens of songs that I count among my all-time favorites… in fact, even just to trim it to a top 50 proves quite a challenge to me. However amongst all those great songs, it could be said that none have had quite the same kind of impact on me as his newest single that was released today.

The chorus (which is printed above) really struck home with me. As I listened to the words, it hit me just how well those words describe me. After all, I have been to church and I have read the Book, and I know He’s here… and yet, so often I live as though He is only around in certain times and in certain places. It’s not that I ever doubt or question His existence, but so often I get too caught up in life and it’s daily events – both good and bad… and I lose sight of the fact that He is all around and in everything and every part of my life. The problem is I just don’t look.

I know that if I could slow down and take the time to look, I would see God so much more often… and I can only imagine how that would change my perspective on so many things and revolutionize my attitude and the way I live my life.

The song closes with yet another verse that I must comment on:

Got my face pressed up against the nursery glass,
She’s sleeping like a rock…
My name on her wrist, and tiny pink socks.
She’s got my nose, she’s got her mamma’s eyes.
My brand new baby girl, she’s a miracle…
I saw God today”

I can say without a doubt, the day that I saw my little baby girl for the first time, I most definitely saw God that day. And in a way, she still plays that role in my daily life. There are so many times that I get worked up about something and then she comes to me with those big eyes and beautiful smile, with her arms raised up in the hopes that I will sweep her up and give her a big bear hug… and I am reminded of my priorities and the miracle that she is… and God uses her and those moments to remind me of Him and His blessings in my life.

In that way and many others, I definitely saw God today.

It seems to me that the same competitive mentality is at least part of what leads us to keep score of our deeds vs what we get in return. It might be only working just hard enough not to get fired, as made famous by Peter Gibbons (bonus points to you if you know who he is without having to look him up)… It could be not wanting to go out of our way to help someone if there doesn’t seem to be something of equal or greater value for us in return…

What I’m wondering is, who’s keeping the score? And what do we win if we come out ahead? If we get more than we give, is there some medal of honor that awaits us?

The awards and medals actually should go to those that give selflessly of themselves without asking anything in return… those that give without expectation of receiving something back.  I’m not as much that man as I used to be, but I want to me more that way again… whether it be with my wife, my family, my friends or even complete strangers… just my personal thought of the day.

It was a picture of my with two of my childhood heroes, Roger Staubach and Randy White. I’m sure your first thought is just how much hair I still had back in 1999, but mine was that it’s so cool that I actually got to meet one of my biggest heroes (Staubach). It got me to thinking about just how many experiences like this I’ve had. As I thought about it, I realized that I have been lucky enough to meet several of my heroes in person – men like Roger Staubach, Tom Landry, Darrell Royal, Mack Brown, and Earl Campbell. I was even lucky enough to be around most of them multiple times, and have some good conversations with them. That is something not a lot of people get to do – meet and get to know their heroes.

I also got to thinking that even beyond just my heroes, I’ve been lucky enough to meet a long list of other famous people… and at the risk of sounding like a 10 year old at show and tell, I thought I would brainstorm a quick list:

Sports Luminaries:

Roger Staubach, Randy White, Tony Dorsett, Earl Campbell, Lynn Swann, Jerry Sisemore, Priest Holmes, Ricky Williams, Darrell Royal, Mack Brown, Tom Landry, Ron Franklin, Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Brent Musburger, Rick Barnes, Drew Brees, Chris Mihm, Eric Metcalf, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Daryl Johnston, Jimmy Johnson

Politicians and Movie Stars:

President George W Bush, Governor Rick Perry, Governor Ann Richards, Karen Hughes, Bob Bullock, Larry Gatlin, Jerry Jeff Walker, Jack Ingram, Matthew McConaughey, Kevin Costner, Debbie Reynolds, Craig Sheffer, Gabrielle Anwar…

I’m sure there are others, but that is enough for now. At the end of the day, meeting someone famous really isn’t all that big of a deal, but it is a cool experience.  And it’s funny how God can use what seems like an unwanted distraction in our days to remind us of the good things we so often forget, even if it’s only something as trivial as an encounter with a celebrity that he can use to remind us just how many blessings we’ve long since forgotten.

- To watch her see things for the first time with that childlike awe and amazement…
- To see her get so excited about little things that she can hardly contain herself and starts smiling, giggling and stomping her feet in joy…
- To see the gears turning in her head as she tries to figure something out and the sheer joy and pride that she finds when she figures it out…

What’s truly amazing about it all is how pure it is. As I watch her interact with her world and with her parents, it’s no wonder why God calls us to have faith like a child. Just imagine if, as adults, we attacked our day with that same enthusiasm, wonder and security that a child does… and be so excited to see Mom or Dad walk in the door.
The more I think about it, it’s no wonder that God calls us to have faith like a child…

It’s amazing to think that there would be such a difference in such a relatively short period of time. She is growing up right before our eyes, and becoming more and more of a little girl every day. I’m excited to see what the next 12 months hold for us.

We thought it would be the perfect spot since it is one of her absolute favorite places to go – especially the slide…

And she loved her cake – adorned with the Disney Princesses…

She had a great time at the park with all of her family and friends and played hard with all of her gifts when she got home. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was so worn out from a long afternoon at the park, it might have been hard to get her to go to sleep… and she make sure to say goodnight to her new toys before going to bed last night.

Then, this morning, the first order of business (after breakfast of course) was to get acquainted with her new Disney Princesses accessories – including her new tricycle and tent.

She watched an entire episode of Little Einsteins sitting on the Disney Princess tricycle grandma gave her…

Then she hid from Daddy in her tent from Aunt Julie and Uncle Michael…

And used it as the perfect prop for some high energy peek-a-boo…

It almost feels like it’s Christmas around here. Thanks to everyone for the great gifts! She is having a such great morning… it kind of reminds me of how I used to feel after I opened all of my presents on Christmas morning. It so cool to watch her enjoy her new toys with that childlike enthusiasm. She is also a big fan of her new easel (thanks Aunt Z and Uncle G) and her Disney Princess jewelry (thanks PaPa and Chris)… Although it is slightly embarrassing when she wants Daddy to model the ear rings or tiara… but those are the things you do for your daughter (no, there are no photos of this, and there will not be any taken, sorry) She is also very thankful for all of the new clothes (as are her parents!)

And speaking of having a great morning, have I mentioned that this is my favorite week of the year? Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season, it means time with family and friends, lots of good food, good football, and good times… here’s to a great holiday week!