I started this post in June and never finished it. Looks like I'm a loser. LOL Well, here it is anyway. I'll finish it now...


Time for an update. Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of Maddy's double lung transplant. Check the blog to the right for more information. I can't really put into words how grateful I am to still have Madelyne in my life! I don't' know what I would do without my children. I'm not saying that in a "I don't ever want my kids to grow up and move out" kind of way either. They are growing up fast and I know it won't be too much longer before they will no longer need the old man to help them get by. That will be a great day! Honestly, since Maddy was diagnosed with CF I have wondered each day what my life will be like if this disease takes one, or both, of my children from me. Thanks to Maddy's lung transplant I no longer have that fear foremost in my mind. I very much look forward to having an adult relationship with both Madelyne and Ethan. But that is still a little way down the road.

So what has been up since I last blogged? Wow, tons of stuff! The Music Director position is working out really well at the station. I enjoy getting to know the people behind the music I play every day. They are great group of people who have a passion for their faith and desire to share their talent that I very much admire. It is a privilege to work in this amazing industry.

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Fast forward to November. Now Ethan is 18 and both my kids can't wait to be grown up and living their own lives. That's awesome, as stated above I am happy they have awesome lives to live and I pray that I have given them to tools to be happy productive people. I did get a nice comment from Maddy the other day. She has been spending a lot of time on Orlando lately now that she does'e have to go to the doctor every week. Anyway when she was home hanging out the other weekend she said she missed hanging out with me. I thought that was awesome!

So life is still very fast paced. Lots to do at work and I'm starting to take speaking gigs again. I spoke to the St. Timothy youth group last night and it was a blast. I love sharing pieces of my story and hope that it helps others see hope for their own life. Maddy's story of triumph after the lungs transplant is very powerful, especially to young people. I hope they took something away from my talk last night. It will be a while but I'm sure I'll start playing and singing again soon too. It's time to start practicing again.

On the down side Bobby, my step dad, had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his sinuses. They will be doing surgery to remove it in the coming weeks. There is not really much I can do for Mom and Bobby while they go through this except pray and let them know that we are here empathizing with what they are going through. I'm kind of having trouble processing the whole situation, especially after seeing what Dad went through with the Leukemia. I know they are two very different cases so I'm trying not to transfer. I'm sure Bobby's outcome will be much different.

I guess thats it for now. I just wanted to make sure I got the above thoughts posted so I didn't loose them. It has really been a blessing to have Maddy healthy again and I am praying for continued health for both kids.

Can't sleep

It's almost 2AM and I have a cold that is keeping me awake. Grr! Hopefully blogging will help put me to sleep. I'm using the cool new split keyboard function on my iPad to type this. It is taking some getting use to but still seems better than having it docked at the bottom. I just tap away with my two thumbs while holding the iPad. Here is a screen shot...

Pretty neat huh? Oh no, now I have gotten to the point where what I am reciting is directly under the keyboard. This is an awkward turn of events. The app I use to blog won't let me scroll up to keep the text above the keyboard. Ha ha. I guess il just have to proof read after I'm finished posting.

so things are going pretty well. Other than this stupid cold that is keeping me awake. Maddy is feeling great and spending lots of time over at Melissa's. Which is totally fair because no one is ever home here to hang out with her. The doctors seem very happy with her progress. She has to keep going in for blood work to make sure her prograf levels are correct which is a pain. This week she had an appointment on Monday at 6:30 for a lung clinic visit, then another appointment at 6:30 on Tuesday for another swallow study. Both appointments seemed to take forever and I had to go to work after them so it really wore me out. I suppose that's why this cold is lingering on so long.

Things are going well at work. I am doing the afternoon drive while Jamie fills in for Abby in the mornings. It's a fun shift but I miss the ability to voice track so I can get other stuff done during my air shift. I don't get that luxury during the afternoon drive because I have to run traffic reports every 15 minutes. But live radio is more fun anyway! I'm still doing the music and that keeps me pretty busy. I track all the songs I listen to and so far this year I have listened to over 300 new songs! And that number does not include all the random CDs I get in the mail, it's just the songs that radio promoters call me about. Of all those songs only about 120 have made it onto the radio. Some of them were duds or didn't fit our format but a lot of them were pretty good and I just couldn't get them on. There is just not enough room to play everything. It's tough to have to pass on some of these songs but somebody has to make the hard decisions and that somebody is me.

A few weeks ago I started a mission to meet with the people I see on Facebook all the time but hardly actually come face to face with anymore. My first opportunity came in the form of coffee with a local photographer who is a friend of my sister-in-law. He and I have been friends on FB for a while but never connected. When Maddy went in for her transplant he offered to do a photo shoot with her after she recovered. It was great to be able to sit down and communicate the old fashion way. I do it all the time for work but it's nicer to hang with someone just for the sake of having human contact and sharing life's struggles. After that I got to have lunch with Olivia and John Paul. My goodness he is getting so big. I introduced him to his first BBQ potato chip and became his new best friend! It was a great time.

I have decided that real life relationships, not virtual ones, should be a priority on my life so I will continue my quest. It feels really good to have a face to face conversation with a new or old friend. I recommend it highly!