Love for Logan Benefit

For once I'm going to put something of substance on here. We have some friends, Brian and Anita Keating, who's 2 1/2 yr. old son is in need of another heart surgery. He will require a long recovery period so Anita is going to stay home with him. They are going to have a benefit dance for him to help with the income they are going to lose because of this decision. The Keatings have always thrown stellar shindigs so if you don't have any plans Aug 3, please come and party with us and help support sweet baby Logan. Everyone is invited, but tickets are limited.

http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=2523308

Gardencourt
Louisville Presbyterian Seminary
1044 Alta Vista Road

August 3, 2007
8:00 pm – 12 midnight

$20.00 single or $30.00 per couple

contact Marcia email mhampton53@hotmail.com

A Pregnant Cheerleader KICKED MY BUTT!!!

Okay, since I've started working at the gym and in turn get a free membership I decided that I was going to go whole hog for two weeks (until vacation) and try to get my body fat % down by 6. My grand plan was to go everynight except for days I work and just take whatever class was scheduled. Yesterday was a weight type class, and I woke up a little sore. So today was supposed to be a cardio class and HOLY CRAP! Let me just say that everyone in the class was like <5'5" and then to top it off three were pregnant. I totally couldn't keep up. The pregnant chick in front of me was bopping around like a dancer for J.Lo. Now not only couldn't I keep up but the instructor was speaking some kind of foreign language, let me just give you an idea...

Okay everyone, we are going to start we a double walk, now pump it out, okay, diagonal across the box, and let me see your football, now we are going to mambo, cha cha back, and then grapevine back to start.

And that was just the stuff I could make out over the music. So needless to say I quit when we started to "take it up a level". I was a little bit embarassed that I couldn't keep up, but hey at least I was there. And to top it off, by body fat when down 2% between Sunday and today...so I guess it was worth it. (But I secretly wish I could have knocked over the pregnant perky chick in front of me)

Tuesday Nostalgia

I used to love this show...of course I was like 10 when it was on.

Good food, good company, good weekend.

Micah didn't ask for much for father's day, he just wanted to go to Jeff Ruby's for dinner. Our favorite steakhouse is The Precinct in Cincinnati and they are owned by the same guy. The food was awesome! (but a bit overpriced). All in all I would recommend The Precinct above Jeff Ruby's, the ambiance is much nicer. We went with some friends, Brock and Laura, and just talked and ate for 4 hrs. It was a great night out.

Sunday we drove home and just bummed around the house with the kids for awhile. The neighbors came over with a hopscotch/sprinkler they bought for Grey and then we ate the catfish the guys caught the day before. It was a nice weekend.

Happy Father's Day!!!

To the worlds greatest father...I love you so much.
I hope you know how priceless you are. I know you feel like
you don't spend enough time with the kids but I hope this
shows you how many memories you've already built with
them. You are WONDERFUL!

And to my dad, I love you! Thanks for showing me what a
real man should look like. I'm so glad you wanted to be my dad!

Playgroup at the park

Well, the turnout wasn't huge but we had a great morning at the park.

Lydia


Kristi & Connner


Keaton and Grey


Keaton & Clay


Grey-monkey


Caged Animal


Jaba the hut, in a swing

Back to the grindstone...kinda

Well, thanks to Amy, who hooked me up with a cush job, I'm now part of the working world again (2days/wk, 3hrs/day). I know it's not much but it feels like a big step considering that I haven't worked in 4 yrs. I watch the child care room at a gym, which yesterday had a ton of little girls. I got to do hair, dance to Hannah Montana, and pretend to be a giraffe. It was a lot of fun. The sweetest perk is a gym membership, I can't wait to use that and start working out. I've been talking about it since Gentry was born but our gym here in town has teenagers in the child care room and I just don't trust them. So here we go, lets see if I actually do it. The only downside is it's a $12 round trip in the suburban, so I think on the days I work Micah will be riding his bike to work and I will be taking the focus. I'm so not thrilled about driving the little blue tuna can, but it's half the price, so I guess I should.

Wealth and the Middle Class...how do you feel about it?

Gentry is 9mo. today

Went to the doctors today for Gentry's 9mo checkup. He's doing great (for a horse), he's 23lbs. and 28in. I don't' remember how big his head was, but I do know that it was in the 95%! So he's on par for the family...big! Poor thing, he's going to have to go on daily allergy medicine, he just has horrible eczema and he's always fussy. We spent two hours outside yesterday and he's covered head to toe in a rash because of it. I don't know how I feel about him taking medicine everyday, but I think I took benadryl 300/365 days a year growing up, so he'll survive.

Republican primary debate

Well I caught the debate last night (missed the dems b/c in-laws were in town), and there actually seemed to be some pretty good guys up there. Unfortunately, there was 10 of them so you only got to hear from each of them a couple times, but none the less is was encouraging. I hadn't heard of a couple of them, and after hearing there responses I can guess why.
Ron Paul seemed to only be able to answer a question by attacking both parties...I don't think that's going to get him anywhere.
Mike Huckabee had an awesome answer when asked about our greatest moral dilemma...he said that the rep. should focus on the sanctity of life not only from conception to birth, but from conception to death. That was basically the umbrella he used to cover abortion, poverty, war, and health care. I really liked his answer.
Former Sec. of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson has a very thoughtful and stat filled answer for health care questions (and I would expect no less), so when asked about his forte he showed great clarity, but I don't think he could do that for every topic.
When asked about conservation in the rep. agenda Sam Brownbeck's answer definitely hit his base, he said make it profitable and the free market will do the rest. This was spot on for a capitalist society.
Tom Tancredo kinda came off looking like a jerk. I agree with him on some things, but I think he has the same problem Pres. Bush has, he's not a great communicator.


Now for the big guns...


I just don't like McCain, he maybe the most moderate, but I don't really know because he seems to hide a lot of things. I did however like his answer on govt. spending. He said he "would veto any bill with a pork barrel project and make the authors famous". I think accountability is good and much needed right now.


Rudy Guliani was probably the most poised with some of the best answers, but I do expect that of him, he's been on a national platform for a long time. My only problem with him is that he's pro-choice. Mitt Romney put it best when he said the Rep. party will ultimately vote off of principal not personality(i.e. Pres. Bush). So I think in the long run we would loose the White House due to this.


Then there's Mitt Romney, I like this guy. He's already made a good impression with the masses, and that's impressive for someone who was virtually unknown. He's very diplomatic and gracious (we could use some of that with foreign policy), he knows his base, and he seems really honest. When asked about airing adds in Spanish, he very honestly said, "I want them to vote for me". I don't think he answered one question where I had a gut jerk reaction, and I can't say that of anyone else.


So I'm still listening, hopefully you are too, because I think this next election is gonna be a doosy!

New Resturant

Talked to Micah's dad today and he's opening his latest resturant next week. It's a throwback to his bbq days, oh how I miss his ribs!!
Found these old reviews... http://events.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/travel/07njDINE.html

Here's a video clip... http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=90973@wcbs.dayport.com

Perspective, perception, perfection

At church we have been talking about neighbors, barriers, brotherhood, community, & social responsibility. This is always circling around in my head because we don't live anywhere near family and because of that Micah and I lean on each other A LOT. It's created problems over the years because for either of us to go out and have fun, it usually means the other must stay home with the kids. The years before kids were hard too because we would want to go out but were post frat party stage, to young to bar hop, and too broke to do anything else. Luckily we really are each others best friends and that was the awesome byproduct of all that time spent together. But even best friends need buffers occasionally and that's where your friends and neighbors come in. They are your gauge, they add perspective. Hopefully it's more than a case of keeping up with the Jones', it should be a support system.

You can't pick your neighbors, at our first house we were just surrounded by heartache, divorce, and infertility. That can make it hard for a newlywed newly pregnant couple. So, when we moved to this house and I prayed...really, really prayed, every night that our neighbors would be what we needed. And God delivered BIG on that prayer. We have two neighbors that have become family, we have an older couple who have been married for decades and have gone through a lot of heartache but are still in love (rare and wonderful to see). We are on a friendly first name basis with all of our neighbors in the court. The other day I needed to run to the courthouse and didn't want to drag the kids, so I called Jineane and she wasn't going to be home in time, so I walked over to Gerry's and she put down her paintbrush and came right over. Now that's a blessing! We may not have family to call on but we do have great neighbors. Some are liberals, some conservative, some goth. But they love to see my kids, they offer up their tools for projects, and they always wave.

Now friends you can pick, but there's a catch, they have to pick you too (and your spouse). It's got to be a four way friendship, and then if you add in kids it becomes an exponential equation, but good friends can really make life amazing. So we've been working on that, and it's surprising where you'll find them. Some you find at church, a dinner party, or the grocery store. And I dare say we are doing well, after inviting about 20 couples over for dinner over the past couple years we've got a great roster of friends.

So now we have friends and neighbors we love, where do we go from here? Do you just stop and become complacent or do you seek more? Back to church, how do we break down walls and go further into our community and be productive. How do you become useful to God in all your relationships. I don't think He puts everyone we know in our charge, but what about the people you do feel a connection or responsibility towards. I don't think anyone feels comfortable around someone who is constantly trying to be inspiring and quote scripture or throw fortune cookie sayings around, but have you ever had God prompt you to say something outside of your comfort zone to someone else? I know I have and I'm always amazed at how the other persons face looks when I say it.

I wonder sometimes, did God make things tough in the beginning because I'm a slow learner. Maybe I'm one of those people who would've taken everything and everyone for granted. But now I actually try to be a good friend and neighbor, I'll bring food, turn off your water hose, get your mail, remember your birthday. Is that what God meant us to do. I guess if we don't have a traditional community it is our responsibility to build one?

I don't really know where I was going with all that, just rambling I guess.

PS-There are two houses in my cul-de-sac for sale "won't you be my neighbor?"

I finally found my camera....

Here are some pics from last weekend.


Beautiful Chrisman Mill


Tired baby


Mrs. Colonel and Harrison