Matthew's business

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Escaping Shreveport's Phagocytosis

So yesterday (Wednesday, June 23rd) we busted our butts to get the last crap out of our house and clean it up so we could leave for our new life in North Carolina. We finally got on the road at around 1pm, and 30 miles out of Shreveport the A/C died in the van. Well, since we were looking at 3 days of driving in the hottest days of summer, sitting on blocks of ice wouldn't work. So we turned around and got our trusty mechanic to look at it. the good news was that it was only going to be about $200 to change out the whatever was broken. The bad news was that the part wouldn't be in until Friday. So we've been staying at our friends' house on the air force base here. It is REALLY nice here. The houses are huge, and the neighborhood is awesome. We've been on base countless times, but being here so early in the morning looking at the peace and quiet of it all made it look really nice. The airmen on this base are really lucky to have such a nice place to live.
Anyway, we've just been cooling our heels. tomorrow we hope to get the A/C fixed and be on our way by 2pm at the latest. We'll see how it goes. Wish us luck!

Now a Dr.

Tuesday I successfully defended my dissertation, and therefore I am now a Ph.D. So I would prefer everyone to from now on refer to me as Dr. Snider, or for my nieces and nephews Uncle Dr. Snider. And I got back from UNC last Saturday, and there is a good chance that we will be going there next. Fun stuff.

Wow!

 

I pulled this photo off of Sarah's Facebook page (thanks for sharing!). Wow--I sure have good genes on my wife's side!

photos

I'm putting photos in my web album now, so check them out.

Grateful

So it's 12:35am late Saturday night while I wait for the cheesecake to cool enough to get put in the fridge. My friend emailed me a link to a video that a father made to his little boy who only lived 99 days due to trisomy 18. It was very sweet to watch, but was also quite tough. I'm glad no one was around to see me cry. As I watched this little guy with tubes coming out everywhere, and how his parents were so grateful and excited for 1.5hour feedings every 3 hours, I couldn't help but think of my 3 kids. Rachel and I are so lucky to have such wonderfully healthy kids. The worst we've had to worry about was ear infections and tubes in the ears. Oh, and I dislocated Hannah's forearm while we were wrestling when she was younger. But they are perfect. And I got to thinking about how we often complain about how the girls don't listen to us, don't clean their room, scream and cry about stupid things, hit, bite, and pee their pants when angry. How we are frustrated that the girls still sleep in pullups because they can't stay dry at night. I don't have any complaints about the boy, except him getting into EVERYTHING. But as I watched this short film made by this young father, I had to give thanks to Heavenly Father for blessing us with 3 healthy kids. And although we have our own struggles and frustrations, we are blessed beyond the scope that my mortal mind can comprehend. I just hope to always see them as the precious gifts that they are, that's all.
Jared

Baby Einstein

Check out this article I saw today. I don't know about making them smarter, and I don't care. I just show these Baby Einstein videos to the kids to shut them up so I can take a nap or make dinner or post to my blog!