UPDATE: http://www.bishopmeridth.com is up and is pointed to his flickr set. :)

Bam was born on 7/25/2008 6:37 pm at 7lbs 12 oz. He was born via cessarian. Mommy Meridth is doing well and we hope to be released tomorrow. He is passing all the tests and is doing great. Daddy is tired. :)



His photo gallery will be up on flickr soon. I'll update this post as soon as that is up and running.

Christie and I are expecting him soon.  She is SO ready for him to come out.  For years we tried and failed.  A blessing presented itself and we were able to adopt Lucas.  He has been an amazing addition to our lives and has turned us from a married couple into a family.  Plus, with hands like these, I couldn't argue with him. :)

And of course, the "adoption blessing" came upon us: Christie got pregnant.  She just passed her 38th week and she has her final (hopefully) OB appointment this coming Wednesday.  Due to her being diabetic prior to the pregnancy, it has been very rough.  She has fought it like a trooper and has kept her sugars in normal ranges (80-120).  I'm very proud of her for how hard she has had to work to do that.

From reading and googling, and our doctor's advice we are going to probably induce this coming Friday.  The reason is because in some (most according to some websites) diabetic patients have their placenta detach in the last two weeks of their pregnancy.  For you pregnancy non-knowledgeables out there, the placenta is what sustains the baby while in the womb.  It detaching is a VERY bad thing.

This post is to show how eager I am to hold my new son.  I want to protect, love, and raise him to the best of my abilities.

 

I went through some rough communications with AT&T and the local Apple Store at La Cantera in San Antonio, TX.  I had been hunting down a new iPhone since Monday (the Monday after it was released).  Through 3 days of hunting I found that every AT&T store in SA was out of iPhones and wouldn't be replenished for 10-21 days.  They mentioned the Apple stores were receiving new batches every day.  I went to the Apple store and stood in line for an hour, about half the line disappeared.  Once half way to completion of my task, an Apple employee walked up and down the line stating "...if you have corporate discounts or a home bundle package, internet + phone + mobile, you do not qualify to get an iPhone 3G with AT&T".  I called AT&T while in line and the representative told me that the Apple employee was correct.

I couldn't get the phone.  My AT&T HomeZone bundle (which saves me ~$100.00/mo.) is contract-based and doesn't end until December 2008.  I can't break the contract (I'd have to pay hundreds back).  I tweeted, that is what posting a message on Twitter is called, and Chris Patterson, a fellow LosTechies blogger, responded to me stating "You can get one, you just have to go to the AT&T store to get it done. Or call and drop the IRU from your account then add it back".

Just for fun, I called AT&T again via *611 on my cell.  The new representative confirmed Chris' statement and I was eager to get the new phone.  I called the Apple store and confirmed they still had some and the line was not long at all.

I got to the store and was able to get a new 16GB black iPhone 3G.  The new features are awesome and it will help me stay connected and be able to work on my external responsibilities (AlamoCoders, LosTechies, etc.)

Heck, even today, I helped a fellow LosTechies member reset his password.  He notified me via a direct message from Twitter.  I was out with my family and I used my iPhone to do it.  It took less than 5 minutes and the phone has already started paying for itself.

I had some doctor appointments to go to today and after running an errand I got out to my truck and saw the following:









Understand why it's a bad day now?  Guess what was stolen?  My bible and my christian CDs.  ?? LOL

I've witnessed in many ways, but this is a new one. :)

Got home, cleared out a side of my garage and the truck is in there for now.

Just glad this happened with me there and not when Christina, my pregnant wife, was alone.

I've started a "Read the bible in a Year" online bible study at bible.christianity.com.  You can get a free account.  They have multiple translations and other tools you should go check out.

Once you login, click the "Bible in a Year" tab.  If you start now you are only 7 days behind.  Currently I'm reading Luke, Genesis, and Psalms.  This is a notice that most of my bible posts will probably be around those books (or the current books I'm reading during this study.

There are only 2 querks that I've found:
1. Once you choose your "Bible in a Year" start date you have to email tech support to get it reset. (Nice tech support and prompt response time)
2. The bible reading is not iPhone friendly.  The scrollbars are dynamically put in and the iPhone safari browser has issues with it.

Go check it out.  It's free.

God Bless, Amen.

I personally have heard plenty of worship songs and devotionals that mention that Jesus is our rock and foundation.  I've never personally studied the Word hard enough to know what that truly meant.

In most of 2007, Jesus was not a part of my life and as a result, not a part of my family's life.  This led to some serious destruction.  I realized the cause was the lack of His presence and have turned back to Him.  This is the second time I've done this in my life and it is the LAST TIME.  For some reason, this time his Word, my church family, and other things that I've taken for granted mean everything to me.

I know you can "bible beat" your friends into attending church with you, but until they truly accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior, nothing else can be built into a person's life properly; hence the foundation verses in Matthew and Luke.

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." ~ Matthew 7:24-27

"I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice.
He's like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.
But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete." ~ Luke 6:47-49

It is the absolute truth.  Trust me.  Luckily my family and I are once again surrounded in God's love and able to speak to Him via the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.  Hope this helps someone else truly read these verses and trust the Word.

God bless you, Amen.

Until recently I always thought these verses might be cheesy and just foo foo.  I even had them read at my wedding.

I live these verses now.  I never realized how nicely they sum up what love truly means.

The picture below has the verses.

If you have anyone in your life that you have violated these verses with, pray for forgiveness and go talk with them.  Trust me, I know how hard that can be.



God Bless you, Amen.

I was listening to KLOVE (91.3), the christian station here in San Antonio and heard an amazing song.  It was "East to West" by Casting Crowns.  I only knew that because I got home and looked at the klove.com website and they listed the most recently played songs.  The lyrics that struck home with me were:

I start the day, the war begins
Endless reminding of my sin
And time and time again
Your truth is drowned out by the storm I’m in

This is how I feel sometimes.  The rest of the song talks about how God gives us forgiveness even when we don't feel worthy and we don't have to understand it to receive it.  We just have to be faithful.  Man that is awesome.

"Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you." ~ Acts 13:38

Amen.

Tonight I watched Evan Almighty with my wife and heard Morgan Freeman, who played God, state some lines that made me think (paraphrased):

"...when people pray for patience, sometimes they get circumstances that allow them to develop patience, and when they pray for courage, sometimes they are given opportunities to be brave."

I have had a few personal hardships lately and have been praying hard for patience, knowledge, and control and was thinking that God would just bestow them upon me.  After hearing these lines tonight I realized that God has answered my prayers multiple times with opportunities to practice those mindsets, but I didn't realize it.

I will be looking for those situations to arise and practice being patience, knowledgable, and be in control of my tongue and temper.

God Bless you.

This is a test. This is my first blog entry with an iPhone. The UI is absolutely amazing and I'm even tempted to check out Mac OSX after using this. Being the Linux fan that I am I heard that I'll love it.

<rant>

At work I have the unfortunate experience everyday of trying to exit our public restroom.  "Why is this unfortunate?", you say.  It is unfortunate because I know the bathroom layout was designed by someone with no foresight.  ANY restroom that has the restroom door opening into the restroom is STUPID.  I wash my hands after I use the restroom, but not everyone does.  When the door opens into the restroom that means you have to grab a handle and open the door.  If someone hasn't washed their hands, that means those germs are on the handle.  I usually wash my hands, dry them off with a couple paper towels (sorry to all the environmentalists, they don't have hand dryers), I throw those away and grab two more for my exit.  What I mean by that is that I use the two paper towels to grab the handle and then throw them away as my foot holds the door open.

This may seem like a small thing until hear of the little things going around lately (i.e., MRSA Staph, Flu, etc.).

It's even worse when the restroom has hand dryers and no paper towels and the door opens into the restroom.  That's when I'll usually grab a toilet seat protector from one of the stalls.

This may seem nuts, but just think about it:  You just washed your hands to make sure you don't spread any germs and then you grab a handle that has "God knows what" on it

</rant>

The biggest blue screen of death picture I've seen: