So, again, I find myself in a position of having long neglected this blog. Recent experience has reminded me that if a person has a gift (particularly in writing) than it is their responsibility to practice it. So, again, I ask your forgiveness for my neglect and I will attempt again to present a picture of my family as it is currently.

It seems like a terribly big task to go into detail about what happened since my last post so I just wont. Rather than going into extensive detail about what has transpired in a year, I will just attempt to give you a picture of our  family as it currently exists.

As I say this my daughter Autumn is pulling on my sweater, wanting Papa's attention. Autumn is my youngest daughter with the sweetest smile. I am always astonished when I take her into public and she gets even the most rough looking men smile. I got the name Autumn from the movie 500 days of summer. I love names and so Im going to give you some stories about names. Autumn's full name is Autumn Justina Grace. As I said, I got her name from the movie 500 Days of Summer. This movie is best described as an anti-love story. The intro describes it as boy meets girl, but not a love story. Essentially, the protagonist Tom meets a girl named Summer and he falls in love with her. Summer isnt sure about her feelings,but engages him in a pseudo relationship. This approach messes with Tom and eventually he is dumped and his hope is completly shot down. After he is dumped, he decides to pick himself up and starts applying for his long neglected career choice. As he goes in for a job interview he meets a beautiful, interesting girl who he sparks an interaction with. As he walks away he doubles back and she introduces herself as "Autumn." While this dialouge is a little on the nose, I really identified with Tom. You see Tom as a hopeful creature who loses his hope and when he meets Autumn he finds hope. I named my daughter after a sense of hope. After a sense of change and beauty.

Kerean is my second born. Kerean's name is mush of a few different things. If you would pronounce it phoneticially it would sound like K-ear-ian. There is a Christian litergy transliterated from Greek as kyrie elesion. It means "Lord have mercy." I kind of blended it with a TV character named Tyrion. The name is meant as an invocation for mercy. I believe compassion is something we as a culture struggle to teach and generally have failed to practice. Ironically, teaching my son to consider how his actions effect others has been slightly tricky. Kerean is a very emotionally reactive boy. He just acts. While this is a benefit in the way that he will rarely miss out on things in his life, he will run great risk of making choices that isolate him(as the behavior of the self-involved so often does).

Azariah is a classic Bible name. It is the Hebrew name Abednego (Daniel's friend). The name means God helps. Now for me his middle name has more story than his first name (at least for me). His middle name is John. My brothers name is John. My fathers name was John. His fathers name was John. His fathers name was John. I asked my brother for permission to carry on this tradition and I was honored to be able to give my son an attachment to his past. I have meant a number of people who dont understand their past. I absolutely love my heritage and there are many in my extended family who have gone to great length to chronicle this history. I very proudly have been able to stamp my son with a very firm attachment to me and to my family.

One more thing to mention. Autumns middle names are Justina Grace. Justina is Doris' grandmothers name. One thing I love about Doris is her compassionate heart. In my view, you havent really been loved until Doris loves you. You couldnt ask for a better friend. I couldnt ask for a better heart to live life with and raise a family with. It is that same heart I have seen in her mother and her grandmother. I loved that we could honor her heritage of compassionate, loving, faithful and caring women by giving that name to our daughter.

Finally, I will make one last reference to 500 Days of SUmmer before I close. At one point in the movie the characters reflect on what true love means. One character compares "the girl of his dreams" with his current wife. "honestly Robin is better than the girl of my dreams, shes real." This to me so encapsulates our experience, not just with lovers, but with people. Idealized notions are not how people are made up and the struggle to see happiness often involves needing to see through the haze of idealized notions and just moving forward. I thank God for my wife and all who she is - good and bad.

So, I realize I didnt do much telling of life right now, but perhaps it will motivate me to write more frequently. Thank you for your patients and I will hopefully talk soon dear reader.