Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.

December has come and gone, January has shown its wintry head and passed on down the trail.  We are now in the ending throes of February and God continues to amaze us with His tender care.  Not beat-down-the-door camaraderie or ingratiating lies; no, He creeps into our lives like a parent checking on his sleeping child, and leaves blessings for us to discover as we slowly wake to the world around us.
This has been a tumultuous few months.  I am a year older, and in getting  my hair cut discovered a plethora of white--not gray, but white--hairs residing on my head's lower east side.  Reminded me of Holden Caulfield.  And the same week I receive my final work evaluation before they went ahead and gave me the thumbs-up; I'm set for tenure and a load is lifted off of my back.
All of these things occurring have finally given me pause to stop and take stock of what have become, truly, the most precious people in the world to me:  my brilliant lovely wife and our progeny, these wonder-filled children.  If every parent were to feel this way, I doubt there would be any more war or hatred; how could you harbor such feelings when your heart held so much love?
Jack is nigh approaching two, and Julia has passed her second month with aplomb.  There are kisses goodnight from big brother to little sister; there are calls for "Baby?" when I trundle him out to the car ahead of the ladies; and the first Sunday we took Julia to the infant care center before dropping Jack off with the toddlers, he pitched a royal fit of screaming and crying that would only be sated by another look at his sister, safe and sound.
I've uploaded some of the best pictures of this period and made a little music video with them; the links are embedded below.  For now, our love to you, and enjoy.

Click HERE for the YouTube video
Click HERE for the Vimeo video

Jesus gave me water

So January has already been beautiful, and we're only nine days in.  The past month has been a whirlwind of visitations.  Robin was here for Christmas, and we had a great time with our cozy little family and plenty of time off.  There are so many new toys in the apartment that I don't think Jack knows where to start.  Plus Robin gave me a crow skull, so obviously she knows the way to my heart as well.
Then Josh and Brittany zoomed down for New Year's weekend, and THAT was great too!  Ted and Erin loaned out their house to these punks and next thing you know it we're singing Disney songs on the way to the aquarium (Brittany and me, not the kids).  It was three of the four Fehskens brothers, tons of beautiful girls, and random children staring at octopi.  Awesome.
Then this past weekend my mom and dad visited, also enjoying the seemingly never-ending hospitality of the Towson Fehskens (Ted, Erin, and Eve) and meeting their new grandbaby Julia for the first time.  MAN did she like Mom.  Of course, Mom's had enough practice.
The weekend culminated with a home baptism overseen by Rev. Ed.  We had some family time on Sunday night and then Dad read a touching piece he wrote years ago about the very subject--the passing on of our transcendent faith to our children.  We prayed and then dear Julia got washed in the Spirit!  It was so lovely.  I'm so glad we were able to do it in such an intimate and meaningful way.
So there's a run-down of the past month.  It's been insanely busy, fulfilling, satisfying and exhausting all at the same time.  Chelsea and I are looking forward to slowing down for a bit, maybe even (gasp) taking it easy for a few nights.  Of course, that's not really up to us anymore.
Enjoy the pics.  Love you!

Two Weeks...

Sooo...
Today marks the last day of my (much) welcome time off of work, getting used to the idea of "children" instead of "child," helping Chelsea as much as possible, and fitting in a bit of gaming or reading here or there (OK, a lot).
It has been the most beautiful experience.  Jack now calls for me by name in the morning, instead of just wailing until somebody shows up.  He sat in my chair and pretended to write in my plan book for twenty minutes.  Julia sleeps on my chest and then suddenly wakes up, eyes wide as saucers, INTENTLY studying me and usually ending up with a smile.
I'm looking forward to the rest of this deal.  I know it will get harder, I know work will complicate things, I know the world doesn't need any more help on population...but these are my favorite people in the world, and I'm filled with the love of a father simply by walking around the apartment and seeing them.
Hope you enjoy the photos beneath, few in number but representative of the past two weeks.

I (Fall) To Pieces

Hi, everyone!  Ah, what a wonderful season of life this has been.  Fall remains my favorite time of the year, and this one has proved more memorable than many, filled with family, fun, and frivolity (to quote Alec Baldwin as Charles Nelson Reilly).
Of course, foremost on the minds of those in our household is the imminent arrival of Julia, our darling little girl whom we already love and adore.  Every ring of my cell phone at work makes my heart stop a beat, as I check the ID, answer, and say, "YES?"  Unfortunately it usually means Chelsea forgot when my lunch ends and wanted to say hi, but one of these days it'll be something more...
In the meantime, we're realizing more and more why we wanted another child, as Jack is absolutely beautiful, creating a sphere of joy as he runs around.  It sounds strange, but he's starting to look older somehow, his face taking on more character and expression every day as he discovers the world around him.
We have recently had a visit from Rocky (Chelsea's brother) with his wife Diana and their children Emma and Lily, been to an Eve-fest birthday party, enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with the aforementioned Fehskens in Baltimore, and bought a lovely tree and decorated it in our home.  Below find some of these memories--we're so happy to share them with you, and hopefully by the next time I post, we'll have even more love to share.

Hi everyone!
We've been offline for quite a while, due to a combination of technical difficulties and familial obligations. Thankfully, both have been resolved and enjoyed.

First, our camera broke! I unceremoniously dropped it immediately upon exiting the car on our way to visit Ted and Erin in Towson. There was no excuse. So for weeks we subsisted upon a manual lens that the aforementioned relatives graciously lent. It worked, but the ease of use was gone, so we got lazy and didn't take many pictures.

Chelsea, in her infinite practicality, has obtained us a new automatic lens, so anticipate many new photos soon.

Family-wise, I enjoyed a bachelor party for Jazz that is now engraved upon our fraternal minds and a few digital images as well. After that, we made our way to New York for the matrimonial bonding of Josh and Brittany; a beautiful time that I've uploaded to Facebook.

So for now, to get back into the swing of things, I've uploaded a precious video to me; Jack talking and enjoying a conversation with me while he's in the bathtub. Links are provided below. God I love this boy.

Click here for the Youtube link.

Click here for the Vimeo link.

Putting a frame around life.

Howdy everyone! About a month ago we met with a friend of mine from school, Tyler Rieth. Tyler is a music teacher and a great guy, and is also starting his own photography business. As a way to build his portfolio, he said he'd do a photo shoot with Jack for pretty much nothing! Since we've never done professional pictures with the boy, we jumped at the chance.

So on June 30th, we drove about 10 minutes to Harford Glen, a beautiful nature preserve that my school uses sometimes as a location for science field trips. It has wooden bridges over wetlands and creeks, lovely trees and long paths for walking.

There we spent a few hours posing the boy, who was VERY patient! If you look at the color photos, you can see his pink, rosy cheeks--that's because it was over 80 degrees outside and he was in the sun most of the time! (With plenty of shade breaks and bottles of water).

So--hope you enjoy. These are the ones we loved the most--we received over 40 great photos. If anybody in the Maryland area would like a great local photographer, ask me for Tyler's contact info.