Some Things....

You just have to blog about.  A word of warning: if you have stumbled across this page without knowing me, or you don't feel you need to know all the intimate details that make up my life, please feel free to check out any of my other posts, but this one is going to get quite a bit personal.

You may not know, but Kayla and I have been trying to get Brenna a sibling for about a year now.  The major roadblock has been that the doctor we have here is unwilling to provide us the shot we took last time to get pregnant for several reasons which I don't have the time or desire to get into at the present time.  Suffice to say that I had the most awkward and unusual experience of my short life this past Thursday.  Why has it taken so long to blog about this experience, you say?  I think once I explain this visit in its entirety, you'll see why.  So what I went to see a urologist in San Antonio (because we are in the smack dab middle of the back woods here and don't have anything near that type of doctor here) for a general analysis to see if something with my "boys" might be the cause of why we have been unable to this point to get pregnant.

So once I arrive in at this office and hand in my insurance information to the front person and then ask about going to the restroom because I've been on the road for an hour and a half, and they inform me that they will need a "sample" and might as well get it while I was in there rather than wait for the doctor to see me. That enough should have been enough to send this right up to the top of the awkward doctor visit list, but apparently they were just getting started.  Did you know they actually have instructions in these bathrooms on how to pee into a cup?  Did you know there are diagrams?  At this point the ladies reading this are saying, "well yeah!", but I'm guessing my fellas are as surprised as I was.  

So I get called back and after a few minutes of waiting I meet with the doctor who after some pleasantries tells me to please "drop your trousers and let's have a look."  Now for some of you this might be a part of your normal everyday routine, but for me that was the continuation of the strangeness, but I think the weirdest part was either he was so detached or I was that it really felt like it was myself checking things out in the basement.  How bizarre is that? 

 

Anyway, after the initial exam he informs me that he wants to take some blood samples and orders a testicular ultrasound.  Just in case you were wondering, not nearly as interesting and exciting as an ultrasound when there is a baby involved.  The tech comes into the room to draw my blood and two things had me a little concerned: first-they drew a lot of blood, enough to make me feel a little woozy, and second was the way they wrapped my arm up once the blood was out.  Apparently men are too macho to earn a band-aid, we're cool enough for neon gauze like the kind pictured to the left (mine was neon green), and she wrapped it with so much and so tightly that if I had been asked to play my instrument at that point in time, I wouldn't have been able to!  

So up next was the ultrasound.  I go into this room where yet another guy tells me to drop my pants (an all-time high for men telling me to take my pants off), and he informs me that my ultrasound will be "audited" by a female tech who is learning how to take the ultrasound.  They proceed to begin the procedure like I'm not in the room, but fortunately for you my ears still worked and I found out that they have to use really warm KY jelly so that the "boys" don't shrivel up and they can take good pictures, they also use A LOT of the stuff for some reason that was not explained.  They then take pictures of my guys from all different angles occasionally giving me a heart attack by saying  comforting things like "oh, that's interesting...", and "do you see that right there?", and my personal favorite: "Huh!"  The entire time I have two thoughts going through my head: 1) no wonder we haven't been contacted by other intelligent life, because honestly, what intelligent life would do this to one another, and 2) Please don't let Jesus come back with my fellas hanging out for all the world to see, I just think when I meet my Creator I would like to be wearing pants in some form or fashion.  Anyway, they finish up the exam and tell me everything looks fine, but they would like to see me for a semen analysis in a few weeks followed by a follow up exam the week after.  So, as uncomfortable as this may have been to read, it's kind of like therapy for me and really what is a blog if not therapy for the writer?  Stay tuned for more squirm in your seat action!

Holy Cow!

Don't say I didn't warn you!  It has been an incredibly busy month for me, and sadly for my family who I feel don't even recognize me anymore.  I have finally come to the completion of the largest part of my busyness.  TMEA Convention is over, UIL Concert Contest and Sight-Reading are complete, and next week I will have a few days of well-earned rest.  Unfortunately I do have a winterguard competition this Saturday and church on Sunday which is always busy, so I don't really get a break until then, but that's alright.  So without further ado, let me get you caught up:

The convention was not nearly as big of a deal as last year.  Highlights include a concert b

y the combined trombone studios of Texas Tech and Baylor Universities, a seminar weighing the positives and negatives between a small school and large school atmospheres and teaching in both, a performance showing how there is a rejuvenation of silent films and putting new music to them, a concert by the herald trumpets who play at all the President's major functions, and a seminar on how to use iChat to have a composer come to your rehearsal.  Lowlight was sad to say the Fellowship of Christian Musicians breakfast, a few reasons why: 1) no breakfast, 2) gripe session about modern worship music practices, 3) gripe session about parents, and finally 4) no useful information on how to start a FCM chapter at your own school. I actually ended up walking out of the room, I was so frustrated.  The rest of the convention went well, but there was nothing terribly spectacular about it.  In fact, I left early so I could come home and clean the entire house for my wife for her combined Valentine's and birthday presents.  All in all, a pretty good weekend.  Which led into...

UIL Concert Contest and Sight-Reading competition.  We prepared for this for three weeks after the Convention, including having a clinician come in and work with the kids one day followed by a pre-UIL competition the same week, and culminating in a concert for the public on Sunday and the actual event on Wednesday.  It was a little tricky because we had standardized testing on Tuesday before the event, so I didn't have a chance to have a rehearsal with my kids the day before we actually went.  Fortunately I work with some great teachers who sacrificed having their kids for a majority of the day so we could have an extra rehearsal.  We went and played before some really tough judges earning our group a III-III-III rating in the concert portion and a II-II-III rating in the sight-reading room.  I say the judges were tough because I feel my group deserved a II rating, but they only handed out a Superior (I) rating to one band yesterday among the forty or so bands they heard.  High school went today and earned a II-III-III in concert and an impressive feat in the sight-reading room earning a I-II-III rating.  Which means that one judge thought you did a superior job while another felt it was just an average job.  

With that done, I'm hoping to reconnect with my family over the next weeks and have my headaches that have been a constant companion of mine for the past two to three weeks due to stress I hope.

Well, like I said in the previous post I do have enough to keep me busy through the remainder of the year which is quickly approaching.  And not only at school, but also at church where I'm still leading music every three weeks and doing music for the youth every week.  Kayla is also working on getting talks every week.  Hopefully, we'll get through it alright and have some fun while doing it and somewhere along the way I can reconnect with my wife and daughter and not be so exhausted when I come in the door every night.  Well, that's all for now, almost.  I did forget to mention the horrible feeling of homesickness I had at the beginning of this week when we saw my friends back in Athens enjoy a rare snowstorm of between 4 and 9 inches on Sunday while I had to suffer through 90 degree weather here in the desert!  It was made even more painful as the pictures started to show up on blogs and facebook of some of our favorite people in the world playing with their children.  I guess that's the price we pay for having a job, which I'm very thankful for!  Okay, that's it.  As always I hope my blogging will be a bit more consistent, but you'll just have to stay tuned and find out!

It's the Most Busiest Time of the Year!

So welcome to my craziness!  Over the next month or so (until March 5th when Band contest is) I have one open weekend where I am not doing anything related to the band program.  Not only that, but for my wife's birthday I will be celebrating with a Band Booster meeting; for my birthday I will be celebrating with a Band clinic.  For Valentine's Day weekend, I will celebrate not with my loving bride, but with thousands of fellow Texas music educators at our convention and (lucky me!) with some of my students from school who are considering this same crazy life as a career when they graduate from high school.  This is on the heels of craziness from the past few weeks as I prepared along with my jazz band for our Solo and Ensemble Festival this past weekend.  As of the last rehearsal, I thought I was going into the performance with a solid III rating (average), so I was surprised when the results finally came back and it was seen that I along with my little band received a II (Excellent) rating!  I was bursting with pride for my little band, they really did outdo themselves.  I'm not sure I can take very much of the credit, other than having a little bit more control over what we played this year as opposed to last year.  They did really well!  

So, let's continue on with the craziness that is the end of this school year.  So after the convention and band clinic, I get to load up my 53-person 7/8th grade band and travel up the road to a school near San Antonio to have a pre-UIL concert where we will receive comments before the actual event.  Next up is the Concert Contest for both the 7/8th grade band and the HS band.  Once that has concluded we've got the 7/8th grade band preparing for their regional honor band concert auditions and performance.  Then we've got a spring concert to get ready for followed by the JH solo and ensemble festival and concluding with the band trips, banquet and graduation.  All that seems like it should keep me busy for around a month, but in actuality it's from now to the end of the year.  That's why at one point in this blog I said it's crazy to the end of the year because it will be here before I know it.  Well, now that I've caught you all up, once again it's time to go and I'll let everyone know how the great Texas Music Educator's Association Convention goes!

Happy New Year!

Been a while, huh?  Sorry about the lack of updating, but it's been a combination of not too much going on and when things did happen, not having time to write them down.  With that lame excuse out of the way, let me be one of the last to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  Hope yours is off to a good start.

As for why I'm writing my blog at 10:30 on a Thursday, I'm at home with a mildly sick little girl.  I was going to title this post differently due to that fact, but my lovely wife beat me to the punch with her blog.  It has been a good few weeks with regards to life in general.  I was able to finally get some new shoes last weekend since mine had been slowly falling to pieces.  I also enjoyed some time off with my family because of the Karnes City Stock Show, not MLK day like the rest of the country.

Oh, don't tell me you're not familiar with the famous KC Stock Show?  It's not what my friend Billy thought that all the kids gather around and play the stock market game, it's actually showing cows, pigs, chickens, horses, goats, etc. for ratings and ribbons.  AND, because it involves so many of the kids in the schools, and some of the teachers, and it happens to fall the weekend before MLK day, we take off the Friday before and not on the Monday designated to honor a man who changed the course of American history.  No, we here in Karnes City feel that livestock are more of a relevant and important thing.  I'm really just teasing, but that's how it feels a little bit.  It might feel that way because I grew up 60 miles from where the man worked combined with Texas still not feeling like home, but I guess that's the way it goes.

One of the more blogworthy events that I haven't had time for is my family coming to visit us.  The final night of our Christmas visit in Houston we had no more room in our inn: My mom and dad, my oldest brother BJ, me, Kayla, Brenna, Annie, Westin, Kayla's mom and dad, and grandmother Nena, Kayla's brother Aaron, his wife Liz, their son Tanner and daughter Avery, and their cat Joey!  We were full to the hilt.  The next day my family came to KC with us to begin their Christmas/New Years visit.  What's the best way to kick off not seeing family for 6 months?  Why to break your host's television of course!  I'm just teasing my brother, but our television did break and we had to spend the first few days tracking down a new TV for us.  Thank goodness for Craig's List!  I was a little anxious about it as well, because some of you will recall the largest gift I received for Christmas involved the use of a television.  So not only had I just waited about a week to use my Playstation, then I had to wait another three days until I could play it because of not having a television!  It ended up okay, though.  While my family was here we got to spend the better part of an entire day in San Antonio.  We got to go to the Riverwalk and the Alamo and had a really good Mexican lunch followed by a really fun river boat ride.  They also had a chance to go to Goliad to see some more Texas history that has Georgia ties.  If you want to learn more, ask my dad.  We had a good remainder of their trip, even though it was too short.  It always makes me sad when they have to leave or I have to leave, but I really enjoy the time we're together.

Well, now you're caught up and here's what's coming up: the fabulous TMEA convention, Kayla's birthday, my birthday, and as always it's Concert Contest Season so you know I'm busy! I promise I'll do a better job of keeping this thing updated!  Thanks for stopping by!

And To All A Good Night

Let me start off by saying I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas this year. We've certainly been busy around this Houston household, let me catch you up!


Let's start at last night, Christmas Eve. Kayla and I decided to go to a friend's church here in Houston (hey Bryan!). They did one of the coolest things I've ever seen done in a church service, let alone a Christmas Eve service. They started this running scroll on a screen with someone reading the words as they scrolled up towards the ceiling, the basic jist of the message was that Jesus was just an ordinary person, that all the Biblical testimonies were falsehoods and that Christmas doesn't really have the meaning that people ascribe to it, then this guy reading gets to the bottom and says something to the affect of "that's what I believed until I allowed Jesus in and He turned everything upside down," from that point, the scrolling words went in reverse and all the falsehoods were turned into truths as he read the same script backwards. It was really a great highlight of the service. The music was phenomenal, which isn't that difficult to do when you're associated with a fine arts academy as part of your community outreach. They did have a horn section on stage, and I really would like to be able to do that in a church setting at some point in my life. I think it would be great fun and a great way to use my talents to praise the Lord. Speaking of the "reason for the season...."


It gets really hard sometimes with all that goes into the Christmas season to remember why it's important in the first place, that God humbled Himself because of His great love for us and became fully human and yet fully God to die for my sins and save me from eternal separation from Him. That still blows my itty-bitty mind every year when I allow myself to think about it. How anyone can say that God is just some cosmic cop is one that misses the creativity in His plan to save all of mankind and reconcile us to Him. I don't claim to fully understand it, I'm just thankful He did it! I love singing the carols at this time of the year and we were so fortunate to be able to attend the Casting Crowns concert a few weeks ago and were really able to worship through those several carols we sang. It's sometimes tough for me to worship through Christmas carols because the words have become so familiar that I lose the power in them, and that was something that because I heard them in a new arrangement didn't happen this year.

Okay, so for the more superficial portion of Christmas, I was truly shocked this Christmas morn when, while I was sitting with Brenna helping her open her presents, I get one that is set before me that is obviously a box. In my head I'm thinking it's just a book or some clothes or maybe the shoes that were on my list. Let me set the stage a little more for you: for the past two to three weeks (although some would say it's been since before Thanksgiving), I have been a pain in the rump because I've been kidding about getting a Playstation 3. I've actually been kidding around quite a bit and just being annoying like only a middle child can. So anyway, back to this box. I tear off the paper and go into a little bit of shock because sitting in my lap before me is a brand new PS3! I still can't believe that I received one for Christmas. I'm sure the pictures that were taken of me when I realized what it was was a pretty good reward for those that worked so hard to procure one for me. I don't think it will match the Herbie car picture for those of you who know what that is, but I bet it came pretty close. I also received two games to go with it, one that I have talked about before, and one that I played a prequel to at my friend Billy's house and looks to be really awesome, but I have to exercise some restraint in my playing or I'm sure I'll get put on restriction! I'm only half-kidding about that by the way!

The Christmas season ended in a wonderful way for us this evening, when Kayla, I, her brother and his wife went out on a double date without kids to see Marley and Me. It was a fantastic movie, and since I haven't read the book in a long time, I thought it was very well done and stayed as close to the book as any movie can. We thoroughly enjoyed our time out together and look forward to getting to do it again really soon (hear that Mimi?!) Anyway, Christmas is now officially over and now all I have to look forward to are some special visitors from Georgia who I'm sure are trying their hardest to make it to us in an expeditious manner. I really can't wait to see them, and it really will be the best gift of the season to have them here for an entire week! Well, here I'll end this week's opus with a line from one of Brenna's current favorite books: Merry Christmas to All (you can look at the titel of this post for the rest!)

What Else am I Supposed to Do?

So, what do you do when you wake up an hour earlier than you're supposed to on the last day before Christmas break? You blog, of course. Sorry it's been so long in updating, but it's also been very busy. Here's the rundown since Thanksgiving:

Christmas at the Park:
Went very well. Kayla's parents brought Brenna's cousins Tanner and Avery down to come to this event that's held every year in the city park, where the band (who used to march in a parade) plays Christmas carols, there are local vendors to sell things like bead necklaces and crafts, and Santa rides in on...wait for it...the city firetruck! You've got to admit, it's pretty fun for the kids to see all the flashing lights and the loud horns and everything, but that's pretty redneck! Anyway, it was right in the middle of the kids naptime, so Kayla and her mom came to support me and the band, then went back to get the little ones so they could have their pictures taken with Santa Claus, which of course included Kayla's mom because who wants to sit on an old man's lap with a beard down to his belt by themselves?! The day was a success.

Christmas Concert:
This went off better than expected especially when you consider some of the behaviors of the students the Friday before which was our last rehearsal, combined with a brand new sound system, and the fact that all the members of my jazz band hadn't played together until they got out on the stage! When we listened back the next day, there was very little to pick on, the kids really stepped up to the plate and did an amazing job. The only weird thing was that I (the assistant band director) conducted three quarters of the concert. The only group that I was not responsible for was the high school band. Kind of strange, but it turned out alright.

Concession Stand #1:
So the next day, I didn't get a chance to have a well-earned rest from a job well-done, instead I got to help support our band some more by helping with the concession stand as a fundraiser for the band. It actually wasn't that bad, other than it was a fourteen hour day. The alternative was worse, however. This day was also the day for Region Band, which for some unknown reason was like four hours away from the school, so I actually got it a little better than my co-worker who got back into town around 12:45 in the morning.

Concession Stand #2:
So not only was it bad enough having to run a concession stand once in a week, I had the priviledge of doing it twice, because for some reason I am a sixth grade sponsor and they had the concession stand that Friday. That one was a little bit longer because we went from right after school until after 9pm because it was a tournament. I survived just in time for:

Veterans Program:
The high school band the next morning (last Saturday) attended a wreath laying ceremony at a veterans memorial that I wasn't even aware KC had. We played three songs and then were free to leave. This was actually a very nice thing to attend. It always amazes me to see the veterans of all the wars represented. There was even a gentleman there who had served not only in WWII, but also in Vietnam. I can only imagine the horrors that man has seen and I wanted to thank him for protecting my freedoms, but I didn't see him after the ceremony was over. After the program finished I finally got to spend some time with my girls for the first time since Thanksgiving. We went to the park and had a great time with a dog that was one of the sweetest I have seen since my dog Dolly was alive. This dog let Brenna hang all over her and played with her and didn't seem to have a care in the world about the two year old terror that was following her around. I contemplated taking the dog home, but we didn't know if she really belonged to someone and there was no real way to find out. We had a blast, though. So the next day was:

Christmas Cantata:
I'm a little torn when I report on this one, because the choir at church has some great potential to be a fantastic little choir, but there is not someone in the church with the formal training to work them into shape other than me. I'm still praying to make sure that God wants me to take over the Music minister job at the church and add that onto my already full plate. However, they sang alright with their troubled vowels and everything. The cantata basically consisted of several specials strung together and some carols from the hymnal, but I did get a chance to do a solo, which apparently affected a lot of people. I sang "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" by Casting Crowns, and found out that people were still talking about my performance two days ago. It makes me a little wary, because I know that God has gifted me with amazing musical abilities, but at the same time I know that I'm not even the best singer in my family! I know that I have to watch out or I will be quite prone to having an over-inflated view of my talents which God gave me anyway. I did have fun singing the song and explaining the story behind it. If you do not know it, check out Casting Crowns website here and find out the story behind the song.

So now we are finally into the last day of the last week before the long break which seems is long over-due. I am glad all our concerts are done, I am glad to see some family this next week and I am glad to be able to get out of town for a week. And one heck of a Christmas present is on its way to me and it'll be here by the end of next week: My parents and older brother BJ are coming to visit us here in the great KC and staying through New Years Day, so I can finally watch a UGA game with some people that actually want to watch it (Thanks sweetheart, I know that you try and like the Dawgs as much as you can, but it's not the same as when you have a vested interest!). Anyway, thanks for bearing with me through the blog drought of '08 and I will try and "talk" to you guys again through the rest of this break! Merry Christmas!

The Week That Was

Yes, for those that aren't aware of who the gentleman is beside Kayla, that is Mark Hall the lead singer for Casting Crowns after the concert where all the performers from the concert met those with "backstage" passes. This was a little misleading because the meet and greet actually took place after the concert and at the top of the convention center/arena/meeting place thing rather than actually backstage. We really did have a good time with some friends of ours from Georgia and with Kayla's parents. We loved getting to hear Casting Crowns perform, but they were the headliners for a concert that featured six different either performers or ensembles, including: Michael English, Natalie Grant, Avalon, Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, and PureNRG. While we enjoyed most of these groups perform, it was a lot to pack into one concert.

Here were the final thoughts on the concert from my perspective: Denver and the Mile High Orchestra should have won "The Next Great American Band" last summer, those dudes can play! I am still trying to convince myself that if I practiced enough I could sound like they do (I'm not doing a very good job selling that line to myself.), Michael English has one of the best male voices I've ever heard, Casting Crowns should have played more (it was a wonderful worship experience with them, it was just over too quick), I've heard much better renditions of O Holy Night than the one I heard on stage, I think the kids (Pure...) were lip-synching I just can't believe that you can have that steady of a tone whilst doing a backflip, they still have some kinks to work out in the spotlight and balance departments, and probably the highlight of my night (other than getting to spend it with my wonderful wife on what felt like a semi-date) was getting encouraged and reminded of how much influence over lives I have as a music teacher. I got to have a pretty significant conversation with the drummer of the Denver group and the story he told me just reminded me to see my tough kids as a challenge rather than a problem.

Here are a few more pictures from the concert:













It was a very beautiful set and the stage lights were done very well. Christopher, if you read this, I noticed the lights and it was all because of you!

Wrap-up for the rest of my life right now: Thanksgiving was very fun in Houston; we got a Christmas tree tonight which Brenna thoroughly enjoyed, I realized that I have been doing a lot of talking about Santa and trying to get Brenna to not be scared of Santa when we see him again, but not a whole lot of talking about Jesus. I am now making a conscious effort to mention the reason for celebration of this season a whole lot more. We had 11 kids out of 17 that tried out make it to region band, and 4 kids advance to area including my bass trombone player. The 4 kids are a little misleading, though because 3 of the 4 were automatic advancers due to the lack of further competition (meaning they take two to the next round and there were only two who tried out). I have two concerts this weekend a concession stand on Monday and Friday of next week, a Veteran's Day program on Saturday next week and singing in the Christmas Cantata on the 14th. I'm sure I'm busy past that, but I'm too scared to look further. Right now, I'm just making sure my 6th graders can all play the songs together at the same time and it sound like something that might be recognizable to a loving, supportive parents ears. Pray for me! I'll let everyone know how it's going when I get a chance to breathe!