Still Employed

I'm breathing a little easier now, but I still feel horrible about what is going on at work. Last week I posted on my company, Trillium's financial problems and my job being in jeopardy. It's been a rough week with rumors flying all over the place on who might get laid off. It's hard to do your job when you are worried if you are going to have one next week.
On Weds, my team sat down with our boss to talk about what is happening. It turns out that nearly 100 people are getting laid off through out the agency which is all most 500 people. Do the math and that means one and five people are leaving. That's big for any company. Nobody from my program, the foster care program will be leaving thank goodness. This is because we are deemed a core program and about the only one that is bringing in money. The situation is pretty bad and it explains why one of my medical claims was denied a few weeks ago--because Trillium hadn't paid.
Programs throughout Oregon are being cut. We lost a pioneering foster grand parent program that was helping out kids who have never had a grand parent. On top of that, we lost a foster care program in Bend and a residential care facility down south. We also lost Children's outpatient services in our building. Worst of all, we lost our cleaning lady, a sweet woman named Cora who has been with Trillium for 26 years. Moral is shot to hell and emotions at work are running high.
I started thinking " so who is going to clean up after us now?" before I realized that our building is closing. My boss confirmed that we are moving to the residential campus right up the road. It is now rumored that we will have to join the union on that campus. Until now, I never realized that there was a mental health union, but apparently there is one and have actually gone on strike before. I would think this would generate some ethical problems. I might have to one day say to a foster child "Sorry kid, I'd love to help you, but I'm on strike."
I will hand it too Trillium, they did accept a lot of the responsibility for the financial crisis, but a lot of the problem is with the system. Basically, this managed health care system isn't working too well and federal funding has been cut (I wonder were it went?).

Over the Rhine in Portland

Over the Rhine played in Portland on Saturday to a sold out show at the Doug Fir. Fortunately, I bought Wah-Wah and I tickets on line, so we hired a our babysitter to come over and watch the kids while we saw this amazing show. I wanted to get some pictures and maybe a few short clips, but my camera broke again earlier that afternoon on a hike (I think this is my third camera this year, hopefully it is repairable (for the record, I didn't do anything to it).

The Doug Fir is a small venue, but it draws a lot of first class acts. Every artist I've seen there digs the log cabin feel to the place has. The walls are panelled with fake logs making good acoustics. Over the Rhine referred to it as "Grizzly Adam's home."

Griffin House opened the show. Usually I get annoyed by opening acts, but Griffin House was a pleasant surprise. Griffin House is a solo artist, not a band. He came out and did some acoustic- lyrically clever and spiritual songs. I was pretty touched by his canter and honesty.

Over the Rhine took the stage about an hour later with "I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time" from their new album "The Trumpet Child." Linford Detweiler told most of the stories this evening referring back to his roots and inspirations in music. Most of the material they played came from "The Trumpet Child" with "Born" the only song from "Drunkard's Prayer." They also played a few covers like "Fever" and a Gillian Welsh song. They threw in a couple of songs from "Snow Angels" their X-mas album as a surprise. They ended the evening with "Latter Days" from "Good Dog, Bad Dog."

Despite not hearing a lot of my older favorites, the show was great. Over the Rhine is a band that enjoys their instruments and it shows when they go off into a 10 min keyboard or bass solo. Typically this also annoys me when some bands do that, but Over the Rhine did it with taste. Best part came with a 5 min drum solo that ended with the drummer knocking down the cymbals.

Work problems

Today at work, we got a bomb dropped on us from our CEO. Due to financial difficulties (2 million in the hole), drastic changes will be coming down the pipe line. What that means, nobody knows (but him), but it has gotten a lot of people worried. I'm trying to take comfort in the fact that my program, foster care, is one of the few programs that is actually making money for the agency and is deemed a core program. The CEO said that most of the core programs, he wants to invest in, but it is still gets people worried when the chopping block comes out.
I feel better knowing too that I'm not in middle management either (one good thing about not being too ambitious). Our program already phased out two management positions. My experience with middle management wasn't very pleasant when cuts where made.
I love helping people and working with troubled kids. It seems to be what I'm set out for, but I can't say I've ever worked for a financially sound mental health agency. Right before I left Comprehensive Mental Health in KC, the agency was having big problems too. Not only was our mileage repaid at a criminally low rate, but our reimbursements for buying our clients things was completely cut. That meant, if we took one of our clients out for a burger, it would come out of our own pocket. When I interviewed here in Oregon at Trillium, they said that financially the work that I would be doing is secure. It took a little while, but it seems the financial problems of mental health finally caught up to Oregon and everyone is changing the way they do business to stay afloat.
I believe that a lot of the problem is that states have cut funding, and clinical people are having to learn how to do business. Basically, psychiatrist and social workers don't know the first thing about running a business. The second problem we see happening is with billing. Since everything is privatized, mental health services is sold out to local HMOs who all have different billing practices and pay at a different rate.
That's mental health in a nut shell. On my level, it's bad enough to put up with high burn rates and low raises, but now job security begins to come into question. I guess it's too late to join the army. You would always have job security there.

August's music

Here on the CDs I got this month. I also downloaded my first video from Itunes. U2's Sweetest Thing is my first video to watch on my ipod. Personally, I think it's U2's best video with a cameo from Bono's wife as he tries to apologize to her (for what, is anyone's guess). It's a humorous video.
Over the Rhine Trumpet Child wow this is a great album. The album covers a lot of genres but weights heavy in jazz and Cabernet. The songs are more playful and fun and even takes some political jab with If a Song Could be President. This is a great album to relax and lounge around with. At first, I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I listened to it over and over on the band's web site and soon came to the realization that this is genius. I also love reading the message that song writer Linford Detwiler always writes in the CD. He always gives you an idea of where he and Karen (his wife and singer) get their inspirations from and what was going on in their lives. Over the Rhine will be in Portland this month so Wah-Wah and I are planning on going. Can't wait.

Eisley Combinations I heard Eisley described once as fairy tale rock. The DuPree sisters do harmonize beautifully, almost sounding the way you think a band of pixies would sound. Their new album is more ambitious than their last as the band continues to evolve sounding more darker and even a little angst ridden.

Innocence Mission Small Planes Lately I've been getting into a lot of the quieter acoustic stuff such as Innocence Mission, Rosie Thomas, and Over the Rhine. Maybe I'm just getting older. I've also been fascinated with those husband and wife bands (such as Innocence Mission and Over the Rhine). I think there is something cool about two people who love each other and become one creative force. Often the creative process in music splits people apart, but these bands remain true to them selves and the music. Small Planes is not a proper Innocence Mission album. Apparently it is made up of left over material, which is a little strange seeing how the quality of songs here surpasses some (not all) of their proper albums. I find it to be a little more introspective than other albums but it flows with the same gentle and pure sound you would expect from the Innocence Mission.
Keane Little Broken Words Ok, this is not a official album. It's a B-side album floating out on the Internet. Keane is like other great British bands and release great B-sides that are as good, if not better than their albums. This makes crazy music fans like myself, look high and low for their unreleased material. The songs from this album are taken before and during the release of their first album Hopes and Fears. There are a few fun covers such as the 70's "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" and Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". If you like Keane's albums, this is like an extra slice of cake.
Stars In Our Bedroom After the War Stars label decided to release the new album months before store release to prevent illegally downloads from getting out. I think I like this one more than their previous album Set Yourself On Fire. It's that good! It's got a lot of the vocal arrangement swapping between male and female that see a lot of in Stars.

Mt. Hood Ski Bowl

This weekend's adventure took us to Mt. Hood Ski Bowl. We were up here a few weeks ago, but the park was sold out to a company for the day. Today, it was all clear. The Ski Bowl is a park at the base of Mt.Hood which has such activities as go carts, alpine slid, bungee jumping, and sling shots.


Here is the view from the parking lot of Mt. Hood. It's a little over an hour drive from our house to this point. I have to say that it was actually chilly up there. I actually felt cold for the first time in 5 months. Cool brisk mountain air-I love it!
Here I am going down the alpine slide. When I was much younger, I went down an alpine slid in Colorado and I loved it. Years later, I don't know if I could of handled much more. It's a lot of bending over and pushing down on the break to go. I went down twice. The first time, I got stuck behind some lady with a kid that were taking their time going down. Being the "thrill seeker" I am, I was a little annoyed that I had to stop a couple of times to get some distance. The second time down, I was on a pretty crappy sled and the break kept sticking making me look like a slow poke.
Here I am going up the ski lift to the top of the alpine slide. I enjoyed the ride and it gave you a good view of the mountain.
Here's Wah-Wah and Woogy on the go karts. I think the last time I took Woogy on some go karts, he hurt a tooth really bad when I took a corner a little too shape. Wah-Wah I'm sure is a safer driver.

More Waterfalls

Lately we've started a little tradition of spending Saturdays hiking around the area. There are more hikes in Oregon than you can do in a lifetime, but not all are very "kid friendly". Wah-Wah has tried to find some in a handy book we got when we first moved here called "100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon."


This is Mirror Lake which is towards the base of Mt. Hood. Wah-Wah already blogged about this, but it's worth blogging again. It was a rather up hill hike to this natural lake and it is very isolated from everything else.
Here are the kids playing in the lake after we had our picnic. The water was a little chilly, but refreshing. Since it's kind of rocky, I couldn't go out very far because I have tender feet. I've got to get me some water shoes. It's nice to visit a fresh mountain lake that isn't polluted and is relatively clean.

Here's a picture of the Columbia Gorge that is right outside Portland. I took this picture at a little museum on top of the mountain. The Gorge is were all the out door action is including Multnomah Falls. They have cruises up the Gorge which I wouldn't mind taking someday.
Here I am at the bottom of Latourell Falls the other weekend. I love hiking to water falls because it gives you something to look forward to. Otherwise, you are just walking in the woods. Latourell Falls is about 250 foot waterfall. Pretty small to Oregon standards. It would have been cool to stand directly under the water fall.
Right up the road from Latourell Falls is Wahkeena Falls. This picture is the top of the 242 ft triple cascade. This is definitely one of the more pretty falls in the area. There were a number of photographers and artist in the area capturing this gorgeous waterfall. It kind of reminded me of Rivendale in Lord of the Rings.

the Diet Mountain Dew Ferret

A few weeks ago, I was watching TV and a Diet Mountain Dew ad came on featuring a ferret in a hockey mask chasing a couple through the woods with a chain saw. Being a former ferret owner, I found this commerical hilarious. I also found it extremely cute as well and instantly missed my "long gone" ferret-Basil. For what it is worth, Basil did use to chase me, but not with a chain saw. He usually did it as a game (he would crawl into a plastic bag then I would shake him like a bag of "shaken bake" and he would come out and chase me. Hence, we called the game "shake and bake").

The truth was I found this ad misleading to people out there who might never have owned a ferret. All three of my ferrets- Basil, Baby, and Binky- never attacked anyone. Over the years, I've handled many ferrets in the pet stores and in some homes that I've been to and never once been attacked. They might jump on your back when you don't have a shirt on and dig their claws into your skin as they try to climb up you, but they are just being curious. Why ferrets have this reputation as "mean" is beyond me. Next to my dog Monty, my ferrets have been the most harmless pets I've owned. Less can be said about a certain hamster, bird, and a couple of cats I've owned. All vicious. So don't let the Diet Mountain Dew ad fool you and go hug a ferret.

So long old friend

Old ipod (July 2004-August 2008)

For the past couple weeks, I have been having difficulties with my ipod. It will freeze up and stay that way for a couple of hours. It will go back to working after a couple hours sitting in the charger but who knows when it will freeze up again. Last night I talked to a friend who knows a lot about ipods and he said it sounds like the hard drive is going. He said he knows a few shops that could fix it, but it would be costly. I got so depressed. My ipod and I have been through so much together. It goes everywhere with me. It provides so much entertainment and asks for so little in return. It has always been dependable until now. When you loss faith in your ipod--what can you do? My ipod is a part of me.

I have had my ipod for about 3 years now and it has more than paid for itself. But ipods have changed so much in recent years. They have more memory and can now play movies and videos. Not to mention they have gotten slimmer with bigger screens. In an attempt to alieve my suffering I went out and got a new ipod--the 80GB. So far, I'm feeling a little bit of buyers remorse, since, technically, my old ipod still works and the new ipod wasn't exactly cheap. But I am impressed with the new one. I was on the itunes store and saw all the great things I can download like videos from U2 and Coldplay. I can even download some classic Star Trek episodes for a $1.99. I can download shows for the kids and movies for about half the price of buying them. Best of all, there is a cable you can get to plug that plugs into the TV so you can watch your movie on a bigger screen. I'm not saying I'll take advantage of all these new features, but it's nice to have the option.

New ipod (August 2007)

July's music

July was a pretty good month for music. Lots of goodies came out this month and a lot of announcements of good shows in the Portland area:

Smashing Pumpkins Zietgeist After seven years the Pumpkins return, well only half of the original line up. I hear Billy Corgan a real jerk to work with (but a lot of good artist are). I hear from every Pumpkin fan that they haven't done anything good since Mellon Collie (1995) and I've gotten tired of defending their later material. I really liked their last two albums Adore and Machina because they are experimental. Unfortunately, Corgan made an album that should satisfy older Pumpkin fans. The garage band sound is pretty evident on Zeitgeist. Still, it's not a bad album with some good tracks. Unfortunately, Corgan listened to his critics too much. I've got tickets for their upcoming show here in Portland.



Editors An End Has A Start Early reviews were not kind with this album. Many called it a Coldplay rip off, but I kind of dig it. Yes the sound is bigger and more polished but it just makes the band sound more grand in scale. The opening song "Smokers Outside the Hospital Room" sets a good tone and does achieve the heights of Coldplay's X & Y. Another band visiting Portland soon that I wouldn't mind checking out.








Innocence Mission We Walked In Song
Pretty much the same Innocence Mission album they have always made. Good tasteful folk music. I have to admit, not a lot of tracks really stood out here and the album put me to sleep. I liked their last album Befriended better.














The National Boxer The only album recommended by A Forrest in a while was pretty good. It reminded me a lot of the brit pop band Pulp when I first listened to it. Both bands draw on influence of Leonard Cohen. Yet another band playing in Portland soon.













Interpol Our Love to Admire I was a little cautious of this one at first, but it is a pretty great album. Interpol really tries to grow into their own sound on this record. They are trying to get away from that retro-new wave sound which they helped bring back. It's a pretty mature sounding. Yes, they are visiting Portland too.

the Three Capes

Wah-Wah decided to she wanted to get out of the house this weekend for a little vacation, so we headed to the Three Capes on the Oregon Coast. These are cape Kiwanda, Mears, and Look Out. Basically it's called the Three Capes because they are all pretty close together. They make a good weekend trip because they are only about an hour and half from Portland. Here's some pictures from our weekend:


Here's Monty on the top of a giant sand dune at Cape Kiwanda. It was a steep climb (about 600ft)all in sand and Monty and I were the only ones to do it. I didn't think I was going to make it. I was more impressed that Monty made it. Tough climb for a little dog.

This is Tillamook Cheese Factory. My sister actually was hospitalized after eating some cheese curds there a few years ago. I still think it's a pretty neat place were you can get some free cheese. They also make ice cream there which you can get in about every flavor.

This is the Blue Heron Winery right next to the cheese factory. Inside is a quaint little store and restaurant. They also have some wine tasting for a couple of bucks. We ate lunch here and picked up a bottle of some type of wine that taste like grapes. One day I'll learn more about wine and give a better description.

Here is the Octopus Tree at Cape Mears. It is right on a cliff and pretty unique the way a bunch of trees starting growing together into one. I'm glad I didn't drive out of my way to get to it.

I can't get enough waterfalls and Oregon seems to have plenty of them. This is Munson Falls outside Tillamook. It's gorgeous but there is no way to get much closer to it. Supposely there is a trial up to the top, but there is so much vegetation and over growth,nobody could find it.

Here's Monty and I on the giant sand dune at Cape Kiwanda. We could both use some water. It only took us about a minute to go back down 600ft.

Here's Monty playing fetch at Cape Look Out. It was a beautiful beach and Monty is getting used to going into ocean. I found the water invigorating.

More waterfalls. These falls are unmarked and unnamed. They are right off the road on the way through the Coastal Range.
Here's a better view of Cape Look Out.

After enjoying a couple of hours on the beach, Wah-Wah was ready for a hike around Cape Look Out.

Another Don Miller book

I so seldom complete a book. It's not for lack of trying, I'm just slow. While the rest of the world was reading Harry Potter, I finally finished "Searching For God Knows What" by Don Miller. When I started attending Imago Dei (which Don made so famous) I decided to read all of his works which are sold at Imago. I enjoyed "Blue Like Jazz" and "Through Painted Deserts", but I wasn't as impressed with "Searching For God Knows What" .

It's not say that I didn't get a lot out it and didn't enjoy it, but I found Miller makes a lot of assumptions about the Bible and it's writers that I thought were a bit of a leap. That would be only criticism of the book.

Don spends the last couple of chapters writing about Romeo and Juliet and drawing the parallel between Christ and the Church (with the church being Romeo and Juliet is Christ). It is a interesting theory that Don says Shakespeare might of did this on purpose, but not being a scholar on the subject, I find it a bit of a stretch.

I did get a lot of the book however. Miller does have other good arguments which I totally agree with. One is the reoccurring "Lifeboat" theory. Basically Miller says that we as a society operate as people who try to appear worthy to be saved on a sinking ship with only a few small lifeboats available. He says we find some people are more worthy of saving because they are attractive, have money, etc. Consumer culture feeds right into it. Christ operated in reverse from the life boat theory and found worth in anybody he would come across. He would hang out with those deemed as "less desirable."

Another point I strongly agreed with was Miller 's argument that Christ's love cannot be understood through bullet points. I feel that Miller is right that love is an emotion that is felt, not numbered. Please be aware, that this is only a little of what Miller is saying through out the book. These are just the points that stuck with me.

I think I might take a break from Don Miller books for a while and find out what's the deal with Harry Potter. I feel like the only person on earth who isn't excited about The Deathly Hollows.

Top of the falls

Since I've first started coming to Oregon, I've always been impressed with Multnomah Falls located about 20 miles outside of Portland in the Columbia Gorge. It's the second largest waterfall in the nation going up a total 620ft. In all of our "premoving" trips out here we always make a point of visiting, but we have never made it to the top, until last Sunday when I decided it was time for a challenge and decided to go for the hike to the top.

Unfortunately Wah-Wah and the kids didn't go. Woogy would have complained too much. He complains a lot on our hikes when he gets tired. We've done a lot of hiking since moving out here, but the climb to the top was probably the hardest hike I ever did. The trial is only about a mile, but it is steep, really steep. It's a whole lot of switchbacks heading up the side of the mountain. My only climbing companion was Monty who was getting pretty tired as we neared the top. I thought at one point I'd have to carry him. There were a lot of people who were resting along the trial asking anyone going down "how much farther?"

When I finally reached the top after about an hour, I felt pretty good like I accomplished something. The view was gorgeous (of course, I forgot my camera). You could go out on a ledge that hung over the falls and you could see the people below in a cloud of mist. I took my shoes off and put my swore feet in the cool water and it felt refreshing.

I made my way down which didn't take too long but really began to hurt my knees and feet. There is a lodge at the base of the falls which was serving ice cream which really hit the spot after that hike.

Kickball at Imago

Today was the annual Imago Dei kickball tournament. All the home communities came out to have a little fun and competition. Most of the teams try to go with a theme to make things more interesting. I played on the "Woodstock Superfriends"(Woodstock is the area the home community is in). Basically, it was a last minute idea to have everyone come out in capes and just look silly. Not being the most custom creative person, I tied a pink baby bed sheet around my neck (A little tribute to the Flaming Lips). Being a little outnumbered, we recruited Wah-Wah and a few other people on our team.
We lost our first game but fortunately it was double elimination and we came back and won our second game. By the time we played our third game, the heat was starting to get to everybody(especially since we all had capes on). Imago provided snow cones which were pretty satisfying. We went on to win our third game which gave us hope we could win the tournament. However, by the fourth game, we were spent and lost. We did go on to win the coveted Imago Dei robe for best customs.
Here's some pictures of the day's events


Here is our team photo before we played. Everyone was impressed with Monty's fetching abilities and considered making him a player.

We had a few extra masks that Nibbles wanted to wear to get in the spirit of things.

I think this is me before my first kick. Sadly, I slipped right after I kicked and ate dirt. Got a banged up elbow too, but like any devoted kickball player, I played on.













That's Wah-Wah on first base. She was pretty good and got on base a couple of times. She played outfield with Nibbles by her a couple of times. Unfortunately she had to leave early since the kids were getting pretty hot.













This is our last team picture after our games. We were all pretty tired and made it a lot further than anyone expected. Good times.

badly burned

The fourth of July is one of my least favorite holidays. This is mostly due to the fact that it is one of the hottest days of the year, but also because of people setting off fireworks outside my house all night. This fourth of July, I decided to take the family swimming, however, Portland doesn't have a lot of public pools. Locals say that people mostly go to the rivers around the area to swim.
We decided to go to the Rooster Rock state park up the Columbia Gorge. It was a really hot day even for Portland standards, and the mountain water felt pretty good. However I wasn't wearing any sun tan lotion. Since it is cloudy here 200 days a year, I thought I'd probably would be OK for a little while. I think I found myself enjoying the water so much that I lost track of time and ended up with a really bad sun burn. My whole back is about as red as a lobster. I didn't realize I was burning so bad until it was too late and we were home.
Days later, I still hurt. It's been pretty hard picking up the kids or finding a comfortable position to sleep. Yesterday was my birthday and I got a lot of "pat-on-the-backs" which have hurt like no other. I guess the sun shines as bright in Oregon as it does in Kansas.

June's music

As always, I like to reflect on the music that I picked up this last month. A couple of these albums I picked up in KC, so when I go back and hear them I remember my fond memories of visiting my old hometown.

Blonde Redhead 23 After I read A Forest's review of this album, I decided to check it out. I was pretty impressed. It had a lot of the "wall of sound" and "ethereal vocals" that I dig in music. I haven't heard anything else from this band's catalog, but this album is beautiful. Not very polished, but real "indie" sounding.








The Winter Sounds Porcelain Empire
I first heard this group on the radio in Portland and thought they would be a little more popular by now. I found their album in my favorite record store in KC -Need More Discs. The owner of the store recognized me and asked how I liked Portland (I was one of his most loyal customers). I was planning on driving up to Iowa and wanted some new music for the drive. I found the album pretty heavy sounding in the vain of The Killers. It's a mix of deft, rhythmic indie rock. Hopefully their fan base will grow to more than me.








Vega 4 You and Others Probably my favorite new pick, Vega 4 reminds me of Snow Patrol. This is probably because they have the same producer--Jacknife Lee- who also produced the last U2 masterpiece. "Life Is Beautiful" is about as appealing as Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars." I also picked up this disc at Need More Discs. I was pretty stoked after picking up two great discs in one visit. When I came back to Portland, I found out they were playing in the area soon but unfortunately cancelled.






Bloc Party A Weekend In the City
A Forest and I went to go see this band in KC on one of the last nights I was in town. Neither of us really knew the band's material but I think we both had a hankering to see some live music. By the time they played their latest single "I Still Remember" they were beginning to win me over. Another great album produced by Jacknife Lee who has a knack for polishing up a band's sound and bringing guitars to the forefront.










On a Friday Union Street Demos
Before becoming the second most critically acclaimed band on earth (U2 being the first), Radiohead were known as On a Friday. Their demos have been floating around the web for a while, and I was able download them (along with a few extremely rare Radiohead tracks). This was before they did "Creep" but you can tell this band was destined for greatness. Most of these tracks are better than what you find on Radiohead's debut Pablo Honey, but along the same college rock sound. I can't believe that they would just throw these songs away, but apparently it just wasn't meant to be.

fried fish head

The other day, I went to visit a foster mom that I am working with from Nigeria. Being the open minded person I am, I generally think it is OK to have parents from other countries work as foster parents since it develops cultural sensitivity in the foster children they help care for. However, I was rather taken back when I found this foster mom frying fish heads. I asked her what she was intending to do with that fish head. She replied "to eat it of course". I asked if she was serious and she said she was. I told her that most people toss the head and eat other parts of the fish in this country. She said in her country, they eat the entire fish, including the head.

I immediately began to remember the old "fish heads" song. The one that goes:

Fish heads, fish heads

roly poly fish heads

fish heads, fish heads

eat them up...yum!

Sure enough, when my appointment was over, the foster mom was crunching on fried fish heads--eyes and everything. At this point, I wasn't feeling too good and quickly made another appointment for a time not so close to dinner time and told her to enjoy the rest of her fish head.

(By the way, you can find the "Fish head" song on U-Tube!)

Imago's web site

Tonight at home group, a friend pointed out that he saw this image on Imago Dei's web site. I heard the picture was on a recent bulletin, but apparently it made it's way to the web site. At first I thought that this was a warning picture for child care workers(since Nibbles has a reputation of being impossible to watch). I guess that wasn't the case. I must say I don't remember when this picture was even taken. Nibbles is usually this way around Wah-Wah. If daddy was holder her, it would be a different scene.

Pictures from KC

Here's some pictures of our KC trip.


The Z man sandwich at Oklahoma Joe's. Pure heart clogging heaven!













Here we are outside Oklahoma Joe's. Definitely the highlight of the trip.
























Here's Nibbles at Zonker's enjoying her birthday cake.










Woogy and his cousins on the Python at Zonkers.

Nibbles is on her first horse back ride with her cousin.

The old coffee group.

A Forrest and Goose at Zonker's.













Woogy and his favorite cousin.
Don't ask how, but I managed get in there. I needed the jaws of life to get out however.
Woogy blowing out the candles while Nibbles was getting upset at all the singing.

Woogy after eating his cake.

Bloc Party at the Uptown. My only KC concert this year.