Christmas Duck

Merry Christmas everyone!

Boooooo Ben Kenop...

Classic! This is a long one, but wait at least till 1:31 where you get a look at the "heckler" sitting on the front porch in the Budweiser hat.

Hazel Marie Davis

Hazel was born on Fathers Day at 10:15 PM. She was 7 lbs - 14 ounces, 20.5 in. long. Everyone is good; Misty is tired and concerned about Hazel learning the art of feeding. I am tired, but full of thankfulness that God has protected my 2 girls. Here are some pictures we took.

Mothers Day at the Hemlock Inn

What have you been up to?

People ask me these days..."What have you been up to?" I walk through life so focused on myself and the events of my life. I don't really believe that everyone is in the same phase of life as me, that everyone has 44 days until they have a baby girl...but i am shocked when people ask me what i'm up to. Is it not obvious? I am painting baby rooms, trying to decide on a feeding philosophy (up until 3 weeks ago i didn't know there were "feeding philosophies"), preparing myself for birth (who am i kidding?). It is hard not to be in the same place as some of my friends. In college, you did not have these things that put you in different universes. I am trying to encourage all my friends to hurry up and conceive...even my single friends.

I joke about not being ready, and being nervous about caring for Hazel, but i have never been more excited about anything in my life; and i have a deep comfort that God is going to give me grace when i need it, and all other things i need to care for her.

Besides that, me and Misty have been going to a new Church called Vintage 242. We really like it, and feel that God is planting us in a community. It is smaller, like 40 or 50 folks, which feels half like church and half like a family group i used to go too when i was a kid...i like that.

Here is a picture of me and my Pregnant wife...

From Hazel Marie

Kelly Davis Jr.

Here are some pictures of our new baby girl! These pictures were taken at 21 weeks. Our process of finding out about her has not been "normal", but how many things in life happen in a "normal" fashion? We found out Misty was pregnant when she was 18.5 weeks along (Misty thinks it is strange that i keep up with half weeks...but being an engineer it comes natural to at least keep up with that level of precision...your lucky I don't say 18 and 3/7 days!). Most people have a bunch of questions when we get to this point, and it is always kind of hard to explain without getting into too much detail...so i will give you the quick version of our "defense"; pregnancy tests are not 100% accurate.

It has been 5 weeks since we found out, and i have gone through a range of emotions. The first emotion we felt was worry. I feel bad about saying that, because i would have liked to have been overwhelmed by thankfulness and joy as my first emotions. I worried about the financial ramifications; i worried about losing my job, getting kicked out of our house, and having to wheel our little girl around in a shopping basket, sleeping under bridges (my mind is booby trapped with slippery slopes). Misty worries more than me. She worried about finding out so late, not taking prenatal vitamins for the first trimester, etc. Our worries started to settle to a healthy level after we went to see the doctor for the second time. At the same time, we felt a stirring in our hearts that God was starting something amazing--seeds of excitement...

On this second doctors visit, we found out it was a girl. Again, i was betrayed by my emotions. When we found out, there was part of me that was disappointed. Half of the dreams i had about our first baby were abandoned; dreams of taking him camping, fishing, teaching him to throw a spiral, etc. were dashed by the words "it's a girl", made more permanent by our nurse typing "girl" on the sonogram. Gone too was my dream of naming him "Kelly Davis Jr" (I mostly wanted to do this because it sounds like Sammy Davis Jr.). It took about an afternoon of to fully mourn my dreams of raising Kelly Davis Jr. to be a hunter and fisher and master of all things manly (by the way i have never shot anything bigger than a squirrel, and the biggest fish i have ever caught was done so in a stocked pond when i was under the age of 5...). Gone were my fantasies of taking him on 40 day survival trips where we would hunt bear with bow and arrow, catch wild salmon with spear, and get caught in dangerous situations where he would be hanging off a high cliff, and i would reach down and say "GRAB MY HAND SON! DO YOU TRUST ME...I LOVE YOU SON!".

After my afternoon of wrestling with God...I have emerged at peace with Him about our baby being a girl! As a matter of fact, I now cannot imagine it any other way! These days, much of our schedule and conversations center around making plans and dreaming about what she will mean to our lives. We are using the room me and my 2 brothers grew up in as her nursery. Right now Muddy (Misty's Dad) is doing Sheetrock repairs to the hole i created by throwing a chair at Donnie, after he incited my anger by ensuring he would unplug my alarm clock, causing me to miss my all important wrestling weigh in, the minute i went to sleep so he wouldn't have to wake up early...ah the sweet memories of adolescence! Muddy says, "It looks like someone pushed someone through the wall". I say, "Yeah, i don't know what happened there".

The fact that Misty and I will soon be responsible for human life has caused me to seriously ponder the deeper meanings of life. We want to be good parents, and more than anything for our little girl to find happiness in this life. It is humbling to know that there are so many things we have yet to learn about the important things in life, especially the art of living in community with people. I heard John Piper speak about changing our focus from protecting our comfort and safety in this life (going to school to get a job to save up the 401K to retire early to enjoy life) to finding creative ways to alleviate suffering in the world. How will this focus manifest itself in our approach to raising and teaching her? I also have been listening to Ben Pasely on his website (http://www.churchthink.com/). He brings up over and over the reality of us understanding our position as sons and daughters of God (spirit of adoption, as apposed to a spirit of slavery) as being a key part of understanding many things we are called too in our walk with Him. I haven't got it figured out yet, but with these two concepts bouncing around in my head, I am praying for her that she would:

1) Come to an understanding of who she is - an adopted daughter of Abba, and her infinite value as such.

2) Come to understand her calling, and how it fits into his eternal Kingdom.

Misty just read this blog and said it still kinda sounds like i am still subconsciously disappointed to be having a girl. I don't know what lurks down in the subconsciousness of my brain, but up here in consciousness i am stoked! I cannot wait until the day i can see her and hold her! By the way, we have a name for her, but we don't want to release it yet because the weight of naming is overwhelming, and we want to take our time. I would love it if you refer to her as "Kelly Davis Jr." until then . Also, there is a faction of my friends who have been referring to her as Bogle Davis...this will not do, and any future infractions in this manner will result in a heavy pounding by yours truly!

Thursday: Big Day!

Thursday is a big day for two reasons:

Reason #1: My niece Catherine Marie Davis (see blog if you don't know) is coming home! I do not fear being over dramatic in declaring this the "Best Christmas Ever". God has answered our prayers in a real and tangible way...and it is truly amazing. I am also unbelievably proud of Donnie and Katie (it sounds weird, because he is my older brother...and i sound like i am speaking as if i were his Dad...i am not, i am speaking as a proud younger brother). Several conversations i have had with Donnie has made me understand the integrity he has, and the faith he is showing in walking through this situation. I am so full of thanks and joy!

Reason #2: My buddy Matt A. is graduating! It has been a long journey my friend, but I can not tell you how pumped I am for you. I have no doubt you will find success in the corporate world, and you deserve it, but know that you have already succeeded in areas much more important that "career". I cannot count how many people i have talked to that have been blessed by your friendship, and that will always be your bread-and-butter.

WOO WOOO! (that is the sound of me being freakin stoked...a feeling to deep for words, thus the Woo Wooo).





Man i am pumpe

Virginia is for Lovers

Thanksgiving this year was pretty freakin awesome! I got to spend a lot of time with my siblings and significant others on a trip to Richmond, VA. We went to see Donnie, Katie, and Catherine Marie. Here are the pictures. I love you guys!

Brennan Manning Is Awesome

Misty gave me 5 books by Brennan Manning 2 years ago, and i have only read 1; i don't know why, because i LOVE him. I read this in The Wisdom of Tenderness today. This quote supports a point he makes about how Christians must follow their Pro-Life stance out in every aspect of life:

"How i treat a brother from day to day, how i react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how i respond with normal people in their normal unbelief on a normal day--all this may reveal my reverence or irreverence for the Abba of Jesus more tellingly than the anti-abortion sticker on the bumper of my car.

Were not in favor of life simply because we're warding off death. We're for life because we are for Abba, the essence of life. And we mature in the wisdom of accepted tenderness to the extent that we stand up for the less fortunate; to the extent that no human flesh is a stranger to us; to the extent that we can touch the hand of another in love; to the extent that for us there truly are no "others".

This is what the world expects from our rhetoric. This is what the world longs to see: men and women who honor the Father by their reverence for life, prophets and lovers aglow with the given tenderness of Jesus' own Spirit, people who live only to love and to reveal love to others. The world craves evidence that the impossible dream is possible, that love exists, that it has a name, that it's the only option for happiness in this world and eternal joy in the next."

Did i mention i love Brennan Manning? He has been accused by Christian Leaders of "over doing it" in respect to the Grace of God...

2 Part: Attempt to Make Debbie Laugh and Shameless Plug of My Dad's Store

Debbie posted that she needed some things to watch that made her laugh...PANDAS! That is your cure. I think they are about the funniest animals on the planet...Here are my top Panda Videos

1. Throw Down!




2. How do they not Fall?




3. Hilarious! I watch at least once a month.




4. I have always wondered what noise they make as cubs...i would have never guessed.



Secondly, i took some pictures last night at my Dad's store. He opened a Go Fish store in marietta about a year ago, and it has some cool stuff. Check it out:

Football + Falling Leaves

I love the fall, because of football...

and the falling leaves....

I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Funny Song

Donnie and Katie put me on to this song...they are straight thug. With all the crazy stuff that is going on in the world, this song really puts things into perspective for me.

Also, if you are one of those people who gets bitter when you watch something that wastes your time, please do not watch this video...it is a truly a waste of whatever time you spend...but to me it was worth it!

CHECK IT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCvXzjGRnKc

Quirks

I have been tagged to share 6 quirks of mine by Debbie Sutton...I have been thinking for days, and only have three that i am willing to share now, but hopefully, as i start writing, i can think of some other good ones.

1. I lose stuff...Not in the normal, forget your keys every once in a while kinda way. I have probably had 7 phones in the last 2 years, because i misplace it in the rain (it started shorting, and it repeatedly called my dad for a whole Sunday...i thought someone stole it, and was messing with me; i was like "I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN!").

2. I leave doors open. I lived with my 2nd Cousin, David Hall, for about 5 months. He said that he would come in his kitchen, and could tell exactly what i had done that morning by the doors i left open...apparently it is a very annoying habit.

3. I do not like corn. I don't know anyone off hand that hates it the way i do. I try to like it...i give it a chance, but creamed corn and corn on the cobb are a drag to eat.

4. When i chew gum, i do so in hideous excess. I have a minimum of 5 pieces (if it is the 30 cent stick genre - so basically the whole pack) and 3 pieces for the ballpark double-bouble. Apparently that also is annoying, especially when you start a good wad right before you go to bed, and put it on the night stand to chew in the morning. I had to quite that after i got married.

5. Lately, i have enjoyed traffic. It worries me; I guess it might have something to do with the down-time i get when driving. I like to decompress and think about the day. I have become more introverted in my old age...time i spend by myself is more important to me than it used to be...I am exaggerating, I don't enjoy it, it just doesn't make me feel like driving into a telephone pole at 60 mph like it used too! I especially like to drive by myself at night.

6. If i am in a social situation where i feel slightly uncomfortable, i start yawning. I'm not tired, it is just something that happens.

There it is...acceptably weird, and not too disturbing i hope. Alot of the folks i follow in the blog world have already been tagged; I am going to name some folks, and if you have been tagged already, please disregard:

Keith Davis - (i think i have read something along these lines for Elaine lately, but if she is down for it too, i would love it!)

Donnie D. - Perhaps you could do so in a way that would advertise for the Office Supplies blog!

Misty Davis
Katie and Tom Freeburg
Sean Kirkland

If you have done this in the past, don't worry about it...

Family Vacation - Part II

Debbie Sutton has quirk-tagged me, but i have promised my beloved fans (all 5 of you) that i would tell about our vacation; so i'll get to that next time.

We got to go on vacation to see Debbie and Leonard Sutton in Phoenix, AZ. I flew in on Thursday morning, and got the privilege to eat a great western omelet at their favorite breakfast place. Later that evening, Misty, her brother Josh, his wife Nicole, and their son Ethan got in from a long drive through the desert. They live in LA, where Josh is pursuing an acting career, and Nicole works as a nurse at UCLA. Ethan had just started kindergarten, but got to take a "sick day" to see the grand canyon. After me and Leonard grilled the food prepared for us by Debbie (by me and Leonard i mean Leonard, while i drank beer) We sat down around 10 PM to eat a meal i still have pleasant dreams about! Heaven will be a lot like sitting around the dinner table at the Sutton's!

We sat around talking quietly, trying not to let Ethan hear us, in the fear that he would run in, discover us eating ice cream and brownies, and never forgive us for excluding him. This was one of my favorite times of our trip. There are few people i know who invest in Me and Misty's lives as much as Leonard and Debbie...it comes natural to them. Their love for Jesus, and deep personal walk just spills over and inspires faith and increased love...it feels like family and community.

After spending a great morning/afternoon with Debbie, in which she showed us a crazy house that had plates, and trinkets galore stacked in the front yard (check the picture), hooked us up with Mexican food, and showed us the cool sites it Phoenix, we headed towards Sedona. Sedona is one of the most beautiful places i have ever seen. I have made the statement that i like it better than the Grand Canyon, because you feel more "in it". I go back and forth in my feelings towards the validity of that statement. We got there just in time to see the sunset. After we got settled in at the hotel, we went looking for food. The only place we could find was this dive "outer space" hamburger joint. It was honestly one of the weirdest experiences i have had in a while. There were UFOs and aliens everywhere, and you got a feeling from the staff that some, if not all, of them knew they were out there. Sedona is known for it's hot spots, vortexes, and many other weird things. As a matter of fact, for a nominal fee, we could have taken a vortex tour to discover these mysterious places of condensed, universal energy. Instead, we just took a walk to "Cathedral Rocks", and then high tailed it out of there to head to the Grand Canyon. Ethan did not understand why we were leaving our hotel so soon, after driving so far to get to it..."so we are going to another hotel? How long are we going to stay at that one?" This all was somewhat disturbing to him.

This blog is getting longer than i thought...

We got to the canyon to see the sunset, then headed back to the hotel. Many of the cliches people say about the Grand Canyon frustrate me, because like many cliches, they are pretty damn on the money. it does make you feel small, it does make you realize how big the earth is, which makes you think about how big the universe is, which makes you think about God. It does make you wonder what it would be like to jump off, how long you would fall before you hit, and whether you could force yourself to forget your fate, and enjoy the ride...when i was a kid, I bet i would just imagine i could fly...yes, that would be better.

That night we ate at the hotel diner, and celebrated Ethan's birthday. A Cowboy played all our favorite songs from the "Oh Brother where art thou" CD. Ethan knows most of the words to "Big Rock Candy Mountain" - which sends him on a wild imagination tangent everytime he hears it;

"Would the lake be chocolate milk?"

"Yep"

"Would my house be made out of candy canes"

"Yep"...you get the picture.

Anyway, the cowboy sings him happy birthday, and lets him where the cowboy hat...and that, i believe, answered the questions in his mind to why it could be worth traveling all this way to stay at hotels for just one night. Another one of our favorite parts of the trip was getting to experience the ritual of putting a 4-year old to bed; Ethan would get his PJs on, brush his teethe, get a drink of water, and then cuddle into bed next to Nicole. Then he would pray, it went something like:

"Thank you for the rocks; thank you for the cactus; thank you for the mountains"...but every once in a while, he would throw one in that would totally catch you off gaurd..."thank you for the penguins, thank you for cheese crackers", at which time me and Misty would lose it...it's like when you know you shouldn't laugh, and it makes it harder not to...


Anyway, the next morning we headed toward the canyon at 4:40 AM, to hike in and see the sunset from a spot 1 mile down. It was worth the hassle. It definitely made me want to go back when i have time to hike the whole way down...It is on my list of things to do.

The rest of the trip was great, but i am out of time...We had a hard ride back to LA (not so amazing); but then got to see Josh and Nicoles new apartment, see Ethans new School, check out the sites in LA (Chinese Theatre, Santa Montica Peir, etc.), get to attend Ethans official BDay party, where he was given a a present in a pirate treasure box, which was better to him than the present! Our first big family vacation (big because we flew somewhere) has been deemed a success by all involved.

Family Vacation

We will probably have more to come on the family vacation we are currently enjoying, but for now, check these pics out! Me, Misty, Josh (Misty's Brother), Nicole (Josh's wife), and Ethan made the trip from LA to Pheonix to visit the Sutton's, then to Sedona, then to the Grand Canyon, then back to LA...So much to tell, but we got to go see the sites in LA.


My nephew Ethan gets a motorcycle ride from Leonard Sutton




The whole crew at the Grand Canyon Sign




The whole crew at the canyon




Sunset...It was amazing




Whole crew at Sedona, AZ, under "Cathedral Rocks"

Uncle Kelly

I am an uncle! Catherine Marie Davis was born on Tuesday Night around 9:15 PM. She has been on full support since then. If you need to be caught up, she has a hole in her diaphram, many of the organs that should be below it are above, which caused pressure to the lungs, not allowing them to grow. Her small lungs are causing many complex issues between them and the heart.

4:00 PM on Thursday, she has now been fighting for 40+ hours. We keep praying earnestly. Misty said she just keeps thinking how awesome it will be if we are buying little baby gifts for Christmas. I have been reading some cool verses:

Lam. 3:22 - 23
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. "The lord is my portion" says my soul. "Therefore i will put my hope in Him".

Ps. 73: 25-26
Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is nothing on Earth I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my Heart
And my portion forever.

The theme of these two verses is the goodness of God, us relying desperately on him, and us choosing that our "portion" in this life is HIM, and not anything he would do for us.

Day 20...Yeah, I know

I was going to blog every day for thirty days. It was a beautiful dream; I could say "life got in the way", which it did, but i have realized that no one give a monkey flip whether i fulfill my 30 day promise...i do not say that in a "pity party" tone, but a "don't take yourself so seriously" tone.

It was Misty's and My BDay (21st and 23rd respectively); I got Misty a digital camera, and she suprised me with a trip to the Lake Blacksheare Resort, which Nicole's Parents (Bob and Sharon) manage. Andrew and Katie came with us, and it was really a lot of fun hanging out with them. Misty was so excited about my trip, and i realized afresh how deeply i am in love with her. There is truly no woman on this earth who i could be more comfortable with; and our friendship seems to continue to grow indefinitely.

I struggle with being bitter and cynical. I could probably explain pretty accurately where it comes from, but cannot seem to get over it. This is especially true of church lately. Our church has always emphasized healing and spirit-filled living as part of the life of a Christian. I hear people giving examples of how this looks in their life, and i feel myself want to say, "sure, maybe that works in your world of lolipops and rainbows and unicorns, but for the rest of us, we will try to just keep our feet on the ground, accept the facts of life". It feels good to be cynical; it makes you feel normal, like you are in control. The truth is, i long to see miracles, and people living in the spirit, living in a community where God is active; I long to have a relationship with God that is more real...more relational. How cool would it be to hear God say something...not the "still small voice", but a voice that has it's own accent, it's own personality.

Dinner's ready...check out some pics from the weekend.

Day 6: Why should I give you some of my Coke?

Saw Donnie, my older brother, and his wife Katie tonight at the Marietta Pizza Company. My Dad, Susan, Nathan, and Sammy all gathered to see them, and to celebrate Misty and my B'day (21st and 23rd of this month). It amazed me how excited I was to see Donnie D; your older brother is just kind of your older brother until you grow up...then you start to realize how awesome he is. I feel that way about all my siblings. It is a strange blessing I am seeing more and more; the ability to develop a new "type" of relationship with the same people that you ran around with in your "tighty whities".

A concept that keeps bouncing around in my mind comes from something Tom Tanner quoted the other day. Jim Elliot said "Wherever you are, be all there". He says this in regards to people who miss what God might have for them in the place they are, because they are daydreaming about missions to Africa. To the average evangelical Christian, this idea of living a missionary/college ministry/inner city/whatever life is put on a pedestal...and if your not careful, you decide you have missed something in God's plan for you because you aren't there. Meanwhile, there are people at work crying out for something to make sense of their life, and their pain. I want to be open to Africa, if it is in the plan; but i also want to have a big enough faith to see his calling for me in my medium sized engineering/surveying firm.

Day 4-5: General Beauregard

General Beauregard...that's my dog's name., although he likes to be called "The General" by his friends. We found him about a year and a half ago at my work. The surveyor's had been feeding him for about a week, so i decided to take him home. Me and Misty were so excited, because we had been talking about getting a dog, and it was our first really big decision/step in our marriage. We both knew (or thought we did) how much of a responsibility it would be, and were excited to take the step together.

The day i took him home, I actually took him to Misty's parents house because it was lunch-time, and i had to finish the day. Misty's brother, Josh, was there and said he was happy to watch him. I got a call about an hour later from Josh. He said that the dog (didn't have a name at the time) had been barking since i left, and could not be contained. We had decided to keep him in the bathroom, just in case he had an accident. We both decided it would be better to put something in front of the bathroom door, instead of closing him in; just in case he tried to scratch at the door. We stacked boxes in front of the door, up to above our heads, and reinforced them with a dresser-drawer. In spite of our best efforts, the dog would go into some sort of hyper-frenzied fit, jumping, climbing and barking, until he escaped his prison; it was as if his life depended on it.

The next 3 days were a blur...We took him home, and prepared a bed for him in the laundry room. He would bark for 45 minutes before he finally went to bed. Misty and I would be terrified to get up and go to the bathroom, because we thought we would wake him for another 45 minute fit. When we tried to walk him, and he would start running as fast as he could round and round on the end of his leash. There was no calming him down, so all you could do was to spin with him till he wore himself out. After 3 days Misty had had enough, and told me it wasn't working out. I secretly still had hope; but at this point, it was the dog or me, and i gladly sacrificed the dog. I took him back to my work. I suspected that he had been abandoned, but i was going to try and let him walk around to see if he might lead me to his home. Sure enough, we walked right to a back yard, not 50 feet from the back door of my work! I was pumped; we found his home, his owners were probably worried to death...all was right with the world.

I knocked on the door...feeling a little proud for all the kindness we had shown to this dog. He was running free around Powder Springs, and we saved him from being killed, or worse (i don't know what is worse...saw it on a movie). When the door opened, i prepared myself for "Aw, it was nothing, I'm just glad he is OK...money, no i can't take it (just take this Satan dog from me and we will call it even)". I saw recognition in the young man's eye...I said, "is this your dog"? He replied in broken English (he was Hispanic), "yes, but we don't want him no more". My excitement turned to dissapointment, which turned to anger. How could someone let their dog out the door and just forget him? I understood why (after only 3 days), but at least they could've taken him to the pound! I returned dejected to the house, dog in hand. My wife was amazed at the story, and we decided to keep him until we could find him a home.

Now, a year and a half later, he has come a long way. He still has more energy than the average dog, and when we have company, he gets excited, jumps, etc. But compared to when we found him, he is a pretty good ole dog. Whenever Me and Misty think about our first years of marraige, we definitly think of the discovery, adoption, and redemption of General Beauregard.

Day 3 - Midnight Case of the Blues

My heart is heavy tonight for several things. I don't have a tough life, but it does not matter how good you have it; life comes with pain, and at any given time it touches you, or someone to whom you are close. Several people are on my heart; and i don't mention them because i don't want to be sharing info that is not to be posted on the internet. There are times i cannot help but ask why things have to be so damn painful; why things are so broken.

I was thinking about this question the other day. When we get to the end of our lives, and we look back on all we discovered and experienced about this life, what would the one most meaningful truth about life be. The thing that if we had missed out on it, we would have missed everyhing. I know the answer would have to do with God's love for us; but it is the biggest cliche in the bible belt, and sometimes it is so hard to know how to accept it more, to believe it more.

I need to start blogging earlier, becuase the late night blogs go no where...My favorite song of all times is "Midnight case of the blues" by Roger Creager. The lyrics aren't really that good (it's country, give me a break), but it reminds me of many nights i have fought doubt, and found something real in being honest about my confusion to God...and finding him in that. This verse has been my bread and butter in knowing that there is no hard question that can trump God's love for me.

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Romans+8%3A31-39