Petition for a Simple Christmas

I’m sitting here on the couch with my laptop searching my brain for something to write about for Christmas. This one of my favorite times of year. I love the weeks leading up to Christmas with Advent and counting down the days. I love putting up the tree and even sometimes braving the crowded shopping malls to try and find the perfect gifts for my family and friends. Yet, for once, I have no idea what to write about.

Then, as I’m trying to think of what to write about, Merry Christmas Charlie Brown is palying on my TV. So, I’m turning my attention to Charlie Brown. This little “blockhead” has been part of my life for almost as long as I can remember. My dad read the comic every single day in the newspaper and we love to give him little books and other reminders of the Peanuts gang. Naturally, Charlie Brown has always been part of my Christmas.

Want to read more? I'm blogging over at Lazy Happy Bored Happy Sad... today! Click here to read my guest post. 

Questions Questions Questions

Not too long ago I was tagged in the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award by my friend Kirsti! So, I figured... why not join in on the fun? Thanks so much Kirsti!

Guidelines:
1. Thank the blogger that nominated you and link back to their website.
2. Post the award’s logo on your blog.
3. Answer the ten questions you have been asked.
4. Nominator ten other bloggers and ask them ten other questions.

Then, I give myself the following rule with questions like these: I can't answer anything with Harry Potter. Because obviously I could probably find a Harry Potter answer for each one.

Your questions are as follows:

1. What's your favourite Harry Potter book? (Come on, everyone has one)

Okay... this one is the exception to my rule because it's actually about Harry Potter.

UGH I have to choose just ONE?????? There are a few it could be. I love Goblet of Fire with the tournament, Harry and his friends transitioning more into being teenagers and the books start to become more mature, it's the changing point of the whole series, Cedric Diggory is in it, Draco turns into a ferret... what's not to love?

Then I also love Half Blood Prince. It was the perfect mixture of being hilarious but also serious and sad. We learn so much about Voldemort and his past and we learn about horcruxes and all of the things with Snape! But there's also all of the stupid high school relationship drama which cracks me up and I can't stop laughing.

But I have a tender spot for Deathly Hallows too because it's the end! I love how it all wrapped up and the epic conclusion - even the epilogue! I know... it's a controversial stance to have, but I LOVE THE EPILOGUE AND I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT!

2. What's the book/series that everyone raves about but you just didn't get?

The first one that came to my mind was Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. Don't get me wrong - I like the book. But everyone seems to have this one as their absolute favorite by her and it's my least favorite. I think a big part of it was that I was expecting something really fun and light and it definitely wasn't... but I enjoyed her other books much more.

3. Which real world places do you want to visit because of a book?

London. Paris. Although I think I already wanted to go to said places but reading books just made me want to even more. 

4. What bookish merchandise are you dying to get your hands on?

Well... I really need a new bookshelf. I've been able to rearrange my shelves a few times and at the moment my books are fitting. But I know it won't last much longer.

5. What's your most anticipated book of 2015?

It's a toss between Winter and Fairest. But they're part of the same series... so it's hard to pick which one I want more. In Fairest, it'll be so fascinating to learn more about the queen. But Winter is the conclusion of The Lunar Chronicles and it's Snow White! Snow White is my favorite fairy tale!

6. Which book character do you wish you could be best friends with?

I would love to be friends with Edward Zanni from How I Paid for College by Marc Acito. He's hilarious and we would have epic musical theatre duets.

7. What's the last book you gave five stars to?

Oh! I just finished Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers. It's the third book in the His Fair Assassin trilogy and it was completely perfect. 

8. Which secondary character do you wish would get their own book?

ZUZANA from Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. She's the actual best ever and I love her and her boyfriend so much!


9. Which author, alive or dead, do you wish you could meet in person?

Rainbow Rowell. From what I can tell from her Twitter account, she and I would be really good friends.

10. How many books do you own?

I actually kinda know the answer to this one because I'm a nerd like that and keep a record of all of the books I own. Yeah... I'm  a nerd. As of my last inventory I own 375 books. That's not including the ones down in boxes in my basement that I never unpacked. Those are mainly the youth ministry type books which were in my office back in Missouri.

Now, it's my turn to tag people and ask them questions! My questions are...

1) What is one of the most underrated books/series you've ever read?
2) What's your favorite holiday story?
3) If your pet wrote a story about the holidays, what do you think it would be about? If you don't have a pet, pick your favorite animal.
4) Tell me about your favorite classic story/book/movie.
5) What are you looking forward to in 2015?
6) What's your favorite holiday dessert? (Can you tell I'm in a holiday mood?)
7) Which fictional character do you think you are the most like?
8) What is your latest Netflix binge?
9) Who are your favorite YouTubers? If you don't watch much YouTube, share bloggers, Tweeters, Instagramers, etc.
10) What's your current background on your laptop/tablet/cell phone?

And I tag... (Even though I know most of them probably won't do it... but I don't care!)

Amber of Mr. Thomas and Me
Dana of Princess Burlap
Angie of Sailor July
Michelle of Wide Open Spaces
Brittany of Stories, Songs, and Praise
Amanda of Musical Poem
Anne of GeekBrarian

Okay... that's all I got. I know I'm supposed to do ten, but oh well.

Also, I've been awful about keeping you all updated on my YouTube channel and my doing Vlogmas. Here's the whole playlist of what I have done so far!

I Feel it in My Fingers

Today for Vlogmas, the topic is our favorite holiday movie. I can never choose my favorite because it's between Love Actually and The Muppet Christmas Carol. They're both so different- but so awesome!

Tell me about your favorite holiday movies!

Letters to Advent

Today marks the first day of Advent.

In the liturgical church calendar, Advent is the beginning of the year and the start of our preparation for Christmas. It lasts the four weeks leading up to Christmas and the last day is Christmas Eve. Then Christmas day starts the season of Christmas which lasts twelve days. (Thus, the 12 Days of Christmas.) It's a season where we focus on waiting, preparation, and the arrival of Jesus. Remembering his birth, but also to remember he's coming again.

It's one of my favorite times of year and sometimes I wish we focused on it more instead of just jumping right to Christmas and then having the season end once Christmas Day is done.

This year, I'm participating in Vlogmas. It's hosted by We Blog We Vlog (who does Vlog Every Day August) and Kirstie and I have gotten everything set up so people can sign up and we have the topics calendar ready to go. Click here if you want to learn more and sign up.

I'm combining it with Advent though. Some of you might have heard of "Letters to July" on YouTube. I'm going to do letters to Advent as well as the Vlogmas topics. It'll be a cool hybrid of the two ideas. (Hopefully.) Today, I was able to put together my first video for Letters to Advent.

I've finally completed NaNoWriMo and I'll be honest - I'm a bit burned out on writing at the moment. (Expect a NaNoWriMo wrap up post later this week.) Which I'm not worried about- this never lasts. But I'm glad to be taking a break, and I think making videos everyday in December will help renew my creative juices. 

I'll be linking my videos on the blog everyday. So, even if I don't actually write a post, there will at least be a video to watch!

Life Update Friday

As I promised yesterday in my video here is a quick life update for all of you who are tired of me talking about NaNoWriMo!

- Tomorrow my family is celebrating my grandpa's 90th birthday! 90 - that's crazy and totally awesome! I'm really excited to see everyone over the weekend and celebrate. We saw most of them for my sister's wedding, but with all of the preparations and craziness we didn't actually get to have a whole lot of quality time with them. So, this will be nice.

- I'm in a madrigal group! (Not magical, madrigal.) For those who aren't total nerds like me, it's a renaissance singing group. We get to dress up in costumes and sing old songs and talk about boars heads, figgy pudding, and wassail. I did it in high school and it was so much fun, and when a friend told me there was a group putting one together for Christmas, I was really excited. We've had about three rehearsals so far, every week on Sunday night, and I've liked it a lot. I'm still getting to know the people, but they seem pretty awesome. I love my director - he really knows his stuff- and he's a ton of fun. Even if he took my David Tennant phone background for Matt Smith. I definitely need to work on memorizing my music though.

- I also am starting a new job on Monday! It's only temporary through the middle of January. BUT, it's for a pretty big company, I'll get paid well, have a lot of hours, and if they'll keep their best people on full time after January. Which would mean actual salary and benefits. The job itself is answering phones for customer service, but I'm still excited. For now I'm still at the preschool though in the mornings because I don't want to give up a permanent thing for a temporary job.

- I feel like everyone is having babies. At least two of my friends have had babies this week. It's crazy. Really happy and awesome! But crazy too. But don't tell my sister, she's already ready to have one.

- It's snowing right now. There's only a dusting on the ground, but still. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Discuss.

- I heard Matthew Morrison (Mr. Shue on Glee) is going to be taking over the role of JM Barrie on Broadway's premiere of Finding Neverland, replacing Jeremy Jordan (the guy who played Jack in Newsies on Broadway and was Jimmy on Smash and will be in The Last 5 Years with Anna Kendrick coming up) who I LOVE. I love both actors but I'm super torn because I LOVE Jeremy Jordan. I know the rest of you don't care but I do.

- Recently I listened to Neil Patrick Harris' Choose Your Own Autobiography and it was every bit as awesome as it sounds. I'm also currently reading Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers. It's the final book in the His Fair Assassin trilogy and I'm outrageously excited.

- My Facebook book club, The Book Worms, is currently reading The Circle by Dave Eggars. OMG it's crazy! You need to get in on this. If not, next month we're reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. If anything, you should join so you can watch videos of me talking about all of my feels about books.

- Kirstie and I are back at it with vlogging! Remember in August how I do Vlog Every Day August? (VEDA.) Well, now we're hosting Vlogmas. Basically, you vlog everyday December 1-24 leading up to Christmas. We (as in mainly Kirstie and I've been giving my two cents here and there) have been brainstorming topic ideas. Once the sign up is ready I'll let you all know. I think personally I'm going to do a weird hybrid of Vlogmas/Letters to Advent. When it gets closer I'll explain more.

I feel like this post needs a picture. Because every good blogger has pictures, right? Right. Here's me jamming on my uke. Cause you know... this is exactly how I look when I sing and play...

So... how is everyone today? Doing anything fun and exciting this weekend? Tell me about your lives!

Christmas Week in Review

First off, I want to apologize for the crazy that was my blog on Friday. First, the link-up tool wasn't working, and then it just messed everything else up. My layout was screwy, people couldn't comment, links weren't working - it was awful. But it seems as though everything is cleared up and working again. So, if you want to participate in the 2013 Book Wrap-Up - you still can! Just click here. 

Okay, moving on.

Whew. Is it really Monday already? Was Christmas really last week? Have I really been back in Chicago for a week now? This is crazy. However, technically it is still only the sixth day of Christmas. (Yes, the 12 days of Christmas actually START on Christmas day. Today we should get six geese-a-laying.) Which means, we're still in the Christmas season and we can keep celebrating. Cue NSYNC "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!" 

However, since I accidentally took a blogging break last week, I'm behind in updating you all on how moving and celebrating with my family went. So... here we go! Be ready for a nice picture dump.

Sunday- my last official day at St. Andrew

If you couldn't tell by my tweets and Facebook posts that morning, for at least the first two hours of the day I couldn't look at anyone in the eye without crying. I even told some people that I wasn't ignoring them, I just didn't want to start crying again.

But, they did have an awesome spread of food between services including this fabulous cake. 

The cake, and all of the other food, was fantastic! One thing you can never fault St. Andrew for is food. They know how to eat there.

They also gave me this beautiful poinsettia.

Also, you can't see it well in this picture, but Pastor Short wore this wig during his sermon when he was pretending to be Joseph. Basically, whenever I felt sad I would picture this in my mind and I would laugh.

 That afternoon, my mom and sister arrived to help me pack, and we had the Christmas pageant. (Which I wrote and helped direct.) Here is my fantastic cast:

 It was an emotional, but very good day. I am so grateful for St. Andrew and all of the support (and Starbucks gift cards!) they have given me over the last 5 1/2 years. I'm going to miss them, and all of my other friends in Cape, so much.

 Monday- Moving Day!

Yeah... that's my empty bedroom in my old apartment. Remember when I was first moving in there and it was a big fiasco? Sigh. Good times, good times. You can read about that story here and here. 

Basically the whole day was me running errands, us picking up the truck (which was another ridiculous fiasco), packing boxes, driving up to Chicago, and my saying a few final goodbyes. But, I did get a lead on a part-time job that day up in Chicago. Hooray!

Tuesday- Christmas Eve

Which turned out to be the coldest Christmas Eve in a decade according to the Chicago news. It was zero degrees when I woke up, and I had to go out into the cold to get orange juice and coffee cake for our breakfast with my sister and her fiance. I'm sure everyone in Missouri was laughing at me. 

However, we had a lovely Christmas Eve. My sister and her fiance came over for breakfast to exchange gifts and help unload the truck as well as hang out for a little while.  Also, don't my mom decorate the most beautiful tree?

I also must officially live in Chicago now because I received my first pieces of mail. Christmas cards from my friends!

That night Mom and I went to the candlelight service at the church where I grew up and my family are still members. I'll admit, I was nervous about going back and having to answer a lot of awkward questions about why I moved back and what I'm doing now. But I didn't have too many of those, and I even had a quick chat with my 8th grade teacher (who coincidentally was college roommates with the wife of a St. Andrew staff member). She was really supportive and said how we need to go after our dreams while we can. Then, our senior pastor had the most wonderful sermon about praising God and all he has done. It was one of the best Christmas Eve sermons I've heard.

Wednesday- Christmas Day!

AKA- the day my parents and I never get out of our pajamas. Ever.

We did get a light dusting of snow that night, so we can officially say we had a white Christmas.

 All we did was sit around the house, eat, open gifts, unpacked a bit, and watched Christmas movies. It was lovely after all of the crazy of moving. Lazy Christmases are my favorite because you aren't stressed about having to get to places and you can simply enjoy being with your family and soaking in all God has done.

Name that movie!

The Christmas Haul!

Since everyone else in blog land is doing it...

This one from one of my closest friends, and she got me some nail polish along with a fantastic bag/purse for books and tablets. I've been needing a good way to carry around my iPad for awhile now, so this was perfect!

From "Santa" I got a lovely Sephora eye-shadow palette that I can't wait to try out, sweaters and tops, leg warmers,leggings,  a head wrap to keep my ears warm, and a Barnes and Noble gift card.

Then, in the mail, Leah sent me a box of Starbucks k-cups for my Keurig and this pretty ring!

Overall, it was a good week. Christmas was wonderful and relaxing, and now the big move is over. I do get pangs of missing my friends in Missouri, but they've been texting me and my friends up here in Chicago have already been distracting me by going out to eat and catching up. Then this week my family and I are heading over to Indiana to see my mom's side over there for the New Year. I'm so excited to see them!

How was everyone else's week since I kinda disappeared and have no idea what's going on with everyone?

Things I Could Talk About

It's after lunch on Monday afternoon. I'm back at work, a large vanilla coke from the gas station at my side. Thanksgiving is over, and therefore, I have no excuse to not write a blog post.

It's not even that busy of a Monday morning as far as Mondays go.

I've opened and closed the Blogger tab on my computer several times already through the day and I've skimmed over everyone else's blog posts from the holiday weekend. How everyone else has time to post up all of their photos up on their blogs is beyond me. I brought my laptop along over the long weekend, but the only time I opened it for a significant period of time was to get my Christmas music uploaded onto my iPod.

Priorities.

It's not that I don't have anything to write about. There are several topics I could discuss on this Monday.

I could talk about Mondays and how miserable they are after a holiday weekend. Whether you're a student or you have a job, it's the worst.

I could talk about how even though I promised I would only put up my Christmas tree this year so I wouldn't have as much to pack when I move, somehow candles, pictures, nativity scenes, and bells somehow got placed all around my apartment.

I could talk about my favorite Christmas movies and how I've already watched four of them since Thanksgiving.

I could talk about how plans are coming along for changing my life and the big move right before Christmas.

I could talk about how every single weekend this month I have some sort of party and most of them are labeled as "Christmas", but they really are going to be about saying goodbye.

I could talk about winning NaNoWriMo some more and how I was so excited to win, but I was also really sad it was over.

I could talk about how the first Christmas albums I've listened to this season were Glee and NSYNC and poke fun at how ridiculous I am with my taste in music.

I could talk about Advent, a season that I hold close to my heart.

I could talk about how after all of the drama of getting my cell phone last year which was expressed through an abundance of GIFS... I had to randomly buy a new one over Thanksgiving. At least it's cooler than the other one. Also- way less drama. Let's just say I'm always going to the store that's NOT at my mall from here on out.

But I'm not going to. For today, it's just a Monday after a holiday and I have to work. My hope is that I'll be done a bit early so I can spend some time with a friend this afternoon. I'll think about how I'm going to pack up my desk and that I need to begin working on cleaning out my office before Christmas. I'll check my emails and messages to be sure everything for the week is underway.

However, I'm caught up on everything for the most part, which is a good thing. Which means I can hear from all of you. How was your Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it)? What did you do this weekend? Are you hating Monday? Do you want to go get me Starbucks? Cause that would be great.

Deck the Halls

It's been about 2-3 months since I moved into my new apartment.

And I haven't shown you all pictures of it yet.

Fail.

However - since I just cleaned this weekend for the youth group Christmas party and it's all decorated, I figured this would be an awesome time to show it off to you all!

Enjoy the picture dump.

I'm Turning into an Old Lutheran

This past weekend I went shopping - which isn't usual for this time of year. (Yay for getting to be Santa! Or in my case, one of his elves. And yes that was a short joke.) My first stop was to buy an Advent Wreath and I went to our local Christian bookstore.

As I walked in, the first things I saw were snowflakes, snowmen, mugs, plates, stockings, little books... all of those "kitchy" items one normally finds around Christmastime that people feel like they need to fill their home with Christmas cheer. (Which all you really need is to sing for all to hear... haven't they seen Elf? My goodness.) Yet... no Advent wreaths to be found. One of the workers had to help be find one because they were literally in the back row of the store.

It bothered me.

God Is For Us

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!

I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas with those you love most. I know I am!

Here is one of my favorite Christmas songs by Casting Crowns - reminding me always of how powerful and wonderful God's love is for us.

Finale - The Beginning

What an amazing conclusion to this album. 

A Beautiful Dawn

Bethlehem Dawn (Album Version)

Have you ever seen a sunrise? They are pretty awesome.

I don't like to get up ridiculously early very often - I need double the coffee for that. But when a group of my friends suggest getting up to watch the sun rise together I always have a hard time saying no. There is something about watching the sun rise and the night turning into day that I love. These are some of my favorites:

Gabriel Throws the Party of the Millennium

Glory To God (Album Version)


First... don't press play yet.

Second... don't judge me for posting this song through MySpace. I couldn't find any other full version of the song to put on this post. If any of you have suggestions for better ways to do this please let me know.

OK - now I want you to imagine the angel choir that sang to the shepherds. What do they look like? What do they sound like?

I don't know about you, but when I typically think of the angel choir at Christmas, I picture this:

God With Us

Last year, during Advent I started a series on Todd Agnew's Christmas album, Do You See What I See. This album is so unique and so special - I can never get tired of it's music. My mom and picked it up a few years ago just before Thanksgiving. Normally I am not a big fan of listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. However, this album was the exception. My mom, sister, and I could not stop listening. It is still one of our favorite albums and it doesn't feel like Christmas if I don't listen to it.

Each song is sung by a different person in the Christmas story. The innkeeper, Joseph, Mary, a song for Jesus, Elizabeth, Simeon, etc. It makes you think about what each person may have been thinking, feeling, and experiencing. One thing that I love is that this album truly grasps the ideas of Advent - waiting and hoping for the coming of Christ.

Well, I never finished the series- but I'm going to this year! To catch up check out my Do You See What I See tab and all of the links are there. I'll be updating that page throughout December.

Today... the Wise Men.

December Update

Hello, Friends!

For the last two, almost three weeks now life has been crazy. Which  means I have been behind in pretty much... life. Ha ha.

However, things are starting to calm down. At least I hope they are. For all of you who have kept me in your thoughts and prayers, just thank you again. I know I've said that earlier this month - but you really have no idea how much it has meant to me.

But since I've been behind on life I've realized that I haven't properly introduced you to my blog sponsor swap of the month yet!

Waiting for the Impossible

Advent. Outside of the church walls (and to be even more specific, liturgical church walls) this word is not used very often.
Contrary to popular belief, we are NOT in the Christmas season. Not yet anyways.We are in the season of Advent. According to Wikipedia.com Advent means:

Arrival or Coming

Advent is the time in the church year that we wait for the coming of Jesus. It starts the Sunday after Thanksgiving and lasts all the way through Christmas Eve. Then starting Christmas Day is the 12 days of Christmas.   So we are waiting right now for our partridge in a pear tree.

The Calm Before The Storm

Mary immediately got up and hurried to the hill country, in the province of Judah, where her cousins Zacharias and Elizabeth lives. When Mary entered their home and greeted Elizabeth, who felt her baby leap in her womb, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:39-41 The Voice

It's happening again. John knows something - again. But how?

Elizabeth has always known that her child John was special. She thought she would never have children, then an angel appears to Zacharias telling him that they will have a baby. He didn't believe the angel, and because of this he is mute for the next nine months. (Imagine a pregnant woman and a mute guy in the same house . . . I don't envy them.) Then, her cousin Mary arrives at her door and the baby John jumps in her womb.


Jumps. As a fetus. A child that has not been born yet and is still developing. He was at about six months when Elizabeth saw Mary. To the right is a picture of a baby at 6 months while developing in the womb. At this point in development (according to web sties I Googled) the baby's brain is beginning to recognize touch and even a bit of light. The brain development is beginning to get really intense at this point. But it's just starting . . .

How can an unborn child at this stage leap in his mother's womb knowing that something special is going on? This must be some amazing kid coming into the world . . .

Questions Without Answers

Part of my job at the church is to teach the 1st year Confirmation class. So on Thursday nights from 6-7:30 I spend time with twelve 6th graders and four parent guides. I have to say, this year's class keeps me on my toes. I never wanted to be a classroom teacher, but once a week for an hour and a half, I can deal with it. It's also nice that I don't necessarily have to stick to "traditional" teaching methods. The picture to the right is an image I see every week. Students excitedly raising their hands. (And yes, sometimes they do try to get out of their seats.) This happens with every class, but I've noticed that this year it has been happening a lot more than usual . . . and it's to ask questions not answer them.

This is by far the most inquisitive group of 11 year olds that I have ever met in my life. It's a lot of fun. They want to know more about the Bible and God and faith. They ask the hard questions too. One of my favorites was "If Jesus is God, then why does he always call on the Father's power for miracles? Doesn't he have powers of his own?"

And my response was . . .

"Uh.... yes?"

In my head I was thinking . . .

"You're 11. You're not supposed to be thinking of hard questions like that which I can't answer."

Mary - The Next Cast Member of Glee

As mean as it probably sounds, one of the best parts of my job is embarrassing teenagers. Seriously. I get plenty of opportunities to do so, especially with our picture of the week . . . good times and AWESOME blackmail material. A week or so ago I was able to turn one of my girls so red... it was quite amusing. We've been watching The Nativity Story in Sunday School the last few weeks and we had gotten to the part where Gabriel tells Mary about the baby and Mary's family finding out. We had one girl in the room who was around the age Mary would have been. I asked her, "So what would you do if an angel came to you and told you that you were going to give birth to the Son of God?" Her eyes got SO WIDE and she said that she would freak out. Then I asked her "How would your parents react?" Her eyes got EVEN WIDER and said:

"MY DAD WOULD KILL ME!"

I then responded with:

"He would probably want to kill M too."

(M is the guy she is currently/has been involved with this school year.)

It was hilarious.

New Dad

FINALLY I have been able to find a good YouTube video for a song off of Todd Agnew's Christmas CD Do You See What I See? This week I'll be talking about Joseph. If you want to read my first and second posts for this blog series here are the links:

Post 2: Can You Save Mel

Post 1: Are You Ready For Your Surprise?

When I first bought this CD, Joseph's song "This is All I Have to Give" was one of the songs that stood out to me. I listened to it over and over again. Before listening to the album or seeing the movie The Nativity Story (which is what the clips in the video are from) I had never really thought about Joseph. He was just always there. I payed more attention to Marry and the angels and shepherds than anyone else. But in the last few years I've grown to have an amazing appreciation for Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus. It must have been strange for him to have to act as a father to the Son of God...

In recent years I've seen more and more of my family members and my friends get married and have children. It's a really exciting time in our lives and I love seeing all of these changes. When I think of new dads, there are two people I think of.