James and Claire

First of all -- happy birthday to my dad, who is celebrating the 11th anniversary of his 50th birthday today.

Today was an interesting day. We got off to a lazy start, and didn't leave the room until about 11:00 AM. Neither of us were hungry, but we drove through McDonald's to get ice tea. My hair, where it still grows, has gotten longer and was getting a little out of control. Christy suggested I get a haircut, and that she would take me to the same place where Nicholas had gotten a haircut when he was down here. She directed me to a this dirty little building in a 'shopping center' that included 'Cash for Gold', 'Checks Cashed Here' and a gentleman's club. All of the establishments had bars on the windows. I have learned over the years that a smart husband must give his wife the benefit of the doubt, and not criticize her before you know you are 100% correct, so the words 'You took my son HERE' never came out. I just parked and headed in.

Inside, there must have been 50 customers crammed into this tiny space with no air conditioning. I was the only one whose primary language was English. I walked to the counter and asked how long the wait was, and she said 'There is no wait'. I looked around and asked her 'Then who are all these people?'. She just laughed and said follow me. I was led to a barber chair and the barber, who spoke NO english, made a few hand gestures. I managed to communicate through my broken spanish that he needed to use clippers on setting 'DOS'. He just nodded. In the next 4 minutes, he gave me the best haircut I have ever had....and it cost me $8. I had $7 cash in my wallet and this place does not take Visa, so I walked about a 1/4 mile to a gas station to use the ATM. I left Christy there as collateral. The ATM at the gas station was out of service, so I had to walk a 1/2 mile in the other direction to Target to get cash. Keep in mind that we are in Texas in July, and it is hot. Finally, I paid for the cut, tipped the nice man $10 and we headed to the hospital.

At the hospital, we learned that James had not had a bowel movement in several days. They had given him a little something to help get things going about an hour before we arrived. As we were talking to the nurse, we heard some noises that suggested that James was working on something. Christy was feeding Claire, so I headed over to change his diaper and at the last minute, the nurse said 'I'll take this one'. As she opened the diaper, I looked and there was a little bit of stuff in it, so I said 'Oh, that's not so bad'. At that very instant, a stream of dark green nastiness sprung forth from little James, nailing the nurse right in the mid-section. I have never seen, or could have believed, that a tiny little baby could do that. All I could do is stand back like Chris Farley in Tommy Boy and say 'Man, That was awesome'. It really was, and it made the perfect noise when it happened. The nurse was great...she did not even flinch. Christy and I scrambled to help her clean up and we quickly cleaned up James and put a diaper on him. The poor nurse had to change her entire outfit....but not before we made her pose for a picture with her attacker... She was laughing right along with us. I was very appreciative that she took the bullet for me.

OK. So here is where the day takes a miraculous turn. As I have mentioned in earlier postings, Christy and I have gotten pretty friendly with a couple named Kyle and Leanna, whose baby (Nicole) was stationed next to James and Claire for a couple of weeks. After our afternoon baby visit, I was heading back to the hotel and Christy asks me out of the blue if we can go to Round Rock to possibly pick up a few onesies at the outlets. Round Rock is a good 30 minute drive north from Austin. I wanted to just go to Target, which was right down the street...but Christy insisted.

WHen we got to the outlets, I really had to go to the bathroom. I made Christy take me directly to the restrooms. As I was heading in, she decided to go into a store (named BCBG) that was right across the way from the bathroom. When I got finished, I went in to the store to find her. After following her for 2 minutes, I told her I would be out on the bench people-watching.

Meanwhile, in the store, Christy was being helped by this cute girl who began quickly showing her all of these outfits that 'would look great on you'. Christy said 'Those are great, but I have three kids now and it does not really work for my lifestyle. I have a two year old and twins'. However, Christy has a weakness for a great outfit and went back to try one on. When she came out of the dressing room, several of the employees (who must have been talking) looked at her and said 'How old are your twins?'. Christy said they were newborns and you can imagine their reaction. She explained that the twins are adopted. One employee (named Oneka) came out and said 'I want to adopt. I have been wanting to adopt'. Christy told her that we have had great experiences with our adoptions. During the conversation, Oneka explained that she and her husband had one biological child and had felt "they were now meant to adopt". Christy explained how we had gone through infertility treatments before finally realizing that we too were "meant to adopt". Christy said she felt that adoption is so special and those who experience it are chosen to do so. They both agreed that God was at the center of this.

While she had been in the dressing room, they had sent a girl out to retrieve me from the bench to inspect 'this great dress'. I made my way in and verified quickly that Christy did, in fact, look fantastic in the dress and should get it. As I was standing there, I was introduced to everyone and Christy told me that Oneka was interested in adoption. So I quickly told her that we had a web site that documented both of our adoptions and had a few links. She ran to get pen and paper. As we were exchanging information and talking further, she asked 'What hospital are your children at?'. When we told her that they were at St. David's, her eyes widened a bit. She said that one of her best friends had a baby in the NICU at St. David's and had told her about a couple who had adopted twins. That's right, we were talking to one of Leanna's closest friends. At this point, the improbability of the encounter left us all a little woozy. After a few moments of disbelief, Oneka went on to explain how she and her husband had been researching adoption on the internet and were feeling completely overwhelmed. Christy explained that we have been where they are and we would be happy to talk to them. So tomorrow at 11:00 AM, we are having lunch with Oneka and her husband at Z Tejas in downtown Austin.

This meeting goes far beyond coincidence. Just as people were strategically placed in our path towards adoption, it seems we are now being placed in other people's paths. It gave us goose bumps.

We got home, got dressed up, and headed to the Roaring Fork for dinner. Neither of us has ever fully recovered our hunger following the Chuy's pig-out from yesterday. The food was really good, but we did not eat that much of it.

We then went over to the hospital...and we were very excited to share our amazing story with Kyle and Leanna. Their baby girl, Nicole, is still in the same bay as James and Claire, but we had not seen them in a few days. We were disappointed when they had not come in by 9:00. We decided to go back to the hotel and chill out for a bit. On our way out, we ran into Leanna in the hall. We told her our story and she was in the same state of shock. What the heck were we doing all the way out in Round Rock, and how in the world did we find her friend?

Since we seem to have God's attention right now, I am praying for my hair to grow back.

Meanwhile, at home, Nicholas and Mamaw spent some time in the kitchen making a chocolate cake. He told us all about it on the phone and tried to give us some. We miss him sooooooo much. See pictures of Nicholas with cake all over him.

Today's question comes from Bill Smith, who asks eloquently:

Greg-

I've recently purchased the Wii Fit program, and it is showing my "fitness" age as well below my actual age. I fear this information has made it into my online Mii profile, which has resulted in me being unfairly targeted when playing Mario Kart, as they think I am one of those teenage video game addicts.

My doctor suggested I need to drastically increase my caloric intake, preferably with a high mix of saturated fat and cholesterol to give me some immediate results. So my question is, would I be better off eating a full pound Fuddruckers burger with copious pump cheese, fries and a chocolate shake, or a small tub of butter flavored Crisco (I can't stomach straight up plain Crisco anymore). I realize this is a lifestyle change and not a quick fix, so I'm looking for something I can stay committed to on a long term basis. Thanks in advance.

Bill, you have quite a predicament on your hands. I would of course recommend the Fuddruckers approach. However, as you can see from my perfectly chiseled body, this may not be enough to ruin your underage junior high physique that the Wii fit software is accurately picking up on. There is a new product that can help you. It's called Crisco IV. At night, you can hook yourself to an intravenous supply of Crisco. Since the fattening substance is going directly into your veins and not into your mouth, it does not matter if it has the artificial butter flavoring or not. And I've seen you play Mario Kart...you are going to need to follow this regimen for a long time before you start winning any races. And if you want to age faster, try not spending the whole winter on vacation in Mexico.