Introspective Day

So, today should have been like any normal day, and in many ways it was. I spent a few minutes this morning reading a Sherlock Holmes book. And no, it wasn't because of the upcoming movie. I have a habit of reading several different books at a time (ADD maybe?) and I was over at Mom and Dad's house last night and saw it. So, I picked it off the shelf and began to read. I'm quite impressed, as it is quite good. I believe the book is called "The Return of Sherlock Holmes". Apparently in the previous book, it was thought the Sherlock was dead.

But that's not the point of this post. It was a nice day outside, and as usual, I was spending most of it inside. I had meant to go over to Dad's and help him work on one of his projects. I WAS playing on the PS3 with Jessie, trying to keep him from wonder how much longer it would be until his surgery to remove his wisdom teeth. In between here and there I was helping Julie clean the house. My brother Christopher came over and asked what I was doing. I thought he was going to invite me to ride along (and he did, sort of) while he was working as a police officer. Instead, he asked me to go with him to Austin to pick up a new gun that he was buying.

It was a good ride. We listened to Glen Beck some, talked some and enjoyed (ha, ha) the ride through San Antonio into Austin. The trip and ensuing conversation brought to mind again the great desire I have had for some time, but have utterly failed to act upon, to work as a police officer. I guess it has always been more of a hobby dream than a work dream. I've ridden for quite some time with law enforcement officers, from Texas DPS, to CCPD and TPWD Game Wardens. They are all different, but enjoyable and interesting experiences for me. However, that's not what this post is about either...at least in its whole.

After coming home, Julie asked me to watch a movie with her. I wasn't too excited about the movie, "The Bucket List", with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. I'd seen the previews and , well, didn't really care to waste the time watching it. I was quite surprised and touched by it though. It made me wonder, as I seem to be doing more of late, if I had accomplished the things in this life that I wanted to do. Now, I know that this life isn't the completeness of my existence. In fact, I know it is quite a small blip on the eternal plan and life we are to live. But, I cannot help but think that there are things and experiences that we can only really gain and appreciate while in this mortal life.

So, how much time do I waste here instead of doing, learning, or sharing what I should. I believe all experience is for our good, and many good things can even be learned, say, from watching a movie. If we let it teach us something. I am amazed day after day how little time we have here. In a way, I feel blessed to know that already, but I've gone much further down the road. I hope it helps me, as a compass, to gauge my path and make corrections where possible and necessary. I believe I've been blessed for all I've done, or for having the opportunity to do them, thus far in life. But I wonder on those opportunities passed up and forsaken because I hesitated, or was afraid, or occupied but some lesser important or valuable task. (I truly hope all this introspection isn't a sign of time left!) But with all seriousness, I hope to try, day by day, to ask myself if there isn't something more, or different I could/should be doing, and not pass up those "LIFE" experiences before it is too late. I shudder to think of my children grown and gone, although it will happen one way or another. I revel in the joy of being there with them and their opportunity. I cry over the time lost or squandered that I did not spend with them to the utmost capability. I'm relieved in the fact that I can be forgiven, and, if so chosen and taken, can have the chance to be with them forever.

So, that's my Christmas wish this year. To all those, and they are very few, who might read or stumble upon this. Take the time to do that which you have always wanted, live life to the fullest, and do it with the ones you love, before there it is yesterday and the only experience you are left with is the wish that it were somehow different.

A little more like Christmas

Global warming? Are you serious? Recently, "hackers", got into the global scientests archives and found a "cover up" of the global warming group. Well, I don't know much about all the studies and bickering back and forth. But I do know it's been down right chilly here lately! I stepped outside my office today to find not only rain, but small, very miniature, hail falling from the sky too. The ground is too warm, so it pretty much melted right away. I opened the doors to the server room and let the cold air in to give my poor servers a well deserved break from the awful, heat trapping design we have here.

A little while later I got a call from Julie who said it was SNOWING outside. Now, I knew the forecasters had mentioned the possibility of snow, but let's face it. It just doesn't snow here in the northern part of hades. Well, most of the time it doesn't. There was that ONE time a few years back when it snowed for the first time in 100 years. So, I stepped back outside, and sure enough, mixed in with the rain and sleet, little flurries of snow!

I ran home and grabbed up the camera, but the stupid thing was full! ARGH! So, I grabbed the video camera...you know, the one we occasionaly use but never pull anything from. Well, it just so happened that the kids played with it last night so the battery was dead. DOUBLE ARGH!

After deleting a few pictures from the still camera, and plugging the charger into the video camera, just KNOWING that it would stop snowing any minute...I managed to snap a few shots and get a bit of video footage.

Tonight I'll work on cleaning it up and see if I can upload it here. Until then...enjoy the ALMOST Christmas weather!

Babysitting is hard work!

It's always good to know that we aren't the only ones who get tired from the kids. Here are some funny pictures that happened weeks apart. It's funny that it happened to both!

What's funny is Brant is the easiest one we've had to take care of so far! They all love him so much and all want to hold him. I guess when he just sits there it is easy to relax and go to sleep.

Brant

Brock is just worn out from taking care of his little brother. He actually fell asleep holding him.

After his blessing.

Brant and his favorite past time.

Blake's Pinewood Derby

Blake recently had his Pinewood Derby for cub scouts. We began on the car early, but didn't really know what day the race would be. That happens when the only communication on the event date goes to the cub scouts! Anywho, he came up with the design, color and even name of the car. He wanted to stain it rather than paint it and called it the Wilcox Furniture car. (I'm going to have to talk to him about his free advertisements.)

We finished adding weights on the last day, not even know how heavy it really was. We guessed well! He weighed in right at 5 ounces. The races were fun, and even more so because he was undefeated! Congratulations Blake!

It's hard to see in this one, but if you look closely you'll see Blake's car has already finished. The car he beat here ended up winning 3rd place.

It Appears I'm a Potential Terrorist

Let me start off by first saying this, to clear up any possible confusion. I AM NOT A TERRORIST! Got that? Good. It seems that some DHS officials don't agree. I've followed international politics and situations loosely since I served my mission in Argentina. The differences in freedoms and political thought have totally amazed me.

I'm also amazed and forever in debt to our founding fathers, for all that they gave so I could be free. Did you catch that? Not for their own benefit, but for your's and mine too. I think that's a major part of our problem today. We're only worried about how our actions affect us, and not others. But that's fodder for another rant at another time.

It would seem that our increasingly changing government and political views of the times has pushed us more and more to those types of leaderships that I've either seen or read about in other countries. We gasp when we hear about Hugo Chavez changing laws so that he can stay in power for as long as he lives and is re-elected. We cringe at the censorship some countries impose on their people to "maintain peace", when in reality it is a thinly covered excuse to protect their own hides and repress their opponents. (President Mugabe anyone? If you don't know who he is, look him up! We could also go down the list of Stalin, Hitler, Castro, Chavez, etc...)

I've often laughed at the conspiracy notions that float around warning us that our nation is being taken over. How could we POSSIBLY ever let anything like total gun control or censorship happen? It's not possible, right? Right? Uh....hello, right? Hehe...kind of quiet out there.

The things that I have seen in the last 4 months (coupled with all the "security" laws passed since 9/11) have really , well...let's say piqued my interest. For example: get this latest news posting from FoxNews (yes, I've become a FoxNews junkie.)

"If you're an anti-abortion activist, or if you display political paraphernalia supporting a third-party candidate or a certain Republican member of Congress, if you possess subversive literature, you very well might be a member of a domestic paramilitary group. " You can read more on the FoxNews site here or one posted by Glenn Beck here.

The more I hear about stronger gun control laws, (i.e. H.R. 45) I shiver to see the direction we are headed. I don't think we have gone too far, and I believe in following the system given to us as laid out by the laws of the land to make changes where we feel it necessary. I am astounded though by the lack of involvement by us to make changes where we see the need though.

So, before I go too far, (oh wait, I play Airsoft so apparently the case is mounting) and say something that might be TOTALLY misconstrued (is being an Eagle Scout still ok?) please know that I am against abortion, like to shoot guns, believe that WE the people still have the choice on who we vote for REGARDLESS of political party, and I respect the right of others to their thoughts, beliefs and opinion so long as it doesn't intrude on those of others within the laws as set forth by the people. (In other words, to the last part, I don't think marrying your dog is ok, and I don't care if you do, it's still morally wrong AND against the law.)

Brant

With Big Brother Brock

Sleeping in Mommy's Arms

The Whole Crew (Dr. Noriega delivered us all!)



With Mom and Dad


My first minutes in this world.

Reflections

Mom and Pop Swain are with us as she recovers from a broken leg.


One of our Family Portraits for Christmas.


"Those are Spirit Fingers, THESE are spirit fingers!"


My mini-me.

I've recently finished reading "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. It has caused me to reflect upon the many things I'd like my children to know and remember as they grow. I also reflect upon my life and how quickly I seem to have gotten to this point. Sometimes I really wonder if life between 19 and 36 have really existed or was it simply a fitfull dream of tasks. I fear I've been too focused on the future of things to come and have forgotten to enjoy the now.

We have had a wonderful holiday season between Christmas and New Years. My job with a public school doesn't pay near what I could be making elsewhere, but having two weeks to spend with my family is truly priceless. Brock is my mini-me and I enjoy watching the others growing and loving life. Bryce is now a deacon and I cannot believe that this last part of his "youth" is at its inception. I am enjoying life immensely and feel blessed to be in my current state.

I truly believe that my family is my greatest possesion on this earth...and will be as we continue on after this life. I find more joy in the day by day and hope that I can remember to let them know that. We recently bought a video camera to capture those beautiful moments. I hope we fill up every possible media that we have with those wonderful memories so that they may enjoy them as well as they get older and move on with life.

Some Pictures of Galveston Work

Notice the grass at the top of the fences.

Galveston Cleanup

Yesterday members of the Corpus Christi Texas Stake were asked to go volunteer to work in Galveston with the Church in an effort to help people clean up from the recent hurricane Ike. I believe we had around 100 people attend from our stake. There were many other stakes that also attended, and the cleanup effort is ongoing.

I drove up with my dad and Bishop Nelson. Josh and Jeremy went up also and we stayed at Kenny and Karen and Kelley's house, which we were EXTREMLY grateful to do. Otherwise we would have been leaving around 3:30 in the morning to get there for the beginning assignments.

As we made our way from Santa Fe to Galveston you could see the progression of destruction from wind to water. It is amazing to imagine the amount of time it will take to restore most of what once was. The first thing that hits you is the cars in the ditches or the boats up against the road and all the debris and trash piled up on the embankments of the highway. The second is the smell. If only I could make scratch and sniff pictures, you'd have a much better understanding of what it is like. Although most people tend to think that the wind is the most dangerous part of a hurricane, (what category is it?), the worst destruction comes from the water. The tidal surge reached at least 15-20 feet in my estimation in the places we went.

Imagine losing everything that you have except the frame of your house. Now imagine everyone, block by block, doing the same. All the trees, shrubs, grass and plants are either dead or dying. Every appliance, book, picture, piece of furniture, clothing... it is now ruined. Food in the freezer or refrigerator is spoiled and oozing toxic waste if you mistakenly open the door. Water, mixed with any foul substance and smell you can imagine, is pooled into any conainer will to hold it. After three weeks of sitting, it is now once big cespool.

As we gathered at the chapel in Galveston, spared any damage whatsoever, we formed our team out with Brother James Torres joining us. We received our Mormon Helping Hands t-shirts, our orders and orientation, and after a hymn, prayer, and LONG speech by those in charge, went off to our first of two assignments.

We were only a few blocks from the chapel. Our first task was to gut out the garage of a home that sat at least 10 feet above the road and everyone else around them. They were two weeks from closing the sale on their home. Now...who knows.

We removed boxes of clothes, books and pictures. The garage door. A car that was molding and now worthless, and several other pieces of furniture and personal belongings. The water damage was low on the walls due to the height of the house. We took out the lower four foot section of the walls so that it could dry and be repaired. After meeting the home owners, finishing up and taking a quick break, we were on our way to our next task after about two hours of work.

The next project was to remove everything from the home, including sheetrock and flooring. I feared this would be an overwhelming task. However, to our great fortune all furniture and other items were already removed from the home. We removed all the sheetrock and wooden flooring from the entire house. We had started at about 11:00 am, and including a lunch break and several water breaks, we finished our task around 4:00 pm that afternoon. We were extremely grateful for the cool weather. Even at that, with several drinks ingested, many of us were still depleted of any liquids internally.

We said our many goodbyes, and with requests to join the homeowner for a bar-b-que in six months (he feels that is when they will be able to return to a finished house) we left back for the chapel. After turning in our paperwork, and stretching out the soreness, we returned to Kenny's house for much needed showers. We were pleased that Uncle Kenny joined us for our second house, and then was gracious enough to provide pizza.

Dad and I left for Corpus around 7:45 that night, and, even though we had slept on cots the night before and worked all day, somehow, I just wasn't tired enough to sleep on the way home.

Note: I am having problems with the camera...but will be posting pictures soon.

Great Expectations

Is it plagerism to steal a great title? With so much going on it is often hard to keep up with the many things you want to do,not just the things you have to do. Life is constantly changing, bringing with it the new challenges and experiences that we love and sometimes love to hate. Jay and Jesse are doing well in school as Jesse enters seminary time. Although we thought we had several years before we entered seminary events, life has brought us to it sooner.

As we discussed it today, we realized we'd have seminary duty for the next 19 years. That should be when our next little one will be finishing school. Yes, we are expecting number 6, ( or 8 with Jay and Jesse). That sure seems like a long time to endure getting up early after fighting little ones to get them to sleep. Although lately we're fighting the older ones too!

Bryce, blake, Jenna and Jacie are all playing soccer again. That makes for very busy Saturdays! They're all doing very well, as usual. My new calling in the Stake Presidency keeps us busy in a different way. It is not the same as being Bishop, but the travel is much greater. It is a calling that humbles me, but I truly enjoy it.

We look forward to the holidays to spend more time with family as Justin and his wife are in Galveston and Jeremy is now being stationed in Fort Hood. Sharon was down for a while as Chris is in Iraq and mom had neck surgery. We look forward to David graduating from law school in the next few years. He's already getting job offers. We're happy to be where we are, but look forward to the cooler weather, WITHOUT mosquitos.

Summer Time Events

Yes, I know...it has been quite a while since we have posted to our blog...and I apologize! We have been very busy traveling locally to bowling leagues, birthday parties, swimming events at the Aransas Pass swimming pool and such. Bryan has been gone to conferences in San Antonio and Katy Texas and work has been a HUGE project consuming a great deal of time.

One big change for him was that he was released as Bishop of the Robstown Ward almost 4 years to the day that he was called. That same day he was called as 2nd counselor in the stake presidency. It is a different calling in many ways but should provide a change of pace.

Julie is still busy selling jewelry (she's the new jewelry lady!) and doing well keeping track of that and the many kids. Other additions that have kept her busy are the three new kittens and four chickens. She's not far from being farmer Brown herself!

Jay and Jesse now have braces and Brock turned two this past month. He's growing so much and his communication skills are at that point of doubling every time you turn around. You have to watch out for that parrot!

Bryce, Blake, Jenna and Jacie are enjoying time at Grandma's and Nana's homes and trying to make the most of the summer time off. Jacie recently got her "school" clothes as she will start pre-school this year. She was quite disappointed to find that school didn't start for quite some time even though she had her clothes.

We welcome the recent rains as everything is much greener now. It has also been a nice break from the heat.

Friends, Family and Fun

First, let us thank Kenny and Karen for hosting us this past weekend. Julie and I had a great time getting away from the kids for a weekend and enjoying the great outdoors in Houston. I had a great time playing golf with Gary, Kenny and Grandpa, even if I didn't enjoy most of my shots. Isnt' that what golf is all about? :)

Fortunately for me, the one shot I made from the tee when Julie was around was a great shot! I just wish we could have sunk some of those putts guys. We also had a great time in the pool. I appreciate the offer to bring the kids up this summer. Know that we will do it!

As I work to help our administrators at school prepare for the 20 to 30 FLDS kids we'll soon have in district I am greatly thankful for my kids and the security we have. It would be scary to have our kids taken away to an unkown location. I feel for them and hope their transition will be relatively smooth. We need, in these latter days, to make sure we stick up for our basic constitutional rights and freedoms that Heavenly Father has given us.

Well, off to church...another great freedom!

Pumpkin Seeds

So during Halloween as we were scooping out the gooey pumpkins to make Jack-O-Lanterns Blake had the great idea to plant the pumpkin seeds. Dad, who lives next door, had moved the travel trailer that sat for years and thereby had killed any grass over the spot where it resided. To keep the yard looking at least a LITTLE better he tilled the ground. Of course, without sun the soil just didn't seem to want anything to grow there. This seemed the perfect plot since it was tilled and I wasn't worried about the seeds growing anyway.

Come first warm weather this year, guess what we saw! Yep, pumpkin plants! And quite a few of them too! The kids were very excited that they'd have their own pumpkin patch. Of course, with the crazy winter weather we've had the cold came back and the plants wilted away. Or so we thought! We now have no less than 6 pumpkin plants thriving and flowering out in dad's back yard. I guess blake will be the one with the green thumb in our family. Anyone know how to make pumpkin pie from scratch?

I wonder if I can relate this to a gospel story of "sterile" ground and the faith of someone who plants a seed?

Photo contest

I, Julie, found this website for a cute kid contest. I entered the picture of Jacie that is on the blog with the butterfly on her head. If we get the most votes- we can win. So click on the title of this post and vote for Jacie--PLEASE,PLEASE,PLEASE!!!!

Note: Apparently the link doesn't work...sorry guys.

Early Christmas Ham

For those of you that know him, and if you don't then oh well, Steve Reed is a part owner of a new online journal. It is called LDS Journal and is the same premise as a blog, but it does not have public access. The journal is free, but they have a service to copy it to a DVD or print and bind it which I imagine is a fee based service. This is pretty good for those always traveling around or just find it easier and more convenient to post their thoughts and occurances on line.

Along the same note I'd thought of downloading everyone's blog and creating a bound book. Anyone else looked into this yet?

Back To The Story !!!!!!!

Did you read my other post??? If not read it?look at it first!!!!!!!!Still why I want a Finch!!!The reason I want a Finch is because they're CCCCUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Well are you really serius!!!!! MY dad is going to go to work BYE!!!!!!!!!by:bLAKE bROWN.

p.s. Blake's first post never made it to the site...I'm sure he'll be quite saddened to find out.

Discrimenation

Austin TCEA - I've experienced an ifinitely small portion of the problem of problem this week. As I've walked around with my Network Administrator who is older than me and we've talked to vendors they've always started talking to him first. Once they learn that I am the boss they focus their attention on me and continue their discussion. This morning, in a session, I walked in with Holli Horton, who does teacher development in technology, and Duane who is the network admin. I sat in the middle of the two and an older lady who was going to give the presentation talked first to Holli, gave her some notes, scanned her badge, and then proceeded to do the same with Duane. Now, Duane and Holli are a bit more dressed up than I, but she just totally ignored me. She didn't say hello, who are you or even acknowledge I was there.

Now, I don't think she did this to be mean. However, it was an interesting socialogy experiment in which it seemed that she just assumed that since I was younger and not all dressed up that I wasn't anyone worth adressing. The bright side of the issue is that I won't be receiving any junk mail from them!

This whole experience made me reflect and wonder if I ever discrimenate or assume something about someone just because of the way they look. I know I've done it in the past. I recall judging people on the way they looked only to find that their personality was no where near what I thought. Some help that along by TRYING to be different, but sometimes we make assupmtions regardless on if someone is smart, nice, rich, or poor, or even in charge on age, looks and dress.

Have you ever judged someone on appearance only to find out you were wrong in your assumptions?

One step from Romney

(Note: I wrote this post before I heard later today that Mitt Romney pulled out of the race. I've had a hard time thinking about voting for John McCain, but I agree with what Mitt Romney expresses below:

With our nation at war and many Democrats advocating retreat, Gov. Romney believes our country must stand united.

· Governor Romney has decided to suspend his presidential campaign.

· Gov. Romney has considerable support and resources, but his chances of success have been diminished. He has won eleven (11) states and over 4 million Republicans have voted for his vision of conservative change in Washington.

· Gov. Romney believes that by continuing on he would only forestall the launch of a national campaign and thereby aid the Democrats. He simply will not let his campaign be a part of aiding the Democrats and their vision for retreat in the face of terror.

· Republicans cannot afford to be divided in the general election. Senators Clinton and Obama have made known their intentions regarding Iraq and the War on Terror – retreat and defeat. If Republican are divided, we will watch in 2009 as the opponents of traditional values advance their agenda, heavier economic burdens are placed on families and our economy slows down.

· Even though they may disagree on a number of issues, both Gov. Romney and Sen. McCain agree on the need to win this struggle against violent Jihadists. In this campaign, both Gov. Romney and Sen. McCain have made known where they disagree on the major issues facing Americans today. But when it comes to our national security, winning in Iraq and defeating Al Qaeda, he could not agree more with Sen. McCain.

· Gov. Romney entered this race out of love for America and to build a better tomorrow for future generations. It is because of that love that he will now stand aside.)

Ok, so I'm not anywhere NEAR being related to Mitt Romney. However, I do support him in his bid for President. Moreover, my first companion in the mission field was a sponsor for him in Oklahoma and organized a meeting for him recently there. Mitt was photographed holding Thad Balkman's youngest. Pretty cool! He also wrote in his son's journal who was baptized on Super Bowl Sunday. Congratulations by the way! I hope all of us here in Texas get out and support Mitt Romney, we need someone of his caliber in the White House now, more than ever.

More Christmas pictures

Here are a few more pictures taken around Christmas time. Enjoy: