Running Blind

The title of this post is allegorical in a sense. Such deep spiritual meaning and as I found out tonight a very literal meaning. Elyse, June, Kristin and I were having a fun night watching old videos of us as a family sledding at a hill a few blocks from our house in Denver when we took a short pause to manage the stench that was coming from Elyse's pants. Lately I have found that Elyse is motivated at times when we race each other to do something that she doesn't necessarily get excited about otherwise. So tonight was one of those moments that we raced to her room to take care of her diaper. As we turned the corner to the hallway Elyse was in the lead and gaining ground on me. The next thing I knew Elyse was at full speed and raced straight into the oncoming wall like a 240 pound running back taking on a 375 pound defensive lineman. She ricocheted back and fell to the floor and all I could do was ask "What the heck just happened?" I realized soon thereafter that she was running with her eyes closed. Little did she know the impact that this would have on her forehead. I still don't know where she got this idea and let alone felt the need to reenact the activity. I felt so bad for my little girl. All I could do was console her and give some ice for her forehead.

Tonight I realized what my heavenly father does for me on a daily basis. I must run into walls at a full sprint with my eyes closed. It is amazing how a small lamp can light a path. Not to illimunate the whole house or the whole room but just enough to see the hallway and avoid the corner of a wall. Make sure to keep a light on.

Memoryless Property

I suppose you can call me a real Ph.D. student now because I'm about to relate a fundamental property I'm learning about to my real life. I've been studying too much I guess. The title to this post is the name of a property that describes the way a certain random variable behaves. To avoid too much jargon it basically says that this given variable behaves in a certain way until any given point in time. At that point the behavior effectively starts over and the remaining time of the variables life mimics the behavior of the first part hence a "memoryless" property to this variable. I'm sure that if any of my colleagues or professors were to read this they would laugh at the fact that my poor description of this property clearly indicates my lack of understanding of relatively clear concepts. Regardless I will write more in hopes to better explain why I even bring this up.

Currently I feel as though I'm in a circus. I promise I didn't explain the above simply to tell you I'm a clown. If someone was looking in from the outside it would appear that I'm in the middle of a tent riding a unicycle while juggling 5 bowling pins. That definitely sounds like I'm a talented individual but not exactly what I'm trying to get at. This has been our week. So much going on and so much juggling happening. If someone tries to add one more bowling pin for us to juggle we just might drop a pin. We don't want a pity party but you can send cupcakes. random but I like cupcakes at parties. No one wants to drop something they are juggling. We want to succeed, put on a good show and in some ways be perfect. Which leads me to why I discussed the property above.

As I approach this point in which I feel I cannot juggle anymore I reach a breaking point that forces me to ask for help. Someone who can help me juggle or show me that it may be ok to drop a pin. Not from a friend or family member but from my Lord who gives strength, direction, and a peace that I cannot fully understand. He shows me a glimpse of my story that he is unfolding in these moments and the reason for the circus. You ask how often do I reach this point? Weekly, daily, hourly, all of the above? Yes. In those breaking moments I am brought to a place where I realize the Lord's promises to sustain and to carry our burdens. However, the very next second I forget this truth of which I am reminded and start the process all over again. How dumb am I? Thus in my rambling I have come full circle back to how my life resembles a random variable that exhibits no memory and forgets its past experiences which I briefly described above. What if I lived in a way that I am daily reminded of His goodness and promises rather than turning my back and forgetting almost immediately after the reminder? Seems silly not to. Maybe I am the clown.

Breakfast!

Thanks to the extra hour of sleep, which for some reason my kids didn't take advantage of, I was motivated to bake this morning in hopes to bring a little smile to my families face. Kristin has been so tired getting up and feeding every 2-3 hours so Elyse and I woke up at what is now 6 o'clock and got started with some delicious muffins. I wanted to make Kristin's favorite, blueberry muffins, but we didn't have enough blueberries so we used a mixed berries instead. Just as good. Elyse was so excited to help. She helped put in almost all the ingredients. As we progressed through the recipe and were combining all the ingredients I saw in my little daughter the reason I have a passion for baking. The picture below says it all.



The batter of whatever you are making whether cookies, a cake, or muffins is so amazing. All Elyse could say is I love it! We had so much fun together. When it came time to sprinkle the topping on the muffins all Elyse's arm, and more correctly her taste buds, would let her do was grab a handful of muffin batter out of the tin and put it straight in her mouth. Hilarious.



So I also have to admit something about myself. I don't like things to get messy because I really don't like to clean up the mess. Especially when it comes to cooking. Kristin can attest to that. Well this morning I decided to bite my tongue and let Elyse have fun with it. So when it came time to clean up it was no problem. Bath time in the sink while washing dishes. A perfect solution. I think Elyse had more fun with the clean up than she did the baking.



Well since things have been a bit crazy we haven't been able to post about Elyse's harvest party that we went to. A big church in West Allen put on a huge production with huge slides, food, and games. Below are a few pictures. Elyse hasn't stopped talking about all the things that she saw there. I thought, "She is too young, will she even remember?" I was way wrong. All she has talked about since are the things that she saw at the carnival. Kids are amazing. Enjoy the pictures.

Birthday Boy
So I am a little behind on posting but it is never to late. I wanted to say Happy Birthday to my amazing hubby! He is the best husband and dad (of 2 girls now, crazy to think we have 2 girls) and I am so blessed to have him in my life. I am also so proud of him for taking the step towards his PhD, I know it is not easy, but he is doing awesome with balancing school, work, and family. I wish I was better with words to describe how truly amazing you are, but I love you Paul! So his birthday was not as a big deal this year, not because we didn't try, but because of June coming into this world. Sorry Paul, but hopefully you still felt special. The Monday before June came we had a little get together with his family. Paul loves to bake and wanted me/us to try making a cheesecake. He found this Martha Stewart no bake cheesecake and it turned out amazing! We had a great time celebrating with family and having a relaxed night. Then on Friday night (his actual birthday) we went out to Mi Cocina for some dinner and yes June came along and did great. It is nice to have lots of help:) We had fun celebrating both June and Paul!





June was singing Happy Birthday to Paul, she is way advanced!

The birth of June Bug...

So lets start about a week and a half ago when I went to my midwife for my 38 week check-up. I was 2 to 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced that day. I knew it was coming soon and I thought maybe even last weekend it was going to happen, but nope not then. I though for sure I wouldn't make it to my appointment of this past week for my 39 week check-up, but I did. I had my midwife appointment at 9:30 am on Wednesday, October 27th. I took Elyse with me and Paul headed out for school. When my midwife checked me I was about 5 cm dilated and she said I was probably going to have this baby today. I was feeling more contractions, but not really consistent or in active labor. I called Paul and told him the news and told him to still go to school and I would call him when I feeling more consistent contractions. He called his mom to be on call and she told him to turn around to come back to be with me that I was going to go fast and she would head home to come get Elyse (great advice Sandy!). I still decided to go to the Library with Elyse for her storytime and then I would head home around 11:00. So I did that still feeling good and we got home around 11:30 after Paul told me to get home :) So we got our bag and food ready for the birthing center and headed out around 12;00 to walk around and get things going (side note, I decided I wanted to use a midwife this time around and heard great things about a birthing center here in Allen. I went to check it out when we first moved here and felt really good about going there especially since Elyse's birth went really smooth). So we decided to go walk around at the outlet mall since it was only a mile away from the birthing center. After walking and shopping, I started to feel the contractions more and they started to be consistent so I started to time them. They went from 8 minutes apart to 5 minutes apart pretty quick, so I called my midwife around 1:45 and she told me to wait to come in after I had been having contractions 5 minutes apart for an hour. So we went to Target, did some shopping, and then went to go grab some Golden Chick for Paul to eat (needed to make sure my coach was fed and ready to go). We got to the birthing center around 2:45 and sat in the backyard for Paul to eat. At 3:00 my contractions were getting more painful, so I went in to tell the lady that I was ready to go upstairs and get comfy. So we got up to our room and they started coming really strong. My midwife was downstairs finishing up her appointment and I kept asking for her to come check how far along I was. They thought I wasn't as far along as I was because I was pretty causal about everything, we laughed about it after the fact. So she checked me and I was 8 cm dilated. They immediately called the birthing assistant (she was getting groceries when she got the call and headed out as quick as she could and got there around 3:30). I got into the bath tub for just a bit to work through some contractions, but decided to get out to finish the labor on the bed. Things progressed fast and next thing I know I was told I could start pushing. I think I probably pushed through a few contractions and out came June at 3:52 pm! Yay! I was so glad to be done and finally meet our little girl. She was pretty blue when she came out which worried Paul and I, but our midwife said since she came down really quick her face would be a little bruised. Oh and Paul got to catch her and cut the umbilical cord! I just remember thinking right after that the labor wasn't as bad as I remember (of course it was alot shorter), but the pushing and delivery was much worse then I remember. Paul and I got to spend some great time with June before we let Elyse come up and meet her which was great. And of course Elyse did amazing with June and was so excited to meet her and hold her. We had such a great experience at the birthing center and loved our midwife and birthing assistant. We are so thankful for a beautiful and healthy baby girl!


Allen Birthing Center



Midwife on the left and Birthing assistant on the right, love them!

Here We Go.....!

So today Kristin went to the doctor for her weekly checkup as the due date is getting so close. She was having pretty regular contractions yesterday which were about 9-10 minutes apart. Signs of pre-labor for those moms out there. Well after her appointment today she was already at 4-5 cm and progressing quickly. So what did she do? She meandered over to the library for story time with Elyse. As I write she is making her way back to the house to pick up the stuff to go to the birthing center. I'm now thinking we will have this baby in the car! Well probably not but I'm sure it will come quick. I write this as my last post with an single child because we are all pretty sure this baby is coming out today. Yeh!!!!! Thanks to everyone who voted on the names. It made this fun. Thanks for the continued support and prayers through our many decisions and transitions this year. Please continue as we go through one more in 2010. We'll post on the other side of this.....

Are you Hungry?

I was thinking tonight what I wanted to write about and it was obvious I wanted to share some moments of our weekend. It has been such a fun weekend and a great start to my birthday week. As mentioned in my previous post, I finished my last midterm this past Wednesday and had a cancelled class on Friday so I did minimal work this weekend and spent much time with my family. I thought about the events of our weekend I realized that the memories created were captured while sharing a meal. It is interesting that if you think about past moments that are meaningful and positive memories they almost always involve food of some kind. Obviously not all of them but many of them. This means one of two things. The Mason's love food and/or the breaking of bread with people leads to meaningful moments. i would like to think both are very true. The Mason's do love food but more importantly, the Lord gave us food to enjoy and share while sharing meaningful time with others. This weekend Kristin and I created some fun new memories over a few meals.

Earlier in the week I attempted to plan a camping trip with Elyse, my nephew Cade, and my dad. Someone forgot to tell me that going camping when your wife is going to give birth to your child any day is a bad idea. So we changed our plans and decided to camp in the backyard. A great alternative. The night was complete with a fire, roasting hot dogs, and of course s'mores. Yes, food was involved. Nothing better than a Hebrew National over the open fire with some good company. Cade and Elyse loved helping get the fire started. My dad, Cade and I spent the night in the tent after watch the Rangers win the series against the Yankees of course. The first memory of the weekend.


Elyse with cousins Cohen and Cade

The second came as a celebratory meal with one of my colleagues at school and his wife. I have become pretty good friends with my Korean colleague and we often talk of food, culture, and differences in our two countries. I love this time and so we decided after our hardest midterm we would go celebrate with authentic Korean BBQ. Much different that the sloppy smoked brisket and baked beans us southerners are used to. This was a real treat. We walked in and my friend and his wife handled everything. Talking in there native tongue and ordering everything for us. So awesome. The idea of an authentic Korean BBQ is hot coals are placed under a grill in the middle of a 4 person table in which you cook your own meat. There are about a dozen side dishes that you eat as you grill your meat complete with fresh garlic and jalapenos as well as a couple of dipping sauces. Once the meat is done grilling you take it and wrap it lettuce with any sides or sauces you want. If you aren't licking your lips yet let me just say it was amazing. For my birthday coming up my friend ordered us some rice wine to share which is similar to sake. It was amazing and rather pricey and was so generous for him to treat. This couple made the night so much fun and will be such a great memory. It is neat to see how our friendship with this couple has grown over just the past couple of months. Again great conversation shared over a meal, in this case a cultural experience.


Heading out the door.



No forks for us that night.


Our friends Jong Min Oh and his wife Heehyun or Heeny.


To top this great weekend was yet another event with family sharing a meal. Yes, I'm sure i've gained five pounds this weekend to those of you Colorado readers that are wondering but that is what you do in Texas I guess. I suppose you need to hold us accountable. Well, tonight we drove to visit with Grand Martha, my dad's mom. This is the third time I've seen her since I've been back and every time is so much fun. Tonight we went to Twisted Root and enjoyed some fried food and burgers. Yes another amazing meal and another great time shared over a meal. It was neat to see my grandmother and her great-grandchild interact. What a huge gap in age and so many memories in between. I pray these experiences continue as we share food with friends and family in the future.


At Twisted Root. Turkey Burger and fried pickles. Can't go wrong.

So, eat well. Converse well. Be intentional in sharing these moments.

A little side note since we are on the food theme, check out the amazing birthday cake that Kristin made for me. A no-bake cheesecake with an oreo chocolate crust.





Given the Halloween birthday there is a spider web on the top of the cake. Festive huh.

Work Hard, Play Hard!

So cliche but so true for the Mason family the past month. As you may have noticed we haven't written in well over two weeks now. So sad but we have had quite a bit of going on. Fun things and challenges. I have had the hardest past couple of weeks at school between two midterm exams, presentations and papers. It is amazing to see how much time this stuff takes. I'm learning that I don't remember how to study anymore and hence the challenges are abundant. I have had repetitive late nights (into the early morning) with tea or coffee and Elyse about the only thing that can get me going in the morning. As you can imagine this presents a substantial amount of burden on my pregnant, tired, lonely wife. What an amazing woman she is! She has cleaned, taken care of Elyse, carried our second little girl and served me so well. I've been so blessed to have a supportive wife as we walk through these challenges.

Well, in the midst of the long nights, we have been creative with my time constraints and made some great memories along the way. We had the opportunity to go camping a few weeks ago with another couple and their son. She is due about the same time as Kristin so we had two pregnant ladies being troopers and camping for a night. We drove to unknown wildlife refuge where there were plenty of signs saying no camping and pitched a tent on a back road next to a gas well. For those Colorado readers, we have exchanged the beauty of a mountain or the sound of a rushing river while camping for the sound and view of gas fields and oil derricks. It was ironic, fun, and beautiful though!


It was amazing to see how much stuff we packed for only a single night of camping. I guess that is the beauty of car camping. The air mattress was a must for a 9 month pregnant lady.





Two weekends ago we were invited to a neighborhood fall festival where a bunch of families got their kids together for halloween. We dressed up Elyse in her new costume. Kristin, found a ladybug outfit for Elyse complete with wings and antennas. She loved it and was so cute as you can see from the picture below. I have missed my girls so much in these past weeks and ask myself how can I love this new baby as much as I love Elyse. Somehow I think I will manage.







Last weekend we extended our fun for a night away from Elyse thanks to my parents. It was one of my best friends 30th birthday party. It was a surprise party at the lake with a 1920's theme and a sleepover after. So Kristin and I dressed up in the most 20's type outfit we had and enjoyed the evening. There was catered food from On the Border, birthday cake and beverages. The craziest part of the night was the fact that 3 dealers were hired to bring in a craps, roulette, and 21 table. After dinner we spent roughly 2-3 hours gambling with house money. Kristin and I spent the whole night at the craps table. We had never played before but by the end of the night we were jumping around with the others and high-fiving because the table was hot! It was so much fun hanging out with long-time friends. They also hired a photo booth for the evening, what a great way to capture the moments. This was an amazing party (thanks Kristin B.) and we had a great time!






The last fun event that we want to share with everyone took place on Thursday. After my test and finishing up on a homework assignment I came early to carve pumpkins with Elyse while Kristin made some amazing cookies. It was so great to finally be done with my crazy month and be able to enjoy some much needed time with my family. It has been so hard to say bye to them in the morning and I can tell that they miss me. These little moments of spending an hour or two with them is much needed and hopefully more recurring in the near future. Here are some fun pictures and we hope you enjoy. Sorry for the long post.

Picture time
So Paul has been writing some great posts lately (he is so talented at writing) and it has been really fun for me to read. I thought I would contribute with some pictures.

Elyse finding mommy's shoes and coming to show us, so cute!


Shelby throwing a Baby shower for me, so fun, thanks Shelby! And a family pic, we have been teaching her say cheese so she is trying, doesn't get the smile part though.




Hanging out with Alissa, Elyse loved sitting on her dog, such a great dog with kids.


Mommy and Me Day at the Dallas Arboretum with the playgroup. Elyse LOVED the petting zoo! We had a great time!

One More Thing-

A friend posted this on facebook. So sweet! Great entertainment!

Cutest Thing Ever -

I had the privilege of getting home to have dinner with my family tonight. School has been pretty time consuming so every chance I get to spend with my girls is precious. So today Kristin put on the baker's hat and made banana bread. One of my favorites and now Elyse's. After Elyse and I enjoyed a tasty banana bread slice, we did the nightly routine. A food-colored bubble bath in Grand Sansy's bathtub, brush the teeth and hair, and then read some books. Elyse chose to read Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. We say she is advanced for her age. We read about pasta mixed with fresh arugula and when I stopped reading Elyse said, "With cheese on?" as we looked at the photo of the dish. Not only does she love cheese but apparently shares my passion for cooking and has some great ideas.
Well after that we put the books away and I asked her if she wanted to pray. She usually says yes but tonight I asked her what she wanted to pray for. She didn't say much so I offered a couple of suggestions. I said, "Do you want to thank Jesus for a fun day today....and for mommy?" She said yes. Then I asked her again if there was anything else she wanted to thank Jesus for. She looked at me and smiled and said, "Daddy." Talk about the best thing a dad can hear after a long week of studying. I love that little girl and can't wait to see her tomorrow.
So Elyse was full of fun today. Below is a pic of her kissing and talking to her new baby sister. Don't tell Kristin because she didn't want me to post the photo. It's cute though!

Double the Fun!

It is crazy to think that in about 3 weeks Kristin and I will meet our second daughter (the daughter part to be confirmed tomorrow as Kristin was having dreams it was a boy). We are so excited to meet this new little one but we have had so much fun with Elyse as the only child for close to two years now. 3 weeks will go by in a heartbeat. I simply write to inform my one reader, my wife, that this is crazy! I'm nervous, excited and anxious about the new addition, school, and the impact and have been encouraged by Philippians 4 this week thanks to my readers. He is so faithful even in the midst of our futile thoughts. Please keep praying for a safe and on time arrival (imperative for school and sanity) for this new addition.

A Solemn Day

A week and a half ago I was able to make the trip to San Antonio to for my grandfather's 90th birthday party. I think I briefly wrote about this in a previous post. He recently suffered a second heart attack and came out of surgery the day before he was to celebrate with the entourage of family members that came in for the occasion. Well to make the story short, his body deteriorated rather quickly since that Sunday and this morning at 1 am James Lowell Mason went to be with the Lord. I wasn't sure how this would make me feel but the entire day had a somber undertone to it. Death itself is such an interesting. It is hard to think my dad and my family will not see him alive again. I find myself living as though this life will go on into perpetuity but in reality it is fleeting. Today a life was lost to an ailing body but a newness of life began. I'm so thankful for the brief time I was able to spend with him and my family roughly two weeks ago. I'm also thankful that he knew the Lord and i will see him again one day. Death has been conquered.

It's was interesting, today at church we heard a message regarding Paul's letter to the Philippians. Paul spent much time in prison and starts this letter talking about how his time in prison and everything that has happened to him had served to further his message and for it to be heard. This was interesting because Paul was essentially seeing a glimpse of the Lord's perspective which is exactly what I was writing in one of my most recent posts. In no way am I comparing myself to this amazing apostle with a similar name but rather challenged by his eternal view. For those who have been reading, thanks for listening as I have been learning and thinking about this a lot lately. Here is a great quote that I heard this morning as well:

"God plants his saints in the most useless places. We say, 'I should be here because I am so useful.' Jesus never estimated his life by the standard of greatest use. God puts his people where they will glorify him, and we are not capable of judging where that is."
-Oswald Chambers

My girls are almost home from a week in Houston. Only an hour more. Yeh!

Perspective

My day today looked something like this. I said goodnight to my beautiful wife last night which was actually this morning and hence was a wonderful start to the day. Upon waking up I slowly prepared myself for school by making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while eating a bowl of cereal. Too much information I'm sure. I proceeded to go to campus where I had my 9am seminar class. My seminar class involves a dozen PhD students discussing multiple finance papers and dissecting each model and analysis therein. This morning's topic happened to be debt structure and the relationship to credit ratings. Fun stuff I know.

After class I ventured over to my office which is a term i use rather loosely. It is a large room full of 20 cubicles, yes I'm back in a cube farm, which is where I can do most of my studying. It is nice because it is quiet and I have a computer to study with and post on my blog. As I began to study this afternoon one of my classmates and I started chatting. We spent the next hour or possibly longer learning about each others stories, cultures, food, and family. This was not the first time I had the opportunity to learn of my classmates countries and their cultures.

Since I've started my program I keep asking myself if I'm qualified to do this work. If I have the capacity to succeed in academia. I often ask myself what I should do when I fail. All valid questions but as I remember the path that the Lord took me down to get to this point I remember there is purpose for where I am yesterday, today, and going forward. I write this because as I sat listening to my classmate share of his traditions, his country's cuisine and culture I began to realize that the Lord has a different perspective than I. Although obvious in principal much different in action. From when I can remember I have had a love for food. Since college I have loved adventure. Since marrying and moving to Colorado I have loved traveling. My perspective of these things is incorporated in my longing to see the world and traveling to various places.

I was brought to UT Dallas to work on a doctorate degree but I'm beginning to see a glimpse of how the Lord's perspective is different than mine and still incorporates the things he has given me a passion for. I feel I was traveling and living an adventure by listening to my classmate share about a world I've never experienced. These relationship excite me and I thank the Lord for this as I look ahead to more adventure in the cube farm at UT Dallas.

Random thoughts so I apologize for poor sentence structure, grammatical errors, and unorganized writing.

Coffee Anyone?

So I have been in this bad habit of drinking coffee around 9 or 10 o'clock to give me a little boost of energy so i can study for a couple hours before I head for bed. Well tonight I found myself distracted from studying and now it is almost 1 am and you guessed it, I'm still up so i decided to write a bit.

Last weekend was a packed weekend. It was a bitter sweet time because my girls were out of town but my buddy Michael and I raced in the Dallas City Chase. It is basically a grown-up scavenger hunt. Each team of two has to decipher clues that tell them where the checkpoints are. Each team has to complete 10 of 20 possible checkpoints before returning to the finish line. You can use public transportation or your feet to get around. We chose to use our feet primarily. We ended up running roughly 8 miles across downtown Dallas. From jumping in pools to racing through an obstacle course we made it through the 10 checkpoints and back to the finish line. It felt like we were in our own little Amazing Race pushing hard to avoid elimination. I realize that I love competition and the adventure. At the same time I realize one thing......man I'm getting old!

On Sunday, my dad, Sam, his girlfriend and I drove down to San Antonio for my grandpa's 90th birthday party. Early last week he had a second heart attack so we were forced to have his party at the hospital but that didn't deter from the celebration of his 90 years. It was such a sweet time of hearing stories and memories from people that have been impacted by this man's life. It has been almost 5 years since I had last seen him and it felt like I had missed out on so much even though this is not reality. I realized a couple things as I sat listening to the stories being told. One thing was the importance of having my kids know their grandparents and family in a deep way. I'm grateful for being back in Texas for this very purpose to have help and encouragement from our family. The second is also in response to a recent book I read by Donald Miller. It speaks about living a better story and how sometimes this entails risk, fear, and pain. I listened to the stories of my grandfather and they were such good stories. Some of risk, some of fear, some of pain, and some of good times shared over ice cream. All these separate moments in aggregate have made up his story. A good story. We are writing our story now. There is fear involved, risk, love, character development and growth, and pain. I feel we as a family have been called to a good story and thankful we can rest with the author to unravel the chapters to come.

Some fun pics:


Elyse and her new bike



Like I mentioned earlier. It has been great getting to be around family. Elyse loved going over to Aunt Shelby's and hanging with her cousin Cohen. He is such a cool kid



A picture from our trip to St. Lucia. Amazing island.


Elyse loved putting on daddy's t-shirt. I love this little lady!


Elyse loves to color. I'm amazed because she holds the colors like she has been writing for years.

Time for bed. Thanks for reading the rambling.

Microeconomic theory? This is my latest photo contemplating the differentiation of Walras' Law of Demand.