3BT for 3/17/09

1. Another donation to my March of Dimes campaign. Thank you to Annie for your generous gift! That puts me up to $45... Make a donation today at http://marchforbabies.org/speaks.

2. I printed pictures before I put them online. Something about actually showing someone prints that is so much better than viewing them online. Unless they're old pictures. Then I gag.

3. Maleah, my sweetheart. She breaks my heart in a million ways every single day. I look in her eyes and see that she trusts me fully. She puts her babies down for "night-night", kisses them and tells them "sweet dreams". She likes oreos because she can lick the icing off of her fingers. She eats ketchup like its a main course. She likes to watch Wow Wow Wubbzy and Curious George more than any other shows. When she wants something she'll ask and say please; when she gets it she says, "thanks daddy". When something happens that breaks her heart her bottom lip sticks way out and quivers... she can get whatever she wants when she makes that face. I love my little girl.

Alex's Movement, 70's Saturday, Miranda

3BT for 3/9/09

1. Feeling Alex's... something. He kept pushing out with something last night... something bone-like. Arm? Leg? Elbow? Whatever it was I loved getting to feel him that well. We're so close to getting to bring him home!

2. I love that Saturday was in the 70's. We went to the Park with Maleah and she played hard. :) It was so much fun!

3. I love Miranda so much. She's an amazing woman. She does so much for me and for Maleah. She's a fantastic wife and amazing mom to Maleah. I know she'll be an amazing mom to Alex too! :)

Closer, Amber Augustin, Westboro Outnumbered

3BT for 3/3/09

1. Another great checkup. We should be under a month to go! Miranda and I will get to bring Alex home soon!

2. Amber Augustin's story on last Sunday night's episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Amber takes pictures of extremely prematurely born babies... and she does it for free. Some of these babies do not make it and these parents have a wonderful way to remember them by. What she's doing is an amazing thing; God Bless ABC for picking them. They deserved it!

3. The Westboro Baptist group of protesters were outnumbered... by hundreds. While they spread their destructive and unBiblical message of hatred, several hundred other protesters came out against them. Homemade signs read, "My God is Love" "Hatred Sucks and "Don't Judge" among others. God bless those that stood up against these spreaders of hatred. You can see the whole story here:
http://www.edmondsun.com/homepage/local_story_061234140.html.

Dr. Appointment, Training Continues, Care-free

3BT for 3/2/09

1. We have a doctor appointment today for Alex! He's almost here! We're getting so excited and (somewhat) prepared. We cannot wait to bring him home.. and I love that Miranda gets to be home for awhile. She's going to attempt to be off longer than she was with Maleah. I still will just be off two weeks, but I'll take it! :)

2. Maleah's potty training continues. All of the books say it... There's nothing that you can do to make a child "ready". They have to dictate the time, the way its done, etc. You just have to make things available to them. Maleah proved it this weekend. She was telling us when she had to go (in addition to the times we asked) and was doing it by herself. I know there will be setbacks, but she's done really well! Hard to tell what she'll teach herself next! :)

3. Not caring what you think about me. I don't mean that in a rude way... It is just a liberating feeling to know that there is only one person that controls my feelings, my mood, and my reaction to things... Me. Think what you want to think about me... say what you want to say. It won't bring me down. If it makes you happy... go ahead and do it... but that makes you a sad individual. :)

Writing, American Idol, Warmer Days

3BT for 2/26/09

1. Writing. I love to write. I wish I made more time for it. I love what God has been able to do through me thus far; I just need to allow Him to do more!

2. American Idol. I love the show... this year has been weird, but its still a nice diversion.

3. 50s in the winter. I will take it!

Third Time, Jindal in '12, Sad Trombone

3BT for 2/24/09

1. Three times. Maleah is relentless. How many parents get the luxury of their child potty training themselves? :) She's now gone three times. Oh, and I can tell you I never thought I'd blog on potty training. Who knew?

2. I heart Bobby Jindal. Keep watching this guy. Jindal/Palin in 2012? Or Jindal/Romney... Or Jindal/(Enter Conservative here).

3. SadTrombone.Com. I love it and I don't know why.

Alex's Room, Reassurance, Great Weekend

3BT for 2/23/09

1. Alex's Room. The color scheme is great, the theme is great and the Curious George wall hangs are... (guess where I'm going) GREAT! Butch made these himself from some coloring pages. He did a fantastic job of making them. Miranda pretty much brought everything else together on it. More pictures are on Picasa.

2. A little more reassurance about my job. We switched supervisors (again) and it looks much better for us as a whole. I feel lucky and blessed to have made it through the cuts that my employer made. I'll pray for you and your job security if you can do the same for me!

3. Great weekends that make Monday much more tolerable. Miranda, Maleah and I had a pretty good weekend. It was probably one of the best we've had in awhile.

Safety, Simple Things, 500

3BT for 2/19/09

1. Driving up to Columbus everyday can be worriesome for me and Miranda both. I appreciate that God keeps me safe on these daily trips.

2. American Idol, The Office, Coke Zero... Simple things that make me happy.

3. This is my 500th post! :) Thanks for reading!

V-Day Eve, Great Chinese Food, Fri the 13th

3BT for 2/13/09

1. Happy Valentine's Day eve! :) Its always nice to have a holiday to look forward to... What's next? St. Patrick's Day on March 17th and then Easter on April 12th!

2. Peking Restaurant might just have the best Chinese food in Chillicothe. They are the most authentic at least. The food was great and at a decent price!

3. Friday the 13th. People always freak out about today. It is funny. I'm going to create a movie called Tuesday the 3rd and it will be about cheese. That way people are like "Its Tuesday the 3rd... CHEESE! :)

Cinderella, Progress, Leading worship

3BT for 6/16/08

1. I got to sing on Father's Day again. It was wonderful - the experience, not the singing ;). Below (in my last post) is the video I made to show while singing. I took out the performance track and put in Steven Curtis Chapman singing "Cinderella" for the youtube video.

2. We got a lot accomplished on the rooms this weekend. Only a few more pieces of drywall left to put up and then it's completely clearing out the rooms and getting carpet put in.

3. Leading youth worship on Wednesday. Myself and two member's of our church's Praise Team will be leading worship for the youth's revival on Wednesday. We'll also have a couple of the youth's praise team guitarists and brilliant drumming by Johnny. I'm excited because it is a chance to go outside of what I've been able to do in the past worship-wise. It should be fun and I truly hope that we'll be able to provide a great opportunity for genuine worship.

Slushy pop, twitter, picasa pics

3BT for 6/12/08

1. Ice cold slushy pop. I love when you leave a pop in the freezer "too long". More like "just right".

2. It might be lame, but I love twitter. It is a pithy way to keep updated. Follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/speaks.

3. New Maleah pics! Go HERE - http://picasaweb.google.com/speakmanville/16thMonth

Crisp air, Same page, FF mag

3BT for 6/10/08

1. Feeling crisp, cooler air when it has been so humid. It was really nice last night.

2. Knowing your spouse is on the same page with you... on everything. I'm not saying we never disagree. We may not always agree on which play to run, but the overall game plan is the same for both of us. I'm talking over my own head right now.

3. The first Fantasy football mag came out! I know no one reading this probably cares, but I do! :)

3BT for 6/10/08

1. A military funeral. I've never seen one before. It was a beautiful thing. My grandpa deserved to have that done for him. Also, I love that the preacher painted a perfect picture of grandpa and his story telling.

2. Working on my own home. Bobby, Anthony and Butch have done the majority of the work on our back bedroom. I did a very tiny amount; but I did part of it. Some men may not understand this. That's fine. I don't usually do this stuff due to: lack of knowledge, lack of experience, etc. It is just nice to actually do some myself.

3. Watching Maleah play. She's so beautiful it hurts. I love her so much! She's such a big girl and she's learning so much!

Consistent Irregularity

I'm nothing if not inconsistent.

I really had planned on getting back into blogging regularly. It has just escaped me, I'm afraid.

My grandpa Parsons passed away yesterday. I was not very close to my grandpa - which has been my fault as of the last few years. I have been told before that usually multiple grandparents die within a short period of time. This is turning out to be true, however I would have expected my grandpa Speakman to pass next. Hopefully I'm not being crass; it is my Grandma Speakman that passed in January so I thought heartache would be too much.

We'll miss you grandpa. I wasn't the best grand son that I could be to you, but I still loved you very much.

Here are a few other updates:

• We put a ton of new pics of Maleah on our Picasa page: http://picasaweb.google.com/speakmanville/16thMonth
• We're doing some room remodeling. Pictures will be up of that soon. Thank you Butch, Anthony and Bobby for your hard work! :)
• We have a new picture window in the front of our house... Yeah, not too exciting.
• Maleah went down our slide for the first time. First of many I assume! She enjoyed it.
• The concert at the amphitheater didn't go real well. Which reminds me. If you would like to make a donation to our amphitheater, you can! :)
• I was quoted in the Chillicothe Gazette for that concert... I'm sorry, misquoted.
• I'm singing "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman on Father's Day. You're welcome to come! :) (we're at Chillicothe Baptist if you didn't know)

That's all I can think of for now. I PROMISE the return of the 3BT on Monday. Remember, I don't hold rights to it. You can do it on your blog too! :)

Over it, Yard Sale, I'm right

3BT for 5/19/08

1. Maleah is feeling better. Most of you don't even know she was sick. She felt awful Friday and Saturday; she would eat and drink ok, but had no interest in playing. She only got sick once (sorry Annie) and her elevated temp. was gone by Sunday.

2. Yard sales. I just love them and we're having one Saturday! What a coincidence - or maybe a shameless plug. Either way stop by and buy if you haven't spent your stimulus check already! :)

3. Saying what you mean and meaning what you say. I won't take things back or apologize for my actions if I don't feel I'm wrong. I'm not wrong. At least not this time.

New pics, New Drama, New Concert

3BT for 5/14/08

1. New pictures of Maleah up! Finally! Check them out here: http://picasaweb.google.com/speakmanville

2. Planning and writing for a new drama at our church is coming along very well. It is an exciting project and I'm glad God is using both Miranda and myself for it.

3. Tri-County Music Festival is coming back to our Amphitheater! I'll have more info soon, but all sorts of Christian music will be on display and it is a great time! :)

3BT, but still...

3BT for 5/12/08

1. Reduced fat or no fat foods. The taste of these particular products has greatly increased. The only bad thing is I eat twice as much so the health benefit is nil, but still...

2. Mother's Day has a whole new meaning. Celebrating your wife as the mother of your child is a different feeling that of celebrating your own mother. Watching Miranda become this "super mom" is an amazing thing. She's becoming everything that a mother needs to be; Maleah is truly blessed to have her. I asked Miranda not to do anything and that I'd take care of the house. She blew me off and cleaned "her way", but still...

3. We went to the Columbus Zoo Saturday. Though there were moments of stressfulness all in all in was an enjoyable day. Maleah liked the reptile house... actually she really liked pressing the buttons in the reptile house, but still...

Off the Wall, When She Cries, Youth Group

3BT for 5/8/08

1. When a youth "worker" says off the wall stuff. I won't say a name because I didn't ask permission, but this person said, "Good thing there's no pooping in heaven because when God speaks to me I'd crap myself". That's hilarious. And no, it wasn't me.... or Miranda. :)

2. Maleah is still a baby when she cries. It breaks your heart when she cries and her lip quivers and frowns really big. Then a big waterfall sized tear runs down her cheek. At that moment I forget that she can climb on everything throws big kid tantrums, and repeats most all of what you say. At that moment she's still a baby and not a toddler.

3. Youth group last night was fun. Miranda came with me this time and we had an all girl discussion group. We talked about the book, the video that we all watched. We also talked about "Hitch" and the 90/10 rule, running into people at Wal-Mart and various other topics. We really do enjoy this.

Appreciation, 5/5, Coldstone Cakes

3BT for 5/7/08

I meant to start this already, but here is my first of many... the return of 3BT:

1. Appreciating what I have. Our umbrella on our patio table broke the other day from strong winds. Over 22,000 people in Myanmar are dead and over 1 million are homeless. I'll take the broken umbrella.

2. Miranda's birthday was Monday. I thank God every year for the day that she was born. I was on his mind when He was creating her for me.

3. Coldstone's Ice Cream cakes! I bought one for Miranda's birthday and it was wonderful.

Kid's Menu, Moose A. Moose & Diego, Moving

3BT for 4/3/08

1. Ordering off of the kid's menu. When we go to Bob Evans we order off of the kid's menu for Maleah. She is getting so big! She eats adult foods and walks around like she owns the place! :) I love her so much. Next will be Happy Meals. :)

2. Maleah is friends with a moose and a little boy who rescues animals. Watching how the world of Noggin (ch. 76 Time Warner) expands Maleah's imagination is like watching a butterfly learning to fly. She is learning things each day and Noggin helps her cultivate her baby mind. She's learned a TON from her cousin Kaitlyn that has been instrumental; Noggin supplements the learning.

3. Moving out of the way. Sometimes the biggest help that we can provide to God in shaping our lives is to just move. Step back. Stopping muddling things up. Take your hands off it! Miranda and I are seeing first hand the doors that can open up when you let go of the wheel.