Future focused.

It's probably no big surprise that I've been thinking about the future a lot lately, after all, in just six short months Carrie and I are going to be bringing a new life into this world—one we hope will someday live to see the beginning of the 22nd century.

While the thought of that is incredibly exciting, it's also really, really scary.

It's scary because I don't really know what I'm signing him or her up for.

If you've been reading this blog for very long you know that I've been concerned about climate change for quite a while, but it took the reality of becoming a dad for a second time to really stoke my fire (only figuratively of course, otherwise I would be contributing to the problem). Seeing that flickering black and white image on the monitors the other day and then hearing a voice on the radio saying "climate change may or may not dramatically alter our lives, but it's sure to alter the lives of our children," just made me feel sick. Sure, worst case scenarios are worst case scenarios, but if we keep going down the path we're on, the possibilities for the future don't look pretty. Instead of wars over oil and religion are my kids going to be fighting over water and habitable land? I see Park stuck inside on sunny summer day because it's too hot to go out and play and wonder what it will be like for his kids.

The whole climate change denial thing seems a lot like the way smokers used to look at lung cancer. I remember people debunking science reports linking cigarettes and lung cancer simply because they weren't 100% conclusive. They just kept puffing away, either ignoring the data or focusing on the 1% chance that the spots on their lungs were the result of some mysterious natural cause. To me, that's what we're doing, we're looking at the blotchy X-rays and staring down the possibility of a life strapped to an oxygen tube and just rolling the dice. I'd much rather play the odds. If someone says there might be hungry bears on the trail up ahead and it might help to tie some bells to my shoes, you better bet I'm tying those damn bells to my shoes, after all what's the harm?

I guess that's what I'm getting at, whether you believe the earth is warming or not (it is) and whether or not you think we're to blame (we are) what harm does it do to make some changes that might make life better for ourselves and future generations? I'm just frustrated of sitting around watching temperatures—and water levels—go up while no one does anything thanks to partisan politics and the bloated bottom lines of an archaic industry.

Whew … sorry about that.

I feel better now.

Busting at the seams

It may only be July, but so far we have had quite the year. Since January, Craig has had two surgeries and one cancer scare, we had two other cancer scares in the family and one cancer diagnosis, a frightening ER/hospital stay for my dad following surgery to remove the cancer from his colon and I said goodbye to my grandma just last week.

It's time for some positive news, right?

We're having a baby! And as if that wasn't exciting and terrifying enough, we went out and bought a new house on Friday.

First things first. I'll be 13 weeks along tomorrow and look bigger than some women carrying full-term. I'm already sporting the comfy maternity clothes (can not wait for Thanksgiving!) and our three-year-old insists he's going to have a sister. (We'll have a better idea about that later in August.) The due date is January 31, which goes with our motto that 2013 is going to kick 2012's butt. (It will most definitely kick ours as we go back to sleepless nights and the exhausting demands of a newborn.) 

As for the house, it wasn't anything we had planned to buy last week and it happened much faster than Craig and I are comfortable with when it comes to making BIG decisions. We have been outgrowing our current house and knew that things would be extra tight come January, so we've been casually watching what comes on the market. This particular property caught my eye a few weeks ago and we've been thinking about it ever since. It just took someone else putting an offer on it to make us jump. Now, we're frantically getting our house of 9 1/2 years ready to put on the market and coming to terms with the changes that are in store. It's sad but exciting.

The house is in east Wichita -- farther east than we are now. Coincidentally, it's in the neighborhood where a good friend of mine lived growing up. This same friend is someone that I got to see last week while she was visiting family in town ... AND we were spending the evening with her and her husband 9 1/2 years ago -- the same day we purchased the house we're in now. Craig said I can't hang out with her anymore if it's going to result in the purchase of another house.

Here's a sneak peek at the exterior of the house:

And here's one of our favorite features: the backyard view (which will soon be slightly obstructed with an iron fence to keep the kids and dogs from swimming with the ducks)

If you don't hear much from us over the next month, you now know why. We promise to share more updates soon and hope you'll come visit us after we've moved in. Oh, and if you (or someone you know) is in the market for a great house in east Wichita, we have just the place for you!

Horse Whisperer

Over the past couple of months, I've spent more time around horses than I have in my entire life. Last month Park and I spent a morning at Deanna Rose Farmstead in Overland Park and then a couple of weeks later we hit another farm/petting Zoo when we were out in San Diego. Before that, my only real contact with a horse was during an ill-fated horseback ride in Colorado and a horse aptly named Slowpoke. Recently, it's been my work at the university that has had me hanging out at the stables. As part of our Do More. Be More. campaign focusing on experience-based learning opportunities at Wichita State, we've been filming a woman who runs an organization called Horses to Humans that uses horses in equine-assisted psychotherapy to help people overcome everything from depression to PTSD. It's really pretty fascinating stuff. But the cool thing for me is that I've gotten to interact with horses like I never have before. So much so, that the other day when we were shooting, a horse named Patsy took such a liking to me I had to actually leave the area because all she would do was follow me around. All of this seems to come at a perfect time as Park is completely fascinated by virtually every barnyard animal and asks me 101 questions every time I come home from a shoot. As time has gone on, I've done my homework before leaving the stables—asking each horse's name as well as several other vital statistics that we can go over together during our pre night-night talks.

Here are a couple of the shots I've taken during the TV shoot.

Bounty

At the beginning of the summer my dad came across a new strain (or at least new to us) of tomatoes called "Park's Whopper" so of course he had to pick some up. The one he potted and gave to us has been residing on our front porch ever since and Park has faithfully been watering it, anxiously waiting to see some red.

The other day, we decided we had waited long enough and it was finally time to harvest. Fifteen seconds later, we had ourselves one, slightly rotted, racquetball-sized tomato.

We're setting up a booth at the farmer's market this weekend.

Get there early.

I guess it could be worse.