Sitting Boy!

I've been working with Brennan on sitting up by himself. He's been getting better, but has still been pretty tipsy. Until today! He actually sat by himself on our bed for a little bit before he toppled over. I captured some of the excitement on video. He let loose with some pretty great facial expressions as he discovered the joy of sitting.

Happy Half-Birthday to Brennan!

It's hard to believe our little boy is already six months old! He's changed so much, and is a lot of fun to be around. We enjoy watching him learn new things and try new foods. So far, the boy has tried (and appears to like) rice cereal, bananas, apples, carrots, pears, peaches, sweet potatoes, and peas. I'm excited about all the new foods I have waiting in the wings for him to try since these have been such a big hit!

Highlights for his six-month mark: rolling over tons, eating lots of solids, trying to sit up on his own, and teething (none yet, but all the signs are there!). He grows more interested in his surroundings every day, including watching the cat and sometimes trying to pet her and reaching for the camera and remote control! We love having him around!

Happy half-birthday to you!
Happy half-birthday to you!
Happy half-birthday, dear Brennan!
Happy half-birthday to you!

Oh, and a special happy birthday to Auntie Sara Heutinck, who is celebrating her real birthday today!

The Joy of Esther

Now that Brennan is interacting with his world more, he's discovering the joy of Esther. Esther has done well thus far with tolerating his intrusion into her perfect world. In our house, Brennan has his space and Esther has her space. She doesn't interact with him often and tends to steer clear of him when she deems it necessary to be in the same room as him (i.e. when she wants to be around us, but we're with the baby). She has recently started hanging around him a little more and has even gone so far as to let him "pet" her. We managed to capture one of the petting sessions on video...

Tonight's Journal Entry

Saturday, June 21, 2008 11:27pm

I’ve been working on the photo albums tonight. I finished up 2007 and started on Brennan pictures. It’s been really fun to reminisce as I sort through photos of his first few months of life. He’s getting so big so fast. I need to remember to cherish these days because they won’t last long. Some days I just can’t wait for him to grow up … to crawl, walk, talk, go to the park, play outside, watch baseball games with him, see him off to school. But these are days, now, to enjoy and soak up. … I regret that I didn’t journal much when he was born. (Actually, I took copious notes during his first few days of life, but since then….) I haven’t taken the time to record the precious moments of the last six months. I haven’t taken the time to write about all the good stuff – how proud I am of him, how much I learn from him, how much he’s changed me. So often this journal is a record of pain, anger and regret. But I regret nothing about Brennan. He’s pure joy. The things he does don’t always make me happy (shrieking, pooping), but his existence brings me joy. He’s just so … adorable, alert, innocent, pure, alive, energetic, curious, inquisitive, happy, responsive, content … all the things I wish I was more of. Not surprisingly, all the stuff in the Bible about being like a child makes a lot more sense to me. How much richer my life would be if I looked at life like Brennan does and related to God like he relates to me. Life is so simple for Brennan. He sleeps, plays and eats. Everything he needs is provided for him. He has no worries, except when he perceives that we are stressed. Each day brings a new discovery (I have a hand. What can I do with it?) Sometimes he just cries out for no apparent reason. Maybe he’s just happy. Maybe he’s just trying out his voice. When was the last time I tried out my voice? When was the last time I contemplated my hands and wondered what I might do with them? When was the last time I thought of a day as a chance to make a new discovery? Fortunately, I can say I do this last one. If I haven’t learned something new, it’s probably been a wasted day. I can also boast that most nights when I lay my head on my pillow I know that I’ll be taken care of. Maybe 8 ½ years of living on support gave me that. God’s always provided, so I can sleep soundly. But what about relating to God in other ways? I trust Him to provide for me, but beyond that…? Brennan always smiles when he sees me and looks for me when he hears my voice. He has times when he wails because neither of us is near enough to him. He loves our presence and loves to be held. Right now two of his favorite things are standing on my lap (with me holding his hands to keep him steady) and having me throw him into the air. I think he loves to feel big and strong and to look me in the eye, face to face. I think he loves the feeling of weightlessness in the moment when his upward flight stops and gravity begins to pull him back down to my waiting arms. He never, ever wonders if I’ll catch him. It has never crossed his mind to doubt it. By contrast, I wonder about God. I wonder if He’ll catch me. So I’m not keen to be thrown into the air. I keep my feet on the ground. I feel weak and don’t look God in the eye. I stay safe. I act like an orphan, unsure of how to approach or relate to this God-Dad. The analogy feels like an ill fit. The imagery has faded for me. Perhaps, though, as I drink in the joy of being a Dad – Brennan’s dad – I’ll pick up some of his cues, and learn the lessons that he longs to teach me. Every day he says to me, without words: “I love you dad. Love God like I love you, and know that God loves you back, even more than you love me. ”

More Brennan Fun

He is definitely a hat kid...

He's working on sitting up by himself...we're expecting that to happen really soon!

He LOVES standing when he's hanging on to our hands. Right after this picture was taken, he and Daddy practiced walking.

Random family shot, just in case you forget what we all look like!

A Walk in the Park

It was a great day to enjoy some beautiful Richmond weather! This afternoon, Brennan and I (Naomi) decided to hit the park for a little while. So, off we went to Deep Run Park, which is not far from our house. We walked around the lake a couple of times, saw some geese and ducks on the lake and up close (there were a lot hanging out by the path and walking across it right in front of us!), and checked out the baby swing. It was Brennan's second time in the swing and he seems to enjoy. He was pretty mellow as I pushed him, but he wasn't crying so I take that as a good sign. All in all, it was really nice to be outside, getting some exercise and enjoying the afternoon out with my boy.

The Leadership Transition

At work I've been going through Franklin-Covey leadership training seminars and they've been really good. During Thursday's session we watched a video of sound bites from Jack Welch. One of the things he said really struck me. It was something to the effect of "becoming a leader is the most important transition you will ever attempt. You will either make it or you won't." This had the sound of truth to it, as I've been learning about leadership over the past two and a half years. Later on he commented on how love for developing the people he led was what made him a good leader. That struck me too, because I believe I am lacking in that area. It also dawned on me that one of the great fallacies in leadership is that we often promote into leadership people that were really good at whatever it is that the people they lead will be doing.

For instance, I was a very good recruiter. (I hope this comes across as confident, not arrogant; I feel that I was good at it and have had many trusted friends agree). So eventually I was picked to lead a team of recruiters. I discovered very quickly that I was not as good at leading recruiters as I was at recruiting. The two roles required very different skill-sets. I don't regret becoming the leader -- not at all. It was an important challenge for me and I do think I got better at it over the two+ years that I led the phone team. I just realize now the extent of the challenge. The more I learn about good leadership, the more I see ways in which I failed to lead the phone team well. Just being a good recruiter wasn't enough to help them become good recruiters. There's so much more to it than that! I needed to help them become good recruiters, yes, but more importantly, I needed to care for them as people, help them develop and grow -- help them be successful in the job they currently had, and in the ones that were yet to come.

The bottom line is, I cannot rest on the abilities I've developed up until now, because they are not sufficient to make me into a great leader. I need to develop a different skill-set to reach that goal -- and that is exactly my goal. Not to be great for my own reputation, but because I believe God would want me to be the best possible leader. I am in that role -- World Access (now Mondial USA) hired me to be a leader because they saw something there. And I think there IS something there. But it is a work in progress. This course is showing me that, and it's humbling. I am keenly aware that I'm in the midst of this huge transition in my life and career and it can still go either way. I need to figure out what will help me to navigate the transition with grace, dignity and success -- for the sake of all those whom I will influence.

World Access & Brennan Pics (as always)

Many people have been asking about my new job and how it's going. So far, I'm really liking it. My experiences at PI really did prepare me well for it in many respects. The aspects of leading a team and providing excellent follow-up/service to people contacting us are transferrable. There's a whole language used in the insurance industry that I have to learn though, and that's taking some time. Just being able to follow along in some conversations and decipher case notes has been a challenge. But I'm picking it up pretty quickly and I feel good about the progress I've been making.

But what will I actually be doing?!?! I'm not selling insurance! World Access is an assistance company, which means that we help people who need some kind of help while traveling. My team specifically deals with medical emergencies for people traveling overseas. We help them get appropriate medical attention and act as a liaison between them and their insurance company. Sometimes we're directing them to local hospitals, sometimes we're monitoring the care they're getting in a country with dubious medical practices. Sometimes we help with evacuations to better hospitals or repatriation to the U.S. Unfortunately, sometimes we're helping families get loved one's bodies back to the States when they've passed away abroad. We work closely with insurance companies (we contract with a lot of them to provide these services) to determine who will pay for everything too, which is why I have to learn the insurance industry lingo.

I like the international focus of it and the opportunity that I and my team have to help people in their hour of dire need.

There may be a missions overlap as well. I've put together a proposal to the marketing department to get into the misions market, providing products tailored to the needs of short- and long-termers. We'll see where that goes.

In other news ... Naomi and I recently celebrated 5 years together and I had my latest birthday. It's fun to celebrate, but I'm SO over being another year older! My one comfort: Naomi will join me in the 30s in just three months! Hasten the day...

Here are some recent Brennan photos to enjoy. He's still a cute one!

Wave to the camera big boy!

Stare blankly into the camera, cutie pie!

Open Wide!

Decked out in Red Sox garb (the socks are Sox too)!

Cool Red Sox bib + rice cereal covered chin