My trick dog

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I am trying this format out for posting "video" to my blog. This is a video from the summer. I think it is funny and cute when Shadow walks on her back legs; that must be the "poodle" in her. :-D

Funny cartoon

Steve Berry draws some pretty funny EMS cartoons...here is a holiday one that I found amusing. I won't post it on my site, d/t copyright issues...but I posted the link. :-)

My Christmas letter

Greetings from South Carolina

I trust that each of you is doing very well. As usual, my life has stayed busy this year. In March I celebrated having Shadow for one year. She is a lot of fun and we enjoy being buddies. She tends to be a bit on the mischievous side, but really does want to please and tries so hard to obey most of the time. It is so cute…if she wants something and I haven’t given it to her, she will go through every one of her “commands” (sit, down, etc.) and just look at you wondering how you can ignore those mournful puppy eyes! Ha, ha! Okay, sometime I do give in. One of her more mischievous accomplishments this year was learning that she can jump onto the table! Yikes! I come back to the table and wondered what had happened to the blueberry muffins I had left in the center of the table…yep, she was lying there on the floor, looking as innocent as ever but I am sure I saw some blueberries on her teeth. I have since occasionally found her walking around on top of the table trying to see what is there. Silly girl! She does know she should not be there and generally waits until I go out of the room before making her move, but if I am quiet I can catch her still up there!

In April John and Maria came to visit, with their kiddos. We had a lot of fun, even went to Riverbanks Zoo. We got to see several of the feeding sessions for the animals, which was fun and educational.

In May two of my friends, Kendra and Holli, drove to Ohio with me for Brad’s graduation party. We made the trip up and back in one weekend. It was fast, but fun at the same time and I am really glad that I was able to be there.

I made a trip to Wisconsin in June for the funeral of my nephew, Jeremiah Enoch, who was still born to John and Maria. It was a sad time for us as a family, but we are comforted in knowing that God does not make any mistakes and look forward to meeting Jeremiah in heaven.

Laura and kids came to visit me in August. We had a lot of fun mostly hanging out in G'ville. The kids even came by where I work and got to have a tour of an ambulance.

Then my best friend, Tanya, came from Australia for 7 weeks! Yippee! We had so much fun being with each other again! I was able to swap several days at work with some people and we went to Washington, DC for almost a week. We had a lot of fun, saw a lot of things, and walked a TON! September 4th Tanya and I left on a 3 ½ week road trip across the southwest USA. We had an incredibly awesome time!!! We spent 4 days backpacking the Grand Canyon, several days in Sedona, AZ, stopped at Bryce Canyon in Utah, met up with a friend from Ohio, Jason Axt, at Arches National Park, and ended our trip with several days in Colorado Springs. By far the backpacking trip in the Canyon was my favorite…but we had a wonderful trip overall. You can check out our vacation blog at http://fairemaidens.blogspot.com/.
Near the end of October, John and Maria visited again. John & Maria were pretty busy with the kids from school (they were at the High School Festival) but the kids and I carved pumpkins, went shopping, and Maria came with us to the Children’s Garden.

In November, Dad and mom came to visit their “southern” children, spending several days here with me and also visiting Lynetta at Ambassador and Brian, Molly & Andrew. Lots of us went to Brian and Molly’s for Thanksgiving and as usual enjoyed a time of feeding and fellowship. The day after Thanksgiving, Laura and Todd welcomed a new daughter into the world, Mylie Cherie West. Mylie was born with Down’s Syndrome. Initially we thought that she did not have many of the cardiac complications, but the week after she was born it was discovered that she does have 2 holes in her heart and will need open heart surgery sometime in the first year of her life. Though I have only seen photos, she is a beautiful little bundle and I can’t wait to meet her in person!

I continue to work for GCEMS. I really enjoy what I do at work, and I enjoy the people I work with. In October I had the privilege of getting promoted to an FTO (Field Training Officer) position. My current probationary employee is brand new to everything (EMS and the state) so it has been a fun challenge to help him learn.

Lana

My baby's Christmas pictures

Here are some photos of my darling puppy, Shadow!

(I figured out a different way to add photos to my blog...and I think it is a lot easier! Let me know what you all think.)

Flag Football!

Saturday several of us from work played flag football. It was supposed to be B shift vs. D shift...but considering only one person from B shift showed up (way to go Wendy!!! you can hang out with us D shifters any time you want...) we just split up the people who came and played anyway! :-D We had a lot of fun...but I know all of us are grateful for Advil! ;-)

Slideshow of my newest niece Mylie

Laura created this slide show... I hope to get more photos when I go visit for Christmas. :-)

So funny!

Okay, I know I need to update personally...but I found this very funny commentary on gift wrapping and thought I would post it. :-D

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This is the time of year when we think back to the very first Christmas, when the Three Wise Men; Gaspar, Balthazar and Herb, went to see the baby Jesus and, according to the Book of Matthew, "presented unto Him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh."

These are simple words, but if we analyze them carefully, we discover an important, yet often overlooked, theological fact: There is no mention of wrapping paper.

If there had been wrapping paper, Matthew would have said so: "And lo, the gifts were inside 600 square cubits of paper. And the paper was festooned with pictures of Frosty the Snowman. And Joseph was going to throweth it away, but Mary saideth unto him, she saideth, 'Holdeth it! That is nice paper! Saveth it for next year!' And Joseph did rolleth his eyeballs. And the baby Jesus was more interested in the paper than the frankincense."

But these words do not appear in the Bible, which means that the very first Christmas gifts were NOT wrapped. This is because the people giving those gifts had two important characteristics:

1. They were wise.
2. They were men.

Men are not big gift wrappers. Men do not understand the point of putting paper on a gift just so somebody else can tear it off. This is not just my opinion: This is a scientific fact based on a statistical survey of two guys I know.

One is Russ, who said the only time he ever wraps a gift is "if it's such a poor gift that I don't want to be there when the person opens it."

The other is Leo, who told me he does wrap gifts, but as a matter of principle never takes more than 15 seconds per gift.

"No one ever had to wonder which presents daddy wrapped at Christmas," Gene said. "They were the ones that looked like enormous spitballs."

I also wrap gifts, but because of some defect in my motor skills, I can never completely wrap them. I can take a gift the size of a deck of cards and put it the exact center of a piece of wrapping paper the size of a regulation volleyball court, but when I am done folding and taping, you can still see a sector of the gift peeking out. (Sometimes I camouflage this sector with a marking pen.)

If I had been an ancient Egyptian in the field of mummies, the lower half of the Pharaoh's body would be covered only by Scotch tape.

On the other hand, if you give my wife a 12-inch square of wrapping paper, she can wrap a C-130 cargo plane. My wife, like many women, actually likes wrapping things. If she gives you a gift that requires batteries, she wraps the batteries separately, which to me is very close to being a symptom of mental illness. If it were possible, my wife would wrap each individual volt.

My point is that gift-wrapping is one of those skills like having babies that come more naturally to women than to men. That is why today I am presenting:

GIFT-WRAPPING TIPS FOR MEN:
* Whenever possible, buy gifts that are already wrapped. If, when the recipient opens the gift, neither one of you recognizes it, you can claim that it's myrrh.

* The editors of Woman's Day magazine recently ran an item on how to make your own wrapping paper by printing a design on it with an apple sliced in half horizontally and dipped in a mixture of food coloring and liquid starch. They must be smoking crack.


* If you're giving a hard-to-wrap gift, skip the wrapping paper! Just put it inside a bag and stick one of those little adhesive bows on it. This creates a festive visual effect that is sure to delight the lucky recipient on Christmas morning:

YOUR WIFE: Why is there a Hefty trash bag under the tree?
YOU: It's a gift! See? It has a bow!
YOUR WIFE (peering into the trash bag): It's a leaf blower.
YOU: Gas-powered! Five horsepower!
YOUR WIFE: I want a divorce.
YOU: I also got you some myrrh.
In conclusion, remember that the important thing is not what you give, or how you wrap it. The important thing, during this very special time of year, is that you save the receipt.

Dreaming of a White Christmas for you!

Click here for my Christmas wish to you. :-)