Noah Lee Hynds is here!

We'd like to welcome Noah Lee Hynds to the world. Noah was born on Sunday, February 22 at 3:24 p.m., at 9 lbs. 5 oz. and 22 inches long. He has brought tremendous blessing and joy to Angie and I. Here's the first of many pictures of our little guy. Noah and his mom are both doing well.




There will be a lot more pictures and videos both on this blog and on Facebook. We can't wait to share his stories to all of you! A big thank you goes to all of our family and friends for their caring and generosity.

Baby Comic

My grandma sent this to me a few weeks ago. It's a comic from Parade Magazine, and she threw in her own captions:




Pretty funny, and sadly, I know it will be true very soon.

Our Baby Shower

Angie had her baby shower back on January 17. It turned out very well, and we'd like to thank everybody for all of the books, all of the gifts, and the great food. Special thanks to Sherry and Nicky for organizing the event, Dad for preparing the soup, and our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and friends for helping out. The pictures can be seen on Sherry's Facebook page.

If you see Angie, ask her what she thought of the fruit salad.

Thank you all for a great baby shower, and our little guy will be here before you know it!

Adventures in Plumbing

Angie and I had an unusual day yesterday. Let me set the scene for you: Yesterday, we both got off work at 2:00, both being done for the day. That almost never happens, so we were looking forward to an evening of relaxation. We both got home. Angie had to use the restroom right before we were to take off for Target.

A few minutes later, everything changed. Angie went to wash her hands, and the faucet bursted into the air. Water came flying into the air and out of the faucet. It did not stop. I ran downstairs to shut it off. In a moment of panic, I thought the shut-off valve was in the laundry room. It wasn't. Instead, I found out that the water had gone through the duct work and into the laundry room, where it was cascading down. I called Bill, my father-in-law. He told me that the shut-off is on the street side of the house, and of course, he's right, so I made it to the other side of the basement to shut it off.

The water is shut off, but there is still work to do. Bill called a plumbing service for us. Meanwhile, there is water in the basement, on the ceramic tile. So, while running to go upstairs and start cleaning up, I slipped and fell on the floor. I went upstairs, and water was all over the bathroom. We had to use every towel in the house to soak it all up on both floors.

About an hour later, the plumber arrived. It turns out that an O-ring corroded on the pipe, and a washer on the faucet fell apart. Those two little things caused all of this.

By now it's about 4:30. The plumber told me what to get, so I went to Lowe's to buy a new faucet, a P-trap, and two hoses. I got home and unhooked the water line from the old faucet, got everything unscrewed, and got the old faucet removed. At this point, Bill felt sorry for me and went over to help.

I should clarify that we have a small bathroom, and a small cabinet area. I should also mention that I'm about 6'3", and Bill isn't much smaller. I twisted myself more than ever before on this project. The pipes didn't quite fit, so Bill had to get a hacksaw to make the pipes fit. Bill spent most of the time working on it, and then I would occasionally tighten things up. Finally, a little after 7:00, the job was done, and the cleanup began.

Thankfully, everything is okay. The only two rooms that had water have ceramic tile, so it did not get on our laminate floors, or the carpeting. I also owe a lot to Bill for helping me out. Plus, I need to thank my father for bringing some fans over, so we could air out the floors and cabinets faster.

So if you ever needed help on installing a faucet, I can now say that I have some experience. Being a homeowner can make life interesting!

A Weird Dream, or an Ominous Prediction?

The other night, I dreamed that the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series. That would be very unlikely, since the Pirates' last winning season was in the early '90s. However, if that actually happens this year, you heard it here first.

Another Carbondale Trip

Guess what? We went back to Carbondale this past weekend. It wasn't as long of a trip as last time, and this was more for business than for pleasure (I went down to help wrap up our old church's files), but we still had a wonderful time with the Staleys. Angie and I ate at Booby's (you read that correctly) for lunch, and then went out with Noble and Lynnette for pizza at Quatro's for dinner. Later on, Angie and I did some shopping in Marion to buy some baby things that our stores in Decatur don't carry anymore.

On Sunday, we attended the worship service at Vine Community Church (a place I would recommend visiting), and it was awesome as always. The "random moment" of the weekend soon followed, when we had to detour on the way back to their house becuase a big moving truck got stuck in the ditch pulling out onto Pleasant Hill Road.

We have to thank the Staleys yet again for providing us a place to stay and for the good times that we had. With our little guy coming in less than a month, this was our last trip for a while.

The Inauguration

I consider myself pretty lucky that I was able to watch the Inauguration at work today. No matter how we all feel about politics, it was quite a sight to see, and an event that will go down in history. I never plan on giving away my political affilation on this blog, but no matter what, I hope that I always remember to pray for my president and the decisions that he makes.

I hope that the next four years go well for us, and that we remember that if we expect the president to fix all of our troubles by himself, we will be greatly disappointed.

One more thing: President Obama is a White Sox fan, and that's pretty sweet. Take that, North Siders!