Exciting New Video

Day Has Dawned

So, today I turned in my last seminary assignment. . .ever!
Now all I have to do is wait until graduation day on May 16th. Karina and I are so, so excited to be finished with the MDiv degree. Crazy. We are also really thankful for all the ways that God has provided for us financially during this time. No debt, and we didn't take a decade to do it (only about 6 years).
Ahhhhh. Soon this will sink in.
Today is a good day.

8 Months Old

Today is April 23rd, and that means that Jack Timothy Franklin is 8 months old. I know that 8 months is not any kind of huge watershed event in a person's life, but I thought I would take it as an opportunity to talk about my son.
Some of you know that Jack is not quite as big as we would like to see him (not that we want a future sumo wrestler) because of his spitting up problems. Those have been getting better with some medication that we have him on. He is still kind of a little guy, but nothing that is causing long-term concern. He is starting to get some chunkiness on him.
Jack is following in the footsteps of his older brother, in that he is becoming more and more independent each day. He likes to be held, but more and more he will squirm around in my arms until I put him down on the floor. Then he rolls, scoots, and semi-crawls to wherever his heart desires. I think he will be full-blown crawling within a couple of weeks. He is right on the verge.
Jack is the most delightful little baby I have ever been around. If he is crying or upset, all it takes is Karina or I smiling at him, and he returns to being in good spirits. It is a blast to be across the room from him, to hear him start to grumble, and then to see his face light up when I give him a big open-mouth smile.
Jack is a funny baby because of some of his favorite things. He still loves having his diaper changed. He shrieks with delight when we do it.
Jack also loves sucking on his socks. Now he is not to the level of his older cousin Jack, who often had to go barefoot because of his sock-sucking. Still, Jack loves to grab his feet, bring them up to his mouth, and go to town.
Jack also loves to dance with his daddy as he sings "Thank You for Loving Me" by Bon Jovi (usually accompanied by the actual song playing on my laptop). Of course, it is possible that I love this a lot more than he does. Still, he seems to get a kick out of it.
I am really thankful for my family. Jack is a great and fun kid. Karina and I really look forward to getting to know him better as he grows and gets older.

Something New

Here are a few things that are new. . .

New Song that I am Loving: Flake by Jack Johnson

New Book that I am Reading: Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Views

New Favorite Activity for Jack: Getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth

New Favorite Activity for Matt: Identifying letters and sounding them out

New Favorite Activity for Karina: Composting (that's right)

New Sports Focus: Lakers (now that UCLA's season is over)

New Favorite TV Show: Eli Stone (favorite in a relative sense, since 24 has not been on for over a year)

New Countdown to turning 30: 74 days

New Countdown until I turn in my final Seminary Assignment: 14 days

And. . .

New Countdown until Seminary Graduation: 31 Days!


Some good NEW things going on with us.

Family Haircuts

My best friend Dave and his wife Kelly visited us this past week. It was great to hang out and catch up. I will post more on that later because the pictures of that are at home.

For now, I need to post on. . .

FAMILY HAIRCUT NIGHT!

Jack, Matt, and I all received haricuts Sunday night. Here are the highlights.

Here are Matt and I with our sloppy hair. This is a "before" picture. Earlier on Sunday I had a classic conversation with Matt that I just have to share with you.

Dan: Matt, we're going to get haircuts tonight.

Matt: Haircuts? But why? (his favorite question these days)

Dan: Because we need them.

Matt: I don't want one.

Dan: Well, I'm going to get one. Don't you want to get one also? Then we could be handsome together.

Matt: Handsome together?

Dan: Yeah.

Matt: (with a sincerely confused look on his face) But we're already handsome.

Dan: (after composing himself from a good burst of laughter) Yeah, but after our haircuts, we'll be more handsome.

Matt: More handsome. Why?

Dan: Because it is always good to be more handsome.

Jack isn't at the point of conversation about haircuts, but he got one also. As you will see in a moment, he was not crazy about it. Still, you can kind of see his fro in this picture.

Nooooooooooooooo!!!!

Here is our "after" picture. Jack has recovered, and, as you can see, the three of us are much more handsome than when we started.