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So, yesterday afternoon I was picking up the kids and my father-in-law informs me that they have “acquired” another dog. It seems that there was a stray Yorkie running around their neighborhood. He went from house to house asking if they knew where she had come from. No one had seen her, so I get a call from him asking if we wanted to take care of her. I agreed.

So, now we have a fully-grown Yorkie in the house (but even fully grown she comes up to my ankles). She’s already house-trained and walked into our home like she’d been living there for several years already. The look on her face seemed to say, “Did you rent out my room while I was gone or can I just move my stuff back in?”

When Bekah got home, the dog spent more than an hour sitting in her lap while they watched TV.

Oh yeah, I forgot the most important part, Morgan was fretting over what to name her. Morgan identified her as a “princess” (meaning “girl”), so she immediately went into her filing cabinet for “princess” names. “Anna” was the first one she came up with. I decided that name wasn’t the best idea since Morgan’s cousin’s name is Anna and I just thought that would be a little confusing down the line. So, Morgan finally settled on the name “Sarah,” which somehow seems to fit her personality. After all, our last dog’s name was “Emily.”

I’m very remiss in getting this (or anything else, for that matter) posted, but here it is. This is the video of Morgan’s Christmas Concerts 2006. She was the only student from her class chosen to play the Autoharp (in D Major, she is quick to point out).

Next stop, Simon’s house. We’re going to talk them into skipping a season of American Idol and just give it to her one year.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

So, today was Morgan’s first day of Preschool. Not as many tears as I expected, which I guess is good. Morgan just decided that she was going to have fun and that was that. She walked right into class and told us, “Okay! Bye, Mommy and Daddy! I love you!” and started playing with Play Doh. We all made it just fine. Ian wanted to get down and play, too, but we decided that was a bad idea. He was not happy about that.

Anyway, if you are family or friends, and already have a login to the gallery, all of the pictures from this morning are online. (If you don’t have a login, you won’t be able to see them!)

I just wanted to take a second to thank everyone who has calling and/or reading for the updates on Ruby and Ed.  Progress is measured in baby steps, but progress is being made.  They are out of the hospital and are recovering in the care of my mom and aunt.  After the recovery, when the doctors tell them it’s time, they will have to go back in to the hospital for a couple of rounds of surgeries.  And I can’t even begin to imagine the psychological recovery that they are facing. 

Theirs is quite possibly the most miraculous story I have ever encountered in my life, outside of the movies.  In fact, several of my friends have commented on exactly how surreal the whole thing is.  The more information that I hear about that night, the more miraculous the story becomes.  I won’t comment on anything I know about the investigation, but I will say that the mere fact that they are alive (let alone not left in some vegetative state) is…well, somehow “miraculous” sounds inadequate (probably because of its overuse by me in the past week). 

Anyway, things are settling down, and now the real healing can begin.  The updates are becoming more and more “static” so I won’t be posting updates here any longer.   Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.  They have helped more than you’ll ever know.

Well, it’s been almost one week since the shooting and I must admit the reports that I’m getting about Ruby and Ed are nothing short of amazing.  They are out of the hospital and are recuperating at a hotel with my mom and aunt.  For now, they just need to heal from their initial wounds before the real doctor work can begin.  When I’m on the phone with my mom, I’m trying to write down the details as best I can so I can pass the information along.  Here’s the new news I’ve got.  I’m sure they’ll tell me if I got anything wrong and I’ll correct it:

Ed was shot one time, but the bullet passed through his body several times.  Here’s the scenario as it was presented to me:  At the moment he was shot, he was trying to get off the ground from having been beaten severely by the wastes of human flesh (hereafter WOHF) that entered their house.  He was trying to get back up to go after them again.  One WOHF turned and shot him point blank.  The bullet entered his body somewhere on the side of his face near the jaw.  The bullet then started to dance around his mouth, taking most of his teeth with it (Ed says he can remember feeling the bullet doing this) and exited through his lower jaw.  Then the bullet re-entered his body in his stomach and went all the way through his abdomen.  As it exited his body again, it clipped his heel leaving a wound there.  The bullet continued through the floor of the upstairs hallway and proceeded to bury itself in their dining room table downstairs.  Because of the proximity to his ear, Ed is very nearly deaf from the blast of the muzzle.

Ruby was the first to be attacked in the house.  The WOHFs went immediately to the master bedroom where she was sleeping alone (Ed was in one of the guest rooms with one of his grandsons).  The WOHFs attempted to smother her with a pillow, but when she faught back, they put the gun against the pillow and fired.  The bullet entered her cheek, travelled through her head behind her eye and came out through her forehead.  Considering how indescriminant the WOHF was with his aim, it is nothing short of a miracle that the bullet missed both her optic nerve and any brain tissue as it did this.  She did visit an eye doctor today (Friday) and they informed her that there was some bleeding on her retina for which they gave her some drops and told her not to go back to work for 4 weeks.  (She’s stubborn and is talking about going back in 2, but not to worry…that’s why my mom is there.) 

On Wednesday, Ed wanted to go back to the house.  So, his son-in-law took him back for the first time.  My mom was quick to point out that his son-in-law had been working almost non-stop on getting the house cleaned up after the invasion of the WOHFs and the investigators who were combing the house for evidence of any kind.  The visit was not easy, but Ed did it.

On Thursday, Ruby wanted to see the house again, so they all made a trip back.  This was incredibly difficult for them, but it’s a step in the right direction.  They are both determined not to let the WOHFs take their home away from them.  They want to feel safe there again, but that’s going to take a long time.

They have been out of the hospital since Tuesday and continue to make progress.  Every day I get a report and it sounds better and better – even if they are baby steps.  Your prayers and thoughts are appreciated and the phone calls and e-mails that I’ve gotten alone have been overwhelming and very emotional.  Keep it up.  There’s a long way to go and they will need all the help they can get. 

There are two suspects in custody.  That’s all the information I have about that.  No, the state of California will not allow us to take our turns with them before any other punishment can be devised.  It’s a damn shame.

Finally,  keep them in your prayers tonight.  Tonight (or rather early tomorrow morning Pacific time) marks the one week “anniversary” of the attack.  I’m sure they will not be thinking about it, but it won’t stop from crossing my mind.  

I thought I’d just take a second to update the status of my Aunt and Uncle.  

Their medical status is better, but they were still both shot in the head at point-blank range.  Ruby is doing much better than Ed.  She’s been walking around and has been talking to her family.  She even talked to my mom on the phone for a bit.  Ed is not doing as well.  Since he’s the one that tried to tackle one of the five men (and I use that term very loosely) and throw him over the balcony rail, he was worked over a bit more than Ruby.  Ed’s lip is still swollen badly and he’s only able to eat soft foods.  They did, however, remove his breathing tube and he’s breathing on his own, but he has a few more wounds that I wasn’t previously told about.  I don’t know the nature of those wounds, but one is on his side (and might be another gunshot) and the other is on his heel (possibly a knife cut, possibly a bullet that grazed him…). 

There was also talk as of late yesterday afternoon (local time) of releasing them from the hospital to recover at home.  They will both have to return at a later date for some reconstructive surgeries on their faces.

In other news, my mom and one of her sisters are out there helping my cousin care for them.  They flew out late on Monday night.  I know they are all in a whirlwind of activity and healing (both physical and psychological) and I’m constantly on edge waiting for my phone to ring. 

That’s all for now.  To my knowledge, only one local television station put a video clip on their website about this story.  If you know otherwise, please e-mail me and let me know.  I’ll place a link to it on the site.

This is my aunt and uncle, Ruby and Ed. If you have ever had the pleasure of meeting them, you’ll know that they are two of the most kind and gentle people on the planet. Ruby and Ed live in Southern California and made the trip to southern Utah to visit me while I was employed with the Utah Shakespearean Festival. They attended the shows and then we enjoyed hikes around Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.

Ruby and Ed also flew to Dallas to attend my gradutation from SMU.

Last year, Ed was diagnosed with lung cancer. They were both long-time smokers. He underwent treatment which included the removal of part of his lung and chemotherapy. He was making such a fantastic recovery that recently, my mom and one of her brothers visited them and took a driving trip of the American west. Their trip included a visit to Yosimite National Park, San Francisco and the Grand Canyon just to name a few. My mother just returned from their visit this Monday past.

Early this morning, five men broke into their house and without any apparent motive, shot both of them in the head and brutally beat them. To make matters worse, my cousin, her son (age 10) and her nephew (age 3) were also in the house as the attack was taking place.

By the grace of a loving God, they survived the attack and are hospitalized in critical condition. The bullets somehow managed to miss their vital organs and central nervous systems.

Here’s to the team of investigators who are diligently working on their case.

For the life of me, I have not been able to picture these two amazing people asleep in their beds while at least two strange men hover over them slowly placing the muzzles of their pistols against their heads. I also can’t imagine them in the hospital with the wounds that have been described to me. It’s not because of the horrible thought of those images. Oh no; it’s because this picture you are looking at was taken less than two weeks ago on their vacation with my mother.

Also, without any apparent motive, I can’t wrap my brain around the fact that something this terrible could happen to two people who have never done anything worse than swat at flies during the hot summer months.

I just thought you should meet them. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers. They’ll need it in the coming months and years.

They are down, but not out yet.

Updates:

• Here’s the CBS2 video link of the news story.

I’ve been remiss in posting this little story, but I have to share it.

I took my son to Hooters for the first time a few days ago. For those of you who don’t know, he’s two years old. We were there with my friend John, who is an expectant father (that phrase has always put an absolutely silly image in my head).

Anyway, were sitting at the table waiting on our scantily clad server talking about fatherhood and trying to keep Ian from eating the napkins. In hindsight, I noticed early on that he was watching one particular blonde, well-endowed server every time she passed by our table. She was not our server, but every time she passed by our table he would stare at her and yell “HI!!” as she walked by.

Every. Time.

When our server finally got to the table to take our order, she stood between my son and my friend. I watched what happened next in slow motion out of the corner of my eye; not really believing that I was seeing what I was seeing. She was wearing her nametag in a rather conspicuous location that made it nearly impossible to see her name. The nametags are bright orange. Here’s what I saw in slow motion:

My son’s hand reached slowly out for her nametag. She didn’t see it coming because she was focusing on John who’s eyes were on the menu. I, too, was looking at the menu, but as fatherhood dictates, I kept the menu low enough to allow a peripheral view of my son. He grabbed her nametag and held it with a death grip. As she pulled away, this caused her shirt (which was already under a considerable amount of stress and strain) to pull away from her body. When she put her hand up to stop the impending revelation, he tried to grab on to her arm to climb into her arms. Thankfully, he was strapped into his high chair because he would have been in her arms. When my son wants something, he will fight tooth and nail to get it.

He didn’t get what he wanted, but he got a show out of the attempt. Now, let me say that she was well covered underneath the shirt, but her shirt was pulled far enough away to see pretty much anything that anyone wanted to see.

We all three jumped into getting my son’s arm under control and weren’t dealing with the other issue of the exposure. When the nametag finally slipped from the deathgrip my son had on it, her shirt slipped back into place with only some minor adjustment needed to get it back into place. There was an awkward moment where we were all not sure what to do next.

Luckily, all three of us laughed at pretty much the same time. The rest of the meal went off pretty much without a hitch, but my son looked like this for the rest of the time.

I gave her a very good tip…

For those of you who know my daughter very well, you know that she has had a blanket that her Ma-Maw made her since the day she was born.  She has slept with it every night of her life and it is essential that we make sure that we know where it is at all times.  As such, “Blankets Hearts” (so dubbed by Her Royal Highness) has (already) seen better days.  It was starting to develop a few holes near the edges.

If I were to write an eBay description of Blankets Hearts (God forbid), it would look like this:

Blankets Hearts is approximately 3′x2′.  It’s mostly a white piece of cotton flannel with a pattern of tiny hearts of varying colors (mostly pinks and purples).  The trim is pink satin that is absolutely perfect for rubbing between your fingers for that “made with love” comfort feeling. 

Today, we had to send Blankets Hearts back to Ma-Maw (under my daughter’s close supervision) to be repaired.  However, when I picked her up this afternoon, I was surprised to find Blankets Hearts 2.0 in my daughter’s possesion.

Tonight I receieved this e-mail from my mother-in-law:

Just wanted you two to know about Morgan’s heart blanket.

…we were at Wal Mart in fabric section.  She saw the hearts fabric just like her blanket!!!  So I talked her into me making her a new one but this time she picked out for it to have purple (really lavender) trim.  She was so cute hugging and kissing the fabric.  So when we got home we made it.  Yes we made it.

I showed her how to step on the sewing machine pedal and I would say “go” and she’d put the juice to the pedal and then when I said “stop” she’d stop.  We had the best time and has sparked in her to sew.  I told her she had to be 6 years old before she could do it by her self. 

Any way I talked her into leaving old blanket here and took new one home.

 So, tonight is the trial run with the new blanket.  She has been perfectly happy with the blanket so far and I’m sure it will continue to help her through the night.  I may be posting something in the middle of the night if it doesn’t work out. 

Okay, I know this is late, but in my ADD-riddled world, this has been floating around in my head since Saturday night.

I feel like I get to celebrate Father’s Day every day of my life.  I mean, it’s nice to be singled out on one special day, but I can honestly say that I get to celebrate it every day.  Almost any given day I get to

• look into the eyes of my children and share a smile
• provide a hug for those little boo-boos that slip on us every now and then
• tickle
• be tickled
• laugh
• cry
• watch Looney Tunes with my son
• watch Barbie with my daughter
• watch my wife holding either (or sometimes both) of my children
• provide for my family
• encourage my family
• be encouraged by my family
• love
• be loved (not necessarily in return)
• tell a story
• hear a story
• hug and be hugged
• smell that wonderful smell of children’s shampoo on their heads as I kiss them goodnight
• take pictures
• make memories
• plan for the future
• worry about my daughter growing up (too fast)

And, I wouldn’t trade any of it for any amount of wealth in the world.  On one hand, fatherhood is everything I’d ever hoped for and more.  On the other hand, there’s no way to know what to hope for with fatherhood.  It’s another step in the journey and I’m proud and humbled by the fact that someone actually chose to take that journey with me and has never faltered on any step of the path.

We’ve gotten to one mountain top only to find that there is an entire chain of mountains waiting to be climbed.  Every day brings us closer to another of those mountains.