we're having a baby!

...just wanted to share the happy news: julie and i are expecting our first child in August (around the 15th). yeah! we're very excited, and just shared the news with the church.

i celebrated my birthday (32 yrs old) yesterday (feb 21). i went to dinner with my beautiful wife Julie at Mediterrano (excellent food!). they have the best olive oil around. afterward i went to Conor O'Neill's, an Irish pub in the downtown area. had a great time playing Poker with friends. apparently it is NOT okay to play Poker with chips in public, contrary to what i was led to believe when i made the reservation. so, Jesse and i had to run to the local Starbuck's to find something we could use as a substitute... we ended up playing poker with cofee stirrers as our poker chips! i had fun... i think most of the other guys did too, but i can tell not everyone is quite as enthusiastic about poker as i am--also, the food and drinks there are pretty expensive.

i'm really enjoying my life these days... i'm finding a new sort of peace in being who i am and where i'm at. not to say there aren't challenges; but i'm not experiencing any of the gut-wrenching angst or uncertainty that had plagued me during adolescence and my twenties. maybe it has anything to do with declining testosterone levels--or maybe the 10 years since my mother's death have created something of a 'buffer' between me and that place--and the fact that my life has been pointed toward (roughly) Jesus for many years now, and i think i've been moving in that direction...

well, gotta go to work... long day ahead!