Back From Cali

Greetings friends and family,

It was a long three days away from Kendra and twins.  I went for meetings and had the bonus benefit of spending an evening with Mom and Dad and one with Neill and Jenny.  Before I left there were two pictures I took with me on the trip that I looked at on my phone when I missed them.  This one of Layla from when we went for a hike.  As we walked by a neighbor's house she noticed these colorful flowers and put it in her hair.  As always, she has a very keen eye for beauty.

and this one of Easton because it makes me smile.  We were driving with the windows down enjoying the perfect weather.  Easton puts his chin on the car door, closes his eyes, and lets the wind blow through his hair.  Watching him smile so wide and enjoy something as simple as wind blowing on him is a special memory to me.  He continually asks questions about life, but he is also content enough to just be.

Sunday afternoon at the park was supposed to follow our normal patter of a few families gathering with their kids, but fortunately we ended up in the same location as the youth and parents picnic from our church.  Easton went off with a mob of church people.  I walked over to find Easton and his friend, Zander, playing volleyball with the big kids.  In many other environments Easton would have been relegated to play in the sand because the teenagers want to play a serious game.  However, these are no ordinary kids.  They are considerate of others, inclusive, and willing to sacrifice their competitive, macho glory so that everyone could enjoy the game.  At one point Easton was up on Kyle's shoulders so that he could throw the ball over the net.

My trip to Cali was useful, but as always I realize no one cares about the boring details of my career.  I don't even care about the boring details so I know you don't either.  Anyway, the good thing about flying home is that I had 2 hours of uninterrupted time to watch Todd White at a conference.  My dinner consisted of pretzels and cranberry juice, but missing dinner was a small price to pay to get home in time to put the twins into bed.

I arrived home to find two happy kids and a relieved wife.  I know these days alone are challenging, but she did great without me!  The welcome home sign on the mirror was very thoughtful and creative.  The stamps and colors were exactly what I would expect from those two.

Layla learned how to draw a puppy from a friend at school.  Kendra drew the purple one and Layla drew the pink one.  This is my next wall art for work.  She is proud of her skills and loves to learn.

The bed time routine is a welcomed return to normal for me.  We took time to read books as well as paint finger nails.  Layla chose two glittery colors.  Her index and middle fingers are one color and the other three are another color.  She asked and I said, "why not?"  Turned out rather well this time around.  I'm getting better at it every week.

We have several exciting events on the horizon such as date night with the Coyote's hockey game, Kendra's first trip to the shooting range, and maybe even a few hours of down time to do nothing for a change of pace.

See you soon!

Birthday for everyone

Greetings friends and family,

Our past few days have been very birthday focused.  Nothing wrong with that, it was just a weird coincidence and aligning of the planets so to speak.  First, let me share the exciting leap into the realm of participators in the geocaching world.  Here are the geocache roles that also apply to every other area of life:

Spectators - those who say, "wow, that's a cool idea.  glad you like the outdoor recreational activity of finding little treasures."

Participating takers - those who go geocaching, sign the log book, take something from the container, but add nothing to the cache.

Participating givers - those who go geocaching, sign the log book, take something from the container, and then add something back to the cache.

Leaders - those who create geocaches and give their time and resources.

Welcome the newest leaders:  Easton and Layla.  Beneath their hands is a gap in the boulders where we hid our geocache under a big rock.

I emptied a plastic cylinder container from the garage to get it started.  We filled it with all kinds of princess figurines, lego men, a golf ball, a fake gold nugget, bracelet, thumb drive, and several other items I can't remember.  Part of the fun was filling the container with items that fit and would be possibly a treasure for someone else.  The twins named the cache "The Lion Cave" because a few fee from our hidden treasure is the small cave.  Easton and Layla are pointing to the entrance to the cave to show where it is in relation to our hiding spot.  

The cave is just a 15 ft by 15 ft gap in the massive boulders that piled on top of each other a million years ago.Next we will load the GPS coordinates and directions onto the website.  After we finished our geocache creation effort, Easton pointed to a gap in the boulders on the hill a hundred yards away.  He said, "Can we go see that cave?"  I checked my watch and said, "Why not?"  We had a conversation prior to that where I let them convince me they were old enough, strong enough, and cautious enough to tackle the tough terrain between us and the cave.  I wanted to test their resolve and see what they truly believe about themselves.  They were both 100% confident they could scramble up and down the steep rocks.

We stopped to see this odd barrel cactus growing up out of the boulder.  Some say life is fragile.  i say life is unstoppable.  If this cactus can make it work under such unfavorable conditions then it proves the resilience of life.

We made it to the other cave and back down safely.  A few scrapes and dirt spots were the only down side of our 2-hour hiking and rock climbing adventures.

For Joanie's birthday I wanted to do something creative.  Her and her kids are really good at these kinds of things so I wanted to go outside our normal happy birthday phone call to make her feel special.

We only get 30 cloudy or rainy days per year in Phoenix.  On our hike day there were very few clouds in the sky, but as we headed up into the rocks Layla spotted this happy face directly overhead.  I took this as a happy birthday sign for Joanie directly from God.  

While we were in a valley on the side of our mountain I found a flat spot and a bunch of tiny rocks.  The twins helped me clear away a spot and then spell out "Happy Birthday" in tiny rocks. Easton's foot took out the "Y" when I was ready to take pics and video.  No big deal.  That's what learning is all about and that's what makes these situations interesting.  Perfection is the enemy of excellence.  So here's Joanie's Happy Birthda...

I know snail mail is preferred for cards and communications like this, but I decided to do it through video instead.  I set up the tripod and told Easton and Layla to create a personalized birthday card for Joanie.  Layla started coloring her creation and then Easton copied hers as closely as he could.  I stopped him in the middle and said, "just create what you want and whatever is in your mind."  He was perfectly happy with just duplicating Layla's creation.  I shrugged my shoulders and let him do whatever he liked.  I didn't help them with spelling because they are at the stage of creative writing.  That means they sound out the words and do their best.  Easton spelled her name "Lonea" because the J was backwards and he sounded it out that way.

Layla spelled her name Gonee.  I guess she thought this way because Ouma's name is spelled Ginny.  I cheered them on without any correction because sometimes I need to be a teacher and sometimes I need to be a cheerleader.  This was just a cheerleader moment.

and I threw it all together to make a video with the Minion birthday song and other high-energy happy birthday song version.  

Easton and I sat on the sidelines with our cameras in hand.  I still have my old DSLR Canon.  That became the training camera for the twins to use.  It's like giving a Ferrari to a 16 year old to learn how to drive.  I'm really glad they are getting this kind of exposure to photography (pun intended).  I took this picture of Layla practicing her dribbling skills.

Easton took this picture of Layla in the game after she missed a goal by two inches.  Great pic for a six year old!  He's learning to hold the camera still and get the right balance of background and subject.

This one captures the essence of Layla on the soccer field.  She loves to play because it feeds her social interaction needs as well as her competitive spirit. and the pink jersey matches her pink shoes.  can't beat that.

Right after the game we went directly to BounceU for a birthday party of Layla's classmate.  Her friend, Alex, is the type of girl who calls Layla her BFF one day and then says she never wants to talk to her again the next day.  I don't like that about Alex, but I can't force Layla to be friend with anyone and I can't force her to not be friends with someone.  This is a valuable time because Layla talks with Kendra and I each night about her friend.  We have a chance at this age to help her through the dysfunctional parts and celebrate with her for the fun parts.

I could easily say, "don't ever talk to her again", but there will come a time when I won't have that level of influence.  She will eventually have to make her own choices based on her understanding of what a functional relationship is supposed to be.  As always, our job as parents is not to keep Layla from the world, but to help her know who she is and how to be functional IN the world.  The most frequent phrase I say is, "I know what she said, but what does  God say?"  Then we talk through truth and sometimes she knows already what God says about her and sometimes we walk Layla through hearing God's voice.  This birthday time was all smiles and joy though.

Easton had a few of his buddies show up at the party, but occasionally he went off on his own to slide and play.  He's much more socially independent than Layla, but I think their balance is about normal for a girl and a boy at this age.

This one bounce thing was a sloping column with velcro patches on the side.  Kids run up and high as they can, slap the flag to the highest velcro spot possible, and then slide down.  As they slide down they become human bowling balls taking out several kids.  I had a good laugh watching the kids wipe out each other all the way down.

Sometimes the twins play together even in the midst of 30 friends and classmates.  There is some amount of time that goes by and they think "where's my brother/sister?"  I can see them looking around for each other and then they blab about what each one has been up to.  Layla was pointing to the spider web and describing how cool it was.

This is the spider web.

Easton is on the bottom level of the cylinder.  Layla is on the first level.  It has 5 or 6 levels of elastic straps which create the floors/ceilings.  What a genius contraption!  They played in here for 20 minutes and would have stayed all day if I let them.

Easton's favorite attraction at BounceU was the ball gun arena.  put a ball in the top-load gun, aim, pull the trigger.  He's got a pretty good aim too!

When all the energy was spent, the kids packed in a room to load up on pizza and lemonade.  I dislike pizza and don't like the twins to eat it, but at a birthday party like it would be difficult to ask the hosting family to bring a healthy salad and turkey sandwich.  So, pizza it is!

Layla had the privilege of sitting next to the birthday girl.  I had no idea it was such a popularity contest to see who can sit closest to the birthday girl.  I just don't remember caring about when i was a kid.  The table of kids stopped eating long enough to watch the pictures of their bouncing and playing time scroll through on the monitor.  That was a nice to touch for BounceU to take pictures and then post them so quickly to let the kids see themselves playing.

After cupcakes were devoured and presents opened we said one last happy birthday and gave hugs.  The party was so great that Easton and Layla begged me several times since then to have their 7th birthday at BounceU.  We'll see...  

Then on Sunday Layla went to another birthday party with Kendra.  It was an all-girls invite only so Easton hung out with me.  I don't think we have any pictures of that birthday, but i'll ask Kendra. We were birthday'd out and ready for bed by Sunday night.  Just in time to get back to school and work where we can rest!

See you soon.

No Friend, No Bike, No Tree

Aloha friends and family,

Our friend Morgan spent her last night in town hanging out with the 4 webbs.  She's heading out West to see what San Jose has to offer along with her parents.  Saying good-bye is not my strong suit.  The better friends I am with someone, the harder it is to express what I'm thinking.  For an acquaintance I can come up with a speech and send-off worthy of a Hollywood script, but when a friend as close as Morgan leaves there are almost no words to express.

The only saving grace is that we see her in Sacramento over the summer when she comes to visit Ouma and Oupa's house.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.  So long, Morgan...  See you in the not-too-distant future. and on instagram if I ever get that working again on my phone.

Kendra and I wrapped up our commitment for church that consumed our entire Sunday for the past 8 weeks.  This Sunday will be odd because after church we get to choose what to do with our time from then until 8:00 PM.  Aren't there some good TV shows on?  We wouldn't know since we've been out of the loop so long.  It's a much needed break from facilitating the class all by ourselves.  I don't regret a single minute spent on helping people.  The goal is to have tons of help next time around in August.  Between now and then there is lots of planning and training to do, but at least we can do it on our own pace.

Layla is shining like a star in her first all-girl's team soccer season.  Last year playing with the boys really set her up to be aggressive and hustle.  Her official pics are in already, but not scanned.  here's the ones i took off to the side as the photographer was doing his thing.

And these are her teammates and coach.  She's the smallest, but also the quickest and toughest.  I think she's the only one who hasn't cried on the field or walked off in the middle of a match.  I consider that to be one of the measures of success at this age of sports.

Layla has good skills to make a bee-line for the goal when there is no one between her and the goal.  This is one of those break-aways.  The rest of her team and the opposing team were chasing her like a pack of dogs on a track chasing after the rabbit.  They never caught her...

Easton and Layla have only known one church their whole six-year-old lives.  One of the many reasons we go here is because our church does more than just babysit the twins while Kendra and I get our church on.  They pour into their lives with teaching and caring in an environment of kindness like they would never experience in public school.  Not that every child is a model of Godliness, but the atmosphere and people are encouraging and building as well as fun.  Last Sunday the kids joined us for the singing.  The twins stood next to us as we all sang together.  Then all the kids came down front and the children's leader led us in prayer for the students.  Easton and Layla are somewhere in that mass of kids in front of the stage.  

Last year I pledged an amount to give over the course of two years towards the new family life center at church.  That is the new structure where the twins will have classrooms, Kendra and I will have enough space to facilitate our ministry and the whole church will be able to gather for Sunday pot-luck lunches.  Some of my favorite memories of church are running around with friends while the adults talked and ate together.  We don't have space for that right now, but within the next year we will have!

When I pledged the amount we would give I sold my mountain bike as a way to sacrifice to give a big chunk up-front.  I decided I wouldn't get another bike until our church had pledged enough to build the building.  When that happened I went and bought a good used bike to be my new ride on the mountains.  

Pastor made a request for us as a church to fulfill our pledge within the next 90 days, if possible.  We are at a road-block for the building until we can come up with enough cash to purchase and erect the steel frame.  So yesterday I sold my bike.  I was able to fulfill my total pledge amount with a single check.  We are completely out of debt, have an emergency fund, and saved enough to cover most of our summer vacation, but I didn't want to jeopardize our savings and safety.  I was sad to see my bike go, but I'll get another bike when the time is right.  It's a small sacrifice considering the long-term goal of reaching people and having sufficient space to do what Kendra and I are called to do.  

And in the mean time, whatever extra money we have is going to fix house problems like this one.

The unplanned palm tree is up against the foundation of our house and breaking the pipes for the pool.  We paid those two guys $500 to cut the tree down so we can begin the pool repair and sprinkler system replacement.  Our summer travel plans would be stressful if we left town with the possibility of this monster breaking our foundation or swamping our yard from broken pool pipes.  So, it's gone!  No more worries.  Now we get to replace the sprinkler system with new pipes. When we return home after summer we will plant a garden and possibly get 5 hens to lay fresh eggs for us.  We're just in the possibility thinking phase right now.  

Kendra and I went to lunch the other day for a day date.  We took advantage of the free childcare while Easton and Layla were in school.  It's almost like the two of us are getting reacquainted with each other on a friendship level.  I compare it with two soldiers fighting a battle in a foxhole, then going home and hanging out together as friends.  It's a whole new relationship where even though it is awesome, still takes some adjustment.

I even had time to take Easton and Layla to school one morning.  We went to breakfast together.  Then I walked them up to the gate.  They gave each gave me a big hug and a kiss, then bolted towards their friends and never looked back.  This was the first time they left me high and dry.  I stood at the fence waiting for them to turn around and wave, but their minds were way past my presence.  

I'm happy they are so friendly and comfortable in their school, but a part of me was very sad.  It was an awkward moment where Easton and Layla were clearly more independent than I was.  There will always be more moments like this where I will need to let go a little more each time, but there is only one "first" and that was it.

Layla still gives me the only thing a six-year-old can give her father:  her creativity.  She made this robot thing out of pipe cleaners and dixie cups.  She was excited to give it to me and said, "you can take this to work and keep it on your shelf."  I agreed and then took that picture so I can show her I am a man of my word.  These are the little things to me, but the big things to her.  I learned several years ago that when a kid offers you something, take it!  I'm happy to be building a culture of giving.  Easton and Layla will have much more resources flow through their hands over a lifetime if their hands are open.

See you soon!

So Long, Morgan

Greetings friends and family!

We are one step closer to finding church/life balance.  We hosted the largest party ever at the Casa de Webb.  Now that is behind us and we are looking at small hills to climb instead of huge mountains in the near future.

The past few weeks set a new high-water mark for what we can accomplish and our tipping point for what is "too much".  We were certainly stretched and I wouldn't change much from the way things went.  When I agreed back in January to take on the new job responsibilities and ministry opportunities I knew we would find the limits of our capabilities and blow by them.  It is only in the boundaries of a healthy marriage that any couple should attempt to find limits of capabilities.  I know this experientially from a few years ago when I earned my masters degree.  Those two years of increased stress and decreased time together nearly crushed us and our marriage.    Even though we added the twins to our responsibilities since then, the season we just went through brought us closer together, as it should.

The going away party for our friend Morgan was a great party in spite of the sadness of saying good-bye to our friend.  50 people (yes, f-i-f-t-y) gathered to celebrate Morgan's friendship and wish her well in moving to California.  My favorite picture of the night is this one because I'm in it (go figure) along with the star of the show, Miss congeniality herself, Layla.

The greenbelt provided a huge open space for tables and seating for the dinner we prepared.  Easton and Layla were social butterflies with the adults and playmates for the other kids who showed up.

Layla and here friends found pine cones and some pink flowers.  She brought me two pine cones decorated with the pink flowers and asked to put them on display.  How could I say no to that creativity?  Easton was close by and wanted to jump in the picture with his sister.  Why not?  Both of them are full of silly sunshine fun.

We sat Morgan in the middle of us and each person shared a memory or encouraging word for her.  There is something very special about sending someone to their next destination with a blessing and prayers.  Morgan lived with us for 6 months or so last year.  she became like a sister to me in a way I've never experienced before.  There is no other girl on the planet outside my family who I would be alone with.  This is not a rule I have or Kendra enforced.  It's just the right thing to do, in my opinion.

No married man should ever be alone with another woman outside his family.  That's my own personal conviction, but it's a valid boundary for marriage.  However, she was our roommate and sister so Kendra and I adjusted these boundaries appropriately.  There were times when Morgan and I hung out at home while Kendra was gone or Morgan would go with me to the store.  I will miss our late-night conversations at the dining room table.  I will miss the sibling-type of joking around.  I will miss the comfortability of her coming over and walking in our front door whenever she wanted.  I will miss my friend when she leaves next week.

I took Layla with me for errands one evening.  I wandered the halls of home depot with her for a bit.  Then she saw the garden center outside and asked to go look around.  I've been giving her more and more freedom lately to go on her own adventures.  I agreed and she made a bee-line for the flowers.  When I finished my shopping list I went to the garden area to retrieve Layla.  I found her still in the flower isle smelling flowers and picking petals.  She is so artistically minded and has a great eye for beauty.  She described each petal and what they smell like.  Enjoying the mundane together is sometimes the greatest adventure.

Easton and I took our neighbor and his two boys to experience Bella Gaia (Beautiful Earth), which is a cultural event and performance.  before going there, Easton and I had some guy time at the revolving sushi bar with just the two of us.  This was his first experience pulling plates from the never-ending parade of sashimi and rolls passing by.  He said his favorite was octopus.  He got a kick out of eating the suckers off.

 $40 each ticket x 5 tickets = $200 worth...  for free.  I couldn't pass it up no matter odd it sounded.  The event included audio,video, and pictures from the international space station and the astronauts who went there.  It also had live instruments, singers, and dancers.  The show was 90 minutes of auditory and visual overload.  It was intense and, at times, a stretch for me to comprehend what was being presented.

Easton stayed interested and never fell asleep, which is a feat itself because the show started 30 minutes after his bedtime.  The show was weird, but cool.  It went straight from showing images of the solar system to an elephant god in India.  Other than that awkward transition and 5 minutes of explaining their culture it was a wholesome show.  The beliefs presented were not stated as "truth", but rather a cultural exploration of people that happen to believe differently than me.  I wish they would have left all religious context out of Bella Gaia, but that's just my personal taste.

We went on our second geocaching adventure last week.  This time it was a quarter mile walk from our house.  This is the closest one to our house.  I've been waiting for a 30 minute window of free time for us to go check it out.  Layla brought a turquoise play ring and Easton brought an action figure.  We lifted the housing right on the side of the trail and found the simple plastic container with not much inside.  The twins wrote their names in the log book and we left our items in the jar.  It was a great lesson in blessing others.  I'm glad there was nothing but junk in there because I was able to teach them the idea of how it is better to give than to receive.  They didn't whine or cry or throw a fit.  I was a proud Dad.  They listened and we talked about how great it will be to bless some other kids who find this geocache even though we are walking home empty handed.  So many lessons to learn and so little time.

See you soon!

Space Shuttle Complete

Greetings friends and family,

The biggest project of Easton's short life is finally complete.  50 days ago I bought a box of Megablok parts from Craigslist for $10.

Easton and I started building it by working on two or three steps each night.

We built the base and as Easton lifted it up to take a picture he said, "This thing is going to be huge, Dad!"  Yes...  Yes it will be, son.

Each morning he would come in my room and along with asking for breakfast he would ask when we will be able to do another step on the space shuttle.

We made it this far and I realized we were missing many pieces.  There are supposed to be 2005 pieces, but my guess is that we were short about 100 or so.  I found another full, used set online at a goodwill auction and bought it for $8.  We continued to build what we could without the missing parts.  He did more than half of the work throughout the project.  Sometimes he would get parts and I would build.  sometimes I would get parts and he would build.

Little by little it began to take shape and look more like a space shuttle.   Our second set came by mail and dumped all the parts together, then sorted them according to size and shape.  That cut our build time in half because we didn't have to search through thousands of pieces to find one little part.

His math skills took a major leap forward.  He was doing addition, subtraction, and multiplication with lightning speed to determine how many parts to get and what size and shape they are.

When we put the tail on he really ramped up passion for making progress.  He built the tail all by himself and couldn't wait to get it attached.

Building the wing was no small task.  I had to do most of it and I won't lie...  it was difficult even for me to keep concentration that long with arranging that many pieces in one step.  When we connected the wing to the body it was a magical moment.

Then we built the other wing and connected it as the last step.  The booklet contains 189 steps.  The two of us worked through all of them together.  I never would have guessed this project would be such a challenge, but it was worth it to experience the time working together and seeing the satisfaction on his face.

Some events and projects come to a close with a should shrug or fizzle.  When we realized there were no more steps we screamed and danced and high-fived and cheered.  Not that it was over, but that we could play with it now.

I don't know of any other six year old with the passion, focus, and perseverance to accomplish anything close to this.  I'm most proud of Easton for not giving up or losing hope.  We hit some serious road-blocks along the way, but he trusted me when I promised we were going to finish it no matter what.

Not sure why this picture is funny to me, but it captures Easton's level of excitement really well.   This was the best $18 I've ever spent for Easton.

We placed in on the kitchen table for a day so we could showcase it.  All the items in the cargo area are meticulously built, down to the little satellite's solar panels and radar.  After all the hoopla I picked him up and spent a good five minutes expressing in words how proud I was of him for what he did.  He got a little uncomfortable because I was so adamant about him looking me in the eyes when we talked, but after I finished talking he was able to share his own thoughts and gave me compliments as well.

A thought ran through my mind that when he gets tired of it we might be able to donate it to the Arizona space museum.  We were just there and I know they don't have one like this!  Considering a new set costs $260 and it hasn't been produced since 2002, I think we have a rare, if not one-of-a-kind, space shuttle.

I found this Youtube clip of a time lapse photography that shows the progression of it being built.

The only downside of our project is that Layla got a little jealous a few times.  She didn't get equal Daddy time.  I'm OK with her feeling that way though.  She needs to know that although we love her no matter what, sometimes Easton is the focus and star of the show.  She has to learn to share the spotlight sometime and there's no better time than now to learn that lesson.  I did several special things with her along the way to make sure she didn't feel slighted or less important than Easton.  I wouldn't do anything different if I were to do this over again.  In the midst of our crazy quarter of ministry and events and giving and all the other tiresome things, it was very valuable to me to have this project to have a point of connection with Easton.  Just goes to show me that no matter how busy I am, there is always time for what's important.

Speaking of taking time...  I've only been able to ride with friends about once per month for the past several months.  When I get out I make the most of it!  Time with Jeff is always time well spent.  He is a big encourager and it's always refreshing to be around someone of the same caliber where I can just be myself.

If you ever need to change out 600 lbs. of sand in a pool filter, let me know.  My pool guy was going to charge me $300 plus material!  I said, "no thanks, i'll do it myself."  That sentence rarely comes out of my mouth when it comes to home repair, but I got this.  My shop vac (thanks Dad) worked like a charm.  3 hours later i had an empty filter ready to be refilled.  Oh, the joys of home ownership.  I will gladly take a couple of days worth of free time to spend the summer in our wonderful backyard swimming.

Haboob!  That's a funny word.  It's even more awkward to be using that word in March.  Usually the monsoon dust storm created by collapsing thunder storms don't start until July.  I think it's going to be a long, hot summer.  Here's a panoramic shot of the 1,500 foot-high wall of dust coming at us.  I took this picture, then drove home quickly to batten down the hatches.

See you soon!