Road Trip!!

Like most weeks, this past week flew by faster than expected!

Stephanie got a little baptism by fire at work at the beginning of the week as she nearly worked until midnight on Monday night and then she was back in to the office by 5:30 in the morning on Tuesday. They had a deadline that the needed to make and from my understanding, they got their reports in with 0 seconds to spare!

The Indiana Lesnet's had a big and very awesome day on Thursday. First off, I got to play 18 wonderful holes at Brickyard Crossing. The Brickyard is an amazing Pete Dye course that has 4 holes inside of the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! I have played there a few times in the past, a couple of times in scrambles. Last year I was way over 100 playing my own ball, on Thursday I shot a 95. I would like to thank Ron at the AOG Group for springing for a great round of golf on a beautiful fall day!

Also on Thursday, a bunch of us went in and bought a very sweet triplet stroller, which is pictured below (or at least a stock photo of the same stroller). You can see that it has some pretty sweet features like stadium seating, a hand brake, seating for 3, adjustable handle bars for different height parents. It also comes with a bracket that you can attach to a hitch on your car so that you can transport it without taking up all of the room in your van or SUV (because if you have 3 babies at once, you gotta have a van or SUV). All of these sweet features and the stroller only weighs about 30 or 40 pounds! Our friends were so happy to receive this and our group of friends were so happy that we could get this for them! Needless to say, our Thursday rocked!
On Friday, we had dinner with an anonymous family in the neighborhood. They have a little boy who is a couple of weeks older than Kai, whom we will affectionately refer to on this blog as "Master P". Stephanie made an incredible Mexican bake that was delicious (and very easy to make) for all of us, then we played in their basement in their super pimped out playroom. The boys had a blast! Hopefully Kai will have many more play dates with Master P! On Saturday (10/25), we all went down to Cincinnati to see Stephanie's Uncle Jim who is in town from Washington state to visit his family. It is always fun to introduce Kai to a new family member! Kai really liked great uncle Jim and uncle Jim loved playing with his newest nephew!
After we spent some time with Uncle Jim and his parents, we went up to see Stephanie's forever friend Erica and her family. We had a great time catching up with the Konya's and Kai had an even better time playing with their 2 older kids. The Konya's have a baby girl that is a little bigger than Kai but she is only 6 months old and is not mobile like Kai is so he lost interest in her pretty quickly! As an added bonus, we were able to see Erica's parents as well! Here are some pictures of our time with them.

This was my last week for teaching Sunday School at church for a while and I must say that I'm glad that I have a week off. Today's lesson was about "what can't God do?". The simple answer is that God cannot sin...whew!

In closing I just want to let you all know how excited that I am about next weekend. Friday is Haloween, which will be great! Also on Friday, my best man John is flying in to go to the Michigan versus Purdue game on Saturday! Also attending will be my old roommates Trevor and Matt, along with my boy James and best of all MY DAD! Hopefully I will remember to take my camera along for lots of good pictures of the tailgate with my very best friends.

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it. Numbers 23:19-20

Insert Clever Title Here

This year is going by so quickly! As of this very moment there is 73 days, 4 hours, 39 minutes and a few seconds until 2009. That doesn't hardly seem possible. Where has 2008 gone?

Kai has had a pretty big week as he took his first steps! He is up to about 4 or 5 and then he falls down and crawls at warp speed to whatever he was going to try to walk to. He is such a quick crawler that I'm not sure if he will pick up any speed at all when he starts to walk. Maybe that will keep him on all 4's for a while longer (we can only hope anyway, he is growing so quickly).

Kai also started climbing all the way up the stairs this week. Last week he could go up a few but then he would get tired or try to turn around and go back down. He has tunnel vision on the stairs now and gets up there lickedy-split.

Here is a picture of Kai with a jacket from his Auntie Jessica in Japan. It is very soft and it has teddy bear ears on the hood. How cool is that? You have to wonder why they don't put teddy bear ears on adult jackets. I'm pretty sure that I would buy one...maybe I'll just sew some ears on Stephanie and my hoodies.
Although we had a great week, it wasn't all roses and candy. Here is Kai and I when mommy left to go to a baby shower. Please don't go mommy!!
While mom was away, Kai gets away with making much bigger messes. Here is Kai playing with his food and cracking up. He sure likes his blueberries!
Kai turned 9 months this week. Like each prior month, we took his picture with his stuffed monkey growth chart. I included 2 pictures this month because I think that these are both good pictures to show his growth and development. In the first picture, Kai is stiff-arming his monkey like he has seen watching football with daddy.
In this picture, he is palming his monkey's head like a basketball. This kid is already an All-Star!!
Also this week, Grandpa Lesnet celebrated his 60th birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!

On Friday, I took a day trip down to Houston to play golf in the Continental Airlines Scholarship Golf Outing. My original team was stacked and we were going down there to win...instead, we had a lot of new developments at work and I played with the replacements. I was escalated from D-player to A/B player. Needless to say, we didn't win!

I am certainly glad that my month of teaching Sunday School is drawing near an end. This week's topic was "Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen?". Ugh! So, I have now had to teach the kids about the origin of God, where God is, and how a loving God lets bad things happen! Next week is "Is there Anything that God Can't Do?". Sounds easier...let's hope it is!

If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand. I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. Psalm 37:23-25

It's the Great Pumpkin!

Since our last update on Wednesday, we have been pretty busy. Stephanie and I have still been working on getting our quarterly numbers out at work. Stephanie is currently in the middle of a 3 day weekend because she gets a "bank holiday" on Monday...it's Columbus Day.


This weekend we took Kai to get some formal 9 month pictures taken. We did some pictures in a collared shirt and cords, some diaper pics, and then some pictures in his Halloween costume. We will be taking his picture with his stuffed monkey later this week, a little closer to his actual 9 month birthday. Here are a few of the pictures from his photo shoot!


After our photo shoot on Saturday, we went to Stoney Creek Farms to their Fall Festival. We had a great time there. Kai rode a pony, we took a hayride to the pumpkin patch, checked out the farm animals (Kai really liked the calf and the bunnies), and watched the bigger kids play games and launch small pumpkins with a giant slingshot!

Kai also cut his 4th tooth this week. He has not enjoyed cutting teeth very much and this last one has really been messing with his naps. It is sure a blessing that he likes Tylenol so much!

This week for Sunday School, I got to teach the 5th and 6th graders about the Omnipresence of God. Not nearly as heavy as last week, where we talked about where God came from. The kids really don't seem to struggle with the truths about the enormousness of God...I suppose us adults just make it a lot harder than it should be by trying to understand it.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. - Psalm 139:7-12

Graphic Novel

This last week and a half have been pretty light from a news standpoint. We have been pretty busy with Stephanie starting her new job and I’ve been very busy at work these past couple of weeks trying to get our quarterly numbers together.

I started teaching Sunday School at church this past Sunday. I am teaching in the 5th and 6th grade class room. My first lesson on Sunday was “Where did God Come From?”. Seriously? The class went surprisingly well and I think the kids may have even learned a thing or two. On the bright side, I guess the lessons all get easier from here!

Kai has got a new red wagon, some new nursery décor, and sprouted a 3rd tooth. I guess that is a lot of new stuff for him…

Since we’re a bit short on news, this is going to be mostly a graphic novel of El Kaister and his shenanigans!

Here is Kai in his new wagon!

Here is Kai with his friend Max right before a walk on a brisk Autmn day!

Kai is both the strong and the sensitive type. I hope you bought your tickets to the GUN SHOW!

Here he is consoling daddy after a tough day at work

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. - Colossians 1:15-16