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Living Life To Tell It As A Funny Story Later
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29th
JUN
Just A Little Bit Too Excited
Posted by Josh Boldman | Filed under Life, Thoughts, Zeke
So, do you remember the first time you saw or did something exciting? Maybe it was your first time going to the movies (for me it was 101 Dalmatians… yep, in the theater), or perhaps the first time you rode a roller coaster? There’s always that sense of thrill that comes with the unknown. It’s almost unquenchable… that is, at least for a little while. You see, the problem with riding that roller coaster 100 times or going to see a movie every weekend is that after a while the magic and the sense of expectation tend to dull. Going to a movie is still fun, but consider this:
I’m pretty pumped to get to go see Transformers 2 (I know, I haven’t seen it yet. I’m lame.), but that excitement in no way whatsoever compares with how excited I was to see 101 Dalmatians. At first glance animated puppies hardly compare to CGI alien robots that can turn into cars, right? But then why did I lose sleep over the anticipation of seeing that movie almost 20 years ago? And why is it that Transformers 2 came out last week and I still haven’t seen it?
I think it’s because I no longer have the sense of wonder about movies that I used to. And what’s sad it that the same thing happens with roller coasters, going to the beach, and playing baseball with only 3 people (“ghostman on second!”). The more we do these things, the most familiar with them we become. The more familiar we are, the less interested we become. It’s a vicious downward spiral that’s almost inescapable.
(For those of you who know where this is going, here’s where I go ahead and put the “Jesus Spin” on it)
So then, how often does this downward spiral manage to kill off our excitement for the Divine? Though it’s sometimes hard to remember, every once in a while, I find myself thinking about what it was like to pursue God when I was in middle school. I didn’t know half of what I know now about God or the Bible, but I think it’s safe to say that I was twice as excited (most of the time). Don’t get me wrong, that desire is still there. The excitement is still there. It’s just that now I have to purposefully ignite that fervor where it used to happen spontaneously. I guess that’s why we’ve put so much stock in daily spiritual disciplines such as praying, Bible study, and keeping a journal. Perhaps these things are simply to serve as a reminder that we need to be more excited than we are. God hasn’t changed. We’ve just become more familiar with Him.
It’s at times like these, that I’m really glad I had a video camera on the day that Zeke got his first balloon. He’s just so excited. I’d imagine that when he’s 24 he’ll be quite a bit less excited over silly things like balloons, but it’s my hope that he’ll still find ways to get excited about those things that deserve his time and attention. Enjoy:
Zeke’s First Balloon from Josh Boldman on Vimeo.
Tags: 101 dalmatians, anticipation, baseball, bible, desire, downward spiral, excitement, expectation, first glance, going to the beach, jesus, puppies, robots, roller coaster, roller coasters, sense of wonder, transformers, unquenchable, yep
1st
JAN
Not a creature was stirring… no, wait…
Posted by Josh Boldman | Filed under Life
Where to start, where to start? Well, I guess I’ll begin with the picture of Zeke that you see about 35 pixels above this sentence. This, of course, was Zeke’s first Christmas, which, by all acounts was fairly memorable. It started, as it should have, with us taking Zeke to the mall for his first encounter with a morbidly obese man in a red suit that hasn’t shaved in about 7 years. I was thinking the same thing that you’re thinking now: What could go wrong with that?
Well, it wasn’t but about two seconds before Zeke realized that the man whose lap he was sitting on was not in fact his father, which led him to a mild nuclear (I would have said nuke-u-lar, but I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I was running for President or Vice President on the Republican ticket in 2012) meltdown. The picture you see above was one of 5 that we took, and it was, by far, the best (so you can just imagine what the other 4 looked like).
Then, we continued our Christmas adventure by celebrating Christmas Eve with my parents and sister on Christmas Eve at our yearly Christmas Eve service at church. It was actually very nice, except Zeke (and about 14 1/2 other infants) decided to show off his vocal skills throughout the entire sermon… from the second row. It was entertaining to say the very least.
Christmas Eve came and went, which means that our favorite red suited overeater (may he just has a glandular problem) visited just in time for Zeke to open his presents on Christmas morning, which more or less consisted of very little paper tearing and quite a bit of drooling, but hey, he’s got the rest of his life to figure that one out, right? Overall, it was an extremely pleasant morning. We figured nothing could ruin it. We even spent the afternoon and early evening with my inlaws, and it honestly went better than we could have expected.
Then we came home.
Perhaps we had counted our chickens too early. Perhaps we got too far ahead of ourselves. Perhaps we put the cart before the ox (or is it a horse?). Which ever sounds best, we did it. Literally seconds after had we gotten home and put Zeke to bed, we started commenting about how great the day had gone, when it happened. Rachel said the words that still send a chill down my spine…
“There’s a rat on my coffee table!”
Yep, that’s right, we had a rat in our apartment. Now, before you get yourselves too far ahead of the cart (or the ox… or the horse), know that the rat in our apartment was not due to our own uncleanliness (which I don’t think is a word). It, we later found out, got in from a giant crack in the foundation of the building that just so happens to be underneath our kitchen.
Well, after two days and $50 zillion in rat traps and bait, we ended up moving to a new apartment. Oh, and if any of you might mistakenly think that those “sticky” rat traps do anything, here’s a quick snapshot to prove the opposite. It’s a picture of a rat climbing on top of a sticky trap in order to boost himself (or herself… I’m so politically correct) back into his (or her) underground lair (I would have said “fortress of solitude,” but I thought that was giving the rat too much credit).
So, anyways, it has been an exceptionally busy and eventful Christmas season, but now that we’re moved into a new apartment, I’m hoping that the new year will be both peaceful and rodent-free.
Also, on Dec 28th, I was priveledged enough to be able to preach at our church. If you’re interested in watching the video, just check out the “Great Videos” section of this site.
Tags: acounts, air, boldman, car, celebrating christmas, chickens, Christ, christmas adventure, christmas eve, christmas eve service, christmas morning, Church, com, course, early evening, fact, first christmas, first encounter, guess, head, image, inlaws, Life, meltdown, obese man, overeater, ox, Picture, Rachel, republican ticket, right, Sam, sermon, shot, target, thinking the same thing, time, vocal skills, yep, Zeke
21st
APR
Introducing the Newest Boldman Ever
Posted by Josh Boldman | Filed under Life
Alright, so world, here’s the skinny:
Ezekiel David Boldman was born on April 20th, 2008 at 8:24pm. At birth, he weighed 8 lbs 10 oz and measured 21 3/4 inches long.
Yep, it’s pretty cool stuff. Both Zeke and Rachel are doing great. To be honest, it went just about as good as anyone (including the nurses and the doctor) could have even imagined. We were admitted to the hospital around 2pm, and 6 hours later we were holding our wonderful little boy. He’s incredibly healthy and is doing all the things a baby Boldman should (which of course is eat, sleep, and poop).
Here is a quick picture of him just to satisfy the masses:
Of course there will be more to come, but right now we are just taking time to enjoy having the wonderful son that God has blessed us with. Again, thanks for your prayers.
Tags: Alright, anyone, April, Baby, birth, boy, cool, course, doctor, Ezekiel David Boldman, God, hospital, Newest, Picture, poop, Rachel, skinny, son, stuff, time, World, yep, Zeke
7th
DEC
The Boldman Name Shall Live On!
Posted by Josh Boldman | Filed under Life, Zeke
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Rachel and I went to the doctor for her second sonogram a few days ago, and it looks like I’ll be buying a lot more of these:
Rather than these:
Yep, that means only one thing! We’re having a BABY BOY! Which means (since I gave away our dog), the score will be:
Girls: 1
Boys: 2
Oh yes, the male conquest of the Boldman home has begun. We will be victorious.
Tags: baby boy, buying a lot, conquest, few days, girls, having a baby, ladies and gentlemen, score, Sonogram, yep
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