ArleyM.com » Family http://arleym.com The Personal Website of Arley McBlain Fri, 10 Sep 2010 08:18:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc The Speed of Life http://arleym.com/2010/02/the-speed-of-life/ http://arleym.com/2010/02/the-speed-of-life/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:47:03 +0000 ArleyM http://arleym.com/?p=713 To say that 2010 has been a blur so far would be a complete understatement.

In the wee span between January 15th – 30th Kristi and I:

  • Moved back in with the inlaws
  • Bought a car
  • Heard our unborn child’s heart beat
  • Dealt with aggravating  issues with our old car
  • Sold our house
  • Dealt with a heart-rending family tragedy
  • Bought a new house
  • I found my dream job
  • I got the interview

Since the 30th I had the interview – and I got the job! (I expounded about this in more detail).

2010 has certainly made it’s mark on us, and has been a brainful. We would be content for some routine and boredom at this point. I hope the year isn’t setting us up for this pace.

More about the new job soon.

]]> http://arleym.com/2010/02/the-speed-of-life/feed/ 0 Excitement has changed. http://arleym.com/2010/01/excitement-has-changed/ http://arleym.com/2010/01/excitement-has-changed/#comments Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:14:39 +0000 ArleyM http://arleym.com/?p=680 Today (January 18, 2010) my wife Kristi and I heard something no one else has ever heard before: The heartbeat of our child! It was one of those profound moments I’m sure I’ll never forget. Today we’re starting to tell people the news. Below are some thoughts from before we wanted to break the news.

January 12th: My kid is making facial expressions and possibly sucking his or her thumb. He, she or they are the size of a lemon.

December 29th: Today Kristi found out that her cravings “haven’t even started yet”. If that’s true we’re in big trouble.

November 27th: I’ve always been a bit of a nerd; and nothing was more exciting than finding something new. A new idea, a new toy, or a new piece of the work-flow process. It’s all over. This week I ordered a new Mac Book Pro and new Google Android phone. Sure, I’m happy about it; but it’s not that big of a deal. I’m going to be a Daddy. No gadget / computer / website / music / anything will ever excite me like it used to. Family is colour, all else is sepia tone.

]]> http://arleym.com/2010/01/excitement-has-changed/feed/ 1 The Perfect Storm of Romance http://arleym.com/2009/02/the-perfect-storm-of-romance/ http://arleym.com/2009/02/the-perfect-storm-of-romance/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:42:00 +0000 ArleyM http://arleym.com/2009/02/the-perfect-storm-of-romance/ This last week was an avalanche of wife-oriented special days. It truly was a perfect storm. In addition to our anniversary and Valentines day we also celebrated her four month pre-birthday. This year she turns 30. Rather than let her get all secretly worked up about the next paradigm of “old age”, I’m hyping it up with pre-birthday surprises on the 10th of every month for the six months preceding the big day. We had some fun. Surprises included treasure maps, waffles, and skating at the local rink which I had rented out (as a result I can barely hobble 3 days later).

Though we celebrated on the weekend, today is in fact our two year wedding anniversary. Happy anniversary baby, I love you!

]]> http://arleym.com/2009/02/the-perfect-storm-of-romance/feed/ 0 Huge Perspective http://arleym.com/2008/11/huge-perspective/ http://arleym.com/2008/11/huge-perspective/#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:56:00 +0000 ArleyM http://arleym.com/2008/11/huge-perspective/ It’s a little after 4:30 in the morning and I’m writing a blog post. I just woke up from the most intense dream of my life and I’m not sure I can go back to sleep.

I dreamt I was on a strange death row. I was due to be executed by lethal eye-drop within minutes; it was going to be administered by Kristi’s uncle Dave (the man who married us). Despite how it sounds it was a light-hearted dream. I was joking with other inmates and I had a touching conversations sharing my faith in Christ with another inmate.

Toward the end of the dream I began to get really panicky for one bizarre reason: I wished I had pre-written my wife Kristi a lifetime of birthday cards to tell her how much I love her. I longed for just a few more days, or even hours to just spend with her.

As my life was drawing to a close I went into the bathroom. The janitor told me I couldn’t use the toilet he was working on for another half hour or so “Buddy, I don’t think I have another half hour”. Then in a cheesy moment I gathered him and the only other two people I could find together so I could warn them not to waste their lives.

“You’re looking at a man with only 10 minutes to live. I can only think of two things right now. I wanted to tell you so you can live your lives with a little more perspective about the important things in life. I no longer care about my house, car, the size of my tv, work or making websites. All that’s important to me right now is my relationship with God and the people I love”.

I woke up very very relieved. I woke Kristi up and told her I loved her. I think I’ll write her a birthday card today. You can’t love too much.

]]> http://arleym.com/2008/11/huge-perspective/feed/ 0 Fridge Line-up 2009 http://arleym.com/2008/11/fridge-line-up-2009/ http://arleym.com/2008/11/fridge-line-up-2009/#comments Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:42:00 +0000 ArleyM http://arleym.com/2008/11/fridge-line-up-2009/ Digital photography is great, but I think it definetly makes our generation a lot lazier. I miss photo albums and having actual photos. Look at my fridge. We have pretty much the same pictures on it now that we had when we got married and I moved in. Chances are many friends and family aren’t even represented. Tsk.

That’s why I want to start a new annual tradition of totally starting fresh on my fridge every January. I also hope to get on some new fridges around the world…

Consider this an invitation to mail me a photo of you dear friend. PO Box 346 Kincardine, ON N2Z 2H8 Canada.

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