just some random thoughts...

There's a little boy swimming around in my guts!!!

And he's making it really hard to shave. And tie my shoes.

:)

killer band-aids

Becky cut her self shaving this morning and put on a band-aid. Tonight she pulled the band-aid off and pulled off two small patches of skin with it!! Her new wound is far worse than the reason she put the band-aid on in the first place. I have never seen anything like it. I dont know what they are using as adhesive on these new band-aids. I am thinking it must be super glue. Maybe we can sue and pay for Bean's college education.

go crew!

Becky and I went to San Jose today to see our old soccer team--the Columbus Crew play the San Jose Earthquakes. We were the minority in a sea of blue jerseys. The good news is that we won the game 3-2. There were about a dozen other Crew fans in the stadium of about 10,000 people and by chance we were sitting next to some folks from Cleveland. The guy was born in Norwalk, Ohio. Small world. I wanted to paint Becky's belly like a soccer ball in honor of Baby Bean's first soccer game, but she wouldn't let me. Bummer.

oh what a beautiful opening!

May 1st was opening night of our outdoor production of Oklahoma! During performances my job was to serve as the house manager (take care of the audience and the venue) and trouble shoot if we had any further electrical problems from our diesel powered generator, distributor boxes, 2000 feet of cable and the lighting equipment that was not designed to brave the elements. Our venue was the beautiful Monte Vista Equestrian Center.

I have done outdoor theatre before so I warned the students about things like rain, wind, insects being attracted to the stage lights and dive bombing the stage and other various potential mishaps and distractions. Since we decided to incorporate the use of live horses and blank guns into the show I even planned for the actors to cover if the horses decided to relieve themselves on stage in the middle of the play or if an audience member freaked out from the gunfire (we did warn the audience in advance before the show). In all my planning and forethought I was not prepared for the challenges we had opening night.

We started the show almost 10 minutes late after shuttling the audience from the parking lots in golf carts. The show was going well until I noticed a man in the audience who looked really uncomfortable. He had one leg hanging off the side of the seating bank. He stood up a few time to stretch his legs. After the second time I asked if he was okay and if he needed any assistance. I offered to run him to his car if he needed it. He told me that he had a bad back and just needed to walk it off.

About 30 minutes later he came up and asked if that golf cart offer was still a possibility. I agreed, but looked around and realized all the carts we had been using to shuttle people we no longer anywhere in sight. My only option was the golf cart that belonged to the orchestra conductor that we had parked behind the set out of sight to help keep up our 1906 theme. Where would you imagine the conductors golf cart keys to be? Yes, in her pocket! So I tell the guy with the bad back that I will return in a moment that I had to go get the keys. So, I sneak backstage and make my way to the orchestra pit (a tarp covered structure sitting down left in full view of the audience) and I wait for a break in the music to be able to tell the conductor that I need her keys. My timing is bad and I have to wait what seems like an eternity to ask her for the keys which of course are in her bag that is buried under some hay bales. Nearly 10 minutes have passed and I return to the guy with the bad back. He thought I had forgot about him and I explained that I had to get the keys from the conductor. I made a mental note that the next night I would be the keeper of the keys. So, I run the guy to his car and pick up a really late audience member on the way back.

I have now missed nearly 15 minutes of the play handling these mini emergencies. When I get back it is about time for intermission. I quickly realize that we do not have enough light for the audience to safely exit the three tiered seating bank that has been painted blacks so I am shinning flash lights at people's feet and trying to warm them to watch their step. Luckily everyone made it off the seating banks without incident, but in all my running around I forgot to warn the concession stand about the timing of intermission so they were not quite prepared when they were bombarded with cold hungry audience members after the 90 minute first act. We also quickly learned that 2 portable toilets were not enough for 200 people. I think we knew this, but 2 was all the budget since we sprang for the ones with the flushable toilets and running water. We should have been more authentic and did the hole in the ground.

It is now about 9:15pm and really dark. I have to prepare for the entrance of the horse drawn surrey at the end of the show so I am placing those military style green glo sticks in strategic locations to allow the surrey driver to bring the horse and surrey on stage safely. It was kind of like landing an airplane at night. I was nervous about this since our only rehearsal with the surrey was that afternoon in the daylight. Because of the long lines at the concession stand and the portable toilets the 15 intermission is getting close to 20 minutes. Then things get really interesting.

I return from checking on the line at the concession stand to find two sheriff's deputies making an announcement over the microphone about a lost little girl. They give a clothing description and explain that she wandered away from a neighboring home. The announcement makes it hard for the actors and the audience to focus on the second act that is about to start. An audience member comes up and asks if we can have a prayer for the little girl. I think that is appropriate so the choral director leads the audience in a prayer before we start the second half. One of the guys that helped build our sets comes up and asks me to borrow the golf cart to go look for the little girl, but I decide we need to keep the only golf cart in case we have another emergency. I figure the police can handle the situation without our help. So we start the second act after a 25 minute intermission and things are going well. The audience seems to have gotten over the interuptions.

Just as I am starting to relax the two deputies come walking up the path again. I am assuming they are going to make us stop the show, turn on the lights and search the area. I was wrong. They had come back to tell us the little girl was found hiding in her dog house in her back yard. I said a quick silent prayer of thanks and we decided we would make an announcement at the end of the play. Just then, the father of one of my lead actors comes up to me with his friend who is having chest pains. He asks me if the cops are still here because his friend may need an ambulance. I run down the cops and they decide to call the ambulance. Our campus is locked with security gates so I have to go and open the gate for the arriving ambulance. The gate is about 1/4 mile from the performance area. I hop in one of the missing golf carts that has now returned since we are getting close to the end of the show and will need to shuttle people back to the parking lot. The deputy needs to get back to his car so I give him a ride in the cart. I can't find the headlight so we are speeding along in the dark. I am in a hurry to get back so I can cue the horse and surrey that we have never rehearsed in the dark. After a dark bumpy ride I get the deputy to his car and he parks in the path of the electric gate to keep it open until the ambulance arrives. I race back to the performance space and cue the horse and surrey. The play ends and we make an announcement to the audience.

I am now concerned with getting the audience out safely. All goes well.
I was exhausted and glad that the night was nearly over.

We found out the next day that the man with chest pains was in bad shape. The ambulance was taking too long to arrive so the police took the man to the local hospital. He was send by medical helicopter to Stanford where he underwent emergency surgery. The doctors said if they got to him any later his aorta would have burst.
This man was very close to dying right in our audience.

It took 24 hours for me to put it all together and I became very emotional as I put the pieces together. I believe that the only reason that man did not die in our audience was because the police were there to rush him to the hospital when the ambulance was late. They were only there to let us know that the little girl had been found. They only came back to tell us she was found because they saw the care and concern from our community and knew how worried we were.

An opening night to remember.


God is good. So very good.

oklahoma!

I have finally recovered from our outdoor production of Oklahoma! I have some crazy stories from opening night, but I will write them up in another posting. Here is a clip from the Saturday matinee. Our lead actors were amazing. The video quality does not do them justice. More pictures to come.

baby bean heartbeat at 23 weeks

I tried to post this video about a month ago, but blogger was acting up. When I filmed the heartbeat I held the camera sideways to try and keep the video rated PG, but I'm not smart enough to figure out how to rotate the image. The sound you hear is Bean's heartbeat. I think he sounds like a little freight train.

start of 3rd trimester

so we went to the doctor today. all is going well. i'm measuring good and up 22 pounds total. heartbeat is strong. next week we have to start doing kick counts. bean even has a stats card!
we're also very happy to have daddy back home in the evenings. even though he's been sleeping for 2 days straight. guess that's what happens when you run on adrenaline for 3 weeks.
i'm starting to slow down. i feel bad when i take Jason or our friend Liz on a walk and have to walk at like half speed. they must feel like they're going in slow motion. :)-