Crafting For The Holidays

Well, Thanksgiving may be over, but the crafts are just starting! Crafts for Christmas started today at the house, where we all made clove oranges. Boxes of lights were brought out from storage, and ornaments were sorted. Christmas music played on the TV and PC. Hannah sang her own words to Joy To The World throughout the house. It was a wonderfully lazy day. Hannah themed her oranges, the most noticeable; the golf club cloves in honor of my dad, Rick. Faces adorned oranges, some even with mullets. Finally, 3 oranges were completely covered, and a mullet-headed one stood aside, awaiting more cloves from the grocer. Ah, the sweet smell of the season!

Thanksgiving

Now, we all have our Thanksgiving traditions...for that last few years, mine has been working, and then showing up at the folks after everyone had eaten. It's the life of a waiter I guess. But I'm still a newlywed (3 months 4 days) so I wanted to actually spend it with my family. I still had to work, but we had a later dinner (after 7pm!) just for little old me! My brother showed up with his family as an added bonus, as he had dinner with the inlaws. My new nephew, Cole, was in a real smiley mood, so that was great! Dinner was traditional, and as another tradition in my family, my mother handed out personal Christmas ornaments to all of us. So I suppose I should take down the giant Halloween Shrek in the front yard now...and replace it with a giant Grinch in a santa hat! I love decorating!

Happy Thanksgiving.

The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe

It's been loads of fun. I get to practice all of my bad British and Irish accents, for male and female. And she loves it. I've been reading The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe to Hannah one chapter a night. From the set that I had as a kid. It's great. And she made the connection to Christ when Aslan was killed and was then alive again. (I hope that I didn't give anything away to those of you who haven't read it...read it anyways) I've really enjoyed it. And we got to do it before the movie comes out. Now, I hear that they did a superb job on the movie, you can even still see the parallels that were meant to be seen in the book. But a child's imagination is far superior to what they can do at the cinema. Countless times I've been disappointed at the casting or the imagery of movies where I've read the book first. And then when you go to read a book that you saw the movie first, the characters and scenes are predisposed in your head. But Hannah wanted to have me read her the story before seeing it. We finished last night. She slept through the last page, but I think she'll stay awake for the reread tonight. And then...Prince Caspian.

Oh, and I'm sorry, you have to read them in the original order that they were written in, not the order that they were re-released in. The family of Lewis may have okayed it, but it doesn't make since to read a prequel before the first one. Too much is mentioned back to in the prequels (The Magician's Nephew and The Horse And His Boy). So start off with The Lion. Move on to Prince Caspian, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, and The Silver Chair. Then read The Horse and Magician's Nephew. Finish with The Last Battle. It reads better that way. And the folks making the movie knew it. Let's go and watch the results next month, shall we?

Crash, Grandma, & Me

This post was actually written for MySpace since it was more personal rather than reflective of my entire family, but I feel that it is reflective of what we should all be about-thus the picture.

I watched the movie Crash last night. It was really well done; made me feel emotion, and was well acted. Not the happiest movie ever, but it rekindled some memories, and something that I heard this morning connected them. Near the end of the movie…
A man says to his grieving mother, "Mom…I promise you, I promise, I’m gonna find out who did this, momma.” She replies, “Oh, I already know.” He looks at her in confusion. “You did.” She accuses. “I asked you to find your brother, but you were busy. We weren’t much good to you anymore, were we?” He sits back, speechless. “You got things to do, you go ahead.”
Now, this may not be a fair accusation, but it haunts the man. His heart breaks. Imagine the questions he is asking himself.

My grandmother was divorced and in the later years of her life. She had smoked for most of her life, and her health was deteriorating noticeably. She had to move to a convalescent living center for health and monetary reasons. When she first moved there, I would visit about once a week. But then life was moving for me. With a new job, a wife, and my “busy” schedule I found it “too hard” to find the time to visit her. Once, after she had lived there for quite some time, I bought her a picture frame meant to hold about 24 little pictures. She was excited by this, and I said that I would come and help size the pictures and put them in for her (at this time she was little more than skin and bones). It had been the first time that I had visited for months. It was probably her birthday…some special occasion. I forget. My busy life kept me from going back. I never even collected pictures for her. It sat empty near her chair. One day I received a call from my father, informing me that she had passed on. I hadn’t seen her in months. Some weeks later my father stopped by to give me something. It was the frame. It was empty. And my heart screamed. The frame haunts me to this day. It sits empty still.

What was it that kept me so busy? Why did I feel that sitting at home watching a movie was more important that spending time with someone that I loved that was alone? She was alone, in a cold, disinfected, ambulatory place where she would die. And I knew it. If I am meant to be the Hands of the Almighty here on earth, and I can’t even find the compassion or time to reach out to my family, who I know and love, what chance is there that I will do it to those who are alone that I don’t know. This morning I wept. I wept and cried out to God, in hope that she was with Him. I asked Him to hold her for me…to give her the compassion that I was “too busy” to give. And my heart breaks again.

Am I blind? Am I deaf? Am I mute? Am I truly His Hands? I pray to God, on my knees, that I may see. That I may hear. That I may reach out and touch someone who is alone. That I may speak words of comfort to someone in pain. That I may turn from this selfish, ignorant, petty shell and become alive in His love.

As I heard the words “we are His hands” this morning, I am reminded of two songs. The first is Casting Crowns’ If We Are The Body. In this song, they ask,
“But if we are the Body
Why aren’t His arms reaching?
Why aren’t His hands healing?
Why aren’t His words teaching?
If we are the Body
Why aren’t His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?”
These words pierce my heart to the core. The other song is an old 70’s song by the band LoveSong. It’s called Two Hands, and it calls us again as Christians, in the spirit of the Great Commission,
"Accept Him with your whole heart
And use your own two hands
With one reach out to Jesus
And with the other, bring a friend”
Paul writes that he has been all things to all people…and we are to mimic these actions. But remember, that we are to be IN the world, but not OF it. I find myself caught by the cool things that make us a modern nation. I love my computer, my movies, my car, my guitars, et cetera. But they are all EMPTY! Only through His life do we have meaning. And that what I wanted to share with you. Reach out. See. Hear. Love. Act.

Revenge Of The Ankle Part 5: A New Beginning

Monday night we ventured over to my folks' house, where I put together my mom's new computer. It was fun. She's happy. yay! But then I attempted to walk out the fron door. And fell. Those of you who have known me for more than a year realize that I fall down...and break things...usually my right ankle. But this was new. My right ankle escaped unharmed. My left ankle rolled, swelled, and caused me to inflict the shrubbery with new and exciting curses. We stayed at mom's a while longer. Borrowing a cane, I finally went home (luckily I have an automatic transmission). Having stairs sucks when you can't walk on one leg. It really sucks when you can't put all your weight on the other ankle, because it wants to roll as well!!! A wheel chair in a house with stairs would really, really suck. So I sit. Alone. The cat's don't follow instruction well, and my requested glass of water was replaced by a catnip mouse. It was actually quite refreshing. You should try one.

Friday Fun Night

Friday night Lake Grove Elementary had their Mardi Gras Fun Night. Yeah, so Mardi Gras is actually several months away...it was just a theme. Lots of fun to be had, games to be played, cakes to be one, and balloon swords and bats to wack each other with. Hannah spent most of the time in the Obstacle Course, a huge inflatable structure with bouncing floors, and a faux rock wall to climb and fall down. Lots of fun. Kevin? He watched. And paid.
I was amazed at Hannah's patience about the "facepainting" room. The line was approximately 45 minutes long, but she held it out. In the end, she and her friends got matching rose tatoos...which is fitting for her, as that's her middle name. 8 o'clock came, and went, and still fun was being had, until the shutdown started (late) and we had to leave at 8:30pm. There are more tattoos to be applied, a pink sword that I get wacked with frequently, and tons of baubles and jewelry that was won due to Hannah's dexterity in playing Operation on a 6 foot board.

Halloween

Halloween has come and gone, and with it, a surge of hyperactivity not to be equaled until Christmas. From the 8' Shrek in the front yard, to the 4 jack-o-lanterns, to pumpkin pencils by the door (no candy for kids here it seems), we were ready...except for the rain. Both girls were in high heels, and slid down several driveways together. It's pretty dark around our house, and there are no sidewalks, so we drove over to the Westlake area, where we were surrounded by hundreds of other pint-sized Darth Vaders and Disney Princess'. The haul won, we stopped at my parents house at last, where Hannah quickly fell asleep on her mother's lap. So cute!! She was a little Fairy-Princess, complete with wings and wand, and Michaela was a "female cop" complete with 2" blue heels, Dragnet hat, and water gun (my back was soaked by the end of the night!). And the next day, all of my pumpkins are still in one peice. Thanksgiving, here we come!

Simply A Maizing!!!

We took the Fish Co. kids to Sauvie's Island to a corn maize (a maize maze!) and attempted to lose them amongst the corn, mud, and hay. Much fun was had, everyone got muddy, and a few of us got to shoot the corn gun...120 lbs of air pressure shooting 1/2 a corn cob across a field! Everyone made it out of the maze unscathed, and relatively clean. We had to get through the maze using our wits and a card with clues based on scripture (ex: how many times is corn mentioned in the Bible? a) 784 - turn left b) 187 - go straight c) 47 - turn right. the answer was 47, so we turned right). It was quite cool. Fun for all! Tonight - The Great Pumpkin Chase!!!

The Lost Tooth Episode 3: Revenge of the Tooth Fairy

Hannah was really happy yesterday, because Diane found Hannah's 1st tooth in some papers on a side table in the family room. So Hannah wanted to put it under her pillow of course. Now, recall that she had already got money by leaving a note with a picture. So we wrote a new note explaining that she had found it, and wanted the Tooth Fairy to have it. Who knew what would happen?

The tooth fairy really must have wanted to have that tooth, because she ripped the doorknob right off of Hannah's door. But she got the tooth. And she left a really nice form letter saying to eat less sweets. I'm beginning to wonder if that horror movie Darkness Falls about the tooth fairy killing kids might be true...I think that I'll stay on her good side just in case.

Comment On My Blog

Some folks have had problems leaving comments on the posts here. And I've had problems with random sales comments from unknown spammers. So...You don't have to have a BlogSpot account, but you do have to type in some wacky letters ("word verification"), just to prove you're not a spammer or computer. So please comment, mock, whatever. I welcome it. I take requests too!! -kevin

Wedding Photos

On March 17th, 2005 a wonderful thing happened to me. I drank 4 pints of Beamish Stout. Oh, and Diane agreed to marry me in front of a pub full of Irish drunks. So then we got married on the 20th of August, 2005. Basically, 2 months and 2 days ago. Pictures have been late in coming, as our "real" photographer has disappeared off the radar, and our pictures with him. Luckily, our friend Jennifer Crumine was there with her camera. And she was nice enough to put them on the web for us. So here's how to get to them...

Go to www.flickr.com
Click on “sign in”
Choose the Yahoo option
User: gateswedding Password: dianeandkevin
DO NOT VERIFY EMAIL on the next page. Choose “do it later”
Click on the “groups” tab up at the top
Click on “gateswedding” and you’re there!!!

You can download full sized pictures at no cost. Enjoy, and if I ever get the official photos, I’ll let everyone know.

The Lost Tooth

Yesterday Hannah lost her first tooth. I awoke to Hannah standing over me. "My loose tooth came out." she said. "hmgdf?" was my response (I don't do mornings well). Luckily Hannah realized that meant "How?" "I just pulled and it came out!" she replied. How wonderful! Diane and her made plans for the tooth fairy to come later that night, but...Hannah carried the tooth around the house all day. Everywhere. And then nowhere. When it came time to put it under her pillow, the little white tooth could not be found. Being 5, she had covered every square inch of the house in the last hour since anyone had seen the tooth. After a search that lasted almost 2 hours (mostly by Michaela & myself) Diane thought of a grand idea. Bedtime. So Hannah & Michaela wrote a note to the tooth fairy explaining the situation, and that we would leave the tooth when found. As proof, I printed out the coinciding picture and we placed those under the pillow. This morning I awoke to cries of "She came! She came!" and sure enough, a shiny new quarter had been left in an envelope with a response letter of understanding. Next tooth, when we say "Why don't you put that down somewhere safe?" will be accompanied by action by a parental figure...probably.

Now, I excluded Diane from the search for the tooth, but she was very busy being "Doctor Mom" to Lucy, who hadn't eaten or drank voluntarily for 2 days. I'm happy to report that I just caught the little bugger munching on some cat food, so we're pretty sure every one is going to make it. Toodles for now!

Cats, Couches, & Computers

This post is dedicated to the cats in my life. You've met Lucy & Susan. but you haven't met Keaks (kee-kee). She hates me. She hates men. It's tough to live with her. She hates the kittens too. She doesn't want to come inside the house anymore. We miss her, even me. But she will stay in the garage occasionally. She likes the old couch in there. When I came, I brought a newer couch. So of course she prefers the old one. I found her in the garage on the couch, glaring at me for disturbing her and decided to immortalize her here.

Susan was sick for a bit, as I mentioned in an earlier post, but now is feeling much better. And it turns out that she is a climber. Chair, tables, draperies, desks...I found her on my computer desk when I came home, and it bothered her not one bit when I started typing. She typed too. She likes the number "4". I didn't post her comments.

Lucy is coming down with a cold, or something. It's not what Susan had. She drools and slobbers everywhere. Coming downstairs for coffee (woah, Susan just climbed up my leg! ouch! I only had shorts on. That's going to leave a mark. She wants to type: bvfg. well that's not bad for a cat I guess) I stepped in a huge puddle. I thought the dishwasher had leaked, but no, it was Lucy spewing liquid from her mouth. She had an unevenful trip to the vet, where they gave her antibiotics and an IV for hydration. She's hiding now. 'Not sure where. It remains a mystery.
Well, I must leave now, for Susan is trying to type again. toodle-oo for now. jbvccxcvb

Choir Girls Are Groovy

This morning at our church (Lake Grove Presbyterian) there was a huge massing of all of the choirs singing together. It was actually music commissioning sunday, so the girls got to sing in the same group today. Hannah is part of the young Joy Choir, while Michaela sings with the Cornerstone group. There were at least 3 other choirs on stage with them, and the New Life Choir singing at an earlier service. Combine that with the 2 youth praise bands, and that's alot of people committing to the Ministry of music for His Name's sake!!! Pretty cool if you ask me.

Dating My Wife

Last night Diane and I went on a date. We had already eaten dinner and had a movie waiting for us at home (where no daughters were) so we went to Moonstruck Chocolatiers in Lake Oswego. Apparently a great place to frequent around 7-8pm on a Friday night, as we were one of two couples there. Dating Diane was always a great thing to look forward to...and then I married her. But I find that we still love to date. I've heard it before from folks, and it's true. The 4 days or so before I just didn't get enough Diane in my life. Setting aside time to go out (or stay in) just the two of us is simply marvelous, and we will remember to do it as often as we can. After our Truffles, Cordials, and Mochas, we headed home to watch Hide & Seek together in the dark. Guys love scary movies. Why? Because our dates get scared and are forced to jump in our laps for protection. Is it any wonder that I own over 100 horror movies? Or that I married a woman who freaks out on them? Not to me it isn't.

School House Rocks!

So Hannah came to me today with a DVD that she wanted to watch. To my great surprise and joy, it was the 30th Anniversary Edition of School House Rocks! I mean, I grew up with this stuff! And she digs on it, too. She dances to a bunch, and sings along with Conjunction Junction! So I decided to note the occasion for you all. Enjoy! Oh, and as a selling point-you too can buy this incredible educational memorabilia for your child! At a store near you! -K

A Playdate To Remember

So my friend Danika brought her daughter Ceanna over to play with Hannah tonight. Ceanna's a little older than Hannah, but they have fun together, playing Barbie, watching Barbie movies, et cetera. A wrinkle popped up when Ceanna complained about a "sunflower seed" in her ear (there's a long story behind this from a couple of weeks ago), and sure enough, there was a sunflower seed in her ear canal! We were able to break it up a bit and get little bits out, but Ceanna complained that it hurt too much to keep working on it. So they played Simpson's Clue for a bit. We hope to have Danika help us out by holding Ceanna down while Diane (a Registered Nurse) gets the little bugger out. Meanwhile, everyone enjoys the Chocolate Chip Ice Cream that I just made from scratch! It's good to have giving relatives at wedding time...

Anyway, if I can get any really good ear canal pictures, I'll repost with more of the excitement.

-Kevin

Clan Photos

So I realized that I had only posted an old picture of myself (circa 1996) and that I had neglected to show you the rest of the clan except for the cats! So here's us!

Susan & Lucy

Today Susan (B&W) and Lucy (B) came home to live with us. They are just so cute. They are sisters, about 3 1/2 months old, and we met them at the Home & Garden Show last weekend. They are Diane and my first "children" together and are bound to be spoiled. Their favorite spot so far is on top of the vent on the cable box. Lucy is adventurous and curious about the house, wandering about, and even sitting on Hannah's lap. Susan tends to be a bit shy (she was spayed this morning) and stays out of the common areas in the house. The one bad thing is that we have a litter box in the house...as much as I missed kitties in my life, i certainly didn't miss the smell of a freshly dropped bomb. But we love them much, and they will also appear in random posts from here on out.

A Blog for us!

So today I start the Gates Clan blog. Why clan? Because everyone else uses "family", and I have folks in my clan with other last names. So let's meet us!

I'm Kevin Gates, live in Lake Grove, Oregon, mere minutes from where I grew up. I dig on music (thus the picture), Jesus, and a whole other mess of stuff that will eventually arise in later blogs.

Diane Gates is my new (August 20th, 2005) wife, who is a transplant from California and moved to Lake Grove 4 years ago. We met volunteering with jr highers a couple of years ago, and started dating a year later. Now we're husband and wife! cool.

Michaela Bloom is Diane's firstborn, a graceful dancer and sincere teenager, I actually met her before Diane, as Michaela was in a small group I was substituting as leader for. Learn more about her in later posts.

Hannah Bland is Diane's second daughter, a mere 5 years old, but full of life and insight (at least to me). She dances like her sister, and has a bottomless pit for a stomach, as the saying goes, "Full? I'm not full, I'm Hannah!" Hannah is sure to pop up from post to post.

I hope to post new blog's often, whether anyone reads 'em or not. So check back often to see what the Gates Clan is up to, right here, same bat-time, same bat-channel!

-Kevin