Why New Orleans? This is why!

Some people have asked, "Why do you want to live in that awful underwater city?" Well the city of New Orleans is in fact not under water, though it does have its issues. We live here because its is where God has led us. God has taught us and developed us so much this past year and a half, while always providing for us and blessing us. There is so much pain in this city and not enough people to help soothe the pain. I was working at Pita Pit Sunday night when a gentleman walked in wanting to know where the closest bar was. My Co-worker and I told him about St. Joe's bar about a block down the road. As he was walking out the door he turned around and this is the conversation
Man: "what can i get with 2 dollars?",
Pita Pit: 6 cookies we told him,
Man: "ok I'll take those cookies, and an Ambulance".
Matt: Ok (picks up phone), are you feeling sick?
Man: "Man I've been off my meds for a while, i need an ambulance to take me to River Oaks Hospital."
Matt: Ok (dials 911)
911: What your emergency?
Matt: Hi, I'm at Pita Pit, 5800 Magazine and I have a man here who says he has been off his meds for a while and needs transportation to River Oaks.
911:Has he hurt anyone?
Matt: not that i know of.
911:we cant help you unless he has been in a fight of hurt someone
Matt: he is asking for help
911: Sorry, please call back if he gets in a fight or hurts someone...CLICK
Matt: 911 just hung up on me!
Co-worker: I'll call them (calls 911)

20 minutes later after dispatcher talks to Man, Co-worker, and I they agree to send out a Police officer. This city need people who care about other people, not people who are "just doing their job". Sarah and I want to help people, we pray God will lead us in this.

Big Daddy, Emma, and a baby in my food

Guess whose the new Office Manager of Earth Search....Give up? Its me!!! Well kind of...our Office Manger (Katie) left for England for two weeks and put me in charge while she is gone. She had some huge shoes to fill. She is the sweetest hardest working person i know...I kind of feel incompetent doing her job but it makes me feel special. In other job news...My last day at Pita Pit is Sunday January 18th....I'm going to miss working there..because its fun...but i will not miss getting home at 5am and needing to sleep when Emma was awake..poor Sarah is a trooper...

Monday was Kings Day here in New Orleans, AKA the official first day of Carnival (first day of Mardi Gras season)...If you live in New Orleans its also the end of that new years resolution to lose weight (not mine..just a fact), because everyday there is a king cake on the counter at work. How do we decide who brings the next king cake??? We bake a plastic baby into the cake of course...who ever gets the baby, buys the next king cake....I had a baby in my king cake on Monday..so its my turn!! Only in New Orleans do you accept that there is a baby laying in your food.Emma had her 6 month check up yesterday...even though she is 7 months (us Parks are slow with our babies checkups)...Emma is 17 pounds, 26.25 in long, and her head is 16.5 in. now...and NO EAR INFECTION...Yeay big girl!

Emma and Daddy at the Doctor...not really smiling cuz we were both tired..

Dear Emma

Emma,
Daddy was looking at his old blogg entries when he found one from before you were born that talked about what he looked forward to when you were born. Daddy is not at all disappointed by your sweet disposition, beautiful eyes and face, and how fun you are to play with. We have a lot to look forward to Emma, I thank God everyday for you and your mom.

1.) I look forward to holding my daughter and looking into her sweet eyes...and planning how I am going to keep her away from boys.

2.) I look forward to brushing her hair and Sarah saying.."your doing it wrong"..Thanks for the feedback sweetie.

3.) I look forward to watching her sleep (i hope she does this A Lot).

4.) I look forward to watching Sarah put bows in her hair and seeing how happy that will make her (Sarah and Emma).

5.) I look forward to reading Emma my favorite books.

6.) I look forward to practing my animal noises with her.

7.) I look forward to hearing her copy my animal noises.

8.) I look forward to playing with Emma so that i have an excuse to play with toys.

9.) I look forward to teaching her about textures and watching her learn and grow.

10.) I look forward to holding her up during Mardi Gras parades so i can actually get the cool stuff (they only throw stuff to kids).

I found a dead Rat

So Monday I came into work to be greeted by the horrid smell of a dead animal....I turned on my sniffer and narrowed the smell down to a corner of the "green room" that i work in (35x35ft room). Well i checked all the traps around that area and found them all to be empty. So I then looked around the boxes under the table until i saw a hole in the wall and assumed the animal was in there, because 2 weeks ago i had the task of entering the attic of our 1905/1910 office house to place rat bait/poison around up there and was assuming some would come downstairs to die.... Oh well i said...the smell of a decaying animal should be gone within a few weeks...I'll live with it. Well today (Wednesday) my friend came in and said "Are you sure its in the wall"...Does she not know that is a dare to me....So I went to work going through each box to find our "little friend"...within in a few minutes I had found a friend...but he was not little. I found a Norwegian rat between two boxes, saw his size and went to get a mask and bags from downstairs.....so i could begin the clean up process...Caution Details are below....

Well when i returned and moved the boxes i was welcomed by a large amount of maggets eatting Mr. Rat, so i put him in a plastic bag and moved on to removing the maggets by brushing them onto a peice of paper with a cd then dumping them into the rat bag. I then borrowed the vaccum from the nursery and vaccumed up the remaing rat fur, poo, and other icky things....The nannies have informed me they will be buying a new vaccum and i may keep the one I borrowed. How nice of them! Here is a link to my old blogg and the pictures of my new friend...Caution Gross Pictures of Rat

Emma's Wish List

I added Emma's wish list to my side panel...And right here

Recycle you Crocs

So I found out today that after your crocs get old and the soles wear out (if they just stink, you wash them) you can donate/recycle them through solesunited and they clean them, grind them up, and make new crocs to send to people in need (the video on the web site shows people in Africa). On the web site you can find a donation center near you, or they give you an adress to send them to. So donate your old crocs!

My life as a truck driver (kind of)

So before y'all freak out and and say "How can you leave your wife and baby to drive trucks" (not that there is anything wrong with that profession).....I'm speaking of analogy I came up with to describe my working life.
Ok here is how it works:

• Monday morning I gas up (eat breakfast) and head off for a week of driving my truck (sitting at my desk at Earth search)...Some days I drive more miles than others (work on more projects)...But I always come home to a loving family (for real).
• This trend continues until Friday when after driving all day i have to unload the truck (Deliver Pitas at Pita Pit)...I get so into unloading the truck that I do not notice that i forgot to set the parking break and I get hit by my truck (Work until 4am... leaving me feeling like I got hit by a truck)....While unconscious from the truck hitting me I sometimes have some wonderful dreams of spending time with my family (The time I spend with Emma and Sarah from when I wake up on Saturday to 6pm that night when i go back to work...it seems so hazy)....When I gain consciousness I realize I still have more unloading to do, so off to unloading I go (back to the Pita Pit)....Silly me forgot the parking break again...Bamm truck hits me again (another 4am night)...Ahh dreams of Sarah and Emma again (time spent with my girls once again)....Time to finish unloading the truck (last night at Pita Pit..sometimes till 12am...last night till 2am)....Then off to drive the truck again on Monday (back to work at Earth Search).
• While it seems I am complaing about working to much in this hard time of no work for some people, I know I am blessed to have a wonderful family and two jobs that would work me 80 hrs a week each if i could. God is good...ALL THE TIME...There are blessings everywhere we look..we must simply wipe the evil of our world that clogs our eyes and open our eyes and hearts to our great and grace giving God..