Fatherhood and Gun Regulations

It’s one minute then it’s officially Monday and here I am sitting, trying to come up with some words for this blog. There is something I want to make clear here…  there is no level of disagreement that should give a man or a woman the audacity to shoot through a crowed. As I hear the news about what happened Orlando I cannot help but think of all the families that will going through grieving because of one man.  I do not have the words to say what I am feeling right now because I just saw there was a shooting in Phoenix too where a 13-year-old girl have lost her life. Again, I do not want to why or even care what the circumstances, taking someone’s life is not an answer to any type of anger.

We live in a world that is broken, because the people in it are broken. We are broken from all the bad things that keep happening to us. As a people we are collectively good and for that I will always want to believe in the goodness of humanity. But there are those few of us that are hell-bent on disrupting any type of peace in the name of God, Allah, or whatever they believe in. we have politicians fighting over meaningless crap, we have businessmen who only see the bottomline, and our world is slowing turning into chaos. I do not care which side of the argument you stand on the gun regulation, but something ought to be done and quick. Imagine losing a brother, a sister, a mom, a dad or maybe a 13-year old daughter… what would you care about?

As a father of two, I am still learning how to be a good father and I don’t think I will ever get there, but one thing I know is that my kids’ safety is paramount to me. I want them to be safe and I believe in regulating gun ownership as we regulate vehicle ownership. Our vehicles needs to registered every year, why can’t we register our guns on an annual basis at least. Here are my last observation and comments on the matter and I posted on this facebook too.

Here is my take on gun regulations… and maybe I am not the expert on this matter, but I feel like if we have to register our vehicles annually, gun owners must register their guns on regular basis too… and let’s make gun buying as hard and through as we make car buying… spend the time, go through psych eval, background checks… if you ain’t fit to fly, you ain’t to drive, then you sure as heck ain’t fit to own a gun. Period. If we need insurance to own a vehicle, we should also need insurance to own a gun.

Thanks for reading this… God Bless you!

Sam

POOP STORM IS A REAL THING FOR PARENTS

So my wife and I started getting into the show Pretty Little Liars and it’s quite entertaining. It’s entertaining because of the fact that I get really mad at the stupidity of the young ladies who are supposed to be sixteen… I should probably get used to it since my daughter will be sixteen someday. But anyways, one of the things that these girls do is text SOS when they are in need to each other. This yesterday, I was at work and I get a text simply “SOS” from my wife. My two-year-old son has had an accident and there is literally poop everywhere. When is ay everywhere, I mean everywhere… walls, sheets, clothes, mouth… yes I said mouth. My amazing had cleaned it all up before I got home.

Now I am not a neat freak or anything, but usually when I see something is covered in human poop, I do no anywhere near it even after it has been washed. But the amazing thing is that somehow I did not see my kid in that light. When I got home I still held my son and kissed and played with him. This reminds me of the Father’s love for us, His children. When we are covered in so much poop (metaphor for sin) he still cleans us to the point where there is not even a whiff of sin around and he hugs us and tells us he loves us. The other lessons learned is that we should be nice to parents of kids under two years. They are not to be messed with because they are literally dealing with sh***t, sometimes they have to deal with it from strangers at the grocery, distance family who we don’t even know, close relatives who we want to care about but makes it hard with their comments… and sometimes, in the most literal ways we have to deal with it from our own kids.

Thanks for reading.

Sam

Intro. 2

Saturday, June 11, 2016

As this is the first post on this blog, I would like to first introduce myself. My name is Sam and I am a father of two beautiful kids. I know some of my readers who do not know me might ask for their photos, but I am very protective of them so their photos won’t be on here. Anyways, back to my intro… I have a very beautiful mama as my wife and I love her dearly. I am currently a doctoral student at Grand Canyon University. I am not really good at intros so I hope you will get to know me through this blog.

Now to be clear, I am using this blog as an outlet. This is by no means a parenting blog where you come here to learn parenting. I have been a parent for only three years now (and counting) so I am nowhere near a seasoned father like my father, at least not yet. This post will about little observation I make daily, and weekly and the lessons I learn from them. I hope you can learn along with me and you can comment and leave your wisdom on here too. I will love to hear from you.

Since this is my first entry, I will not bore you with too much details…

See you next time!

Learning How To Walk Again

Those who knows me know the type of comedy I love and most importantly my favorite comedian! Jim Gaffigan had this joke about how we are becoming a lazy society, almost to the point that in our airports we have moving sidewalk. And worst of all, we have a voice announce to us at the end of the moving sidewalk that the sidewalk has ended. Laziness and dumbness comes to mind when you hear this happening, but that’s besides the point I like to make.

he made an astute observation that on these sidewalk, sometimes it is hard to walk again when you have been on for a long time. I find this funny because the first few seconds after the sidewalk can be tricky!

Now to bring that in terms of my life I have always pondered “Can we forget to walk”? Well, I can certainly tell you this morning, I am learning to walk again. My legs are barely holding my frame because of a workout two nights ago… YES! you read correctly TWO nights ago. I was worked and over worked and worked out again. And as much I love taking this work out to the next level, the toll on my body is becoming more and more extreme. Some of these tolls are tightened tummy, weight loss, improved confidence… etc. you get my point. but once in a while some of those tolls are achy body and unwillingness to get out of bed 🙂

BUT, all of this has a point, a purpose to this madness, a ying to this yang, something that balances all this chaos-ness ( i made that word up). And this something, nay, someone is my awesome baby boy, Ian. He has become my motivation. 

Before going to the gym I was reading to him and having one of our “father-son talks” (yes we do those) I realize how much he is the reason for everything I do now. There isn’t anything I will not do for that prince, including learning how to walk again so I can run with him when he is here. As I ponder this achy legs and thighs and all this, I realize a gem of thought which is that it is interesting to be in this much pain, struggling to walk upright for a few days and to have my son and see him learn how to walk.

It will be an experience like no other because sometimes parents can forget how things were they were little (or maybe instead of forgetting, they just don’t remember… think about that lol) But i can say with certainty the idea of learning how to walk and not being able to stand straight will be fresh on my mind as I watch my son tries to walk…

But hey, let’s not put the cart in front of the horse… he needs to crawl first and hopefully I won’t have to crawl in the gym before that happens…

What is my motivation for you this morning, well it’s simple really…

KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE GOAL! For me it’s playtime with my son!

Know Who You Are

To all my avid readers and followers, especially those who send me a message to see how I am doing coz I haven’t posted anything lately, I am super sorry. It has been quite a hectic week but no fears… I have still been going to the gym.

Part of today’s post is also a progress report… According to my weighing scale… I have lost 5 lbs since I started this working out a month ago. Now I say according to the scale because as my trainer and other work out enthusiast had told me, I have probably lost more than 5 lbs of fat but my scaled is not recognizing all the weight lost because of the muscle weight i have gained. I feel better and I look better and soon, there will be photos. I don’t think I feel better to the point to show off the body just yet 😉 lol

But today, I wanted to talk about the power of knowing your own strength. When I first started this, all I had was a determination and dedication to my unborn son. That coupled with my trainer’s dedication to help me gave me the will to keep going, even when I am beat.  Now that i can see some improvement, it has let me know the power of will, the power that lies within us to push us forward ONLY IF we don’t succumb to fleshly desires to just on the couch and watch TV. 

I am not saying i do not still sit on the couch and watch tv, i do, trust me. But at the end of the day I have worked out my body to the point where if i am sitting relaxing, it is exactly how it sounds… RELAXING. I have come to know that there is a power inside me that I have been able to tap into that whenever I feel like I am not making progress or feel like failing, I get back up and move on.

If you are reading this and you have had this inclination to better your life, in any situation, I want you to know that you have the power and will. Do Not Underestimate yourself. 

You can do it!

To Our Fallen Heroes

I hope everyone had a good looong weekend and an enjoyable Memorial Day. As a veteran of the greatest military on earth, Memorial Day is close to my heart. My grandpa was also in the military and my wife’s grandpa was also a military man, so you can say in some way, I am surrounded by Military traditions. 

Memorial Day is set aside for us to remember our fallen heroes. Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Coast Guardsmen, Airmen, all of which laid their lives down so I can be online right now and post my opinion and no government can touch me. Freedom and Rights was sacrificed so we can have freedom and rights. It is interesting, isn’t it? When someone gave up something so valuable so you can have it. Freedom isn’t free… people used their lives for it.

Thank you. 

No Giant Step

 

We’ve all heard of the phrase Mr. Armstrong said when he landed on the moon! … One Giant Step for Mankind. People throughout history has been seeking that big jump into success, that quick hop to fame and what have you. In some circles of life, a giant step forward might be a good thing. I love American Football and being a New England Patriots fan, i listen to their radio station. I hear a lot talked about the “year two jump” for rookies. For those rookies, it’s important to take that giant leap or step or jump forward.

When it comes to working out and your body, there is no one giant leap forward. It takes time. I have realized that there are three things you need to excel in your work out. And I want to share that lesson with you.

Commitment

Discipline

Hardwork

These three things, when applied can be powerful in your quest for a better health, a good body image and a great feeling and a sense of self and purpose. Please do not stop at Commitment! Discipline and Hardwork work together

A Family Affair

Last night my dad and two brothers came with me to the gym. It is really fun having your family next to you. 

For my dad, it was more observing what I have been doing for the past three weeks or so. But for Jude and Daniel, it was all work out, work out, work out! It was fun! 

I was glad they came because the lesson learned today is the sign above… an hour is only 4 percent of your time in a day. If you do not have 4 percent of your time to take care of your body and holistic health, your priorities are warped and need to be re-examined. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I used to be one of those that didn’t think I had an hour in a day to work out. But  when it is put into terms of percentages, it seems easy, doesn’t it… You have NO EXCUSES

 

 

What losing weight does to you!

So I have not posted anything lately… don’t worry I have been working out! it’s just that work has been stressful lately. 

Actually workout has been one of the few getaways for me! 

Aside from my son, this is the ultimate reason why i believe workout and losing weight is good and can be good..

 

I like the whole “a picture is worth a thousand words”

Last night was brutal… i could bare lift my hand high enough to the steering wheels to drive. My trainer has become truly my cheerleader. I beat my personal time on rowing. I know it is not much for you rowers out there, but i rowed 1,500 meters in 7 minutes and 30 seconds… I was able to do that coz i had Rob standing next to me just cheering me on and giving me encouragement. 

It’s amazing how much encouragement pushes me… i personally respond very to encouraging on what i am doing right than most forms of encouragement!

I am super proud of myself and boy i gotta tell y’all… i looked good yesterday! 🙂