merry christmas from dutch!

OK let me start by saying this is Dutch not Erin and by asking you to forgive all the spelling and grammatical mistakes you will see in this post and any future postings I do. Now, with that out of the way, I have decided to post a holiday thanks to everyone in my life, my own little Christmas card.
It starts with God. I want to thank him for all the fortunate things in my life ... my beautiful wife Erin, my PERFECT daughter Liv, a great job, and an overall blessed life. I find myself wondering how I got it so good... It is easy to get caught up in all the little things in life that can take focus off what is truly important, which are things like health. I am so thankful my family is in good health! I have a job that allows me to get surgery on my nose, of all things, to let me breath better. In my occupation, I see families every day that have to worry about how they are going to pay to take themselves or their loved one to the hospital. I do not have to worry about that. I can look as close as my own father to realize just how good I have it. He has lost an arm and is in constant pain everyday and to go along with all that he lives on about $800.00 a month, just think about that for a minute. I also have a dear friend that has a sick daughter, him and his wife know she is not going to live for very long, think about that for a moment. I can only pray for God to give him and his wife strength in this time and hope we can ALL take time to sit and reflect on just how good we all have it. I am not writing about this to make people who read it sad, I am writing this for you to take a look at your own life and give thanks to God for all the blessings he has given you.
I would also like to give thanks for our family and friends. I cannot imagine raising my daughter without family in the immediate area. I find myself lying in bed at night, so thankful that Liv has such a wonderful family in her life. Between Erin's mother, father, and brother along with my own mother, brothers and sisters, Liv has got a great circle of love around her. Erin's parents are only minutes away from us and they have been such a big help with Liv. Erin and I can rest easy when we are at work because we know Cindy is putting a SMACKDOWN of love on Liv and Ernie has been a great POPPY as well. I think having Cindy and Ernie in Liv's immediate area puts a calming feeling in my mothers heart. She knows how important grandparents are in a child's life. I know it breaks my mom's heart not to be here everyday with Liv, but at least she does know that Liv is always in good hands. I am also thankful that Erin and I have my brothers, sisters and Erin's cousins to model a family after, they have all raised wonderful children and we can learn a lot from them.
Last but certainly not least, our circle of friends. What did we do to deserve such great friends in our lives? From the friends I have made, marrying such a wonderful woman in TEXAS to the friends we have made here in Indy, and of course the best of friends Erin and I have in Minnesota our lives are truly blessed. I am blessed to be a part of all you and your own families lives in the future.
I also want you all to know that this is not a normal posting for me. In fact you will probably never see something like this from me again. It could be the pain medication I am on :), it could be the time I have on my hands for the next few weeks, it is probably the season, but I just wanted everyone to know that I am thankful for my life. Yes, this is gay, mushy, and all the other words my guy friends are saying right now, but ya know what, sometimes stuff like this just has to be said because who knows if you will be able to communicate this with people you care about. I am still a man.. I am currently watching Sports Center and thinking about how M. Jones-Drew got me 17 points in fantasy last night so ha. and I am going to be doing manly things like painting tables and hanging pictures later today, but for this one moment I am just thankful and I want everyone to know it. I mean just take a look at the blog entry below this and watch the video, Hilarious!
I LOVE YOU ALL and hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas! God Bless.