Well, the Bybee family arrived in sunny California virtually unscathed. Thanks to a benevolent American Airlines employee, our family had the entire 28th row of our airplane to ourselves. Joshua was enthralled by the takeoff and landing; Abby Kate showed considerably less interest. But we arrived here safe and sound and I’ve temporarily lifted my self-imposed blogging fast just long enough to check-in briefly. Here, in no particular order, are my random thoughts:

* Every airplane should be required by law to offer a fully staffed nursery on each flight.

* If one more person asks my wife, “Are they twins?”, I think she might burst a blood vessel. Seriously.

* If you have twins, that’s great. Really. I’m happy for you. But do I honestly look like I care? Just because you and I have twins, that doesn’t mean I want to hear about your 29-year-old identical twins and their freaky telepathic communication (this happened to me this evening). We’re not alike. We’re not part of any “Fraternal Order of Twinhood” or anything. So stop telling me about your kids. Especially when mine are in desperate need of my attention.

* And another thing: Why do older parents feel the need to look at me and say things like, “Don’t worry. It gets better.” First of all, I didn’t ask. Secondly, if it does get better, that’s great because I’m loving right now. Don’t get me wrong…our kids have their moments, too (as noted here). But Sunny and I are truly loving this stage in our children’s lives. If it gets better, then we have a lot to look forward to.

* After finishing off Fantasyland last week, I’ve added significantly to my summer reading list. I can’t help it…I’m in love with books. While I’ve been here at Pepperdine, I think I’ve purchased 7 more, including The Politics of Jesus by Yoder, A Generous Orthodoxy by McLaren and four books in the Fleer Preaching series. I’ve already started the Yoder book and his early thoughts were congruent with Randy Harris’ afternoon lecture on The Kingdom of God and the Kingdoms of Earth. I’m looking forward to digesting this one and I’m sure some of this material will make it here. Will keep you posted.

* We had an awesome time at the Angels game Monday afternoon. We sat in right field, just inside the foul pole. Of course, Joshua was on cloud nine. We were spitting distance from Vlad Guerrero, a long-time staple of my fantasy baseball team, The Lobes. Two highlights: Guerrero smashed a two-run homer in the sixth inning (did I mention he’s on my team?), which was nice. But the highlight for us was when Vlad waved to Joshua and me as we yelled out his name. (Well, I yelled out his name. Joshua just kind of mouthed something that sounded vaguely like “ball”. Nonetheless…) I’ll be able to tell my son someday that a Hall of Famer waved at him when he was but a lad. Sweet. And for the record, I’m currently at 17 ball parks, with #18 this weekend — Petco Park in San Diego.

That’s all for now. Good night from the West Coast. Pray for the Bybee trip back east on Saturday. See you then!
JB