A Great Many Thanks

For the past twenty years I've always fancied myself a writer before most any other creative endeavor.

Just over five years ago I realized that my commitment to writing had waned and my output had slowed to a trickle... I was losing my edge. So, I decided to open up my creative faucet by starting this blog with a promise to write an entry everyday for a year. And I did.

And that's how this all started... as a way to get my artistic booty into gear.

Now, five years later, it's coming to an end. So many things have changed over that time.

My marriage moved from 12.5 to 17.5 years. I could not be more happy with my relationship with my wife. We are truly blessed.

My children moved from childhood into young adulthood. My daughter was 11 when we started and my son eight. They have grown into such fine, young, driven, faithful people. I am amazed by them, inspired by them and can't believe I have the honor of being their father.

My understanding of my Catholic faith has grown exponentially over the past five years. What was a small spark has grown to consume me more and more, enough that I put my faith and my passions together into one vocational endeavor called Sonlight Pictures.

Within the past five years I lost my father. His passing, though sad, was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life and which I chronicled on this website. I will never fear death again.

Over the past five years I shot a couple of award-winning projects. The micro-budget digital feature The Box, the first Sonlight Pictures project Club God and the web series Nikki & Babs (formerly Purgatory, USA).

I've watched my beautiful wife become involved with our Lifteen Mass band called Messenger. Her visible display of faith during Mass has inspired many... I know, I've heard it over and over again. They've released a CD and now I get to hear her sing whenever I want.

I've been blessed with good health and consistent employment during this last half-decade. Two things of which I NEVER take for granted.

I've coached my son's baseball teams saw a group of young, talented boys turn into young, talented men. I've seen my gifted son be a better person than a baseball player. He is known by coaches, players and umpires alike for both his competitiveness and his compassion on and off the field.

I've helped my daughter with her acting homework and saw her touch the lives of her friends by her faith and her example. I've grown to love many of her friends as if they were my own children and am awed at their passion for Jesus Christ.

I have been very, very blessed.

On this, the last entry of this five year blog experiment, I'd like to say a few thanks. Granted, over the 1800 or so days of its existence we've had many of visitors. However, there have been a few very consistent followers of this humble acre in cyberspace and I'd like to thank them for their kindness and support.

My Mother - My mom has been the most consistent visitor of this site and, by far, the greatest contributor to our comments section. So, thank you, Ma, for your wonderful love and support these past five years. Her weekly Carolina Chronicles that she sends out via email for the past decade has inspired us all.

Paul - having moved away from the family to Texas and taking our mother's lead, took the Bauer family's first foray into the blogosphere with his now defunct blog called the Houston Chronicles. He's also been a great supporter and consistent visitor to the site and a selfless enabler of my creative endeavors.

KT and Rett - Both my niece Katie and my sister Loretta are about tied with their visits to the website and their comments. They always filled their input with humor and heart-felt support.

Steve, Chuckles, Laura and the rest - For the other family members who made this place a part of their lives, I want to thank you as well! Your witty, wise and timely comments comforted me when I feared this blog was merely an unintentionally selfish exercise by which I would only hear my own voice.

THANK YOU... ALL OF YOU!

Over the past five years, I've shared an awful lot about myself here. Funny stuff, family challenges, growing pains and faith struggles. I've tried to be honest and humorous and I even attempted being insightful at times. Don't know how successful I've been, but I will say that it has been a pleasure to be part of your lives these past five years.

I hope the grace of the Almighty will inspire you, guide you and protect you, not only in 2010 or the next five years, but for the rest of your days.

God bless you all!

My Little Felicity

My daughter, Dorothea, has started her own blog, named after her Confirmation Saint, St. Felicity.

http://felicityinhappiness.blogspot.com/

Check it out. She's a talented writer :) Yeah, I'm a little biased.

Acting is the Thing

Christians want to support good Christian films. They yearn for something to latch onto... a group of filmmakers like those at Sherwood Baptist church making films like Fireproof that extols the virtues of saving a marriage. Or movies like Bella, which extols the virtues of saving a child from abortion. Or even The Passion of the Christ, which tells a historically accurate representation of a Roman flogging on Jesus Christ and his subsequent sacrifice on the cross.

Christians want to support films that tell a story they want to see and one that flies in the face of the hedonism that rules the day in Hollywood. They're searching for entertainment that is not filled with sexual innuendo and showcases vices as virtues or lust as love.

If, as a filmmaker, you happen upon such a movement, its important that you have everything in place to ride that large, growing wave all the way to the shore.

Two recent Christian films could be considered case studies of potential Christian game changers, that, instead of the growing into a tidal wave, slowly dissipated into another wave among many due to the same fundamental reason.

Come What May and Pendragon are both independent Christian films that were ambitious and very successful in almost every way. Their approaches were timely and inventive and touched the core of Christian film audiences.

In a growing anti-Christian social and political climate, Come What May had the ingenious approach of attacking the legal case surrounding the Roe v. Wade abortion ruling by having a student in a Christian college tasked with arguing against the ruling in a moot court, which has real judges and/or retired judges in an arena that simulates Supreme Court proceedings. The lead character struggled with taking on the task of trying to overturn Roe v. Wade and was searching for a compromise solution. When forced to face the issue head on, he had to rely on his faith as well as overcome opposing viewpoints on the issue from his own parents.

The script was very well written and, for a Christian film, the production value was quite good. Having access to a relatively new, small Christian college that looked like a historic Ivy League school elevated the look of the film to higher than normal levels. The lead actors were good looking, wholesome young people which was appropriate for the characters.

Pendragon: Sword of His Father is an incredibly ambitious film from home school families that started small, but ended up being massively grand and epic in scale. The film takes place in 411 A.D. when the Romans left Britain and left a void of power that various groups tried to fill by attacking villages and acquiring slaves and wealth. Pendragon follows the son of a village leader that is killed by marauders who destroy his town. At first he is enslaved, then escapes, then leads a group of other fighters to defeat the marauders that killed his father. The film talks about the need to follow Christ's example and that God's plans last more than just one generation.

The film has tremendous production value, with special effects, swords, battles, explosions, etc. It has over 600 extras, full sized sets that look like real villages, chases on horse back and fisticuffs.

Both films were on the verge of being powerhouses. They both garnered tremendous press and support within the Christian film community. Come What May was a selected film of the American Family Association and was offered for sale via the AFA in a number of the AFA's email updates. Pendragon won numerous awards and was written up in a number of Christian film blogs and websites.

The problem that both films struggled with that kept them from being blockbusters was the basic and fundamental issue of acting. Both films had everything going for them, except one of the three fundamentals of film making. When people watch films they need to see it, hear it and believe it. Believing it comes from the writing and the acting. Both films have good scripts, but the acting completely undermines everything else.

It's just an example of how difficult it is to put together a completely successful film. And it also shows that some of the core items, acting, lighting, writing and directing, are at the root of a successful film experience.

In both films, Come What May and Pendragon, once the initial impressiveness of scope and approach wore off, you are still stuck with the core items. Once we grasp the amount of effort and time it took to make the world of Pendragon come alive, once we've accepted it as the reality of the film, the only thing that is left is the character journeys. And the believability and effectiveness of those journeys are fueled by the quality of the acting.

I hope we can, someday, put together a project that has reached some social and spiritual critical mass like these two films, where we can leverage the press and attention, growing one small ripple into a tidal wave of both critical and financial Christian film success.

Merry Christmas

To my family and friends that have been visiting this website for five years, I want to thank you for your support and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

I hope you all are blessed with an abundance of God's graces this holy holiday and throughout all of 2010.

God Only Wants 100%

This will appear over at our Sonlight Pictures blog next week, but since it applied to the family, I thought I'd post it here as well.

*****

The good news is that God does not want from us more than we can offer. He doesn't expect us to give 110%.

He does, however, expect us to give 100%... of us... to him.

God wants us entirely, mind, body and soul. He wants us to embrace him with our every goal, hope, aspiration, need, desire and challenge. He wants to lead us down the path we need to take to reach salvation and live eternally in his presence.

Like his chosen people in the Old Testament, that journey may not be an easy one, but a necessary one. When Moses led them out to the wilderness it would take 40 years of a level-setting spiritual boot camp for his people Israel to purge their 400 year connection to the gods of Egypt. God forced them to rely solely on his own mercy to provide food everyday. And when they lost faith, like building the golden calf, they had to pay the price for their spiritual weakness. Even Moses, who answered God's call time and time again, failed to do as God spoke and was punished by not being allowed to enter the land they were promised.

It was not until the Egyptian generation had died away, and their children only born in the wilderness with the strong reliance on God's mercy, did his chosen people finally make it into the land of milk and honey.

The funny thing about offering ourselves up to God is that, well, he will take it.

My daughter, for example, had been struggling with managing her stress level this year in school. We had prayed often and asked for God's guidance. As we neared her final exams and prayed we realized this final exam was not a test of math, but a test of faith. My daughter understood that and accepted God's guidance and went to bed, ready to trust God's will.

The next day, the day of the exam, she awoke with a high fever. She opened her eyes and said "Thanks, God. Still testing my faith, huh?" And he was.

After she took the final exam she waited for the teacher to let her know what was her final score. The teacher scored the test and told her she had failed.

My daughter left the classroom devastated. The result of the test would require her changing her entire college plans. She had prayed and put her faith in God and she failed anyway. She knew God must have had other plans for her. She wept to herself, but knew it was God's will and accepted it. She didn't like it, but she accepted it.

However, it was another test of faith.

As she walked outside of the classroom the teacher ran out after her and told her she had given her the wrong person's results. She had actually passed and received a B.

As her faith grew, God's test of that faith grew. The more she was tested, the more she had to offer more faith. The more she offered faith, the more she was tested. She started giving 10%, God wanted 11. When she gave 11, God wanted 12. Why?

Because God wants all of us. 100%. Nothing less. We are his creation, after all. Why would he want less?

The saints have often complained about God's continual and growing moral tests of faith. I can't remember the saint's name, but one of them said to God, after a very hard moral challenge, "if this is the way you treat your friends, no wonder you have so many enemies."

Think of Mother Theresa. After giving her life to Jesus, she did not feel his presence again, except one brief moment. For fifty years she felt nothing, but lived everyday for him.

Why?

Because God wants 100%. Any amount of ourselves we do not give to God is tainted by our own imperfection. When we offer ourselves up, God must purify us from our own sinfulness by testing us, forcing us to rely on him.

For my daughter, she did not have faith when it came to school work. Her fear was interfering with her faith. When she offered that up, God had to push her more and more until he had finally forced the fear from where she could replace that void with faith.

Our moral journey, our path toward heaven will not be easy because it can't be. We are holding on to too many percentages of our lives, not giving God all of us.

We are his children. He wants all of us. Not just once a week on Sundays. Not just when life treats us poorly. He wants us when we work, when we talk to our kids, when we mow our yards, when we wash the car, when we face illness, when we lose our jobs or lose a relative close to us.

God wants us all. Whatever you can give him, he will take... and wait for the rest.

Audio Bible

I don't remember when I first became a fan of old radio programs... sometime in college I think. Thanks to the internet, over the last few years I've been able to accumulate over 100 old radio shows, including shows such as Casey: Crime Photographer, Philip Marlowe and Barry Craig: Confidential Investigator.

What I love about old radio programs is that they take you beyond the simple written word and allow you to dive into a world made up of real life sounds with actors playing the characters in such a way that your mind fills in all the blanks and you can watch the show unfold before you in your mind.

It's that love of old time radio programs that makes me so excited about buying the audio bible called Word of Promise. It's a King James version of the bible done in audio theater format. There are sound effects and over 600 actors playing the numerous parts, including Jim Caviezel, Michael York, Richard Dreyfus, Max Von Sydow, Gary Sinise, Marcia Gay Harden, and on and on.

The bible comes alive when you listen to Adam take his first breath and hear Noah building the ark. The story moves at a very quick pace and it's entertaining and immersive in quality.

Over a year ago some of our fellow strong believing Catholics would get together every Sunday evening and watch Jeff Cavins' The Great Adventure bible study. It's a great, wonderful bible study that condenses the grand salvation story of the bible into 14 critical narrative books. It shows you where the other books in the bible compliment the main narratives while not losing sight of the primary story being told.

The problem I've had with the bible study is that it is 24 weeks long and I've never been able to finish it. Life would always get in the way. So, it occured to me that if I could record the audio from Cavins' DVD bible study as well as the appropriate audio bible sections required for the study using the awesome Word of Promise series, I could make an audio series that I could listen to in the car or at home, where ever it is convenient.

So, I've spent that last month putting this together. I hope to have it completed by Christmas. So far it is a wonderful experience. On the way to and from work I've already listened to Genesis while moving through three of Cavins insightful and inspiring bible studies.

The only downside is that, since the audio bible is a King James version, it does not include Maccabees, which is in Catholic bible and covered in the Cavins study. I guess reading one book out of the bible instead of listening to it won't hurt me too much. :)

As I told my wife the other day, I know I've changed as a person when one of the most exciting purchases I've ever made has been the Word of Promise bible study. It is an amazing tool that literally brings the bible to life.

Combine that with Cavins' deep and educational insights as to how each book ties to the next and, in the end, with Jesus Christ, will give me an understanding of the bible that I have never had before.

Kids Journal - 05/02/05

Gabe had his first communion this past weekend. It was so beautiful. The night before we went over the first Passover and how it was tied to the Passion and the Eucharist. After he received, he sat next to me and leaned in say "Just to tell you, when I was waiting to go up there, my heart was beating so fast I thought it would pop out of my chest!" It was very touching. The whole experience made me cry. Gabe looked at me and said "Dad, I've never seen you cry before." What better way for him to see that for the first time than tears of joy of him in union with Christ.

Love ya,

Dad

Happy Birthday Gabe!

My son turns thirteen today! He's officially a young man.

I am very proud of my son. He is compassionate and thoughtful and bright and athletic and caring. He's a better person than he is an athlete and he makes me laugh using his own unique sense of humor.


I am so blessed to have Gabriel Bauer as my son. Thank you Lord for such a wonderful gift. May you always guide him and give him strength, protect him and give him wisdom, inspire him and give him hope.

Happy birthday, my son! Welcome to adulthood.

Tourney Wins

Gabe has started to readily improve at his new level of baseball. He's been hitting the ball extremely well. This past weekend he only had one at bat where the ball was not struck with force. In one game he hit three line drives deep to the outfield, but two were caught for outs.

So, even though it doesn't look great on the stat sheet, it does show the improvement we were trying to achieve this year.

The nice thing about playing 13U baseball (meaning 13 and under) is that a combination of things levels the playing field.

• 13U means that no player on the field is older than 13 years old.
• 13U plays at major league distances (60 ft mound, 90 ft bases).

Unlike 12U where the fields are little league sized and some of the players have hit puberty early and can dominate on a smaller field, in 13U, no one is big enough or strong enough to dominate on this field.

Domination can reoccur in the upcoming years, since the field will remain the same size, but the players will get better and stronger. But, for right now, wins and losses come down to simply execution.

This past weekend we spent in Plant City where our team came in third place, going 3-1 in the tournament. Gabe and his teammates continue to grow and improve. It's exciting to see his passion for the game and his exceptional gifts for the game continue to flourish as his competition gets better. Even elite teams in the area have been asking about him.

It makes all of the hours at the ball field worth it.

Baseball Lessons

There are a couple of things I love about baseball. One, I love spending the time with my son at the field, watching him do something in which he excels. It's wonderful to see him work hard, focus and overcome challenges to be a leader on the team.

Gabe pitching.

On a greater scale, the other thing I love about baseball (and this really goes for all team sports) are the life lessons that the kids learn through the process. I'm sure they won't even appreciate the lessons they're learning every practice, every game, but it is exciting to see them put them into practice.

Talking to the kids before the game.

When you're dealing with a group of young boys who are moving into young men, there is an opportunity there to set expectations higher and in the right direction. Children want to be grown-ups so badly, they just want to know how.

So, we spend a lot of time talking about personal responsibility. For example, younger, immature players, when the make an error, will whine and complain about how it wasn't there fault, there was this reason and that reason and blah, blah, blah. We've explained to our team of 13 year olds that young men, responsible men, take responsibility for their actions. If you make an error, admit to it, own it, and let your team you know won't make the mistake again. It's okay, you're going to make mistakes, it's how you react to those mistakes which shows your character.

Chatting with players in between innings.

We also talk about criticism. We explain that there are two types of criticism, the truth and someone who just doesn't get it. If it's the truth, no matter how that information is delivered, it's still the truth and the player knows it as such. So, if it comes from a coach yelling during a game or a fellow player trying to help out, the truth doesn't change just because you don't want to hear it. Be open to it, accept it and learn from it.

If criticism is from someone who just doesn't get it, and you don't recognize it as the truth, then thank them and ignore it. It's that simple. Don't fight it, don't get into an argument about it. Just move on.

Another lesson we talk about is controlling your anger. We tell the kids, that baseball is a game of failure. People who go to the hall of fame fail 7 out of 10 times. You have to be able to control your response to failure. You're allowed to feel any emotion you want, however you are not allowed to express it any way you want. That's called sportsmanship.

And, of course, the concept of teamwork. As part of a team, they realize that if they make a mistake, they all suffer. If they make a great play, they all succeed. If you help someone make a great play, we all succeed. If you sacrifice for the team, they all succeed.

And, finally, we talk about raising their expectations about themselves, about not wasting time in practice and about enjoying the game of baseball for what it is... a game.

The fruits of our labor,
Gabe hits an in-the-park home run.

I love watching these young men grow and improve as both players and people. It is the greatest gift of coaching... not the trophies or wins, though they are nice, but the time with these kids, watching them move from childhood to adulthood.

P90X

Back in the day, about 20 years ago, I used to work out a lot. I'd go to the gym five days a week, working out about three hours each day. I was trying to be a working actor at the time. My body was my product. My acting talent the other. So, like any other businessman, I spent a lot of time making my product the best it could be.

While spending so many hours in the gym, I was fortunate to have met and learned from a lot of professional body builders. Some of them where on steroids, while others were not. You could tell the difference. It wasn't subtle. However, they all had insight into proper work out techniques... not only in what exercises to work on, but in what order. The goal was to create muscle confusion.

What is muscle confusion? Well, God has made us with exceptional adaptive skills. It's what has allowed our species to have survived all this time. The more we do something with our body, the more the body becomes accustomed to it. We become more efficient, the work less stressful. Our muscles first grow, then adapt.

This is problematic when you're trying to get in shape or build muscle mass. You eventually reach this plateau where you no longer see results.


Overcoming this standard problem is the genius behind P90X. Tony Horton has put together a wonderful, tough and comprehensive workout program that does a few things very well...

First, it breaks down the exercises into bite sized morsels. Each exercise usually lasts under one minute. As he says in the exercise program, "You can do anything for 60 seconds!"

Second, it's always challenging. He shows you numerous ways to do the same exercise, depending on your strength level. So, no matter where you are strength wise, it remains applicable. And that goes the other way too... after finishing the 90 day plan, I still couldn't do what the advanced people could do.

Third, the DVDs are very well designed. You can use the same DVDs in various ways... with Tony talking you through it, with music and pointers only, with music only, with nothing. So, you don't get bored with the DVD because you've heard the same thing over and over again. After a few weeks, you'll use the music with pointers option the most. Keeps it fresh.

Fourth, Tony's entertaining. You'd think that it would be difficult to listen to the same guy say basically the same thing day after day, but Tony is an entertaining guy. And he pushes you to do better, but never more than you are capable. His phrase "do your best and forget the rest" is a welcomed reminder as the workouts push you.

Fifth, it's brilliantly designed. The workout DVDs are broken up into specific sections (Chest & Back one day, Plyometrics the next, Shoulders & Arms the next, etc.). You're always working more than one muscle group and you'll switch between the two. On Chest & Back, for example, you'll do mostly push-ups and pull-ups. But there are about 10 different types of push-ups and about six different types of pull-ups, and he mixes them up so you're not doing only push-ups and then only pull-ups.

You do a series of DVDs covering your entire body for three weeks, then you have a rest week where you do non-impact/non-heavy lifting exercises like kick boxing or stretching. The second month you start an entirely different set of DVDs which work the same areas, but in different combinations and using different exercises... which is what keeps your muscles confused, so you never reach the plateau.

After another rest week, on the last month you do a combination of all of the DVDs in different orders again. Again, to keep your muscles from getting complacent.

The results have been great. It was the only exercise program my wife has ever completed. Six days a week for three months, she and I did the exercises. In order to make sure we never gave up, we promised to do at least one rep of every exercise, no matter how tired.

It is amazing how much stronger and healthier we are. We've both lost inches and gained muscle. I've lost about three inches in my waist, my wife much more.

After a break where we had to deal with the air-condition being replaced, collapsing bathroom walls and the start of baseball, we've worked P90X back into our schedule. This time the kids are involved to...

I never thought I'd see my wife and kids working out with me at the same time, all lifting weights, all doing push-ups, all doing kick boxing. It's a very cool thing.

Granted, after two surgeries and 20 years, I'll never have the body I had when I was an actor, but I have not felt this healthy in over a decade. P90X is one of the most amazing workout programs I've ever done. It does all the right exercises in the right form in the right combination in a way that makes you want to complete it. As we like to say in our house, it is evil genius. Genius in it's design, evil in the amount of work it expects you to complete.

We've now made it part of our daily lives. We want to keep what we've built up and perhaps even get stronger and healthier. At this point in our lives, waiting to start tomorrow isn't really an option. We're not going to be any healthier tomorrow than we are today.

Thankfully, Dea saw the infomercial and was inspired to buy the program. It has changed all of our lives for the better.

The Home Stretch

Well, I'm at it again. The writing is on the wall... or the blog, one might say. We're now in the final stretch of this blog. I've been using it for the past few years as a way to document our lives and converting them into books as keepsakes for my kids.

I'm sure, when they look back, they'll enjoy reading the events and the challenges facing us. I think they'll find funny the things that were on the top of our minds and the old fashioned thing called a Blog.

I'm not giving up blogging (see Sonlight Pictures Blog), but I am going to give up this blog. We're sharing our stories, pictures, videos on things like Facebook. The technology has evolved and that is where it should be exchanged.

The value of this blog from a personal life interaction with family members role, it has obviously diminished. And that's okay.

Change isn't necessarily bad, it's just different.

So, I'll close down this blog at the end of the year. Only 107 days away.

I'll try to update this more in order to finish with a bang. But it's time to move on. However, you can keep up visiting us over at the Sonlight Pictures Blog to see the challenges we're facing as we try to live our faith through film.

What a Difference a Year Makes....

At this year's Cocoa Beach Labor Day Challenge baseball tournament we had two teams travel down there... one was for players age 12 and the other for players age 13.

Want to know the difference between boys at age 12 and boys at age 13? Want to see the tell-tale change that puberty initiates?

Exhibit A: The second night at the Hilton hotel, packed full of baseball players, soccer players and volleyball players all competing in various tournaments.

• After dinner the 12 year old boys went up to one of the hotel rooms where they all played Play Station. Still boys.
• After dinner all of the 13 year old boys hung out in the hotel lobby talking to teen girl soccer players. Young men.
  

One year apart, yet their interests were so greatly different. Hormones are a powerful thing.

Slow Updates Apology

Sorry for the snail's pace of updates here on the blog. Life has been very busy.

Recently our air-conditioner needed complete replacing. As mentioned earlier, our bathroom needed complete replacing. Dea then hurt her back (she's better now). Gabe has started travel ball again (that's 5 nights a week). DC has started college (loves it) and Gabe has started 7th grade home school (likes it).

I have been blogging a bit, over at the Sonlight Pictures Blog, where we've shared our first podcast of Basking in the Son as well as entries about faith struggles, script writing and capturing moments of inspiration.

We're finally near the very end of the negotiating process for distribution of Purgatory, USA. We hope to have the paperwork finalized in the next week or so.

This weekend some of us will be traveling down to Cocoa Beach for a baseball tournament. Being so busy has left little time for screenwriting, which is frustrating, but I hope to get back into the swing of things as soon as I hand off all of the deliverables to the distribution company.

So, I apologize for the slow blog entries.

And, finally, please pray for us for a special intention. There are some really strong, difficult moral challenges occurring in my extended family and it is taking its toll. Any divine assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Kids Journal - 03/05/04

March 5, 2004

My dearest children,

Well, this weekend was very busy. First, we are in the final stages of getting our kitchen redone. Over the past few months we had extended the kitchen, dry-walled, textured, had cabinets put in, tile replaced and today the counter tops have been put in. Thank God. We've been living about a month without a sink... washing dishes out in the garage has been a pain in the butt.

Also, this weekend, Aunt Dawn came down with Kelsey, Rachel and Sarah Jo. We had a nice dinner last night at Nonni and Poppy's condo. We ate burgers and it was the first time that all of the Koehler kids were there at once, including Caleb and Mikahla (I'm sure I didn't spell that right). It was a fun time. Last night we also went and watched Nonni perform in a bell choir at a local Methodist church. I videotaped it for her.

Tonight we're going to have Movie Night at our house. I'll pull down the movie screen and we'll show a movie on the big screen with all the kids... should be fun. While we're doing that, Poppy, Dawn and Dea will be out having dinner... a traditional father/daughter event. Nonni and I, with Delie, will be home with the kids watching a movie.

The weekend started out pretty eventful. Mommy was trying to finish some quizzes for her online statistics class, so around noon the rest of us went on bike ride. We stopped by the convenience store in downtown Safety Harbor and bought some snacks. We then drove bikes down to the Safety Harbor Marina. Gabe, you ended up falling on a barnacle and severly cutting your leg. It was really bad. So, we went to the bathroom and I held a paper towel hard against your leg so that it would stop the bleeding. I borrowed a lady's cellphone and called Mommy. She came down and took us all to the hospital. Trish got our bikes and Poppy went to our house, as Dawn was about to arrive.

You ended up getting 26 stitches Gabe. But, I was most impressed by just how tough you are... truly amazing. You were mad at yourself for falling, but you weren't crying about the pain or anything. I carried you into the emergency room and they put a bandage on there until the doctor could stitch you up. You were more worried about getting the shot to numb your leg than anything else. To lessen your anxiety, I leaned over you, covering your view of the doctor and the nurse, while Mommy stood over your as well. Right as the doctor was about to administer the shots, you said politely "Excuse me, excuse me, Doctor?" "Yes" he replied. In the midst of everything going on you asked "Doctor, how many years have you worked here?" Everyone burst into laughter. The Doctor replied "ten years... longer than you've been alive." You thought about it for a moment and said, satisfied "Okay."

After the shots went in, they stitched you up and we got home around 6:00 p.m. Because you were cut with a barnacle, they were worried about infection, so they gave us a prescription. I had to go to four pharmacies to finally find it. I bought that and the supplies needed to re-bandage and care for you leg. Then, around 7:00 p.m. I got you, Kelsey and Rachel ice cream I had promised them (DC, you were out at Jessica Robicheau's confirmation ceremony at her church). I then bathed you, Mommy and I re-bandaged your leg, then we got you to bed. I joked that "it was the longest bike ride I've ever taken."

Thankfully, you'll only be out of baseball for two weeks. And, it won't keep you from your family trip to Disney world tomorrow. Poppy needs to get a wheelchair anyway, so you'll either get your own or you'll sit on Poppy's lap. Either way, you'll be able to go, but not have to walk around a lot. The only downside is that you will have to skip out on the swimming pool, which is a shame because Mommy picked out the hotel specifically because it had the coolest pool.

In other news, for the first time in their combined history, Mommy actually fit into one of Dawn's pants. It was amazing. Two things will probably come out of it... the first, Dea will continue to work on her health with new inspiration... the second, Dawn will immediately go home and drop 5 sizes because she won't be able to handle that Dea, the historically "chubby" one of the family, is the same size as herself. :)

DC, you were very distraught during Gabe's adventure. You could tell when I yelled to you at the Marina "DC, we're leaving RIGHT NOW!" that something was very wrong. You were so distraught. On the drive to the hospital, you were crying in the front seat and finally burst out "Can we at least pray or something so I can feel better!" It was very sweet. We were all praying to ourselves, but we prayed together.

Overall, things have been going well. We finished THE BOX. I'm seriously considering making a company called Lighthouse Cinemaworks to make Catholic based television and microcinema feature products. I feel it may be the culmination of my creative calling. We'll see.

I'm also nearing the end of two novenas... one is a novena I started for my God children (Matthew, Jonathan, Chaz, Aislinn and Sarah O.). The other is a 54 day novena for the spiritual health of our country. There are so many secular forces trying to change the foundation of this country and it is very bothersome. Fortunately Mel Gibson's THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST has reinvigorated the Christian community and we are now standing up for our beliefs. After all, 87% of all Americans are Christian... the country should reflect that belief.

Well, that's it for now. I'm at work and have to get back at it. But, I long for the time to spend with you two. If I had my way, I'd be home with you guys all the time. I love you so very very much!

With love,

Your father

Allegiances

My son, Gabe, really wants to play baseball for the Florida Gators. He's got five years to make that dream a reality, but, for whatever reason, his collegiate allegiance has always been to the Gators. Probably has something to do with the fact that I graduated from there and, in his lifetime, they've won three national championships.

In any event, last night we were talking about checking out colleges for our daughter, Dorothea, and that one of those stops would be to Florida State University. My son hopped into the conversation "I'm not going."

"Yes you are" I replied.

"I'm never going to FSU!" he retorted back at me.

"If a school offers to pay for your education by playing baseball, you'll go anywhere" I challenged.

He looked at me, a knowing half-smirk on his face. He finally succumbed, "Well, if I go, I'll be a SemiGator."

That was the best he could offer. 1/2 Seminole, 1/2 Gator = SemiGator.

I guess that's better than being a GaNole.

Kids Journal - 12/26/03

December 26, 2003

Well, yesterday was Christmas. Its probably the last Christmas that both of you will have that Santa Claus magic associated with it. DC, to be honest, you're probably already past believing in Santa Claus, but you hide it well. And Gabe, you are full blown into it.

For Christmas Eve we drove down to John and Irene's house. This year there was only Mom and Dad, John and Irene, Laura, Catherine and Merrill, and our family.

Gabe, you spent the early part of the evening getting golf lessons from Grampa. I'm so glad you two can share that time together because he's getting older and probably won't be around for many more years. His Parkinsons disease is taking its toll and he'll be less and less likely to be able to interact with you in a way that you can appreciate at your age. So, the fact that you were able to get out there and hit some golf balls with him in John's front yard meant a lot to me and my Dad.

DC, you spent time with the girls, but I think you were a little bored, since there weren't any kids around your age.

We ate dinner and performed our Christmas holiday tradition of blessing the tree, singing carols, kneeling at the nativity scene by family while the others pray over you and getting in a circle and wishing each other Merry Christmas.

It turns out this has been a Bauer family tradition for over 50 years. Amazing. We'll continue it with our family as you get older.

That evening we went over to the chapel (as you may remember, John's house is next to a Catholic retreat center) and celebrated Christmas mass.

DC, you were getting an allergic reaction to Mulligan, Irene's dog, so Mom gave you Benadryl. You were knocked out for most of the mass and slept in Mom's lap.

Gabe, you were in charge of the big flashlight and lit the way from John's house on our walk over to the chapel. You were so cute. You felt a great obligation to handle the flashlight correctly and guide us.

After mass we left and went home. On the drive home you, Gabe, were very concerned over whether you'd be on Santa's good or naughty list. You and DC have been fighting more lately and you actually wrote a letter to Santa asking that you not be on the naughty list for fighting with DC and that, if you were on the good list, Santa would get you two Play Station 2 games and a Backyard sport computer game. Dea, knowing that this was one of the last years you'll believe in Santa, made sure I fulfilled your request.

So you got two Play Station 2 games and Backyard Soccer. When we got home Gabe you were just bustling with anticipation. It was very cute. After we tucked both of you in bed Dea and I went to the bedroom and wrapped Santa's presents.

As we were about to come out Gabe bolted out from the back of the house (almost catching us) and Dea asked what you were doing up. You responded "I thought I heard a clatter." It was so funny. I never heard the word clatter used in a real sentence, only in the Twas the Night Before Christmas story. After we got you back into bed, we put the presents out, ate the cookies, drank the milk and went to bed.

One of the gifts Mommy got for you, Gabe, was a drum set. I used to have a drum set in high-school and college. I eventually had to sell it in order to buy food. So, Dea thought it'd be cute if you got your own drum set. You love it and everyone, including DC, plays it often.

Gabe, you also got some sports clothes and some pirate toys, which you like after watching the film Pirates of the Caribbean.

DC, you got a lot of clothes and jewelry and a password journal 2. You were very excited. We have so much fun together.

You know how seeing you grow into a woman can be concerning to your poor old Dad, so you play it up. Its a funny joke we have between us. You have my exact sense of humor so you and I find the same things funny.

Gabe is getting there with the sense of humor, but he's not there yet.

Later on Christmas, Mommy made this great meal and we had Nonny and Poppi come over with Trisha and her 6'8", 21 yr old son Patrick (nice kid). Later Mark, Lorna, Billy and Danielle came over, which was fun. Delie and DJ couldn't make it because Delie's family is in town, but they came over Christmas Eve morning to exchange gifts with you and us with Caleb.

All in all it was a great, fun holiday.

I love you both very much!

Dad

Kids Journal - 08/14/03

August 14, 2003

Hello my children,

I forgot one more thing from yesterday. DC, you have this cute way of expressing your up coming menstrual cycle. Instead of calling it your period, you call it your dot. So, yesterday you come into the room and say "Mommy said when I get my dot I can shave my legs and pluck my eyebrows... but if I get a unibrow before I get my dot, then Mommy will pluck my eyebrows for me."

I said "You can't go to school with a unibrow?"

You said "No!"

I said "I did."

You replied, "You're a boy, Dad. I'm a girl! Girl's can't have unibrows!"

"Yeah, you're right." I replied.

Ah, the conversations one has with your children.

I truly love our relationships. I love how much you and I talk, DC. I love that you share your concerns with me and rely on me. I know that it won't always be that way, but I'm loving every minute of it while it lasts.

And Gabe, I really enjoy playing baseball with you. You are such an incredible learner when it comes to baseball. You have always take direction very well, immediately turning what I say into the appropriate action. If only you would do that with the OTHER parts of your life! :)

I am so truly blessed to have you both in my life!

Dea and I went to dinner last night on a "date night" and I told her just how blessed I feel having you guys in my life. She stated she wished she was more touchy/feely... which she's not. She wishes she could return your open affection, but it does not come naturally to her. Don't get me wrong, she loves you, but she's not the huggy/kissy type. You guys get that from me, because I a "mush."

When we came home, Poppy had just put you to bed and I went to tuck you guys in. You both told me about your first day of school and how everything went well. Mommy told me you, DC, ate lunch primarily by yourself... I just don't know why you are so shy. You have so much to offer. I hope someday you realize that.

And Gabe, when I tucked you in you said "How was your date night?"

"Great." I replied.

"Short?" you asked.

"Yup."

"Where'd you go?"

"Shells" I replied (a seafood restaurant).

"Ick! I don't like crab and fish and stuff! All my friends at school like crabs, but I don't." you stated.

"Have you ever tried it?"

"No..." you replied.

"Then how do you know it tastes bad? Maybe it'll taste as good as chocolate ice cream tastes to you."

"Maybe I'll try a little bit..." you said holding your thumb and index finger a millimeter apart "... a speck. What's it taste like?"

"It's hard to tell someone who's never had it... it has it's own taste. How would you describe chocolate ice cream to someone who's never had chocolate?" I asked.

"I don't know" you pondered.

"Well, when they finally tasted the chocolate ice cream, I bet they'd love it."

"Yeah..." you thought "...okay, I'll try crab... a speck" you answered. Then I tucked you in and you both went to sleep.

Those little conversations I just love. I have always loved asking kids questions because I love to hear how they think, what goes through their mind. It makes some of my most special memories.

Dad

Dad's 80th Birthday Memories

You know, it's been a few years since my Dad's 80th birthday. For that celebration I came up with a couple of Top 10 lists to add some humor to the festivities. Here they are:

Top 10 Games to Play at Your Father's 80th Birthday Party

10. Name That Child.

9. Pin the Smell on the Elderly

8. Where's My Inheritance?

7. Toots and Bladders

6. Spin the 16 Bottles of Over-priced Prescriptions

5. Those Aren't My Teeth!

4. Who Wants to Be 81?

3. Speed Napping.

2. Kick the Bucket

1. Blind Man's Putt



Top 10 Things I Learned by Watching My Father Play Golf

10. I Hate Golf.



Top 10 Memorable Father-Son Moments

10. As a child, pulling me into the bedroom and giving me the okay to punch Charles whenever he made fun of me.

9. Refusing to buy a lawnmower wheel for a dollar and, instead, making me carry a rope attached to the axle to keep the mower level while Charles mowed the yard.

8. Hitting golf balls at my head so you wouldn't have to pick them up yourself.

7. Allowing my friends to walk into the house with you in your boxers and your pony trying to escape the barn.

6. Breaking my braces headgear and making me bleed in a "friendly" slap fight.

5. Changing my childhood bedroom into a computer room the weekend I left for college.

4. When my Crohns first acted up and I had lost about two pints of blood at Joe's second wedding rehearsal, so that the hospital wouldn't charge your medical insurance, dropping me off at the entrance to the Emergency Room, where I went in, gave them my name and immediately passed out.

3. Knowing Dea and I were staying at your cabin for a week for our honeymoon, you decided to return three days early.

2. When I was a teenager, interrupting my 1000th viewing of the same Star Trek episode to call me lazy.

1. Missing my one and only Little League Home Run (no, I'm not still bitter)

Kids Journal - 08/13/03

August 13, 2003

Hello my children,

Well, today was the first day of school. DC, you're entering 5th grade and Gabe, you're entering 1st. This morning, before you left, I sat down with each of you and discussed the year ahead.

DC, you can often fall into a "wounded duck" mode, or "woe is me" mode, which drives your mother and I nuts. That's because, at home, you are so funny and smart and self confident and I expressed that you needed to let those things show this year. I explained that how you act the first week of school will determine how people treat you the entire year. So, I hope you take that advice to heart.

And Gabe, I explained that you had a big year ahead of you and that expectations were going to be high. First grade is a big step in the learning process and that it may get hard some times.

You looked at me and said, "Dad, you know what's gonna be really hard?"

I asked "What?"

With a wave of concern on your face, you said "College!"

I laughed and said "Let's just get through first grade, okay?" You agreed.

Then, for fun Gabe, I had you call Mommy into the bedroom and I explained to her that she had a big year ahead of her with the kids school and her school, house projects... she just looked at me and said "you're an ass."

It was funny.

Anyway, it's off to school! Another new year! Another exciting year!

It makes me so proud to see you leave the house chanting "First day of school! First day of school! First day of school!"

Love,

Dad