Beth had another doctor's appointment today. This one was at the local hospital since the specialist in Fort Wayne is out of the office. They scheduled us for a baby on March 24th! One month from today we'll have a little girl!

I went to Kankakee IL yesterday on another company trip to look at some equipment. The last trip (to Phoenix, see 8-6-01) resulted in nothing so we'll have to wait and see if this thing is going to pan out. This time, it's inspection equipment. I took one of the techs with me, the one who'd be using the new machine all the time, and he really liked it and thought it would be a big help. So, I'd call it a long shot to get it, but at least there is a chance. We ate at Texas Road House for lunch and spent $40 of the comapny's money so the day wouldn't be a total loss anyway. And I drove my own car there and back so I can also claim 36 cents per mile.

The church had another skate night tonight. My girlfriend (Gretchen, age 5) wanted me to skate with her pretty much all night, holding her hand so she could let go of the handrail and not fall down. I must say I really enjoy roller skating, even if it's only going around in circles. I used to skate around campus a lot when I was at Michigan State but before the first skate night I don't think I'd had my roller blades on in 5 years at least.

The church youth group had a fundraiser with Hacienda restaurant today, Hacienda puts out a coupon with a code on it that if you bring it in on a certain night, 20% of your check is donated. I brought a couple guys from work there for lunch and saw several people I knew from church, then Beth and I went out with the Wilhites/Judds for dinner in the evening, and there were even more of us there. Altogether, the youth group must have raised at least a few hundred dollars for their missions trip to Mexico this summer. Beth had another ultrasound this afternoon in Fort Wayne. the baby is still doing really well. The doctor told us he'll do another ultrasound in 2 weeks, and amnio test in 3 weeks, and depending on the results of the amnio, we'll have a baby in 5-6 weeks. It still looks like sometime about March 25.

Another busy weekend. Friday night the church had the annual Valentine's Day banquet. I told Beth I hadn't bought her a card when I got home for work, which made her really mad at me before the banquet. I snuck out and ran to a nearby bookshop to get one while she thought I was in the bathroom at church and gave her the card at the banquet. Saved the day. Saturday we babysat the Bell kids all day, and I changed my first dirty diaper (on Sam). Today, we hung pictures on the upstairs walls. The house is nearly done with the decorating we've been planning for the last year. Tonight is the Agape feast at church, which is a carry-in meal honoring the new members who've joined in the past year.

Beth and I have been working on the house to get ready for the baby, who should be showing up in about 6 weeks now. I have mostly been working on getting the projects done that we need to get done now or we never will. I've replaced the light fixtures in the stairwell and the entryway, painted and put a border up in the master bedroom, painted the entire stairwell and hallway upstairs, and replaced the old receptacles and light switches around the house with new ones. This is all stuff that we've been meaning to get done for a long time. The baby's room is about ready. We've put the crib bedding on and gotten a bunch of little girl clothes. Judy bought us a mobile that is...get this...remote controlled.

Beth and I and the Bells went to Fort Wayne today to go shopping at the Babies R Us. On the way from the store to the mall we drove past a car lot with a huge U.S. flag at half-staff. It hadn't been at half-staff when we drove past it about two hours previously so we wondered if someone had died. Or there had been a terrorist attack. Or if we were at war and something had happened. We turned on the radio to find out if there was any news, and it didn't take long to find out. They kept talking about the space shuttle being "gone" or "disappeared" or that NASA had "lost" it.