Going to India

For my work I will be traveling to India this December for two weeks. Thankfully it is the first part of the month. I have to say that the joy of traveling across the world was tempered slightly with the lovely immunization shots. 6 shots spread between both arms and now I actually have the flu. Still, I am very excited to be traveling to India. I am way excited to meet my team over there and to take in their culture.

It is sad to say that in 36 years I have not gone further east than Colorado. This will be quite an adventure and thankfully I get to go with one of my long time employees. It will be hard to be away from Debbie and Taylor that long, however, thanks to technology we will be able to keep in touch. I hope that Taylor does alright with his daddy being gone that long. He is making such great progress. He just had out his adenoids and had tubes put in his ears. I hope that he gets fewer ear infections now.

If anyone lives close by, stop by and visit Debbie and Taylor the first couple of weeks in December. Or, if you live out of traveling distance, give them a call or do a webcam.

Men in Tights

So, at the company I work for Halloween is a pretty big deal. As a matter of fact, it is the most celebrated holiday of the year. Last year I convinced most of my team and some guys from IT to join in a group to make a run at best group for the costume contest. We were the monks from Monty Python's The Holy Grail. Right after that performance, we did the chant and all, I came up with what was thought at the time a crazy idea. Robin Hood Men in Tights. By the way, I have to mention that last year we won the competition.

As this year rolled around I prepared in September to get the Men in Tights organized. With the help of Karrie Ann Ogilvie, our director, we began training in early October. While the final product was not without error, it looks like everyone had a great time. Oh yeah, we won again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSTqKu1lppQ

Taylor - Our Boy

Trying to bring our special boy into this world was a long, emotional journey. Little did we know that the years leading up to his birth were only the beginning of something great. He has been a wonderful blessing in our lives and can make you smile by just being himself. We know he is definitely our boy. He looks like me and has my wife's personality traits. It was a long time coming and we are so very happy to have him.

As you all get to know him you may notice that he is not quite the same as other children. Some of this is part of his personality and the rest of it is due to his condition. Though he has not been officially diagnosed, he is somewhere on the autism spectrum. He learns differently and is behind is some areas of development. Debbie and I are working with some great programs here in Utah and we are seeing good progress. It is good that his Mom was so attentive to notice the need to have him checked out so early.

We had not told everyone about this prior to now fearing the labeling that he would receive. Naturally we are apprehensive about what some people may say. He is advanced in other development areas, so we know that he is making progress. The folks we are working with here in Utah have been fantastic.

Right now support is what Debbie and I need. Interact with Taylor if you get the chance...he is a wonderful boy. We know that he is meant for us and that now was the time he was meant to come to us. We simply feel blessed to have Taylor...he is simply too fun at times.

One thing I can say about him is that he loves the outdoors. I think he will help me get a tan for the first time in years because we will be in the backyard every day. He loves going down on the slide in the play set we put up in the backyard. The funniest moment thus far was when he decided to go down face first...he had a red mark on his head from his hairline to his nose. Too funny.

Pictures of Taylor

Here are one of the great pictures taken by Brook Long. Taylor is such a sweet, active guy. This is a look that I get on a regular basis. Makes me wonder he is thinking about. On one hand I cannot wait for him to talk, on the other, he may not stop once he starts. I think I will take the latter.

Christmas was another great holiday for us. Taylor loved to hide things in the Christmas tree. He would put a toy in the tree and leave it for a while...some times he would not go to retrieve it until the next day. I was impressed that he always remembered where he put it. I took off the last two weeks of the year and in the last week Taylor had started doing a wide variety things he had shown no interest in doing previously.

My first two books were officially released on December 21. I am working on the third book, which will be named "The Orb of Nitesh". I am hopeful that by January 1st that I will have the third book complete. I am excited to start hearing back from readers about what they think about my story.

I am hoping in the new year that the job will not take us so much time and that I can spend more time at home. It has been great to have my Dad and Mom stay with us for a few days. Dad has fixed up the house which is greatly appreciated. I think Taylor will take more after Dad than I...he was interested in what Grandpa was doing when working on a project. He would try to help my Dad with his work.

The year of 2010 has been a long one, but it certainly did go fast. I hope that in 2011 that there will be a whole lot more family time. Looking forward to hopefully having some success with my books. I also hope that you all have a great year too.

Family Update

Life has been busy and challenging of late. The month of October has been a month that has become the month of trials for our little family. Along with trials come changes. It is almost as if you can feel it in the air. Trials in and of themselves are not negative. We are having plenty of positive trials, one of which is the pre-sale release of my first two books. Happy to say I was able to sign book 1 & 2 two for the wife...she was the first one to receive signed copies. I have to say I was surprised that she is even going to read them.

Taylor is growing so big and is so full of personality. He is absolutely a joy to have in our lives and have made 8 plus years of waiting worth it. Debbie and Taylor give me the inspiration to make it through the days. When I feel like staying in bed I always hear Taylor chattering and my heart melts and my confidence to get at it is strengthened. I am truly blessed to have them in my life. I hope that my books can be something they will be proud of.

Books Available For Sale

As of right now both books are for sale on the publisher's website. So, feel free to go ahead and get a copy of the books. Here are individual links for each book:

The Broken Council - http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61663-747-7

The Fallen Guardian - http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61739-206-1

Both Books - http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/search.php?search=burke&s=5&l=5&t=7

Please feel free to check out the books and buy them. If you have any questions, please let me know. So, the official date for in-store release is December 21, 2010. It is rather cool that you can buy books now before they even hit the stores. I am pleased with the finished project and hope you enjoy the story as it unfolds!

Family Update

This summer has flown by. Football season is upon us once again and I am hoping Taylor will still enjoy watching college game day with daddy. The job has been insanely busy with no end in sight. I think being busy is a good way to keep out of trouble. I did not get outside as much as I had wanted, however, I was able to spend good quality time with the family over the past few months.

The calling has been busy along with continuous changes to home teaching and to replacing people who have moved. I am hoping that the fall will bring some serenity and peace. The books are done and in the final stage. I am hoping by the end of September to have the website for the books done and have it so the books can be purchased from the website. I am way excited for everyone to read the story thus far. I am so thankful for everyone who has helped along the way.

I also want to thank my wife for putting up with Taylor and I...even though the boy gets special consideration and I do not. It helps that he is so cute...I think he will always get away with everything. It melts my heart when he says daddy. He did start to say mama just yesterday, so hopefully he will start doing that more so Debbie can feel apprecaited. She clearly does way more and deserves all the credit.