P.S. A co-worker I often times didn't get along with has quit. It makes my life easier.

The baby dolphin is still doing great. We are actually having a naming contest for him. I don’t think relatives of zoo employees can participate, but friends can! So go to www.mnzoo.org to submit a name. Just PLEASE no Flipper, Fins, etc. Trust me, those names will not get picked. (I think staff gets to pick the final name.) He has started to play now. He will blow bubbles out of his blowhole, spin around, and bite at them. It is very cute to watch. We think he has also discovered his reflection because he will swim straight up and bite at the surface of the water. There are some gross things too. Let’s just say mom is teaching him how to reproduce. Ewwwww. If you want to know details, just ask.

I have started to narrate the dolphin shows. The first one was very scary, but I got through it. I’ve talked 7 shows now. Public speaking is one of my fears and I’ll have to say that it is now conquered.

We had a mini-vacation last week. I had to work at Vanity Tuesday morning and Wednesday night, so in between we went up to the camper with Ryan’s family. We played three rounds of golf, went shopping at the flea market, had a barbeque, went swimming, and make smores. Fun times. And this Tuesday will me my first day off in a month and a half. I plan on doing nothing productive. I’ll stamp, read, lay out in the sun, etc.

I'm here to clarify the entry from two times ago. People keep wondering about it, and that's ok. Basically I'm in a spiritual slump. Nothing in particular has got me here, I'm just here. Nothing bad has happened; my life is wonderful right now. It's just for some reason it's so hard for me to talk to God right now and I haven't even picked up my Bible for weeks. Especially when I'm at work I thank God for my job and thank Him that I get to do what I love every day. But that's about the extent of it. It's like I don't have the energy to say anything else to Him. I'll be riding to work in the morning listening to Christian music and hear songs, and think, "That's exactly what I'm going through" or "Yes, I know, God, that you are still here and you love me." But that's extent. After work I do nothing to right the situation and feel like I don't have the energy to. I know I'm not strong enough to do this on my own, but when I ask for God's strength, I don't wait around for it. I hope this makes sense to some of you, at least. This is why I need your prayers.

Quick update. The calf is still doing wonderfully. He is getting to be quite the adventerous one. He tries to leave mom all the time, so poor Rio has to go chasing him around the pool all day. He'll even try to hide behind the other dolphins in the pool to get away from her. He has lost his "baby skin", meaning he has sloughed off his dark skin and now is normal dolphin color. He has some beautiful white markings on his side. He is also making eye contact with us in the windows more often. He even let a trainer touch him the other day. She was giving rubdowns to Rio, and the calf swam on that side so she give him a rubdown too. Apparently he got really excited and kept coming back for more, but then Rio didn't want it so she kept going between the deck and her calf.

I am stuck behind a wall. I'm on one side, God on the other. I've tried to go around it, over it, under it, but can't seem to get to Him. Then I found a door. I knocked on the door, but I didn't stick around long enough to hear an answer. Please pray.

"Sprout" from above. He won't be named for a few months, so for now he's Sprout. But can you really see an adult male being called that? Yeah, we couldn't either.  

Rio and the calf. Mom's tend to do this a lot to their calfs. It's called body propulsion. One idea is it helps the calf learn how to nurse, but then again, you will also see males doing this to other males, so that hypothesis doesn't always hold true.  

Rio and her new baby boy. 

This is me and Chinook. 

This is me and Semo. Notice the whistle. It makes me feel like a real trainer.