Daryl Hunter – Hubby, Daddy, Mentor, Friend

Hello friends!

It's been quite some time since I've regularly written on this personal blog.  Life has been busy.

Professionally, I've been spending the last 16 months mostly writing as I represented the AudioCodes brand.  I've published many articles, webinars, slide decks, and had way-too-many-to-count conference calls. It's been exhilarating. And Awesome. And tiring. And my season at AudioCodes has come to a close.

This Tuesday – March 5 – I dotted all the final Is and crossed all the final Ts and dropped all of my AudioCodes-related gear into some FedEx boxes to send back to the US HQ in New Jersey.  I am no longer the "phone guy" at AudioCodes 🙂

My sad desk is sad.

Personally, I've been traveling a ton. Perhaps even a metric crap ton.  That's how you measure travel, right?  I was teasing with my friends recently that I'm ready to give up my Gold Marriott, Gold Hilton, Gold Delta, Gold United and all those various travel perks.  Of course I say that now before I get stuck in the cheap seats again. Haha!

My kids are getting older.  Nathan is a Frosh in High School and has just chosen his classes for his Sophomore year. What? Sophomore? No way.  Jacob is in sixth grade and Middle School looks good on him. He's really coming into his own.  Those two boys have been killing it lately doing "cubing competitions" with various combinations of 2×2, 3×3, 4×4, Pyramix, and other cubes – including one-handed and blind-folded!  It's crazy seeing their competitive nature coming out.  I've even learned how to solve 3x different puzzle variants myself.  Even an old (is 43 old?) dog can learn new tricks too!

Anna is 7 and won her class spelling bee.  She's super smart just like all of her brothers.  She's coming into her own – sass and all.  I'm still learning how to be a "girl dad" for sure.  I'm thankful she still likes to cuddle at night, and sing songs, and read with me – and most of all – I'm glad she forgives me even when I'm cross and not very lovable.  She's ready to love again the  next day.  

Andrew is 9 and I cannot keep up with that kid.  He is a walking sponge – learning everything, always interested in something new, and always impressing us.  He's very well rounded, and very well liked by friends and peers, and he's the baby whisperer.  He – is – amazing with kids.  When he's old enough we'll get him signed up to serve at Church as a junior helper with 2s and 3s.  He is *so so so* good with little kids. He has a soft heart and genuinely wants to help everyone. What a gift that kid is.

The last few months for Team Hunter have been – well – they've been interesting.  My travel schedule has been hard for me.  I've missed a number of important family things.  When my mom got her kidney transplant, took a turn, and ultimately passed away last December, I was able to spend good time with her in the ICU.  My entire family including all 4x kids even had a chance to spend about an hour of quality time with her at her Hospital!  It was truly a blessing and I'll never forget the mercy and patience and grace that her ICU team had on her (and us) to allow that to happen.  It was the last time we spent with her as a family.  It was amazingly unexpected and I'm so thankful the kids got to see her "well enough" to visit – even though she couldn't talk with a vent tube, she knew clearly that we were there, and we loved her.  I ready to be home more with my wifey and our kidlets and have more and more cool experiences.

Spiritually, I'm more connected than ever before at my local Church – Springdale Community Church.  We've been through some turmoil in recent months.  Our Senior Pastor resigned.  Our elders stepped down.  Our Church for all intents and purposes is rebooting.  As a technology guy – I'm not afraid of a reboot – or even a blue-screen every now and then.  I'm sad that we've had so much change and I'm grieving the loss of of my good friend Josh as he stepped away as our Senior Pastor.  It looks like he's landed on his feet and I'm hopeful that our relationship can be redeemed someday down the road.  ((Side Note: Josh, if you read this – we still love you and your family.  Jenny and I desire a relationship with you and your family. You know our numbers, so, when you're ready – we're here and willing. Be well!)) 

In the interim, and rebuilding time at our Church – we've formed a new Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) which is charged with temporary leadership to "right the ship" as it were to reboot the Church governance documents, work through a new elder Team, and help lead us as we Look Back, Look Around, and Look Forward to what God is going to do at Springdale in 2019 and beyond!  It's a big job, and the 8x men at the table have a wide and varying set of credentials.  If you're the praying type, please pray for us that we remain focused and lead our Church well during this season.  I'm also spending more time each day actively connecting with my YouVersion Bible App.  I'm reading through several different plans and am really enjoying the community related "feed" in my App where I can see what my friends are studying and reading and meditating on each day.  It's super encouraging to me and helps keep me motivated – even when life gets crazy!

More practically – frankly – I'm unemployed for the next two weeks.  And I'm not sad about that.  I had some vacation time banked up.  I intentionally wanted to take some time between AudioCodes and my next adventure.  On unemployment day #1 – yesterday/Wednesday – my kiddos were out of school so we took a spontaneous road trip to Indiana to visit a science museum, eat some burgers, have some fun family time, and then swing through Southern Indiana to visit with Jenny's folks for dinner and hang time.  It was a great family day – even if I did lose it a little on my kiddos in the van (and the Pizza Hut).  Yes, I apologized.  I've still got some growing to do too.  On day #2 I did some more practical dad stuff – got some new tires on the family van and then went to the Y to workout with kiddo 2.0 while kiddo 3.0/4.0 played in the Kids area.

What's next?  Well, I'll share that with you when I start my new role.  I'm excited about where I'm going and the things I get to learn along the way.  I'll continue to work at home although my primary team will be remote and spread out again.  I don't anticipate anymore trips to Tel Aviv (haha!) this year, and my overall travel will be significantly less, and I have many new things to learn.  And I'm ready.  I'm prepared.  And I'm hopeful – personally, professionally, and spiritually.  Let's do this!