Glad to do it, too. Ever since Samuel joined our hardy clan a couple of weeks ago, my dad responsibilities have shot up too since I appointed myself to be the one to make the kids’ infant formula. As I noted in an earlier blog, I make an awesome homemade infant formula that is the next best thing to nature’s best baby food—breast milk. (I share the directions on how to make this formula in my January 26 blog.)

With two infants under the age of eight months in the home, I have my work cut out for me each time I come home. On Saturday afternoon, I made 338 ounces of infant formula and reminded my wife, Nicki, that it had to last until my return Sunday morning. In other words, she can’t feed the formula to them indiscriminately because there is only so much. Later this week, I’ll be in Southern California attending a natural foods trade show and won’t return until early Sunday morning after taking a red-eye flight from the West Coast.

I asked Nicki to write down the amount of formula that Alexis and Samuel are drinking so that we can keep track of how far it goes. I also requested that she save any leftovers because every ounce of this formula is gold. You just can’t whip up this formula on the spur of the moment because the ingredient list is rather lengthy: goat’s milk, whey protein concentrate, acerola cherry powder, buffalo liver, cod liver oil . . . you get the picture. The great news is that Alexis and Samuel love their bottles of formula.

I had an interesting experience on Saturday when my three-year-old son Joshua and I left the house to do some shopping at a local health food store. A few blocks away in our subdivision, I spotted a couple of kids playing in the driveway of Heath Evans, the New England Patriots fullback that I’ve written about several times in this blog. A young woman was keeping an eye on them. I pulled up, rolled down a window, and asked, “Is Heath home?”

The young woman took a long look at me. “Hey, you’re Jordan Rubin, right?”

I said yeah, and she introduced herself. “I’m Valerie Alexander, Shaun Alexander’s wife,” she said. “He’s out getting his hair cut, but he’d love to meet you sometime.”

I certainly knew who Shaun Alexander was. He is the Seattle Seahawk running back who was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 2005. Heath had told me that he and Shaun were close friends because Heath—the fullback—blocked for him during his first four years in the NFL.

I enjoyed meeting Valerie and catching up with Heath, since his was the first time that I’d run into him since the Super Bowl. He told me that he was speaking at Christ Fellowship Church in Palm Beach Gardens, my home church, during all the services (Saturday night at 6 p.m., 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday morning).

We went to the late service on Sunday morning and Heath did a phenomenal job talking about how God is working through him through the ups and downs of being a professional athlete on a big stage. He would make quite a preacher when his playing days are over.

Shaun Alexander, with a cast on his left wrist, joined Heath on the stage for a short time. I learned that Shaun is a great man of God who mentors 200 young men around the country. When he mentioned this, I thought of what a mentor Heath’s father, Bryan, had been to me during my senior year of high school. Several mornings a week at 6 a.m., I and my close friend, Kenny Duke, would arrive at his house to read the Bible together and talk about what God was teaching us. I remember that Mr. Evans used to make egg sandwiches, and I can’t tell you how healthy they were because I wasn’t that concerned about eating healthy foods back then.

Nicki was moved to tears several times while Heath spoke, and I was touched as well. If you go to the Christ Fellowship website at http://gochristfellowship.com, you can watch or listen to Heath’s presentation.

I guess you could say we didn’t get enough of football because on Sunday afternoon Nicki and I watched a “Facing the Giants,” a football movie. Nicki was in tears again, and I was touched as well.

Today, I went into work at the Garden of Life offices and came home in the afternoon to hang out with the family. Man, the days at home go fast.

Finally, people have been asking me how Samuel is doing. Thanks for asking—he’s adjusting great. Unfortunately, he has some eczema, which is an inflammation of his skin marked mainly by redness and itchiness. He’s had for a long time—since his birth last October. We’re hoping that the formula and some other skin care things that we’re giving him will help him to beat this eczema.