Spring training
Spring is officially 17 days away.
The weatherman says we’ll be enjoying sunshine and 40 degree days the rest of this week.
I walked three miles today…the first time in a couple of months.
It felt great.
I declare spring training is officially open.
We have races to prepare for.
And thankfully, I haven’t been able to appreciate every day of pre-spring and spring since I was a little kid.
New assignments
Filed under: God, Reflection | Tags: Blessings, Change, Children
Leave a Comment February 23 is the day your mother and I started dating officially.
This February 23 we both received new assignments.
Mom landed a new job that is a wonderful match of her gifts, passion, and energy.
I learned that my new assignment was not what I thought it would be but an expanded role as Mr. Mom.
An equal match of my gifts, passion and energy.
God is good…all the time.
My new old bed
I’m sleeping in my own bed again.
Doesn’t everybody you say?
I used to say…then the three musketeers and Lucy came along and I was ousted.
For a season I slept in the room where Lucy slept so I could detect her choking or be the first on the scene if the alarm on her monitoring equipment went off.
While I was away, Nine, Ten, and Eleven moved in to fill the void I left on my side of the bed.
Once Lucy departed, they were harder than raccoons to get out of my bed.
I spent the night wherever I could find a bed…depending on who was home from college.
But the day has come when Nine and Ten have decided to be big girls and sleep in their bed across the hall.
Just like Two, Three and Four slept…not too long ago.
They are cute…they understand where I belong and behave as though they are doing me a favor.
They are.
Now, if we can only get Eleven to join them…I’ll have some good rest…unless Thirteen shows up.
Peeking into the future
Filed under: God, Memories, Reflection | Tags: Blessings, Children, God, Hope, Legacy, Love
Comments (1) The Daddy-Daughter dance finally arrived.
My date (Nine) looked beautiful.
Counting the minutes til we departed she asked me every few minutes, “is it time yet?”
We were one of the first couples to arrive….check in…coat check…photo session…dinner then dancing.
We danced every dance…I should say she danced every dance.
Every time there was a chain dance with all the little girls forming a line snaking through the dance floor she excused herself to join the line.
Next dance there she was holding out her hand for me to dance with her.
Fast dances…slow dances…she was my partner.
Not like the other girls who avoided their fathers all night…my partner was the perfect date.
And in those moments I had a glimpse into the future…at the amazing young woman who was stirring inside her…beautiful both inside and out.
This was so much more than a father-daughter event…it was the unwrapping of a layer of childhood that will never be a part of her again…and a peek at the woman wrapped inside…who will one day bloom and blossom as a spectacular work of beauty, charm and grace.
How blessed am I that I can be the one peeling back this layer.
How blessed am I than I’ve had this privilege before.
How blessed am I that I have the honor of not just unwrapping God’s precious gift to us but to help shape the emerging woman inside.
We know the that the pattern for her future husband molded by a young girl’s relationship with her father.
What an awesome responsibility…one that I can only venture into with daily prayer and guidance from God…for she belongs to Him and my role is that of steward of His precious possessions.
I danced every dance with her that night but I know there will come a day when the other man of her dreams will tap me on the shoulder and ask for the next dance.
I know God has already selected him…that he will walk with God and will love and cherish her almost as much as I do and just a little less than God does.
Thank you for this night…thank you for this child-woman-to-become…thank you for the responsibility.
I pray that I may live lone enough to love her children.
I am truly blessed.
Living by God’s surprises?
Filed under: God, Reflection | Tags: Blessings, Children, Hope
Leave a Comment How do we know how we think or feel about things?
For me, I’ve learned that expressing myself in places like this, is one way I can know what is in my head.
I guess another way is to listen to myself.
Last night we attended a wedding and connected with some old friends we hadn’t seen in almost a year.
He asked me how we were doing, referring to the Spring of our discontent.
I said God was blessing our lives in amazing ways.
Did that come out of my mouth?
I said we were so much better off than we were a year ago…Holy Cow!
I said I wouldn’t trade the experience of the past year for anything.
And you know…I’m right!
There have been times in the past year when I may not have felt that way…there will probably be days like that in the future…but overall what I said is true for my mindset.
I guess you would call what I just described as surprised by God…surprised…to realize that my life has been transformed through trials. James 1:2-4 is true!
James 1:2-4: “2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Not the right man for my daughter!
Last night was Daddy’s Night at Eleven’s preschool.
I finally had the opportunity to meet the boy who has been charming my daughter.
She talks about him a lot.
His father blew me away when he said his son told him he wanted to marry Eleven.
Yikes! She is only four.
Well, I figured she will probably meet somebody else in the next twent years or so.
He may move away.
We may move away.
Well the story gets worse.
Today I was conscripted to help with the preschool class Valentine’s Day party.
To my horror HE showed up wearing a skirt!
Yes, the boy who wants to marry my baby came to preschool wearing a skirt!
OK…call it a kilt.
But their teacher said he wears it every chance he gets.
No…No…No…No!
Remember the family rule…no dating until you are 18 or graduate from high school.
I guess there is no reason to be upset.
I’m cool.
Visit www.OurFamilysBlessings.wordpress.com
Filed under: God, Memories, Reflection | Tags: Blessings, Thanksgiving
Leave a Comment I guess it’s the extra cup of coffee I had this morning but I am feeling exceptionally creative today.
Back on groundhog Day I posted about a great idea I hear about from Jim…a friend in my Next Level 201 group.
Jim shared that he had created a “Book of Blessings” for his family…a collection of the ways God had blessed his family over the years.
Jim said the book…really the memory of God’s faithfulness…gave he and his wife comfort through rough times.
Great idea….thanks Jim…or should I say thanks God for using Jim to show me this great idea.
Well, I have created a new blog called Our Family’s Blessings.
It is actually an online Ebenezer.
An Ebenezer is from the Bible..the Old Testament.
Back in the OT days the Israelites were always piling up stones to remember the places and events where God intervened on their behalf. It was a reminder to them and anyone who passed by.
This blog is for me and for any family members who want to post or just enjoy.
Visit www.OurFamilyDictionary.wordpress.com
I’ve done it!
I’ve begun a blog of words unique to our family.
How often have we said, “I need to write that down so I don’t forget it!”?
This blog is one big memory help.
And today I launched another…our own family’s dictionary.
As I said in the about section, all families have a vocabulary of their own, but many families don’t realize it.
Identifying it…recording it…adding to it…builds the family brand.
I believe building the family brand is extremely important to a positive self-worth as I have expounded in my blog www.GrowingFather.com
So now we have our own online dictionary and a rejuvenated pastime of creating words unique to our family.
New holiday – Take Your Daddy to Lunch Day
Cool…a new national holid
ay!
Not exactly.
It’s a new holiday at our house…and one I can really support…Duh!
The genesis of this new holiday is that both Nine and Eleven have Valentine’s Day activities scheduled with Dad but not Ten.
Tonight is Daddy’s night at Eleven’s preschool.
Tomorrow is the Daddy-Daughter Valentine’s Day Dance with Nine.
We needed an event for Ten, and being very creative, Mom created a new holiday.
We celebrated yesterday…at Chuckie Cheez-its!
Note I said Chuckie Cheez-its not Chuck E. Cheese’s…see Ten calls it Chuckie Cheez-its because Cheez-its is her favorite snack.
So the place will forever be known as Chuckie Cheez-its in our family!
Having your own family vocabulary is important and we do have one.
Hey…great idea…I think I’ll add a family dictionary to this blog!
Well, back to the story.
We started our lunch date at our favorite restaurant…I say our because it isn’t the place I would go without a child…McDonalds.
I told Ten I had a big surprise for her.
Claire’s? she said, hopefully?
Better, I said.
So another first…and I was so privileged to be the one experiencing it with her.
There is a ride in a toy car sitting next to the “host rat” himself. It think it lasts about 30 seconds and the car hardly moves…but Ten rode it four times. The ride takes a black-and-white photo as a bonus. She collected four pictures.
There is another ride…a large rocking horse…that garnered about six of our precious tokens.
I encouraged her to play some games which she reluctantly did…that is reluctantly until she realized you could win tickets that can be redeemed for toys (actually junk but…they are kids).
We found a game that all you had to do is press a button and a ball randomly bounced into a hole that yielded the number of tickets painted next to the number.
Ten hit the jackpot and won 200 tickets.
You may not realize that Ten has difficulty making choices…flash back to Halloween…curses on the homes that offered a choice of candy…Nine and Eleven were all the way down the block before Ten chose the right candy bar!
Well, we spent almost as much time cashing in her 487 tickets as we did playing the games.
Fortunately she chose a toy that cost 300 tickets and that sped things along.
Wonderful memories…cute photos…lots of laughs…all for about $20.
Life is good!
Oh…lest I forget…a new holiday!
Blessing snapshots
Filed under: Memories | Tags: Big Family, Blessings, Children, Together Time
Leave a Comment Question: are we blessed more on some days than others or do we just have a greater sensitivity some times to see our blessings…to name them…and claim them?
This lazy morning is loaded with blessings…take a peak.
Snapshot…Nine anxiously takes me by the hand to come pick out which dress she should wear to the Daddy-Daughter Valentine’s Day Dance coming up in just 5 days.
I pick the one with red on top and white on the bottom and little red flowers.
She tells Mom to get her some red dancing shoes.
By heart is about to burst!
I’ve been here with Two, Three, Four and Five…multiple times…and Nine last year!
Its new every time.
How blessed am I?
Snapshot…sitting in the bathroom with Nine and Mom in the tub getting the 411 from Nine about the birthday party she attended the day before. How many events have been planned or digested this way?
Snapshot…Nine looking for a big sister who will wake up and play with her…she finds a welcome contestant in Four!
Snapshot…Nine wants to know the colors of each team playing in Super Bowl 44 so she knows how to dress for our Super Bowl party.
She decides to root for the Colts because she prefers blue and white to black and gold…and she wants to back with the team the sports writers picked to win!
