Category: family

For months now we’ve been talking to a church family about taking their play structure and moving it to our house. Well, today is the day!

In a few hours we’ll be going to get it. This is very exciting for the kids as they’ll have their own swings and something to climb on and be "theirs."

Well, it’s begun. I spent a little time yesterday doing the front yard and a lot more today working on the back. The lawn has been mowed, the weeds wacked, and if I could get the leaf blower working correctly, that would be done too.

It was pretty fun to use our family "team work" to get it done. Megan and Paul were helping mom with the sticks. Now if only we could get the animals to do their part?   

As I’ve recorded in the last day or so, we’ve been travelling to my hometown for a family funeral.

It was amazing as we left Mishawaka and headed for Romeo. There is a lot of emotion involved with going "home" and even more in returning to our real home. While we’ve only been here for 3 years, we’ve never felt more at home than we do here. Yesterday, both me and the kids felt a tremendous draw home.

As we took the kids to the park and even at the funeral, I couldn’t get over the emotion of this isn’t my home anymore. The same is true each time we go back to Chicago… it feels less and less like home all the time and Romeo feels more and more like the home we’ve always longed for.

Just for fun: With that thought in mind, I thought it would be fun to refresh my memory on Kristen and Adam’s "wishlist" for a ministry location. (History: Each night we would take Megan for a long walk and we’d dream of someplace God would have for us.) Near mountains, not in the midwest, somewhere near a large university, and nowhere near Detroit. Yeah, Romeo is all of those "no’s."

I’ve just gotten back from a whirlwind trip to my hometown for Grandma McLane’s funeral… I’ve got so many observations to record.

• Grandma McLane died with 3 kids, 12 grandkids and 13 (+2 in the chute) great grandkids.
• In 29 years, I only ever beat her once in a game of 500 rummy. Against me, I think she was something like 250-1. I think the last time we played she let me win!
• I think everyone agreed that this was the way to go from this life. Favorite place on the planet, no pain or suffering, just a simple quick passing.
• A whole new level of respect for my wife. Having Megan and Paul to myself was pretty hard.
• I can do it. I’m not as incapable as I let on… I really do more than play a dad… I can actually do it.
• 5 hours in the car with toddlers will either make you yell a lot or buy a lot of candy. I chose the later.
• When a little boy dances and grabs his crotch… he’s not immitating Jay Z, the boy has to pee and he’s ready to do it where he’s at… including on the slide at the park.
• Little boy pee on your arms seems a lot less gross when you’ve barely made it to the john.
• You should be prepared to bribe a child at any time with candy.
• 6 year old boys will wrestle, jump on, and ask questions about anything that is moving or may soon move.
• Sirius Satelite radio was a great investment for me. It just makes road trips better.
• There are lots of parts about the catholic funeral service that I seemed lost in. It makes me wonder how many visitors feel lost at one of our services.
• My kids did an amazing job sitting through a very unfamiliar service at the church. Again, bribery worked well.
• Everyone got along too well. It was pretty weird… you put 40 people in a room who never talk about anything to the point that they are complete strangers… and they manage to talk about nothing but get along fine.
• It was really great to have that many members of the family together.
• I may be approaching 30, but in my older cousins eyes I will never have more than "little punk kid" status. And that’s fine.
• I met my brother’s wife for the first time. She was exactly as described to me. Very cool, quiet, and quite nice. She get’s a hero award today for jumping in to help me with the kids.
• My nephew Ryan is a blast to be around. I’ll post a picture later, but he and Paul could be brothers.
• There is nothing quite like returning home. Pulling into the driveway, unloading the kids, and climbing the stairs into the house is one of the best feelings on earth.
• It’s equally good to have a church family that loves and cares for you in many tangible and intangible ways.
• It’s a whole ‘nother list… but we never thought we’d feel so at home anywhere as we feel in Romeo.

Goodnight.

I just learned that my grandmother, Alice, has passed away. She died where she would have wanted to at the family cottage in Southwestern Michigan. I’m not 100% certain on her age but she was in her 90s.

We’ll be headed home to South Bend for a few days, leaving Thursday morning. While it’s always hard to lose someone close it will be a good chance to reconnect with family.

I don’t really have much on the agenda today. After the mission trip last week I have to admit that I’m pretty whipped. If the rain stops and it warms up a bit I have a couple of outside plans. But other than that, today will likely be a "rest" day.

Megan and Paul seem to have forgotten already that I was gone last week. But it seems that they broke the rules and grew while I was gone. Megan is now reporting that she’d like a bike for her birthday. And Paul is using a bunch of new words. That’s just not fair!

Last night Kristen and I went over to Amanda Moore Elementary and registered Megan for kindergarten. It’s a very nice school and we were extremely pleased to meet her teacher. We are really hopeful that the teacher we met will actually be her teacher in the fall. She seemed like a great lady.

They also made a big push for us to sign up for kinder plus. This is Romeo’s all-day kindergarten. Essentially, you pay for 5 days of childcare after the school day. I just have this observation from the session I sat in on… tuition based all day kindergarten went over like a ton of bricks. When the principal asked if anyone would like to talk about it, only 2-3 of the 50 people in the room were interested. Oops!

Another observation from last nights session. I could not believe how rude and disrespectful some of the parents were to their teachers and the principal. No wonder they are always on their guard… I would be too with parents snarled lips like that. Weird.

We just hope to be able to bless Megan’s teachers in any way we can.

I ran across this article about the Gospel of Judas over at Christianity Today. It’s worth reading. Here’s a portion.

Well, that sure would change things. If it were true. This "news" isn’t
what makes the Gospel of Judas significant. Rather, thanks to this
text, we can further confirm what we already know about Gnostics—those
pesky heretics condemned by early-church leaders like Irenaeus.
Don’t get confused by mentions of Jesus and Judas. This is no Christian
text. The Gospel of Judas did not circulate until about 150 years after
Jesus died. Let’s put it this way: This new text tells us nothing more
about Jesus’ relationship with Judas than does Jesus Christ Superstar.

Read the rest

Well, we are home. Every time I go on vacation and it ends I catch myself humming the old tune "Back in the Saddle Again" and I found myself doing the same thing this morning.

Yesterday, sunny and 85. We walked Hollywood Beach and collected sea shells as the waves tickled our toes. Today, rainy and 50. 8 days and 400 pictures later, we are home.

Time to collect all the memories and wince at the mounting cost of the trip. Whatever the cost… It was all worth it!