The Enthusiasm of a 3.5-Year Old

I wanted to post a picture of my daughter Olivia just before we were to attend her first swimming lesson at a local school's swimming pool. She has been talking non-stop about swimming lessons for the past month looking forward to this day. The class being offered is a parent-child class, and Olivia gave me the privilege of taking her into the pool. She woke up this morning constantly asking Kim if it was time to go. She wondered if she looked cute enough in her piggy tails. She asked who her teacher would be many times. Finally, Olivia and I were able to get in a pool that had Olivia shivering, and we worked on floating on her belly and her back. Her teacher Stephanie did a great job making the experience fun having us sing fun songs and play simple games that brought smiles and laughs between the teeth chattering. Olivia and I are really looking forward to next week's lesson.

Perspective

My wife has blogged about how Meijer's drives her crazy at MyCupOverflowing, and now it is my turn to share my Meijer's story. For those of you that do not have a Meijer's store near you, this store is a Walmart Supermart before the Walmart Supermart even existed. Whenever Kim and I take our 5 1/2 and 3 1/2-year old daughters there, our patience seems to be tested.

This recent trip was no exception. The trip started off ok as we approached the store. We headed for the back of the store to bring our pop cans to the deposit machines. An ominous foreshadow of the rest of the trip came from the machine we were using as it made an EHRRRRR sound everytime I put a can into the machine. The machine eventually puked and we had to wait for another machine. From there, we headed toward the produce section. My daughter Kelsey loves to push the cart and preceded to ram the cart into the back of my ankle. I gritted my teeth and informed her that I would now be pushing the cart. I grabbed two cases of Diet Coke and placed it in the cart. Then my cell phone rings. Kim is calling and is asking me to pick up some eyedrops for her allergies that her eye doctor is suggesting she take. Are these eyedrops right next to the Diet Coke in the store? Nooooooo! They are located on the complete opposite corner of the store. To top it off, we had to pass through the toy section to get there. Both my daughters felt obligated to inform me of some of their heart desires for Slip-n-Slides and pools as we passed through this Land of Temptation. We managed to make it through without making any major purchases, we picked up the eyedrops and picked up where we left off in the food area of the store.

After caving to Diego Yogurt cravings and wiping multiple tears of my youngest as the cart rolled over her flip-flops as she walked alongside the cart, we finally were ready to check out. This may sound like I should be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but past experiences have shown me that this part of the shopping experience can be the worse. "Kelsey, stop leaning against the railing!" Olivia, put the eggs down, NOW! "I know your trying to help, but let me put that on the conveyor." "Ok, fine! Here are four pennies! Go ride the horse!" After waiting in line, the checkout lady passe along the following data written in the finest print on the sales flyer: "You need 3 cases of Diet Coke to get the advertised deal."

Biting my tongue, the three of us make our way to the back of the store to get that 3rd case. I began joking with my girls saying that we might have to live at Meijer's forever. My Olivia then suggests that from now on, maybe Mom had better do the shopping at Meijer's. We once again returned to the checkout line, paid our penance, and looked to break out of this crazy place. Olivia failed to learn her lesson from earlier, and the cart rolled over her foot and flip-flop right in the middle of the main throughway in the parking lot.

Kim got a good laugh when I shared my traumatic story with her. Why do I share this story with any of you that may read this? Sometimes, I can bent out of shape over these frustrating times, and I need to be slapped and told to put on less cynical glasses. I just read a Carebridge journal written by a friend of ours sharing her testimony and her heart as she watches her young son Josh battle a tumor within his brain. Doctors have given this little guy's chances to live of little more than a year. I am giving you the website here that shares her testimony: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joshuaspoolstra In reading this story, I am reminded to see everyday given to me by God to spend in His world with my girls as a precious gift.

I know I will not be perfect in this, but it is something I want to strive for. I have been truly blessed, but when things go bad in a small way or a big way, I want to remember the words of Psalm 68:19...Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. God allows many things (blessings and struggles) to happen in our lives providing us opportunities to help us know Him more and to rely on Him more. I will confess I do not always do a great job of this, and Kristi, Glenn, Josh and family are inspirations to me to "Trust and obey, for there is no other way!"

5 Things I'm Thinking Right Now

Ok, ok, I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get back to this site. I know that my audience may be small, but I am finally caving to the pressure being poured on by my wife Kim and her book club friend Brenda (you're suspending me?!?). I will blog about the first ten things that are on my mind on this Saturday night as I sit in our living room with no NBA game to watch on TV.

1) Booties and butts: Just before bedtime, my daughter Olivia says to me as she points to her rump, "This is my bootie!" I looked at her and asked, "Where did you learn that word?" She told me that she learned this invaluable lesson from a funny TV show she and her sister Kelsey were watching. Kim and I fight the battle I am sure many of you fight in trying to keep some of the world's norms from entering into our home. We had not covered the appropriateness or inappropriateness of the word "bootie" yet, but we have tried to discouraged the use of the word, "butt" encouraging the girls to use the word "buns" to refer to their gluteus maximus. This past Monday night, my parents took the girls along with their three cousins to Russ' Restaurant and the mall to spoil them. Arriving home, they entered their door singing at the top of their lungs "SHAKE YOUR BUTT, SHAKE YOUR BUTT, SHAKE YOUR BUTT!" Looking at us with a gleam in their eye, they rationalized their singing by telling us, "But our cousins were singing it!" Kim and I choose to not get to excited about this realizing we need to pick our battles to win the war. We just smile and pray that God will put friends and other people in their lives that will point them in the right directions and point them toward Him.

2) The Nieve French Teacher: The above thought reminds me of a French teacher at a school I taught at in Marion, IN after I graduated from college. I will be the first to admit that it is not impossible for teenagers to pull the wool over my eyes in the classroom. Just this past week, a young lady handed me what looked like an invitation to a graduation open house and asked me if I would be willing to come. I looked at the blank card and realized a junior had just asked me that question. But this French teacher tops that by a mile. She was an older lady who had come out of retirement to teach at the school for one year. Her class comprised a group of juniors who would not have won any awards for Most Mature. They were more likely to be nominated for a Most Manure Award. This sweet teacher would take prayer requests before class, and one of the young men began asking that she pray for their good friend Seymour Butts (anybody remember Ren & Stimpy). One day, their friend had hurt his arm. Another day, Seymour Butts was having trouble with his girlfriend. This went on for over a week. When I first heard of this, I will admit I laughed pretty hard, but I warned these concerned teenagers that they had better put their imaginary friend to rest if they did not their concerns brought to the attention of the administration.

3) Go Pistons!: I am pumped that the Detroit Pistons are in the Eastern Conference Finals for the sixth year in a row. I have followed the Pistons since they began making similar runs to the E.C. finals in the late 80s with Isaiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Bill Laimbeer going up against Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. This year's team like the team of the 80s plays unselfishly concerned more about winning than about individual stats. This time of year drives Kim nuts because I desire to watch an excessive amount of basketball. She enjoys watching football much more than basketball, and for that, I am eternally grateful to God for putting such a wonderful woman in my life. When I flip the channel to another NBA game, she simply rolls her eyes and picks up her book for book club entering a world outside of slam dunks, free throws and three-pointers. I am hoping the Pistons play against the Cleveland Cavaliers, so they can get revenge against LeBron James and company for upsetting them last year in the E.C. finals.

4) What am I currently enjoying or recently have enjoyed: a) The Whole Scoop (an ice cream shop) just opened within walking distance of our house. We have been there twice. Kids cones are 50 cents each. Enough to get any Dutchman's blood pressure rising. b) I just saw the new Ironman movie last Wednesday. It was one of the coolest superhero movies I have ever seen! c) I am currently reading "Hood" by Stephen Lawhead. He is an author who wrote the Pendragon series. In this first book of the King Raven trilogy, he is reinventing the Robin Hood story. I have been drawn into this gritty world of past Great Britain, and I look forward to picking up the next book "Scarlet" soon. d) When my parents took my girls and their cousins out to eat and shop, Kim suggested that we call my sister and go out together. We decided to eat at Carraba's. They did not disappoint once again. I highly recommend their Chicken Marsala or their Steak Marsala with mashed garlic potatos as a side. Every bite sent my taste buds a little glimpse of what food in heaven will be like some day.

5) 10:00 - One of the jokes about my wife Kim is that when the bell tolls 10pm, she fades quickly and needs to find her pillow. Tonight is no exception, but she will have some company on this Saturday night. It was a beautiful day outside, and the girls and I spent the better part of it working and playing around the yard. I am beat, and I am signing out! I will try to make the next blog entry occur a little bit sooner. Have a great Sunday everybody!!

March Madness

As I write this blog, I am doing one of my favorite events during this time of year. I am watching the NCAA men's basketball tournament. I cannot say I have reached the status of my friend pictured at the left, but I do enjoy watching a little more basketball now than I normally do. I am a part of three different pools filling out the same bracket for all of them. At this point, I know that I am not being called to a career in Las Vegas, but I am not in complete trouble. I still have my Final Four teams playing (North Carolina, UCLA, Georgetown and Pittsburgh), and I have UNC winning it all. I love rooting for the underdog and rooting for the teams I pick. Right now I am watching Duke play West Virginia. I am torn because I cannot not stand Duke, but I picked them to win this game. Who do I root for?

It is especially a good day to spend in front of the television with the snow that fell yesterday. I call it Michigan Madness. We probably received 6-8" yesterday, and I heard this morning that this winter's 105" is the second most snow we have ever received since people have been keeping track. I believe the most ever was 130". I am definitely ready for spring, but the end of the snow is in sight.

My last madness I want to mention in this blog is that this weekend is important to me because it provides me and other Christians a chance to reflect upon the madness Christ endured because He loves us so much. I am currently reading through the book of John in the Bible, and I am amazed at what He knew was going to happen to Him and to his disciples (12 of his followers and best friends) because of the path they had chosen to take. In the face of the coming rejection, humiliation, torture and death, He chose to follow this course to pay the price for our sins that we could never pay ourselves.

I don't know where all of you are at, but I encourage you to check out the four Gospels in the Bible possibly for the first time or maybe all over again. I am amazed how I reread these, and find new ways that Jesus speaks to me in my life now through His words and His life. I am not trying to preach to you, and I definitely do not have all the answers in life (see my NCAA brackets once). I love to hear and to share personal testimonies about what we are going through in life, and I would love to hear some of the insights or questions that you have in life, so feel free to comment. Happy Easter!

Kyle Busch

I have a confession to make. I have recently become hooked on NASCAR racing. A few years ago, you never would have caught me watching more than 30 seconds of these cars going round and round a track for umpteen laps. But the Daytona has a way of sucking you into the excitement of racing. As we watched that race, my attention was drawn to an aggressive an exciting driver named Kyle Busch. I liked the way he laid it on the line basically saying I will win or I will go out in a blaze of glory. What blows me away about these drivers is to think of what pressure they are under while out on the track. How many of us have taken a turn at 70 mph? The temperatures get pretty hot inside the cockpit and the drivers have to have nerves of steel riding inches apart at high speeds.
While watching, my two beautiful daughters are begging to watch Dora or Curious George. My wife Kim suggested that they should root for Kyle Busch because he drove the M & M car. I proceeded to tell my girls that if Kyle Busch won, then I would buy them M & M's. Immediately, the whole family became Kyle Busch fans.
Since then, my girls have been longing for Kyle Bush to win. My youngest daughter has developed a Southern twang in asking about her new favorite driver. My oldest daughter recently answered Kyle Busch when asked who the President of the United States is.
This past Sunday, Kyle Busch won his first Sprint NASCAR race in Atlanta driving the Snickers car. I will have to make a trip to the store to buy some M & M's to pay up my end of the bargain. Once the M & M debt has been paid, we will have to see how long this fascination with NASCAR lasts for me and my girls.

Where in the World is Jimmy?

I'm sorry it has been so long getting back to the blogging. I just finished a graduate class, and I now hope to have a little more time to check out the internet. I am going to double dip now, and share with you a recent Matthew 22 devotion written for Young Life as we do a study of the book of Matthew. Thanks for the encouragement to my wife, Brenda and Ben to get back onto the blog.

Like Jeff Munroe stated last week, so much stuff could be and has been written on this book and each chapter. Chapter 22 starts off with a parable and then shares some of the amazing answers Jesus gives to the religious leaders refusing to fall into the traps they set for Him in their questions. I encourage you to read again through how Jesus outwitted these leaders with incredible wisdom, but I am going to focus on the parable of the wedding feast.

As Matthew 22 starts off with the parable of the wedding banquet, I cannot help but think about how I react when a wedding invitation arrives in the mail. I am either excited about the opportunity, or I am dreading the thought of having to go. What determines my response? The answer can be summarized with one word: relationships. If I have a relationship with the bride, the groom and people that have been invited to the party, I am pumped to see them and to celebrate with them. If I do not have a strong connection with any of these people, I am scheming for some excuse to not be able to make it to the wedding.

I cannot help but think that the people that reacted negatively toward the banquet invitation did not have a strong relationship with the king or his son who was to be married. For people not having an active and relational life in Christ, this life probably seems more like a burden than a life worth living. If you are feeling like this, know that investing time in learning about how great our God is reveals that our life in Christ is meant to be a celebration, not a burden. He knows us so well and wants us to know Him so well. Our Father feels so passionately about wanting us to be with Him, that He repeatedly extends an invitation to both the good and the bad to join Him.

The good and the bad include the kids in the high schools and middle schools that you go out to meet. A characteristic I love about Young Life is how we bring out this invitation as a celebration of life. In the words of Jim Rayburn, founder of Young Life, “It is a sin to bore kids with the Gospel of Christ.” As you share this invitation, ask yourself if you personally are excited about your relationship with the Lord and the invitation extended to us. If you are, I guarantee that this excitement will spill over into the kids you contact. They will see something different in you and may catch the excitement as well.

Also, know that the parable brings out a message that the ONLY way to be able to accept this invitation is to accept the wedding clothes that Christ gives to us. For the longest time, the last part of this parable bothered me. Why did the king throw out the guy who was not wearing his wedding clothes? Isn’t that a bit extreme? Why didnn’t the king accept him for who he is? A commentary I recently read shed some light on this. It was customary in that time for wedding guests to be given garments to wear to the wedding banquet, and refusing to wear these garments would be unthinkable! The host would be insulted assuming that the guest was arrogant enough to think that either he did not need these garments or did not want to take part in the wedding celebration.

Jesus paid the price for our sins, and gave us our wedding clothes. Our Father will never force us to accept the invitation of a relationship with Him, but there is no other way our Father will accept us at His table.

If you are struggling to accept this, consider this…If you were invited by your best friend to an incredible party he was hosting, would you want to embarrass him or her and by showing up in just your underwear? Try to say as seriously and sincerely as possible that your friend should accept you as you are and what you wear or do not wear should not matter. If you truly care for your best friend, I doubt you can. Our God wants the very best for us, and that is why our Father gave us His one and only Son to provide us with the best possible wedding clothes for this ultimate party. Would you want to insult someone that cares that much for you by refusing His gift?

Family Movie Night

Tonight, we decided to have our first family night watching Curious George. I was amazed at the anticipation and excitement my two daughters had for this time. Originally, it was supposed to be a Girls' Movie Night because I had a class called Educational Leadership at GVSU that was scheduled to go from 9am to 7pm. However, my professor kept things moving and I was home by 4:30pm. Thanks, Professor Lis! We broke open a bag of popcorn and laughed a lot at that funny monkey. It is a well-done film that is fun. We ate dinner, gave the girls baths and wrapped up the evening with two intense games of Candyland. After reading bible stories and saying prayers, Olivia was wondering if Jesus would be taking us to heaven in a Jeep, a minivan or a Honda CRV. (Momma prompted her on the CRV.)

Our girls at this stage have been so much fun to interact with as their world gets bigger. We would hate to miss it. Did anything extraordinary and extreme come out of tonight? No, but Kim and I believe that these little events serve as building blocks for a lifetime of relationship with our daughters. We are far from perfect in taking advantage of every opportunity like this, but when we do, we know we are fulfilling an important part of our calling as parents. What an incredible privilege we have been given!

Ponderisms

Ok, I have been way too serious in my blogs so far, so I found some things to think about!

1) If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?

2) Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

3) Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

4) Have you ever noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to?

5) Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!

6) If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

7) How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

8) There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.

On that note, stay quick!!

Turkey Dinner

Today was a good day. My incredible wife made a turkey dinner for tonight. I would have to say that this is one of my favorite meals, and Kim usually allows me to enjoy this meal more than one time at Thanksgiving. This dinner serves as another reminder that I have been blessed with an incredible wife who I thank God for bringing into my life.

I have always enjoyed Kim's gifts and skills in the kitchen, She has the gift to look at a recipe and decide whether it has the potential to taste good. Many of these concoctions are also healthy. In today's world of instant gratification, she is willing to put hours into preparing a meal like tonight's meal because she cares so much for our family and for giving us time to eat together around the table. And it's not just the cooking. Much time goes into the planning for consistently putting prepared meals on the table. To give some of you that are ignorant to the kitchen a better appreciation, take this turkey dinner as an example. First, Kim had to plan what day she would have this meal because the turkey needs to thaw for DAYS before it can be placed within the oven. (Placing a frozen turkey in an oven will guarantee you a quick trip to Little Caesar's for a $5 pizza.) Then, Kim has to coordinate the other courses so that the potatoes, stuffing and turkey would all finish cooking at approximately the same time. When I was single, Stouffer's, Hamburger Helper and Marie Callendar were gourmet to me. I am definitely spoiled!



A couple reminders have arisen lately to not again not take my beautiful cook for granted. The first came in watching Kim grade a project she gave to her Foods classes over Christmas break. The students were to prepare a five-course meal for friends or family where they prepared three of the five courses. She asked the students to have photos taken and to have feedback given from the guests about the food and the experience. Judging from the feedback, I think many students gained a greater appreciation for everything that goes into putting a meal like this together. Some students really took to the project and put together some impressive creations. In fact, Kim took one of these main dishes (Italian dish with penne, spaghetti sauce, sausage, cream cheese and cheese) and served it to our family last night. Very delicious!



The other reminder came in a conversation of one of the things I love about Young Life camps. When meals are served at the camps, they are served family style with the campers sitting around round tables with their Young Life leaders. The leaders intentionally incorporate conversation into the mealtime. Many campers are coming from homes where they have never had this experience that I took so for granted when I was growing up.

Far too many people undervalue the social impact that comes with eating. We were made to break bread together. When I think about times in my life where I felt alone in this world, many of those times occurred when I was eating by myself. When I was single, I rarely sat at a table to eat, and having the television turned on was a definite must to shut out the quiet. And you would never catch me at a "sit-down" restaurant by myself.

Kim and I value this time to sit together at the dinner table, and Kim makes it possible so many times each week. Thank you, beautiful, for all the work that you do to help our family grow closer together!

Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho, It's Off To Work I Go...

Wow, life has been crazy with busyness for our household since the end of Christmas break. As previously stated, I am a teacher, and I will be the first to say that the perks are aplenty that come with being a teacher. (And no, the number one perk is not summer vacations. I teach driver's education during the summer which I will have to blog about at another time and day.) But one of the negatives that come with this profession is that you rarely get everything exactly the way you want it during the school day. As a result, my wife Kim (who is also a teacher) bring our work home with us.

In coming back from the holidays, the tidal wave called final assessments and grades stare us in the face. Often, my name becomes Grumpy Jim during this time of year. (I wonder what dwarf would best describe my wife during this time?) Thankfully, the end is in sight.

The sermon our pastor preached this past Sunday has come to mind at different times this week. He has been teaching a series called "Where is God when...", and this sermon was titled "Where is God When You Don't Know What to Do Next?. Pastor Dave shared that he experiences stresses at different times, but he can especially stress at night.
Sometimes, he wakes up with stress of the illogical:
Are all the doors locked?
I forgot to brush the dog's teeth!
My spleen is growing and it will explode!
Sometimes, he wakes with an overactive conscience:
Did I tell the truth today?
I sure wasn't kind to ______ today.
Sometimes, he stresses over the finances:
I'm not saving enough for retirement. Why didn't I start investing when I was 15!
I'm in a financial pit, and I don't know how to get out.
Too often, thoughts of our relationship with our family and friends consume us:
My kids are monsters.
Does my wife/girlfriend still love me?
Does anybody love me?
Pastor Dave then shared Psalm 143:8-10 with us to hear what God is trying to say to us in the midst of our worrying.

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show
me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, for
I hide myself in you. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit
lead me on level ground.
We need to give our stresses away and seek protection from the forces of fear that Satan
hurls us regularly. We need to have purpose within our life seeking to align our will with
God's will. We finally need to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit rather than relying upon
our own strength.

Most of the time, I am a pretty cool and collected individual. I do not rattle to quickly. This time of year, I sometimes feel I do not know which end is up, and I am not sure if I will ever figure it out. The saddest thing is that usually I fail to go to my Savior in prayer and in his Word in the midst of this busyness. I want to thank Pastor Dave for helping to give me the proper grounding this week reminding where my true hope can be found.

I hope to be sharing more with you soon! Sweet dreams tonight!

Leadership

I have not had time to blog the last couple days because I have been taking a graduate course though Grand Valley State University called Educational Leadership. I took the course simply because I need 6 credit hours every 5 years to renew my teacher certification, but I have found the class has been good for me.

First of all, I have never had a desire to be an administrator. I see the grief that they constantly deal with, and the lack of appreciation that they are given or recognized for. However, the class has definitely made me think that good leaders are needed in education and in all life. But what are some of the qualities that are necessary to be an effective leader?

To answer this, I look in to directions. I first look at my boss. His name is Jack, and he is the principal at the high school where I teach. While he can tick me off from time to time, I really do respect and appreciate him as the leader of our school. Someone once told me that leaders often are visionaries or they are great operators. Jack has both qualities. He has the guts to head up a $29 million dollar project to build a new high school. Concurrently, he knows so many (all?) of the students by name and what interests and motivates them. He pours a lot of himself into his job, and I can almost guarantee that the pats on the back are not nearly enough. In fact, I believe he often shields us from a lot of the crap and politics that come into his office.

So I thought I would ask you what qualities you desire or you see in an effective leader? I would love to hear from you.

Hope you are having a great weekend. I am off to do some grading and get some finals ready.

STRESS!!!!!!

I am trying to keep true to my goal and get an entry in before the midnight bell hits. The topic of the day for me has been stress. Tomorrow, I enter back into the work world looking to be hit by the tidal wave called reality. I am sure many of you experience this when you return to work. While you were gone, nobody finished up all the projects you left behind. In fact, the "to-do" list has probably grown exponentially! As I think about all I have to do to wrap up the semester, I am tempted to worry about how I will have enough time to get everything done.

I wish I were quicker to turn my concerns over to God. Too often I choose to take the load upon my shoulders so I can decide what path(s) to take. Usually, the end result of this decision is "grumpy Jim" as my wife would put it. I need to memorize or at least read again Mattthew 6 where Jesus said, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." I am not being promised that my needs will disappear. I am simply being told to put my concerns in perspective. I have "needed" to be told that many times in my life. How about you?

I exist and I organize.

Hello , everybody (maybe nobody?)! I am officially posting my first blog. First off, let me share with you that I can't believe I am actually doing this. My wife Kim loves to read other blogs and she blogs herself. Me? I never check out any blog unless my wife posts or unless she points out a blog to me. But I do want to work on my writing skills, and Kim suggested that blogging would be a great way to work on them. So anybody that reads this, please comment not only on what I say, but also on if I communicate my thoughts clearly and completely.

I decided to start this up on January 1 with the lofty goal of putting in daily entries. I know, I know, many of you are probably snickering right now. We will see how I do in keeping up with this goal.

So how did I celebrate my first day of 2008? I spent the day performing one of my wife's favorite passions: organizing. Once in a great decade, I catch this disease often because I cannot find something I want to find. It strikes me with irony how we in this country have this "problem" of having so much stuff that needs to be organized. I have tried to remember to thank God for blessing us with so many material possessions. Kim and I enjoy watching HGTV many evenings (that's Home and Garden Television Network for all of you people not in the know) and many designers and realtors stress that clutter is the #1 thing that people notice when they enter a house. Before I was married, I was a pack rat and had plenty of clutter. Now, I have mostly caught Kim's desire to have our earthly possessions in their place. Having the house picked up helps to make our house feel warm and comfortable to me. It is a constant battle, and having a five-year old and a three-year old make the battle more interesting. But even they have somewhat bought into some of these habits.

At the same time, Kim and I do not want to put this passion over time that we spend together. Warm and comfortable does not mean sterile. We have realized that we do live here and it is alright if we have not attended to every speck of dust in the house. Today, our family did take time to watch the University of Michigan Wolverines beat the Florida Gators in the Capitol One Bowl. Our friend Paul invited us to watch the great victory with a bunch of friends. The balance of the day made it a great day. I do love hanging out with my family.

Well, I did it! I posted my first blog. Hope you enjoyed it, and I will talk to you later.