An Appropriate Time to Make Another Post

With the Lions making their 1st return in 12 years to the playoffs in a couple of hours, I figured I had better post again to say, "Go Lions!" I am hoping the Lions can defeat the Saints as I sit in my newly purchased Calvin Johnson jersey. I'll definitely return again if they can pull off a win.

We're going to Disney World!

Our family is excited because we made the big decision to go to Disney World. The big deal for me is we decided to fly rather than drive. This will be the first time we as a family have gone to Florida. My wife Kim has been there on her own seven times (NOTE: She does have an aunt and cousins that live in Sarasota, FL.), and I think I have been there three times. Our girls are six and four years old, and we think this is a perfect time in our family to do this.

Perspective is interesting. My wife was sitting down with a group of people at lunch, and a rather rude coworker commented that it's nice that we both work. He went on to note how much money you spend per day and he would never spend that money on that type of vacation. I will not sit here and pick apart the things that he chooses to spend his money on, but I have noticed that each of us can fall into the trap of criticizing how others spend their money and concurrently defend how we spend our own money. Money has always been a hot topic to discuss.

A few years ago, Neil Anderson, who used to be in Young Life, wrote a book about stewardship. Kim and I liked one of his main points: Using money to further relationships is a good investment. Now, Kim and I would both say that we desire to be good stewards with the resources and blessings we have been given. We try to be wise in determining how the dollars that come in get used. We try to maintain a balance of saving and spending the resources God has given us in a way that does not distract us from worshipping the gift rather than the Giver of these good gifts.

Let me know what your perspectives and nuggets of wisdom are in regards to money.

My Christmas Present From My Girls

Boy, I had a surprise when I opened my Christmas present from my two daughters. They gave me a Webkinz cat! To give you a little history, my oldest daughter was given a Webkinz cat herself. Many of you may be familiar with the Webkinz concept, but if you're not, here's a little background. You receive a stuffed animal with a code that you enter on the Webkinz website. You then have a virtual pet that looks like your stuffed animal that you can play with, that you need to feed, and that you dress. To feed and buy things for your animal, you need to earn Webkinz cash. You earn Webkinz cash by playing games at the virtual arcade. We encouraged Kelsey to take care of her pet, but her cat tended to be neglected. I thought I would help, so I started playing some of her arcade games to earn her cash. I found some of the games to be very entertaining, and my wife found me playing them at late hours of the night. She threatened many times to get me my own Webkinz. I thought she was kidding, but as you can see above, I guess she wasn't. I have decided to name my cat Snikkers. I don't normally like cats, but I think this one is pretty cute.

New Year's Resolution Failure of 2008

Well, so much for getting an entry in every day! This past year was a busy year, and I will admit that I got lazy in wanting to write. Well, I am going to try to pick this up again, but I am not going to make a foolish goal of getting an entry in each day. Happy New Year, everybody! I hope you have a great 2009!

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!!