Home Archive by category "Family" (Page 18)

Category: Family

Luke Gets a Hair Cut (actually, all of them!)

Today was the day we finally gave Luke another haircut. We love his curly hair, but when it starts getting in his eyes we know we have to cut it again. It’s a bummer because he always seems to age three months with a hair cut. We know, “It’ll grow back” – but he’s so stinkin’ cute with those curls! Too bad, today was hair cutting day! And for the past two years Sara has been cutting both boys hair to save money. (haircut prices have gotten ridiculous if you ask me!) Here he is, all smiles and read to go under the knife, er, scissors anyway. That’s one curly head! Our personal hair stylist at work! Bye, Bye Bangs! (my wife would like to ask you not look at the messy counters in the background) Oops, was that an ear lobe? Elmo helps the time go by as mommy sculpts the head. It’s a brand new boy! Is this the same boy!?!? Amazing how different he looks. But either way, the shirt is still true!

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The Adventures of “Illinois Luke”

First off, I have to say, my sister is the ultimate party planner. She puts together the most amazing themed parties for her kids (sample). Today was no exception. It was an overnight camping Indiana Jones theme where they went geo-caching for treasure and every kid got an archeologist bag, brown fedora and a whip! Due to having a two year old, we came for the morning fun. It was a beautiful forest preserve I’ll be returning to for hiking! Luke took to the trails immediately… It is right along the Fox River in Cary, so there were many water views on the hike. One funny sight (that I couldn’t take a picture of) was three guys fishing with beer bottles. A poor man’s technique perhaps. They tied fishing line to the neck of their beer, threw the line out, drank while waiting, and when then got a bite, wound the line around the beer bottle to reel it in. Yes, we saw them catch one! One of the kids caught a craw fish. Going with the theme, we just pretended it was a scorpion! I showed my son how to intimidate a small creature by returning its taunts right…

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19th Anniversary of First Date

It was 1986. There were hardly any computers. To figure out the first Friday night of September four years in the future required some manual scratching on paper trying to remember leap year! (a PDA would have been wonderful then!) But I finally figured out what the first Friday Night of September 1990 would be… why? That would be the first Friday Night of my Philippine Missionary Kid Pen Pal’s first eligible date when she finally came to the USA for college! Perhaps she thought it was a joke, or was just being nice, but she accepted the rambling invitation to her first date with me, granted four years in the future, and I began counting the days! Finally, the date arrived, and we had our first official date in the United States! September 7th, 1990 finally arrived! I could only afford a one way limo ride to the shore where we went for a dinner cruise at Navy Pier in Chicago – however, it was not the place it is today. It was an empty freight yard with only one ship! (I’ve had to work closely with Mayor Daley to get many much needed improvements though for my annual…

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A Cow in the Sky

For the first time in his little life my son woke up crying because of a nightmare. We awoke to his tears and like a good father I ran upstairs to see what my little boy needed. Did he climb out of the climb and fall? Did he get an arm or leg stuck through the railings? Did he drop a toy or binkey that he can’t sleep without? Nope. He saw a cow. (don’t laugh) I came in the room, “Daddy’s here, everything’s O.K.” to see his fear filled eyes looking to me for salvation. He reached out to me like someone drowning reaching for the life guard. I scooped him up, and seeing that nothing was physically wrong, asked, “What’s the matter, Lukie?” “Cow!” he whispered in my ear as he pointed up toward the ceiling. “Cow up in the sky.” I put his head on my shoulder so he wouldn’t see the smile I couldn’t resist. My voice remained deeply concerned but my face couldn’t hide the silent laughter at such a cute fear. I was so happy the scariest thing in his little world is a cow in the sky! He clung to me as I…

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Watermelon Joy

There’s just something about a boy and his watermelon. I love how everything Luke does he does with so much joy. There is nothing mundane or normal to him. What is routine for us is pure excitement for him. Whether it be simply getting dressed, taking a bath, picking up toys or eating a watermelon – he approaches everything with such a sense of adventure and joy that I wonder sometimes why we lose the pure satisfaction from the simple things in life. Why do we need vacations or thrill parks or something “new” or risk to excite us? What if we could find deep joy and satisfaction in something as ordinary as a watermelon? My boy has taught me that. My joy comes from sharing in his. The next time you have to do something ordinary or mundane… smile. Your Heavenly Father is watching and delighting in your life too.

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Luke Climbs a Lighthouse

For our 15th anniversary we are spending a week in Lundington, Michigan. There are lots of pictures still to go through, but I wanted to blog our highlight today, on our actual anniversary. What a fun day! (click on any picture to view larger, then browse back to pick up where you left off!) Luke was just eager to get going on our 1.8 mile hike to the Big Sable Point Lighthouse which is only accessible by hiking in. If you squint you can see a little black and white dot in the upper left hand corner of this picture… that was our destination. Would Luke make it, that was the question! Fortunately, some friends of our who live in Ludington, who we visited with on Tuesday evening, “just happened” to give us a kid-backpack. (God is indeed sovereign, and He likes to prove it over and over!) So when Luke got tired or decided he wanted to walk in directions other than forward, we had a way to make progress without losing too much time. But we were in no rush, so we stopped often to rest and enjoy the beautiful scenery – a strange combination of sand, water…

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