Home Archive by category "Family" (Page 18)

Category: Family

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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My Little Buckaroo

This video is just my Father’s Day present to myself. Yes, I’m a complete sap and am totally in love with my little boy. My wife often laughs at me and says, “You are so whipped” when she sees just the way I look at him or interact with him. The picture below is his first time sitting in a tree! (Granted, only for a few seconds – just long enough for the picture! But last Sunday at church he saw several kids in a tree and I stopped to talk to the kids about the tree and how they got up, etc. but it still surprised me when Luke said to me today, “Sit in tree!” The video is all pictures of me and my little buckaroo to two of my favorite “Daddy Songs,” perhaps you’ll enjoy them too: Watching You, by Rodney Atkins and Little Buckaroo by Go Fish.

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Preamble To Father’s Day

I’m looking forward to Father’s Day. My first Father’s Day, as a dad, I blogged in 2006. Little Luke on my First Father’s Day Then I had my first official Father’s Day and blogged about it in 2007. Luke on my second Father’s Day Well, my third Father’s Day is just around the corner. It’s hard to believe – the time travels fast, but no complaints, Luke is at such a fun age and is so delightful to play and live with. Today we went on a hike in Oak Lawn at what we call the “secret river” – a beautiful hidden man made river tucked away in a busy suburb just a few houses from my wife’s folks. Granted, its more of a drainage ditch than a “river” but its still pretty beautiful. Especially a walk with daddy and son… We started out around the block and discovered a hidden bridge! the ends led to a chain link fence that was chained and locked, but could be entered from the side quite easily. There’s just something fun about going exploring! Look at that happy boy! Just too cute! What fun hiking and climbing around! It looks like a real…

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Weekend Warrior

As I sit here to blog my whole body is sore and tired but my heart is full and satisfied. Most of my readers probably won’t be interested in this post… (sorry) but I’m posting anyway for some family friends I’d like to show my weekend projects to. Let me just say, I LOVE one day projects that cost more in personal labor than dollars, and this weekend I tackled two! SATURDAY’S MISSION: Restore life and beauty to the backyard flower garden! I cut out this little corner a few years ago and every year I love to do the flowers. It’s kind of a gift to my wife for her view out the kitchen window. In a few weeks it will be overflowing with flowers! Cool thing is, it started to pour rain just as I finished. I also jazzed up the front yard a bit with flowers hanging in our swing, in a pots by the driveway (both ends) and added some stepping stones. Fun! SUNDAY’S MISSION: (after church, of course!) Create a Play Park in the backyard for my little Luke! He went with us to the stores after church and then I was able to create…

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Addicted to Ministry?

“Hi Craig, my name is Karl, and I too am a recovering ministry-a-holic.” In the current issue of K! Magazine, there is an excellent article by my friend, Craig Jutila, former children’s pastor at Saddleback Community Church, where he very honestly and transparently talks about his own personal “crash” from being so addicted to ministry he found himself in an unhealthy place spiritually, emotionally, and relationally with his family. I appreciated his candor. I’ve attempted to be as open here on my blog (and even more so in one on one relationships) about my own “demise” as a children’s pastor nearly two years ago who thought he could do everything and keep his walk with God and family life healthy. Why are the best lessons in life learned so painfully? Craig’s topic was “spiritual renewal” and he admits (as I will) that we can be so good at faking it and knowing all the answers even as we are dying on the inside – but unwilling to admit our need. He quotes an unknown person as saying we don’t change until, “you hurt enough that you have to” or you “learn enough that you want to.” We both admit, it…

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BLOG READERS ADVANCE SCREENING!

As promised yesterday , below is an exclusive SNEEK PEEK video from the next Kidology Online Training Leadership Lab: Partnering with Parents . RIGHT NOW THIS IS ONLY HERE ON MY BLOG – as a parting gift before I go completely cold turkey offline for a week, I wanted to give you a little something to hold you over. (Oh how will you survive without my blog? ) This will not be live on Kidology.org until next week some time! So enjoy this Advance Screening via a TOP SECRET YouTube link before it’s official release next week on Kidology! This is the introductory video that is part of the most JAM-packed Leadership Lab yet! This lab is the culmination of several years of work and includes exclusive content never-before-published that I’ve been being asked to release since 2005, ever since it was hinted at in the Kidology forum. I have finally provided detailed background, description, explanation, samples and more on the VIP Family Ministry philosophy that I pioneered at my previous church. But that’s not all. CHECK OUT ALL THIS LEADERSHIP LAB WILL INCLUDE: 36 Page Leader Lab PDF – This is the core content of the Online Training. 52…

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