Home Archive by category "Family" (Page 21)

Category: Family

Luke Belongs in the Zoo

Today was Sara’s Birthday. (I’ve been forbidden to say which one!) So I took the day off and we celebrated the day my wife was born by first having a Micky Mouse breakfast (sorry, no pictures, it was before we were in any state to be blogged!) complete with pancakes, eggs, bacon, juice etc. served on Mickey plates and glasses and then it was time for Mickey Mouse gifts I picked up when I was at Walt’s Place* earlier this year. Then, after nap time the real adventure of the day began, it was off to: (click on any images to view larger) We purchased a membership to Brookfield Zoo this year since it’s just under $100 and pays for itself in just two visits. (Free admission and parking and some other benefits) We figured with a two year old it would be a good idea this year. Today would be Luke’s first visit to the Zoo in his entire life! So, of course, we invited Grandma and Grandpa to come along, who were also free because members can always bring a free guest and they give you six free additional free guest passes in addition to all the free…

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Gotcha Day!

It was April 1st, 2006. But it wasn’t an April Fool’s Day joke. It was an answer to prayer. Only I didn’t know it at the time. But God was about to do a miracle. My wife and I had been unable to have children for thirteen years. Adoption was often brought up to us by caring friends and family members, and while we were never against it, we hadn’t yet come to the place where we felt ready to actively pursue it. We didn’t want adoption to be a “Plan B” in order to have children. If we were to adopt, we wanted it to be Plan A – something God clearly brought into our lives by divine appointment. As mentioned in the story about the Rases, God was beginning for form that desire. In fact, God moved me in an amazing way the evening before April 1st. We had been remodeling our church children’s ministry during spring break that year (see This Old Church Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4) working for hour every day with the plan for me to work all day Saturday doing a week’s worth of job to prepare for Sunday.…

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Educated?

When is a child truly EDUCATED? This powerful video asks that very question. Back in 2000 I heard this most thought provoking poem on WMBI and tracked down the author to get permission to make the following video to show our parents at our church. Many of the kids in this video are now out of high school! Every time I show this video at a conference when speaking on children’s ministry and disciple making I am asked for a copy of it. (We now sell it as a download on Kidology.org) Here is the video as read by some of the kids in my previous ministry. (Many thanks to Pastor Jim Crouter who did the editing for me on his PC) Here are the words: YOU MAY PURCHASE A DOWNLOADABLE COPY OF THIS VIDEO FOR ONLY $4 ON KIDOLOGY.org (You will also get a Word document with the words of the poem) It is also included free as part of my Leadership Lab #4 on Partnering with Parents

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Help Me Choose My FREE CD!

I need help choosing my FREE CD that I have won… well, I haven’t exactly won it yet, but it’s only a matter of time, so I’m looking for suggestions. What album would you have your sister buy you when you won a bet? You see, I went off Mountain Dew the day after Christmas and went 44 days without any Dew! 44 is my favorite number, so I rewarded myself with an ice cold Dew, which spilled all over the floor of my car the moment I went to sip it as I hit a pot hole! While many claimed this was a sign from God to not have any Dew, I took it as a sign that I, uh, oh, never mind. Bottom line, I was back the bottle, er can, for several busy weeks. So when I got back from CPC last week I decided to not only go Dewless again, but to go TOTALLY WITH NO POP/SODA for another 44 days. (I’m trying to lose weight and get in shape for Yosemite Summit) Knowing my sister has been on a diet I invited her to join me for some local accountability. (She lives a few house…

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Karl on MoodyMinistries.net

Moody Ministries has recently redesigned their website and are in the process of reworking all of their sites to integrate better. Kidology’s own Director of Web Operations, Steve Tanner, has some connections on that team and has been showing me the work they’ve been doing, and we’ve been impressed! So it came as a surprise when I got a call from Moody (via a totally separate connection) asking if they could do a little story on me since I am a Moody grad. I was honored! I have MANY Moody connections in my life! Well, the story is now live! I kept it a secret from both Steve and my wife just for fun. Steve saw it live even before me as his friend noticed it and recognized the Kidology connection, and tonight I instant messaged the link to Sara to surprise her. I’m on Moody’s website! I think I can just go to heaven now. What an honor.  Also mentioned in the article is fellow blogger Barney Kinard, who also graduated from Moody at the same time as my parents. (1964) And, since it’s not mentioned in the article, my wife also graduated from Moody (1993) with a degree…

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A Baseball Writer With Heart

As I have bragged before (here, here and here or when he got me a Frank Thomas ball) my little brother is a beat reporter for MLB.com as the Blue Jays reporter. While I enjoy baseball, I’m nowhere near the avid fan my little brother is – which is why I marvel at his writing. As I blogged about once before, I am impressed at how his writing transcends mere baseball reporting. I’m not a Blue Jays fan (technically he isn’t either), but I follow his blog as I because I enjoy his writing and I don’t want to miss when one of these “beyond baseball” masterpieces comes through.Well, he did it again! He has written another “baseball article” that demonstrates that his ability to articulate LIFE and not just baseball, and is what makes him such a masterful sports writer. Before you read his article about how Blue Jays top prospect Travis Snider has dealt with several deaths recently, including his mother, it might interest you first to realize a few things not mentioned in the article about Jordan’s personal connection to this story. First of all,  Snider’s mom Jordan’s and my mother both have the same name, though…

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