A Slower Pace

As you saw from my post Friday, my son turned 10. That is one of those milestone ages and he sure is showing it — in a good way. Recently, while I was on a business trip (conveniently I must say) my wife put him on our zero turn mower and showed him how to mow the lawn. Now while he is still getting used to it and can only do straight lines in open spaces, he handles himself very well I must say. I was initially very concerned and skeptical thinking my wife was prematurely exposing him to unnecessary risk. But I was wrong and it has been working out wonderfully. The only downside is that now there are three of us that like to mow and have to fight for time on the Scag.

I have also been spending more time out in the yard with him throwing the ball. It doesn’t matter what ball — baseball, softball, tennis ball, or football. All I know is that he is now at that point where I don’t have to “baby” throw it to him. He still needs to work on his catching and throwing but he is maturing and growing nicely to where we will have a real, full-fledged game of catch soon. I’m sure in a couple of years we will both be a ways away at our max throwing distance. And then, as I get older, he’ll return the favor and start to “baby” me.

As far as kids go, with R, K and D, this sure is an enjoyable season with each of them. I am just soaking it up.

Oh, and another milestone — R successfully passed her driver’s test today and she now has her license. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

So last Sunday was Father’s Day and my son thought he was funny with one of the gifts he gave me. It was a pair of my own underwear that had somehow gone through the laundry but made it to his dresser drawer instead of into mine. He wrapped it up and gave it to me as a gift. He thought it was funny.

However, he did not strategically think it through all the way. You see, his birthday was today — very close to Father’s Day. He should have done this on another gift giving occasion that didn’t have another gift giving date so close to it for me to reciprocate. So I used the opportunity to give him the same thing back — a pair of his clean underwear wrapped up. The funny thing is that he was bothered by this more than me because he thought it “counted” as one of his gifts and he felt like he got jipped.

Dad always has the last laugh.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

A decade ago I was in the hospital worried for the lives of my wife and premature newborn son. God has blessed me with the health of both. Happy Birthday, Danny! I love you!

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

The blog post title does not refer to getting back to work because today is Monday and most people depart from the weekend to get back to their day jobs. It is a nod towards yesterday’s Father’s Day. You see, all those accolades, thank you’s, love, acknowledgement and all around gratitude is usually a result of effort, toil, tough love, leadership, hard decisions, life lessons, and discipline that make up a good dad’s life. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are also the throwing of the baseball, the swimming with the kids, the building of sofa cushion forts and what not. But the nuts and bolts of it is hard, determined, consistent work that usually goes unnoticed and unappreciated…..until about 20 years later.

So this post is an encouragement for all dads and fathers to put away the cards and gifts from yesterday and get back to the tough, but most important job of raising your kids. You cannot and must not fail at this task. Put it at the top of your “to do” list — both at home AND at work. It is a huge challenge but I know you are up to it.

Now get out there and be engaged, loving and accountable in leading your family.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Spending the next 2 minutes and 41 seconds to watch this video will probably be one of the best things you will spend your time on today. Guys, fathers, dads — man up and click on the vid.

This video was played during the intro to last night’s message at church. It was extremely impactful – both this video and the sermon which is why I choose the blog post title I did. The message cut deep to a man’s heart and challenged him to do the things he needs to do to lead his family in a Godly way.

The link is not on their website yet. However, I am posting the general sermon list link and highly encourage you to either watch it online or download their sermon podcasts.

And to my own Dad…..Happy Father’s Day! Thanks for all you have done that was invisible, gone unnoticed or was behind the scenes. Those were probably some of the most impactful decisions and actions you had.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Today is my folks’ 45th anniversary. I shouldn’t have to write anything else about it. The number should say it all. With a large number of marriages these days choosing divorce, I am in admiration of couples that can begin to quantify their marriage in multiples of decades. THAT is dedication. THAT is true love. THAT is taking the marriage vow and covenant seriously.

And I am lucky because of their commitment to stay together. Not only as a child – to have the security, consistency, reliability and stability of a loving two parent home. But also as an adult as a model for marriage, love, commitment and fortitude.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! May your marriage union continue to be blessed, upheld and centered in Christ.

For those who are having trouble in their marriage and hope to see a 45th anniversary some day, here are a few resources:

Fireproof – The Movie

Fireproof Couple Resources

Fireproof Your Marriage

Marriage 911

Christian Counseling of Mansfield

Focus on the Family – Free Marriage Booklets

Crosswalk Christian Resources

Christian Marriage Today

Marriage Rocks

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Today is my wife’s birthday. And because she is my “Happily Ever After”, I took the day off work today to do whatever she wanted me to do.

Did we go shopping? No.
Did she want me to take her on a day trip somewhere? No.
Did she want to laze around the pool and have me bring her cool drinks and fan her with a palm leaf? No.

What she wanted was for me to tackle something on her honey-do list — clean the garage. I didn’t put up much of a fuss because the garage is my domain and I thought it would be cool to hang in the garage all day and get it straightened out.

Boy did I get a surprise when she clarified that she wanted me to CLEAN the garage. That meant sweeping, wiping down the walls of the cobwebs, cleaning the windows (including the channels where flies, wasps and other flying insects go to die), as well as throwing stuff away and organizing.

It would have been easier if I had gone to work today!

So I arose at 5:30am, took her and the family to breakfast, and have been eagerly at it in detail since then. It is slow going but I think I really impressed her. She returned from the grocery store and said “Now THAT’S what I’m talkin’ about!”.

Luckily, we are breaking early for “linner” (the flip side of brunch) to go to her favorite place — Cheesecake Factory.

And while I have been out in the garage, I have been streaming miscellaneous country music from one of my favorite artists, Brad Paisley. The song below came on and I recite the lyrics in tribute to my wife on her birthday.

Brad Paisley
“She’s Everything”

Everything I ever wanted
And everything I need
She’s everything to me

Happy Birthday, my love! I love you bigger than the mountains!

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

So I just finished writing the last post on something funny my son said and he popped off another one.

He was speaking about his day swimming and he used the word “gotten”. I corrected him that “gotten” was not a word. He reworded it using the word “got”. I corrected him again that “got” wasn’t a proper grammar word. His reply cracked me up.

D: “So then how do you say “Got Milk”?

Again, I laughed.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

My wife posted this as her Facebook status recently.

My son: “Mom, I finished trimming the bushes in the back”
My wife: “Great!”
My son: “It’s NOT perfect but I’m NOT God.”

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Recipe for an awesome weekend day:

• Fishing with my son D
• the NASCAR race
• some mowin’
• swimming in the pool to cool off
• burgers on the grill
• s’mores

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net