3 years ago several friends and I covenanted together to help each other raise our sons into men.  Having seen a lot of boys in men’s bodies over the years, we realized that a boy becoming a man just doesn’t happen automatically.  So we decided that a part of the process would be celebrating specific age milestones with our boys.  The first age milestone is 13.  This year 3 of our boys turned 13.

At 13 we give the boys a compass with a definition of manhood engraved on it.  The idea is that just as a compass helps point you in the right direction, so the manhood definition helps point our boys in the right direction of what it means to be a man.

Robert Lewis in his book Raising a Modern Day Knight has been extremely influential and helpful.

One of the greatest joys of being a dad was baptizing my son.  Today, I got to baptize my daughter Daisy.  I have watched Daisy’s faith grow over the 8 years of her life and especially over the last year as we have talked about her decision for accepting Christ into her life.  This was not a decision Daisy took lightly but considered it with child-like faith and adult-like seriousness.  The best attribute of Daisy is her compassionate heart that I know God will use to make a difference in this world.

I’ve been waiting to break the news on here until we told everyone we really needed to tell in person.  It’s official I’m going to be a father of 5!

Wow!

I’ve never really pictured myself as a father of 5 but was always open to it.  Then again before I even had one I never really pictured myself as a father.

It’s been such a remarkable thing for my family since we found out even though it’s only been a short time.  The very news of a new baby has somehow drawn us closer.  It’s led to conversations that we needed to have but just hadn’t.  And it’s reminded me of how much I really love my children.

This will probably sound weird but I have loved ALL my children more with each child that I have had.  I’ve heard people say that they didn’t want any more children because they didn’t think they would have the ability to love them as much.  Honestly that is a load of bunk.  My experience is that my CAPACITY to love has grown with more children.

AND

I love my children BETTER.  I’ve always loved my kids.  But I feel like I love my oldest two better now that I have 4 and now 5.  In the early days my focus was so much on work and OTHER things.  Not that I don’t struggle with that at times, but it is more natural for me to focus on my kids first, placing them in the priority spot God intended.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. – Psalm 127-3-5

The first full week in January my wife and I felt convicted that our family should  fast from media.  For us that meant specifically comuter, TV and video games when using them for things not associated with work or school.  Through the Christmas break we saw how easy it was for all of us to flip on the TV or the Wii instead of doing something together.  Now we have had a lot of family fun with the Wii but a lot of our media intake was individual.

So we took 5 days partaked of none of it.

It was a great experience as we talked our kids through it.  Our focus we said should be on Jesus always.  Video games and TV are fun but shouldn’t be a distraction from Jesus. And they had become so.

It honestly was not as tough for them or us as we anticipated.  I saw great things happen…

…my oldest son who’s 12 initiate playing with his younger sisters…

…attitudes of the oldest two change almost overnight to be more respectful and fun…

…desire by all my kids to be together, play together and have fun together…

…my own natural response at the end of the day become to read instead of catching up on a show.

It truly was a great experience.  We have since waded back into use of all things entertainment.  However, we have put some better limitations on our kids use of it.

As for me I’ve decided that no TV during the week is a good thing.  It will focus my time more on things that matter.  Practically speaking that just means instead of watching TV after 9pm (only time I really do anyway during the week) I will read or interact with my son.

Some pics from today and last night.

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Today was one of those days I can truly say was amazing.  While I’m sure you are not interested in my day, my point in even talking about it is just to say how thankful I am to have a day like this:

• In the morning I got to do what I am most passionate about, preach God’s Word.
• In the afternoon I took a nap.  Sunday naps are the best.
• In the evening, after a wedgie fest with the kids we finally put up our Christmas tree.
• Then we sat down to watch Extreme Makeover.  That is such a great show for families to watch together.  They always choose these families who are trying to make a difference.  More times then not they are Christians.  And then the level of blessings the bestow on the families is amazing.  Daisy asked us tonight if Ty was a Christian.  We told her we didn’t know but it seemed like he certainly believed in God at least and wanted to help people.  That’s why I love watching the show with them.

It was a good day.