Fatherly Thoughts: Fort Laura

Dear Laura,

Your mother and I are building your first swing set ... or as I like to call it, "Fort Laura." It's the thing you call a "weeeeeeeeee" every time we pull in the driveway. (Not to be confused with a Wii video game system ... which would definitely be easier to set up.)

It's been quite a challenge to put your fort together ... with its slide, swing set, some other swinging contraption, its fort-like structure, and a small picnic table (no, I'm not kidding). We'll eventually add on the monkey bars when you're old enough to play on them. We might as well add on a garage at this point.

Your mother and I have been working on it here and there for several weeks. The directions said it was a two-day project. Yea, maybe two days for the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" crew.

OK, I admit it. Your daddy stinks at building stuff and just about any home repair project. It's never been my thing ... just something to avoid. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

We've made a ton of progress with your fort, but it's getting down to the wire before your second birthday. Your mommy is beginning to wonder if we're going to complete it in time. It will work out fine ... but it hasn't gone as fast as we had hoped.

Your mother and I actually make a pretty good team with this kind of stuff. She reads the directions. She tells me what to do next and I do it. It will definitely be worth all of the work - and a few headaches - once it's completed simply because we love you.

We know you'll love it once we're all done. You better ... or no monkey bars for you!

Comparison and Laura Sings!!

We took this picture last year when the tulips were blooming:How little she looks! And she was perfectly content to sit there for the pictures.

I tried to take a similar picture this week with the tulips and this is what I got:

It was impossible to get a picture of her sitting AND looking at the camera. She is a girl constantly on the move!! And how much she has grown in a year!

This week, Laura has really started trying to sing along with some of her favorite songs. This is a video of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I'm singing a little louder than I thought, but I couldn't get her to cooperate for another take. Also, it stops very abruptly with her running toward the camera saying "I wanna see!" She just couldn't sing another word without seeing herself in the screen!

Check back soon for the pictures taken recently when my grandparents and aunt were in town.

Fatherly thoughts: Rain, snow or shine

Dear Laura,

Your PePa and I used to run together early in the mornings when I was a boy. He had a big impact on my love of running.

We'd run around the neighborhood and to the nursing home and back. It didn't matter how cold or muggy it was in the mornings. We just hit the road. I didn't have fancy running clothes back then ... just whatever I could find on the floor.

We usually went pretty slow and didn't go that far ... maybe a mile or two. It's one of my favorite memories of your PePa.

Your PePa also loved reading his Bible. I’d often catch him reading it just about every night before he went to sleep. His nightstand seemed to be full of Bibles, commentaries and other books about faith. Reading didn't appear to be that fun to me at the time, but I thought my dad was real smart because of all the studying he did night after night. As I grew older I often went to him with a lot of questions about my faith. He was always willing to help me through them – one by one.

Today, you'll find a crazy stack of books on my nightstand - a Bible, some devotional books and other reading material. I don't read every night, but I find that it's the best time for me. I also still get out in the mornings for my runs ... not every morning but a few mornings each week.

Running and studying God's Word are just a couple of things I saw my Dad do each week. He didn't just talk about those things. My parents didn't just go to church once a week. They lived out their faith in front of me. I hope you'll be able to say the same thing about your mother and me. Maybe some day you'll want to run with me in the mornings. If not, that's OK, too.

I do hope you grow to love Jesus, and I hope you see our faith lived out ... rain, snow or shine.

Fatherly Thoughts: Easter and the helicopter

Dear Laura,

You were probably wondering why you were chasing around plastic eggs thrown out of a helicopter onto a football field this Sunday. I can't really tell you what that has to do with Easter. It was still fun to watch you pick up a few remaining shells after hundreds of kids flooded the field to fight for every candy-filled egg they could get their hands on. Your mother and I decided you're too little for that craziness. You still seemed to enjoy watching and picking up the scraps.

Yes, Laura, there are a lot of different views about what Easter is all about. Sure, we gave you an Easter basket filled with treats and tried unsuccessfully to get you to go near the guy or gal in the Easter Bunny outfit. Of course, none of that has anything to do with Easter. Yea, all of that is nice and fun, but it doesn't compare to the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross and rising from the tomb.

As you get older, I hope you'll come to me and your mommy with questions about this special day. Even if you don't we'll still enjoy telling you.

Right now Easter might not seem that exciting without the helicopter, the football field and plastic eggs, but I pray that one day you'll know in your heart how exciting of a day it really is.