My friend Alan and I were leaving the Lubbock Breakfast House after a late morning business meeting. Our “thanks for your time, see you next week” was interrupted by yelling.
We looked up to see a man screaming at his kid.
The dad was a barrel chest with a flat top haircut. Movie casting would have made him […]

I’d like to say I’ve never given my Dad any of the stereotypical Father’s Day gifts. But one year as a kid I gave him a three pack of English Leather colognes. I don’t know what the shelf life is for English Leather but I think there’s probably two unopened bottles in his closet that date back […]

Much as we’d like to believe that Mother’s Day is a shrewd marketing ploy of the Hallmark Company, they didn’t invent it. They just capitalized on it. 
Often Hallmark cards are accompanied by flowers and a family dinner to a restaurant, because Mother’s Day is also the biggest day of the year for dining out. And because not everyone’s Mom lives […]

What’s on your refrigerator doors?
Ours is covered with photographs and the obligatory magnets to hold them all in place. It’s a hodgepodge of themes. An Andy Griffith Show magnet holding a photo of Allison, Shelby and Shaun; our nieces and nephew. A Chicago skyline magnet securing a winter photo of my Uncle Ev’s farm in […]

“Daddy, can we make a pile of leaves and jump in them?” Annie and Emma are helping me clean up the backyard. After a week of low overnight temperatures my fig tree had dropped it’s leaves and I was raking them up to throw in the dumpster.
Growing up in Iowa, fall was my favorite season. […]

“So I’m not four anymore?”
“No, Annie. You’re five now. Happy Birthday!”
For weeks Annie and Emma have been talking about how they would soon be five years old. Now that the day is here, they seem a tiny bit wistful pondering that being five means they are no longer four. I understand that. We look forward […]

Before we have kids, parenting is a black and white process. Like a textbook or a flow chart you put on the refrigerator door. On any particular issue, if “yes” follow this arrow. If “no”, follow this arrow.
But then the baby comes and you realize babies don’t read books and they don’t do flow charts. […]

Have you ever been to a carnival and seen a “guess how many are in the jar and win a prize” contest? The jar could have anything in it. Maybe pennies, or marbles, or if you’re at a county fair in the Midwest it might be a jar of shelled corn or soybeans. Everyone writes […]

“Daddy, I haffa tell you somthin’.”
“What is it, Emma?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, Emma. More than you know.”
“Daddy, you my best fwend!”
“You’re my best friend, too, Emma.”
“But you my best fwend first.”
I started to disagree, but left her with a big hug and a kiss on the head instead. It’s tough to debate a […]

What will your kids be looking at in the picture albums when they become adults?
Children learn what they live. What kind of environment are we creating for our children? What are we doing to help them develop a sense of identity and place? How do we teach our kids about God and His faithfulness?
Joshua 4 […]

Stop. Look. Listen.
Sound advice for drivers approaching railroad tracks.
It’s also good advice for parents.
At 11:30 this night I stopped, looked and listened in the doorway of my babies’ nursery. Opening the door slowly, I peeked in. Maybe it was fatigue from a long day at work or maybe it was a reflective moment. But I […]

“You probably have a virus. The kid’s pediatrician said there are several going around the valley right now. Lots of people have it.”
The only time I want to be part of “lots of people have it” is if I’m part of a group who won the lottery. There’s no comfort in knowing I’m one of […]

It was a family vacation during the summer of my 8th grade year. My grandparents were taking the trip with us to Ohio and West Virginia to visit distant relatives.
At the end of a long day of driving, we spotted a motel just outside a tiny town in Indiana. One of those small, 30-room Mom […]

They played quietly by the couch, behind their Aunt Cora’s large black antique trunk that serves as a coffee table in the living room. On the other side of the trunk, Christmas chaos. There were 22 people in the house this holiday night. Children made up 50% of that number and accounted for 96% of […]

Tonight was bath night for the girls. Just like every other bath night.
It begins with them in their high chairs. Goldfish crackers in the crease of their shirts and peaches in their hair. Sweet, sticky faces with baby tooth grins. They signal dinner is over by backhanding their mostly empty sippy cups onto the floor. […]