If you were at worship yesterday, I shared that Sarah’s Aunt and Uncle send Advent gifts every year to hang on a homemade calendar that we proudly display in our house. Each year Sarah’s Aunt Linda and Uncle John send these gifts that we tie to each one of the corresponding numbers, we video our kids opening the gifts, and send the videos to Aunt Linda and Uncle John. It’s a really fun thing to go back through our phone to the same date in previous years and see how much our boys have changed, see how different Sarah and my ever changing hair is, and all the different places we’ve lived in the past 11 years.
Too many Christmases and Birthdays I am sneaking out the day before trying to buy really meaningful gifts for people. There is really no way to get a meaningful gift at the grocery store or pharmacy on Christmas Eve. My first Christmas with Sarah I bought her a build a bear and wrote her a poem, in which I think I said I would write poems for her forever…I’m pretty sure that was the last poem I ever wrote.
On Friday nights we often play games with our family as a part of our Sabbath. It has become a thing in our neighborhood where the other kids show up as well to join in on the screen free fun.
Which I am regularly surprised by.
One game the kids love to play is Beat The Parents.
I’m pretty sure it’s a game that is designed to make kids cry…because the adults make a wager and the kids make a wager.
Several years ago I tried doing the Whole30. In case you don’t know what it is, you probably will not want to pay attention for a few moments. The idea is that you take all the fun things…sorry…I mean…processed foods and foods we don’t “need” out of your diet and eat only lame things…sorry…I mean…whole foods for 30 days.
I love making chocolate chip cookies. When I was a kid my mom regularly made chocolate chip cookies on a slow day or when she was craving some chocolate. I remember helping her some…but of course no matter how much I helped, I remember always eating what she made.
Last week I was texting with two different pastor friends of mine at the same time. I was bouncing between talking with one about getting our families together, while at the same time, talking with the other about the timing of God working in situations. As I am sure you can see where this is going, I sent the wrong text to the wrong person. Now, this is not the first time I’ve accidentally done this. Over the past 20 years or so I’ve been texting, I have made that mistake more than a few times. And this time wasn’t bad or scandalous or anything like that, but it was this moment where I realized I had done the wrong thing and it would have been very confusing for the person getting this picture.
