What is Love? It's stabbing yourself with a fish hook

So, I didn't have my best day at work today. Wasn't my worst, but wasn't my best. I got home late on top of the not so great day to find that two kids were fighting, one kid was sick and another had been hiding his unfinished homework under his bed... AGAIN! Let's see, that only accounts for four of the five kids. Who knows what the other one was doing.

In any event, tonight was cub scouts. Our cub scout was grounded, but since we made him miss cub scouts a few weeks ago for being grounded Megan and I decided we better let him go.

Tonight was a fishing excursion to a local pond. I was to go with him. I was already annoyed at the day and evening events and getting his fishing rod out of the catacombs of the garage was no simple task. Yes, the barb on the hook does hurt as bad as it looks when inadvertently stabbed into your finger. I was tired, cranky, annoyed and now in pain.

I took my son fishing, and although the cub scout leaders did all the work and taught him all the fishing skills, it was great to be there with my son at the local pond.

Will tomorrow be a better day? Who knows. But I will always have the memory of fishing with my son and a throbbing finger.

Thanks cub scout leaders for ending my day on a good note.

What is Love? It's stabbing yourself with a fish hook.

What is Love? It's watching a sunrise in 40 degree weather

We have a number of family traditions for Easter weekend. Many of these traditions we share with our local community and with Christians around the world.

Some of those traditions include the city-sponsored Easter egg hunt that is scheduled for an hour but really lasts about 3 minutes. Those traditions include hunting around the house for Easter baskets in the most unsuspecting of places, coloring Easter eggs, and those traditions include Sunday ham dinners.

Those traditions include new Sunday dresses for girls and new vests and ties for boys to go to church with millions of other Christians around the world. As a family we also do our best to help our children understand the significance of the Easter holiday and pay our respects to Jesus the Christ.

What may be unique to our family, however, is our own tradition of watching the sunrise on Easter morning. True, in April in Rexburg, Idaho the sun rises at about 6:37am in 40 degree weather. It also generally includes a fair amount of wind and the occasional request from a child to go back inside.

Why, you may ask, do we have this tradition? Well, for the baby who only wore a star for a crown at his birth and had nothing more than a sunrise for a trumpet at his glorious resurrection, watching the sun-rise each Easter holiday is a reminder to our family of that day 2,000 years ago when the Son of Man rose from the grave and saved us all. It is a tribute of sorts, a prayer of thanksgiving for the King Emmanuel.

Happy Easter to all!

Had there been no resurrection (Easter), there likely would have been no mention of his birth (Christmas).

What is Love? It's watching a sunrise in 40 degree weather.

What is Love? It's a mom who works while a dad goes on vacation

We have been home a few weeks now from our wonderful Disneyland family vacation. It was a great experience marked with fun on rides, smiles at the attractions, pictures with Disneyland characters, seeing Tinkerbell fly, and the magic of Disney.

Even the 14-hour drive to and from southern California was great!

Our children still talk about the good times (and still wear their Disney hats to school). It couldn't have been a better experience. Well, I could have gone without my phone being broken in the Winnie the Pooh ride line, but no matter, it's only a phone.

Here's the deal though. It wasn't until we got home before I realized one very important aspect of the trip, and here is where the love comes in to the post.

Megan has always known that I have pixie dust in my blood. I was affected by the magic of Disney at a very young age and it has stayed with me my whole life. I have always wanted to be a "Dad at Disney" and Megan gave me my chance. What is remarkable though is the sacrifices Megan made to make the magic happen. My last post gave credence to her budgeting prowess, but the greater love Megan showed us was by agreeing to go on this trip at all.

Four of our five children are now in some form of school and moms' already have a hard enough time dealing with kids half the day let alone all day in a car, or a hotel, or stressing about kids by the pool, or a busy theme park with cranky tired kids where all we eat for two weeks is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Looking at it from one point of view, it would be easy to see how this trip was more work than a vacation for Mom. Sure, Dad gets to take 2 weeks off of work (and his Master's degree program) to get away with the family he rarely sees. Mom just gets more of the same! Looking at it from one point of view, it would be easy to see how Mom might rather want go on an all expenses paid cruise by herself where she can sit on the deck and read, or go in the adults only pool, or eat for two hours at a buffet, or sleep in, or go to a late night cruise show. Disney with Dad and the kids might pail in comparison to that cruise ship scenario.

In the end, I know Megan had fun, I even think she came away glowing of pixie dust a little. But I am grateful that she would make the sacrifice to take us all to Disneyland when there may be 10 or more places she would rather go. I won't risk asking her if that is true, but instead just thank her for the "vacation."

What is Love? It's a mom who works while a dad goes on vacation.