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.

What is Love? It's waiting 10 years to see Mickey

10 years ago we made a commitment to some friends in college. That commitment involved a Disney trip with our future kids. That time has come and I can say that I am very excited for the opportunity to take my kids to Disneyland.

Some of my greatest memories as a child were the two times my parents took my brother and I to Disneyland. I hope to make similar memories with my children in the coming days.

And although I think these memory making opportunities are a sign of familial love, this post is about the love shown in waiting 10 years to go  on such an extravagant trip.

You see, this trip is completely paid for. I don't take any of the credit for that. My wife, who I affectionately refer to as "Megan the Miser," has budgeted everything out and all expenses have been paid!

Early in our marriage we decided that we would work towards always being debt free. With that commitment came the interest in finding budgeting techniques that would work for our family. We stumbled upon Dave Ramsey's 7 baby steps approach. They are:

1. $1,000 emergency fund.
2. Pay of all consumer/credit card debt.
3. 6 month emergency fund.
4. 12-15% in retirement fund.
5. Kids' College fund.
6. Pay off mortgage on house early.
7. Build wealth and give lots away!

Now, I won't disclose where Megan and I are at in the process, but I will say that we have taken several "baby steps" to our complete financial freedom!

It is a joy to be taking our 5 kids on this expensive trip. (Thanks Dad and Mom for making a similar commitment years ago.) But what is more joyous is to be doing it on a budget and to have the trip completely paid off! - Thanks Megs! Disneyland or Bust!

What is Love? It's waiting 10 years to see Mickey.

What is Love? It's a neighbor with a garden hose

I missed posting my once-a-week blog post last Sunday. I have an explanation. It's a good excuse for missing my post, but not a good reason.

So I grew up in the suburbs of Seattle. I'm a city slicker. Although my dad went to great lengths to get us in the wild on camping trips and forest hikes what I didn't do much of growing up was building homes and fixing my carburetor. The closest I ever came to being a "handyman" was one time when my brother and I helped my Dad get our drill bit stuck in the catalytic converter of my car while trying to drill a hole through the filter so it could pass emissions. Good times.

Anyway, when Megan and I moved to Southeast Idaho we discovered that most families seemed to be raised to know how to do things like install their own electrical outlets and outdoor sprinkler systems.

Whatever.

That gets us to my excuse for not posting two days ago. Every year when Spring begins to arrive in Southeast Idaho my neighbor calls me to say its time to "burn our ditch."

History lesson: irrigation is the primary method of watering the farm crops in Southeast Idaho. Irrigation canals and ditches are spread throughout the region to provide water to the farmers. We happen to have an irrigation ditch in our back yard and like any true Idahoan we burn the dead vegetation off the banks of the ditch to help the water flow better when the water is channeled through the system later in Spring.

Each year my neighbor (who is from Idaho) and myself (who is not from Idaho) attempt to burn the ditch. Each year we burn the ditch and each year we almost create a wild fire. This year was no exception. We burned last Saturday and our goal this year was to not stir up any attention by doing it wrong or almost burning down something that shouldn't be burnt down. I thought we had extinguished all the embers that evening and I went to bed. I left early Sunday morning (before dawn) for some church meetings when I got a text later that morning from Megan saying there was smoke coming from the ditch. I came home in between meetings to douse the smoke with water and then went back to Church. I stayed after our services to do some other things after my family went home and again received another text stating the smoke was billowing and another shortly thereafter stating simply: "There's fire!"

I came home immediately to see several neighbors running through our yard with garden hoses to flames in a different neighbor's trees. I jumped out of my car and ran to the blaze with hose in hand and jumped into the canal. With the help of friends and neighbors we were able to suppress the flames and we put sprinklers on the ditch for the next eight hours.

I learned three lessons on Sunday:

1.) I am not from Idaho and shouldn't pretend I know how to burn ditches.
2.) Firefighting in a suit, white shirt, and tie is not advisable.
2.) Neighbors are important for many reasons not the least of which is for their tools and their help.

What is Love? It's a neighbor with a garden hose.

What is Love? It's a delivery from the cheeseburger fairy

A week ago my wife Megan and I were on a date. Okay, we were running errands that we like to call a "date." (You take what you can get when you have five kids from 10 down to 1 year old.)

Anyway, we were on a "date."

Let me give you some context to the discussion that I will lay before you. To save money each month we take our household waste to the dump. We average two trips a month. Believe it or not we save over $300.00 each year. Each trip costs me an average of $2.00. I usually pay with a five dollar bill and then deposit the remaining ones in the ashtray of the Suburban to use for the next dump run.

This is where we get back to our errands-date mentioned previously. So we begin talking about our kids and how Megan was able to get Jacob a cheeseburger one day for some good deed he had done that week. I happened to have the ashtray open to look for a loose bill and noticed the bills deposited previously from my dump run were gone. I put two and two together and realized Jacob's burger came from the dump money. I looked at my wife and she said she got the money from the "cheeseburger fairy."

I cracked a big smile.

Truth be told, for several years I have been depositing the leftover dump money in the ashtray and every so often Megan would find that the cheeseburger fairy had left her some cheeseburger money in her car.

For a couple of years now, the "cheeseburger fairy" has been an unspoken gesture of endearment between Megan and I. She does so much for our family, managing our home, and now even occupies a part-time job of her own that she enjoys. I am grateful to call her my wife and I am grateful she calls me the cheeseburger fairy.

A happy marriage is one where you find little and simple things to do for your significant other.

What is Love? It's a delivery from the cheeseburger fairy.

What is Love? It's a documentary about the Panama Canal

Several years ago my wife Megan stopped by the thrift store during her day of errands to see if anyone had discarded any treasures. We haven't made a habit of going to the thrift store, but over the years we have found several good books, two nativity sets, and a few other treasures that simply needed a good shine. As I recall, Megan had gone down the video aisle to see if any good movies were available for purchase. Barney Camp Wannarunnaround... no. Kathy Lee Feel Fit and Fabulous... no. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan... no. One movie did stand out to her, however. Not because she wanted it, but because she could not fathom who on earth would ever purchase "A Man, A Plan, A Canal."


She left the store disappointed and bewildered:

"For real, who would ever buy a documentary about the Panama Canal?!"

Fast forward several years ago minus one day. I didn't realize Megan had come up empty handed the previous day. I also stopped by the thrift store on my lunch break to peruse the aisles of less than desirable things people no longer found useful. I had never stopped at the thrift stores on a lunch break, but it was a good release for me on that day. I too made my way down the video aisle. Maybe there was something fun for a Friday night with family and popcorn. Rock and Bop with the Doodlebops... no. Pilates with Suzanne Somers... no. Jane Austen's Mansfield Park... maybe. One movie did stand out to me, however. Not because I not only wanted it, but because I could not fathom who on earth would ever NOT purchase "A Man, A Plan, A Canal."

I left the store satisfied and bewildered:

"For real, who would ever pass by a documentary about the Panama Canal?!"

I knew my Friday night was going to be great.

I went home that evening and very excitedly showed my find to my wife. As I recall, she laughed for about an hour and a half and did not have any more tears when she finally calmed down. She told me she was there the previous day and did not know ANYONE who would buy such a thing.

We watched a chick flick Friday night.

To this day we laugh about how opposites attract and how much we appreciate our similarities and differences.

Happy marriages are filled with stories and inside jokes, laughs and the occasional cry, challenges and triumphs. Really, every happy marriage is a documentary, which may or may not include the Panama Canal.

What is Love? It's a documentary about the Panama Canal.