Obsessive Dysfunction

Happy Birthday All-Star

Today is my son Kade's, Birthday.  He turned 3 today.  I seriously LOVE him so much.  He is so much fun, and makes  Linz and I laugh all the time.  We had a "family" birthday part on Saturday, and then had some of his friends over today for a "sports" theme birthday party.  He is ALL BOY!! He loves sports, dirt, and tractors.  Praise God for Kaden!! Even though you can't read, Happy Birthday Buddy!! I love you.

Tension from Day 1

I have been married almost 6 years to my wonderful wife.  I have recently realized something about our marriage, and most likely most marriages.  There is usually a GREAT big disconnect and tension between a husband and wife as soon as the words "I do" are uttered.  When men say "I do" it signifies a feat of completion.  When a woman says "I do", it signifies a feat of initiation.  As a man, when I said "I do" I thought "I have done it!"  Because we are hunter's and gatherers, it means I have laid out my best bait, sat in the stand, tracked, put on the scope, and now I have bagged the "Big One", and it is time to mount it on the wall, sit back in my recliner, take it easy and enjoy it." In other words, in order to "get the girl" I pulled out all the stops, romanced her, money, time, flowers, awesome engagement, "crazy" love stuff, and to get to the "I do".  So when she says "I do", the man thinks "Good, I'm tired, let's just sit back and enjoy"

Meanwhile, when the girl says "I do" she is thinking "this is just the launching pad" and he has laid such as awesome foundation of romance and love, that now the sky is the limit.  He did all these awesome things for me when we were just dating, I can't imagine what is in store now that we are married!!

You see, tension, friction, from Day 1.  Usually, the wife's expectations skyrocket, and the man's effort plummets.  Obviously, I am talking about what is the natural tendency, and not necessarily what should be.  I know that daily I should seek ways to love, romance, and make my wife feel especially loved.  I should do this everyday for the rest of our lives.  But for me, at least, it takes the conscious choice to make this happen, and not always what I do naturally.

28 and On Fire

Today is my wonderful wife's 28th Birthday.  Happy Birthday!!  Seriously, I promise this is a picture of her.  I did not just randomly pull this picture from People's 50 Most Beautiful People Website.  Here are a few reasons why my wife is 28 and "On Fire"

- Great body, blonde hair, AMAZING smile!! Yes, I can say that even though I am in ministry, and Yes, she is going to kill me. (By the way, these are in no particular order.)

- Her and Jesus are at such a place of deep intimacy.  Last week she told me: "I just want more of Jesus, and I don't want ANYTHING to get in the way."

- She burns and longs to see "God's Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven" and daily she seeks to take that command from Jesus and make it a reality in her world.  So GOOD!!

- She is training up our child in the way he should go

- She is believing and trusting in the promises of God and not the appearance of current circumstance. Extreme Faith!!

- She is a spiritual mama to some 9th grade girls that she loves and longs to see them grow in their intimacy with the Lord

Happy Birthday!  I love you Linz

When Mom's Away...

The Boys Will Play and Eat Junk
Mom has been out of town all weekend, so it has been an intense "Guys Weekend".
Here is the quick rundown:
- Thursday night sleepover at the Daniel house
- Friday Morning: Doughnuts for Breakfast
- Friday Lunch: Burgers and Dogs at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries
- Playground at the mall, and then we raided the Candy Shop at the mall with anything he wanted.
- Quick Nap
- Pizza Buffet and Arcade for Supper
- Woke up this morning and Kade, Woody, and Papa (my dad) went to the Cattle Auction in Anderson where he got to see cows and eat hamburgers, peanuts, chips, and candy bars.

Needless to say, my lil cowboy is napping now... and probably has a lil tummy ache.

A Very Toy Story Christmas Recap

  Okay, so Toy Story was the big theme of this year's Christmas.  My son LOVES Toy Story, and we got him a Woody Doll.  It literally has not left his side since he opened it Christmas morning.  We have had a great Christmas season.  Here are some highlights:

- Spending 14 hours putting together a playset for my son in our backyard.  (Pictures to come later)  I am so pumped about this, if I had a #1 Dad hat, I would sleep in it

- Matching pajamas for everyone on my side of the family to wear at my parents house.  That's right, that is matching pj's for 8 people.

- Winning guys vs. girls Cranium at my parents house

- Two Words: Christmas Vacation!!

- Watching my son so excited he can barely stand it every time we open gifts.  And saying over and over again, Open it Open it

- Christmas Eve dinner with The Butlers, Daniels, and Patterson. (Except for seeing Kade in a snow white dress)

- Dancing to Christmas music with Lindsey in our living room after Kade is down to bed

- Christmas morning with Kade and Linz, seeing what Santa brought him, singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, fire in the fireplace, and Christmas music on our new I-Pod Touch

- All the food at GiGi and Hacman's house.  It is ridiculous, but delicous.

- Watching Kade roughhouse with his uncle Ryan

Husband - The Superhero

Oh the pressure as a blogger to be witty, insightful, funny, and poignant with every post.  I put way too much pressure on myself to come up with viable material for the oh, 12 people who read my blog daily according to my site meter.  (Which 2 of those are my wife and mother.)

Anyway, this is not what I am posting about today...

I am posting about those times when the bat phone rings as a husband.  Those times when your wife calls, and you have to do your best super-hero and come to her rescue to save the day routine.  (The cool thing is every guys wants to be this for a girl, and every girl wants this done for them from a guy.  This is true whether the ladies from The View agree or not.)

Yesterday, I had to play superhero.  My wife called while I was working, and said "The men are here to install the book shelves they built, and I don't like something about the shelves.  What should I do?"  Everything non-superhero in me wanted to say, "You talk to him" "You handle it" "I'm at work, it is your problem."  But then I thought, when Gotham Cities police chief calls Batman and says that Joker has run amok, has Batman ever said, "You handle it" or "It's your problem" NO!!  So when my wife shared her dilemma and that she was nervous about confronting the guys, I mustered up my best manly-stud voice and "Would you like me to come home and handle it?" Dan-Dan-Da-Da!!  At once, I dashed out the door, sprinted to the bat mobile, and was home in 2 minutes to confront our foe.  Truthfully, I timidly asked the guys about a couple of changes, he kind of confronted me back, and then I called my wife in for us both to talk to him.  But the point is, the changes were made.

Yesterday, was a great reminder in the world of husbandry. (Is that a word.)  When Gotham City has a problem, Batman has a problem.  And if the wife has a problem, then a super-husband will have a problem. That helps make a great husband.