daddy4ms

Yesterday was my 14th wedding anniversary!  I shared some memories from the wedding week on the blog yesterday.  Today I thought I would share a few highlights from the past 14 years. These are in no particular order: We have lived in six different homes (4 in Denver, Iola & now Hesston) Bethany worked full time to put me through Denver Seminary I have had the support and encouragement of my wonderful wife each time we moved to new ministries We have prayed about and discussed many key decisions over the years regarding life, ministry, and parenting We have four wonderful children Bethany has been able to stay at home with the kids while they were younger and has had flexible jobs that worked around our schedules.  Currently, she is an excellent manager at Faith & Life Bookstore in Newton.  She has great ideas and loves helping her customers. We have had great support from our parents over these years We have served in three supportive churches We h...

Today is my 14th Anniversary! So, I thought I would share some memories from our wedding week 14 years ago. Talking in hotel parking lot to my soon to be bride after the rehearsal dinner Seeing my beautiful bride walk down the aisle Discovering a large hole in back of my tux coat.  I'm thankful for Denice Julian sewing it together for me.   Guests being evacuated to the church basement because of a tornado Great decorations in the sanctuary and gym by Shirley & Bethany Not eating anything but cake at the reception. For those that know me, that is amazing. Eating at our favorite restaurant, Carlos O'Kelleys before leaving town Almost losing my wedding ring down the drain the first night in the shower when trying to get bird seed out of my hair Spending a week in Myrtle Beach, SC for our honeymoon Bethany getting sunburned on our first day after a long walk along beach and city Eating at some great restaurants & doing fun activities Staying at a great b...

Be sure to read about Day 1 to better understand the context for this post. On Day 2 of Kansas Family Strengthening Summit, we picked 3 workshops to attend throughout the day. The first workshop I attended was led by Lief Noll of PREP on the topic of fatherhood. He shared about some great work being done in the state of Ohio in the area of fatherhood. We started by talking about assumptions we and others have about fathers. We then transitioned into what were the ideals of fatherhood. Most of the workshop was breaking into 4 groups to discuss specific areas related to fatherhood. The first group was to brainstorm the ideal fatherhood program. They came up with resources that are appealing, using the same curriculum, and adequate funding. Three areas guided their work: loving, coaching, mentoring. Under loving, they would provide activities and events. Coaching would focus on skills and responsibility. Mentoring would provide 24/7 support for the fathers. The second group disc...