May 27, 2014

Introducing… Avortovar Maligtonay

Avortovar Maligtonay (pictured here) is the last waveson. I am excited to announce that my Young Adult novel The Last Waveson: Grafting placed first at the Blue Ridge Mountain Writers Conference.  The Last Waveson: Grafting follows the life of a farm boy turned draka rider in a How to Train Your Dragon meets Lord of The Rings fantasy epic adventure. Will Avortovar risk his future as a […]
May 5, 2014

What I learned from 56 holes of Putt Putt

This week I played 56 holes of Putt Putt with my six-year old son. For you OCD people… yes I know we should have played 54, but we had playoffs. I lost by two strokes, I may have manipulated the score a little bit, but isn’t that what dad’s are supposed to do? I learned a few valuable lessons half way up the mountain where […]
December 31, 2013

Ringing in the New Year…4 hours Early!

Do you want to celebrate New Year’s Eve with your children at a reasonable hour and still go to bed early? Let me share you our new tradition… Last year, we celebrated the New Year at 8pm. We didn’t ruin New Year’s Day by making our children stay up till midnight. They woke up refreshed and excited just like any other day. They weren’t tired […]
December 17, 2013

Elf on the Shelf…dilemma?

I hate the elf on the shelf… or at least I did. My wife and I didn’t want to add one more thing to our already long list of holiday traditions. We both mutually decided, no elf. We were going to resist the urge to participate in the “fad”. We already do the polar express, Santa, a chocolate ribbon calendar of Hershey kisses’, etc. One […]
May 28, 2013

What I learned from 56 holes of Putt Putt

  This week I played 56 holes of Putt Putt with my six-year old son. For you OCD people… yes I know we should have played 54, but we had playoffs. I lost by two strokes, I may have manipulated the score a little bit, but isn’t that what dad’s are supposed to do?   I learned a few valuable lessons half way up the […]
May 15, 2013

‘Did Baby Jesus Wear Diapers?’

When my niece Allie was 5, she frequently asked me imaginative questions about God. One day Allie arranged a pastoral ministry session for me. I waited on the front steps of her house while she gathered several of her friends. A study group gathered, and Allie announced, “My uncle is a preacher, and he can tell you what kinds of ice cream there will be […]
May 10, 2013

The Discipline Checkup

When our children were young, Barb and I quickly learned that parenting skills were not intuitive or inherited, so we sought mentors who could help us. Bill and Jane, a couple in our church, the parents of five wonderful daughters, agreed to share dinner with us once a month to discuss parenting issues. I remember the evening that Bill and Jane taught us about what […]
May 4, 2013

Why Children Need The Sabbath

My oldest son started high school this fall. At his orientation, the counselors spoke to parents about the greatest challenge they see students face in school. I expected to hear about poor study habits or substance abuse, but to my initial surprise, these were not at the top of the list. Apparently, the greatest challenge presenting itself in the office of the high school guidance […]
April 25, 2013

The Power of 5

This week, I am rocking it out to “dubstep” worship music at a ministry conference in Atlanta, Georgia. If you don’t know what dubstep is, you are either old, boring, or my own mother. (Just Kidding)  During this conference, we continue to review a statistic that came from two national surveys a few years back from Rethink and Lifeway. Those studies examined adults who stayed […]
April 13, 2013

The Mommy First Rule

Who do you kiss goodbye first when you leave your house each day? For children to understand love, they must understand they are loved by their parents and they are loved by God. Most parents inherently do a good job of loving their children. And many do a good job of explaining to their children that God loves them, but where I have seen many […]