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What fun to have three young kids running around upstairs.

Our house is a very fine house – if I say so myself.  The floors are all hardwood, sanded and finished in this past year.  The basement is ICF – a nice way of saying it is well insulated and the ceilings are 9’ high.

But most fun?

Under the eaves upstairs we have built a very enjoyable runway that goes from one side of the house to the other.  Starts beside the bathroom, runs over the stairs and ends up in a closet in the large upstairs bedroom.  The “door” to the closet is a bookshelf that gets moved when you want to get in and out.  The whole passageway is drywalled and painted.

For kids, this is a marvel.  They go through and back.  Then back again.  Parents can’t follow – it’s their size and no bigger!

We opened the large bedroom up as a play room.  Space to do puzzles, play games and strew toys all over the floor.  And then we timed doing a 100 piece puzzle – seven minutes.  Not bad!

I’m guessing they will be back again, dragging their parents with them!!!

Here is a statement I ran across somewhere.

“Contribute massively where you are gifted.”

Now, we all live in a societal framework.  The society that I ascribe to is that of God’s kingdom – where a benevolent boss (God) rules and oversees.  There is much in his pronouncements and directions that indicate creativity and passion are a part of how I live in that society.

My thought for the day?

When you figure out where you are gifted in God’s kingdom, go for it. 

To whom much has been given, be sure to give up to that level!

Three people – one week.

From January 20 – 23, 2020 three of my acquaintances died.

Now, I’ve had that discussion of how we should characterize death – “Don’t say died!”  Some say just say “passed on” – on to what?  A curious type would take that as an opportunity to ask more questions.  Which the mourners may not be ready to answer.  Some say just say “deceased” – as though in the ceasing there is nothing else.  Suits a contemporary society that dies at death.  Much like the saying that someone “expired.”

As to the celebrations of life.  One was in a Legion Hall – where the friends were familiar with the surroundings.  Another was on a native reserve where her children felt at home.  The other is at the church building were he attended and felt at home.

There’s something about home that is relevant to remembering loved ones. 

There’s something about how we talk about death that is relevant to hope for loved ones.

I was putting away my journals.  I’ve kept a set from 1994 – to the present.

The whole set takes up more room than I had budgeted for.  Each day’s entries in the journal are just jot notes of what I’ve done or thought.  From points of depression through to exhilaration, its all in there.

As I was going through the journals I ran across a journal my wife and I had kept for our daughter.  We called it the Compliment Book.  Each entry was a compliment for what we had seen that day.

As I looked back, I remembered being a teenager’s parent.  Those days are not easy, for either the parent or the teen. 

Somehow two decades later, I think this was as much about building a right perspective of others as it was about giving my daughter affirmation. 

I phoned her last night.  We chatted.  We ended by saying “I love you.”