Responsible Father

Again, since I just put up my Piper quotes it seems like a good time to post some from his grandson.

Orison is almost 6. Used By Permission.

Everything I Ever Needed To Know I Learned From A Boy Named Orison

• Dad, you’ll carry the Christmas tree. Mommy, you’ll carry the Advent calendar. And I’ll carry the boxes. Ready… set… go!
• The Cymbal means that fellowship is about to start.
• I miss you [Mom]. I hope you’re having a good time. Dad! Why did you laugh about it? I’m serious.
• Why is the night sad? Cause’ we gotta go to bed.
• We wish you a merry Christmas and all that you have.
• Do you want to come color in my dinosaur coloring book and think about when they died?
• Daddy, when I’m asleep and you check on me before you go to bed, will you please say, “I’m here.”
• [My ponytail] keeps the hair outa my face. You gonna put it on twitter?
• I’m so high I can’t tell.
• “Private Predges” (Pride and Prejudice) was way before cars. Why did they ride horses all the time? And why didn’t they say giddyup? They just said “Drive on.”
• I really want some crackers. I really want some crackers. Now my story is all told.
• I meant like pillaging a town. He fell on his pillaging a town.*
• He was standing in the tub. I didn’t [hit him]. I helped him sit down.
• Did you know that cold milk and cold milk makes cold milk colder?
• Speed skating is easy, as long as it doesn’t get me in pain.
• Hi Jayhawks, I’m hoping to come to one of your shows.
• I do like Billy Bragg more than Jayhawks. . .Oh. . . I mean I like it as much as Jayhawks.
• God makes people. Satan makes trouble.
• When I’m 65 and I still live with you. . .
• Love between a woman and a man is a nature good thing

And one final oddly poignant Orison quote:

Here. I have 2 hands. One is for Mama and one is for Felicity, cuz mama’s not here and Felicity’s dead.

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* Bonus points if you know what his original word was.

Here are two more, in case you’re interested:

Orison Quotes 1

Orison Quotes 2

At the beginning 2010, the JamFam, after setting a record of 92 picnic in 2009, made the goal of 100 picnics this year.

If all goes according to plan (and if it is God’s will) we will be going on our 100th picnic on Sunday (Oct 17). And we would love to share this historic picnic with others.

If you have a free afternoon on Sunday and would like to join us, please email or call us.

We’ll bring dessert!

For those of you who are interested (and I hope many of you are) you can now purchase the Fighter Verse Song Set E (which our team has been working on for nearly a year) from the Children Desiring God Website.

It’s good stuff! And if you don’t like the style of one song, just wait – you’ll like the next one.  You’ll learn the Word of God and so will your kids.

So earlier this year we were invited by Uncle Vern and Aunt Kathy to go to the Minnesota Zoo with them. As it turns out, it’s actually cheaper for our family to get a yearly membership than to get tickets for ourselves once.  So that’s what we did.

Fairly early in our visit we went to see the Prairie Dogs. They’re so cute and funny as they scamper around, aren’t they? But look closer:

Bottom Left: Two ‘cute and cuddly’ prairie dogs.

Top Left: A distant Bison out on the hill

In Front of the Rock on the Left: The Results from the last time a bison wandered into the prairie dog den.

Moral: Hope you and your kids aren’t there to witness this bloody slaughter when it happens again.

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And then, of course we went to see the large aquarium.

Wait a second, how did she get in there!

. . . and by ‘tragedy’ I mean ‘Minor Inconvenience’.

Question: What do a Mcdonalds french fry container, a frisbee and a empty yogurt cup have in common?

Explanation: Last night we were at Indian Mounds Park, at a nice little spot overlooking the Mighty Mississippi and the kids had already cheered when they heard that Debbie had made Tuna Noodle Casserole, one of their favorites.  But then we realized that we had forgotten the paper bowls that Debbie had taken out for the picnic, which was what we were going to serve the casserole with. We had one paper plate and a tupperware container, but that wasn’t enough. What can we do?

So JamDad went back to the van and looked around.

Answer: All of these objects can be used to serve tuna noodle casserole on. I had the pleasure of using the Mcdonalds french fry container.

Sometimes little tragedies can be turned into family funny stories.

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Jamfam Picnic Update -

Question: On our way to 100 picnics in 2010, how far are we at this point?

Answer: 75 on August 15

So I hope this helps further explain why our family likes this spot so much.

Click on the image to see full size.

Here’s a Poem I made about this spot.

3 Lists -

Reasons To Encourage Your Child To Help Out
1. It teaches them skills they will need to learn eventually
2. It teaches them to be non-lazy
3. It shows the value of working together
4. It helps them feel useful
5. Your family will be more productive
6. Your wife will have less work to do

Good Reasons For Not Encouraging Your Child To Help
1. They aren’t skilled enough to do this job right now.
2. They have school work to do. / It’s time for bed.
3. They’ve worked more hours than you today.

Bad Reasons For Not Encouraging Your Child To Help
1. I don’t feel like teaching them this skill.
They have to learn it someday, why not now?
2. They won’t do it as well as me.
Does that really matter?
3. They’ll take longer to do it than I would.
If it frees you to do other work, this is not an issue
4. I don’t want to be a slave driver.
Is the time your child spends doing schoolwork or household
less than a half of the time you spend working? If not,
this is not an issue.
5. The child really doesn’t want to.
This is a good time to teach them that sometimes you have
to do things you don’t want to do.
6. They’re being so good and quiet watching TV/playing a video game.
It’s not worth the quiet.

End well.

A few things here:

1. Make sure you leaves some fun things for the very end of the trip. Our yearly trips to the North Shore always end at Canal Park in Duluth, where we often get to see very large ships entering or leaving port and sometimes we eat at Grandma’s. Trips that start great and end boring are anticlimactic.

2. Consider getting home hours or even a day early, so you can unpack and relax a bit.

3. Upon arriving home, Thank God as a family for safety, for joy, and for creating all you’ve seen on your vacation.

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here.

Make Note Of Notables And Get Closure

When we’re on the road and we cross over to another state, I say “Bye Minnesota!”

And my kids all say “Bye Minnesota!”

And then, Me: “Hello Wisconsin!”

And them: “Hello Wisconsin!”

This has a few benefits:

1. It gets everyone on the same page.
2. It aurally marks when you’re entering or leaving something. Sometimes these things shouldn’t go unnoticed.
3. It’s always good for a family to cheer something together.
4. It may help the kids learn geography.
5. It builds excitement.

I also do this to help myself more peacefully leave a place I love. I think, at least we can acknowlege that we’re leaving and not like we’re shaking the dust off our feet as we go:

“Bye Black Hills!”
“Bye Black Hills!”
“You Were a great place to visit!”
“You Were a great place to visit!”
“We Hope to be back in a few years!”
“We Hope to be back in a few years!”

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here