That got me to thinking…how many people have “before” pictures lurking in their digital drawers, unpublished because the workout never had the intended effect? How many dusty DVD sets of P90X will be offered on Ebay and the corresponding “before” photos forever ignored or destroyed? Perhaps they come across the photos a year after they were taken, and they sadly realize that the year old “before” photo is now much better looking than any recent photo. Depressing indeed.

Obviously, my “before” pictures will never see the light of day on this, or any other, site. I’m not an optimist by nature, so my hopes are not high for any sort of dramatic transformation. Any visible change in my physique would have to involve gains in muscle mass, since I don’t have any fat to lose. It’s not like I could drop a hundred pounds and say, “look at me!” I’m hoping to make very small gains in weight via increases in muscle mass. I’m happy to report that I’ve already been making some progress in the number of pull-ups that I’m able to do. I’m also able to do a few shaky dips on the rings.

Wish me luck!

This is not something that I came up with on my own. I’d heard this discussed on an HSLDA interview, and so I put together my own little reminder. We’ve found it pretty useful to have around the house. We can easily refer to it and remind the kids if they’ve said something that would fall under the heading of a curse. As parents, I think we all want to discourage our kids from cursing, but then we’ll find ourselves having trouble classifying exactly what a “curse” word is. A list of “bad words” simply doesn’t cut it. As any parent knows, even “okay” words can be said in a way that would fall under the heading of a curse on this chart. Hopefully this will also help to highlight the good and loving things that our kids do occasionally say. In the chaos of everyday life, it’s easy to miss it when one child does say an encouraging or selfless word to a sibling or, better yet, to you. Feel free to print the PDF or, better yet, modify this to suit you and your family.

I caught this picture online today. I thought this was a really cool example of built-in bunk beds. These seem to be a really great use of space and very practical. They look great too.

Another picture of some cool bunks from the same architect. This is the sort of setup we need in our house with all these kids!

Still not a lot of progress on the expansion of our dining area, but the boys have certainly been enjoying their access to my tools. The most recent photos show the end of a wall that needed to be finished off. I used birch plywood (what else?) to finish off the area and tidy things up.

Another key to surprising my son, was the groundwork I laid by being a thoroughly boring and unsurprising father for the first 10 years of his life.

Monday night,the 28th, I suggested that we grab supper, just the two of us, at the spur of the moment. Of course, I had the car all packed the night before and we had everything we needed to spend the night away from home. After stopping in Grand Haven for burgers at Ray’s, I suggested we run up to Ludington to return a coffee cup that I had borrowed from the cabin the weekend before. Ben thought this sounded like a good idea. (I don’t think he realized exactly how far it was to Ludington from Grand Haven) Once we arrived at the cabin, I told him that I also had a bag in the back of the car that needed to be returned, and I asked him to go get it. The bag, or course, was our overnight stuff, and then he finally caught on.

His smile was priceless.

He got a fire going and we stayed up way too late. The next day, we walked down the beach to the lighthouse, went to the city beach in Ludington, and caught a movie on our way back home in Grand Haven.

Hopefully it will be a birthday that he’ll never forget. I know that I’ll remember that one-on-one time with him for many years to come. He’s my son, and he’s 10, and I love that guy.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars An extremely accessible book examining whether or not recent scientific advancements finally render God unnecessary. I found it to be a very enjoyable read. Lennox does not go into excruciating detail and that makes the book quite readable. I’m a Christian, and I found it to be a refreshing reminder that being a Christian, does not mean checking my brain at the door. Highly recommended for anyone interested in a quick discussion of God and science. View all my reviews >>