Tag: family

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The best gift you can give your kid this Christmas

wristwatchTime.

It’s all too easy to go out and buy something for your kid for Christmas. But what he or she really wants is you.

Think of creative ways you can spend time with your kid during the holidays. Here are a few ideas:

  • Take them out for a one-on-one meal.
  • Go sledding. Or if your town is too warm for that, take them to the beach.
  • Go to a free Christmas or Hanukkah concert at a nearby church or synagogue.
  • Catch a movie together.

Enjoy! Both of you.

To practice what I preach, this will be my last blog post until 2012.

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A blessing lives on, with sadness

My mom died suddenly yesterday evening.

Jean was a month shy of 80. She had struggled with congestive heart failure for many years, and her ticker just quit ticking. She lived with chronic pain, so it’s sweet relief for her to be at the side of Jesus, who she devoted her life to.

She was a wonderful lady. Everyone who knew her loved her. She would make friends with anyone she came into contact with. The bank teller and Kenyan guy who worked at the gas station loved her. She was generous to a fault… over the top, sometimes. We (her kids) tried to get her to move to a more comfortable home, but she insisted on living in a humble one-bedroom apartment so she could give away money to those who needed it rather than “wasting it”.

Though it is with massive sadness that we say goodbye, her blessing lives on. I am hugely thankful for all she sacrificed for me and the wonderful lessons she gently taught me, my siblings, wife and kids.

I won’t be blogging for a while. I’ll be in Texas sorting things out with my sister who lives there and my brother.

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I’m so proud of her

grad-plus-fam

It was three long years…

…but Heather got her Masters degree from the University of Denver last Friday. She worked hard and got straight A’s. (Sadly, there was no recognition of that in the ceremony.)

I can brag on her because I’m married to her.

One little story about that degree… She did about 80% of her courses on-line. The entire first year was completed while we lived in Nairobi, Kenya. Our connection to the internet there was extremely slow. She had to drop one of the courses because it was just impossible to download the needed materials.

Congratulations, Heather!

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