The Great Reading Date

Yesterday evening I had the chance to finally take my daughter Kylee out on a date.

She is so fun to hang out with! I assured her that time would fly and she soon might not find it cool to go out on a date with her old dad, she said that would never happen... and that I wasn't old :) I told her I didn't feel old and just smiled back.

To help encourage our kids to read this school season, we set up a reading reward system (you can read about it on Kristen's blog). This system has been great with the reward being that after a certain number of hours of reading, the boys get a date with mom and the girls, a date with dad. The kids have done exceedingly well with this!

So, Kylee and I got to go out this week and she wanted to get steak. What can I say, she's my girl! So we had a nice dinner where I got the line of the night - "Wow this is so good! Not as good as mommy's, but very, VERY good!" Thought that was funny.

We stopped to get some coffee together and then went to pick up a shirt for her mom to wear to the concert on Tuesday night.

Kylee is such a bright kid and I love her a lot. It was truly a memorable experience and I look forward to her reading many more hours and us having the chance to go out and have fun again.

My prayer is that when she does really begin dating, that she is respected, cared for and treated as kind.

I still don't look forward to those days :)

Peace.

I'm A Dad!!!

As of 12:04 am today, I became a father...
of a beautiful 11 year old! Hard to believe that my life was rocked 11 years ago today by my oldest child.

She doesn't look like a baby any more and she doesn't talk like a baby anymore. Yet it still seems like she was born just yesterday. The time has gotten away from me and I fear I've already missed opportunities to be the dad I always wanted to be to her.

Faith is a brilliant kid. Yeah I know she isn't a kid anymore; she's a tween (whatever that means). God has given her so many gifts and abilities and I am constantly amazed at how much she is growing. And as often as she and her mom already seem to disagree, they are both very similar creatures. She is more like her mom everyday, which in my book is not a bad thing at all.

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday Faith! I am proud of you - not because of your accomplishments (though they are many already), not because you're beautiful (hey you come from good genes), but because you are my daughter. It is a privilege and an honor to get to share part of this life with you! Always remember how much you are loved, not just by your mom and I but by your Creator.

I love you!

A Date With Faith

Yet another of my children hooked on Starbucks... I really should start getting some type of commission from them for building future patrons :)

Got a chance to go out on a Daddy-Daughter date with my oldest, Faith, tonight. We made a deal with her and her siblings that after they read a certain number of books (for school) that they would get to go out on a date with their Mom or I to anywhere they wanted to go.

Faith chose Red Lobster because she's never had lobster and was curious what it tasted like. Probably not my first choice in terms of places to try this delicacy but more within the budget than other places. We had a great time! She's growing up fast and I very much enjoyed getting to spend some one-on-one time with her tonight. Of course no date or evening out on the town would be complete without a trip to Starbucks. Don't worry this one is also decaf (though she fought harder than her brother did the last time).

She's a great kid... er I mean young adult and I am very proud of her. She is very intelligent and very beautiful and I can see God already using her in awesome ways. I look forward to the years of ministry that are before her and to seeing her blossom as a Jesus follower. I hope that she got a glimpse of how a man should respect her and treat her when taking her out - when that day comes around in about 20 years (ok, ok, I'm sure it will be sooner than that but hey, I'm a dad!) Ha! Seriously she won't be dating :)

Peace.