Sense of Humor – The Games We Play

Imagine an evening, the lights have already started to go out, but the children haven't yet been sent to bed.  We gather together around the bed; it starts with silliness, and progresses to full on joviality, and from this the game develops.

"The rules are that if you laugh you lose, the last one to laugh wins!" My son declares.  By now it's hard for any of the children to contain their laughter anyway.

"I'll go first… This is a story about a camp fire…"

"And it tooted." I interject… winning the game.

"Okay, it's my turn!" My daughter cries out.  "I'm going to tell a story about a robot."

"Have you ever heard a robot toot?" I interjected… winning the game. (They are kids after all.)

"I know a story about an eagle!" My son said seriously… and before I had to interject I had won this round too.

Then it was my turn.

"This happens in a restaurant at the top of a very tall building where you can look out the windows and see the whole city.  

One man walks in and sits down, he sees a guy at a table thank a waitress for his drink, take a big gulp, then jump up, he says "WOAH" then jumps out the window, flies around the building… come back to his table and say "Wow, that's quiet the drink, can I have another?!" 

He does this a couple of times before the guy who just walked in is convinced.  He orders the drink… gets up, says "woah, that is a strong drink!" jumps out the window… and falls."

The guy making the drink looks at the man who had flown around the building and says "Superman… you're a funny guy."

And that's how I lost the game. ;)  

Incoming search terms:

  • google sketchup funny

A Philosophy Discussion – With Myself

I talk a lot about prayer, and lately I've been thinking a lot about it.  Prayer is an interesting thing.  How people think it works is that we ask for something, and 'if there's someone out there' we get it.  Below, I've related it to something I'm familiar with as a Father responding when my children ask for something.

So… for example, let's look at a conversation with one of my children as if it were this 'view' on prayer:

Them: "Daddy, can I play with the knife?"

Me: "No baby."

Them: "Please Daddy?"

Me: "No."

Them: "Then you must not exist."

Or… here's another one:

Them: "Daddy, can I punch my brother in the face?  Or Can you?"

Me: "No baby."

Them:"Please, I'm really not happy with him right now!"

Me: "No."

Them: "Then you must not love me."

Here's a very common one:

Them: "Can I lick the street?"

Me: "No baby."

Them: "I'm going to."

Me: "ew, don't."

Them: "Watch this!"

Me: "Gross."

Them: "Why didn't you warn me?!"

This is fun:

Them: "These shoes don't fit, can I have them?"

Me: "No dear one."

Them: "Please???!!!"

Me: "No."

Them: "You must not be very powerful."

Sometimes… it seems to me, that some of the best answers to prayer aren't the ones we're hoping for.

Me: "Father, May I have this job I don't love that takes me away from spending time with the people I love most?"

Weekly Update – 5/7/12 – Insanity

This week has been crazy… work is crazy, home is crazy, life is crazy!  I talked with someone at work about how everything is coming together, there's easily enough to keep me busy 24 hours straight, and the response I got was a poignant personality analysis.

"Crazy huh?" There was a brief pause.

"There's so much going on, so much that has to be done yesterday!." I reiterated while pulling out a new report.

"I think that you'd be bored if it were anything other than crazy.  People like you and I aren't happy unless things are crazy."

So instead of complaining about all the time that isn't mine to play with right now, I should show more of the side of me that takes absolute pleasure from the insanity.

This last week I put a bid on a house… and it was accepted, I've been doing that paperwork, preparing for a certification test for work, adventuring with the kids (mostly doing new house inspections and the like) and working on a Mother's day gift for their Mother…. also praying, one of the things I like about going to the gym is that when I'm doing that very last rep, I know that there are things in life I cannot do on my own.  One of the things I like about how crazy everything is right now is that it reminds me that there are things in life I cannot do on my own.  praying has taken on all kinds of new significance.

My favorite part of this last week was taking the kids to inspect the new house.  Our apartment isn't the worst thing on the world, only around 1300 square feet, but when walking into a 3100 square foot house they bolted to all four corners and I could hear throughout the house sounds of maniacal joy as they cheered the open space with their running feet.

How was your week?

Something like Parenting Advice – Parent’s Priority

As a Father of four, I've learned a lot over the years, some things I've learned the hard way, hopefully you can learn things the easy way. 

Last week I talked about how I'm able to go into public with the kids.  This week I want to talk about a parent's priority. 

It's simple, and can be stated eloquently; but it boils down to  this: ​If your house is clean, but your children are neglected, then you aren't doing your job.  If your children have no toys to play with, then you shouldn't take pride in the fact that they aren't on the floor.  

Cleanliness IS important, but not at the cost of the little ones.

 

Fatherly Advice – Pray

Advice from a Father to his children in hopes they will make their life all that it can be.  This week I advise my children to Pray.

​I've probably mentioned this before, it's not because I'm not good at remembering that I bring it up again… it's because it's one of the most important things we can do. Why prayer?  Because it makes you better.  Keeps you humble to realize that there are things on this earth that you cannot (and should not) approach alone.

There have been times in my life where I need to pray, and those aren't often the times I want to pray.  Pray… prayer is the escape, prayer is the answer to anytime that you are overwhelmed.

​This last week has had moments that have driven me … not just to my knees, but to my face against the floor.  It came to a point where I felt crushed under the weight of the world and all I could do is pray.  I prayed with all that remains of my heart and soul… and when it was over, it was like someone had taken the darkness out of me.  It was a feeling of clean relief… of not only being loved, but of knowing that everything is going to be okay.

​If you can't run… walk, if you can't walk… crawl; if you can't crawl… kneel and pray. (Though it'd save a lot of time if you just knelt and prayed first.

​So my advice to my dear children is this:  Pray, if you don't feel like praying, pray till you do.  A night spent on your knees is NOT a wasted night.

​Wishing you always the very best and true happiness.