2011 C

Life sails by us at an unrealistic rate. I am amazed at how quickly the days, weeks, and months fly by.

I am under the impression that one of the wisest actions that Sharla and I have taken in our recent lives has been to attend a parenting class at church. It is amazing to me that for years we have attending training for our jobs and even classes and education for our marriage, but once we had children we seemed confident to lean on our inclinations or the models that were handed down from our parents. Both are good resources but alone only offer to repeat the mistakes made by our parents and create voids in the nurturing of our kids. A parenting class taught us techniques and reasons for doing or not doing certain things that would otherwise be a natural response. I am grateful for The Hills offering Growing Kids Gods Way and even more grateful or Shar making me go. Even 18 months later it is still paying off.

We are sampling a new church, kind of. It is actually the same church but at a different location. The Hills was asked to take over the South Lake Church and this location is very close to our house so it seems logical to see if we fit there. We as a couple have agreed that the most difficult thing about moving is finding a church. We you leave a community that you love and that loves you it is very trying to find a similar match. We have grown into the family at The Hills (old North Richland Hills) and felt a community there. Now we are trying a new building, but have the benefit of the same leadership and a key blessing which is the lessons of Rich Atchley. All of this to say that this was our first Sunday. It went well, but it is still new and will not be home for a while, if it becomes home at all.

Anna has begun her soccer career. It is not a smooth as it was for Blake who would rather kick a ball than eat. But she did enjoy her first practice last week and her first game on Saturday. We got our lips beat off 11 - 4, but she had fun and looked great in her uniform. We will see if the year improves. As always I am coaching because no other dads felt the need to do so. Coach by default is the actual title.

While at the park the other day with another dad for church and his two girls, we decided on a notable piece of wisdom that I will now share with you. His daughter was doing some jungle gym activities that she had not done before. The events were not too exciting but she was conquering new ground thanks to Anna going ahead. We agreed that she was doing these new items because it seemed natural to stay with the friend you trust, from church none the less. The wisdom goes as follows. "Peer pressure causes change. Some for the good and some for the bad. Either way, change will most likely occur."

Have a good week.