My "Charge" to Katherine

A few people had asked for a copy of what I said to Katherine at her graduation party two weeks ago. She said that I could post it here:

In the book of 1 Chronicles, when Solomon was about to step out on his own, David gave him some final instructions. He gave Solomon a charge that I think is appropriate for today. He said to his son, “… learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him.” (1Chronicles 28:9)

Katherine, you are an amazing daughter and a wonderful young woman. I am proud of you and I am confident in you. I have loved you for over 18 years now, and i love the adventure that it is being your father. I appreciate your passion, your vitality and your “spiciness.” Your love of the Lord, your family, your friends is evident. Your are beautiful, funny, intelligence and wise beyond your years.

Back in the day I prayed for a long time that you would entrust yourself to the Lord some day, and when you decided for yourself to follow Jesus it was overwhelming and joyful. Since that time I have prayed that you would commit yourself totally to God, remain faithful to Him, and be willing to be used by Him in whatever way he sees fit. I have seen evidence of these prayers being answered for quite a while.

You and your friends have repeatedly called your mom and I “the strictest parents we know.” You no longer have to be worried about that. You have handled your growing freedom better than many others your age, but you are entering an critical chapter in your life. The choices you make as you begin your adulthood are immensely important.

I will continue to pray.

Similar to David’s charge to his son Solomon, there were a few times that Jesus gave a charge to his disciples. Here is one of them, found in John chapter 15

What he said to them is very directly applicable to you. He said, “You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine: you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:3-5)

I am sad that we will not be nearer to you during this time in your life.
But I am glad that you have the support of your church, family and friends here.
Use that support. You will have our help also, but make sure you stay connected to the people here who love the Lord with their whole heart.
Hold on to the Lord when you are doing well and when you are struggling.
When you mess up, keep turning to him.
Abide in him, keep looking to him. Stay faithful to him.

Wherever you live, wherever you go to school, wherever you work, stay connected to the vine and I promise you, you will thrive.

Getting settled

We arrived in Charlestown on Thursday evening. We were very tired, and glad to not be professional truck drivers. After Karen and Kayla had the tour of our place, Lori and Jadon came over. Mom and dad followed shortly behind. It was very nice to be off the road. It was a bit sobering though to "arrive home" and not have Katherine here.

We have spent the last two days unloading and unpacking. It is both fun and hard work. We still have boxes everywhere, but we have a place to sleep and sit. Kayla has done a good job of settling her room. Perhaps I will post some pictures after all everything is done.

The dogs seem to be adjusting. They travelled fine, but have been a bit nervous. Missi seems convinced that the new place is out to get her though. She has been bonked on the head and almost stepped on a few times as we were negotiating boxes. She also discovered screen doors. We have one on our back door and she was not familiar with the concept. She got a sudden strong desire to go inside and bashed her head through the screen full force. Being a relatively small dog, she did not get all the way through but bounced back on to the steps after breaking the screen. She and Bugsy do like the yard though. It is their first experience of being able to go outside of our home without a leash and play in the grass.

Today we will be doing some more unpacking, but not too much. I head back to work on Tuesday.

Happy Father's Day everybody.

A hard day and Barn Men to the rescue!

Saturday was a hard day. We said good bye to our beautiful graduate, Katherine. We are half way through Nebraska; she is still in California.

My very short trip to Santa Rosa started with a sweet reunion on Wednesday. After graduation festivities on Thursday we spent the whole day Friday running errands and finishing up things around the house.

On Saturday, the task of loading up the truck was a big one. Dave Meekins lead the crew consisting of members of our family, a few of our friends, and several Barn Men.

For those of you who don't know, the Barn Men is a group of guys who do much more than study the Bible together. They frequently spend their time serving others. I was very grateful for their help and for Dave's excellent guidance in packing the truck to the gills.

Thank you all helping us get through the physical part of a very difficult day.

OK, so it is after 2AM. Why am I still awake and blogging from my cell phone?

It is for the same reason my cousin Jon and I could not sleep the night before going to Disney. Heck, we even tried running laps in the house to get tired. It just got us more amped up. Eventually we conked out.
Here I am 30+ years later and TWO nights before the big event. I am too exited to sleep. I am posting from my phone because it at least allows me to stay in bed and act like a person who is sleeping. Fake it till you make it?

A week full of mixed emotions

This is my beautiful 18 year old daughter Katherine.

She is small for her age.

My wonderful Kj has officially moved out of the house. I have missed her for the last 4 months, but somehow I miss her more now. I am glad that I get to see her, Kayla and Karen in just a few days. Very glad.

But it is also hard to know that Katherine is not coming with us.

Let me tell you about her:

She is what we call "spicy." She always has been. She has been full of life and passion and determination since she was an infant. She is never ever boring. She is smart, but more importantly she is wise. I do not know many 18 year olds with the wisdom she has. Sure, she still has some growing to do, but she is ahead of many people I know that are 10 years older than her.

She has been saying for years (mostly when we were playing our "the strictest parents I know" role) that she was going to move out when she turned 18. She was not saying it disrespectfully, just factually. We would often remind her that she was still going to be in High School when she turned 18. That did not stop her. My lovely girl moved out of the house on Friday. She graduates this Thursday.

While I wish she were moving with us, I more than understand why she is not. If she is not going to be with us, there is no better place on the planet for her to start her adult life than in Santa Rosa. With family and friends and Spring Hills nearby, Karen and I know that she will have a lot of local support. We are also happy with the place she is staying.

I am having a hard time seeing the computer screen right now, so I will just say that I am so proud of my girl. I cannot imagine being more proud. She loves the Lord, she loves her family, she loves her church, she loves her friends. And as always, she is passionate.

Embarrassing Fluff

My wonderful in-laws feed me well every night for dinner. I eat prison food most of the time for lunch. I am sure, however, that you have been loosing sleep wondering about my breakfasts as I live here alone in our trailer awaiting Karen and Kayla’s move to New Hampshire. Allow me to alleviate your concerns.

For the first several weeks I ate balance bars or granola bars for breakfast. I then decided that peanut butter and jelly would be better. However, several weeks ago while talking to Kayla I had one of most shameful moments in years.

It is all about the Fluff.

Kayla asked me if I had been eating any Fluff. I was so embarrassed.

For those of you who do no know Fluff … I am sorry for you. I grew up on the eastern seaboard eating Fluff and peanut butter sandwiches. Fluff is the ultimate in marshmallow cream. You who live on the west coast and have only eaten marshmallow cream have not truly lived. Fluff is a completely different genre of food from the generic marshmallow cream. To say that the two are the same would be like saying Prime rib is the same as Salisbury steak.

Our friend Katherine Hagler (who has a New England supplier of the white and creamy drug) and our family here in New Hampshire would periodically bless us with a supply of Fluff. Because I am such a loving husband and father I would allow my girls to have some too.

I was quite ashamed to say that I had not thought of buying myself a beautiful tub of the perfect peanut butter companion until Kayla asked. I went out the next day and atoned for my sins. I am now on my third tub. I have peanut butter and Fluff nearly every day for breakfast.

There, now you can relax. I have all three meals taken care of.

This reminds me of a Jam Packed video we made a few years ago:

A fine young couple.

Let me introduce you to Bill and Karen Krulish:

They are young and in love. Today, May 24th, is there wedding day. They have committed themselves to each other for life. They have promised to encourage each other in their relationship with the Lord, support each other through highs and lows and to pursue the whole relationship package referred to in their vows as “this intimacy” only with each other.

They first got to know each other working with a Christian bus ministry two summers ago, between Bill’s freshman and sophomore year of college. They easily became friends and really enjoyed each other’s company. On one hand, Karen was very interested, on the other she was a bit nervous. So nervous that when Bill asked her out on a date towards the latter part of the summer, she simply said “no” and did not talk to him much for a while. Bill was crushed, but he survived the few weeks it took her to change her mind. She did not even run away when he showed up for their first date wearing totally geeky clothes and driving a borrowed car with a bad starter. He even had to jump start the car after stalling it out in the middle of the intersection. But Karen could tell that Bill was a big spender; he used a whole week’s pay at dinner that night, a whopping $20!

After the summer was over, Bill and Karen worked on friendship. They were both going to school and serving on the Campus Ministries Leadership Team. The more time they spent together, the sweeter things were. But they were just friends. At least that is what they told each other repeatedly to help keep things in perspective. They never referred to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend, simply as “best friends.” Sometimes their other friends would laugh at that, because they knew that this was not your typical friendship, but they would go along with it.

In November of Bill’s junior year, the friendship went to the next level. They skipped from “just friends” to “just got engaged.” Bill tried to be all slick with the proposal, thinking that he could really surprise Karen. After all, he had told her at some point in the last year that he was not planning on getting married for quite a while. They had not directly talked about getting married and had not hinted around it either. After all, they were “just friends.” So Bill was confident that he could surprise her when they went to the sit at the beach. When he popped out the ring, she was surprised just enough to be speechless for a few moments. Bill got worried and finally asked “you can take time to think about it if you want.” But apparently she already had been thinking about it, and because Bill can’t pull anything over on her, she already suspected that he was going to pop the question. Thankfully, she said yes before Bill had a nervous breakdown right there on Palm Beach.

So here we are six months later. The summer before Bill’s senior year of college. Don’t expect an fancy ceremony or an expensive reception. These two are young and have no parental bankroll. In fact, there will simply be mints. nuts, punch and cake at the reception (much to the chagrin of a few hard drinkers in the crowd). The ceremony itself should be nice, a friend has written a song, Bill and Karen wrote their own vows, and a great group of people will be gathered. They are driving off after the reception for a week long honeymoon to secret locations (OK, I will tell you that they are driving to various places in their current home state Florida to relax and enjoy each other’s company). After that, they will be back to work and school, and will move in their third story apartment in the seedy part of town.

Please pray for them. They want to honor God in their marriage. They want to strengthen each other. They want their newly formed family to be healthy and have a positive impact on the people they encounter.
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Special note to Karen from Bill: (The rest of you may read it also but don't get confused. I am not calling you babe.)

Hey babe, if you see this before I get off of work today, Happy 25th Anniversary! I wish we could be together but I am glad we will be soon. I look forward to finally being reunited with you in TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY! We will have a belated celebration of our first 25 years. I am looking forward to the next 25 my love.