thanksgiving was phenomenal - so glad to be alive... thankfulness doesn't even begin to express it...

I use to primarily use google adsense, but i've since shifted away from it. it covered hosting fees and a bit more but I've found they're amongst the lowest in return per click... plus i kept getting big ads for 'sexy christian singles'... and well the singles part just didn't apply to me.

Hey Erin, that's hilarious! what a small small world we live in!

fraught... dollop... ? you're in bloom Alan... man up, what if your daughter read this one day? odd thought after reading your post... i want my daughter to be a better human being than me... Something doesn't feel fair about it...

yeah the daughter becoming like mom part is a sweet thought... i still very much agree with Meeker on us as Fathers setting the bar in many ways. I think it'd be fascinating for our daughter's to be able to chronicle us as fathers and how we too continue to grow and change with the help of God...

Great post Tim - sometimes i can think my pragmatism & grit can come off cold... but this totally affirms the need to just make the tough decisions and follow through with them... for the good of all.

Hey Deana - thanks for the insights! I love what you shared, especially about our daughters knowing that they can do just about anything with our help... what an amazing to live life knowing! I love the idea of enforcing the ties as well - I think sometimes we can just assume that since we might be great parents individually our kids will just catch on - but I can see how affirming aloud to our kids really helps them get a deeper sense of trust and security

Hey Tony, is it really a fight every day? if so that's scary... i imagined this as an every now and then issue. do your girls 'get' why you say no? Meeker makes it sound like deep down it's something they long for... do you find it ever takes away from their own capacity to learn from mistakes?

love your last paragraph Tony - though my daughters aren't quite 5 yet... hope they can join be a force in the world as well!

Thanks for the comment Melissa - nice to have a woman chiming into the discussion as well! I was thinking the other day, what a tremendous task men have... then I thought hey what do mothers contribute? And it hit me that while there are many things I hope to impart to my girls, I can't ultimately teach them to be woman. We really need mom's to do that... there's nothing on earth like passionate mothers and fathers raising strong children together!

Great post Sam! Humility is a really weird one... while it's seen as an honorable trait, it's not openly encouraged. not being prideful possibly, but actually seeing value in humility is far off. it goes against our nature. plus you can't really just tell a child to be humble - but you hit it right on with service and being about 'others' as a very tangible expression we can inspire our kids on. way to go Sam!