The Easter eggs are on the stove to boil.

There is a lot of tradition in the Easter holiday, both pagan and Christian. I understand that Christians kind of took this holiday over, replacing the original celebration of fertility or something with the celebration of Christ's resurrection.

But we still do the whole bunny thing.

It's easy for the kids to be more excited about candy and fun than about Jesus. But that's normal for kids. I wonder how excited they would be about His resurrection if we took away the fun stuff that has nothing to do with Him. I think kids would have no more enthusiasm over The Resurrection than they do Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is cool for kids because they get two days off from school. But that's about all they get out of it. Everything else associated with thanksgiving is of interest to adults. The main reason kids know what thanksgiving is about is that it's name says it all: Thanksgiving.
Easter doesn't say anything without some explanation.

So thank God for the Easter bunny which makes the holiday fun and exciting for kids. But thank Him even more for Eternal Life.

Six kids on four teams.

I just finished adding the season's baseball schedules into my calendar.  Four schedules in all. We have six kids playing baseball this season, on four teams.

Typical week during baseball.

That's four games on a Thursday evening.  We'll buy lots of Happy Happy Hot dogs.

I use Google Calendar which syncs with any computer I use, plus my iPhone.  By adding Jill to each event, she gets to add them to her calendar too.

Next, I plan to print a simplified schedule with all games listed for easy reference.  I will post that one on the refrigerator.

The new season begins next week.  We have two games on opening day.

I love baseball.

God bless,
Andy

Free Continental Breakfast

Ten or fifteen years ago, I took Jill and the kids with me on a business trip to Atlanta.  We stayed at a nice hotel where they served a free continental breakfast on the third floor.

"Perfect", I thought.  "We will save some money by eating the free continental breakfast."

Our room was not on the third floor.  It seemed kind of odd that they didn't have the food in the lobby.  But, oh well.  It was free.  Right?

At the time, I think we had four kids.  Jill, correct me if I'm wrong.  So you can see why breakfast was a big deal.  Little kids get very hungry in the mornings.

I figured it out near the end of our stay.  The third floor was the "Executive" floor.  The free continental breakfast was supposed to be for those executives who'd paid extra to be there.

When we got home, Jill told her uncle Greg about my success with what became known as "The Free Continental Breakfast".  I don't know how many times Greg teased about it.  I would have thought he was mad at me if a family get together had gone by with some mention of The Free Continental Breakfast.  (BTW, today, Greg is having surgery to remove some tumors from his brain.  Please pray for him and the family.)

Today is Riley's birthday.  This story reminds me of when he was little.  He was such a good baby.  We called him 'Wonder Boy".  I am very proud of Riley.  He is still such a good person.  He is pictured above with Tilley, when they were younger, obviously.

Days like this make me thankful to be a dad.

The day's line up included three baseball practices, starting at 9 am. That's early for a Saturday.

We made the first one just in time. We had to push a little though. Levi had to change out of his pj's after we got here.

We went to Goodwill between practices one and two, to find a baseball glove for Asher. Success!! In addition to a glove, we bought Kk some cleats, a bat and a helmet for the three Yankees, and a pair of sandals for Levi. All for less that twenty bucks.

A quick pit stop at home for some lunch.

While the Yankees were practicing, the other kids asked me to play ball with them. By the time we were bumped off a previously vacant field, we had quite a pick-up game. The whole gang moved to another empty field where I snapped this photo.

I now am sitting in the grass with Kk, watching the Yankees and typing up this post with the breeze cooling me off.

There are plenty of chores that I could be doing at home right now. In fact, I feel a little neglectful of the house. But spending the day like this will pay off. The payoff is kinda mysterious yet simple. Simple: memories, closer relationships, exercise. Mysterious: unknown future events, unforeseen influence, no regrets in case of tragedy.

If I was not a dad, maybe this day would be much less fulfilling. I don't know. I can't say for sure.

Practice number two is almost over. We'll be back later for practice number three.

God bless,
Dadofmykids