My son's a Dumpster Diver!!!

Tucker and Riley brought a bicycle they found in the garbage. It was such a nice looking bike that, at first, I was a little concerned that it might belong to someone. Then I saw the back wheel. It has appearantly been run over. They brought it home with much excitement and asked me if we could fix it.


It's funny how even Asher got involved. He said his scooter needed repair of some sort.

Notice the cammo painted faces.

God Bless,

Dadofmykids.

Mark 9.37




 

You hiccup twice and a month flies by.

I remember hearing Paul Harvey say that Nascar drivers try to avoid sneezing while driving in a race. Since closing your eyes is an involuntary part of a sneeze, a Nascar driver could easily go the distance of two football fields in the time his were closed in a sneeze. Whew!!!

Can you apply the same kind of thinking to blogging? It's like I hiccupped twice and a month flew by.

We went to DairyQueen last week. Everybody got chocolate ice cream with chocolate coating. Here's Kaymie after eating hers:


God Bless,

Dadofmykids

The moments all add up...

As I return to work this morning from a fun weekend (see Jill's Blog), I am reminded that everything we do adds up to become the sum total of our lives. Each individual moment may not seem very significant, but when added to all the other, what will be the outcome? All the moments have a common denominator: your character.

Now, here I go to sell toner and repair printers, to change diapers and referee sibling rivalries, to live for God while children observe.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids.

Mark 9.37

World Series - Community Park Style

I was so proud. It caught me by surprise. It was that feeling you get when one of your kids does something really special. As the kids were being announced to their positions, everyone clapped. When my kids, Tilley and Riley, were announced, I whistled, and almost cried.

It felt that way the night before Georgia died. We were laying in bed. Georgia was sitting on my tummy leaned back on my legs. I talked to her and she cooed back and blew spit bubbles. I knew that moment was special. A tear of joy escaped my eye. I am so thankful for that gift.

The feeling was the same last year when I was watching Riley play a game. He was in left field. The batter hit a couple of fowl balls down the left field line. I yelled "be ready, Riley. It's coming your way!" The next pitch was hit up in the air straight to left field. When Riley caught the ball, I was so proud - hollering, whistling and wiping my eyes.

One of my favorite childhood memories also has to do with baseball. I was in Teeny League, about eight years old. I had been in a batting slump, just watching the ball go by most of the time. I drew some walks and got on base. But mostly got called OUT on strikes. This time, though, I swung at one. I actually saw it hit the bat on the sweet spot, just like the coaches always say. When I looked up, the ball was flying over the scoreboard. Then the ump held up his finger and moved his arm in that circular motion that means "HOME RUN". My teammates met me at the plate and carried me into the dugout.

Thank God for moments like these. They come along in between some sorrowful or stressful times. It feels really good.

Here's Kaymie finishing off an order of nachoes at the ball park.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Mark 9.37

Old testament families...

You know Moses. What about his brother, Aaron?

Aaron had eleven sons. You know there must have been some daughters, too.

Joseph was one of twelve brothers and Lord-knows-how-many sisters.

All through the Bible, especially in the old testament, you can read about people who had ten, twelve, or more children.

Why, then, do people today shake their heads when they hear of large families like ours? It's like a dog that needs to be spayed or neutered. It's like there's something wrong with us.

There's a difference in the culture from the Old Testament to now. They lived mostly in large groups where families group up together and stayed together, even as adults. The young ladies would leave there families to join up with their grooms'. So they were around to help each other. In our culture, you leave your parents around the age of 20 (give or take a couple years). Then you're on your own. You get married and have kids while you go visit your parents. But you don't usually live with your parents, your brothers and their families all as your next door neighbors.

Then, there's perception. People today have the perception that having more-than-the-average-number of children will bring you down somehow. "How do afford them?" "How do you do it?" "You sure have your hands full." HOW WOULD YOU KNOW? Unless you've parented eight or nine kids or more you can only assume what it's like. Usually, it seems, the assumption is negative.

By the time you average parents get to child # 2 or 3, you're tired, stressed and running out of money before you run out of month.

Here's the key:
Quit being so selfish. If you continue trying to live for yourself you'll miss out on the happiest and most fulfilling life. Stop dreaming of going to the mall or to the lake with out the "hassle" of dragging the kids along. Stop wishing you could buy that big-screen TV or the dream-boat that you can't afford now because of the grocery and clothing expenses your kids caused. Don't look at the NY Times Best-sellers List and wish you had time to read.

Start hugging those little rascals when you feel the stress. Buy yourself a digital camera and take photos and videos of your kids. Slow down. Quit worrying. Fix a whole mess of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and have supper on the back porch. Smear sunscreen all over a little swimmer's back. See what it takes to make your child laugh.

Then, you'll start thinking, "I sure hope little Joey isn't our last one."

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Mark 9.37

Unusual Morning.

It seemed kind of weird leaving for work this morning because I was alone. I usually have Asher and Kaymie with me, but they are taking the summer off from preschool.

Nobody to wake up and get dress. Nobody asking for food first thing. Just quiet.

Everybody was still in bed when I left.

I'll get used to it.

More later.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids.

Talk about changing your life!!!

Did you see that special last night on ABC? The one about foster children, by Diane Sawyer. Click here for a link about it.

My heart broke for those kids.

You know they showed the ones with the worst problems and most dramatic stories. One birth mother had laid a dead dear on the table for her kids to eat - uncleaned and uncooked. One girl had been severely sexually abused. One toddler had apparently spent more time with the family dog than with people. There are lots of kids in foster care with such issues.

Even though foster children usually come with baggage of one sort or another, they didn't ask to be abused, neglected and removed from their families. There are currently over 100,00 foster children waiting to be adopted. Most of them are like used car salesmen. They can rattle off what's good about them and why an adoptive family would be smart to choose them.

Now that you know this, what will you do? Will you let someone else handle it? Will you forget about these needy children?

Adoption is not as hard or as expensive (in may cases) as people think. Most of the time, when you hear of someone spending tens of thousands of dollars for an adoption, it's because they went out of the USA or adopted a healthy white newborn baby. When you adopt an older child or one with special needs (like all the kids on last night's TV special), the State will usually pay for the home study, the attorney fees, and provide insurance and monthly subsidy payments till the child turns 18 or finishes college.

In other words, if you think you can't adopt a child because it's too expensive, think again. Contact your local Dept of Human Services, or whatever they call it in your state. Ask them how you can become an adoptive family.

The children are getting older every day. So don't wait.

Here's an "instant" family for you.





God Bless,
Dadofmykids

PS. Happy birthday to my little brother, Jeff. 32 years old!!!

Enthusiasm

"Force yourself to act enthusiastic, and you'll become enthusiastic." Frank Bettger.

Think about the people you enjoy in your life. I mean people you work with, or do business with. How about the people at school, church, or the store? Which ones do you like the most? Are they enthusiastic?

Don't go crazy with it. "Enthusiastic" doesn't mean that you are so hyped up that no one can stand you. It means that you really show interest in what you are doing, especially in the people around you.

Read chapter one of Frank Bettger's book, "How I raised myself from Failure to Success in Selling." Then, start acting enthusiastic. It just might change your life.

God bless,
Dadofmykids

Memorial Day Cookout.

We went to Scott and Sandra's house Saturday. They live in Morristown, about an hour or so from here. We had a wonderful time. Check out some of the pictures.

Jill and Sandra

Sean and Levi

Asher and Sean

Levi

Tucker

Tilley

Riley doing the jack-knife

Asher and Kk.

Printer fixed.

I ended up calling Konica/Minolta for help with this part and a subsequent error on the printer. It was pretty cool that I could point them to this website where they could see the picture. The printer works just fine without the part.

When I called the customer to tell him the printer was fixed, he said we should not charge sales tax on our labor. We've been charging sales tax on labor to repair printers for probably 15 or 16 years. Every year or two, someone complains about the tax so we usually check with our CPA. This time, I also checked the TN Dept of Revenue web site. Here's what I found under FAQ:

"Is labor (on real property or tangible property) taxable?
All labor inherent to the creation, installation, or repair of tangible personal property, as well as the parts or materials are subject to the tax. Labor to install or repair real property is not subject to the sales tax."

A laser printer is "tangible personal property". So we DON'T need to fire our CPA.

Parts ID help

Can anybody tell me the part number/name of this part?



It's out of a QMS Minolta (aka Konica/Minolta) Magicolor 2300w. The part was located near the cartridge carousel and was jamming the carousel brake mechanism. Once I pulled this part out, the carousel brake operated normally.

The part I'm holding has a material on one side that appears to aide in braking, like a brake pad.
Help me, please.

Send emails to abrasfield@southeasternlaser.com

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

PS. I like to tell my kids that God helps those who help themselves. Even though I don't know of any scripture that supports that.

Easy Money???

I get these emails all the time. They say they want to buy a zillion ink cartridges. They want them overnighted. And they'll pay with a credit card. Great!!

It's a scam. You charge the order (probably hundreds if not a couple thousand dollars) to the credit card number they'll email to you. Then, like they asked, you ship the product overnight. Here's what'll happen.

The credit card number is stolen, but it goes through because the card-holder and the credit card company don't know it's stolen yet. The next morning, when the bandits receive the goods at their "mailbox" store under a fake name, they'll run it across the border, or throw it on their boat. By the time the credit card company finds out what's going on, the goods and the thief are nowhere to be found.

Here's what gets to me about these scammers:
If they'd put that much effort into a legitimate business, they'd make plenty of money. So why don't they go into business? Maybe they don't reside inside the US. Maybe they hiked across the border in TX or AZ.

That's what we need: more illegal immigrants.

On a happier note:
After I woke Asher this am, he said, "You dot my wattles in the toassa, Daddy?"

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Mark 9.37

Clay Herman...

Here he is, Jill.

Pee-Wee Aiken.

Maybe Clay won't mind if we have a little fun with his new do. I'd say, by now, he's used to it.

Baseball is supposed to be fun.

We had three baseball games last night. Asher plays on a team called the Tee-Wees. He really has a good time playing ball.

Some kids, as you should expect of five-year-olds, find it hard to get back out in the field after batting. I saw at least two parents trying to convince their kids to get out there and play last night. One dad pulled his little boy over to the side and got right in his little face and said "why don't you want to play?"

I'm not saying that man was abusive or anything like that. It's just that little kids are going to get nervous, bored or otherwise disinterested from time to time. When that happens, don't over-react!!

Here's what you do when your tee-baller doesn't want to stand in the playing field and chase baseballs: don't force him. Tell him he can go set on the bench until he's ready to play again. If he does indeed take to the bench, let him skip batting, too. He needs to know that batting is only for those who stand in the field. If he sits there for the rest of the game, maybe he has a belly ache or something. But PLEASE, don't tell him he HAS to play ball. You'll take all the fun out of it.

If you employ this idea, do not allow the child any other choices. Do not act like he is in time-out or like you are mad. Just tell him he can choose between playing ball or sitting on the bench. You both will enjoy the game more this way.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Matthew 5:6 (New International Version)

I'm no Ben Franklin

Benjamin Franklin wrote that if there was one thing he could pass along to his descendants, it would be the practice of studying Thirteen Virtues.

Mr. Franklin wanted to improve himself, so he made a list of traits in which he would seek to be better. He decided he wouldn't get very far studying all of them at the same time. So he studied one each week. With a list of thirteen, he could study the whole set four time per year. He continued this, of and on, for the rest of his life.

Frank Bettger, author of one of my all-time favorite books, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling wrote that he also tried Franklin's Thirteen week program with great success. He adapted the list to his personal needs and recommended to his reader that we should do the same.

So I did.

Here's my list:
1. Love God
2. Enthusiasm
3. Others
4. Organization
5. Money
6. Knowledge
7. Kids
8. Prospecting
9. Wife
10. Joy
11. Soul-winning
12. 80/20 Rule (Change to "Pray")
13. Slow to Speak

This week marks the beginning of the cycle again. I am back to week #1, "Love God". So far, I have been through the cycle about two or three times. Each week, my Yahoo! Calendar sends me reminders and scriptures on the topic.

Please note, my topics are arranged in an alternating order of Biblical and not-so-Biblical. I don't really know how "wife" ended up at # 9. The list is not in order of priority or importance, since it rotates.

I encourage you to read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and Frank Bettger's book. Then make your own list of thirteen and get started.


Check out this picture of Tilley.

She bought herself a bicycle and this helmet.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Mark 9.37

You can call me Jeff if you want to.

Jeff is my brother's name. He lives in California. I live in Tennessee. Somehow, the couple next door to me got the idea that Jeff was MY name.

For 8 years, they've called me Jeff. "Hey, Jeff. How 'ya doin'?" "Jeff, your yard looks good this year."

My kids always say, "Dad, why don't you tell them your name isn't Jeff?"

I usually say something like, "it doesn't matter what they call me. I know who I am." Or, "what difference does it make ?"

Well, yesterday, I guy called me at work to see about having his color laser printer fixed. He told me his company name, which I recognized as my neighbor's business. He then made reference to his boss. So I asked him if it was the man. It was.

So, I told the caller that I was his boss's neighbor, but if he planned to tell his boss that I was going to fix the printer, he should refer to me as Jeff. When he told the boss, the boss called his wife and said, "Honey, what's our neighbor's name?"

She said, "Jeff".

So now the cat's out of the bag. "Jeff" jokes have been flying around all day.

The boss said "tell him it's Jeff" when he came to pick up his printer.

The caller signed his emails "regards, Jeff."

I replied, "Dear Jeff," and signed, "yours truly, Jeff".

Washing, washing.

Check out this vid of Kaymie cleaning and singing. See if you can recognize the tune she is singing.



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God Bless,

Dadofmykids

a. k. a. "Jeff"

Pool Problem, Fixed.

I took the whole valve assembly off the filter and then opened it up. What I found was that I had not lubricated the gasket inside the valve head. In addition there was some junk inside there from where I has vacuumed the pool. The junk, mostly leaf fragments, got up under the gasket and caused the leaking. With proper lube, that shouldn't happen again.

From now on...
I will open up the valve head every spring when I open the pool. I will lube the valve gasket and make sure it is clean. This should prevent problems in that area. It really isn't hard to do.

Levi played in my truck while I worked on the valve assembly. I pulled the truck down to the pool so I could use the tailgate as a workbench. Check out the short video I took on my cell phone.

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God Bless,

Dadofmykids

Pool Problem, can you help?

Our pool is losing water out of the waste port on the filter valve. I replaced the valve head but that didn't help any. I shot some videos to show you what it looks like. Let's see if I can get them on here:

The first shows you the problem.

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Here's the second one showing what happens on recirculate.
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The last one shows you the loose handle.
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If you can help me fix this, please post a comment here. Thanks.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Red eye

I was adding some chlorine shock to the pool late yesterday. As I cut open a bag with my pocketknife, a grain of the stuff flicked into my eye. Whew!! What a pain. I started splashing water from the pool into my eye to flush it out when it occurred to me that I had just added chlorine to the water. Inside the house for some tap water. I flushed with water and Visine.

It feels better this morning, but I constantly feel the need to wipe "sleep" from my eye, like when you wake up with an eye-booger.

The silver lining was when Jill was hovering over me asking if there was anything she could do. It was like going to the hospital and having a gorgeous nurse.

Jill is gone to Morristown today for a meeting. I was going to go get some free firewood and daylilies from a friend but we couldn't synch our schedules. So, we'll probably tune up the lawn mowers and then mow. But, most of all, we'll probably finish the Mother's Day Project.

I'm going to try to add a couple pictures here for the first time. One is two-year-old, L, eating breakfast. He likes to pick the marshmallows out of his Lucky Charms. The other is my attempt to show you the red eye.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

True American

It is time to change from REDNECK humor to TRUE AMERICAN Humor! Only I don't see it as Humor, but the correct way to LIVE YOUR LIFE !

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase, "One nation, under God."

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You've never protested about seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You still say "Christmas" instead of "Winter Festival."

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You bow your head when someone prays.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You treat Viet Nam vets with great respect, and always have.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You've never burned an American flag.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You respect your elders and expect your kids to do the same.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You'd give your last dollar to a friend.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

My wife's a computer nerd.

My wife has a blog. It's http://you-got-how-many-kids.blogspot.com/. Pretty cool, too. She's a much better writer than I am. She even puts pictures on hers. Jill, I love you bunches and bunches.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Speed demon comes to quick stop.

Daniel, our 17 year old son, likes to skateboard. He's pretty good at it, too. However, yesterday he was riding very fast when his board hit a rock or something and threw him forward. He was not wearing ANY protective gear. He tore up his hands and skinned up most of his body. The ER nurse spent an hour and a half cleaning and dressing Daniel's wounds. He didn't break any bones.

We're thankful he wasn't hurt worse. He could have landed on his face or head. Could have broken his arm, neck, back or skull. Thank GOD it wasn't any worse. But it was bad enough.

So, from now on: No Helmet, No Skate.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

How to be the World's Greatest Dad

You've seen the t-shirts, haven't you? They're always in the stores before Father's Day. They usually say something like, "World's Greatest Dad". They don't sell just one shirt to just one Dad, though. That's because to each family, their Dad should the greatest in their little world.

You don't become a great dad by donating your sperm. Lots of guys do that without ever acting much like a real Dad. Being a really great Dad takes three things - none of which require your genes:

1. Love God above all else.
2. Love the Mother of your Children.
3. Love your children like you want to be loved.

Simple. Straight forward. But, for some reason, a lot of guys won't do all three of these.

Let's discuss each one of these simple steps in the days to come, LORD willing.

God Bless,

Dadofmykids

It's Mexican Boycott Day.

All over the news, they're talking about the illegal immigrants. I wonder is my brother, Scott, will have any workers today. I should call him. Other than that, I don't see that the immigrant issue has much impact on my life right now. I could be wrong.

I got somewhat started on the Mother's Day Project. Picked up most of the materials needed. The next step will be to get the kids involved and see how far we can get with it. Jill will be staying with her mom for a few days this week because her mom is having surgery and won't be able to take care of herself. That may give us a chance to knock this thing out without her being home to spoil the surprise. I don't want Jill to figure out what the kids are giving her beforehand.

I want to leave you with something to think about. What does it take to be the best dad you can be? I'll answer that tomorrow.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

This weekend.

Things to do this weekend:

Check the brakes on Jill's minivan.
Help Daniel figure out what to do about the blown engine in his car.
Sing at church Sunday night.
Baseball games tonight.
Baseball practice Saturday morning.
Vacuum the pool and let the kids go swimming!!!
Locate the items for Mother's Day Project.

I'm sure there'll be more.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids.

It's been a while...

I kind of abandoned my blog for a while. No particular reason. No promises.

Tomorrow's Tilley's birthday. She'll be nine.

We have five kids playing on three baseball teams. I put the whole season schedule in my cell phone so I could keep up with it. Asher's first game was yesterday. He's five. Plays on the Tee Wees. Really cute. We have two more games tonight.

Mother's Day is just a little more than two weeks away. I have something in mind for my kids to make for my wife. I don't want to say what it is here because she might see it and spoil the surprise. I can say that it will be home made and each child will make one.

That's all for now.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids.