I don’t know when different language skills are supposed to develop, but I”m constantly amazed by my son. Lately he’s been using similes.

» He bit the front leg off an animal cracker and said, “It’s like a drill.”
» I blew a raspberry on his belly and he said, “It’s like a lawnmower.”
» He crumpled his napkin and said, “It’s like a shovel.”

Okay, I don’t know what that last one meant, but 2 out of 3 is pretty good for a 25 month old.

Lillian has started waving and clapping. She says something like “Hi Da Da.” Which sounds a lot like “Bye Da Da.” So that’s what she does every time I leave the house and every time I come home.

She’s also finally over her “I only love mommy” phase, so I get to play with her a lot more now.

I’m trying to mow my lawn with a criss-cross pattern like a baseball field

A well mowed baseball field

My Lawn

It’s been a month, but I can’t make the criss-cross pattern stick.

Today, I tried mowing the lawn twice, once in both directions, but the second mowing pretty much erased all the lines from the first mowing. I’m ashamed of my failure, but I’m not giving up; I’m off to Google to see if I can find anyone else who has successfully turned their backyard into a baseball field . . . I do happen to know a professional baseball field maintenance worker (Dave do you think you can get me some base-line chalk?)

I was away on a retreat this weekend, and when I got home, I discovered I missed two very important milestones in my children’s lives.

1) Lillian learned how to crawl.

2) Isaac learned that it’s funny to spray people with the water hose.

Our move was a little stressful, as all moves are. Here’s a picture of our new home.

I just picked up the keys to our new home. We’re moving on Friday. Yea!

We’re going to Notre Dame tonight to see my sister-in-law’s graduation. At 8pm we’ll get the kids in their car seats and let them sleep there. We’re hoping they trip will go more quickly if they’re asleep in the car. That does mean Gina and I will only get 4 hours of sleep each, but that’s about all we get to sleep anyway.

Hey Mike and Jon. It was great talking to you guys today.

The family is fed, the kids are bathed, read, and in bed, the dishes are done, the laundry’s folded, the house . . . um, clean enough, and the bills aren’t due tomorrow, so today is a happy day.

Once upon a time, I remember saying, “I’m not afraid to have kids, they won’t change my life that much; after all, I’ll still be myself.”

Ahhh, silly Doug.

Trying to “be myself” causes 100% of the problems in my life. The more I let go of myself (that is to say, the more I let go of my pride), the happier my family is.

THE core teaching of Christianity is self-sacrifice. That is what Christ did for us, and what he asks us to do for each other. Self-sacrifice is an important part of love. I’m not talking about full-blown martyrdom, but rather, simple humility.

Absolute Truth: You cannot love without begin humble.

I don’t know how marriages work if they aren’t founded on the principals of Christianity. You might think that is an incredibly ignorant statement, and I’d agree with you. I don’t know enough about other faiths to know whether if self-sacrifice plays a part in their beliefs, but self-sacrifice is the most important thing Christ did for us, it is the first thing he asks us to do, and it’s the most important element of marriage. Not communication. Not commitment. Humility: the constant struggle to love others as much as you love yourself.

That is what makes a family work. When I get home from work, I want to sit down and read a good mystery novel, but my son loves Richard Scarry, so that’s what we read. I want a cool new ultra-portable eee pc, but the car needs new tires. Being selfish always has horrible consequences.

And what do I get for all this? Love. True love. Powerful love. Straight from God, passed on through my beautiful wife, and kids. The kind of love that makes you know that life has meaning. Joy. Security. For Eternity. And if you’re wise enough (or in my case, the Holy Spirit shields you from your own stupidity) you’ll find a spouse who can teach you the true beauty of humility, a spouse who is easy to love. I adore my wife.

“There is no beauty as enduring as a humble and gentle spirit”
~phs 1 Peter 3:4