Kids

Being the person that I am, I laughed in my three year old's face tonight.  He was playing with his legos on top of one of my tac boxes.  Claire would pick up a couple of legos.  Isaac would grab them.  She would pick up a lego and drop it on the floor.  Isaac would yell at her and grab the lego.  I made Isaac to leave her alone and share.  His response was to wait a couple of minutes.  He then began crying that Claire was making a mess.  He'd stomp and cry and start to grab the lego before pausing.  All I could do was laugh, loudly.  This is the same child that has no problem laying in dirt for hours.  He has no problem leaving his toys spread over the entire house.  Yet, Claire dropping a couple of legos is the downfall of western civilization.  Eventually, he realized I wasn't going to say anything to Claire and dropped the issue entirely.

Otherwise, I've met with a group of guys to pray and discuss a book (Crazy Love) with a group of for the last couple of weeks.  That group has already been a great encouragement.  It's amazing how much joy and strength comes from sharing the struggles of being fathers, husbands, and men.  Its been one of the things I've missed since I moved to Belgium. 

Winter Arrives

Winter seems to have arrived in this part of Belgium.  Its been a very mild winter, but temperatures have not gotten to 30 F in around a week.  Last night, we got about an inch of snow.  I hit an ice patch coming home from work last night, and managed to get  a sideways before sliding onto the sidewalk.  Thankfully, I got stopped before hitting anything. 

This morning, we went for a walk in the snow.  The trail to the left is about a half mile from our house.  Emily and Claire walked to the trail and got back out of the cold.  Isaac and I walked down the trail for another 20 minutes or so.  He kept insisting we go forward.  Of course, he also insisted on getting a running start and sliding into the snow every 20 yards.  Eventually, this left him soaking wet with the temperature somewhere in the teens.  His response....lots of crying and repeatedly telling me his hands hurt.  I called Emily to pick us up at the trailhead.  (Isaac is fine)