First Game of the Season (Caleb)

My soccer coach used to get frustrated with me for slipping into "Tim's Playland" during games and not paying attention. So I had to include this first clip. Then there is some good action and a bit of nice defensive positioning. My kids might be natural fullbacks. Caleb had some good kicks but I did not get them on video.

First Game of the Season (Madeline)

I like the natural bounce as the ball approaches. I like the angle (some natural understanding of the game's geometry). Especially, I like the block. 

Politics Begins in the Home

First, I encounter the fact-checker:

7:25 am (10 minutes before school departure)

Tim, has Caleb eaten anything?

Define "anything."

Caleb, have you eaten anything?

Pants on Fire

Did you give them vitamins?

This week?

Pants on Fire

Is Caleb's swimsuit in his bag?

You didn't say which bag.

Pants on Fire!

Have you been reading The Wall Street Journal all morning?

What? No. Not all morning.

PANTS ON FIRE!

Then we review the broken promises.

Dad, remember when we were in Utah...

Buddy that was two years ago.

... remember when we were in Utah and you said I could have a pet.

Dad, you said you would read us Harry Potter tonight.

That was before you decided to stay up late playing Legos.

But dad, you said.

Dad, you said I could have chocolate milk.

That was before you had ice cream.

But dad, you said.

Henry Goes to School (and stuff)

My little buddy started school. The last one is out of the house. I'm a grown up (which realization is not wholly unrelated to my decision to go out for ice cream tonight).

Cairo American College, the school of my older two, instituted a new no-homework policy this year (which realization is causing significant helicopter trouble).

When Do I Tell Them What To Be When They Grow Up

(Fast readers of my blog posts will notice this was totally re-written. Until now, all my posts have been first drafts. But this one just didn't feel quite right.)

I started out to be a sports writer. I covered high school sports for my hometown newspaper. It was awesome. I left that, worried I wouldn't make money at it. Ironically, I left to get a PhD in Political Science, which I subsequently left, worried I wouldn't make money at it.

Then I sold life insurance, and it sucked, and I couldn't figure out how I got there or how to get out of it (but if Northwestern Mutual calls, I still like their insurance!). Then I decided to just do something that paid the bills and was reasonably engaging, so I went to business school and got a good job.

Present satisfaction notwithstanding, my circuitous career path has given me much anxiety about steering my kids in the arena of making a living.

Meanwhile, if Madeline hears me explain one more time why I think she would make an excellent marketing manager for Disney, I think she's going to beat me to death with jewelry from Claire's.

Seriously, do I really have to let them discover this stuff on their own?

First Day at Cairo American College

Entering school grounds

Good view of the soccer pitch and elementary school

Desert Hiking South of Cairo

Caleb's Self Awareness

"Caleb, do you want to play soccer this year?"

"I don't think so."

"Why not? You don't like soccer?"

"That's just not where my talents lie."

Love that kid.

Jerusalem 17 Years Later

First, am I really old enough for it to have been 17 years since I attended a semester at the BYU Jerusalem Center?  Weird.

I visited again today for the first time since. It was an emotional day for me. I remembered a lot of people and events I am sad to admit I had forgotten.

As you will surely guess, I also remembered many spiritual experiences. Prominent among them is a gem of a spiritual lesson that could have been acquired anywhere, but was brought to me by the unique circumstances of living in the Middle East with a bunch of Utah girls mostly far from home for the first time.

They daily the check-the-mail routine was a source of some, I don't know, agitation for me. I bristled at the giddiness the girls displayed upon receipt of letters or packages. At lunch one day I complained of this to Wade Milne. At age 26, Wade was the oldest of the group.

(As I type this, I now remember how we all worried when he would just finally get married because he is WAY old. Strange culture.)

He apparently had acquired some wisdom with his antiquity. He responded with something like this (I forget the exact words): "Tim, maybe everyone else thinks it strange that you don't react enthusiastically when you get a letter."

The Garden Tomb was great. The Via Dolorosa is impressive. But Wade's Socratic method probably made the biggest difference in my life.

Thanks, Wade, wherever you are these days.

Purpose (Part 2)

The sense of purpose displayed by these folks in Hebron really got me thinking.  That plus the Olympics.

I saw the photo of Mr. Pistorius with the little amputee girl.  Then I thought of inspiration and my own children.  I hope they will find a source of inspiration.  Then I thought about the purpose of my parenting.

Do I parent for me or for my kids?  Harder question than I thought once I really thought about it.

Olympians don't inspire others because they want to inspire others.  Olympians inspire others because they want to be great and they make all the sacrifices necessary to do it.  Their ambition gives us permission to have a little ambition of our own without feeling selfish. Which is also called inspiration.

And then I think of parenting.  Will I inspire my kids by hovering around and harassing them all the time about how inspired they are?  Or will I inspire them by pursuing my passions?

If I am parenting for them, I probably need to worry way less about them, let them figure out more stuff on their own, learn independence, gain a sense of self.

What is the Purpose

As the recent meme goes:  I know we just met, and this is crazy, but what's the purpose of your life?

Or in this case, of my blog?  I removed my prior post after thinking on this topic a little.  I am at a cross roads with my blog of funny family stories.

Madeline is old enough now to deserve some ownership of the way her life is presented to the public.  Caleb isn't far behind.  So what is the purpose of my blog?

I just returned from a day in Hebron, about 10 miles south of Bethlehem.  I was there for my work.  My job will be to objectively convey through an audit report some of what is happening there with U.S. tax dollars.

It was a fascinating experience.  It was a serious experience.  It was not what I expected.  The rigors of my professional obligations suggest that I say little about it until after the report is published in a month or two.

I think I am safe to say this:  I wish everyone could hear for themselves the conversations I had today.

I talked to people who had purpose.