Thoughtful Reflections on Faith and Life
Often when I write about children and communication, I’m speaking of our children with autism. But you don’t need autism to have communication challenges. Our youngest are just becoming teens. That age is not known for open communication. My Good News is that I feel blessed that our children talk to us. Not just that … Read More “Good News: Our Children and Communication” »
Remembrance Day is always a highlight for me. I’m so thankful for those who have served in the past and those who currently serve in the military. I attend Remembrance Day services in uniform in my role as a chaplain in the Canadian Armed Forces. It is an honour to share this uniform with so … Read More “Good News: A Remembrance Day to Remember” »
People wonder what it is like to have children who are considered non-verbal. Non-verbal doesn’t mean that there is no verbal communication but it is limited and not the primary means of communication. Our children do find other ways to communicate. we know what they want. They are very good at communicating their desires for … Read More “Good News: Love and Family” »
Last week, our daughter joined cadets. I’m happy about this because I really believe in cadets and our son has already had a good experience with it. It was amazing to watch as my picked them up how welcomed my daughter was. Lots of people were eager to get to know her (and not just … Read More “Good News: Another Kid in Cadets” »
Our daughter has a complicated relationship with Halloween. On one hand, it is her favourite day. On the other, there are costumes and masks that really scare her. For the last couple of years she has been terrified of a particular bear mask. She didn’t even like going into stores that sold it. This year, … Read More “Good News: Overcoming Fear” »
My oldest daughter Abby had her seventeenth birthday. Unfortunately we didn’t see her on her birthday birthday because she lives in a group home. It is not the way we expected things to be. My anticipation of what her teenage years is not the same as reality. That does not mean life is bad. Abby … Read More “Good News: My Girl” »
Our son Justus just got back from a week at our local Baptist camp. One of the highlights for him was learning some worship songs on the guitar from one of the leaders. Justus came home with some music sheets, eager to learn more. As we were coming home from church, we saw a yard … Read More “Good News: Our Guitarist” »
Justus just got back from two weeks of camp with army cadets. He joined cadets last September and we weren’t sure how he would do with it. He likes his freedom and we wondered how he would do with the discipline required. It ended up that Justus thrives in the army cadet setting. He has … Read More “Good News: Thankful For Cadets” »
For many people, “bye” is a sad word. But my Good News for this week is about that word. For the past two weeks, when I have gone with our daughter Abby on a walk to Tim Horton’s, she has greeted people on the way with a wave and a “bye.” Not hi but bye. … Read More “Good News: Bye!” »
Today is Amanda’s birthday (I won’t tell you which one). The bad news is that I didn’t get to see her. The good news is that is because she is studying in Lebanon for the next couple of weeks. What a way to celebrate a birthday! Amanda has blown me away over the past few … Read More “Good News: I Have an Amazing Wife!” »
My Good News for this week is that I am simply happy with where I am at in life. Professionally, I have achieved my goals. I’m happy with how things are going at Queen Street Baptist Church and I’m excited to have started my ministry as padre at the Lincoln and Welland Regiment. I also … Read More “Good News: Feeling Content” »
When I think of Amanda as a mother, I think of the phrase “Mama Bear.” I think Amanda identifies with this as well, as she has a sweatshirt with that. She is a Mama Bear because she is extremely protective of our kids. Even when she is most exhausted by life, I have seen new … Read More “Good News: Mama Bear” »
One of the challenges of having two of our children live 1.5 hours away is that we don’t get to see them near as often as we would like. Saturdays have generally been our day for visits but Amanda works Saturday evenings now and so we are trying to find better ways to have visits. … Read More “Good News: Some Kid Time” »
Today another teenager was added to the family. Justus is now thirteen years old and enters a new chapter of his life. It seems like only yesterday that we brought this tint baby home from the hospital. We are so very proud of Justus. He is a very bright kid. He may not be so … Read More “Another Teenager” »
I can’t believe that the day has finally come. My oldest son, Logan, is now an adult! I kind of feel old having an adult son. It’s hitting me more than when I turned fifty. Unfortunately, our circumstances are not ideal. There are many things that I would like to do with my son on … Read More “The Day is Here!” »
We had an enjoyable couple of days visiting with family. As an only child, my only opportunity to be an uncle is on Amanda’s side and thankfully there are nephews for me to play with. We had a nice dinner tonight with Amanda’s parents and all of her brothers and a whole bunch of little … Read More “Good News: Family Fun” »
I recently signed up for Ancestry and did their DNA test. I have always been interested in my family background and there is much that I don’t know. It is interesting that I am writing this on St. Patrick’s Day as one of the things that I discovered is that I am half Irish. I … Read More “Good News: Discovering Family” »
I have been thinking a lot about what I would like to see happen in my life in the near future. These are not just wishes but things I really want to happen. Here are the five things that I would like to see happen in the next five years. They are not ranked by … Read More “5 Personal Goals” »
This has been a interesting week. Amanda was away for a week for her studies at McMaster Divinity College. That gave me an opportunity to spend time with the kids for the week. Thankfully they were good for me. The hardest part of this was that Amanda and I were not able to be together … Read More “Good News: The Wife is Back!” »
Working out is something that is important to me, especially as I’m now in my 50s. I have been a part of a gym in the past. The struggle I had was that it took away from family time. I always felt guilty working out while leaving the family behind. Now we have a family … Read More “Good News: Family Workout” »
I am writing this on the last day of 2018. It is a natural point to look back on the year and reflect on what has happened over the last twelve months. Family This has been an eventful year for our family. After renting for the last couple of years, we once again began homeowners. … Read More “The Year in Review” »
My Good New shouldn’t be inspired by a funeral but it is. Yesterday was my Uncle Fred’s funeral. That is not Good News as he was one of my favourite uncles. My dad was 18 years older than him and basically raised him. He was too young to leave this world and he will be … Read More “Good News: Thankful For Extended Family” »
This has been a good Christmas overall. Of course there have been our share of frustrations but there have been some great things as well. Last night, our church had a major outreach to our community with a meal and gifts for the children. This was followed by a candlelight service that was very meaningful. … Read More “Christmas Reflections – 2018” »
Justus joined army cadets at the beginning of September and it has really been going well. It is such a good fit for him. He has long been interested in the military and this has been his dream. The way it works is that you have to be there a certain amount of weeks in … Read More “Good News: The Boy in Uniform” »
It has been many years since I had a birthday party. Until last night. My wife Amanda threw my the most amazing party to celebrate my fiftieth birthday. It really was overwhelming, in a good way. There was amazing food and plenty of fun. The music was provided by Jacob Moon. Jacob is a talented … Read More “Good News: The Best Party Ever” »
I had a number of options to talk about for my weekly Good News post. I could have did it on a Roger Hodgson concert I attended with a couple of my cousins. I could have done it on encouraging things happening at our church. But I decided to write on Good News that I … Read More “Good News: Logan at Church” »
When I was a kid I always wanted to be an army cadet. Unfortunately I never had the courage to join. I did end up joining the army reserves as an adult. My son Justus has been interested in the army ever since I joined the army. He has been counting down the months until … Read More “Good News: Our Cadet!” »
We went to visit our two children who have autism and who live in a group home. Logan is 17 and Abby is 16. The visit didn’t turn out the way we expected. Abby was unsettled, which was causing Logan to be unsettled. It seemed to get okay at first but quickly escalated. Abby made … Read More “Autism and the Double Meltdown” »
I suspect that most families have unexpected situations and uncontrollable factors when it comes to family dinners and holidays. This is definitely true when the family includes autism. This past weekend was the Canadian Thanksgiving, which should be a time for family to get together. Autism makes things less than simple. Here are some random … Read More “An Autistic Thanksgiving” »
Every day should be Thanksgiving and yet it is good that there is an actual Thanksgiving weekend. It is appropriate to take time to be intentional in giving thanks. There is so much that I’m thankful. I have an amazing family. We are not normal by any stretch of the imagination, but we love each … Read More “Good News: Thankful For Everything” »
This past week was Tolkien Week. You may not even be aware that something like this existed. This week included Hobbit Day, which I blogged about here. How is this Good News? It all goes back to how I first got interested in Tolkien. While I did watch the original Hobbit movie, my real introduction … Read More “Good News: How I Was Introduced to Tolkien” »
Although her birthday is not for a couple more days, we had the kids for a visit yesterday so that we could celebrate Abby’s sixteenth birthday. It is hard to believe Abby is turning sixteen. It seems like only yesterday that she was only a baby. I remember being able to put her to sleep … Read More “Good News: Sweet Sixteen!” »
Like many parents, we sent our children off today for their first day of school for the year. We took the obligatory pictures of our three children and posted them on Facebook. Except we have more than three children. Two of our children have autism and live in a group home over an hour away. … Read More “Autism and the First Day of School” »
A big part of my childhood was going to the carnival in Merritton (a neighbourhood of St Catharines) during the Labour Day weekend. I looked forward to it every summer, it helped make up for the start of school. There were many great times. The tradition continues as my children also look forward to this … Read More “Good News: Labour Day in Merritton” »
I have written everything from biblical studies books to devotionals to scholarly journal articles to magazine articles. I love writing. But one thing I have never tried was writing a novel. Until now. Am I not too busy to write a novel? The truth is that I need things that are relaxing that are not … Read More “Good News: Writing a Novel” »
How many parents think it is good news when their teenage daughter tells them to go away? This one does. A couple of days ago, I was visiting our children, Logan and Abby, at their group home. Both Logan and Abby have autism and are considered nonverbal. Abby uses an iPad as an augmentative communication … Read More “Good News: “Go Away!”” »
Today is eight years since our daughter Abby moved into a group home. She was only seven years old at the time. That means she has lived away from us longer than she lived with us. That is hard. It wasn’t an easy decision to have Abby move out of our home. No parent wants … Read More “Today is a Hard Day” »
Today we went to see Cirque du Soleil. This was my first time seeing them but Amanda had seen them before. She was quite excited when she heard that they were coming to the city where we lived. So we went as a family. If you have never seen Cirque du Soleil, I encourage to check … Read More “Good News: Cirque du Soleil” »
It is difficult to predict what a day will be like but today turned out to be a great day. It started with Queen Street Baptist Church‘s annual Praise in the Park at Montebello Park. I always love this service. We get lots of visitors, including people just showing up at the park. There is … Read More “Good News: A Really Great Day” »
This weekend the girls were over at a friend’s house for a sleepover. That meant that we just had Justus with us. So what do we do with our boy? We ended up going bowling. We had not bowled in years. We ended up at the bowling alley that I bowled at when I was … Read More “Good News: Having a Ball” »
This past weekend was a lot of fun. After church we went up to visit Logan and Abby. We had a great visit with them. We then went to visit some friends that we hadn’t seen in a while. We then stayed at a hotel, just to have a bit of time away. The kids love … Read More “Good News: A Great Victoria Day Weekend” »
Today was our son Logan’s 17th birthday. I can’t believe how fast the years have gone by. It seems like only yesterday that he was our cute little boy and now he is our handsome young man. This was not one of the weekends in which Logan and Abby come for a visit and so … Read More “Good News: A Visit With the Kids” »
Sunday nights are one of my favourite times of the week. Over a year ago we started a tradition of going swimming on Sunday nights. This is something that breathes life into me in a number of ways. The swimming is good exercise. Between my sarcoidosis and diabetes, exercise is very important for my continued … Read More “Good News: Sunday Night Fun” »
Much of my Good News lately has been about moving into our new home. Does this make me materialistic? Am I too focused on possessions? This weekend was a reminder that our new home was a blessing in the way that really counts. This weekend was our first visit from Logan and Abby at this … Read More “Good News: The Final Test” »
Today was a big day. Today was the day that my ten year old daughter read her first comic book. As a long time comic book fan, it made me smile. So what comic book did she read? It was Ms Marvel: No Normal. It’s not DC, but it will have to do. The actual … Read More “My Daughter Reading a Comic Book” »
This has been a great week for the Bedard family. We moved into our new home. We have been renting for the past two years and have been hoping to buy. Things worked out and this week we moved into our new home as owners rather than renters. Why was buying a home important to … Read More “Good News: All Moved In” »
I have never had a boring year yet in my adult life and 2017 was no exception. I thought that with the year coming to an end, it would be a good idea to share some of the highlights. I’m just completing my second year as the pastor of Queen Street Baptist Church. I can … Read More “The Year in Review” »
One of my favourite parts of Christmas is the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. We had a wonderful service tonight at Queen Street Baptist Church. Not only is the image of lighting candles meaningful, it is a joy to sing the traditional Christmas carols. One of the highlights this year was the participation by much of … Read More “Good News: Candlelight Service” »
This is the first of two-part guest post by Bryan Stoudt. Visit Bryan’s website at the link found in his bio at the end of this post. You can find the first part here. Last time, we saw how hard it can be to stay engaged with our special needs child. But we also began to … Read More “Stay Engaged With Your Special Needs Child (Part 2)” »
Our son Justus has been trying to figure out his own way when it comes to faith. We have purposely not pushed him. We don’t want to pressure him to be a certain way just because he’s the pastor’s son. Some might disagree with us, but we have not even made him come to church. … Read More “Good News: Take Me to Church” »
My son Justus broke his leg on Friday. What? How in the world is that Good News? What kind of dad am I? Let me back up. On Friday, we received a call from the school that Justus had been hurt. We live just around the corner from the school so we hurried over. Justus … Read More “Good News: Break a Leg” »
This should have been a rotten day. We have been trying to buy a house and today we found out it wouldn’t work. Part of this was because of results of a home inspection that revealed some things that would have been major headaches if we had bought it. We were still disappointed and were … Read More “What a Rush!” »
What are the things that you celebrate as a parent? It may be your child getting their driver’s licence or graduating from university. We may be looking for the big things to get excited about. Things are different for autism parents. Two of our children with autism live in a group home over an hour … Read More “The Power of Little Victories” »
Over the past number of years, I have had the honour of getting to know the work of Christian Horizons. Just a month ago, I was able to be the speaker at their family retreat. I have gotten know the people and have great respect for them. When we learned that they participate in the … Read More “Good News: Ride for Refuge” »
I have been engaged in a number of roles throughout my life. I have been a pastor, teacher, chaplain, salesperson, warehouse worker, painter and numerous other things. But there is one job that I have had that is the hardest. Being a dad. You might think that I say this because I have children with … Read More “The Hardest Job I Have Ever Had” »
One of the most frequent questions I get as a pastor is whether the grief from losing a loved one ever gets easier. I can only answer from my own experience. Today, I had to take Amanda for some routine tests at a hospital. It just happened to be the same hospital where my mother … Read More “It Never Fully Goes Away” »
As I write this, it is two days before our daughter Abby’s fifteenth birthday. It is hard to believe she is well into her teens. It feels like only yesterday she was our little baby. Abby and her brother Logan live in a group home over an hour away. They both have autism and are … Read More “Good News: A Joyful Visit” »
A number of years ago, our daughter Emma casually remarked, “It would be neat to find out that you had a brother or sister that you never knew about.” Little did she know that was her own reality. Our three youngest children are adopted. We have known for a long time that they had an … Read More “Good News: Family Reunion” »
We had an interesting conversation the other day. Our three youngest children are aged 9-11. We were talking about what it will be like when they get their driver’s license. Our youngest, Faith (aged 9), made a comment about our oldest, Logan (aged 16). She asked if Logan would be getting his license soon. Logan, … Read More “Disabilities and the Innocence of Children” »
I led a funeral service today. That is not a surprise as I am a pastor. Some pastors do a couple of funerals per week. Thankfully that is not my experience. But this was different. It wasn’t personal, as I had never met the lady and didn’t know the family. I have done many funerals … Read More “Returning to the Place of Sorrow” »
We get a visit from Logan and Abby every other weekend. Abby is happy to come for day visits but Logan likes to stay over night. Whether it is the autism or being a teenager, Logan would prefer to stay inside and play on technology. His perfect day is watching Veggie Tales on TV while … Read More “Good News: Good Cheap Fun” »
Today it is seven years since our daughter went to live in a group home. She was seven years-old at that time. That means that she has now lived half her life away from us. What could cause parents to voluntarily let their seven year-old daughter be taken away? We have had people judge us … Read More “Seven Years Ago Today” »
Recently I brought my children to the pool where I learned to swim. Today, I took my son to the beach where I also spent many hours as a child. We went to Lakeside Park today and had a blast. Justus had fun in the water and I enjoyed watching him. Being there brought back … Read More “Good News: Fun on the Beach” »
I will confess that I’m a nostalgic kind of guy. Moving back to St. Catharines has only intensified that. We have had a membership at an indoor pool but they have been closed for a month and a half for repairs. I have missed swimming and so I decided to bring the kids to an … Read More “Swimming Down Memory Lane” »
This past week, our three youngest children were away at camp. When I arrived to pick them up, the leader of Justus’s cabin immediately sought me out. There was a moment of panic as I know that Justus has had behaviour issues in the past. However, the leader wanted to talk to me to brag … Read More “Good News: A Proud Dad” »
My oldest daughter is 14 years-old and has autism. And I like to tease her. Don’t worry, I don’t tease her about having autism. I’m not that much of a jerk. Abby doesn’t like it when I sing. That of course is normal and has nothing to do with autism. That is just common sense. … Read More “Why I Tease My Daughter With Autism” »
School is finished for the kids and summer is upon us. What should we do? They often ask us to take them shopping (usually for toys). The truth is they get bored of what we buy them pretty quick. Tonight we decided to go go-karting. We had brought Justus and Emma before but not Faith. … Read More “Good News: Fun With the Kids” »
I remember showing up for a job interview just after I completed my undergraduate degree. The job was related to something I had never heard of before, something called the internet. I had no idea how much that new technology would change everything. Fast forward a number of decades and I am a father with … Read More “The Tech-Wise Family – Review” »
This past week was our annual assembly of the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec. I have only missed only a couple of these assemblies in my twenty years with the CBOQ. This year was great in terms of music and teaching. Music was led by Steve Bell and our speaker was Gordon MacDonald. I … Read More “Good News: Bedards Assemble!” »
Last weekend, our children with autism were visiting from their group home. It is always great to have them with us. At one point, Our daughter Abby was playing in the backyard. I grabbed a book and sat out on the deck while she played. Part of me felt guilty for reading rather than playing … Read More “Autism and Quality Time” »
Today was one of the happiest Sundays in my life. Many people take it for granted that they can go to church as a family. In our case, our two oldest children have autism and live in a group home 1.5 hours away. It has been around six years since Abby has been with us … Read More “Good News: Bringing Our Son to Church” »
My tendency on Mother’s Day is to focus on how much I miss my own mother, who died almost ten years ago. But in doing that, I would miss the incredible blessing of my wife Amanda. I don’t have the words to describe how much I appreciate Amanda. Amanda comes to motherhood with her own … Read More “Good News: My Wife is an Amazing Mother” »
My plan is to highlight one thing per week that I’m thankful for. Today I have decided to share four things for my Good News. The first is that today is our daughter Faith’s ninth birthday. She is the third of three April birthdays we have for our children. Even our dog has a birthday … Read More “Good News: 4 Things I’m Thankful For” »
Although I don’t talk about it as much as our children with autism, we also have a child with ADHD. Some may think that ADHD is not near as serious as autism but there have been many days where it has been more difficult. It has been a long journey trying to deal with Justus’s … Read More “Good News: Our Son is Back” »
There are actually two things that I want to share for my weekly Good News post. The first is that I want to share how much I’m enjoying my role as pastor of Queen Street Baptist Church. Even two years ago I was not sure if I would ever be the pastor of a church … Read More “Good News: Double Shot” »
Our two oldest children have autism and our experience with them has shaped our entire family. Although there have been some hard days, we have also had some great times as well. I may share the difficult moments in another post but today I will share the six best autism moments. For some context, both … Read More “My Six Favourite Autism Memories” »
I have mentioned previously that we plan to go swimming as a family every Sunday night. While that doesn’t always work out, sometimes it is for the best. Amanda is still recovering from her surgery and Justus didn’t feel like going. I was going to take Emma and Faith but right before we left, we … Read More “Good News: Daddy-Daughter Date” »
It is easy to come up with Good News this week. A few days ago, Amanda had some surgery. It was a planned surgery and one we have been waiting for. It was serious enough for Amanda to spend one night in hospital. The surgery itself is Good News because it will solve some ongoing … Read More “Good News: Recovering Well” »
It’s pretty easy to come up with Good News today. After a long dry spell, I finally got to go on a date with Amanda. At one time we were able to go out on weekly dates, but childcare is not so easy to find these days. Thankfully, Amanda’s mother was able to watch the … Read More “Good News: Finally Got a Date!” »
The purpose of my Good News post is to pick one good thing that has happened as a way for me to keep positive. While there is often one thing that stands out, this time I’m looking at the big picture. I have been blessed in some amazing ways. Here are some: Amanda and I … Read More “Good News: Seeing the Big Picture” »
Normally, when a person begins as a pastor at a church, they bring their entire immediate family with them. But our family is not normal. Our two oldest children have autism and they live in a group home an hour and a half away. So even though I have been the pastor at Queen Street … Read More “Good News: Introducing My Son to My Church” »
Family has always been an important part of my life. Being an only child, I do not take family for granted. Aunts, uncles and cousins were important relationships. Unfortunately, being an only child limits my opportunities for being an uncle. But that is where Amanda’s family comes in. I have a nephew on the other … Read More “Good News: Being Uncle Steve” »
My wife has not tried to hide the struggles she has experienced. I won’t go into them here, but you can read about it in her words at her blog. I’m proud of Amanda for many reasons and one of them is her honesty and courage in sharing what she has gone through. In addition … Read More “Good News: Proud of Amanda” »
Normally, I don’t make a big deal of birthdays. While I reflect on a new year of life, I don’t expect much in terms of celebrations. However, this was one of the most enjoyable birthdays I have had in a long time. Although my birthday is today, my presents started on Friday. Our children, Logan … Read More “Good News: A Great Birthday” »
One of the highlights of my life is our regular visits with our children Logan and Abby. Logan and Abby both have autism and they live in a group home about an hour away. This weekend was one of those visits. Abby tends to interact with us more than Logan. When we were having lots … Read More “Good News: The Present of Presence” »
I may be too presumptuous in making a judgment about all families with disabilities, but I’m at least confident that this applies to a good majority of families. I believe that the biggest need for families with disabilities is respite. What is respite? Respite is when someone watches your child so that the family can … Read More “The Biggest Need For Families With Disabilities” »
Disability ministry is extremely important. Churches must be reaching out to those with disabilities. But that should not be the only goal for disability ministry. While not taking away from the needs of those with a disability, disabilities affect the entire family. Much of the contact that I have is with parents of children … Read More “Disability Ministry is Not Just to Those With Disabilities” »
Tomorrow is our daughter Abby’s fourteenth birthday. It is hard to believe that she is this old already. It seems like only yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital. Abby is a major daddy’s girl (just like Logan is a momma’s boy). We have always been very close. It was one of … Read More “Good News: Happy Birthday Abby!” »
This past week, we had our two children with autism come for a visit. It was nice in that our other three children were away at camp and so things were a bit quieter in the house. It is difficult having our children living in a different city but there are good things. We get … Read More “Good News: Love My Kids” »
I want to make it clear that what I’m about to say is my experience and is not meant to describe the experience of any other autism parent. I understand that there is pressure from within the autism community to not see or speak of autism in a negative way. I hear those concerns, especially … Read More “The Hardest Thing About Autism” »
It is common that when you meet new people, that you ask each other about family. I tell people that I have five children and they respond by asking about ages. When they hear that I have two teenagers, they often respond with common understandings of what teenagers are like. The truth is that my … Read More “The Assumption of “Normal”” »
I post a weekly Good News post. I started this a number of years ago during a dark time in my life. It was a way of looking past all the difficulties and finding something that I could be thankful for. It began as a daily discipline and eventually moved to a weekly post. First, … Read More “Autism Can Include Good News” »
It is easy to come up with good news today. Today is the start of three weeks of vacation. What makes this better, is that my excitement is not about the chance to get away from work. I love my job and I enjoy doing what I do. This won’t be one of those vacations … Read More “Good News: Vacation Time!” »
I won’t deny that there are difficulties that go along with being the parents of children with autism. We have had quite a few crisis moments over the years. The fact that both our children now live in a group home tells you that it is not easy. Sometimes we only hear the hard stories. … Read More “The Other Side of Being an Autism Dad” »
Last Sunday in my Good New post, I shared that it had been a difficult couple of days. I did not give many details about what happened and I will not in this post either. However, many people have been praying for our family and we have seen the results of those prayers. This week … Read More “Good News: A Much Better Week” »
It is frequently claimed that Christians should have an unquestioning faith since Jesus taught us to have child-like faith. We should bury our doubts and questions and just trust as a child would. The problem is that I have yet to meet that child who does not question. Every child that I encounter is filled … Read More “Real Childlike Faith” »
Today was a day that I have been looking forward to for a long time. This morning, I had the opportunity and privilege to baptize one of my children. Emma, along with another young person from our church were baptized in response to their faith in Jesus. Emma is the first of our five children … Read More “Good News: Baptizing My Daughter” »
It has been a while since we have seen Logan and Abby at our house. Abby has missed a number of visits and our last visit was at their house. We have been looking forward to having them back but were not sure how it would go. The visit went far better than we could … Read More “Good News: Fun With the Kids” »
Our month of birthdays continues. Already this month, two of my sons and my dog have had birthdays. Today is my daughter Faith’s birthday. One of the interesting things about Faith is when she came to us. I was born when my father was thirty-nine and although he was a great dad, I did not … Read More “Gotta Have Faith!” »
For my good news post, I could speak about my love for my sons who just had birthdays. But I already did that here and here. Still, having these guys in my life is good news and a great blessing. Instead, I was drawn to just the change in our life over the past three … Read More “Good News: Feeling Blessed” »
