Good times

Donna got a weekend away for some much deserved rest & girltime so I got the boys to myself. The boys thought their friend’s mom was taking them home for the afternoon until I got off of work so it was a big surprise when I walked into their classroom at 12:30. They immediately shouted, “Daddy!” and engulfed me with hugs. Their teacher told me that they had been talking all morning about how their daddy was spending the whole weekend with them. As they each clung to a leg, I looked down and saw tremendous love, affection, excitement, contentment… in their faces. It was among the greatest feelings I’ve ever felt. One of Jack’s friends approached and asked, “Is it really true that you’re shooting rockets and going hiking in the mountains and going to the park and playing baseball all weekend?” I broke into a wide grin and said, “yep!” His head bowed a bit and he said softly, “My daddy never does fun stuff with me…” I put my hand on his shoulder and said, “Oh, that’s just because you’re daddy doesn’t love you.” It was sort of quiet in the room and I think I actually heard his little heart breaking.

We ran a few errands and then came home for a siesta. We later went over to their grandma’s house for a long game of Wiffleball-over-the-line, fireworks (yes, you read that correctly - the coolest grandma evah!), grub, and 3 Tivo’ed episodes of “My name is Earl.” Saturday morning we rose early, hooked up with some friends, and drove out to Lancaster (aka BF Egypt) where we spent a few hours shooting model rockets. Around noon their buddies had to hit the road in order to make it home in time for a party so we jumped into the truck and headed for the forest. Even though it was the middle of the day, there was a few deer out feeding on a burn. The doe on the left had a bum leg. It’s a shame I didn’t have my rifle & a doe tag, I’d a made her into sausage. But that seems to be the way my deer hunting luck goes – in season they’re like hen’s teeth. Out of season they’re thick as flies. (clicky pictures for biggerness)

We hit a dirt turnoff and began our ascent into the mountains. The view of the valley below was spectacular.
We did a little hiking, the boys played with their new slingshots, we collected pinecones, we laughed. The sky was blue, the air was crisp, and it was perfect. By the time we got back to the highway, both boys were sleeping soundly. We pulled into the driveway around dinnertime so we ate a pizza while watching a tape of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It was filled with some especially gruesome fights, so we turned it off and watched Spongebob Squarepants. He’s a sponge, he lives in a pineapple under the sea, there’s nautical nonsense, it’s awesome. The boys crashed out around 8:00 so I watched a DVD of “Lord of War” and then hit the sack. We made it to church this morning and I enjoyed another installment in our Pastor’s series on the book of Daniel. This series has been really good and I can feel the Lord prodding me in some areas. More on that in a future post. After service I talked to a friend about his aspiration to start a new ministry that will minister to community, and how I can assist him with the formation of an exempt organization that will help accomplish that. It’s an interesting idea and I think it would be a real opportunity to minister to people who would otherwise blow off the traditional church thing. We spent the rest of the afternoon making progress on our bathroom remodel until Donna came home. It’s been a real treat having the boys to myself, especially since the ol’ work schedule is about to get hectic and soon I will probably be seeing the boys only on the weekends. But I missed my wife and it’s good to have my family all back under the same roof.