Dear Michele

I write letters to my 17 year old daughter Michele in which I give her advice on various topics. I am collecting these letters into a book titled Dear Michele, Letters from a Christian Therapist to his Teenage Daughter.

Dear Michele,

I remember when you were five years old. You were this sweet little sprite of a girl, so innocent, so trusting. I knew that being a father was a big responsibility and I would need to teach you about life. I knew it would be important for you to learn how to navigate your way through life, so I used to drop you off in Chicago and tell you, "If you find your way home you will have earned my love." I wanted you to be motivated. You won't understand until you are a parent, how hard it was for me to wait those long days until the policeman brought you home. And I would drop to my knees, look you in the eyes and explain to you that if a policeman brings you home it's cheating.

Love, Dad

P.S. Tell your foster parents I said hello.

Heard Around Our House

"I think it's cute when Dad acts like he knows where he's going." - Michele

"Honey, knock off on the stupidness." - Nancy

"I gotta get to the bathroom fast cause I'm about to spray out that burrito." - Tom

The word for the week

I love words. I especially love words that are fun to say. Occasionally, if not weekly, I will point out such a word and your job, should you accept the challenge, will be to use it in a sentence when talking to someone. After you have used the word post your sentence here and our team of judges will choose the best, most clever and creative sentence. The winner will receive... my respect. Todays word is bamboozle. Which means to trick or deceive. It is truly one of the great words of the English language. You may use these forms of the word as well, bamboozled and bamboozling. You will receive extra points if you can tell me the origin of the word. Good luck.

Nancy

She's beautiful
Like all expressions of selfless love are
That smile
That whispers I know the secret
Becoming is in the giving
In her authentic self
She glows
And I cannot believe my good fortune
To be close enough to her
To at once reflect and absorb her radiance
Light that dances in her eyes
And finds expression in countless
Little things she does for those she loves
The way she dances out of a room
When those of us with less imagination
Would merely use our feet for walking
The way she loves
As if life depended on it and indeed it does
Leaves me to conclude
I have never known love before

I did it. I have entered the blogosphere. I'm not what you would call an early adopter. Never been accused of being techno savvy. My vcr still mockingly blinks 12:00. I don't have an ipod or a palm pilot. I don't even type. What am I doing with a blog? Why would anyone read it?

I mean, the latest statistic states that there are a zillion and three blogs. Some of them are so great. Informative, thought provoking, and fun. See Corey Mann's blog. Very cool. I am not cool. I used to be cool, but then I had children and they sucked the cool right out of me. They can't believe there was ever a time when I was cool. Ever.

I will now tell you some things about myself. I realize that I am making a huge assumption that anyone would care.

I am in love with Jesus. I have an amazing wife, Nancy. I am fascinated by history. I read a lot. My dream is to take a trip to Israel. Even if our four children were not our children I would still want to know them because they are such wonderful people. Words are really cool. I miss my mom. I like super hero comic books. I am a social worker/therapist/addictions counselor. I have been writing in my journal for 20 years. I am the inventor of an unpatented personal cooling unit (more on this later). I enjoy researching my family genealogy. Your family genealogy is really boring to me, but I'd love to tell you all about mine. Is anyone still reading this? Why? Don't you people have lives? Right now go hug your kids, watch the sunset, give your spouse a back rub, call your mom, floss.

Thus ends my first foray into the world of blogging. Thanks.