The Name Daddy...

…is a gift…

 

a high honor….

 

a title not to be taken lightly…

 

a child’s first impression of a protector, provider, encourager, and affirmer of identity and self-worth.

 

The name Daddy….is a valuable entrustment.

 

Parenting: It’s Never an Interruption

I wanted to share the below article I came across written by Paul Tripp.... 

 

Parenting is all about living by the principle of prepared spontaneity. You don't really know what's going to happen next. You don't really know when you'll have to enforce a command, intervene in an argument, confront a wrong, holdout for a better way, remind someone of a truth, call for forgiveness, lead someone to confession, point to Jesus, restore peace, hold someone accountable, explain a wisdom principle, give a hug of love, laugh in the face of adversity, help someone complete a task, mediate an argument, stop with someone and pray, assist someone to see their heart, or talk once again about what it means to live together in a community of love.

What you do know is that Scripture gives you the wisdom that you need and your always-present Messiah gives you the grace that you need to be ready to respond to the moments of opportunity he’ll give you. Along with this, you and I must remember that our Lord loves our children more than we ever could and his commitment to their growth and change is more faithful and persevering than ours could ever be. Because of this, in his grace and love, he’ll manufacture moments that expose the needy hearts of our children to us. He’ll faithfully employ the little moments of everyday life to expose to us and our children their need of rescuing and forgiving grace. And he’ll not do this only at the moments which you feel are appropriate and when you feel most prepared.

Let me give you an example. We had planned a day at a local theme park with our children. I was anticipating a day of familial amusement park bliss. You know, I was hoping that on this day my children would be self-parenting and if God could throw in a fully sanctified wife that would be cool! Well, we get to the park and are getting out of the van and one of my children said, "Dad, may we have something to drink before we go into the park?" It didn't seem like a dangerous request. I opened the cooler, which was full of soft drinks, and all of my children sighted in on the one can of soda that they all knew was the best. Immediately, global nuclear war broke out. They were pushing and shoving, grabbing and pulling, throwing ice at one another, saying unkind things and hitting one another's hands out of the way. I couldn't believe it, we’re not in the park yet and my day was already ruined!

So I jumped in and said, "Do you want to fight? We don't have to pay all this money for you to fight. I'll take you home, put a cooler in the backyard with one can of soda in it and you can fight forever!" Soon my children aren't fighting anymore because they're watching the crowd gather as I lose it in the parking lot of the theme park.

Let's analyze what's going on in this moment and what's happening inside me. What's going on is that a God of grace is taking a mundane moment of daily family life and using it to do something wonderful for my children and for me. He's making the condition of their hearts visible in order to produce concern in me that would hopefully result in awareness and a desire to change in them. But I'm not at all encouraged in this moment with what God is doing. You see, I'm not angry in the parking lot because my children are sinners. No, I'm angry that God has exposed their sin, and because he has, I have to forsake my agenda for the day and parent them! It all seemed a huge imposition; a hassle that I just didn't want to deal with.

But the reality is that if your eyes ever see, or your ears ever hear the sin, weakness, rebellion or failure of your children, it’s never an imposition. It’s never an interruption. It’s never a hassle. It’s always grace. God loves your children; he’s put them in a family of faith, and in relentless grace he will reveal their need to you again and again so that you can be his tool of awareness, conviction, repentance, faith and change. And because in these moments he asks you to forsake your agenda for his, this opportunity of grace isn’t just for your children, it's for you as well.

But my problem is that there are moments when I tend to love my little kingdom of one more than I love his. So I'm impatient, discouraged or irritated, not because my children have broken the laws of God's kingdom, but the laws of mine. In my kingdom there shall be no parenting on family vacation days, or when I am reading the paper on my iPad, or after ten o'clock at night, or during a good meal, or... And when I'm angry about interruptions to my kingdom plan there are four things I tend to do:

1. I tend to turn a God-given moment of ministry into a moment of anger.
2. I do this because I’ve personalized what isn’t personal. (Before we left for the amusement park that day, my children didn't plot to drive me crazy in the parking lot).
3. Because I’ve personalized what isn’t personal, I am adversarial in my response. (It's not me acting for my children, but acting against them because they’re in the way of what I want).
4. So I end up settling for situational solutions that don't really get to the heart of the matter. (I bark and order, I instill guilt, I threaten a punishment and walk away, and my children are utterly unchanged by the encounter).

There’s a better way. It begins with praying that God would give you new eyes; eyes that are more focused on his eternal work of grace than on your momentary plans for you. This better way also includes seeking God for a flexible and willing heart; ready to abandon your agenda for God's greater plan. And it lives with the confidence that God is in you, with you, and for you, and will give you what you need so that you can face, with courage and grace, the parenting moment that you didn't know was coming.

[Link to article: http://www.paultripp.com/articles/posts/parenting-its-never-an-interruption]

Blessed Indeed

♥

A little girl needs her daddy...

A little girl needs her daddy
To love her with manly charm,
To soothe her when she's hurt,
And keep her safe from harm.

A little girl needs her daddy
To show her a man who's good,
To help her make right choices,
As only a father could.

A little girl needs her daddy,
to be the first man in her life,
to tell her she is worthy,
of a husband who treats her right.

A little girl needs her daddy,
for rides up on his shoulders,
for surprise stuffed animal gifts,
and for strong arms that hold her.

A little girl needs her daddy,
to lead his family strong,
cause through the sunshine and the rain,
he teaches that faith can carry her on.

A little girl needs her daddy,
for a snowy February date,
cause there’s a dance down the road,
and the whole day she could hardly wait!!!!!

♥

Because He is Daddy

Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad.
~Author Unknown~

Fun with Daddy!

Bubbles!

Airplane rides will never go out of style around our house!

Jayla loves to wrestle Daddy in the morning.

She thinks that if she hides her eyes then he can't see her. :)

Sometimes even Daddy has to play babies!

And, Daddy bought Sam a new bike!

But guess who had to try it out first?!?!?!

Daddy & Jayla

(Practicing the follow-through)

(Playing some Wii bowling)

(Daddy & Jayla are the only ones who can tame the wild Mr. Mernes)

When Daddy Babysits

On Wednesday mornings Jake stays home with Jayla while I take JJ to his Kindermusik class. Well, yesterday when we got back I no sooner walked in the door and Jake said, “Guess what your daughter has been up to…” I glanced over at Jayla who was sitting on the couch with a big smile…she looked all in one piece. I looked back at Jake for an explanation and he said, “So, I wanted to check my emails while she played in the living room. I was at the computer for like 2 minutes…..and, then I noticed it had gotten really quiet…. and then, well, just look at the pictures on your camera.”

I turned on the camera and this is what I saw:

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Yes, it was a mild version of marker make-up, but still so classically funny since it was under daddy’s supervision! I would have never known this all happened because Jake had her face completely washed off by the time I got home. Well, at least I thought that until I noticed the marker on her tights, her boots, her neck, and scribbled all over her baby doll. I think Daddy may have been checking his emails longer than 2 minutes?!

From Daddy

Daddy went shopping.

At the Mall of America.

All by himself.

He picked up a new outfit.

And some things for JJ.

And

look

what

he

bought

for

Jayla

Something tells me these won’t look quite right with her closet full of sundresses!

Only A Daddy

On Tuesday afternoon Jake met me in Ames and took JJ & Jayla home so that I could run some errands. When I pulled into our driveway at home I noticed Jayla’s blanket next to the car on the lawn. I went over to pick it up, and that’s when I saw it…throw-up. Oh no, I thought. I went in the front door, and this is what I saw:

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Jayla was sitting in her old infant seat right smack in front of the tv wearing JJ’s old basketball t-shirt, sweatpants, tight grip on her baby, and with a look on her face that could only be described as, “Help Mommy!”

“She puked on me,” Jake announced.

I started laughing because Jake always gets puked on. Always. Every. Single. Time.

“Why is she wearing JJ’s t-shirt?” I asked.

“Because she has no comfortable clothes,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Oh. Where did you find the infant seat?” I asked.

“In the basement,” he said.

Is it safe to say that only a daddy would think to put a sick baby in sweatpants, in a make-shift recliner, in front of a tv?