Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us – Maya Angelou

There’s a serious lack of empathy in our society, and the empathy gap often prevents us from seeing each other as we really are: people in need of neighbors.

What does the show My Little Pony, a couples massage, lego friends, and a Sunday phone call with grandma have in common? They each represent the value of planning for defining moments. #purejoy #definingmoments

I came home one night to find my 6 year old doing a spot on impersonation of me. While it was hilarious, it left me wanting to change a few things about how I behave.

Friday #familymovie nights are our chance to begin the unwinding process. We know our family’s rhythms. We go hard in the paint all week long, and the weekends are kind of like our sacred time.

In order for children to become successful adults who can manage their lives well, they have to first see their lives as their own to manage and believe in goal setting as a means to an end. Given that Samantha and I are working on our own ability to set clear, simple, trackable goals, we wanted to bring the girls along for this ride so that vision-oriented goal setting becomes a habit.    

My schedule is far less about what I want to get done and far more about who I want to become. The question I’ve started asking myself is, does my schedule reflect the husband, father, leader, and person that I want to become?

As we head into another school year I’m wondering the same thing that I generally ponder each year…am I prepared?  Are we prepared? Talk about #dadschoolgoals…

There’s just something about finding your people when you’re young, and having the privilege of growing up with them into adults, spouses, and parents. There’s an intimacy that allows you to be known, but also appropriately challenged.  We’re fortunate enough to have a few friends in this category of inner circle, and for that I am grateful.

You can usually tell that you’ve had a good time when there’s laughter heard and quite a mess made.  Yesterday we had both in good measure.