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.

As parents we can do our best to plan teachable moments (like our recent trip to the Center for Civil and Human Rights), but sometimes the best ones come while paying attention to everyday life.  Here’s how my daughter Olivia recently inspired me to dare greatly while riding to swim practice yesterday.

For each of our four children, we’ve given a lot of attention to choosing a name that means something.  Not coincidentally, for each of them their name represented something special happening in our own lives during the particular season in which they were born.

Fatherhood is a process: you can’t separate the good from the bad. You simply need a purpose and a plan. In this effort, success is faithfulness to the process.

Olivia and I went to a cooking class this morning (per her request for our one on one activity). All in all, while she may not remember the conversation, she’ll definitely remember the experience. #definingmoments