Archive - October, 2008
Fall Festival = Family Time
It’s all come down to this. Months and months of planning, organizing, recruiting volunteers, and promoting it should all come to fruition on Friday Night at 7pm. I’ve done so many “Halloween Alternatives” over the years that they’ve all begun to blend together in my memory…While I could write many reasons NOT to do an event that every other church in town does… on the same night… at the exact same time, I cannot say that it’s not a great time. When 1,000+ people show up to play, it’s usually always a good time.
But the challenge is in how to make a event like this effective. I’m not preaching the gospel, I’m not passing out anti-Halloween pamphlets, I’m not leading a worship service, and I’m not asking all the vampires, Frankensteins, and zombies to leave the premises upon arrival. What I am doing is striving to create an atmosphere where families can come and spend time together.
But here’s the kicker; how to do this when you need over 100 volunteers and traditionally most the volunteers are parents? It’s easy and hard, but I’ve eliminated the recruitment of any workers that have children under the age of 12. I don’t want any parents working in any area! We’re forcing family time, even if it makes us double-up in other areas. It is now two days out from the event and I think we might have pulled it off. I’ve recruited Senior High and Junior High student leaders, college students, empty-nesters, and young marrieds to fill each and every spot needed. Not easy in any way, but it can be done!
In the years to come we can continue to argue the merits of such events, but for this year I’m hoping I can honestly walk away and say that we’ve created a TRUE Family Friendly event; even if it kills us!
Big Dyl
Today I have a 5 year old. I’ve had a 5 year old before, but this makes my second 5 year old. Dylan Joel will celebrate his birthday with friends, of his choosing on Saturday. He’s having a monkey party if you believe it. Why a monkey party? Because he can make a great monkey face, of course! Geesh…
A few days ago someone was telling me how much Dylan loved her son, and how if Dylan ever sees him he drops what he’s holding and runs to him with arms open telling them hello in his own special way. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Dylan does that to everyone that he knows. He’s wonderfully shy in rooms of strangers, but get him around someone familiar and there is NO DOUBT that Dylan is their friend. It’s weird actually to have such a shy, hidden, and reclusive kid be such a clown. He makes his family laugh everyday, whether be it when he’s acting like the unfortunate man who gets kicked in the groin each week on America’s Funniest Videos, or making fart sounds at the most inopportune times. But ask him to do it again, and he clams up. Not an ounce of showmanship in him!
It’s perfectly demonstrated each week on the soccer field. Dylan is a great little soccer player, however it hasn’t exactly translated to the soccer games. We’ll play in the backyard and he gets the ball and dribbles and kicks it as good as any kid his age. He’ll go to practice and for the most part do the same thing, but dress him in his blue soccer jersey and take him to a game and he turns into a zombie. He’s still the biggest fan of his team, jumping up and down when someone else scores, and handing out high-fives every few minutes. He just forgets to actually kick the ball and play the game. Other parents have watched with fascination how he gets so lost when everyone is cheering and yelling his name; but watch him in the huddle, eating bananas at half-time, or running through the parent tunnel after the game and they, like me, see a kid that is 100% enjoying himself.
So last Saturday was a special time, because for the first time Dylan took the soccer ball and started dribbling towards the goal with all his 4 year old might… and kicked the ball… through the goal for a score! When he scored I couldn’t even get to the sideline to give him a high-five. The other parents beat me there, as well as grandparents, and his teammates on the sideline. They were all so thrilled for this happy little kid to score his first goal, that they almost tackled him on the sideline to congratulate him. It almost makes me cry thinking about it.
To be in Dylan’s presence and not be happy is to not be a human. He is an absolute delight to share life with, and I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t feel the exact same way.
Happy Birthday Dyl!
So Much Better
My kind of super hero!
For Dan Pirraro’s take on this cartoon and many others check out his blog.
Could Be a Movie
This has to be the strangest sports story I’ve heard in a long, long, long time. I think I made up this scenario a hundred times as a kid.
Contest-winning kicker might play for Texas Tech
Matt Williams, a transfer student and kicker from Tarleton State, has been cleared to play for the Red Raiders after first being noticed while booting a field goal during an in-game promotion, according to a report on RedRaiders.com, a branch of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal Web site.
Head coach Mike Leach discovered Williams during Texas Tech’s Sept. 20 game against Massachusetts, when Williams nailed a 30-yard field goal in a between-quarters contest to win himself free rent for a year.
Leach approached Williams after the kick — which cleared the uprights with plenty of distance — and invited him to join the team the following week, according to the report.
Rest of the story HERE.
