Time as a Value Indicator

My friend Dave talked with me about something that I’d like to blog about.  Something I’ve been wrestling with – but not because it’s bad, but because it is so revealing.  He asked me to list of my priorities, which I did, and then he asked me to tell him how much time I spent on each one of those priorities.  He said, “If your relationship with God [in my case] is your first priority, how much time are you spending on that relationship?” Humbly I confess to you: not enough.  There’s a really big difference between my priority list and my time management.  I need to do some shifting.

As my girls get older I’m trying to spend more personal time with them.  It’s hard with all of the demands on my life, but I want that time to reflect their value and their priority.  Because I work from home Jessica sees me a lot more than many wives may see their husbands.  I get to go on lunch dates with her.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays we often drive the girls to school together and then drive home just the two of us.  I think Jessica knows I’ve got her as a priority and that she’s invaluable to me.

If you think of me, pray for me, I’ve got a lot I’m juggling, but I want to make sure there’s time for the things that matter – I want my friends and family to know they’re valuable to me.

So: what are your priorities?  Do your activities reflect that?  Do your activities reflect value to the outside observer or the recipient of the time?

35 and 14

So I turned 35 last week.  This week Jessica and I will be having our 14th wedding anniversary.  I don’t feel a day older than 21 (most days) and yet it feels like I have always been married to Jessica.  When I turned 21 it was 8 days before I got married and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It’s been the best kind of trouble, the best kind of fun, and the best kind of love.

I can’t wait to see what 46 and 25 looks like, not to mention 71 and 50.

I love you, Jessica!

Bread Alone

I asked Jessica, “What is this bread doing soaking in the blue bowl?”

She replied, “It’s benadryl, for the dog, so that she can stay calm after her surgery.”

“OK,” I said, satisfied by that answer.

“Don’t eat it,” she added to help me grasp the seriousness of the situation. She knows I have a special place in my heart for benadryl soaked bread. 😉

They’re Playing Our Song…

American Idol had a clip from House of Pain’s Jump in the background.  A song that came up on the honey moon trip of Jessica and I.  A song we didn’t pick, but one that we couldn’t remember the name of.  I woke Jessica up late that night to tell her I had thought of the song’s name.  It is NOT our song, but it does make me laugh every time I hear it.

My Bride Now Homeschools the Now 4 Year Old

Jessica is presently in the other room schooling the 4 year old. How did the girl turn 4?! Blows my mind. Anyway, she’s being schooled on greater than and less than and I think she’s got the concept down. It tends to really register once you put the lessons in candy form. Fortunately its autumn and the season calls for candy.

Next month I hope we can teach her pie charts with real pecan pie.

I Have a Family

I’m pretty sure that some of you will be wondering about now if I have forgotten that there is a wife and two daughters and a sister-in-law that are part of my life.  I love them dearly, but basically since the beginning of the year we’ve been either sick or traveling or both.  I need to force us all into the same room and force us all to make ridiculous faces so that we can have a picture to post so that those who are more distant will see more closely how crazy we are in digital form.

I love my family and to my knowledge we’re all healthy, Abby’s school is going well as is her dance class and Jessica is starting Evie in gymnastics on Monday next week.  I’m not sleeping tonight (I’ve been up since about 3) for no apparent reason, but I figured I’d take a stab at putting information on this blog that folks might also read.

While I haven’t blogged a lot lately I am posting weird bits on Twitter and you can follow some stuff (and repeats of what’s on Twitter) on Facebook.  Just for fun here are some updates from Twitter that I posted last week on a business trip:

Kevin & Randy’s excellent adventure: listening to some hip hop bit at the airport. White & nerdy indeed [weird al reference].
Kevin & Randy’s excellent adventure: customs had *4* sitting employees not open. they were chatting whilst we stood by.

Kevin & Randy’s excellent adventure: Toronto International better deliver on some cheese after this rat maze.
Canada, you get an “eh” for effort.
Kevin & Randy’s excellent adventure: applebutter BBQ sauce for the gigantic win. [seek this out]
Kevin & Randy’s excellent adventure: “These are our dog’s and ponies.”
Kevin & Randy’s excellent adventure: dog & pony show went well. They want to use a few one trick ponies in another movie.

Kevin & Randy’s excellent adventure: if we catch the rabbit down this trail I’m totally cutting its foot off for luck.

Kevin & Randy’s excellent adventure: note to self disable EVERYTHING but PowerPoint. Kills bings, bongs, & popups.

All of those “Tweets” [and more!] were done while on a trip with a great guy, marketing director, and handy travel companion, Kevin.  I’d tell you more but I’d have to grill you.