Big Family Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, as with most since we've moved to the Portland area, was spent with my Dad's family. It has become a tradition to do a Thanksgiving dinner followed by what we call a "Chinese Gift Exchange." You know, the kind where each person brings a small gift that is piled in the center and then you open the gifts one at a time. But instead of opening a gift, you can go steal something someone else has already opened. It's quite entertaining and always fun, but not the highlight of this year's get together.

With the birth of Kyle and then the birth of his second cousin Hope about 2 weeks ago, we are up to 8 great-grandchildren in the family now. Six of them were at the party. Of course Kyle and Hope didn't participate much besides to be passed around every once in awhile, but the other four did a bang up job of keeping the party full of energy. There was a 5 year old, a 3 year old, an almost 3 year old (Ben) and a 17-month old. All very fond of running. And chasing.

So there were 36 of us in all, ranging from 2 weeks to 82 years and I just love that kind of party. It's so great to see the generations and how the interact; how they differ; what they talk about amongst each other. For a people watcher like me it's so much fun.

But much more than that it's so special to see the impact two people can have on the world. All of those children and grandchildren my grandparents have and all the different ways they've chosen to serve the Lord. What a legacy of faith that is. I just hope that Mindy and I can leave a similar legacy with our family.

Finding Nemo

Watching movies with kids can be a lot of work. This last Saturday we watched Finding Nemo with Ben. I think it's only the second movie he's seen and it's the first one I've seen with him. It was so much fun and I think Ben really enjoyed it, but there is so much that happens in movies and the 2-year old brain doesn't quite comprehend it all.

Every once in a while Mindy or I would laugh or exclaim about something and Ben would look at me and say "What dad?" He was just entranced by the movie, but wanted to know why we reacted the way we did. It was really sweet. Of course he didn't get some of the jokes etc, but he always wanted to know what was going on.

Of course sometimes it's hard to explain what happened in terms a 2-year old will understand. Also sometimes you just don't want to explain all the details, like at the beginning when Nemo's mom is eaten by the shark or whatever. So you get to try to boil the whole thing down into a couple sentences that a 2-year old will understand.

It's so much fun to see him grasp what's happening and ask questions about it. Last night he was watching it again when I got home from work and so I sat down with him for a while and he says, "Where are Nemo's dad and Dory?"

"They're in the whale."

"Where are they going?"

"The whale is helping them find Nemo."

"Oh," he says as if it's not odd at all that a whale has swallowed two fish to help them out...

TV and Imagination

Last Saturday we were watching a medical drama on TV while Ben was napping. It wasn't finished when he got up, but we decided to finish it. At a very intense scene with the patient writhing in pain while the doctor was trying to diagnose him, we looked over and Ben was just entranced. Mindy told him that the man had a really bad tummy ache.

Well, that night at bedtime, Ben got all teary and weird, and said that there was a guy in his bed. Mindy asked him what guy, and he said that it was the guy with the tummy ache. So they prayed about it and she reminded him that "God is bigger than the bogey man" (thank heavens for Veggie Tales)...and it was okay. But he's mentioned it several times since

The other night Ben was asking for special loveys (his "geen bwanket" and his Ernie) and after a short search I found them hidden in the closet.

I said "You put them in the closet silly boy. Why did you do that?"

"To keep the girl from getting them," Ben replied.

"What girl?"

"The girl who was helping the guy," he said very seriously.

"What did she look like?" I asked, wanting to see how detailed this little fantasy world was and confirm if this was more backlash from the TV show.

"A doctor."

It was all very matter of fact and he didn't seem scared or worried. It's quite amazing the effect that scene had on him and how he was actually interacting with the imaginary characters in his play.

Musically Inclined?

I noticed today that my last two entries were a little on the heavy side, but I guess I've been kind of overwhelmed lately by the stress and responsibility of being a parent. But back to more exciting things...

Mindy and I got the chance to go on a date last Saturday night. My parents are so awesome to come and watch our two boys for us even though it's almost an hour drive one way. They came over about 3 and we had a little time to visit with them ourselves before Mindy fed Kyle and we sped away to try and see a movie and have dinner before Kyle's bedtime and the last feeding of the night.

Twice during that time of visiting, Ben gave us spontaneous musical performances. The first was a rousing rendition of the ABCs accompanied by the triangle. A little later he had dragged Grandma over to the piano and was playing the same two or three notes over and over, singularly and together, as he sang various Veggie Tales' songs and Rich Mullins' songs. It was so cute to watch and he was just swaying and boogying down sitting there on the piano bench, so into his singing.

Ben also loves to have music playing. Especially at dinner time. He'll even ask for specific CDs to be played. I wonder what his interest will be later on. It'd be so fun to take him to piano lessons and go to recitals.

I wish I had stuck with piano lessons longer or stuck with it longer than 3 weeks when trying to learn guitar. Maybe it will be something we can do together. Could be fun!

Leaving an Impression

Yesterday we had our monthly men's breakfast at the church and the speaker talked to us about leaving a legacy. That's something that I've been thinking about a lot this week in regards to Benjamin and Kyle. What am I teaching them? What will they remember about their childhood or their father?

I have lots of good memories of my dad, but I know that he wasn't perfect. There are things in my life that I can attribute almost directly to my dad. I'm not blaming or giving credit. I just really recognize what an influence my dad had on my life, both good and bad. I have a pretty strong desire to volunteer and help when I see a need and I know I got that from my dad's example. He was always helping out at our church or other places that needed extra help. My dad also didn't know how to say no very well when people asked him to help; I got that too.

I'm getting better at that and so is my dad, but you can see the kind of things I've been thinking about.

What does Ben think when I leave for yet another meeting at the church after dinner is over? Am I setting a good example or bad?

Do I say "Please" as often as I expect him to?

And of course I'd like him to learn to close his eyes when we pray. But it's not like I can look up to see if Ben's got his eyes open to gently remind him to close them. If he doesn't, he's just seen me looking and not practicing what I preach.

These are fairly minor things right now, but they will get much more important soon. It's an awesome responsibility being a father and I'm proud of the way my dad raised me, regardless of his failures; I can only hope Ben and Kyle will feel the same way.