Thank you.
Thank you for being a great Dad.
Thank you for noticing things about your son when others might not have.
Thank you for making things teachable moments.

Thank you for teaching me about as much as Jett may have learned- and I’m twenty three.

Becca’s last blog post..Round Hole. Round Peg.

I recently signed up for a daily email from Neale Donald Walsch, who wrote the “Conversations with God” books. Here’s what my email said today:

“On this day of your life, Jan, I believe God wants you to know…

….that outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem
of their personnel. If people believe in themselves it’s
amazing what they can accomplish.

Sam Walton said that, and he was right.
If you direct the activities of others, have you given them
a compliment today? Have you told them how valuable they are?

If they are not valuable, why do you have them working
for you? If they are, why would you not tell them?
Not once a year, at evaluation time.
Right now. Today. And often.”

Jan C.’s last blog post..Reasons I Love Chick-fil-A

Jenn’s last blog post..Softball Sunday

Awesome. Must be proud of your son for suiting up and showing up, as my favorite role model used to say…

Napoleon said, “a leader’s role is to define reality and give hope.”

To be honest, I am concerned about this era of “self esteem” that we are finding ourselves in. I was a three-sport athlete growing up and found that my best lessons were when I LOST! Today, COMPETITION is considered bad, because by definition it creates winners and losers. Yet, my innumerable experiences as the “loser” really helped define my character. Athletics are a great opportunity to teach our children how to behave as a “winner” and as a “loser”, because they are going to be in both roles in the game of life. With all that said, I am strongly opposed to children of extremely young ages (4, 5 or so) who are in competitive leagues. That is just crazy and more likely represents a father or mother who feels like he/she has something left to prove from their own childhood.

My final rant…we need to teach our children (and ourselves) to resist the sin of complacency. It took down the Roman Empire and has the opportunity to do the same to the good ‘ole USA. We really need to challenge ourselves and each other. The coaches and surgeon-teachers I have admired the most are those who pushed me to achieve things that I didn’t think I could do (at times I also hated them for it…).

So, Jett took one on the chin this evening? Good, welcome to the club my man! You are not alone. We have all been through it and we celebrate the integrity you displayed with your loss. True character is revealed in times of adversity.

Melissa Irwin’s last blog post..To Be His Voice…