rev-jane

jane and Deanna have been serving in the 4 year olds class at church on Saturday nights. this is a big deal, because jane is a 9 year old child, but she is serving children- and I think its super cool. so does she.

one night, my students were in small groups, and I was looking for some cookies from the ushers' closet, and I walked by the window of the 4 year olds class and saw jane in a rocking chair with a little boy, and she was reading him a story. so cool!

every Saturday night when I come home, I get a review of what happened in kids church (which jane attends) and from the 4 year old class. last Saturday, Deanna started telling me about 4 year old class when Jane interrupted and said, "Mom- I want to tell him!" I could tell this was going to be good.

from what I could tell, it was a very unique situation: there were 3 four year old boys, 2 mom-helpers (one of them was Deanna), and 1 kid helper, Jane. One boy melted down and had to leave- but his mom was the other mom helper besides Deanna. That left 2 boys, and Deanna and Jane to watch them. Deanna was about to start the bible lesson when a second boy was melting down. Deanna had to tell the childrens workers to call his mom, but that would mean that she had to step out for a second with the boy- which left Jane with the third boy. Deanna was only gone long enough to tell the workers to call his mom, but Jane insisted that she could tell the bible story to the third boy.

So she says to me, "Dad- I did the bible lesson tonight."
 "what?!" I asked-
"yup. I did it. I used the puppets and the stuffed animals and I told the little boy how God created all of the animals. he really liked how I used the stuffed animals to tell the story."

I was a little speechless. "Jane- YOU did the bible story?!"
"yup. it was fun!"
we immediately discussed what kind of special reward she would get for doing something so brave, mature and others-centered.

I tell kids about God all the time. and I find a lot of satisfaction in that. now my kid got a taste of what its like to serve God and help others. and I'm so, so pleased, deep down in my heart by that. I've been praying for something like that.

I'm so glad that children's ministry gave Jane that opportunity- now we need to find ways to fan that flame.

God is love.
-rev-rob

switching channels-

tonight, I was flipping channels and jane was drawing-
I wanted to watch this show about a famous motorcycle builder, but I wasn't sure if he was going to start swearing, so I had my hand on the remote, just in case.

he started talking about wanting to be a better dad to his kids, and he started saying something like, "I want to be better dad, not some BLEEP, BLEEP who BLEEP BLEEEP..." (the channel censored out his words). I changed the channel as quick as I could. I felt dumb that jane heard any of it, but she looked up from her coloring and said, "whatever he's talking about, I know that it has nothing to do with my dad-"

that was cool to hear.

being a dad is awesome.
-rev-rob

bibliophilia

i love books.
I've got a lot of them.
I spend a lot of time, reading to them, listening them, organizing them, trading them-
they are in every room of my house and in my office.

recently, I downsized my office and sold nine boxes of books. I didn't realize that parting with them would be such an emotional experience for me.

I have not been buying as much paper-books lately because I'm low on storage space- I've been getting most of my books through my amazingly-wonderful little amazon kindle.

I recently organized my books and I noted that there were a number of re-occuring authors. there is a short list of people who can write a book and be guaranteed that I will buy it the day it comes out. they are as follows:

• phillip yancey- this guy is my favorite author. hands down. I've have all of his books. I even got to meet him a few years ago. when his last book came out, I was listening to it while painting and I had to actually stop painting and wipe away tears from the beauty of the stories that he told.

• jim collins- this guy has written the best and most influential books for business over the last 15 years. he has something insightful to say on ever page of ever book.

• erwin mcmanus- what can I say? I love this guy- and no one says it better than him. I have been able to meet him a few times and actually had lunch with him way back when I was in college and he was still unknown.

• donald miller- I love his books and stories. I will get every one that he writes.

• malcolm gladwell- what does he write about? kind of everything. and its always incredible, profound, and well said.

• leonard sweet- this is another one of my favorite Christian authors. he has such a delightful way of writing and preaching. I met him a few months ago- he is amazing.

• rob bell- this guy has sparked all kinds of controversy about his views on hell recently- I can disagree with him and still enjoy his books, and speaking. I was also able to meet him recently.

there is also a list of authors who I enjoy very much, and no not have ALL of their books, but I have many of them. these people include:

• henri nouwen- on faith and spirituality
• patrick lencioni- the guru of business leadership
• stephen covey (I might have all of his books)- on leadership
• chip ingram- how cool is it that my boss writes books?
• bill hybels- on church leadership
• tim sanders- on likeability and workplace leadership
• craig groeschel- on christian living
• guy kawasaki- on everything business
• neil t. anderson- on theology and freedom in christ
• mo willems- for my little- she loves his books! so do I. (she could probably create a list of favorite authors too)

recently I was organizing books and jane was helping. I found a book that I didn't want, and I didn't think I could sell or trade. I said to jane- "jane- you can just throw this one in the trash."

she said, "you mean- just throw it away? ...how sad."

it is sad when a book has no one to love it.

leaders are readers.
God is love.
rev-rob

jane's graduation from kindergarten:

I am super proud of both jane and deanna for completing their first year of home school. jane did a great job on all of her schoolwork, and deanna did an amazing job as her teacher. last night we went to a little ceremony for the local homeschoolers where they were able to get a certificate and show off their work. jane read her book, "amanda pig goes on a hike." after watching her do this, I think my face was literally glowing with pride. I was so impressed with my little girl.

jane's graduation story from rob walter on Vimeo.

strength and bravery, 2/2011

jane and I have been spending a lot of time at chuck e. cheese lately. they got all new games, and in the daytime, the place is clean, quiet, and a super-cheap way to have some kid fun. at the one closest to our house, there is a little air-hockey table that she loves to play on. I consider myself to be a fairly good air-hockey player, but I always let her win. lately, its been getting easier to let her win! she’s got quite an accurate shot!
a few weeks ago, I scored a goal on jane and she pulled the puck out of the side, placed it on top of the table and said, “wait a minute, dad.” and with her most serious face, she made a heart shape with her hands, pointed it to the ceiling, and then grabbed the puck with a determined look on her face.

“what was that?!” I said. with a straight face she said, “that’s my strength and bravery.” “WHAT?! where did THAT come from?!” “oh- I just made it up.” and she continued her game with fierceness and resolve.

strength and bravery shows up all the time these days. during yatzee games, uno games, anytime jane needs to gear up, she gets those heart-hands out and her strength and bravery comes out.

yesterday we went to the jungle and I told jane that I would get her a toy if she rode the orange slide. jane has been avoiding the orange slide for years. it has a dark section to it, it involves a wobbly net-bridge, and its been intimidating her ever since we have been going there. she responded to my offer by saying, “I have enough toys.” I offered two toys. a lunch at burger king. I appealed to her age- after all- she’s six now, she’s not 3 anymore. nothing worked. I brought her flashlight with me and told her she could use it in the dark section, and she was not interested. finally, I said, “what if you got your strength and bravery. I bet that would help you do it.”

she took a deep breath. her lip kind of quivered, and those heart-hands went up to the ceiling. she gave me that serious look and simply said, “flashlight?” I handed it to her and off she went. she was strong and she was brave. she slid down that slide so fast that she flew out and landed on her bottom. she had tears in her eyes, but she did it. she faced her fears with strength and bravery. I was so proud. she slid down that slide 20 more times, and we got the last one captured with the cell phone.

 we drove to burger king, and the preacher in me was thinking about all of the spiritual applications from what we just experienced- about trusting your Father, about the passage in psalms that calls the bible a light for our feet and a lamp for our paths- and i was thinking about strength and bravery- and who it ultimately comes from.

“this is my command—be strong and courageous! do not be afraid or discouraged. for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” -joshua 1:9 (new living translation)

I’ve taught jane much- and she is teaching me much too. imagine what we could accomplish if we could remind ourselves to be strong and brave whenever we are afraid, intimidated or overwhelmed?

God is love.
-rev-rob

amandapig.com

jane LOVES a series of stories about a character named amanda pig. they are easy to read, and she reads them to herself for hours. she also acts them out. they don't make any amanda pig merchandise, so different dolls and stuffed animals in her room often take the role of amanda and her friends lollipop and oliver. some times jane acts out the books herself.

the other day, deanna heard jane chatting, and she had created her own commercial for a site that doesn't exist, amandapig.com. she has also created a computer game for amandapig.com. check them out below-

Untitled from rob walter on Vimeo.

amanda pig 02 from rob walter on Vimeo.
she reminds me of myself when I was a kid. I loved to read, and I loved to play.
being a dad is fun.

all i want for christmas is you

tonight, jane and i went on a daddy-daughter-dinner to mcdonald’s and then we went to vasona park. we were going to look at all of their Christmas lights, but we were about 5 minutes early and they weren’t going to let us in or even pull off of the road. so we went to the next entrance at oak meadow park. we decided to ride the holiday train. we love the train and ride it all the time, but we only rarely ride it at night. i was starting to wonder if we were bundled up enough; because it was really cold. jane said that she was doing ok. i think the adrenaline from the idea of riding the train at night kept her warm- at least for awhile. the train got stuck and had to stop for about 5 minutes. that’s when we started feeling really cold. jane NEVER sits next to me on the train. she always insists on having her own seat. but tonight, she started shivering, and when i asked her if i could sit next to her she said yes. i gave her a side hug and put a leg over her little legs and she snuggled up into the side of my hoodie. she totally missed all of the lights when the train started back up. i pointed out Christmas trees and lights but she didn’t say anything for awhile. as the ride was almost over, i could hear her whisper, “i love you, daddy.”
we were freezing, but that had to be the best train ride that i ever had.




later, we got on the carousel. it was all lit up with Christmas lights. they were playing Christmas music. as we rode around we were laughing and being silly. jane kept saying things like, “ARE WE RIDING A CAROUSEL…AT NIGHT?! DAD! ARE WE AT THE PARK?! IN THE DARK?!” then they played Mariah carey’s “all i want for Christmas is you.” and as i listened to that song and watched the wonder in my girl’s eyes, i realized that i already had all the gifts that a guy could ever want.

jane-quotes 10/30

jane has these cassette tapes of old sunday school songs that she listens to in the car. they actually sound like old children's musicals from church. there is this one song based on philippians 4:13 with the lyrics, "i can do all things through christ who gives me strength."
yesterday we were driving and listening to this song and i heard jane quietly say from the backseat,
"sometimes he gives me strength too!"
"me too!" i answered.

jane-quotes 10/17

the other day i was standing in line at burger king and holding jane. i was ordering her kid’s meal and answering questions, “like for here or to go?” when jane blurted out,
“HE LOST HIS HAIR!
DAD! HE HAS NO HAIR!”
i found myself in one of those situations where i want to turn and look, but i know that i shouldn’t.
i ignored her and kept talking to the burger king person.
but jane just kept it up.
she said, “DAD! WHERE IS HIS HAIR?! HE LOST IT!”
i slowly turned around to see a nice, bald man cracking up.
he said, “i didn’t lose it, its just cut really short.”


yeah right buddy.

jane-quotes 09/28

last night, at like 3 in the morning, I heard jane in her room saying,
“daddy! I need my daddy!”
“oh wow!” I thought! a personal request for me!
normally jane shouts out stuff like,
“I need a drink of water!” or “I need some help!”
but this time she needed me!
how special.
I popped out of bed, and ran to her room.
all along the way I said,
“it ok jane! dad is coming!”
when I got to her room I said,
“dad is here. what do you need?”
“teddy! I need my teddy! where is my teddy?”
she lost her bear in her blankets.
she wasn’t asking for daddy,
she was asking for teddy!
I misheard.
I gave jane her teddy bear and a hug and went back to bed.

conversational-quotes; 8/7

I had some funny conversations today- here are some of the excepts::


7:30am; jane’s room


DW: “calvin barfed all over the floor this morning!”
jane: “he BARFED?! calvin BARFED! he BARFED dad!”
me: “she has a new word.”
jane: “he BARFED! calvin BARFED! what did he do dad?”
me: “what did he do jane?”
jane: “he BARFED! calvin BARFED!”
me: “do you like that word, jane?”
jane: “I like that word! BARF! calvin BARFED! what did he do dad?”
me: “what did he do jane?”
jane: “he BARFED! calvin BARFED!”


10:15 am; at church,
(with a middle school boy who came to church to help me clean a storage bin)


middle school boy: “hey rob? when you were my age... were you into pirates?”
me: “oh yeah. totally!”
middle school boy: “because I’m going through a serious pirate phase right now.”
me: “that’s cool.”
middle school boy: “when did your pirate phase end, rob? like, how long it it last?”
me: “I don’t know- does it ever end?!”
middle school boy: “mine has been going on since my birthday! its all I think about! I even have a pirate costume!”
me: “did you hear about the time that we had a pirate-night at church?”
middle school boy: “really? that sounds awesome! could we do that again?”
me: “sure.”


12:15pm; in line at the food court at the mall


woman wearing a tupac shirt: “is that a bible you’re holding? isn’t that great that people are reading their bibles. we’re in the end times you know? I know it. good for you. rread that bible. God bless. could you pray for my friend here? he needs prayer.”
me: “what’s going on?”
friend: “oh you know- baby-mama-drama. just pray that the truth comes out. because there is a lot of deception going on right now. so I need prayer.
me: “sure. of course!”
me: “I’ll have orange chicken and fried rice…”


2:35pm; at the bus mechanic


bus mechanic one: “it looks like someone tried to siphon your gas by disconnecting the gas hose! we can put it right back on for you.”
bus mechanic two: “whoever did that is going straight to the underground facility. get it? the underground facility!”
me: “yeah.”


3:45pm; in the facility director’s office


me: “don, I had a question to ask you about the back lawn…”
don: “we just had it re-seeded, and had the turf replaced, its going to look beautiful. we really went all out to make it perfect. anyhow,, what’s your question?”
me: “would you be opposed to me dumping 80 gallons of jello on the lawn next month?”


(and one from tuesday night)
6:55pm; the church parking lot


mom: “rob, I just want to say that when you spoke at my friend’s funeral, that it was such a blessing…”
middle school boy: “rob…rob! rob I need to tell you something!”
me: “hold on bro…”
mom: “her kids are doing well, they’re still grieving of course, but I just wanted to thank you again…”
middle school boy: “rob! its really important! rob!”
me: “just a second buddy…”
mom: “I’ll tell the kids you said hi, thanks again.”
middle school boy: “rob! rob!”
me: “WHAT?!”
middle school boy: “the wii in the game room; it needs new batteries!”

jane quotes 07/10

jane has a couple of new phrases that make me smile:


the first one is simply a word: “delicious.”
whenever we’re eating, she often pauses and slowly says, “mmm…DEEE-licious!”
the other day it was quiet, and jane had a big gulp of water and then broke the silence saying, “ahhh! DEE-licious!”


another phrase is how she talks like a pirate.
she was watching backyardigans (my current favorite kids show) recently and the characters on the show were all pretending to be pirates. every other word was, “ARRR!” later in the day jane randomly came up to me saying,
“ARRR, captain dad!”
“ARRR, captain jane!” was my reply. we repeated that conversation about 10 times that day.


we got a black light to obsessively look for stains. jane got a hold of it and had a blast. she walked around the house “glowing-things.” (shining the black light on them to make them glow). now whenever she has the black light she says, “I want to GLOW YOU, dad!”
the same is with flashlights. she walks around with her flashlight saying, “I’m going to FLASH you!”
careful where you say that jane.


and then there are the golf conversations that make my wife giggle.
we’ll walk around the miniature golf course and jane will innocently say things like, “we need to grab our balls, dad!” and of course, I have the maturity to know that it’s not a dirty statement, she’s only 3, after all. but every time, i look over at my wife and she has her hand over her mouth cracking up.
“did you hear what she just said?!” she’ll say.
“she said that we need to grab our balls!”
I just roll my eyes- the same way i do when middle school boys do their dirty-laugh under their breath. maybe deanna should be working with middle schoolers instead of me!



and my favorite phrase is something that jane must have picked up from Deanna or i. sometimes she will randomly come up and give me a hug and then she says,
“you know what?
i love you.
and you know what?
i’m proud of you, dad.”
and then she usually congratulates herself by saying,
“that’s a very nice thing to say…”


cute kid.

jane-quotes 06/09

last night I walked into jane’s room and saw her checking out the seat of her pants in the mirror. and I’ll admit, I used the word, “butt” when I should have used the word that we normally use in our house, “bottom.” here is what happened:


ME: “are you checking out your butt in the mirror?!”
JANE: “I’m checking out my BUTT!”
ME: “it’s a bottom!”
JANE: “IT’S A BUTT!”
ME: “it’s a bottom!”
JANE: “IT’S A BUTT!”
ME: “jane- it’s a bottom.”
JANE: “actually dad, it’s called a butt.”
great.


jane is really good at reading right now. its sort of freaking me out. she reads signs on the street as we’re driving down the road, and she’s pretty accurate. we just picked up “green eggs and ham” from the bookstore, and she is really enjoying that book right now. we were eating jane’s favorite meal, fries and chicken at KFC the other day and jane said, “SAY! I like fries and chicken! I do! i like them sam-i-am!”
what a nut.

goodnight noises everywhere

what does jane like to do?

random-rob-thoughts: may 21

here is an update on my funny life-


:: I did my morning club in Princeton plaza this morning- its been kind of a downer lately. I had this vision of a room filled with students, eating, chatting, discussing spiritual issues, behaving; but instead, the students sort of come in, grab a handful of hashbrowns and then leave. so- next wednesday will be the last one for the year. one thing i'm pretty excited about is my newest volunteer, dale- who plays twister with the boys!


:: life is always fun with jane around; we went to the park recently; its got this “curvy-slide” that jane likes to slide down and pick up static electricity. she then touches my hand and gives us both a big shock. when we went last weekend, the static electricity gave her a new look:





:: speaking of new looks, I’m chopping off my hair. I wanted it to look cool like bono’s when he grows his hair out, but it just doesn’t- and it takes forever to dry it. I’ve been testing the waters, saying to people, “I think I’m going to cut my hair,” hoping that they would say, “no! it looks awesome!” but instead, they say, “yeah. you really should.”


:: its been 2 weeks since I’ve had a soda or energy drink. I can’t really say that I’m off of caffeine. I’ve been drinking this Propel invigorating Water. its got almost as much caffeine as pepsi. but its water- so I don’t feel so bad- and I only have one a day. I did try that new sweet tea that they have at mcdonald’s, and I needed to take a moment after I tasted it. it’s a lovely beverage.


:: here are a few jane quotes:
the other day I was pushing her on the swings and she was narrating what was happening, which is something she does a lot of. she was saying, “whoa! I’m swinging! whoa! the trees are swinging too!” this other dad was pushing his kid next to me and decided to start up a conversation. he and I got to talking and jane said, “no more talking dad! just pushing!”
she also walks around the house saying, “that sounds CRAZY!” which cracks me up.
right now, she has a passion for cheetos.


:: I just read a hilarious book called “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” its supposed to be the daily journal of a middle school boy. it good for a laugh.

jane-quotes 03/05

today jane and i left for our daddy-daughter time and jane said, “i like playing with dad today.” i said, “i like playing with jane today.”


she got out a box of cards and pointed it at me and said, “i would like this open dad!” i said, “what’s the magic word?” and she said, “MESSKA-MOOSKA-MICKEY-MOUSE!” “that’s not the magic word!” i said. she said, “hocus-pocus!”


gotta lay off that tv for awhile…

jane-quotes 03/01

jane has a way of memorizing and repeating random quotes from tv. lately when we hear something like, “we’ve got to walk up stone-step hill!” or “shake-shake-shake your peanut!” instead of thinking that our daughter has lost it, we just ask, “who says that?” and she usually tells us which character on tv she heard it from.


lately jane has been repeating deanna and i and its pretty cute/ funny. lately she comes up to us and says, “you know what? i love you. and you know what? i’m proud of you.” and then she gives us a hug.


lately i’ve been walking around the house saying, “have you guys seen my hug?” jane usually says, “i think its in the kitchen.” so we walk into the kitchen and she gives me a hug and i say, “THERE’S my hug! i thought i lost it!”


tonight after bath-time jane came up to me and said, “have you seen my hug?”
cute kid!





p.s. my wife climbs in jungle-gyms!

random-rob-thoughts: feb. 27

here are some random thoughts and updates:


:: I did 6100 steps on the elliptical this morning- I was super-sweaty and tired after that. I was glad because my friend gary was there to see me finish! he’s always so encouraging. I counted this morning and I’ve been to the gym 67 times since I resigned up in december. I think its officially a habit! I also got on the scale this morning and saw that I’ve got a LONG way to go. if only I could give up fries and sweet tea-


:: finally finished the pentateuch/ torah/ books of moses- and now I’m on to joshua. 2 thoughts come to mind: 1 is the phrase “strong and courageous.” Joshua is told to be strong and courageous 6 times over the course of deuteronomy and Joshua. moses tells him to be strong and courageous, the people of Israel tell him to be strong and courageous, and God Himself tells him to be strong and courageous. what’s going on here? did he give off a wimpy-vibe? or did everyone see the task in front of him and feel led to encourage him? second thought: I come away with a new respect for moses. here he is the paris hilton of his day- son of pharaoh- young, wealthy and famous- and then his whole life turns upside down. he’s called on to do the impossible: to pull the Israelites from the grip of egypt. he didn’t feel qualified, but he did it anyway. and not just that, he led them through the wilderness for 40 years dealing with food and water shortages, dealing with rebellion, dealing with wars with foreign nations and all the while overseeing the birth of judaism and the worship of yahweh. and yes he was flawed- who isn’t? but God rewarded him by allowing him to meet the Christ who he prophesied would come at the transfiguration. not a bad life!


:: we started this new series in middle school called “jakob-the-wrestler.”





justin and josh have been delivering the messages. they have been walking through jacob’s life and noting his wrestling matches from his match with his brother in the womb to his match with God. all of the graphics have luchadores on them. my favorite is that bruce pops into the room dressed as nacho libre to lead games. to me, that’s worth getting up early for church as it is!


:: yesterday during chapel, vicky niblack came to speak. she always brings a ton of energy and insight. we’ve been talking about bullying all year. she used this illustration where she smashed glass. she talked about how bullying leaves us smashed and it smashed others. we ended with some quiet reflection, and as we dismissed about five girls stayed behind and huddled up tightly. I could hear them sniffling and whispering to each other, “no more smashing, ok?” good job vick!


:: I was over at Walgreens last wednesday morning when I heard, “hi rob!” it was one of my middle school friends from Dartmouth (just down the street from Walgreens). another voice said, “hi rob!” and another! there were dozens of middle schoolers in Walgreens! “what are you all doing here?” I asked. “wednesday is late day- school doesn’t start until 9:00- so we just hang out here and at starbucks.” I started thinking that it would be fun to do a before-school club for all of these kids. but where would we meet? so I decided to call the shopping center and ask them if I could use one of their vacant stores on wednesday mornings. and they didn’t say no! they are currently checking on it. so if you’re a pray-er- pray for that and for the finances and the volunteers to come through for a club like this.


:: reading a book called “generation me” by jean twenge.





and suddenly everything makes sense. if you like generational studies or sociology, pick it up and discover why you’re such a selfish person. (its everyone else’s fault!)


:: jane crawled up into our bed this morning at 6:30. she’s supposed to stay in bed until 7am, but I heard her chatting in her room and I couldn’t wait to talk to her. we had a long and fun conversation about several things, including cheerios, the park, and the letter E; and by 7am, I was already having a great day.


have a good wednesday!
-rob

jane-quotes 02/08

jane watches this anime children's show and she has started counting in chinese. today i asked her, "can you count to three in chinese?"
and she said,
"yes! 1,2,3...in chinese!"
(i got schooled by a 3-year-old.)


climbing at the jungle WORE HER OUT.
and it made her a little cranky and tired.
so we argued about a lot of things-
when we got in the car to leave i was a little overwhelmed and said,
"let's just be quiet for a few minutes."
and she said,
"let's just be LOUD for a few minutes!"
that made me laugh-