We're thanking God that our two college kids are back home after successful semesters. They are growing up so quick!

And we're also thanking God for providing in such miraculous ways. We've got four kids, which equates to (under normal circumstances) sixteen years of college. Well, we've made it through the equivalent of three years of college - one of ours just finished his sophomore year, the other her freshman year - with neither ourselves nor our kids having to go into any debt thus far.

My daughter's high school theater group just finished a run of the play The Women of Lockerbie. Jill and I went to every show. Of course, a big reason for that was that Bethany was playing the central role of Madeline, the grieving mother. But we also went because the play is a great play, done in the form of a Greek tragedy, complete with a chorus, and Bethany's theater group performed it so well. It is a wrenching, haunting exploration of grief, hatred, love and cleansing.

In the final scene, as Madeline and the women of Lockerbie washed the clothes of the dead, a recording of the song below was played. It's heartbreaking and I thought I'd share it with you.



Whaur Dae Ye Lie?
Karine Polwart

Chorus:
Whaur dae ye lie, my faither?
Whaur dae ye lie, my son?
Whaur dae ye lie, my ain true love?
When will the truth be won?

Oor friends, they came tae protect us
Oor friends they bad us bide
Oor friends left us standing there naked
Wi nae place left tae hide

Oor neighbours, they came wi a hundred year hate
Oor neighbours, they came wi guns
Oor neighbours, they came for oor menfolk
An they slew them, everyone

I hae sought oot yer grave wi my mother
I hae sought oot yer grave in vain
I hae sought the bare banes o’ the truth and the men
Faither, whaur are ye lane?

I hae cried oot yer name tae the for winds
I hae cried oot yer name til the dawn
I hae cried in the arms o’ yer sister dear
Whaur dae ye lie my son?

I hae dream’d o’ yer breath upon me
I hae dream’d o’ yer yella hair
I hae dream’d o’ the sounds o yer dyin love
Whaur dae ye lie, my dear?

The college and young singles home group last night was great - a whole lot of them came over (I think we had around 16 to 20 or thereabouts). I love those people! They were talkative, open, we ate, sang, studied, discussed, prayed and played games together. It was a good start.

Jill and I were talking last night, and I remarked that we'll have ups and downs in this thing. Last night was an up, but my goal is to be flexible and persevere through the downs.

I spent the last few hours dragging seventeen years of stuff out of our attic. The garage now looks like a landfill, but the attic is completely cleaned out. Now to start rebuilding . . . the great Garage Renovation of 2010 is in progress. Slow progress, albeit.

No soccer this weekend. Which is a good thing.

I'm almost done with Bloo version 1.32. Will be deploying the 1.31 test version very soon (maybe today). In 2010, I'll be doing a lot more (and more frequent) Bloo releases. This first one is more or less a maintenance release, with a few goodies thrown in. More later.

Soon will get my lesson prepared for tomorrow.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. - John 6:35

Here's a cool picture of Blake's soccer team, the Dallas Texans - Houston Division Legend '98.



Blake is number 25, in front, giving us his best game face. The cool thing about this picture is that every kid who got a team picture got to be in the front. It's not really a group shot; The photographer took individual pictures of each kid and photoshopped each kid in the front for the shot they purchased. Very nice.

Blake's team played the first day of a soccer tournament today. It was fun, although it was FREEZING out at the fields. His team won the first game 2-0 against Chivas. Blake scored a goal, capitalizing on a great cross from Pablo. Unfortunately, the second game against Tigres was very tough, and they lost 3-0. Tomorrow they face the Houstonians, which is a very, very tough team.

Go Legend!

Update: They tied the Houstonians 2 to 2, which was disappointing (especially since the Houstonians second goal was off a questionable call resulting in a PK) but the boys played their hearts out in the cold and mud. Well done!

Tonight I attended Open House at Bethany's high school. I always enjoy these things, and it's good to meet the teachers. Bethany goes to a great high school, and nearly every teacher she has is obviously in love with teaching and devoted to the kids.

As I walked the halls with the other parents, prodded along helpfully by student volunteers, it occurred to me that, for our society, people in my age bracket are basically done. Our culture worships youth: young, healthy, in shape, beautiful youth. Our celebrities are either young or they are surgically nipped and tucked (and injected and stretched and suctioned) to look young. Our athletes are young. Our artists and musicians are young. Even our President is young, as Presidents go (though he still has a few years on me). I, on the other hand, have crossed the line where I now work out to feel better, rather than to look better. Looking better became an impossibility quite awhile ago. But twenty minutes on an elliptical at level five makes me feel slightly more alive, provided it doesn't kill me.

So there we were, we middle agers, moving like the lumpen masses we are through the halls of this enormous, modern high school, squinting at the impossibly small print on the school map as we huffed our way to third period.

And the thought hit me: not done. I'm a parent. Jill and I have been parenting now for twenty years, and we've got, well, we don't know how many years left. Technically, in theory, eight more until all the kids are out of the house, four years after that until the last one's done with college, and, presumably, there will be some weddings sprinkled in there as well, and a grandchild or two or a dozen. But, as the movie Parenthood so wisely put it, you're never really done. You never cross the goal line and spike the ball. Parenthood is like your Aunt Edna's [backside]: it goes on forever and it's twice as frightening.

This is the task. This is the great Odyssey Jill and I are on, and we drive an Odyssey to prove it. We're in the thick of things, and time will tell how well we did. Time will display our diligence, and it will expose our sloth and passivity, wreathed in regret, should we fail as parents. We've either trained up our children in the way they should go, and prepared them for life, or we haven't. Lord have mercy.

On a side note, I believe firmly that a real man rejects passivity (that's from Robert Lewis' Raising a Modern Day Knight - a good study). But I've found that passivity is a puzzle. I have large regrets over times I was passive in my children's lives when I should have been active - I should have seen the storms coming and done . . . something. But I also know that I have a tendency to go off half-cocked and three sheets to the wind as well. After all, being a parent is an exercise in the art of letting go. There comes a time when, as a parent, you're sidelined and you just get to watch the game, however it goes. The trick is knowing when. Go Team.

Here's where I'm supposed to insert the obligatory "parenting is hard" statement, along with a lament about "how time flies" and "where did the years go". Well, fie on that (I've been wanting to work "fie" into my conversation recently). Parenting is what it is. It is what God has made it, and parenting plays its role in Christ's work of grace in salvaging lives and societies in our fallen world. By golly, there's no sense in either bemoaning it when times are bad or getting complacent when times are good (as they are now, by the way). Because the times will change. This isn't a job for cowards. It's also not a job for those with too much bravado. We are dependent.

Parenting is the most important thing I've ever done, and probably will ever do. Compared to being a dad, my day job fades to insignificance (other than, of course, as a means to the end of feeding my family). And I'm not done yet. As the kids grow up and I (surprise!) get older, new enemies join the battle, namely the enemies of "boy, am I tired" and "ow, my back hurts". But all the more reason to strap on the old armor and slog up the hill again. Battles do, after all, have their element of fun, and I have a goal to be old and crotchety, yet hale. We'll see.

Did I mention that I went to Open House tonight?

A quick list:

Andrew turned twenty yesterday. Yes. Twenty.

We got to see both Andrew and Molly this weekend. Awesome. We're celebrating Andrew's birthday tonight.

Bethany won the part of Olga in Stage Door. Not only will she be acting, but she'll be playing the piano. Great part.

The Dallas Texans - Houston Division U12 Red team (Blake's team) dominated at the tournament this weekend. They won their four games, 4-1, 4-0, 2-1, and 2-1 against some tough Dallas Texans - Dallas Division competition. They looked fabulous.

We're blessed.

And valiant women, all.



left to right: My better half, Jill, Bethany, Molly, My mother in love, Loys, and my mom, Suzanne.

Check out eldest son's review of We Get to Carry Each Other: The Gospel According to U2 by Greg Garrett. It appeared in Baylor University's The Lariat today.

Grace Takes the Blame: U2's Approach to the Gospel

Molly's settled at UMHB and appears to be enjoying herself and making new friends. Yesterday, we hugged Andrew and he got in his car and drove himself up to Baylor to begin his sophomore year. Tomorrow they will start classes, as will Bethany, who is now a Junior in high school, and Blake, who is - I can hardly believe it - going into junior high.

God has been very good to us.

Bethany and I spent two hours today at the local DMV, trying in vain to get her learner's permit. We left close to five, as she had to get to work. We were no where near even getting in the final line to the computer test.

I'll vote for any politician who promises to privatize the DMV.

We are in Molly's dorm, doing last minute things. We're about to leave.

I love you, Molly, my precious daughter. I already miss you.

God speed.

Andrew has been invited to write book reviews (and presumably other types of reviews as well) for the Baylor Lariat. He's working on his first assignment this week, while recovering from wisdom-tooth extraction.

Very cool.

Since yesterday I've been experiencing something rare: a week-long vacation at home. Man, I could do this full time (although, of course, I really, really enjoy having a job too!).

It started on Saturday; we went to San Antonio to hold an Oscar-tinged family birthday party for Bethany at my parent's house. This included a red carpet entrance, then Beth was whisked away for hair and makeup by the girls. She was escorted into the festivities by Blake (in a little tux - ha), to hear a hilarious "lifetime achievement" speech written by eldest son and delivered by aunt Kim and cousin Macy. Following this, we showed her sixteen-year DVD, which Jill and I had worked on diligently into the late hours last week (we produce a DVD for each of my parent's grandkids on their sixteenth birthday. I think this one came out pretty well!). This was followed by an Oscar-like awards ceremony, in which Bethany won every award (and gave an extremely believable and funny acceptance speech). We ended up with cake and cupcakes, baked lovingly and expertly by Molly, and then the opening of presents. All in all it was a great night. We came back here Sunday evening.

Since then, we've been working hard at taking care of lots of last minute details in preparation of taking Molly and Andrew to college this week.

Andrew had his wisdom teeth taken out yesterday too.

So lots of stuff has been happening. Here's what's not been happening: I haven't been thinking about work or monitoring work emails at all. They know how to find me if they need me.

Here's to another day!

Today we got our ride, a 2000 Honda Odyssey, past 200,000 miles.

Here's to, hopefully, at least 50,000 more. She's been a good car.

This weekend we celebrated Bethany's sixteenth birthday!

Molly took some pictures. I love these.





Note Bethany's new Dean Exotica acoustic guitar.



Lots more here.

Molly turned eighteen today.

Bethany turns sixteen in less than two months.

Andrew turns twenty a month after that.

Blake is going into Middle school this fall.

[Bill checks to see if there are any good deals on time machines on eBay]

This past Saturday, my eldest daughter graduated from high school (Summa Cum Laude!). It was a great weekend of celebration all around for our family.

Saturday night, following the graduation and our excellent El Gallo meal at home, Molly and Andrew put on a short, impromptu concert for the family and extended family, with Molly singing Grace Upon Grace by Sandra McCracken and Faith My Eyes by Caedmon's Call, accompanied by Andrew on guitar and harmonies. They sound so good together (I hope to get them to record Grace Upon Grace so I can post it). This was followed by an unplanned, unscripted time of blessing and encouragement as a family. Toward the end, Bethany, our younger daughter, stood up and spoke a sweet, tearful tribute to her older sister. Bethany just finished her sophomore year and is turning into a mature young woman so fast. I'm so proud of her and I had so much fun waltzing with her earlier in the night (to a High School Musical song. I'm a fan).

Someone asked me if I had any words to say. I did, of course, but the main thing I remember saying was that I've never been happier. I'm so blessed and privileged to be married to Jill and dad to Andrew, Molly, Bethany, and Blake.

Some pictures.



The Graduate. She got to wear all this extra stuff (National Honor Society cowl, Summa Cum Laude and French Honor Society ropes) - well deserved. Molly really worked hard in school.



Molly, with Andrew and Blake. Blake's not smiling for some reason . . .




. . . so he obviously needed a hug. My nephew Sawyer is also in the pic, to the left.




Better!




I love this pic of Molly and Bethany. My niece Macy is also in the picture, to the right.

I don't have any pictures of it (not that we didn't take any, I just don't have them uploaded) but the next day Molly also played piano for about fifty people for her Senior Recital. It was awesome.

Great weekend!

I smashed one of the front window panes tonight playing basketball with Blake. I was chasing a ball and took one dorky step too many and kicked the ball right into the pane (they are small panes, thankfully, of a multi-pane window).

I'm thinking of the dozens of glass panes that have broken in our front windows over the years. Broken by basketballs, baseballs, soccer balls. And the dents in our garage door, made by same. And our front gutters, which are beat up as well from high rebounds.

They represent many years of pickup basketball between me and my kids. Years of throwing the baseball. Years of soccer practice out front. Years of fun.

I'm not particularly athletic (my kids are, however - they get it from their mom). But I sure have enjoyed these years. I will take all the dents and cracks! I wouldn't trade them for anything.

I fixed the window pretty quickly tonight. I have a few extra panes in the garage, and I've gotten pretty quick at it over the years.

Andrew - I remember freaking out at you the first time one broke, many years ago. You threw a baseball through one of the panes. I'm sorry; I was a jerk. First of all, I should have caught the ball. Secondly, I didn't know at the time how easy it would be to repair. I guess it's just part of the price you paid for being the first. You didn't deserve the rant.

Blake's team, the Dallas Texans Houston Division U11 Legend, won the Albion Memorial Day Cup this weekend.

It was a great tournament. Blake had three goals and played great. Way to go Blake!

It happens with every musician, early on. There's that moment when the instrument quits being a frustrating bafflement and becomes something that works, and that can be joyfully built upon.

I'm listening to my daughter Bethany in her room, playing guitar and singing. She's reached that moment in the last few weeks, and is progressing at a really swift pace.

I love the sound.