What Does It Profit a Man. . .

. . . to blog about being a father of eight, and neglect his kids in the process? Or to blog about his great marriage, which suffers because he spends so much time blogging?

(*sigh*)

Sorry, friends, but I've got to go.

My behavior vis-a-vis blogging has gotten to be too much like addictive - too compulsive, taking too much time from real, important things in my life. And so, I've got to go, to attend to the real demands of my real life. . .

I want to stress that this is my problem; nobody offended me, or upset me - you've all been wonderful. It's just that the Real World trumps Blogworld, and I was starting to lose track of that. . .

It's way more emotionally difficult for me to walk away from this than it ought to be; and that's probably a measure of things having gotten a bit out-of-whack.

"To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under Heaven." (Ecclesiastes 3:1) (Those of you more in tune with the pop culture might identify it with a song by the Byrds; OK, those of you Old Farts like me who were listening to pop tunes in the '60s)

". . . La, la, how the life goes on. . ."

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Being Pregnant

Molly and I have been married for almost 26 years, and we've had eight children together. That means that she's spent six years of her life being pregnant. Throw in roughly a year apiece that she's nursed them, and that's 14 years of her life that someone besides herself has been drawing on the resources of her body. That's amazing.

I have always been in awe of the female body, and not just because of its obvious sensual and aesthetic features. The capacity of the female body to nurture within itself a complete, distinct PERSON, touches on the holy. I mean, think of it - every one of us here today came into being in the exact same way, within our mother's womb. And while I'm thinking of it, every human being who has ever lived corresponds to an act of sexual intercourse between his/her parents (OK, with the one very high-profile exception . . .)

I have often told Molly that reproducing ourselves together is the coolest, most amazing thing we could ever do. In a way, it is the biblical 'one flesh' in its most concrete form (or, if you will, in our case, eight fleshes). I mean - think of it - we're making another PERSON out of the substance of the two of us, and our love for each other. Completely awesome. . .

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The Pause That Refreshes

Just got back from five days Up North, as we say in Michigan. We had a great time - good relaxation, good fun, good family time. We really needed some good family time.

Molly and I and five of our kids (4M on down) shared a lodge with a friend-couple of ours, R (the husband) and M (the wife), and seven of their nine kids; sixteen of us, all cozy together under one roof. Our lodge was 'rustic', which meant no electricity, and pit toilets (altho we were near the campsites, which had showers and flush toilets; much to the relief of 6F)

We were walking distance from a beautiful, sandy Lake Michigan beach, and the weather was beautiful. The kids spent hours and hours playing in the lake, skipping stones, jumping over whitecaps, whatever there was to do at the lake, they did it.

One day we drove a short distance to an out-of-the-way little waterfall hidden away in the middle of nowhere. The falls were maybe about 4-5 feet high, with a little pool at the bottom. Folks were just sort of lounging in the pool, and the kids were jumping into the pool from the top of the falls. 4M and 5M and the teenage boys spent the better part of an hour trying to climb up the falls against the falling water. All very 'unsafe' and (therefore?) tons of fun. . .

We even went to a concert by a Beatles tribute band.

So, all-in-all, we had a great time. We really needed some family-recouping time, with no pressure, just to be able to relax and have fun together, and we got that. God is good.