The "pop in"

-
We now live only 6 blocks or so from my parents, my wife's parents and only 1 block from my grandparents. I never would have imagined I would have ended up living so close to family ten years ago when I was living in Chicago.

But there's something about it that I look forward to...

Yesterday I took our kids and we just popped in on my grandparents to say hi for a few minutes. And they loved it. They didn't know we had moved in yet, so it was a big surprise for them. They even came over to our place, later on, to check out our place.

After my wife's grandpa passing away about a week ago and seeing her relationship with them over the past five years when we lived closer to them I see the value in spending time with family, especially those that are getting towards the end of life. A lot of times they're stuck at home and don't see people that often, so to see some crazy little two and three-year-olds running and around and talking can really be a pick me up during the day.

So, if you're in the neighborhood of someone older, family or not, I'd encourage you to pop in and just say hi for a few minutes.

Popular posts from this blog

Be brave and ask for help

-
We were at the library yesterday and my daughter wanted to find some Doc McStuffins books. I told her she could ask the librarian for help to figure out where they might be if she really wanted them, but she was going to have to ask. I told her I'd go with her. It took a little coaxing, and the librarian was really patient. But, she did get the words out and the librarian helped her find a Doc McStuffins book. Plus, she asked my daughter if she wanted to go in the back and find another Doc McStuffins book that had just been returned. So Josie got to go in the back with the librarian and find the book that had just gotten returned. It was kind of a fun teaching moment for me with Josie. If she hadn't asked the librarian for help she probably wouldn't have found those books and she definitely wouldn't have gotten to go by herself in the back with the librarian to find a second Doc McStuffins book. Sometimes it's good to just stop searching, be brave, and ask for
Read more

The 3 things

-
What are the 3 things you need to focus on today? You may have more things and that's fine, but list out the top 3 things. Now give yourself no more than 1 hour to 90 minutes to work on each one of them. And mark them off when you're done. Give yourself time to do other things like check email outside of these 3 things. But try to give uninterrupted time to the 3 things individually once you start working on one of them. You'll also notice that this is only 3 to 4 and a half hours of your workday. That's right. The rest is for smaller tasks, phone calls, emails, conversations, and meetings. I didn't come up with this and won't claim it will work for everybody, but I've found it helpful to focus each day. I'm not sure where it originated from I picked it up from a webinar over the last 2 months.
Read more

Why are things so important?

-
It's just stuff, right? My daughter said this last night, "God is more important than things." It was in response to my mother-in-law's family feud around all the stuff that they have to divvy up. It's been over a year since they started and it's been extremely emotionally charged. Many things have been said among the siblings about each other and who gets what. Some are upset that others don't value some things as much as they do or want them. Some think some have taken too much stuff. Some feel like they don't get anything. Some think it's not fair. Some just want it all done. All these things are important to all of them for different reasons. And they're not the only ones that value stuff. I do. My kids do. My wife does. Not everything, but there are things that we place value on. But, my wife and I want to work to instill in our kids that people and God are way more important than things. I find myself saying things like, "Don
Read more