My favorite post of 2007

We watched our family video collection this past weekend... which reminded me of my all time favorite Clay's World post of 2007. When I put this video together, I had no idea how much I would need her support, love & encouragement in the coming months. And in the end, I was reminded that I had picked the right girl. I can't imagine life without her. So here's a replay.... for her...

DETERMINATION

We are cracking the whip about our picky son not eating the food we put in front of him. Notice those 3 tiny pieces of chicken drowned in ketchup... that is the source of today's stand-off. It is 2:25pm and he is still finishing off last night's dinner. No we haven't made him sit in the chair all night... but he will be eating those juicy little morsels before this battle is over.

God & Seaweed

Christine recently got Caden on film explaining one of his water-coloring projects. When he puts God in the middle of some sea-weed... the explanation turns into pre-school theology.

You will be enlightened on topics such as:
... how Jesus saves our lives...
... what God hates... and...
... how to defeat Satan



If faith is like a seed that is primarily planted and watered by Mom & Dad in the rhythm of home-life... then we've got some work to do.

Superheroes

I think the neighborhood is going to be a bit safer in 2008... now that a couple of Superboys are on the job.



Now let's see your superhero pose.

PROUD

I am so proud of my little sister, Stephanie. At 32 years old, she had never lived outside of Columbus, Ohio and now she is living on the other side of the world for a year.

She is teaching English in Seoul, S. Korea to university students. She says Seoul is the LA of S. Korea (but it is twice as big as NYC).

The stories she tells of her adventures are other-worldly. Here she is visiting a local church during a weekend trip out of the city.

More Arley

(Sorry for the previously random slideshow... not sure what happened)

Here's my flickr slideshow of Arley

Oh Happy Day!!!

On Monday, November 5 at 6:30 PM... Arley Christine burst into our world. She came in at 6 lbs 15 oz and 19 1/2 inches.

I don't know how to say it... other than our entire family is head-over-heels in love with her. She has brought an entirely new level of joy and love to our family.

I have noticed that, having babies makes your babies grow up. Our boys have in one sense matured over night. They love to hold her... and help mommy with her diapers... and are fascinated with her feeding.

Christine is recovering amazingly well. She had a great delivery and is ready to hit the gym when Dr. Greco gives her the OK. She is filled with joy and happiness. This might be the happiest I have ever seen her. What a gift from God... this joy we have.

And me... well I'm sitting back and enjoying the ride. This little girl has definitely awoken the tender warrior within me. I have a renewed desire to intimately connect with and be present and accessible to my kids. I'm wrestling with Griffey one minute... building Lego's with Caden the next... and quietly holding Arley after that.

At the same time I am on my toes ready to fight for my girl, my wife and my boys. I am ready to defend them and fight for them... because my joy is wrapped up in their joy and health and well-being. Thanks for sharing in our joy.

Labor Day Weekend retreat

My short blog hiatus... coincided with my family's weekend hiatus. We joined 9 other couples for a long weekend of camping.

It was great to unplug from TV and air conditioning and many of the distractions of busy suburban life and just spend time together... living.

We played alot... and ate some... and talked alot... and slept some... and refereed (our kids) alot... and refereed (the adults) some. In addition to unstructured camping life we all joined together for a communal meal one night... a kids church service on Sunday... a "traditional German" birthday party... and a trip to the beach.

These getaways really are great for relationships... they allow you to reconnect with some that have become distant... and they allow others the quality time to begin and grow. Quality time is quantity time... and shared experiences - like camping - are the fertile soil for such quality time.

We found that the secret of camping... was sharing an RV with our friends (the Garwicks - just to our left in the pic)!!! Much thanks to Matt & Jamele (2nd family from the left) who organized this getaway.

Stories & Memory

My oldest Caden, (who survived the first and second day of pre-school just fine)... is really interested in family stories. Before I kiss him goodnight he often wants me to tell or re-tell a family story. He'll say... "Daddy... tell me a story about you and Uncle Matt" or "tell me the story of when I ate peanut butter and you had to call the Rescue Heroes". They are typically short 3 minute vignettes about growing up or a particularly memorable experience.

I've built up a repertoire of about 12 true, family stories that we regularly tell. Sometimes a new memory pops in my mind and I introduce a new story. Each story tells a unique tale... or has its own moral... or shows how a different part of life can be explored. I like the ritual, because there is power in these stories. They are historical and at the same time Caden and I are connected to them. They bond us together not only in the moment of re-telling... but in re-experiencing... together, the memory of the past.

And it gets me thinking about the Power of Memory. Isn't it amazing how much we remember... and to think that God made us that way. God gave us memory. We remember people and places and songs and smells and experiences... some conjure up good emotions and others bad. Some memories we would like to forget... but... they are an integral part of our story.

God explains at least a couple of reasons why he embedded us with memory... the ability to remember our story. And he often encourages the people of God to remember certain things... because forgetfulness can be sinfully foolish. So here are a couple of things that God tells his people to remember...

(1) Remember how you screwed up: The people of God are prone to wander away from God and from obedience to Him. So we are commanded to remember how we and those before us did such wandering... and faced the consequences. (Deut 9:7-12)

(2) Remember how God showed up: God is constantly redeeming... and rescuing his people when they least expect it. He is constantly saving people from themselves and the consequences of their rebellious, hard-hearted stupidity. (Deut 8:17-20)

(3) Remember who you were: We are naturally natural. Not interested in God. Faithless. Following our own way. Cut off from God. Strangers and aliens to the promises of God. (Eph 2:11-12)

(4) Remember who you are: When we cast off our self-reliance and receive the obedience of Christ we become new people. We become truly... spiritually alive. We have life... new life. (Eph 2:13-16; 2 Cor 5:17)

Some might argue that this is living in the past. That would be paralysis. But our lives are a story... and memory of our mistakes and others can have a profoundly positive impact upon our future. Remembering God's grace and goodness and activity on our behalf... can empower us to press on in truth and love.... so did I tell about the time that we fed Caden peanut butter?

Caden Hits a Milestone

My oldest, Caden, is headed to his first day of pre-school tomorrow. It's the next milestone in his 4 year old life.

He doesn't want to mess this up... because he knows any miscues at pre-school will go on his permanent record and might jeopardize his chance to become an astronaut or a Rescue Hero.

In celebration of this next big step we shipped Griffey off to Grandma's... took him swimming... took him out for ice cream... and we'll take him out to breakfast in the morning. You don't think we are spoiling him do you? Hey... I'm all about celebrating life.

In related news... we recently bought him some tinker toys. He opens up the box... pulls out the directions... and 20 minutes later he pops the above robot up on the table. That's my boy!

The pressure is off...

Great news from Christine's OB visit yesterday.

Two weeks ago we had a bit of a scare... when Christine was feeling lots of pressure on her cervix. The doc put her on bed rest. Concerned family and friends have helped with the kids and been praying for us.

Yesterday... the pressure was gone... the cervix was normal and Arley's head was visibly off of Christine's cervix. Thank God. She is still laying low and limiting outside time to about 90 minutes a day. But things have definitely turned in a good direction.

Keep moving forward

We took the kids out to see the Disney Film Meet the Robinson's last night and were pleasantly surprised at the content, themes... and the ability to keep our 2 1/2 year old engaged for the entire film. No small feat... mind you.

Our first surprise was to find out that if you take a group of 3 or more to Carriage Place on Mondays... each movie is $.50 a person. So...

BURKLES + $2 = family fun at Carriage Place

In addition I thought there were some very redemptive themes in the movie that make for good healthy discussion with the kiddo's on they way home... in particular were the views on failure and family.

(1) Failure... is celebrated in the movie. The main character, Lewis, is a budding inventor... who has a museum of failed inventions. His trial-and-error approach to life is not so attractive to would-be parents of this lonely orphan... but it is theme of his life... that everything is an experiment. His life motto is keep moving forward and so he views his own failure as positive learning experiences that helps him to grow and improve.

I really like this theme. I think failure is an event and not a person. Good people fail... great people learn from their failures. I'm not really suggesting that life should be all trial-and-error. For we should avoid some failure by consulting wise counselors and even the failure of others. Moral failure should not be celebrated. Character failure should not be celebrated. But in attempting anything, especially new things, we must be open to failure. Then, having a keep-moving-forward attitude, frees you from the paralyzing fear of failure.

(2) Family... is valued in this movie. Lewis is an orphan. He longs for a family. A place to be accepted and loved and to find identity. He thinks that if he goes back in time and meets his mother his longing for belonging will be sated. But what he finds is the surprising power of moving forward. He gets a peek into the future where a bunch of quirky, eccentric individuals come together to form quite a functional family based on love and acceptance. It appears that nearly each member is added by adoption... the choosing to allow someone to become your family. It is really a form of grace in action... freely giving to someone a status they could not earn.

The value of family in this movie is very positive and the power of adoption cannot be overstated. Adoption is not choosing someone based upon what they can give you... rather on what you can give them. Identity. Love. Acceptance.

The gospel: Despite our own failures God's love has chosen to make amends for our offense. He initiates repairing our relationship by paying for our offense then adopts us as his dearly beloved children. We do not get to him by learning from our failures... but we find new identity in him when he declares us his children if we will only accept his offer.

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Ephesians 1:5-6

Great Weekend

I had a great weekend with my boys (we are pictured here with my dad). We left mom home to rest... and we headed out into the wild. Well... as wild as a cabin by a lake in Michigan can allow you to be.

We had an absolute blast. We swam in the lake... went paddle-boating... speedboating... tubing... sking... jet-skiing... fishing... and sat out by the fire telling stories.

Both boys caught their own fish. Griffin tried tubing with me... and after riding up front for 2 whole days in the ski-boat, Caden concluded that he wanted to buy a boat.

It was great to have some serious guy time... even without the mom's around. My brother brought his son also. In addition to all the fun... I found plenty of things for the boys to work on. Basic growing up stuff like listening... sharing... and obedience. I have found that these times of quantity time provide me with valuable quality time.

For example... on Sunday morning Caden had a difficult time obeying some simple requests that I had made of him. Shortly there-after I had the chance to paddle-boat out to the middle of the lake one-on-one with him... and we had a chance to talk about the value of obedience and why God wanted him to obey me.

I would rather have been no where else in the world than spending quality time investing in my sons this weekend.

The first turn...bedrest

I am quite unexpectedly sitting in a local Panera... after having dropped Caden off at zoo preschool, with a grocery list in my hands. It started this morning with a regular OB visit to check on the pregnancy. Our doctor triple confirmed we are having a girl (yay)... then noticed that Christine's cervix is on the thin-side (huh).

She nearly sent us to the hospital for more monitoring.... at 24 weeks... and definitely put Christine on strict bed rest.... indefinitely for the next 3 months. So what is up with that? Sunday was my last day at Northwest. I cleaned out my office yesterday (it was supposed to be today... but got moved to yesterday). And now I am indefinitely "not busy" for the next couple of months (besides the finding a job thing).

My only response is to thank God for coming behind us! You know I've been praying that God would go before us... but I've never asked him to come behind us.

I came across the idea when reading in Exodus 13 & 14 this morning. The Israelites are promised that God will lead them with a cloud by day & fire by night. A visible sign that the Lord was going before them. But in these two chapters... where the Egyptians are hot on their tails... the cloud of God moves behind them to protect them by confusing the Egyptians.

For the past few weeks all I have thought about is saying good-bye to the people that I have served with for the past 3 years. I knew it would be a challenge. I could see it coming. But I could only see as far as Sunday... my BIG GOOD-BYE. And all the time I was asking God to go before me and make the path straight.

So this morning I awoke thinking that a big part of this transition was behind me. And we go to the doctor... and get this unexpected news... that will change the way we live for the next 3 months. And I can look back and see that God had provided for us to take on this new challenge with a fresh focus. He knew that something (Christine's pregnancy) was sneaking up on us from behind and he freed me up to more a more hands on... more supportive... more stay-at-homeish... more focused Dad... for our upcoming hi-risk pregnancy.

God went behind us. Thank you God.

Happy Anniversary

Today is our seventh wedding anniversary. In light of the big transition in our lives (leaving my job... our church... our life), we haven't had much time this week to really celebrate. There will be time for celebration. But right now we are settling for a hug & a kiss.

According to Caden: how to enjoy baseball

I had the pleasure of taking my oldest, Caden, to his first baseball game along with my dad. We went to see our local AAA ballclub, the Columbus Clippers. We actually made it through the 7th inning stretch... when my Dad and I had reached our limit.

I actually thought that we were there to watch the game. And I was even hoping to teach him some of the finer points of "enjoying" baseball. But once again I became the learner. How much I have forgotten in my old age?!

So here are the 5 coolest things about a night at the Clippers according to a 4 year old.

5. A $5 mini-bat is a much better souvenir than a $20 replica hat.
4. The best view of the field is from the jump house and the bouncy slide near the parking lot (did you see that air!).
3. Two words.... cotton candy.
2. Second best view of the field is running around at the top of the stairs behind the top row.
1. Keeping track of Krash and Louseal (the mascots)

My Girl

Forgive me while I dote on my wife. She turned 30 this year... and the rash of surprise 30th parties that I've been to lately reminds me of the Surprise Bash I threw for her on Jan 11. It was great to surprise her and was a truly memorable night. Somehow I pulled together this 5:35 video highlighting our lives together over the past 7 years.... and even showed it to her at the party. But now I'd like to share it with you... This one is for her.



I believe it is important to have some big celebrations in life.

It is important to stop long enough to surround yourself with friends and family and say I love you and why.

It is important to remember where you've been and how far you've come. Then realize that each day you are making memories.

Doubt

We excitedly started sharing the news with some friends last weekend. And don't you know it but everyone had a story about someone who had received the same news and it turned up being wrong.

So as the night wore on my wife's excitement slowly turned into doubt. It crept up like a storm cloud.... slowly.

Maybe they were right.

Maybe the doctor was wrong.

maybe.... maybe... maybe....

And the doubt stole her joy. Doubt can really have a devastating effect, can't it. It leads some to apathy... "I can't control the outcome so I won't do anything." It leads some to despair... "If this won't come true, then I can't go on." It leads some to control... "I will make this outcome happen, or die trying." How should we respond to doubt?

May I suggest to dependence upon God to control the things that we can't. This attitude says "God I'm not in control... you are. Here is what I want... but I'll accept what you give me." Jesus taught us to pray this way... Matt 6:9-13.

So how did we respond?... we got ourselves another sono. We went back in a few days later and had another doc... take another look... and to our joy... confirm the news... we're having a girl. Thank you God.

Theology Matters.... FLUSHED

I had an interesting conversation with Caden the other night. He was juiced up by his involvement in Vacation Bible School and he guided our nightly debriefing to the topic of "how you get to heaven."

I was intrigued and a bit excited that my son was so interested in such things. He proudly shared that he knew how one gets to heaven.... through the toilet.

What?! When I asked him to clarify. He confidently recalled the story of how Uncle Doug had flushed a dead fish to heaven by means of the toilet. (Oh be careful little mouth what you say...)

At this point my concern is not so much theological as it is practical. I'm afraid that in a moment of spiritual zeal and strong desire to go to heaven... that he might try to flush himself down the toilet. And who said Theology doesn't matter?

Doc says it's a girl !!!!

We're at 20 weeks with Baby Burkle #3. Caden thought it was boy... Griffey thought it was a girl... but the doctors vote won... it's a girl.

Christine is taking the news OK... after crying for joy... then calling all her friends... then staying up all night figuring out how make a nursery as pink as possible (seriously)... she has settled back down to a normal routine.

We are excited and wanted to share your joy with you. Now back to the name book for some girl names.