my God is tall

incredible. challenging to have 5 kids? sure. don't sleep much with twin one-year-olds around? nope. tough to keep up with a wife who is working full-time, homeschooling (starting next week, three) kids, keeping all our books, volunteering transcribing Dino Rizzo's sermons for me to make my job easier, decorating our new home, and trying to keep us all sane while she's seeing to all that other stuff... Absolutely, it is.

But let me put this out here for all to see - there's no prouder husband and father anywhere. I took my five kids to the mall today. (i'm on a rare couple days off from work. sort of.) anyway - our washing machine broke the other day, and my wife went to buy a new one, but since it won't be ready for pick-up for two more days, she spent the day doing laundry at the laundromat. just another example of the sacrifice she makes for our family. she gives, gives, and gives some more.

so, while she was washing, i took the kids to the mall to spend their money they have been earning. my 14-year-old daughter was asked point-blank one time if she was the mom (not the first time that's happened). she was horrified, honestly, but i tried to encourage her that it really was a compliment to how she looks a lot older than 14. didn't help.

but she's really a great person. she's loves God passionately, she's got good sense when it comes to relationships, and even shows some wisdom in her clothes shopping. a rare young lady indeed. she makes me proud.

my 11-year-old son (my firstborn man-child) is quite a great kid, too. he's starting to see himself as not just a little kid anymore. he's taking himself a little more seriously (not meaning he's not fun - he just is starting to care about stuff that little kids don't usually care about - like buying clothes with his own money). he loves God, too. i'm happy for him taht he has now started goign to the Jr. Hi group at church - an exciting move for sure. and he's working hard to do right and to make good decisions - and while it is hard, he's doing it right more and more lately. i'm really proud of him for that. a neighbor kid had him over to his house to play xbox and he pulled out this game rated M (mature) (which i think is one of the great misnomers of all time). my son told the kid he didn't want to play that - he wasn't allowed to either. the neighbor kid told him, "aw come on - your parents can't see you in here - don't worry about it." my son told him he needed to go and he came home and told us about the deal - knowing full well that that would effectively be the end of his freedom to go play with this kid. he did right and man, i was proud of him.

my 5-year-old boy is a trip. he's got this odd sort of genius thing working - just shy of obsessive about "working" during the days that his mom and i work. he is creative and passionate about details in his "work." when he's not watching a movie (which i have learned he is not just watching idly - rather, he is doing more of an analytical study of the movie after about the first three viewings), he is working on the computer upstairs doing all sorts of stuff from playing games on websites we've cleared for him, to drawing in Corel Draw, or just writing notes (hollering for word spellings all the time). again, he's a kid that loves God, and makes me proud all the time.

last, there's the twins. they're quite the attention-magnets. everyone carries on about their eyelashes (then they see my 5- and 11-year-olds' eyelashes and understand that it is just the way my kids are. the twins play with each other. they hit each other. they hug each other. they scream really really loud. they laugh really really hard. they dance, they run, they climb, they wiggle. they are everything any parent could dream of a kid being, and there's two of them.

challenging? sure. but worth every last drop of energy that it requires (and it does). there's no way i'd change a thing about my family's make-up. even with all the teasing about us driving a big black van now dubbed the "O-Team" van. and even with all the looks people give us when we go in to places. i look at some of them and think, "sure, think what you want to now, but when you're 70, you're going to be lonely with no grandkids around. i'll have 25 or 30 grandkids crawling all over me. and the joy these kids bring to our lives every day is worth it all.

i just pray this - that my wife and i will continue to have the energy and wisdom to raise these kids (every one of them) the way they deserve to be raised. not in comparison to every other American kid with a bazillion toys and all the stuff they ever wanted, but in comparison to having what is important - a clear example of true relationship with God, a strong foundation in life - full of self-discipline, faith in Jesus Christ, and a strong, relevant and widespread education.

sure, that's a tall order. but my God is tall. he has entrusted these six people to me, and i know that as i seek his help in being husband and father to them, he's going to keep giving me the grace and mercy (i need both) to do the job right.