Temple Trip Tomorrow

I am taking a group of four youth (two young women and two young men) to the temple in Atlanta tomorrow. We don't have a very large group of YW/YM but the kids we do have are very faithful. It will be Stephen's first temple trip. He is very excited.

If it were just a Melchizedek Priesthood trip we could make the trip from Cairo to Atlanta in less than four hours. With the youth it will probably take about five and a half. Something about having to go to the bathroom and eating. Wish us luck!

Tornados in Cairo

At least one tornado (and probably several) touched down in Cairo last night just south of where the LDS church meeting house is located on SR 93. I received an e-mail around 3:00 a.m. from our Stake President asking me whether anyone was hurt. Fortunately, there were no injuries; only property damage.

I found out where the tornado hit and drove down to the area this morning. Dozens of huge trees were uprooted and slammed down on houses and buildings. A trucker had apparently parked on the side of the road waiting for the storm to pass when a huge oak tree came crashing through the middle of the refrigerated unit he was towing. Thank goodness it didn’t hit the cab. The unit was completely destroyed. It looked brand new too.

Prepare them Now!

On the ride home from elementary school several years ago my then seven year old son, Stephen, asked my wife: “Mom, what is sex?” There is always a long, uncomfortable pause that comes when a question like that comes up for the first time. I could just picture our two younger children (four year old Jacob and two year old Caroline) along with Stephen as they sat with rapt attention awaiting her response. Well, Jacob and Stephen anyway.

She asked Stephen what had brought up the subject. He said he had heard the word used by some of the older kids at school. He said he had asked one of the kids in his class what the word meant but the kid replied, “That is a word I am only allowed to talk to my parents about. You better ask your parents.” Good kid! Better parenting!

Voice of Forewarning
When she told me about their conversation I was a little saddened. One, because it meant my little boy was growing up. And two, because I have always prided myself on being the voice of forewarning for my kids. Before we moved Stephen to a new school during first grade I told him it might be scary at first but that he would warm up to it. Before he got up to bat in his first baseball game I told him he would probably have butterflies but so does everyone else. Before he jumped off the side of the swimming pool for the first time I told him I would be there to catch him and that he didn’t need to be afraid.

But this time I was playing catch up. A couple of Saturday morning breakfasts at Hardees discussing the birds and bees over sausage biscuits and cinnamon buns seems to have done the trick. Stephen's question strengthened my resolve to be the voice of forewarning and taught me something.

What I Learned
No more catch up. What happens when my kids get into high school and I haven’t prepared them for situations they are almost certain to face? Drugs, sex, pornography, drinking, etc. Do I want the next uncomfortable question to be “Dad, what do I do now that my girlfriend is pregnant?”

My wife and I constantly tell Stephen that the closer he gets to teenagehood the more he will begin to think he knows more than we do. We are preparing him now for the thoughts and feelings we know he will experience. We were there. We went through it. What better time to get him ready for it than now.

In the end, he will have to face a number of difficult circumstances in middle and high school without us being there. It is his agency. He will be the one making the decisions. But it is our job to arm him with as many of the answers as we can now.

Father/Daughter Dance

Tonight is the long awaited Father/Daughter Dance in Bainbridge, Georgia. I say long awaited because my six year old daughter, Caroline, has been reminding me of it every day for the past two weeks. She picked out her dress several days ago and then brought it into my room and asked me "Daddy, what color is this dress?" She loves to ask me color questions because I'm color blind and she gets to listen to me run through four or five colors before getting the right one. I usually end up playing her game of "guess the color" even when I actually know what the color is.

Should be fun!