on fatherhood and failure

(all quotes from Tim Bayly's "Daddy Tried")

"Fatherhood is worth doing, even when we fail. Christian fathers should approach fatherhood expecting to fail--and often. Sadly, sometimes we will fail very badly. We live in a fallen world and we ourselves are fallen, and sanctification is a lifelong and painful process. We still have within us the law of sin and death (Rom 7:22-23), and this means our best work of fatherhood will remain blighted by sin... As fathers, the best we can hope for is that, in the midst of our sin, God will add His blessing and grace and mercy to our feeble efforts and our sons and daughters will grow up to be godly. Our hope is not in ourselves, but in the Lord who is the Maker of heaven and earth. God is our refuge, an ever-present help in time of trouble. When we are weak, He is strong and He is glorified by working through our weakness." 

"Claim the promises of God over your own household. Give yourself to the obedience of faith (Rom 1:5) and get to work. Don't allow your sins to silence your commands to your children and your household. God has made you the father of your household and it is your responsibility to lead and discipline and teach and love them as your heavenly Father has led and disciplined and taught and loved you. Of course you will do your work imperfectly. Of course you will see your failures. Of course you will grieve as you recognize ways you have passed your particular sins down to your sons and daughters... What else is new? We have our orders and must carry them out because doing so is life to our children and to our children's children. So buck up. Don't be a perfectionist. God has been pleased to reserve perfectionism for Heaven."

"Over the years I've been a pastor, I've noticed one of the vulnerabilities of those who have grown up in a broken home is that, when they get married and have their first fight with their wife, they despair. They're convinced cross words indicate their marriage is bad and they're headed for divorce. When they tell me their fears, I assure them that my wife and I both grew up in good Christian homes and our parents exchanged cross words and had fights. Also that we have cross words and fight, ourselves. But cross words aren't an indication of a bad marriage. They're an indication that the marriage is between two sinners. Also that there are times when we have to work things through in such a way that we get messy. Truth be told, [my wife and I] are usually more concerned about couples who brag about never fighting than we are about couples who find marriage difficult and argue and snip and snap, getting angry at each other."

"God calls sinful men to be husbands, and thus it is His will that your wife be loved and led by a sinner. God calls sinful men to be fathers, and thus it is His will that your sons and daughters be disciplined and taught and loved by a sinner. All of this is clear. The life of faith is a life of obedience in the face of our own failures and sin. There's no other way. Don't let the guys with smiley wives and clean pickup trucks and perfect hair fool you. They put their pants on one sinner's leg at a time, just like you... Get rid of any expectation of perfection here on earth. Thorns and thistles grow in homes as well as corn fields. This is life after the Fall, so roll up your pants and shirtsleeves and live by faith."

on reading

Last year I read somewhere in the vicinity of 185 books (I could check the accuracy of that statement, but I'm too lazy; if you care about specifics, don't be lazy and scroll down to the first of the year and check for your own satisfaction. This year's ambitions are less modest, if only because I'm trying to dedicate more time to writing. Each year I choose a period of history to hone in on; 2017 saw a 50-book reading queue detailing the history of England from prehistoric times to the era of the British Empire, and this year I'm focusing on early modern Europe (around 1500 to 1790). I'm further subdividing my reading list to sharpen the focus on three particular events: the Seven Years' War (known commonly in the U.S. as the French & Indian War, though that war was just one particular theater of the wider Seven Years' War), the American Revolution (with emphases placed on books written from the British point-of-view), and the French Revolution (whose currents would shape and give opportunity to Napoleon Bonaparte). Next year I'm going to dedicate a significant portion of my reading queue to the Napoleonic Wars, which mark the end of the early modern world and the beginning of our current modern era. 

Whew. After writing that I need to take a breath. 

(And I'm sure you do, too).

But we're not finished yet.

During my Claypole House days, I discovered the joy of reading nonfiction and fiction in tandem. It brings both to a more vibrant life. To experience this for yourself, pick up an historical book on the Battle of Gettysburg and read Michael Shaara's Killer Angels in pace with the events. Do it and tell me if you're not hooked. Fiction and nonfiction pair like French cheese and vintage wine, and this year's early modern nonfiction is being read alongside two excellent historical fiction series: The Aubrey-Maturin Series by Patrick O'Brian and The Richard Sharpe Series by Bernard Cornwell. Both authors are fantastic, though O'Brian is more well-known (he received a boost when Russell Crowe played Captain Jack Aubrey in the loosely-based Master and Commander movie). In a stroke of good fortune, both authors bring different aspects of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars together: O'Brian writes about the war at sea, and Cornwell focuses on the land war. Because both series together march upwards of forty-something books, I'm splitting it between this year and next (which is still a good solid twenty-odd books each year). Thus far this year I've finished six of Cornwell and O'Brian's novels (along with a spattering of fiction bringing these events to further life).

2018 Resolutions

“A new year and a new me!”

Except not really.

Not a lot of people do New Year’s Resolutions, but I’m fond of them. I like having yearly goals, a certain set of things to strive after. Each year thus becomes more defined, and more memorable, and different than the years before or after it. I’m a categorical kind of guy and like to view my life in compartmentalized, bullet-pointed phases. I think it might be part of my aspergers. Despite my fondness of Resolutions, I hardly ever achieve all of them. I’m ahead of the game if I even accomplish two. This past year I was not ahead of the game. My 2017 Resolutions were:

[A] Make Progress with School

[B] Read an Hour a Day

[C] Write Two Novels

I didn’t start school back up (it’s slated for spring/summer this year, for financial reasons), I didn’t write two novels, but I did read an hour a day (and clocked in at 185 books read, a new record). Many of this year's goals are along the same lines:

[A] Read or Write an Hour a Day*

[B] Continue Living Healthier

And… (commence drumroll...)

[C] Buy a House**

*Though I hit a whopping 185 books read last year, I didn't get much done in the way of writing. I'm hoping to remedy that this year by allowing myself to use "reading time" for "writing time." My aim this year is to write two novels and finish my Brief History of England (much of which is posted in 2017's chronicles).

**By the goodness of God we have saved up enough money for a good-sized down-payment on our own home and brought our credit and debt to where it needs to be to get a good loan. There are lots of reasons to look forward to 2018, but having our own home, rather than renting, tops the list.

books read: 2017

This past year I read (or reread) 185 books. That's a new record!
(Reading an Hour a Day can get you far in life!)

~ Religion & Spirituality ~

Knowing God (J.I. Packer)
The Heidelberg Catechism: A Study Guide (G.I. Williamson, 1993)
The Godly Man's Picture (Thomas Watson, 1660)
Is God Anti-Gay? (Sam Allberry, 2013)
Empires of Dirt: Secularism, Radical Islam, and the Mere Christendom Alternative
  (Douglas Wilson, 2016)
Act Like Men: 40 Days to Biblical Manhood (James MacDonald, 2014)
Man Up! Becoming a Godly Man in an Ungodly World (Jody Burkeen, 2011)
The Grace of Shame (Tim Bayly, 2017)
Daddy Tried: Overcoming the Failures of Fatherhood (Bayly, 2016)
Real Marriage (Mark Driscoll, 2013)
Recovering Redemption (Matt Chandler, 2014)
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters (Meg Meeker, 2007)
Amusing Ourselves to Death (Neil Postman, 2005)
The Dawkins Delusion (Alister McGrath, 2010)
The Devil's Delusion: Atheism & Its Scientific Pretensions (David Berlinski, 2009)
Darwin's Doubt (Stephen C. Meyer, 2014)
Evolution 2.0 (Perry Marshall, 2015)
Deliver Us From Evolution? (Aaron R. Yilmaz, 2016)
The End of Reason (Ravi Zacharias, 2008)
The Real Face of Atheism (Zacharias, 2004)
The Grand Weaver (Zacharias, 2010)
Has Christianity Failed You? (Zacharias, 2010)
Why Suffering? (Vince Vitale & Zacharias, 2015)

~ The History of England ~

from prehistoric times through the height of the British Empire

PREHISTORIC BRITAIN
  Prehistoric Europe (ed. Barry Cunliffe, 1994)
  Warfare in Prehistoric Britain (Julian Heath, 2013)
  Britain Begins (Cunliffe, 2014)
  Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans (Francis Pryor, 2004)
  History of the Britons (Nennius, 6th century AD)
THE RISE & FALL OF ROMAN BRITAIN
  Roman Britain (Henry Freeman, 2016)
  Early & Roman Britain (Edward Conybeare, 1903)
  Roman Britain (Peter Salway, 1984)
  Roman Britain: A New History (Guy de la Bedoyere, 2014)
  On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain (Gildas, 6th century AD)
ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND
  Early Britain (Alfred Church, 1889)
  Britain After Rome: The Rise and Fall, 400-1070 AD (Robin Fleming, 2011)
  Britain AD: A Quest for Arthur, England, and the Anglo-Saxons (Pryor, 2005)
  The Anglo-Saxon Age (John Blair, 1984)
  The Anglo-Saxons (James Campbell, et. al., 1991)
  Alfred the Great and the Viking Invasions of Europe (Beatrice Lees, 1919)
  The Conquest of England (John Green, 1883)
  The Vikings (Don Nardo, 2010)
  England During the Dark Ages: 449-1071 AD (Green, 1895)
  Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Venerable Bede, AD 731)
MEDIEVAL BRITAIN
  The Norman Conquest: The Battle of Hastings and the Fall of  Anglo-Saxon
          England (Marc Morris, 2014)
  The Norman Conquest (George Garnett, 2010)
  Medieval Britain (John Gillingham, 2002)
  England and the Crusades: 1095-1588 (Christopher Tyerman, 1988)
  Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty (Dan Jones, 2016)
  The Plantagenets (Jones, 2014)
  William Wallace and Robert the Bruce (Charles River, 2015)
  The Hundred Years War: England vs. France
    The Hundred Years War (William M. Lace, 1994)
    The Hundred Years War: Essential Histories (Anne Curry, 2002)
    The Hundred Years War: The English in France, 1337-1453
          (Desmund Seward, 1999)
    The Hundred Years War: England and France at War
          (Christopher Allmand, 1988)
    England Expects: The Battle of Sluys (Corrigan, 2016)
    The Armies of Crecy and Poitiers (Christopher Rothero, 1981)
    French Armies of the Hundred Years War (Nicolle & McBride, 2000)
    Henry V and the Conquest of France (Knight & Turner, 1998)
    The Armies of Agincourt (Rothero, 1981)
  The Wars of the Roses: Lancaster vs. Yorkshire
    A Brief History of the Wars of the Roses (David Hume, 1905)
    The Wars of the Roses (Terence Wise & G.A. Embleton, 1983)
    The Wars of the Roses (Lace, 1995)
    The Wars of the Roses: 1377-1471 (Robert Mowat, 2014)
    The Wars of the Roses (River, 2017)
MODERN BRITAIN
  The Tudors (John Guy, 2013)
  Queen Elizabeth & the Spanish Armada (Francis Winwar, 1954)
  Stuart Britain (John Morrill, 2000)
  The English Civil War (Robert Freeman, 2014)
  The Glorious Revolution (River, 2017)
  The American Revolution (Henry Freeman, 2016)
  Trafalgar & Waterloo (River, 2014)
  The War of 1812 (Freeman, 2016)
  The British Empire (River, 2017)

~ Historical Miscellany ~

THE ANCIENT WORLD
  The Story of the World: The Ancient World (Susan Wise Bauer, 2006)
  Empires of Mesopotamia (Nardo, 2000)
  The Assyrian Empire (Nardo, 1998)
  The Persian Empire (Nardo, 1997)
  Ancient Egypt (Nardo, 2002)
  Ancient Egypt (Judith Crosher, 1993)
  The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt (Toby Wilkinson, 2013)
  Weapons and Warfare of Ancient Egypt (Nardo, 2002)
  Ancient Greece (Peter Ackroyd, 2005)
  The Roman Republic (Nardo, 1994)
  The Punic Wars (Nardo, 1996)
  The Collapse of the Roman Republic (Nardo, 1998)
  The Roman Empire (Nardo, 1994)
  Stephen Beisty's Rome (Stephen Beisty, 2003)
MEDIEVAL MISCELLANIA
  The Story of the World: The Middle Ages (Bauer, 2007)
  The Roman Empire and the Dark Ages (Giovanni Caselli, 1981)
  A Brief Political and Geographic History of Europe (Frances Davey, 2008)
  The Early Middle Ages (Nardo, 1995)
  The Invaders: Romans, Barbarians, Vikings, Normans, Gothic Tribes,
    & Moslems (Martin Windrow, 1979)
  Barbarians (Stephen Knoll, 2009)
  Medieval Warfare (Nardo, 2015)
  Weapons & Warfare of the Middle Ages (Nardo, 2003)
  Stephen Beisty's Castle (Beisty, 2013)
  Castles (Meredith Hooper, 2006)
  A Cultural Atlas of the Middle Ages (Mike Corbishley, 2007)
THE MODERN WORLD
  The Story of the World: The Early Modern World (Bauer, 2004)
  The Story of the World: The Modern World (Bauer, 2005)
  World War One (Rupert Colley, 2012)
  World War Two (Colley, 2011)

  The Korean War 

    The Korean War (Andrew Mulholland, 2013)
    The Korean War (Andrew Santella, 2007)

    The Korean War: A History (Bruce Cumings, 2011)
    The Korean War (Hourly History, 2017)
    The Korean War: A Captivating Guide (Captivating History, 2017)
    Valleys of Death: A Memoir of the Korean War (Bill Richardson, 2010)

    The Battle for Pusan: A Memoir (Addison Terry, 2007)
    From the Cockpit: Coming of Age in the Korean War (Tex Atkinson, 2004)
    Jet Pioneer: A Fighter Pilot's Memoir (Carl Schneider, 2017)
    Blood on the Snow: A Korean War Memoir (William Melton, 2017)
    A Rage Within: A Korean War Memoir (James Campbell, 2017)
  The Vietnam War

    The Vietnam War (Mark Black, 2012)

    The Vietnam War in 50 Events (James Weber, 2015)

    The Vietnam War: The Definitive Illustrated History (DK Publishing, 2017)

    The Tet Offensive & the Invasion of Cambodia (Rivers, 2016)

    Aircraft of the Vietnam War (Bill Gunston, 1988)

    Hue 1968 (Mark Bowden, 2017)

    We Were Soldiers Once... And Young (Harold G. Moore, 2004)

    American Warrior: a Combat Memoir of Vietnam (John C. Bahnsen, 2008)

    'Nam Raw: Excerpts from 24 Vietnam Combat Memoirs (McFarland, 2016)

    Dispatches (Michael Herr, 1991)

    The Vietnam War (Neil Smith, 2012)

  Black Hawk Down (Bowden, 2010)
  Iraq & Afghanistan
    And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the
      Middle East (Richard Engel, 2016)
    The Forever War (Dexter Filkins, 2008)
    The War in Afghanistan (Stuart A. Kallen, 2014)
    The Iraq War (Rodney P. Carlisle, 2007)
    War Journal: My Five Years in Iraq (Engel, 2008)
    The Second Battle of Fallujah (Rivers, 2016)
    Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can't Ignore (Jay Sekulow, et. al., 2014)
    Because They Hate (Brigitte Gabriel, 2006)
    A History of Sharia Law (Rivers, 2016)
    The Syrian Civil War (Rivers, 2017)

~ Fiction & Literature ~

HISTORICAL FICTION
  Black Ships Before Troy (Rosemary Sutcliff, 2005)
  Simon Scarrow's Eagle Series
    Under the Eagle (2000)
    The Eagle's Conquest (2001)
    When the Eagle Hunts (2002)
    The Eagle and the Wolves (2003)
    The Eagle's Prey (2004)
  Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Tales
    The Last Kingdom (2004)
    The Pale Horseman (2005)
    The Lords of the North (2006)
    Sword Song (2007)
    The Burning Land (2009)
    Death of Kings (2011)
    The Pagan Lord (2013)
    The Empty Throne (2014)
    Warriors of the Storm (2015)
    The Flame Bearer (2016)
A MELTING POT OF FICTION
  A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (George R.R. Martin, 2015)
  The Hammer of God (Arthur C. Clarke, 1994)
  Imperial Earth (Clarke, 1974)
  Childhood's End (Clarke, 1952)
  Pirate Latitudes (Michael Crichton, 2009)
  Dragon Teeth (Crichton, 2017)
  The Dead Zone (Stephen King, 1979)
  Salem's Lot (King, 1975)
  Gray Mountain (John Grisham, 2014)
  The Racketeer (Grisham, 2012)
  The Hunt for Red October (Tom Clancy, 1984)
  Red Storm Rising (Clancy, 1986)
  The Orchard Keeper (Cormac McCarthy, 1965)
  Outer Dark (McCarthy, 1968)
  Child of God (McCarthy, 1973)
  Blood Meridian (McCarthy, 1985)
  No Country for Old Men (McCarthy, 2005)
  The Road (McCarthy, 2006)
  Alas, Babylon (Pat Frank, 2005)
  On the Beach (Nevil Shute, 2010)
STAR WARS NOVELS
  Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (James Luceno, 2005)
  Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel (Luceno, 2016)
  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Alexander Freed, 2016)
  Episode IV: A New Hope (George Lucas, 1986)
  Battlefront: Twilight Company (Freed, 2015)
  Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Donald F. Glut, 1985)
  Shadows of the Empire (Steve Perry, 1996)
  Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (James Kahn, 1983)
  Aftermath: Star Wars (Chuck Wendig, 2016)
  Aftermath: Life Debt (Wendig, 2017)
  Aftermath: Empire's End (Wendig, 2017)
  Bloodline (Claudia Gray, 2017)
  Episode VII: The Force Awakens (Foster, 2016)
  Star Wars: Complete Locations (D.K. Publishing, 2016)

et reditus

This June it’ll be three years since I shut down my long-running blog Darker Than Silence. The decision to ‘pull the plug’ was couched in terms of ‘cutting all cords’ in the wake of a bad breakup, but really it was to protect my sanity. That’s a reflection purely on me: I didn’t handle the breakup well, and my anger got the best of me. Anger soaked in grief is the worst kind of pain, and my inability to practice self-control is something for which I’m ashamed. Shame, I’ve found, is good, because it forces you to take a hard, knowing look at yourself; shame is what happens when we ‘know ourselves’, and it spurns you towards a brokenness that brings you to your knees and opens you up to the help you so desperately need. One of my greatest regrets is how I handled that breakup; I didn’t do well by her, and I know I wounded her heart with my farcical and grief-skewed words.  I’ve prayed deeply that any wounds she incurred on my behalf would be healed and that she sees herself as I always saw her, even if I pretended otherwise: as a wonderful daughter of the king.

I have no ill will towards her; I know that marrying her wasn’t God’s will for me. He had something else for me, something more fitting for me (not ‘something better’ but ‘something more suited towards me in particular’, an important distinction). She and I wouldn’t have been a good fit. We loved each other, to be sure, but we weren’t compatible. We were polar opposites in so many ways, and though they say opposites attract, they don’t say that opposites flourish. God was looking out not only for me but also for her; she would be happier with someone else, and that’s okay. As it stands, I’ve fully moved into what God has for me and am more happy and content than ever before. I’m in awe at the grace and favor God has shown me, excited for the life He’s planned for me—a life full of love and friendship and hard work.

The past two years have seen a lot of changes, not only on the outside but also in the inside. God has been busy, and at times I’ve felt like I’m just trying to keep up. God brought me the love of my life, and He began writing a story that’s definitely one for the annals. Ashley and I became friends at C.C.U. in 2005, and though I had a crush on her, I was too shy and quiet to do anything about it. Besides, she was a cheerleader and I was just this quirky, nerdy short guy with weird-looking hair. I spent my free time scurrying up the steps from the men’s dorm to the Hilltop Coffee Shop and scaring girls from the sewers, so what would a cute and spunky cheerleader want to do with me? She ended up dating and marrying my dorm room neighbor, and they had two girls together. Flash forward nearly a decade, and she and I reconnect at an Irish pub and it turns out her ex-husband was a dick and abandoned her and their two little girls. She and I continued hanging out, and I fell in love with her and her girls (Chloe and Zoey), and on 4 November 2016 we were married in a beautiful ceremony in my parents’ backyard:

Overnight we became Husband and Wife, and the next morning I was stepdad to Chloe and Zoey. But I wanted to be more than that, so we found a lawyer and started the adoption process. We knew it would be a fight: Ashley’s ex-in-laws and ex-husband were taking her to court again and again to get more privileges with the girls. Ashley had reasons for fighting them, and we knew that once the adoption went through, the girls would be entirely mine and all the exes would be legal strangers, and we also knew that this would be anathema to the in-laws. It would overthrow all they had achieved. We geared up for a brutal fight that we feared could turn violent, and we held our breaths and prayed hard. Lots of people who knew the situation prayed along with us; our church coated us in prayer, and we steeled ourselves as the adoption papers were served. Then something remarkable happened: the exes, who for years had dragged Ashley through the courts and who had fought tooth-and-nail for the girls, just turned their backs and walked away. They just gave up and washed their hands of us. There isn’t a doubt in anyone’s mind that this was a work of God: He answered our prayers by declaring that there would be no fight, and it was so. The judge sped up the adoption process (something which our lawyer said was unheard-of), the home inspector just had a nice conversation with us and declared me fit to be a father without even looking around the house (this, our lawyer said, was even more unheard of), and on 19 September 2017 I became the legal father of Chloe and Zoey (I delight to remember that I held Chloe as a newborn in the hospital, ignorant to all the threads God was weaving together for me to become her father). The girls’ birth certificates were changed, and they became Chloe and Zoey Barnhart. They became mine.

Sometimes I still lie awake in bed shocked at all that God has done for me. In the spring of 2006 God spoke to me in an audible yet silent voice (it’s hard to describe), and He told me, “I have given you these desires [to be a good husband and good father], and I have given you these desires for a reason. There is a girl, one of My children, who is hurting and aching. She desires true love and fears she will never find it in this world of twisted and abusive love. I have chosen you to be Me to her—to love her with a selfless, serving, and sacrificial love. I have a beautiful plan for you and for her.” For a decade I wondered how that would play out, and when God’s plan came together, all the pieces fell into place. Everything made sense. God was talking about Ashley when He spoke to me in 2006. His hand has been vibrantly evident in our lives, and He’s swept aside hurdle after hurdle to bring us to where He wants us to be. It hasn’t been easy (things are most often hard when God is at work), but it’s been life-giving, liberating, and something which I would never give up for anything this world has to offer. Many tears were spilled praying through the first verses of Psalm 40 in a desperate longing for God to answer my prayers for a heart made alive, and now I pray them in praise and wonder at the way God has been at work in my life:

I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me also out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon the rock, and ordered my goings. And he hath put in my mouth a new song of praise unto our God; many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.  (Psalm 40.1-3, 1599 Geneva Bible)

When I exclaim, ‘Look what God hath wrought,’ my meditations aren’t solely on the macro-movements; they’re in the micro ones, as well. When I look back on who I was four years ago, I’m stunned by the difference. It's truly Night and Day. Though my quirks remain the same (and I’m still a voracious reader and writer), I’m far more responsible and wise in my decisions. I’m more patient, more self-controlled, and more mature. God has led me into a life of Husbandry and Fatherhood, and it’s a life of sacrifice and self-expenditure. Time, money, energy, everything is directed towards the family God has put under your care. Husbandry and fatherhood is a pouring out of your deepest self. It’s exhausting, trying, and fulfilling. I’ve become more religiously conservative (having girls plays a part in this, no doubt), and I’ve shunned practices and habits that were ingrained into my life. This marriage and family thing is wonderful, and it’s a daily learning experience (I’m far from perfect, and I often fail). Being a husband and a father is damned hard, because if you’re doing it right then you’re committing your life to loving and leading your family, carrying the financial burden and providing for the family’s needs (and God has been faithful, always providing us what we need).

This blog will be different than Darker Than Silence. Though I’ve kept up my Weekly Updates, the day-by-day journal of my life, I’m keeping them on a private sister site. Making them public when I was single was one thing, but doing it when you’re the head of a family of four (and, God willing, soon to be more) is a different beast altogether. This blog will mainly consist of the trivial matters of my life (with big updates when necessary), and such ‘trivial matters’ include any leisurely studies (such as my study of medieval England last year), random posts of Star Wars or dinosaur pictures (what can I say? I’m a fan), or excerpts from my writing (when I find the time to hone my craft). Somewhere along the way, I hope, you may find yourself entertained. 

#kidcation (and New Year's)

#kidcation eats: (L-R) Dusmesh, Q'Barbeque, and Pies & Pints

Ashley’s parents took the girls with them to Lexington for a couple days, giving Ashley and me some much-needed alone time. A “kidcation,” if you will (sure, I will). On Christmas night we endured an hour wait at Dragon City for a pick-up order (I couldn’t be mad; nothing else was open), and we rounded out the night burning sage and watching all three The Santa Clause movies. That night I dreamed I was Santa Claus and Zoey was my elven helper; she kept knocking over milk glasses that kids had left, and it was really starting to irritate me. I told Ashley about the dream, and she said, “That’s probably why you were moaning so much. Your moans sounded pissed.”

Ashley and I ran down to the office so I could turn in timesheets, and then we grabbed lunch at the Dusmesh Indian buffet outside Cincy State. We hadn’t been there since we got married (I think), and it stirred up lots of great memories from the last six years. We headed to Microcenter to look at new computers, and I settled on a Windows 10 HP Desktop with an i7 processor (though I ordered it rather than bought it from the store, because it’s cheaper that way). We swung by Midpointe Library on the way home, and we snuggled in bed and watched The Good Doctor before heading back into Cincinnati for an evening at Winton Ridge. We witnessed a police chase at the King’s Run Minimart, and it was great seeing John and Brandy—and especially Amos. I hadn’t seen him for over a year. We played Foozball, laughed a lot, and caught up on all the things that have changed (or stayed the same) in our lives. John and Brandy abandoned their place in Louisville and are back at the farmhouse long-term (John quit his job at Holsopple because of the work environment); Aaron moved out; and it looks like Frank and his new girlfriend Beth might be taking Aaron’s spot. John made a steak dinner with homemade mashed potatoes and we watched BBC’s Hidden Kingdoms.

On Wednesday we had a Mediterranean dinner at Q’Barbeque, and Ashley’s Christmas gift to me arrived: my new computer! I set it up, and it runs fast. Best of all, it can run my Total War games. Even Empire and Shogun 2 run well. It’ll be perfect for school, and I’m giving my Dell netbook to Chloe for her school and stories. Ashley and I burned sage and binge-watched The West Wing. It’s our cold winter night go-to. Bartlet would’ve crushed Trump.

On Thursday we dad dinner with Tyler & Julia (and 2.5 year old Luna!) at Pies & Pints at Liberty Center. I had pork nachos and two helpings of Rhinegeist Shuffle. Julia’s pregnant with another child, a boy this time! We had a great time. Tyler really likes Ashley, and we all want to get together with the girls here soon. Zoey would play great with Luna. Ashley and Julia shared some comraderie with in-laws issues. It’s nice to know marriage drama is normal.

The girls returned over the weekend, and on Sunday we missed church despite being ready: we got another round of snow that covered the roads, and record told temperatures made it almost impossible to scrape the ice off the van. My hands nearly fell off from numbness, and we drove around downtown to try and warm up. Not until we were on 71N did I start to regain feeling in my toes. We grabbed lunch at Skyline Chili in Blue Ash, and when we got home we made the girls rest and took a nap before spending the evening celebrating New Year’s with contingents of Ashley’s family. Her dad made hand-rolled sushi and deep fried egg rolls, and I provided some Italian bread to go along with the brie cheese. Zoey tried to stay up till midnight but couldn’t make it past 9PM, Keith got drunk and was passed out by 10PM, and Chloe had a blast staying up with the adults and writing stories on my old netbook. Come midnight we drank some champagne (Chloe got grape juice and pretended it was making her loopy) and rang a cowbell and shot off confetti poppers outside.

I fell asleep praising God for 2017. It truly was a year marked by God’s provisions, a slew of answered prayers, and undeniable “acts of God” that I’ll never forget.

Christmas 2017

On Saturday blizzard conditions obscured the roads on our way to Mom & Dad’s to have lunchmeat sandwiches before heading to New Carlisle to celebrate Christmas with Dad’s side of the family. Everyone was able to make it, so the house was crammed with 29 people. Grandpa was in a good mood; he may have dementia, but at least he remembers me and makes a lot of jokes. I think he talks to me more than he talks to any of his other grandsons. Amanda, Chloe, and Zoey participated in a gingerbread house contest. Amanda won first place and Chloe came in second; Chloe’s was very abstract and creative, the girl should become an engineer. After the contest Grandma gave out presents (she and Grandpa have a LOT of money in the bank; Grandpa used to be a banker). I got two airplane models: a Skyraider and a Fairy Swordfish.

After dinner I broke the news that Ashley and I had secretly gotten married and that I had officially adopted the girls. Both Aunt Kelly and Aunt Julie were super excited for me, and no one was upset about the secrecy. We left New Carlisle around 7PM and I was in Blue Ash at 9PM to work the back half of my overnight. Now that Ashley and I have broken the news, we’re free to be “Facebook Official,” and Ashley made it so that night. Grandpa M. saw it and liked it, so I gave him a call and told him the news. I was on the fence about telling him, harboring some animosity towards him because of how he betrayed and abandoned his family and still treats Mom like shit sometimes. I was waiting for him to say something shitty, and I was planning on unleashing on him—craving to do it, actually—but he was nice and congratulatory so I kept my mouth shut.

The next day (Christmas Eve) we celebrated Christmas with Ashley’s side of the family. Jessica and Dustin came over with Ella in tow, and when Nathan arrived we launched the Demerle Christmas 2017. We took family pictures and Evelyn bit me in the crotch; she’s a biter. Jessica broke the flimsy kitchen chair, but it’s not on her: the chair was a piece of shit, and you always had to sit in it just right to keep it from breaking. We had corn revel soup for lunch with spiral sliced honey ham and sweet potato casserole. We exchanged Secret Santa gifts: Ashley got Rachel a deep fryer, I got Keith a pack of 50 lighters (Rachel thought it was hilarious), and Jessica got me a $20 gift card to Amazon. Ashley got a kickass pineapple mason jar, and the parents got all the couples (and Nathan) a loaded VISA gift card.

Once everyone filed out and we got the girls to bed, Ashley and I finished wrapping the girls’ gifts and put them under the tree. The girls set out chocolate milk and a bunch of sweets, so Ashley and I had to eat all of them despite being full. Zoey wanted to put reindeer food (dry oatmeal mixed with glitter) in the front yard. Chloe added carrots, which we had to chew up and spit out like they’d been eaten. I had Addy walk all around the area to make prints that could resemble those of a reindeer. “Christmas Eve is a lot of work with kids.” Chloe came down the stairs around 11:30PM and saw Ashley nibbling on some of Santa’s sweets. Her eyes went wide, and she exclaimed, “Why’re you eating Santa’s food?” Ash replied, “Because your sister wanted him to have those, but he really wants cookies, so we’re switching them out. Do NOT tell her.”

Around 3AM that night Zoey claimed a bad dream and crawled between Ash and me; she kept stealing my blankets and trying to push me off the bed. Chloe shook me awake around 8:00 with a wild fire in her eyes: “Santa came!” Zoey snapped awake and bolted downstairs to see all the presents. We rifled through the presents, and Chloe noticed that she’d seen some of her presents up in our room just yesterday. “Now they say ‘from Santa,’” she pointed out, skepticism bleeding from her voice. Ashley told her, “Every year Santa sends us a list of what he got you, and if there’s some things he didn’t get, we get them for him and he reimburses us. He can’t fit all these presents in his sleigh.” I added, “There are a lot more Christmases nowadays with the steady population increase due to multiplying birthrates and better prenatal care. Santa doesn’t have the necessary supplies for everything in the North Pole, so he has us buy some of the things and he reimburses us when he comes. Cash only.” I said the last part in case she asked to see the check. She seemed satisfied (or apathetic), so we dug into our gifts and celebrated our first Christmas the “Barnhart Family” (legally, anyways). And to make it even better, it was a White Christmas, the first in years. It snowed all afternoon and evening, and we got around two inches. The wind was blistering, though, blowing the snow straight into you so that it felt like getting slapped with hundreds of icy pinpricks. Santa brought Zoey an American Girl Doll, a prank kit, a wooden hydroplane model, and a bucket of Army Men (among other things). Chloe made bank with sewing and jewelry kits and a number of crafting accessories. The girls got me a new ESV study bible with a bible case to go along with it, and I gave Ashley a card and some perfumes she likes. Ashley made me a goetta omelet with wheat toast, and I helped Zoey build her plane. I did a chest workout (with increased weight!), and the girls left to Lexington with Ashley’s parents.

Christmas 2017 came to an end.

And #kidcation began!

(It’s a great Christmas gift from Ashley’s parents)