medicare wants you...

Today Eli heard a commercial on the radio asking if you or someone you know is turning 65. Eli called from the back seat, Dad, are you 65? I said no. Then he said, Are you older? I said NO! I am 48... He seemed disappointed.

you my son must go on a quest...

Eli and I were watching Iron Man 2 and he said," Dad, before you die you are supposed to make a video for me and hide it so that I can find it later based on clues that you leave behind." I asked what is supposed to be in the video? He said that the kid is not supposed to know what's in the video but It's got to be cool and either explain something to him or lead him somewhere or help him find something.
I hope I don't make a lame video. It appears that it is extremely important what the video reveals...oh the pressure! What if what I reveal has already been revealed to him...Eli's standards and expectations are high and his knowledge vast. (Just today he told me he was ready to go to college)
Superman's dad made a really cool "death"video, complete with a viewing habitat. Iron Man's dad made a video for him and made something also...
I'm glad I found out now what the expectation is, I would hate to just leave an inheritance for him.

lions, and cheetahs, and ants...oh,my

Good morning from the time of 3AM. Eli has managed once again to have a wee morning adventure and has so graciously brought me along. 
This morning it is bugs! Eli woke up calling to me and claiming that there was a huge bug biting him - so I got up and checked. I found nothing. Then he claimed that he itched...everywhere! After his demands for me to scratch his back, I did notice two mosquito bites. I put some cort-aid on and that should have been the end of it. Not for Eli though. He decidedly that a bath was in order to get rid of the itches. When we pulled back the shower curtain there was a huge outdoor roach, so I was forced into combat mode. I used my WMD ( which consisted of a flip flip and a cup of very hot water from the sink.) I'm proud to say that there is one less roach in the world, 999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 left to go ( give or take a hundred). After cleaning the tub and disinfecting it, Eli started taking his bath...still is right now...and our subject is bugs. Daddy why are there so many ants? I tried to explain that ants help break down things and they are really good for the environment. Then why do you try to kill them? Good question...I TRY, but I don't appear to be successful with this one. I bought ant poison and put it on the mound. Next day there are two mounds. Put the poison on two mounds...next day five. I think someone put confectioners sugar in my bottle! Anyway, I did explain that ants are good, but we don't want them in our yard. Then more questions came about roaches ( which I explained were good for nothing), and moths, and cheetahs and scary things...we get off subject very easily.
Eli dried off, got redressed, went back to bed and I went back to mine and...now he is in my bed because he can't sleep thinking about the bugs ...

whickki whickki whickki...

All night Eli has been trying to convince me that his summer camp is putting on a big show. At first he wanted to be the DJ and showed me how you are supposed to spin records and scratch the sound. Then a little while later he told me we needed to find a large bunny costume because he is also going to play a large rabbit in the show. Out of sheer interest in seeing a large rabbit DJ in a school show, I'd buy a ticket! I'm also interested in seeing what roles the other kids will be playing!

father's day...

It's 3AM on Father's Day (Happy Father's Day, by the way) . Eli woke me up from a dead sleep for some ice water. Everyone is asleep now, including Eli - whom just took (A) sip, ( ONE) sip and went back to sleep. So here I am...AWAKE now.
I'm not upset though. I've played the role of night time care giver almost since he was born. I was the first one to get to hold him when he was born and that little bald, mucus covered kid melted my heart and I was hooked. I cried that cold early morning in January. I was so overcome with emotion. Eli was the the fulfillment of God's word to me.
(I have 4 step children and they are great and I love them dearly...I consider them my own and have sacrificed and provided for them as I have for Eli. But there is something different about your own. Maybe it's because you are there from the very beginning and they are part "you". Hmmm...)
Anyway,two years prior to the birth of Eli, I was praying one night at a special church service. As I was praying, a little boy ( Cody Campbell) was running around the church. I was distracted and started watching him. He was one of the first kids in my children's ministry and I loved him. I think he was 6 at the time and so full of life and energy. Cody was always telling me something about this or that - kid stories that grown ups sometimes miss the importance of ( and the point of). It was at that moment, while watching Cody, that I asked the Lord for a son like him. I remember it so clearly. I said, " Lord, I want a son like Cody one day" and the Lord responded that night to me and told me that I would have a son. I said, " Great, I'll name him Eli ( a name that I had loved for years prior to this moment. It was a name that Sherri and I had discussed and agreed on, should we ever have a child together) . And the Lord spoke to me again and told me that I could call him Eli, meaning " ascension", but that his name was to be Elisha, meaning " my God is salvation". I agreed ( I wasn't stupid! You don't argue with God...and win and/or live!!). The night ended very late and Sherri and I went home very tired and I didn't speak of the nights event. I figured I'd tell her in the morning. The next morning we woke up and Sherri and I were talking and she she told me that she had had the strangest dream. She said that in the dream, we had a little boy and she kept calling him...Eli, Eli, come here and he didn't respond. Then she said that the Lord had spoken in the dream and said that that wasn't his name.
It was here that I spoke up and revealed the name that the Lord had spoken to me. I said," No, his name is Elisha". Sherri asked me how I knew that because that was the name in her dream, so I told her about the night before.
Two years later, I was holding my promise. We had Eli at home and never had any ultrasounds, nothing like that. I just knew that we were having a boy and told everyone that we were having a boy and sure enough, that's what we had. At that moment, it is so overwhelming to see the fulfillment of what you have known and hoped for...and so the tears.
To me, it is one of the greatest gifts in life to be a dad...a father. There is so much responsibility to the job, if you are going to do it right, but the rewards far out weigh any sacrifice that I might make. I work with young people all the time that are ( or become) fathers, but they miss the opportunity of being a Dad. I feel sad for their loss and for the child's. It's a cycle of missing empty men that create boys that become missing empty men...able to create life, but unable to sustain and nurture it.
It's now 4:30AM and all is well. I'll try to get a little more sleep, but church will be here soon and I'll be up again...fulfilling another role of being a father!

i study art...(con)art

Well, it's official...Eli has the gift. Eli has been attending a reading and math camp for the past two weeks at the SLU lab school and will continue for two more weeks. Every week the teacher sends home a progress report to let us know how Eli is doing and what they are doing. This week we found out to our surprise that Eli has been working on sight words, twenty to be exact. They told us that Eli is having fun using the shaving cream to make letters and to spell out the words...REALLY? Eli has convinced them that he can not read! He knows most of the rules of the English language. I called a friend who has a little girl in his class and she is reading books! Eli just thought it was more fun to play with the shaving cream!!! He has conned these poor unsuspecting student teachers!!! He is very good at his craft. For the record, when we were driving to get a new toy that he convinced me that his mother said that I would take him to get when I got home from work (yes, I too fall victim sometimes), he read "car wash, not responsible for..." then we drove away.