Small steps. Giant leaps.

In a matter of moments my five-year-old grew older by a giant leap. We bought the family pass to the pool for the summer. Kind of cool - pay on the front end and it feels like you get in free the rest of the season... Anyway - for several weeks now, the most fun my youngest could imagine having at the pool would be to climb up on the side and then jump in, splash around, climb out and do it again. She would do this literally for hours. To jump and be caught by me was even more fun in her opinion. Two days ago, however, I moved her to the deeper water where she had to jump in and swim to me. Again, trusting, trying, hurtling into the unknown, ultimately into my arms. Suddenly she had a new request.

"Can I go off the diving board?"

She was super-excited when I said, "Sure!" We got the lifeguard's attention, just in case, and she didn't hesitate. She leaped in and came up smiling a huge smile. "I want to do it again!" were her only words as I applauded her from the edge of the pool.

She never went back to jumping off the edge and into my arms, which only moments before had been the ultimate experience. One small step off the diving board, one giant leap toward growing up.

7:30 am - 11:59pm

Yesterday was the most unique combination of things I've ever experienced in a single day... Maybe nothing spectacular for anyone else, but for me it was pretty cool. To begin the day, I prepped a Latte and Americano with our new espresso machine. I read in Genesis, continuing to be intrigued with when and how God chooses to speak to His people. Next, my eight-year-old taught me to play Mancala. She proceeded to absolutely school me in the game as well. Then I played Chess with my five-year-old, who I had only the day before shown the moves of each piece. She managed to leave me check-mated. After the game she played with all the pieces together. They made friends and had a party in the middle of the chess-board. I always thought the different colors had to fight, but she ended my thoughtless sense of division between the two different colors of wooden pieces. Next we went out for a five-star meal at McDonalds and, afterward, headed to the pond at JoeBeth to feed the ducks. We had received a gift card for Graeter's ice-cream so we stopped there next. I told everyone they should get the sorbet. Instead they all got what they thought they'd like, then the whole family demolished my raspberry sorbet before finishing their own ice cream. In the middle of the day we all chilled out. I went to church in the evening to perform a wedding ceremony for an amazing couple. Everything went super-smoothly. Then, I made a quick change out of my tux and the girls picked me up to meet with several families from our Life Group. We headed to Harrodsburg for a drive-in movie. My first ever. Can you believe it? No one else could either. I turned the seats around in the back of our minivan and the girls piled into Jason's truck-bed with their friends. Kung-Fu Panda was pretty outstanding. I nearly made myself sick eating candy. How refreshing. The Ale-8 topped it all off. We made it home and crashed into bed at 11:59...