Kids...

Kids
Kids are so fun, we are finding much joy in parenting, even with the challenges and responsibilities of what we need to teach them and instruct them in the ways they should go... This past weekend we read them "The Story of Me" about how they came into being. Very high level, but needing to introduce them to how they came into the world. It was written by Stan and Brenda Jones (he was a Psych prof and now the provost @ Wheaton). We want to be the ones teaching them about sex and their bodies and such and not just correcting what they hear in school or elsewhere. Samuel is 5 and Rebeca is 3, so they're starting to get school exposure.

Yahoo! Telemundo Video

I'mtesting this google feature....Yahoo! Telemundo Video

Song I wrote about missing dad

Written in Wisconsin, summer of 1996, about one and a half years after dad abruptly died of a heart attack in December 1994. The part in quotes is verbatim from the last email Jim Reed ever sent. In May of 2006, the four Reed brothers got together in South Carolina and did a recording of this song with a guitar and vocals. It was a special moment to sing that together. If interested in hearing the song, please contact me (hopefully we can post it someday).

Everybody would like to have a father like I did • who put God first in everything he did • he loved his wife, then loved his kids • would give it all for any of them • that's my dad, the best dad in the world

Daddy how I miss you • it's been so long without your smile • so long since you said "well done" • so long since you prayed for me to be like Jesus • Daddy how I miss you

He gave his life to do God's work, • spent much time preaching the word • planted seeds and then he saw much fruit • people came to him for advice, • he modeled how they should live their lives • lose your life and gain the whole world ... Daddy...

Then one December that fatal day came • without a warning you took him away • this man that God had used for so long • a solid oak, uprooted for good • his church and family weakened stood • God's grace has held them in His hand ... Daddy...

His last words were spoken to me • in a letter he said • "it really is special when we can look at all of life with a sense of confidence that our loving and caring God is truly directing things for our good because He knows our future" ... Daddy...

30 years

ago tomorrow my brother Tim was born. Amazing that 3 decades can pass so fast. He's the third of four Reeds (or fourth of six Reed/Prescotts). I have great memories of growing up with him as my younger brother. I was often overbearing on him and little John and they both complained that I treated them as if I was their dad - which, they reminded me just as often, I was not. He was fun loving, athletic, soccer goal scoring. Here's a poem I wrote with the first letter of each line forming a phrase downwards.

To mind come so many things
On this your 30th birthday
Memories of childhood, laughter, games
"You're not my daddy," you used to say
Beautiful green eyes light your face
Radiant windows to a heart of depth and life
Overseas you were born and raised
Time, culture, faith, God: all shaped you
Heartbroken by dad's loss, you pressed on
Eternal grace you found which sustains you
Riding along into marriage and fatherhood
Tim, you are a special young man
I am proud and priviledged to be your brother
May your life be blessed and a blessing





Here is Tim, jumping over his daughter Hannah
no children were harmed in the taking of this photograph

24th anniversary

Yes, 24 years ago today I was baptized.

To some that's a common understanding, others know it's a religious practice of sorts. I'll try to explain my perspective. As a believer in Christ Jesus being the son of God and the savior of the world, when a Christian comes to this understanding, the visible declaration of this inner commitment is the symbolic event of baptism. In that act, one is immersed in water (not in all traditions, some do this to infants, some just sprinkle water) representing a death to the old sinful nature and then emerges from the water. Symbolically, this represents the new life we have in Christ. I have ommited many theological points and nuances around this, but I did not want this day to pass without taking a moment to reflect on the depth and significance of that commitment. Ever since that day I have continued to grow in my love and commitment to Jesus and although I have continued to sin, I still have assurance of spiritual life through Christ who lives in me.

I understand that some who read this and do not share my faith will perhaps be perplexed and unclear as to what all this means. Don't leave it that way! I'd love to share more if you are interested.

20,000 plus interactions

Today I'm @ work, helping people retire, adding SSN to a newborn child, referring to their employer, sending life insurance claim forms, etc. It's the work I've been doing for the last 7+ years. I have learned a lot about the business world, about benefits, whether financial, health, retirement and seen it from various angles (the participant, the employer, third party vendors, insurance companies). It's interesting it's neat, but soon enough it will no longer be what I spend my days doing.

Nonetheless, I will have been impacted with great learning and insights. I don't have the exact stats, but it is well over 20,000 single phone conversations that I have had in my career at Hewitt and I think a high percentage have been good impressions where I have been able to assist people from things as simple as an address change, to updating coverage for their child who became a full time student, to helping with understanding complex pension and billing types of situations.