Good night, Lake Michigan.

On the road today for an expedition and had to turn around due to car trouble. Grateful to be near a shop I trusted who could help me out!

Kicking myself for forgetting to pack my microphone for microcasting on the road. I resolve to make it as essential as chargers on packing for all future trips.

We got the kids out the door after breakfast to go and pick some blueberries! They were pretty ripe and fell off of the bushes, which was really nice. The children preferred eating them to putting them in the bucket.

I’ve never been an Apple News user. Now that it’s coming to the Mac, with all of that cross-platform syncing goodness, I’m diving in.

Private beach, cool water, good times!

I grew up in an Air Force family. Moving across our country, I’ve had the opportunity to live in or visit almost every region.

I’m disappointed at how we portray ourselves to the World. There’s the America that’s shown on television and the real America.

America is a beautiful place filled with warm and caring people. People who go about their lives quietly and with great dignity. We work, raise families, and volunteer in our community. A great number of incredible Americans sign up to join the military and defend our way of life.

My family and I took two days to drive across America to our vacation here on the shores of Lake Michigan. We didn’t need permission or visas. We just decided to go to the lake. There was food, fuel, and restrooms wherever we needed them. At the end of a long travel day, a smiling clerk welcomed us into a comfortable hotel.

America is a lot of things, and we have our fair share of problems. In spite of our weaknesses, we succeed. We come from every background and corner of the planet to be a force for good.

Freedom. Opportunity. Joy. This is America.

Almond Breeze:

Cartons of almond milk are being recalled for containing milk — an allergen not listed on the label.

I still don’t know what almondmilk is.

Creating a good habit is a ton of work. Even just the thought of that work is enough to get me to not even try.

I have a great relationship with my children. They’re young, and for the most part, developing that relationship is easy. I’m quick to forgive them and they’re quick to overlook my own shortcomings.

I know that this ease of relationship won’t last. If I want to continue in relationship with them as they get older into their teens, adulthood, and beyond, I’m going to have to seriously work at it. I need to put in the time and the effort.

I feel a strong desire to have a strong relationship with my children, and yet I easily forget just how strongly God wants a personal relationship with me. I need to know my place in that relationship, and appreciate it! Being a child is a wonderful, grace-filled thing.

Starting to cultivate the relationship between Creator and created is really daunting. What do I say to the One who knows everything? Everything. I know how my son is feeling just by reading his body language, but I still want him to tell me what’s going on so that I can build on it. God is the same way.

I’m going to start small. Five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening. I want to work on building an intimate, personal relationship with the One who willed me into existence.

First Reading: Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15

Second Reading: Ephesians 4:17, 20-24

Gospel: John 6:24-35

Hello, Lake Michigan!

Hours on the road and Elmo’s still smiling!

Another beautiful day in America!

Arkansas: the Ohio of middle America!

Had a slowdown on the way to the doctor’s office this morning. Loose cattle on the roadway.

It’s Botox day again. Still at a loss at why anyone would use it electively.

Few chores are as satisfying as washing the family cars.

You’ve Got Mail 🍿

A phenomenal movie.

Dr. Daniel Siegel, a Harvard Medical School graduate and board certified psychiatrist has sought through his clinical research to define mental health. We’ve done an excellent job defining mental illness, but not nearly enough effort is put into talking about mental health.

Dr. Siegel describes mental health as being in a canoe on a river of well-being. Floating down the middle of the river is calm, steady, and enjoyable. There’s a nice current that takes your canoe on a relaxing and enjoyable journey.

On one shore of the river is chaos; it’s the rapids that move our canoe in variable and unexpected ways. Chaos is right-brain dominate. It drowns us in an ocean of emotions and refuses to engage with any form of logic.

On the other shore of the river is rigidity; it’s the tree roots that get our canoe stuck and prevent us from paddling down the calm waters. Rigidity is left-brain dominate. It’s unfeeling, unemotional, totally logical, and ignores the very human aspects of connection and community.

Mental health is navigating between chaos and rigidity. It’s living in a state of integration. Both right and left brain have a role to play, and when they co-operate in balance, they’re integrated. Living in a state of integration allows us to be caring, feeling adults who are also in control of our emotional responses.

There’s no doubt that the past three years have been a disaster for our collective mental health. We now live in an outrage culture, and it’s being weaponized against us.

Showtime’s “This is America,” the President’s Twitter feed, late night television hosts, multi-media journalists, IHOb, and even our neighbor’s Facebook page are being used to drown us in emotion. They don’t want you to be human and logical, they just want you to react with rage against the target that they paint. They thrive on clicks and engagement, no matter the quality of the interaction. Their goal is to grab as much of your attention as they can.

The good news is that you can choose to not be outraged. It’s still possible to get your news from a reputable news organization that’s more focused on hard news than clickbait. It’s still possible to unfriend, unfollow, or unsubscribe. Remove those people and organizations that are trying to manipulate your emotions based on fear.

Unsubscribe from the President’s Twitter feed. You have enough valid reasons to oppose his agenda. Advocate for your positions. You don’t need him constantly trying to distract you with inane drivel.

Stop watching Showtime and HBO. You’ll be much happier reading a book or going for a walk.

Stop visiting BuzzFeed, CNN, and Fox News. Get your news from a news organization that has separated its opinion side from its news side. All journalism is biased, but real news organizations report stories on their facts and merits, not on how many clicks a stupid headline will get.

If you hate the way that Twitter has become toxic or the tribalism that tells you to yell at every person who disagrees with you, there’s something you can do. Choose to not be outraged. If you stop giving oxygen to a fire, it flames out. Focus on rowing down the river of well-being, and living a calm and integrated life.

I’ve never had a Big Mac.

A great picture from Alison and I’s trip across America. The kids weren’t with us, so I’d send them pictures of Elmo so they could see where we were and what we were doing.

It’s stunning how many varieties of bugs there are. Each plays its own small role in the ecosystem, despite how revolting I find all of them.

Alison called me at lunch for a quick chat. We rarely talk on the phone during the day, usually just exchanging texts. I enjoyed the mid-day connection. I hope this trend continues.

Never cancel on a forecast.

I hate that Food Network Star brought Jess back at the very end and then gave her a pilot. She basically got a short cut to the finale. That’s messed up.