Just a Little Pride

Our guest blogger today is our brother-in-law, Jim. He is married to our oldest sister, Hannah. They have three sweet boys.


I would like to talk about Pride. Not in the biblical sense, as in Proverbs 11:2, "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom."

No, this is a different kind of pride. Let's call it the healthy kind. Like, when I grill four steaks and three of them actually turn out edible. Or, when I am successful in convincing my four year old that there is no actual Holiday called "Pantless Tuesday."

Of these healthy types of pride, my favorite is the pride I have in my wife, Hannah. This pride does not come from a selfish or arrogant place. Am I happy that she is beautiful and the girl of my dreams? Sure. To say I'm proud of those things would suggest I had something to do with it. Taking credit, if you will.

My pride is in her successes. The drive, determination and heart she puts into everything she touches. After eight years of marriage, I can be around her for ten minutes and wish I was a better man. On top of that, she has blessed me with three beautiful, smart, healthy and sweet little boys.

Guest Blog: A Hero Like No Other

Our Guest blogger today is our brother, Paul. Paul presently lives in Kentucky with his wife and two children.

Stories have a plot: problem, solution, result. They also have a main character or characters, good guys and bad guys. This is true for romances (or I think this is true, I am not an expert here!) and even action movies (though, likely to a much lesser degree).

Take one of my favorites for example, The Lord of the Rings. This is an epic story about “the fellowship” trying to destroy a certain very powerful and enchanting ring. Sometimes in stories there is what I call, “the contrast character,” he makes the hero of the story look even more heroic. For The Lord of the Rings its Boromir, for romance movies it is the jerk who doesn’t care (or Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice), and for action movies it is probably the guy that is geeky and kills less people. Throughout the story, we see the hero overcome insurmountable odds and defeat the bad guys of the story and bring a solution to whatever problem was introduced. The narrative of Scripture similarly has a plot. Instead of Frodo (or whoever) being the main character, Jesus is, and all the supporting actors only serve to demonstrate Jesus’ superiority.

A Poem, by: our Mother

Six Words, One Life

By Mom

My son: by Andrew Beard

This morning my husband (Andrew) and I were talking about our little man and all the crazy things he does, says, and how badly we want to know what he thinks.  We wonder what he will be when he grows up, who he will be more like in personality, how he will spend his spare time and where he might live.  It is fun seeing him begin to grow into a little boy and out of the baby; one day this boy of mine will be a man.  But, for right now he is just a little man, a baby turning into a mischievous kid.   Here is what my husband came up with if what our little man is up to these days.

To Our Health

Our guest blogger today is Maude's husband.

If I may, I'd like to propose a toast.  A toast to our corporate health as a nation.  Cheers.

Wait.

What exactly did we just drink to?

If you have been listening to NARAL President Andrea Miller you might be laboring under the delusion that in some way contraception, birth-control pills, abortion-producing drugs and sterilization are integral facets of our national health.  Well, they are.  They have become our necessary placebos that delude us into thinking we've achieved some sort of sustainable level of fitness as a country.  The web has been on fire for the past few days with the Catholic church's refusal to comply with provisions in the new mandatory federal health care law requiring employers to cover services which may contradict one's conviction.  But we only allow conversations about Obamacare and separation-of-church-and-state to persist because we can't articulate the root causes of the illness which we know is out of step with the principles we claim to hold dear as a nation.

Pharmacuetical birth control destroys self-control.

Yesterday Was Christmas --by Andrew Beard

The writer for today is my husband Andrew.

It's true. Christmas has come and gone again. That one day never seems long enough. The food that took hours to prepare took a matter of minutes to consume. The presents bought and wrapped are torn open in seconds. I remember as a kid the anticipation leading up to Christmas. The excitement of Christmas morning, the all-day festivities. At our house the afternoons would consist of working puzzles, playing games, and figuring out whatever new toy we had received. This year I have a son who can unwrap his own gifts and so now I have a whole new reason to be excited for Christmas. Yet as I sit here on the day after Christmas, there is one inescapable fact -- Christmas is over and done.

The gift of giving: By Tim O'Brien

Our guest writer today is our brother Tim.

The Gift of Giving

                This year, for the first time I learned the gift of giving. That giving presents or time can be such a blessing. To us a lot has been given, so shouldn't we be thankful to give what we can?

Christmas Interview with Mom O'Brien

Maude interviewed our Mom about Christmas:

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?
The sights, sounds, smells, tastes and the feelings - of love, peace, and family.

Share some Christmas traditions.
I love to decorate.  I try to get a Christmas fragrance candle.  I enjoy the paper lights I put up and putting up the nativity.  Christmas Eve supper with my family.  My favourite tradition, though, was taking each of my kids shopping individually to buy gifts for their siblings.

What was Christmas like with 10 kids?

Christmas memories by Leah O'Brien

This is written by our dear sister-in-law Leah, who is married to Paul the 7th child of the O'Brien clan.

The Christmas season brings feelings of anticipation, joy, and memories of the past. Christmas is not for a determined age or gender.  The thought of a spruce tree standing in the corner of the room with light bulbs tangled meticulously through the limbs, making the room glow, fills every heart with warmth. Children gaze at the tree that towers over their small frames waiting for the moment that the gifts magically appear under it.  I am quite firm about placing a LIVE tree in our house based on the fact that the house fills with an aroma that smells as if a fresh rain had passed through a dense forest.

Hold Me, Daddy

When you're a dad you see this a lot:

I mean - A LOT. Daddy, hold me. Daddy, carry me. Hold me, Daddy, please. When you pull in the garage. When you're at the store. When you're walking down stairs. When you're getting dinner ready. After dinner when you're doing the dishes. And after most bumps, scraps, bruises, hurt feelings, disappointments and just because - hold me, Daddy.

New Fathers Over Forty

Our guest blogger this week is Jim, our brother-in-law.  He is married to our oldest sister who was born second of the ten. 

I am the father of three wonderful boys. G. (age 5), M. (age 4) and L. (age 2).

I know having three children is no great achievement. I also know that, in itself, simply being a father is not all that difficult for most. However, my story is a little different. See, I became a father for the first time when I was 40 years old.

I have been married to my beautiful wife, H., for just a little over eight years. We got married when I was 38 years old. Until that time, I was a bachelor of the highest degree and had held firmly to some sage advice offered up by my mother when I was about 25 and having some "girl trouble." She said, "Jim, when it comes to marriage, wait until you're 30 and then forget about it." So that is exactly what I did.

Then, as always seems to happen in the movies and romance novels, love hit me square in the face. It was like Mike Tyson bringing a left hook somewhere out of Cleveland and meeting my jaw square on. But I digress. The intent of this article is not to discuss my love life or the beautiful marriage which has blessed us with our boys.

I want to be an ambassador for the other New Fathers Over Forty and share some wisdom, lessons and techniques from being a non-traditional (read OLDER) dad.  The following is how I came to realize that my experience would be a little different:

What Could be Better than a Buckeye?

The Ohio State football season is well underway by now, and we are fast approaching the Holiday Season, so I thought this tasty recipe would be fitting to share. It has always been an O'Brien favorite:

Buckeyes

(This makes a very substantial batch)
3 lbs powdered sugar
4 cups peanut butter
1 lb butter or margarine, softened

Mix all three ingredients together. Make into walnut-sized balls. Chill in refrigerator for a few hours.

When the peanut butter balls are chilled, melt together over water:

6oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
6oz milk chocolate chips
Approximately 1/4 bar of paraffin wax

Dip peanut butter balls into melted mixture with a toothpick and cool on wax paper. Enjoy!

Foundational Bonding

Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply... ~Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814


Sometimes I feel bad for the potential spouses as they get to know our family when they are dating one of the siblings. I mean, it is important and wonderful for them to get to know the family and grow comfortable within the relationships, but doing so means that at times they will need behaviors and stories explained to them. I know it is like this within every family because every family has their own history and memories together that no one else was privy to at the time. It is why the sibling relationship is foundational to who you become as an adult. The experiences that brothers and sisters take part in together remain with them for a lifetime. It is because of this that the introductory process can be so grueling for a boyfriend or girlfriend as they familiarize themselves with the family's quirks and inside jokes. And while a husband or wife always take precedence (as they should!) and have a closer-knit bond than blood can supply, the unique role that siblings play in a person's life is unable to be replicated.

A Praying Life

(Our Guest Blogger today is our sister, Katharine! She is between Maude and Lizzi in the family line-up. Katharine and her husband live in Minnesota.)

I've always loved the idea of being able to talk to God. The ironic thing is that I have, at times, struggled with doing so. I've read books, heard sermons and talked to people about prayer which has both encouraged and discouraged me. I suppose the reason it has discouraged me is because I've been told to follow a certain formula and then I'll follow it for awhile but don't stay motivated to continue to pray in that specific, formulaic way. Honestly, I just want to TALK to the Lord - like I would anyone I have a relationship with (while still giving Him the reverence and fear He deserves). I recently starting reading a book called 'The Praying Life' by Paul Miller (it was a Kindle sale that Tim Challies mentioned!). It has greatly encouraged me that it's not wrong or bad to talk to God like I would my spouse, friend or sibling.

Christmas bells are ringing!

'Twas the Night B
Me and my little boy have started our Christmas time- music listening. A little early, perhaps? I think not! It is hot chocolate season, sweater season, and most certainly Christmas music season! We have been dancing to "jingle bell rock" and I have been singing him, "Hark the Herald Angels sing".   I got my early Christmas  bug from my Mother "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (aka "Twas the Night before Christmas") is her all time favorite poem; no matter what time of year.  "It has such great descriptions and brings such wonder, taking you straight back to Christmas as a child." We started early our Christmas celebrations growing up and I have every intention of doing that now! Bring on the Jingle bells!


                       'Twas the Night Before Christmas  
       (or A Visit from St. Nicholas) by Clement Clarke Moore (1823)
(or A Visit from St. Nicholas) by Clement Clarke Moore (1823)

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

“Rejoice in the Lord always;” in context

I love Paul’s exhortation for us to rejoice in the Lord always in Philippians 4:4, but I am afraid that too often we forget what was going on in Paul’s life when he wrote this, let alone the proceeding verses. If we put this verse on plaques, and even in our heads, and forget the context of this verse it will lose much of its weight. We must remember that Paul wrote from prison (1:7b; 13b).

Bonds of sisters

Today our Guest Speaker is our second oldest sister and third oldest sibling, Sam.

"Sistership goes thru many bumpy roads. 
Sometimes fights over rooms or chores or silly things