Living Hale

             Every summer, our family develops a new passion. One year, it was geocaching. One year, it was watching “American Ninja Warrior.” This year, our passion involves visiting some of the sites of the National Park Service. During the visit, our children collect a Junior Ranger booklet for the Visitor’s Center and work on earning their Junior Ranger badges. It has been a great joy to visit some of our nation’s national parks and monuments and learn so much about the parks through the Junior Ranger program.             Our son loves nature and animals. As I was researching about the Rocky Mountain National Park before a visit last year, I stumbled upon the Junior Ranger program. Each park has its own booklet and badge (or patch) for children. And since each park is unique in what it offers, each Junior Ranger book offers something new for our children to l...

Here is one of my favorite blog post that I wrote a couple of years ago. I am a rock hound. I have a small collection of rocks. Of course, these are not run-of-the-mill rocks. I have geodes, rocks with amethyst and quartz, and others. It amazes me that our creative God spent so much time developing the variety we see in these rocks. If I was in the place of God, and I was feeling creative, I might have developed a dozen different style of rocks. If I were in the place of God, and I were creating gemstones, I would have come up with a handful, and called it a day. But, as I look at the world around me, I see so much diversity in rocks and gemstones. Just consider the fact that there are so many types and colors of sapphire, or ruby, or quartz.              Then I look around more at the world God created. I see the rich tapestry of color. There are so many hues of color. One body of water can display an almost infini...

Two years ago, our family seemed to be living the perfect life. Sure, there were struggles and difficulties. But, we had a beautiful home, fairly well-adjusted kids, jobs that were almost ideal and paid well, and many friends. We were able to take great vacations. We never worried about finances or the future. Then our lives began to spin out of control. Our family faced an unexpected crisis almost two years ago from which we have yet to recover. The past two years have been filled with changes and challenges of all sorts. We have left jobs, left home and friends, struggled to make new friends, faced layoffs, sold a house, bought a house, re-financed a home, moved from one state to another state, struggled to pay bills, and been “under-employed.” We have taken vacation that put us in debt. Our kids have experienced emotional and physical setbacks. We have struggled to find our way and find our purpose. I think each family member has gone through seasons of depression, sometimes se...

Our family has had times of plenty, and times of want. As we have traveled and journeyed together through life, we often find great ways to save money or redeem money. But, we hate to keep all of this information to ourselves. We want to share. Doesn’t everyone want free money? We thought so. But not everyone is willing to spend just a little bit of time (and we do mean a little bit of time) to save money or make money. It amazes me that people are willing to spend two plus hours watching a sports event on television, but are unwilling to spend five minutes to make a dime. It surprises me that people don’t want to spend a few minutes because they feel that saving a little money doesn’t make a big difference in their lives. Really? A quarter a week over 52-weeks is $13. I know that’s not a big deal. But, we have found ways to save or make at least $5 a week. Over the course of a year, that’s $260. We can find a lot of fun stuff for our family to do with $260. We think it’s worth a l...

Oh, boy! Our kids must hate us. The words came out of my mouth at the beginning of the year. “Hey kids, we’re going to start doing chores and paying you for the chores.” Yeah, Mom and Dad, thanks.             Actually, our kids have been very agreeable about doing the chores. In the past, we have done chores, but we have done them inconsistently. This year, we have decided that we need to be much more intentional about the chores. We set up the plan that we would have the kids do chores and get paid weekly for those chores. Once a month, they will be able to change chores. Also, we all agree to the chores. Our kids have a say in what chores they will choose for the month, subject to parental approval.             We also have set up a understandable payment schedule. The kids have five chores a week. Some of the chores are once a week tasks and some are daily tasks....

This year has started with complete changes for us. I had to leave my job (which formed the basis for everything we have done for the past five years) and I am now looking for a new job (which may mean a new career path). My wife’s company was sold, and that has brought changes to her work, with more potential changes on the way. So, as we have started this new year, we have been evaluating and re-evaluating every thing we do.             Before the new year began, I started listing some goals I have for the new year. These were divided into a few categories, including health, mental well-being, and spiritual categories. However, as we have started to walk through this new year, my wife said that she wanted a year in which things were more simple. That idea has really taken hold with us, and so simplicity has become our objective for this year.             What does...

School is back in session. I think our kids are receiving a decent education. But there is one area in which I want them to get more help. Unfortunately, our school district has adopted a reading program which, while it is great at teaching kids the basics of reading, falls short in the area of giving our kids great literature to read. I want my children to hear Aesop’s fables, or read a classic like The Velveteen Rabbit . Unfortunately, there seems to be little time available in the classroom for this. So, I researched and found a solution that is working for my family. I pass it on as a resource for your family.             Last Winter, I searched for reading material that would engage our son. He does not like the prescribed reading material used at school. Also, he enjoys non-fiction, science, and history. So, I searched for reading resources. I stumbled upon Ambleside Online and it changed our reading life. You can see...