Anna Gets Baptised

Of all the things a Christian father wishes and strives to achieve for his children, a strong spiritual foundation is first and foremost. From that foundation, it seems like most every other good thing can flow. Anna appears in this video about 1/2 way through.Picnic, Baptism & Hail Storm of June 2011 from Friendship Community Church on Vimeo. … [Read more...]

Happy Birthday, Anna – 2002

She's already a beautiful singer at 2.5 years old. She just can't remember the words. LOL … [Read more...]

It’s Birthday Season at Casa De Kline

Professionally, summer is one of the busiest times of year for me since there are multitudes of customers to visit and conferences to speak at.Personally, summer is also very busy for me because it's a parade of birthdays and other significant dates. It's hard to keep up with all of it!Dylan Turns 19It's always a bit of a shock for me when I compare where Dylan is at his age to where I was at the same age.At 19, I held two part time jobs (one was selling shoes on commission at the wonderful but now defunct Castner Knotts department store and the other was running my own computer pc-clone … [Read more...]

Fathers are Important

The late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a four-term U.S. Senator, had this to say about the importance of fatherhood:"From the wild Irish slums of the 19th-century Eastern seaboard to the riot-torn suburbs of Los Angeles, there is one unmistakable lesson in American history: a community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families - dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any set of rational expectations about the future - that community asks for and gets chaos." … [Read more...]

Learner’s Permit for Em

Emily was a tad nervous getting her learner's permit. But she'd had plenty of time to prepare and even one false alarm for the test. The previous week she, Dylan, and I went to renew Dylan's license and have her take the test. But it turned out that the DMV didn't do learner's permit tests at that location. The test allows you to miss up to 6 questions. And that's exactly what she missed - 6. She's been driving me around a lot since then and is doing really well. Now, we need to get the ol' Bonnie cleaned up so that she can drive it after the new year when she gets her full license. … [Read more...]

So much to blog about and so little time

I'm sorry that I've fallen off the bandwagon. There's so much to do, but never enough time to do it.A couple things I'm thinking about right now are:Getting estimates from contractors on finishing one, if not two, unfinished rooms in the house. This is great because the unfinished rooms have always made the house feel, well, unfinished. I'll feel a certain emotional emancipation by having those rooms finished. It's like having a puzzle with a couple pieces not yet in place. Yes, it's a beautiful image, but it ain't finished yet.Maybe possibly potentially getting a new(ish) car for me. I … [Read more...]

A Great New Book for the Family to Read Together

Rachel bought me a most wonderful book as a Christmas present. If you have enjoyed books like Harry Potter or other family reading, then have I got a recommendation for you. Note, though, that this story is basically a period mystery set in late 19th century Paris. It doesn't have any supernatural elements to it, except for a sense of wonder and a charming story line.I've never encountered another book like this one. It's part story, part graphic novel - yet this book manages to use its multitude of beautiful black & white pictures to dramatically and tenderly advance the story.I've been … [Read more...]

Does the dad even matter?

Sometimes I struggle with the question of do I really matter or make a difference in the world...While self-doubt is nothing new under the sun, here are some statistics that I didn't know until recently:• 90% of runaway children are from fatherless homes• 71% of high school dropouts are from fatherless homes• 85% of youth in prison are from fatherless homes• 90% of inmates on death row are from fatherless homesIt seems like most societal ills, from crime to drug use to teen pregnancy, have a correlation with fatherlessness. So the next time I feel like I don’t matter, I'm encouraged to take a … [Read more...]