My Weird Father's Day

-Or-

The day before it, actually

It started out very early, as I got Jake ready for his day and Cub Scout Day Camp. It was kind of a landmark day for Jake, as we spent time together, shooting BB guns, making rope (he and his powered wheelchair were the hit of the day when he helped them win the Tug-of-War), and doing Archery. Even though it drizzled and rained most of the day, he had a great time.

I, of course, came home exhausted.

...Only to find out that a couple of neighborhood boys had broken into our home while we were out a couple of days ago and stolen a camera and our two boys' laptop computers. So, we had to confront the boys with their parents.

I approached that with a certain amount of trepidation. One boy is constantly over at our house playing with Brendon, and another is one we don't know. With the first boy, we knew the news would be very hard on his father. With the other boy, we didn't know how his family would react. We'd never met them before.

We were relieved to find that both sets of parents were upset at their kids, but in what we felt were the right ways. They were eager to resolve the issue and to put harsh enough consequences in place so that the boys actually learned something from that. Without going into detail, I left the experience saddened for the families, but encouraged that there's still a lot of examples of what I feel is good parenting in the world.

Typically, when a kid breaks the law, people are quick to judge the parents and label them bad. After all, if they were good parents, the kid wouldn't have strayed, now would he? Well, keep in mind that Lehi's kids weren't exactly the best, and Alma's son went around actively harming the church. Yet no one would accuse those fathers of unrighteousness.

I mean, the kids just made some mistakes. Now they have to deal with them.

Then, later, as we were driving home from my Father-in-law's Father's Day BBQ, my kids spontaneously started singing primary songs in the back seat. I suddenly noticed that they were singing, "Love is Spoken Here."

They got to the second verse: "Ours is a home where every hour/Is blessed by the strength of Priesthood power..." I just cried. Literally, tears were rolling down my cheeks.

I can't say what helps the other families run their homes, but I can say what a great strength the Priesthood and the Church has been in mine.

Happy Father's Day...

MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com