Friday Night Lights and Easy Bake Ovens

Last weekend was a big one for us in the Dallas Daddy family. Our boy was invited to the sidelines of a high school football game. There he saw up close and personal what real football was like. Not the edited, break for commercial, NFL kind of football. But real, honest, in your face football.

He saw great examples of great and poor sportsmanship. He saw a guy throw up on the sidelines and then run back into the huddle, not two minutes later. He heard the hitting and saw the bleeding. Overall, it was a great experience for him because he loves himself some football. Mom on the other hand, isn't so fired up about his obsession. She keeps telling him he'll make a great referee or sports announcer. After all the concussion talk this week in the NFL, I have to say, I'm right there with her. But he did have a great time and I don't think our boy will play too much serious football - unless, he's the place kicker.

But the best part of last Friday was how the high school invited him, and some of the other boys, to arrive early to take part in the pregame meal with the team. That was just too cool. He had pizza with the players. Since it was a christian school, they split off into groups to pray before the game as well. In fact, one of the boys who scored a touchdown, was our son's prayer partner before the game. This made it twice as special for our son as he was able to point out that number 44 was "his guy" from before the game.

One more thing happened on Friday. After I dropped our son off for the pregame meal, I went back home with my daughter and had a couple of hours to fill before the game started. I asked her what she wanted to do. She decided that she wanted to make muffins. Now, I'm no baker. My family would tell you that I barely qualify as a cook. So needless to say, I was a little nervous. But what could I do...she seemed so excited about the opportunity to get her hands dirty in the kitchen, I couldn't let her down.

So like a whirlwind, we attacked the kitchen. We found flour, sugar, eggs, frozen blueberries and away we went. Roughly 50 minutes later, we had muffins and you know, they weren't bad! I however, get none of the credit. My daughter did it all. It was like watching an episode of Master Chef. She was flawless and relentless as she measured and mixed the ingredients. I couldn't have been more proud of her. Not because of how the muffins tasted, but rather, just watching her pour herself into that task. I learned a lot that evening.

It would have been easier to turn the television on or tell her to go play something while Daddy enjoyed some "me-time". But as the Lord has been trying to tell me lately, when you're a parent it's not so much about you anymore, but rather the kids. Does the bald eagle tell it's crying chicks, "No food today. Mommy needs to sit down and relax, my wings are tired."? I'm guessing it doesn't work that way in the animal kingdom, so why should our kingdom be any different?