The Slaying of the Annual Christmas Tree

The Wood family has an annual Christmas tradition – we pack ourselves up, drive out into the county to the Christmas tree farm, wander around for the longest time while stopping at too many trees and asking “How about this one?” until we (in desperation) select our annual victim, then cut it down and drag [...]

365 days

On August 28, 2009, we unloaded the U-Haul and moved into our temporary home in Brighton, Michigan.  One August 28, 2010, we loaded up the trucks and moved out of our home in Brighton, and into our new temporary apartment but permanent home in the Waterford/Clarkston area of Michigan. That’s right, exactly 365 days later.  [...]

We need a vacation

Family vacation is a big deal to me.  Some of my greatest memories as a kid involved vacations – and I’ve tried to make sure that my kids can say the same.  We’re heading off this afternoon for our “official 2010 Wood family vacation” and heading for the shores of Lake Michigan.  And we’re ready [...]

Here’s to Hamburg United

As the World Cup kicks into full gear, I thought it would be appropriate to commemorate my favorite soccer team – Hamburg United Red. Last fall when we uprooted our kids from the place where they grew up in pursuit of God’s call on our lives, we looked for some ways to make life easier [...]

3 Days

Since the last time I had a 3-day weekend was in the middle of February, and since the final day of that weekend was spent driving the 8 hours from Oshkosh, Wisconsin to Brighton, Michigan I was determined to get the most out of last weekend.  And I’m feeling pretty good about how it went. [...]

Mornings at Panera

This is my new morning routine. 1.  I get up, shower, get dressed. 2.  I eat a couple of bowls of cereal, then pack my lunch. 3.  I pray with Kelly (most mornings). 4.  I drive 50 miles to work and use that time to think about…well, not much of anything (it’s too early to [...]

The family fabric

I’m a fairly typical American.  That means that my ancestry is a pretty big mix of nationalities.  But somewhere in the mix I have some Scottish blood.  That would be why my last name is Wood.  Some great, great, great grandfather came over on the boat from Scotland, and he’s the reason for the fact [...]

Loving God in my Martha sort of way

I never really understood why Mary was the hero and Martha was the heel.  Martha was doing her best to provide a good meal for Jesus, and to me that seems good.   Mary, on the other hand, didn’t seem to realize that if someone didn’t do something about dinner, there were going to be [...]

The tooth fairy

I remember the first time the tooth fairy showed up at our house.  Allie was six, and she came home from kindergarten bearing her precious cargo – ready to put that tooth under her pillow.  And she was excited, too, because her friend Autumn had informed her that the tooth fairy always left a dollar [...]

Knowing the difference

“God, help me to know the difference between success and blessing.” A friend of mine gave me a copy of the book Leadership Prayers by Richard Kriegbaum for Christmas.  It’s a compact little book with roughly thirty prayers that the author prayed while in a leadership role as a college president.  And each prayer touches [...]