Where Did My Kids Get Their Talent

The general assumption is, they got it all from their mom.
While there may be all kinds of scientific reasons to support such a claim, there is a mathematical argument against it. If they got her talent, why does she still have it? Ha! I propose that my kids got all their talent from me, leaving me destitute. That's why my wife still has all of hers.

My defense rests.

Anyway, comedy routine aside, a few weeks back several of the kids hinted that my website looked like it was made by a third grader. Not this website. This one is great, I didn't make it. I have another one that is about a boat building mission. I'll not describe here what is easier to look at there.

Back to our story.

My argument was that it didn't need to be fancy, cool, or anything else, it was merely a simple way to share how we were working to fill a unique need.
They alluded that if a corn maze were as complicated, there would be helicopters hovering over it performing search and rescue operations day and night!

They also pointed out that simple communication did not have to look amateur. That, I could agree with, I just did not know how to fix the problem.

Enter “the kids.” Mind you, they are spread out across the country. But, via technology magic, they collaborated, consulted, conferred, and conspired on how to rebuild it with all the essentials and none of the clutter.

It took twenty-four hours!

For real! From when I handed over the passwords, until I took down the old site and ported the URL, it took exactly one day. I was afraid it would be weeks. I think Rochelle didn't sleep at all during that time. She's the artist/photographer of the family, and naturally she did the aesthetic arrangement, which was the bulk of the work.

So I invite you to take a look around the website of Mission Navigation. I think it looks amazing. The work we do there is pretty cool too, if you're into that sort of thing.

The moral of the story is: Parents, don't be afraid of your kids exceeding your abilities. In fact, I think it's important to encourage it!

We Can't Seem to Channel Normal

I don't normally cross over purposes here. But this weekend has been filled with a lot of interesting personal experiences. It has been exhausting, unnerving, and actually even uplifting.

My wife and I run a small non-profit that builds and sends work boats to missionaries in third world countries. Mission Navigation is a tiny operation, as I have a day job building yachts for the rich and famous. So, I am essentially a weekend missionary, of sorts. We have sent one boat to a mission in Haiti, and a second, for the same mission, is nearing completion. We have been doing this as volunteers for about five years and feel led to work at it full time.

Normally, when someone begins to raise support to enter the mission field, they circulate within the safe confines of their church affiliates. Somehow we can't seem to channel normal.

This weekend we have begun promoting our mission and introducing ourselves, with the intention of raising support, at a boat show. Sounds innocuous enough. Except there are strangers everywhere. For a hard-wired introvert like me, that is exhausting. But it has been fascinating as well.

We have met some very crusty individuals who can't fathom the concept that our faith motivates us to labor for insignificant and forgotten people. We have had complete strangers affirm us. And we have met some genuinely nice, down-to-earth folks.

We have not asked anyone for money. We believe that is a private decision between an individual and God. But we have had a few people who acted alarmed that we would try to pressure them into giving. Evidently there was another non-profit up the way from us that was calling out to people to donate as they walked by. Personally, I thought that was tacky and a bit presumptuous, but I suppose it is effective.

One of the coolest things is, we have encountered people who seemed to be inspired by our mission work. I would not go so far as to say that I am an important part of someone's life, but that is pretty cool.

In all, it is has been exhausting. But it has been a great way to take some vacation time.