Things I Learned (or re-learned) in 2017 - by Marc

1. My wife is so smart.    

2. When your 7-yr-old daughter pranks her older sisters by putting saran wrap over the toilet, you know that you’ve succeeded as a father. 

3. Renting a really big RV for a week-long family vacation sounds like a great idea if somebody else is driving.

4 .Even if you don’t change, everything around you will eventually change... which means you’re dealing with change anyway. 

5. My wife is a phenomenal teacher. Look how far I’ve come!

6. Despite what everybody was saying, our nation has survived another year. And God is still in control.

7. There is no such thing as too much facepaint on a 7-yr-old.

8. When I read books to the girls (ok, “a book” - just one a year), I can only insert fake sentences successfully about 10% of the time now that they’ve caught on to me.

9. When you build the house that you are going to retire in, make sure you save all the paperwork and planning spreadsheets... just in case it’s not the one you retire in.

10. My daughter is the best clogging giraffe I’ve seen in my entire life!

11. Make every single day count.

12. Just when you get settled in and comfortable, God may decide to up and move you.

13. After 1538 miles in our week-long RV trip, many memories were made. I would have been okay if more than half the memories were good ones, but the girls said that 95% were good!

14. Six Flags is a very appropriate place to reinforce life lessons to your kids about personal space etiquette.

15. Sometimes when you go to a foreign land, you run into people that share your family name... and other times you run into your work family.

16. A leader worth following is one that cares about other people.

17. Hooking up an RV’s black water tank is best done in daylight and with a stuffy nose.

18. My wife’s tolerance for my work is amazing!

19. A single leaky toilet seal can quickly create new backyard water features.

20. People in England apparently don’t wear shorts in October.

21. Driving an RV next to a 2500-ft cliff is no different than a 50-ft cliff. Being blown off the road has the same ending either way!

22. My wife really can go camping, especially when friends and peer pressure are involved.