Corben fishing with Dad

Corben and I went on a date yesterday afternoon. We went to our friends' farm and fished in their small pond. It was beautiful out and it was just he and I. I've taken both he and Emma fishing before, but it was never just him, and he never actually fished - he just played with his little Scooby Doo rod and reel.

Yesterday, I actually put a hook and some bait on his line and we fished together. He wanted to play with everything - so I finally relented and told him to reel in his bait then I would throw it back out for him. He reeled it all the way to shore than asked me to help him because it was stuck. When I lifted the rod to pull out the snag, there was a small bass on his hook. He had caught his first fish.

He was beside himself and giggled hysterically. I asked him if he wanted to touch the fish, so he grabbed it with 2 hands while it wriggled to free itself. He asked if we could eat it and I told him that we needed to put it back so it could get bigger.

I put it on a stringer for a few minutes so I could run get my camera from the truck. He was really proud of his fish. I unhooked it after I took the photo and asked if he wanted to put it back in the water. He grabbed it with two hands and did a football toss into the water. I got a pretty good laugh out of it all.

Lately Corben's become increasingly willful and acts out a lot in ways that are not kind to others. We're going to try and get him to take naps in the afternoon - but I think days like yesterday are going to be really important. 

Mini Student Impact Reunion

Yesterday we visited Mark and Jackie and connected with some old Student Impact folks.

From the right: Jackie, Mark, Abby, Andy, Kyle and me ("Johnny D")

It was fun to see these folks. Abby and Andy were students when Jackie and I were interns at Willow Creek Community Church, and Kyle and Mark were small group leaders on our team.

It was a trip being together again - here in Colorado.