Owner: Ramblings of a Single Dad URL:http://donva.blogspot.com Join Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 21:56:26 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Rambling on Faith, Fatherhood, Family, and Friends, I'm a single dad with an adopted teenage son and a rickety old dog named Barney. As an Orthodox Christian, I'm doing my best to stand firm in my faith, make some sense of this life. Site statistics:Click here
The Quest for a "Personal Best" 2008-06-16 05:00:00 I remember the first weekend he spent with me, he looked out the back window, saw a swimming pool with a deep end and a diving board and said "You didn't tell me you had a pool!"
I responded with "Well you didn't tell me you knew how to swim. Do you?"
"Sure I do."
I opened the pool early that year, and during his spring break we took that first frosty dip. He was Read more:Quest
, Personal
Chlorine is My Friend. Chlorine is My Friend. 2008-06-20 22:04:00 This year marked the fifth year I've lived in this house. I've always liked the pool, not only because it's a refreshing place to seek shelter from the heat and an obvious place to get some much needed exercise, but also because it takes up a nice chunk of backyard leaving me with less lawn to mow. Sure, it takes some time to maintain, but the half hour I spend a couple of times a week getting
Daddy's Little Helper 2008-07-03 17:00:00 I had a bunch to do last weekend in order to prepare for a gathering our church youth group's teenagers had planned for Monday night. They were coming to practice a puppet show they'll be performing for the younger children during August's Vacation Bible Camp, and were wanting to swim in the pool afterward.
On Saturday, David asked me what I had planned for the day. I told him that I had to Read more:Daddy
, Helper
, Little Helper
In the Right Place at the Right Time 2008-06-26 05:51:00 Best Life Online has released its list of the 100 Best Place
s to Raise a Family.
Congratulations to the city of Virginia Beach, which came in second to Honolulu, and was one of only two east coast cities to crack the top twenty. You can view the rest of the list (and see if your city made it!) on Best Life Online.
Although Best Life Magazine shares the criteria they used to determine their Top Read more:Right
What a Difference a Year Makes! 2008-06-22 18:38:00 One year ago, my son was received into the Orthodox Church. I documented this occasion with a blog post entitled "Illumined on June 23, 2007."
In the past year, I've seen him develop relationships with the other children at church, earn second place on the parish level in the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival, serve during a very exhausting Holy Week, volunteer to help the church
A Quick Read 2008-07-11 05:00:00 In an article by Nicholas Carr that I caught most of on TheAtlantic.com, the dumbing down of America is being blamed on the Internet, and more specifically Google.
I began reading "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" wondering if the article would be about the spelling of keywords used to search for specific topics, or maybe the fact that we no longer had to commit anything to memory simply be Read more:Quick
What Comes Around Goes Around... on Foot 2008-07-06 21:38:00 Today is the day I told David that he would show me a maturity level to match his age, which is something that he's refused to do for over four years. I shared with him last night that when he came to me, he was an 11 year-old exhibiting 8 year-old behaviors. He's nearly 16, and by his own admission (in a previous conversation), he's now exhibiting--on a consistent basis--the behaviors of an 11
"Ramblings" Reviewed on BlogCrash 2008-07-31 23:01:00 Look sharp, people. Company's coming.
Mauro, of 1 Million Love Messages fame, has also launched a blog about blogs. Apparently, creating one site with a million very inspiring love messages from all over the known world isn't keeping him busy enough!
He's also the admin for an online community forum for bloggers at , where bloggers share ideas, concerns, tips, tricks,
The Final Betrayal 2008-07-26 20:20:00 I wish I could say I'm in a good "place" and have some fun, witty things to write about, but I can't.
In fact, I'm living in a situation where not only am I dealing with anger, but with the betrayals that have been the catalyst for that anger. I know the teenage years are supposed to be tough, and that the kids begin to rebel, but this rebellion has been going on from the start, and we Read more:Final
, Betrayal
"Some People!" 2008-07-19 12:17:00 I received this in an e-mail. Whether it's true or not isn't a concern of mine. I think the message is very clear. "Some people!" snorted a man standing behind me in the long line at the grocery store.
'You would think the manager would pay attention and open another line," said a woman.
I looked to the front of the line to see what the hold up was and saw a well dressed, young wo
What He Learned on His Summer Vacation 2008-08-16 23:01:00 To see if any of this season's disciplinary actions were accomplishing anything, and because I'd run out of major chores to keep David busy all day while I was at work, I gave him a writing assignment to punctuate what has--out of necessity--become some sort of disciplinary summer school around here. He was given a thousand word essay to write entitled "What I Learned
on My SummerVacation
.&
We Are Not Alone 2008-08-14 22:28:00 I began writing this blog for a few reasons, not the least of which was the fact that I felt very alone in this journey I'm on. Very alone.
Sure, I've got family within a few hours of me who are always a phone call away, and we do visit when we can.
Yes, I have friends and awesome co-workers who have been both patient and supportive since even before my days as a foster parent, but many of
Lessons on "Making it Right" 2008-08-09 22:30:00 After being grounded to his room for two weeks, David got so mad at me for catching him doing something else he wasn't supposed to be doing in a room that he shouldn't have even been in when I came home unexpectedly during the day that we had another turbulent teenager/ whack-job parent meltdown.
"Why aren't you doing everything in your power to earn my trust?" I asked.
"Because Read more:Lessons
, Right
Just Call Me Superman! 2008-08-04 23:01:00 I took the Superhero Test, was specific about not being the kind of guy who wears a cape or a thong, and still...
You are Superman
Superman
You are mild-mannered, good,
strong and you love to help others.
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test
Take the test yourself at the link above. I'd love to see which Superhero you are!
Hat tip to Andrea Elizabeth's (a.k.a. "Spidey&qu
It's Like Recycling... 2008-09-08 17:00:00 I was tossing some recyclables into the recycling bin the other day and noticed there was an empty lawn bag in there. Virginia Beach requires that lawn debris be bagged up in clear lawn bags, which you'd think would be a good reason for every store in this city to keep them in stock, but that's not the case. In fact, I usually just buy them when I see them because when I need them they're Read more:Recycling
Batten Down the Hatches! 2008-09-05 01:24:00 I'm off to a SYTA conference in San Antonio for the next five days. I may or may not have time to blog while I'm gone, but I do have a couple of blogs scheduled to post over the next couple of days and plan to tweet a little at twitter.com/getaroom. You see, the child and the dog will not be accompanying me on this trip, and I'm staying in a hotel on the Riverwalk, which I hear through the
We Have a Boarder 2008-08-31 22:49:00 Meet Buzz.
He's been living on the inside of the screened back porch for six days now. He just sort of creeps along the screen, rotating in a complete circle about once every couple of hours. Every now and then he sort of lifts a leg as if to wave. If we're bored, we wave back.
We didn't see the need to exterminate him, as he doesn't seem to be posing a threat to anyone. He's just hanging
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