family – Waite for it…

A beautiful day at the farm

Posted on November 1, 2025 by William Douthwaite

A trip to Sykes Family Farm in Elkton, Florida wasn’t cheap, but it was a fun way to spend a cooler-than-usual, perfectly sunny, post-Halloween, last-weekend-of-the-season Saturday afternoon with three granddaughters.

Seventeen bucks person was okay, I guess, with a few bucks off for my senior citizen ticket and a freebie for the two-year-old. A few St. John’s county sheriff’s deputies were on hand to guide us into the parking area, which was already full fifteen minutes after opening.

We started at the two huge inflatable bounce pads filled with energetic kids.

A good-sized turkey wasn’t very happy that it was November, but he was a good sport and posed by the fence for pictures.

A corn pit? What’s a corn pit? The girls loved the circular bin filled with dried corn. Who wouldn’t like to be buried under corn and make corn angels?

The hayride was okay. The tractor took us out through the sorghum fields and and acres of sunflowers. Longer than many I’ve experienced.

The food was pretty reasonable. Our lunch was three orders of fried mozzarella sticks, a hamburger, pepper and onion smothered hot dog, a bag of Fritos, and some bottle of water. Thirty bucks.

Rows of picnic tables adjacent to the food vendors was next to giant connect-four, plinko, and tetris tumble games. The kids loved these. (We’re going to try to find some online.)

Next, we went to the bubble barn. Sticks with ropes dipped into suds produced impressive giant bubbles drifting across the field. So much fun!

A ride on the “cow train” was a string of cars pulled by a small John Deere tractor. Thrilling for the littles!

We gave the girls a choice: something from the store or face-painting. the two youngers chose a stuffed unicorn wearing a Sykes Farm T-shirt. The older opted for very nicely done purple pixie face-painting.

We climbed on a spider web, slid down some dark irrigation tubes, pumped water for duck races down half-pipe PVC, and passed on the corn maze, pumpkin painting, and take-home sunflower.

At just about every activity, the operator offered the kids candy. It’s the last weekend; lots to get rid of! We accepted, but pocketed it for later. Face painting, pumpkin painting, and s’mores cost extra. Cash only, but a few ATMs were onsite.

I asked the guy at the drink booth how things were going. He said it was a slow day so far. They had only been rained out one day in October, so it was a good year.

The event was supported by several corporate sponsors. I’ll bet this is their biggest money-making event of the year.

And I’ll bet they do very well.

Devotions, family, Through the Bible Devotions

Reach out sooner than later

Posted on July 16, 2024August 22, 2024 by William Douthwaite

A “through the bible devotion” from Genesis 32.

A few months ago, I had to call our HVAC company because the air conditioning wasn’t keeping up with the hot and humid late spring weather. I did what I could. I changed out the filter. I made sure the drain line was clear. I changed the batteries in the thermostat. But I learned a long time ago that you call sooner than later, because you need someone to come out who knows what they’re doing.

By the time Jacob decides it’s time to go home, he’s got a large family and lots of sheep. He’s had eleven sons and a daughter with his two wives and their servants. He’s skillfully bred the sheep so that he ends up with most of Laban’s herd.

The next hurdle is his older brother. What if Esau is still mad after twenty years? Jacob arranges to send generous gifts ahead to smooth over the reunion.

And then Jacob prays, “Save me from the hand of my brother” (Genesis 32:11). This is the first time we read of Jacob praying. He knew God was around. He was aware of God’s covenant promises. But now he needs God’s help. Up until this point, Jacob has been able to work the system and do well. But now he’s afraid. Now his back is against the wall. “Please save me, God.”

I learned a long time ago to ask God for help sooner than later, too. Again, you need someone who knows what they’re doing. We like to think we’ve got life all figured out. But let’s be honest. We don’t.

Thankfully, we know someone who does.

family, grandparenting, Life

The Thanksgiving scavenger hunt

Posted on November 20, 2023 by William Douthwaite

It wasn’t a game for these two. My five-year-old grandson and nearly five-year-old granddaughter took my Thanksgiving scavenger hunt seriously. With the picture list in hand, they were focused on the quest. No item would be left unfound.

I started the scavenger hunt a few family gatherings ago to keep the kids busy while the grownups talked and ate appetizers before supper. (We celebrated our Thanksgiving the Sunday before this year, so that all the families could be with their other families.) These two grandchildren are still “pre-readers,” with a few sight words in their quiver. So I make a page of pictures of things to find in our home.

I originally set up the scavenger hunt for all four grandchildren who would be present, but the two-year-old and the eight-year-old weren’t interested. I collected four of everything on the page and “hid” them at preschool eye-level in our living room. I painted the yellow happy face rocks and folded the paper boats. Everything else was off the shelf in our home. A few things were in drawers, but the rest were in plain sight. I warned my wife ahead of time: “If you see anything unusual lying around the house, it’s for the scavenger hunt.”

Interestingly, they began by opening side table drawers and various cabinets. They quickly found a few that way. I had to give them some hints for the others. “Look by the television.” “Check by the front door.” “Did you look up high and down low?” “Oh, look, over there by the window – what’s that?”

The hunt kept them busy for a full fifteen minutes, which is a lot of time for a preschooler. They worked like a team on a mission. And were they ever proud when the found the twelfth item! They put many of their finds in the nine-ounce plastic cup, gathering up the extra quarters no one else wanted, and planned to take them home.

I also put together a clue-driven treasure hunt the eight-year-old. Each clue sent him in search of the next, hidden in a different place in the house. I thought I my clues were clever, but he reported, “It was easy.” Okay. Next time, we level up.

I think I have more fun preparing the scavenger hunt than the grandkids who take on the challenge! It’s a classic win-win. Keeps us all busy for a while.

family, Life

Hiding Easter eggs: Leveling up

Posted on April 10, 2023April 10, 2023 by William Douthwaite

We had five of our grandchildren at our house for Easter Sunday supper and of course, an Easter egg hunt. I can just throw a bunch out on the lawn to keep the younger ones (two and fours) busy. The oldest is almost eight, and I had to level up my egg-hiding to challenge him.

This one loves to climb, so I used some tape to put one of his up high on the play fort. I’m not sure his mom was real happy about the altitude, but once he spotted it, he got up there with no problem.

A little more tape held some eggs underneath the deck of the play fort, just out of plain sight.

He quickly saw the one hanging from a tree with a pine needle pinched between egg halves hanging from an old bird-feeder hook.

The ones that stumped him? One was under an upside-down flower pot. Not hugely creative, but worked. The other was on the ground, under a pile of pine cones, with just the slightest hint of blue showing. I had to give him a couple of clues for these last two. Grandpa is still just a little cleverer than he is!

faith, family, Life

The excitement is building: It’s almost Easter!

Posted on April 4, 2023April 4, 2023 by William Douthwaite

Growing up, Easter was as exciting as Christmas. I had a hard time getting to sleep the night before. My brother, sister, and I all woke up way too early on Easter Sunday morning. Why? We couldn’t wait to get our Easter baskets! The church was always a part of our family life, but we never missed out on all the other good stuff, too.

I have no idea where the tradition came from, but every Easter our baskets would have a string tied to them. It was a treasure hunt. The string would wind around furniture, through different rooms, and finally lead us to a small present. The only specific present I remember receiving was a Matchbox bulldozer. I know, that has nothing to do with Easter, but I thought it was really cool.

In addition to the hard-boiled eggs we had dyed the day before, our baskets were filled with jellybeans, malted milk balls coated to look like candy eggs, a few marshmallow bunnies, and sometimes a solid chocolate bunny.

My mom always ordered a special dark-chocolate covered coconut cream egg from a local candy store. A little larger than the size of a softball, I remember it weighing several pounds and was unbelievably sweet. Apparently, these eggs were a Philadelphia tradition. My mom always ate most of it, slicing off pieces like she was carving a roast.

When I walked through Walmart a few days ago, I saw four aisles devoted to Easter baskets, candy, decorations, and toys. It’s still very exciting. It’s very exciting for retailers, who predict we’ll spend $23 billion dollars on Easter this year. That’s every kind of chocolate candy you can imagine is wrapped for Easter. That’s why jellybeans come in so many flavors.

But I saw no solid bunnies. Just the hollow chocolate ones. The big coconut cream eggs? I would probably have to order one online. Other Easter candy? We’ve got plenty of that. Don’t worry, I’ll let the grandkids have some, too.

family

What a week!

Posted on January 13, 2020 by William Douthwaite

This past Christmas we had all six of our grandchildren together for the first time ever. My son flew to Florida with his wife and three children a few days after Christmas to spend a week with us. My two daughters only live about half an hour away, and often had their families here that week, too. The three older grands are five, four and three years old. The younger ones are five, thirteen and sixteen months. Yes, it was a noisy, messy, energetic, chaotic and fun-filled week!

I was able to finish up a play fort swing set in our back yard. God blessed us with a good weather week, and the older grandkids spent a lot of time climbing and swinging. The younger ones were constantly on the move, emptying toy shelves and constantly campaigning for the next snack or meal. I found myself rotating from child to child, pushing a swing, reading a book, rolling a ball, playdohing some playdoh, sticking some stickers, coloring pictures, building legos, changing a diaper, preparing a snack, filling a drink, digging in the sandbox, taking some pictures and enjoying every minute of it. It was an amazing week. For me it was also a fleeting moment, knowing they would never be this size again.

As the reader might suspect, I thoroughly enjoyed that week. I enjoyed spending time with my children, their spouses and their children. I had no idea what a great experience that would be! My wife and I have been blessed beyond measure.

family, fun

Animal Kingdom

Posted on November 6, 2018 by William Douthwaite

We were up and out the door at 6 am this morning, on the way to Disney’s Animal Kingdom with my daughter, son-in-law, and two of our grandsons. For the little guys, Elijah and Daniel, it was their first Disney experience, so we were all very excited.

The drive through Orlando wasn’t too harrowing, even through rush hour. It’s pretty much one big construction zone the whole way, though. The crowds pouring through the gates were formidable from the minute the park opened.

First stop was the Festival of the Lion King, a wonderful music and dance performance by some extremely talented folks. Eli’s a big Lion King fan, so it was a hit.

Next stop was a fast pass appointment with Mickey and Minnie!

Eli rode the Triceratops ride at least five times.

The weather wasn’t too hot, but still perfect for a nice, messy, sticky strawberry popsicle.

Pluto spent a lot of time dancing around the bone yard…

…while Eli made a lot of trips down a big spiral slide.

A random nice person gave Eli a long stuffed purple snake won at an arcade game!

Eli capped off his day by scoring a really cool bubble wand.

We also enjoyed the “It’s Hard Being a Bug” show, the safari, and the “Finding Nemo” musical.

A few tips for those headed to Animal Kingdom in the future:

The app lets you know all the wait times. Great resource.
The park was most crowded in the morning, then thinned out in the afternoon. Going later is a good idea.
A 210 minute wait for the Avatar ride? Three-and-a-half hours? Better use your fast pass or forget it. It must be an amazing ride. (We didn’t even go to that part of the park.)
There’s a Starbucks on property! It’s worth going just to see how quickly they can crank out the lattes.
Dress your child in a red shirt if you are going to let them eat the red popsicle. And the frozen chocolate covered banana is plenty big to share.
It’s OK to bring your own water into the park.
You can eat paleo at the park. Grilled chicken salad for lunch.
The bars have a nice selection of beers. For $10 each! I didn’t drink today.
Even though it takes longer to load up the dinos than the ride itself, the Triceratops ride never gets old. Like the Dumbo ride at Magic Kingdom.
Animal Kingdom feels more relaxed than the other parks I’ve been to.

I hadn’t been to a Disney attraction in years. Taking the little ones made it worthwhile.

bible, family, Ministry

My Good Friday Bible

Posted on March 30, 2018March 30, 2018 by William Douthwaite

Today, I dusted off what I call my “Good Friday” bible and took it into the sanctuary in preparation for tonight’s Tenebrae (darkness) worship service. I call it my “Good Friday” bible because that is the one day a year when I use this massive volume. It measures about 12″x9″x3″ and weighs about 8 pounds, easily the largest book on my shelves. It has more than enough power for the end of the worship service when in complete darkness I slam it on the altar, reminding us of the closing up of Jesus’ tomb.

I received this bible from my mom and dad on my wedding day, nearly thirty-four years ago. They, too had a large bible like this at home that had been given to them. I don’t remember ever reading from it much. We had plenty of other bibles that we used for our personal and family devotions. The large bible contained a little bit of family tree names and dates, plus a couple of inspirational bookmarks.

I have slammed this bible on the altar thirty-two times, the number of years I have been a pastor and led worship on Good Friday. You can tell from the cracked binding that this book was only designed to be slammed about twenty-five times.

As I opened it up, I saw the dedication page written by my mom, with the reference to Psalm 18:30-36 and her blessing and prayer, “May your children give you as much joy as you have me.”

This psalm reference contains one of her favorite scriptural images, “He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places” (Psalm 18:33 KJV). One of my mom’s favorite books was Hannah Hurnard’s Hinds’ Feet on High Places, “a timeless allegory dramatizing the yearning of God’s children to be led to new heights of love, joy, and victory” (Amazon.com). She purchased and gave away dozens of those books. She knew well the difficult life in the trenches as a mom, wife and nurse. But she also knew joy. She knew the thrill of skipping sure-footedly across the mountains of God’s promises to see the past, present and future from a whole new perspective. I am thankful that she passed that thrill along to me.

By grace, God heard and answered her prayer many times over. My children and now my grandchildren continue to fill my life with so much joy! Thirty-four years later, I understand what mom was talking about.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: