Retired linebacker’s wife dies one month after their wedding - Shutdown Corner - NFL Blog - Yahoo! Sports

Jerry Dugan (jerry_s_dugan@yahoo.com) has sent you a news article
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Personal message:

'Til death do us part. I commend this man for staying by his wife's side, loving her, and cherishing her.

Retired linebacker’s wife dies one month after their wedding - Shutdown Corner - NFL Blog - Yahoo! Sports
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Retired-linebacker-8217-s-wife-dies-one-month-a?urn=nfl-wp14892

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The Dugan Spot: The whole point of Christmas

I am really proud of Emma for writing her second blog post ever. This is posted on our family blog, and I was blown away by her perception of Christmas. I think I can learn a lot from her as I am shaking all my presents under the tree.

The Dugan Spot: The whole point of Christmas: (written by EMMA PAIGE DUGAN) Everybody loves Santa Claus, right!???? Well I do. What would kids do if Santa didn't come? It's okay, bec...

Lessons Learned from the Founder of Chick-fil-A

I just finished reading the book It's Better to Build Boys then Mend Men by S. Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-A.  In this book, Cathy shares his experiences as a parent, grandparent, foster parent, mentor, and friend where he has helped shape the lives of young boys into men who were solid in character and contributed back to society. He also shares tragic stories of those boys who did not receive the love and attention they needed from their fathers and were doomed to repeat a cycle of needless pain and troubled living.

Our children need parents who set a consistent, positive model of behavior to follow. We often choose to be a friend more than a trusted adult to our children. I catch myself doing that from time to time. It is also important to have a consistent set of expectations as well. What we consistently or do is what we think, believe, do, and eventually become.

Children do not see the truth in the words we say but the actions we make. I can talk about the importance of loyalty and trust, but I need to show it in how I treat other people. The moment I have an affair, for example, everything I have ever said about loyalty and trust is replaced by a new truth, "daddy is a liar and I can be one, too."

It is vital for my children that I set the most consistent, positive example that I can. I won't do this perfectly, and will continue fail from time to time. However, I hope that with a positive and consistent model of behavior and expectations my children will grow up equipped with strong character to get them through what life has in store for them.

"I thought God gave me your grandmother to love me, but over the years God has shown me He gave her to me to learn to love even if she ceased loving me." -S. Truett Cathy

Oh, They Found Me! Accoutability is a Good Thing.

I received an e-mail from YouVersion today holding me accountable to a One-Year Bible reading plan I signed up for.

"When life gets busy, sometimes it’s hard to keep up with everything. But when we make time for God’s Word, it has a way of putting all of that activity into perspective. It looks like you’re a bit behind on your The One Year ® Bible plan, so we thought we’d share a few of our favorite tips for getting back on track:"

While I should feel very ashamed for not keeping up with my Bible and the one-year plan I committed to (over a year ago), I am excited to receive this kind of accountability and encouragement from YouVersion. I guess I need to do my part and continue with my commitment to read through the entire Bible rather than repeat the same pattern of starting and stopping. I've done that every year for the past five or six years...okay, seven. I don't have much excuse, because I have the YouVersion Bible app on my Blackberry and I always have my Blackberry on me.

Insanity is repeating the same process over and over again, but expecting different results every time. Accountability can help me break my own cycles of insanity.

Christmas Pancake Morning

Ever since I made my first Mickey Mouse pancakes a couple of years ago, Emma has challenged me to make pancake shapes about every Saturday morning.

Her requests have become more and more challenging, and I have had to look at websites like Jim's Pancakes for inspiration. She has asked for snakes, her initials, complete words, even a Superman emblem for Jacob, and this morning she asked for a Santa hat and Christmas tree. I added sugar sprinkle ornaments on the Christmas tree just to show off.

I love having moments like these with my family. I know I will definitely remember and cherish these moments, and will make Emma pancake shapes for as long as I am able to. What special things do you do for your children to build loving memories with them?

Coaching My Kids to Write Through Blogging

Emma asked if she could make a blog post this evening when she saw me working on my new template/layout for this blog.

We have a family blog that rarely gets posted on, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to post something recent on it.

I later realized that this is also a great opportunity to encourage my children to write and express themselves through blogging on our family blog. We are able to update family and friends on what we are up to, our children improve on their typing and writing skills, and they become familiar with internet publishing. How cool is that?

I do recommend some of the following tips when asking your kids to post/blog:

• If it goes on the World Wide Web, it somewhat means the World Will Watch.
• It's important not to get too personal, or give out sensitive information such as travel dates, addresses, and phone numbers.
• Make this a team effort. Blog WITH your children rather than use this as another "babysitting" tool. 
• These moments provide teaching moments with your children as well.
• It is important to let them write in their own voice.  This first post from Emma took some patience. She doesn't type yet, and she attempts to use words she can't spell. Rather than getting focused on correcting grammar, and how I would say things, I let her say what she had to say in her own voice. We later corrected some spelling and a few minor grammar spots as we read through the post. Most of the corrections were things that she picked up on. The point is to make this a fun thing.

Have a White Elephant Christmas

"Uncle Palpatine". We got this guy in a 2009  White Elephant and haven't been able to get rid of him since. he keeps coming back to us!

We had a White Elephant Gift Exchange where I work today, but I was told it would be a serious exchange (and a very competitive one where people were trying to be the most sought after gift...for under $10, and to have a strategy to get the best gift in the end).

The only White Elephant gift exchanges I know are filled with the goofy stuff no one would want, so I was torn on what to do. After some conspiring with Olivia, we decided on a nice picture frame with a Dugan White Elephant twist.

We included my picture from 10th Grade where I was one of the last kids in school still sporting a mullet in 1992. The picture was autographed.


It was so much fun to see the levels of revelation in the faces of my co-workers as they shifted from that's-an-odd-picture-to-give to Hey-that-looks-like-Jerry and finally Oh-No-he-autographed-it!

It's easy to take ourselves too seriously these days, but there are ways to be goofy and not get yourself fired from your job in the process. It just so happens that I took a picture of myself in 10th Grade with a mullet that I was able to use 19 years later. Liv and I are already thinking about what to do for next year's White Elephant.

Alternate autograph phrases included:

• Now, your wall is complete.
• I make this frame look goooood!
• Best wishes, The Mullet.
• The Mullet, 1989-1992. R.I.P.
• To Wong Fu, thanks fo...oh, wrong frame.

In the end, we kept it simple.