I married my wife Leslie in 1979. I was 20 and she was 21 (we’re nine months apart). We had dated in high school and continued the romance into college. We now have eight children, six girls and two boys.

The first seven kids were all two years apart in age, the youngest however came seven years (to the month) after the next youngest. All of the girls are right handed and both boys are left handed. Leslie is right handed and I am left handed.

The first seven kids were all born on a different weekday, that is, one on Monday, one on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, etc. The youngest was also born on a Tuesday. She is the first child of ours to be born in the 21st century. She is daughter #6, born in the sixth month (June), and is our eighth child, born on the 8th day of the month.

We thoroughly enjoy church and ministry life, we also like camping, swimming, biking, music, weightlifting, hot yoga, reading, history, and lots of other activities. We also learned a lot and saw a lot on our 1998 8,500 mile RV trip. We’ve been to all 48 states in continental America. Check out the 9,750 mile RV trip  we took in 2005. Just recently in 2012 we completed a 20-state trip 5,975 mile RV trip. Some of our trips are undocumented, like our Yellowstone trips (multiple), Grand Canyon and Redwood Forrest in California excursions. We do enjoy travelling!

Our kids are also homeschooled. You can read about our philosophy on that by clicking here. They have always scored very high in the Iowa Standarized Test we administer each year. Rebecca has graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Music degree, then from Loyola University in New Orleans (on scholarship) with a Masters of Music degree. Andrea completed two years at Edmonds Community College and various language courses at the University of Washington before marrying and starting her own family. Melissa graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Ryan is in his last year at the University of Washington in the mechatronics program (mechanical engineering with an emphasis on electronics/instrumentation). Jessica graduated from the Edmonds Community College paralegal program and is a practicing paralegal. Thus five of my homeshooled kids are through or will be through college, and did quite well with their studies and grades. Homeschooling works!

To maximize my time with the family, as well as participate in the various activities of interest to me, I have chosen to invest and participate in high-return activities that involve the entire family. We own a private camping membership and have a 29-foot motor home for vacations. This gave us time together for a week or a weekend. We also have a family membership at the YMCA. There we swim, play basketball, and lift weights. We own a covered utility trailer that holds multiple bicycles. We can rapidly hitch up and drive down 5 minutes to the Burke-Gilman trail and enjoy an hour or two together riding bikes with no hassles. Many of us enjoy hot yoga at a local studio and this too is an activity we do together. These investments are worth the quality family time they return. In the past we’ve also purchased family memberships at the Pacific Science Center (and have again for 2013). That provides time watching the I-MAX and enjoying the displays.