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Mocha Dad

The Nightmare

While sleeping, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I rolled over to see my daughter, Nee, standing in the faint light of the digital clock that displayed 3:30 a.m.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” I asked.
“I had a bad dream,” she replied. I pulled her close to me and gave her a big hug.
“It’s okay,” I said. [...]

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Dancey, Dance Time

“Dancey, Dance Time” is a big deal in our house. Not only do I get to expose my kids to different types of music, but I also get the chance to teach them how to dance.
Before I proceed, I must admit that I gave to birth to two out of three rhythmless children. This fact [...]

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The Wrong Response

During dinner, my wife, KayEm, and I often attempt to teach our children life lessons. For the most part, we do a good job of delivering motivational messages that resonate with the kids. There are other times when we fail to make our intended point.
One such time was when we were teaching the kids the [...]

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Hero is Another Name for Daddy

My kids and I are comic book geeks. We love to watch superhero cartoons and movies. One of our favorite shows is Teen Titans. Although the series has been canceled for a few years, we still try to catch reruns whenever we can.
After watching the show one morning, the kids and I decided to analyze [...]

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The Case of the Runaway Beagle

I often travel for business. My wife, KayEm, and I stay in touch with Skype, Twitter, and e-mail. I’m always excited when I pull out my Blackberry and see one of her messages. But sometimes, I receive a message that I’m afraid to open.
About a year ago, we adopted a beagle named Ginger. Although the [...]

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I Hate It When People Stare at Me While I’m Naked

My 2-year-old son, X, is an avid sports fan. He loves football, basketball, hockey, even mixed martial arts (shhh, don’t tell my wife about that last one). But lately he’s taken up a new spectator sport – Daddy Baff.
Whenever I turn on the water in the shower, he darts into the bathroom and yells, “DADDY [...]

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The Mystery Reader

As I’ve mentioned before, my family loves reading. That is why I often volunteer to be the Mystery Reader at my kids’ school. Each Friday, a parent, relative, or published author reads pre-selected or personally selected books to their classroom of choice. Keeping the Mystery Reader’s identity a mystery is tough because the kids are quite adept at [...]

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Nee and the Spelling Bee

When Nee looked at the grade on her spelling test, she was horrified. She had correctly spelled 13 of the 20 words. Therefore, she would be one of her class representatives in the school-wide spelling bee.
Although Nee is an excellent speller, she hates speaking in front of an audience. Actually, she hates talking period. I [...]

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Thoughts on Turning 40

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 1 Corinthians 13:11
There is something liberating about turning 40. I feel more confident, more energetic, and more in control of my life.
In my 20s, [...]

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Family Goal Setting

At the beginning of each year, my family and I sit down and develop family and personal goals. We never call them resolutions because resolutions are easily broken. Goals are more tangible.
I learned the importance of goal-setting as a child. Although my mother never held formal goal setting sessions with my sister and me, she [...]

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The Best Gift

As I was working at my computer, my 8-year-old daughter, Nee, approached with a dejected look on her face.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” I asked as I pulled her towards me.
She sat on my lap and crossed her arm. “You didn’t even look at my Christmas present to you.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “You gave [...]

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Mocha Dad’s Top 10 Commented Posts of 2009

Comments are like gold to bloggers. They allow us to receive feedback from and interact with our audience. Sometimes we are praised and other times we are criticized. But we appreciate all comments because we enjoy conversing with our readers. Comments, good or bad, encourage us to keep producing content that readers will respond to.
I [...]

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Merry Christmas from Mocha Dad

Stay Strong,

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Repost: I Married a Hooker

Warning: This blog post contains graphic descriptions of hookers, carriers, and hangers
Our family has a Christmas tradition of decorating the tree together. This year we were especially excited about it because it was the baby’s first Christmas and our first Christmas in our new house.
My first task was to purchase a new Christmas tree. Eleven [...]

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Fatherhood Round Table Discussion – Session IV

Welcome to Session IV of our Fatherhood Round Table Discussion. This time, the dads will talk about household chores, money, religion and advice for new fathers. If you’re just joining us, please read Session I, Session II, and Session III.
Once again, allow me to introduce our panelists:
Eric Payne – Father of two children and author [...]