Forever Family Comic

Very soon now, we will have 3 children in our house. Melody is currently on Doctor mandated – Papa enforced, bed rest. When Mia said her prayers last night she said, “Please help Mom not be bad so Papa doesn’t have to yell at her”. This is because I insisted she lay back down and check her blood pressure for the millionth time that day.

I was happy when we adopted because I would never pass on my corrupted genetic string on to a child. Mix that with the medical problems Melody’s had, and I was ecstatic when I saw how healthy CJ was, the day we met. The boy may be taller than me before he’s a teen and is fit as the fiddle Johnny beat the Devil with (I was born in Georgia – we embrace our legends).

Being healthy is a pain in the butt for me. For a good 2 years – in my 30’s I was in the best shape of my life. I went from 300 to 200 lbs, but it seemed I had to dedicate every spare moment to it. 6 days a week at the gym. Worrying over every bite of food going into my mouth. It was laborious. I liked the results, but I was never able to crack that 200 mark – and things like 6-pack abs were as elusive as the moon is now to our space program (uh-oh! He just got political!).

Now that we have 2 kids, (and soon 3), I am rarely at the gym. I’d just rather spend the time with them, or time with Melody when they’re asleep. But I don’t want my son to slip into the habits that increased my predisposition to be a tub. So we bike ride. We go outside and play ball, even though the heat and humidity make it feel like Florida, minus the alligators and increased chance of hot female teacher on student sex crimes (ok… now I’m pushing it). My goal is to teach CJ to stay active and not shove every available calorie into his mouth on the same day. In my house we have a lazy dad with a growing waistline, a mom who’s had almost every ‘optional’ organ removed, a daughter with one kidney that doesn’t work right to begin with, and a baby on his way that is driving his mother’s blood pressure to numbers higher than Nascar speeds.

Help me CJ, you’re my only hope.

This week’s comic had a guest writter of sorts. Its punchline was written by Bill Mothershead at thisdadcooks.com. He posted it on a board we both frequent. Its laconic phrasing summed up perfectly a conversation I’ve had with the boy. Please check back Wednesday for the all new comic at ForeverFamilyComic.com.

Thanks to everyone for stopping by on launch week.

ForeverFamilyComic has been a long time in the making. As a stand-up comic you spend a lot of nights away from home. This means overnights at hotels or late drives home after shows. Once we adopted I realized the overnights needed to be trimmed back. Then I realized I’d rather listen to my kids talk about their day face-to-face instead of schlepping back from a show, by myself in a car every night. A compromise had to be made. Thus the idea of a Comic – who writes a comic was born.

A big word in the adoption world is ‘Attachment’. It’s uber important. You have to spend time with your kids. Grow bonds that didn’t take root automatically at birth. Some families never really get there – and it’s through no lack of effort by the parents. It’s sad, but it happens. I didn’t want a lack of presence to be the reason for a weak connection with my son & daughter. Truth be told, our kids attached to us right away. We were always a natural fit, but I didn’t want to risk a break in that chain.  I also wanted to make sure I still had a venue for sharing the great material a blended family brings. So here is that place.

In the coming months I hope there is plenty for you to enjoy and SHARE. That’s a biggie. I really would like to get this in front of as many eyeballs as possible and YOU are the ones that can make that happen. Each week I will be updating the site 3 times. Monday: A blog/preview about the upcoming comic. Wednesday: The newest comic [please share on FaceBook]. Friday: I will be publishing one of my son’s comics. Trust me, they can outmatch me for wit and pure talent. You can see one now by clicking CJ’s Comics up top.

I’ve got to thank a few people quickly. Jared Cullum, over at PeaGreenCoffeeCup for inspiring the move online. Micah Acord, who draws ‘Rednecks in Space’, helped me immensely with concept drawings for ForeverFamily. He’s responsible for the level of polish that I would not have achieved out of the gate, if left to my own devices. I imagine you’ll see some guest spots from him in the near future. Thanks to Bethany Christian Services for their help in our adoption. If you want to adopt, this is the first & last stop for help in that mission.

And of course, thanks to my wife and kids, without whom most of these strips would be impossible to create. They are a daily source of love and inspiration. I pray nightly I never let them down.

I still do stand-up performances and speak about adoption at churches and conferences. If you would like to book me at your venue, contact me at booking@christianleelive.com