Familyman Spotlight – Mark Mix

*Name* – Mark Mix

*Location* – Fairfax, VA

*Years Married* – 17

*Number of Children* – 6

*Employment* – “National Right to Work Committee”:http://www.right-to-work.org/ and the “National Right to Work Foundation”:http://www.nrtw.org/.

*One thing I did right* – The one thing I did right besides committing my life and family to Jesus Christ, was to buy a fire pit! We are on our third one. Pulling it out, along with chairs, wood, a small table and long bamboo poles with neat forks duct taped on, on those hot summer and cool fall evenings ( a snowy night or two as well ) sometimes feels like a burden but putting it away after all the kids have gone to sleep is a labor of love. We have roasted thousands of marshmallows with the neighbors, family and friends. The memories (and pictures) of our kids standing in front of the fire pit with everyone gathered around will (until I lose it) be etched in my mind. The laughter, smiles, and “thanks dad” when it is time for bed make me feel ten feet tall ( I’m only 5′ 7″ and that is the height listed in the Mix Family Media Guide… ).

*One thing I’d do differently* – On the “what could I do different” side of the ledger – you mean, besides trimming my nose and ear hairs, cutting my toenails and exercising some more (I actually weigh exactly what I did when I graduated from college it is just that it is all positioned a bit differently now)?

I would spend more time, individually, with each of my children.

As you know a large family sometimes, no, most of the time means “zone defense”. Zone defense means you protect a certain area and while it is still difficult it is not as hard or as effective as man-to-man (no offense to the superior gender) defense.

We have had great “group” times but as time passes I realize that while that is great, each child needs and should get individual, quality, time. In the, I’ll get to it tomorrow department, I, up to this point, have fallen way short on planning for special time with each child. When, I do get a moment alone with one of the kids the rewards are overwhelming! So, now that I’m “public” with one — the only one, of course — of my deficiencies I’ll try to do better.

*About the picture* – Our urban/country/wintertime with no snow/It was 60 degrees/the guy who took the picture thought we were crazy/Christmas tree “cutting” event.

Please disregard the Home Depot shelves in the back…