Water Camp!!!!!

Well today has been 'water camp' week. For Emily that is one of the highlights of the year. I mean she was about to wiggle with excitement right out of her car seat as we made our pilgrimage to the church this morning. Josh being at that wonderful repeat everything I hear stage was repeating all of Emily's little chants and cheers about water camp. It kind of made me feel bad because I think he brainwashed himself into believing that he too was going to water camp which of course Emily being the caring and concerned big sister reminded him that he was too little for water camp. Josh took the news pretty well as we whisked him to MDO and Emily went off for her last day at camp.

Little Maestros

Our kids love music. I shot this quick little video in the middle of Josh giving us a little concert yesterday and of course Emily wanted to jump in there at the end as well. Also, Emily has been singing a praise song at church where the chorus is "Oh no you never let go..." and it kind of repeats over and over. Anyway that's about all the words she knows and now she has taught it to Josh too. So yesterday when we got home from church the kids are hanging out in the living room as we're making some quick pb and j's for lunch and I notice that Emily is singing something over and over as she's doing we're contorted dances on the couch. And I notice it's that praise song which was really pretty awesome. Then Josh kind of picks up on the song shortly thereafter and they keep singing it over and over. After about 5 minutes they are shouting it/screaming it over and over at the top of their lungs at an ear piercing level and I think added a level of choreography/wrestling as well where we had to step in there and be the responsible parents and call a time out. It was pretty funny though. I often have those moments where the kid in me is in there laughing hysterically but the responsible parent in me is trying to hold it together. Kids are amazing at just pushing something to the absolute extreme. I mean if I wouldn't have called the timeout what noise level would they have achieved and what level of physical violence/choreography would have gone with it. I guess God knew what he was doing when he assigned kids these things called parents.

Where would you be without Jesus?

I was reading today in Philippians 2 and verse 1 really stood out to me, "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion..." So, I felt led to stop right there and ponder those statements for a moment. I asked God to bring to mind the encouragement, comfort, tenderness I have known because of Jesus in my life. Things started flooding my mind like times in my car listening to a worship song and just tearing up, times of specific and obvious answers to prayer, times of God providing for our finances right when we needed it, times where He used me to bless someone else, times of sitting on my back porch or in my garage and just unloading my stresses and receiving back from Jesus comfort and peace, times when He asked me to serve Him and I had no strength and no words and yet He gave me the strength and gave me the words, times when I didn't know which way to go and He has given me purpose and opened doors, times of prayer when I just didn't want to get up because something stirred in my heart and I felt His presence, times of worshipping with other believers and we were just swept into who He was and we didn't want to leave, times when He has protected us from evil and harm, times when I have sinned and fallen and He has opened His merciful arms back to me and received me and forgiven and healed me, and on and on. What a horrid thought if we didn't have Jesus today. Oh what comfort and tenderness and compassion is so available to me everyday through Christ that I take for granted. Forgive me Lord. May I appreciate You in a fresh way today and may my compassion for others who don't know You be stirred today.

Breakfast Expressions

Well, this morning was my morning to be mr. mom and get the kids fed breakfast and get their clothes on and attempt to comb Emily's hair and tame the wild blond beast that resides on top of Joshua's melon. Breakfast is such an interesting meal with our kids. Their unique personalities really are quite blatant for this morning meal time in our kitchen. Josh is the sunshiny morning person and Emily is the 'you betta keep your distance and don't mess with me' not so morning person. So in case you didn't believe me on this one I thought I would provide some photographic evidence above to futher illustrate this point. They are in round two of the breakfast marathon which consists of Strawberry Dora yogurt. Emily barely had enough gas to make it through round one which consisted of Target Maple and Brown Sugar oatmeal and by the time yogurt came around she was done while Josh was just ramping up to full throttle.

Fireproof, the movie

I met with some guys today that are promoting a new movie that is coming out on Sept 26 called Fireproof. The movie is about a couple who has every right to bail out on their marriage and yet they hang on and find redemption. It's going to be a movie that exposes the different seasons of marriage from letting each other down, to moral failures, to disappointments, to neglect, to seasons of blandness, etc. I'm trying to think through how we could really get behind it and encourage a lot of couples to go and see it. If you want to check out their webpage you can go to www.fireproofthemovie.com.

On the road again

Well we are on the road again. We got a late start today and made it a pretty pitiful distance down the road to Tuscaloosa so we'll have a long haul tomorrow. As usual the kids are full of energy here in the hotel as they've been cooped up in the car. It was a good trip to Georgia. Lets see...ate a lot of good southern food, played lots of disc golf, had an amazing gyro at a hole in the wall Greek restaurant, went to two different churches in one day this morning, learned how to smoke baby back ribs, shot off lots of fireworks, etc. There's always a certain sadness whenever I leave and have to head back home. Especially as I see the emotion exchanged between Whitney and her folks. It's tough and I always stop and think about how fast time slips by. Sometimes its hard not to get depressed or cynical but you just have to roll with it and try and enjoy each moment in this very quick and fleeting life. It has helped that I've been reading through Ecclesiastes lately where it deals with the vanity of trying to hold on to this life and capture it because it will slip right through your fingers. But in the midst of this reality it also emphasizes over and over the importance of enjoying the gifts you've been given and not getting overly stressed about things beyond your control or reasoning. So I'm going to roll along the road and enjoy each leg of the journey for however long God gives me.

Disc Golf Mania

Well we did the mega drive out to Georgia, all 15 hours of it and miraculously survived the roads and a 2 and 4 year old. Its been a lot of disc golf 'po man' golf for me so far during our stay. My brother-in-law John has actually constructed a disc golf course in his back yard. He has set up three professional baskets and has 9 different holes. He has tee boxes and even had a guy come out and measure the distance of his longest hole at 305 feet. It's a little more challenging out here in Georgia as they have these things called 'hills' here that go up and down. We've already experienced some good old Georgia Sweet Tea out here and tomorrow night we'll be doing a blue grass concert at Whitney's granddad's retirement home. I throw down on the get fiddle and my brother-in-law John throws down on the banjo, so should be a good time. Well better go grab a shower cuz I be stinkin' right now pretty good.