This one doesn’t involve dancing thou.  Anyway, I can’t sleep tonight.  I’m not sure why.  So, instead of watching another episode of Frasier I decided to make a home video using Window’s Movie Maker.  It’s my first try, but so far I think it’s a good program.  See for yourself.

This week I had a student ask me if the middle school worship team was going to do a lot of “camp” or “silly” songs with motions for worship this year.  My answer was genuine, but vague because I responded by saying “The praise team members will corporately choose songs with the intention to create the kind of environment where God will inhabit the praise of His people.”  That doesn’t necessarily place limitations on the genre of worship song.  That short conversation is causing me to ask so many more questions now.   Instead of getting advice for which songs to choose for worship, I’m now humbly seeking out what God desires of us and how can I effectively incorporate that at my school.  The answer to this question must and will come from the Lord.

In the mean time, starting with the end goal of corporately experiencing God’s presence, the way to get there is not “simply singing songs.”  There needs to be a:  corporate submission to God, realization of God’s presence, understanding of God Biblically through daily devotions, and being silent/listening to God’s voice.  The goal of this question is not to create a super-sing-a-long, but to help me and my 300 middle school students experience Jesus and His Word through worship on a weekly basis.

The surveys from Groups like Barna, Lifeway and Josh McDowell seem to indicate that about 70% of teens leave the church after high school.  Seems to me that the trend can be turned around if the church did a better job of teaching worship effectively and applying it, thus, we’d have young people who’d be captured in the Lord’s presence at least weekly.  There’s a lot that I don’t know, but I can personally declare that being in God’s presence is unforgettably lifechanging.  I want all of my students to experience this. 

Well, ever since we changed out our home-phone provider, we’ve been living without the internet as well.  (Note:  I’ve lost any respect for AT&T…but we’re going to try out DSL Extreme).  Anyway, I noticed I haven’t posted any pictures of recent, so here’s a “work” picture for y’all.

So Rachel took Nate to his Pediatrition yesturday and was as healthy and developmentally sound as he should be!  We have a spry 14lb, 25 inch baby-ness in our home!  The thing that suprised me was that he was in the bottom 3% for height and weight.  I guess Rachel being a small baby and I being one of the shortest kids my grade (until I was like 16) probably factors into that???  Not to jump too far ahead, but If I were a guessing man, I’d say he’ll have a frame for wrestling/tennis/soccer in his younger years…then possibly work up to basketball/ping-pong/foosball/ultimate frisbee and dodgeball in his teens? 

Oh, on a random, but very-much athletic note, Rach and I are entering into a fun triathlon in mid October.  It’s 22 miles of Mt Biking, 6 miles of trail running and 2 miles of rafting.  We’re able to split this up with team members, so if you’re interested in joining our team, please let us know!  Thus far we have 5 “committed” and we’re looking for up to 3 more!  We’re not looking to win it, we just want to be able to say we completed it together. 

Hola Supporters,

We all had the most amazing time at camp with the kids!  We’d love to share more with everybody, but our home internet is out until Friday.  Stay tuned!!!

 Okay, so maybe there is no such thing as a ‘free lunch,’ but Pete and I managed to score a free dinner.  Today was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A.  Therefore, any cow related costume (or in our case a cowbell and a cow puppet) is the golden ticket to a free entree.  We saved 947 pennies.  As Mr. Burns would say, “Exxxxcellent.”  

Okay, so I’m not a huge fan of this movie.  I don’t do scary.   Consequently, I won us our very own copy of this classic (with Chinese subtitles) at an 80’s party.  I believe I won the award for “most authentic costume”…but more importantly, I seriously remember somebody at this party dressing up like a “Tetris” cube.   

Anyway, My grandmother just happens to have two little chihuahuas who bear a striking resemblence to a gremlin.   These yappy cute creatures do have the Gremlin ears, but they are able to get wet, see the sun and eat after midnight!!!   Do any of you have 3 “must follow” rules for your pets?

We celebrated Independence Day with the 150 leftover flags from our wedding 3 1/2 years ago!  Nathan wasn’t quite ready to wave the flag, he was more interested in eating it. 

We declared independence from our normal routines and had a family party at our house.     We devoured our ribs in silent homage to our beloved nation and then began work on our new patio pergola.   This was a particularly special day because it was the first activity my mom has taken part in away from her home (other than the 8,000 doctors appointments).   

uh oh what is this

wet spot in the bed not good

catheter is out?!

Clearly, Nathan shares my feelings.  We had a great time visiting my favorite co-worker at Randolph yesterday.  I felt right at home sitting  on the couch and hanging out with you.  Just like old times!