Today we tube! In a few hours the family will wake up and we will go down to the river to tube. If you've never tubed down a river, it is a whole lot like sitting on a tire for two hours in the sun. For some reason the kids love it and best of all it is cheap Georgia fun. I do have my fears (The Movie Deliverance and snakes etc.) But I will do my best to get some pictures from Andrew's new camera uploaded later today.
6 years ago this week God rocked our world. Today is Andrew's birthday and his birth marks a monumental shift for our family. I guess the birth of any child can rock your world, Abigail was born after years of trying and the name Abigail Grace is the combination meaning Father's Joy + Unmerited Favor from God; However Andrew's was different. "Andrew" means warrior, and from the moment of his birth he was a fighter. One of the things I love about my son is that he is a tough kid. Yes he can be whiny sometimes, but he really is a man's man. He and I love to do tough stuff together and I can account that he can give and take a punch. We sat up last night and watched UFC and he told me he wants to grow up to be a police man. He tried to describe a story he heard of a kid who saved everybody from a bad guy on a plane, it was not 9/11 because he said the bad guy wanted them to take him somewhere. But he has a desire to grow up and use his strength to be heroic. I guess there is some of that in all of us. His first battle was for life, as he took his first breath while in the birth canal. As a result he had a hole in his left lung causing it to collapse. The typical birth scenario being altered when suddenly the room is full of Doctors. I still don't remember them being called. In a moment's time the room was full, then they took him away. In the NICU he stood out from the Preemies by his size, but we were only allowed to see him every few hours. I remember that I was reading the prayer of Jabez book at the time. A prayer for God to expand our border meant that we were asking Him to increase our faith. Andrew's difficulties increased our faith a great deal, and one of the results of that is Cornerstone. There is much more to the story, but it will have to wait for a better time. Today, I am going to train my warrior for his biggest opponent in life, himself.
It is summer time and the kids are out of school. Amy had them at the pool for 3 hours today and they had a blast. tonight after dinner she got them a cone of ice cream. After a few minutes, Andrew (5) said "what kind of ice cream is this?" the answer,... wait for it.....vanilla. That's right, just plain vanilla and he likes it. Too often we forget that the simple things are the best things. Keep it simple. Just vanilla for me.
As many of you know I am a health nut.... okay, but I will be soon. I am presently building up to my next diet/exercise season. Yesterday afternoon we went to Wal-mart together and Amy asked if I could get a case of diet cokes. I choked on the price, until I found that I could save $.90 for buying "Coke Plus" with vitamins and minerals. Last night, after being perfectly chilled, I cracked one open. It does have a weird after taste though. The taste was not so much different, and now I can feel good about my diet coke again. And to all you anti-soda people out there, I will let you know when I finally sell out and buy water.
I took the kids to see the movie "Meet the Robinsons" last night. Amy had a school function and so the kids and I headed for Pleasure Island AMC to see the latest Disney offering. I was very happy with the movie. I went away feeling good, and had several opportunities to ask the kids their opinion of the life lessons that they learned. It was cool that when the kids saw Amy this morning that Andrew told her that it was a movie about friendship. He learned some values! Hooray! I will say that it was a short movie, and rather than let people feel cheated time wise, The theater put a 15 minute Disney cartoon before it. It was so long that I thought I was in the wrong theater. All that being said, it is a great family movie, and lives up to what we expect from Disney.
Here is a picture of two of our fish. It took some time but Andrew got pretty good at casting his little zebco reel. Mike and I were able to fish on a 15' boat with a 5 year old wielding a loaded pole, and came back with all of our eyes intact. Amen? We caught about 12 altogether Mike ten, me two, and Andrew got the assist on two. I managed to catch and release one of them, as I was transferring them from the live well to the cooler. I guess we will have to meet again big fish, we will meet again!
Today Andrew and I will be going fishin with his Uncle Mike. Uncle Mike has a bass boat and a friend with a private lake and one of those sonar thingamabobs. Last time we went, I was astounded at how many fish were down there. It seemed like clouds. I will try to post some pictures her if I can think to take them, as we will be very busy reeling in the big ones. BUT, before we get there I have a long list of honey do's or is it honey dues? Anyway, Amy and I have been saving long and hard for new flooring in the bedroom, and today it begins. They are all out for Spring Break, and we will enjoy some free time together.
Today, I am heading to Port Charlotte to speak to the Sonshine Baptist Church about the importance of church planting. My goal is to challenge them to view thebarrenness among churches equal to that felt by people who cannot have children of their own. Too often churches will settle for chipping in support for the plant of a sister church much in the way that we give gifts to our neices and nephews. As much fun as they might be, neices and nephews can never bring the joy of birthing and bringing to maturity a baby of your own. Maybe, one day we will see a baby church begun, as Sonshine enters the joys of parenthood.
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