40 days and 40 nights

It's been a good long while since my last post.
Wherefore this blog is as much for my children to read about this season of our life someday in the future when they're old enough to appreciate it as much as it is for me to share what's going on and what I'm thinking with the handful of you that are still subscribing, I'd like to recap what we've been doing for the last 40 days.  A lot of you have probably seen pictures on facebook, but here's the narrative to go along with the pictures.

I only worked one day between May 19th and June 10th.  That was the longest break from the railroad that I've had in over 8 years.  It was a time of refreshing, travel, and fun with family and friends.  We had a great time, but probably won't be able to make Leslie's tattoo payment this month.

My mom came to visit and celebrate the end of the school year with Georgia's graduation from Kindergarten and Jonesy's 1st grade awards ceremony.

 It was touch and go the last 6 weeks, but Georgia did graduate and is officially a first grader.

On Thursday (May 24) after our celebration lunch at Bush's Chicken, Annie, West, Blacker, and Justin traveled with Mimi to San Angelo while the other girls stayed at home to finish their end of school year activities.
Hank and Auntie Sheila rendezvoused with us in San Angelo for some good sibling and cousin time.

This is Annie trying on a flower girl dress and a picture of Sheila wearing the same dress in the mid-80's.

Leslie and the other girls arrived on Saturday.  Jazbo came home on Sunday after a fishing adventure.  Leslie and the kids went home on Monday for one more day of school and Dad and I prepped for our trip to the coast.
We departed on Tuesday (May 29) morning bound for a salty sea adventure.  We had arranged a guided fishing trip with Capt. Jack on Wednesday.  He is a retired firefighter who worked under my Granddad at the fire department in Odessa years ago.  He now works as a guide out of Rockport. It was a fun day of fishing that was different from anything that we had ever done before.  We caught speckled trout, limits of redfish among other sea creatures, and watched dolphins throughout the day.  You can see some videos from our day in the sidebar.  One of my favorite parts of the day was hearing Capt. Jack speak so highly of my Grandad and his servant leadership as his fire chief.

Leslie and the kids arrived that afternoon and we spent the next few days on the beach in Port Aransas.  More fishing, sand, and surf.  Lots of good food. 

On the way home we stayed a night in San Antonio and celebrated West's 2nd birthday with some of Leslie's cousins.  Dinner on the River Walk and swimming at the hotel pool.  We traveled home on Sunday after shopping and more good eats in San Marcos.

After a day of recovery on Monday, I returned to work on Tuesday, but only worked the one day and didn't go back until the next Monday.

On Thursday(June 7) I traveled to the 5th annual Guys I Went to College With weekend at an undisclosed location.  3 days and nights of good times, good food, talking about memories and making new ones.  No pictures available.  I didn't take any.

I've been back at work for a week now.  Loden is due to arrive in a few more weeks.  Life is good.  Amen.

Pictures, Places, and a Puppy

We traveled to Fredricksburg on Saturday to meet the newest addition to our household, Blacker Sparkle.

We stopped in Austin to visit the capitol grounds.

We ate at the Nutty Brown Cafe, one of Austin's most popular live music venues, for lunch.  No one was playing music, but the kids had lots of room to play in the dirt.  The kids made friends with resident parrot.  Didn't get a picture of it, but you can hear it at the end of the video.  Good food and good times even if Willie wasn't on stage.

We visited Wildseed Farms outside of Fredricksburg, saw lots of pretty blooms, and bought some seeds to try at our house.  

After stopping at The Auslander for a cold one and some strudel we got to meet Blacker and enjoy some time with the Dahlstroms. 

Regarding my last post:  If you were a head scratcher and not an amener, listen to what a real-life professional preacher had to say last Sunday.   Scott Meyer hit this one out of the park...
In other news, Granola is flying in today for a week long visit. Prayers for the preservation of her sanity as she enters our insane world would be appreciated.
West fell out of the boat yesterday. Head first. His feet were hung up on the edge so that just his head and shoulders were in the water. I was right there and lifted him out by his ankles. The was no danger, just a lesson to be learned. Glad he learned it now. Annie didn't learn it until she was 3.
Vacation starts in a month. Planning trips to San Angelo and to Port Aransas.
Blacker Sparkle, our Heelador puppy, will be joining our household in a couple of weeks.

It's been almost a year since I featured a song of the week, but I wanted to share this one with you.  I heard it for the first time yesterday and can't get it out of my head.
  

christian as an adjective???

 As I've shared with you before, I believe words are important.  I believe names are important.  A few thoughts that may leave some of you scratching your heads and some of you saying amen.....

-Recently several preacher types to whom I subscribe, Andy Stanley, Voddie Baucham, Given O. Blakely, and Scott Meyer, all of whom are very different in their style, denominational background, and ministry roles  have been hitting on the idea of contrasting what it means to be a Christian versus what it means to be a disciple, a Christ-follower.

-A few weeks ago Jonesy mentioned the name of one of her favorite singers to someone.  That person was unfamiliar with the artist and asked if it was Christian music.  Jones responded with a look of confusion.  I knew what the person was asking, but to Jonesy it was a strange question because she hasn't yet learned to use the word christian to describe things and I kind of hope she never does.

-When Carrie Underwood sang her wonderful rendition of "How Great Thou Art" she was a country singer singing a christian song.  When Chris August sings "I Want You Back" he's a christian singer singing a Motown song.  When there was so much Jesus and Gospel talk at Whitney Houston's funeral it made both  Hollywood and Christians uncomfortable.

-I'm a talk radio junkie, and it seems everyday I hear someone say (with the utmost sincerity and passion), "We need to get back to being a Christian nation." I wince every time I hear it.  I'm afraid that what they are pleading for is not that our citizens and our government officials become disciples of Jesus, but that the citizens of our nation would change their behavior to conform to a standard inspired by Judeo-Christian ethics. They seem less concerned with winning hearts and minds for the Kingdom of God through evangelism, love, and charity (read real charity, not govt. welfare), than they do with passing laws that outlaw or require certain behaviors to make the kingdom of the U.S.A a better place to live.
Many will claim that the U.S.A was founded as a christian nation.  To that I say no, it wasn't, but it was founded by Christians.

I believe that to use the word christian as an adjective is to cheapen the work of Christ into a behavior modification plan.

My Children Are My Delight

Went hiking with Jonesy and West yesterday.  Did a little bit of fishing, but didn't catch anything. 

On our way back to the truck I said to Jones, "Too bad we didn't catch anything, but it's a good day for hiking."

"Yeah, I don't really care what we do or if we catch anything.  I just like being with my daddy."

Her words made my heart swell with gladness.

I rarely fish, go grocery shopping, or run errands anymore without having at least one of my children with me. (Yes, I know that Leslie does almost everything with at least two in tow, and I admire her steadfastness and sanity.)  They are my delight.  I love coming home from work to a Georgia hug, West's broken record Dadda, Dadda, Dadda, and Annie's giggling smile.

Things aren't perfect in our home.  We struggle daily through teaching obedience and manners and settling sibling squabbles.  But they are growing and maturing and Leslie and I are growing and maturing with them.

Buzzards and Eagles

While we were cleaning fish yesterday evening, Annie pointed at a buzzard circling above and said, "Look, an eagle!"  Jonesy and I both quickly corrected her and told her that it was just a buzzard.  On the train today I was thinking about that and realized how important it is for me as a father to teach my children the difference between buzzards and eagles.  I started thinking in metaphors and praying that my daughters learn to be discerning, to love and be kind to all, but to know a buzzard when they see one.

We had a good time fishing.  The weather is beautiful, the lake is full, and the blue bonnets are blooming.  We are blessed.

Spring Break 2012

Justin had a week of vacation a week before the girls were out of school for spring break. He moved out to the lake and we joined in after school. Jazbo and Wayne spent some time out at the lake too. A and W spent all day Wednesday with Daddy and Jazbo. All six of us spent Wednesday night in the tent with the wind howlin'. On Thursday, the cold and the rain moved in and stayed for four days. The camping vacation was cut short and all the guys went home on Friday.



























Saturday: We took the kids to their first circus. It wasn't a big circus. I think they were entertained, but not impressed.
















On Monday, we went back out to the lake on a gorgeous day.

























Tuesday was roller skating day! See videos on FB. West slept through most of the three hours in his stroller while I watched and laughed at Justin and the girls.




Wednesday was Chick-fil-A day and church night.

Thursday






On Friday, the kids and I went to the Mayborn Children's Museum. We arrived at 930am and we left at 345pm. There was a scavenger hunt, Disney Nature (short) Movie, and a magician along with the original two floors of learning rooms.







































Saturday evening we rented Mr. Popper's Penguins and snuggled and laughed after supper. West can now sing "Ice, Ice Baby" over and over and does some dance moves while he sings.

Sunday was church, lunch at Fuddruckers and rest!