So I did it!  Today I booked the anniversary vacation in Riviera Maya, Mexico.  It is the exact spot where Jess and I went for our honeymoon and we could not be any more excited.  This is the only all-inclusive resort I have ever been to but I can’t imagine that there would be a better one anywhere in the world.  So from November 11 through November 18 don’t bother calling or emailing unless you are dying cause I won’t be answering!  I really do love all of you though!  LOL

I finally picked up a copy of the highly controversial, christian fiction novel, “The Shack”.  I have heard that this book is amazing.  Eugene Peterson said:  

“This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his.  It’s that good!”

I will try and give you my input as I read.  If you have read this already, leave a comment and let me know what you thought.

So here is what Jess and I looked like moments after getting engaged in Chicago.  March 28, 2003 was the date and it was my birthday.  I told Jess that for my birthday gift I would like to spend a day in Chi-town.  We then lived in MI so it was only a 4 hour drive from the house.  So at 4am I rushed over to her house (got pulled over on the way there for speeding but let off the hook because it was my birthday and I was proposing.) I picked her up and off we went.  TIming was crucial because I had planned for our families to follow just an hour behind us so that we could rendezvous for the momentous occasion.  

The day was great and very memorable.  I was thinking about it today because we are trying this month to plan our 5 year anniversary vacation that is coming up in November.  It hardly seems like 5 years but it has been awesome!  I would love to hear your anniversary trip ideas and trips maybe that you have taken.  We have some money to work with but I am not sure it’s “European Tour” kinda money.  So let’s hear ‘em.  Thanks!

“God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that can be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.”

What an amazing prayer… this is definitely where my heart is!

VBS Recap:

Over 600 kids…

200 Volunteers…

216 decisions made for either salvation or baptism…

Very Tired…

‘Nuff Said!

So tomorrow starts the busiest week of a children’s pastor’s year.  VBS!  There are nearly 600 kids pre-registered for the marathon event and statistically the church has pre-registered half of the children that actually attend.  That’s right…..1,200 kids hyped up on kool-aid and donated sandwich cookies.  I will let you know how things go but please keep this event in your prayers this week.  It has the potential to be huge in reaching kids for Christ.  As a matter of fact we are having a midnight prayer vigil tonight to get this thing started off right.  Talk to you soon…….if I make it!

I am never too quick to name-drop or endorse but I have some friends who have an awesome band!   The name of the band is “Mosley” and if you enjoy Coldplay, U2 or any other fantastic band like that, you will fall in love with these guys!  Check out their myspace, leave a comment here and let me know what you think about them.  In particular, check out the song “Your Great Hand”.

www.myspace.com/mosleyrocks

…..why things happen the way that they do, but ALL things work together for good for them who love God and are called according to HIS purpose.  

Jess and I went to have our first ultrasound on Tuesday.  We entered the doctors office feeling anxious and excited.  We left feeling sorrowful and dismayed.  The ultrasound tech was unable to locate the baby.  The gestational sac was in place but there was no baby to be found.  We then saw the doctor who said that he was discouraged with the ultrasound as well and thought that we had experienced an early miscarriage or “blighted ovum”.  In simple man’s terms it means that the egg was fertilized but there was no development afterward.  There was a 10% chance that we were earlier in our pregnancy than we initially thought and for that reason we needed to go back on Thursday for more blood work.  Well, we went Thursday and saw the nurse practitioner and then went again on Friday for another ultrasound and still….no baby!  Without a doubt, a miscarriage.

It is hard to make sense of something like this.  You wonder how a couple who desire to be parents would be denied that privilege after thinking that it would happen.  But as with any other trial God has a deeper purpose than our surface minds can grasp.  Thank you to all of you who have called, emailed or stopped us at church to express your sympathy.  It is truly a hard time but your friendships have made the blow a little softer.  Continue to pray for us as we seek out God’s plan in all of this.

I did not come up with this myself but it if I were eloquent with words, this is what I would have said:

 Perseverance means more than endurance – more than simply holding on until the end.  A saint’s life is in  the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer.  God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.”  Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly.  Entrust yourself to God’s hands.  Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance now?  Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith.  Proclaim as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15) 

Definition:  ”Unable to do without.”

Understood today more than ever.