9/29/2008

Woke up with Bowden in the bed at 5:00 am. He had peed his bed, and was thus sandwiched uncomfortably between Sarah and I. Went downstairs and fell back to sleep on the couch. Woke up at 6:45 am to my daily wake up call from Jack. Waaaaaah! My kids almost always wake up in the same order- Jack, Lucy, Bowden. With Bowden in Kindergarten, and Lucy in preschool, Sarah, Jack and I went over to the new coffee house owned by our friends the Fourroux's and played honeymoon bridge while sipping on some wildly overpriced coffee. I spent the lion's share of the day preparing for my midweek small groups and straightening up the house. Sarah made chili and cornbread for dinner. Nanny arrived in the afternoon for an overnight, which made the kids very excited. We had kept her coming a secret from the kids all day. Bowden announced at dinner that he no longer believes in Widjiwats. Hmmmm. After getting the kids in bed, and doing the dishes, I spent some more time preparing for the small groups, and drawing lunch box pictures for Bowden and Lucy.


$140.96

7

9/28/2008

WHFMS group left this morning after breakfast. Went to church. After church our really awesome friends The Whites and their sister, Dawn, who is an RD at Biola Univeristy as well as a former professional football player, came over to watch the Redskins vs. Cowboys game. Justine and Beth stopped by for a while too. The redskins won!!! Went to bed at 10:00 pm.

$32.05

5L

HAPPIER THAN HAPPY DAY

So today was the much anticipated game between the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys. I projected the game onto a big screen, and some friends came over to watch. It ended up being quite the party, and despite Telemarketer Steve's gloomy prediction, Washington won!!! Happy Day!!! Hutela AmaDundar!!!



Zorn has redeemed himself, but I'm not ready to embrace the man totally.
Don't they look excited!!!
Sarah lookin' hot!!!

WEEK 4 IN THE NFL AND THE GUEST PROGNOSTICATOR IS TELEMARKETER STEVE

Last week Bowden was 10-6. Not bad, Bowden. We'll see how Steve from At&T does this week. Steve called me today while I was working hard in the camp office to let me know about how he could save us some money, and I said that I would gladly here him out if he would only pick some games for me. Steve was a gamer. I ended up telling him we were happy with our current service though. Poor guy.

Steve predicts the following winners:

Atlanta @ Carolina- Carolina
Cleveland @ Cincinatti- Cleveland
Houston @ Jacksonville- Jacksonville
Denver @ Kansas City- Denver
San Francisco @ New Orleans- New orleans
Arizona @ New York Jets- Arizona
Green Bay @ Tampa Bay- Tampa Bay
Minnesota @ Tennessee- Tennessee
San Diego @ Oakland- Oakland

"What? Really? Oakland?"
"That's what I said, man."

Buffalo @ St. Louis- Buffalo
Washington @ Dallas- Dallas

"I'm a Washington fan."
"Sorry, dude. I gotta go with Dallas."

Philadelphia @ Chicago- Philadelphia
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh- Pittsburgh

"Bowden, run inside and get a shirt on!"

"I don't want to!"

"Bowden, go get a shirt on."

"Any shirt?"

Yeah, any shirt you want. Just hurry. We're going to be late for dinner, and I have to welcome the guest group."

"Bowden, what happened to your shoes? Go get your shoes on!"

"Any shoes?"

SARAH AND I RECENTLY ADOPTED THREE MONCHICHIS

MAMAS DON'T LET YOUR BABIES GROW UP TO BE COWBOYS.

The kids are getting all jazzed up for the big game tomorrow. Redskins vs Cowboys is one of the most storied rivalries in all of football, and I couldn't bring myself to play any of the Cowboys on my fantasy team. Romo, Felix Jones and Dallas' defense are getting benched in favor of Jason Campbell, Chris Cooley, Santana Moss and the Skins defense.

DEAR BILL...

THE BEST TIME OF THE DAY

LUCY TATE

BOBCATS vs. JAGUARS

Check out that fox in the Fair Haven Slaters jersey!!! Suffer!

Bowden has a very winning spirit when he plays, and I think he is improving too. I enjoy watching him, and I am confident that his coordination and understanding will improve as he plays and practices more.


I took this picture right after Bowden made a save during his stint as goalie. He was very proud of himself. Later in the game when the Jaguars scored on him he looked sad for a second and then he shurgged it off and seemed just as jolly as before. It was almost like he was happy for the Jaguars.
Lucy and Jack kept up their energy by sucking on orange wedges. Cheering on the Bobcats can be very taxing.

Josh Leih, who is in our junior high small group, was reffing the game next to ours between the Fighting Irish and the Killer Bees. Josh is a cool dude. Super chill!
Here is Bowden's buddy, Joel White. He plays for the Fighting Irish, and they were playing on the next field at the same time. This picture was taken right after Joel took a corner kick. I wish I had gotten the ball in the frame. I think the Bobcats play the fighting Irish next. That should be a good game!

Bobcat fans are crazy!!! I borrowed the hat from Kevin Brennan who works for Fish and Game. You might remember him from when I found the mountain lion tracks in the north end of the camp.

The kids love the victory tunnel at the end of the game. I think it's Bowden's favorite part.

Yeah, Bowden!!!

OVER 2000 POSTCARDS!!!!

For the past week or so I have been labeling postcards. A little here and a little there between other tasks. One of my jobs here at Maranatha is to market the camp. We bought a mailing list, which includes addresses for over 2000 churches. My strategy is to send postcards which direct interested people back to the website for more information. Each postcard communicates something different about the camp. This postcard simply says that we are in the woods. Previous postcards have communicated that we have nice facilities, we've been around for a long time, we experience four seasons up here, and so on... So far the strategy seems to be working well, and we have been getting a good response from the mailings.
The company that we bought the mailing list from sends me promotional material from time to time, and in their most recent mailing they broke down the number of churches in their database by state. I will send a dollar to the first person who can guess the top three states with the most churches, and another dollar to anyone who can guess the bottom three.

BUNKY IS AT MY PARENTS HOUSE!!!

"To be strict in goodness is to be pointed at and shunned. To be no better than one's neighbor is the only way of being at peace."
F.W. Robertson

"A pilgrim's portion, food and raiment and contentment therewith- the mansion which fortune has provided or the cabin which penury has reared- each alike counted a hospice where one lodges as 'a pilgrim and stranger in the earth,' and the grave a narrow inn whose windows look toward the sunrising, where the sojourner sleeps till break of day."
A.J. Gordon

ARTS AND CRAFTS- with Josh Tate

This week we're talking about lunch box notes.

As I type, Lucy and Bowden are sound asleep, and here are the pictures to prove it. I love my kids soooooo much- it hurts me sometimes.
Sarah and I have started sticking little notes into their lunch boxes when they head out the door for preschool and kindergarten. They love them at least as much as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but probably not as much as a juice box. Sarah and I enjoy it too. I like the challenge of coming up with a different theme for each note.

Here are some of my favorites. (Most of them are for Lucy because Bowden gets hot lunch at Kindergarten.)