sliced bread and HDTV

there are certain things that you wonder how you ever lived without.
the top of my list is probably air conditioning. I think i could live without deodorant, perhaps toilet paper or a microwave. But you tell me no ac and you might as well count me out. (NOTE: This is nothing against Windy Gap- I understand that the nights are cool there, but seriously, anywhere else with out ac=near hell)
another thing on my list would be shoes. I have the most tender feet in all the land. It is a struggle for me to get the mail without some sort of foot protections. Shoes=fabulous invention.
Drive thru windows. Possibly a sign of laziness. I submit a sign of genius. I mean, who really has time to get out of their car and buy a fake burger, not me.
And now for the best invention in the modern era (my definition of modern era is "since the resurrection of Christ", tough to beat that one)
THe iphone. I know. It's a phone. WRONG.
"Of course you'd say that, you're an apple guy" WRONG.
You can have your sliced bread, i'll even give up HD* but the iphone is amazing.
Seemless. Easy. Fast. Sleek. Calendar is so user friendly, email is super fast.
For those of you naysayers, I have had a treo for two years, tried the blackberry curve and pearl and it is like comparing Ali Babas' kiabasa sandwich to a turkey sandwich you might get on a field trip- no comparison. (FYI- unless your name is Ed Neely, you should stop whatever you are doing and eat Ali Baba's for lunch- trust me, you've forgotten the superiority of their sandwiches.)
So next time you see me and i've got a smile on my face, you can say, "Is that an iphone in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?" Sorry friend- it is an iphone in my pocket.

*(willing to give up HD except on a major sporting event, HOUSE, LOST, the Office, So You think you can dance, Next Food Network Star.)

stuffed animals

Tonight Davis got a chance to sit on the floor and play with his stuffed animals.
He's crazy excited these days.



We didn't have much trouble getting a smile out of him.




But after a while...I think he'd had enough.




(why do they make me play with these stupid animals!)

unbelievable.

I wonder if this would work on Davis?
Allie fortunately doesn't need it, but the dogs are boxers...




actually Davis doesn't need it either. He slept till 7:15 this morning.

Down Tree

This is not exactly what we wanted to wake up to yesterday morning. Bradford Pears are notorious for splitting and ours did! And it split all the way down the trunk. So for the day we had to drive through the yard as clearly the driveway was impassable.
But not to fear- Carlos and Kenneth to the rescue. Carlos came over and cut up that tree like a Sushi chef at Nama. Branches were falling right where he wanted them and now we have an entire tree stacked up on our street waiting for the city to come up pick it up.
Fallen trees- fun times.
Now we have to decide what to put in there.

bouncy seat theology

Davis has started this new thing and it is rocking my world- if Davis hasn't seen you in a while (take for example when I got home from work today) and you walk into the room, if he is in his bouncy seat or exer-saucer, he absolutely throws himself around, jumps around and laughs.

Amazingly it's like he actually delights to see someone he loves?!

At what point do we lose this?
At what point do we become hardened or ashamed or embarassed that we are REALLY excited someone walked in the door?
Why do we feel the need to "cool" and not "too" excited. Isn't it really a fear that we might be more excited to see them than they are to see us? Davis doesn't have that fear- all he knows is there's mom or there's dad, and I am really excited.
Isn't that what we really want, relationships that matter, relationships where we can be authentic.

Davis has got that down.

Can you imagine living your entire life feeling that accepted?
That unabandonded?
I'm not sure which is a better picture - God being Davis or me. I can see both sides. God just going absolutely crazy when I return to Him. Bouncing up and down, celebrating the return of the prodigal, rejoicing in His own grace that calls us, unafraid because He IS acceptance.

But I also can quickly see myself being the child who has lost the joy, the child who is too into tv to notice "the father" is around, too afraid that "abba" might not notice me, so I act like i don't care whether he notices or not- but deep down I want nothing more than to be noticed by Him.
Perhaps it's why Jesus said have faith like a child.

I hope you'll bounce up and down at the thought of the Father's love today.

breathing again.

after a crazy couple of weeks with weddings, camps, and sermons I now I feel like I can breathe again and start getting ready for the fall.
Yesterday after church mom and dad had the fendleys, fendleys and jenkins over for a cookout and swimming. It was a great day to be near a pool. I think we are in town for the next couple of weeks which is actually hard to believe.

we're back

Well we are back from camp and I lied. The camp DID have wi-fi but we never got to the outpost and used the outpost. Sorry. But we had a great time at camp and Davis did really well. We had our own little cabin which was right in the middle of camp and made it very easy for us all week.
Scott Maxwell, the youth minister, has a great youth group and we had a good time. I felt really good about my part of worship and it was a good week overall.
Here are some pics.

Swimming

We've got some great pics coming your way next week! We took Davis swimming this weekend and he loved it. He was kicking, screaming, splashing and just had a great time.
I took him under a couple of times and he seemed to enjoy going under. I'm sure there will be many more days around the pool.

I am speaking at a youth camp so I will be out of pocket, but maybe Whitewater Express will have wi-fi and I can update how things are going- yeah- and maybe they'll also have a massage therapist everyday for Katie.

We'll let you know.

Mr. Mom

Katie was able to reconnect with some of her YL girls last night over dinner which left me to be mr. mom. Really I am probably making a bigger deal than this really is...Katie fed him his food around 6:30 and then she left. Then at 7 (so I had 30 minutes alone) I began his bath, lotion, swaddling, and last bottle.
This week has absolutely flown by and tomorrow begins the crazy week. We'll try to update as we can.

Rolly Polly

Sorry it's been a while but things have been exciting the last couple of days. We went up to Windy Gap where Muma and Poppa were Adult Guest Hosts and Kristin, Demetria and Chris had plenty of time to hang out. We enjoyed being at such a beautiful place and just relaxing. It's not every weekend you can sit at a bakery for two and half hours with your siblings.
Here are some pics of Davis rolling all around. He's getting better and better every day.
Crazy couple of days/weeks coming up- prayer is appreciated- doing my first wedding this weekend, speaking at a youth camp next week, and then preaching at Fellowship on the 20th.
Enjoy the pictures of lazy summer days with no clothes...