Taste of Lakewood

On Saturday we decided to try something new. Every year around the 4th of July, Lakewood throws a block party. It's right up Clark, so very close to our house, and I've really wanted to try the Taste of Lakewood.

So off we went with my sister and her two kids to experience Lakewood's finest dining establishments. We bought 20 tickets and enjoyed Chipotle, Elephant Bar, Bakkers Cookie's, Hawaiian Grill, and It's a Grind. It was so fun to sample so many places!


While we were eating, Malia made a friend and played "Ring Around the Rosie" several times.




But Josh was anxious for the rides, so off they went to try out the motorcycles...

the swings...

and the Merry-Go-Round.

Malia, however, was still unhappy about leaving her new best friend, so she was relegated to the stroller... but we did manage to coax a smile out of her for this shot.


All in all, very fun. I can't wait to do it again. Anytime you can sample lots of yummy food all in one place, I'm there!

Power Lab

This week I had the wonderful opportunity to help with Revolution's VBS, Power Lab. This is our fifth year going to Revolution's VBS, in fact, it was one of the first contacts we had with the church.

As always, Jenny pulled together an amazing team of adults and junior crew leaders committed to teaching kids about Jesus.


This was Chandler's second year as a junior crew leader. She so loved it last year that she couldn't wait to do it again this year. She helped Rick Bambrick and Selina Garcia corral around 16 little 4-6-year-olds. They were SO ADORABLE and proved to be a bit of a challenge. Rick said it was like herding kittens! But Chandler excels at helping to take care of small ones, so this was right up her alley.


This was Regan's first year as a junior crew leader. She assisted Chris Harris with 1st and 2nd graders. Here she took the opportunity to help them cool off!


One of the games had as its object to soak the junior crew leader... so Chandler used her crew as a human shield!


She looks so BIG when surrounded by all those little ones. It doesn't seem so long ago that she WAS one of the little ones.

Of course, she is not so grown up that she can't enjoy making crafts along side the kids. Here she shows off her slime.

On the day the kids learned about Jesus rising from the dead, Darrenn had them conduct an experiment where soda would "rise". As the junior crew leader, Regan was chosen to drop an entire packet of Mentos into a Diet Pepsi 2 liter bottle. In this first picture, she is jumping out of the way of the instant reaction as soon as the first Mentos hit the soda...

Here you see how high it shot up!

Chandler got to conduct the same experiment. However, she did not jump back instantly and the soda shot right into her face!

Eventually she jumped back as the Pepsi shot over her!

Each day ended with Darrenn and Christopher Lytle retelling the Bible story, reviewing the Bible point and the memory verse, and conducting an experiment to illustrate the story.

On the day we talked about Jesus coming to live in you, Darrenn and Christopher hooked up a pickle to electricity and caused it to glow. Being that they are both apparently still thirteen years old, they couldn't say "glowing pickle" without giggling...

Here was Christopher doing his "Duuuuude" when trying to act cool for the kids.

I spent my time taking pictures and generally filling in wherever Jenny needed me. Everything was very smooth and very well done. The kids really loved it. Every child got into the stories and the songs, the crafts and the games... it was so cool to see them all participating and LOVING it!

um... I haven't been home!

O.K... I feel terrible for not blogging for so long. I have a lot to say, but, I feel like I haven't been home! And when I'm home, it's to grab something and run out the door!

Not only have I not been blogging, but I haven't had a chance to read any blogs either. Look at this...

This is only a partial list of what I haven't gotten to to yet!

I have some serious blog catching up to do!

Our Pool is Hot, Hot, Hot!!

I have a love/hate relationship with our pool. On the one hand, I hate how much time I spend cleaning it and checking the chemicals; on the other hand, I'm in it almost every day!

We have a heating blanket on it which keeps it very warm. How warm you ask? Well today, I went to get in and it was HOT, not warm, not tepid, HOT. I got out my thermometer and measure it... 112 degrees on the top! It was actually a little painful to get in initially. I had to "cannonball".

However, there is cooler water underneath and after swimming for awhile and mixing it up, it still measured a balmy 92 degrees!

I'm letting the pool rest without the blanket for a few days.

Moving on....

Some have asked us where we have been lately. They haven't seen us at church.

So I thought I'd take this chance to let everyone who cares know what is going on.

On March 30th Tim and I made the decision to take a break from our church. We had been concerned for the past year that the direction and focus was changing. On that day we were confronted with the knowledge that Tim and I were headed in a different direction than our church. However, knowing at that point, things were still in a lot turmoil and we hoped that in a few weeks, the leadership would refocus and chart a course more in line with the direction we hoped it would go.

Unfortunately it didn't happen.

We first showed up at Revolution 4 1/2 years ago. It was nothing like I expected. In fact, when I walked in I thought, "Our Sunday School class is bigger than this." But I knew. We'd be back.

A few months later, we joined in earnest and jumped in with both feet. We were so excited by the vision of reaching the unsaved for Christ and the discipleship we saw going on around us. Lives were being changed and we knew we would be as well. We knew our days as pew-sitters were over and we wanted to serve in any way we could.

In fact, I begin to joke that Revolution's calendar was my calendar! We were there whenever the doors opened. We couldn't get enough of the amazing people and the challenge we felt week after week to become more like Christ.

One of the first sermons I heard at Revolution impacts me to this day. David had everyone pin a scarlet letter A to their chest and proceeded to list the ways we had "cheated" on God. We were adulterers and He was calling us back into a relationship with Him. Every person there (and there weren't many at that time!) knelt down at the cross and received forgiveness for the many ways we had strayed. I not only remember that sermon, I remember my confession. Each time I am tempted in that area, I remember kneeling at the cross and pouring out my heart to Christ.

Revolution changed us in dramatic ways. We were challenged in ways we had never been challenged before. We were stretched until it hurt. We were forced to rethink our assumptions and see everything through the eyes of Christ. We did things I would have told you were impossible before coming. (Tim lead a Life Group?!? You probably didn't know him before, but that would have NEVER happened!)

Revolution has perfected the art of making people feel welcome. We never had so many friends as we did there within a very short time. Those friendships will not end now that our time at Revolution has come to an end, but we definitely miss seeing everyone each week.

The final challenge David issued that I felt he was directing to me personally was to feed myself. I have taken that to heart in a big way. I started doing the QT reading with the rest of the church, but I quickly fell behind because I wouldn't just read it, I would meditate on it, learn from it, pray over it, research it, get commentary on it, sit with it, and digest it. I still do that every day, and as a consequence I'm only up to Leviticus 12! But my eyes have been opened to the majesty and power of the Word of God as never before. I have David Trotter to thank for turning me in that direction. I had spent the previous months wanting to be fed exclusively from up front and frustated when it wasn't enough. But as he had done so many times in the past, David was instrumental in kicking me out of the nest.

The downside is that Tim and I now find ourselves moving off in a different direction from our beloved church. We continue to hope for the best for Revolution, we pray for the people and the leaders. We only want continued success. We have absolutely no animosity toward anyone associated with Revolution. God is in control. It is He that will ultimately orchestrate the path Revolution finds itself on. He will orchestrate our path as well.

So, thank you Revolution Church for your friendship, your challenges, your opportunities to be stretched. Thank you for helping to mold us and shape us. Thank you for pushing us toward Christ. You will be missed.

Summer Vacation is starting out good!

Since we start summer vacation earlier than most, my girls have to entertain themselves for a few days while their friends continue school. So my fear is that they will spend all the time engaged in some electronic media.

A few minutes ago, I noticed how quiet it was. I figured they were playing the Wii or their Nintendo DS's... so I looked for them in the playroom. They weren't there and I was worried for a minute.

Then I went outside and saw this:

It made me smile to see them being creative, non-electronic, getting along, sweet, innocent... I could go on.

I snuck these pictures, but the first response spoken as they heard the "click" was, "Are you blogging?"

"No..."

Conflating

Had to look this one up!

con·flate

(kən-flāt') tr.v. con·flat·ed, con·flat·ing, con·flates

To bring together; meld or fuse: "The problems include . . . dates moved around, lovers deleted, many characters conflated into one"

To combine (two variant texts, for example) into one whole.

Gay Marriage

Unfortunately, I accidentally published this last night. I meant to sleep on it and think it over before deciding to publish it. So those of you with RSS feeds already saw this, although I made a few minor changes. When I originally wrote it, I wasn't sure if I was ever going to publish it, but since it is already "out there" here it is...

I was thinking about this particular issue the other day, and it kept me up all night.

When that happens, I know I have to blog about it! I almost never get political, and this is actually not a political post. I only want to clarify two fallacies I believe people make in their thinking about this issue.

The first argument I generally hear in favor of gay marriage is that it is patently unfair to give some people the legal benefits of marriage and not others. That Constitutionally, we all should be treated exactly the same.

This argument sounds logical on its face, but there is a problem if you really stop and think about it. By saying everyone should be given the legal status of marriage if they desire it, you are opening the door to any and all situations. Should a brother and sister be allowed to marry? What about two women and a man? What about four sisters? What about a mother and her daughter? What about a man and his dog? If it is indeed patently unfair to deny marriage benefits to some, then these people should not be denied either.

I know some of you are having the knee-jerk, How dare you compare homosexuality to incest or bestiality! reaction. I am not comparing them, I am simply coming up with a variety of situations that can make the same "fairness" argument. Play at home. Come up with your own situations.

Now if you think one or more of these examples is over the line and the state should not recognize a marriage in that particular case, then you believe there is a point at which some will be denied the benefits of marriage. Our quibble then becomes over where the line should be drawn. And since marriage was instituted by God, I figure He should get to define it. Not me. Not you. Not four judges. It's His creation, His definition. Let Him draw the line.

The second common fallacy is the false "either - or" conundrum. Generally it is expressed as, Well since heterosexual marriage fail at a 50% rate, we're not doing such a good job upholding the sanctity of marriage. We might as well recognize gay marriage since we are doing such a crummy job of it. Basically it's: Either we do this marriage thing perfectly (or pretty darn close) or we accept gay marriage.

But this is a false proposition. Where do we apply this anywhere else in life? Either Western medicine provides infallible solutions to our health problems or we elevate Voodoo to an acceptable form of health care. Either I am a perfect person who never screws up as a parent or I cannot instruct my child in the ways of right and wrong. Either our church practices Christianity perfectly and is full of perfect Christ-followers or we have no business telling others Jesus is the only way to a relationship with God.

Yes, we screw up the institution of marriage. We have come nowhere near doing it right! Is the church somewhat to blame? Sure! We do not honor marriage the way we should. We do not provide all the resources we should. We do not have the expectations we should. Generally, we as a people, suck at marriage.

But so what? What does that have to do with recognizing gay marriage as legitimate? Nothing. That we fail at maintaining a high standard does not mean the standard should be tossed.

I believe we have missed a very important point in all of this. God instituted marriage on day one of human existance. It was the first institution He put into place. Before worship, sacrifices, the law, or any other practice He devised.

He painted an unmistakable picture of His love for us. He wanted to show us in terms we could understand how devoted and committed He is to us. He is faithful to the very end of time. He wants to be intimately aware of who we are. He will never leave us or forsake us. He loves us with an undying love. He uses the marriage analogy time and again in scripture. We are His bride! He wants to be our husband. He has set up the roles in marriage to mirror our relationship to Him. Marriage is His best and most perfect analogy of the kind of relationship He wants with us.

We have screwed up His picture.

But His ideal remains. If the church could really dive deep into just what marriage is and why marriage was instituted by God, they would see that clearly, anything outside of what God set up, muddies the picture He is providing for us.

Perhaps we have erred in letting the state have a hand it what rightfully belongs to God. I don't know. I think churches/God should be who gets to define marriage. But then you run into the problem of each church coming up with its own definition. Perhaps a church somewhere will sanction a man marrying a herd of cattle. These kind of haphazard "marriages" would ultimately result in the disintegration and rejection of marriage altogether. We have only to look at the post-marriage society of Europe to see where that leads. Europe as we know it is literally dying and will be replaced by Muslim culture in the space of a generation. I love our country and our civilization too much to see it die. The only way I see to preserve marriage in our society is to have the state sanction it. Yet having the state involved in the province of religious decisions is very problematic. While some would say we should get out of the legislating morality business and allow God to change individual hearts. But in the meantime... I just don't know.

But above all, I do know that the beauty of marriage belongs to God. The enemy would love nothing more than to mess up His metaphor, distorting our view of a loving, sacrificial God. So he messes with our marriages and he messes with our definitions...

I know some will see this as a hate-filled anti-gay post. It is nothing of the sort. God wants that intimate, marriage-like, love relationship with every person - gay or straight. He loves each one of us, sent His son to die for each one of us. He wants each one of us for His bride, if we will but choose to follow Him.

So I am following Him, loving my husband and obeying Him as I obey Christ. He is loving me as Christ loved the church. For now, that's all I can do...

The Complete Idiots Guide to the Last Days

Reading this right now... love it!

Honestly, it has put me in awe of a VERY BIG GOD who has orchestrated all of human history. It also has me fearful for those who don't serve Him... I can't help but look at the masses of people around me in a fresh way. My heart breaks to know that many of them are deceived and will be subject to judgement one day. It has given me a renewed sense of urgency to spread the gospel of Christ.

But mostly, I am struck with the realization that this life, this planet, humanity, has a purpose and is part of a plan - from day one! And although it seems as if time will always go on the way it always has, the clock is ticking. Life as we know it will end. We do not exist simply to live and die. God is working out His plan.

The author believes strongly that we are living in the final moments of last days. He has not set a timetable, but in his 25 year search of Scripture, he has come to the inescapable conclusion that we are on the threshold of the beginning of the end.

Jesus is coming back and life will never be the same.

Last Day of School

Well, the end snuck up on me! It usually doesn't. Usually, I'm worse than the kids, itching to get out.

But not this time.

I don't know why. I think because we were doing a full schedule right up to the last day. I know, I'm a mean homeschool mom, making my kids do math on the last day when everyone else gets to have parties and picnics.

Sorry. It's my school, my rules!

Oh well, we're finished. I am still in denial. But tomorrow, when we spend all day at Disneyland, I'm sure it will sink in! Then the next day, we're planning on a movie, and the next day, I'm gonna need some serious floating in the pool time... By Friday, I'm sure I will have forgotten what school even felt like.

I'm excited for next year. I have all the curriculum planned and most bought. It's gonna be great. But now I have to wrap my head around the fact that I will have an 8th grader and a 7th grader. Ugh...

Now, off to my summer reading...

Photoshop Disasters

My dad turned me on to this blog into which alert readers send photoshop faux pas examples.

Having done a bit of retouching myself in Photoshop, I wanted to check out the errors made by my comrades. Knowing as I do that "photoshopping" is delicate work, I am always very conscientious. Your mind can pick up the smallest subtlety, and I know slight errors are easily noticed.

Here are some of examples of work I've done...

Adding additional background...


Putting a hat on...

Turning a child's face upwards...

So I perused the site and picked out some of my favorite examples of "over-photoshopping".

If you are going to switch out heads (which I often do) make sure the body and the head at least belong to a person of the same race...

I've always thought my smile is too small. I don't know if there is a plastic surgery for this, but obviously Photoshop could help...

O.K. I know many of you think Angelina Jolie is naturally gorgeous and never photoshopped. Apparently her forearm is naturally 5 feet long and her thumb has an extra joint not known to us mere mortals.

Here is a classic freshman mistake. "Love the shot, can you get that third guy in the background out?" "No problem, I'll just fill it with black." Too bad about the residual hand...

I know this is supposed to be a very sexy shot to entice you play a video game, and I suppose somewhere, there is a fetish group for those who like girls with six fingers...

I'm sure someone worked VERY hard and long on cloning in the house, but the fence... now that's extra.

Oh, I don't feel so bad now for my screw-ups. And there have been a few cringe-inducing examples. Fortunately, nothing I've done has made it to this blog... but there's still time.

I've been reading

Oh my gosh! I just realized it's been a WEEK since I blogged! Sorry.

I've been reading. Dawn Bambrick gave me these two historical fiction books, knowing how much I love that particular genre...

So, I've pretty much stopped sleeping... and thinking... and blogging.

Both are by Francine Rivers. This first takes place in 70AD with the fall of Jerusalem and features a Jewish slave, trying to live in a very hostile Roman empire. It's called A Voice in the Wind. It's is totally unpredictable and kept me on the edge of my... bed. Ending COMPLETELY unexpectedly, I now wait with baited breath for the second in this three part series.

This one is a more modern take of the Biblical story of Hosea and his prostitute wife. It's called Redeeming Love, and it's set in the late 1800's and involves a saloon girl and her Christian husband, called to love her no matter what.

Normally, I don't like Christian fiction. Too often, it is just... bad. It doesn't stand up to critical scrutiny. It's predictable and stilted.

But this author has managed something I rarely see. She has done an excellent job crafting believable characters who struggle in the way we Christians REALLY struggle.

I was actually surprised, given the details involved, she got a Christian publisher to touch these. Then I read in the dedication at the beginning of Redeeming Love, "With special thanks to my editor, Karen Ball, for her belief in this book, and her help in redeeming it for the Christian reader." So apparently, she DID have a hard time getting it published!

I'm almost done, so I should be able to get my mind back on track soon... Oh wait, Eat This Book arrived yesterday...

I'll get back to you.