SCORE!!! Who's your Daddy?!?!

Yes! I am not a lost cause after all. One step at a time, right? Here's the pic's from my beautiful and rowdy boys!! Love to you all! a

Practicing the pitching wedge

My favorite 2 boys in the whole wide world!!!

Spiderman cake by Mom

(picture facing the right direction this time)

Practicing

First Day of School


This, my friends, is the entire island at Little Leaque Opening Day.


A happy crowd after a long, day's practice!
(ok, it was just one hour but it felt like a long day)


Checking out the competition while resting at 1st base

This totally makes my heart pound fast!!




Tiger? Is that you?


Look at me!

Eli uses approximately 62 tees in one hour. He needs a new tee for every swing.

He is in this position as much as he is swingin!!! ha!

Headed to the golf course!

Instructions from Dad - note 3 balls teed up at the same time :)

Joe Cool

I could eat him!

Welcome to the 21st century!

I've arrived people! Pictures! I finally learned that I can get a digital Picture CD and transfer my pictures. Yes, some of us are a little bit more technically challenged than others. I hate feeling old.

Here are some of our previously promised pictures!

OK - now I'm laughing my head off - somebody give me a lesson! I'm an hour later and I still can't get these pictures to turn the right way. I'm such a goof.

Waking up

Waking up for Kindergarten certainly is early. Especially for a family of 4 who likes to sleep late. So...my question is..how did your mom wake you up in the mornings? OR if you have school-age children, how do you wake up your kiddos?

Where have you all been?????

I have missed you all! Apparrently, I'm down to blogging once a month! Y'all are too stinkin' funny. I've spent the better part of the night laughing out loud at not only your blogs but your comments - man, y'all are getting into high double digit numbers!! Quite the little community. If I don't make it to blog2face, have a coca-cola for me. :)

The AUDIO PACIFIER

Really. There is one. It's real name is the Car DVD player. We have one. When we got the mini (that's a mini-van for you all - we can pretend while we're in this phase, can't we?), my rule was that we would never watch the DVD player around town. We only used it during long trips. Well, now Eli and I sit in the car for 20 minutes while we wait for Asa to get out of school and I started letting him use it. Yesterday, I actually let him listen to it from our house to the school too. We have earphones - it's fancy. He had 2 friends too. The funny thing is as soon as they put on the earphones, there was TOTAL SILENCE!!! I totally felt like I used to when they were babies and we popped in the passy! Let's pray I don't totally backslide and force the earphones on them every chance I get.

KINDERGARTEN!

It's official. Asa started Kindergarten 2 weeks ago. His 1st comment after the 1st day was 'Mom, there aren't many toys in kindergarten.' Hmmm. After a week 1/2, they added a new kindergarten to the school b/c there were too many kids in each class. So, they did a lottery and Asa was moved to the new class. Of course, this is the kind of lottery we win. He handled the transition beautifully (actually was excited) and now has a couple of friends in his class from his preschool last year. I actually think the move means he's brilliant. It's a secret gifted class. I'm sure of it.

GOLF

We've been taking the kids to the driving range. They are knocking it to the ends of the earth. Beautiful swing. Watch out, Tiger.

TIDBITS

We are finally in our 'downswing'. Mark and I are both taking deep breaths from our busy season and looking forward to our schedule and family time this Fall. We have our 1st high school football game this Friday. The boys get to run through the 'run through' sign with the team b/c they attended the football camp this summer. They are excited!

I had four 4 year olds on my trampoline today dressed like Spiderman, Batman, The Thing, and Buzz Lightyear. Man, I wish you had seen it.

E starts school on Tuesday and then I can start walking on the beach EVERY morning! Go ahead, be jealous.

Our new children's director rocks. She already has a praise band going for our children each week! She's awesome! The kids love her too. Thank you, Jesus!

I think of so many things to blog about during the day....then by nine, I forget most of them.

This is the best I got for tonight. I have to say, I could really appreciate Aunt Jennifer's comment about the 'Dragon-fly'. That cracked me up real good.

Love to y'all!

Ahhhh...home

How good it was to be in the presence of family and friends this weekend. There's nothing like 'going home'! Laughing hard is just plain ol' good for the soul.

Ok - so apparently I'm now a classified ads blogger....

We have 2 new positions at The GP that we are advertising for so what better place to put out the APB than on my blog, right? (That's police radio talk for you novices)

We are searching a Director of Finance - requirements are a BA in Finance and at least 5 years minimum experience in a related field. TEam player - loves Jesus!

WE are also searching for a Director of Women's Ministry. This is a full-time, year round position. Let me know if you or anybody you know might be interested in either of these positions.

Pass along to your incredibly, gifted, fun, Jesus-loving friends.

That's all - we'll be back Marietta - don't cry just yet...

The Fritchies are coming!

Well- it's been a crazy couple of weeks with our 3 sets of out-of-town visitors within 10 days of each other - all arriving within 24 hours of the previous leaving! We had the best time! Those Tanner girls are so fun. My boys loved having them here (we did too!!) KTB is on the visitation lineup for August! We spent the past week recouperating! Mark is winding up to gear down for the end of the summer. One more week. We're tired!

The boys and I are coming to Marietta next Thurs. I'm working on Friday but we will be looking to play and picnic at the Tanner's pool Sat. at 5 pm. Bring your sandwiches and children and swimsuits. We want to see you!!! Mark will be driving up with Nikki Sat. morning so we'll all be there. Then we get to worship with our fam in the new building!! We can't wait! Then off to TN to see the Big Fritchies.

We have hired a new children's director!! She's awesome. She is from Charleston - has a Master's degree - loves kids and has so much energy that it will make you tired talking to her!! We are SO thankful. She hits the ground running this week! I'm having flashbacks of 'getting things in order' so everything will be in place by the time you have a building...didn't we just do that? Pray for the direction, worship, curriculum, volunteers, etc. for our children's ministry. The potential is amazing.

Sounds like Scotland team was awesome. Apparently, Grant Ward recently killed a Cobra recently IN Tammy's home in India. That's not what I needed to hear.

Also... did you know that the Snickers bar was named after the family's favorite horse? Share that at your next cocktail party. Can't wait to see y'all.

India!!

I'm baaacckk. Just kidding - beating a dead horse at this point.

It's official! I'm going to Tammy's in India this November!! I am SUPER excited. I am going with one other girl from SSI my age who has kids. We have been getting to know each other and she is the COOLEST! Once again, another stay-at-home mom who works - such an oxy-moron but so true. We have tons in common - we even knew some of the same people at UGA at the same time. We pretty much determined we must have danced around each other at parties and stuff and simply never met. Isn't life funny? I'll be gone for the week of Thanksgiving but my wonderful, loving, supportive, God-fearing husband says 'Go for it!'. What's a week with lots of turkey anyway, right?

We're gearing up for a big couple of weeks with lots of visitors! Cannot wait! My folks are coming for a few days this week. Then the Bill TAnner's are coming to play starting this weekend. CANNOT wait!! Pray for all of us living in the same house!! Then my best friend from high school is coming with her kiddos for a few days to join one of our roommates from college and her extended family who will be here! SHEW! I'll be blogging again in a couple of weeks.

We had a huge 'water' day yesterday on the Intercoastal waterway with our interns. It was awesome. I've never been behind a boat in the ocean - you expect salt in your mouth when going to the beach - but it shocked me when I jumped in behind the boat!! There was salt in that water! I was expecting lake water. There were probably alligators and sharks too, but I tried not to think about it.

My boys got to tube for the first time (in the Atlantic, mind you!). They loved it. Eli insisted he wasn't scared but that's not what his face said during the ride! The driver's version of 'drive slow for the 4 year old' was very suspect. Asa loved it. Asa took the 20 foot jump from the dock into the water. I was yelling for Jesus the whole time. He was pretty proud b/c it's what the 'big kids' were doing. Eli opted out of that activity.

We've had TONS of response from the job opening at our church. Please be praying. We have 2-3 forerunners that we will be interviewing in person over the next couple of weeks.

I think we will be in Marietta the first weekend in August - look for us at church!

Mark's only got a few more Sunday nights left for The GP summer. Once it got going, it flew by. Mac came and sang this past week and David Nasser spoke. They are both amazing and good friends to come support Mark and The GP. Thanks Mac & David!! The Tanner's will get to come and experience it all this week!

Work is going well - steady and busy. I'm sure you were all wondering. We missed camp terribly. I think it made us very homesick last week. We tried not to think about it but that was impossible. We kept up on the blog. It sounds like it was AMAZING. God's amazing. Y'all are amazing. Can we come home yet? Wait. Did I say that outloud?

I love you guys. You da best.

Job Opening!!!!

The Chapel

Exciting Children’s Ministry Position Open
Full-time position

Brunswick/St. Simons Island, GA

Innovative, young, and vivacious church seeking a full-time person who is called to developing an exciting, children's ministry: birth - 5th grade.

The Chapel is 3 years young, approx. 450 reg. attend,
open to the Spirit and growing quickly!

Wonderful Pastor Jay Hanson & Warm, Family Congregation.
Dynamic & Fun Staff Team
Located on the coast! Beautiful location - wonderful people! Visit us at www.thechapelbrunswick.com/.

Qualifications include:
q Passionate about Jesus
q Visionary
q Able to Delegate
q Basic computer skills necessary
q Lots of Initiative
q Co-ordination of Volunteers
q Team Player

Experience in education and/or ministry is a plus but not a requirement.

Primary must is a passion and calling for sharing God's word with children. Children’s Director will be responsible for developing children's program.

Part of this full-time job will also include developing relationships with children and families outside the walls of church; i.e. ballgames, school events, etc.
To apply, please email resume & inquiries:

Denise Roy: 912-262-1331 Denise@thechapelbrunswick.com
or fax resume to 912-634-9579

This is where Mark and I are going to church. Tell all your friends! It's a great church and a great place to live!

I'm back....again?

Ya'll are so funny. I think this will be the title of all my new posts....I'm back. Just joshin.

Ok - so where have you people been for a month? or so? This is what we have been doing. No pontificating here - just straight up news.

Asa has graduated from PreK - it was the sweetest thing ever. We played T-ball this Spring. E wasn't old enough but the coach let him play the last 4 games. Everybody was ASTOUNDED by his ability. Wish you could've seen it. Remember how little Asa was when he started walking? It was a little bit like that - little ol' Eli knocking them out of park. They had a blast and Asa was really sweet and excited about having his brother on his team.

The last day of school/graduation, we decided to have Asa's birthday party so everyone would still be in town. We had a pool party with 20 4 & 5 year olds running around swimming. It was super-crazy and super-fun. He will be 6 on Monday and he is so proud. And big. The difference between the 2 boys is increasing. E isn't growing so much. He will, I'm sure. Just not sure when. I made a humongo Spiderman cake and took digi pics just to post! You know it will take me awhile to figure that out.

Asa's big gift was Heeley's. He loves them.

This week they just finished football camp at Glynn Academy! HA! The coach has twins that are Asa's age so they let a small group of 5 years olds sign up. Again, they let Eli slip on in and he was a hit. He loves it. They go to VBS next week. I'm gonna wear them out good this summer. We hit the beach or the pool every afternoon after camps!!!!

Mark's summer started with a big bang! It was CRAZY busy with intern training and getting ready for the 1st Main Event. The Main Event was awesome and the schedule has evened out. World famous, Nikki Davis is here for the summer as one of our interns and we love having her in our world for the summer.

We got our fix of Laura Kirkland, Zoe & Henry, last weekend. That was too much fun. How cute can 2 children be???

THEN, we got to have 4 whole days with the Ward clan. All 5 of them! And NOW, Ashley is staying with us till next week. It was SOOOOO GOOD to laugh with them on the beach and catch up on everybody.

I have been doing really great since my last blog. I truly believe the eating, exercising thing is helping with my attitude. We still miss all of you terribly. I'm starting to make friends down here - the real level kind. It's refreshing.

Now, for my big news! I think I'm going to India in the Fall to visit Tammy's K-homes! I'm super excited! One of my friends here is going on a team in a couple of weeks, then Grant's visit to SSI with stories to tell, along with my prayerful interest and heart for Tammy and her calling.... all finally led to the right timing with another friend here!! More details when we have them.

The Bill Tanner's are on the line-up for visiting in July. We're still taking reservations!

Thanks for all of you that emailed wondering where the heckity-poo I am. Thanks Caro for your sweet shout out on your blog.

Maybe I'm really back this time. Love to you all!

I'm back!

Ok - so the short, non-chalant phrase "It makes me miss y'all more than normal" from my last post really translated into "I'm backsliding into severe homesickness and can't quit crying all the time." So, I had to take a break albeit brief from reading too much blogging as I was addicted and I think added to my virtual mental life in Marietta.

I have been talking with a particular friend down here about praying together since Thanksgiving. She is a 'stay-at-home but I really work from home' Mom too so we are on the same wavelength. I finally just called and said "We have got to pray, I'm dying in a pile!!" We met 2 days later and it was awesome. Now we are meeting with one other girl every Thursday morning to walk the beach for 30 minutes and then pray on the beach together. Are you serious that this is my life and I can't get my ish together?

Totally unrelated to anything, she started telling me a story about her marriage and how a friend had reminded her that God can do instant healing. He did it all the time in the Bible - sometimes it's a slow, road but sometimes it is immediately. The paralytic, the blind man, the storm....I actually went through the Gospels this week and underlined that word immediately.

My prayer time with her seemed to jump start a great week of spending time with Jesus, exercising and eating right again, wanting to be with people and invest in new friends. I went to a community-wide 'Beloved' event Friday and Saturday. I feel great. Instead of chalking it up to another little 'high', I want to believe God is immediately healing my emotional and mental state - those severe mood swings - those cyclical mood swings that I can't seem to shake after having babies. I am believing God can heal in an instant. Will you believe that with me??!!

Sorry, this isn't so funny. Just keepin' it real. Love to hear your comments and your blogs. Y'all are the best -- even from 5 hours away.

Fridays

Apparently, Fridays seem a good day to blog in the Fritch household. This week was freezing and threatened to rain everyday but only did so once. (That would be the day after Mark spent the day raking leaves and blowing leaves off our roof.) This left us both in a funk b/c I wanted to go to the beach and he was not so happy about exerting futile lawn energy.

1. Eli has a girlfriend! For 3 weeks now, he has told us about his girlfriend but unfortunately he didn't know her name. Today, he finally asked her name! It's Lilly. I asked him if she knew that she was his girlfriend and he said, "Yea, she just guessed it." Seems that thought process starts real young with some of the menfolk. We'll be working on that in our household in the years to come. Then Asa started singing the girlfriend song:

"Eli and Lilly sitting in a tree, K-R-S-T-U & V." Haaaaaaaa! I almost fell out of the car.

2. RiverStone is in their new building. It makes me miss y'all even more than normal. Pretend I'm sitting in the back. I do.

3. Grey's - if we get back on the break-up train with Meredith and McDreamy, I'm gonna McScreamy.

4. Anybody watching Thank God, You're Here? Too, too funny. It's a cross between Saturday Night Live and The Carol Burnett Show. (For those of you old enough to remember the Carol Burnett Show!!!) Mark and I think it's pretty stinkin' funny.

5. Matt's comment made me think about something Asa said this week too. We were getting ready to leave to go see Mark at a small retreat on Jekyll and were packing our bikes and stuff. The boys were ready and I was still doing last minute things around the car. Asa says, "Mom!! We're ready to go. D - everything's in the car and A - we want to leave." Hilarious.


We're glad to see so many takers on the visits this summer! We love company!

We'll stop with 5 tidbits tonight b/c my brain is having trouble thinking clearly. Oh! The tooth is a little looser! More updates later.....

2 weeks later

Tidbits - that's all I really have tonight.

1. Asa's first t-ball game is tomorrow. It starts with a full-blown small-town parade with all the teams walking from the Pier to the ballfield. We're excited.

2. Pray for Mark's Dad. Spent the night in the hospital this week with headaches and hand numbness. Thought it was a stroke. It wasn't. They are 'watching him' for a week.

3. My work is EXPLODING for the Fall. It's amazing. It's totally God.

4. I've been in a funk this week. I miss ATL and my friends. That's the bottom line.

5. There's been a lion's tail pulled off a costume on my bedroom floor for 2 weeks. I'm just stepping over it and pretending that it's not there. I'll sew it back on sometime. It's a good place for it until then.

6. Rock on, Zach Johnson. One of his trainers is the Dad of one of Asa's friends. We've got our eye on him to speak for The GP in the Fall!

7. Even though Asa is the one signed up for t-ball, Eli's is knocking the fool out of the ball consistently at home. It's not natural.

8. Asa has his first loose tooth. He's ecstatic but a little worried bc he doesn't want it to hurt.

9. We missed the Easter egg hunt at our church last week. So, I didn't tell the boys and just hid some eggs in the backyard. Mark likes to call that low-rent.

10. Everybody pick a week and sign up for their 07 visit to SSI this summer. We're dying to see our friends!

Didn't plan on 10 tidbits but it seemed a good place to stop. Top 10 and all.

Fellowship of the Redeemed

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col. 1:13,14

I was overwhelmed this weekend. Unexpectedly so. I went to the wedding of one our youth from Macon yesterday. This wasn't just any wedding for just any youth. You see, Anna was the first 'daughter of my heart'. As Mark and I have walked in ministry, we have been blessed to collect many youth who we firmly would include in our family. But Anna was the first.

I expected to cry a bit. I expected to be proud. I expected to be happy for her and her new spouse. But I was complelety overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the Spirit. Overwhelmed by His Grace and Mercy. Overwhelmed by His Redemption for our lives.

I met Anna 11 years ago. (Can it really be that long?) She was about to begin high school. And she became an integral part of Mark's and my life. Everytime we worshipped or met to read the Bible at MBMUMC, Anna would weep in a heap in my lap. Life had not dealt her the easiest cards. All we could do was pray and encourage and love.

We left Macon 3 years later as Anna entered her Senior year in high school. We've kept in touch periodically over the years. She sent me a letter after her engagement to tell me of God's grace, the Freedom she is now walking in, His purpose in her life.

I am so overwhelmed by Him. For many of us, we have visited the dark night of the soul. It may be for a short period, for many it may be years. Her wedding was a reminder to me that Jesus is about redemption. He redeems our love, our broken hearts, our lost time, our wounded souls. He is our redeemer. I wept. Not like a few tears. Like I couldn't get it together! (Camille and I were a mess!!!!)

As I drove home to SSI (for 4 1/2 hours!), I continued to be overwhelmed by Him through Anna's life. I wept all day!

Anna, daughter of my heart, I am so proud of you. I am amazed by your perseverance in Jesus. I am in awe of the way He has moved in your life. I am so thankful for the season you are beginning and the family that you & David now have. I am blessed to witness His redemption through you. I am overwhelmed. I love you. A

The Ocean

I am an analytical thinker. Logical. Numbers are my thing. Puzzles.

Analogies have always helped me to understand Biblical principles. My best friend from college, Amber and I would always make up analogies in the midst of trying to understand what God was trying to teach us - everything from road maps to chocolate chip cookies. We'd always end our conversational lessons with 'You know, it's like....' and then we'd paint that picture with an analogy.

My favorite has always been the ocean. God is much like the ocean. It's huge - we can never see all sides at the same time. It never stops moving - it's huge- it's life-giving - it's always there - there are so many characteristics to the ocean - the waves, the breakers, the calm, the shallow, the deep, the living creatures above, below, and in the ocean. There are parts of the ocean that are calm and parts that rage. It is surprising and predictable all at the same time. The list could go on and on. I've never tired of pondering how much I see God in the analogy of one His creations.

Today, I took my Bible and sat at the end of the island and watched the ocean and prayed. How good is God that He has called my family to live by the one part of creation that has consistently pricked my spirit to think on Him. To listen. To wonder.

He has literally, physically moved me to a place where He beckons me to come spend time with Him. I am blessed.

Ahhh, how we love new paint.

My goal when I moved into my new, although very old, home last year was to give myself one year before feeling fully 'settled'. Well, thanks to the undying perseverance of our very, favorite B, we reached the finish line 2 weeks before the goal!! B helps me to focus on the task at hand. She arrived Thursday night and we didn't stop all weekend!! We painted the guest room, hallway, and office bookshelves. A very tedious task. Then, we organized the poo at of my office - throwing away items that I hope KTB doesn't talk about - saving items that I hope she doesn't talk about either. It's quite a humbling experience to have someone watch you go through things piece by piece and decide if it's keep-worthy.

All in all - my office looks spectacular. If I was better at it. I'd post a pic. We painted them black with red background. We have new baskets instead of shoesboxes to hold things. It would make any clean-your-house show proud. We stored things in the attic where they should be. It makes me just want to take a deep breath. Life is just better when B is on the island. Thanks to the BB, as E would say.

As I traveled back over the causeway this week, I was listening to 'Glorious' by Chris Tomlin. I looked over at the sunshine on the ocean, the bluesky, and the green marsh. My windows were down and it felt great. I was overwhelmed to tears by God's goodness. His grace. His mercy.

Mark and I have finally hit our stride in life. What a fabulous season. His job is great, mine is great, the boys are amazing. We are making friends in a new community and beginning to feel a little bit a part of it all. We clearly feel His call on our lives, His satisfaction at our station & season in life. We are so blessed. It overwhelms me.

Of course, this doesn't mean complacency. But contentment. Paired with the desire to continue to go deeper and allow more of Him.

Thank you, Jesus. Amen!

Gorgeous Beach Day!

It would appear from my recent blogs that I am obssessed with the weather. I am not. However, today was beautiful!!!!! And as a mother of 2 preschool boys who have excessive energy that exudes every fiber of their being - outside is a must for a thoroughly good time. So, yesterday and today we hit 70* and we took advantage of every minute! Yesterday, we took a picnic to Epworth and taught the boys how to play Frisbee Golf. They were totally taken in and wanted more.

Today, (after we skipped church and blamed it on the time change) Mark suggested we go to the beach. Did you all catch that.... MARK SUGGESTED it!!! For all you MBMUMC Choir Tour alumni, you know.....Mark hates the beach. Sand...sweat .... he wishes it were paved - but that's another blog entirely. There is something so sweet about a day spent with your family at your husband's suggestion when you know he doesn't really want to do it but does it b/c you do!!! (Did you catch that?!) He confessed afterward that he didn't mind b/c it's technically Spring and he didn't think he'd get that sweaty. He did have a minor seizure every time one of our boys face planted or rolled around in the sand though. All in all - a GREAT day at the beach.

When we got home, Mark wanted to know if I felt like helping out with a good garage cleaning! I love garage cleaning! It's the ultimate 'straightening job'. You aren't really 'cleaning'. I mean, who actually can 'clean' a garage? I hate cleaning. I'm no good at it.

So, bear with me a few minutes as I ponder this. So, I came back in and began unloading the dishwasher after folding laundry and realized: I love doing laundry and dishes. I hate cleaning my house. I love straightening the houe. But I hate cleaning my house. I love painting my house. But I hate cleaning my house.

Here's what I think I realized: I love laundry, dishes, and painting b/c YOU KNOW WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED. Laundry is done when there are no more clothes in the hamper and they are all in your drawers or closet smelling sweet. Dishes are done when there are no more in the sink or the dishwasher. Painting is done when you look around and all the walls have new paint on them.

Cleaning. Cleaning in my mind's eye is never done. Let's take the bathroom for instance. You clean the obvious: the toilet, the bathtub, the mirror, and the counters. If I'm feeling exceptionally clean, I mop the tile. But there's always more, you could take a toothpick to the goop in the faucet. You could take a toothbrush scrub to the tiles on the floor AND the shower. You could wipe down the walls. You could dust the molding around the floor. You could clean every nook & cranny of that nasty toilet b/c 2 little boys tend to look around while they pee thus sending drops of you know what into unwanted places. Seriously... the bathroom is NEVER DONE. I haven't even begun on other rooms. This is just one room. And I have 2 bathrooms!!!!!!!!

Now, I know some of you are thinking my laundry is never done either. I have a friend. I won't name any names. Her initials are CB. Her last name rhymes with Wedingfield. God love you, CB. I'm not sure her laundry is ever done. Despite her large, lavish laundry room, there are times I can't even sort out the clean from the not-so-clean. Some of us love laundry. Some don't. I can accept that. But somehow, in my mind's eye - for me, that chore seems like I can finish it. And know it's done. Even though, before bedtime hits, there more dirty clothes in the hamper.

What does this say about me? I'm not sure. I want to know the task is completed. I cannot tolerate the nagging sensation that more could be done when in fact I do not enjoy the task one bit to begin with. It's just going to get dirty all over again. Does this even make sense? Is anyone out there?

So, today I enjoyed the beach and then realized I'm crazy. Nice.

New Shoes & LA pics

Asa sleeping in his new Nikes.






Mark and Asa went shoe shopping yesterday. Mark loves shoes, you know. It's quite the thrill to buy new shoes, even if for your 5 year old. Not a cheap thrill, but a thrill nonetheless.

New shoes make you run faster. Did you know that? And, sometimes you might need to sleep in them to make sure they fit right. So that's exactly what Asa did last night.

Thought you might want to know.








I don't even know how to turn this picture the right way!!!




It took me long enough...I know. Here's the blond hair - thought I uploaded a pic of us and Kirk Cameron and his wife. I have SERIOUS issues with uploading pictures. It takes forever and I am no good at it. So, Aaron - take a good long look at these - they might be the only ones I post for the next 6 months.

Hope all is well. Our marriage retreat went awesome. We meet for the next 4 Tuesdays. Keep praying! Eli spike a fever the night before we started - he showed no symptoms before bed or even after he woke up. We prayed all night. He was hot as fire! He's fine now. He was fine the next morning actually.

It's freezing here. The end.

Gorgeous Day

I'm not an avid weather watcher so I don't know if the warm weather is here to stay but! Wasn't today GORGEOUS!? Eli and I took the morning and headed to the beach. We made roads out of dried up reeds, houses out of dried up seaweed, cars out of seashells, and stop lights out of feathers. What a great day!

We need prayers! Mark and I are leading a 4-week Marriage course that kick off this weekend with a dinner & all day in-town retreat at Epworth on Saturday. We always tend to feel a little pressed down right before God moves! This is no exception!

We'll let you know how it goes!

Los Angeles Baby!

Wow!! First, before I get started, I must say it is going to take me awhile to catch up on everyone's blogs! I surfed everyone's and got so excited that there is much to catch up with. Then, I got to KTB's. I am a little bit intimidated by her minute-by-minute recount of their ski trip. Not sure my trip to LA can be that detailed. But I can give you the broad strokes...and you will like it!

Ok...Wow!! LA. WOW! A couple of weeks ago, we got a phone call from a family who live on SSI and support The GP. They support a ministry in Hollywood - MovieGuide.org. They promote and reward movies that promote moral, family, and/or Christian values - movies that inspire and propel you to live better. Ted Baehr is the founder. So, they had their big awards ceremony last night. We flew out to LA on Sunday morning after dropping our kids off in ATL with our ol' faithfuls - the B-fields and MD. That night we checked into our hotel....The Beverly Wilshire!! Yep. Right at the end of Rodeo Drive. Yep. We spent 4 days hobnobbing with the rich and famous and I'm ashamed to admit that we were a bit intoxicated by it all.

Upon our arrival, we passed Bruce Willis exiting the same door we were entering. What a thrill. The next morning, Mark and I got up roamed around town in our little rented car - driving up into 'the hills' checking out hotspots. We got out and walked through the Kodak theater as they were hanging red drapes and spreading out the red carpet for the Oscars. We drove Mulholland Drive, saw the for-real-Brady Bunch house (apparrently an unspoken life-long dream for Mark), read all the handprints/footprints at the Mann's Chinese Theater, drove Sunset Blvd and Santa Monica Blvd, and of course, everyone was truly a 'buzz' about Britney's new do.

That afternoon, we met up with our crowd back at The Wilshire to head out to the Jay Leno show. While we waited, we watched Dixie Carter stroll through the lobby to lunch. We had just watched her the night before on DH. Wild. Jay Leno was Monday night's taping - the American Idol's fab 4 were there - Randy, Simon, Ryan and even Paula. Leno was funny - funnier than I thought. Tiki Barber was there and then some obscure local band from LA who has been on the radio recently. What fun!!!

The next day we toured Columbia/Sony Pictures. We got to see the Wheel of Fortune studio. Really tiny.. hate to disappoint all you WoF fans. Walked through lots of the sound studios where they make films - saw no famous people. We did see some big boat they are making for Brad Pitt's new movie. I don't think we were impressed.

But! Tuesday night was soooo fun!! The MovieGuide Awards. We met Kirk Cameron and Chelsea Noble, Shirley Jones (Partridge Family Mom), met the President of Disney, met Bill Bright's son from Campus Crusade, saw Bruce Willis' mom, met the husband/wife team that wrote CARS. We heard Brian Littrell sing 'Welcome Home' and another song.

The biggest thrill of the night for me was meeting Chris Gardner. He is the man that the movie 'Pursuit of Happyness' was written about. He was the most genuine and humble man we met all week. He won a special lifetime award.

We went to bed exhausted (in the Beverly Wilshire, did I mention that?) and woke up this morning to travel home to see our babies.

LA, like NY, was a great playground - a place I'd love to visit on more than one more occasion but definitely not a place I'd ever consider living. The streets were so clean in Beverly Hills that we thought we were at DisneyWorld.

Who knows what will become of the trip? We fell in love with this ministry and what they are doing in the movie market for good moral films. I'll blog another day about the stats he gave out during his presentation (definitely wouldn't be a funny blog, that day.)

I'm about to fall asleep. You probably are too after this long epilogue. monologue? mono-blog?

The Post Office

Got a call yesterday from Asa's school. Scared to pick up b/c I immediately imagined one of them had thrown up in the middle of their classroom, I answered. It was the director telling me they needed one more Mom to drive on the 'field trip' to the post office (which is all of 2 miles away from the school) today. So, this morning E & I go pick up some of the preschoolers for the big day at the post office. Asa's teacher has already pre-warned me on the playground yesterday afternoon that this is the worst trip they take. What does that mean?, I think to myself.

While it certainly wasn't the worst trip, the female postmaster (if you will) who paraded us around the bowels of our government's mail industry had a soft voice in a warehouse style building. We could barely hear her and she used words like 'carrier' for mail man...the 'LLV" for mail truck. She had kids tell them their address and she told them what route number they lived on. At one point in her discussion, our buddy Davis raises his hand and says, 'She's cutting!' Our kids had no idea what she was talking about.

It was a great hour.

After school today, I drove the kid's over to Jekyll Island to see Daddy's big party for tonight. I was also helping decorate tables. On the way there, we hear the song 'Take Me Out'. For all of you Guitar Hero novices, this is only one of the best songs on the game. For me anyway. I say Hey boys, listen to this!!. And they both yell Guitar Hero! Asa shouts from the back Crank it up, Mom! Seriously. He said that. Then, ALL 3 of us start playing our air guitars with fierce verocity. We want to win! Now, side note. I really was playing some of the for real notes in my head. I can be a little autistic that way.

When it was over, both boys said, 'I won!' Then they proceed to argue about what percent they played correctly. I got 40%! Well, I got 50%! Again, for all you novices... this is particularly important in the scoring of GH. Then, they want to know which other GH songs are 'in the radio'. They were sorely disappointed with the next selection.

There. That was a little funnier...I just needed some material.

Big plans tonight. The GP fundraiser... pray on, my friends.