Thursday, August 27, 2009

First Wesley Service last week

Wesley's first service was last Wednesday night in the Grand Hall at the new Tate Center. Kelly Pickler (the American Idol, now country singer) was doing the building dedication the next day so we got to use her sound and light equipment...we've never sounded better! We had about 1300 students come to worship and about 1200 last night. Crossroads (Campus Crusade at UGA) had 400 their first night, and I think BCM had a good night on Tuesday as well. There is a unity prayer service September 8th in this same room (we're all cancelling our individual services) to ask God to awaken the yet-followers who are on campus. Every year I find myself asking the Lord to increase his church here, that the numbers of people connected to communities of faith wouldn't fall off but increase August to May, that his body would be growing up into him, building itself up in love. It's the way it was meant to be--we carry with us an advancing kingdom. We have hope...
I'll try to post some pics of our Leadership Prayer meeting if I can. We're actually meeting in one of the auditorium classrooms in the middle of campus this year, which I think is pretty significant from the perspective of the coming-kingdom. Thanks for praying for us.

Monday, August 24, 2009

good days...bad days

Tonight after dinner, after we did the swings in the backyard, we walked our walking stroller down to Aunt Dawn whose little Luke is three weeks on Wednesday. Emmaleigh, of course, insisted on pushing it and kept running the thing into the neighbors ditch. To her credit, she stuck with it. The weather the past few days has been unbelievable in the evenings. Just before dusk it feels like an Athens fall day and the outside pulls on you like Friday afternoon before a vacation. When we got back to the house, I stuck the girls up in the big magnolia that sits in the front. Hannah takes her turn and Emmaleigh is running around the yard pretending like she doesn't see her: "is she in the bushes? is she under the steps?" It was serene.
A week ago, Carolyn and I were sitting in bed and heard the unmistakable thump of Emmaleigh's body hitting the floor as she fell out of bed. We, of course, rush in to make sure that she hasn't broken something, but she's only screaming because she's scared. As I pick her up to snuggle her and put her back in bed, I notice that she has a big lump on her stomach. I ask her, "what's that, Lou?" And she answers, "its the baby in my belly. Just like Mommy." I pulled out a stuffed giraffe and she cracks a big grin before crawling under the covers and falling asleep.

The last three months have been difficult, though, to say the least. Jon, our brother-in-law, had massive infections in his blood and on his heart and brain. As soon as he recovered, Jena (his wife) started her battle with AML. She finished her second round of chemo last week and is at home waiting for bone marrow treatments beginning in the middle of September. Three weeks ago, we found out that our pregnancy was a doublet, twins, and only 7 days later that we lost the weaker of them. In the last week, Carolyn's mom has also developed health problems and is undergoing tests. Really unbelievable.

We keep giving the Father opportunities t0 show up and (no surprise) he does. He's still good...

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Long overdue...

So, it's been a while since I've posted. My sister-in-law has been fighting with leukemia the last month and we've been scattered about caring for all sorts of things. To update: she'll be undergoing more chemo and then a bone marrow transplant in the next few months. Her age and relative health are in her favor, but her sub-type makes her 'high risk.' We'd appreciate your prayers.

In the meantime, the girls have become good friends--something we've been waiting for! Here they are on the swing at Papa and Nana's...and with the cousins Abby (left) and Rose (right).For my birthday, my parents took the family to the Georgia Aquarium complete with picnic. It was a great time for everyone, although Emmaleigh ate it up more than any of us. The post-aquarium picnic...the girls observing fish with Granddad's steadying hand guarding for falls...with Mom and Aunt Becs...with me in the tunnel...an exhausted Hannah at the end of the day...Thanks for the day, parents!