a day...

As Mom says, "it's been a day." Subtly understated. Interpretation: "Today was too much to describe. I'm still processing. Talk to me after my nap."

I led worship this morning at Heritage Community, Carolyn's Dad's church. Then on to an Inner Healing training at 1 for Wesley and then Community Group Leader Training at 5 for Athens Church. Great day, long day...not much of a Sabbath.

Any helpful suggestions for life with two (soon to be three) kids under 4? A.K.A. any suggestions for having a life with young kids, as opposed to just coping? Do you have to cut everything? Just wait it out for 20 years? We've cut out a lot and today was really an anomaly in the schedule (though it made me aware of some bad life patterns). House will be done in January. Fall semester will be done in January! Jena's recovery is progressing well at this point. So, new beginnings are upcoming, but we'd like to start better life habits. Putting it out there to get some wisdom, if you don't mind posting a comment...

at Watson Mill Bridge...

All the cousins came on Sunday afternoon for the picnic and a hike...

October

Every so often the Wesley staff will have a theme month. Last October we had Manna month, after the dewy bread from heaven. This October, Manna II, our staff has been directed to ask the Lord to renew our desire for him and to seek him for things that have been pushed aside and neglected. Psalm 63 sums it up nicely. Personally, I am always struck by how easy it is for the "fire" to grow still and smoldering inside of me. It doesn't take much for the flames to die down low. As I've been praying during the last week, I was reminded that the Lord's perpetual invitation is to seek him, to thirst for him. Normal Christian life isn't supposed to be normal...it's suppose to be supernatural! Christ is in us! In the last few months, though the Father has been so faithful, I've gotten pretty comfortable with 'less than.' Less faith in prayer, less perseverance. Less trust in some areas (and strangely more, in others). Certainly less longing for him. I don't usually like overly spiritual blog posts--too cliche. But I post this instead of pictures of my beautiful girls because I think it's past time that we all woke up from the slumber. The Lord's inviting us to cling to him again.

two birthdays

Hannah turned 2 today. We pulled a table into the foyer so that Carolyn could watch us eat birthday dinner as she laid in bed with a stomach bug. Hannah is "twue." Lou, of course, complained of stomach aches the whole night--the queen of sympathetic pains! Maybe its a gift...

A friend of mine trusted Jesus with his life today! We've had some good conversations over the last 6 months or so, and he made the choice after we talked about some things again at lunch today. His prayer? "I'm in. Help me to be in." Beautiful! Praise Christ!

eventful days...

After many sewing hours and much lugging of heavy iron beds from the shed to the room, Hannah graduated into 'the big girl bed' last night. She couldn't be more pleased. And we couldn't either--she's stayed in bed both nights in the new bed...let angels prostrate fall. Praise Christ!
The Cole Bros. Circus came to town and we went this afternoon. Elephants, twirling ladies on bedsheet trapezes, clowns--the whole enchilada. The girls were wide eyed the whole time. They loved it. All sorts of mayhem would be going on and Em would just be staring at the curtain on the far end. Carolyn: Do you see them swinging, Lou? Emmaleigh: I'm waiting on the elephants. Over and over again...elephants were the grand finale.



And lastly, dinner conversation. David: Okay, let's pray. Emmaleigh: Okay, wait. I need to get this noodle out of my shirt.

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.

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...