On our way home from Dylan's Trip, we asked him what he liked best about his birthday. This is what he came up with...
10. Drinking chocolate milk with my birthday cake.
9. Seeing the paddle boats in the Tidal Basin... although he didn't get to ride one
8. Standing in the line like Pawpaw at the FDR Memorial.
7. Seeing all the water fountains at the FDR Memorial.
6. Seeing the place where Daddy asked Mommy to marry him (the Thomas Jefferson Memorial).
5. Seeing the "Tower"... known to most as the Washington Monument
4. Seeing the fireworks... at the Redskins/Steelers pre-season game
3. Riding the Subway... his favorite was the Green Line, but we didn't have the heart to tell him that we never actually rode on the Green Line
2. Getting a Space Shuttle
1. Seeing the Space Shuttle
What kind of Christian are you? Marked by spurts of energy & fatigue or by endurance over the long-haul? Here's a thought-provoking quote from John Piper from his 2002 Taste & See Article, A Call for Coronary Christians.
I am glad for adrenaline; I suspect it gets me through lots of Sundays. But it doesn't do much for Mondays. I am more thankful for my heart. It just keeps on serving – during good days and bad days, happy and sad, high and low, appreciated and unappreciated. It never lets me down. It never says, "I don't like your attitude, Piper, I'm taking a day off." It just keeps humbly lubb-dubbing along.
Coronary Christians are like the heart in the causes they serve. Adrenal Christians are like adrenaline – a spurt of energy and then fatigue. What we need in the cause of racial justice and justice for the unborn is coronary Christians. Marathoners, not just sprinters. People who find the pace to finish the (life-long) race.
O, for coronary Christians! Christians committed to great Causes, not great comforts. I pleaded with you to dream a dream bigger than you and your families and your churches. I tried to un-deify the American family and say that our children are not our cause; they are given to us to train for the great causes of mercy and justice in a prejudiced, pain-filled, and perishing world.
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: http://www.desiringgod.org/. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.
Since were were already so hot from the A/C being out yesterday, we decided to head to the Ohio State Fair today. It's really amazing --- we've lived here for three years now, and this was the first time we've ever even considered going to the Fair. I'm not exactly a "Fair" kind of person --- I don't particularly enjoy walking around in the sweltering heat, I distinctly make a point not to ride portable roller coasters, and I don't really feel compelled to eat a deep-fried food on a very hot summer day.
I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. The Fair was very well done! There was the typical Fair Midway complete with plenty of rides, lemonade booths, and deep-fried food and turkey legs, but there was also several very interesting exhibits about the agriculture and livestock of Ohio. And to sweeten the deal for me, there were lots of horse shows and the Budweiser Clydesdales.
It was reminiscent of the Houston Rodeo in many ways and the Arabian Horse Shows at LSU that we attended as children.
You may be wondering why the increase in blog posts lately... the answer is very simple. Our A/C is out, and it's HOT!!! Normally, I spend the mornings doing my household chores and the afternoons out playing and exploring with the children, but the chores will have to wait. It is entirely too hot in this house to move a muscle. So, to feel productive (at least in my mind), I am catching up on posts that have been rumbling around in my mind all summer. Hopefully, the A/C will be fixed by the end of the day and my house can get a little attention tomorrow, but we'll see...
Last weekend, we went along with our Young Adult / College Ministry on their annual end-of-the-summer retreat. A couple in our church owns an amazing piece of property just outside of town that can perfectly accommodate our group. I went along with the primary function of cooking their meals, and Brian and Dylan went mainly to play and hang out. As we were packing up the cars that morning, we received a call that a medical emergency was going to prevent our leader's attendance, so Brian's duties increased slightly. We had a great weekend relaxing with friends and getting to know some of the college students before they head off to school.
Brian and Dylan had a wonderful little canoe trip on one of the lakes. Dylan even jumped out of the canoe by himself to go swimming, but I don't think it lasted very long --- not with enormous fish swimming just beneath the mirky surface.
Thunderbirds during the engine test (this was LOUD!!)
David (Brian's dad)
Dylan at the USAF Museum
Brooklyn, who lost one of her shoes 10 minutes after we got to the Airshow
David & Mary (Brian's parents)
Jim Leroy's Bulldog
(This picture was taken only a couple of hours before he crashed.)
...also known as the day we visited the Topiary Gardens and the Park of Roses. However, I feel that I will most remember it as the day I fell in the manhole.
The story is long and somewhat boring, so let's just say that my entire left leg went into the manhole when the cover dislodged itself. My slip-on shoe plummeted 7 feet to the bottom of the hole, and I was left seriously bruised and wondering how in the world I was going to get my shoe back.
Then a very nice Frenchman and his wife came over. She was perfectly terrified at what had happened. I had my umbrella stroller with me, and she insisted very adamantly that her husband lay down on the grass, extend the stroller into the hole, and using the hooked handle, retrieve my shoe.
He and I exchanged silent looks. Mine said "You really don't have to go that far. The shoe isn't worth very much at all." His said, "Do I really lay prostrate on the grass in the middle of this beautiful garden to retrieve a perfect stranger's slipper?"
In the end, his wife won out, and I left with both of my shoes and the largest bruises I have ever had in my life.
The gardens were beautiful and the children had a wonderful time exploring. Here they are...
