The End of an Era

It was an incredibly sad day yesterday as I dropped my 1994 Teal Blue Oldsmobile Cutluss Supreme at the used car dealership. This car has been through a great deal with me. It was purchased on August 21, 2001 and lasted nearly six years. August 21st, 2001 was only a couple of days before my first day of college my freshman year. I had just turned 19 and my parents brought it to me and met me at A & G Steakhouse in Maryville, Mo for my birthday.

This car went through three semesters at Northwest MO State U. It went through three years of Bible college at Ozark. It went an entire year of every weekend driving three hours one way between Joplin and St. Joe for an internship at Central Christian. It made the move here to Indiana a short 17 months ago, and three months ago it began its downward spiral into a car that could only last two miles before it would overheat. She was purchased with 83,000 miles and dropped off with a meager 192,000 miles. I believe I definately got my money's worth out of her.

We began our search for a different car a couple of months ago, and a couple of weeks ago, right before we left for Atlanta we came accross a 2001 Chevy Blazer. It was still there when we got back and we decided to go ahead and get it this week. This is a picture of it.

This week has been a bit hectic. We got back Friday and I had to preach on Sunday. I spent all day Saturday finishing up the manuscript to the sermon. Then Monday morning we got some horrible news. A couple in our church who lost their daughter to a skiing accident only 14 months ago, lost their son in a motorcycle accident that Monday morning. This was the couple that we lived with when we first moved here while trying to sell our old house and buy a new one. I've never encountered a couple with such great faith, even in the midst of a horrific trial. Please pray for John and Jan if you would this week as they deal with all of this.



Jessica is 30 weeks along today (just 10 weeks to go). It's hard to believe that we're going to be parents in about 2 months...what a crazy thought. She is feeling pretty good except for having to head to the bathroom every 5 minutes.

Tomorrow we get to take a group of 50 people to the Gary Railcats minor league baseball game. It should be pretty fun. We're looking forward to a less busy week next week.

Atlanta....sunburn, conference and baby outfit

Jonathon and I just returned from a few days in Atlanta, GA, one of Jonathon's favorite cities. We were able to enjoy lots of time together as well as several other fun things. First we attended an Atlanta Braves game Sunday afternoon. After going with my poncho and umbrella (knowning that it'd take a lot of rain to get Jonathon to leave the game), we didn't end up needing either, but instead could have used some sunscreen, which was one thing we forgot. Needless to say, we each got a little bit of a sunburn. The Braves came back in the bottom of the 7 with a great inning to win the game! Jonathon's first game in Turner field (mine, too but much more important to him). It was a great game and a beautiful day. We were also able to catch a showing of Spiderman 3 as well as go through the Georgia Aquarium, eat lunch at Hard Rock Cafe downtown, tour the CNN tower and visit the Atlanta underground all around attending the conference. And all we came back with.....was our very first clothing purchase for our baby. It seems that it is a must that our child has a Braves outfit, so we made our very first clothing purchase...a little Braves onesie. Possibly the outfit will fit just right during the World Series this fall?? (I may have to draw the line when the Missouri Tiger requests come about :), but we'll deal with that later).

The conference we attended was the Orange conference put on by the Rethink group. The idea behind the conference (and the name) is that merging family and church influences (family being red, church being yellow, merging the two makes orange) makes a greater impact than each individual influence. The conference was encouraging and resourceful in trying to merge the two. Some of the speakers we heard: Reggie Joiner, Francis Chan, Donald Miller, Sue Miller(not related that I know of), Nancy Ortberg among other great presenters/speakers. Jeff Foxworthy also made a little appearance.