Old & New

It's been a bit since I've blogged. We've been working on our new church building! Boy, that was extremely tiring. We worked every night & still aren't completely finished. Just a few more things, & it will be finalized.

Our final service in the old building was more emotional than I anticipated. I think everyone was excited to be moving, but for those of us who've attended there for many years, it was a bittersweet day. It was if a chapter of our life was finalized. Memories. Good times. Some not so good times. Friends who've moved away. Friends who've passed on. Friends who've lost their way. Memories of what God has done. How He's changed lives. How He's been God.

The new church building seems to be a place of excitement & new beginnings. A transition. A newness. A renewal of Spirit. I am anticipating what God is going to do, how He's going to change lives, & how He's going to continue to be God! If you're in town, stop by, we'd love to have you visit us at Pinnacle Faith!

Branson Trip

Tuesday afternoon, we set out for Branson. Daddy has been planning this trip to the indoor water park for several months now so we were finally on our way. Everyone in the family went except Tom. He was on a work trip in Vegas.

He booked adjoining rooms that were just 50-100 feet from the entrance to the park. The boys had a blast. They floated in the lazy river, flew down the slides, played basketball in the water court, & dumped water on unsuspecting bystanders below.

Pawpaw had a great idea, & we all had a blast. We told him the only problem was that we weren't staying a week. But we did tell him that he could take us all back Thanksgiving week. We appreciate his generosity and thinking of us.

Fall Ball

Chandler had his first fall ball game on Saturday. His team consists of the 8th grade NLR boys who will play together in high school. They won both of their games. (8-3 then 15-3) Surprisingly he was lead off batter. That was definitely a first for his baseball career. We got a chuckle out of that one. Chandler played well & he hit a home run during the first game. Of course he was excited about that. There are 3 more weeks of fall ball games. We'll see how they play next week. Until then.......

A Day of Practice

Yesterday was a busy day. The boys had cross-country practice & Chandler had baseball practice. Clay's ankle was hurting so he & I walked the course. Chandler has his first fall ball game this weekend. We'll see how the NLR 8th grade team looks this weekend.

Labor Day--Lemonade Stand

Today Clay & the neighbor boys wanted to set up a lemonade stand. They came to ask if it was ok. After making sure we had lemonade, I said ok. One of the boys set out to find a table; it was kind of small, so Tom got them the card table. Another went to find a sign. He came back with cardboard & spray paint. Another set out for cups, ice, lemonade. I was pretty impressed that they divided the responsibilities to accomplish & complete the task. They all worked very well together.

Business was slow at first, & they did get a little discouraged. But then all of the other neighbors started coming out of their houses to get a drink. They made a whopping $9. Each boy ended up with $2.25 each. Not too bad I must say. I told them that I would have to charge rent & there were operating costs for making 3 pitchers of lemonade. They weren't interested in paying me my share, and I haven't seen a dime yet, so I think I'm pretty much out of luck. One funny thing was that after the first pitcher was gone. I said...wow you've sold it already? Clay said, "No, business was slow & it was hot, so we drank it." Gotta love him!

They had a great time & have played all day long. We are very blessed to have great neighbors & kids for Clay to play with.

Hope you've all had a great Labor Day. We've accomplished household things, cooked dinner, watched a movie, started a Lemonade business, mowed & watered the yard, unstopped the kitchen sink & set up a gym in the garage. All in all a very restful day!

The Deck

Tom has wanted to add a deck to the cabin....so this weekend he did it. Of course if you know Tom...a little deck won't do. We now have a 12 x 24' deck; probably bigger than the cabin! And of course we're not done. We will add another one on the back of the cabin after we get another load of wood.

We are blessed to have a friend who gives us the wood. His company will discontinue or quit manufacturing the wood & he saves it for us. Big time blessing for sure! This deck is a "green" one too. This wood is dimensional plastic lumber made from recycled plastic. It looks just like real wood. Interesting product. Wonder if O would give us some stimulus money because we went green?!?

Dad went up to help out. We couldn't have done it without him there. And Tom even had a little help from the rest of us too.

View of the entire deck!

Here we're 1/2 through with the decking.

Starting the rip off of the old front porch.
Boy that was fun! (dripping with sarcasm)Close up of the old front porch.

What it looks like now.

A view from the front.
The boys are cleaning off the deck.
You can see their muddy clothes hanging on the posts.
They were crawling in the mud & through culverts.
Trips to the cabin aren't complete without having to be hosed down at the backdoor before a shower.

Clay & Josh had a ball.
They explored, communicated via walkie talkie, & got dirty enough for 2 showers a day.
Josh asked when we were going back to the cabin & could he go with us!
Guess he had a good time.

Privileges & Responsibilities

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18

Every day I get a text from Chandler regarding a scripture. Today's scripture was the one above. As I read it and thought on it, considered the following....

As children of God, we have immense privileges by virtue of our relationship with Him. Promises galore and assurances from Him as our Father but that relationship also warrants responsibilities. Responsibilities that we can't take lightly. We must guard our lives so that we are fulfilling those responsibilities. We must guard our hearts to know the Truth, the Word, so that the Holy Spirit can speak to us not only about the privileges of our relationship but our responsibilities.

We should feel convictions from the Holy Spirit when we take our responsibilities as a Christians lightly. Those convictions are a call to bring us closer to God so that our relationship with Him can grow. If we ignore those convictions and withhold them from God and not ask His help in guidance in those areas, then Satan will dine on those shortcomings and weaknesses in our life. He will find a weak place and begin to plant seeds in those areas and he will begin his siege and gradual takeover of our lives. We must recognize & bring those things to God so that He can help us to grow as Christians, to extend our roots in Him to be more mature in Him.

Father, may you help us to love others in actions and truth and help us to hear the Holy Spirit as He speaks to our hearts so we can grow in You!