Ouch

Can you believe this? Finally some relief after a lifetime of pain.

Barnabas Bound

Instead of going back to Student Life Camp this year, Underground Student Movement went to Shippensburg University, Pennsylvania for the first ever Reality Week. This was the first time for Lance and Jason to "do" their own summer camp. It was a lot of work, but it seems to have been an incredible week for everyone involved. Over 90 students and about 20 adults attended. Scott Murrill was the speaker, and Billy and Cindy Foote and band led worship.

While Lance was at camp, I enjoyed having my mom here with me and the girls and Chad flew up to spend a few days with us, too. It was good to have Lance home for a week after camp, but now he is off again.

Today Lance and a group of high school and college students are headed to Camp Barnabas in Purdy, Missouri. He just called to let me know they are in Atlanta. After a two hour layover they will depart for Missouri.

The group will go through training for a day, then for the next seven days of camp each one will be assigned to a special needs camper. This week at Barnabas is set aside for blind campers, so all attending camp will be visually impaired. Once assigned to their camper, they will be "on duty" day and night, with the exception of about an hour rest time each afternoon.

Lance took a group to Barnabas two years ago and it was one of the most tiring but rewarding trips he has ever made. After Lance was there in summer 2005, Barnabas was featured on Extreme Home Makeover and received lots of publicity. It should be neat for them to see the improvements that show made possible for the camp. I can't wait to hear all about this year's trip.

What?

This was parked down the street from my house the other day.

Porpoise Pink . . .

Might be a good name for a crayon. Have any of you seen this?

7 Random Facts

I was "tagged" earlier this week by Robert, Kristen, and Clay. Since my super cool friends are all playing this game, I'll join in.

The rules: each player should list seven random facts about themselves on their blog as well as the rules to this little game. At the end of their post, they need to tag seven people. Let those folks know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I've always wanted to play the drums in a really rocking band.


2. For years, as a kid, my favorite movie was Xanadu. I set up a roller skating rink in my garage and made up routines to each song on my Xanadu movie soundtrack cassette. Then I taught neighborhood friends, and my brother all the moves. We had shows where we charged admission. I think maybe 2 or 3 people paid to see us.


3. I majored in psychology in college. I graduated Magna Cum Laude.


4. I worked at a law firm for 2 years. Most of the work I did involved breast implant cases. Several times I had to pick up implants that had been removed from our clients and ship them to experts to be studied. I also flew with my boss (he owned a plane and was a pilot) to depose national experts on the subject.


5. I love the Bee Gees.


6. I've always hated the color "country blue." I had a wedding shower at a small "country" church where Lance was working at the time. 99.9% of the gifts I received were, you guessed it, "country blue." At one point during the shower someone stated that, "Country blue goes with everything."


7. I once caught a fish from a river in Yosemite National Park with a piece of string and a little bit of cheese. It was big enough to keep and eat for supper.

Tags:
Chad
Danielle
Ericka
Jen
Lou
Susie
Suzie

Mom's in Route to Maryland

I will be picking my Mom up at the airport in just a few hours! I love it when she comes to visit. We haven't seen her since she was here with us at Christmas, and we can't wait for her to be here again. The girls know that they are going to have a super fun week with Gigi. And, to make it an even better week, my brother is flying up on Thursday to spend a few days with us all.

Everything's Bigger In Maryland?

Hannah loves donuts. Imagine her surpise when she spotted this one at Union Staion on a trip to DC last week. She finished it all, with a little bit of help.

Ride

Underground Student Movement's first annual Ride of Passage begins today. Lance and Jason left this morning to bike about 140 miles of the C&O Trail with a group of high school guys. Today they are driving to Cumberland, Maryland, where they'll begin their ride at the far western end of the trail. From there they will ride about 40 miles each morning then set up camp for that night. They will be riding through a really interesting historic area and will see some beautiful scenery along the canal and the Potomac River.

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July.

Signs

I actually saw this on a church sign last week:

"Our Sundays are better than Baskin Robbins"

A First

I recently experienced my first rodeo. It's ironic that after living in Texas for about 15 years, I attended my first ever rodeo in Maryland. It was a first for Lance and our girls as well. I've never really had any desire to go to a rodeo, but it was fun.

Duckpin

Our latest trip to the bowling alley Check out Chloe's form
Watching the pins fall

Elementary School Grad

Hannah's elementary school career has come to a close. She graduated from the 5th grade last Thursday. On to middle school!

Family

Lance's parents, his sister Tina, and her son Dylan drove up for a visit last week. Tina and Dylan stayed for a week and then flew home Saturday. We were busy while they were here. Some of the highlights of their stay were trips to Washington DC; Gettysburg, PA; Lancaster, PA; Hershey, PA; and Baltimore. We also attended Hannah's 5th grade picnic and graduation, picnicked at Morgan Run, and went duckpin bowling.

It was a fun week, and it was great to spend time with Tina and Dylan. We are glad to have Glynn and Dee here with us for a while longer, and we are looking forward to this week being a little more laid back now that school is out. The girls are happy to be out of school for the summer and to have their grandparents here for a while.

Big Yellow Bus

Lance accompanied Rach on her latest field trip to the DC Zoo. Every big school trip I've been on here with the girls has been on a chartered bus. Not this one. When is the last time you rode a school bus?

The famous baby panda. He'll be two years old next month.

Music

Hannah after her school band and chorus concert.

Wild Ride

This guy should be able to one-up just about anybody with this story.

Sold

The yard sale is over and I am tired. We didn't make much money, but it was a fun day. It was very hot, and the girls lemonade stand was very successful.

So many of our neighbors were out, and it was great to get to spend time with some of them. It is a slow process, but little by little we are building relationships with the people God has placed us near. A couple of them are planning to attend LifePoint tomorrow morning, and I am praying that they will make it.

Songs That Bring Me Back

Have any of you ever seen the movie "Six Pack" starring Kenny Rogers? Well, it was a favorite of my brothers and mine when we were kids. We had the 45 of the theme song "Love Will Turn You Around" and we played it over and over on our Bee Gees disco lights record player.

I realized about midway through the morning today that I had been singing that song all day. I sometimes wake up and find myself singing something really random like this. Then I spend the next part of the day trying to figure out how that song could have gotten into my head. Who knows? I wish I could remember any dreams I might have had last night? I guess I'll never know what triggered these childhood memories.

Sale

We are having a community yard sale in our neighborhood tomorrow. I decided a few days ago to jump in on all the free advertising and publicity, clean out the closets, and participate. My morning has been spent in the garage getting all my items priced and ready to be purchased. I love to organize and it feels so good to have things a little less cluttered around here. I'm hoping for lots of buyers tomorrow!

More Crabs

We upgraded to a bigger "Crabitat" and returned the two dead hermits for live ones. So far, so good. We've had Fuchsia and Trusty, the new crabs, for two weeks now. And, Hannah's crab, Shelly, has been with us for about a month. They seem to be doing well.

Morgan Run

We hiked and played at Morgan Run yesterday and I got to do two things I love. I spent some time outdoors with my favorite people enjoying God's incredible creativity, and I took some pictures.

Creative Chloe

Field Trip Fun

The countdown until the last day of school is on at my house. 24 more days, and three of those are half days. Hannah and Rachel are crossing off each day on their calendars and, as always, looking forward to summer. Chloe and I are looking forward to it too. We miss those two when they're at school, and can't wait for the break when we will be spending the summer days together.

Hannah's class visited the middle school last week. The first thing she told me about her visit there was that it had "really low ceilings." It was funny that she noticed this, because Lance said he recently read about a study that concluded that people are not as creative in buildings with low ceilings. She is one very creative kid, so maybe this won't effect her all that much! Hannah also toured Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles, and ate lunch in the Inner Harbor on a 5th grade trip this week. Rachel went with the 3rd grade to Goucher College to see a production of Ramona Quimby. Her next school trip will be to the zoo in DC.

I went hiking on the NCR Trail last Saturday morning with some friends. It was a great day to be out in a beautiful area. We hiked over 6 miles. It was so much fun to enjoy incredible scenery and weather and hang out with some great ladies. I'm looking forward to our next outing.

Those are a few recent happenings. What a busy time of year. Our calendar is full until school is out and summer begins, then we'll relax.

My Girls

They are the greatest. I love how well they play together and look out for each other. I found them hanging out on the hammock last night.