VBX Pics

I finally got copies of VBX pics from the photographers. There's a total 1,150, so I cut through that and picked just a few for you to enjoy.

Here's a shot of our worship team:


And here's some shots of the crowd of kids (we even had the balcony full if you can tell that in the second pic):



Here's a shot of me on my "moon buggy" and one of me in one of our dramas:



Besides large group, the kids also had story time and outdoor games. We even rented a big slide on one day for them to enjoy:





And on the day of Leah's birthday, we did a big celebration for our fearless leader. First, we sang "Happy Birthday" and gave her a singing hat:

Then we brought out a cake and flowers, and if you look close you'll see a man in an orange shirt sneaking around behind her:

Next, our children's pastor sprayed her with silly string. The best part of that is that Leah had this great idea to buy him silly string the day before not knowing that we planted that seed with the intent of it being used on her:

Finally, I came out and posed with her:

And we moved the cake to the volunteer snack room:


Later in the week, I introduced Graham to the crowd. He's only been with us for a few months, so not everyone has been able to meet him. I didn't realize that he wanted to speak, so we didn't have a mike for him; that's why he's talking into my cheek. He wasn't trying to kiss me. It's not that kind of church. :)


And then it was all over. This is me driving back out at the end of the week on my "moon buggy."

VBX - Space Camp

Months after planning and writing began, VBX has finally come and gone again. Last week we had 662 kids packed into our church for VBX (Vacation Bible eXtreme - we don't want the kids to have to go to "school" in the summer). Our theme was Space Camp, and I was the Company Commander for the week as well as the 4th and 5th grade teacher. We had a great week with all the kids, and I do have thousands of pictures from various sources, but I haven't had a chance to go through them all and pick some for my post. I figured that you'd rather hear from me now and see pics later.

Most of the kids did traditional VBX stuff (games, crafts, teach, and small group sessions). We opted to handle 4th and 5th grade a little differently, though. They actually built bookshelves for My Friend's House, a local charity for foster children. It was a really cool project for the kids, and they all loved it.

We only had one injury this year: one of our 5 year olds managed to get his thumb wedged into the seat in the sanctuary during a large group session. We have folding seats (like a movie theater) and he got his thumb down near the hinge and got it stuck. His mom actually had to yank it out and then we took them to the emergency room for 9 stitches. I didn't actually see the injury because I was on stage during all of this, but I can only imagine what it would take to put 9 stitches in a 5 year old thumb.

Other than that, we had a ton of fun. I got to drive three wheeler around the sanctuary (which the kids loved, and I enjoyed, too), and I got to get all the kids wound up before sending them off with their leaders. We heard tons of stories of kids helping each other, telling others about what they are learning, and learning to trust Christ. It's probably my favorite week of the year.

Now it's time to start planning for next year. We're thinking of doing a Texas theme (maybe a rodeo or something). I think the other leaders just want to see if I'll ride an electric bull on the stage. :)

Fishing at the Duckworth's

If you haven't been out to the Duckworth pond lately, you are really missing out. They have done a wonderful job of setting things up for family fun. We were fortunate enough to get a chance to take the girls out there this past Friday evening for some fishing, four-wheeling, hot dogs, and s'mores. The girls had a blast! Enjoy photos below.

All four girls got a chance to "drive" the four-wheeler. All we really did was make a little circle around the lake house, but they each thought it was the best thing in the world. Of course, I must admit that on my way back to Uncle Rowland's, the bike died. I couldn't get it go anymore. Uncle Rowland said that it's probably not a big deal; I hope he's right and that I didn't kill the four-wheeler in a single evening.




We all also got a turn fishing from the boat. We even had Logan out there with us for a while. We didn't get a pic of Emma Joi or Sydney in the boat, but they did have a high time floating around the pond. Emma Joi even took her "Taz" pole out with us and caught her purple fish (just a weight) about a hundred times. She casts really well, so she would throw it out, and then when it was about halfway back to the boat, she would say, "I think I got something," or, "ooh, there it is!!" And then she would "fight" the fish into the boat all proud to have caught another purple fish. What fun!






Now, I don't know what Abbie's been up to in the next few pics, but take a close look at her face and I think you'll agree that it was not something she wanted recorded in a picture. :)


And I guess she needed to go to the bathroom, too!


Finally, we did catch a few fish. I caught this little bream that the kids just had to have a picture of, and I caught a little bass that Emma Joi got to reel in and land. Reagan also caught a little bass that we didn't get a picture of and I caught a baby bass out in the middle of the pond that also didn't make the highlight reel.

Closing Ceremonies

Closing ceremonies for the softball league were last Thursday. Reagan's team did not finish high enough to get trophies, and most of her team could not make the event, so her coach declined to have the team participate. Abbie's team all got trophies for participation, and Abbie was super excited that she now has her first trophy. She more than proud of that! Enjoy some pics below.

This is Abbie with some of her teammates. You can see her coach in the background.

Here's another with her coach in a little better pose, but still with closed eyes.

Of course, Emma Joi and Sydney couldn't stand not having their pics taken.

And Sydney had to model her new sunglasses.

Finally, Abbie got her trophy and we were headed off to the pizza party!

Sachse in the Kitchen

What a treat! Reagan and Abbie are quite inventive and creative children. They woke us yesterday announcing the grand opening of "Sachse in the Kitchen." The two of them had cooked up (pun intended) their own little restaurant for the rest of the family complete with a fancy name and menus. I missed out on breakfast because I wasn't hungry, but Leah, Emma Joi, Sydney, and I all got to enjoy lunch together.

Abbie was our server, and she did a great job of bringing us to our table.

Then she took our drink and appetizer orders and served everyone. She did really great and did not spill a single drop.






And our appetizer of sour cream and onion chips was perfectly prepared.

Emma and Sydney really enjoyed the whole deal and begged me to take their pictures at the restaurant.



After we ordered, the chef went to work preparing our meal. We had a great lunch of mac & cheese, sandwiches, and pork & beans with mayo (sounds gross, but it's really tasty).





As soon as our food was complete, Abbie reappeared and served each of us our plates. They did a really great job, and I was very impressed with the inventiveness of their idea.

Lake Bonham State Park

It's taken a while to get this post together, but we went camping last weekend at Bonham State Park. This is one of the nicer parks that we've been to in TX. It's not very big and in completely encloses a small lake where the kids were able to swim and fish. Anyway, I took a few pics for you to enjoy. You can see that we took two tents since we've got so many kiddos. :)

The plan was for Leah and I to sleep in one, and all of the kids would sleep in the other. They all started that way. Crammed into the smaller tent (by their choice), flashlight in hand, they started to try and get some rest. A couple of hours later, it was becoming obvious that they were going to be up half the night talking, so Leah and I moved the little ones (Emma Joi and Sydney) into our tent with us.

Now, before we left, I told Leah that I wanted to bring a hammock to relax in, and she wasn't really on board. As a matter of fact, she was convinced that there would be no where to put it and that it would not be worth putting up even if there were a place for it. As it turned out, though, there was a place to hang it, and all of my girls, including Leah, spent much more time in the hammock, than Dad. No big thing, though, as long as they are happy. :) And I guess bringing a hammock, tieing it between two trees, and letting Leah kick back and read some Nora Roberts makes her very happy.


Before we left, Reagan decided that she wanted the job of washing the dishes for the entire weekend. I think she just wanted to play in the water, but she still did a great job keeping our plates, cups, and utensils clean. Abbie got the thankless job of clearing the table and giving Reagan the dirty dishes. She spent all of that time wishing that she were washing dishes. Again, I think she just wanted to play in the water.




Overall, we had a great time just kicking back and getting out of the city and spending time with just our family.




Oh, and if you're wondering about this last picture, Reagan and Abbie found tons of little mussles along the shores of the lake. They spent a lot of their spare time cleaning them and trying to get them open. It didn't quite get it, but it was better than listening to them fight. :)

How Bad Could It Be?

By now I'm sure that you have the story of viewers at Cannes laughing audibly at the film (and not in the funny parts), and I'm sure that some of you have seen the movie. I had a chance to screen it with the staff from our church on Monday, and I'd like to share my critique of the film so as to spare many of you the pain of seeing this yourself.

It's BAD! Apart from the whole controversy over historical inaccuracy and such, the film itself, as a movie, is one of the worst that I've ever seen. There is no doubt anymore about why this movie was not pre-screened by critics - Ron Howard wanted to maxmize his opening weekend numbers. He knew that after people starting seeing it, the word would get out, and the film would tank.

There are too many laughable scenes with just plain bad acting to go through here, so let's talk about the plot holes. This may contain spoilers so highlight to read:

• A guy at the Louvre gets shot. I hear that this next part is a little different in the book, but in the movie the characters follow a clue written in invisible ink beside the body to a painting on the other side of the museum where the find a bloody hand print and more invisible writing that leads them to the other end of the museum another bloody hand print and yet more invisible writing. I've been to the Louvre, and that place is huge. We're talking 10 minutes or more to walk a straight line from one end to the other on a single floor, and they want me to believe that a critically wounded man wandered around this museum (without leaving a bloody trail other than his hand print in specific places), wrote coded notes in invisible ink, wandered back to the place where he was shot, wrote another coded note, drew all over himself, then croaked in a very specific position. Get real!
• A guy at the Louvre pulls a painting off the wall and one gate comes crashing down, and the guy that chasing gets away. Don't you think that if you pulled any painting off the wall in the Louvre that the place would lock down tighter than Fort Knox? I mean they have some of the world's oldest treasure. Nobody gets out of that place after a painting is pulled off the wall, and certainly more than one gate would crash closed.
• Don't get offended lady friends, but a car chase with the lead car, driven by a lady, going top speed, in reverse, through the twisty crowded streets of Paris. Maybe Danica Patrick could pull that off.....maybe. For that matter, I'm not sure I know any guys good enough to handle that, but the scene is pretty cool. Great stunt driver.
• As many of you know the idea is that Mary Magdeleine was supposed to be the church's true leader, and that this "girl power" was passed down through the centuries by way of a line of daughters. Is it just mean or does it seem a little inconsistent that this secret is entrusted to a bunch of men? I thought men were the problem and that's why Mary Magdeleine went into hiding in the first place.
• And on the whole Mary Magdeleine deal. Who cares? Let's say that Mary Magdeleine really did go into hiding and that she really did have a daughter. What's the big deal about finding her body to prove that a certain contemporary person is her descendant? It wouldn't prove anything about Mary's spouse, and it wouldn't be any earth shattering news to find out that someone 2,000 years ago had a kid and their bloodline is still alive.
• And another thing. I don't believe that Jesus had a kid, but what if He had a wife? Would that really be a shock to the world? It would fit perfectly with His being man and being a part of the culture of His time, and it wouldn't change anything about His divinity, mission, or salvation. The Bible isn't a history book and it doesn't say one way or the other. It just doesn't matter.
• Back to plot holes. How about the way they found a clue in a safety deposit that hadn't been accessed in over 50 years (according to the bank manager), but the clue is revealed to show a location that's only been in existence for less than 20 (17 to be exact). Either I.M. Pei was commissioned to build the Louvre pyramids to speicifically fit the clue or the bank manager was incorrect. I think it's just a huge plot hole!
• Further, when our protagonist finds a supposed location of Mary Magdeleine's body (but the body's been moved) there's a rose in it's place. Do these people keep going back to the old locations and setting out roses just in case someone else comes along? That seems kind of risky if you're trying to not be identified as a member of this secret society. Or does Mary's spirit give the roses an unnaturally long life so that they don't wither?
• Finally, having been to several different European countries and tons of churches in these countries, I can tell that one consistent thing across them all is that they don't let you just wander around in them. They are all taken very seriously in terms of reverence and historical significance. The protagonist wandering around these churches like he owns the place is simply unrealistic.

Overall, I give the movie 1.5 out of 5 stars, but that mostly because it got me out of the office for an afternoon. View it at your own risk, but don't worry about this movie starting any kind of uprising against Christianity; there's no way it could be taken that serioulsy.

Leonardo's Conspiracy

At the risk of being reviled by my family, I have to bring up this national debate and weigh in with some thoughts of my own. The DaVinci Code movie premieres later this week and brings a huge debate along with it. I must admit before I go any further that I have not read the book; I only have an idea of what is about based on news articles that I have read over the past several years. So now for my semi-informed, but highly intelligent analysis of the situation (if Dr. Phil can be a real doc, then I can be a subject matter expert on a book I haven't read).

The first thing that struck me as odd about this book is that Dan Brown was sued by the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail when his book The DaVinci Code became a hot item. Now, why is this odd? Well...he was being sued basically for plagiarism. Ultimately the courts ruled that it could not be plagiarism since Holy Blood, Holy Grail is supposed to be a factual account of history and The DaVinci Code just builds a story around those historical facts. It would be like writing a biography on Lincoln and then suing someone for making the assisination of Lincoln an element of their story. Nobody can steal that idea....it an historical fact. So, if the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail really believed that their writing was historical fact, why sue Dan Brown for writing a fictional story around those historical events?

Next up, the conspiracy theory. Like I said before, I haven't read the book, so I don't know the details of the conspiracy that's revealed by the story, but doesn't this seem like our generation's Kennedy assasination or Elvis abduction? Americans (maybe just people) love a good conspiracy theory. Despite the fact that a good conspiracy never really holds together (e.g. Nixon and Watergate), somebody will crack and the whole thing will fall apart. For whatever reason, though, we want to believe that it is possible that a conspiracy spanning hundreds of years has pulled the wool over the eyes of millions of people and only just recently have we been granted access to the secret by Mr. Brown.

If you haven't been in a bookstore lately, you should drop by your local Barnes and Noble to get an idea of our love for a good conspiracy. At the one by my house, they have several tables covered with books on the truth about Jesus, the realy Bible, the secret life of the early church, etc. Several tables. People are eating this stuff up, but is anyone asking the first question that came to my mind? Some of these books say Jesus is really a myth, some say He was just a normal guy that had a wife and kids, some say He was sort of the Son of God, etc. My question is, how can all of these different opinions be the revelation of a conspiracy covered up by the church?

And don't even get me started on the history of the church. We all know that the Roman Catholic church has its share of dark history. The Crusades. The Inquisition. And as a result of those incidents there have been plenty of uprising against the church with the Reformation being the most famous. Are any of these conspiracy theorists really going to try and convince us that no one was able to uncover this grisly conspiracy at a time when a huge popluation of Europe was looking for ammunition against the church, but that they've been able to uncover it in a time when the cover up should be a million times easier to accomplish?

I could go on and on, but for now let the comments roll in....

Fireside Chat

This weekend, we are taking the kids camping. While Reagan and Abbie have been camping many times, Emma and Sydney have not. Just about the time Emma got old enough, we had Sydney, so we’ve not had many opportunities to take them. We did take one trip last fall with them, and Emma kind of freaked out about being dirty. She’s got a little OCD.

After spending nearly every night for the past two months out at the ballpark, I think Emma is cured of her dirt issues, so we hope that we’re ready to go. We’ll be headed up to Bonham State Park for the weekend to do some hiking, biking, and fishing. Of course, the kids are excited about staying in a tent, roasting marshmallows (some of you know my thoughts on marshmallows), and getting to spend a ton of time outside. I’m excited about getting a break. As my previous posts have noted, our lives have been extremely busy lately, so this will be a welcome break.

Jet Lag

Sorry, no pics yet. I just haven't had a chance to download from the camera, but I can still tell my tale. I'll add the pics later.

This past Sunday I set out an adventure to the West Coast. This was to be my first time in California and my first time to see the Pacific Ocean, so it was a little exciting. I was travelling alone, though, so it was also a little disappointing. I think this trip could've been much more fun with a spouse or friend. As it was, I know no one in California and I didn't meet anyone that I wanted to know. I was looking for some of those "California Girls" mentioned in a few of The Beach Boys' songs, but I think they've all moved to Texas. Looks don't pay the rent in Cali, and if you try to go down that road the you're a whole different kind of girl.

Sorry, I got off track a little. Back to the story. So, I got on the plane at DFW on Sunday afternoon. After being seated for about 10 minutes, the plane was nearly completely boarded and the pilot's voice came over the intercom, "Uh...I just got here, so I've got to do my pre-flight check before we can pull away from the gate. It'll be at least twenty minutes."

So, where was he for the last 30 minutes? I just thought, "I remember this episode of 'LAX' [the short-lived TV series]," and I hoped that I was not living that out because where that pilot had been was not in the best interest of the passengers. Can anyone say breathalyzer??

It was more like 40 minutes until we pulled away, and after waiting for a while on the tarmac we were able to takeoff. The pilot was obviously innocent of any negative charges as he provided a quick, smooth flight to LAX while I watched Gladiator again. I love that movie.

I went straight to the hotel that night, ate dinner there, and stayed in until I left for my class the next morning. Here's where things really got interesting. After my class was over on Monday, I decided that I didn't want to eat at the hotel. "Surely there's a Chili's, Applebees, Outback, something familiar somewhere in this city," I thought, "and after living in a big city for a while, surely I can find it fairly easily."

WRONG!!

I was about a block over from the freeway, so I figured I'd get on there and head into the main part of town. The only problem is that I couldn't find an entrance ramp for the freeway. I drove all the way to downtown on city streets trying to figure out how to get on the freeway. No kidding! It was a 2 hour drive, and I'm not exaggerating.

Along the way I saw lots of interesting things: gun store, liquor store, gun store, liquor store, bail bondsman, liquor store, gun store, and lot's of guys wearing blue. Thankfully I had on a blue shirt that day, so I just leaned back my seat, cranked up some bass and drove on like I knew what was going on. Okay, so I didn't really crank up the bass. I didn't want to draw attention, but the rest is true, and all of these stores had metal bars over the windows and doors. Never a good sign! It reminded me of Dave Chapelle's comedy when talked about being taken to the ghetto without being warned. The only thing missing was the baby selling crack, but I might have just not noticed.

Once I got to downtown, I saw an entrance ramp for the freeway, but then I had a new problem. There are no exits from the freeway either. Either way, I never saw any place to eat that I recognized, and I was afraid that if I got off the freeway, I wouldn't be able to get back on, so I just went back to the hotel and ate there again.

The next afternoon, after my class was over, I had a plan. I had located a Chili's off of Sunset Blvd, near UCLA. I figured that I could drive that way and if I saw another more interesting place along the way, great, if not at least I could eat at Chili's. I had a little trouble again getting on the freeway, but I managed to get on a little sooner and was soon cruising off to Sunset Blvd.

I started on the east end of this famous road and headed west. What an interesting drive. The first part is a really run down looking part of town like most of what I had driven through the day before, and then suddenly it becomes a more modern, more hip area with just a lot of questionable businesses. I mean questionable like tattoo parlors, piercing parlors, and tons of XXX live nude girls bars.

Now one thing that I was really surprised by was the number of XXX bars, adult bookstores, adult movie stores, etc in this town. They were all over. When driving through town I saw at least one every quarter of a mile or so at least. Given that, it makes a little more sense to me now in an LAPD detective movie they always have to make at least one trip to a XXX bar in order to solve the case. Of course, I've still got the question of why they can't do it before they hand in their badge, but that's another post.

Back to the story, after the seedy and then sultry part of town, I came into Hollywood. While there was still plenty of seedy and sultry, the atmosphere was a little more like home with some recognizable stores. Just for fun, I actually jumped a couple of blocks north to see the famous Hollywood and Vine intersection.

This was not a place where I was comfortable getting out of the car. There were at least 6 XXX bars right there and all manner of other adult businesses. The only thing that kept me from getting back to Sunset faster was the old homeless woman trying to cross the street while holding her breath and making a slight swimming motion. Apparently she thought that we were under the ocean or something.

Continuing on down Sunset, I found an In-N-Out Burger joint. I had heard about this place from some of my friends that used to live in California, so I pulled in to have a bite. It was pretty good, and after I finished I headed west again.

Pretty soon I was in Beverly Hills. The shops here were really pretty interesting, but I nearly wrecked my car when I saw two things one right after the other. The first was a Guess billboard that would not have been out of place in France, but seemed a little odd in the USA. Regardless, I really want a pair of Guess jeans now. The second was the Hustler store. I didn't stop or go in, but this place was about the size of a Wal-Mart with many different mannequins in the windows in a variety of poses; none of which required clothing and some of which may be physically impossible to achieve.

Next up, Bel Air. I couldn't really see the houses because they were all hidden by high gates, shrubs, fences, guards, etc, but it was still kind of fun to drive through. Then I move on along to the ocean. There was really no one on the beach and the beach itself was not all that impressive, but I drove south along the coast for a while until I cut back around LAX to get to my hotel. All in all a much better experience than the day before.

Finally, I was ready to go back to DFW. Our flight left LAX on time, and landed at DFW a little early. Backups in the gate, though, prevented us from being able to get off the tarmac, and poor Leah had to wait out front for an hour or so while we sat on our plane waiting to taxi to our gate, get connected to the jetway, and de-board.

I'm glad to be back in the Central Time Zone now, and I will try to get some pics added here soon. In the meantime, enjoy my story!

The City of Angels

In other news, I am prepping for a trip to Los Angeles. I'll be flying out of DFW Sunday afternoon returning Wednesday afternoon.

There's a training class out there that I am going to be in on Monday and Tuesday. I wonder if any of you fellow bloggers have ever been there and could give me some tips on places to go or see. My class will be over by 5pm both days, so I'll have some daylight left to do sightseeing.

And, of course, I'll be thinking of you all while I am enjoying the sunny Southern California weather.

Laptop + Hard Floor = Problems

I'm still working on that "Remember When..." post that I was telling you about. I'm going to need some props, and I'm considering waiting until Jeffrey gets here so that he can help me with it.

Anyway, last night I was working at the kitchen table trying to help a coworker resolve an issue at the office. The next thing I new, it was 6:50pm. Since softball practice had been cancelled, I had agreed to watch NCIS with Leah at 7:00pm. I had to move upstairs.

I grabbed the laptop, cords, bag, etc. and headed up the stairs. All was well until I got to the top. I found a toy that had been left out, and my laptop slipped from my hand. The world seemed to move in slow motion as I watched the machine tumble through the air to the ground. Really, it only fell the 2 feet from my hand to the floor not all the way back to the first floor, but it must've landed just right (or wrong depending on your perspective) and the screen got busted.

Here's a pic I just took with my phone.

I know that it's not as a great of a photo as what you can do, Mel, but I'm working with a cell phone, so cut me some slack. :) Anyway, you can see in the top left of the screen that some of the icons are still visible, but the rest of it is gone. Dell is supposed to replace it tomorrow or the next day, so until then, I'm running on a separate monitor.

Now that I'm over being sad, it kind of reminds me of that sandscape (I guess that's what it was called) deal that we used to play with at Maw-Maw's. Does anyone else remember that? It was two oval shaped pieces of plastic with colored sand and some sort of liquid between them. You could flip it and rotate it to make all sorts of crazy images. I can't find anything that looks exactly like the one Maw-Maw had, but this is close enough to maybe jog your memory.

Let me know if you remember playing with this thing, and of course, please send "get well soon" cards to the XPS. :)