Please vote for our friends to win a grill!

This is the email I received from her - they are very sweet and are soon moving to Maine as part of a group doing a church plant. Please take a second and vote - thanks! Their names are Randy and Eunice Bruckhart.










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UGH! I'm like most people...I don't like to ask for things, but sometimes it's a good thing. This just might be one of those times. Our grill died. It's served us more than faithfully the past 8+ yrs, but now it's gone. We've been searching for several months, and just last week, we decided on one. After thinking about it some more, we were ready to place the order online last evening. We got as far as placing it in our cart, and then we stopped. I asked if we should wait a few more days. Not sure why, but sure no problem, we've been waiting this long. Fast forward to 4 hrs later....I'm browsing a few blogs and came across one that's giving away a grill...not just any grill, but the next step up from the cheaper version we were going to buy. There is a contest until Aug 2, 9:00 PM EST, and you can vote once per household. Anyway, here is my shameless plug...would you vote for us?

http://www.facebook.com/l/08cf1R-jGGqgWUD8OlrBH92d2hw;www.classymommy.com/giveaway_new/contest9/vote.php?contest=hotdogs&name=Eunice+B

Competition is stiff, and I don't like to beg, but this would be such a blessing....that's putting it mildly at this stage of our lives! For those of you that don't know us personally, we've been asked, along with 6 other families to move to Maine to help with a church plant next month. More than a few uncertainties, but God is faithful! Thanks for your support!
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“It’s easy to complain in America”

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Savannah and I went to Kids Camp last weekend. What a wild, great and fun time. I left with a lot to process and think about – God has a way of speaking to us even while amongst the kid centered activities. The theme verse was Micah 6:8 “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Each day focused on a different part of the last statement – act justly, love mercy and walk humbly. The main speaker and our leader both did an outstanding job of making this real and applicable to our lives. The worship songs were also good – my favorite one being this one:

However, after the weekend, I am left struggling with the concept of being “of the world but not of it”. I have difficulty when the kids scream louder at the mention of Jus tin Bie ber or their favorite Alabama or Auburn football team than they would or do for Jesus Christ. Where is that line of being part of the world in order to show them the love of Christ … and looking so much like the world that we just blend in?

On Saturday evening (and an optional session on Sunday), we had the opportunity to listen to Brooke’s testimony. Brooke is a Compassion International sponsored child, now in his senior year in college in Kenya studying social work. His passion is to start an orphanage in Kenya to help those who have no hope. What an amazing testimony. He shared what life would be like in Kenya living in poverty. Both of his parents are gone. All of his childhood friends are gone. A typical home is a 10x10 shanty that will hold from 4-6 people. IF they have any food, it is only one meal per day of vegetables and a maize flour mixture called ugali. He said that Africans are praying people – they pray night and day because they are totally and utterly dependant upon God. They pray and give thanks for a meal that isn’t even in front of them yet!! He didn’t have a pair of shoes until he was 9. On Sunday, he was wearing flip-flop style shoes made out of motorbike tires!!

The most profound thing that I took away from his talk was his comment about how easy it is to complain in America. We have SO much and we are SO comfortable and SO blessed, and yet we find things to complain about! He said that in Africa, they don’t complain – they are so thankful when they do receive a meal. Amazing!

Phillipans 2:14-16 Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.

Outtakes or things I found amusing on our last trip

Kids snoozing - it’s a long ride to PA!! At one of our favorite parks in PA, they had this blue thing and the curiosity got the better of me. It is hard to tell the scale from the picture, but this unit is probably about 7 feet tall. The 4 white things on the towers are button lights and there are several different types of games you can play/compete in. The games are accompanied by funky music and when the lights turn on you have to press the buttons as fast as you can. John and I just played one game, but I would have liked to try them all if it weren’t so hot!

In WV, someone had the brilliant idea of closing one of the main freeways and then closing the alternate route down to one lane for road construction. Brilliant, really. This sign was posted saying “Road work 3 miles ahead – POSSIBLE DELAYS”. Shockingly enough, we were sitting in traffic a while before encountering this sign.

Cool leaves and flowers at the museum. The leaves were huge!

From riding camels outside, to riding dinosaurs inside :) And this is one of two cool suspension bridges through the gardens. Once you got off the bridge, you still felt like you were bouncing up and down.

God’s creations at the Creation museum.

This sign cracked me up. They did not have a similar sign by these zorses (zebra + horse). In this picture, he is calmly and gently eating from Savannah, but don’t be fooled. A few minutes later, Savannah had her back to him (while I was trying to take a picture on my cell phone) and he grabbed a hold of her ponytail and was trying to eat it. He gave her a pretty good tug before she managed to get away from him. Consider yourself warned :)

ok – you’ve really got to work with me here because this picture is not the best quality. This was a last ditch desperate attempt to get a picture of this guy … riding down the freeway with a SPARE TIRE around his waist! Gives a whole new meaning to having a “spare tire”.

 

Coolest thing – this is a mural – shadow and all! The kids thought the balconies were real until we walked past and they disappeared :) And I just noticed that the front mantel like thingy on the right is real and the others are painted. side note: curiosity got the best of me, so I looked this up – here’s the story.

Here’s another mural in downtown Nashville. Here’s the story for this one. Man – now I wish I would have found more of his work – very talented and fun details.

Yep – for you, hi-d :)

Highlights from our trip to PA

We have returned home to Alabama from a trip to PA to visit family and friends. We had a great time! I didn’t pull my camera out nearly as much as I should have, but here are a few of the pictures that I did take.

We are blessed with great friends – the kind that you just pick up where you left off and just keep on going. Our kids had the chance to get to play with friends – we enjoyed bbq’s, fireworks, canoeing, sleepover (for kids), swimming, and just tons of fun. We got to catch up with friends and family, but there is never enough time to visit everyone that we would like.

On our way home, we went a more western path – through Columbus, OH (this is the capital building), to the Creation Museum just west of Cincinnati (in KY). We spent Friday there enjoying the museum, exhibits and gardens. I would recommend the museum, but is probably suited to a little older children better.

Beautiful gardens – these flowers were very cool.

Camel rides!!! Hadden has never ridden a horse, but decided he would try the camel :)

“Gomer” wanted to stop for a snack.

We stayed the night in Louisville, KY and then on to Nashville, TN where we walked around for a few hours.

Final stop was at a high school friend’s home – great fun to catch up a little bit.

  

Although we had a great time and wish we could have visited longer, it is also good to be home :)

Hope you can come visit us soon!