an amazing week.

our week at camp was simply amazing. before the week began i had been praying for unity within our group. i have never seen a group of young people bond and treat each other like family like mine did this week. it was truly an answered prayer. i had one girl who accepted Christ…AMAZING!

one other thing that was awesome was that two children were saved from poverty. one of my senior girls sponsored a child through compassion and one of my junior girls family sponsored a child as well. i was extremely excited to see this.

this camp was probably the best camp i have ever been to. i was honestly put-off by the registration process, it was pretty weird, but once i got to the camp and got integrated to the process of the student life camp, it was one of the most well run camps i have ever been to.

now on another note…today was very interesting. this afternoon i started mowing our yard. as i was mowing the side of the house i caught the water line to our house with the front wheel of our mower. next thing i know…..water is spraying everywhere, and i can’t get the water turned off. sooo, my crazy handyman dad comes over and we spend like 4 hours taking apart and re-engineering the water line. we get it working after a few hours and then i get back to finishing the yard. last time i worked in the yard…this happened. so needless to say, when i got to the back fence…i was a little paranoid. but i made it through without getting stung by one of those dadgum yellow jackets.

i’ve been working on laundry from youth camp so we can have clean clothes tomorrow and i put together a little table for my wife this evening.
this has really been one of the most random days ever.
ever.

oh yea. go read my wife’s blog. show her some love.

grace and peace.

 

day two of the honeymoon.

day two was the day of our first excursion. we docked in the bahamas during the night so monday morning we had to be at the end of the pier at 8 o’clock in the morning. this monday morning we were going to swim with dolphins. we were both really excited. so we got down to deck zero about 7:30 thinking that 30 minutes would be enough. NOPE SORRY! it took us 45 minutes to get off the boat and our dadgum dolphin swim excursion left without us. THEY LEFT WITHOUT US! we were a little upset. (and by a little i mean we were totally hacked) well, we got stuff worked out. we got reimbursed for the missed excursion and lined up dolphin swin for another day.

so while we were in the bahamas we went snorkeling. it was niiiice. we bought a bag of fish food for $1 and while we were in the water we would simply drop a small handful of fish food in the water and then look underwater at the mass chaos that was about to take place. it was a great experience.

we had to be back on the boat at noon on monday so after snorkeling we went back to the ship, waited in line, boarded the ship and then hung out at the food buffets for lunch and then that evening we went to the musical on the ship.
day two was a great day.

day three was simply a day at sea. not very exciting. we just floated on sea for a day and again spent time at the buffets. 24 hour buffets. amazing.

here are a couple more shots.

a shot from our balcony before we left port in ft. lauderdale.

kimb on the beach at ft. lauderdale

*post-script
i don’t really like getting bills, but yesterday my compassion international monthly statement came in.
i smiled when i opened it.

compassion.

In December my fiance’ and I went to Andrew Peterson’s, Behold the Lamb of God show. While there Bebo Norman gave a presentation on Compassion International and Kimb and I felt called to sponsor a child and through this sponsorship, offer them hope, life, and Jesus.

 Yesterday in the mail I received a letter from Compassion and in this letter was a letter from our boy Clement.  I promptly opened it and read with great eagerness.  It was so exciting to read and through this letter sense his excitement that a couple in the United States would choose him.  So last night when I saw Kimb, she and I quickly wrote back to him.  So here in a few days we will find a picture of us to send with our letter and in a few weeks Clement will see what we look like.  Kimb and I are so excited to be able to impact Clements life.  We pray that through our monthly sponsorship Clement will come to know Jesus and that if we can never go to Burkina Faso to see him, to know that we will see him one day dancing in heaven.

 The joy that this brings to Kimb and I is amazing, but the joy that it brings Clement…
…I cannot imagine.

Would you pray about sponsoring a child through compassion?

peace be with you,