The Feather Ending

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqIXmbgihuQ

Appetite of Ten Hungry Camels, Per Chance?

Sunday School Camels Aren't As Thirsty

Our pastor is out of town for family vacation this week, so Brad is planning to preach this weekend.  They have been working through Genesis and Brad will be teaching out of Genesis 24 tomorrow.  Since I was at home sick for a couple days, I was also studying a little bit about the account of Eliezer's charge to find a wife for Isaac.  There are a lot of things about the story of his finding Rebekah that I had never thought about before.  I am not sure the direction Brad will take and the focus he will use for the message, but I found some new insight into the "camel test" for the woman who would be right for Isaac.  Did you know that when camels have been traveling for about a week, they need anywhere from 10-25 gallons of water to quench their thirst?  Oh, you did know that?  My bad :)  Anyway, so this was a lot bigger test for Rebekah than I originally realized from the stories on the flannel graphs.

Sunday School camels aren't as thirsty :P

Let's walk through this situation.  Eliezer makes it to the town with 10 camels and sits by the spring where the women draw water.  Eliezer then prayed a special prayer that when he asked for a drink from a lady at the well she would give him a drink and also offer to water his camels.  I love that the next verse starts with, "Before he had finished praying"....we didn't have to know this, but God always likes to remind us how attentive He is to our prayers...Rebekah came out to draw water.  The next few things I learned were very much cultural aspects of this story, but I think they provide a deeper meaning into the story and why Rebekah was God's choice.

When Rebekah was asked for a drink she said, "Drink" and quickly lowered her jar into his hands.  It may be important to note that she lowered her jar into his hands because she wanted to keep an appropriate distance between herself and this man....She did not want to keep the jar on her shoulder or in her own hands....by this action, she chose a very proper response for a lady and generosity in giving him the whole jar if he wanted it.  Also, once he drank of the water in her jar....she was faced with a couple cultural challenges.  She really could not return home with a jar of water that had been used by a stranger....she would need new, fresh water.  However, if she dumped out the remaining water on the ground, that could insult this man....So, instead of taking the easy way out... to dump the water and fill up her jar ONCE more to return home, she chose to offer his camels water as well.  That meant she could dump the remaining water into the animal trough....but it also meant she would be spending a lot of time and energy to satisfy 10 thirsty camels....can you imagine how long it may have taken her to bring 100 (on the low end) or up to 400 gallons (some commentators said) of water for his camels?  That is a lot BIGGER job than I ever imagined.  When I read this and studied it I was really struck by how committed she was in her kindness to a stranger at a well.  The passage also never mentions that Eliezer gave her a hand in this whole process and one commentary explained how it is one thing to say something kind or to give lip service to doing something with secret hopes of receiving something in return, so Eliezer may have been testing her resolve to finish that which she had promised....that does make sense.

Anyway, I see now why this was a good test and how it proved something wonderful about her character that she would place the needs a stranger above her own convenience or agenda and she would show kindness and respect to him in her choices and willingness to serve him without any expectations.  I think this is a great lesson on kindness.

More Than Conquerors

Rivals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NlwzF3pPhw

If you get concerned, anxious or fearful of rivals....enemies who are coming against you.....this is such a wonderful thing to remember.  Our God has no rival!  He has already overcome every battle you will ever face and He is willing to fight your battles and hand you the victory!

After the "Classic Vinyl" marching band show yesterday, we had tickets to go see Lindsey Stirling in concert in Ann Arbor....she is one of Vannah's favorite artists, so she introduced Brad and I to her music several years ago.  Luckily, my head cold was giving me a little relief so I was able to go with them.  I wanted to have Vannah experiment with a messy bun fauxhawk in my hair for the concert, but Brad was not keen on that idea (his face was hilarious when I asked his what he thought of that), so I had some fun spiral curling it all like I used to in the 90's...the classic rock inspired me :)

Before and After..I tamed it down...haha!  Still love BIG HAIR though!

Ready to go!  We are missing Kenna, Kassi and Danielle this week as they are away to camp!

Lindsey is an amazing musician, composer/arranger, dancer and performer...the whole package!  The show was terrific!  It reminded me that we really don't need words/lyrics sometimes to understand someone.  Music and movement can explain a lot of things without words.  Plus, the video and lighting for her show was amazing....it was actually kind of fun for me to watch her two tech guys on the light/sound boards because they had their own groove going on that helped them know when to push the right buttons.  I love when I see people really enjoying their jobs :)

All of her songs are very unique, but this one is definitely a crowd favorite....the duel between the guitar and the violin.

Rountable Rival

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvipPYFebWc

For The Record

A friend and I were talking at the Marching Band Show today and we decided music from our era should not be called "Classic" yet :)  However, when something gets titled "Classic" that means people never want it to go away, right?  So that is a compliment for such YOUNG music to be called CLASSIC so early.  Western High School's Marching Band Camp is officially finished today!  They have had a LONG and AWESOME week learning their show "Classic Vinyl" and I am super excited about their song selections....Welcome To The Jungle, Trampled Under Foot/Stairway To Heaven Medley, Dream On, and Rock And Roll All Night....PLUS, Savannah is one of the captains for her Color Guard this year so she got to suggest their Color Guard hairstyle and they are planning on going with messy bun fauxhawks like this...

Vannah practiced this on Karly and it turned out soooo cool.  I love the combo of pretty and edgy in that choice :)  I know people might be a little opinionated about that because it is different, but I think it is a great show hairstyle....maybe even with a little color sprayed on the sides...now I am talking all crazy. :P  So excited for them! 

Dream On

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54BCLYNkFKg

For The Soul

Air BOURNE Transmission

There is a simple explanation for that, JB....headcold....I am working from my HOME office and you should be glad that we are not face to face....this head cold could really do you in.... :P -Heather

Yes, I do have a head cold....Karly was my nurse today (at times that was interesting) and she even gave me a shoulder massage.

I heard a great word at church over the weekend and I have been thinking about it a lot this week.  The teaching came from a strange portion of scripture that maybe we don't fully understand because there is such a cultural aspect to it.  I will share a summary of the scripture and then the application that I have been thinking about and thankful for....it comes from Genesis 15...starting at verse 8....where Abraham basically asks God, "But, how can I know that you will make good on your promise to me?"  and God instructs him to prepare a blood covenant ceremony which would have been something Abraham would have understood.  In that time, when people made promises they were way more serious about them than when we say something like "cross my heart...hope to die....stick a needle in my eye"...they actually would sacrifice some animals, split them in two and separate the sections, then walk through the blood from these animals....and what they really, truly meant was, "I promise you this and if I break my promise to you I deserve to die"...the two people making the promise to each other would walk through the blood together.

However, after Abraham set up for the ceremony, the Lord caused him to fall asleep and spoke to him through dark visions.  When it was time to pass through the blood of the animals to make the covenant, Abraham was only an spectator....God made the promise through the blood, alone.....unconditional.  Sometimes it is so hard to accept things that are unconditional.

I wonder if we are also missing out on comprehending so many aspects of God's gift to us.

Yesterday I was walking through the living room and I asked Brad, "When is the new Bourne coming out?"  He just stared at me and then started laughing....I had NO idea what I had said that was sooooo funny to him!  It made perfect sense in my mind....ever do that?

And You'll Never Guess Who Is Endorsing Him....haha!

I joked with Brad throughout a lot of the campaign drama so far that I might just write his name in in November....then, last week he got a call from Western School District to ask if he would consider running for a position on the School Board .  After a few days of talking about and praying about the opportunity, he felt as if it is a God-given opportunity for him to be a part of and a voice into something pretty significant and sometimes controversial in our area.  So, last night we went door to door to talk to people and try to collect enough signatures for his name to be placed on the ballot for the November elections.

Well, Now I Know.....

....some of the things Mini Kooper and Snickers do while we are away :)  Enjoyed watching The Secret Life Of Pets with the family tonight.  And, look at that book on the counter....it's Grandma's Secret Book.....I bet the real recipe for Nana's Banana Pudding Ice Cream is in there!

They asked each other, "Were not our hearts ablaze within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"  

~Luke 24:32~

Praying that the Word of God will burn in your heart this day!

Today, one of my coworkers was joking with me and said, "I hope someday I can be as cool as you with a minivan".....so I talked him through a bunch of great features of a minivan....trunk space and stow and go, no need to move any seats for the whole family to jump in (especially on a rainy day :), movies, gas mileage, no one wants to steal it...

....But, I forgot to mention the greatest features....all the people who travel with me :)

Tonight, we all got a little sentimental as we went through Kassi's special box.  Every time someone has a birthday, we let them get out their special box and reminisce.  It was fun to look through some of Kassi's favorite memories with her.  Then, after we were finished and packed it all back up, Savannah said, "Mom, I have some night driving to get in.....can I drive to the store to get what I need to make chocolate chip cookies for the whole family?"  Yuuuuuummmmmm, yeah!  I will supervise that trip!

Man, I also forgot to mention to my coworker how many cookies can fit in a minivan.....so many excellent features :)

Jesus Knows Me, This I Love

I am so proud of these girls!  They are part of Western Middle School's Cheer Team and they attended a Champion Camp this week and won the Determination Award...bringing home one of the prized megaphones.  We got to travel to Alma and watch their end of camp show to see the cheer they learned and some new stunts/lifts.  Kenna is really enjoying being a part of this team and she is one of their flyers this year.  Actually, you will probably be seeing more of these kind of pictures because all of my girls want to cheer this year....crazy, right?!  THE YEAR OF CHEER!  We have a few crazy weeks ahead of us now before school starts with more cheer camps, church camps, band camps and drama camps.....so BRACE YOURSELVES....summer camp pics are coming.  Seriously, why are you not bracing yourself? :P  Happy Friday!

Vannah bought a tiara at Halloween because she was dressing up like Cinderella.  Then, a couple weeks ago she was thinking about how much she likes that tiara and she realized it looks exactly like one that she had when she was eight years old and attended a daddy daughter dance....except the one she has now has more jewels.....she realized that is probably why she likes it so much!

Savannah at eight years old....and tonight, yes....right now she is still wearing her tiara and she said she wishes she could just wear it everyday :)

It was the final night of our Hopetown Kids Camp tonight in Blair Park....and we studied about how to put our faith into practice with the story of Daniel.  In our Olympic "Fit Bit" we learned about athlete, Abebe Bikila... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEQ0r4L25cg.  He has quite the story of glory, tragedy, and purpose!

His story intrigued us to learn more about him because he won gold in his first marathon as an olympic alternate....and barefoot :)  Can you imagine that?!  I don't even walk through my house barefoot....I am weird about my feet.  This is also a fun part of his story....when he was told he would be running, his coach just said watch for #26 because that was the number of the fastest marathon runner to that point.  However, the day of the marathon, #26 received a different numbered bib....#185, but Abebe didn't know this.  So, the whole race he is running, passing people and looking for #26 (I LOVE THIS!)  He finally catches #185, but he can't see #26 ANYWHERE, so he determines he will run alongside #185 until nearing the end, then beat him and have to take second place to #26....haha!  Imagine his surprise when #185 is #26 and there is no one in front of him....hilarious!

I was super excited that we had a couple kids in our group who wanted to know more about salvation, that we were able to talk about it and pray with them, but my prayers for them will be that they can put some of what they learned about focus, perseverance and faith into practice.  It is hard to believe the amount of drama they have already seen in their lives as some told us about parents or close relatives in jail and gave us a glimpse into their home life.  Practice means consistency and I am really feeling challenged that a summer kid's camp in this neighborhood is not enough to be called practicing evangelism.....it was hard to walk them home tonight and have them say, "see you next year."  Maybe something can be done about that...

Faith Always Must Leap

Tonight we learned about how to live by faith and the subject of tonight's Olympic "Fit Bit" was the Luz Long and Jesse Owens story of friendship.  The kids are doing a great job acting out the fit bits as I tell the stories :)  Tonight, the little boy who got picked to play the role of Jesse Owens jumped on the grassy stage and yelled, "I'M ON TV!" :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FSbJH-Qk_s

I love this quote from Jesse Owens...." It took a lot of courage for him (Luz Long) to befriend me in front of Hitler....you can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Luz at that moment." 

This is our blanket full of awesomeness :)  Really like all these smiles!

In line for the water games....What?! We have to carry water on our heads?!!  That really wasn't an issue in this heat :)

Gone Bananas...And I'll Share :)

I figured out a makeshift recipe for the "Nana's Banana Pudding" Ice Cream yesterday....not perfectly the House of Flavors variety, but scrumptiously close.  Use a Vanilla Bean ice cream....or just Vanilla (whatever you prefer)...then, in a different bowl mix up some instant banana cream pudding with somewhere between 1/2 cup and 1 cup milk...it will be thick.  Blend that into your vanilla ice cream.  If you like the swirl look of ice cream, leave some pudding aside to add later.  Next, throw in some crumbled Nilla wafers, spoon in some marshmallow fluff and add the extra pudding (if you left some out)...fold through the ice cream mixture...then refreeze.  Most of my family raved about it and want me to make more, but Savannah is not a fan of banana pudding because she thinks it tastes too artificial, so if you are like that.....have some real bananas on hand to slice up and add to your ice cream.  She said when she added the real bananas, it was perfect.

Interesting story....today I met with a family at work to talk with them about Spring Arbor University.  As those conversations go, I asked them where they were visiting from and they said, "Ludington, MI"....I then proceeded to tell them I had just been on vacation there and one of my daughters is adamant that we need to buy a cabin there so we can hang out at House of Flavors often.  So then the visiting student proceeded to tell me she WORKS at House of Flavors :P....not the Ludington location, the Pentwater location...coinkydink?  I think not!  I was really close to asking her to give me Nana's secret recipe :)

Tonight's Hopetown Kids Club lesson was on where to place our focus....the Olympic "Fit Bit" skit was about Lawrence Lemieux, a sailor who gave up his pursuit of a medal to save two other sailors from going under in treacherous waters.....and our scripture focus was the account of Jesus and Peter and the miracle of Peter walking on the water when he was focused on Christ.

Most of the time, we can and should have a "go for the gold" attitude...striving for personal excellence in each of our endeavors.  Not that I have ever been a gold medal winner, but I understand some of the challenges of a perfectionist.  There are times where an end result is dominating my thinking and actions and I forget to really seek to experience the journey as God would have me be in that moment and be aware of relationships, making them more important than my "finish line".

What You Want

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7tfMno9uHQ

 We started a Hopetown Kids Camp tonight in the Blair Park Apartments and we had about 25 kids from the neighborhood join about 20 kids from our church in a grassy area of the apartment complex :)  It is an Olympic theme....and there were a couple powerful moments in the middle of all of the lessons and games.  First, we were talking about sin and how it separates us from God and the leader for this talk was asking the kids what were some things they could think of that would be sins.  One little boy raised his hand and said, "All the shooting!" And it was just like God shined a light into my questions to Him about how I am supposed to process all the tragedy or how I am supposed to respond with this child's answer....and I realized I am doing something about it by loving these kids and teaching them.  If these 45 kids will learn to love because Christ first loved them.....we have done something positive.

This little goose enjoyed trying to melt the ice cube to get to the penny inside....our lesson was on perseverance and we learned about the Olympian, Derek Redmond...and the perseverance of Noah in the face of many obstacles.

One of the games we played was a relay which required them to make it to the other side with this ball in between them.  Some of them discovered that it was easier to get to the other side by holding hands or hugging each other....it is pretty sweet sometimes how quickly kids figure out things that it takes adults a really long time to discover.  Karly and Kayla just met tonight, but were acting like they had known each other forever.

I grabbed a couple C.S. Lewis books to take on vacation with me...one was his book on Miracles and the other was Mere Christianity.  I didn't get too far into them because we spent so much time on the water, but I did have a little time to think with him.  I have to read his works very slowly to stick with him because he always works through a lot of  philosophy to come to his conclusions....like solving a mathematical theorem or formula....I appreciate it, but it is very concentrated sometimes :)

I have been thinking about all the things happening in our world right now and praying for wisdom on what to pray, what to do, how to love, how to perceive these things or filter them as God would have us understand His plans unfolding through them.  Our politicians will always place the blame in certain areas which correspond with their platforms and agendas.....they want to remove the tools which can cause harm, but very few people will actually tell the truth that we are all fallen people.  We can't improve ourselves....we can only see miracles happen when we surrender.

I loved the food and ice cream at this vintage 50's Ice Cream Shop, House of Flavors...if you are ever in Ludington, my favorite Ice Cream flavor was Nana's Banana Pudding Ice Cream.  I will be attempting to replicate it at home :P  I am thinking Banana Ice Cream, Marshmallow Creme, and Nilla Wafers will come pretty close.

We were excited to have some friends come up and visit us while we were on vacation....

We spent a day at Michigan Adventure and enjoyed some rides and a whole LOT of waterpark :)

Kassi and I obtained vacation injuries....I always seem to get injured....hmmmm....I got a cut on the bottom of my foot while walking on some dunes and Kassi scraped her toe pretty good getting out of the Lazy River....(those are dangerous)....so we took a little break at the waterpark to allow her cut to scab over real good.

These girls stole Brad's phone for a selfie....they are growing up and I am so glad we were able to enjoy this family vacation with all of us together.  Time goes by so fast and all their schedules are already starting to get crazy with Cheerleading and Band....and Savannah's job.  I know life will try to sneak by us, so I don't want to let it get too far without making it pause for memories....ya know!

Waiting in line for this awesome waterslide that ends in a HUGE funnel....so fun!

Brad and Karly entering the funnel after a big drop on the waterslide....I like zooming in and looking at their faces :P

These crazy kids decided that wanted to try one of those Rip Cord thrill rides things....it pulls them up about 180 feet in the air and drops them into a free fall to completely fly over us.  The stuff of my nightmares :P  God made me close to the ground for a really good reason...ha!

No real reason for this pic....I just think Ferris Wheel pics are pretty and the sky was SO blue.

Brad's three point attempts.....nothing but air, baby! :P

The next morning we tried to fish on Hamlin Lake near the dam, but no fish were biting....I love this pic of Brad and the girls :)

And, we made a second stop at House Of Flavors because it was SOOO GOOOD!

Danielle thinks we should buy a cottage near there just so we can eat at this place....she said nothing about the beach or boating or being close to Michigan Adventure.....just really likes their ice cream...ha!

I smiled when my Nana's Banana Pudding Ice Cream was delivered and it smiled back at me!

Our last day, we enjoyed spending time in a canoe and kayak with everyone and the girls enjoyed a little more time in the lake and in the sand.