A few still pics from Holiday Road

I really didn't want this blog to turn into a picture parade -- but having just returned from 3 1/2 weeks of vaca and realizing not everyone in our church is down with the Facebook technology, I figured my first return post could be some moments from your pastor's holiday -- so you can behold the experience in all its glory (and humiliation).

I've included a mix of fun n' nice photos. Later on, I'll try to post some more meaningful fodder re: lessons learned & gleaned during our time away.

I did explain in a recent sermon Mason's desire, yea, to construct Robots. And again (to prove all or 90% my stories are real and I don't steal them all from the internet) here he is working on RoboCop with his grandpa. Notice the tractor! They have goats & donkeys too.

Katie and her sisters prepared, constructed, fashioned this really cool "Cousins Camp." It had a camp schedule; morning, afternoon, evening activities; morning devotions & singing, campfires. Heck, there was a Camp Dance at the end of the week (where I served as both deejay and chaperone...I had to say "Leave a little room for the Holy Spirit" toa couple kids who got too close). Anywho, here is the hayride -- if you look closely, you'll see I was left on as the only adult. Poor children.

Tubing. Is there anything more rural America than going tubing down a river -- usually with sunblock on one's nose and a cold beverage in hand (though as a pastor I cannot comment whether that occurred or not on our tubing 'tour'). Here, our youngest Gage gets in his tube, which is tied with some old twine to Katie's tube. Now imagine him like this for 3 1/2 hours. Pure ecstasy!

This was the view from the pastoral retreat center at which we stayed. Katie & I got to spend a few days away at the Whitestone Inn (sans the younggins). Great experience. Spent the first day on our own in a silence & solitude retreat. Spent Day II fellowshipping & living it up. Spent Day III listening to a sermon/seminar on planning & doing some family planning. Thanks for all your prayers for God's refreshment during this trip. Prayer answered!

So the itinerary went a little sumpin' like this: Katie's parents house, Katie's sisters house, Retreat center, my family's annual trip to Kiawah Island Beach (in S. Carolina...just one State down from the greatest U.S. State -- N. Carolina). Here my adorable & precocious nephew, Andy, has caught my sister and she has, on this day, given up on her disciplinary efforts.

Not the most flattering but the most candid picture Katie and I had together. The twilight, the ocean, the wind, the sand (even still I may pay dearly for posting this photo).

Our oldest, Mason, with my sister's oldest, Grace.

Cousins (from my side) all together. (From Left front) Gage, Mason, Matthew (my brother's middle boy), Grace, Lila (newest addition to family), Andy. (Standing) Kurt & Lincoln (my brother's oldest & youngest respectively).

That's all. Thanks for stopping by, friends.