My Husband...

Well, yesterday was our second anniversary. It seems as though it has been much longer than two years. I think that is mostly because I have loved these two years so much, and I have such a hard time remembering the dailyness of life before marriage. I know I enjoyed life, but having your best friend with you all the time is like nothing else...even though I know he wishes I were not with him "so much". All I can say is that I care for him and love him more than I ever thought I would be able to. Sometimes I struggle because I know I put too much faith in Him. Sometimes I lose sight of the blessings God pours on my life because I am looking somewhere else. One of the biggest struggles I am facing right now is how to encourage and support him completely. I know his priorities are God, then family, then ministry, but that doesn't make it any easier for me to watch him go to a job every day that he does not love just so that he can support our family. I want him to be having lunch with students, and studying for lessons, and meeting students over coffee to chat. I want students to hang out at our house just for fun. I want there to be time in our lives for ministry, not leaving for work at 6:30am and getting home at 7pm. But, God has a different plan for our family right now. I know somewhere there is a place He is preparing for our service. I pray that we would be faithful in this waiting time, that we would focus on building a loving home for our new child. I pray that our lives would still be missional, that we would constantly be focused on other people in our lives. I pray for Buck, that he would continue to have the courage to lead our family. I pray that I will serve him and love him moment by moment. I am so thankful for these last couple of years with him, and I am looking forward to the rest we share!

A Prayer Request and thank You

First I want to ask you to pray for Jon Fredricks (the pastor of our church in Tacoma). A few days after we left, he was in a pretty serious car accident. He suffered a broken jaw, arm, and leg and has been in the hospital for about a week. Please pray for him and his wife and his 4 children. I'll post the link to his blog in a few days.

Also, I just wanted to post a quick thank you to our Discovery family for their incredible generosity and help in moving. Beth and I felt very loved and appreciated. We miss you and will keep in touch.


We are in Atlanta and will post some more about the trip, but internet is spotty at the moment, so sorry for the delay.

The Top Ten Things Somone Moving to Atlanta Needs to Know to Live the Simple Life

I got this in a an e-mail, this morning from Dash (they publish the cirriculum we use for students). I thought it was funny and wanted to share it with you. It's an article by sturart hall. Here is the link as well

The Top Ten Things Somone Moving to Atlanta Needs to Know to Live the Simple Life

I have recently noticed that seemingly no one that lives in Atlanta is from Atlanta. My neighbor across the street moved here from San Francisco. My next-door neighbor hails from New York. When I asked them what motivated them to move to the Dirty South, one consistent phrase (apart from work) reared its head: They all wanted a more simple life. Not the Paris Hilton simple life, mind you, but one of less stress, more leisure time, and a lot less headaches.

As somewhat of a transplant myself (Alabama), I decided to create a Top Ten Things Someone Moving to Atlanta Needs to Know to Live the Simple Life list to keep at the ready for all the new neighbors. You can substitute these ten things for your fair city. Regardless of where, transitions are hard. Everyone wants to be accepted. And if your goal is simplicity of life and you too are a transplant, then this will help make the transition easy:

10. Never take visiting relatives or friends to the Stone Mountain Laser Show. They will (a) believe that the state of Georgia is considering succeeding from the Union again and (b) realize that some locals don’t realize the first Civil War is over…

9. Never taste test the Coca Cola products from the Middle East at the World of Coke unless you want to hurl…

8. Michael Vick is always hurt and loves bottled water…

7. Chick-Fil-A is the scientific term for “Christian chicken.”

6. GA 400 is a Southern term for “parking lot.”

5. Never say the words “Roll Tide!” very loud in public (substitute your school). Unless your pledge of allegiance includes Dawgs, Yellow Jackets, or War Eagles, you will be received as warmly as Michael Moore at the Republican Convention…

4. Ted Turner owns everything. If he doesn’t, Arthur Blank just bought it…

3. A start by John Smoltz at a Braves game equals game over. An appearance by the Braves in late October means that Satan is ice-skating…

2. If you attend NPCC, you are either an Andy Stanley fan or a Louie Giglio fan. You can’t be both…

1. Life is not that simple.

Life is not simple. Geography and grits will not help you evade unpredictable events and circumstances. The beauty of a fall day in north Atlanta will not quell the storms of life that almost always come. Times of tension will rain and reign for a time. The question for you and me is “What will we do with that tension?”

I used to wish that I could have the foresight to see those times beforehand. I even prayed that way. “God, give me Superman x-ray wisdom to see what is coming. I want to be ready.” I foolishly prayed that way until I realized that I really could not handle what I was asking of God. You and I cannot handle such foresight. For God to reveal that to us would be, in essence, God revealing Himself and all of His glory to us. My finite mind trying to understand the sum of the character and attributes of God is not exactly a promising event.

It is for this reason that men and women in the Old Testament could not look on the face of God. It is the reason why God placed Moses in the cleft of a rock: so He could pass by without Moses seeing His greatness in full. Moses only saw God’s back. Not His face. He could not see Him coming. He definitely saw Him passing.

I am learning to embrace the tension that bubbles to the top of my life. The principles of weight lifting are appropriate: Just because you have a weight bench, weights and work out clothes with a Swoosh on them does not mean you are getting stronger. You only get strong when you embrace the tension and get under the weight. That is where your physical muscle is sculpted. And that is where your faith muscle is sculpted as well.

There is something not so simple coming. Mark it down. And it will come to serve as tension in your life.

I am grateful for the back of God: Revelation in retrospect in the midst of unpredictable events. Sometimes the tension is almost unbearable. But it is making my faith so much stronger and life a lot less complicated.

And my neighbors are watching . . .

Big News!

Ok while most of you may know this, but in case not beth and I have lots of BIG news!

1. We are having a Baby! Beth is due October 10th! Which is both scary and really exciting all at the same time.

2. We are moving to North Atlanta. More specifically the cumming area. We'll leave on the 9th of March, so lots of packing etc. is in store. I will be working as a Route Manager for TrueGreen Chem lawn. Not my end goal as a career choice, but a good job to take care of our expanding family.

More to come on both of those in future posts, but wanted to let you know.

Also, I will be finishing the movie series in the coming weeks (hoping before the end of March).

The Most Dissapointing Movies of 2006

Invincible

Walberg is quickly becoming a must see actor, but this was not one of those movies. I thought the story was so-so, but more then anything it was mis-titled. There is nothing about the lead character in this movie that is invincible. It would have been better titled "Reluctant hero"




The Nativity Story

I didn't even expect this to be great, but it makes the list for two reasons. First, the movie had the wise men at the manger (which go read your bible, they weren't there) and there were 3 of them. This was not only too cliche, but just not acurate. Second the angels were so weak, I mean there was nothing to be afraid of, no reason to think that they were that different then an average person.


Taladega Knights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

"Chet, I'm gonna be all over you like a Spydur Monkey!" Ok, it did have some funny scenes and some funny lines! The family dinner scene cracked me up, but in the end it just wasn't as funny as I hoped it would be and was a little crass. This could have been a case of too high of expectations.


Little Miss Sunshine

Speaking of Crass movies this one was certainly that. It too had it's moments, but I just didn't have any of those laugh out loud moments. The story was really not that compelling, and Greg Kinnear's character just made me tense the whole time. If you didn't see it don't bother.


X-Men: The Last Stand

Brett Ratner, your no Brian Singer. The X-men franchise had been really good at combining action and character development, in the first two movies. But Ratner was not able to maintain the quality of the previous films. For one it was too short, they could have let it breathe a little more. Second they had an entire plot line that was pointless (the angel character). And didn't allow for very meaningful dialog. Overall I really expected this to be a little more fun then it turned out.


Stranger Then Fiction
I thought this might be the movie where Will Ferrel showed that he was more then just a comedian, ala Jim Carrey in "The Truman Show". But it ultimately was just disappointing. The premise was good, a guy who hears the voice of the author who is writing his life.

I was hoping this would be in the same vein as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind", a little quirky, and kind of weird, but ultimately original and satisfying.
While it was original it was not that satisfying. Really the movie failed to capitalize on the one thing it had going for it which was the voice. It didn't and so I'm sad to say it's on this list.

href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343737/">The Good Shepard

This movie directed by Robert Deniro, starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie had a lot of promise! It was one of the movies I was most looking forward to this fall. And wow! Robby stick to your day job. The plot wasn't that bad, but it took soooooo long to get to the end of the movie I just didn't care any more.

Jolie doesn't even make the first hour of the movie and when she is on the screen she has nothing to do. Honestly, I think that she was miss cast as the stay at home house wife. Damon, plays his character rather well, the problem is it's a boring character.

In the end I think they could have cut out about an hour in the film and it would have been a much better production.

2006 Movie Review Pt. 2

#10 The Break –up

If you haven't seen this movie then you need to know that it was probably the most poorly marketed movies of the year. It was billed as a romantic comedy, and while it has some funny parts, I wouldn't call it a comedy, and it's not really that romantic.

The movie, as it's title would suggest, is about a break-up, a Bad break-up. The movie centers around the fact that neither wants to give-up their loft apartment. Vince Vaughn plays his typical role, opposite a decent preformance by Jennifer Aniston.

What I liked about the movie is that is wasn't your typical romantic comedy. It has a some grit to it. Several scenes that were very believable, and emotional. It doesn't let you off the hook just to advance the plot it makes the characters, actually have to work through some issues. It's not perfect but good enough for #10


#9 The Illusionist

Ed Norton and Jessica Beil, did a good job in pulling off this tale of romance and intrigue. However, Paul Giamotti was worth the price of admission. The plot was so, so but the cast made up for it .

#8 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
& A Prairie Home Companion

The tie here is becasue I just had a lot of fun while watching both of these movies. Neither are oscar worthy, both were enjoyable.

This movie I remeber stopping about half way through and say to myself, half these guys are digitally enhanced. They did an incredible job, with the CGI, i haven't seen anything this good since Golum in the Lord of the rings series.

Good summer popcorn flix.

I've been a admirer of Garrison Keeler since i was in college. I love tails from lake Wobegone, and thought this would be an interesting show. It didn't dissapoint! It has a good pace to it and has lots of good individual moments.

The best however are John C. Rielly and Woody Harolson, as the singing cowboys. Funny stuff.





#7 Freedom Writers

This was the biggest suprise of the year to me. I expected a "Dangerous Minds", "Stand and Deliver" type of knock off. But Hillary Swank did a tremendous job of being a real person, and true to her character.

Also the movie doesn't overwhelm you with the cheese that it could. It doesn't make everything ok. What it does do is give you a picture of what could be. What happens when you provide a place where students feel like family, and give them a place to feel safe.

If you work with students in any capacity you have to see this movie!


#6 Mean Girls & Brick
Both of these movies are about high school kids. And they are on completely different ends of the spectrum, but both good shows.

(yeah I know this came out in 2004, but I just saw it)

I saw about 5 minutes of this on TBS and really wanted to rent it. After seeing just how mean girls really can be in middle school, the makers of this movie nailed it!

You have to be able to appreciate the hyperbole, and real nastiness that can occur in this realm of popularity and status. The show also showed what can happen to a person who get's wrapped up in them selves and how they appear. But really what it did best is show just how MEAN girls really can be.

This movie is really gritty. It is a film Noir (detective) set in a High school. It's complete with a murder and a good bit of violence. The lead is the kid from "3rd Rock from the Sun". If you have the stomach for it, it does a good job of capturing the high school mind set and putting a n interesting twist on it.

Movie Review, Pt. 1 continued (from the wife)

Well, I am not quite the movie buff like Buck, but I have tried to dive into movies a bit more than "I liked it" or "I didn't like it" since we have been married; so, I thought I would join him in this movie review of 2006!

Here are my two biggest surprises of the year (this means I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would):

CHILDREN OF MEN
The concept of this movie was very intriguing. The pace was very good even though it was a long movie...much slower and I would have left gloomy and depressed. The thing I loved most about the movie was all the "talking points" it provided. I could see this movie playing out
wonderfully in a college classroom. It attacked so many issues our country and our world is facing...it really made me sit back and think about what I thought.

ERAGON
I feel a little cheesy writing about this movie. The movie we wanted to see wasn't playing so I agreed to sit through this movie...the reason that is such a big deal is that there is nothing appealing to me about the story, characters, genre, etc. I have never seen Lord of the Rings or other epic tales of adventure. So, the story moved well & captivated me. I still don't think it is a great movie, but I did stay awake, and I would recommend it to others as a one-time see!

2006 Movie Review Pt. 1

Ok, I’m a movie buff I love going to the movies or even just watching one at home. So I thought it would be fun to review the Movies I’ve most enjoyed, and the ones that disappointed me the most, and what I’m looking forward to in 2007.

Now let me say that this is only the movies I have seen. There are a ton of movies that I’m really interested in seeing that I just haven’t been able to get to, many of them are up for Oscars. I’ll list those at the end so you know which weren’t under consideration

Let me just say this is MY favorites. Meaning these are the movies that I enjoyed watching the most, not all of them are “great movies”, but I really enjoyed them.

So over the next week or so I’ll give you my top movies for 2006 (so far) and the ones I was most disappointed in, and what really peaks my interest for the coming year. Also, Beth is going to join the fun as well so she’ll be posting her list as well.

For now let me start with a couple of movies that “Surprised me”. This simply means that I didn’t really expect the movie to be as enjoyable as it was for me.

Cars – The guys are Pixar are incredible, but for whatever reason I just didn’t really like the concept behind this movie. However, the opening scene had me hooked. It was really incredible from a visual perspective. And this is from my 27 inch non-hi-definition sanyo.

The story was well paced, and the message of the movie (life doesn’t have to be lived at mach 12, slow down and enjoy the journey) was first-rate. It’s not a movie I’d watch a lot but I enjoyed it and would say it’s worth a viewing

The Holiday – I wasn’t really thrilled with the cast, and was really leery of a romantic comedy with Jack Black in it. But it was a lazy afternoon and this was the best thing playing so Beth and I went.

I had an absolute blast! I found the the film to be very original, especially for this genre. The film captured some incredibly authentic moments that were priceless to me I remember thinking on several occasions wow, that’s just like someone I know.

Typing this now I want to rewatch it just to see those again. It’s not a perfect film, but it definitely surprised me and I'll catch it again soon.

Ok, well that's it for now, more to come later in the week!

A Preview

Well it's almost tomorrow and I can't sleep, so I thought I'd give you a preview of some posts that are brewing.

1. Missional Communities - Some friends of ours recently joined a new church and they do small groups in a unique way. It's intriguing to me and honestly God is really challenging me with this idea /concept. But more on that later . . .

2. 2006 Movie Review - Not the best of but just a review of the movies I liked, disliked and was surprised by, my wife says that she will join me in this post.

3. This may not make it to fruition, but I'd like to put together a top 5/10 of anticipated movies.

4. An update on the two of us. Look for this more around mid to late February.

True Greatness

This made me laugh. Thanks to the guys at Relevant Magazine.

A creative film troupe has turned the campy 1991 film Point Break into a stage production. In the original Keanu Reeves film, Johnny Utah, a retired college football-turned-cop teams up with Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey) to catch a gang of surfing bank robbers. In Point Break LIVE! the play, each night an audience member is chosen to play the lead with the help of cue cards. The director said the idea was to capture the clueless essence of Reeves. Gary Busey will not be allowed to attend for numerous safety reasons ...

Made to Love

You know how every once in awhile you hear a song...and you remember the grace that is poured into your life everyday by our wonderful Savior, Jesus. Well, there is not a ton of confusion when it comes to what our life is supposed to look like as a follower of Christ:

Made To Love by Toby Mac

The dream is fading, now I'm staring at the door
I know its over cause my feet have hit the cold floor
Check my reflection, I ain't feelin what I see
It's no mystery
Whatever happened to a passion I could live for
What became of the flame that made me feel more
And when did I forget that...

I was made to love you
I was made to find you
I was made just for you
Made to adore you
I was made to love
And be loved by you
You were here before me
You were waiting on me
And you said you'd keep me
Never would you leave me I was made to love
and be loved by you

The dream's alive with my eyes opened wide
Back in the ring you've got me swinging for the grand prize
I feel the haters spittin vapors on my dreams
But I still believe
I'm reachin out, reachin up, reachin over
I feel a breeze cover me called Jehovah
And daddy I'm on my way
Cause I was made to love...


Anything I would give up for you
Everything, I'd give it all away

The Future of Mobile Technology

This will be the next phone I own! I'm already a Cingular customer and I can't wait till next Christmas!

If you want to see just how cool it is go to apple.com, It's amazing!

Your favorite super hero?

Inspired by a recent survey on Robnamy.com I'm curious.

FOOTBALL IS ENDING...SPIRIT IS NOT!

YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A STARBUCKS GIFTCARD!

Please send me the most creative & most spirited "TOUCHDOWN" picture. Obviously, "TOUCHDOWN AUBURN" pictures are highly encouraged, but support YOUR team...even though it is much less of a team:) Pictures must be submitted by March 1, 2007 to be considered for the prize! Photos can be e-mailed to bethwebb@auburnalum.org or mailed to me....e-mail me for the address. Have Fun!

By the way, those are two of my roommates from college, Molly & Tara, who were going to miss a football game. They sent themselves with me:)

Sometimes it takes losing your toe to wake you up!

This article was originally posted on Wholehogsports.com

The kid in the article is named Darren McFadden and he's THE best running back in the country, he came in #2 (to a Senior QB) in the heisman race, and he's only a sophmore. I hadn't heard this story before, but It's pretty cool and worth the read.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Lying in bed, staring out the window, he had no idea what the haunting hollowness was about.

Just more than 36 hours earlier, Darren McFadden had gotten into a fight. He had lost a shoe but kicked one more time, and when he was pulled back by friends, his big toe was hanging by two or three tendons at the first joint.

It wasn’t just the thought of his football career being over that was eating at him that Sunday afternoon.

“I didn’t know what it was, but that it was something real,” McFadden said last week after a practice for the Capital One Bowl. “Something was missing, and I knew I needed that something.”

McFadden was missing God.

Like millions of others, he thought he was OK. He made some boyish mistakes, such as the fight, and he sometimes pushed the envelope, but he was polite to his elders and nice to youngsters.

“I was raised to treat others like I wanted to be treated, but I wasn’t raised in the church,” he said. “I really didn’t know much about religion or God. I thought it was enough to be a decent person.”

The fight, now known as the incident, was his wake-up call.

Football had been his God, and he didn’t know that afternoon if he would have the game he loved so much anymore.

“The thought of not playing any more bothered me, but I knew what was going on in my heart and head was bigger than that,” he said.

Within a few days after returning to Fayetteville, with his future still unknown, McFadden was approached by Marcus Carruthers, who started Dwelling Place Church in November 2004.

Carruthers was engaging and unchallenging, and McFadden became intrigued.

It didn’t take long for McFadden to realize the incident may have been a mistake, but some good was going to come out of it.

It had been a wake-up call, and he was paying attention.

His spirit began to heal faster than his toe.

McFadden had a multitude of questions, and Carruthers had an answer for every one of them.

To the surprise of almost everyone but himself, McFadden started the season opener against Southern Cal, although his play was limited and he spent more time as a decoy than a threat.

A week later, he rushed for 184 yards against Utah State, and at that point it would have been easy to decide football really was a god.

He followed that with games in which he rushed for 71 against Vanderbilt and then 112 against Alabama, and he was almost 100 percent physically.

Spiritually, he was still growing, meeting regularly with Carruthers and attending church at Dwelling Place.

In a 27-10 victory over Auburn — a game that set the tempo for the season — McFadden ran for 145 yards.

The team arrived home late Saturday evening, but McFadden was up bright and early the next morning.

To the delight of the small congregation, McFadden was baptized that morning.

The next two months became a whirlwind for the sophomore. He was a late entry for the Doak Walker Award, given to the best running back in the country, and his name was coming up in the same sentence as Heisman Trophy.

After he bullied LSU for 182 yards and two touchdowns, he was a legitimate contender for any and all awards.

The Wildcat formation had thrust him into the college football spotlight. He ran, passed and handed off like a veteran quarterback, and the experts were impressed.

He was invited to Orlando, where he won the running back award, and then flown to New York, where he finished as runner-up in the Heisman balloting.

Through it all, he did not change.

His foundation is now solid with spirituality.

“Darren has always been a little quiet, but after he was baptized, he became very humble and that never changed,” Keith Jackson Jr. said.

That doesn’t mean he’s perfect, and last week, with a smile, he said: “I have to ask for forgiveness a lot.”

Now he gets it.

Merry Christmas!

I don't feel like posting right this second, but I was rereading an old blog and found this quote. Consider it a Christmas present . . .

"There is a danger in labeling things Christian. The word Christian first appears in the Bible as a noun. It's a person who follows Jesus. It's not an adjective that you attach to things to make them safe and palatable. So a Christian is someone who lives a certain way-who has oriented their life around a certain Savior's teachings, who believes profound things about the very ground of their being, who actually believes that compassion can change the world. A Christian is someone who lives a certain way. In the New Testament it's not a label that you attach to things in order to make them safe. Here's why: because something can be labeled christen and not be true and somethings can be true and not be labeled Christian."

- Rob Bell, teaching pastor, Mars Hill Church

Buyer beware!

Dear Warranty Holder,

Thank you for your email or fax. We have confirmed receipt of your claim form.

While we make every effort to accommodate and satisfy our consumers, we regret to inform you that your claim has been declined for the following reasons:

Per the terms and obligations of your limited product warranty, each occurrence of stains and damage must be reported to Stainsafe within the time frame stated on your limited product warranty certificate. Unfortunately, any claim reported outside this time frame must be declined.

(I only saw this on thier web-site after i filed my claim and it's no where in the pamphlet I recieved upon purchase.)

If you require a technician’s referral to assist you with this issue, please call our warranty center at the telephone number referenced on your limited product warranty certificate or reply back to this email. Please note that any service provided by an authorized Stainsafe technician on a denied claim will be at the expense of the warranty holder.

If you have any questions regarding coverage’s, exclusion and warranty holder responsibilities, please refer to your limited product warranty certificate for detailed information.

Respectfully,

On-Line Customer Care Correspondent

Stainsafe, Inc.

The Time frame FYI is 5 days. The companys 1-800 # simply tells you to fax or e-mail them your claim. I still have no idea how to talk to a person.

My warning to you is to Never Buy any thing with a Stain Safe Warranty. It's a bad deal, if you have any doubts google stain safe and you'll see what I mean.

It's Bowl Season Again...

Click Here for College Bowl Pick'em

Feel free to invite your friends to play as well! Have fun!

Snow

Ok so we went to Ohio last week. It was great to see a lot my family that I haven't seen in way to long. We felt very welcomed and were treated like royalty the whole time we were there. Aside from seeing family we also were hoping to catch a glimpse of snow. Seeing as how it "never" snows here except for the mountains.

Well, for those of you not from the NW. We've gotten a lot of snow the last couple of days. (probably like 1 to 2 inches). But the odd part is that it's actually stuck, typically it melts off in an afternoon. So schools were closed yesterday, and this morning was supposed to be chilly, but no new snow.

Here is where the fun begins. I'm used to cold weather we get plenty of it in the South and enough of it here to know what you are and aren't supposed to do. So this morning when I went to my car (which mind you has been sitting for the last 3 days because we decided to drive Beth's for errands the previous 2 days) it was obviously iced over. Now some where I used to have an ice scraper, no idea where that went. So I decide that water will do the trick.

I get luke warm pour it on my car it barely melts the snow let alone the ice. And here is where I made the crucial mistake. Knowing that it was a bad idea I decide that my wiper blades can probably get the snow off and I'll just wait for the defrost to get the ice. (I realize, now, that that ice is under the snow and closest to the wipers) So I turn on the wipers, which don't come on at first, so I turn them off, wait all of 2 seconds and try them again.

As the passengerside wiper began to clear the snow I realized that ice is a very powerful force. Because the drivers side never got going. Well that is until I grabbed it and manually moved the blade to clear the snow. So 3 liters of warm water later, I headed off to work.

I just hope that it doesn't snow/rain until I can get it fixed. Also, know ing that a $.99 scraper, or lack there of, will now cost me who knows how much to replace a wiperblade motor.

Thanksgiving

Well, Buck & I are currently in VanWert, Ohio...a tiny town in Western Ohio. Our journey started five days ago when we arrived in Cincinnati....our journey that is Buck's first trip back to Ohio (where he was born) in several years and my first trip to meet the extended family. We stayed with Jeff & Ryan...two cousins in their twenties...the first two nights. They took us to some Cincinnati favorites including two great restaurants and the Cincinnati History Museum. I also was able to eat at Chick-fil-A and Moes (two of my southern favs that are not in the Great Northwest). Then on Wednesday we headed north (here to VanWert) where Jeff's parents live. We have stayed with them the last three nights although we have been making day trips other places. We were also able to see Buck's parents, sister Diane, and her two girls. On Thursday we went about another two hours north and had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with the Kinney (Buck's mom) side of the family. I met about thirty-two new people. Then today, we drove about an hour east of here and had Thanksgiving with the Webb side of the family. I met about thirty-two more new people. It was a lot of fun. My favorite new person to meet was Grandpa! Buck talks about him all the time. He is 95, but you would never know it. I think one of my favorite things, besides the fact that he made me laugh, was how much Christ was reflected in Him. Also, he seemed the most interested in where we were serving & how God was working in our lives. It is always awesome to know you have someone like Him praying for you. Anyway, it has been a great trip. I am so thankful for a wonderful husband to share the journey of this life with. I have enjoyed learning more about him by meeting more of his family. Tomorrow is our relax & recover day before we head home on Sunday morning. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!