Youth Camp–Day 2

We spent most of the afternoon driving in the car!! We left camp after the morning celebration time and had to go all the way back to Ozark to pick up some papers for the banker. We are changing loan “programs” and are getting at “Rural Development” loan and this particular loan has manual underwriting instead of the web-based underwriting that we had already completed several weeks ago. We had to have a lot more documentation than the other loan had that we had already packed up and put in storage–nice. So, it was off to the storage unit and then to the house to get some more documents. While we were there, the Doyle’s came home, so the boys wanted to play, so we were later getting to Carthage than planned.

We did finally get to Carthage and back to camp just in time for dinner–not back in time to swim during free time. So after promising to stay and swim on Wednesday, we prepared for night two at camp.

I talked about one of my favorite stories in the Bible . . . John 11 and the story of Lazarus. We talked about why tragedy happens and that everything in life is for God’s glory–the good and the bad. The worship band has done an AWESOME job this week and did an excellent job tonight as well! They are called Broken Outside Beautiful. They are all from around Joplin and Cartersville (right next to Carthage.) So basically this is a week as they said, “to welcome me to the neighborhood.”

There was a lot of good discussion in church group times and I think the Lord really moved tonight!

Taylor and I went to the “Late, Late Night” and watched the “Don’t Forget the Lyrics.” Pretty cheesy indeed!!

Going to bed . . . Taylor and I are sharing a bed tonight and Jenny and Tucker sharing . . . we’ll see how that works for us tonight! Exhausted from all the driving and searching through the storage for files! More tomorrow. No showings today I don’t think–bummer.

Youth Camp–Monday Night

We had an awesome night at youth camp last night!! The worship was really good and I felt good about the message! The theme is “fresh” for camp this year. I will be talking about four different passages where people had “fresh encounters” with the Lord and He changed their lives. Last night, we talked about Nicodemus. The Gospel in one verse–John 3:16!

We are in a TINY room with the boys! We “acquired” a mattress from one of the dorms for the boys to share and Jenny and I are on a double bed using their fleece throws that Grandma Betty made for them this Christmas. We didn’t bring double sheets, just twins as we thought we would all be in twin bunks or something like that.

Taylor and Tucker stayed in the worship service last night through the entire service–including my talk. Tucker loves the drums, so he needed mom to hold him up to see the drums during worship and Taylor stayed on the side all night to watch the band and dad from close up. I’m really proud of them, but they are wearing mom out right now in that TINY room while she is getting ready!! Pray for that deal!!

Pray for our house to sell!! Did I mention the house needs to sell?!?

Here are some pics from last night:

Off to Youth Camp!!

We are heading off to Youth Camp at Baptist Hill Assembly outside of Mt. Vernon, MO.? I will be the camp pastor for the Greene County Baptist Association’s Youth Camp and Jenny and the boys are going to be hanging out with a bunch of teenagers.? Back to my roots!!? My friend, Kurt Simon, invited me to preach for them this week.? I am actually kind of nervous!? I haven’t been around a large group of teenagers in quite a while–and I am pretty scared of them to tell you the truth–just kidding.? I always have a nervous stomach before these kinds of events because I know the potential that is just waiting to be realized.

I can remember youth camp at Centrifuge in Glorieta, NM when I was going to be a Freshman in High School.? I can remember making a decision at that camp that I wanted to be around these kinds of environments for the rest of my life!? Maybe it was the shorts and t-shirts, but I think it was the Lord calling me to ministry!

Be praying that God really moves in the hearts of these students and leaders this week!

Beach Disaster Part Deux

We must be a real glutton for punishment as we ventured out to give the beach the old college try once more, but this time right across the street from the condo. Tucker didn’t get a good night’s rest, so he was teetering on the edge of meltdown. He was a little confused at where he was at last night and didn’t really get to sleep at all. Basically it was not going to happen . . . so Tucker had to go back to the condo and take a long nap. Taylor and I went to the pool later on.

Here is Taylor’s Travelogue . . .

The next day day we went back to the beach in front of our condo. We were only there like 20 minutes. Then we went to the pool by our room. My dad and me raced. I won every time!

No pictures of this crazy day

Beach Disaster–June 25

We decided to give the beach another try and headed out to the St. Andrews State Park (which is really awesome, by the way) to get some beach time. The boys didn’t think the “our” beach was clean enough, especially after going to the Shell Island beach the other day, so we were going to try to go to a cleaner beach. I find it funny that Taylor says “that is the cleanest/dirtiest beach I have ever seen.” Oh yeah, how many beaches have you seen buddy?

We had made our lunch, packed the chairs (thanks Gary and Fran) and a canopy shelter (thanks mom and dad). I realize that the picture on the front of the canopy is a beach scene, but they definitely didn’t have the beach scene we have had the entire time here–pretty brisk wind. So basically our canopy deal didn’t work because it was too flimsy for the large winds on the beach.

Secondly, what is always at the beach and tends to multiply?? Everybody? SAND! When God promised Abram that he would make his children as many as the grains of sand on the seashore, he wasn’t messing around!! I think the boys like the idea of the beach and the sand, but they get sand on their hands, then head to their faces to scratch an itch or whatever and the get sand in their eyes. Then add an anger management issues and throwing sand at each other and you have a disaster on your hands. That is what we had on our anniversary morning and early afternoon–a full on beach disappointment.

We left the beach just in time to head to Happy Hour at Sonic (wish is was something else, quite frankly–just kidding). It is “anti-customer service week at the beac”h for us, so even something as simple as some drinks turns into an almost 45 minute ordeal. The first hint was that the girl came over the speaker and said there was a 15 minute wait, would we still want to order. Well, we had just gotten done with an absolute beating with a two year old, so we needed some self-medication for sure. We ordered our drinks and watched all of the cars on our side come and go. . . 25 minutes go by and Jenny walks up to the door. She is not alone. There is a pretty upset senior adult who wants names and telephone numbers of district managers. The beauty of the deal was that the manager and assistant manager are both sitting down eating while the short staff is drowning. They didn’t even come out to face the angered public, they sent this poor teenage boy out to try to calm down the masses. Forty-five minutes and free drinks later, we were off to take a nap at the condo.

We had some really good hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner and ventured out to get those awesome vacation pictures next to the sea oats and the sunsets. Did I mention that Tucker doesn’t really like the sand and waves? I think I did.

Overall, we had a really good time and we think we got some good pictures to capture the memories of this week. We had to go to the pool before bed and really had a good time at the pool.

Here is Taylor’s entry for the day . . .

We went to the ocean. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to the pool.

Here are a few of the pics from that photo shoot . . .

Anniversary in Florida

We probably put WAY too many eggs into the Anniversary basket and hoped that the boys would even give a rip about the fact that 13 years ago, we started this family and they are a huge part if it!!

I took the boys to the pool so that mom could have some alone time on her anniversary and then we came back and had a nap, yeah right!

We got to go out for a “romantic” dinner with the boys at a place called “Calypso.” We sat out on the back deck where they put all of the loud families with crazy kids. There was live music from a guy that did a bunch of 80s covers. He was really pretty good. We met some nice folks from Georgia that had a boy in between Taylor and Tucker. We had some awesome fried pickles as well as what Jenny called “the best onion rings I have ever had.” Overall, it was a really good experience for us.

Here are some pics from the Anniversary dinner . . .

Vacation Pics-Day 4 (including boat cruise)

Here are some pictures from our vacation that didn’t get sent last night as I forgot my camera . . . Enjoy!

Those dorsal fins are dolphins, not sharks. And yes, those folks are feeding the dolphins. Sorry all of these photos don’t go with the posts too well. . . but hey, we’re on vacation right?

Are you praying for our house to sell?? You need to be!!!

Sorry, there are a “boat load” of pictures in this post gallery . . . pretty punny, huh?

Vacation Pics–Day 3

Here are some pictures from our vacation that didn’t get sent last night as I forgot my camera . . . Enjoy!

In Loving Memory . . .

Just got this email from Jason McMillan about his mom who passed away last night.? Please be in prayer for the McMillan and Manna Worldwide families with the loss of Valerye.? Here is the email I received:

In Loving Memory of


Valerye Jean McMillan (Tweedell)
January 12, 1954 ? June 23, 2008

From a sweet little girl, to a great wife, to an unbelievable Mom, and now an Angel of the Lord.? She was the most kind, caring, faithful, and loving person we?ve ever known.? Her example of God?s love and selflessness will be her legacy.? Please join us in celebrating her life on Friday June 27th, at 10:00 a.m. at Barnes Family Funeral Home – 1700 S. 15th St. – Ozark, MO 65721 (417-581-7811) Visitation will be held at the same location on Thursday evening, the 26th, from 6pm to 8pm.? Hazel?s Flowers (417-581-2328) will be providing flowers.? However, In lieu of sending flowers, Valerye asked that donations be made to MANNA WORLDWIDE in her honor.? As a missionary with MANNA, Valerye received great joy in her work and would like that work to continue even after her passing.

Please make donations payable to MANNA WORLDWIDE 4201 W. Risinger Road, Ft. Worth, TX 76123
(817) 346.3641.? Please write Valerye McMillan Memorial on your check.

Happy 13th Anniversary, Jenny!

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary!! Feels like it was just yesterday when we got married and came down here to Florida for our honeymoon. Jenny has really been everything to me over the last 17 or so years!! I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have her to share my life with!! She understands me when others don’t seem to get me at all. She is able to “translate” for me all of the time.

We are going to have a romantic evening out for dinner somewhere with the boys tomorrow night! Ha! I hope we will be able to have many, many more years together as we start this new adventure in Carthage together!

I love you Jenny! Happy Anniversary!!