Labour Day weekend Ariel took her first airplane flight and headed out to Kingston, Ontario with my dad for two days. My brother is currently stationed there and she had a chance to visit him and check out the museum. Here are a few pics I stole from my mom of Ariel on her trip:) The hot guy in army fatigues - that would be my baby brother. Man, did he grow up! And yes ladies, he is SINGLE, lol.

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The first day of school today went fabulously! I had planned to talk to Kahlan’s teach before class because he always has such a hard time adjusting to new teachers and new kids but she was so busy that I decided to let it go and let him try it. When I asked her about it afterwards, she didn’t even realize he had that problem! She said he did perfectly - went right in and started making friends! I think my boy is growing up:( Awe:(

Speaking of growing up - Rayelle meet her teacher today and in 5 days, my last baby is off to school:(  OY VAY - how old am I?

Unless you are brand new to this blog and we’ve never met - chances are you noticed our obsession with baseball this year. Dave has loved baseball most of his life and has played on one church team with some friends for a number of years now. This year, he played on that team, a tournament team and also ran one of Southland’s teams. I also played with him on the Southland team and occasionally on the tournament team.

The church team has been a great experience. It is wonderful to see Dave being able to use something he is gifted in and has a passion for to serve God and minister to others as well. The one thing I found a little discouraging though was the attitude some people had towards the church league. Let me explain:

For the last couple months, Dave has been praying for a friend that God had put on his heart. This friend is not saved. During a cell meeting, Dave felt God calling him to pray for this person and find ways to serve him. Surprisingly - or maybe not surprisingly - just a few weeks later, this same person invited Dave to join the tournament team as it was short a pitcher!  Playing on the tournament team, Dave meet a number of great people who are not saved - and are not interested in being preached to. But they love baseball - so he continues to play with them and minister to them by the example he sets.

Now - when it comes to the church team - we started out with 15 players but early in the season we had a number of injuries and people leaving for work/family conflicts. We were short players, and all the players who had signed up had teams already. So, Dave saw a perfect opportunity to use the church team to minister to his friend. He invited him to join the team. Shortly after that, another player left and he brought in one more player he felt lead to invite. God was working - giving Dave an opportunity to bring two men, who have no interest in God or church, into regularly weekly contact with a group of Christian individuals. And on top of that, it was through something they loved, something they would have fun with. What a great way to show them that Christians aren’t “boring”.

Dave has never regretted his decision - especially after one of the two, the most unlikely, made a comment this past week about starting to go to church so he can play next year again. Sure - not the best reason to go to church - but God doesn’t care. It is not our responsibility to make them come for the right reasons. It is our responsibility to influence them through our actions and example simply to want to come - for any reason. God does the rest from there. On top of that, our children have built friendships with theirs, friendships that God will be able to use as well.

So there is what bothers me - a comment made by someone to me about “church teams being for church members”. Of course, I do think church members should get first bid - but there is NEVER, EVER a time or place that is not a good place to minister to others! Who knows what amazing work God is doing right now though this team?   The sad thing is - the reason most non-Christians don’t want to be like us is that same attitude behind the statement made. This is “our league”. If you’re not one of “us” we don’t want to let you in. We as Christians are well known for our ability to exclude and belittle anyone we see as “less worthy” then ourselves.

Who are we to judge God’s leading? Who are we to decide who is good enough and who isn’t? And most definitely - who are we to decide that God can’t use any part of our life to reach out to others?

God can - and will - use every part of our lives to influence those around us. Including Baseball. Don’t limit God’s ability to work through you by putting up walls around areas of your life where those who need God are not welcome.

Looked down from a broken sky.
Chased out by the city of lights.
My world from a mile high.
Best seat in the house tonight.
Touch down on the cold black-top.
Hold on for the sudden stop.
Breathe in the familiar shock of confusion and chaos.
All those people goin somewhere, why have I never cared.

Give me your eyes for just one second,
Give me your eyes so I can see,
Everything that I’ve keep missing,
Give your love for humanity.
Give me you arms for the broken heart and
the ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me the heart for the ones forgotten.
Give me you eyes so I can see.

Step out on the busy street.
See a girl and our eyes meet.
Does her best to smile at me.
To hide what’s underneath.
There’s a man just who arrived black suit and a bright red tie.
Too ashamed to tell his wife he’s out of work, he’s buyin time.
All those people goin somewhere, why have I never cared.

Give me your eyes for just one second,
Give me your eyes so I can see,
Everything that I’ve keep missing,
Give your love for humanity.
Give me you arms for the broken heart and
the ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me the heart for the ones forgotten.
Give me you eyes so I can see.

I’ve been there a million times.
A couple million lies.
Just movin past me by, I swear that I never thought that I was wrong.
But I wanna second glance so give me a second chance to see the way you’ve seen the people all along.

Give me your eyes for just one second,
Give me your eyes so I can see,
Everything that I’ve keep missing,
Give your love for humanity.
Give me you arms for the broken heart and
the ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me the heart for the ones forgotten.
Give me you eyes so I can see.

Give me your eyes for just one second,
Give me your eyes so I can see,
Everything that I’ve keep missing,

Give me you arms for the broken heart and
the ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me the heart for the ones forgotten.
Give me you eyes so I can see.

I promise, this will be my last vacation post:) I looked - and this makes it one less post then last year and we were only gone 2 nights last year - so not bad eh?   Overall, we had a fabulous week with wonderful weather. We did find it to be a bit of a long time to be away from everything and we have booked the cabin next year (yes ALREADY lol) for 3 nights in the beginning of July and 3 nights at the end of August. That will break it up nicer for us, and stretch our stay over the summer.

So - here are a few other random pics that didn’t fit the previous posts. Enjoy:)

The Look (given to Dave because he wouldn’t stop taking pictures while I was trying to enjoy a freezie)

Ariel - posing with my glasses and working on her vacation journal (I will put it on her blog shortly)

Sisters I love watching them together, it makes me feel bad for Kahlan for not having a brother though, lol.

And - relaxing:)

So, as promised - a photo comparison showing the water levels at the falls. All three pictures taken at the same spot and I added a red arrow pointing to the same rock to give a point of reference:)

2006 -  water level low, barely any rapids at this point.

2007 - Water levels somewhat high, much more rapids then last year.

2008 - Rapids are much bigger, the water level is so high it’s nearly reached the rock I used as the point of reference.

2008 Family Lodge Pic:)

2007 Family Lodge Pic:)

We didn’t think to take one in 2006:(

Friday morning was gorgeous and we decided it would be fun to have a sand castle competition! We divided the sand toys into two equal groups and teamed up girls against boys:)

The Girls Team

The girls picked a spot along the side of the beach and made a three-level castle of towers and walls. There was a rocky entry with a wood drawbridge and two bridges leading up the levels. The tops of some of the towers were decorated with berries and/or flowers. Ariel dug the moot around the castle leaving a wide area in the back so we turned it into a little flower garden. Ariel added a few pinecones as “trees”, for Rayelle (who LOVES pinecones, lol). Dave thought it had a Mayan look to it.

The Boys Team

The guys picked a spot in the middle of the beach and went for more of a Lord of the Rings Fortress look with a large raised fortress reinforced with boulders along the edges (stones). The fortress was protected by a wall and a moot. On top was one large tower and four small ones. They added a flag pole with a leaf flag, berries for color and some shells on the top tower for decoration.

Obviously, I think the girls team won - but being the fabulous parents that we are - we declared it a tie and everyone got to go down to the lodge and pick a candy treat as a prize.

Bonfires & Weiner Roasts:)

You can’t spend a week at the lodge without a few wiener roasts:) We ate more marshmallows this week then I have eaten in the last year, lol. Here are a few of my favorite pics once again:

Dave’s Birthday:)

Thursday was Dave’s birthday and I completely forgot to bring things to make a cake so we picked up a can of peaches, a white cake mix and a package of dream whip at the lodge. I made the cake using cut up peaches instead of oil and then topped it with more peaches and dream whip. It was amazing! Jordan came down for the day to fish with Dave, which was a nice treat for Dave. Of course, it was the only day of the week that we had rain but it was minor. We had about 2-3 spots of rain, none of which lasted more then a few minutes, and otherwise it was perfect fishing weather.