This video has been all over the internet. I'll be more surprised if you haven't seen it then if you have.
But since we are now the owners of a new-to-us Toyota Sienna I had to post it.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Big Changes Pt. 2
Back in this post I told you about our new plans.
What I didn't tell you was that for the last year we had been praying about and planning on moving to Gainesville, FL. You see, after returning home from the conference we knew we had to go somewhere to be a part of an organic church. And we knew that Jesus was inviting us to go to Gainesville.
But there was a catch.
We had no way of getting there. (read: absolutely no money)
So we prayed and waited. And along came New York Life Insurance. The beauty of RC's new career is the ability to do it anywhere in the U.S.. The bummer was that it was gonna take months to get liscensed and trained. But we prayed some more and felt confident moving forward with NYL. And in January 2010 he started.
Throughout this journey we had the companionship of another family. They, like us, had attended the conference and left with the same desire and plans. (no, not everyone that attended the conference left feeling that way. We were actually the only ones.) They, also like us, needed funds and NYL was the ticket for them as well. But they also had another trick in the bag. They owned their home. So in May they listed their house and sold it within a week. Seriously.
And at the end of July they were leaving A-town in a huge moving van headed for Gainesville. And we were still in A-town, absolutely no closer to leaving. It was hard. Honestly, it easily ranks in my top 5 of hardest things ever gone through.
We knew we couldn't stay in A-town alone. We needed others and so we made a few contacts with people in The City. And we started to get excited. What if we could figure out a way to move to The City instead. Surely that was more doable than moving across the country. So we talked to people. My parents, the organic church in The City, RC's parent's, our friends in Gainesville and all of a sudden we were making some changes.
And then God dropped a bomb.
We recieved an anonymous gift specifically for moving to Gainesville. (read: no move, no gift) And we were back on our knees. But we didn't stay there long bc in our minds the gift wasn't enough to actually make the move. We still needed more. So we prayed on the go. You know: kept moving in our direction while occasionally asking God what He wanted. The problem with praying on the go is that we rarely take the time to listen for His answer.
And the weekend we planned to move in with my parents Bobo ended up in the hospital. Well, if we weren't gonna stop to listen I guess God was gonna stop us. But it still seemed impossible.
Then we had an idea. Maybe we could use the gift for an extended vacation in Gainesville. You know, put our stuff in storage and just go hang out with our friends from A-town for a month. And for about three days we liked this idea. But something still wasn't right.
And then the rain from the hurricane landed our way and we were delayed once again in moving in with my parents. And that's when we got real.
Christ made it clear that it was not His will for us to just take an extended vaca. (read: no MOVE, no gift) He is worth more than that and He was asking us to make a commitment. To trust Him and go where He had invited us to go. And as we opened our hearts to Him the puzzle pieces started to fall into place.
Does our plan look like something akin to the 'American Dream'? Not at all. Many people would say we are crazy and taking steps backward. But if you truly believe what our Lord says, then no earthly or temporary thing is worth missing out on Him. We are moving to Gainesville at the end of this month. The things of true value are always worth great cost.
But that is why their value is TRUE.
We are moving in with our A-town friends and RC will start working right away using his non resident FL liscense. And we will go from there...
Bridget
*I in no way mean to imply that Christ is only in Gainesville. We all know that is not true. What I am saying is that moving there is what Christ is asking of US. And I am encouraging you to accept whatever invitation He is offering you. It is worth whatever it costs you. ALWAYS. Because it is always more of HIM. And He is worth more than riches untold.
"and the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."
What I didn't tell you was that for the last year we had been praying about and planning on moving to Gainesville, FL. You see, after returning home from the conference we knew we had to go somewhere to be a part of an organic church. And we knew that Jesus was inviting us to go to Gainesville.
But there was a catch.
We had no way of getting there. (read: absolutely no money)
So we prayed and waited. And along came New York Life Insurance. The beauty of RC's new career is the ability to do it anywhere in the U.S.. The bummer was that it was gonna take months to get liscensed and trained. But we prayed some more and felt confident moving forward with NYL. And in January 2010 he started.
Throughout this journey we had the companionship of another family. They, like us, had attended the conference and left with the same desire and plans. (no, not everyone that attended the conference left feeling that way. We were actually the only ones.) They, also like us, needed funds and NYL was the ticket for them as well. But they also had another trick in the bag. They owned their home. So in May they listed their house and sold it within a week. Seriously.
And at the end of July they were leaving A-town in a huge moving van headed for Gainesville. And we were still in A-town, absolutely no closer to leaving. It was hard. Honestly, it easily ranks in my top 5 of hardest things ever gone through.
We knew we couldn't stay in A-town alone. We needed others and so we made a few contacts with people in The City. And we started to get excited. What if we could figure out a way to move to The City instead. Surely that was more doable than moving across the country. So we talked to people. My parents, the organic church in The City, RC's parent's, our friends in Gainesville and all of a sudden we were making some changes.
And then God dropped a bomb.
We recieved an anonymous gift specifically for moving to Gainesville. (read: no move, no gift) And we were back on our knees. But we didn't stay there long bc in our minds the gift wasn't enough to actually make the move. We still needed more. So we prayed on the go. You know: kept moving in our direction while occasionally asking God what He wanted. The problem with praying on the go is that we rarely take the time to listen for His answer.
And the weekend we planned to move in with my parents Bobo ended up in the hospital. Well, if we weren't gonna stop to listen I guess God was gonna stop us. But it still seemed impossible.
Then we had an idea. Maybe we could use the gift for an extended vacation in Gainesville. You know, put our stuff in storage and just go hang out with our friends from A-town for a month. And for about three days we liked this idea. But something still wasn't right.
And then the rain from the hurricane landed our way and we were delayed once again in moving in with my parents. And that's when we got real.
Christ made it clear that it was not His will for us to just take an extended vaca. (read: no MOVE, no gift) He is worth more than that and He was asking us to make a commitment. To trust Him and go where He had invited us to go. And as we opened our hearts to Him the puzzle pieces started to fall into place.
Does our plan look like something akin to the 'American Dream'? Not at all. Many people would say we are crazy and taking steps backward. But if you truly believe what our Lord says, then no earthly or temporary thing is worth missing out on Him. We are moving to Gainesville at the end of this month. The things of true value are always worth great cost.
But that is why their value is TRUE.
We are moving in with our A-town friends and RC will start working right away using his non resident FL liscense. And we will go from there...
Bridget
*I in no way mean to imply that Christ is only in Gainesville. We all know that is not true. What I am saying is that moving there is what Christ is asking of US. And I am encouraging you to accept whatever invitation He is offering you. It is worth whatever it costs you. ALWAYS. Because it is always more of HIM. And He is worth more than riches untold.
"and the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
What We Did This Summer: Zoo Edition Pt. 2
Our trip to the zoo continued with the birds and the butterflies. 
Unfortunately, the torrential rains I talked about in the previous post had killed most of the butterflies. =( However, Princess was as excited with a dead one as she would have been with a live one.
This crane was quite friendly.
So after all the birds and butterflies we sunned with the bears...
...and slithered with the snakes...
...and swam with the otters...
...and stretched with the eagles...
...and stalked with the alligators...
...and played hide and seek with Nemo...
...and swam some more with the sea lions...
...and then we climbed with/on the gorillas...
...and rode on a baby rhino.
We had a wonderful day at the zoo...
...despite what Bear says.
Bridget
Unfortunately, the torrential rains I talked about in the previous post had killed most of the butterflies. =( However, Princess was as excited with a dead one as she would have been with a live one.
This crane was quite friendly.
So after all the birds and butterflies we sunned with the bears...
...and slithered with the snakes...
...and swam with the otters...
...and stretched with the eagles...
...and stalked with the alligators...
...and played hide and seek with Nemo...
...and swam some more with the sea lions...
...and then we climbed with/on the gorillas...
...and rode on a baby rhino.
We had a wonderful day at the zoo...
...despite what Bear says.
BridgetFriday, September 10, 2010
What We Did This Summer: Zoo Edition Pt. 1
The kids and I hit The City Zoo this summer. There was torrential rain and flooding the day before so we weren't sure if it was going to be open. But as luck would have it, not only was it open but the heavy rains the day before kept many guests away and the weather quite a few degrees cooler. It was a fabulous day!
This beautiful peacock was one of the first to greet us. The peacocks at the zoo are able to go wherever they please (except out of the zoo, of course) so they just kinda run, and fly, and land on fences to pose for you.
Then we met the monkeys. They were quite inspiring:
The City Zoo has a fabulous children's zoo in it. That's where we met this guy:
The workers handed out little cups of something the birds love to drink and if you hold the cup out the birds will land on you to drink it. Princess was a little unsure so I let the bird land on me.
Bear won the staring contest. And, yes, I'm holding the bird on one hand and the camera with the other.
One lady had four birds on her at one time and if you look on the right side of the pic above you can see a girl with a bird on her shoulder. I guestimate there were at least 25 birds in the cage. An all green guy:
Then we raced down the slides.
And we helped each other climb tree houses.
We saw a Mama Peacock and her baby taking a walk.
We saw a tortoise shell up close...
...and then saw the real live thing!
One of the highlights of the day was seeing this peacock...
...open his tail feathers! It is not only amazing but also very noisy. It's like he has to shake them out to get them to open, but man was it super cool to see! 
If you look on the right side of the picture below, behind the peacock you can see the female he was showing off for. She loved it and came running! =)
Popeye made friends with a hippo.
And Princess made friends with an elephant skull. Kidding.
This is only half of our zoo adventure. More pics tomorrow!Bridget
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Outtakes from our Photo Shoot
As you can tell by the new header, we had a little impromptu photo session yesterday evening. I couldn't pass up sharing some others.
Enjoy. (and remember: you can click on the pics to make them bigger.)
Bridget
Enjoy. (and remember: you can click on the pics to make them bigger.)
Bridget
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