On Another Channel

As life has expanded and changed in recent months, I've begun another blog in another space - this one dedicated to my ministry with the people of Greencastle Presbyterian Church. You can find it at:

www.greencastlepresbyterian.blogspot.com

Wes

Bygones and Birthdays

Last week Anna took the kids up to Aunt Cindy's and Uncle Kirk's in Fort Wayne, IN. Kirk and Cindy are fortunate enough to live on a nice piece of land complete with their own horse barn and riding grounds. This meant Wyatt was able to take a ride on Bailey, one of Cindy's horses. Anna was super pleased to inform me that Wyatt did great on the horse - even pinching his knees in as Bailey took him up a fairly steep hill. And she assures me that Wyatt has a great sense of balance ... which I shamelessly take credit for. Here are a few pics from the ride.

And, yesterday, was my birthday, which happened to fall on perhaps the most beautiful day of the year so far. Wow, it was a great day - spent first at church in worship, followed by a day at Victory Field with Wyatt and some friends and concluded with a family dinner under the Bur Oak tree of our home.

After enjoying a wonderful meal, I received two incredible gifts. The first came from my wife, who did it again. This time a messenger back made of recycled plastic and including another of Anna's very cool mixed-media collages. This particular collage includes a stamp from Russia, a train ticket from one of my train rides from Bucharest to Timasoria back in college and a piece of a basketball. She knows me.

And, finally, my brother-in-law, Drew, surprised me big time with a sweet gift ... a 1971 Terranaut road bike. He picked it up at an antique store. Found it in pretty good shape, in fact. Then, he did some good work in updating a few things and restoring a few others. So, in all, I have a sweet way to get around Greencastle now. I am blessed.

Get it Straight

In the process of updating my iTunes library on the ol' work laptop I came across a Ten Shekel Shirt album: Risk. The opening track from this album is spot on ... just a great way to frame all of life. Here are the lyrics ... unfortunately I can't find a video to post:

It all begins with a risk...
Cause your desire is for this
To be loved and to love
its what everything is all about

I'm allowed to live to make the Maker smile
I vow to give the best years of my life

Live's meant to be like a kiss
Cause intimacy is bliss
To be loved and to love
is what everything is all about

I'm allowed to live to make the Maker smile
I vow to give the best years of my life

To be loved. Oh, to be loved.
And to love like You love is what everything is all about.

I'm allowed to live to make the Maker smile
I vow to give the best years of my life
Right now I live to make the Maker smile
I'm free to give the best years of my life

Now if I can just locate their first album, Much. That too was solid.

Wes

Painting

External Things

We started work on the outside of the house today: mostly scraping away at the old paint in preparation for a new coat. Anna and her mom and the kids managed to pick up some huge buckets of paint as well: a deep red, beige and tan.

Hopefully, we'll have some work-in-progress pictures up in the next couple of days.

Wes

Elise

Elise is walking everywhere these days...when she's not swimming, that is. She eats constantly, remains tiny, and I'm continuously blown away by how well she can communicate. There is never any doubt what this girl wants or is thinking... Below are pictures from the train ride mentioned in the next post.

Thomas and friends

Every once in a while, I make it in town to update this space with a few things from the homefront...

We have been busy, as is always the case when you live out in the country, we're finding. It is amazing just how much good work there is to be done. Constantly. For a break, my mom and I managed to get over to Connersville, Indiana with the kids to see Thomas the Tank Engine -- life size. We took a half hour train ride in a passenger car pulled by Thomas, and spent another hour or so taking in various Thomas-themed activities. I've got my eyes out for the original British edition stories...I think Wyatt would dig those.

Wyatt riding on the train (an original from 1932).

Me trying to explain all the abandoned forms of industry left along the train track by modern advances.

Wyatt after the ride, posing with "the big, big, big Thomas."