2008 Bristol Mum Parade

Yesterday was the annual Bristol Mum Parade, the popular pinnacle to the week-long annual Bristol Mum Festival. And, fortunately for us, our new home was on the parade route. Sarah’s Dad and stepmother, Robbin, always have friends and family over for the day to enjoy the parade, cooler temperatures and changing leaves, but yesterday’s gathering was even more exciting since we also celebrated Robbin’s 50th birthday! The birthday theme was “everything-I-wanted-at-a-party-when-I-was-a-kid-but-never-had” and we had a BLAST with it. There was a clown with magic tricks, piñata, chocolate fountain, and of course, a parade! Robbin has also named her 50th year as the “Year of the Tiara” so of course, we played that up with not only a tiara, but a sash, scepter, and throne to boot! The day was beautiful, the company was entertaining, and the food was delicious! The best part had to be the various “Miss. Mums” that came riding by in the parade only to look up and see Queen Robbin with her crown!!

Wordless Wednesdays

Lifehouse "Everything" Skit

In youth ministry, we are so seldom given a tool/resource that can reach so many youth at once, regardless of where they are in there faith. In the spring in 2008, we had the opportunity to see a group perform the Lifehouse “Everything” skit live. Since that time, I regularly visit GodTube to view this skit over and over. To save you the trouble of having to search for it, I’ve posted it here. This is a different group than what we saw performing it. Actually this is the original performance…

I John 4:4: "You dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."

Wordless Wednesdays

Baden's Birthday

In October 2007 we bought a dappled Daschund puppy from a friend of ours in Tennessee. We purposely picked the runt of the litter and had him neutered early to control his growth. Although he is from standard parents, he more or less fits the profile of a Miniature Daschund. His name is Baden (or “Bot-Bot” as we often call him) named after the township in Germany Justin’s grandfather's family is from and he might as well be our little fury child because we involve him in almost everything we do! So, when his first birthday rolled around we found a local dog bakery, Susan’s K-9 Barkery, and had a birthday cake made for his own doggie birthday party. He shared the day (and most of his cake) with a neighbor’s dog and even got a few little presents out of the deal too! A few years ago we would’ve laughed at this type of celebration, but having Baden in our lives has made us rethink how we feel about household pets. They really are little family members!!!

Wordless Wednesdays