The Gulfport 48 Hour Marathon Trip for Fall Break

It was a quick trip, but a fun one--and a full one. Saturday arrived late, Rebecca and Tyler were up, Eben and Tate were sleeping, Scott was out of town. Sunday taught at two services at Scott's churches, lunch at McDonalds, and watched kids during Small Group time at the house after Scott's return. Monday I took Tyler to school, got a few groceries for Rebecca, we had a delicious lunch at the Blow Fly Restaurant on the back bay (see pix to the left)

and then we all went Bowling (2 year old Tate scored the second highest with just a little help),--see picture to the right! What a hoot.

THEN! We all went to the circus!

The kids got their faces painted and we ate funnel cakes and cotton candy. Got to love having grandkids--great excuse for all sorts of sugar. And Eben and Tate rode bikes, too, at a nearby parking lot. I'll try to load the movie--there's a first time for everything.

On Tuesday morning, I left at 6am to head on home to Siloam Springs to rest before teaching after fall break. Back to the Synoptics! Breck and Chesterton held down the fort, taught my church Bible class and behaved while I was gone.

Today, I'm off to Wynn, Arkansas (NE in the state) to do a Pew consultation at a church (I love doing this!) and then I'm off Saturday afternoon from Wynn to Gulfport to spend fall break with Scott, Rebecca and the kids. I'm preaching for Scott on Sunday morning, too!

This is going to be be a fun few months family-wise. Next month, Dayton is coming to speak at chapel at JBU and Karen and Anna get to come, too! Then, we hope to have Thanksgiving in Jackson, MS with the Gulfport family at the Belhaven Alumni house...and then right after Christmas, we will be in Chicago to take care of Anna while Dayton and Karen are presenters at the IVCF/GFM Following Christ conference. We are so grateful to have the means and energy to make these journeys for our family.

Oh, yes, the Dodgers won't be in the series, but it should be a good one. Go Phillies! What IS a Devil Ray? Spunky little team that could do it, however. Still, it's NL or it's not baseball.

Dayton posts his Phillies wins on his blog site (Dayton is not in Ohio)--great site, so thought I'd better give my boys in blue a nod for the win yesterday. The game was closer than than the score for sure. Bottom line: National League ball is the ONLY true baseball.
The AL brought in the "designated hitter" back in the weird '70s and took their pitcher out of the box. Bad idea then and still rotten to the core. Just to sell tickets. Another mark of losing one's soul for a shilling in this culture.
Not the NL. So even if my beloved Dodgers (and good ole Joe--make the Yanks bleed) don't go the distance, I'll root for the Phillies. So between Dayton and I, we can't lose. And the AL better not win.

Breck and I just spent Tuesday through Thursday together at the Wee Kirk conference for Middle America. About 150 were there from all over and we had a lovely retreat at a State Park in Oklahoma just about 78 miles from where we live across the Arkansas border. They don't call this part of Oklahoma "Green Country" for nothing.

This state park reminded me a lot of Cedar Campus in the upper peninsula of Michigan. "Western Hills" sits on a penisula that juts out into a lovely lake, but the land you see on far side isn't Canada. This is a picture I took with my phone--I can't believe I forgot my camera! Breck was on the planning committee for next year's conference and did a seminar on preaching Haggai. I was a plenary speaker and did an exposition on the ending of Matthew 7 for the conference. It was nice to get away and get in a good bike ride, too.

Now it's back to grading for mid-terms! Breck is busy, too--we're no longer a "Wee Kirk" in Siloam Springs and Breck is working with a strategy committee on how to expand our sanctuary. Right now it's SRO at times! Nice "problem" to have.