vacation

July 13, 2005

I’ve been on vacation for the last three weeks. We took a cross country tour with the kids, all four of them. And for those thinking we’ve done the impossible, traveling with four small children, you’re right. Really, though, our kids did great! We stopped in several places, spending time walking, looking, and playing, as well as driving. We saw the beauty of God’s creation, some great tourist traps, lots of relatives, but most important, we had three weeks together. The kids will grow up too fast, and I want to spend as much time as possible with them now. The highlights for me were the “look kids!” moments, when we got to see animals they never see in LA, from deer (in several places) to ducks, geese, buffalo, llamas, wild turkeys (once we saw a mother with at least 10 turkey chicks running through the grass on the side of the road) prairie dogs, to lots of horses, cows and sheep. We also saw the normal tourist things along the way, some the kids thought were great, others sites Mom and Dad thought were great, and the kids didn't, even though we thought they should have.

I’ll get back to the theme of turning a church around, but I wanted to share with you my greatest joy outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ, something I was again reminded of during vacation, being a family man, a husband and father. It is a privilege I thank God for daily.