Home Archive by category "Adventures" (Page 16)

Category: Adventures

Baby Luke’s Adventure at Kid U Ohio!

Luke and Dad hangin’ out and roaming around the conference. Well, it was a crazy weekend but a lot of fun. There are still lots of pictures to go through, but since Luke was so excited to go to his second Kid U, I thought I’d post some pictures of his adventures. I had NO idea how many of the attendees would be greeting him by name as they arrived. I guess more people read my blog than I knew! So, by popular demand, here are some more Baby Luke pics: Too Sexy for my Shirt! (Kid U morning at the hotel) Me and My New Bear! (Gift from Pastor Kim!) Awana be in Awana! (Awana my diaper changed too!) As you can see by Baby Luke’s Awana Uniform, he is a big fan of Awana. (This Commander uniform was hand made for him by Commander Teri at Village Church!) I think he signed up at least three new churches for Awana while working their booth! Star Struck with Mary Rice Hopkins. (or is it the spotlights?) Mary Rice Hopkins held him while singing a beautiful song about babies. He got a little star struck – it was rather funny…

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Baby Luke Headed to Kid U Ohio!

What is Luke doing? Why, he is choosing his workshops for Kid U in Ohio next weekend! He’s excited about the preconference Creativity Blitz and all the awesome presenters that he can learn from. So he is studying the schedule, wondering where he will lodge, checking out the directions and planning to register soon! Don’t have a brochure? You can download one here! OK, now that my director of web operations is proud of all my shameless marketing links, what is the REAL reason Luke wants to go to Kid U? Because it is where he first met me! Yes, it was at Kid U Chicago, this past March that I met this little baby boy for the first time, and as you can see, he loved me at first sight: Well, ok, maybe not… but it is so fascinating to me that at the time of this picture, I had NO IDEA that I would be adopting this precious (screaming) little boy. He wasn’t so excited about Aunt Meepa either! (at least not in this picture) And he even cried for his mom-to-be, though, again, Sara had NO IDEA at the time of this picture that we would soon…

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A week away does a spirit good….

“Be still and know that I am God” is the advice of David in Psalm 46:10 – but how do you find the time to be still when you are in very full time Christian ministry… or more honestly, when you do not know how or when to STOP and listen to God? I am guilty of doing MUCH for God, but much less with God. God tried to get my attention many times over the past several years – through family, friends, and circumstances… but I was too busy doing ministry to hear that still small voice, or simply too exhausted to hear it even when it was yelling at me. So, this past week was a week to finally listen. My wife and I (and Luke) headed to Tennessee for a place with no Internet (yes!), no phone, and barely cell reception. (Yes, I’ll admit holding my phone up at strange angles to see if I could get one bar… I’m not healed yet!) The place was Fairhaven Ministries, and I highly recommend it (and the burgers at the White Way Grill at the base of the mountain) to anyone needing some time away in a place where…

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Baby Luke Goes Camping!

Well, it was time for our third annual Children’s Ministry Leadership Team / Kidology Staff Camping Trip! Starved Rock, Illinois was the destination this time. This week away from cell phone, e-mail and Internet each year is a wonderful break for me! And… it was Luke’s FIRST time camping! A family at church was nice enough to loan us their RV so that Luke didn’t have to suffer in a hot tent, and with temperatures in the high 80’s and 90’s all week, it was GREAT to have an air-conditioned RV… it also meant we had lots of visitors often as well: A bunch of happy campers enjoying Luke…. or the air-conditioning? (ok, both!) but my favorite is always the evening camp fires. Luke took right to it! We feared that camping would be rough on the boy, but he seemed to enjoy it alot. Never cried and was sooo easy going. Of course, there were lots of kids and big friends constantly giving him attention and love. Here is Baby Luke in his swing… and he LOVES to swing! Mom with Luke ready for some evening singing around the camp fire. Dad enjoys playing the guitar and leading singing….…

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Ministry with Balloons is a blast!

Ever since I was the house magician at the Rock ‘n Roll McDonald’s in downtown Chicago (in college) I’ve been twisting balloons for kids at church, birthday parties, magic shows, etc. But my use of them in my ministry for teaching was pretty minimal and limited to one balloon creatures. That was until very recently. “Master Ron” as he is known, is a Christian children’s entertainer and awesome juggler and balloon artist. I have used him for years to sub for me in Kids Church when I’m out of town, and he is the only sub I’ve had that the kids just don’t seem to miss me at all when I get back. (is that good, or not?) :-) A computer systems analyst by day, and a balloon twistin’ juggler by evenings and weekends, Master Ron is a great teacher and communicator with kids…. and an inspiration to me. This summer I had him teach all our grade school kids at our church for Sunday School in June. We found ourselves with three weeks to ‘fill’ between our regular Sunday School and when our summer Family Sunday School class could start, and I needed something easy for me and fun…

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