Easter Egg Fun and All That Jazz


Yesterday I decided to dye and decorate Easter eggs with Taylor ~ something which, believe it or not, I've actually never even done myself. Not even as a kid. I remember decorating Easter eggs once with my mom one year, but for some reason we didn't do the dye thing. So I decided to give it a go this year, and it was a raging success. I'm actually not sure who had more fun ~ Taylor or myself. Here's some pics of the fun:














Then, this afternoon, Dayna and I headed into town for a few hours to enjoy the annual Jazz festival. And enjoy we did! There were multiple stages set up with multiple bands playing ~ basically there was live music everywhere you looked. Our favorite band was a group of 7 guys who were absolutely awesome ~ 2 saxaphones, a trombone, piano, electric guitar, bass, drums, and 5 of the guys sang. Not only did they have definite talent, but they had great stage presence ~ the importance of which can never be underestimated when it comes to live performance. We must have stood there and listened to them for at least an hour ~ they were fantastic! There's just something about good live music that does something for the soul. And as a musician, I love listening to and being inspired by different genres of music. Definitely one of the most fun events I've been to in a while.

It's the calm before the storm

It's currently 12:30pm. The house is relatively quiet, but not for long. Graeme and Sabrina get back from their 3-week trip to Korea in a few hours, and then tomorrow Nana Dot (Sabrina's mom) flies in from Napier to stay with us for several days. Between a birthday celebration for somebody in the family, hopefully a few hours at the Jazz festival in town on Saturday, and Easter on Sunday, it's going to be a full weekend. Wow.

And she ran.

Rumor has it that someone has forsaken the traditional "walk" up the mount in favor of a "run" up the mount. All our sources seem to indicate that although this workout is definitely more demanding than any of the previous ones, the benefits ~ both physical and psychological ~ far outweigh any losses incurred: namely extreme fatigue upon reaching the summit. It is unclear how long this trend will last, though chances are strong this may now be a new routine. We will continue to monitor this situation closely, and will be the first to report any breaking developments in this story.

Starting to think about starting pre-school

The other day, I had to walk over to the school next door to attend to some business. I took Taylor with me for the fun of it, and on the way home, I decided to stop in and visit the pre-school that Taylor will be going to in a few months. I thought it would be a good idea to bring her by so that when we talk about her going to pre-school, she would know what it looks like and have a bit more of an idea of what to expect. And she loved it! We walked around and had a good look at everything and met the teachers. Then two little girls walked up to us, befriended Taylor, and continued to show us around. Although Taylor was a bit shy at first, I could tell that she got way more comfortable even in the 30 minutes that we were there. It's weird to think about Taylor being away four mornings a week, but I know that it will be good for her and that she's going to absolutely love it. She's already talking about going to pre-school soon like a big girl, and she's really excited about it. And in the meantime, I'm glad that we still have a few more months before everything is going to change!

Quote for the day

"Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just that His justice cannot sleep forever." - Thomas Jefferson

If this was true of America way back when Mr. Jefferson spoke this, how much more is it true of our nation today? We are on the precipice of something big; maybe it's mercy, maybe it's judgment; most likely it's a carefully-orchestrated combination of the two. His justice has been sleeping for a long time. One thing I know: I have no doubt whose side I want to be on when the day dawns.

Church

Church this morning was awesome. Our pastor preached one of those in-your-face, say-it-as-it-is, don't-hold-back kind of messages. God has been doing some awesome stuff in our church recently ~ mostly the 'behind-the-scenes, DNA-forming, vision-establishing' type of stuff ~ which I believe the out workings of such will become more and more apparent in the week-to-week life of the church ~ if it hasn't already. This morning's message was a taste of it. Our pastor and his wife have boldly charted the course for this church. They are unapologetic in saying that the 21st century western church looks nothing like the church of Acts 2. And whatever it takes to get back there is where we are going. We want God in our services ~ not just a visitation, but His habitation. And if we have God, then that's all that really matters. It's not about programs, events, or the like. It's about Him.

It's getting raw. Real. Authentic. Unapologetic. And I'm lovin' it.