wonderful-wednesday

last wednesday was wonderful.

it started out in the morning with my daily weigh-in. I had been hovering around -48 pounds for weeks. some days it was -48.5, others it was -49, but never-50. but on wednesday morning, I saw that number on the scale that I had been looking for for weeks: -50lbs! nothing could wreck this day after seeing that.

my wonderful wednesday continued when I got to work. I have been out of an office for almost 4 months (more on this later). there was a lot of remodeling going on, and I was displaced. I had heard that I might be landing soon. I heard that a specific office was picked out for me, but it was occupied by another worker- they still needed to move out. for days I peeked into the window and saw that nothing had moved, but on Wednesday, I looked in the door and saw that the office was empty! it was mine to claim- a blank canvas to fill- I was elated.

my wonderful wednesday continued when I went to a big meeting with our family ministry team. we did one of those SWOT analysis talks where we went through each ministry and discussed the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. I felt a little nervous about what people might say were the weaknesses of my ministry. When it was my ministry's turn to be discussed, my boss asked, "what are the strengths of the middle school ministry?" and my peers said the kindest, most gracious and most encouraging statements about me and the middle school ministry. I have often wondered how they saw the work that I do, and hearing their kind words encouraged the socks off of me.

after that meeting I drove to another meeting and on the way, I called my wife and told her the wonderful-wednesday that I was having. she was very excited for me as well.

when I got home, I walked up the stairs of my condo and saw a big CONGRATULATIONS banner hung on the stairs. I unlocked the door and walked in, but didn't see or hear Deanna or Jane. I did see more banners as well as lots of colorful balloons. just then, Deanna and Jane jumped out from behind the couch and yelled, "SURPRISE!!!"
"what is all of this for?" I asked.
"we just wanted to celebrate with you your great day." they said.
jane handed me a wrapped present- it was a drawing of our family that she made and had framed- for my new office.
after that, we all went out to dinner and had chocolate fondue for dessert!

what a wonderful-wednesday-
and what a wonderful-wife and daughter.
I've got no complaints- only thanks-

life is good.
God is good.
God is love.
-rev-rob

fall vacation 2011

last week, deanna, jane and I took what we think was our best vacation ever-
we went over the hill to a place that I have often taken students- the santa cruz koa.

I knew that jane would love this place- they had a jumpy-pillow-trampoline, bikes to rent, and little cabins with bunk-beds. I wasn't sure how she would deal with the bathroom building and the outdoors, but she loved every minute of it- and so did deanna and I.

while we were there, we did a lot of relaxing, a lot of book-reading, swimming, beach-combing, and a lot of game playing. each night there, we made a fire and had family-game-night. one night we went to the beach and watched the sun set into the pacific ocean while we sat next to a fire-pit.
what made things even more relaxing is that we were basically the only ones there.
we're already talking about visiting there again-
here are some of the memories that we captured with our blackberries:

 this is a picture of jane playing her nintendo DS, and me reading my kindle out in front of our cabin.

on the second night we were there, jane tried something brand new and slept on the TOP BUNK!

being a dad is fun.
-rob