FallFest Fun!

Uncle Sam and Betsy Ross costumes sewed by me! We had a blast tonight.

What the world really needs...

...less political debates and more of this. Go check out Jack.

We're not in Kansas anymore Toto...

The pictures in our Seattle hotel room... (retouching done by yours truly)Our gorgeous hotel...
...And the "adult" shop next door...

Seattle is the Bomb!

We are totally digging Seattle! (Of course, I am taking lots of pics, but the computer cord is at home, right in it's drawer, instead of with us, so pics will come later.)

We flew in this morning, and took a taxi to our hotel. (No rent-a-car for me this time, we are hoofing it and working the public transportation.) Our hotel is a gorgeous, modern, Pacific-Northwest style hotel, right in the heart of downtown Seattle.

Our first stop was Pike's Place Market, which is this amazing, "ginormous" maze of an indoor and outdoor market. We browsed and ate lunch there. (Yummy clam chowder.) Then we headed to the Seattle Aquarium. The fish were abundant, the harbor seals were adorable, and the gift shop...expensive. But it was fun!

We ended our afternoon back at Pike's Place picking up french bread, fruit, freshly-made cheese, and salami for dinner at the hotel. The walk back to our hotel felt long and wet (Did I mention it started raining on the way to the aquarium? We we are in SEATTLE after all!) But we made it and a hot bath and fuzzy robe warmed our toes.

We are getting ready to watch a movie and drink hot chocolate before bed. Goodnight, Seattle!

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

We're off to Seattle, this morning, for a Mommy/Daughter trip. Daddy is out of town and Steven is going to stay with our friends Kate, Krist, and Kelly. We are planning to blog our trip. Stay tuned!

Folding Sarah Palin

I love this! Print out and fold your own candidate. (The other guys are there too...and their wives...)

Shout out...

...to my friend and co-worker Kirsten Grove (of the infamous Simply Grove)! She is a decorator (officially OUR church decorator) and recently had a room in her house featured in Fellow magazine. Check her out! (Page 18)

Parental Guidance Required

As pastors, specifically over the children of our church, Ken and I are often sought out to give parenting advice. Now, we are the first ones to admit that we don't have it all figured out, but, our kids are pretty awesome and so we've decided that maybe we actually have something to say. I'm going through Andy Stanley's parenting series "Parental Guidance Required" and he definitely has some great things to say.

Here's a few things I've picked up...

Our kids often grow up experience-rich but relationship-poor. We spend so much time making sure they have the experiences we didn't have, and we don't spend enough time focusing on their relational health.

Here's what people never say:

"My problems in my life stem from the fact that my dad made me drive a used car."

"My clothes were so bad in high school that my self-esteem never recovered."

"I can't be successful in life because I didn't make the 5th grade soccer team and I went to public school instead of private school."

Are you pouring too much into the experiences your child has? Are the sports, education, trips, and lessons taking up too much of your child's life? Experiences aren't a bad thing, but if we are spending far more time on our kids' experiences, than we are on our kids' relationships, we've missed the boat. Are you spending enough time with your kids? Or are you substituting experiences for your time?

There are 3 questions we should be asking ourselves.

1) What am I doing to Enhance my child's relationship with me?

2) What am I doing to Advance my child's relationship with God?

3) What am I doing to Influence my child's relationship with others?

Parenting is tough, tough work. And we have to be intentional. What does successful parenting look like at the end of the day and how do we get there?

(Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I've been suffering from a severe shortage of things to say...)