Fall Festival

Collin and I swapped our usual lazy Sunday afternoon for a few hours at the Barnyard Bash Fall Festival (please note we didn't miss football completely).

There were farm animals to ride, pumpkins to hunt,

marshmallows to roast (Collin was most excited about this until the smoke got in his eyes, fortunately Mr. Baldwin was more than willing to help him out),

s'mores to eat

games to play

and pumpkins to paint.

The highlight of Collin's afternoon was the duck game (see picture with manual water pump).  I really think he would have played until dark.  It was such a simple set up, but he was so excited to pump the water so that the duck could race and fall off into the "pond" at the end.  He has now decided that his daddy can build one of these games and that we should have one at home.  We'll see what dad has to say about that.

Some Things Never Change

It is interesting that this post comes from a church service where the sermon was about change, and the need for the church to embrace and accept it.  While I completely agree with that, I am always so comforted by the fact that there are some things that never change. I grew up attending a United Methodist Church, but I've never been a "hard core" Methodist (so to speak).  The reason for this probably has to do with the fact that I was educated in a Catholic school, married the son of a Presbyterian minister and have parents who currently are members at a Southern Baptist Church.  Not to mention that most of my friends, throughout my life, have come from all different faith backgrounds and denominations.  I typically consider myself to be theologically well-rounded, at the very least my theology does not wholly align with any one denomination.  In spite of all of this diversity most my weekly church services have been in a United Methodist Church.  I know the prayers, most of the hymns and the order of worship.
My parents came to town last weekend so they could see Collin play soccer.  Since their plane didn't leave until late Sunday evening they were able to attend church with us.  As we prayed and sang and worshipped I realized that we all knew exactly what was going on.  I wasn't the least bit concerned that there would be a prayer they wouldn't know or hymn they hadn't at least heard.  I was instantly transported to the church of my childhood as I realized that these things had not changed.  I realized that despite the fact my parents have been attending a church of a different denomination for years, that they still knew this church.  Yes, it's a different town, a different building, different minister, different people.  I suspect that even if we went back to my childhood church we would find that much has changed, but I guarantee that we could step right in because some things would be the same. 
As I stood in the sanctuary, in the middle of worship, feeling this incredible sense of comfort in the fact that some things never change, it dawned on me that God never changes (no, this is not the first time I've thought or heard this).  He is, He was and He always will be.  While the church itself changes with the times and is ever turning its wheels to find ways to bring people in, God does not change with the time.  God is God, now and forever, and there IS GREAT comfort in that.

Fair

Last week, Collin and his best buddy Joe Joe got to go to the Onslow County Fair.  This was Collin's first experience at a fair.  I knew it was going to be an interesting experience, but especially since I had never been to this particular fair, so even I wasn't sure what to expect.  I didn't even know if there were rides for children his height.  So, thinking that this would be a relatively inexpensive experience off we went.  HA, not so inexpensive, but a great a time!

The first ride the boys found was a motorcycle ride.  As you'll see the various motorcycle rides were, by far, the most popular.  This better not be a sign of things to come.

Collin handled this ride way better than I expected him to.  It was actually a little mini-roller coaster, and went kind of fast.  I was a little surprised, and Collin thought it was great!

Then there was the next motorcycle ride.  It was a little vintage, it has apparently been thrilling children for more than 30 years, and still going strong.

And alas, the final motorcycle ride of the evening.  Quite a bit newer than the previous and Joe Joe even got a passenger (if you can't tell, that's a girl on the back of his motorcyle).

Then the boys discovered that they could win a light sabre sword if they played a fishing game.  Fortunately, it was a play until you win game.  So, both boys went fishing for sharks, and both boys won!

We did have to confiscate the swords quickly so that no by-standers would get whacked in the head as the two began to play.

Of course you can't leave the fair without having sampled fair food, so we topped off the night with cotton candy... 

...And the ride home was very quiet.

Pumpkin Patch

 One of the most wonderful things about our church is the never-ending attempts to involve the children in every way possible.  I think it is such an incredible way to show children that church is more than just a Sunday morning thing, and that they too have an important role in the life of the church.

Each fall our church hosts a pumpkin patch, and each year the children are invited to come and help unload the pumpkins.  So, this year we went to unload pumpkins.

Collin's best buddy, Joseph, and Joseph's brother even came to help.  They must have worked hard because they were hot and tired when it was time to go home.  Now, they just want to know when we're going back to BUY a pumpkin.

Faith in Action

Each year our church chooses one Sunday on which none of us go to church.  Instead, we go out into our community and try to BE the church.  We find projects with which we can make a difference for someone or some group in our community.  It is usually a great day of working together and hoping others "get it."
Being quite pregnant and having a 3-year-old my work options were quite limited this year.  So, I stayed back with a handful of others, and the children, to make halloween decorations to send overseas.  Now, it doesn't seem like much, I know.  Really, they are fighting a war, do the soldiers really care about decorating for halloween??  Probably not.  But, we did need something we could do with the children in an attempt to make the day "real" and understandable to them.  So, full speed ahead.  We made spiders, paper candy corn streamers, bats and cats, and even some turkey placemats, just for good measure.  The children had a wonderful time and were well entertained while many of their parents were working projects around town.
On our way home, Collin noted that we did not sing any songs at church, nor did we go to Sunday School and Pastor Rick didn't speak.  So, I began to explain, as best I could in 3-year-old lingo, what the purpose of church was for that day.  I asked Collin if he knew why we go to church in the first place, he responded it's because of Jesus.  I thought that was good enough.  So, I told him that Jesus wants us to do things to help other people, it's part of believing in him and doing what he asks.  I told him that Jesus spent his whole life doing things for other people.  At this point I just asked him what we had done for other people that day.  His response, "We made decorations for the guys with daddy so it's like our house, and that will make them happy."  Yes, my child it will. 
Even a 3-year-old gets it.  He knows he will not get anything in return.  He knows he will not even know if the "guys" actually received them or not and he is perfectly content having done something nice for someone else.  There truly is wisdom in youth.

    Since we were helping with the crafts there are no pictures of the children actually working.  However, we were able to get this shot of them in front of the fire truck.  As one of our projects the church provided lunch for first responders in our area.  The firefighters were kind of enough to let the children explore the truck before they came in for lunch.  Thanks guys!!

The Body of Christ

There are no cute pictures for this post or funny stories about the comings and goings of my 3-year-old.  No, this post is a reflection, probably 30 years in the making, on the Body of Christ.
Growing up in the church I always heard about the Body of Christ.  Even at a young age I knew people weren't speaking of the physical body of Jesus, I knew it was something bigger, deeper than that.  As I got older I began to understand that being a part of the Body of Christ carried with it a great repsonsibility to be His physical presence in the world.  What I'm not sure I realized, maybe until recently, is that being His physical presence is so much more than helping in a soup kitchen, volunteering at church, or lifting a helping hand for a neighbor.  While those things are important and a large part of what the Body of Christ is to do, it's not the full extent of it.
Many have heard the "Footprints" poem speaking of how God picks us up and carries us through the hard times.  Recently I have begun to wonder if God doesn't use the Body of Christ to do some of that carrying, to be that physical presence in tragic situations, life altering situations.  I'm not talking about cooking a meal for someone who has lost a family member, I'm talking about truly walking with them through the tragedy.  Jumping into the muck of life and death with another person so that he or she does not have to bear that burden alone.  This is surely not something you can do for just anyone, but I feel like it's something we run from even when it involves our closest friends and family.  It's something that takes an enormous amount of energy, emotion and suffering on our part.  It is allowing our heart to bear a burden with another and sometimes break for another.  It is being in the middle of the sadness and devestation, listening to a cry that can only come from the depths of someone's soul.  It is bearing the burden of a lost child with a devestated parent, the burden of a lost spouse with the one left trying to figure out how to live as a widow(er).  It is bearing the burden of illness, addiction, financial ruin, and the list goes on, in such a real way that it truly alleviates some of the burden felt by the person experiencing the pain.  It is sitting in the house, the hospital, the rehab center, the church regardless of how uncomfortable or emotional it makes us.  It is knowing when to say nothing, because there is nothing you can say.  It is knowing that you may have to stay all night.  It is holding someone who is fighting mad or dropped to their knees in devastation.  It is remembering that the pain doesn't leave in a week or a month or a year, and being there when it rears its head.  It is being Jesus with skin.  Someone to touch, to hold, to listen, to SHOW the depth and breadth of the love of God, as best as we can.  This is the Body of Christ, this is what we are called to do.