Kazoo Band

Madison came to work today and found the musical instrument tub there. Inside were plenty of musical instruments to hand out to all the kids that come to the church - but Madison was strangely fascinated by the kazoo. Daddy showed her how to play it, and she immediately became an expert. In fact, she began to pass out kazoos to everyone in the office, starting up Gainesville's first All Kazoo Band. To begin with, we were all playing a few interpretations of pieces by the band Coldplay, but things sort of went off track after that.

It was a pretty yucky day outside. On the scale of one to ten, I'd give it a one. Or less. It was windy and pouring rain, and very cold, though not cold enough to shut everything down. How I wish it did. This is one of those weekends that Daddy just wants to stay home. There's so much to do and so little time. He'll be up late tonight. Again.

Tonight for dinner we made pizza, which is a huge favorite of Madison. She rushes into her room to get the apron on, and then races to the table waiting for the ingredients. Together, she and Daddy apply the sauce and cheese, while Mommy cooks up the mushrooms, chicken and pepper. This is a very tasty pizza - and fun to put together!

Madison was quite helpful today. She was putting all the devotionals together, so they can be handed out to all of the children at church Sunday. Madison is quite picky about how they are put together too - they simply must be in order! Here it is below, our series advertisement:

Daddy's worked hard writing the messages and the devotional, which follow the story of Alice in Wonderland rather neatly. It'll be fun for the kids: we've also got story videos, offerings, races, and skits - and plenty of costumes that Mommy has been working on for weeks! It'll be down to the wire tomorrow, a race against time to get them done. Mommy is pretty worn down, but this is probably the most intense series of the year, costume-wise. In other words, it gets easier from this point on.

The costumes are great. Speaking of which, I'm going to order Madison an Alice costume and make sure she's in a picture with the cast members - this will be too good to pass up.

Here are the words that kick off the messages in Wonderland:

You’re late! You’re late for a very important date! Hurry with us to Wonderland, where it all gets curiouser and curiouser!

All on a golden afternoon, overlooking the Sea of Galilee, Jesus said some pretty extraordinary things that shocked his audience: the poor are rich? The sad won’t be? The meek will be given the earth? You know, some of the words Jesus said had the Pharisees’ heads spinning like a teacup!

Jesus spoke of those who would be blessed, and to this day his words are called the Beatitudes. This is no ordinary list, for every Beatitude was in fact a character trait that all Christians should share.

Each one begins with the word “blessed,” which means to be “highly favored” or “fortunate.” In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was giving us some very good advice, as each Beatitude is a key that opens a door to a whole new world filled with happiness and joy.

So join us as we fall into a place like no place on earth. Come and see that blessed are those who take to heart the words Jesus spoke, for they will have in their hands the keys to Wonderland.