Gotcha Day Smiles

Week Two of Art Camp ended with the gallery presentation, just as last week did, and just as every week ever has really.  Madison and all the other children lined up their art work for all the parents to see.  This week's creations - in Daddy's opinion - are even better than last week's.  There are at least three things she created there on the table that Daddy wouldn't mind having framed and hanging up on the wall.

She had a great time at Art Camp this year, especially with the addition of the pottery classes on Thursday and Wednesday.  She came home with quite a few new creations, and you can really see her improve with her artistic talents and creativity.  The great thing about this camp is how she learned all sorts of new ways to create art, with mixed media and paints, fabrics and clays.  She came home today extra messy, in fact, with paint and charcoal on her hands, arms and face.  That was just fine with us - she was really getting into it!

We left the Quinlan Art Center, and dropped by the office for a bit of work today, and some ice cream too.  We had yet another free ice cream card for Chick-Fil-A, so Madison had herself a bit today after art camp.

It was another day to celebrate, and remember something huge that happened nine years ago this very day.  Daddy even wore the same shirt he wore nine years ago today.  It was Gotcha Day, and nine years ago we were inside a hotel room at the Majestic (Mingyuan Xindu) Hotel in Nanning.

This hallway.  It's funny I never took time to take a picture of it.  Of course, that was because I was usually carrying Madison, or at least pushing a stroller.  And with all the scenery in China, why waste up camera space taking snaps of an ordinary hallway?  I'm glad somebody did though.  I found this picture online, a photo of the hallway just outside our room.  We would actually be on the room to the right there, and this morning nine years ago, we walked down to the lighted area there where the elevator was.  There, we'd meet all the other future adoptive parents on that floor, and then meet the other ones further down in the main lobby.  And from there, to the bus, and to our destiny as parents.

This is the hallway though.  I remember walking up and down this one a lot with Madison, carrying her, or sometimes using the stroller.  We had one adventure where Madison dictated the direction to go with the stroller, using simple pointing gestures and what not.  We explored the entire hotel, not really going outside for a few reasons.  Number one, it was amazingly hot outside.  Number two, we weren't entirely sure of all the places to go, except for the park that was immediately behind us.  That was reserved for bigger family trips, where Nana and Ye-Ye joined us for walks along the lake with dancing tai chi girls with fans, older folks playing mahjong, and those ginormous fish being fed.  There was plenty of other things to do, but for the short trips, we simply toured the hotel, looking around the limited gift shop, walking by the fancy restaurant that served pizza with calamari as a topping, and visiting the lobby area balconies and even the bigger empty conference rooms.  Normally, it would be a place you'd stay and be amazingly bored, especially giving the limited amount to see on television.  But this was our first week with Madison, and it was a time where we were both getting to know each other.  There were plenty of chores to do, including a trip to sign paperwork, a visit to Walmart, and a visit to the local grocery store (for the legendarily bad-for-you milk she was told to drink, and the prawn-flavored potato chips Daddy had to try).  There were other excursions too, including that temple area with the huge tower filled small rooms and enclosed spaces with sweaty people that don't use deodorant, and those ginormous dangling spiders, and the heat that was so intense you actually craved getting back on the air-conditioned bus again.  Daddy is an explorer, but for some reason Nanning wasn't one of those places he needs to go back to again.  And yet, it is one of those places etched in our memory because of so many positive and happy memories. And yes, the people there were wonderful.  And our time there was unforgettable.  How could it be otherwise?  Gotcha Day is already nine years ago, but we'll never ever forget it all, from the simple hallway in a hotel to that first precious smile our daughter gave us, the one we worked so hard to earn.  We've all been smiling ever since.

Keep on Truckin'

Madison made a moth of clay today, amongst other things, in her final day of pottery class this summer.  This week's potter has been great - Madison is really getting into it.  Her hands are all covered with dry clay, with that unique smell all about her as she gets into the car to go home.

The rain was pouring outside, absolutely a deluge.  Driving through downtown Gainesville, the rain gutters down below were spewing out water as if they were open fire hydrants launching out water onto the cars attempting to get down the street.  Sometimes there are those days where you think you just run out to the car really quickly in the rain, no problem.  But today wasn't one of those days.  You might as well have jumped into the shower.

It's been raining a lot this week, and we've needed the rain.  Even better, none of this rain had any damaging wind or lightning with it.  It's just been one long soaking wet week.

Tonight, we played a board game by special request:  Madison wanted to play Pirates of the Caribbean LIFE.  Daddy set up the soundtracks for the first four movies, and we were listening to the pirates music as we sailed through LIFE.  It wasn't an easy journey for Daddy, who was soundly defeated by Madison's pirate treachery.  Avast, we'll have another sailing ahead, and I'll see her ship visit Davy Jones locker, me hearties!

We made a trip to the library after writing in some of the entries for Madison's reading program.  Due to the nature of the books she's chosen - longer ones - it's taking her more time to get books read.  She's doing the "Origami Yoda" books on her own, and meanwhile Daddy is reading other books at night.  We finished the Squirrel Girl book last night, and today at the library, we picked up the latest Rocket and Groot book, which we started this evening before bedtime.  It's called "Keep on Trucking'," and Mommy and Madison love the way Daddy reads it in character.  It's not terribly complicated to read "I am Groot" as Groot would.

Chapter one, and already Rocket, Groot and Veronica the Tape Dispenser are bringing big laughs before bedtime!  The illustrations are so primitive, but they love this.


We picked up a few other things at the library before once again it rained on us.  It was that sort of day, really.  And again, we're grateful for the water, so long as we can stay above it!

Clay Pirate Ships

Clay class has been really nice for Madison, who has enjoyed creating different things each day.  One day, she's made a lunar moth.  Today, she created a mural of sorts, one with a pirate ship at the top, and a mermaid at the bottom within the deep blue sea.  She loves this class - it's a different medium that she's learning, and some of the things she's been creating are turning out really well, like the fairy door that she created.  Other things are objects that she's attempting to create from scratch, and although they aren't her favorite, they're still things she's learning from as she uses the clay.

Of course, that's not the only art she's creating.  Art Camp continues, something she's really happy to be attending.  Each morning, she's up easily, ready to go to camp.  Fortunately, it's not quite as early as school, so it isn't so bad.  But she's up and ready to go, and so routine now.  First year, she wasn't so sure, and was nearly in tears as she left us to go make art with strangers.  Now she hops out of the car, no problem!

Interesting clay class today, as Madison created somewhat of a mural... we'll have updates soon!

We had all kinds of fun today, as there was KidPak tonight as well.  It's just a crazy busy summer.  We don't have to go to bed so early either.  That's why Daddy was able to finish the Squirrel Book tonight with Mommy and Madison.  It was a great ending, and a super fun book that we all enjoyed.  It helps to appreciate Squirrel Girl, which Madison clearly does!

But there's plenty of stuff upcoming, including a new series that Daddy is writing for.  Also, there are a few more trips and camps.  This is probably Madison's best summer ever - and there's still so much to do!

Art is Camp

Here are a few of Madison's origami creations.  It's a hobby she has while watching movies online.  She just likes to sit there and fold.  We got her the paper for Christmas, and she's still going through it all.  Daddy and Mommy will have to learn a few tricks to keep up with her!

Madison has had a great day today, filled with lots of things to do.  We had Art Camp, obviously, as the summer rolls along.  Soon it will be over, and we'll all be scratching our head about how fast time flies.  This is camp #4 of 5.  Unless you count Daddy's fictitious "tennis camp," where we just try to cram a lot of tennis into a single week.  The camp in Florida is the big one, something with all kinds of new experiences.  As is, the Art Camp is fantastic as always.  Madison is making friends, including a girl from Scotland who is here enjoying the camp.

And enjoying the weather.  It's beautiful out there.  We went to the pool today, still under the guise of training with the snorkel.  Madison seems to have the breathing through a snorkel down, along with using a mask.  It's not a perfect thing, but she's comfortable enough with it to make it work when she actually tries it out in a few weeks.  That's a big day, one where she's heading to a spring to go snorkeling in Florida.  Exciting stuff!

In the meantime, this week, this moment now... it's very exciting too!

This is Madison with a creation she's made, just one of many things she's adding to the collection at home.  The art camp is great at using all kinds of different media, even from year to year.  Some things are constant like painting, pottery and drawing.  But this year's use of fabric is new, as are some of the sculpting ideas that she's trying out.  It keeps her mind engaged and thinking in new creative directions.  She's trying new ideas out, and even if all the ideas don't turn out as well as she imagines, she's having fun trying.

Tonight, we continued with Squirrel Girl's epic battle against Micro Manager, who honestly doesn't stand a chance.  If Thanos himself can't beat Squirrel Girl, then who can?  Still, it's fun to read.  We'll keep plowing on with this book.  It's one of our favorites so far!

Stop Motion

We started week #2 of Art Camp this morning, meeting together at the Quinlan again.  She had a really fun time, working with mixed media and fabrics this morning, and of course doing the games she loves - something to do with werewolves and villagers?  Anyway, she really has a great time there at the Quinlan Arts Center.

Afterwards, we did a bit of grocery shopping, and then a bit of stop-motion movie making.  Madison used an app and a little kit she got for Christmas to make small bits of animation using her iPad mini. We have a mini-green screen, and she was able to create the scene of a beach in the background, and then had characters from the movie "Cars 2" racing by on it.  In last place, just after the four cars characters that raced across, there was a sea turtle crawling by.  The kit had a few characters that you could pose, so she had fun making them dance and so forth, but the feeling is that she's just getting started with this.

"Back in the day," Daddy did a bit of stop-motion work with clay.  We had colorful little clay monsters line dancing, moving across kitchen tables and so forth.  At one point, someone thought it would be a brilliant idea to have one crawl into a microwave and explode.  The thinking was that if we put a bunch of popcorn kernels into the clay monster's head, they'd pop, and there'd be a great explosion with clay everywhere and stuff.  Keep in mind we were kids, and not that all that experienced with clay, microwaves, or intelligence.  Anyway, we put it in there, and even recorded a voice for the clay character that was fretting with worry for... two minutes, maybe?  That's about how long it took for nothing terribly visible to happen.  We thought it would melt and pop and be all weird.  But it sort of just sagged... and started smoking.  Yes, there was a lot of smoke coming out of the microwave.  And that's when we started to panic a little, quickly stopping it all before the smoke alarms went off!  Anyway, the monster survived the microwave, and if life were a movie, he'd be given special microwave powers and would come after each of us many years later, this large claymation monster lurking in the woods.

Tonight, we continued the Marvel marathon once more with a visit to the "Age of Ultron."  It's been said a few times before, but the "Age" of Ultron only lasts a few hours.  So, maybe "Short Span of Ultron" might be more appropriate, unless there's something we don't know that happens afterwards.  Either way, the movie gets more enjoyable with each viewing, as there are things you catch that maybe you didn't before.  We had our popcorn, and Madison had a few new things as well:

1.  Pita chips.  Madison reluctantly tried pita chips, and realized that she in fact really liked these pita chips.  Now Daddy has to keep an eye on his pita chips.  Because Daddy really likes pita chips!

2.  An ice cream float with orange soda.  Oh, and this was delicious.  Mommy made these for everyone, and we all sat at the table to enjoy a tasty treat tonight.

We celebrated our victory in the Battle of Trenton, and then it was time head upstairs for the next few chapters of our Squirrel Girl book.  We're still going on this devotional too, by the way.  It's got fifty-six or seven entries, each dedicated to a different superhero.  So yeah, this one is taking a while to get through.  But it's loads of fun.  Tonight was the Punisher.  I don't think he'll show up with Squirrel Girl, although she has made reference to Daredevil, and had text conversations with Rocket Raccoon, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, and Bucky Barnes.  It's been a fun book - she loves it, but we do too. We sort of look forward to reading before bedtime!

Speaking of superheroes, here's the screen graphic for that upcoming new series in July.  This one will be all about superhero movies, a series where we show clips from different movies and talk about Biblical concepts along the way.  It's going to be a nice series!

Small Wonder

Here she is, Wonder Woman!  Sure, she's a little small for the part - a small wonder!  But she did so great this morning.  We had a skit on stage, one where Wonder Woman appears to save the day, and she did everything just right while out there, defeating the thug and rescuing the victim from danger.  There were the usual two skits this morning, and she was spot-on for both of them.  It's amazing where we are now, and where we're going of course.  But then also where we've been:  she's getting to be a big girl now.  This morning's service was special.  Camille spoke on a Sunday for the first time, and she was outstanding too.  It was girl power all the way.

We had a full day today.  We got to go swimming after church today, although it was actually a bit cool outside.  There was a slight breeze, and yes, we were sort of shivering at times.  That didn't prevent Madison from wanting to go, and wanting to stay in the pool.  We had fun making whirlpools, practicing snorkeling, and all the regular goofing around we do in the swimming pool.

We have a fairly sizable yellow jacket nest that has appeared in our front yard, in the ground.  Later on, Ye-Ye is coming over with some gasoline.  We told Madison about the nature of our attack, how it'll be a sneak attack.  She told us it would be just like the Battle of Trenton.  To which we agreed wholeheartedly!

So we've seen the first negative affect of these Marvel movies on Madison.  She actually said something by accident that she wasn't supposed to.  In her defense, she was explaining that a character said it, and then caught herself, and then rephrased it to "H-E-Double Hockey Sticks."  Who even taught her that one?  Anyway, it's one of those phrases said a lot in these Marvel movies we've been watching lately, and there it is:  scientific evidence about modeling and speech patterns or whatever.  Daddy told her about this one, letting her know that it's something she shouldn't be saying.  Tomorrow night, we'll probably be watching "Age of Ultron" again, and there's more opportunities to talk about things you shouldn't say.  Captain America will see to that.

Tonight's feature presentation made up for a movie we didn't get to see in the theater today.  This afternoon began the "Studio Ghibli Festival," something going on at various theaters throughout the country.  They were playing "My Neighbor Totoro" at the local theater, and it was like $14 per ticket to go, which was a slight hindrance.  But the greater hindrance was the time of the movie:  12:55 pm. We just couldn't swing it, as much as we love the movie.  Once a month for the next several months, all these theaters are going to be playing Miyazaki movies.  Maybe we'll be able to make one.  I know that we'll be going in October for "Spirited Away."  That's Daddy's favorite.

And that's what we saw tonight.  Madison watched it for the first time this evening, and really liked it.  When they are riding on the train at the end, visiting Zeniba... and then Haku shows up.  It was such a delight to watch Madison turn to us and say how nice this movie is.  She really liked it.  And despite No Face's little episode in the bath house, she likes him too, and is glad he found a place to be.

We went to bed reading a bit more from Squirrel Girl's adventures.  It's a continued theme from this morning's message about nobody looking down upon you because you're a girl, or you're different.  It's definitely an empowering sort of book with great positive messages.  The whole family has been enjoying it before bedtime, with maybe a week to go or so.  Bedtime is nice each night, with Madison hiding, with reading, and praying.  It's been a great weekend.

Slimy Science

This afternoon, we engaged in a slimy sort of science.  Really.  We made slime.  We mixed borax with glue and a few other things to make glow-in-the-dark slime, a glow-in the dark bouncy ball, and some silly putty as well.  The glow-in-the-dark stuff turned out pretty fun.  Madison used some pipe cleaners to make a little glow-in-the-dark spider, which turned out pretty neat:

Afterwards, we were ready about polymers, monomers, cross-links and more.  It was a fun little diversion.  Currently, Madison is sitting there with her polymers on the couch as we sit and watch "Guardians of the Galaxy" again.  It's part of our Marvel marathon, and this is the next one to go.  It's actually the first time we've seen it since we've seen the second one in theaters, so it's been interesting seeing again with a little more background.

We slept in today, once again making up for the general lack of sleep we've had lately, and upon waking up, Daddy had some work to do in order to set up for tomorrow's service at KidPak.  This involves a costume and a few other things, so we went to the office to set things up as much as we could.

It rained later on, still part of that ongoing leftovers from the tropical storm.  The Forward Conference ended today, wrapping up a huge week, and a pretty massive month at the church.  Lots of hard work and setting up all this time, and now here we are at the gateway to a month that calms down things a bit around here, at least for thirty days or so.  Vacations are taken, and there aren't really any big conferences or weeks that involve lots of set-up.  It's a time to spend more time with our families, with lots of staff vacations - including our own pretty soon.  Yep, we're looking forward to that one!

Katamari

Art Camp ended today for week one at least, and as is the custom, all the parents arrived at 2:00 pm to take a tour and see for themselves the various works of art on display.  Madison had her creations lined up, and in one case hanging up.  As always, there's one piece that stands out that she's done, and Daddy wants to frame it and hang it on his office wall!

She did several pieces, of course.  There were some paintings, some sculpting, and stained glass effort as well.  She did her sea turtle idea for that - it's currently hanging up over the table by a window.  

Daddy was at at work again, finally finishing the 47-page book for "Superflix."  Forward is going on as well, and things are busy at the church as you could expect.  Josh and his sister Amy spent the night at our house, rather than drive all the way back to some place north of Clarksville.  Madison was excited to have Amy here - it was like a sleepover!

We got a new game today, or at least a newer version of a game Daddy played a while back.  It's called "Katamari," and it's a distinctly Japanese game.

The fun of this game is its simplicity.  You roll a ball and try to roll over things that are smaller than you.  That's pretty much it.  Of course, when you roll over something smaller than you, it gets stuck to your ball, and you become bigger.  And this in turn allows you to roll over bigger objects.  To begin with, you're about the size of a thumbtack.  You can see above how big you get.  Madison and Daddy were playing this late into the night - it's a lot of fun!  Except... the king in this... can be a little mean...

Playing Koi

So Cindy showed up tonight, but this was not any one person.  It was a tropical storm with arms that stretched out across Louisiana, Alabama, and as far as Georgia tonight.  These bands of storms lashed out at us, and we know from previous gulf impacts that although the most significant damage is usually where the storm makes landfall, there's still a lot of danger for the rest of us.  Take for example when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana a few years ago.  That storm system spawned a tornado that hit downtown Helen, destroying the amusement park that Daddy had worked a few years at.  The Ferris wheel was twisted as if it were made of pipe cleaners.

So tonight there were tornado warnings - not tornado watches.  A warning means there is in fact a tornado.  And there were warnings all over the place in North Georgia.  There was a slight unease over the evening, but we knew we'd be okay through it all.

For one, the Forward Conference started tonight.  Our church's big event was taking place in Gwinnett County, with all kinds of outdoor activities - and none of them really affected.  One county over, there was an actual tornado spinning northward.  Many of the participants in the conference probably had no idea!

Madison had art camp again today, and her pottery camp continued as well.  This afternoon, she brought home a few sculptures she made out of clay - they were koi fish.  She made two of them, her own little "Pisces."  They turned out well!  So now on the kitchen island, we have a door, two large koi fish, and a small castle as well.  Madison remembered the larger castle she made last year, and wanted to use her remaining clay to make a third smaller castle.  No problem!

So Forward started off well, and the church here in Gainesville was largely empty.  Daddy spent much of his time working on the booklet, somewhat of a race against time.  The book is turning out well, and he's almost done.  Just a few pages to go, and then proofing and so forth.  It'll be a great new series!

And then we hit August, with what will perhaps be an older series.  We're possibly doing something related to cars, or back to LEGO blocks, or even video game characters.  Stay tuned for that one!

Pottery Class

Madison's first pottery class of the summer was today, and she had so much fun.  She made a small "fairy door."  Or in her mind, it's more of a "squirrel door," considering that she's been so in the Squirrel Girl adventures lately.  Regardless, it turned out really well.  It just needs to dry over the next week, and then she can paint it with the paints that her teacher sent home with her.  All the kids get paint to take home with them afterwards, and they'll get some more tomorrow for the next class, with whatever it is that they are making.

As for her art camp, it was fun too.  She was working on her creation from a few days prior, as it has now dried.  I think she was painting her cat face, and using all kinds of wild colors with it.  We'll see how it turns out!  While she was painting, she noticed her teacher had all kinds of music in the background, including tunes from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" soundtrack.  Most notably, there was theme song to "The Kraken."  She remembered this one specifically enough to request that we listen to it again in the car.  If you know anything about this tune, it's kind of funny that Madison would make this request.  Also, it's funny that her art teacher has this playing while kids are painting colorful cat faces and so on.  No judgment here though:  we're big pirates fans, as you can tell just from reading any of this.

Tonight, Madison got to go to KidPak again!  It's summer, and therefore there's no school to get up extra early for.  This morning, we had the alarm set for 7:30 am, and that's sleeping in!

Our theme was "Quicksilver" tonight, as we were talking about Elijah and being quick to choose, quick to obey, and quick to believe.  Daddy thought it would be fun to have a game show where kids did a quiz bowl sort of thing, seeing who could be the quickest to ring a bell, and answer a question the fastest.

The kids really got into it.  We had small groups, and in third grade, it was boys versus girls.  Girls won, but it was really, really close.  Of course, Madison is not in Daddy's class anymore.  Sniff, sniff. But she had a really good time tonight.  We got home pretty late though, and only had enough time to read a small entry from Squirrel Girl, and yes, the devotional too.  It was a great, full day today!

Jazz Portrait

Daddy stopped by the portrait studio to pick up Madison's jazz picture, and it turned out great.  She looks really good here, and of course she loves that outfit.  We can't wait to get this one framed, and then we'll add it to the others.

This is somewhat of a tradition for us - we drop Madison off at art camp, and drive a block down the street to pick up the dance portrait from the spring recital.  Madison's art class today was fun for her - she was working on stained glass artwork, or at least something set to resemble a stained glass window.  The way she described what she was doing, Mommy knew right away what she was doing. It'll be fun to see that one on Friday when we get to see all the artwork accumulated over the course of the week.  

Today, Madison was at work with Daddy for a bit:

You can see her in the Quinlan t-shirt.  She's been wearing one of those every day this week, as art can get messy!  She was helping everyone out a bit today, as Daddy has been writing, writing, writing a new booklet for the new series "Superflix."  Almost there.  The gimmick to this one is that the devotional and sermon booklet are combined.  We do a message about a movie like "Sky High," and then for the next six days after that, there are nightly devotional entries related to that particular movie.  Multiply that times four, and then a bonus message.  With movies like "Big Hero 6" and "The Incredibles," it's easy to find messages with all the characters in that movie.  It's also easy for "Sky High," believe it or not.  And frankly, it's a little more enjoyable for Daddy, as he's writing devotional entries for characters like Zach and Magenta.  

Anyway, folks are getting ready for the Forward Conference, and there's a possible tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico that hopefully won't mess with things.  We did quite a bit today, including piano practice and also some speech practice.  And then it was time for a movie:  the next movie in the series was "Captain America:  Winter Soldier."  We got the popcorn ready and enjoyed a nice, long Marvel flick tonight.  Madison enjoyed it, although Daddy was flinching a few times at how many rounds of ammunition were being fired throughout.  Still, most of the characters made it through, right?  She knows Bucky has a bit to go in order to be redeemed, and Falcon was pretty awesome in this movie.  And yes, she loves Natasha Romanoff.  

We went to bed later tonight, still going on our superheroes devotional, and still going on the Squirrel Girl book.  It appears as if there is a nemesis about to show up.  But we all know what happens to anyone who faces Squirrel Girl...

Back to Quinlan

Today we were back to the Quinlan Art Center for another week of Art Camp for Madison.  As is our usual custom, the parents show up at 9:00 am with the children to hear the rules for the camp, along with pick-up details.  We sort of have these all in our heads by this point, having done this camp a few times by now.  Madison was very excited to go this time around - we reminded her about how hesitant she was initially to leave us that very first year we tried this out.  Now she's out the door, no problem!

As usual, Daddy designed another car tag for her and was waiting for her at 2:00 pm.  She was doing things with plaster today, so her hands were somewhat messy coming home.  But she loved it.  She's having a great time already.  This will go on for two weeks, along with some pottery classes coming up as well.  Lots of fun.

We were looking around the gallery this morning before the meeting, and got a chance to see some of the local artists' works.  You can see above the traditional Ferris Bueller pose, as Madison and Mommy look at some of the paintings on the wall.

While Madison was in camp, we were shopping a lot.  We had a few stops to make, including one to pick up "The LEGO Batman Movie."  Yes, that's the next and final movie on our Superflix series message list.  We sat down to watch it together tonight - and Daddy wrote this message for it as well.

“The LEGO Batman Movie"

     LEGO Batman works alone.  He says this himself time and again, always quick to shine the spotlight on himself, or at least the Bat Signal.  Everyone loves him – he’s blushing super hard under the mask.  

      Yet despite having friends who want to help, Batman prefers to do everything by himself.  Why?  Listen to him explain it to Joker:  “I don’t need you.  I don’t need anyone.  You mean nothing to me.  No one does.”

     Ouch!  It sounds like Batman needs to look at the man in the mirror.  His friend Barbara Gordon tells him, “You can’t be a hero if you only think of yourself.”  And she’s right – he’s full of pride.
     In our Bibles, Proverbs 16:18  tells us that pride will lead to a fall, and in “The LEGO Batman Movie,” we see that happen to Batman pretty quickly.

     Fortunately, we also see him learn quickly.  As he looks around at his friends Alfred, Robin, and Batgirl, he sees how much more they can do when they do it together.  Yes, other people have value.  And yes, each of us have skills, talents and ideas that others may not.  That’s why it was such a bad idea for Batman to try and work alone.  He wasn’t meant to.
     But neither are you.  You see, everyone else has good ideas too.  Just know that God Himself has made you to join with others to form a super team of heroes.  He’s the Ultimate Master Builder who has designed each of us to pull together to build something great enough to save the day.

“We’re just one big happy fraternity of people that did an awesome job together.” – LEGO Batman

“If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change.  Hoooo.” – LEGO Batman

“If you are proud, you will be destroyed.  If you are proud, you will fall.” Proverbs 16:18 NIRV

“He makes fun of proud people who make fun of others.  But he gives grace to those who are humble and treated badly.” Proverbs 3:34 NIRV

“If anyone pays attention to what they’re taught, they will succeed.  Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord.” Proverbs 16:20 NIRV

“God’s grace has been given to me. So here is what I say to every one of you. Don’t think of yourself more highly than you should. Be reasonable when you think about yourself. Keep in mind the faith God has given to each of you.  Each of us has one body with many parts. And the parts do not all have the same purpose.  So also we are many persons. But in Christ we are one body. And each part of the body belongs to all the other parts.  We all have gifts. They differ according to the grace God has given to each of us. Do you have the gift of prophecy? Then use it according to the faith you have.  If your gift is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach.  Is it encouraging others? Then encourage them. Is it giving to others? Then give freely. Is it being a leader? Then work hard at it. Is it showing mercy? Then do it cheerfully.” Romans 12:3-8 NIRV

“We will no longer be babies in the faith. We won’t be like ships tossed around by the waves. We won’t be blown here and there by every new teaching. We won’t be blown around by cleverness and tricks. Certain people use them to hide their evil plans.  Instead, we will speak the truth in love. So we will grow up in every way to become the body of Christ. Christ is the head of the body.  He makes the whole body grow and build itself up in love. Under the control of Christ, each part of the body does its work. It supports the other parts. In that way, the body is joined and held together.”

Ephesians 4:14-16 NIRV

“So, are you ready to follow Batman and maybe learn a few life lessons along the way?” – LEGO Batman

1. Your greatest enemy is __________.  Joker sums it up to Batman, “Your greatest enemy …is you.”  Look at the man in the mirror:  are you full of pride?  Barbara Gordon says what we all need to hear:  “You can’t be a hero if you only think of yourself.”  And as Batman soon discovers, pride goes before a fall.
   “If you are proud, you will be destroyed.  If you are proud, you will fall.” Proverbs 16:18 NIRV
   a.  Joker         b. Superman             c. Pride
   
   
2. Don’t go outside the ________.  Batman is warned not to go outside the law, and yet because he only thinks of himself, he does it anyway.  Of course, this leads to all kinds of trouble.  The law is the law, and there’s a reason rules are put in place.  God’s commandments are set up for a reason – to protect us from all kinds of trouble.
   “If anyone pays attention to what they’re taught, they will succeed.  Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord.” Proverbs 16:20 NIRV
   a.  law             b. flip             c. lobster thermidor
   
   
3. You can’t work _________.   Everyone else has good ideas too.  God Himself has made you to join with others to form a super team of heroes.  He’s the Ultimate Master Builder who has designed each of us to fit together to build something great enough to save the day.
   “He makes the whole body grow and build itself up in love. Under the control of Christ, each part of the body does its work. It supports the other parts. In that way, the body is joined and held together.” Ephesians 4:16 NIRV

a.  hard                       b. alone           c. together

It's a funny movie.  We caught a lot the second time seeing it, things we hadn't noticed before.  It'll be a good service at KidPak for sure, as everyone loves LEGO Batman...

It was a good day today, another full one.  We dropped by Nana and Ye-Ye's house to pass along a Father's Day gift and spend a little while catching up.  The last few weeks have been obviously pretty busy.  Another place we went to after Art Camp was the library.  Madison picked up a few books that were being held for us, along with some other books and soundtracks.

It was raining a little today, although it seems to be raining more elsewhere for some reason.  We'll get rain eventually - it'll all even out.  Tonight after the movie, we went to bed early.  Daddy read from the devotional, and after that a few chapters from Squirrel Girl.  We're enjoying the book quite a bit.  And soon... we'll be enjoying sleep quite a bit!

Father's Day 2017

We started out the day at church, yes back to church again.  This has been home lately!  Today's message was about Quicksilver, who is one of Madison's favorite random Marvel characters.  I think it's the fact that he's got a sister, and the two hang out together and stuff.  She likes to hear about that sort of thing, about them going on shopping trips or vacations at the beach - these are the types of stories she likes to hear.

Anyway, the message was fine, although the use of the name Quicksilver was more of a draw to get everyone's attention.  The real hero of the day was a man named Elijah, a prophet who at one point could run pretty fast.  Here's the description of the message for today:

     Quicksilver and the Flash are very fast superheroes, but they just live in comics and movies! If you want to really read about the fastest person around, look no further than your Bible. In 1 Kings, chapter 18, it says that the power of God came on the prophet Elijah, and he outraced a king’s chariot! Now that’s fast!
     Our Bibles are filled with heroes, but one of the greatest of the Old Testament would have to be Elijah. He was quick on his feet – but he was quick elsewhere too. And if we’re quick in these areas too, we’ll find ourselves on the fast track to an amazing adventure with God!
Firstly, we have to be quick to obey. Elijah wouldn’t be half the hero he was unless he was completely obedient to God. He took a huge risk going to see King Ahab, but right after he did so, the people of the land were saved from famine.
     You probably won’t be threatened with death, but God is challenging you to help save those around you. There are people suffering and in need! Will you obey His call to be a hero today?
If so, you have to be quick to make a stand. No matter what the world around us thinks, we have to choose, and choose wisely. Elijah gave the people a choice, one that still exists today: Who will you serve? There are many voices that want to pull you away, but don’t fall for it. As Elijah showed us, real power and salvation comes from our Heavenly Father only.
     When you choose and trust in Him, like Elijah, you can be quick to believe. God showed up big, and blasted Elijah’s offering from above with an explosion of fire that got all the people crying out, “The Lord – He is God!” And even afterwards, Elijah heard the sound of a mighty rainstorm long before anyone could see it. Seven times Elijah sent his servant out to look towards the sea for rain. Six times, there was nothing. Yet Elijah had faith. The God who brought fire down from the sky would bring rain. And sure enough, when the heavy rains began to fall, the power of God came on Elijah, and he ran ahead of King Ahab, outracing a chariot back to town! You want to talk about fast? Because of Elijah’s heroism, over the course of one day people began to believe again, and their land was healed once more.
     Now that’s fast! But that’s Elijah for you, the fastest human in history. You can be a speedster like Elijah too, a hero of amazing boldness, witnessing firsthand the firepower of God! All you have to do is be quick to obey, quick to choose, and quick to believe. 

The morning's service went well, although as you can imagine, the staff and some volunteers were pretty worn out.  It was Father's Day, so we had a bit of that in there as well.  The church had bottles of coke, boiled peanuts and beef jerky for all the dads.  Because apparently this is what dads like?  The thought was nice though!  Daddy can't really have any of that at the moment, due to the continued digestive issues that are plaguing him.

We got home after church, and Mommy had a feast waiting for us!  It's Father's Day, and there were ears of corn, watermelon, and grilled fish with lemons on top, along with other foods as well.  It was delicious.  And there were a few gifts too.

I got my first Father's Day tie, which is one of those things that seems to be a standard for Father's Day:  a new tie.  This one was cool, and much appreciated:  a Captain America tie.  But also, there was a new book for Daddy, the tenth and possibly last book in the Kingdom Keepers series.  That'll make for some reading on the beach.

Mommy and Daddy called our fathers too - we passed along books, gifts and so forth, as well as our love and wishes for a great day.  Then Daddy did what all dads hopefully got to do today:  rest.  It was a quick afternoon nap, followed by an early viewing of one of our Superflix movies:  "Big Hero 6."  We'll be doing a message on that one for sure.  We had the popcorn made and were all set up on the couch, watching yet another movie together.

And then it was off to bed a little early once more.  The reasoning here is simple:  there's another camp starting in the morning.  Madison is returning to art camp tomorrow, and really looking forward to it.  Mommy has her t-shirt from last year out and ready to wear tomorrow.  We said our prayers, read from the devotional, and then read some more about Squirrel Girl before driving off to sleep.  To quote Tippy Toe the squirrel: "chck-tchk!"

Snorkel Practice

The day after the Summer Xtreme.  That was today, and yes, as you can imagine we really slept in.  Daddy still has a bit of writing to do, but to begin with, we had some snorkel training to take care of.  Madison is planning on doing a bit of that during her upcoming camp at Daytona, and hopefully we'll be able to do that at Castaway Cay as well.  But she's never snorkeled before!  So around noon, Daddy took Madison down to the swimming pool, where she got to try out her brand new pink snorkel set.  It was actually from the church somewhere - I don't know why there was a snorkel and mask there, but we're benefiting from it now.

It took her a few tries to get the hang of it - maybe about ten minutes of attempts that resulted in water in the mask, or water in the snorkel.  But then the magical moment came when she got it all figured out.  She snorkeled all the way from one length of the pool to the other, and pretty much had the snorkel and mask on the rest of the pool experience.  It was fun watching her learn, and seeing her experiment and spend so much time looking under water.

We came home about an hour and a half later.  The sun was bright and hot - summer is almost here.  We both have to pour on the sunscreen, which we did.  When we got home, there were corn dogs for us, and even some ice cream for Madison!

As mentioned earlier, Daddy had some writing to do.  It's weird to call watching a movie "work," but when you do what you love, there it is.  We watched "The Incredibles," and during it all, Daddy came up with a good message for the new series "Superflix."

We played some video games after that, did some reading, and spent a little time playing piano also.  Madison is still practicing an arrangement of "Amazing Grace," something sent to her by Mrs. Pam to work on this summer.

Tonight's movie continued the Marvel marathon:  we went to Svartalfheim.  Or, at least Thor, Loki and Jane Foster did.  That's one of the destinations of "Thor:  The Dark World," the next chapter in our Marvel marathon.  Madison did enjoy it, although she was worried about Jane Foster throughout. She saw the trailers for this movie, and feared the worst for her character.  Ah yes, we all thought that a long time ago before the movie came out, and here she is thinking the same thing.  I'm not going to spoil that for you though.  The other thing I will spoil is Loki's death in the movie:  Madison knew right away that he didn't die for real.  We didn't have that benefit watching the movie, of course.  But Madison knew.  And the reason she knew he was tricking everyone was simple.  "I saw him in the new trailer, Dad!"

Oh yeah.  So the day was saved, and we were all worn out afterwards.  Mostly because of the two straight weeks of Summer Xtreme though.  It's cumulative, and may take a day or two to rest and recover from.  Fortunately, they were good weeks.  Just ask Madison.  She thinks they were the best Summer Xtremes ever.

SX GWINNETT - DAY 3

Here we are the last morning of Summer Xtreme for Gwinnett.  You can see Madison above with some of the pastors and volunteers - and kids - just before the rush of kids were dropped off for another day's adventures!

Today's order of events were reversed, as we did our service last.  The reason for this is that we went to see a movie, and our group was large and this was the best time to rent out a theater.  And... it was opening day for the movie too!

Here is a close-up of Madison and two friends - you can see that each of the kids got a "Kidspack," which was funny of course because we were coming from KidPak.  Inside each box was some popcorn, a drink, and some candy as well.  But since they let Daddy sit with them, they got double the popcorn (he got a ginormous tub that could dump more popcorn into all of this group's boxes).  Plus, there's the humungous drinks they have there - so Daddy got to sit with Madison and watch the movie sharing a root beer as well.  And so, a sea of green shirts descended upon the movies, filling up the large auditorium, ready to see "Cars 3."

This was a great movie.  It had a lot of messages in it, and by the laughter and applause, you could tell the kids loved it as well.  But so did the adults.  We saw this on opening day, so no spoilers here.  There was a lot that we didn't see coming, including some very heartwarming moments.  We were all smiles coming out of that theater.

We got back to the church after that, and it was time for Subway sandwiches, and after that the service of course.  The final Squad Battles took place, and the Cyber team came in third, which was respectable.  And the final videos of the "Heroes:  Titanium" series were seen, to the great delight of the kids.  Even better, some of the actors - in costumes - showed up.  The kids were cheering, and wanting to get the different characters to sign their t-shirts.

Of course, the message was after this, and once again Pastor Lance spoke into the lives of our children, and our volunteers, with a memorable prayer service afterwards.

It was a great and fitting end to the week.  There were moments of rushing around with stress, but the key to it all are the moments like you see above, where kids are on their knees in the presence of God.  That is simply what it is all about.  In the twinkling of an eye, you can have an experience during worship or prayer or the message that can quite simply change your life.  Our job is to make that experience available to as many children as possible.  And in that respect we did pretty well.  Madison really had a great week, once again.

We cleaned up afterwards, the same sort of spirit hanging over us as always:  is it really all over?  All this work to set up, and here we are?  Yes, it was all over.  Some of us were pretty exhausted.  But not too exhausted to take advantage of a free Hawaiian ice from a nearby store!

Someone was promoting our business, and dropped off several "FREE HAWAIIAN SHAVED ICE" cards, and we were quite happy to take advantage of that.  Madison got cotton candy, and Daddy got the Hawaiian flavor.  And though we were tired, we were pretty happy to have a little treat like that before going home.

The trip was much easier today.  We got home, still talking about all the exploits and adventures from the day.  Madison and Daddy popped in Disney Infinity's "Cars" game, and took a spin with a few races.  But we didn't last that long.  It was an early bed time tonight.  We read some more from the devotional, and then from our new Squirrel Girl book that Madison got for her birthday.  And I think after that, Daddy and Madison in particular were fast asleep in less than five minutes!

SX GWINNETT - DAY 2

Madison is eleven years old today!  What a birthday to have though - it was such a full day for her.  She was off to Summer Xtreme, off to Stars and Strikes, which is exactly what she would have wanted to do on her birthday.  

When she first arrived at the church in Gwinnett this morning, everyone was cheering and a really large group of people sang "Happy Birthday" to her, and that just didn't stop for the rest of the day.  It was pretty funny, actually.  She was sort of running away from it by day's end!

Our service was great again, with worship, skits, another message from Pastor Halston, and of course part two of "Titanium Heroes."

Right after this, it was time to head to Stars and Strikes.  She had such a great time there!

This is her on one of those virtual rides that send you on a mine car or something like that.  The chairs vibrate or push left or right, responding to whatever it is that is seen on the screens there.  She ran from game to game, going on the bumper cars, the laser maze, and of course eating some pizza as well.  Here she is with some friends on her birthday.

Pastor Cameron likes to make funny faces this week!  Madison has her Cyborg arms on, as do many of the kids in her group.  As an added bonus, she has her arms crossed like Wonder Woman, just in case you don't recognize her as a hero!

Here's the one thing she did a few times today:

Laser tag was a lot of fun.  Because there weren't as many kids here, she got to do this a lot more.  The kids loved this, but then again so did the adults.  Madison and her group went in to the black-light labyrinth, ready for combat!

Eventually, it was time to come back, and it was time for pick-up.  As cars lined up, we could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.  Storms were coming, with lots of rain.  That much became evident for much of the ride home - we were traveling about thirty miles an hour on the interstate from Suwannee to just past Flowery Branch, as visibility for all the cars was around two car lengths.  The rain was tremendous, solid, and non-stop.  It was a gully washer if I'd ever seen one, with debris from trees flying into the road, and drivers clinging tightly to their steering wheels for miles on end.

We got home safely though, and ironically, it didn't rain a bit at our house.  We were tired from the journey, but when we got home, Mommy set up a surprise for us:  a tea party!

Madison's birthday continued at home!  She got a few presents from the grandparents, and on top of that, she got a very special present from Mommy and Daddy.  She's been wanting to go on a Disney Cruise for a while now, asking about in from time to time, or at least wistfully talking about how great the last one was.  Mommy ordered a Disney Cruise ornament, and that was the first clue that something was coming.  Then Madison opened her envelope, and inside it was a picture of a cruise ticket, this one with Madison's name on it.  She looked up at us and asked, "Are you joking?"  Of course, we're not joking!  Hopefully we'll get back on board in September when Madison is on her fall break.

After chocolate covered strawberries, tea, and princess cupcakes, it was approaching time for bed.  After all, we have another day of Summer Xtreme tomorrow!  Before bed, we read from a birthday gift that Madison got:  "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl:  Squirrel Meets World."

It's an early Squirrel Girl story.  Our love of Squirrel Girl goes back a ways.  We even had a KidPak service dedicated to her, along with a devotional entry in the superheroes book.

So Mommy and Daddy and Madison sat together before bedtime.  We read from our devotional, of course.  But then we read from this new book, and it's fun so far.  She's different and unusual, but Squirrel Girl is always positive and optimistic, not really one to hold grudges.  If only we could all be like Squirrel Girl, right?

Anyway, we all went to bed not long after this.  It was a good birthday for Madison, certainly much better than last year's birthday.  This year had all kinds of fun, games, and gifts.  It was just what you need for a birthday party!

SX17 Gwinnett - DAY 1

So here we are at Madison's first Summer Xtreme for Gwinnett's campus.  It's a smaller venue with a smaller amount of kids.  I think the number this year was around 168, so it's still a good-sized crowd. The room we were in was packed with excited kids, enjoying the worship, the games, the skit Daddy put together, the incredible "Titanium Heroes" movie that Josh has been working on, and of course the first message of the series, brought by host Pastor Cameron.  It was a great service!

Afterwards, the kids enjoyed some Chick-Fil-A sandwiches in their rooms, and were soon off to a new destination, the West Gwinnett Aquatic Center.

This place had a great pool with fun stuff to do.  The staff there was nice, but the district supervisor there was pretty dumb, to put it mildly.  During a twenty-five minute drill where all the kids had to be out of the water, he was telling kids not to "touch his water."  It was an imaginary drill where they were attending to an imaginary victim on the slide.  In order to do this during hours, all the people were driven out of the water.  Which simulates if this event were to really happen.  That said, everything that happens after the imaginary victim has the imaginary accident is taking place in an empty pool.  Which is something you can easily simulate ...say... after hours?  Essentially, this was more to get everyone practicing their keeping a large amount of frustrated people out of the pool because they all know it's a drill.  Whatever you do, don't touch his water!

Other than that, the day was great fun for the kids.  Madison liked the lazy river they had there quite a bit, as did many other kids.  There was a water slide there, and plenty of other things for smaller kids.  Madison of course had fun splashing everyone.  Here she is with her group above, and here below are some of her splash victims:

The sun was blazing hot, and the pool temperature was just right for everyone.  The weather was perfect, with no thunder or threat of rain at all, unlike what would happen later on this week.  So things were lined up perfectly for everyone to have a good time.  Even Daddy got to jump in for a bit, splashing and hanging out with Madison and friends.  All the volunteers did, in fact.  Here's Madison hanging on to Mary Shannon as they go around the lazy river:

It was a lot of fun.  The kids got back, and the pick-up process began.  It is much smaller than Gainesville's, so it was much easier.  Once the kids are gone though, the work was far from over.  There was actually a church service to run tonight, one that Daddy had prepared for yesterday.  We did a worship service at KidPak, followed by small groups.  Daddy and others talked about being made into a new creation, using the superhero Cyborg as a reference.  It was a great night, but it was also the end of a really, really long day.  You can tell the staff was barely standing after all was said and done!  

Madison did not go to church tonight (she went earlier today, of course).  The best course of action for her was to get some sleep, getting well-rested for another day's adventures.  But looking back, it was a good start to the third of these Gwinnett Summer Xtremes.  Things are going well, although there are hiccups here or there.  Overall, it's all about the kids and what they see and experience.  And what they are experiencing now is... well, xtreme!

Cyborg

This is a worksheet Daddy made for tomorrow night, as we talk about being a "new creation" and talk about the DC hero "Cyborg."  Daddy knew very little about this guy until recently, but he does have some pretty good relatable points that work well for a message.  In fact, here's the message:

     Victor Stone is amazingly intelligent – and yet that didn’t stop him from doing really dumb things early in his life. You want to talk about bad choices? Victor strikes up a friendship with someone who turns out to be a villain. To make things worse, an accident at his father’s lab leaves Victor severely injured, and nearly dead.
     Enter Cyborg. That’s the name Victor has now, and that’s what he’s become. Victor’s scientist dad did what he could to save his life – in short, Victor is now half-man, and half-robot. He’s a new creation, equipped with everything he needs to save the day, with programming to bring salvation to those who need it most.
     If that sounds familiar, it should. If you’ve become a Christian, you yourself are a new creation. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “When anyone lives in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone! The new is here!”
     In your past life, you’ve made some really bad choices, just like Victor. We all have: for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But now look at you! You’re something altogether different, and you look ready to take on the world!
     Don’t worry, like Cyborg, you’ve been given the tools you need to fight the good fight of faith. Of course you’re not armed with a sonic blast cannon, but in our Bibles, Paul tells us, “My God will meet all your needs. He will meet them in keeping with His wonderful riches. These riches come to you because you belong to Christ Jesus.”
     God has equipped you with everything you need to win big, starting with His gift of the Holy Spirit. So put on that full armor each day – it’s time for some breakthroughs!
     Just like Cyborg, your programming is simple: to save others. Our directive is simple: “Go into all the world. Preach the good news to everyone.”
     Put simply, that’s exactly what you were created for. So, are you up to the challenge? Of course you are! You’re a new creation equipped with everything you need for the battle. Rise up, and show the world what a real hero is. 

Today we were doing some preparations for the next round of Summer Xtreme, with lots of printing and decorating and props and... well, the usual.  Things seem to be going okay - we have a well-oiled machine by this point, taking care of all the different things needed to get the job done.

Madison is getting ready for tomorrow.  She's part of the Cyber Squad, and ready for battle!  Seriously though, today was a day of rest.  She was playing games, reading, and practicing piano too. She's learning an arrangement of "Amazing Grace," and getting better with it as the days go by.  There hasn't been too much time for practice lately, but she's committed to getting this one right.  It'll be very nice to hear when she's got it done.

As far as the reading goes, she's a few books into the Summer Reading program.  In fact, Daddy will have to input those in a few moments to mark her progress.  She reads in the car a lot, an avid reader wherever she is.  She'll have those 25 books read just in time, even if they are longer ones.  Also, Mommy is having her read some books aloud, shorter ones of course.  This is to help with her speech over the summer, but we'll also work on some other things, like those fluency passages a while ago.  In fact, Daddy will close up here by writing out a new one that Madison can read for the next week as speech practice:

     Once upon a time, a super hero named Cyber sat around waiting for Summer Xtreme.  He was excited, so he ran over to the church early.  He set up some decorations.  He blew up balloons.  He stuck signs in the grass, ones that said SUMMER XTREME.  
     He was so busy, he didn't see Madison sneak up beside him.  She thought about it... should she scare him?  She didn't think long:  she screamed out, "Boo!" 
     He was so scared, he jumped up in the air seven feet!  He said to her, "What a shock!  You scared me!" 
     And Madison just laughed.  He laughed too.  He asked her, "Are you ready for Summer Xtreme?"  
     And she said, "Yes!  Summer Xtreme is going to be super fun!"
     Cyber told her, "It's going to be super xtreme!  Let me show you what I'm doing."
     She saw the decorations, and so she wanted to help.  The two of them worked together to make the church look super.  He hung banners from the ceiling, and she stuck posters on the walls.
     Soon, the place was ready.  Summer Xtreme was going to be super awesome!