Last Dinner

Tonight we are having dinner together for the last time as a family, before Zach gets married. While we have been very excited for Zach during the entire process of his courtship, engagement and now preparing to move to Arizona to set up his first apartment, we can't help but feel a little sentimental about starting the "empty nest" process. Our first sparrow is flying the coup!

For 25 years we have been having kids: raising, training, nurturing, discipling, homeschooling them, investing in their lives - and it has been all for this time. This time where they grow up and leave us - grow up and become independent - grow up and begin their own lives - just as it should be.

Tonight we are celebrating our family. The memories, the special moments, the first of five treasures that God used (and is using) to grace and enrich our lives. We're celebrating Zach's life, grateful that God gave him to us and eager to see him launched into this next phase in his life.

While tonight we're marking an end of something - an end of "just us," we are looking forward with joy and anticipation to when we will be celebrating the beginning of other things, some firsts: the first time we have dinner with Zach and his new wife, Andrea, after they are married; our first family vacation together; their first home or their first child.

So, tonight we are looking back and remembering - full of memories, gratefulness and love. And, tonight we are looking forward- full of anticipation, gratefulness and love.

What We Did Today

Took the girls - Paige, Taylor and Ashley - to a conference today in Orange County called Rebelution: Do Hard Things. (click to see a short promo video for a description).

We had a great time spending the day together with some other kids and their parents from our church joining 2500 other teens and their parents- listening to inspiring messages and being challenged to not waste your life or settle for what's easy - to rebel against the low expectations that our culture has for teens.

The kid, Zac Sunderland, who just completed his yearlong journey sailing around the world was there.

Biggest surprise of the day: as the band came out to do worship, we started cheering as we saw that three members of the band were from our worship team at church - 2 singers and the bass player. It wasn't until the second or third song that I caught a fleeting glimpse of the drummer's arm and of the back/side of his head and I thought it might be Zach! Since I hadn't heard that he would be playing at the conference, I thought that I must be getting sentimental because I was missing Zach- since we don't see much of him anymore- now every drummer must remind me of him... After straining to see if it was him or if I was just being silly, I finally asked someone down the row 6-7 seats away to check to see if it really was him. It was! Yay!

Summer Project: Weekly Hikes

I've been taking the girls on weekly hikes in the local mountains along with some other moms and their kids this summer. We've been on three so far: Monrovia Canyon Park, Switzer Falls and today we went to Millards Canyon. Each hike ends at a beautiful waterfall. We go in the cool early mornings and are usually home by noon.

After reading this article: How the City Hurts your Brain, I've decided to make sure the kids and I get out at least once a week to hike in the woods - to be in nature, drinking in the quiet declarations of God's glory and receiving the stress relieving benefits of rustling trees, babbling brooks as we learn how to "adopt the pace of nature."

What I'm Listening To:

During my early morning walks, I'm listening to this audio book on my ipod: Crazy Love - Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan.

What a great way to start the day! Walking in the peaceful, cool mornings, soaking in the beautiful scenery of misty mountains, towering palm and pine trees, and quiet neighborhoods with manicured lawns.

You can download the audio book for free on Christian Audio.com

Here's a link to a website that has some videos covering the chapters in his book.

Photo Shoot in Fallbrook

Here are a few pics from a photo shoot workshop that the girls did a few months ago.