I wish I could come up with some clever way to say, "I'm a fair-weather blogger and I'm sorry. Please still read me? :) "

As it is, here's an update and some thoughts on life in Denver.

1) Fall is here. It is GLORIOUS. We woke up two Saturdays ago (the last before I started my job) and discovered it was only going to hit 70 degrees and there was a delicious, fall-like bite in the air. The day before, we had laid in the sunshine and played in the river in the mountains and enjoyed the end of summer. That Saturday (the 3rd of September) ushered in a new season - literally and figuratively.

2) The Tuesday after Labor Day I started my new job at Ashford University. It was exactly four years to the day that I had started at Southeastern in 2007. Although I was excited to start back to work (let's be real: to start getting paychecks again!) I was sad to see the summer go. From the end of June to the beginning of September, we had a fantastic summer. We moved out of our first home in Raleigh, spent time in my hometown, did a cross-country road-trip, found a new home in Denver, spent some time in A's hometown, hosted both of his parents and my mom (all separately) in the span of three weeks, and explored and got to know our new city. And then: work. Hello mornings, computers, offices and bosses. It had been a while. Although the transition is/was rough, it's been good and a good growing experience for me. I think the Lord is using my job to teach me self-discipline in new ways, as well as to teach me to rely on His strength and not my own.

3) Friday was the last day of training with Ashford, and although I was glad to see "real-life" start - you could not have told that by my face! I cried for a while as soon as training was over and I was on my own at my desk....I blame it on being overwhelmed and on having slept poorly most of the week. I think I freaked my new boss, my trainer and most of my teammates out. Good thing I had brought homemade brownies to bribe them into thinking I'm actually cool.

4) Sleep is becoming more and more important to me. I walk to and from the office, about 2 1/2 miles round trip, and while there, I'm being mentally challenged and stimulated. Not to mention, I get to eat lunch with A most days, as I work in the heart of downtown (where food is expensive) where he spends his mornings studying. That means lunch is no longer watching TV shows but studying with him and going over what he learned that morning.

5) I've been able to meet some fun people already through work - something I'm super-excited about. We went out for drinks after work Friday, although I did not partake. A) Vodka shots. Yuck. B) Dill pickle vodka shots. Quadruple yuck. I was not interested in that! A couple of my new coworkers came to the VanderHouse for dinner, drinks and football last night. Good times :) I'm looking forward to getting to know them and my new teammates more!

6) We have also started volunteering with a Bhutanese refugee family. As our City Group's intentional, missional project, we are mentoring this family for their first 6 months in the States. So...after work/non-drinks Friday night, A and I went to their house to help them create a budget, learn to use/fix some kitchen appliances and start them on the journey to learn English. It's also mentally tough, but exhilarating. I'm thankful the Lord has paired us with this family, and thankful for the friendships we're developing with them!

I think that's about all I have to say for now. It's been a hard, but good, few weeks. I am learning more and more about my identity in Christ, his love and grace and my response to the generosity He has shown. I'm exhausted, but thankful for how He is stretching me and deepening my faith. What's going on your world? We only have internet via my phone/tether to the computer, so I'm not as free to read blogs as I used to be!

Late-night entry into our new home state.

Over the long Memorial Day weekend, I got a chance to take my new camera out for a spin and do my first-ever photo shoot! It was HOT, HOT, HOT (and I'm not just talking about the good-looking soon-to-be parents), and we were all melting a few minutes in. That's Memorial Day weekend in the South, I guess. Mid 90s (even at 7:15) and humidity thick enough to bathe in.

However, Anthony and Stephanie were such good sports. Steph and I have been friends since college, when she and I bonded over a love of boys and fear of heights one January. We lived together a semester, then she moved off and got married. When I got married, she was one of my bridesmaids, since she and her husband had moved to NC by that point. They have been such good friends to us, and I'm so excited for them to become parents to little Amos! They're going to do great. They're in a similar boat as we are (although, plus bebe, obviously). Like us, they're in a transition time as they're getting ready to move (before the birth? After?) to Murfreesboro, TN to help start City Church.

Before we move, and before they move, and before she doesn't feel like moving around as much, we all wanted to go out and have a little maternity session! Since it was my first time, I'm really thankful they were such good sports - going to an abandoned building, sitting in awkward positions and maneuvering around whenever the fancy struck me. I have a ways to go with my skills, but I was pleased with the results of this first shoot.Thanks for being patient with me, being flexible (seriously! You amazed me, Steph) and letting me try and capture these final days before Amos arrives in July.

Love you guys!

P.S. Check out their album I put up on Facebook.

Today marks the beginning of the end of one of my songs. Today is the start of the final chorus, if you will. This song of my life, though maybe not audible to anyone, is a blend of the rhythms, the patterns, that have made up my life for a long time.

Disclaimer: I once won a spelling bee in elementary school on the word "rhythm." Expect to see it a lot in this post as I continue to gloat about that win ;) 

Where was I? Oh yes - rhythms. Rhythms rhythms rhythms. These rhythms are a demarcation of time. They can span seconds or a lifetime, but we all have them. Rhythms are those little things that we do that provide the outline for our days, our weeks, our months, our years, our lives. They are those little things that become habits and patterns we fall into, and together, they blend together in a portrait of our days.

For the last four years, one of my rhythms has been waking up, rushing to get ready and walking onto the campus where I work. The rhythm of my workday has defined how time has been spent the last four years for me. This demarcation of 8-5 (or 8:30 to 5:30) at my office has been a steady beat. More recently, I have grown accustomed to the rhythm of a bedtime routine with the man I love. For a long time, Sunday mornings at church was a rhythm of my life. Over the past year or more, that rhythm has changed to sound like Saturday evenings at church. It's kind of like syncopation :)  These things are rhythms, patterns, and they make up the songs of our lives.

This time next month, those rhythms I've had will change. What is change, but a disruption in the patterns we've lived in for so long? No longer will I wake up and come into work on this campus. No longer will our bedtime rhythm have the exact same nuances. No longer will our syncopation be Saturday night church - it will change to Sunday nights. Those little traditions that we depend on to structure our days and our time and our lives will change.

Right now, we still don't know what that change will look like. We don't really have jobs (except A's contract professor thing). We don't have a place to live. We don't have a date our ReloCubes will be delivered on. We don't have a date we'll arrive in Denver. Without any rhythms to base our future off of, it sounds pretty silent to me, and silence often causes me to panic. However, Scripture teaches that it's in the silence that we are reminded that God is God. He is our creator, our sustainer, he is our treasure and prize, he is our substitute, and he is our Father. As our Father, we know he gives good gifts to his children. He is also our baseline. He is the drumline, the rhythm, the beat of the bass around which every other rhythm orders itself. My relationship with Jesus, regardless of the ebb and flow of every other rhythm in my life, should be and will be steadfast. It is that rhythm upon which we ought to base our life's songs.

So although things seem silent right now - there is a drumbeat. At this point in my life, I wish my posture was more one of excited anticipation over the rhythms certain to come, rather than anxiety at the silence settling around me. As believers in Christ, shouldn't that always be our attitude: Humble, excited anticipation at how the Master Conductor is going to fill our lives with beautiful music?

Rhythms can be and are a good thing, when properly arranged around the steady drumbeat of the gospel. I am learning, though, that when I base my existence upon those traditions, I settle into a rut that is more focused on ME than on the Conductor and the music he is creating. What rhythms do you have that keep you from hearing the Lord's rhythm for your life? How can we encourage one another to not grow complacent, but to be vigilant to orient our lives around the gospel?

I've been listening to Shane and Shane this morning, so, as I'm "sitting in this waiting room of silence, waiting for that still, soft voice I know, offering my words up to the rooftop to your heart, trusting that this closet's where you are," I'm reminded that "Sovereign Lord this time's from you. So I sit in the waiting room of silence because it's all about you."

"The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance...You make known to me that path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." - Psalm 16

Remember when I started this blog, it was mostly stories of our mishaps and general craziness that is my life? It's been a while since I posted much about those kinds of things. Never fear - today restored my confidence in my klutzyness (how exactly is that word spelled?). Here goes:

1. After enjoying my lunch and a small bar of Hershey's Dark Chocolate (my sweet husband knows exactly what and when to get me little treats to care for me and stabilize my moods! ;), I was going to run to drop off a movie at Redbox. I happened to look down and see two dark brown spots on my pants. Right on my crotch, to be exact. Thankfully, I whipped out my new Tide pen and dabbed it on. Between me and A, we go through those things super-fast. To say the Vanderburgs are tidy people might be reaching a bit. Soy sauce, chocolate, milk, fruit juice....the Tide pen takes care of them all. After I finished trying to clean the chocolate off my pants, I snapped this picture with my phone and sent it to A.

He promptly responded by calling me Choco-Crotch. Why do I have a sneaky suspicion that moniker could stick for a while? Blast you, chocolate. The love-hate relationship continues.

2) Incident #2 happened very shortly thereafter as I was getting in my car to go drop the movie off. AS SOON as I opened my car door, like, an inch, a big bee flew into the car. Thankfully, the Lord blessed me with cat-like reflexes (no comments from the peanut gallery!) and I was able to push the door back shut before it got into the car - effectively trapping it in the seal. Not knowing what to do, I began to open and shut the door (while still standing a safe distance away) in hopes of squashing the little buzzing demon. When I thought it would surely be dead, I grabbed a napkin to try and sweep it out of the door. Mis-Take. That thing fluttered up angrily buzzing, still very much alive, if not quite as mobile as it once was. I figured if I got in the car and slammed the door really hard, by the time I had to open the door again the bee would be good and dead.

How many times a day can I be wrong about the mortality of a bee? Too many, apparently. When I went to open the door at the store, having completely convinced myself there would be no more bug issues, it shot out of the door's seal, buzzing to let me know it was really pissed off at me and took to the skies. I screamed. Like a 5 year old.

So, there's my little Friday funnies for you. Tonight I'm meeting up with some of my sorority sisters from Union for dinner. It's been years since we last got together - some have moved away, some have had babies, some have moved in and some have gotten pregnant. I have done none of those things, so in comparison, I seem pretty boring. That's OK. I'm excited to see them all one last time before we go West!

For those of you who have asked, there's not much to update you on move-wise. We're planning on packing more this weekend and trying to nail down some details, but as always, we're watching and waiting for the Lord to provide for us! He is good to do that. Thanks for your encouragement - both about the move and the health goals I last mentioned! I appreciate every comment, idea or commiseration!

Like a dream, a lovely dream, my train ride and weekend in Charleston have come and gone, and I'm left with memories and mental images. Lucky for you, those mental images are accompanied by ACTUAL images of my train experience and time in S. Carolina. However, as I am in the process of trying to teach myself Lightroom and better photo-editing techniques, I'm not going to share the pictures juuuust yet. When I'm satisfied with the editing I've done, I'll post some here to show you, but until then - practice patience. It's a virtue.

Meanwhile, I just wanted to share some things I am excited about with the impending move to Denver. Although "impending" is often followed by "doom," that is not the message I wish to convey. Rather, I want to you to know that it's getting close and I'm EXCITED! Although we haven't really begun to pack (at all, actually) our things, here are some things I am mentally projecting I will be excited about when we land in the Mile High City. Because lists are always better in 10s, here are ten things (in no particular order) that I'm looking forward to!

I am excited about....
1. Not having to scroll through a gazillion state abbreviations that start with "N" anymore. No kidding - there are SIX state abbreviations that begin with "N" before you get to "NC." It is followed only by North Dakota's abbreviation - "ND." If North Dakota came before North Carolina in the lists, I'd seriously have to throw a fit - no one ever picks "ND," not a single person. They were paying people to stay in-state, so this is a proven fact ;)

2. Not having to deal with mold issues in our home anymore. Excessive humidity is a dastardly thing.

3. Going to eat at this place and this place, both of which were featured on Man vs. Food and look delectable.

4. Being so close to the beautiful Rocky Mountains and going hiking with my boys! That is, if I can tear A away from the Rockies baseball team to visit the Rocky Mountains. I guess I'm excited to go to baseball games too.

5. Learning how to snowshoe (Ang, teach me?)

6. Taking advantage of the proximity to fantastic ski slopes and hopefully skiing lots and lots and lots.

7. In general, I guess I'm looking forward to enjoying God's gorgeous creation.

8. Living life with this amazing community.

9. Being there with this lady and her husband for the beginning of baby Liam's life!

10. Living in a town with an IKEA come fall!!! I love IKEA with a fierce, shopping love and will have to restrain myself from shopping and filling our new home with lesser products until IKEA opens and I can shop till I drop :)

There you have it. If you've made a move recently, what things did you look forward to about your new city? If you're in Denver already, what things should I be excited about that I haven't mentioned?

It's been a crazy week of looking ahead. I'm sorry to say I've done a bad job of being all here and focusing only on what today holds. Instead, I've been looking a lot to the future and panicking because I don't have all the answers and because I don't always like what it looks like.

Here's a brief glimpse into what lies ahead and what consumes my thoughts this week:

Florida. I'm leaving in the morning for nine days for a trip to "the homeland" for work. I say "the homeland" because Florida is where I was born and spent the first nine and a half years of my life. Although I'm heading to Tampa (close to where I'm from), we'll also spend half the time in Miami - a city I've never been to. I'm really sad (REALLY) to be leaving my amazing husband and sweet pooch for so long, but I am excited to get to visit Miami before we leave the East Coast. Also on the Florida horizon is a trip two weeks later so A can officiate the wedding of a good friend from college. We'll be hitting up a different area of the state for that, so at least I won't be in the same place too long...I may see more of Florida than my own state this month! Ok, not really, 12 days versus 19 days, but it's close.

Also on the horizon - the move to Denver. I'm pretty bummed about not getting to spend the week with the rest of the team this week as 13 of them visit Colorado and look for jobs, housing, etc. and learn all about our new city. So, with that said, A and I have been looking together for housing options, and we've begun considering buying a house. Incidentally, it started with this awesome condo we both really like, but may have stopped with the awesome condo as the implications of not being able to sell it/having to be landlords has weighed on us. What are your thoughts on condo ownership? A good thing? A bad thing? Something worth looking into?? Thinking about buying has led us to take look after look at our finances and recognize that I NEED A JOB out there. Regardless of whether we buy or rent, I'm going to need a solid income in order for us to pay down debts and live on mission in the city. Please join us in praying for the Lord's direction on all things Denver.

To give you another glimpse into our life, April could be way busy too with trips to SC, my mom-in-law in town and a trip West to look for a home and a job (I suppose the order should be flipped). June I'll be in Arizona for the SBC and maybe moving our stuff.....So May, here's looking at you kid. Right now, you look like a welcome month of rest. So there you go. Here WE go. Hang on - it's going to be a crazy ride.

Well, as of Monday night, I am married to a professor.

Did you hear me? A PROFESSOR. If that doesn't just SOUND interesting, I don't know what does. My husband is so distinguished :)

He had an interview Monday to teach Adult Education classes at one of the colleges in Denver, and it appears that whenever we move, A will gain the title of "Professor Vanderburg." What a stud! He'll be teaching communications and maybe some Biblical studies courses. Wahoo! What a blessing, what an answer to prayer and what a good God to provide for us!!

As for things in the here and now, we both want to be more intentional with our time. As such, I signed up for the (aforementioned) Zumba classes, with the intentional of a) getting in shape and b) meeting some new people to build relationships with so I can hopefully tell them about Jesus! Also, as far as our time, we're going to start spending Tuesday evenings down by one of the colleges with our new church "family groups" so we can be intentional about building relationships with some people.

So, boring as I have felt, things are picking up. I'm thankful God gives us seasons - seasons of rest and seasons of activity. I'm thankful for Jesus.

Apparently, my last few posts have hinted at something that makes you all think I am pregnant. I know this because I have gotten e-mails, messages and comments from you asking if I am with child. Let me reiterate: We are not having a baby. Not that we know of anyways, right now. :) All my sweet new mom friends keep getting so excited for us when they think we're pregnant, but we are not and we're OK with that right now. There's a lot of other big changes on the horizon....

So, since it's a slowish day and there's not much else to write about, I'll share the news that we've been keeping kind of hush-hush. We had not told our bosses until this week, but now that we have, I don't feel inhibited about telling you that we're moving.

To Denver.

I'm really, really excited and THANKFUL for the direction the Lord has given us. Some of you knew already, and some of you knew this was something we've been thinking about/praying about for months, but we committed about a month ago, so come July (yes, I know it's a long ways off) we'll be packing up and heading across the country.

We have been meeting with the team members of Soma Church, one of the first church plants of our current church, The Summit. While we LOVE Summit, Soma has become our small, tight-knit community over the last several months especially, so when they asked us to consider joining them, we eventually agreed. It took us a while, but we're so glad we've thrown our lot in with them! :) Many of you know we are passionate about seeing God change lives through the church, especially in areas where there are none to few Bible-teaching bodies of believers. That's why we want to plant a church in a few years in Salt Lake City.

This transition to Denver will be a great opportunity for us to live on mission on a daily basis, to be around a lot of people who need to hear about God's grace, and to learn and grow as church planters so that in a couple of years we will be prepared to plant another church out of Soma in SLC.

So - that's it in a nutshell. We're excited. Like REALLY excited. I'm so thankful for the Lord's direction in moving us purposefully forward into what he is calling us to do. I'm so thankful for my husband's leadership in this. I'm thankful for my church(es) - both of them!

P.S. - Here's the prayer card for our group. Please be in prayer for us and the leadership of Soma as we prepare.

Well, as many of you know, this weekend/week was supposed to go something like this:

Drop A off at the airport
Pick a good friend up from airport
Go to the International Festival w/ her
Go to Ocean Isle, NC for a high school friend's wedding
Have lunch with my parents
Fly to Haiti for the week

Instead, plans changed. The only thing that stayed the same was my friend coming in and my parents taking me to lunch. I started feeling bad Friday morning and by Saturday afternoon, was at the Urgent Care getting a diagnosis of strep. Thankfully, my parents were about an hour away, so while my friend had taken my car to go to the wedding, they came over to take care of me and hang out with me while I was sick and weepy.

Yesterday I had to make another tough decision and decided that since I was still feeling so yucky, I wouldn't be going to Haiti. I was supposed to go to cover a mission trip for work, but with a 5am departure set for this morning, and an elevated temperature and sore throat remaining, decided to "bag it," as my boss said.

So, with that, I find myself with some time to sit and read, pray and study. A and I really wanted to make this week one of searching and praying and asking the Lord for guidance and direction on our future. We have been thinking about and praying about an opportunity for our ministry and our life, and really want to seek the Lord's face this week about that.

So with that, some thoughts from my crazy, weird and unexpected weekend:
-My husband is an unbelievable blessing, and I hate when we're apart
-I'm thankful for my parents, who urged me to go to the doctor and who came and fixed dinner for me, hung out with me, and took care of me when I was feeling so crappy
-A heartfelt "thank you" goes a long way
-I'm grateful for a job that provides opportunities like Haiti, but even more grateful for a boss who shows grace and understanding when I have strep
-Mostly, I'm thankful for my Lord who pursues me, loves me, showers me with grace, and has adopted me into his family. Jesus is my example of grace and through the Holy Spirit, I learn how to love others even when it's hard.

Talk about whirlwinds. In addition to the (literal) strong winds that whipped my hair into all kinds of crazy knots while we were away, the past week and a half has been a crazy whirlwind too.

Since I already told you about the unsuccessful prairie dog hunting, let me recap the rest of the critters I encountered during the Wild West Trip.

On Monday, after finishing the final trash- pick-up of the rodeo, we joined one of the pastors and a few other guys to head into the mountains to fly fish. They fished. I read my book. As we drove back toward town, one of them spotted a black bear and we were all on the alert. We saw it in the brush to the left of the road, then it disappeared. As we looked for it, I happened to look back down the road and see it scurry across to the right side. I quietly motioned to everyone else the bear was on the road - thus provoking one of the men (the same who held my gun for me, incidentally) to yell, "He's on the road!" in a not-so-subtle attempt to help us find the bear again. Thanks, buddy. I got it.

The next day, A drove up from Wyoming and picked me up and we drove from Livingston, MT down through Yellowstone and into Idaho and then Utah. On the way, we saw more little "critters-" lots of buffalo, an elk, antelope, a cat riding on the side-view mirror of an RV (REALLY wish I had been quicker with my camera for that!), chipmunks/rodents of some kind, and lots of microorganisms that changed the springs in Yellowstone to all shades of pretty colors.

Yellowstone Day was probably one of my favorite days of the whole trip - it was gorgeous weather, gorgeous scenery, and absolutely wonderful to enjoy the Lord's magnificent creation with my magnificent husband, who I had been missing while we were apart!

The final creatures we experienced on the trip were those that attacked my stomach early Friday morning in Salt Lake City. I woke up feeling really restless and nauseous, and quickly started losing everything I had ever eaten. It was not a pleasant experience, let me assure you. Makes me re-think my "I want to be pregnant" thoughts! If that's what morning sickness is like, no thank you.

We're not sure if it was a mono relapse, the flu (I had a fever Friday), a stomach virus, food poisoning....Does it matter? It's not fun.

So while the trip, overall, was good, it was beyond tiring and brain-straining once we got into SLC. Needless to say, we are thankful to be home, in our own (still-defective Sam's Club) bed. I'd rather be sick and tired here than anywhere else right now. We're still seeking the Lord's direction on where he would take us and have us plant our lives. If we are called to move to SLC, I'll also be praying that whatever creatures I experienced this last time will be held at bay for the duration of our time there!

Thanks for those of you who have been praying for our trip - we know it would have been much worse, spiritually and physically, if not for the mighty hand of God protecting us. Thank you for interceding on our behalf :)

P.S. - Check the last post for the album link for pictures of the trip. More pictures have been posted!

Well, it's a dusty day here in Montana. I wanted to say Oklahoma just now, for some reason, but no, I'm definitely in Montana. It may be because the dust is picking up and kicking up my allergies a lot at the moment, but it is otherwise gorgeous and very Montana-like here.

We got here around noon on Thursday after an early morning leaving RDU. As soon as we stepped out of the airport, it was a breath of fresh air. Literally. The air was cool and crisp and so clean. Big Sky country made an immediate good impression.

Since getting here, we've been in a pattern of early mornings, slooooow afternoons (complete with a nap for me today), and long nights of wandering around the rodeo. Although really interesting - especially the people watching - the days are long and generally slow and a bit boring. It's kind of weird - it feels like we have a lot of time to do nothing productive.

Today was the best day here, thus far. We went prairie dog hunting. It was great fun! Although I didn't actually shoot anything (not for lack of trying) I still had a good time. It was a bit frustrating, as I didn't have any time to really do my thing ;) First, one of the guys held the barrel of the gun for me and pointed it for me, even though he was not exactly helping. The second time I got the gun, they made me stop shooting because of fear that I'd hit one of the guys that was walking. The third time I got the gun, I fired off some shots and almost hit it. A rock, that is. I kept shooting and shooting, but unfortunately, wasn't actually aiming for a prairie dog. If it had been one, and he had run toward my bullets, he so would have been dead.

So anyways, we're at the rodeo now, waiting for some more opportune moments to capture and conversations to have!

Here's a link to the photos I've taken. Not great, I'm having a lot of camera trouble, plus, we have a professional photog with us, so my motivation is "notsomuch."

Hope everyone is enjoying their 4th of July weekend!

I'm not feeling very eloquent or funny or witty today. At the moment, I just feel like I have a headache and I want to be home with my husband, making dinner, watching a movie, cleaning the apartment and playing house.

It's been crazy busy with little down time, it seems, since we got home from SBC. We were dog-sitting last week for friends of ours (who watched Benny boy for us while we were in Florida). It was fun having him there, but exhausting trying to corral two dogs! I'm thankful the Lord worked it out so that I didn't go get another dog a couple years ago when I wanted to have two! I got a couple pictures and videos of them playing, but unfortunately the one time they laid down together (literally: ONE TIME) I only had my phone and it's crappy camera to capture it.

Wow. It's been a while, huh?

We have had a whirlwind couple of weeks, it seems like. Three out of the last four weekends, A has been in SC working. Thankfully, I was able to go with him these last two weekends! We drove to Walterboro (where he used to live and work) last Saturday morning and then drove back last Sunday afternoon. A grand total of 24 hours, but packed chock-full. We stayed with one of the families at his old church, who added our two (three with Ben!) bodies to an already full and boisterous house. It was fun to hang out with them and grow in understanding of what life pre-marriage was like for my husband :)

When we got back, Monday and Tuesday we went to an excellent conference on church planting and revitalization of churches in the new South. It was held at our church, The Summit, and featured several topics, all centered around the need for the gospel to be faithfully preached in church in the South and around the world. Without the constant exposition of the Bible and the constant teaching on the gospel - central to our faith - our churches will continue to wither and die. We must do away with teaching "quaint moralism" and start teaching the gospel once again. It was refreshing for my heart, as a product of churches in the south, to be reminded that church is not primarily a moral training ground, it's the body of believers who have been radically saved by his grace.

On Wednesday, I returned to the office, while A went to a bootcamp held by the Acts29 church planting network. It was a great time of spiritual renewal and direction for him, it seems, and I can aleady see how the Lord is working through that church-planting training in our lives and futures.

Friday, we skidaddled back down to SC for another weekend (A was preaching the last two Sundays at his old church). We got in about 9:45 or so, after what seemed like a loooong drive. We were thankful to be staying with friends Cory & Jessie, and thankful that though they weren't there to meet us, they had left a key for us on their deck. Smooth-hands-Vandy that he is, A dropped the single key when he tried to unlock the door. It fell to the mat, bounced off, hit the deck, fell between the cracks, hit another board and landed in the dirt below. After about 40 minutes of searching with a flashlight, he finally found the key and tried to McGyver it by sticking some duct tape and a stick in between the boards to snag the key. No luck. The key is still snuggled into the dirt, but thankfully, Jessie came home and let us in :)

Saturday was a full day of sermon prep (for A) and a walk on the beach (for me), chicken fajitas for lunch, putt-putt, go-karts and arcade games at Frankies, and Hyman's for some tasty seafood! We were joined by Clay and Mikalah, former youth of A's who wanted to double date. It was great!

After church on Sunday and listening to my hubs preach, it was lunch witht the pastor and his family and then home.

I'm exhausted. I was tired this morning, and even more tired trying to write about it all. Conciseness is not my strong point. Anyways, if you're tired from reading the recap, I apologize. Go take a nap and think of me ;)