A Few Photos of a Great Weekend

For a serious take on the upcoming IMB Board of Trustees meeting where they will make a final decision on the private prayer language and baptism policies, read this post.

To lighten things up, however, I thought I'd post a few pictures from our weekend with a little commentary. It started with me taking the kids to Birmingham yesterday to fly in a small twin engine plane with an organization called Dreams on Wings. They provided a day of fun for families who have had a sick children by taking them for a flight over north central Alabama. Caelan qualified, so we took advantage of it. It was a blast! Here are some pictures of my kids enjoying the day with a few caption for laughs:

Here's Peyton chasing after bubbles before our flight. All the kids loved going after the bubbles and they spent about 30 minutes doing so. I have decided that for Christmas this year, I am just going to spend $5 on a bubble gun. That and some empty boxes and wrapping paper should satisfy them. Seriously, I think that they would be just as happy.

                            

The kids and I with our pilot, Brandon, just before "blast off" as my three year old called it. Brandon is the cool looking guy on the left. I'm the other not so cool looking guy on the right.

                            

Peyton and Caelan travelling first class. It goes without saying that Caelan did not stay in his seat long and ended up in my lap.

                            

Here's Ashtyn flying the plane. Brandon, our "pilot" fell asleep or something, and Ashtyn had to take us down. It was a bit bumpy, but she did a pretty good job considering it was her first time. She's a rock under pressure, just like her old man!

Kieran is looking quite presidential, no? This picture was taken right before he started freaking out over the question of should he try and pop his ears or just let the pressure build until his head exploded? The picture captured the calm before the storm, so to speak. Popping his ears was quite terrifying to him as he kept saying, "Daddy, I can't hear anything." He was actually yelling it. Soon, he was in tears, afraid he was going deaf. So, I proceeded to stick my finger in his ear to see if that would work. Nothing. I tried to tell him that his fears of a life of deafness were irrational, but he just wouldn't listen. Kids.

Today, we had our annual chuch picnic. Immediately prior to the picnic, we have our AWANA Grand Prix. This is a fun time when the dads, er, kids get to show off their slot cars that they have made and race them. Seriously, this is cutthroat. Bragging rights are on the line for the entire year and unfortunately, my daughter has a father who stinks at anything that has to do with cutting wood into any discernable shape besides a triangular door jam. So, she got her annual door jam car again. I told her that I was sorry that I wasn't very good at this. She put her arm around me and said, "That's o.k. Daddy, winning isn't everything." She then proceeded to tell me that she really wanted a trophy. Riiiight.

Well, our Door Jam on Wheels was pretty fast, even though we didn't place. We kept losing by a nose. I still think the race was rigged, but we'll have to try again next year when I get to make TWO door jams (one for Ashtyn and one for Peyton). Peyton and Kieran just raced Hot Wheels cars because they were too young. They didn't win either. The Cross family did not distinguish themselves today because they have an incomptent for a father. Hey, at least I know how to blog! They can always comfort themselves by telling their friends that their Daddy may not be good at anything, but he DOES have a blog. Sigh. :(

                              

One of the guys that helped with AWANA got a pie in the face. Hey, it's a church picnic! SOMEBODY'S got to get a pie in the face, right? It's a church tradition right behind "Throw the pastor in the pool" at the pool party. I did think this was a cool picture, though.

                           

And of course, the slip-n-slide. Peyton got a good head of steam going, but he was still thrown out at home plate. It was a bad call, but what are you gonna do?

                               

We had a HUGE turnout for the picnic with a few hundred people present - or, was it several thousand? Not that I'm counting or anything. :) Anyway, we rented several inflatables, played volleyball, basketball, and relay races, ate a lot of food, and got to spend time with our church body as well as quite a few people from our community. We also had an international contingent with visitors from Iraq, Jordan, and Israel. They were international officers from the local Air Force base and training school.  I thought that a debate on who really has a right to be in Palestine would have been fun to watch, but I decided against it at the last minute.  On a serious note, I actually got to have some spiritual conversations with them. It was really cool.

We also had a GREAT service today. It was the second largest service (after Easter of this year) in the past several years. We baptized several kids and we got to pray for healing for a child suffering from seizures and a man with cancer at the end of the service. I serve a great church that really loves the Lord and desires to honor Him. I truly am a blessed man.

Comments

[Bob Cleveland]

If they'd had airplanes and cameras at the time of Acts Chapter 2, I bet it would have looked a lot like this.

[Bryan Riley]

Some of my fave posts are these. Thanks for sharing Alan. I sure hope to meet your church family some day!

[Colin]

I am glad I stopped by. Great stuff, Alan. I think we are going to get along just fine putting this SBC back together after all these old guys die off. ;)

p.s. You have a beautiful family. I pray God's blessings upon them.

[Bart Barber]

What fun! As a pilot myself, I'm jealousthat's quite an airplane.

By the way, although I can't do much for you about the on-the-way-up situation, here's what to do about the ears on the way down (old pilot trick): 1. Hold your nose really tightly. 2. Close your mouth and try to blow your nose really hard (while still holding it shut really tightly). 3. Ears clear! The air has to go somewhere, so it goes up your Eustachian tubes and equalizes the pressure behind those eardrums.

[Alan Cross]

Thanks, Bart. It was a nice plane. Thanks for the advice as well. I was trying to get him to do those things (I earned my wings on Delta long ago :)), but he wouldn't have it. He was afraid that if his ears popped it would hurt or something. So, he cried the whole way down. Ugh. He'll learn eventually.