Famous Photographers?

Does anyone remember Honeymoon Part 2 | Saint John, New Brunswick? When we check out the blog stats, this 5th post is always, surprisingly, one of our most popular. (Along with "Spring Birds" and more recently, "The Pouty Face.") So we went on the hunt and were excited with what we found.

If you search "Saint John, New Brunswick" in Google Images, our picture of the Saint John sign comes up on the 5th page of images. I know, you're thinking that now that they are famous they are going to stop blogging and rule the world. Au contraire, we love our corner of the world, so don't you worry about all our page 5 fame :)

Burden Lifters

Do you ever have your best thoughts while washing your hair? While you are falling asleep do you solve the problems of the world? This idea of "burden lifters" has been on my mind often as I shampooed and laid my head to rest. I'm going to give you the medium size story.

During hurricane Irene Dave and I had lots of time for reading without many of the normal responsibilities of regular life. One of the books I read was Orphanology, by Tony Merida and Rick Morton, who at that time both served at Temple Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, MS. It is all about their journeys of adoption and how individuals and churches can join the cause of the orphan, widow, downtrodden, etc. I highly recommend it.

At the end of the book is a bibliography, and in that bibliography I found lots of John Piper. Piper's story of adoption in itself is very interesting, so Dave and I used his phone to do a little more research. First we read his letter to his wife saying he was ready to adopt. (You can read it here, it is very moving.) Next, we went to an "Ask Pastor John" video about birth control (random, but true). But the power was out and the video didn't work on Dave's phone. Never fear, there was a transcript, so Dave read it for us. The video and transcript can be accessed here.

At the very end of the response he says this:

One other thing comes to my mind. I was in Germany when we started having a family. This was 1972. In 1972 people my age were saying it's a sin to have more than 2 kids. And some were saying it was a sin to have kids because population blah, blah, blah.

And I just thought to myself, "OK. If you have more than 2.1 kids you're putting a strain on the planet? I don't think so. Because the kids I'm going to raise are going to lift a million burdens."

You Christian, you've got to believe that bringing kids into the world and being brought up in the Lord makes them burden lifters, not burden adders. They are in the world to lift the world, to save the world, to love the world.

You're not just adding dead weight to the world when you bring a child up in the kingdom. You're bringing up lovers of people and servants of the world.

So, I'm going on and on here. I should probably just stop. I can't even remember what the question was now. So enough on that one.

 I love his ending :)  We've all been there before!

Having children is a blessing and a responsibility. And pure joy. We can't do it on our own, but with Christ our (Lord willing) van full of children aren't going suck the world or us of all our joys and resources. On the contrary, we pray and trust and work hard so that our children will bring great joy and blessing to our home and be a light to a dark world.

May Sarah be brought up in the Lord such that she lifts a million burdens!

Sarah at the grocery...

While I was using the self checkout at the grocery store this afternoon, I noticed Sarah chewing. Know this is never a good sign, I stopped my bagging and much to Sarah distress began my digging in her mouth. Out came a large portion of the grocery list. At least I was through with my shopping :)

Maybe Sarah is on to something here...the list did have several fruits and vegetables on it! Nutrients by osmosis, perhaps?!

Irene time line

Saturday- The final prep, church is (woefully) cancelled, and Sarah slept in the pack n’ play in our room (I think we bothered her, hehe!).

Sunday- The storm is supposed to hit from 5am-5pm. Sure enough, the strong gusts started early, but it seemed to last much longer into the night than predicted. Sarah slept in our room again. We lost power around 10:30am. It came back on for about 10 minutes around 6pm, but a tree on the line caught on fire and blew the transformer (at least that is the jargon the neighbors uses to describe the small explosion). There was good wind, but little rain. Highlights: watching a church service online before the power went out, finishing a number of books, talking to family, going out in the evening to watch the ocean

Monday- Clean up day! Yard work took over most of the day and Dave grilled chicken for lunch. We
moved essential food to a cooler. The church had power, so we enjoyed a “date” with coke, popcorn, a milky way, and a movie on his computer. Sarah had a cold bath and clearly declared herself to not be a fan. Highlights: our date, fresh fajitas, an early morning walk around the neighborhood

Tuesday- Back to life, power or no power (ahem, and we still had no power). Dave went to work and
I met a friend at the playground with Sarah. We had a picnic in the park with several church staff
for lunch. The afternoon/evening brought the emotional job of cleaning out the fridge and freezers.
Thankfully, we weren’t storing too much. I think this job might break my heart in any situation. So
much time and preparation! We stored much of what survived in the church kitchen. Dave and I took
icy showers. Highlights: spending time with church folks, hot dogs for dinner, seeing life go on in the community since most people had power, the mysterious camping sun shower that appeared on our
back porch table (this last one tops the list!)

Wednesday- I went to town with Dave to use a Dunkin Donuts gift card for a special breakfast.  When I got home I made one trip upstairs to put Sarah down for her nap. I went back to the car for the second load and the neighbors started shouting. Dave pulled in the driveway at the same time to bring my phone, which I had left at church, and got to experience the good news first hand. WE HAD POWER! Once the fridge/feezer were gone we weren't too inconvenienced by the outage, but we agreed that it was a long 70.5 hours. The rest of the day was spent running the dishwasher, washing clothes, taking hot showers, putting ice in our water, and moving food back to our now sparkling fridge. Highlight: POWER

Our own little burning bush

Memphis wedding and MS visit

Whew! Things have been exciting around here lately and September is proving to be just as fun. The life update is going to begin with my long weekend in the South.

I (Emily) recently had the opportunity to take a quick trip south to celebrate my longtime friend, Greg
May, marrying his sweet Lori Brooks. The long weekend was fun packed, so I think I will give you a
numbered play-by-play of the awesomeness. This is also a good place acknowledge those who gave me birthday funds- thank you, they went to a great use!

1. We left home at 4am on Friday to head toward the airport. There apparently is a time of day
without traffic to Boston! Dave sent us away with well wishes and we made it to Jackson, MS in two flights. Our independent Sarah didn’t sleep a wink until her cat nap in the car
on the way to lunch.

2. Mom and JT picked up two very tired girls and we headed to lunch. Chick-Fil-A! Even better, we
were joined by Aunt Jane and Uncle Paul, Aunt Ann, Aunt Marthy, Lori (not for long) Knight, and
the Rob Robertson bunch, including the newest addition, little Beau. You might have guessed it,
but he was absolutely precious. From there we had a delightful visit with Grandma and Aunt Marthy. Sarah even got to try some of Grandma's Hawaiian themed ice cream, and was of course a huge fan!

3. Dad met us for lunch and we headed north toward Memphis, arriving just in time for dinner
at Central BBQ. My favorite BBQ nachos joint (which I also learned has great onion rings) has
made a few delightful improvements over the past year and a half. Now, you should know that
Memphis feels like home to me (as many familiar places now do) and my heart was refreshed to simply be in town.

4. After dinner we drove through Binghampton (where I lived) and then headed on to the hotel for
everyone to get a good night’s sleep.

5. The next morning Sarah got a good nap while Mom and I explored a nearby shopping plaza,
including a wonderful Target! I was super excited to share lunch with 3 of my former SOS
Academites/roomates: Ashley, Candace, and Melissa. They have each had so many exciting experiences in the last two year. It is wonderful to look back and see how the Lord has been
working. They are precious to me and I am so thankful for the work they are doing in Memphis.
Thanks for taking time to share a Huey’s meal with me! Sarah also got to meet Ashley and
Candace- they decided to be best friends.

6. I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with friends from Hattiesburg: Lisa, Haley C, Grayson, and Rachel. Our time together is far and few between these days, but I love how we know each other well enough that it only feels like a few days apart.

7. Then Greg got married!!! At the wedding we met up with Haley F and Katye M and
during the reception enjoyed seeing friends from Memphis (shout out to Kim Perry!) and home.
I’ll tell you, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a reception with so much dancing. It was tons of fun; the
food was perfect, the band was great, and I got to spend such quality time with people I love.
Mom and Dad took Sarah back to the hotel to sleep before it got too late, but don’t worry, she didn’t
miss much of the fun!

8. Sunday morning we discovered I had been eaten by bed bugs, but thankfully Mom and Sarah were spared. This issue may or may not get a post of its own. (All is seemingly well now.) We headed south and got to stop by and see Cousins Donald and Wanda before stopping for lunch in Madison. Aunt Susan, Mary Helen, and Will joined us and we had great fun catching up.

9. We continued on to Berwick were we saw Ma, Cousins Jodie and Ronny, Uncle Eric, and Uncle
Robbie and Aunt Karen. It is always good to spend time with family. One of the most fascinating
parts of this trip was having Uncle Robbie and Aunt Karen take us over to and explain the new
oil drilling extravaganza. It. Was. Fascinating. Aunt Karen filled us up with warm food and lots of
love before we headed to Hattiesburg.

10. Monday was a pretty relaxed day. We had lunch at Raising Cane’s (I could drink that Cane’s
sauce…), had the VIP tour of the Lowery home (OK, I might be the only person who labeled it
a VIP tour), and had the Lowerys, Stewarts, Knights, Haley C, and Ms. Glenda over for dinner.
Thanks Mom and Dad for a great meal and thanks to friends for the great fellowship.

11. Tuesday morning Dad and I hit the road (at a much more reasonable hour) and Sarah and I made
it back to Providence without too many delays. Dave treated us to delicious Red Robin on the
way home. Sarah treated us to calm mornings by sleeping past 10am the next two days! After that we put her to bed earlier and started waking her up at 8am so that she could get two good naps.

Friends, family, know that you are loved, but nothing compares with being back home with the one I
love. See you soon!

Being sweet on the early flight. We were thankful for all the space!

Reading with Grandma...she clearly preferred Grandma's colorful beads to her small white ones :)

Enjoying Aunt Marthy

Grandma was kind enough to share her Hawaiian ice cream with our little chick a dee

With Grandmama and Papa John at Central

Happy campers

It is official- she likes BBQ!

Sarah with her new BFFs, Ashley and Candace

With the fam pre-wedding

We are getting our fix of Lisa lovin' :)

Precious friends. I am so thankful for you guys!

Having cheerios with Ma

Uncle Robbie is lots of fun!

Learning all about drilling for oil. Just ask Sarah how it's done...she'll explain it all to you...