I know I may be in the minority, but I am one of those people who actually likes getting mail.  I look forward to opening the mail to see if I got a card, a letter, or to simply read what is in the newspaper.  I even like getting bills, so I can pay them right away…alright now I know I am in the minority.

But of all the mail I get, my favorite piece of mail Becky, Jack and I receive is from our sponsored child in Rwanda.  A few times each year we receive a letter letting us know what is going on in the life of our sponsored daughter Uwineza Claudine.

Some of her letters make me smile, some make me cry.  Here is the letter we received today…it was one that made me cry.  The last letter she sent us crossed with one we sent her in the mail, so this one is actually responding to some questions we had about Christmas, winter, and snow in Rwanda.  Claudine wrote it, but a translator translated it, and when they did they switched to the third person.

Your child Uwineza Claudine greets you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Claudine has been sick and hospitalized for 2 months now, she was operated in the stomach so she didn’t study last term.  She is still in the hospital but she is recovering.  Her family is fine and taking care of her.  Claudine and her family are happy for the card you sent her.  Your child and her family celebrate Christmas every year on th 25th of December.  Claudine says that she knows snow [we asked her if it snows in Rwanda].  She likes going to Sunday School.  Lastly, she wishes you God’s blessings.  Read: Isaiah 54:4-8

One of our family core values is generosity, another is love.  One of the ways we live those two values out is through sponsoring Claudine.  It is not much, but the support we provide her gives her a better opportunity to go to school, have adequate clothes, food and water, and so much more.

Some of you have been asking about my time away this past week to Creation Northeast.  Let me just say it was a nice change of pace.  One of things I enjoy most about getting away is that I am able to spend some time just thinking.  Usually that means I come back with new ideas, and a long to do list, but it is nice to spend time thinking more long term.

I had the chance to hear some great bands like Third Day, David Crowder and others while I was there.  Also, each evening there was also a guest speaker.  Here is a picture I took with my phone on the night Joyce Meyer spoke.  I believe there were approximately 75,000 people there that evening.

The hands down best part of the week though was that I got to spend some extra time with my family and some great friends.

I am excited for summer.  Honestly, I believe this may be the best summer I have in quite some time.  But it is going to be busy.  For the few who may be interested in Becky's, Jack's and my travel plans….

This Sunday Becky, Jack and I leave for Creation Festival East.  We will be spending some time with some friends from the church, and enjoying some nice music in Pennsylvania for the week.  For this we be gone June 21st – 29th.

Then Becky and Jack fly back to Missouri on June 30th.  Becky is looking forward to seeing her family, especially her cousin Heather, who just had a baby girl.  She is also going to get to throw a baby shower for her sister Sarah.

From July 6th-10th I will be at SNED Kid's Camp in Rumney, New Hampshire. 

Jack's Birthday is July 17th…already getting ready for the 2nd Birthday Bash!  Details forthcoming.

Then I leave for a missions trip to Iquitos, Peru, on July 18th and will not be back until July 27th.

Then from August 2nd (which is Becky's Birthday) to August 8th, Becky, Jack and I will be in Florida attending the Assemblies of God General Council.  We will probably hit up Disney while we are there as well.

And then to cap off the summer we have Mega Sports Camp at the church from August 10th to the 14th.

After all the business of this summer, I think I may need a vacation 🙂

I have picked out a few titles for some summer reading.  The hope is to stay on track with reading a book a week.  We’ll see how I do.  At any rate, here is the proposed reading list….

1. Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper
2. The Monkey and the Fish by Dave Gibbons
3. Less Clutter.  Less Noise.   By Kem Meyer
4. Church Unique by Will Mancini
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian
7. The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy
8. God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. (Got to read the other sides opinions.)
9. The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus
10. Joan of Arc by Siobhan Nash-Marshall
11. Bringing Up Boys by James Dobson
12. More Than Enough by Dave Ramsey

I am sure there are other great titles out there that I don’t even know about.  What are they?

I have been trying a new approach to my devotional times over the last few weeks.   I have been using a Life Journal, and I think I like the way it sets everything up. The basic idea is to spend 20 minutes reading Scripture, 20 minutes journaling, and 20 minutes praying for God to help you apply what you read and wrote about.  I am not much of a writer, so no poking fun of me, but If you would like you can check out a blog I wrote a week, or so, ago entitled "20/20/20" which shares one of my journal entry's.  If you are interested in picking up a Life Journal you can order one from www.lifejournal.cc, or if you are are CCC'er, you can just pick one up in the church resource center.

I am really looking forward to my birthday.  I am sure I will get gifts that I will like, but I am especially  looking forward to opening one gift…a new pair of shoes I am getting from Becky.  I am not really a clothing buff, but I am really looking forward to getting these shoes because they are from Tom’s Shoes.

Here is what makes these shoes so special…for every pair of shoes that Tom’s Shoes sells they give a another pair away free to a child in need.  To date they have given away over 140,000 pairs of shoes.

Here is the website in case you want to order a pair for yourself…http://www.tomsshoes.com/

Jack received his first report card today, and he got all C’s….and T’s.  For those of you who might not familiar with nursery school grade card lingo, there are only 3 options…C for Can Do, T for Trying and N for Not Yet Introduced.

If an A is worth 10 bucks in high school, and a B is worth 5, what kind of reward do you give a one year old who gets a T on their report card?

Values.  We all have them, and we all live by them.  No, we may not have thought through them, or written them down, but we all value certain things, and our choices reflect our pursuit of those priorities. 

Wanting to be sure we are making the right choices and pursuing the right goals,  Becky and I want to establish some set values for our family to live by.  So, we sat down and talked, and here is what we came up with.  Not necessarily a final list, but it is a start. 

humility…We want to remember we are nothing special, not above any task, and that all we have comes from God.

generosity…We want to be generous with our time and resources, always giving to our church, community and other worthwhile causes.

courage…We want to have the courage to pursue every God given dream for our lives, even when it is uncertain how we are going to do it.

love…We want to be examples of Christ like love to one another, and to others.

Again, this is our starter list.  What are we missing?

Five years goes by fast.  It is hard to believe that Becky and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary today.  In thinking back over the past few years I realize that there are lots of things I love about my wife.  Here are just a few of those reasons…

1. Becky sees the potential in others, more than they see it in themselves.  After a particularly tough day when things did not go as well as I would have liked, Becky is always there to support me.

2. Becky makes every day, and every situation, fun.  There are some people like myself that don't necessarily like being the center of attention, but it we do like it when there is someone there to keep things fun, and my wife is always good for a few (dozen) good laughs.

3. Trustworthy, dependable, reliable, truthful…they are all a little different, but they all describe Becky well.

4.  Who wouldn't love someone that has cool nicknames like Beckatron, Becko and The Hacker?

5. She cannot teach a lesson, or pray, in kid's church without crying because she loves the kids and God so much.

6. Real.  Becky is the most real person I have ever met.  I don't think I can say this just because I know her better than anyone else, I can say it because it is true…in fact, it is one of the first things that I ever noticed about Becky.

7. Becky is extremely patient…it is one of the reasons we have made it 5 years.  As someone that has about a billion quarks, patience on the part of my spouse is absolutely mandatory, and Becky has it. 

8. She's brave.  Anyone that can watch scary movies and still sleep at night is braver than me!

9.  She is a genius.  She tries to play it off, but she is actually one of the smartest people I have ever met.  She is never wrong, which means she means she has so many opportunities to say to me, "Ha, I told you so", but yet she never says it.

10. She can read people.  Becky is great at seeing through people's acts….including mine, which means she keeps me real with myself. 

Again, these are just a few of the things that I love and appreciate about my wife.  There are dozens of others, but some of those are probably a little too scandalous for a public blog 🙂