Second week of school and lots of fun!

This week marked the second week that Rory and I have been home schooling or road schooling the kids.  I just want to say that we are having a great time!  I love teaching my kids.  In every way I just love watching their faces light up when they understand new concepts and ideas.  I am so grateful for this opportunity to spend so much time being intentional with them.  There is not a day that I do not thank God for this.

Rory is still searching for a rhythm to all of this.  She very much prefers a system or a plan to be done repeatedly not only for herself but also for the expectations of the kids.  We will hopefully have a full routine nailed down here pretty soon but for the most part we are changing things a little everyday to find the best routine.  Today we introduced the Spanish lessons to Allison and Ethan.  This Rosetta Stone is crazy awesome!  I turned it on and started it for Alli and within minutes she was up and learning using immersion.  For those of you who don't know immersion is being fully enveloped in all aspects of language to learn.  By picture, by word, by sound.  Just like you learn when you are a child and you are learning in your environment Rosetta Stone does the same thing.  Now, while I am only on day one I was really impressed with the technique.  I also am doing it with them as to be a better teacher.  I do know Spanish from my missionary trips and four years of studying in high school but this immersion refresher is sharpening those already learned skills.

While school is underway we are also using our time in Wilmington to continue to hang out with our friends.  It has been great to come back and see great friends who have loved us and been intentional with reaching out to us since we moved.  I would have to say that these close friends have been encouraging to us in so many ways.  We love spending time with them.  Yesterday I went fishing with one of those such friends, Mark Tippet. Mark is one of those guys that would do anything for you at anytime and walk with you while your doing it. I have had the opportunity to see him personally minister to dozens of people and have also had the chance to see his heart shine the light of the Lord to so many.  I love being around his family because they understand what it means for their hearts to pour out to others in intentional relationships.  Anyway, we went fishing with his oldest son Luke and were able to get on the fish early.  We went out around 6:30 and were catching fish within 30 minutes.  This is a picture of the big drum I caught!

This one measured out to 26 1/2 inches and was rather porky.  Mark also got a great drum that was slightly bigger soon after.  We were using top water bobbers, I think they called them...... After that we went out to the jetty and used some mullet minnows to go after some bigger drum.  We did not have much luck with drum but Mark got onto something big and meaty but was unable to land him.  I happen to think it was a shark but who knows.

I love fishing.  I love hunting.  I guess I am just a plain guy with simple desires.  I don't even care if I get anything when I go.  I just love being out there in nature, in creation.  Things are a lot more clear to me when I am pondering and communing with God out there.  That is one of the reasons I love it so much.  It just speaks to my heart!



A night at the Raines.........

This is my friend David.  David is the most likable guy in existence.  I met David when I bought a car for someone and told him he needed to deliver it to them to take part in the blessing.  He called me a few days later after the deal and asked if I wanted to hang out.  Soon after he was coming to my small group and a friendship was born.  I love it when God uses one thing, one blessing met for someone else, and blesses you more in the process.  David and his wife Anna were two of those great blessings!  Below is a video of us stuffing our kids in a trash can full of water.  Hey, what do you expect from a bunch of little kids and two dads with kid like hearts! They loved it and had fun.  We had a great time at their house hanging out and talking about God stories.  They provided dinner for us and it was so awesome!  

 David built the greatest backyard awesomeness for kids in the history of backyard awesomeness! He made a monstrous playground built kid tough from large lumber and will provide decades of enjoyment even centuries.  When were long gone, that playground will still be getting used because it's not going anywhere.  In the second video you can see it in the background.  I think it took him three months to build.  This man is really devoted to his kids, and he loves to build stuff.