In an effort to further procrastinate the complete demolition of my bathroom I will tell you about the past week and how great and wonderful it was...a bit crazy and hectic, but wonderful. I'll talk about the bathroom some other time, when we are getting along better. I think I'll even go so far as to talk about the past few weeks....
Brad & April Weekend
For the first time since we've lived in Wilmington Brad Daniels came for visit. It was great fun as we caught up on old and new times, played
Loaded Questions (not for the timid or faint of heart), made delicious herbal teas,
AWC fresh roasted Costa Rican Herbazu, and bountiful breakfasts for out friends. For some reason I have always loved making big breakfasts...We had a great time making fun of the fact that Brad works for
Pat Robertson. Having April is always a delight as she brings a good humor to our home.
the many faces of Bradalicious...and Jordan's fiance was out of town so he spent the day with us too...he was like a puppy from a broken home...it was sad.
April like to cut strawberries...
Cooking fun with chef Jada...
Performance WeekendThe Mid-Atlantic
Invisible Children Road crew came to Wilmington last Thursday, showed some media, and spoke with college students at Kenan Auditorium on the UNCW campus. They had a great turnout and I finally got to meet and talk face to face with the voice behind the phone. I'd been trying to help Jennifer Welsh set up premieres on campus and at the
Connection Cafe for this two day period since around December I think. Turned out a bunch of other people were doing the same thing which was good but no one bothered to tell me until the last minute. So feeling a bit nervous I let it go and everything turned out great.
I'm learning to let go of things though it is difficult...like my hair...
...Anyways, they entered into some good dialog at their two showings and shared their hearts and passion for getting motivated and getting involved. Friday was the busy day though. I got off of work early thanks to my wonderful boss Bill at
AValive and met up with the IC crew, my good friend Evan Vetter (who I've been working with to provide music and showings of his
Congocast documentary), and
Braddigan (who just happened to be in town for a show as well). We stuffed ourselves silly at
Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn and had a great time exchanging stories, visions, hearts, directions, and life in general. It was a really uplifting and encouraging moment now that I think back on it. Getting to see so many people that I've gotten involved with coming together and meeting one another with similar hearts and visions was pretty rad. After lunch I took Brad and the guys down to Wrightsville with every wetsuit I could dig up and my friend James Connolley's softtop collection from his
surfcamp. It was really funny watching Rey and Tiago try and squeeze into my old suits. They got them on though, and we eventually got in the water. They were so stoked to be in the ocean!! One could tell they were focusing pretty hard on just staying on their boards, but regardless of the wind and current they all caught a couple waves and had fun. I gave my friends in the lineup a little heads up and "keep an eye on these guys for me," type of gesture. They all kind of chuckled but let Paul, Rey, and Tiago drift harmlessly by. Thirty minuted later I saw them again dragging their oversized boards up the beach against the wind. Brad, unfortunately never made it as he worked on his itinerary for Nicaragua leaving the next day.
Later that night after showers and such we congregated back at Kenan Auditorium for sound check. A new friend and brother, Josh Eddings, is heading up a chapter of the
Manna Project here at UNCW, and is who put the whole Braddigan show together. Brad and I had discussed possibly collaborating on a few of his songs and so I had my whole barrage of instruments with me. As we set up and ran through of few, I was honored when he asked me to open with a few of my own songs. Of course I left my guitar at home...I had every other bizarre instrument...but not my guitar...Jada came to my rescue as always and dropped it off with a beautiful smile and peck on the lips, then left and went to some sort of craft party. We had a great time playing that night! I only played about 3 or 4 tunes and then Brad and the guys freaking rocked out then gave a captivating slideshow of
La Chureca. Brad had some pretty moving words for all of us that night challenging our worldly way of thinking. I think everyone there had a great time and got a lot of love and motivation out of it.
Some shots my buddy Theo Milosevich took...
The IC Crew showed up towards the end and we all hung out for awhile and talked after the show. They ended up staying at our house that night because Jenn was feeling a bit sick. I made tea, we prayed and had a wonderful breakfast together the next morning. We prayed again and sent them west to Raleigh to check Jenn into the doctor and do some more screenings. They were a great group of kids living out their faith in a totally real way. It was really refreshing to see that.
Occy and the Invisible Children...Oi mate!!
They are such great kids!!!
I guess it's back to the bathroom for me while Jada babysits her cousin's daughters and his wife births their first son. I hope I didn't spoil the surprise. I'm never the first to know anything so it's kinda weird not being able to tell anyone. Oh well...looks like bagpipes and birthdays on the horizon...
Jada debates with Lizzy whether it will be a boy or a girl while Ava could care less because regardless she will be the middle child and she's pissed!
