I Have a Vision

This is a picture of the back wall of my office as I began my "three month office remodeling project". That's what I call it now. When I started, I was going to "paint my office".

"So what has changed?" you ask. Nothing. I have no remodeling plans other than painting, but it is just going to take a while. But I have a vision!

Several years ago, while visiting Brooke's paretns, I looked at the white wall, black trim look of Brooke's Dad's office and thought to myself, "I like that". As I was thinking about hanging some new pictures in my office today, I finally decided to go for it, and the painting began.

But my vision is bigger than just white walls and black trim. I am a VERY proud Texan (wasn't born here, but I was one of those who got here as fast as I could), and I have decided my office is going to become a Texas room. Once my paint job is completed, I am going to start with a Texas flag on the wall right where the two homemade posters hang in the picture above. After that, I'm going to add "Texas stuff" to my office as the budget allows.

I'm doing one small section at a time. No moving all the furniture to the middle of the room and painting the whole thing at once. I want to enjoy the project and not stress out over it, plus I'll have to buy the supplies a little here and a little there. I began with the "poster wall" tonight. I'm taking down all of the trim so I can paint without having to tape. I am not a very big painting fan, but I HATE having to tape and paint. Of course, the house was home made (the people who lived here before us literally built the house 40 years ago) and some of the building materials are not exactly up to today's standards. The trim is actually some sort of coated stryofoam! As cheap (quality) as it is, I'm saving all I can. Once it's painted black, it will look good and that's one less item I have to buy.

My goal for tomorrow is painting the trim I have taken down (to see if the leftover black paint I found is going to look OK) and to paint half of the ceiling (with the leftover ceiling paint I found). I have to take down more trim before painting the other half of the ceiling. We'll see how it goes, but I have a vision!

Amanda's 10th Birthday in Alabama

Birthday Boy

This is Sully, and today is his birthday. Actually, today is the day we celebrate his birthday. We rescued him from the pound so we don't know when his birthday is for sure, so we celebrate December 17...the day we brought him home from the pound.

I believe it was in 2002 we were looking for a second dog to keep Boo company. We were leaning toward another Cocker Spaniel (Boo is a Cocker), so when one became available at the pound, I took Boo to meet the new dog. My Mom is the one who saw the Cocker at the pound, so she went with me. The Cocker was not very friendly and did not want to have anything to do with Boo. I was disappointed and ready to go when Mom said, "Did you see that Snauzer over there?" I really was not interested, but she insisted, and so we let him out into the outdoor pen to meet Boo and me. He immediately ran up to Boo and wanted to play, and then he came over to me and wanted to be loved. That is about all the time it took...I was hooked and I took him home.

Brooke and Amanda welcomed Sully (the name we gave him) right away. It took Boo awhile since she was used to being an only dog, but she loves Sully now and I think she would be lost without him.

Happy Birthday, Sully. We love you!

12 of 12 - December 2008

9:26 AM
I was at school (ECIA) helping a teacher learn how to use Engrade, the online grade book selected by the school. Stopped by the front desk and saw Brooke and Brad hard at work!


11:25am
Pastor picking me up to go play some racquetball. He won 2 out of 3 today! :+(


1:35pm
Yesterday I replaced the wood trim around my garage door and caulked it. Today, I filled in a couple areas that needed more caulk.

Caulk, like make up, covers a lot of blemishes!


2:04 PM
Happy Hour at Sonic is 2-4pm where soft drinks and slushes are half price. We stop by at least a couple times a week. Here's our Friday stop.


2:19 PM
Tonight is our church leadership Christmas party and we always have a gift exchange. This year, again, the guys are buying tools. Best place to shop...Foster Hardware.


2:44 PM
Ending up choosing an LED flashlight for my exchange gift.


3:49 PM
Wrapping Christmas presents. Yes, I'm the wrapper at our house. I am wrapping Brooke's present from Amanda and Daddy here.


6:18 PM
Brooke taking a quick rest before the leadership Christmas party tonight. Of course the dogs felt the need to rest with her.


7:16 PM
Church leadership Christmas party. Ed, Rob, Mark, Bill and Mike (left front to back, right back to front).


9:07 PM
Ed ended up with the gift I bought. I heard he was going to give it to his grand daughter.


10:08 PM
Picture of Brooke with full moon in the background. Although the moon does not look too big here, it was a full moon and the largest moon in the past 15 years...tonight.


10:34 PM
This screw driver set is the exchange gift I ended up with at the leadership Christmas banquet tonight. Cool!

Don't talk too much, for it fosters sin.
Be sensible and turn off the flow!

- Proverbs 10:19, NLT

The Heart of Faith

Thoughts from my Bible reading time today.

Daniel 3:16-18, NLT
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Seems to be a number of statements or levels of faith here:

1. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace... - I had not seen this one before. Perhaps they are saying, "God can keep us from being thrown into the furnace in the first place.
2. The God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O King... - clearest statement, "The God we serve is able..."
3. But even if he does not... - This, to me, seems to be the greatest statement of faith. They were saying, "Even if God does not do what we think he will/should, we will still trust Him and not bow down to the idol."

Some today would say they were not speaking in faith by allowing "even if he does not...". But what is faith? Is it confidence in God or confidence that God will do what we are asking?

I don't know. On the one hand, Jesus had confidence that God would do what He asked. But on the other hand, today we have people telling God what His Word says and tell him that He is obligated to answer their prayer because of it.

I do not feel God is "obligated" to do anything for me. He has done more than enough through Christ. My faith is in a God who is true to His Word, but it is NOT in my ability to understand and apply His Word correctly 100% of the time. That's not an excuse to stop praying and believing according to my understanding of the Word, but it ought to give caution to the notion that I can order or obligate God to do anything.

Lyrics: Snowball Fight

One of my favorite Christmas CDs is one I picked up when I was a youth pastor. It is Ska La-La-La-La by Bunch of Believers. I'll be posting some of the lyrics...because I just love this CD!






Well I'm walkin' in a winder wonderland
With a cold one in my hand
Yeah, I want to be a blessing to someone
God's given me a gift
Like Nola Ryan, if you get my drift
Today the youth group wants to have some fun

The other side is slow like Eyore
But I'm bouncing like Tigger
You've got to pick your hiding place
And I wish this tree was a little bit bigger

Now I know why God made snow
One, two, three let's go, it's a snowball fight
Snowball fight, snowball fight, snowball fight

Well I don't want to miss the mark
But I just hit some bark
It was enough to scare Roberta half to death
And if you look behind that shrub
Boy, they're gonna need some deep heating rub
I know they're back there, I can see their breath

Now if I hit you in the face
Well I mean it all in love
Cold, white flakes of fun
Sent down from above

Though your sins be red like scarlet
They will be made white as snow

Tis the season
To lose all inhibition
At Christmas-time I just praise the Lord
And pass the ammunition

Love, Pt. II

Love is when mommy sees daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.

- Chris, age 6

Love, Pt. 1

You really shouldn't say "I love you" unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.

-Jessica, age 8

Schools - 1957 vs. 2007

Scenario:
Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario:
Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario:
Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario:
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario:
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario:
Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario:
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2007- BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario:
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

Thanks to Ken Randell for sending me this.

From My Quiet Time This Morning

This is what I read this morning.

Hebrews 10:10 (NLT) - For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, Christ, once for all time.

Hebrews 10:14 (NLT) - For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

Hebrews 10:18 (NLT) - And when sins have been forgiven,there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.

During my prayer time, I do what I call "two way journaling". I write down my prayers to God, and then I listen for a response. If a thought comes to mind, I begin writing. I don't wait until the thought is finished (because I get distracted and usually interrupt), but I write down exactly what comes to my mind as I "hear" it. Then I read what I've written and ask myself, "Does that sound like me, or does that sound like God?" If I' m not sure, or if I have been given some kind of direction, I can take what I've written to my pastor or a friend and ask, "Does this sound like God to you?" Ever since I started doing this, I have been amazed at how easy it is to hear God talking to me. (What was I waiting for before? An audible voice?).

This is what I journaled this morning after reading the first part of Hebrews 10. I put in italics the part where I felt God was speaking to me.

Dear God,

I guess this is an improvement over not meeting with you regularly, but here I am, up early, and now I am always running out of time wishing I had more time to spend with You. Thank You for loving me, for spending time with me and for speaking to me.

Rob, I do love you and I love spending time with you. You are not something broken that I would have to force myself to spend time with. I have redeemed your fallen nature and, just like back at the beginning of my creation, I long to take walks with you, talk to you, listen to you and share in the life I have given to you. As my child, I want you to love me and desire to spend time with me, but I have created this life for you to enjoy and it brings me joy to watch you enjoy it. Yes, the thing that separated us, sin, was/is huge, but my sacrifice was 100% totally enough to bridge the gap. Now the only thing that can stand between us is you not meeting me here like this.

Father, as I've been reading The Shack, I've been thinking how wonderful it would be to have the opportunity to meet with You and get to talk with You for a weekend like in the book. While that would still be totally awesome, I have been feeling perhaps You were trying to tell me that is what You want our time together here to be. Today, I feel a little bit like that was the case. I feel like a child, in the presence of my Father, totally at peace, full of joy, resting in the knowledge that I am totally loved. I can picture myself running in a field laughing and just resting in your love...and You smiling as You watch me being silly. Each of us being exactly who we are supposed to be (which, of course, is not hard for You!).

Thank You for your love and your presence.

12 of 12 - November 2008

If you haven't heard of the "12 of 12" idea, here it is. And here are my November photos.

6:32 AM - Up for morning devotions and journaling.

7:15 AM - Waking up Amanda for school.

8:37 AM - Time for a new transfusing unit and imaging unit on the copier.

8:54 AM - This is how I see Tammy if I lean over the corner of my desk.

9:14 AM - Don't know what I'm working on that is so serious!

9:21 AM - Payroll is an IMPORTANT part of the Wednesday routine. Tammy is calling it in.

10:41 AM - I was outside putting Amdro on fire ant mounds when the dumpster truck came for our usual Wednesday pick up.

11:51 AM - In typical George fashion, arriving a few minutes early for lunch.

2:39 PM - Picking up Amanda from school.

2:59 PM - Of course I wore my orange shirt like his yesterday. That would make me the trend-setter, right?

6:17 PM - I drove the van to pick up a few students for youth group tonight. Go No Compromise Youth!

8:21 PM - Almost forgot to take a picture at Life Group tonight. Nobody show Brooke what time this was taken (we were supposed to be at the church picking up our kids at least 6 minutes BEFORE this picture was taken).

Calling Off the Air Strike

When I read through my Bible, I mark things that catch my attention. One of the things I have enjoyed finding over the years is Old Testament examples of God's mercy. It seems we too often think of the God of the New Testament as merciful and loving while the God of the Old Testament is mean and quick to judge (i.e. "to wipe out everybody"). Hebrews 13:8 tells us, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.". Granted, we have Christ's sacrifice extended to us in the New Testament, but did God really go through a temperament change between the Old and New Testaments? I don' think so.

Tonight I was reading in Jeremiah and I came across this:

2 "Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. 3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, each of them will turn from his wicked way; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin." (New Living Translation)

During this time in Israel's history, God prophesied through Jeremiah the prophet that Babylon was coming to destroy Jerusalem. God told Israel he was punishing them using Babylon, but after a season, God would restore Israel and punish Babylon. When we read this story, often we focus on the "every disaster I plan to inflict on them" (God speaking) and see this is an illustration of an angry, punitive God.

But read to the end of verse 4...it says, "Perhaps...each of them will turn from his wicked way; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin." This is a merciful God giving his people yet another chance to repent so that he could forgive them. He's not quick to judge...he's slow to judge and he tells the people once more all the bad stuff that will come down the pike if they do not repent. He wants them to be horrified at the judgment so they can repent and be forgiven.

When I read this, I got a mental image. I pictured some military commander being informed by a fighter on patrol that a group of people are headed toward allied territory. The people are not a threat where they are now, but if they cross the border into allied territory they are a major threat. The commander has no choice but to order the fighter to track the group of people headed toward allied territory. He gives the order to "go hot" and a missile is armed and ready to use on command to wipe out the the threat. But even as the order is given, the commander strains to see the satellite image on the screen before him. The group does not look hostile, but they cannot be allowed to cross into allied territory. As the fighter maneuvers into position and awaits the "fire" command, the commander moves to the edge off his seat and speaks to the monitor in front of him, "Turn around. Turn around now and you will not be hurt". The fighter is lining up for it's attack while the commander is looking for the smallest sign that the unknown group of people will deviate from their course and stop heading toward allied territory. The pilot checks in and let's the commander know he is ready to fire, but instead of hearing the "fire" command, he hears the commander scream, "They are turning away! They are turning away! Abort!! Abort!!!"

In this story with Israel (and I could image the same in my life), I see God as that commander pleading with his people to turn back so he can call off the air strike. As soon as he sees people turning from their evil ways, God declares "abort", the fighter is brought home and the people can return to safety.

Instead of painting a picture with God on the edge of his seat waiting to jump out and beat on the head those who have messed up, I believe this shows our loving God, on the edge of his seat, watching for the first sign of a repentant heart so that he can jump in and forgive.

Calling off the air strike would be called "Old Testament mercy".

Targeting a Very Specific Audience

I did not crop this picture, so you can see that it was generated at churchsigngenerator.com, but Brooke and I did see a church marquee here in Arlington that said this very thing! I couldn't help but think three things:

1. They have certainly targeted a very specific audience.
2. How much longer will their target audience be alive?
3. I wonder what someone who is not a Christian would think if they read that sign?

This is Fourth Grade?

Here is a video of the Hurt family trying to memorize the first two stanza's of Amanda's poetry homework for the week.

Amanda's teacher likes poetry so a lot of Amanda's homework has been memorizing poems. Up until this week, they have seemed like poems appropriate for a fourth grader. Our pattern has been to read through the poem, define any words we don't know, put it in our own words so we understand it, and then memorize it. This poem...well, we looked up a number of words, but try as we may, we can't really put it in our own words. It's pretty sad when Mommy and Daddy can't even explain the poem to Amanda and she is expected to memorize it and recite it to her class in four days! So here's the poem. Maybe some of you poets out there can explain the parts in red to us (you can use the comment section).

October's Bright Blue Weather
by Helen Hunt Jackson

O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
ye cannot rival for one hour
October's bright blue weather;

When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And Golden-Rod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When Gentians roll their fringes tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields, still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October's bright blue weather.

O suns and skies and flower of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October's bright blue weather.

Hmmm...having written all of this out, I think I understand it better now, but I still have no clue how to explain it all to a fourth grader!

Politician at the Pearly Gates

While walking down the street one day a US senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

'Welcome to heaven,' says St. Peter. 'Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you.'

'No problem, just let me in,' says the senator.

'Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.'

'Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,' says the senator.

'I'm sorry, but we have our rules.'

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him. Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne. Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go. Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises ..

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him. 'Now it's time to visit heaven.'

So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

'Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.'

The senator reflects for a minute, then answers: 'Well,I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell.'

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down,down, down to hell. Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above. The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder.

'I don't understand,' stammers the senator. 'Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?'

The devil looks at him, smiles and says.......

'Yesterday we were campaigning. Today you voted.'

Thanks Ken for sending this story.

12 of 12 - October 2008

Just last night, I heard about a project called 12 of 12. The really simple version is, on the 12th of each month, you take "every day" pictures during the day and then select 12 of them to keep. At the end of the year, you have 12 pictures from 12 days during the year as a sort of photo diary. I did a bit of Googling tonight and found out that the idea came from a guy named Chad Darnell. Here is his blog that describes the project more fully. In any case, I started my 12 for 12 today.

7:31 AM

Up at 7:30am. Of course I don't look awake...I just woke up one minute ago!

7:32 AM
Mom and Dad's dogs spent the weekend with us. Left to right: Sully (our dog), Harley, Buster, Boo (our dog), Ralph

8:07 AM
Brooke cooked the cinnamon rolls, but when I wanted to take her picture putting the icing on them, she made me do it while she took the picture.

8:11 AM
Amanda had a friend spend the night. Here is Brooke praying with them before breakfast.

9:01 AM
Pastor David had to make himself a portable office this week. Here he is in the portable office this morning.

9:09 AM
Church picnic today. Here is James, one of our deacons, helping get stuff set up.

9:21 AM
I am helping some of the deacons set up for today's church picnic.

10:34 AM
It was my week to run the worship projector.

10:36 AM
Sunday morning worship service at Vine Fellowship. (http://www.theVineFellowship.com)

5:02 PM
Working on the bike to see what all will be involved in changing out my grips.

7:34 PM

Went on a motorcycle ride with Ed and Daniel tonight. We stopped at Dairy Queen in Cleburne, TX.

9:58 PM

Sitting down to watch "The Unit" which we DVR'd earlier. The puppies all wanted in the photo.

Only 11 More Til' 600

Brooke took Amanda and a friend to a football game today and I was left to myself with beautiful weather. What to do? Shall I go for a motorcycle ride or geocache? Why not do both? I did and found 10 out of 13 geocaches I hunted today. Only 11 more to 600!

Too Busy to Blog?

I have noticed, as well as heard from a few of my friends, that I have not been blogging regularly. It seems I keep telling myself, "When I get past this, I'll have more time". And then, as always happens, one more "this" comes up. I enjoy blogging, so I'm trying to make more time to relax and blog. So, right now, I'm relaxing, listening to Rush Limbaugh (Rush 24/7), making computer backups and blogging.

I have spent most all of my day off at Amanda's school today. Today's "journey" started when Brooke and I met with the school's administrator to volunteer at the school. One of the things I was asked to do was work on the character development curriculum with the principal. The short version: I was asked to use a certain curriculum which was designed for K-5th grade and then adapt it for 6-8th grade as well. I suggested using 7-8th graders to present the curriculum to the school complete with a plan for doing so. Next, I was asked to implement that plan. So I was at school doing that today and then substitute teachers were needed for PE. I worked with a teacher and did 5th-8th grade PE and that was fine, but I could not handle 1st-2nd grade PE. All I had to do was watch them on the playground, but it was too much for me. I could not get them still long enough to get a count to make sure I was keeping track of all of them, then there was the crying, the tattling, the climbing on the outside of the playground equipment....argh! Fortunately Brooke was also volunteering, so she took my place and sat at the front desk for her for the rest of 1st-2nd grade PE time. After I got home, it was time to start on the weekly school email announcements which I take care of and then several other emails and projects to go along with the work I had done with the 7-8th graders today. It has been a busy yet fulfilling day.

I have also spent time this week updating the church web page (as I do every week). We have been having issues with our sermon player because they are moving servers. For the first time this week, the sermon player can be seen on our sermon page, but the majority of our archived messages are not yet showing up. Since that amounts to more than a year's worth of sermons, I sure hope they have good back ups! If anybody is interested, I was just able to upload my sermon "Gaining Heaven's Perspective" from last Sunday.

My eyes are getting heavy and I will not be awake much longer. Before I go, I wanted to share a few pictures from some of our family activities these past two weeks.

Amanda was out of school Monday and Tuesday. We had originally planned to go to the Texas State Fair, but since the forecast was 80-90% chance of rain ALL day, we made a trip to Magic Time Machine for dinner instead. Amanda said it was a good substitute (and she added "we will go to the Fair next year).

As soon as Amanda saw "Captain Jack Sparrow" at Magic Time Machine, she wanted her picture taken with him.

This "interesting" picture was taken at the Frontiers of Flight museum in Dallas. A friend told us about Free Museum Day and this was the museum Amanda chose. Brooke took our picture sitting in the airline seats, but Amanda wanted a silly picture, too. She always wants a silly picture, too. Anyway, the "regular" picture was boring.

Here is Brooke and Amanda's "regular" picture in a different set of airline seats.

And here is my favorite picture of the day...Amanda sitting in the ejection seat of a jet fighter.