Cam and I recently went on an 8 hour road trip to Dayton, OH with our friend
Amy Boelk to attend the New Millennium Conference at the
Dayton Vineyard. We loved the churches motto: "A pretty good church". It was true. We stayed at the
Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Dayton. Here is the view from our room.
I can state with ease that the conference was life changing for all three of us. The teachings were full of wisdom and I felt like I was in God's living presence the entire time we were there. We really couldn't have asked for a more incredible experience.
On Friday morning we were pulling out of the parking ramp downtown and heard what sounded like a cat meowing. We thought at first that the sound was coming from the radio and next that there must have been a cat in the ticket booth at the ramp exit. When the meowing continued I made Amy stop driving even though
Bill Johnson from
Bethel Church in
Redding, CA was teaching that day and we had intentionally left an hour early to get front row seats.
We pooped the hood and looked inside to find a little black kitten on the engine. As soon as I said one word, it jumped back in and hid inside, out of reach! Just then a truck pulled up behind us and ran over to ask for help (more like beg for help, I was so desperate and pathetic they had no choice).
Scott and Kyle did everything they could to help us and truth be told, they were the heroes of the day. They had to jack up the car to get the kitty out, which took about 45 minutes and some prayer out loud - Scott looked at me like I was crazy but within a couple of minutes of telling God He had to do it because we couldn't do it on our own the kitten repositioned so Kyle could get a hold of it.
Yay praying out loud shamelessly and
yay God for answering that prayer!
It very much felt like Satan had thrown a wrench in our plans, we didn't get our front row seats but we did get faith, in both God and humanity. And the cute little black kitty went home with Kyle (the guy above on the right) who lives on a farm :)
So after what we deemed a victorious morning we got to hear Bill Johnson teach twice on Friday. I was even nerdy enough to go up front, dragging Cam with me to get a photo with Bill. It's not the best photo we've ever taken but we were grateful to get one.
An experience like the one we had with incredibly affirming ministry time and amazing teaching after amazing teaching results in a heart for God that just won't ever be the same. We know that our lives have to change too, because we've changed inside and the only thing we are capable of is changing for the better on the outside through our actions.
As we drove home from the conference we laughed and talked about the things stirring in us. We have lots of ideas. Lots of renewed hope in our renewed minds. The work is just beginning, to know how to discern God's presence and His will for us. To be so full of the Holy Spirit that it spills out into our lives over the people surrounding us. That's what a life of faith can look like, and so much more. All of God using all of me. What would that look like?
Our garden is producing a wide variety of heirloom tomatoes and they are as always amazingly delicious. We're getting close to needing to start dehydrating and may even can a few this year if our CSA delivers any... now that I think of it I'm not sure if I saw tomatoes on the list. Hmmm.
The flower garden is amazing this year. The flowers we planted two years ago are really filling out now and complement the originals so well. I love the range of flowers in our garden.
The stargazer lilies are the sweetest, most wonderful smelling flowers of all in our garden. I just love them. The color is amazing and catching a wiff of sweet air makes me oh so happy! Adi has really developed a wonderful friendship with her friend John who lives directly behind us. He's 3 almost 3 years older than Adi but is the youngest in his family which means that when he hangs out with Adi he gets to be the oldest and he takes the responsibility quite seriously. He really strives to protect her and is an amazing friend to her. Adi says John is her best best best best best best best best friend. So sweet.
John told Adi about the tooth fairy and they found something that slightly resembled a tooth to put under Adi's pillow yesterday. She was pretty excited to see that it was gone (of course it was - I changed the sheets before she went to bed and had no idea that John had taught her about the tooth fairy). She asked, "what do you think the Tooth Fairy will bring me, Mommy?" I had a thought that perhaps she would bring Adi something golden, like a golden dollar coin. Adi quickly looked under the pillow to see if anything was there (I hadn't had time to think any of this out or act on something golden) and when she saw that there wasn't anything under her pillow she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! The Tooth Fairy gave me the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is under there!!" Wow. That came from her mouth, I had nothing to do with it. Wow. She kept putting the pillow down and lifting it again and with delight would yell, "More Holy Spirit!" It was so much fun. I am one blessed Mommy. Holy holy. 
Here's the princess with little cheebie Belly-bell. We love our Bella kitty. Miss Adilyn just got done with swim lessons. She need some work on going all the way under water but she's more interested right now in taking gymnastics or dance classes. Since we're going to do home pre-school we like the idea of enrolling her in low-pressure, fun classes at the Rec Center to get her exposed to social interaction as well as paying attention and being led by a teacher in general. We have a whole other year before we have to decide yea or nay on public kindergarten - she knows for sure that she isn't quite ready for preschool and we are respecting that.
