My "Various" Life

One of my favorite Mark Twain quotes comes from Huck Finn (I believe) when Huck and Jim don't enter a room because "it looked too various in there". [something like that! Anyway...that's the spirit of it!] That's the way this week feels!

It started with a great youth service at LH, thanks to Josh and Hope (and the youth). After the service Sunday night, Leslie, Lex and I made our way to Saluda, NC, where my sister and her daughter (Michele and Hannah) have rented a cabin for the week. My parents had come up from Rock Hill for the night and Monday....so they could see Lex! On Monday the 4 "girls" went tubing on the Green River [that's not us tubing...but it is the Green River]. Mom/Dad kept Lex on the bank and he got to wade in the river with his water shoes. He thought this hysterical since he's not supposed to get his shoes wet! The trip down river was about 3.5 hours (a bargain at $7!) and had moderate rapids (enough for kayaking) and still water to float in. It was wonderful and great fun! I hadn't tubed in years and loved all of it except drifting into the bank and overhanging spider-y tree limbs! I never fell out but at the very end when we were supposed to "de-river" so we could be picked up by the short bus, I went in over my head! Some guy who was fishing on the shore said it was only about 3 ft. deep there, and I was moving pretty swiftly away from the shore so I jumped out and in over my head! But the Mary Kay make-up stayed in place!! Leslie fell out once and scraped her back but still had a blast!

This morning, Leslie and I headed west to Shelbyville, Tennessee and the Celebration Grounds for the State 4-H Show. She races tomorrow (barrels and poles). She's at the pizza party and dance tonight and then camping out there. Meanwhile, I'm staying in a dorm room with Corky, who is completing his 2 week Fuller D.Miss. cohort at Lipscomb University. Beginning tomorrow night they are hosting the Christian Scholar's Conference with keynote speakers Sen. Bill Frist, Jim Wallis (yes...on the same program!) and lots of other sessions, including presentations by William J. Abraham (Methodist scholar from SMU) and the producer of "Amazing Grace". The theme is "The Christian Faith, Life of the Mind and the Public Square". There will also be a screening of the film.

So who said life is boring or dull? Tiring, yes; dull, never.

Moral Courage

Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change.

- Robert F. Kennedy, in a speech in Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966. Today is the 40th anniversary of his assassination. (Source: Wikiquote )

Cecil the Carrot and Lex

Since Corky posted the Lex the Bee I thought I would post a few more pix of Lex of late. I am particularly fond of the Cecil the Carrot pose because of one of our long-time friends from NC, Cecil Chambers, a friend through thick and thin. Lex isn't too sure about the carrot. The "playhouse sessions" photos were taken at the church playground.

I have been quite amused at Corky and I as we've found ourselves just watching Lex run and play, laughing at him and looking at each other in great Adoration of the Grandson. We could do that for hours and be totally content and entertained. We are getting old. And it's all good.