Whitewater Rafting

On Thursday, Dan and I had the privilege to go rafting with a couple of our college kids and a senior. We headed to the Ocoee River in Tennesee. It is full of class III and IV rapids. Dan and I have taken our teens rafting numerous times, but it was on the Nantahalia which doesn't pack quite the same excitement. I think we were all ready to get wet and have some fun. Our guide was awesome. We had just started out on the river, and all of the sudden he landed right beside me in the boat as we went through a few little dips. He scared me because it was so unexpected. He jumped like that through most of the rapids. If you look at the pic this guide (while not ours) is doing the same thing. Notice the kid riding the front of the boat. Dan ( of course) as well as Megan and Nick all had to take their shots at the front. I think Dan is actually the only one that remained seated for the ride. Megan and Nick both fell back in the boat.

We had so much fun. Our guide managed to break his paddle in half. So he just used one of ours. On one of his wild jumps through the rapids, he mislanded. It bounced him out of the boat almost. He managed to grab my life vest strap and the side strap of the boat. As he tried to pull himself in, he was actually pulling me out. Thankfully, Megan turned just in the nick of time to save us both. It was quite the fun.

The best part was when our guide intentionally dumped us. We were approaching one of the last rapids, and he gave us the option of hitting it straight on or going through it sideways. We were up for the excitement. It was the ONLY rapid he said, IF you go out of the boat, don't worry. I think his statement got us all thinking. As we approached, he told us he would have us put all our paddles in the air so that no on got smacked. We got to the edge, he gave the command, and as my paddle was going up, I was going out along with Dan, Megan, Jessi, and NIck. I honestly thought the raft had turned over, but as we surfaced, there was our guide safely in the raft. As he approached us, he said, "Next time I tell you to lean right, lean right!" We all quickly informed him that he never gave us that command. He then laughingly stated that he had somehow forgotten. It was quite the experience floating through such a rapid. It was definitely an experience I would gladly do again today!

If you would like to actually see us going through the first rapid to get a real taste you can scoot on over to http://www.ocoeerafting.com/ and view pictures of Havard for the 1:30 trip on 7/17.

Am I that old?

Today, we had a funeral at our church. The church was packed. I sat in the sound room with two friends, one who is 28 and the other a college student, 19. The funeral director kept coming back and forth to see what part of the service was going on. During one of the songs, he asked me if my two friends were my daughters. I choked. Oh, how I couldn't believe he was serious. I was like no way these aren't my daughters. Julie, my 28 yr. old friend, spoke up and said that she is the younger sister. Then in the most ridiculous voice I could I said that Jessi the college student was my daughter then. He totally bought it and thought we were serious. He went on and on about the resemblance. I made some joke about it being my gray hair. The funeral director told me that it was being married to a pastor. It was so hilarious, but seriously, I am only 31. Do I really look soooo old that I could have a 28 year old kid. Of course, I think it is an insult to my friend's maturity stating she didn't look her age, right? At least that is what I am going to believe.

Welcome to the pastorate

Our church voted on Dan as the pastor last night. We received a 94% vote to call us as pastor. We were so excited. It has been a hard few weeks. We have been so busy doing the work of the ministry, but we haven't had the ability to do all we desire because of the limbo of waiting on the vote. Now, we are definitely here. We are all excited about the change. It has been great to already see the unity begin among our church people. Together we can build a wonderful work for Christ. Thanks to all my family and friends who have prayed so fervently for us throughout this process.

Questions and answers?

Wow, what a busy week. Last Sunday we had a question and answer time as part of our candidating process at the church. Dan began by preparing a power point of the needs and our heartbeat for the ministry. it was so funny as he explained our burdens for our church. At one point he paused and explained that he wasn't trying to sound like a presidential hopeful, but that he wanted the people to understand our heart for the ministry. It went very well, and many of the questions were satisfied with the powerpoint illustration. The church will vote on the 13th of this month. We are praying for 100%, but understand that it may not happen. We just want a very clear indicator. Other than that, we are just hanging in limbo until then. If we are the choice, then I will begin as the church secretary, and we will begin making plans to start the school year. Thankfully, our Vacation Bible school is this week. It should be a great distraction for us as we look ahead to next week. It has been a whole lot of hurry up with even more wait.