Milligan Homecoming

This past weekend Sarah and I went to Milligan for our first Homecoming since we were students. It was our first time seeing the new Fine Arts center, which is very impressive. It is very large, great darkroom facilities, dressing rooms, a prop making room, green room, etc. We saw Alice Anthony and chatted some, then toured the campus to check out new stuff and changes we hadn't seen (dining room layout, communications building with new Macs in lab, Sub 7 changes, etc.) and try to see more professors. We also bought a new gray Milligan hoodie at the bookstore and saw Jon Toler. We hung out with Heather and Jess Friday evening, and ate at Fuddruckers (we also ate at Cheddar's for lunch. I suggested both places, and told Sarah it was "eat where she wants weekend.") We stayed in the Holiday Inn, which was our first time staying in a hotel with both kids. We brought two pack and plays and had Isaiah sleep in one in the bathroom, that way when Lily woke up in the middle of the night crying it wouldn't wake him up.

The next morning we went to the Fine Arts center for a faculty alumni reunion, and got to see Mrs. Shields, Dr. Knowles, and the Magness' (Magni). Everyone loved Isaiah and Lily. Mrs. Shields thought Lily looked very smart and was going to be "a good one." We hung out with Heather some more, then went to the mall to eat and kill time before the class of 2003 reunion at 2:30. The mall at Johnson City is alot better now, lots of new stores, including Dicks. We bought the kids some clothes at Sears, then went to the reunion. It was great catching up with old friends. I saw Jason, John, Fudge, Jen, Heather, Tony, and lots of others. Then I caught up with Sarah and the kids outside by the kids blow up games. I took Isaiah on a blow up obstacle course with a wall climb and a fast slide, and then we talked with Kristin Colson, who is doing art therapy. After we hit the road we stopped in Wytheville and ate, then went to Old Navy and took advantage of amazing sales. We got a Halloween costume for Lily for $5 , tons of other clothes cheap for the kids, and I got shirts for $2 each! We got home exhausted, but happy we went. It was neat to see a place from the past (like when we were dating) in the present (married over 6 years and with 2 kids). I look forward to going again sometime.

IMPACT 2008

This weekend was the SMOV Impact 2008, the first one held in VA Beach and the first one since I've been at Edgewood. It was a memorable trip. The speaker was Mark Christian, he did a really good job with the Simple theme in getting across that we need to control our lusts , that we are valuable to Jesus, and that it is really pretty simple, who are you going to follow. The tshirts are probably the best I've seen by SMOV, and they offered them in 3 colors (I got light blue)
We brought 3 students, and had a great time. Highlights of the trip include:
1) The praise band The Post, featuring lead singer Daniel Dabney, who I went to Milligan with.
2) Seeing friends from Olivet like the Lane's (parents and kids), Jaimie Sigmon, the Robinsons (including Chris, who is a senior now!), Kevin Crowder, and Phillip Dunn.
3) The Sunrise service on the beach, singing and praying to God through song by myself.
4) Playing Kemps for the first time (quoting Bible verses as a signal)
5) Eating at California Dough Boy Pizza (a steak, chicken, ham, and bacon pizza). Dude lost our ticket for a while, so we got a discount too.
6) Kevin and Mike playing football on the beach while Zack and I played Cornhole.
7) The RBC pizza party
8) The pools and hot tub in the Holiday Inn
9) Lots of fast food, including Arbys, Burger King, Chick Fil A, Taco Bell, and KFC, and multiple times to 7 Eleven.
10) The van breaking down on Saturday night, getting it towed to Beach Ford at 2am.
11) Looking for a ride Sunday morning, and finding New Castle Christian Church thanks to Sherrie. New Castle was awesome! They not only gave us a ride but gave us food and drinks on the bus, and also paid for us to go to the VA Beach aquarium.
12) The aquarium, including the IMAX movie, the sharks, the sting rays
13) The loud laughing ladies of New Castle.

Revival

Tonight is the second night of our revival, being preached by one of Edgewood's very own "Timothy's" Jason Cole. He is a pretty cool guy, and I enjoyed hearing him preach yesterday. I just wanted to note verbatim how he ended his message last night.

"In keeping with the political theme popular these days, my name is Jason Cole, and I approve this message."
hilarious!
Edgewood does this cool thing where the preacher, youth minister, and revival guest speaker all go out with their families during the revival. Multiple times. Last night, after the revival, we all went to Famous Anthony's. Tonight, it is Shakers. YES! I'm off to eat.