A Nice Weekend; A Nice Week

Tante Heidi was here this past weekend. We all had a nice time. We did those things that we always do: coffee, Target, watch a movie with the kids. We also had a really nice conversation at Carlos O'Kelly. We love those times.

Of course, we forgot to tote the camera along with us- but be assured: we were all present. Not much has changed, except Heidi is toting a new hair color. She has gone much darker and lost the red and blonde highlights. It is a different look for her. Anna liked it a lot (and we all know that she has good taste).

Since she has left we have been looking forward to heading out for the week with Brian to good ol' Corry. We are going there for the National Day of Thanksgiving. Of course, in modern terms that means turkey, gluttony, football, turkey, and more football. It is nice to be with the family doing what we all do well together!

This year we are adding a Turducken to the menu. My dad and I have been planning on it for months! It is going to be great! Anna turns 4 on Thanksgiving as well. It is amazing how quickly they grow up! We will also be going to the Meadville RPCNA on the Lord's Day. I believe that is one of the congregations without a pastor right now.

So we wait for Wednesday to take our trip. Here are some things we are doing in the meantime:

Anna and Owen continue to run their used car lot in the dining room. They have been playing a cars and dolls combo game together for awhile. I wonder how a Barbie could get inside of a little Matchbox car... oh well, imagination is a good thing.
Sedgwick continues to be suspicious that we are leaving him. We have talked of Brian going with us which means that he has a new sitter for the week. Who could it be, Sedgwick wonders? It is a whole pack of Lannings with Evie at the lead. We all know that she has power and authority over children and pets. She will do just fine!
And I have been reading away. Here I am reading an article by Rowan Williams, the Arch-bishop of Canterbury on the Arius and Athanasius debates. Personally, I think that Ach-Bishop Williams is a bit off of his rocker (he claims to be a Druid and a Christian at the same time), but his historical analysis of this debate is quite good.
While reading to Watson, he was amazed that there are people who believe that the Son of God was created! Watson's reply: "There was not a time when the Son was not!"
I know, little buddy. I know.

We look forward to some time away from Grand Rapids. Family, friends,fun, furkey, fand Fanna's firthday. Foo fould fask for fore?

COVFAMIKOI Psalm Sing

James Lanning found this video on the web. It is one of the many 'family worship' times at our presbytery's annual family conference. You can hear what 350 (although there were 600+ people at the conference) people singing acapella psalms sounds like. I look forward to the International Conference in July in which over 1100 RPs from all over the world will be here in Grand Rapids!
It is Psalm 144.9-15:

I will sing a new song to you, O God;
upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,
who gives victory to kings,
who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.
Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace;
may our granaries be full,
providing all kinds of produce;
may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
may our cattle be heavy with young,
suffering no mishap or failure in bearing;
may there be no cry of distress in our streets!
Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!
Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!

Slings and Things

Our friends were here this week from Albany. Tammy and Jody made a new sling for Lydia and the new baby.

You all should check out their website and order one. You can also order some clothes, hats, and bloomers to cover your bum.

Visit Scarlet Stitch.

The Kids and their Cousins

I have been meaning to post these pictures for some time now. These were taken the week that we went to Pennsylvania to see my family and attend the Synod of the RPCNA. My mother likes to get pictures of all of her grandkids in matching clothes. We traditionally do it in front of her Clematis. It is a nice spot for pictures.
This is Owen with his cousin Wyatt. The 23rd is Wyatt's 3rd birthday. Happy birthday Wyatt.
Here is another one of the boys. I am sure that if these two lived in the same town.. or state, that they would be quite naughty together. The Lord is gracious.
Here is Anna and Hannah. When you look at the boys, you see Eshelman for sure. The girls look more like their mothers than the boys do.
Naughties again.
Here is all four of them. Next month there will be five of them- we will be home at Thanksgiving time so I am sure that there will be another picture then.
And... one for fun!

COVFAMIKOI

The five Presbyterian Travelers headed out to Kentucky last week in search of a large number of Reformed Presbyterians. We knew that our destination was the great Blue Grass State of Kentucky and we knew that we had an 8 hour car ride ahead of us. We left Grand Rapids at 7:30am with a fine cup of Beaners to hold us over until lunch.

James Lanning was the co-pilot and about lunch time he decided that we needed to stop for some food. We stopped in Ohio or Indiana for lunch. There was a strip of fast food joints aligned around a corner that James thought we should take a picture of. The fast food area is on the corners of "Sharts-Central". I am still not sure why James thought that was important to note.

From there we headed across the appropriately named, Ohio river. This takes us over the Mason Dixon Line and we began to feel the cultural differences immediately. Notice the plethora of bumper stickers on this touring RV. The center-right sticker says Possum, the other white meat. Opossum is the spelling. You can read the rest for yourself.
Some say that you even begin to look different as you head south. I am not so sure.
When we got to COVFAMIKOI we all had a blast. There were classes for Anna and Owen as well as for us. Anna learned about the Lost sheep, coin, and sons. Owen learned that playing with other kids can be fun. We all tried to get online all week, but we could not until the last day. It took James (who has a degree in computer nerdology) to hook up the internet. Lydia was pleased to have a husband who was 'unplugged'.
We opened our room as the Starbucks room. We ground and brewed almost 2.5 pounds of French Roast over the week. We hosted many great visitors including the irenic Dr. Roy Blackwood. He told us great stories of church planting and being faithful to his call. We also had many LONG hours of discussion and reflection.
Here is Anna outside of our dorm building. She really had a great time, even though she was forced out of bed at 7:30 every morning. This is a huge change in our family.
James was COVFAMIKOI master. He pretty much met all 422 people that were in attendance. It has to be the really great hat- or is the fake Ray Bans?
The window treatments were something to be desired.
Here Owen and I enjoy a cup of Starbucks.
This was our room. We lined 3 mattresses along the floor for our family. (James had his own room as well the rest of the people that we met there.)
Pure class Lanning. Pure class.
This was not at Asbury College, but at some church along the highway on the way home. It is a giant icon of an English Jesus. Notice the church in the background is two stories. That gives an idea of how huge this thing is.
I thought that he was drowning and looking for help. Shawn thought that it was a touch-down Jesus that commemorated the correlation between pro-football and Sabbath breaking. Not sure which it was.

Either way, we had a great time there. It was very encouraging spiritually as well as challenging on many points. Shawn, James, and I got to watch Rev. Lanning be examined for a number of hours. We met a lot of great people and got to sing Psalms acapella with almost 500 hundred Covenanters. I cannot wait until next year when 2000 gather at Calvin for the RP International Conference.

We really got to witness God's faithfulness to the covenant of Grace as he has preserved this group of Reformed Presbyterians since the 1600s in Scotland. He reminded us of this on the way home.

COVFAMIKOI...say what?

My family, along with one other Presbyterian Traveler, James 'J Dub' Lanning, will be heading out to the Great Lakes-Gulf Coast Presbytery (RPCNA) family camp. The camp, according to the Mintues of the Young People's Work (1947), was begun in Indianapolis, Indiana in that year.

In 1949 the name COVFAMIKOI was given to indicate that it was COVenanters from Florida, Alabama, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois who were joining for mutual fellowship and encouragment. The meeting place then was Lake Wawasee, Indiana. Since then it has moved to Kentucky, which is central for the presbytery. The name does not show the seriousness of the 'killing times'... but it sure is fun to say! COVFAMIKOI!

If there is internet available, I will give daily updates on what is being taught and discussed.

*both LOUA as well as PT will have the same posts this week.

SO MUCH to Talk About!!

So much has happened in a week and I could post 10 different posts about it all. I will try for one. Our little Owen turned 2 a week ago. We were in PA visiting my family and they hosted a party for him. He wanted a "Thomas Train" cake, so my mother had one made for him. It was chocolatey good. It was fun watching him opening presents with his sister's "help".

We ate at a really great restaurant that was minutes from Lake Erie. It was in an old lighthouse and had really good steak. It is one of the best local restaurants that I have eaten at in a long time there. Anna wanted to show off her love for the Desert Fathers who were famous for their hours of meditations while standing on poles. She also said that she could not wait for her friend, Brian, to see the picture! I am not sure if I should worried about having a little female mystic on my hands- how is that a form of devotion? Standing on a pole for hours???
These next three are for my aunt Debbie: We travelled around all week with this juice box on top of the car and kept forgetting to take it off. Aunt Debbie wanted to see if it could make it back to Michigan, so we gave it a try... The first one is the juice in Cleveland, Ohio.
Toledo.
In Indiana, just before the Michigan border.
We lost it within a hundred feet of the Welcome to Michigan sign. Lydia and I gasped as if Sedgwick had jumped from the Mountaineer! We really hoped to get one on Union Avenue, but it just could not make it. Oh well.

Here is Marion, Anna, and Maggie at Paige and Bill's wedding. It will be interesting to see how Anna maintains a relationship with these two women as she grows. With Moey going to the land of Aqua Net and Moon Pies and Maggie living in Motown it changes things for our little girl. She loves these two SO much. Anna already has plans for writing Ms. Moes letters.

Here is Anna with the beautiful bride. Paige looked so lovely. I am very happy for her. She could not have found a greater man than Bill. He exemplifies the Lord Jesus in the way that he lives and interacts with others. He is quite well read too (which gives him extra Nate points). I am sure that the Lord will use them in great ways together.
Anna is not quite sure whether Paige is lawfully married though. I guess that in a 3 1/2 year-old head, a bride without a vale over her face is not really getting married. Anna informed Maggie, Lydia, and I today that she would have one over her hair and her eyes when she gets married!

Our Little Chicago Trip For Lydia's Birthday

We took a little trip to Chicago this week for Lydia's birthday. We had a great time visiting the Shedd as well as her family. Here is a little picture of the the skyline taken from the toll road leading into Chicago. I cannot believe that a city can charge $2.50 just to ride in on the quickest route to downtown. Amazing!

Here is the Sears tower. I have nothing more to say about that.
We got to the Shedd and went right to the dolphin show. It was not very exciting, but the kids thought that it was something fun. I cannot believe that someone would want to get paid money for teaching giant fish-like things to jump and look cute. Not my idea of a calling.
Here are the things flipping around in the oceanarium. Notice Lake Michigan right outside of the windows. I was more amazed with the number of tall ships that moved along the lake. I am also amazed that there are no notable cities on OUR side of Lake Michigan.
Here is the birthday girl with her two little ones.
Here is Anna and Owen looking at the Coral reef. There are some AMAZING fish in this area.
Here we posed in front of the super classy fountain that welcomes visitors from around the world to the Shedd. They call it 'the world's aquarium'.
We went to Lydia's parents house to meet them for dinner. We went to a Bohemian restaurant and I had Moravian duck. We had a great discussion about Jan Hus, the Reformer from Prague. He is still a national hero there.

When we left we took Peaches the family bird of 14 years. Our little friend Sydney B. has been saving her money for a bird and we knew that Peaches would be happy with her.

Some more notable things:

• Today is Lydia's birthday.
• We have not done much to celebrate.
• Justin and Marion are liars.
• Little Stuart is being baptized this Lord's Day.
• People keep asking Lydia if she is having twins and commenting on her ginormous belly.
  

Weekend Visit to Elkhart, IN

This past weekend I preached at the RPCNA of Elkhart in Elkhart, Indiana. It was the first time that we had ever been there and we did not know what to expect from the town or the people. We were impressed the congregation there and found them to be very friendly and wanting to please the Lord in many areas that Reformed people fall short on!

Anna and Owen could not wait to leave for our little get-away. They sat in the yard for some time reading and playing. Anna kept asking questions about Indiana and what it had to do with Anna? "I am Anna, what is Indi-anna?"
We spent the afternoon with a wonderful family that shared a lot of church planting stories as well as other things of the Lord. Ritva is a master level gardener and by the looks of her landscape, church planting is not the only thing that she and her husband are successful at planting. It was the most beautiful landscaping that I have ever seen, complete with espalier. It was a great place to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Johannes is 7 years old. He was very sweet and gentle. Anna has been talking about him since we left. She claims that she is going to marry him and she even picked flowers out of my garden and described how she wants a ribbon tied around them so that she can save them for her wedding. Wow!

When we got home I downloaded the pictures from our trip... notice the angle on this one... yep. I did not take it! Anna snuck in a picture of Johannes before she left.

The Big Sleep Over At Opa and Oma's House

Anna and Owen's cousin, Hannah, wanted to have a sleep-over with her cousins while they were visiting. We thought that this would be fine as long as they actually slept. The last thing on earth anyone needs is to spend time with a pre-schooler who has not had enough sleep (ask anyone who has spent time with a sleep deprived child)!
The greatest part is that this sleep-over was following an entire day of play (Barbies, Little People, McDonald's junk toys, dolls, blocks, and so much more). They got into bed and wanted to watch the Disney classic Bambi (yeah, where the mama deer gets murdered by the barbarous humans). About 3 minutes into asking to watch it, all three were fast asleep.

That is my type of sleep-over. Parents are heroes for letting it happen; children get a full night's sleep. I bet it will never happen that way again.

Snow Flakes on Noses and Whiskers on Kittens

This is a good reason that we left PA when we did on Tuesday. I am not a fan of making that trek across the entire snow-belt of the Great Lakes to get to the Erie area. Winters, to me, are more of a time of reflection and rest than a time of travel and busyness.

Maybe I would travel straight south during the winter, for some golf. But this winter has been colder and snowier in the south than here in Eskimo-tundra land.