feet, etc.

had a great time at the relay for life last weekend. about 20 people from the church showed up to massage tired walkers' feet, rotating in teams from noon til 6 p.m. it was especially heartenging to see a couple of people show up to help who have always had a serious distate for feet of all sorts, but who set that distaste aside in preference for taking on the attitude of Christ, who clearly is willing to get close to even the most distasteful parts of us in order to serve us. we had a blast. lots of double takes, disbelieving looks, and comments like, "free? for real?!? sign me up!" lots of very blessed people. some even came back for seconds later in the day. we probably massaged over 100 pairs of feet by the end of the outreach. and gave away hundreds of bottles of water and lolipops to kids.

next month our plan is to fix some deteriorating roofs in a modular home community. a couple guys in the church have all the tools, shingles, and other supplies we need. looking forward to learning how to do it, not to mention serving people, too.

played our first church league basketball game today. lost, alas. close, within 10 points, but we just weren't that sharp. we played a really good team, Living Rock, though, so it could have been worse.

Colin's still kickin' it on 2 wheels. has it down totally, now, slow, fast, turns, starts, stops. on a related note, Elle's getting close to crawling. kind of scoots around on her diapered tush...kind of like a clock: can't see it move while you're looking at it, but turn away for a couple of minutes and it's definitely cruising around.

closing date is set for october 28th on our new house. woohoo! siding and bricks are all on now, dry wall is done and painted, trim, doors, cabinets, countertops, bathtubs, windows, porch, railings...amazing how quickly things progressed over the last couple of weeks. waiting on floors, carpets, sinks, hotwater heater, lights, switches, outlets, that sort of thing. i hear this is where it slows up quite a bit, but we sure are looking forward to seeing it all come together. it's kind of fun, because everything was picked out ahead of time by the developer, so it's a surprise whenever something new shows up. we keep thinking, "that's what we would have picked!" a friend mentioned today that God must have been working way ahead of time for us. no doubt about it. and no signs that he's about to let up.

look out, Dave Mira

"can you take off my training wheels, Dad, and teach me how to ride a 2 wheeler?" Colin asked me when i got home from work.

"Sure, Colin, no problem." found a wrench, whipped off the battered training wheels, and held the bike steady as Colin mounted.

i started pushing, holding the seat, expecting to have to hold it steady while he tried to balance. but his little legs started pumping, and the bike bucked forward under the force of surprisingly vigorous pedalling. seconds later he was out of my grasp, weaving, correcting, leveling out, oh my, riding on his own. running out of room, he began to turn around. and amazingly, kept on turning, and more amazingly straightened out again and headed back toward me. his eyes wide open in wonder and surprise. my mouth open in much the same fashion, too, i'm sure. just when I thought he'd run me over, he put on the brakes, let the bike tip over and hopped off. holy retired training wheels, Batman!

he's had a few wipe outs this evening, but no broken skin and no broken will. what a thrill. more for me than for Colin, i think. took a little video on the digital camera to show Ronni, since she was off at worship team rehearsal...maybe i'll post it if i can find a way to upload it.