These words, sang by Brett Dennen, were playing over our CD player as India was born into this world:

I welcome the sun,
the clouds and rain,
the wind that sweeps the sky clean
and lets the sun shine again.
this is the most magnificent life has ever been.
here is heaven and earth
and the brilliant sky in between.

blessed is this life
and I’m gonna celebrate being alive.
blessed is this life
and I’m gonna celebrate being alive

I dwell in the darkness
I live in the light
I sleep in the afternoon
and become the noise in the night
I trespass in temptation
suffered in sacrifice
but I awake each day with a new sunrise

blessed is this life, oh
and I’m gonna celebrate being alive
blessed is this life, oh
and I’m gonna celebrate being alive

Here’s my little girl India Jayne. This is her at four and a half days old (yes I did just add a “half day” to my little girls life description. What if we still did that at our age? I’m twenty five and half and a half day…)

While we’re waiting…
Poor Jones is throwing up. We’re always amazed at how aware he is of all of his surroundings. He’s not just keenly aware, but strangely aware of what happens around his miniature little body. We’ve learned this over the last two years, and so…it makes us think that he knows something big is going to happen and it’s making him sick. Is that strange? Anyway…

What are you doing on September 9th? It’s a Sunday. What are you doing from 12:00-3:00? Well you’re invited to our annual Summer back to school party (by annual, I mean this is our first one and if it goes well we’ll do it again next year). It should be rockin’ as long as we get some sun. Let me tell you what’s going down…

• Three bounce houses (one for toddlers, one for everyone else, and one 90 foot tall slide)
• Cotton Candy
• Italian Sodas
• Bingo (with prizes from Sweet Tomatoes, Mon Ami, the Firstenburg Center, Burgerville, Outback, etc.)
• Raffles
• Music
• Field games with prizes for the winners (and an occasional looser)
• Bbq
• Crafts
• Face Painting
• and more (the “and more” part refers to things that may or may not be there. These things include 15 minute massages, a fire truck, a rock wall for climbing, etc.)

Here’s the greatest part…it’s all free! All of it. So invite your neighbor, invite any homeless person you see, come and have some fun and let’s make this first event a fun one. Renovatus’ whole purpose is to bless the community…and I can’t wait.

This video pains me to watch, but it’s for you Chris. It’s for you…and the link may not be working…

In the Bible people would often pile up rocks when something important happened in their life. It was a memorial. I guess we still do that today. We’ve got the Vietnam memorial and other such memorials for those who sacrificed their lives for important causes. Instead of stacking up boulders we carve names in marble or make large statues. It’s no different really. It’s all about marking a moment in time as significant.
My life has changed more in the last four years than any other series of years in my 25 years of existence. Huge things have happened. Marriage, children, careers, graduations, lifestyle changes, etc. Family systems have been changed, sexual sins have been healed, Lord of the Rings came out, Jess’ stomach has been healed, and many other huge things. It’s been a wild ride, and I’m only 25.
I don’t do much without being logical about it. I can’t help it. I’m not real spontaneous or rash about many big choices in my life. And so I spent two years waiting, enduring my wife calling me chicken, and thinking about what my memorial would look like.
Last Saturday it finally got done. Here she is:The picture is of a magnolia flower. This is important because it represents Jess and I’s relationship. We had magnolia flowers at our wedding and on our honeymoon a huge magnolia tree hung over our fourth story balcony.
The words underneath say “Beauty for Ashes” which comes from Isaiah 61:1-3. This verse has much significance to me. It is the core value scripture for Renovatus, and so it represents that aspect of my life. The scripture is talking about the transforming power of God, that he exchanges our sorrow for joy, that he transforms ashes (a sign of mourning) into beauty. This is the process that is happening in my family (all the way out to the extended ends on both sides). God is taking my family and slowly and surely renovating and transforming it into “great oaks of righteousness that the Lord might be glorified”. And lastly those words represent my calling. I truly believe that “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim [this] good news…”