Thanks for all those who tried to guess my costume on here and on Facebook.  However, no one was able to guess correctly.  So without further ado, here is my costume for Fright Night 2008:  As inspired by a Geico commercial, a grown up Cabbage Patch Kid!

I have to admit, it took a lot of effort and work by 4 or 5 people (with Will Wright and Robin Hunt doing a TON of work with me), but we actually finished it.  The original plan was to make three Cabbage Patch Kids and Robin and Will would wear them as well.  The problem was, we majorly underestimated the art of paper mache.  It actually was really funny to see three dudes spending lots of time in the crafts department and trying to do paper mache.    

One other funny thing to note.  If we had made three, the plan was that one of the others would have been Asian and the other white.  You know…we wanna be politically correct and all.

Tomorrow night is "Fright Night" at youth, and for the first time ever, I'm making my own costume.  I will post pictures on Thursday, but here's a clue to what I'm making….here are the items I'm using to make it:

Our trip to the Dominican Republic went well! But…we are so happy to be back home. Here are some quick hits about it and some pictures:

* Patty adjusted over 200 people in two days!
* I learned that Hot Pockets is the official sponsor of Latin American Idol.
* Isaiah flirted with all the Dominican women. One even asked him if he wanted to go home with her. He’s already a ladies man.
* Patty woke up in the middle of the night with a cockroach crawling on her.
* We met two guys from Haiti and it really impacted our life. I’m praying that one of them, Johnny, will email us. His story is something else, and I hope that we can somehow find a way to help him and his family.
* I didn’t realize that Hatians were so looked down upon by the Dominican people.
* We couldn’t put toilet paper in the toilets. You had to put your used toilet paper in a trash can next to the toilet.
* It was definitely an incredibly beautiful country from what we saw.
* Isaiah’s favorite drink is the Bahama Mama (with no alcohol of course).
* It really put things in perspective for us. We are so blessed to be living in the U.S. and all of us don’t need to take it for granted.

Isaiah’s First Plane Trip

The fam on the beach

Drinking a Bahama Mama

The beach at our resort

Us with a Hatian name Johseph

Patty, Isaiah and I are going to be in the Dominican Republic for the next week. Patty will be doing Chiropractic missions in the Dominican and Haiti. I’m sure it’s going to be a blast. If I have a connection, I’ll post updates so check back here!

I have had some thoughts that have consumed me over the past few years. It may not be on my mind all of the time, but it’s definitely on my mind a solid majority of the time.

Have you ever had dreams and goals that you cannot shake? What things are constantly on your mind and constantly in your heart? Whatever those things are, those are most likely the vision that God has placed within you. So many times as Christians, we take the safe road whenever we are making decisions. We typically don’t like to take risks and we love to take comfort in what we know will “work.’ Yet, I can’t help but think that when we play it safe, we’re disobeying God. Hear me out. That doesn’t mean that we are to do things completely on a whim, and know that God’s dreams will never contradict values and concepts set forward in the Bible (i.e. neglecting your family, using people to get what you want, etc…). But it does mean that we do need to pursue His dreams no matter what.

So I ask again, what is it that God has placed on your heart?

Maybe it’s time for you to pursue that career that you have always wanted (even though your current one is safe)

Perhaps it’s time to help that person that you can’t get off of your mind (even though you don’t know what’s going on in their life).

It might be time to go ahead and adopt an orphan (even thought you can’t afford it—but miraculously have the money to make payments on a new car).

Whatever it is…pursue God without reservation.