Howdy from Lubbock!

(I'm posting for the first time from the iPad. Please excuse any weirdness.)

We are back in Lubbock this week. We are partnering with Calvary Church offering a morning skate camp and working in their evening VBS. John promises that he will take to me to various VBS around the state to celebrate our anniversary every year. He really knows how to keep the magic alive!

The kids opted not to do skate camp this time around (once they realized that they'd have to share daddy with 27 other kids!). They decided they'd rather have some private sessions when we get home. So while John is doing most of the ministry this week, I'm trying not to overlook the fact that pouring into my little ones and making sure my husband has what he needs are just as important ministry opportunities.

Here's what I'm really enjoying this week:
-access to a pool
-the glorious proportions of a 4 year olds body (and the mane of hair that adds even more diameter to that sweet head)
- the creativity birthed out of living in a hotel room for week
- maid service!
- time to just play, play, play
- the company of sweet, old friends (and their remarkable children)

louisville, ky

all i can say about louisville is H.O.T.

it was over 100' that day. on an asphalt skate park it was about 107'- melt your face kind of heat. but the skatepark was awesome!

we didn't stay too long because of the heat and no trees for shade. but we enjoyed it while it lasted!

there is this awesome feed store behind the skatepark. look at this 'silo'!

this is a full pipe.

i love how hard core buddy looks in this picture! in his little spit fire shirt and helmet. john helped him drop in a couple of times. brave boy!

have you fallen off the face of the earth?

This is the question I've been getting. And the answer is no. Sort of. We got home last week from our major road trip and we began our homeschool year on Monday. So, while I'm here, I definitely have been very busy trying to get things straightened out and children schooled and straightened out.

Our trip was great. It was fast and felt like forever all at the same time. There were wonderful moments- like the whole family playing UNO, and Buddy beating us fair and square! And not so wonderful moments like being stuck without electricity and a broken slide-out in inner city Pittsburgh. At night.

We met some wonderful people and heard their wonderful stories. I was humbled by the sweet hearted family planting a church in the middle of the city and by the hard life of a woman I met in the bathroom at an Arkansas truck stop. These stories open you up, revealing the hurt and beauty of humanity. And how we are all the same in our hurts, but all so very different at the same time.

We gave away lots of boards and t-shirts and magazines. All that 'stuff' opened up some pretty great doors for conversation.

We saw the beauty of the earth over and over. Just when I thought I was in the most beautiful place ever, we would turn the corner and be delighted by even more beauty.

The kids were road warriors. I was impressed by their flexibility and patience.

And by Moonpie's eagerness to share who we are and what we were doing with everyone. I'll never forget the look on the waitress's face in Little Italy Baltimore when Moonpie told her that we were there to share God's love with her. And that "God loves you very much". She was very quiet for a second and then softly told Moonpie, "well, that's just beautiful".

And it was.

Purple Door Music Fest

This weekend we have been rocking out at the Purple Door Music Festival.

Many moons ago, when I was newly graduated from college and a new bride, John and I moved to Austin, TX to help plant a church. While there, I worked for the greatest Christian music magazine on the planet- HM. HM is a Christian hard music magazine that covers everything from death metal, screamo, emo, metal and indie rock. At this time in my life, I was very into the music scene. I loved working for HM. Hands down, the best job ever!

When we contacted the owner/editor of the magazine (and our dear friend) to tell him about this tour, we put our heads together and decided that we could run the HM booth and stage at the Purple Door Music Fest. in Pennsylvania. And that is where we have found ourselves this weekend.

Here are Moonpie and Buddy at the HM stage. They were so cute in their "all access" passes! This is right after Moonpie went on stage to make an announcement with her daddy. She had a crowd of 500+ say hello to her! Not bad for your first rock show!
They had a blast rocking out to War of Ages. They especially liked all of the hair spinning on stage. And yes, they wore ear plugs.

War of Ages is below.

John had a chance to skate the Purple Door skatepark a few times. We was able to speak to the whole group and give away some free decks. Here's a kid that received our newest board.
I'm sure he's excited in his heart.

This is the HM booth I ran where I did subscriptions, sold merchandise and basically just hung out with all the hipster kids and metal heads and talked up the magazine. I had a blast.

Here I am next to the headliner band Demon Hunter. John put this picture up on facebook and with the title: introducing the newest member of Demon Hunter! They were a very nice group of guys and have a huge following. And after I get a couple of tatted sleeves, I'm sure they'll welcome me into the band with open arms. I mean, I already have the crazy hair.

I loved this weekend! It was so much fun being back around the music scene that was such a big part of my life from ages 15- 27. I had a blast listening to live music, eating meals with the bands, promoters, managers and festival volunteers. And really, getting to meet all the young fans and listen to them go on and on about their devotion to a particular band. Gotta love that kind of passion.

Speaking of devotion, there is a certain band that I have been crazy about since I was 17. Sixpence None the Richer. I still love them as much as I did when I heard their first album my senior year in high school. Well, imagine my delight when I discovered that my booth was right next to the lovely Leigh Nash's!
She is wonderful! We spent some time chatting about being mama's and children of God. Highlight of my weekend!
Look how cute she is:

We pack up this morning and head on to Baltimore! My only experience of Baltimore is from watching "Baltimore, Life on the Street" which is about homicide and "Ace of Cakes" which is about delicious cakes. Surely there is more to the city than desserts and murder!

O.H.I.O-hio

All you Buck-eyes out there- are you constantly singing OHIO by The Pretenders? Because I have been for the past day since we landed here. It's on a loop in my head. That is my gift to my family- keeping it in my head!

Yesterday we woke up in Franklin, TN in the parking lot of the Gracepointe Church. It was by far the prettiest church parking lot I have ever seen. We were surrounded by green rolling hills and a creek. The night we rolled in we were delighted to see fireflies all around. We don't get those in our part of Texas. It was hard to convince the children to come in for rest! On the path over the creek, back to the camper we spotted a bat flying overhead. Moonpie was quite positive that she felt less mosquitoes biting her once we saw that bat.
While in Franklin we got to hang out with some teenagers after their Bible study and give some gear away (skateboard, t-shirts and stickers). Much to my delight we were able to host our old friends the Eckebergers in our camper. Before leaving for this tour I had visions of friends sitting in our camper visiting with us. So yes- it was a dream come true. And yes- I am a nerd.

We blew through Louisville, KY yesterday afternoon and stopped at this giant public park. It was amazing. They had a full-pipe, which made John very happy. Unfortunately it was way too hot to spend much time there. It was about 105' in the park itself. All that concrete. I was praying that no one would hit the ground. I'm pretty sure half their face would have stuck there. We met an old guy skater- like John. They were able to talk a bit, but it was too hot to have a real session (that's what cool skaters call skating together- kind of like a play date. Haha- don't tell John I called it that!).

Now we are in the world's most perfect little town in central Ohio. It is about the size of our town, but surrounded by state parks and a small liberal arts school. The town is heavily influenced by the artists that live here, and healthy food is easy to come by. The kids had a whole wheat crust pizza with spinach and bananas for lunch. They tried to convince me that it was delicious. I have my doubts. And the salad bar- would it bore you too much if I went on and on about the beauty of the salad bar?

***crickets***

Our wifi has been awfully sketchy. I forgot the chord to my camera back in the camper- sorry about this picture-less post. Hopefully I can load some and post them tomorrow. You have to see the lovely hike we took this morning. I am convinced that I could live in a forest with craggy rocks covered in pillowy moss.

GASP!

The sun has come out after a brief but heavy noon shower. We are off to the skate park and to discover a little more of this lovely town.

life on the road: day 1

Once upon a time there was a family that had this crazy idea to spend 3 weeks on the road sharing and learning about the love of Jesus with the people they met along the way. They set out on a Sunday afternoon driving a big pick-up and pulling a 5th wheel behind them. After about 7 hours of travel they stopped for dinner, knowing the first over night stop was only 2 hours away. The end was in sight and they were thrilled!

Right after dinner the kids were settled in to finally watch a movie on the truck's DVD player (their parents had strange rules about no movies until dark!) when all of a dither they heard a loud pop. The concerned mama looked out the extra long side mirror to see fiber glass waving in the wind and a tire spewing out rubber. A blow out. The daddy quickly pulled over and ushered the family out of the car. To the parent's delight the blow out occurred right outside of a state welcome center equipped with a playground, air conditioned bathrooms, and walking trails (not to mention a lovely pink sunset). So while the daddy sweat and strained to put the spare on, the rest of the family discovered what happens to reeds when you shred them up. They were back on the road in no time and discussed the goodness of God in this situation. Sure, they would have preferred not to have a blown tire, but really, the placement and the timing was ideal if it had to happen.

Fast forward about 45 minutes. It was now dark, and the nearest town was unknown. The family was cruising through forest and there were no lights anywhere. The kids were once again enjoying their movie when the family heard another pop. The spare had blown. This time the situation was a bit more dire. It was pitch black, there was no spare, and barely a shoulder to park on. The family chose to push on, going 20 in a 70, watching the sparks fly from the rim of the tire. They found a nice hotel about 10 miles up the road in a town that had a tire store. The family was exhausted. The RV had seen better days.

This blown tire did not happen in the ideal place, nor at the ideal time. But the family chose to discuss the goodness of God anyway. Because God is not a god of circumstance. Whether things go the way we want them to or not, God is still God, and God is good. He can't be anything but.

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Travel tip:
I cannot declare my love for Wikki Stix loud enough! They are the perfect activity while on the road. My tip here is to buy Wikki Stix by the pallet for long road trips!

what to do

Tomorrow is a big day for us. Moonpie is being baptized! There are no words to describe my joy over this. No. words.
In secondary news, we leave for our big ol' trip! Yahoo! Today will be a full day of cleaning out the RV (we don't want to use all of our generous friend's paper plates and such!), packing it up with all of our gypsy living gear and welcoming the family that is coming in today to for Moonpie's baptism tomorrow.


What to do to get ready for a trip that will last 3 weeks?

• clean the house for the house sitter?
• brush up on colonial American history?
• wash 10 million loads of laundry?
• make reservations?
• have friends over for more goodbyes?
• pack and re-pack?
• scout out local farmer's markets along our path?
• care for a feverish little boy?

Oh wait...I know.

Why not get a puppy???

Horribly timed, but delicious all the same. I introduce to you our new little Boston Terrier, Rosie.

Please stay tuned for the next few weeks as I write from our life on the road!

planning

Whew- it has been a busy, busy week. I have been in the midst of making final arrangements for our trip and trying to get a basic skeleton for our homeschool this year. Moonpie has made it clear that she would like more of a school feel to our learning time, so I'm doing my best to attain that.

I am so excited for our huge road trip! We have a basic itinerary set, and it blows my mind to think of how much road we will cover in such a short amount of time. Here's the plan:

Leave central Texas and drive to

Little Rock, AR

Nashville, TN

Yellow Springs, OH

Pittsburgh, PA

Youngstown, PA

Lewisberry, PA

Baltimore, MD

Washington DC

Richmond, VA

Colonial Williamsburg, VA

Virginia Beach, VA

Brevard/Asheville, NC

Atlanta, GA

Birmingham, AL

Lafayette, LA

HOME

Can you believe that list?!? As you can see, we are going to be visiting areas that are rich in our nation's history. To prepare we have been reading all sorts of books on American history. I would like to say that has been brushing up my skills, but honestly, I'm learning things that I have never known. It has been so fun for all of us! We are reading:

The Magic Tree House: Revolutionary War on Wednesday

If You Grew Up With George Washington

If You Lived in Colonial Times

America: A Patriotic Primer

and my favorite- Little People Who Became Great

There have been other random books here and there from the library, but these have been returned to several times.

I am really enjoying using the Magic Tree House book as a springboard. I am definitely going to be using them this year. Really, you could design an entire week's worth of lessons just off of one book. This week we are going to be viewing George Washington's crossing the Delaware, mapping the Delaware river, making colonial hats, painting the colonial flag...all because of this book. We will be revisiting this model when we learn about the ancients this fall. Can't wait!

Oh- I have been forgetting to update you all on the RV status. Some very generous friends have offered us the chance to use their 5th wheel AND their daily driver pick-up to haul it! We have been so blown away by the generosity people have shown us as we prepare for this trip! We cannot wait to get going, meeting and having conversations with people as we go.

sending out a S.O.S

Remember our God. Family. Skateboarding. tour I told you about last week? Well, we have our itinerary set, skateparks found, churches lined up, the stage at the purple door fest set, now we just need...a RV!

If you have a friend of a cousin of a grandma that has a RV, please, hook us up! We need to either borrow one for the three weeks of August 8-23, or rent one (for hopefully a lower rate than commercial rental places). Or, if there's someone out there that just wants to unload one that may need a little work, we are a non-profit. You can get a tax write-off for your donation! We need a true RV, not a trailer- we don't have a truck to tow it behind.

Thank you for helping us think on this!

God. Family. Skateboarding.

We're going on a trip!

I'll let my good lookin' husband (and his mistress- the GMC) tell you all about it in the clip below.

(For some reason it's loading kind of crooked. If you'd like a different view you can go to it on YouTube.)



What do you think?

Pretty exciting, right?!?

Check out our website:

www.middlemanskateboards.com

***big thanks to Clover for his mad video skills!