**Mustard Seed Distributed**

It has been over a week since my last post, and summer as you may or may not have read is in full force. But this week was devoted to the kkft, and just the four of us enjoying some quality time together, even if it did take us across six state lines. Muchas gracias to my bro and the bama girl for taking our girls, they loved time with their cousins very much. And we had a great visit in Phatlanta as well. Excercise, day on the boat, lots of pool time, and time with the family. Much fun. Then we had a chance to visit maid of honor and her family, much fun there also. But the best part of the time together was going to Soak City and Cedar Point for a three day fun festival. Superstar screaming and making her coaster face for three days was a delight. Perhaps even funnier was the seven year old riding the millenium four times in two days without hands. And the nine year old riding the raptor several times only to want to ride it again and again. It is pretty cool when you can r...

Summer vacation. It has always been my favorite time of year, ever since I was a little creeker (pronounced cricker) growing up in Smiths Creek (pronounced crick). Summer time then meant swimming in the pool all day, spending time with my brother and my cousins-Jimmy, Johnny, Todd. If you were lucky, Todd would come and stay in MI, or you got to go to TN to spend some quality summer time. Wiffle ball, bike riding, swimming, camping, at the beach, cruising the strip, family reunion, all kinds of great things. As an adult, summer vacation for me has been much the same. I'll not soon forget the first summer after getting a teaching job, when superstar asked me what I was going to do or where I was going to work for the summer. I said something like-"I'm not." For educators, I think this is a much needed break from the on-ness of being with kids all day throughout the year. Particularly from a leadership position-you are at every moment through the year-responsibl...

So last night, the superstar and I just happened to go to a concert in Prospect Park. It is a 10 minute walk to the bandshell where the 'Celebrate Brooklyn' series takes place. Free concerts all summer long (although they ask a 3$ donation to enter) with some really great artists. Last night, we saw 'los amigos invisibles'. Here's how I would describe them: A latin dance/funkadelic/rock/disco/party/clubbin/trance band. Put that category into your i tunes search box, and these guys would come up. I can't even explain how much I enjoyed it. So go buy their album. This is just one very simple example of the incredible opportunities that are here -I mean right here- in our neighborhood. As I ran the other day in the same park, I was running along the 60 acre lake, looking around at the water, the trees, the lawns that go on forever, and I was saying to myself "I can't even believe that I am running here in this beautiful place". And very clea...

Thirteen years of bliss. That's what I get for today. I love my superstar more than words can describe. Thanks to my brother and sister in law, the superstar and I got to spend our evening out last night in the city. Walking along, we just happened to walk next to four of our friends from communitas.... But we had a lovely evening. I love my superstar. That's all. For thirteen years I have loved her more and more and more. Today more than ever. Tomorrow more than today. Year fourteen will prove that my love for her can grow stronger. Love. Her. Mucho.

The fourth of July weekend has come and gone for another year, and what a joyous time of year. So many fond memories of the Walsh family reunion at "Hon and Hon's". As kids, we would hang out and play with our cousins, swim all day, watch fireworks at night, and maybe even spend time in Tennessee if it was your lucky year. But this is the next generation. Now I'm the adult watching the kiddies run and swim and play all day. This year, the fifth of July meant a fiesta bell grande for the kkft as we loaded up for the last (ok, second to last) time to head off to our new home in Brooklyn. Friends and family came to wish us well, spend some time together and enjoy the absolutely perfect day in the sunshine. Laughter, smiles, hugs, and love passed from one to another. Great friends stopped by that we will miss so much at our new residence. Family members that have supported us since childhood and poured love into us will be seen less often because we will live som...

If you are in my 'demographic group', you have most likely seen the movie from the 80's The Breakfast Club. For people my age, it was a first to exemplify the teen angst that goes on in all types of kids from different cliques. It taught us that even if you are from different backgrounds, interests, and socioeconomic lines, you can get to a point of commonality. Let's get back to the point- As I went for a jog in my neighborhood Sunday morning, I was thoroughly enjoying the sabbath my superstar encouraged me to take and enjoy. (PS-Congratulations to the star for today is our 13th Wedding Anniversary. I love her more today than ever, and long to kiss her on the mouth and hold her in my arms.) My first thought was to walk up to the park and run there because it is so beautiful. But I felt prompted to run through our neighborhood. As I created my own route 'up the hill' (that's how they refer to the hill in our neighborhood-you either live up the hill o...

What is it about music that my soul resonates with? Upon hearing almost any type of music whatsoever, I sense God more keenly-or at least I think I do. Music for some reason particularly enhances any spiritual experience I have. Wherever. Whatever. Music enhances my senses of the Holy Spirit speaking to me, moving in me, showing me what to see. Even as I sit in the airport in Albany, NY after a LLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG week of sit and get, I listen to my ipod and I am immediately tuned in to seeing things more clearly with my eyes. The people about me pop more. The sunshine is brighter. The bricks are straighter. The sky is bluer. My inner spirit bounces along with the beat. It tunes me in and tunes the 'world' out. I am not really sure how to explain it. Or if I am? But music allows my mind, my heart, and my soul to meander through thoughts and ideas that I don't think I would normally land on without music falling through my head. Of particu...