Jokes, man

I am reading a lot this summer. I am reading like someone is threatening to take all books away from me and never let me lay eyes on them again. Right now, I am reading three different books. I do this alot because sometimes my mood will change while I am reading something so I put it down for a day and pick up something different. For instance, I ususally read a fun, mindless book, a good novel, and something nonfiction. Anyhoo, I am reading a hilarious book right now called Stuff Christians Like. It makes me laugh out loud (and I don't use LOL liberally). The author is Jonathan Acuff and he basically writes mini-essays about the all of the things Christians do that are weird/funny. Here is one of my recent favorites:

"The Hedge of Protection: Slow Growing, Easily Jumped, Not Nearly Enough Protection for These Crazy Times

I think the uber-popular Christian prayer request for a 'hedge of protection' is in the bible, but I'm not sure. It sounds like something David would have written in the book of Psalms. He's very poetic and our most Bono-like writer. But a friend of mine once revealed that he's always found that to be an inadequate security measure. As a child, when his mother would pray that he would have a hedge of protection or a hedge or angels around him, he would think, 'Anyone can jump a hedge. How hard is that? Forget the hedge of angels; I'm praying for a dome of angels.'

At first I laughed at that story, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. These are troubling times, and I've never seen a hedge and thought, 'That thick collection of bushes is both terrifying and impenetrable.' Maybe instead of praying for a hedge of protection, we should pray for:

1. A Beaded Curtain of Wasps

2. A Trampoline Moat of Lions

3. A Rugby Scrum of Angels"

(after each of the three alternatives above, Acuff goes on to describe each one in details, but my wrists hurt from typing right now)

He also has a website (www.stuffchristianslike.net) where you can read more, order t-shirts, and make comments. Whenever you are feeling a little blue, I can pretty much guarantee that this stuff will make you laugh.

Happy Camper Part 2 (finally)

Here are a few more pictures from our camping trip.

This was our view the first morning we woke up. I could totally wake up to this every day.

And this was our first visitor. Just hanging out.

Jeff getting the gas plugged up so we can begin our cooking adventure.

Grits on the left and bacon on the right.

Enjoying our first breakfast of grits, bacon, eggs, and OJ.

Does anyone else hear that?

I was going to post more about our camping trip (Happy Camper Part 2), but Blogger is not being cooperative with my pictures. That being said, I will change topics and talk about the World Cup.

I would not consider myself a soccer fan, but I like it way more than golf and baseball (I know, baseball is the great American pasttime, blah blah blah) so I watched a game today between Cameroon and Denmark. I was pulling for Cameroon because they were more fun to watch with their green jerseys, red shorts, and bright yellow socks. Denmark was just wearing white. Anyhoo, it sounded like the stadium was full of mosquitoes...no lie! It sounded like there were mosquitoes in the stands and not people. I know its those long horn things that they blow in, but good grief, that is definitely near the top of my "most annoying sounds" list. I kept slapping my arms and legs hoping the sound would stop.

I am sad to report that Cameroon lost to Denmark 2-1. Oh well...better luck next year. Maybe they will ban the mosquito horns and the Cameroon players can have better concentration.

Happy Camper Part 1

J and I went on our first camping trip of the summer at Watsadler near the Hartwell Dam. I say "first" because we had such a great time that we already have a scouting trip this weekend to check out some other camping areas. J is going to begin building a small camper for us, but until then, we are in a tent. Yes, it is hot, but we do have a fan and the only reason we go in the tent is to sleep. We also have wonderful friends who let us spend some air-conditioned moments in their campers when we just need to be out of the sun. I have several pictures of our trip, but today I will start with the set up.

This is the tent "foyer". We put our food, pots, pans, sunscreen, etc. in this area in either totes or the cooler. It is sort of an extension of the tent before you go into the "sleeping quarters."

The other side of the foyer.

This is one side of the tent. We have a 6-man Kelty tent. We hope to never sleep six people in it because it is nice to have room to walk and keep our clothes and towels away from the great outdoors

This is our sleeping corner. We found that we need to find something more comfortable to sleep on. This time we only had some thin foam pads and our sleeping bags (which we slept on top of, not inside of), and it did not make for the most restful of nights.

And this is the outside of the tent. We have a rain fly on our tent (that helps to provide the "foyer" space) that covers our whole tent. It looks like we have no ventilation, but it is either (a)lots of ventilation or (b) no privacy and getting soaked in the event of rain. Remember, we don't spend much time in the tent. We tried to go to bed when it got dark, because when you sleep in a tent, you are up with the sun and birds around 6:00.

My next post will be about cooking, which I found to be very fun. Stay tuned for more adventures in camping!

JSE.4

Here's a little look into JSE over the past four years.

Happy Anniversary, J. God designed us for Him and for each other. I know it everytime I wake up and look over at you, knowing that my weaknesses are your strengths and your weaknesses are my strengths. I know it when you make a bold decision for our family that you have prayed about. I know it when I make a big mistake and you just laugh it off. I love you.

Love,

SE

Simple Things

Today Jeff and I spent the day with Eli. We took things pretty slow and appreciated the simple things like

watching it rain

reading some books (this happens to be my novel, but we read some books that were more on his level)

watching Shrek the Third (this must have been an exciting part)

attacking my camera

and checking the outdoors again because the rain was "gone gone".

He also practiced his animal sounds for us, which kept us laughing for quite a long time.

Hmmmm....

We are certainly up to something in our house. Can you guess what it is?

Are we having a yard sale?

Are we having a slumber party?

Are we moving????


If you guessed any of those, you are WRONG. Here is the last and most obvious hint. Can you guess what we are up to?

Summertime is upon us folks. My last day with students was Thursday and today I came to school at 8:00 A.M. to find my ceiling on my floor. Demolition has begun! I have two more days of professional development next week and I am DONE. I feel so free that I have composed an acrostic poem.

S - Sun and ship (cruise ships, that is)
U - Under the beach umbrella
M - More time with friends and family
M - More time for hobbies, old and new
E - Everyday Edwards blog updates
R - Reading, reading, reading
T - Time to head to the beach, lake, pool, and campsites
I - Inviting friends to lunch dates
M - Meeting new friends (at blog parties)
E - Eating lots and then having time to walk it off