This was quite a weekend.

Occasionally, our ecclesia goes camping together. It's not every year, but probably 3 out of 4 years, in mid-June. Wanting to share new experiences with Lauren, I decided to give it a go this year.

I've never camped. Maybe 30 years ago, when I was little, Jed and I used to camp out in our back yard, but otherwise I've never camped. That's ridiculous.

We all got spots near each other at the Hopeville Pond State Park (thanks to Ellyn for organizing the whole weekend). Not being a camper, I have no tent so Mark and Michelle loaned us theirs, and an air mattress. Gary and Ellyn loaned us a couple of sleeping bags, and Lauren and I headed over there Friday evening.

Mark helped me set up the tent (he wasn't staying over night) and pump up the air mattress, then we all settled in around the campfire. At about 10:30 I said goodnight to everyone because she was falling asleep on my lap and I wanted to let her sleep in the tent. After a diaper change and lots of fun taking out my contacts near total darkness, she was curled up like a kitten on one of the sleeping bags, fast asleep.

That lasted for a little over an hour. More than enough time for me to fall into a deep sleep.

Then, she woke up. Happy. VERY VERY HAPPY. She came over to me. She patted my face. She laid her head down on my chest and said "aaaaahhhhhhh", then went back to sleep for three minutes. Then she kissed my cheek and slept with her head on my arm... for a few minutes. Then she laid down completely on top of me and slept for a few more minutes. Then she tried to get into the suitcases.

This went on for hours. She wouldn't settle down, and would cry when I try to put her back on her own sleeping bag. Otherwise, she was perfectly happy... but also totally wide awake and unwilling to let me sleep.

At 3:45 AM I finally gave up. By 4, we were both back in the truck and headed home.

I think if I were ever facing torture, I could handle some pain, but they'd break me in a day or two with sleep deprivation.

I/we slept until late morning, then drove back to the camp site. Saturday night we didn't even try: just went home, got a good night's sleep, and went back again Sunday morning.

I'm glad we tried, and I hope we can try again next year when she's a year older.

2006 was a good year for me and mine, in many ways.

To all of my family near and far, to my ecclesia here and worldwide, to all of my friends new and old, close or distant:

Happy
New Year!

Hoping 2007 will be even better, for all of us...

I'm not afraid of change, generally, but that doesn't mean I'm immune to the stress it brings. Right now so much around me is changing that there seems to be another source of stress no matter where I look.

• Macrobyte has been doing fairly well this year... enough that Corinne put in her notice and is finally staying home again. It's been a long, long time. She still has some healing to do. Hopefully being able to focus on some other areas of her life will help with that. (Plus, I never wanted her to have to work in the first place.)

• Our plans for Thanksgiving this year have been pretty messy. Corinne thought she was going to have to be working so she didn't sign up to serve the shelter. That was a disappointment. Then she gave her notice. I believe things have worked out and we know where we're going, but it hasn't yet been finalized. Wherever we end up, they'd better allow us to bring some food! :-D

  Seriously, I can't imagine going to a big dinner like that, with Corinne, without at least a few pans/dishes in the back of the Blazer.

• Jed (my brother) has lived with us since late July, 2005. Despite the obvious stuff like space issues, (occasional) fraternal friction, and some loss of privacy, I have truly loved having him here.

  Unfortunately, he's not just moving out, he's moving away, putting an entire continent between us. It's for the best of reasons: he has found true love, but Alycia lives in British Columbia. Logistics were such that it made more sense for him to go there than for her to come here, at least for now.

  So there's a trailer-full of mixed emotions over this one. I couldn't be happier that he found her, but I'm selfishly sad that his find is our loss. Plus there's a hint of jealousy, because he's moving to my favorite place, somewhere I haven't even managed to visit since Corinne and I went to BC on our honeymoon in '97.

• Jed has been our ecclesial secretary for years. Him leaving is a bit like throwing all the cards up in the air. While I think it's good to shuffle things around, it's most definitely a source of stress.

• Mark & Michelle are pregnant! This is officially 'super cool,' the only downside to it is that Mark isn't willing to be the secretary in Jed's place because he's going to have a new baby to care for. I don't blame him, but it's too bad because he was the obvious choice.

• As long as I'm listing stuff that's changing... my Mom and Dad are moving their 'warehouse' to a completely different facility. This isn't a real big deal for me, but it's one more happening in a family that's a little overloaded at the moment.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Isn't that enough?

My friend Mark Drake married Michelle Shaw on Saturday. Friday night was the rehearsal dinner, the wedding was on Saturday at 2PM, the picnic reception at 5PM.

This all had Corinne and I very busy (though she was much busier than me). I was a sort of semi-usher in the wedding: I read Genesis 2: 18-25 and Ephesians 5: 17-33 at the beginning of the ceremony (my brother, Jed, actually 'performed' the wedding), and then organized/managed the process of a couple hundred people flowing into the "receiving line."

Michelle was absolutely radiant. It's too bad I don't have a single picture! I was supposed to be the assistant photographer also, but Corinne needed my help with the reception more than Bonny Pride needed my help with the photos, so I think I made the right choice. (Unfortunately, I didn't make this decision until after purchasing eight rolls of film and a pack of batteries for my 35mm rig, and charging up and cleaning up my digital camera.)

The picnic reception was a great success! Corinne had been told to expect as many as 200 people there, so she prepared enough for a "few extra." Frank Locke ran his gas grill to cook Indian chicken kabobs. Jim Burns ran two grills cooking hotdogs and hamburgers (and nearly getting smoked into a stupor). I ran three grills, cooking some burgers, some cajun-rubbed flank steaks (which were later cut down into thin strips for consumption) and some more chicken kabobs. Lesson learned: running three grills at once is a bit of a stretch, especially when everybody knows you're the husband of the caterer and so asks you dozens of questions about what, where, when, and how. Things ran much more smoothly when I handed one of the grills off to my Dad.

Our ecclesia had another picnic Sunday afternoon, to finish off some of the food. I took Corinne home right after meeting so she could get some (much needed) sleep, and then returned in time for the tail end of the picnic. When we were all done, everybody took home whatever leftovers they wanted. I grabbed five "Gladware containers" of Potato Salad, the Cajun flank steak, and Indian chicken... and then brought three full catering trays of food to the W.A.R.M. Shelter. :-) (Like I said, she made a "little extra." She cooked for 200 adults, but my best guess is that the reception had 100-120 people, evenly split between adults and kids.)

This entry is officially about Mark and Michelle, who Corinne and I are both very happy for, but I have to say (for the umpteenth time) that I'm incredibly proud of my wife! That she was able to "put aside," or at least work-through, all of her own pain while producing such incredible volumes of truly excellent food... well, she's just amazing. The totally oppressive heat and humidity finally wore her down Saturday afternoon so she left the reception a little early, but not until after all of her work was done. What a woman!

A couple weeks ago I mentioned Life of Levi, and since then I've been reading it semi-regularly (though I wish he'd follow up on some of his stories!).

Yesterday he announced that he and "the love of his life," Melissa, are getting married at the end of the month.

My friend Mark is marrying soon, too. At the end of July, he and Michelle will start their life together.

Life can be very hard, for all of us. Take and share what joy you find, whenever and wherever you find it. Not pleasure, which is fleeting, selfish, and nearly worthless, but actual joy. Joy in the union of two hearts, joy in faith or hope, joy in learning (or helping someone else learn) something new, joy in a baby's cry, joy in old friends, joy in Spring's colors. Joy in just being able to put aside your troubles for a few minutes.

(In case it isn't obvious, I wrote the subject and this postscript after the rest! Originally I was just going to post a "congrats" blurb to Levi.)