Dude, camp was awesome. As much as I don’t miss sweating all day, or always having dirty feet, or the U shaped bed, I MISS CAMP. The kids and the worship, the teaching and the long chats with kids I didn’t know. Who could forget the hours of laughing. I think I am on to the next Ab workout idea. “Laugh your way fit” With all this, the thing that blew me away the most was the generosity of those 72 campers. They handed over 1000+ dollars for AICM in AZ. Since the girls earned more then they guys, my hair is now gone! All of it! We did it before a live audience this past Sunday back at church. 
The Missions Haircut! by Tim
Our Friday!
What started as a busy and hot Friday ended in about the perfect way!
We hit the beach at 5 with the goal of swimming and cooling off! After playing in the waves for over an hour and one sore toe thanks to Mr. Crabby, we just laid in the summer breeze and watched the world around us. We were joined shortly before leaving by a pair of fishermen who caught the Hammerhead Shark pictured below. As a science nut, I was in heave seeing a real hammerhead up close… it was only about 18 inches long, but still super cool to see! God’s creations are so amazing. I was in awe of so many things while we lay on the beach watching clouds, birds, fish, waves and sand blowing. It was just what this tired man needed! Thank you Brooke for taking me to the beach! I love you!
Saturday Morning Thoughts
Today at 10am Brooke and I will be heading to Tomoka. We are always going to or from there I know, but this morning is different. We are going to pay our respects to a man whom we never meet. He is the 32 year old brother of a friend. He was hit by a drunken motorcycle while pushing his girlfriend to safety. Life is short. Life never ends when you want it to, yet I know that I treat it like something I have control of. My prayer this morning is for all of us to start trying to make a difference every day in what we do. Being a better husband, wife, mother, father, brother, sister, pastor, friend, stranger, employee, boss… in everything we do, we must find strength from God to do it in a way that makes a difference.
Today as you read this, Please pray for the Davis family as they morn the loss of a brother, uncle, son and so much more!
Summer here we come!
The Summer is coming soon and will be over before we know it. I am super excited by our summer plans. Chances are, if you live in IL, MI, WI, TX, TN or FL… we will be in a city near you! We will keep the photos and stories coming in the days and weeks to come. First stop on the summer tour, Keystone Heights, FL. I will be working a week of Camp for an awesome group of our middle school youth. Great group of Junior Counselors, Adults, Youth and God, I am stoked for it. Cannonball Coming! Gotta love random hats!
Gotta See This!
By far the coolest thing I have seen in a long time… I would have loaded the video player here… but it is late and I am lazy!
What have you done?
God really laid it out there today for me thanks to Craig. What have I done to help the cause. So many times we turn to prayer for solutions to our problems… but how many times are we that very solution we are praying for. When our prayers go unanswered, could it be that we just didn’t want to get up and be the solution. Is it possible that we use God more like a drive-tru then a Father? We hit it up when we are running low on time and want something fast and dirty. I know that I am guilty of that. My prayer tonight is that this be changed in us. That we have our eyes opened to the abilities that we have and that we lean upon the words of God. All things are possible… not some or most… ALL!
Friday Morning Thought
I enjoy nothing more then sleeping in with my family. It was nice to be able to do this today. We have been busy and the truth is, that isn’t going to change any time soon. Busy is good for us. It keeps us on our toes and also makes us money! Brooke and I have a very renewed sense of why we are doing Premier and what it is all about. We would love to talk to anyone out there about it. God continues to send us amazing people and experiences that shape and mold our lives. They aren’t all easy to deal with, but that is part of the process! There is often frustration and fear, but just as often there is hope and joy. I am reading In a Pit with a Lion on A Snowy Day. It makes you look a life from a different point of view. In the book Mark Batterson talks about uncertainty.
“Embrace relational uncertainty. It’s called romance. Embrace spiritual uncertainty. It’s called mystery. Embrace occupational uncertainty. It’s called destiny. Embrace emotional uncertainty. It’s called joy. Embrace intellectural uncertainty. It’s called revelation.”
I am not big on uncertainty. In the past it has crippled me in more then one way. I know however and starting to truely see what you miss when you want to be certain.
Romance, mystery, destiny, joy and revelation are things I want more of…. guess it is time to embrace the uncertainty.
Why the Variety in Pictures? by brooke
So, yes, every time we go home we jam pack our weekend full of fun. However, this weekend, we had a huge variety of fun. And the fun continues here back at home this week. Here is a run down since last Thursday. Enjoy:
Thurs. 2:09am- Brooke can’t sleep and gets up to make sure Tim set the alarm. Brooke moves the phone on the headboard of the bed.
Thurs. 2:30am- Tim shuts off the alarm and keeps the phone in bed while falling back asleep.
Thurs. 5:25am- Brooke wakes up and wakes up Tim by asking him what time it is. Tim wakes up in a panic, starts to put pants on and realizes there is NO WAY we will make the 6:30am flight. Tim calls Southwest and hears that a later flight will cost an extra $400. Tim gets on computer to look at other flights.
Thurs. 6:00am- Tim calls back to ask about flights again. New person says that we can get on the 7:55am flight free of charge. Tim and Brooke rush to get dressed and rush out the door.
Thurs. 7:55am- Brooke and Tim make it to the Southwest gate and get on the plane! 
Thursday in a fast view:
Daddio Phil gets us at the airport, we visit Chantal and Anthony, we go to Tim’s parents’ house, we eat lunch, we nap!, We eat Portilo’s beef!!!!!, Emily and Harris come over for cards and laughs…more laughs than cards.
Friday in a fast view:
We sleep in, we go to buy cousin Austin shoes, we head to the city (Chicago…duh), we walk around the city and visit Millineum Park (picture of the bean), walk through the flowers in the park!, we eat really good dinner at pizza and pasta place, WE GO SEE WICKED! Wicked is a very very GREAT play, and you all should go see it!
Saturday in a fast view: There is no other view really unless you want a detailed list of how sleeping in the car went! We pack for the trip to Missouri and the wedding. We drive 8 hours while stopping along the way as you would on an 8 hour trip! Good sandwiches and of course Cheetos for the trip! We get to the hotel, check in, unload, and head to dinner (Ruby Tuesdays). We head back to hotel and just relax for the night. (Watched a bit of TV since we don’t have cable it was a special treat to be able to watch all the TLC shows!)
Sunday in a fast view: We got up in order to do lots of sightseeing around historical Missouri (Weston) and of course hit up the antique stores. While driving around we started a photo collection of lawn ornaments. :) Visit to a nice park that overlooked the Missouri River and into Kansas! Then we drove to Kansas since I (Brooke) have never been there. And of course, while in Kansas, we had to eat some tots at Sonic! We headed back to the hotel and changed for the wedding. Headed to the wedding, and yes it was hot, and no it didn’t rain!!!! The wedding was beautiful. Simple, yet some how full of beautiful details that all just made it very romantic and a true experience in nature and love. Reception was really nice, and it was wonderful to spend time with the family and meet family members that I had not met in real life yet. (Blogs just only count so far!) Homemade soup in the hotel lobby topped the night off with more family fun.
Monday in a fast view: Semi-early start on the road- 8 more hours in the car, and this time I (Brooke) REALLY slept pretty much the entire 8 hours. Arrived at Midway airport in a nice early fashion (unlike Thursday morning!) (3 hours early). Ate some dinner. Talked on the phone. Texted Sherri who had flown into Orlando to visit with us and had arrived in Orlando about the same time we arrived at the Midway airport. Ha (Sherri is our “mom” in Premier. She came down to do training on Tuesday night.) Flew home, picked up Sherri, drove home to Palm Coast, and crashed for the night- 4am.
Tuesday in a fast view: Got up and took Tim to work at 10am. Came home, got ready, went to lunch with Sherri, went to Bealls outlet (and got new shoes- thanks sherri), went to the grocery store and got groceries (thanks sherri), came home to change for training, went down and met with Villie for 2 hours doing some training (Villie is our newest jeweler!), went to get a cake, picked up Tim from work, (Thanks Craig for giving him the night off, we know it was inconvenient after the weekend!) went to training in Holly Hill. Noel was there waiting for us as a surprise!!!! (Noel is a VERY good friend who happens to also be a jeweler. She moved to GA this past year and is moving back to Ft Lauderdale this coming weekend, but she loves us (and we love her) and drove 6 HOURS to visit with us at training and over night! Had a beautiful training with almost all of our girls there (the most ever at one time!) It was just a very special night. Dropped Sherri off at her hotel in Daytona, drove home with Noel (Tim went back to church to lock up), hung out with Noel talking and looking at pictures, tried to go to bed, couldn’t sleep, got up and played on computer, welcomed our dog home at 3:09am (thanks mom!), played with dog, went to bed 4am Wed.
And life goes on…. Now we’re just trying to calm down from the excitement and change of routine. It is back to work and normal schedule. Life does not stop because you go off and have a great time with family for a weekend. But breaks in routine make normal routine life possible. I am so thankful that we have such loving family on both sides that are so willing to make things happen for us. So to all of you who we got to spend time with this weekend: thanks, we love you and miss you more than you know. To those of you who put up with us each day or week, well we’re back, and we missed you all.
Welcome Back!
We wanted to welcome you all back to our blog. We have returned from our break and will be bringing you many new entries in the days to come! Here are some pics of our Memorial Day adventures. Downtown Chicago with the folks and then Kansas City for my cousins wedding! Our cute nephew too!
