Wedding Weekend

Erin & I spent the weekend in Northwest Arkansas. We spent time in Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville, & Bella Vista. Randall, one of my childhood friends, finally took the plunge & got married this weekend. It was sort of a mini-vacation for us as we spent time together & with friends. The weekend started on Friday with the drive up & a stop at MarketPlace Grill in Ft. Smith. We made our way to Bentonville to our hotel before rehearsal & dinner that night. Our dinner was at Mary Maestri's in Springdale (sorry no website). It is a wonderful place to eat. All the pasta & sauces are homemade daily as well as the desserts. I had a Filet w/ Alfredo pasta & it was fabulous. The Filet was perfectly cooked & melted in my mouth like cotton candy. If you're ever in the area, try out this great restaurant.

Saturday was busy w/ shopping & eating! We had an afternoon open house at Randall & Julie's home & a BBQ party at Julie's parents that evening. On Sunday we splurged for breakfast & went to IHOP before attending church at GracePoint Church of Northwest Arkansas where our close friend Tim Logan serves as worship pastor. It was refreshing worship experience. We enjoy going to other churches when we're out of town & we enjoyed worshipping there & hope to go back again soon. Sunday evening was the wedding at Cooper Chapel in Bella Vista, which is a quaint little sanctuary in the woods. We're actually returning there in July as I will be conducting a wedding at the same place. The wedding was great & the reception was fun at the Springdale Country Club. (We haven't gotten a new digital camera since our other one died recently so there are no pics, which is disappointing b/c the legendary Frank Broyles attended & I was hoping for a photo w/ him).

Yesterday was our travel day, but not before some more good shopping & another good meal at Granite City at the new Promenade Mall. Thanks for treating us to lunch Tim & Leslie Logan! We then made the trip home, picked up the dog from the kennel, & now we're back home in Mineral Springs. It was a fun & exciting weekend & it's always great to get away for a few days & share in one of the greatest days in Randall & Julie's lives.

TeamKID Finale

Our Wednesday night ministry to children ended last night for the summer. We ended w/ the largest crowd yet: 31 children. We averaged 22 children each week for 19 weeks this semester. Of the 43 total children we ministerd to through this ministry, 7 had perfect attendence & 3 only missed one time. My team of leaders has done an awesome job & it wouldn't be possible w/o them. All of us have higher blood pressure, less hair, & less sanity. However, I believe we were honorable in the eyes of God.
Most of these children are from the neighborhood & surrounding community. Very few of them attend our church any other time. Most of them come from a different culture & environment than most people in our church. It's difficult to effectively relate & minister to those who are different than we are in whatever way. I commend our church & volunteers for putting their heart into feeding these children the truth of God's Word & the love of Jesus Christ.
On many nights we walk away wondering if we did any good at all, but we must remember God's word never returns void! I pray we will see many if not all these children in heaven one day maybe, just maybe, because of a seed that was planted through this ministry.

Happy Anniversary

Erin's brother Brian & his wife Betsy celebrated their 1st Wedding Anniversary on Monday. Time goes by faster & faster every year. We hope you had a great anniversary & hopefully the year-old wedding cake wasn't too bad! Marriage to a Christian partner is one of the greatest blessings on earth.
I remember our 1st anniversary, it was special but not all that exciting. We went out to eat, to a movie, & to Pottery Barn to buy a sofa table as our "gift" to each other (I got the short end of the stick on that one). Oh yea, not to mention Erin getting sick twice that night, once in an Exxon parking lot & the other at the Arkansas Travel Bureau! We still managed to eat our wedding topper that night & every night for the rest of the week only to throw a bunch of it away.

Happy Mother's Day

It's strange celebrating Mother's Day in our own house for the 1st time. As an expectant mother, Mother's Day took on a whole new meaning for Erin & I this year. Her parents were in town to celebrate & my family was together (although my mom got sick & couldn't make it). We took pictures but I don't have any to post because our digital camera decided to die yesterday as we were taking pictures. I guess we will be getting a nice, new camera sooner than expected.

Moms are a unique & special part of our lives. Erin & I are blessed with great Christian mothers (& fathers too). I hope everyone remembered to honor their mother yesterday in some way. If not, find a way to make up for it today & don't always wait until Mother's Day to honor your mother.

Moms, we love you & Erin I couldn't be more proud of you as a mother even though Cade won't arrive until September!

And he will be called...

Cade Christopher Wright

After Erin sorted through a book of 10,001+ Baby Names, we have come to this decision. Well, half the book became void when we found out it was a boy. I don't know about Erin, but for me naming your child is a scarry thing b/c they are stuck w/ it for the rest of their life.