Becca sets up a garage sale

This was another weekend that Jackie and Carmen went to some city ( this time it was Louisville ) for a volleyball tournament while Adam and I stayed in Lexington for baseball.

The thing that was different this weekend was Becca. She had a garage sale on Saturday morning before Mom and Carmen left for Louisville. On Friday night, I took a picture of the system that she planned on using for the cash she generated.

First you must know that we have a cash box so creativity was not necessary.

She tells me that she made six dollars. There may have been a lot of stuff (this is just one of the boxes), but I would have never guessed that she would do so well.

After the garage sale, Becca left for Girl Scout camp so Adam and I were home all Saturday afternoon and evening to mow, pull weeds, plant trees and flowers, transplant bushes, and other outdoor work that we offered to Jackie as an early Mother's Day present.

Sometimes it is good to be late

Martha couldn't understand why Jesus was late to heal Lazarus.

The early bird is a lot more famous than the second mouse as well.

Just before our group met tonight, I snapped a shot of this lone Azalea bud after a hard rain in the sunshine.

We had a hard freeze in April this spring after all the Bradford Pears, Azaleas, Lilacs and Wild Cherry Blossoms had bloomed. The few buds that were late were the only ones that survived.

This one flower was surrounded by buds that were once colorful and alive, but now are shriveled, dead and brown.

Separated by activities

Jackie left early this morning with Carmen for a volleyball tournament in Cincinnati. They had to be at the gym by 7:45 AM to ref an 8:00 AM game. There are twenty 16 year old teams there and I'm anxious to see how the four teams from Lexington do.

2007 KAEPA Aces Challenge

Adam, Becca and I are staying in Lexington for several baseball games at the Babe Ruth field in Veteran's Park. Adam had a JV game last night and plays the first varsity game this morning. ( If it isn't rained out )

Southeast Lexington Babe Ruth Baseball

Adam is playing for the JV Mets and the Varsity Twins.

Life groups at Tatesbrook

We started Life Groups at Tatesbrook this week. Our group met at Josh and Kresta's home. We had Root Beer Floats and shared stories with each other and prayed for the other groups. God led Jackie and I to minister to the ungrouped and the unchurched and the overchurched for several years, so it was really good to get back into a small group that had a common purpose of being the church.

I'm looking forward to several things about this group. One thing is the generational diversity. It is much broader than any group I have been in before.

The second thing is my coach's fixation on symbols. He has chosen our symbol to represent our group's general proximity of South Lexington. I can't wait to answer questions about why I wear this symbol on a T shirt. I figure that it will be a great conversation starter. ( One Way or No Way, which way is it? )

Volleyball in the Dome

Carmen played three matches on Friday and three matches on Saturday to qualify for the tournament on Sunday. The pool play on Friday and Saturday were in the Convention Center ( 60 courts in one room ). The tournament for Carmen's flight was in the dome.

The team has some highlights in team play and some low points with fatigue and individual play. There were 166 16 year old teams and the team that beat us on Saturday morning was from Club West in Laverne, CA. We played several teams from the Chicago area. The best team we played was from Topeka, Kansas on Friday night. They weren't even close to our talent level.

It was good to have Grandpa Etsinger at the games all weekend. Bill and Cheryl came down to the dome this morning to see the tournament game. We also celebrated Cheryl's birthday after the game.

Aunt Shirley served as our guide all weekend to make sure we ate well. Before I got up there on Saturday, she also helped Jackie find her car and point it in the right direction toward each event.