A Hero's Party

A Hero's Party

By: Alyssa James

Our little man, Jude, has officially turned 7! (He will forever be a four year old to me) lol. This year, Jude and dad have been working on a video game called Kingdom Hearts. It’s a great RPG game for the PlayStation game systems that incorporate Disney movies and characters! Maleficent, the evil queen, has stolen the princess’ hearts to take over all the realms and you must work alongside Goofy and Donald Duck to travel to these different worlds and save the princess’. Jude loves this game and was able to do a lot of it himself actually, which was pretty impressive for a six year old. (Daddy just had to help with the hard boss fights) They recently finished the first game and, to no surprise, wanted his birthday party to be themed to the game. This meant a bit of task for me though as there are no party supplies made for this game. Even finding toys or figurines to use as decorations is nearly impossible as they must all be bought online, most of which would ship from China, or costs more then a pretty penny for a 3" figurine. This meant everything was to be handmade. We accomplished the task though! From invitations to a life size replica of the keyblade itself. He was a happy camper which is all that matters in the end. If you do not know already, we are a large family. We have four, soon to be five, children who all have birthdays within weeks of each other. We decided two years ago, in order to save on expenses (as well as our own sanity of chaotic stress this creates) each child would get a big party every other year and the alternating year would just be a family gathering. So making sure they get the party they want and thoroughly enjoy is kind of a big deal. Ecclesiastes 11:9 reminds us "..be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth." The game has very beautiful stained glass images of the princess' so an idea I

had was to create my own "stained glass" project using poster board, contact paper, and tissue paper. I drew popular images from the game onto the poster board and cut the image out. Next I applied contact paper, sticky side up, to the back of the poster board. Cutting the tissue paper into little squares, I then randomly filled up the image with the paper. When hung in the light, all the colors shine through creating a pretty image the children ooed and awed over. It was a simple project actually and one even the kids would find fun to do. For table decor, I drew and cut out the shape of Mickey Mouse's head, the crown worn in the game, as well as hearts to sprinkle like table confetti. Unfortunately though, mother nature decided to make it a really blustery day but only during the hours of the party of course. It was so windy everyone's filled up drinks were even being knocked over and our oldest daughter, Nikkie, had her whole hot dog fly over ketchup side up on her pretty new dress. She was so embarrassed she was afraid to play or talk to anyone. I then reminded her to be courageous explaining the verse Joshua 1:9 to her "be strong and courageous for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." She was a happy girl ready to play again afterwards. Jude was gifted two Kingdom Hearts T-Shirts for Christmas last year so for some added decor, I wrapped the shirts each around a piece of cardboard so the image only was showing and hung them on the playground pillars. Last but not least, daddy pulled through with the biggest and most awesome decoration for the party. A life sized replica of the keyblade used to fight with in the game. He made this happen by drawing the keyblade onto plywood in which he then cut out using his jigsaw. He also cut out a mini Mickey Mouse head and drilled a hole through both it and the handle of the keyblade and attached a thick chain to link them together. He painted the keyblade and wrapped electrical tape around the handle to make it a tad softer on little man's hands. Jude was so excited about his keyblade he couldn't wait to go outside and act like Sora! (the main character) After learning the rules of the blade first that is. In that moment, no one was cooler than dad for building that =] Jude had his two best friends from school show up which made him really excited and none of them wanted to stop playing and leave. We finally made it home for the night where he played with his new toys for about an hour before becoming too overcome with exhaustion and was in bed very shortly afterwards. Last Monday I had the privilege of chaperoning Jude's school field trip to the Phoenix Zoo. It was so

much fun! I had a group of three children and we had two hours of freedom to go look through the zoo however we pleased. The kids were all hungry as soon as we got there so we grabbed a map and sat to eat while looking it over. If you've never been, the Phoenix Zoo is pretty big and you definitely need more than two hours to go through it all. Knowing this, I had the kids all decide which animals were most important to them to see and luckily, the animals they wanted were all next to each other so I knew exactly which way to head first. The kids all had a great time but started to get worn out from the heat a half hour before meet up time. I took them to rest a minute in the shade for a water break and a last decision as to what we wanted to see. We got to see most of the animals but not all of them unfortunately, like I said, this zoo just requires more time then that. Especially when walking around with a group of 6year old's in the middle of a hot day. On the bus ride home, Jude wanted to pretend play kingdom hearts which pretty much consisted of my heart being stolen then him returning it over and over again. lol but we managed to take a few selfies while we were at it. Upon getting back to school, Jude's mom brought ice cream sandwiches for the whole class to enjoy in celebration of his birthday! What a perfect treat for them to have after a long hot day at the zoo. We are so blessed and grateful for all that we have and get to enjoy in this everyday life. 

10 Christ Centered Easter Ideas For The Family

10 Christ Centered Easter Ideas

 By: Alyssa James

Easter is just around the corner and like with any holiday, it can get easy to get lost in the fun and gifts but forget the meaning behind it all. This year, I've collected 10 Easter Ideas centered around Christ to help teach and remind our children the true meaning of Easter and why we celebrate. First and foremost, what is the meaning of Easter? Easter is one of the most important and oldest celebrations by the Christian Church, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Luke 24:6-7 "He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:  ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ " 
 Now for the fun! (Psst! Kids! It can be fun to learn sometimes too!) I'll begin with my favorite, 1. RESURRECTION EGGS. I saw this idea in a recent flyer in my mailbox from Lifeway Christian Bookstore and I loved it! You can buy the kit from their store or online here. The idea around it is, 12 objects representing the meaning of Easter such as a cross and a donkey. There are plenty of free printables you can google as well. Finding the objects will raise interest in the kids and is a more age appropriate way to tell the story and help remind them each year. 
2. THE JELLY BEAN PRAYER. Lets face it, jelly beans are an Easter must especially if you have toddlers. They just cant seam to get enough! The jelly bean prayer is a fun, simple and inexpensive way to tell the resurrection story. You can put one in the kids basket or have them help you make them to deliver to your friends, family and/or neighbors! Just bag up some jelly beans and attach the cute little poem, which can be found online.
3. EASTER VIGIL. I found this idea on multiplygoodness.com and I love it!! It's so pretty and a perfect tradition to start with your family. Go check out her story and participate in your own Easter vigil with your kids. She also shares an idea to do with the family everyday the week leading up to Easter which is fun too! She reminds us in her post of the verse John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” 
4. RESURRECTION ROLLS. A delicious treat any kid will love and get to help make! Follow this site for the recipe. She also tells you what verses to read to the children as your making them and how to explain what each ingredient represents. Such as, the crescent roll is the cloth and the oven is the tomb. This is so much fun and such a great way to share the story as they help bake and eat the treat!
5. SCRIPTURE SCAVENGER HUNT.  This activity can be done during Easter week on any day to help teach and prepare your children. It's a fun outdoor activity that uses scripture to give the kids clues as to what to hunt for. Give each child their own bag to collect their items then read the scripture provided in the list followed by the clue to go with it. (Click on the image to print.)

6. RESURRECTION BINGO. Who doesn't love a good ol' game of bingo? My kids love to play and it's become a little bit of a holiday tradition family game where i find a different set for us to play themed for each holiday. You can even reward winners with jelly beans for Easter! I found this cute printable you can download and print for free!
 7. COLORING PAGES. Every child loves to color. Finding a Christ centered coloring book is very easy to come by too. They can be found at nearly every store from Dollar Tree to your local Christian book store, or even free printables can be found online!. 
8. STAINED GLASS CROSS. This is a beautiful and easy project for any child of every age to

partake on (even toddlers!) First, you will want to tape a sheet of clear contact paper (Sticky side up) onto the table. Place your pre cut cross onto the paper (can be made from poster board from the dollar store). Pre cut different colored tissue paper (also from dollar store) into squares and give each child their own pile. Next, let them place their squares however they'd like inside their cross. When they are all done, place a second pre cut cross directly on top of the first (to cover the overlapping tissue). Trim the contact paper around your cross and hang it up outside or in your window for the kids to enjoy all the beautiful colors when the light shine through. 
9. STORY BOOK. There are many children's books available to read to your kids that tell the story of why we celebrate Easter. The Easter Story by Patricia A. Pingry is one of my personal favorites for its soft and gentle for children's ears while still getting the story across. It is very important to always be reading with your children so why not an Easter story? 
10. CHRIST CENTERED EASTER BASKETS. Having a family of four (soon to be five) children, shopping can get a bit expensive. We love to turn to the dollar store first to find all that we can and for only a dollar an item why not!? You can find some pretty great stuff there too. We have found lots of Christ centered items as well! As I said earlier, you can find coloring books but aside from that, we've found Christian books for all ages including toddler! Chocolates in the shape of a cross, Christian puzzles for different age ranges, CD's, and so much more! You can even add verses to different items such as the jelly bean poem mentioned earlier, Revelation 7:17 with a slinky, Isiah 64:8 with play dough, and Luke 12:7 with hair accessories to name a few. There are so many cute, fun, and delicious ideas for you to enjoy with your family that keep the holiday centered around Christ. Must we never forget why we celebrate. HAPPY EASTER!

Getting Things Ready!

     It was a busy weekend for the James family. We spent the whole weekend working and catching things up. Friday we took Nikkie to karate and watched her until her father Dustan showed up. She is doing really well following the instruction of the teacher. She is still a little shy though and hasn't quite let out her inner kung-fu panda. After karate we went to Lowes to get some supplies we needed for the house and a project Alyssa is working on. Once we got home we began our week long spring cleaning. We emptied our storage unit, and got rid of things we no longer needed. By get rid of I of course mean we donated them.


      After we made a good dent in the spring cleaning we began preparing to organize how we would decorate the boys room. Alyssa and I decided on a pirate theme for Jude and the new (still to be named) baby boy. We were able to find a great deal on a stroller and care seat which we bought over the weekend. Saturday afternoon we headed to a park off of 59th ave and Bethany Home with a nice lake and playground. I took my camera so I could get some baby bump pictures for mom, pictures of Hendrix, and some mommy daughter pictures. Hendrix was in a great mood and we were able to get some pretty cute pictures. It was my first time using the Nikon D3200 but the picture quality is amazing. I sold my Canon T2i last year, and decided to buy a Nikon instead this go around.
       Sunday we went to church at the 10:30am service. Alyssa's mom Tammy started volunteering at the two year old building so we took Hendrix over to spend time with her Nana. Alyssa and I headed to service which was great. The worship was good and the message continued from last week. Which I was glad about because it was a message that God has had on my heart for sometime. It focused on disciples of Jesus making an impact and disciples of the people in their lives who do not yet know God. After service and prayer we left home so that I could work on Today's Disciples. Our church is going to be like something the world has never seen. An intentional church that makes an impact, a church that can't be ignored. A church full of hard work, accountability, and love. Well for more information on our church visit www.todaysdisciples.com (just in case our website didn't lead you here.) We were able to make a couple YouTube videos trying to promote the church and website. Go check them out here! Don't forget to like comment and subscribe for more top 10 videos. We also created our first logo for the church. Everything else was work on the website which is very tedious work. Sorry for the quick update everyone but we are very busy trying to promote the church, we are praying that God will send some intentional people our way to help or join us. Thank you for reading and expect lots of post this week!Thank you to everyone who already is in support of us! We couldn't do it without you. Have a great day =]

Do all you do for the glory of God

We are a large family full of love, God has truly blessed us. Last weekend Alyssa picked up the children around 10am. Since the older two were spring break Alyssa decided to take everyone to Lifeway Christian Bookstore on 75th ave and Bell Rd. They have children's bible activities as well as story time every other Friday. See their website for more details http://www.lifeway.com/. All the kids enjoyed the bible study and activities. One of the verses they were able to color was Luke 24:6 "He is not here; He has risen!" This was an awesome verse and just in time for Easter! The only one who had an incident was our youngest Hendrix. She decided to try to pick a fight with one of the pastors sons. She wobbled over to a young boy about 3 or 4 years old and hit him in the face! Alyssa was horrified, she quickly grabbed Hendrix and apologized to the young boy. Luckily I was at work during this time so I didn't have to face the embarrassment. Hendrix did good the rest of the time, we think she was just trying to play since she hasn't had an incident like this prior.
      Once at home the kids ate and then sat down for movie time. Alyssa's mom Tammy came over to visit the kids and Alyssa. The kids were very excited to see their Nana. They hung out with her and finished watching their movie. About this time I finally arrived home from work. I was so excited to see my wife and four beautiful kiddos! With our busy weekend full of family and reconciling our differences of the past I was reminded of Proverbs 11:29 "Whoever brings ruin on their family will inherit only wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise." It is important that as Christians we be the first to swallow our pride and become the glue to our families. Mom had a lot of school work to do so I decided to give her a break. I got Stella, Nikkie, and Jude then headed out. Our first stop was Goodwill, for those of you who don't know Goodwill is a thrift store with extremely low prices. We stopped in to get baseballs, I also let each of the kids pick out two toys each from the buckets. This is an easy way to reward your children for good behavior. They have tons of toys and each one is only 15 cents or so. We left with our stuff only paying 1.99 for everything.
      From Goodwill we headed to a park nearby to play. We got our baseball bat, balls, and new toys. We started by playing a few rounds of lava monster! I was it and could only stay in the sand while trying to tag the kids on the playground. We had a lot of fun playing on the playground. After a water break we headed to the field to play baseball. We grabbed the bag of balls from Goodwill and started playing. I was impressed with Jude's batting skills. He was able to hit 3 out 5 pitches using real baseballs. Each ball even traveled to an outfield distance! After everyone had a few turns me and the girls went and played General Store. This was a game of shopping of course, our main currency sand, our biggest selling item was sand. After a few hours at the park we headed home for dinner.
       Saturday was our busiest day of the weekend. We woke up early to do our bi-weekly build and grow at Lowes. The kids got to build another monster truck called Blue Thunder. They all had a blast and learned important skills. After Lowes we headed home to have lunch. Post lunch we headed out front to play! Everyone got to pick an activity. We played baseball, hide and seek, tag, and a few other games. Before long it was time to get ready for church. We all came inside and got dressed in our finer clothing. I should probably stop to explain that even though we are extremely busy planting our church "Today's Disciples" and we are putting all of our money and most our time into it. We still make time and attend church each week as well as other church activities. The church sermon was great it was about things that God had been speaking to me about for some time. I had written a few sermons on the subject for later use. I hadn't felt God's presence at this particular church in the previous few months, but this message was powerful and really moved me personally. After church service was over we picked up all the kids and headed to the field at the church. It is important to have fun even as adults the bible says in Proverbs 15:13, "A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed." We all played football, Frisbee, basketball, and much more. The girls especially loved the giant gymnastic roller they had at the field. It is essentially a large sphere with the sides cut off and a hollow center for the kids to climb in and roll. Jude was partial to basketball, even if he can't quite hit the rim yet. He can dribble extremely well though. Nikkie was the best at catching the Frisbee but not the football. After church we headed home to play Mario Kart together as a family.

     We woke up Sunday and relaxed for the earliest part of the morning. I caught up on some of my Bible Studies. The kids played with toys together in their rooms. Around 3pm we headed to my mom Piper's house to celebrate my younger brother Jace's birthday which is actually on March 10th. He was turning 23, Jathan was there but Britni had to work. We ate some meatball subs, chips, dip, and hot dogs. We took the kids outback and played baseball and football for a while. My brothers and I went out front to play a few rounds of football to see who was the best. Which I'm pretty sure I won (cough cough). Once we came in we sang happy birthday to Jace and had some delicious cake my mom had bought from one of her favorite bakeries Nothing Bunt Cakes I believe. After dessert it was time to take Jude and Stella back to Mandi's house. We dropped them off and said our goodbyes. Then Alyssa and I headed home with Hendrix and Nikkie to get ready for another week. Remember that nothing is wrong with celebrations or having fun. It is however important to remember 1 Corinthians 10:3, "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

Prayer "Pet" Rocks

Prayer "Pet" Rocks

This post is about the weekend of February 26-28 with the children. Sorry its being posted late, all the kids came down with the same illness, all on different days of course, making it a long week for mamma. We’ve also been juggling getting the church started and battling sickness ourselves so i'd like to thank you for your patience and understanding. The next few posts you see may be a little out of order but everything will be back on track by next week.  From now on, we will be posting on Mondays and Thursdays. So make sure you check back with us!

As always, it was a busy one, but also exciting and rewarding. The two older children went to their first concert, Toby Mac, which you can read about in our other post:Toby Mac Hits Deep Tour:Tips and Tricks  We started our Saturday morning out by heading straight to Lowe's home improvement for their children’s program, Build and Grow, where the kids each got to make their own Dragon

monster truck replica. If you haven’t heard about it yet, It’s a really great and fun program free for all children where they can use their motor skills and learn to use tools. Lowe's provides a mini apron, hammer, safety goggle, build of the week project (with all materials needed), a badge for their apron, as well as certificates of completion per child. Click on the link to sign your children up or to learn more! From there, we headed home for lunch and movie\quiet time while Josh went to meet with the lawyer about starting our own church, Today’s Disciple’s. Yay! So exciting! We’ll keep you all updated on the progress of that. After he got home, we took the kids outside where we did a little Bible study time. The message were teaching the kids right now is the importance of prayer. Josh read to the kids the story of Jonah as well as the Lord's prayer.

As always, we question the kids a little afterwards to see what they learned and took from the lesson then started on a fun activity. This time, Josh came up with the idea of having the kids make prayer “pet” rocks to keep by their bed to help remind them to pray every night before bed. They got to decorate them however they wanted. I made a printable for them to fill out about their rock for a little added fun. Click on the link to print out your
free version. We then, spent the next couple hours playing outside together as a family. Each child got to choose the game of their choice we all had to participate in, such as, baseball, hide and go seek, and soccer. I had pre made tacos in the crockpot for us all and dinner was served just as we were all done playing. My father had sent us a family package which included a board game, a puzzle, remote control plane, dairy queen and Pizza Hut gift cards for us to all enjoy as a family. We took the kids to Dairy Queen to enjoy their own cones. To say Hendrix, indulged and loved her
first taste of ice cream would be an understatement. I'm pretty certain she didn't
breath again till it was all devoured. Sunday morning started out with church where the kids got to play on the playground afterwards. Once Lunch and movie\quiet time was over, the kids asked to play outside again. We took them out and did our own version of the Olympics with games such as, long jump, high jump, egg toss (yes, my husband used real eggs for this. So gross!), hula hooping and more! The kids had a blast competing and putting a twist on outside fun time. My sister-in-law brought her Wii U over and the kids got to play some Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros before dinner making for a long and exhausting, yet very fun and rewarding weekend where i then thought back to Psalm 103:5 "God, renew my energy when I am tired." Yes! Did I need that terribly by the end of the night. We are so lucky to be blessed by Him.

Toby Mac Hits Deep

Toby Mac Hits Deep

Tips and tricks of taking your little ones to their first concert.

"You take me to the place where I know I need You
Straight to the depths that I can't handle on my own
And Lord I know, I know I need You
So take me to Your great. take me to your great unknown"

We’ve all heard his name and his music, Toby Mac! A Christian music artist who has been in the business for over 20years making hundreds of songs to help us all connect and worship God together.

"Oh, I feel it in my heart
I feel it in my soul
That's how I know
You take our brokenness and make us beautiful
Yeah, that's how I know"

Toby Mac recently toured through our city, Phoenix Arizona. Opening lineup consisted of Colten Dixon, Building 429, Capital Kings and more! I heard an advertisement for the tour on KLove Radio in which they followed up with, “Tickets starting at just $15!” I thought this is a pretty great lineup, especially for such a cheap price! Now, in my household, we only listen to the Lord’s music. Our oldest daughter, Nikkie, is an avid singer with dreams of becoming one herself and our son (who wasn’t so blessed in the singing department) loves to jam out regardless of how off beat or out of tune he is. :) There’s always someone singing, dancing, clapping hands, or whatever musical nonsense they can think of going on in our car or home. Toby Mac is a definite favorite among the older two. I spoke to my husband to gather his thoughts on taking them for their first concert. He, of course, was all for it. We figured upper level would be the best idea for their first time. One, because their 6 and 8 years old. Two, we don't have to fight off a large crowd to keep them protected and three, if it doesn't sit to well with one of them, we can easily make an escape without disturbing too many people. PS: I found sound canceling earplugs at the dollar store! A pack for four people all just a dollar! (just in case the musics too loud for little ears) Unfortunately though, we were unable to take Jude. Coming from a split family, his mother wanted to take him to the concert which is great and an amazing experience for them to share together! We were grateful and happy that he got to go to the concert still and enjoy a fun event with his mom. This particular show was a late one though. The first act went on at 730pm and with 5 opening acts I knew Toby Mac wouldn’t be going on till at least 10pm. (I was instantly exhausted thinking of this which really made me feel like im getting old lol) With that in mind, I decided to show up fashionably late so she didn’t get too restless sitting there for hours. WE Got to our seats and watched (the end of) Colten Dixon, Capital Kings and Building 429 all put on a great show! I decided to take her out to walk around and stretch her legs for a bit, use the restroom, get a drink, and show her the merch table. She thought this was cool and even asked to use her own chore money to purchase herself a t-shirt! (How cute!?) The shirts were pricey non the less though so I explained to her we would find a cheaper one online later and how it’s “uncool” to wear the bands t-shirt your wearing to their show and to my surprise it totally worked! ;) We also took this opportunity to take a few selfies

We made our way back to our seats just in time to catch the last bit of the last act and a speaker who came out to talk for Food for the Hunger Campaign as well as say a few inspiring words. One of which was for married couples that I will share with you all. He shared a story of how him and his wife would start a fight over something little such as pretzels falling on the clean floor and it would turn into a screaming match over who had hurt who more over the last six years of their marriage. There are fights and hurt within every marriage, no matter how perfect or compatible you may be. Fights will get worse if your not resolving, as well as, fixing the damage and\or fighting for all the wrong reasons. He said to us, as a couple, you need to fight for all the right reasons. Fight FOR your marriage not against it! Fight to stay connected with each other and with God. Let go of pride no matter how hurt you may feel and give your spouse what they need and they will in return. Its amazing the power and the difference one person can make. It only takes one.Remember, "with God, all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
After his inspiring speech, Toby Mac was on! He sounded great, the lights and stage set up were spectacular, and you can feel the energy from everyone around you. It was so much fun! we danced and sang our little hearts out. Then it came, little Miss Nikerdoodle was hit with exhaustion like a giant wave. I couldn't take her home yet through, his set was only half way through and I knew she'd be upset for missing a few of her favorites the next day. everyone in the few rows behind us left so I let her stand on top of her chair so she could see better and held her arms as we sang and danced some more. This woke her up a bit but what really woke her back up was one of her favorite songs coming on, Raindrops. She finished the remainder of the concert like a champ and we made our way back to the car. With no surprise, she barely made it five miles before she was fast asleep with a great memory.

A Weekend for Mom and Dad

          First of all I want to apologize for the long delay in our blog! We had been sick, and had a lot going on with starting the church September 1st! I have decided to dedicate myself to updating the blog at least twice a week from now on! Every Monday and Thursday I will update the blog. We may have more blog post, but want to give everyone our promise of at least twice a week. Alyssa and I have two blog post that we typed while on our trip that we will be posting today as well. So again sorry if it's a little out of order while we catch up!
      God blessed us with one of the best weekends we've ever had! Last week Alyssa's Grandmother June offered to watch the kids all weekend for us. She wanted us to get a chance to spend the weekend together since our anniversary was soon. We were excited to say the least, it had been forever since we had a whole weekend together! I must admit I am truly blessed to have my wife Alyssa. I have been so busy with work and starting "Today's Disciples" that we haven't had much time for dates. Yet she has been nothing but loving and supportive through everything. Well of course we decided to make the most of our weekend together. Friday night would be take out and a movie at home. Saturday would be a road trip Sedona adventure. Sunday would be a leap back in time to the Renaissance Festival.
          Friday we took the kids over to Grandma Junes house and headed back home to get ready. I have to say it was nice to have the drive to just talk and be together. Having such a large and young family it can be hard to get quality time. Well needless to say we spent the whole night talking, laughing, and watching movies. I can't stress enough that as men we have to date our wives. God wants us to be married and happy. He wants us to appreciate and love our wive. As it i written in Proverbs 18:22 "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from THE LORD."
        Saturday morning we woke up bright and early. We were like children the night before Christmas. We woke up sprang out of bed and got ready in record time. First we had to get food for our trip. You know essentials like chips, donuts, beef jerky, and water I guess. We stocked up on food and headed to the gas station. We filled up on gas, but had one stop to make at the body shop to let the workers in. We stopped at the shop and I handed the keys to one of the guys named Fernando. I couldn't help but feel like he was having a bad day. His head was hanging low and he was much less energetic than normal. Now as cheesy as it sounds, we must always be thinking what would MY GOD want me to do. I thought to Matthew 5:16 "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." I didn't have a lot to give but I did have the donuts we just bought, so I handed them over to Fernando. He smiled and thanked me. I asked him if everything was okay. He said he was good, I wasn't sure but told him if he needed anything to let me know. Never underestimate the impact of kindness on the soul.
      We were finally on the road headed to Sedona! On the way up we saw a stop we were familiar with called Sunset Point. We stopped to use the restrooms (pregnancy had us making a lot of those stops) and enjoy the view. Alyssa and I took some pictures and goofed around for a bit before hitting the road again. Once we were about halfway I decided to get out some of our snacks. I had a Naked Smoothie I had bought at Fry's grocery store. Now I don't know if any of you have had these but they are amazing. My favorite flavor is the same one I bought green machine. Looks weird but taste great! Well I opened it up and took a big gulp. Instantly my eyes watered, I started gagging, and nearly spit it all back in the bottle. I looked at the bottle in shear horror, the label read kale blazer. The ingredients in this smoothie were kale, cucumber, spinach, and celery. Now I don't know everyone's taste in smoothies, but i think they should be made of fruit. Alyssa was cracking up in the seat next to me, while i just kept complaining about who in their right mind would create such a tragedy.
               After a fun and trivia filled car ride out there we finally arrived! We started off by going to trail in the heart of Sedona. Now I won't lie I have no memory of the name of it. It was interesting to say the least though. Little did we know it was national bike weekend in Sedona so the trail was full of mountain bikes. It was cool to see all the different bikes and take in the beautiful views. After about 3 or 4 miles we turned around to head back to the car. We were both starving and wanted to get into the shopping district to see what food we could find. We were able to find a Mexican restaurant called Oaxaca! We were seated right away on the second story patio! Our view overlooked all of Sedona. It was very relaxing and romantic. The food portions

were humongous which was good because we were starving after that long hike. We finished the meal which was priced very fair, and headed to the shops. We stopped at all the street performers and outdoor decorations along the way. They even have xylophones set up in a couple places. I couldn't help but start rocking out on them! Alyssa laughed and took pictures of how much fun I was having with them. We visited nearly all the shops in the main area of Sedona. We had a couple good finds, a few decorations for home and some clothes for Alyssa.
         Shopping was over and we decided that a new exciting hike was in order. Alyssa had previously looked up a hike called Devil's Bridge. We set out to find it which was a lot easier said than done! We found what we thought would be it and ended up parking far away! When I say far I mean we easily put an extra 3 miles on our hike! The hike was long and hard, but I must say it is easily one of the most rewarding hikes I've ever been on. The bridge is awesome and breathtaking. It's amazing to see how truly awesome OUR GOD the creator of everything is. Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."Especially being on it with my beautiful trooper of a wife who made the 7 miles hike each way 6 months pregnant! The whole hike was amazing we spent the whole time asking each other any question we could think of that we didn't know about each other. This was hard because of how close we are, so the questions were very abstract! There were plenty of different trails on the way up to take, as well as areas to rock climb. Which I took full advantage of. After spending time taking pictures and kissing up on the bridge we decided to leave just as the sun was starting to set. We didn't want to get stranded in the dark! After getting to the car we decided to stop at Burger King. We got some sandwiches and two large chocolate milkshakes as a reward for our long hike! It was probably the greatest milkshake in the world in that moment! Completely exhausted and with a long day ahead of us tomorrow we headed home around seven. After a ride of holding hands and being in love we were home and exhausted. We made it upstairs to our room, I immediately took off my shoes and socks. Looking down at my feet Alyssa and I both burst out laughing. My toes were covered in red rock dust from Sedona. It was decided that a shower was much needed. We both went to sleep early to get well rested for our next day adventure.
            Waking up Sunday was a little slower because of the toll hiking took on our bodies. We managed to get ready at a descent time and out the door. We stopped at Fry's to buy our tickets because you get a discount when you them there versus at the door. We arrived at the fair right at ten which is when they open. It's always magical walking in and feeling the atmosphere change from somewhere you are sometime you weren't. One day at this place isn't enough to see everything. Every year we try to find something we haven't been to before. This year was my favorite, we saw a performer who goes by Gypsy Geoff. He was easily one of the funniest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. He was talented, funny, entertaining, and most of all family friendly. My wife and I spent the whole show nearly in tears from laughter. He kept the audience involved and even pointed out my smile! We gave him a tip which is important because we have to remember that this is how they make their living. I believe in supporting local artist and live performance art.


        After the show we started visiting all the activities and shops around. We tried on hats, went to the pirate store, Alyssa tried the different wings on. We both tried our hand at the throwing stars, I was able to get one or two to stick. Alyssa not so much, but she was better at it than archery! We were able to find a rock wall there as well, if you were able to make it to the top they gave you back three times your money. They climb was rated 10+ for all you avid hikers. This pretty much means they made it ipossible on purpose. Well me being me, I didn't give up so easily. Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." I gave it my all and even took my shoes off to get a better grip! Being drained from yesterdays hike was working against me and even giving it my all I didn't make it to the top. I was two rocks shy of pulling myself up to the bell. Once I got down everyone was still impressed, a few people cheered, and the workers kept asking if I was a frequent climber. I told them I wasn't at all but I had been to a few rock gyms in my life. I thanked them then Alyssa and I left. We spent a few more hours going through the storybook tour, shops, and doing a few more activities. By about four we were beat and it was hot outside at this point. We headed back to the car to leave to pick up our kids. We had an amazing weekend together, and made it memorable in so many ways. We missed our kids though and were ready to call it a day. We picked them up and headed home. I can't say enough how blessed I am to have my wife, or how much god has blessed us with. Enough money to have a small trip every now and again. Reliable transportation there and back, and family to watch the kids.