Here was my view from the balcony looking out towards the ocean:


And here was the view from the balcony looking down:


Here's mama and Ava walking through the Appalachicola National park:


Ava likes to slide:


Harrison (my Nephew) likes to swing:


Daddy and Ava coming back from our long trek into the forest (approx. 200 feet):


Attempted Artsy Photo #1:


Attempted Artsy Photo #2:


Attempted Artsy Photo #3 (coffee edition):


Attempted Artsy Photo #4:


Now these next 4 photos...these are my favorite. It drives me crazy when people say...whoa...you have a really good camera when they see a nice photo. They act like the camera does all the work and it's just not true. Proof? These next 4 shots are from Allison with her little purple point-and-shoot Olympus camera. (I bought it for her for our 5 year anniversary last week *grins*)




And the best shot ever...Ava Beans dancing on the beach:

I recently returned from a week long hiatus in Florida. My friend Jon (who is from God knows where) says everyone from Ohio vacations in Florida and it's like we don't know how to go anywhere else or something. He's a real dope sometimes.

Anywho...while I was away, mid-trip, I had a serious hankering. You know, one of those times when you get something in your head and you just can't imagine anything else. I wanted an egg salad sandwich. So I made one. You should too.

Start with some eggs. Don't count these...the amount doesn't really matter. Fill up your pan, pot, vessel of choice with enough water to cover the eggs by an inch or so. Pop them on the stove and turn the heat up to high. Let the eggs sit there until the water boils. At this point, remove the pan from the heat and let them sit in the hot water for 12 minutes.


Now that you've waited twelve minutes...run cold water over the eggs until they're cooled off.


Now I don't know about you, but I'm not a huge fan of Celery. It's okay, I use it when I need to. If I don't need to however, I'll use something else.

Enter Cucumber. Chop it up...leave a few extra slices for snacking.


Now zoom in on it to make sure you've chopped it thoroughly.


Now get out a couple other things...I chose Mayonnaise and Old Bay.


Your eggs should be cool by now. Get those babies out of the water and start peeling. Since this is a family-friendly site, I'll spare you the images of egg smooshing. Just smoosh them up good with a fork. Add about a tablespoon of mayo for every two eggs and a dash of seasoning. You can use just salt and pepper if you like. You'd be a real dope though. Toss in your Cucumber and mash it all together.


Toast up some bread, add a slice of lettuce and you're set for a delicious egg salad sandwich. Mmm. Veggcation Salad Sandwich.


Come on now...you can't mess this one up. And I don't want to hear any "Eww, that's gross!" comments from you egg-haters out there. If you do wish to bust on the ultimate eating marvel, you must do so in the form of poetry.

Ryan's Egg Salad:

X number of Hard-Boiled Eggs
1 Tbsp Mayo per 2 Eggs
Old Bay Seasoning
Chopped Cucumber (to taste)

Staying up late didn't allow me to sleep quickly when I finally arrived at the mattress. As I lie there with my arms folded behind my head, staring at the ceiling, questions began to stir in my mind as they often do.

I wonder what everyone's up to back home?

How can I become a better husband?

What should I work on when I get home?

How can I aid in lives being changed...more lives, faster?

Why do You love me like You do?

Christ and the Kingdom of God are so very different than other mainstays in my life...in your life. As I take a break, a rest, a sabbath from certain things, it's my natural response to want them more. I take a rest from work, and soon I am restored and ready to jump back in. I take a break from people and community at large only to find a renewed desire for them. These are only for a season however, for if I take a long enough break...my desire for a reconnection will soon fade and my wanting will become distant and blurred. Eventually, the gap in my memory is filled in with new thoughts, desires, and relationships. What once was so familiar can become a barely-there impression.

It is not that way with Christ for me. I longed for God before I even knew who He was and any time I choose to run from Him I am pursued as by a Holy Bounty Hunter. The book of Colossians speaks of the mystery that is Christ. The mystery to me is that of all the things I've been into, of all the hobbies, and the fads and ideas I've had...this Christ has not begin to fade. He is not a reminiscence, rather, an existence in my heart and soul.

It's sunny and 75 today. Yes!

Me: "Hey Allison, what are your plans for today?"
Allison: "I don't know...swimming,...sitting in the sun...*shrugs shoulders*"

Me: "Hey Tracy, what are your plans for today?"
Tracy: "Um...going to the beach and then to the pool and then to the beach and then to the pool. Pizza for dinner."

Me: "Hey Allayna, what are your plans for the day?"
Allayna: "I don't know...go to the beach probably...like...I don't know."

Me: "Hey Ted, what are your plans for the day?"
Ted: "I was going to go to the beach with Tracy...why, do you have something in mind?"

Me: "Hey Andrea, what are your plans for the day?"
Andrea: "I don't have any...yet."

Me: "Hey Chris, what are your plans for the day? Chris? Chris are you there?"
Chris: *sleeping*

Me: "Hey Ava, what are your plans for the day?"
Ava: "Candy?"

Me: "Hey Corina, what are your plans for the day?"
Corina: *perplexed* "What? I don't know...whatever everyone else's plans are..."

Me: "Hey Harrison, what are your plans for the day?"
Harrison: *growls at me*

Me: "Hey Ralph, what are your plans for the day?"
Ralph: "I'm going to ride the bike."

Me: "Hey Cheryl, what are your plans today?"
Cheryl: "I'm going to the thrift store...it's open from 10-3...now I have to find someone to go with me." *Ryan runs away screaming*

Myself? I have no plans either. You can see this day is shaping up quite nicely. Have fun...I know we are.

During the previous two nights of our vacation we set our fun aside to throw down some serious dominoes. Mexican Train Dominoes is an Olympic sport...and if it's not, well, that's just an upsetting injustice. A 2-day world championship tournament took place at the dining room table. The objective is to be left with the lowest score. Add the scores from day 1 and day 2 together to see who has the lowest overall score.

I'll let the evidence speak for itself:

I had to get something else to read. Simply Christian is a good book...it's just one of those books that makes me fall asleep every time I'm reading it. A realization I'm having is that I need to read "new to me" ideas. It's very difficult for me to ingest more of the same thing over and over. Certain books are full of filler content that really doesn't add to the main idea. This makes me lose interest quickly.

So I borrowed a vewy, vewy nice car from someone and I set off to fill my reading void. We're staying in a somewhat secluded area without the luxuries of McStores on every corner. That's a good thing, but it makes little things like cooking and finding books a bit more difficult. I knew of a small town with a strip of shops in it and I purposely headed in another direction to see what I could find. An hour and a half later, hands empty, I headed for the strip I knew of.

When I pulled up to the eccentric little book store I was greeted by two cats at the door. No I wasn't. I lied. It was one cat and the other animal that I thought was a cat turned out to be a possum upon further inspection. Anyone watching me would have chuckled a bit at my reaction which sounded not unlike a six year old girl at a haunted house. Thankfully there were no possums inside the bookstore where I picked up a copy of In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I'll let you know how

*leaves blog post mid-sentence to go read new book*

Do you ever feel like you aren't the best at being who you are? And this time I'm not talking about being phony. I'm talking about feeling like an imposter in my own skin.

People would call me an extrovert...and I would too, however, when given the opportunity I withdraw and I'm fine to be by myself. This would only be for short stints of course. I always begin to miss my family and I crave community after while. But I don't need it constantly. I can run away from everyone and stay gone for a while...usually what brings me back quickly is the ideas that people are wondering where I am. This feels prideful and yet it usually turns out to be true when I'm thinking it.

I kind of feel like a lone ranger even when I'm in a crowd of people. Like I fit in...but I don't. A sabbath from the good comes to mind. A break from the healthy, not for unhealthy things, but other healthy things seems needed. Solitude and a chance to clear my head are a must for me and I realize it too little and often too late. Hmm.

Flipping through the phone book turned up a surprisingly small number of church possibilities for us this Easter Sunday. It was between two of them; Eastpoint United Methodist and First Baptist (or something like that). We decided that the United Methodist church probably had lower standards so we opted for that one. Plus, it worked out perfectly for our brunch reservation afterwards.

3 carloads of us pulled up and giggled simultaneously. I'm fairly certain that all of us were thinking the same kinds of thoughts as we looked upon the one-room, maximum occupancy of 40, middle-of-a-trailer-park, traditional-as-all-get-out, Methodist church building.

A younger man, whom we would learn to be Bill, was running back and fourth frantically pulling out metal folding chairs for some sort of an outside event. He raced over to us to hand us a full-color Easter program for the upcoming service...you could tell they had went all out on these programs. They had colored stamps and Easter-egg prints all over them. Everything was laid out like a southern wedding down to the minute in a play-by-play break down. A sense of excitement flooded us as we walked in and tripled their congregation.

The pastor was energetic and uber friendly. He wasn't the normal he as he was a she and she was there to praise Jesus. Her name was Beth.

As we waited for the service to start I read through the colorful program. My favorite part was the bottom line of the last page. It read: Last Weeks Offering $286.29 - to think that this place is staying afloat on less than $300 per week is a miracle in itself.

The sanctuary filled up with close to 30 people for the Easter celebration...it was obviously a huge turnout that they weren't used to. The pastor opened up the service by making us, yes our family, all stand up and introduce ourselves. She said that anyone who traveled all the way from Cincinnati OH just to be with them was worth introducing. The twelve of us all shared our names and told them why we were there. It was excellent and for some reason not at all embarrassing.

We then moved into a prayer of praise where everyone in the church stood up, held hands in a circle, and shared something that they were thankful for. So simple and meaningful.

A couple terrible songs later and we found ourselves listening to a message of little substance...that didn't matter though - the substance was in the surroundings. That little place lived and breathed Jesus. After the message we were all escorted outside where Bill, who had himself set up the outdoor sitting area, would be baptized into the family of God. They didn't have a baptismal, but they did have a bird bath and two bottles of Ice Mountain water.

We all stood around Bill as he was sworn in as the 4th official member of Eastpoint United Methodist and we prayed as he was sprinkled with with blessed, bottled, bird bath water. After he was baptized, we all came up to him and laid hands on him to pray a blessing over his life. That was a beautiful site I won't soon forget.

We ended the service by taking communion together as a family in Christ. Homemade bread dipped into fruit juice never tasted so good. All in all this was the best Easter service I've ever been a part of. It was a vision of the Kingdom of God alive in Apalachicola County.

Family is everywhere...even in the places we least expect it.

Sunny Florida for a week. We'll be staying in St. George Island (where ever that is) for seven lovely days of vacation. Check out our pad: