This year Thanksgiving will be at our house in Brunswick. So I got to looking around at Cabellas.com (which has all your cooking supplies). And when I found out, I knew I had to get a turkey deep fryer. I have wanted to try cooking a turkey this way for years, but never really had the opportunity – UNTIL NOW.

And who wants to cook a fowl in a heated box. What is needed is a vat of volatile oil, highly compressed propane gas, a wet bird, and a whole lot of potential for danger. In the mean time until Turkey Day (T-Day), I will try some test runs on smaller animals.

That just reminded me, I need to check on my home insurance coverage.

I have been blogging for about a year now and it has been an interesting and fun experience. The reason that I began to blog is explained here (see quote from first blog below).

“Here it is -- my first post, blog -whatever. I suppose I should tell you why I
have added something else to my "to do" list by launching a blog. I believe
that God desires for me to teach about His Word, the Bible, and ways that people can apply it to their lives.

So this blog is dedicated to that purpose. I promise that if you come back, you will never see pictures of cats, or stories of how I have a rash (which I don't) or any other trivial subjects. I will attempt, with each new post, to have something that I have learned that I feel will benefit others.

So we begin with purpose -- why have yet another blog? Specifically why should I begin a blog? It is my desire to expand my realm of influence beyond my congregation and to potentially share the truths of the Bible to many others. And I also understand that I have along ways to go before I am one of those super-pastors. So respond back and we can learn together. Welcome to our journey together.” – Sept. 14th 2007

What I have discovered is that as a leader and pastor people know that I teach the Bible and get that already from me on Sunday morning. But what they can’t get from me is who I am as a person. On Sunday mornings and in meetings it is hard to see who I am other than a pastor. So my blog has transitioned from trying to teach people all the time, to just being myself and telling others what’s going on in my family (church and nuclear). If a believer in Christ is seeking to follow Christ and to live an obedient life this is the most powerful teaching anyway.

I have also begun to write on things that may seem trivial (lost teeth, vacations, church events, etc…) and this is really what sharing is all about anyway. God is blessing our family in so many ways, and I want to tell others about it. Another reason is that those great “ah-ha” moments don’t come to me everyday. That’s just not me, I’m not an intellectual (which is a relative term). I’m just an everyday guy who loves God and his family and is trying to figure things out as he goes.

So, friend, I am glad that you check in and read the blog from time to time. Thanks also to those of you who leave a comment every now and then, and let’s see what another year brings. I hope there are no rashes, because that’s just going to be embarrassing!

Tonight was the first night of having Cub Scouts at our house. As the newly appointed Den Leader I put the night together. It has been a long while since I had to keep a classroom full of six year old boys occupied for an entire hour. Not only that but I was supposed to teach them something. So we began with making a banner, saying the Pledge of Allegiance. We covered the Cub Scout Pledge, Cub Scout Sign, and the Cub Scout Promise. If you don’t know what these things are, that’s ok I didn’t know either before a couple of days ago.

The past two weeks have been a mad dash to get uniforms, find out where all the patches go, learn how Boy Scouts is structured, find a “Go See It” for our group (yeah, I had to learn what that is too), and plan the meeting (which included cleaning our basement). I learned that I need to plan twice as much as I had planned, and move things along twice as fast. I have a renewed respect for our Sunday School teachers – especially the ones that teach my boys!

Having four children “firsts” come at a blinding speed. First words, first steps, first time with out floaties, etc… And having twins sometimes what should be joyous times can be filled with some anxiety. For example Joshua seems to be having a lot of firsts lately. He has lost four teeth now, and Caleb has lost none so far (not even a loose one). Joshua is beginning to read quite well and Caleb is struggling a little bit. Homework time with Joshua is pleasant and takes about five minutes. Homework time with Caleb is like pulling teeth (not the loose kind).

Well today I was straightening the garage and Joshua said, “Dad, can you take the training wheels off my bike?” So I went about taking them off and we pushed the bike to the sidewalk. Well when Caleb saw what we were doing, he wanted to try it too. We took turns back and forth, Caleb and Joshua, going back and forth up and down the sidewalk. Well, you guessed it, Joshua got it pretty fast, Caleb hasn’t yet. After it became apparent that Joshua was getting it, Caleb went inside. After some time I went in and found him on the couch watching tv. I could tell he was a little bummed out. I tickled him and spent some time just playing and he brightened up. What should have been a jubilant event was weighted with some complexity.

The joy I find in the whole thing is that I was there when the training wheels came off and they tried their best to defy gravity. There will always be someone better than you, and sometimes you come in second. I guess it’s cool if it’s to your brother and together they can take risks side by side. I want to be there for as many of the firsts as I can, and I will try my best to make them all special.

Yesterday the Boswell clan made our annual trip to the Frederick County Fair. We took advantage of the “Car load special” that was for a low special rate of $50. Thank goodness of the special, imagine how much money we saved! We were shuttled from Lot D to the back of the fairground, I think this was my favorite ride of the night. We passed through the animal exhibits and talked with the 4-H kids who were diligently watching over their animals. Several of them told us it was ok for the kids to pet their animals (cows, sheep, horses, piglets, etc..), and we did. I also went through a forestry service exhibit that talked about collecting rain water runoff into a barrel for landscaping; I might look into this next summer as I am considering starting a hydroponic garden. I’m not sure how “green” our HOA is however.

Then it was time for the rides. I tried to ride as many of the rides as I could. Most of the “carnies” were cool with me doing that, but even I had to say no to the motorcycles. We rode just about every age appropriate ride and ended with chomping down on some deep fried Oreos (yeah I said Oreos, and how does a person invent this?) and a strawberry slurpie.

Isaac (our 16 month old) spent most of his time in a red wagon we took along for hauling “stuff.” I have noticed that the older the kids get the less stuff we have to haul – so this year we are down to a wagon full (half full of child, half full of stuff). Does this mean that eventually they will carry me around in a red wagon hauling my stuff?

I must say the most harrowing (fair themed word) time was the Ferris wheel. I get nervous when I think about how many times this thing has been taken apart and put back together, over who knows how many years. Then we take our whole family and load up into this thing. Then you consider a four year old, two six year olds, and a (what did I say earlier? Oh yeah) 16 month year old and their parents going hundreds of feet off the ground with no seat belts! It moves painfully slow, and the ride is forever long. But during our time Caleb said he could see California from it’s vantage point and Hannah-Grace said she could see the whole universe. I guess her seat was slightly higher than Caleb’s.

We got back to our urban assault vehicle (aka the minivan) covered in dust, some change in our pockets, and the kids were unconscious before we got out of the back 40 where we parked. It was a great experience, and next year I’m getting my own order of fried Oreos.

Friday and Saturday was our annual Children’s Retreat. The theme for the weekend was “Double Vision,” and we were encouraged to “throw off anything that entangles us” (Hebrews 12:1-2), and to keep our focus on Christ.

While this was our fourth annual retreat, it was a first for Joshua and Caleb. We had a wonderful time and the weekend was a huge success. I got about four hours sleep last night, so I’m off to bed.

As part of our Special Exception process we have been through an eight month (or more) process of developing a site plan, traffic brief, architectural plans, hiring a lawyer, dozens of meetings, lots of prayer, etc…. It all culminated into a packet of information that was presented to Frederick County on Monday. They will review the information for one month and let us know if we can build a building on the property or not. There are five requirements in order to pass a special exception for a piece of property, and we meet all five. But there is always the chance that there will be a snag because the process involves people who are subjective and given to vary in how they respond. So pray that the board approves our appeal and that everything goes smoothly.

The hard part of the process was the things that I thought we had plenty of time to think about and plan over the years of development of the property had to be planned NOW. For instance I knew that our church would eventually have a day care center, or mom-morning-out program, or something similar but I thought I had plenty of time to think about it. I just wanted to begin with our church building. But in order to eventually have a child care center we have to include it in the plans NOW. It has to be included because of traffic counts, turn lanes in the into the property, sewage treatment, etc… We had to show ball fiends, phase two and three of the building for the eventuality of our having a thousand people on the property at one time, a school, and how they would all relate together.

So yesterday I had the privilege to drive the stakes in the ground and placing Daybreak’s signage showing to the public our intention to build and develop the property. Many will drive past and never even notice it, but it represents months and months of work and thought and planning.

Each phase of our building process has had it own frustrations and challenges. It is important to celebrate the mile markers as you pass them. This project seems to grow in difficulty at each level of development, but today I celebrate a sign going in the ground and all that it represents.

Beginning in October Daybreak will begin promoting our Christmas missions effort; Operation Christmas Child.
During the weeks of October we ask that you gather shoe boxes and begin to fill them with the suggested items.
These boxes will be sent to children around the world that need to see and experience God's love. We will then gather these boxes on November 2nd, 9th, and 16th. Please pray for this effort and how you can be involved.