I am SO like my dad.

Everytime we planned a holiday, my dad had this thing where he had to do a massive, self-imposed home improvement project before we could get away. One year, before we could go to Palm Springs, he wanted to put a hand-made fence all around the top 5 acres of the farm.

My projects are less ambitious, but along the same lines. Before I could even think about packing for Creation this weekend, the garage had to be cleaned out. THOROUGHLY cleaned. Like, as in, Clint has a load of stuff to take to the dump tomorrow. And everything else is in it's place. And it's swept. And, the fridge out there? Was emptied and sanitized. Toys from when the kids were little? Sorted and stored.
.
I know.
What was that all about?
And then when Clint and I went into the backyard to relax (me on my patio, with my wonderful flowering baskets, and Clint on the trampoline) he noticed that we needed some pruning done.

So he attacked the California lilac that was blocking access to the hose and denying light to enter the kitchen window. And then he cut back the boxwood, and while he was at it, he gave the grapevine a trim too.
I ran out of recepticles to put all the cuttings in, so that's on my list of things to do 5 hours before I leave for Creation.

(And today? Well, tonight? My C and D drives are full on my laptop, so at 1:30 am I am transferring photo files to my external hard drive. And burning music CD's to listen to on the drive down. And making triple batches of spaghetti sauce, ham n cauliflower soup, chocolate chip cookies, seasoned meat for tacos... and cleaning my bathroom, and putting photos in photo albums, and ... well. I predict I will be very tired once we finally arrive at the festival site 24 hours from now.)

Despite the frantic cleaning and so on, I did take manage to enjoy the sunset on Saturday night at Cresent Beach:

Dear God,

Thank you for summer. Thank you for this season of sunshine, rest, holidays, family-time... Thank you for the colours of summer. Thank you for the warmth of summer. You are awesome.

God, I pray that You would be with those of us traveling through the night; protect us from drowsiness, and keep us safe. God I pray that we would experience You in a new way this week. I pray that as we sing praise to You, You would hear us and be pleased. I pray that the sounds we make would be pleasant to Your ear. I pray that You would meet each of us in a unique way, and that we would leave the festival knowing You better and loving You more.
God, I pray Your will be done at the festival. I pray for changed lives and renewed declarations of committment to You. I pray for strengthened friendships as well as new friendships. I pray for the bands and speakers - that You would speak through them.

And God? For those who aren't joining us this year? All our older kids? Please keep them in Your care while we're away. Be real to them. Let them experience You in ways that wow and amaze them. Shower Your love on them, and give them "God moments" that remind them who they are in You. Give them opportunities to share their faith, grow in knowledge and rest in Your care. Protect them from the enemy and give them strength to withstand temptations. Thank you God for all that You've done in the lives of my parents. Thank you that dad is content, stable, at peace, and in no pain. Thank you for healing mom. Thank you that she is strong, content, and healthy. Thank you for giving her the patience and compassion she needs to be dad's only caregiver. Thank you that she is able to do it with gentleness and love.
Three things I'm thankful for:
1. Drew is looking forward to Creation. "It's gonna be off the chain!" I'm thankful that there will be an assortment of kids HIS age this year and he is excited about spending time with them all.
2. Garage is clean. Fridge is clean. My bathroom is clean.
3. I burned 345 calories in 30 minutes at Curves today and exceeded my target of 185 reps by 50%... Woot.

Shalom,