Amelie and her baby “Emily” in Estes Park, Memorial Day Weekend
True story: So, two little girls run in to see their Nonni~
A beautiful morning in May, two little darlings come bounding through the house and into the kitchen, breathless with excitement.
“I have something for you, Nonna. I have money for you,” the big sister tells me.
“What? You have money for me? What’s this?” I ask them with complete surprise and total awe at their cuteness.
“I have money for you, too,” the little one exclaims.
The first 5 grandbebes on the patio at a family celebration, mid-May
They both open their bags and pull out tiny coin purses, whereupon the older sister beamingly presents me with 10 pennies, lined up one by one, and tiny girl carefully adds her 4 pennies, as well.
“This money is for you, Nonna!”
They repack their bags and set off on their merry way. They are so generous, so loving, so sweet. And I am rich! The interest is compounding daily. I am loaded with benefits and treasure. I have 8 grandbebes and I am made of this stuff. :)
I love May.
Every May without fail, Tara has a birthday, Stephanie has a birthday and Gemma May does, too. The grandbebes have lots of cute school programs, there is Mother’s Day and usually some one is pregnant (this year that is Tredessa). The final frost date finally arrives in May and you can go into a gardening frenzy. The skies seem unusually blue this fifth month of each year and of course the green is that intoxicating shade of “spring” as new leaves unfurl and floofy, wildly-hued prom dresses get packed away while flowers in every dazzling color from here to heaven and back take their places and begin to bud and blossom with abandon.
May is sunny. May is new leaves fluttering in gentle breezes, really enthusiastic rains washing away the meandering Colorado winters, rainbows, crazy-gorgeous clouds quickly moving by, colorful sunsets that rival Maui and the beginning of lemonade season.
Cornhole! Happy Birthday, Tara! Amelie loves it!
May is a soft shade of yellow and a bright-sky blue. It is lush, sky-watered grass and all the windows and doors flung wide. It is kids counting the days until school is out and then wanting to go back to play in the school yard when it is out. No rules! It’s hearing the neighbors you didn’t hear all winter and graduations and weddings and baseball in full swing.
May is for expressing possibilities {I just may do that} and relishing long days that you thought had actually been swallowed up by long nights. But here they are again, May days.
I was strolling through the park one day
In the merry-merry month of May
I was taken by surpise by a pair of roguish eyes
In that moment my heart was stolen away
Warning {roguish eye picture ahead}
The black eye is pretty much gone now. I have lots more wrinkles there from all the swelling. I hope they will go away. Seriously. But I shall always remember I had my first (hopefully last) real shiner in May 2013.
Cousins.
Oh, May, how I hate to see you go. Thank-you for the the green, the new life, the sunshine, the rain, the hope, the promise and the lovely month, year after year. Good-bye, merry-merry month of May.
In 3 months (the less-than-90 days between March 23 and June 19), we’ve had Dave-the-husband’s birthday, Amelie’s first birthday, Stormie’s quarter-of-a-century birthday (plus moving her into her first house-she is a homeowner!!), Tara’s super-early-30sbirthday and Mother’s Day. We had Stephanie’s birthday, Gemma’s birthday followed closely by Gavin’s lava’d birthday, Guini and Hunter’s Kindergarten graduations, Wrex’s birthday, Tredessa (28) and DP’s (30th) birthdays and Father’s Day. There have been 2 major Heaven Fest dinners and a couple of big-HF-family-meetings with all the trimmings and even Luka had a bday
Recently::
Gavin’s Volcano “cake” at his breakfast party
The first grandson turned 8 and we all gathered for a happy-Saturday-morning breakfast-party. I used strawberry Jello for the “lava,” but even though in the trial run the actual liquid didn’t ooze out, but rather just red Jello-bubbles travelled slowly over the sides, no one wanted me to put more Jello in, afraid the donuts would be drenched in it, ruined for consumption. PLUS my dry ice melted down to 2 tiny slivers overnight. Guess I need a lesson in dry ice!!? Gav and I will have to try it again sometimes when there is no Jello-sogginess-concern. With LOTS of dry ice. A red explosion!!
Gavin’s dinosaur cake when he turned 4, I think, was sort of the beginning of my “cake adventures.” He keeps making life fun. Love that boy!
DP turned the big 3-0
Wrote about his birthday:: H E R E. We did a double-celebration for him and Tredessa with a big Rhoades-family-Mexican meal. Cilantro rice and carne-asada steak tacos plus pulled pork green chile tacos and all the things that go with those. Dave wanted strawberry shortcake for his birthday. Tredessa had Lazy Peach Dessert (see below) for hers. Naturally Wrex performed a song for Dave and noted all his “famous” phraseologies (i.e. o-my-hinkin’-harry, bro-ham-and-cheese, etc) and even mentioned his penchant for v-neck tees. Stef is a master lyricist! Dave got the blessings and encouragements from the fam and Tara played him a most appropriate Brad Paisley song, “It Did.” [see here]
Tredessa was serenaded by her lover-boy for her birthday
And she had a lovely birthday with him. I wrote her b-day blog:: H E R E.Then the double-celebration with DP. She got a song from Wrex and it was a little on the ornery side, which Wrex believes brothers should do. It was hilarious. It fit right into the tune of “Take Me Home, Country Rhoades,” if you can imagine. She is an amazing woman and in love, which we like.
Lazy Peach Dessert by Jane Hagelstein
From the October 1988 issue of Family Ties (the monthly newsletter of New Life Church of God in Norfolk, NE). But I actually have the handwritten recipe card Jane wrote it on. Beloved and quite in shambles.
My best advice for this in Colorado: wait until the western slope peaches are ripe and juicy and cause you car to drive itself to a roadside market where the scent and taste literally scream: DELICIOUS! Yeah. They just aren’t quite right, yet, these California peaches. Huh-uh. Nope.
Shortbread crust:
Combine 1 cup oleo*
1 3/4 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
dash of salt
Lightly pat into glass cake pan (if you push it in hard, it will be tougher and less light and pastry-ish and amazingly wonderful). Bake it for 15-18 minutes in a 350-degree oven. Cool.
Peach sauce topping:
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 3 oz packages peach Jello
1 tablespoon oleo*
In a saucepan, blend and cook water, sugar and cornstarch until thickened and clear. remove from heat. Stir in Jello and oleo until dissolved. Cool.
Assemble
Slice or chop 7-8 ripe peaches (sometimes I make them all beautiful and perfectly uniform. Unless they aren’t great peaches anyway…like this batch). Distribute over the top of the crust. Pour over the sauce. Put in the fridge for at least 2 hours (overnight is best). Cut into 12 servings. Top with whipped cream.
You may also make this dessert with canned peaches, Jane Hagelstien noted (so Nebraska) or use fresh strawberries and strawberry Jello.
*Oleo, for my dear children, was another name for “margarine” back in the day. Just use REAL butter instead and all will be well!
WREX had a birthday, too.
Complete wih a custom song for him by Dave and the girls to the “Wolfcreek Pass” soundtrack. Love this guy. There is not a more genuine, giving and generous man than Wrex. His parents did a great job, but if he were ever in the market for new parents, we’d apply for the job. He is just a cool guy. That is why God blessed him with the gorgeous Stefane and the two of them with the loveable kiss-kiss, Princess Sawyer. LOVE them all!
Dave’s Father’s Day Worship set
Dave chose his fav worship songs. We sang along to guitar accompaniment, all the current favs, but it morphed in to pulling out all those old songs from the years the kids were growing up. Pretty hilarious. Songs you never really want to sing ever agin, but in this context were pretty fun. “Lord, I lift Your name on high. I’m so glad to sing your praises…” Haha.
Artwork by the grandbebes, found the next morning. Mixed media:: chalk and stickers on concrete. Intrigued by the block that say, “Aim for the head,” and the stick figure identified as “dad,” albeit backwards, with a huge bunch of snot coming out of his nose. Haha.
& E t c . . .
NEXT UP: Summer starts June 21! Today! YEAH!!
Time to relax a bit with some lollygagging in the garden and floating in the pool and you know, a little thing called Heaven Fest. www.heavenfest.com
Forever my baby. Born on “tax day” (finally, the day was redeemed) and during a freak ice storm in Sioux City, Iowa. She was a big baby, even though we were total vegan at the time. And she was born to applause because the doctor, at the teaching hospital there, was so impressed with how well Dave and I were handling the labor process (I’d been through it…a few times, very recently, actually). He asked more than once if they could bring the students and interns in to observe us. I said no several times, but when it got to the “really fun” part, my defenses were low and when I said yes, the room filled with 20+ observers who cheered us on and affirmed our expertise in baby making and birthing.
But even though she arrived center stage, the star of the show, and though she holds the position as baby-of-the-family, Stormie has never been the “typical” version of that. She was never an “absent-minded, friendly manipulator with a craving for the spotlight and everyone’s rapt attention,” those things commonly used to describe her birth order ranking.
Stormie Dae, born with a headful of dark hair, just entered the family quietly and sweetly, enthralled by all the activity in a home with 4 older siblings, 1 1/2, almost 3, almost 4 and almost 7 years of age (that’s right: 5 kids in less than 7 years). She brought joy and a certain sweetness. She got her daddy’s personlity: easy-going, peaceful, servant-hearted and deeply loving. She got his dimples, too. And she won my heart.
Today, Stormie Dae, I thought I’d give you words
Because words and song are how I show my love. So when I started listing my words, I couldn’t get Michael Buble’s song “Everything” out of my head, so it was hard not to turn this into a song-lyric-poen thing, but maybe that is as it should be. Because, “You Took My Heart by Surprise” and since the day you came I have wanted to be “Close to You.” But maybe none of this means anything since I have also been singing Stephen Bishop’s “Save it for a Rainy Day” for 3 days now, too?
And etc. {a mom is allowed to be corny on her baby’s birthday}
But I mean these words. And I could have gone on. Yes, I could have. But I ran out of space…
You may need to open another screen to see all 50 or 75 of them?
created at www.picnik.com (just plopped lots of words with 3 different fonts onto a photo from Stormie’s (and Steph’s) www.maydae.com blog
Love you, sweet-pea. So proud of you. Happy Birthday.
I kinda took a blogging fast after epiphany (January 6), which I was afraid to say “out loud” until later in January {wrote about it HERE}. And I didn’t know how long I’d stay gone and there were birthdays I had to mention and a few times I couldn’t resist posting something like a link or video or quick thought. But true writing/blogging, I have not done. And how I have missed it. And how, especially right now, in the midst of the greatest joys anyone could experience and in the midst of the deepest of sorrowful things for people I love deeply, right in the middle of the messiness of life and celebration-worthy rites of passage and as the tulips are becoming glorious and the daffodils stand tall and proud – I just need to be and able to break-the-blog-fast to say, and {to declare loudly}:
God is good. He is faithful. He is SO faithful.
So, I am back to write that ~~~ plus lots of silly things and a little opining, too. I will write about sunny days and my quest for joy and let you in on where I find it. I will sing songs and share the lyrics and write about life as I see it. And I am back to write because my mom thinks I am good at it (everyone should have such a cheerleader!) and because I want a written record for my familia.
One day the grandbebes will grow up and be so happy to read this thing and see their faces and know o-how-much-I-do-love them & their amazing parents (the people I adore most in the world)!
And I am back to blogging because, to shamelessly rip off 1 John 1, I am writing about the Word of Life! I have not only heard of Him, I have heard fromHim myself, and have seen Him with my own eyes and touched Him and been touched by Him. So I want to share and tell the things I have seen and heard with my own familia and the ones God has made mine by His Spirit. My “motive for writing is simply this: [I] want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double [my] joy!” (1 John 1.1-4, The Message)
May this blog be a record for the generations to come of the faithfulness of God in our less-then-perfect, ordinary-yet-unique lives. And of the great, great joy He gives.
Plus a peek into the swirling thought collage of my very heart & soul.
And now,
here are some things that happened
while I was “blog fasting”…
Dave and Tara got settled into their new home
She is an amazing homemaker and it was cozy within days. She is also very creative and organized and it is a lovely, peaceful place. There is a giant, jetted tub in the guest quarters where the grandbebes could swim laps! Their yard connects to open space (which in Colorado is guarded like gold!) and their big window views are of the crystal-clear Colorado Rockies. They are home!
I visited my mom and dad in St. Joe, MO…where is snowed and snowed and snowed…bleak!
Parsonage on the left. Church on the right. Too close for comfort.
Rocky and Jovan bought a new house, too!
There’s a lot a-lotta pink in the girlie room!
It is cute as a dollhouse and colorful and sweet. It fairly screams Rocky + Jovan + 2 of the cutest little girls = Blue and green & lots o’ pink and JOYfully Ever After!
Averi turned THREE and had a CandyLand Party complete with an Ice-Cream-Cone-Castle cake
Aren’t the presents kids get at three just the most fun? Her Grammy and Papa hosted in Frederick and it was a sunny day full of cute kids and smiles!
Love was, naturally, in the air
My sister Tami worked on the Moslander Family Reunion in earnest.
We shall gather near Chicago late June. Frontier Airlines to Midway, car-to-go, please.
I discovered Rice & Bean Chipotle Cheese Artisan Snack Chips
All Natural, Gluten Free, Zero Trans Fat, Zero Cholesterol
“Aged cheddar cheese and just the right amount of spicy seasonings create a flavor that is highlighted by the adzuki beans’ subtle sweetness. Together with its light and crispy texture, this artisan snack is the perfect better-for-you snack chip because of the adzuki bean’s natural healing and health properties.”
Thank-you Candi, for this most wondrous introduction. I shall ever be grateful…and smiling as I crunch on them.
We unveiled the Heaven Fest 2011 Vision at 4 small, joyful gatherings with our volunteers and team
The volunteers for Heaven Fest, the leadership and everyone who is part are THE. MOST. AMAZING. PEOPLE. IN. THE. WORLD. I love them. {Stonebrook Manor in Thornton, Jim Elliot School in Englewood, Northern Hills Church in Brighton and Rez in Loveland} Thank-you, people! www.stonebrookmanor.com
Dave was in Prairie Playhouse’s “Willie Wonka”
He played Grandpa Joe to the great delight of crowds of people. Stephanie had to assure her friends he did not really walk or act that old in real life, because he was so good and a local news article said the “ubitiquous Dave Rhoades” threatened to steal the show. And? Even though it was sprayed gray, he got to keep his hair (in “Annie” a year ago, CLICK HERE he was shaved bald)!
We had the coldest days of the year and also reached the 70s in mid-winter – all within a 2 week period!
That is Colorado for you. And though March is our snowiest month, we didn’t get any. Uh-oh. Watch out, May!
Joe & Robin came to visit!
Joe made red beans and rice (to-die-for, mmmmmm) and I made an ok batch of gumbo. That got better each day until it was gone.
Tredessa got a boyfriend.
Is it ok to say that here? Well she did and he is cute (Army) and she kind of adores his muscles (Norwegian from Florida). And how sweet he treats her (prophetic intercessor). We all like him. That works out well. And since I don’t think he even knows I have a blog, I can pass all the news about them on to you. Haha.
I lost an hour, but the days got longer.
I am not against Daylight Savings at all. It tells me gardening is around the corner. Every night, as the blue hours (l’heure bleu) get bluer and last measurable minutes longer, I sigh happily.
We announced our super-cool NEW Heaven Fest 2011 location!
My niece, Christiana, starred in a commercial for shopping in Aberdeen, SD.
She is “Dorothy,” which seems so perfectly appropriate, somehow! VERY proud of our little working actress!
There was a “super-moon”!
It’s a wonderful night for a moondance…
Tredessa introduced me to a positively lovely way of looking at sarcasm, a mode of communication I tend towards:
…the last refuge of modest people, when their soul is invaded.
Spring snuck up on me
One day I woke up – and there it was, spring! And I looked out the window to a sure confirmation: the garlic chives were taking over the back yard already!
Stormie bought a house. Yes, she did.
Look at all the colorful dishes waiting for Dessa to finish painting the cupboards.
A 1919 bungalow. Cute and in pristine condition. Great price. The last owner {Ruby} had lived there since 1944.
Tredessa moved out of her apartment in Arvada.
She will live with her baby sister.
My lover turned 52
Sorely missed at the celebration were the Powers fam. Another celebration will have to ensue.
You have to see this {all the way through} to believe it!
Yep. That is Wrex. The Birthday Singer.
“Baby Belle” (better known as Amelie Belle), turned ONE!
And? God is still faithful! And we have lots to talk about. :)
Last year I said October is Orange. And it still is. My church turned orange last fall, too. I do love my house-of-worship-advertising sweatshirt with the bum logo (thank-you, sweet Katie!).
This October is craaaaaazy-busy-fun and occasion-filled!
Like, we have three family birthdays in October (mine, Hunter’s and still-to-come: Jovan’s!). I turned 50 (shhh…there is no need to think about this, nor mention it aloud) with dinner at Cinzzetti’s~
Pictured: Me and my baby, Stormie; Patrice is telling me right at this very second that she is pregnant with their 3rd child! Me, Pearl and Marilyn. I screamed immediately following…
DP nearly ate Cinzzetti’s out of mussels; me and the 5 grandbebes who were well-contained in our private room.
I have sweet friends (almost every single one of whom is younger than me, I noticed), and a lovely family. Thank-you, everybody for celebrating my life even if I could have gone without noticing the new decade. I am blessed.
Hunter and the wheels-in-motion cake and fun-on-wheels party for himself and 25 of his closest friends:
Hunter turned “The Garage” into a speedway. There were trikes and bikes and skateboards and more. Kids zoomed one way and then the next. It was crazy loud and speedy. Hunter got the chocolate fudge cake he wanted in the shape of a “5” and when, the other day, he reminded he really, really, really wanted some lightening bolts, too, in honor of his current favorite movie, Bolt, I whipped up a strawberry cake at the last second to cut out and ice some lightening bolt shapes for flanking the main cake.
But, oh my goodness, it is what I did with the cut-off-cake crumbs that needs to be mentioned. Into a bowl: leftover chocolate-fudge cake, the rest of the fudge filling, a block of cream cheese, a can of cherry pie filling. Mixed well. Cookie-scooped onto baking sheets and thrown into the freezer until they were just firm enough to coat with melted white chocolate. Chocolate-Cherry Cake Bites, o yeah! To. die. for. Yum. Seriously!
Poor Magoo ended up very, very sick at his own party. He conked out, but the fun held up.
There was a Worship and the Word Movement PSTeam (prayer-support team) potluck at the MadCap Theater (a great improv place-you should totally go!)
Last night there was a Seek and Soak with TOM EWING (a man DP called a general in worship ministry). Here is the kick-off song featuring Tom, Sing to the King
In the video, left to right: Rocky Rhoades on guitar, Tom Ewing, Tristan on drums, Stormie on bass, DP on lead guitar (and leading the whole Seek and Soak), Lewis Brown (a.k.a. Proxy), and Lewis Brown, Sr. on sax. It was an amazing night. Musical worship, the Word of God, 3+ hours of encounter-worship, about 100 people entering the Presence, even Baptists! :) Smile, Emily! That was for you!
Let’s see…what else?
Jovan and Rocky will find out if it is a boy or a girl at their next appointment. Goody!
There is the celebration of Amy Jo’s baby-to-be this Thursday night.
And Saturday night I get to go see the final Delirious concert in Colorado ever as they are on their farewell tour. This band changed everything in the 90s and they are still such a class act, men of integrity who love Jesus and are soooo talented. They changed the sound of worship and people around the world go deeper worship via the songs of the Lord they introduced. Got to see them at Ichthus and now here. I love them and how they have influenced my own children to become History Makers.
Also ~ Dave will play the lead in the Platte Valley Player’s community theaters’ presentation of “Suspenders,” a musical comedy, as part of the grand opening celebration of Brighton’s newly restored/renovated armory as a community arts center/theater in Brighton’s “downtown.” He’ll be performing in it over the next few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. I’ll be attending the very first performance on Monday the 19th (an event for which I bought a dress!!). I am somewhat divided in my joy about the fact that Dave is also painting the backdrop for the show and there are 6 giant 8′ x 4′ canvases in my living room at this time.
Family Time!
I will be going to spend a week with my mama et papa in Springfield, MO, where they wrongfully and stubbornly retired a year and a half ago and now wish to leave to be closer to any of us that they know (do you know of anyone house-hunting in Springfield?? Help!). They will spoil me rotten and my brother Joe is meeting me there, too. We will visit Branson, about a half hour from them, for the express purpose of giving my mother her dream-come-true in visiting the Roy Rogers/Dale Evans Museum before it closes its’ doors for good this December.
I am already working on church Christmas decor. In October!
Upon my return, I will enjoy the grandbebes playing dress-up for the church’s annual Harvest Fest and then, as they have all requested (informing me that it is a tradition, one I must have started unknowingly), all will gather at our home for broccoli-cheese soup (because I make incredible zuppa).
Life. It can wear you out!
Dave is sick and they are checking him for H1N1 tomorrow morning, though they have already started him on antibiotics. What in the world?? Who has time for this?
Just trying to keep up…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Loosen up some time in November and December. Right.
It’s 3 days until his 5th birthday. It’s been 1 week since his Uncle Rocky turned 25 (and Rocky is 5 times older than Hunter). It is 2 days until my birthday and it has now been determined I am 10. times. older. than Hunter. “Do you know why?” he asked me. “Because you were born before me.” Yes. it is true. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before you, Hunter.
{sigh} Simon Cowell turns 50 this week, too.
My “adopted-love-that-girl-like-a-daughter” Stef (2nd from the left) just had a birthday last week. We did a girly night at The Lonestar “Don’t Mess with Texas” Steakhouse in honor of her Texas roots. Her birthday number did not include a “5,” unless you take 2 away from 7 (she’s 27 now). That does equal 5. Hmmm….something is in the air and the background tune is from The Twilight Zone: do-do-do-do do-do-do-do…
My first little granddaughter (3rd grandchild) is four. She is independence and spunk, she is quiet, but firm. She can run with crowds, but entertain herself. She is a waif in body, but strong in spirit. She is all the Disney princesses, one at a time, or overlapping as she sees fit (this year, she chose “Cinder-Lella”) and she was determined to have a cake in Cinderella’s honor using her own doll (which we almost couldn’t find). And so we did.
A Cinderella Doll Cake
I learned from my first doll cake experience to wrap the shapely doll in a paper towel and Saran Wrap so as not to cause a stir when the cake is cut away (revealing a naked bum). The birthday girl’s mommy chose my signature lemon-poppyseed with fresh lemon curd for filling. It is o-so-refreshing. I used a 9 inch layer, 2 8-inch layers and a bowl for the top of the skirt. We ate the other 8-inch layer the extra batter provided as a “taste-test.” The dress was a very simple buttercream in light and the palest-ever blues. I sprinkled it with sugar glitter (which looks like crumbs on the serving tray) and there she is: Guini’s Cinderella cake.
It was a lovely day to celebrate, a few days ago. We ate and plied Guini with gifts, but true to Aunt Tara’s prediction to save her gift for last because Guini would love it best of all, once Guinivere received the little box of make-up and lip “sauce,” she was never seen without it again. Each time I see her now, her eyes, her cheeks and her lips are all-a-glitter in the palest shades of pinks and lilacs.
Here is Guini opening the mountain of gifts, and her baby sister, Gemma, rolling about on Guini’s Happy-Birthday-ball.
Here is Guini with her jewelry/treasure box from Aunt Jovan and Uncle Rocky and Grandpa and Gavin in their geek goggles under the water in the pool.
I love you, Guinivere!
Nonna loves you, little girl. I love your smile and the twinkle in your eye and I love how you can stay focused and totally ignore what you’d rather not notice. I love that you sing your head off or don’t whisper even a sound all afternoon should the mood strike. I love that you are a good little sister and a wonderful big sister. I love that sometimes I can tell you are looking at me, right into my very soul, and you are really getting me. I love that and I love you!
pictured: DP praying with people after a break-out session
They so graciously allowed us (Dave, Tara and Hunter, Tredessa, Luke and his wife and son, and Kyle and myself, along with the techno kings) to attend, hang out backstage and ask questions of their leadership. Their generous sharing of insight and wisdom is a priceless blessing to us.
pictured: Dess and Hunter and me; TP + DP; Tre and her “birthday man”; Hunter and Kyle.
Kentucky was wet, very wet…and muddy (we don’t get much mud here), but very lush and beautiful, too. There is great community there and really good food! I had lunch across the table from Shane Claiborne, and just a few tables away from Delirious (although Dave and Tara actually got to “hang” with Martin Smith while Hunter played games on Martin’s phone), enjoyed some awesome worship at the New Song Cafe with Brenton Brown. Skillet did a killer show (pictured below, right). Israel Houghton is the all-new Andrae, incredible show and back-up dancer/singers! Seriously, when I get to heaven, I better be able to dance like that!
One of the great highlights was Kyle and me facing backwards in the golf cart (Tre was riding shotgun) hanging on for dear life while Alpha-2 madly drove the hills explaining security measures to us. Everyone he busted gave Kyle and me the looks. It was like an hour on your favorite carnival ride. Hilarious!
pictured: Tim, John and Dj DC (the rest of our Coloradan constituency) at the techno stage where the party continued until the wee hours…; Dave and Tara and Hunter with Jenn, Stevie (youth pastors at the big Alliance church in Lexington, where DP & TP did ministry on Sunday morning following Ichthus) and their daughter
And unless we end up promoting Delirious in October here in Colorado (which is still on the possibility-table), I got to see them perform as a band for my very last time and they are just.so.stinking.cool. I L O V E Delirious! They changed everything in the mid-90s, everything! They were the final main stage show, a great end to a great festival. I felt very hippie-ish and Jesus-people-early-70’s-ish. (I wrote about Explo ’72 last summer) I was that sweaty and dirty, too.
We stayed in a town home on the Asbury campus and daily passed this house with a “garden” in the gutters. My hair was fuzzy-crap the entire time. Hunter ran himself (and maybe his mommy) totally ragged. We celebrated Tredessa’s birthday there, walked a lot, slept little, ate lots of funnel cakes and onion blossoms and had a pretty great time, all in all.
Our thanks to the kindness and hospitality of Jeff James and everybody at Ichthus. We have so much gratitude for getting to learn from the best!
For all the grandkids we’d share…The amazing grandkids:
Gavin – anything Grandpa does, Gavin wants to do!
Hunter – can keep Poppa talking about anything and everything all. day. long!
Guini – “again! again!” If one twirl in the air good, 2 will be fantastic!
Gemma – pointing out to us everything in life that is funny.
Averi – Poppa’s dimples and cheeks!
And all the grandchildren to come and great-grandchildren and the husbands we will add through Tredessa and Stormie…we are increasing!
He was born because God is good.
Because of a summer teen fling in the Heartland.
Because the birth mother (who was really just a girl) chose life.
Because the Rhoades family still had family love to share.
Because Garry & Dale needed a little brother.
Because Sandra and Sharon did, too.
Because Debbie would need a big brother when the time came.
Because Dad Rhoades had stories to tell and Dave had the heart to listen.
Because worship teams would need a drummer.
Because churches would need a pastor.
Because people would need to be led beside quiet waters.
To bring peace to any situation.
To teach peace and live peace.
To teach me the strength and power of gentleness, the value of just being nice.
To bless people. When he prays God’s blessings-he knows what that means.
There are stories to be told.
Stephen King won’t live forever.
The grandkids need their crazy-cool-swingset-playset-climbing apparatus.
There are daughters to walk down the aisle.
The world needs more twinkling Christmas lights and Christmas spirit.
To leave a legacy of godly fathering.
To leave a legacy of the faithfulness of God.
To equip our children for all that lies ahead.
To be an example as a godly man.
To make a place for worship and for the One we worship.
To worship the One.
To own everything you could possibly need for absolutely anything and be able to keep it all in one 3-car garage.
There are still passionate kisses to be kissed, hands to hold, love to be made.
For indulging my ideas and new projects, all the while tempering me.
To make toys and play GI Joe with the kids and put up the pool every summer.
To dig the deep holes for my garden.
Because no one else can pack like he does. A suitcase, the trunk, whatever…
As proof that God is good.
Dave turns 50 on the 23rd. You can leave him a birthday comment here or send one to: dave@daverhoades.com
pictured: Dave and I at a backyard soiree last fall (yes, I cut Bryan out of the picture!). I love Dave in his Latino-lover Western-Mexican snap shirt (from Stormie), though he is always timid wearing it, fearing people will really think he is trying to be a Latino-lover, which…he is. Really one. Not ‘trying’. *smile…
