So it goes...

The trip totals are in from our trek to the Northland of NorthCentral Minnesota. We covered 1035 miles in 3 days. A total of 18 hours on the road, and 3 tanks of gas. We took the first 315 mile leg on Friday and stopped in Shoreview for the night. On Saturday we covered another 200+ miles to Lake George, MN, near Bemidji. Then, on Sunday we turned right back around and covered 500+ miles in a 9 hour jaunt back to Waukesha. While it was a bit gruelling at times, my statement from the previous post still stands. We love to travel as a family, and we do it quite well. There were very few complaints from the kids for the whole trip. They don't even argue that much. I think I had to break up a total of one verbal battle. Otherwise, they got along well. Ben slept probably 9 of the 18 hours total, and Sarah about 5. I did probably 80% of the driving and I was fine with that too. When you break up 500 miles over 2 days, that's easy. For the 9 hour stint I needed a spell. The trip...

It's been a good week around these parts, but I'm ready for it to be the weekend. Had a GREAT night at Mosaic last Tuesday. I have got the best group of kids in my small group which makes my job much easier. We had a good discussion on what it takes to Live and Love like Jesus, our theme for the year. These young men really just want to hang with friends and be heard. If the talk is about spiritual issues, all the better. Many of them have legitimate, tough questions, and I don't always have the answers, frankly. Nevertheless, they're all trying to be the best kids they can and I have nothing but respect for every one of them. I am privileged to be leading them. Last night was AllWriters which was good too. The group is up to about 12 people now, including Kathie the instructor. I really enjoy being around other writers and stretching myself as one. I brought three poems, only one of which I felt very good about. I hadn't expected to read, as I read last week, an...