What a full day we had yesterday! The Noble family rose at the crack of dawn to head to Little Rock in different directions. Carolyn and Adelyn rode with some friends to LR so that Adelyn could try out for the Nutcracker - her second year. Much to the Monticello's crew delight, all the girls that tried out from Monticello made it!

Sam and I left early as well - after cleaning up the kitchen from having friends over to dinner Friday night. We went to mom and dad's house for a fantastic brunch with my visiting uncle from Minnesota. We spent the day with family, laughing, playing chickenfoot, and enjoying the weather. Anything sub-90 in Arkansas during the summer is like early winter.

After Carolyn and Adelyn returned from the tryouts, we went out into mom and dad's backyard. While it's beautifully landscaped, it can pretty much fit into a thimble. It's small. But that didn't stop us from finding a baby toad and a box turtle. We felt like regular Dr. Doolittles.

While Sam was intrigued, Adelyn was positively radiant. Animals share a special place in her heart. Of course, that didn't stop her from racing inside to wash her hands in disgust after the toad peed on her.

We loaded back into the Sequoia (still with For Sale window chalk all over it), and raced back to Monticello for Journey's Back to School Pool Bash and Birthday Party. David and Tammy English graciously allowed our church to use it as an outreach event. Sam (it was his birthday) didn't mind at all. There were a ton of kids there, and it was a joy to visit, laugh, and watch our own Michael Phelps win gold in an informal relay against some kids and an anonymous state trooper.

There was a full house at Journey today, and it was exciting and humbling to see how many educators and teachers the Lord has brought into our fellowship. We prayed for them as a group, in addition to praying for our students. Ryan taught on the Great Commission in our Harvest Series, and it was interesting how he emphasized Matthew 28.19 where Jesus said that making a disciple is about teaching others to obey all that Jesus has taught us.