Blog Retirement

I’m taking a blog sabbatical for a while. I know. I know. I’m sorry to both of you who are still reading. I hate to disappoint you. (Actually, it doesn’t bother me that much!)

Maybe later I’ll pick it back up again. But for now – I’m not interested.

Thanks to all of you who commented. It’s been fun to be a part of a blog community.

Happy blogging!

Life In The Rush House

Useless information regarding the Rush family:

• 5 out of 6 of us hope there will be Mexican food in heaven.

• If mom and dad are in a good mood, burping is accepted at the dinner table.

• If a Rush kid wants a homemade lunch for school, he or she will have to make it.

• Two of us are grouchy in the morning (mom and Emma), three are quiet but happy, and one of us is obnoxiously wired with energy (Caleb)!

• All 6 of us, including the 4 yr. old, are very familiar with the words pitchy, Simon, and yo dawg.

• All of us like to read at bedtime.

• When told to hop in the showers, all Rush kids respond by whining, “Do we have to wash hair?” (Dad secretly thinks, “Quit your stinkin’ whining and be glad you have hair!)

• None of us can sing well. One of us thinks she can. But no, none of us can sing.

• No one who lives in this house flosses teeth. Sorry Mr. Dentist.

• The Rush dogs are named Betty and Wilma.

• We are not gifted in the area of lawn care. Sorry Mr. Neighbor.

• Each Rush kid was born in a different state. If you ask Crystal’s dad (who likes to say embarrassing things) – he will give more details that you don’t want to know.

• None of us are very smart. One of us thinks she is. But no, not one of us is.

• Despite endless taunting from the girls, in fact no Rush males wear pink panties!

• When we’re not fighting, arguing, sulking, whining, complaining, pouting, itching, coughing, gagging or puking…we absolutely love being the Rush family!

Camp Tahkoda

Our family spent last week at camp Tahkoda. Crystal and I served as “volunteer staff.” Caleb and Emma were campers. Since Mason and Kate were too young to be campers, they stayed in a cabin with us…but got to participate in almost everything the campers did. We had an absolute blast! We’re hoping to attend a two week session next summer.

Here are some pictures of our week:

Here are the Rush kids waiting for the other campers to arrive.

Kate made a new best friend.

Emma and her three friends from Conway are waiting for mail. If you get three letters or a package you have to sing for it.

Caleb, Mason and their buddy Nathan - Swimming with life jackets means you didn’t pass the swim test. In their defense, it was pretty tough!

The boys enjoying the “End of Camp Banquet” - Clearly, they have no dates. Maybe next year!

John and Maggie

I’ve wanted to write something about the Dobbs family tragedy…but I just don’t know what to write. I’ve probably started and erased this post ten times in the past few days. This is about how far I get before I stare at the screen for a long time with nothing else to say.

I’m tired of having nothing to say. I don’t want to say it again…or hear it said, “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.”

But it’s true. I don’t know what to say. I can’t stop crying for my friends. I wish there was a way that I could carry part of the burden for them. I wish I could heal their wounds and wipe their tears and all that stuff…

John and Maggie, I love you. I’m praying that God will allow you to see what He sees. It seems like there would be great comfort and healing in that.

I don’t know how He’s going to do it – but I do believe that God will make a way for you. God bless you today.

Injury Report

I was recently cleaning out a drawer, and found an old injury report from Kate’s preschool. It’s dated 9/18/06. So she was two at the time. Here’s what the report said:

Time of injury: 10:08 a.m.
Staff reporting: Ms. Sandusky
Child’s Name: Kate Rush
Cause of injury: Fell off bathroom stool
Where it happened: Bathroom
Suggested prevention steps: Hold hand while climbing down
Personal note: Gave hug and she was fine

Can you imagine moms and dads having to fill out this kind of report after every injury? We’d be bogged down in paper work!

While her report was certainly thorough…I noticed that Ms. Sandusky failed to indicate whether or not Kate had indeed finished her work upon the stool previous to the fall. Had she not finished, or had she been in the middle of her work, this report might have been slightly longer…and maybe a little more interesting.

Life In The Rush House

Turns out – boys and girls are different. For our 14th anniversary, I gave Crystal a love note and had 14 roses delivered to her school. She gave me a Sonic gift card and a new David Baldacci book. We were both thrilled!
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Are we bad parents for forgetting to leave money from the Tooth Fairy under Mason’s pillow…two nights in a row? We made the same mistake with Emma when she was little. When the Tooth Fairy finally did come, she left a note explaining that her “fairy toddler” had had the flu. I guess we’ve got some creative explaining to do.
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Our third grader loves to read so much that he is giving up two recesses a week to be in a book club with only girls! Nerdy or brilliant? I say brilliant…for more than one reason!

14

Today marks fourteen years for Crystal and me. I’ll spare you all of the lovey-dovey, sweet talkin’. But I will say that I’ve loved every minute of it. I can’t believe that God has blessed me with a woman like Crystal. I know that’s what everyone says. (Well, not everyone.) And I know that’s what one should say. But it’s definitely true for us. Life with Crystal is rich.

I love you Crystal. Thank you for loving me too.

10 More Things

I don’t want my blog to be full of negativity. So here are 10 things I do like:

1. I like to have one big sneeze every now and then. It’s refreshing.

2. I like to drive long distances by myself. This doesn’t happen very often. My family always feels the need to tag along! I like to go on road trips with them too…but it’s a whole different experience.

3. I like to sweat. I don’t know why. It just feels right to work up a good sweat.

4. I love it when Emma and/or Kate give me that, “I’m in love with my daddy” look. (Little do they know that they could have almost anything they want in that moment.)

5. I like to clean the windows on my car. I’m a little OCD about some things. This is one of them. There’s just something about feeling like your windows are down because they’re so clean and clear! Exciting!

6. I like doing the grocery shopping first thing Saturday morning. It feels good to be productive on a Saturday morning. And it’s fun to look at that cart full of food I’ve never eaten and decide where I’m going to start!

7. I like baseball caps. It’s an addiction that I’m not ready to surrender.

8. I like…love…rice krispie treats and cherry cheesecake out of the box. Cheesecake out of the box is soooo much better than real cheesecake!

9. I like watching really nervous people give speeches. (I know that this is a mean sickness on my part. Since I don’t really get nervous about public speaking, I derive a sick pleasure out of watching others get nervous. And I don’t feel very apologetic about it either!)

10. I like reading the comments left on Mike Cope’s blog. He’s got some really uptight people analyzing every word he writes. It’s hysterical and a little bit scary.

You Are Mine

A couple of weeks ago I approached God in prayer with some fears that had been weighing on me. I can be a pretty insecure and fearful leader sometimes. But I’m learning to immerse myself in the presence of God when fearful.

Most days nothing visible or emotional happens. I just remember that God is present, and that He cares. And I know that by surrendering to and confiding in Him I’ve done the right thing.

But this particular day something did happen. God whispered to me through His Holy Spirit. (He’s allowed to do that, isn’t He?) His words were, “You are mine.”

This short sentence has really helped me to be less fearful. I whisper it all day. When I run, I say it over and over again. I know that it is true. There may be some subjectivity to my experience…but Jesus’ story backs up the claim. God owns me.

If you are my enemy, and you’re reading this…please know that you have no power over me. I am possessed by God. If you are my friend, and you accidentally hurt me along the way…do not fret. You cannot undo what God has done and is doing with me.

If you are a fearful person, let me encourage you to surrender your fears to God. All of your labor will be in vain if you do not. Your worry will confuse your toiling. You will do more harm than good until you know deep within that He has declared, “You are mine!”

Tagged

I’ve been tagged!

Here’s how this one works…
1. The rules are posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and ask them to read your blog.

What I was doing 10 years ago:
Working on staff with the St. Louis Spiritual Internship…going to lots of Cardinal games!

Five things on my to do list for today:
1. Pray
2. Buy my secretary lunch because she won the NCAA Men’s Basketball Bracket Picks…by a lot
3. Meet with my friend, The Doug
4. Run
5. Watch Mason’s first baseball game of the year

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Support lots of missionaries. Buy the St. Louis Cardinals.

Three of my bad habits:
1. diet coke
2. not finishing books
3. American Idol
(That’s it. I have no other bad habits! Honest!)

Five places I have lived:
1. Searcy, AR
2. Dallas, TX
3. St. Louis, MO
4. Baton Rouge, LA
5. Fort Collins, CO

Five jobs I have had:
1. lawn boy
2. Sign Printer for Anthony’s Dept. Store
3. Toilet Cleaner in men’s dorms (yuck!)
4. Youth Ministry Intern (not a good one)
5. Actor/College Recruiter (This was the coolest job ever. My friend and I were given a car and gas card. We traveled through twenty-six different states in one summer doing skits and recruiting for Harding at summer camps. We had a blast!)

Five People I Want to Know More About:
1. Mason Puckett
2. Amanda Sanders
3. Thomas Ashcraft
4. The Doug
5. Clyde Slimp