Come, come in

Invade all You see of us

Any man who'd walk Your road

Is welcomed here

And You're the only one

Jesus, come and walk the halls of this house

Tread this place and turn it inside out

With Your mercy...

Jesus, teach us the prayers that open these doors

Until Your light floods in and illuminates these floors

And let Your truth be on our steps and in these rooms

Jesus invade...

Reach, reach in

With the hand that heals all our suffering

Conquer all that is not of You

Bring Your spirit through

As we fill these walls with Your praise

I call for angels

I call for mercy

I call for freedom

In the name of Jesus

In the name of Jesus

Preach It, Jimmy

"We are the future of the church, and it's gonna be crunk."
-Jimmy, a high school student speaking at Youth Sunday

Ice Cream Man

We just got home from a walk at the park, and guess who we saw?!?!
THE ICE CREAM MAN!
He wasn't driving the truck that I remember from my childhood, it was more like an ice cream conversion van. But it still had the same pictures stuck to the side, and he played the same music.
I am so glad it's summer!

David is old enough for a cell phone?

I am ok with the fact that I am getting older. But it is hard to comprehend my brothers and sister growing up too. Caroline turned 21 this year, Will finished his freshman year in college, and David is behind the wheel. Unbelieveable!

One part of being the oldest is watching my parents get more and more lenient as the days go by. One recent example...

I got my cell phone the day I graduated from high school (May). Caroline got hers on her 18th birthday (February). Will got a cell phone when he turned 18 (October).

David (15) has been begging for a cell phone for quite some time. And he realized that at some point I would get a new one and say goodbye to the Darnell Family Plan (which has served me faithfully for a long time, and I am very grateful for it). Mom and Dad told David that if he could get Caroline, Will, and me to agree that it was ok for him to have my old cell phone, then he could have it.

Here are the arguments I heard for why he NEEDED a cell phone:

1. I am living in a different age that y'all did.

(Not the best idea, Dave. Are you trying to make me feel ancient? And the last time I checked, we were only 10 years apart.)

2. Everybody has cell phones now... even elementary kids!

(This is true, but really, is it necessary????)

3. You are my favorite sister.

(To which I replied, "You said that to Caroline too." And David had no response. He knew he was guilty.)

Meanwhile, David did convince Springer (another youngest child) and decided that since Springer is the head of our home, that means yes from me.

Fast forward a few weeks... Springer and I got new phones & numbers. (I am tired of explaining to people why I still have a 478 area code.) We wrapped up my old cell phone and gave it to Mom as a Mothers' Day gift. (She was in on the joke.) I was watching David as Mom was opening her presents and as a typical 15-year-old would, he was completely not paying attention... why would he care what Mom gets? Mom opened the package and went on and on about how much she needed a new phone, that hers had been messing up, and how much she loved this new one. David's face went from uninterested to confused to jubilant, when he realized what was going on. He has had a permanent grin ever since!

So the next time you call me, if you hear a man's voice, that is my brother, and you need to get my new digits.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Representing the Street

I have a confession to make... I am a Sesame Street addict.
I watched it all the time when I was little. (My mom can vouch for this.) When I count 1-10 in Spanish, I still sing the song. Bert and Ernie make me laugh. I have seen all the Big Bird movies.
I absolutely love that show.
A few months ago, I was flipping channels and guess who was on Sesame Street?!?! Nora Jones. Now you can't tell me that's not cool. She was singing "I don't know why Y didn't come"... a song about the letter Y. Fabulous.
I look forward to having little Cains one day, so that I can watch Sesame Street all the time and that be normal.
I say all this because this weekend we made a trip to Target, and Springer found the most awesome T-shirt ever. It says "Representing the Street" and has Grover, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Bert, and Ernie on it. I will take a picture and post it as soon as I can find our camera.
I hope you have a...
Sunny Day
Sweepin' the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet
Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street

Toto, we aren't in Augusta anymore...

Tonight Springer played softball. And he was awesome!
The team hadn't won a game all season, Springer Cain takes the field, and the St. Paul Green Machine is victorious, winning 28-27 over a team who had previously lost only 3 games in 13 years. Wow! (I might add that this was also the first game with a cheering section, so we think that we had something to do with the outcome.)
Columbus softball is very different than Redeemer's league in Columbia County...
First of all, the complex is downtown... we are no longer in suburbia.
And it isn't just a church league, so as one can imagine, it can get ugly.
Also, you can steal bases! What?!?!?!? This is softball! My mind cannot wrap around this concept.
And the scoreboards don't work, so I never know what the score was.
I missed the sweet fellowship with my Redeemer ladies in the stands, but I enjoyed getting to know new friends.
Springer still wears his bright red socks, and this St. Paul's jerseys are hunter green... so my sweetheart was definitely rockin' the Christmas colors!

Laura Susan

Moving

I have been procrastinating blogging about our latest news, but here it is...

We are moving!

God has provided in awesome, beautiful ways, and this week we are moving to Columbus, Georgia!

We had a great weekend, enjoying our time with our amazing small group! Friday we celebrated Emma's birthday, Saturday we were suprised by lunch with everybody, and then we went to Scott and Kelli's wedding with more Redeemer folks, Sunday Springer shared our story (really God's story!) at church, and in the afternoon, we threw a baby shower for Josh, Betsy, and Mini Desch! Whew! It was a really fun weekend, but we are pooped! (Especially since at every moment we weren't celebrating something, we were packing.)

And speaking of packing, where did all this stuff come from?!

Please pray for us this week, as we finish packing, wrap things up with work in Augusta, and say "See you later!" to our precious friends here. We will miss them terribly!

Laura Susan

The Fun Girls
The Crazy Boys