Out Little Artist

Brooke made several gifts for us this year. My favorite is the reindeer wreath; I love it!

Merry Christmas!

We're wishing everyone a merry Christmas and hope you've had some time to reflect on God's love for you. 

Having been convicted this year about helping the poor, we decided to celebrate Christmas a little differently this year. After speaking with a few friends, we came up with a few ideas. I had also come across a movement last year among some believers and churches that was along the lines of what we were feeling. Check out www.adventconspiracy.com for more details. So how was the Barber Christmas different? First, we have limited the amount of presents. Honestly, all five of us have more than we need. We did have some gifts, but this was not the focus. (I found a free dog for Brooke; see the picture below). Second, we gave each other a gift that did not require money. Brandon gave his grandmother the gift of doing some computer work and instruction for her; Scott is cooking dinner once a week for me in January, etc. This was a lot of fun and very meaningful. Finally, Scott and I gave each of the kids some money for them to use to help the poor. We gave a few options like www.worldvision.com and www.dalitfreedomnetwork.org   on how to spend their money. We're praying that they, and we, will grow in our desire to help those who have less. 

Our prayer is that all of us will focus less on ourselves and more on those in need. Please pray for us as we struggle with what this looks like in our daily life.

Just in case you were out of the loop, the two oldest Barber children are kinda the bomb.... they even have some killer pj's

Brooke and Ala

Christmas Elves

The Christmas elves have started their baking at the Barber house . . . 

Bethany's 18!

Bethany turns 18 today! Can you believe it? We went to Maggiano's yesterday to celebrate. We'll be hanging out today- Starbucks, more Heroes, etc. 

Back to Blogging

I'm returning to blogging after a three month break. I gave myself permission to let some things go when I went back to teaching and planned to slowly add them back to my life. August- (I never gave it up) cook dinner every night after work. September- running four times a week. October- cleaning my house (okay, I haven't mastered this yet). November- blogging. This is a great week to resume blogging. Tomorrow is a big day at the Barber house . . . 

Heroes

Since we're off for the week, we've resumed watching Heroes. Thanks to the writer's strike last year, we'll be able to watch all of the second season this week. We love this show! The basic theme is some people are given abilities and have to make the choice to use them for good or not so good. It makes me think of friends I know who have chosen to do extraordinary things with their life- like my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and our friends the Haldemans who foster children. Or our friend who left a good paying job in corporate America to go in the ministry (for not so good pay but many other benefits). We're blessed to have many friends doing amazing things. I'm always questioning whether I'm using my not so extraordinary gifts for selfish or selfless reasons. I think I'll always be asking this question in my journey.

Roll Tide

How 'bout them dawgs?

For those of you who have not yet heard, this past Monday (Labor Day, September 1st), we lost a very important member of the Barber family. After 12 years as a Barber, Bama passed away. He was a great dog, and well loved by all the family.

Since Bama passed, we have also added a new member to our family. Yesterday (Saturday, September 6th) we got a new puppy. Ala is a lab mix and approximately 6 weeks old.

She is a very people-friendly dog, and she's adopted to the family very well!

My Summer Reading List

I'm always having people ask what I read so here goes. I must preface this post by saying that during the summer I primarily read for entertainment and primarily read fiction. I usually don't read "churchy" type books. So here's what I've read this summer.

The Poisonwood Bible- Kingsolver (just felt like I needed to read it)
Ethan Fromme- Wharton (character development at its best)
Playing for Pizza- Grisham (I love Italy)
Christ the Lord Out of Egypt- Rice (extremely curious)
Remember Me- Kinsella (I always read some pop culture novel on the NYTimes best seller list)
Keeping Faith- Picoult (recommended by a friend)
Unchristian- Kinniman and Lyons (the only non-fiction)

On the week of the Fourth of July I went on a mission trip to Staten Island. Our team worked with Crossroads Church Staten Island. For two days we painted public schools. The church paints schools so that the schools may be more open to letting them have Sunday services in their buildings. The team also helped with an outreach event on the boardwalk that they hold every year on the Fourth of July. We handed out flyers for four days to promote the event then helped run the event. A band from our church in Newnan came and played some classic rock music while our team and members of the church in Staten Island told people about the church.

Fourth of July in Atlanta

More Vacation Pics

California

principals award

Today was the 2nd grade award ceremony. Brooke and her friend Spencer received the Principal's Award for all A's, not being absent than 3 times,not being tardy more than 10 times and perfect conduct.
And the picture above is the principal giving brooke her award .
by Brooke
I'll put a picture of my teacher Mrs. Brim tomorrow.

You're never too young to give

After months of letting her hair grow to a 10 inch pony tail, Brooke got her hair cut off yesterday. She donated her ponytail to Locks of Love which will make use it to make wigs for children. Over the last few years, we have struggled with why we have so much while others are in great need and tried to figure out ways as a family to help those in need. We are very proud of Brooke for using her limited resources as an 8 year old to help those who are in need.

www.locksoflove.org

Prom Night

Can you believe that Bethany bought her prom dress for $5 on a clearance rack at JCPenny? She looks great and had a lot of fun at the prom. One of the moms who is a caterer cooked filet mignon for them with all the fancy fixins. They had a great time and proved that you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars to have a good evening. We had about 20 kids over after the prom for an after prom party. Bethany recovered in a day; it took Scott and I about three days to get back to normal. I'd never want to go back to the high school days again but to have that energy. . .

A peek into Brooke's life

It's been a rough week for Brooke. Last Thursday she had three teeth pulled then yesterday we thought she had broken some bones in her hand after a desk fell on it at the end of the schoolday. Fortunately, the x-ray came back good, but she's looking pretty beat up now. She's been a trooper.

Spring Break 08

So now that you've been filled in on what's going on in the kids life, it's time to write about the Barber's spring break. The begining of the week turned out to be much like winter break - sleeping, playing guitar, watching tv, even a little bit of studying. On Thursday we embarked on our journey to - drum roll please - Alabama. We came mostly to visit with family, however, I must admit, there was a side motive.... The David Crowder Band.... phew, now that I've got that off my chest I'll tell you about the concert. It was held at Samford University, where my mother went to school - EXCITING! *cough* So anyways, the concert was pretty grand, though, rather than staffing the event with college students - the logical approach - they called in the fun police. Every usher looked pretty much the same: white shirt, black pants, white poofy hair, and wrinkles. Throughout the entire concert the 70 year old women were walking around kicking people out of the "pit" and the aisles. Aside from the fun police, the concert was great. Crowder is a great entertainer and, for lack of a better term, a goof-ball. He used various instruments including the keytar and a guitar hero controler. He wasn't kidding when he said he had too much spare time on the road....

Then on Friday we visited with my dad's brother's family. Sometime in the afternoon my mother and my aunt accompanied all of the kids on a hike through the woods and then an unexpected swim. The water was quite chilly, though it was still fun getting to goof around with my cousins.

Loafing around, jamming at Crowder, and chilly water all made this spring break one to remember!

bethany

A peek into Bethany's life

Now I know that as all of you were reading the blog about Brandon there were many questions that you had. Some of these may have been "Who is that kid?" "Was Scott like that when he was a child?" or possibly even "Does he realize that it's 2008, not 1988?" Well, I'm afraid I can't answer any of those questions for you, but I know there had to be one more questiong lingering in your minds - "What about Bethany?!?!?" Thankfully, your answer has arrived!

As many of you know, there are really only two school related activities which occupy most of my time - swimming and theatre. I suppose I'll start with swimming.... Last Monday (March 31) we had the Northgate swim team 07-08 banquet. It was a very nice banquet and we had some very yummy mexican food - I even managed not to look like a complete slob while eating! Though I had to dress up, not a common activity of mine, I had a lot of fun getting to hang out with the team one last time. I have to admit, it was pretty sad seeing all of our great seniors leave :(

And now for theatre.... Last Tuesday (April 1), the Backstage Players (Northgate's theatre group) put on a performance of student directed shows. The program included 2 skits, 2 songs, and 3 monologues. I directed a scene from Truman Capote's novel In Cold Blood (an absolutely splendid book I would highly recomend) which is about two men who murder an average family of four in Kansas. The scene I chose was the interrogation of the two murderers. I had a little difficulty in casting, considering the cast was made up of 6 men and the Northgate theatre department is prodominately women. After casting the show with 3 guys and 3 girls (2 of which were acting as men), one of my actors fell through, so I ended up performing (as a man) in my own scene. I must say, though the process was very frustrating with losing cast members and show dates constantly changing, it was a great experience for me and gave me a better understanding for directing.... oh and I learned how to be a man! Haha

Well, that's all I have for now.... iHasta luego!

by bethany

Student Athlete of the Week

Brandon's made it to the big time now and is student athlete of the week. His picture was in the Newnan paper today. I was tipped off when several people at church today were telling us they had seen him; so we stopped on the way home to buy a paper and sure enough- he's in there. He is dedicated to running and runs almost daily. His work is paying off.

A Peek into Brandon's World

Brandon has decided to bring tube socks back into style. Between the socks and the hippie poncho, he's got quite the fashion sense.

The Abraham Lincoln egg is a project he had to do for Spanish (Eggraham Lincoln). They emptied the egg and designed it any way they chose. I'm sure it says something about him that he chose Lincoln, but I have no idea what.

Mathfest

Brooke participated in Mathfest today- a math competition in the Atlanta area. Eighteen second graders from her school were chosen based on preliminary testing. Brooke made it through the first round where seventy-five students out of 350ish moved into a more intense testing time. She lasted fifteen questions in that round before being eliminated. She must have gotten her math smarts from me.

Easter 2008

"God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact." Acts 2:32

Our prayer is that all of you spent the day celebrating the resurrection of our Lord!

Dan in Real Life, Emotions, and the Resurrection

Scott and I watched "Dan in Real Life" this past Monday (Scott's birthday- funny how birthdays change when you're older- we were lucky to squeeze in a movie in the basement to celebrate). This movie was a great reminder to me of how life takes you by suprise sometimes. Dan had his life planned out and lived it accordingly. Suddenly, he is caught off guard with unexpected emotions which derail his plans (and others). I won't offer a spoiler here, but Dan allows himself to be caught up in his emotions and his life is changed for the better.

Scott and I are planners- facts, figures, numbers, logic, pros and cons- you get the idea. Emotions are difficult to factor into decision making. We have made some wise decisions based on facts- driving used cars, living on a budget and being debt-free, moving into the Northgate school district, etc. We have also made some decisions where emotions were a large factor- Scott and I both working at Crossroads Church, one of my closest friends being an Auburn fan with an engineering degree, going to Italy for vacation, etc.

My thoughts for Easter also fall along these lines. Our faith and beliefs so often fall into the logical catagory because we have lived that way for so long and sometimes fail to be emotional with our faith. So this Easter, let's be caught up in the excitement we have in being in a relationship with a God Who is alive and concerned with our lives. Search your soul to see if you're excited about what God is doing in your life. Have conversations with friends about the implications of a risen Lord. Let your emotions carry your further than only facts can.

Track Season

Brandon ran an 11:40 in the 3200 (2 miles) yesterday to win his first high school JV meet. Bethany was there to see him, but we missed it as we were having dinner with friends. He celebrated by going to Sonic and eating junk food. We're still amazed that he can be so fast on the track and move in slow motion around the house.

If you're local and looking for a race, you should think about the Race for Riley. This race is family-friendly and a great fundraiser!
Check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_cT8c1GSrA

(Notice Brandon is the "L" at the beginning).

Brooke's Birthday

Brooke celebrated her 8th birthday this week. Her birthday fell on Tuesday. Unfortunately, Scott and I were on staff retreat and were not here on her actual birthday. She did get to spend the day, however, with her grandmother. We had a birthday party on Friday since school was out. The girls watched a movie, had makeovers (this is the after photo), and had lunch at our house. We had a great time. Her other grandmother is coming up today to celebrate her and Scott's birthday (Monday). It's hard to believe our little girl is eight!!!

COOKIES

Today's the day that we've all been waiting for- the Girl Scout cookies are here.

Brooke and I picked them up and sorted them. Then before she and Bethany went to deliver some to the neighbors, the moment was here. We opened a box of Tagalongs (my favorite) and each had one. YUM! It's a good thing I only ordered one box of those. Brooke sold 87 boxes this year- not bad for her first year as a Brownie!

Access Retreat

As mentioned in the previous blog, Brandon and I were on a retreat with the High School ministry earlier this week. I figured that since I haven't blogged here yet, this would be a good way to start!


Se left the church around 1 p.m. on Monday and arrived at Covecrest (the place we were staying) around 4 p.m. We had a couple of hours to explore the place before we had dinner, so we ran around in the woods and took pictures.Then we had dinner followed by our first teaching session. Later that night, we played capture the flag and then went to bed.





Tuesday when we woke up we had an hour to spend for a quiet time: a time for us to spend alone with God. After that we had breakfast and our second teaching session. Then we had a while to take a blank canvas and create a piece of art that described where we thought we were spiritually at that time, our "now." This was a very unique way of expressing ourselves and praising God. After we finnished (though hardly anyone had really finnished, we just had run out of time) our artwork, we ate lunch and then headed out for the ropes courses. There was both a low ropes and a high ropes course, and we began with the low ropes. The low ropes course consisted of several challenges where we had to work together with our team to complete. In this picture the guys are trying to follow a large cable that is attached to several trees (without anyone touching the ground the entire time). After we completed the low ropes course, we moved onto the high ropes which had a zip line, rock wall and an obsical course which was suspended several feet. When we had finnished both the high and low rope courses, we came back and got ready for dinner and our third teaching session. Later that night we had a bon fire and then went to bed.

Wednesday morning was pretty much the same as Tuesday morning: we woke up, had our quiet time, ate breakfast, and had a teaching session. After the last teaching session we packed up the bus and came home.

Over all it was a great trip where God was able to really speak to us and grow our youth group closer together.

-Bethany

School's out for . . . Winter???

The kids are on break this week, and this pretty much sums up what they've been doing. Actually, Bethany and Brandon were on a mini-retreat from Monday through Wednesday. Brooke has been sick but fortunately does not have the flu or strep. (Yes, that is a giant remote in the picture. If you know Scott, he often loses things. This is hard to lose). Bethany is sleeping and writing a paper for AP lit. Brandon has been running in the rain this morning (a popular Barber saying is "If it's not raining, it's not training." Of course, I usually say this while sitting in my pjs by the fire sipping coffee) and playing the guitar. (He's currently playing the piano. It's all LOUD). I have been working this week but only went into the office on Tuesday. I may go in tomorrow for a little while. (Don't feel too sorry for me as I just spent nine days in Italy). We were going to go to AL for the day tomorrow but will have to pass since Brooke still has a fever.