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

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.

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).

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.