Visit from the ATL crew

Leslie's dad, step-mom, and brother all made the trip up to NC this weekend. Their other son, Caleb, lives in Raleigh and so they spent Friday with him. Caleb and something he ate didn't agree late on Friday and by Saturday morning he had to visit the Emergency Room to get fluids intravenously. The latest update as of Sunday afternoon is that he's at home resting but is totally spent from the ordeal. Get better soon, Caleb!

In the meantime, Dan, Debra, and Luke came to visit us on Saturday afternoon. We had a great time playing with the kids and hanging out together. Amelia and Uncle Luke bonded immediately over a game of catch. Thomas and Debra and Dan all got along famously.

We ate lunch at our house. In the afternoon, Dan rested, Luke and I talked computers, politics, sports, and jobs, and Leslie and Debra went shopping across the street. Thomas and Amelia took their naps, of course.

At dinnertime, we drove up the hill to downtown with a hankering for some tasty Vietnamese food. (Yes, you can hanker for Vietnamese food and not just for BBQ.) Well, they had closed for the Independence Day holiday. (Good for them.) Across the street, however, was an excellent Thai/Malaysian restaurant. We ate there and loved it. For my dish, I had the choice of American spicy or Thai spicy. I chose Thai spicy and the waitress cringed. She must have told the chef to make it American spicy because it was weak. I was expecting a 9 out of 10 for spiciness and got a 7 out of 10 instead. Even so, it was really good. For desert, we had locopops. Man, I love locopops. Dan, Debra, and Luke headed home by way of Raleigh after dinner.

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On Sunday, we went to Sunday school and church. Our Sunday school was wrapping up its 6-week elective on "Perspectives on Marriage." During the 6 weeks, the minister had various married couples from church come in to be interviewed by him in front of us. We could then ask questions about aspects of their respective marriages. It was a really good format.

Here's what the minister left us with as we wrapped up. These are his summary of priority principles. He said that he jotted this down while watching Tigger with his son but I still think its pretty good.

• God before Spouse
• Marriage before Work
• Church before Leisure and Kids' Sports
• Family before Hobbies
• Praying before Sleeping
• Praying before Complaining
• Complimenting before Criticizing
• Teeth brushing before Kissing
• Talking before Lovemaking
• Backrubbing before Lovemaking
• Spouse before Children
• Communicating before Spending
• Budgeting before Borrowing
• Saving before Buying
• Listening before Speaking
• Needs before Wants
• Spouse before Self

We used quite a bit of scripture to discuss the purposes of and God's aims in creating marriage but here's a verse we came back to a lot, Jeremiah 17:5-9. At first glance it doesn't seem related to marriage but the idea is that a man/woman rooted in God's will puts out good fruit when trouble comes but someone with the worlds' view will whither and produce thorns.

After church we went to lunch with our friends Mark and Candace and their daughter, Hannah. It was great catching up with them and there's nothing quite like an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet!

I hope you all had a great holiday!