Busy day #2!

This morning Tim and the oldies were out of the house by 6:30 on their way to Forward 2010 for day 2.  So I called a school free day which caused many children to skip around the house proclaiming their happiness at the top of their lungs.  We were in our pjs, the kids were playing various things all over the house, nothing but free time.  Around 1pm I decided to take the kids on a surprise adventure.  Everyone got dressed and we were on our way.  The kids kept trying to guess where we were going, and I loving every second of the suspense just told them  they would know when we pulled into the parking lot. To add to the suspense I drove a few miles out of our way so the kids were really wondering.  First stop:

A very rare treat for sure, but we had our family fun piggy bank with us.  So we enjoyed various slushies (which was a first for my 4 littles ), tots, and burgers!  I dug into our bank and paid the skating waiter with 20 $1bills, $10 in quarters and .33.  He just looked at our 15 passenger van and then at me with a strange look on his face.  I also gave him a generous tip in quarters that got a smile from him.  It was all very organized and I'm sure he is thankful (unknowingly) that I didn't give him the $10 in pennies.  Just fyi, Sonics has 50% off slushies between 2 and 4 every day! If you haven't tried the Lemon-Berry real fruit slush your missing out! 

After we finished eating we were on our way.  I drove around for a few minutes so the kids were really wondering what we were up to.  By this time they were sure we were heading to Papa Burns and Grandma Dots house.  Wrong they were!  Second stop:

 Toy Story 3 in 3D!  The kids were so excited.  Out of all our littles and middles only Johnston had been to a movie before so this was a big time first experience for all our newest family members.  I told the kids when we pulled in that we would not be having popcorn or drinks since we had just had Sonics.  That way I knew that when we walked past the food they would be all okay with not getting anything and they wouldn't ask. I'm not sure about anyone else, but I just can't bring myself to pay $8.50 for a bucket of popcorn and $6.50 for a large drink.  

I took a few pictures of the kiddos with my Droid phone so excuse the quiality of the pictures.  

(Becca striking a pose & Holland)

(Gang in front of the Toy Story poster)

(Got the perfect seats!)

While we were enjoying our time Tim and the oldies were enjoying themselves at Forward 2010 down in Atlanta again.  In their morning session they enjoyed a wonderful worship service led by Ricardo Sanchez.

He is an amazing musician and worship leader.  We first heard him when he was the worship leader at Free Chapel.  This is just one of the amazing worship songs that he has written that I love.

They also had the opportunity to hear from motivational speaker Reggie Dabbs.  His message was about overcoming things in our lives.  He told them before the sun can stand still there are things you have to deal with in your life.  He is a popular public school speaker with the ability to get in where most cannot go with  God's message.  He uses humor to talk about what these kids are facing.  Drugs, alcohol, suicide, and much more.  I love that he has never smoked a cigarette, done drugs or drank alcohol, why simply because he CHOSE not to.  A message that needs to get out to the children in our world.  We all have a choice!  One of his points he tries to get across is "You can never change your past, but you can change your future!"  I love it!

After a five hour lunch break they were back at the conference ready to worship and soak in the message.  Free Chapels worship team led by Pastor Rory Comtos led them in a powerful worship time.  Tim and the kids were very excited to tell me that their was a surprise visitor that they heard from tonight.  Jim Caviezel!  We had the privilege of hearing him speak this past March at Free Chapel.  He has a powerful message!  I found this interview with him on youtube and it so worth seeing.  One quote from the interview that got me in the heart was when asked if he was believer Jim said "Why would you go through persecution if you didn't know you were right?" 

Tim said one of Jim's quotes from tonight that really stood out is "My Christian brothers and sisters you are not made to fit in, you were made to stand out."  That is a message I pray the kids took away with them.  Especially in todays youth the strive to do whatever it takes to 'fit' in is overwhelming.  I am so blessed to look at my children and know that they aren't even aware of having to 'fit' in.  To be blessed with the attitude take me or leave, but I'm not changing who I am so we can be friends. 

To close out this wonderful day they heard from Pastor Jentzen Franklin.  His message was "Are you willing to sacrifice everything to take Jesus' cross?"  Pastor Franklin said that the things we have to sacrifice are usually the things that aren't good for us anyway.  So true!  His other big saying was "The cross is not a minus sign, it is a plus sign.  Everything he has had to" loose" has been replaced by something bigger and better."  So his encouragement to the kids is we will gain more from taking up the cross then we will loose in making the decision to do so.

Tim and the kids came home tonight completely exhausted, but they have to be out the door for day three bright and early.  Can't wait to hear all about tomorrow!