How many Jameses does it take to change a liglhtbulb? No idea. But I do know that it takes about 12 to get a gallon of milk from WalMart in rural north Georgia.

I always say being with my brothers is like a holiday, and so this past week was double the fun - a week with my brothers and their families AND celebrating one of my favorite holidays of the year. We’re becoming quite a crowd. In addition to our four kiddos, we’ve got three little cousins and one on the way… Bogan from Tulsa and then Marshall and Ashlyn from Alpharetta, and the newest little one from Georgia due in April.

A few highlights…
- Meeting SWEET Ashlyn for the first time - “baby Ash-a-lyn” as Basden says
- Rock City - it really is amazing! (and the Starbucks across from the entrance doesn’t hurt)
- Crystal’s burgers & onion rings, Corbin’s homemade chex mix, Julie’s breakfast casseroles and baked cinnamon apples, Daboo’s taco bar, cowboy rolls, cream cheese mashed potatoes, and Amy’s AH-mazing home-home-made pumpkin pies (she makes it look so easy…ha!)
- SkipBo - the interaction between Mom and Amy is way more fun than the game itself
- Chris the Barista - nothing beats a yummy latte in a cozy cabin with the rain beating on the roof
- Kung Fu Panda and Daboo’s new popcorn machine
- Essie chasing Marshall around the couch with a pink Barbie hairdryer
- Cappy’s hike with Bogan, Bran, Hud, Basden and Essie - who we found out is not comfortable in two feet of leaves
- Monsters in the dark during the hayride - the kind of monsters who bear gifts of glow-in-the-dark bracelets after attempting to scare the tuna salad out of everyone
- Bogan’s watchful eye and sideways glances… doesn’t miss a thing
- Marshall’s continual grin
- the five pounds Corbin and I BOTH gained…

What a handsome crew!
Chris & Crystal… and baby James due in April
Trey & the women… we’re just missing HIS woman!!
Bogan flanked by Essie & Basden - he politely puts up with Essie’s antics.
Aunt Julie, Ashlyn & Essie
Julie and Luke make everything more fun
Trey and DARLING Marshall
Those big boys are getting bigger all the time

Look who’s responsible for all this!
Thanks, Mom & Dad for the cabin, and to everyone for the memories. Already looking forward to the next time!

Check out my post on Morning Coffee today. My friend Renee has been kind to include me in her devotionals each month. Enjoy!

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!
Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young - a place near your altar…
Blessed are those who dwell in your house…
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage…
They go from strength to strength…

Tuesday is a big day. Our good friends here in Fort Worth close on their home Tuesday, with no new house to call home. They are packing their belongings and filling cardboard boxes, all the while not knowing where - in just a few short days - those cardboard boxes will land. Their young children dance around the empty, echo-filled rooms with great expectation, while Mommy and Daddy assure them the Lord has a perfect new home - somewhere - and meanwhile keep an eye out for a ram in the bushes.

Another friend will be moving Tuesday as well. But instead of moving his family and furnishings to a new home, he will hug his wife and children good-bye two days before Thanksgiving and exit his court hearing, handcuffed, to his new home behind bars. Tuesday will simply determine where and for how long. Corbin will be by his side.

Psalm 84 describes the plight of the pilgrim - a soul yearning - even fainting for the courts of the Lord, for the living God. The description of going from strength to strength, having set their hearts on pilgrimage…

This Scripture is not relegated to shepherds in fields before the time of Christ. It speaks of these two families, facing change and uncertainty and trusting God with their very shelter. It speaks, too, of people and families all across our country who cry out to God, this day, November 21, 2008. For those losing homes in foreclosure with the economy… for mothers trading their cozy kitchens and holiday baking for needles and chemo in sterile clinics…for soldiers in dusty tents separated from parents and spouses and children and friends as the holidays approach… it speaks of the brave Pilgrims we celebrate next week, who faced change and uncertainty and fear head on, going from strength to strength.

Father, we do trust you, and we pray for our friends and loved ones in seasons of pilgrimage right now. Blessed is the man who trusts in you, O Lord Almighty.