Daddy Date Night

A couple of weeks ago, I was supposed to do a daddy date night with my daughter, but an accident involving close friends prevented me from keeping my promise to my little girl. Well today was the day that I got to make up for it.

After picking my daughter up from school, we went to Chuck E. Cheese for a couple of hours of pizza and fun. We had some tokens left over from a visit a couple of months ago, so it was as inexpensive as going to Chick-Fil-A because all we had to pay for was the meal.

It is amazing how quickly she grows. Just a few months ago, she was timid and needed help with all of the rides. This trip, she was fearless! Here are some videos of her fun tonight:

This first video shows how my little girl is capable of climbing up the big steps to get to the tubes and slide:



This next one shows that she still needs a little help with hand/eye coordination as she makes a go of it with a whack-a-mole type game:



This last one shows how talented she is at riding a horse. I don't know where she gets this balance and grace from since most days walking in straight lines proves troublesome!:

Blogging Hiatus Coming to an End

In July I took a break from blogging, expecting that it would be for just a couple of weeks...boy did I miscalculate! For those that have sent words of encouragement and support, I appreciate it more than you could possibly know.

Today, I am stepping back into the world of blogging. My hope is to get back into a variety of offerings, but I will begin by restarting the daily prayers that so many were fond of in previous seasons. I am not sure what all else will be resurrected or what new offerings there will be, but I am ready to engage the conversation again.

Please keep in mind that all of my postings here are a part of an ongoing conversation. As such, I would love to receive your comments and opinions as they relate to the postings. If a prayer has been meaningful, if you have an opinion about a topic, or simply want to offer a comment, please know that you are invited into the conversation.

I am looking forward to this new season of blogging and conversation with you.

Blessings,

Russell

Back from Sabbatical

For the past 5 days, I have been on a blogging sabbatical and vacation. After Christmas, I took a little more than a week to hunt, hang out with my dad, geocache, hang out with the girls and generally take a rest from ministry. Over the past few days, as I have returned to the offices and re-plugged in, I have had several comments and questions about whether or not I am going to continue the daily prayer posts.

After reflecting on the past year of prayers (what this journey has meant for me and how it has impacted some of you) I have decided to commit to another year of sharing prayers with you all. I will post the first prayer for this year shortly after this post publishes, and then the prayers will return to automatically posting just after midnight, each day for the rest of the year.

Part of the difficulty in deciding whether or not to continue this community prayer journey, was this desire to explore Christian thought in more detail. In the end I decided it didn't have to be either/or, but could very easily be a both/and situation. To that end, I will be sharing (set up to auto post) quotes from variety of Christian writers, thinkers, theologians and the like. My hope is that these quotes will provoke new conversations and cause us to think about our faith more deeply and carefully. I will set these posts, one a day, to come around noon to where they don't overlap with the prayers set to post in the mornings.

I encourage and invite your participation on these pathways of spiritual growth in the year to come.

To all of you who have and continue to support the work and play that happens here at Radically Altered (whether you view it here directly, through a feedburner, or on Facebook), I want to give you my most sincere thanks. I am grateful for your company on the journey.

Blessings to you in this new year and remember, the best is yet to come!

Russell