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Today, Thursday, Tatum’s class was in charge of Chapel. She didn’t know until the last minute, so I did some switcheroo to my schedule so I could be there.

She was surprised I got there early!

And then they were off!
The Spiritual Theme for the year is remarkable. Truly an important verse to stand on for our lives!

May this infiltrate our souls!
Then,….next…. love this:

Ok, 4th, get on up there and sing us some Halleluias!

Praise HIM!
Next, Mrs. Sun gave us a quick talk about fact vs. opinion. The fact that GOD IS GOOD was stressed! Then three kids from Mrs. Denmark’s class (Tot was one of them!) and three from Mrs. Hamstra’s class came up for a “Bible Challenge.”

First round, the first two had to look up a Bible vs in Psalms. Who got it first?

A boy from Mrs. Hamstra’s Class.

Next round: Tot vs. a student from Hamstra’s.

Tot found it SO FAST! She won! This is what is crazy: Tatum and I are going through the Bible right now, and we happen to be in 1 Timothy! That is no coincidence. She knew right where to go.

Each verse is about GOD BEING SO GOOD!!! TRUTH!!

Next round, it was Carley vs. Teagan.

They both took a bit of time to find Mark 1. But eventually Carley got it.

God. GOOD NEWS! Gospel!

At the end, the 4th Graders came back up to sing.

What a great TRUTH! May we always remember, no matter our circumstances.

Closing Prayer.

Thank you, 4th grade and PVCP. You are speaking Truth.

We love to love on each other in subtle ways. So….I presented notes to Doug and Tot at dinner

Immediately after I gave Tot her pack, she ran off and decorated little hiding places for Doug and me. One by my bed…

We both got one on our mirror.

Of course Doug gets many from her all the time in his office. Here is a peek at the pile of saved ones.

My honey likes to hide post-its for me…

Daddy loves to shower her mirror with post-its (she adds mine there too!)

Here are few from my Tot too!

She LOVES to save everything. Sentimental girl.

We love our challenge!

Now I must go post-IT!

What a blessing. My dissertation (12 years ago) was on utilizing writing across the curriculum. God has blessed my passion in more ways than I could count.

Just the other day, I was asked to present on ” The Powerful Pen” on GCU’s webinars.

It was so much fun! Corinne interviewed me and it launched last Wednesday on YouTube on the Canyon Professional Development channel.

Very fun!!!

Thank you, GCU for this opportunity.

Here are some of the emails appreciating it (from the Dean Critchfield, and all the other assistants and VP’s. (Not bragging…just so nice to be recognized for all the work).

God has wired her to adore children. Honestly, whenever she sees a baby, she has to take a picture, and she loves to pretend they are her “kids.”

This is one of her that she loves to look at.

Today at church, baby dedications. Had to snap pics. (one of our Pastor’s kids)

And if she sees one online, she takes a screen shot (or has me do that).

How will God use this in her life? She will be a great mommy someday.

YUM! Let’s fry up our catch.

Daddy, this looks delicious!

It always tastes better when you know where it came from and HOW you got it!

Now, the most important piece: Our rocks.

They are ready to be officially part of our lives;

Family, I love you so much. May we live these out

The beauty of the room did not help as the air blew right on us as we slept. Ergh. Well, no worries, we are ready to take on the day. Well at least our morning:
Workout at the Fitness Center (CHECK!)

Oh, while we were there, we met a nice young man of 43, Kevin. We discussed staying healthy, and that lead us to discuss our relationship with God is our foundation. Daddy encouraged him to watch The Chosen; we prayed for him later that he would fall back in love with Jesus. Wherever we go, we practice what we believe. Faith first! (in HIM who died to give us LIFE! (and he forgives and loves you too…if you accept it as a FREE gift).

Next, do a short hike up Marg’s Trail (the trailhead at Arabella) (CHECK!)

More beautiful views!

NEXT…(finally) Walk to Circle K (walk!! YAY!) for our coffee. (CHECK!)

This wonderful hotel has free breakfasts, so we found a cozy seat, read our devotion, and got to work on the rocks we would throw into the water (and the new ones that would represent our HAY family)

OK, what do we want to THROW OUT FOREVER? Family huddle….GO!

Now, what will we replace them with? These white rocks: (see later in the post about these)

Now we are ready!
It was time to head to our water source and why not go to Slide Rock? It was SUPER BUSY CRAZY on Labor Day, but the next day? Aaaahhhh. Much. more relaxed. (well, at least not busy. Relaxed? Probably not that).

The price dropped from $30 to $20 the day after Labor Day. See? We are smart!

The water will be about 65 degrees, but today it’s almost 100 in Sedona! Yeeks!

We embark on the walk to the water (50 feet down)…but first we see some must read signs.

LIVE IT! OK…NOW immediately we see the slidey rocks!

Oh yeah! I’m going first.

BRRRR is right, but oh, so fun and slippery. Seriously like a slide rock. HA!

Tot, you are next…her words: “COLD COLD COLD COLD COLD….” Allllll the way down.

Mommy, help!

Then….we come upon this massive rock. I say this is my SIBO and I’m trying to move it! I cannot but only GOD can! (Tot wants to help so badly)

Daddy….your turn!

Go Daddy!

They did have apples too! But not ripe yet.

We all agreed that Slide Rock was fun, but were all the scrapes and bumps worth it? One time, yes.

Here is what we came to do. It’s time to TOSS THE ROCKS! (remember from breakfast we filled them out?)

SPLASH! Goodbye disrespect, angry outbursts, miscommunication, impatience, rudeness, and tearing down. Truly. This is a symbolic event that we know will make a true visual impression for our family. REDEMPTION!

HELLO white rocks. (SEE LATER POST)

and goodbye SLIDE ROCK> Daddy, will you give me a ride? Oh, Daddy she has you wrapped around your lil finger.

Kind. HHH.

Now, it’s off to catch some fish. Really, it was fun, but one hour was PLENTY.

Trout Farm ahead. We decided to catch some dinner! Now, this is really “pseudo fishing” because there are about a zillion fish in this small farm, and the ALL bite. SO….it will take about 5 minutes to catch our dinner. HA! We are all about efficiency. Us Hays.

Success! My turn!

Three fish. Three minutes. Three of us. $30. Perf.

Tomorrow night, HHH will cook these up! YAY!
Now it’s time for lunch, ice cream swimming..the usual. So excited to get out of these mossy, fishy, smelly clothes!

We headed to the lobby to play OPERATION before embarking on our dinner. Riveting, right Daddy?

We LOVE to eat in the room and chat/play games. Our view is just beautiful from our room. (We brought in the patio furniture. During dinner we always do our THANFKULNESS< KINDNESS< and MERCY< Talk.

And then, Tatum sings for us.

Dinner and a show. And a GREAT NIGHT SLEEP>

Hays, this is the new era! We are ready to head back to Scottsdale redeeming the past and looking forward to brighter days.

HERE ARE OUR ROCKS:

See them in our kitchen tomorrow!

Every Labor Day, in the past, we have headed to Coronado Beach. This year, we decided to go to Sedona AFTER we did a Project Peace in our family. You see, the last time we went to Sedona in July, it was a bit messy. Conflicts, misunderstandings, and outbursts. Yuk all around.

Tatum had the brilliant idea of going back to Sedona, throwing some rocks (representing old junk from unwanted behaviors) and redeeming our memories of not only Sedona but moving forward to better unity in our family. YES!

Mrs. Denmark gave Tatum her work for Tuesday and Wednesday; now we are ready to head out ON Labor Day. (We like to miss the crowds!)

Adventures in Odyssey, Focus on the Family, and Family Life podcasts would brighten our ride.

We also decided to change where we stayed; we’re making NEW memories!
When we arrived, the hotel was not ready for us. I found a lovely place that fell right on a trailhead, free breakfast, heated pool, and walking distance to a few spots we love. YEAH!
Our room seems nice too!

Since they weren’t ready for us, they gave us an upgrade to a SUITE! SWEET!
So, to kill a bit of time before lunch, Tot and Daddy played monster Chess. Tatum was determined to capture his king!

Finally, we headed to Subway and McD’s. We love to get ice cream when we travel! (and it was right next to Subway. Plus in the past, McD’s prompted a negative memory, so again, redeem it. Tot got us all some water…

Daddy ordered, and he found the guy behind the glass so pleasant (and he reminded him of Austin), he gave him a tip! What modeling. Show appreciation! Amen.

time to eat and tell riddles!

Ice cream time! My personal favorite.

Pokeman cards were th prize, and now she finally got Pikachu! A rare find apparently!

Ready to head to our room and visit the heated pool. Hmmmmmm. Not sure it was really heated, but we still splashed around and talked to the guests. Worth it!

This fun swingy chair adorns our patio (and it’s like 50 ft distance to pool!)

They have lovely grounds as the sculptures are just beautiful.

After our swimming and settling, we visited Whole Foods and Chipotle for dinner. We wanted to get home for the sunset and hike up to the vista. Arabella had red chairs all set up up there; magnificent views!
The Daddy.

and the Mommy!

And… US!

Tot, you cutie pie! We just can’t get enough of God’s Creation. It’s intoxicating and peaceful.

Dinner, reading, and BED! We were ready for our redemption day and a few surprises.