about our terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Well, we had an insane weekend.

I'm sure most of you have seen on my Instagram or Facebook that we spent Friday night and all of Saturday at the hospital with Graeme. It was the worst night of our life so far.

Graeme had trouble sleeping all day on Friday. He didn't seem to have anything really wrong with him though. He didn't feel warm to me. He was eating like normal. He just didn't want to sleep at all. Even if I held him to put him to sleep, he would just stare around. Aaron was gone all day, and by the time he got home, I was exhausted. 

I let him take over Graeme for awhile, and he tried to lay him down for bed while I took a shower. Graeme slept for all of 20 minutes. It was at this point that Aaron suggested taking his temperature.

I did. And it was 100.8. That isn't high for most people, but our doctor had made it clear that until a baby reached three months, any temperature over 100.4 was dangerous.

I tried not to worry yet. We took his pajamas and blanket off of him in case they were making him extra warm. We took him downstairs and held him. He was SO tired.

I took his temperature again every several minutes over the next half hour. It would fluctuate a bit, but it read above 100.4 a couple more times.

Of course things like this always seem to happen at night or on a weekend. In this case, both. I called our pediatrician's office to get the number for the on-call nurse.

I talked to the phone-answering person who took all of Graeme's information, his symptoms, and my number. He said a nurse would call me back within 10 minutes. When the nurse called, he asked for all of the symptoms again and said a doctor would call within 30 minutes. Good grief with the phone tag.

Finally, someone that represented the doctor (I guess she was a nurse) called. She confirmed his temperature again with me, and then said we needed to bring Graeme to the ER.

Begin major panic.

I stayed calm enough to find out which ER we should go to, but as soon as I hung up, I started sobbing.

Oh, I was a wreck. Thank goodness Aaron is amazing and always calm and strong when I freak out.

We somehow made it out the door 10 minutes later in hoodies and jeans with Graeme, his diaper bag, and one phone charger. That was it. Aaron called my parents and calmly told them the situation and asked them to come get Penny.

I rode in the backseat with Graeme, who was finally fast asleep, and tried not to cry the entire way to the ER. I prayed and prayed.

When we got to the hospital, Aaron couldn't find a parking spot. He circled under the drop-off and said I could take Graeme in while he searched for a place to park. The thought of being without him for even a few minutes was enough to make me cry again. Through my crying/hyperventilating, I managed to say, "Don't leave me! I can't take him in by myself!"

Wonderful Aaron rolled his eyes lovingly (he has to be like that to make up for my over-dramatic emotions in these kind of situations), reminded me again that Graeme was going to be fine, and left the car next to the entrance to walk us inside.

We got checked in and were immediately seen by a triage nurse. She took Graeme's vitals and asked us all about his symptoms again. When she took his temperature, he did not have a fever. For a second, I thought that meant we might be able to leave. Alas, since WE had read a fever at home, they had to check him out.

Little did we know what "check him out" was going to entail...



We were taken to a hospital room in the children's emergency hospital. A doctor came in a few minutes later and we had to explain all of the symptoms again. He then told us the plan.

Since Graeme was so young, a fever is very serious and can be, in some cases, the only sign of a very serious bacterial infection. It can of course just be the result of a virus, but the only way to be sure is to test basically everything. He explained that they would draw blood, urine, and snot (I forget the fancy doctor word for snot). He said that they would need to test for meningitis and other infections by drawing spinal fluid. He also told us we couldn't feed him for the time being.

As soon as the doctor left the room, I lost it again. I wanted there to be some way, any way, that I could take Graeme's place. I wished that I was sick instead. I was freaking out that they were about to poke and prod and torture my little boy (even though I knew it was for his good) who had no idea what was about to happen.  And I didn't even remember what meningitis was, but I knew by the doctor's tone that it could be very serious and terrible. My mind of course leaps to the worst case scenario always.



I will save you from a longer story. Over the next couple of hours, they drew blood and urine and snot. Graeme, as you can imagine, screamed. I cried. Aaron consoled us both. When it was time to draw the spinal fluid, Aaron and I had to leave the room. I didn't even want to think about what they were doing to him, but it was hard not to. It was a very, very long 15 minutes until we could go back in. Graeme looked so tiny on the hospital bed. He was fast asleep.

After that, it was just waiting. Some of the results would be back in a couple hours. Some would take 24 hours. They told us to plan on being in the hospital for two days. When they left the room to let us rest, Aaron and I just looked at each other and were in disbelief of how the night had turned out. We were so drained. All there was left to do was try to sleep until they admitted us upstairs to the hospital.

Putting on our trying to be brave, really tired at 3am faces.

Early Saturday morning, they took us upstairs. Throughout the night, different doctors had come by and given us results as they could. So far, everything had come back negative and looked great. We were reassured, but my mind was still worried about the results that would take longer to get.

We settled into our real hospital room as best we could. Graeme woke up to eat, but he was so exhausted, he went right back to sleep. Aaron's mom brought us breakfast and held Graeme while we tried to sleep on the little pull-out bed thing.

My family came eventually. I was so glad to see my mom. No matter how old you are, sometimes your mom can just make any situation better. We got another hour of sleep while we waited for the doctors to come by.


When the doctors finally stopped by our room, they brought good news. They were impressed with Graeme's results so far, and the fact that he hadn't shown a temperature yet that day. To our delight, they actually gave us the option to go home at the end of the day after Graeme could get one more round of antibiotics to last him another 24 hours. They told us that if they were at all worried about Graeme, they wouldn't even give us the option to leave. They said that it was almost certain that he just had a virus that was probably on it's way out. And they took away my last big worry:  he did not have meningitis.


We were so, so thankful. And so ready to leave. We felt disgusting. And we were ready to take our boy home.

Graeme slept for the majority of the day in the hospital. We tried to sleep as much as we could. By the time of Graeme's evening feeding, Aaron and I felt pretty rested. Graeme must have finally caught up on enough sleep too, because after he ate, he stayed awake for quite awhile and gave us a knock-your-socks-off adorable smile session. He just could not stop smiling. It was the very best end to our awful day. That, and leaving to go home a couple of hours later!

This whole experience taught me many things. Here are a few.

1. It's easy to say, "I trust God." It's harder to put it into action when you're tested. I had to put my trust in God, because there was nothing else I could do. God answered my prayers and I know He was in control even when I was freaking out. He is constantly faithful to this worrisome mommy.
2. I have a brand new respect for parents who have children in the hospital all of the time. We were not even there for 24 hours and it was the longest day ever. It is the worst thing seeing your child hooked up to all of those monitors. I can't imagine staying at the hospital with a child long-term.
3. I would have done anything to take Graeme's place. He's my son, and I couldn't stand seeing him suffer. God loved me enough to let His Son suffer and die for me. I saw His love for me in a new light.
4. Pediatric nurses and doctors are awesome. They have to do some not fun stuff to little babies and kids all the time. Their job is not for the faint of heart. I am thankful for them and for all the work they put in to do their job.

Graeme is much better. He still has a stuffed-up nose and a little cough, but other than that, he's fine. His pediatrician saw him today and said he looked good. 

The lab will continue to watch his cultures for five days, but it is rare for anything to show up after 48 hours.

Thank goodness that experience is behind us. We are stronger because of it, and we will never forget it!

Leaving the hospital in all the same clothes we came in!

about our Christmas (all three of them!)

It's hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone. I tried to enjoy every minute of this Christmas because I know it won't be the same ever again. In a good way though!

Aaron and I started the Christmas fun on Christmas Eve. We headed out with all of our wrapped gifts for everyone in tow (as not to worry with them the next day).

Stoplight selfie. Penny is hiding in the back seat with all the presents. She's not a big fan of the car.

Our first stop was the Bauer household. We put our presents under the tree that was already overflowing with gifts. Then we had breakfast with Aaron's older brother and his family (which includes our adorable niece and nephew), his younger brother, and his mom. Dad had to work, unfortunately.

We spent the morning and early afternoon with them, and we enjoyed some rare quality time with Samuel and London (nephew and niece). Since we live way up in Wake Forest and they live way down in Fuquay, it's about an hour drive. We usually only see them at church on the weekends.

London and Penny. 

Penny and her "cousin," Bear. She's not so sure about him still...his head is the size of half of her body.

Later in the afternoon we packed up again and headed to downtown Raleigh for Christmas Eve dinner with my family. 

Great view driving in.

My parents and my brother and future sis-in-law were there with a delicious smelling ham in the oven. We watched Jingle All the Way while dinner was finishing up and then ate way too much food.

Since Sarah wasn't going to be able to be there the next morning, she got to open her gifts and we all opened ours from her and Tyler. Tyler and Sarah know us so well. A Disney Store gift card for Aaron and a Target gift card for me (already long gone). Plus an "I have the best uncle" onesie for Graeme and some adorable socks.

Sidenote:  It's more fun to open gifts for Graeme than my own gifts! I can't wait until he can semi-help open his own gifts next year!

Aaron and I left to go home around 8pm so we could complete our Christmas Eve tradition of watching A Christmas Story (which I ALMOST stayed awake entirely for).


Like I said yesterday, I was awake at the ridiculous hour of 4am on Christmas morning. Graeme woke up too, and then it was hopeless to go back to sleep. His kicks and jabs amused me for about an hour, and then Aaron woke up.

We start our Christmas morning early anyway because we have a tight schedule to keep. Around 5:30am we headed downstairs. After the coffee was made (and a quick breakfast snack for me and Graeme since we were starving), we sat down for my favorite part of the day:  reading the Christmas story together. We've started reading it from The Jesus Storybook Bible every year. If you've never read The Jesus Storybook Bible, do it. Do it. It's amazing. I cry all the tears. Even when I'm not pregnant.

We opened stockings next and then Penny got to open her gift that she's been smelling all week under the tree. She loves Christmas too. Aaron spoiled me rotten per usual. Guys, you can always win with jewelry. Always. And it doesn't have to be "real." Jewelry, chocolate, and a full length mirror were my wonderful Christmas presents.

I think I did pretty well too for him. An iPad stand, notebooks, journals, pens, and Disney trinkets.

We briefly enjoyed our gifts and our Christmas tree, and then it was time to get ready to head out the door. At 7:30am, we left and enjoyed an empty Capital Boulevard all the way downtown to my parents'.

Penny was nuts for whatever she could smell under the Christmas tree. She waited very impatiently for the coffee to be made and the Christmas story to be read again.

Lots of Penny pictures, but she's still our "baby" for now. Next year, it will be a different story!

After she got to open one of her gifts to keep her occupied, we all took turns opening the bajillions of gifts. My parents got me the majority of the keys for my long-awaited skeleton key wall. Then they came to hang them a couple days later.

They also got us some more fun things for Graeme's room which I am not posting pictures of yet!

We had our traditional monkey bread, bacon, and eggs (no eggs for me) breakfast after gifts, and then Aaron and I hopped back in the car around 10:15am to make the drive to Willow Spring and the Bauer family.

Our third Christmas within a 4 hour span began. That one of course is much more lively with seven adults, two little kids, and a curious Penny dog. Gifts were here and there and everywhere, but we tried to take note of everyone's cool stuff and enjoy watching Samuel and London open all of their fun things.

My in-laws contributed to my key wall, as well as getting me a mirror that I've been wanting for next to our front door.

My dad and Aaron hung this bad boy up the day after Christmas.

They also surprised me and my sister-in-law with necklaces that have a "B" pendant as well as our kids names on a pendant. I love my little "Graeme" pendant necklace.

Penny finally wore herself out enough that we could get her to sit still to put her Santa hat on for a picture. She just loves it. Not.

We enjoyed a delicious lasagna lunch and an hour of relaxing before we concluded our Christmas day with a Christmas day movie. Aaron's family, my family, and Sarah's family all met up to see Saving Mr. Banks. It was amazing. 

Then, with full stomachs, a full trunk, and full hearts (just throwing some corny sentiment in), we picked up a worn out Penny from her Gigi's and headed home.

Twelve hours later, we were sitting back in front of our Christmas tree and reminiscing about what a wonderful Christmas day it had been. We have so much to be thankful for, and most of all, we are thankful for our little super hero that will be here in no time at all!

We slept soundly that night, and then didn't waste anytime the next day. Call me crazy, but Christmas has been up around this house since mid-November, and I am ready for my house to be back to "normal" after Christmas day. 

We said goodbye to the last remnants of Christmas 2013 and look forward even more to next year!

about the journey so far

I have been waiting impatiently to finally share this with the world wide web for almost two months now.

This is me shouting from the rooftops that my sweet Aaron and I are having a baby in March!

We are SO EXCITED that I feel like we need a better word to describe it than excited. Alas, it will have to do.

We started trying to get pregnant in February of 2013, and it actually happened right away, to our great surprise. But, after just one week of knowing about it, our sweet baby went to be with Jesus. We were heartbroken, but we knew that His ways were higher than ours. We kept trying.

After a couple more months of trying, I knew that I just needed to relax about it. I think it's true that stressing about it makes it less likely to happen. It wasn't going to happen in my timing anyway. I might as well not worry about it. I released my control of it, and just enjoyed the phase of life we were in. (Hey, it's fun trying to have a baby, if you know what I mean...)

In July, I knew it was getting close to the time where I could take a pregnancy test. I had a debate in my head of whether I should wait a couple of days or just take it. 

I decided to take it, but not to lose heart if it didn't show up yet. It was still a little early.

I peed on the stick in the other bathroom and just left it in there while I went to get ready for the day. I tried not to think about it.

When I finally went back to look at it, I just stared at it. There was a super faint second pink line.

"Ummmm....Aaron?"

"Yeah?"

"I think there's two lines."

"What?"

"I think there's two lines?"

He came to look. He concurred that there were indeed two lines.

We expressed reserved excitement. "Let's take another one tomorrow," he said.

I took a pregnancy test every day for the next three mornings. The lines got progressively darker. We got progressively more excited.

I called and made an appointment at the OB-GYN. We told our parents. And then Aaron went out of town for five days.

Waiting a week to go to the doctor was hard, especially since he was gone. I may or may not have taken more pregnancy tests...

When we went to get the pregnancy confirmed, the baby was still too tiny to show up on the ultrasound. But, we did get to see a little black dot that showed it was indeed in there. It was probably the cutest black dot you ever did see.


This experience has been so, so good for me. Yes, having a miscarriage was really hard. It does it's best to really mess with your head and heart. But, it has shown me just how much I need Jesus. He gives hope and comfort and life and peace. This time around, I've been a little more hesitant and on edge. I am constantly surrendering that to Him and giving Him the control He already has. He loves this baby way more than I do. And, every time I have worried about an appointment or a strange symptom that freaks me out, He has shown off. He is always proving that He is trustworthy. I am glad for all of the chances He gives me when I let doubts in my mind.


Aaron and I cannot wait to be parents to this precious little one, and we are already praying that their heart will be drawn to Jesus. We are so blessed to be surrounded by friends and family that will speak truth into their life.

Sweet Baby Bauer, you are already so loved! We can't wait to meet you!

Photo taken by Amanda Ivey.

about seeds and faith

I cooked with mustard seed for the first time this past week. I wasn't even sure what it looked like until I bought it.

It's pretty tiny. I couldn't help but think of what Jesus said about mustard seeds...

"What I'm about to tell you is true. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, it is enough. You can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there.' And it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Matthew 17:20-21

Wow. I don't know about you, but I don't feel like I'll be moving any mountains this week. My faith must be so, so small. Definitely smaller than a tiny mustard seed.

So, how do I get more faith? Well, He knows the answer to that too...

So faith comes from hearing the message. And the message that is heard is the word of Christ.

Romans 10:17

It's as simple as that, but it's easy to make it seem so much harder. I pray that I can be faithful in the small things like just spending time each day reading His Word. So one day I can have faith in Him to do really big things.

You know, like asking mountains to move and such...

about the MSO retreat

Last weekend, we purposefully got in the car to spend the weekend with 40 middle school students.

It wasn't long until we became a little unsure of our decision.

But, as we drove through the pretty countryside and neared our destination, our worries ceased.

We arrived and were more assured by the fun group of kids we brought.

And despite the questionable meals.

And creepy cat curtains.

We had a wonderfully, great weekend.

Truly. I love those kids. I did not want to come home.

We played games.

We explored the outdoors.

THERE IS A SNAKE IN THIS PICTURE.

And, most importantly, we worshipped Jesus and learned how important it is to pause in our every day lives to spend time with our Creator. Out in the beautiful country it's easy to free ourselves from distractions. I mean, this place had no cell service or WiFi. It's a social media-ites nightmare. But it freed everyone from worrying about what was going on in the cyber world to look around and realize so much more was going on in the relationships around them and in the beautiful world God created.

about Timothy and our cool job

The other day I was reading Paul's second letter to Timothy in God's Word.

Paul says to Timothy,

"I remember your honest and true faith. It was alive first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice. And I am certain that it is now alive in you also." (1:5)

And a little later in the same letter Paul says,

"But I want you to continue to follow what you have learned. Don't give up what you are sure of. You know the people you learned it from.  You have known the Holy Scriptures ever since you were a little child. They are able to teach you how to be saved by believing in Christ Jesus." (3:14-15)

Reading these words was an instant reminder of why our job is so cool and why we do what we do. Aaron and I both have a desire for parents to be the spiritual leaders of their kids. God says that faith should be passed down from generation to generation: just like Timothy learned about God from his mom, who learned it from her mom, who learned it from her family, and so on.

When a little child begins to learn about following Jesus at a young age, it will stick with them forever. They might ignore it sometimes, but there's no doubt that those truths are instilled in them. And one day, Lord willing, they will follow Jesus and in turn teach their own children.

At Journey, we exist to be a resource for parents. There's no way we can be the spiritual leaders of everyone's kids. That's not our job. But, we will do anything we can to equip parents to lead their kids to Jesus.

We begin giving parents "parent cues" as soon as they drop off their newborn baby with us, and we continue to partner with parents through high school.

In May, we are offering a brand new class for parents of kids in elementary school called "True Story." It's a class to start parents and their kids on the most important conversation they will ever have: the conversation about God's big rescue story.

I am so excited about this, and I hope we have a good turn out.

Have I mentioned that I love what we get to do?

a Journey post

Today I woke up determined to sit down and write for awhile. It's been a little crazy around here. 

Last week was packing week. We packed the Journey Kids' supplies for April and May on Wednesday and Thursday after shopping on Monday. It went really well because Robyn, Lisa, and I had done most of the prep work beforehand. We packed both months in around six hours over the course of those two days. That may sound like a long time, but it's not really.

After packing was over, we spent time getting ready for our Good Friday event, "The King's Walk," and made sure our environments were ready for Easter Sunday.

"The King's Walk" was a hands on experience for families that told the story of Jesus' death and burial. It went amazingly well, despite running out of almost every supply. We were not prepared for the response that we received...over 500 people went through!

Nailing their names to the cross. We died with Jesus so that in return we could live!

Easter Sunday was a great day at Journey. The Warehouse was packed for all three services, and back in Journey Kids we got to teach 400 kids that Jesus is alive!

I am continually blown away at the work God is doing at Journey and so very grateful not to have missed it. Every weekend brings a new adventure!

I love my church.

Happy Easter!

"Jesus' friends were sad. They would never see their best friend again. How could this happen? Wasn't Jesus the Rescuer? The King God had promised? It wasn't supposed to end like this.

Yes, but whoever said anything about the end?

Just before the sunrise, on the third day, God sent an earthquake - and an angel fell from heaven. When the guards saw the angel, they fell down with fright. The angel rolled the huge stone away, sat on top of it, and waited.

At the first glimmer of dawn, Mary Magdalene and other women headed to the tomb to wash Jesus' body. The early morning sun slanted through the ancient olive trees, drops of dew glittering on leaves and grasses - little tears everywhere. The friends walked quietly along the hilly path, through the olive groves, until they reached the tomb. And immediately noticed something odd - it was wide open.

They peered through the opening into the dark tomb. But wait. Jesus' body was gone!

And something else: a shining man was there, with clothes made from lightning.

'Don't be scared,' the angel said.

But (they couldn't help it) they screamed anyway.

The angel asked them, 'What are you doing here? This is a tomb and tombs are for dead people.'

The women couldn't speak.

'Jesus isn't dead anymore!' he said. 'He's alive again!'

And their hearts leapt. And the angel laughed with such gladness that they felt, for a moment, as if they had woken from a nightmare."

-From The Jesus Storybook Bible

Happy Easter! He is risen!

about some of our heroes

I hate goodbyes. I do.

Now, a goodbye for an hour is one thing. A goodbye for a long time is another.

This week, we have been saying our goodbyes to our friends, the Via family. We have known Smooth and Kelly for six years. Aaron and Smooth have worked at Journey together, and we have also had the privilege of loving on three of their precious girls in Journey Kids.

Next week, Smooth and Kelly Via and their girls are hopping on a plane to Uganda. They are going to live with their adopted daughter, Chloe, because they could not get a visa for Chloe to come to America.

They have never given up fighting for Chloe since they started their adoption two years ago, even though they've faced many setbacks.

They are still fighting for her and they will never stop. Since they can't bring Chloe home right now, they will bring home to Chloe.

They are a beautiful picture of what Christ had done for us and an awesome example of His hands and feet.

We are going to miss them very much, but we are so excited for what God will do through them in Africa. Plus, they have a very excited daughter that can't wait to see her family.

Please check out their website and consider supporting them financially or through prayer. It's www.thevias.com.

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 

Matthew 16:24-25

on "The Pursuit of God"

Aaron constantly heckles me for being a "fast reader." I suppose fast is relative. But, I guess compared to him, I'm a speed reader. He reads everything and analyzes everything. I, on the other hand, just read. For example, I started reading The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes five days ago. I've read it about thirty minutes a day on average. He can't believe I've already read over 500 pages of it.

So, what with being a "speed reader," I never thought it would take me two months to read a 121-page book.

I've been reading A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God for almost two months now. It is 121 pages long. It is ten chapters. And it is so. thought-consuming.

If that's even the right word for it.

I just mean that I have to think really hard about what I'm reading. Mr. Tozer uses a lot of big words and has so many deep insights. He's been blowing my mind.

I'm really considering starting it all over again, because even underlining and journaling through it, I know I've missed a lot. I only have four pages left that I intend to finish tomorrow morning.

I've loved the whole thing. 

One passage that has really stood out to me though, is this one:

"The idea of cultivation and exercise, so dear to the saints of old, has now no place in our total religious picture. It is too slow, too common. We now demand glamour and fast-flowing dramatic action. A generation of Christians reared among push buttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age methods to our relationship with God. We read our chapter, have our short devotions, and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar."

Now, this book was originally published in the 1940s. And if way back then people were consumed with "push buttons and automatic machines," how much more are we consumed with them in 2013!

Talk about "fast-flowing action"...I can pull out my phone anywhere in this country and be instantly connected to the world.

I have news, photos, information, texts, e-mails and all sorts of social media streaming to my phone constantly.

Waiting? What does that even mean? Let me open this app to order a pizza. Let me open this app to see what this word is in Spanish. Let me open this app to see what is happening with my friend in California. What's the weather in Paris? Oh, here, let's see. 

Mr. Tozer is right. I often have expected my relationship with God to update like my Twitter feed.

Our culture is so used to instant gratification. We don't have to work hard for most things.

I like how the chapter ends. In encouragement, of course:

"Let any man turn to God in earnest, let him begin to exercise himself unto godliness, let him seek to develop his powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience and humility, and the results will exceed anything he may have hoped in his leaner and weaker days. Any man who by repentance and a sincere return to God will break himself out of the mold in which he has been held, and will go to the Bible itself for his spiritual standards, will be delighted with what he finds there."

No matter how many times I fail, his mercy remains. And it's new every morning. 

You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, Lord, do I seek."

Psalm 27:8

about post-passion syndrome and such

I'm back!

Free Wi-Fi in downtown Atlanta is nearly impossible to come by. We finally found some very slow Wi-Fi at a Caribou in an underground mall, but only for enough time for Aaron to send an urgent email. Our hotel wanted to charge us $15 a day for Wi-Fi. No.

But, we decided being disconnected from the internet was definitely a good thing as it removed that distraction from our days at Passion2013.

I sure missed writing while I was gone, and I have a lot to catch up on.

It's hard to know where to begin, and I definitely have what's known as "Post-Passion Syndrome." It's a real thing, you know.

That's the truth of it.

I'll do my best in the next few posts to unpack Passion.

For now, here's a glimpse (or several glimpses) at what it looks like to worship with 60,000 other believers:

Aaron and I were so refreshed and reminded of what we are here to do. We are not going to miss out on anything we were put here on earth to do with Christ's spirit living in us and through us.


We also want to take action and urge you to do the same. Check this out:

We saw and heard many heartbreaking, true stories while at Passion2013. Slavery must end in this generation. Please visit www.enditmovement.com to join your voice in a cry for freedom for the captives.

"The Spirit of the Lord and King is on me.  The Lord has anointed me  to tell the good news to poor people.  He has sent me to comfort  those whose hearts have been broken.  He has sent me to announce freedom  for those who have been captured.  He wants me to set prisoners free  from their dark prisons."

Isaiah 61:1