Child Survival.
Jun/100
You might have read our previous post about the ICHTHUS festival. In addition to music, the festival also features tents that are set up, housing merchandise and information about various ministries. One new tent was the “Global Village” that featured larger booths from a few organizations… and one of them was Compassion.
In the Global Village tent, we got to see a structure that models what a home of an impoverished family would be like. This reflected a “before” picture, before an impoverished family received aid through Compassion’s Child Survival Program.
Before…
Here were some of the signs we read with statistics:
Then we saw the same structure with a few distinct differences, differences made possible by Compassion. Here is a picture of the home “after” receiving help.
After…
You may notice key differences, like:
-Mosquito nets over the beds
-Nutritious food and formula for the babies
-Developmental aids and toys for the infants
-More sanitary conditions
-Spiritual guidance (represented through pictures and Bibles, etc.)
This interactive display was meant to promote their child survival program. While you can pursue a child sponsorship with Compassion for around $40 a month, you also can choose to sponsor a church in a village for as little as $20 a month. At the festival, they were seeking child as well as church sponsors. The result of the church sponsorship is the outworking of the child survival program, to help pregnant mothers and infants in their early stages of life!
How the Child Survival Program helps:
We thought this would be a great time to share this on the blog. We are only 3 days away from our Compassion 10K! We are still raising funds for this run, so if you have not taken the time to support this worthy cause and would like to, now is the best time to do it!
Visit this link or shoot us an email if you’d like to write us a check for the donation.
Come cheer us on this Saturday as we start the race at 7:30am in downtown Lexington. Or come meet us at the finish line. Thanks!
Trevor: Biker, Hiker, Shaggy Bearded Man, Birthday Boy!
Jun/101
Trevor was very excited about two recent acquisitions…
A “Share the Road” license plate and an “I love Mountains” bumper sticker!
I’m glad the little things bring him such joy…
Here’s wishing my best friend for life a very happy birthday, with joys big and small every day!
Ya lyublyu tebya, moya milen’kaya loxmataya obyez’yanka!
Brought to you by…
Jun/100
This dinner was brought to you by our local CSA produce…
… featuring: spaghetti with parmesan and CSA yellow cherry tomatoes; roasted CSA vegetable medley including 2 varieties of beets, yellow onion, purple top white globe turnip, garlic scapes, and sauteed curly green kale; toast with a CSA garlic scape (+ walnuts + parmesan + olive oil) pesto spread! How could I forget some homemade sweet tea with spearmint from our own herb garden?
While I don’t anticipate wanting to buy and eat turnips and beets often, I’m still glad we got to experiment with cooking these new vegetables and stretching our palates.
Ichthus.
Jun/100
ICHTHUS* has always been near and dear to my heart. I love music, but I also love the festival because my journey with Christ had a defining moment at this festival back in April of 1996. It was at this festival that I first decided to truly follow Jesus. It would be 6 years before I got baptized, and 10 before I ever was officially a member of any church, but this festival was the biggest turning point.
I came to this festival in subsequent years, mainly for the music, with various groups of friends in high school and college. I believe this year marked the 8th time at the festival for me. Trevor has also previously been to ICHTHUS – the festival grounds were practically in his backyard growing up! Yet we had never been to the festival together. This would be the first year. We decided to go when we found out that my favorite rock band, Switchfoot, would be headlining on Thursday night. We took half days off of work and bought 1 day tickets to see them. So while there was no camping this year, we still got to experience the festival together.
Here we are, right in front of the sound booth. You can see the main stage reflected in Trevor’s sunglasses…
If you know anything about guitar music, then Phil Keaggy should be a household name to you. While a Christian and a songwriter of Jesus-centered lyrics, he is also well known outside Christian music circles, which is saying something. (One of my atheist high school friends, a serious guitarist, knew about him back in the day simply because he is really that talented.) While we didn’t buy the tickets specifically to see him, we were thrilled to catch his acoustic performance in the afternoon. Here he is – Phil Keaggy!
His performance was Trevor’s highlight. My highlight? Well, the whole day was fun. But I gotta say, meeting these fellas was a highlight!
And who would these fine fellas be? None other than brothers Jon and Tim Foreman, founding members of the band Switchfoot!
And yes, I shook their hands. Tim gave me a high five when I told them I had first seen them at ICHTHUS in 1999… been a fan 10+ years!
Finally, their performance rolled around, to close out Thursday night. Here’s Switchfoot, headlining at the main stage. A great show to cap a great day.
*ICHTHUS is the Greek word for “fish,” and the fish symbol became widely used as a Christian symbol in early Christendom. Why? The Greek letters spelling ICHTHUS become an acronym for the phrase “Jesus Christ God’s Son Savior.”
Summer Checklist.
Jun/101
There are many great events happening around Lexington in the summer. While my favorite season is spring, my favorite time of year is summer. There is just so much to do! Here are some things on our summer checklist that we hope to enjoy between now and fall…
Music:
+Thursday Night Live – Free live music downtown at Cheapside Park every Thursday from 4:30-8:30pm. Come August 12th when Faith in Action will be the featured non-profit organization of the night!
+Big Band & Jazz at Ecton Park – Free live jazz/big band music, bring a lawn chair and be prepared for crazy crowds and parking far, far away. Lots of dogs.
+Southland Jamboree – Free live music, more folk and bluegrass in style. Bring a lawn chair. BBQ concessions on site. Located next to the bowling lanes.
+Tunes in the Vines and Jazz on the Porch – Vineyards featuring live music!
Arts:
+KCTC Summerfest – My #1 favorite summer event… outdoor theater at the UK Arboretum! I even had the experience of being an Assistant Stage Manager for The Taming of the Shrew for this summer theater series in 2001. We bring a blanket, a picnic dinner, and enjoy pre-show music followed by the feature as the sun sets. Beautiful, enjoyable atmosphere, and offering a great variety of performances for all tastes. There is always a Shakespearean production and two others. This year will feature The Merchant of Venice, Pride & Prejudice, and the musical Rent. Tickets are $10 and worth every penny. We already purchased season passes for 2010. Join us on one of the Friday night performances!
+Ballet Under the Stars – Only Trevor has been to this event, but we hope to go together this year. After 2 years in a country that reveres the ballet, I’ve learned that it is really not *that* boring!
+Woodland Arts Fair – Tons of artisans, a great event, albeit also very crowded. I tend to prefer Mayfest that occurred over Mother’s Day weekend this year.
+Gallery Hop – We’ve missed the June event, but are looking forward to attending in the fall. Last time we attempted going, we neglected to remember it ended at 8pm instead of 9pm and didn’t arrive downtown until 7:45pm just as things were closing down… whoops.
Recreation:
+Paddle boats at Jacobson – We enjoyed this on my birthday this year! For $3, you get a paddle boat for 2 people on the lake at Jacobson park for half an hour. It was plenty of time to roam around on the water, and catch sight of several birds.
+Lexington Legends – While I’m not a baseball fan, it’s still fun to go and eat a hot dog at least once every summer. We’ll be there Saturday July 17th to support Faith in Action as the organization in the Community Spotlight for the evening.
+Second Sunday – Community bike rides the 2nd Sunday of the month. The last Second Sunday ride was at the airport, as we previously chronicled here. Upcoming bike rides this summer will go to Masterson Station Park, Jacobson Park, and Beaumont Center.
+Hiking Spots – There are many parks to hike. From the Red River Gorge to Raven Run, McConnell Springs to Shakertown, there are plenty of woodlands and breath-taking nature spots to explore! We’re hoping to both hike and camp several times this summer. Here’s a great list of hiking destinations around Kentucky.
Other:
+Bluegrass 10K and July 4th festivities – Yep, lest we haven’t already told you enough, we’re running with a team of friends at the Bluegrass 10K on Saturday July 3rd to raise money for Compassion’s Child Survival Program. Fourth of July festivities will be around downtown the whole day as well.
+Summer Classics at the Kentucky – Several classic movies showing on Wednesday afternoons and evenings throughout the summer. I’m hoping to check another one off my list of the AFI Top 100 – “From Here to Eternity” showing on August 25th.
We hope this list inspires you to get out in the community and have some fun!
Want to know how we know so much going on? We read the Southsider/Chevy Chaser! Free publications available at coffee shops, Paneras, and other restaurants around town that lists events around town at the back.
10K Training
Kristi's Training Mileage:
Trevor's Training Mileage:
Good Reads
Kristi's read shelf:
Trevor's read shelf: