Looks like a recent study from [tag]George Barna[/tag] confirms my thoughts about why 85% of high school graduates never return to church. I think parents need to take their own [tag]spiritual growth[/tag] seriously and then intentionally model that at home. With a higher value placed on spirituality in the home, hopefully that will lead to a higher value of church. The home is where it needs to start, but the church could still stand to re-evaluate its strategies, too.

Barna says this:

One of the more significant outcomes of the study was the challenge to churches. While most kids in the 8-to-12 age range are involved in a church, relatively few of them consider church experiences to be valuable. That is confirmed by the fact that so few kids consider prayer to be a critical part of their life. Parents must take the lead in establishing the centrality of faith experiences and practices for their children. That begins with parents modeling the significance of faith in their lives. It also highlights the importance of families taking the lead in the spiritual development process, rather than expecting or waiting for a church to produce spiritual growth in adolescents.

[tags]parenting[/tags]

Tonight Dana and I splurged by going out to On The Border and splitting a meal. The occasion? Today is our one month wedding anniversary and our three year dating anniversary. I know it sounds corny, but hey, it’s fun. Supposedly this kinda stuff wears off after a while, so we might as well enjoy it while we can. Besides, Dana took a job today through her cousin’s temp agency, so we felt like the $9 meal was affordable for the celebration.

Dana’s search for an elementary teaching position has turned up void and I’m only working part-time at the church, which obviously makes for a pretty tight budget right now. Although this sounds like reason for concern (and it is), there’s a benefit in all this that Dana and I originally overlooked: we have lots of time for each other! Since I only work at the church every other day, we have Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays just for us. Granted, there’s not much we can go out and do on a free budget, but even just sitting on the couch together is a great way for us to start the first couple weeks of our marriage.

Sometimes God’s blessings come in disguise.

Whew! I spent most of today re-building my blog here. There’s still some dead links and features around here that aren’t working right, but I’ll continue to work on it as time permits and figure it all out.

I’m now using Google’s Picasa Web Albums for storing and organizing pictures since it integrates so nicely with Picasa, a free photo management tool from Google that I’ve come to love. Earlier today I uploaded our honeymoon pictures, which can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com/rockinyp We’re still waiting for our wedding pictures, but be assured that they’ll be posted just as soon as we get our hands on ‘em. Feel free to post any comments on our pictures!

The honeymoon went great. We spent the wedding night at a hotel in Little Rock and then Sunday drove to Eureka Springs, AR where we spent a week in a little cabin that overlooked Beaver Lake. It was such a relaxing and restful time for both of us. We enjoyed touring caverns, swimming in the lake, riding wave runners, canoe trips, hiking, riding trains, and just walking around the historic district of town. The pictures will give a better idea of how wonderful everything was.

Dana posted some other pictures on her blog and wrote more about the wedding and honeymoon. Check ‘em out!

Ahh, the time has finally come. In exactly three days from now Dana and I will be married and preparing to leave the alter for the reception. Unfortunately, there’s a ton of things to do before then. I’ve spent the past couple days ridding my apartment of anything unnecessary in order to make room for her to move in after the honeymoon, running lots of errands, putting together photo slide shows, creating CD compilations for the reception and a long list of other tasks. It’s ridiculous how many other things keep coming to mind that need to be done, too, that aren’t even on the master to-do list. Since I’m leaving for Texarkana tomorrow after lunch (where the wedding will be), everything needs to be finished tonight after youth group and tomorrow morning. Whew… and I haven’t even packed yet!

All through this week I’ve gone through the different phases of feeling nervous, scared, excited, intimidated and back to nervous. I mean, this a HUGE commitment I’m making here! After the wedding there’s no turning back for the rest of our lives. Life as I know it will never be the same. Caring for someone else, putting my needs and desires aside for her’s, providing for her emotionally and spiritually, and taking someone else into consideration in all my decisions, that’s a lot of pressure! I’m so used to living by myself and only being responsible for me. The transition from being self-centered to Dana-centered is one that I desperately want to see happen, but as a depraved human being I’m sure it will only take place smoothly with God’s intervention.

Anyone who wants to keep Dana and I in your prayers is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Dana, the wedding is just a week away! This is for you (except for the dishes and drinking part). I love you and can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.

It’s been a pretty crazy weekend so far. It began on Thursday evening when my parents and Dana’s parents meeting for the first time. I was admittedly pretty nervous about it, but thankfully the meeting went smoothly.

On Friday Dana graduated from Texas Wesleyan University with a B.S. in Elementary Education.

On Saturday my dad graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a Doctorate of Ministry.

Sunday we spent the day at the home of life-long family friends of ours. Their son was baptized in their backyard pool in front of many close friends.

Tomorrow (Monday) is pretty unscheduled and therefore will hopefully be a little more relaxing.

Those who are looking for Dana’s blog, go here.

It’s 1:10 AM now and I just finished making honeymoon reservations. I’m off to bed.

Dana and I have had 10 days to plan our wedding so far. Here’s where we’re at:

– The date is finalized for July 22, 2006.
– The church facility is secured for that date.
– The reception area is secured.
– Wedding reception arrangements are made.
– Decorating ideas are complete and already underway.
– Dana’s uncle committed to performing the ceremony.
– The wedding party is finalized.
– Wedding colors are picked out.
– Bride’s Maid dresses have been selected and purchased.
– Dana has her wedding dress selected and paid for.
– Invitations are ordered.
– Wedding bands are narrowed to two choices.
– We had our first pre-marital counseling session with our pastor.
– I’ve secured two ushers and will talk to two others tomorrow.
– The honeymoon location is selected. We’ll try to reserve it tomorrow. If it’s already booked, we’ll go with our second choice.
– The rehearsal dinner is down to two options and will be finalized tomorrow.
– Tomorrow we’ll also create our registry at Target and pick out a tux for me and the groomsmen.
– Oh, and Dana has a lingerie party scheduled already, too!

Yes, all this in 10 days (11 days including tomorrow’s plans). It’s amazing how easily everything is falling into place for us. Dana’s not one of those girls who had her wedding planned out at age 12 either. Most of this is from scratch. We’re blessed to have families who are really stepping up to the plate and doing a lot to help, too. The support and quick responses have been great.

Tonight I gave my credit card info to Dana. Now THAT’S commitment!

Here’s the “reenactment” of my wedding proposal to Dana along with the “director’s commentary.”

It looks like our wedding will probably be on July 29, 2006. That’s REALLY soon. I guess Dana feels comfortable pulling it off, though. There’s not really a better time anyway since we’d like to be married before she starts teaching full-time this fall. Whew. This is gonna be a crazy summer.