Seniorzrock Photography - Brittany - Highland Tech
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Monday, 12 October 09 - 08:15 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Photography |
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Is my blog dying?
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Friday, 09 October 09 - 11:37 AM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in General |
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It's been exactly one month from the last time I posted something on my blog. I was reminded of that by a friend this week. Is my blog dying? It seems that Facebook and Twitter are trying to kill my blog. Why would they be trying to kill my blog?
Facebook: I must admit that I like Facebook. There have been times that I have been annoyed by it, but it is a really good tool to get information to a select group of people. It's also a great way to stalk your friends (see my post on that here). It seems that when I have something to say or pictures to share I find myself looking to facebook first. I realize that everyone connected to my life is not on Facebook so that's one of the reasons I haven't buried this blog by now.
Twitter: I have a Twitter account, but I don't use it. Why? The main reason is probably because I don't have a blackberry or iPhone. It's hard to "follow" people on my little LG VX 8350. If I don't use Twitter then why would Twitter be trying to kill my blog? Precisely because Twitter is conditioning people to keep their message within a 140 character length. If I were Twittering this post it would end at "is my blog dyi" in the first paragraph. Sure, it's good to keep messages short and sweet, but sometimes there is a need to say more.
So for now I'm going to keep this blog going and try to update it much more often than once a month!
The Nines . . . 09.09.09 @ 09:09 A.M.
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Wednesday, 09 September 09 - 03:38 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Family |
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Today is a cool date . . . 09.09.09. For our family it's even cooler. Today is Daniel's (our oldest) birthday. It's hard to believe that he's 11 years old today. In some ways, it seems like only a couple years since we were in the hospital waiting all day as Amy labored to introduce Daniel to the world. In other ways, it seems so long ago that he has to be 20 by now (sometimes he thinks he is 20).
This morning I drove back from Walmart with his birthday present I heard on the radio that the Las Vegas wedding chapels were experiencing huge numbers for weddings today 09.09.09 at 09:09 AM and PM. So I thought I'm going to hurry back to the house and take Daniel's picture on his birthday 09.09.09 @ 09:09 AM.
What were you doing on 09.09.09 @ 09:09 AM or PM?
Daniel's Singing Debut . . .
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Sunday, 06 September 09 - 11:05 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Family |
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This is for my non-Facebook friends. I have been a very lazy blogger lately. It seems that Facebook has taken the place of my blog. I tend to forget that some of you don't have Facebook. So, here's a video of our oldest son Daniel making his singing debut. Here he is auditioning for the children's ministry praise team at our church (Bethlehem Church, Gastonia, NC). As one of my friends said on Facebook . . . Check out Daniel Moore . . . He's singing Journey for an audition at CHURCH! Enjoy . . . .
Defending the Cause of the Orphan
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Monday, 27 July 09 - 07:37 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in General |
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Warner Bros. new horror movie Orphan proclaims that "it must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own" (biological children). Orphans have changed my life . . . in so many amazing ways, I don't know where to start!Let me start with one about little Mariah (pictured to the right). Many of you know her story, but I'll catch those who don't know up-to-date. Mariah came to live with us in September 2007. Before that time God had placed adoption on our hearts, but I was scared to death. I was scared of so many things, but the main thing was could I love an adopted child like I love my four biological children. That fear remained with me even up to the moment that this precious baby was placed into my arms in the lobby of the Crown Plaza Hotel in Guatemala City. All of those fears were releaved as I held her for the first time. I knew God had chosen her for our family, just as he had chosen us to be the parents of our biological children.
Over the past (almost) two years we've had many hurdles to overcome (you can read about some of the hurdles under the adoption and cochlear implants archives of this blog). Every week she tries my patience, and so do my biological children! Is it hard for me to love her like my biological children? The answer is a resounding NO! Sometimes I think I love her more. I know that's not possible, but I wouldn't trade her for the world.
My question to anyone reading this post is, "Do you know an orphan personally? Before July 2006 I would have had to answer that question, "No, I don't know an orphan and I don't want to know one." My thoughts were, "If I know an orphan, then I have to do something." I was right and having orphans in my live has without a doubt been one of the greatest blessings of my entire life. I couldn't imagine my life without loving orphans and having them share their love with me! I can't imagine life without friends like Marlon (pictured above). We sent papers to Honduras today to get him to the U.S. on a medical visa to get his hearing tested. He doesn't have a language, but someone taught him the sign for "I love you". I can see him now signing "I love you".
Those are just a few of the reasons why I get angry every time I see a trailer for the Orphan movie. But instead of writing a rant about the movie I accepted the Tom Davis' challenge and defend the cause of the orphan and write this positive protest post.
If you know an orphan and have a blog or facebook and you too want to make a "positive protest" you can find our more here.
Political Crisis in Honduras
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Monday, 29 June 09 - 10:52 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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I'm sure most of you have heard about the political crisis in Honduras. I wanted to post a quick update to let you know that we are doing well and are having a great week of ministry. We have two mission teams in Honduras this week. John Sessions is leading a team in Santa Fe, El Paraiso (on the border of Nicaragua) and Amy and I are leading a team to Guinope (a rural village about 1.5 hours east of the capital). Every thing is calm and tranquil here in rural Honduras. People here are talking about it, the Christians are praying and we're certain that other Christians all over the world are praying for the situation.
We have been in touch with our friends in Tegucigalpa daily and they say things are relatively calm there too. As you know, the news reports focus on the sensational and the small pockets of protest are what is getting the most coverage. The rumor mill is also alive and well too so don't believe everything you hear. The truth is, it's not as bad right now as the news is making it out to be. People are still flying into Honduras and the country is operating as normal as possible.
This is a volitile situation because Hugo Chavez is a friend of "former" president Zelaya. With that in mind, please be in prayer for the Christian missionary teams all over Honduras and for those scheduled to come. We have almost 40 North Americans here in Honduras this week and another 10 scheduled to arrive on Friday. We know God is in control and we are trusting Him in this situation.
LTW Summer Staff - Jared Marshall
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Saturday, 06 June 09 - 01:48 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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This will be the third year that Jared Marshall has joined us as part of our Honduras summer staff. Jared is a very talented musician and has a servants heart. He helps lead worship for our team and when we are in Tegucigalpa he helps lead worship at Iglesia Renacer. We're excited about Jared joining our summer staff for 2009. Please pray that God will continue to reveal His will to Jared.
LTW Summer Staff - Abby Brack
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Friday, 29 May 09 - 03:59 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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Why am I introducing our summer staff to you? So that you will pray for them. You can save their prayer cards to your computer and print them out if you like. That way you will have a visual reminder to pray for them during their time in Honduras.
Today I introduce to you, Abby Brack. This summer Abby will be returning as part of our summer staff. In 2007 she was a mission team member from her church (Calvary Baptist, Gastonia) and a part of our summer staff in 2008. Abby just graduated from Gaston Christian School and will be attending North Greenville University in August. Abby feels like God is calling her into some type of missions ministry. Please pray that God will continue to reveal His will for her life during our time in Honduras this summer. Pray that God will use Abby in a mighty way to impact the lives of our mission team members and to the Honduran people with whom and to whom we'll minister this summer.
Earthquake in Honduras
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Thursday, 28 May 09 - 08:04 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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By now most of you have heard that a 7.1 magnitude earthquake rocked Honduras. The epicenter of the quake was off the northern coast but it was felt as far away as Tegucigalpa and even Mexico. At the time of this writing 6 people have been confirmed dead because of the quake and Honduran officials expect the death toll to rise over the next couple days.
I talked with Daniel Gomez and he said he was awakened around 2:30 a.m. with his bed shaking in the middle of the night. Even though they were over 200 miles from the epicenter he said pictures were knocked off their walls. I haven't spoken with my friends in San Pedro Sula, but I have heard they are all well. I'm sure the "shaking" was much worse there due to the fact that they were only 100 miles from the epicenter.
Although the earthquake was a tragic event for the country of Honduras, it will not affect our summer mission trips. The areas where we are ministering were not affected by the quake.
Please, however, pray for those who lost loved ones and for those who will be ministering in those areas this week and in the weeks to come. Our children's pediatrician is going on a mission trip to Honduras tomorrow and would have crossed the bridge pictured above to get to the village where they will be ministering. Because of the quake now they will have to take an alternate route that will add three more hours to their journey. Our prayer is that God will be glorified through yet another natural disaster for this poor country. In the words of Daniel Gomez, "The shaking of the earth reveals how powerful our God is. Maybe those who don't know Him personally will come to know Him through this earthquake."
LTW Summer Staff - Kristen Griffin
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Wednesday, 27 May 09 - 03:44 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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Over the next couple days I will be introducing our summer missions staff. I'm starting today with Kristen because she has a specific prayer need before we go to Honduras. I know many of you who read my blog are praying people. I'm asking you to intercede on for Kristen because she has a physical need that may keep her from going to Honduras.
Kristen, like our daughter Mariah, is hearing impaired. She has a cochlear implant and a hearing aid. For the past week or so Kristen has been having trouble with her implant. The worst case scenario is that the internal device is failing. If that is the case it will keep her from being on mission in Honduras this summer. Please pray that the problem with her implant is minor and that her audiologist will be albe to fix the problem before we are scheduled to leave for Honduras (June 10). Thanks in advance for your prayers on Kristen's behalf.
Kristen lives in Swannanoa, NC and this will be her first time in Honduras. She has been on an international mission trip to Bolivia. She is a member of Montreat Presbyterian Church. Kristen is a gymnastics instructor and was our daughter Makenzie's instructor when she was in the 3 year old class. She attends East Carolina University. We are excited about Kristen being a part of the Louder Than Words 2009 summer staff.
Honduras Fashion Shoot
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Monday, 11 May 09 - 09:07 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Orphan Care |
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I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. I guess I've had blogger's block. I decided tonight that I would post a few pictures from one of our orphan camps last month. One of our crafts was making tie dyed t-shirts. It was my first time making tie dyed t-shirts, and we had lots of fun! We decided to take our group photo in our shirts and while we were waiting on everyone to get ready I decided to do an impromtu sibling group photo shoot. These are a few from that shoot. Enjoy . . .
Orphan Camps 2009
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Tuesday, 31 March 09 - 01:01 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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Words cannot express my excitement as I prepare to leave for Honduras on Saturday. I get the privilege of spending the week with some of my favorite people in the world! I, along with John Sessions, Bobby and Maridith Lane, and a team from Hillside UMC in Woodstock, GA, will be putting on a children's camp for the children of Faith, Hope and Love Orphanage in Tegucigalpa. This will be the second year the kids of FHL have been to camp. As their director told me in January, "From the youngest to the oldest, they all said that the camp was the highlight of their year." Wow, It was one of the highlights of my year too!
If you think about it, or as you read this please say a prayer for us as we minister in the fields of the fatherless next week. Also pray for me as I try to shoot some video for an upcoming promo we'll be doing to raise awareness of our orphan camps and to recruit future teams. I'll try to post some pictures from the camp if I can find an internet cafe in Zambrano, Honduras.
BTW . . . I'll be in Honduras April 4-11 and Amy and Madison will be there April 11 - 18. Pray for us as we will trade off with our kids for those weeks. For those who don't read Spanish our camp logo reads: Camp Hope: Laugh, Learn, Play.
Kids are so literal . . .
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Thursday, 26 March 09 - 05:32 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Family |
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Funny thing happened this afternoon. David pinched his finger in the front door. No, that wasn't really the funny part. The funny part came after he stopped crying when he said, "Dad can I call Daniel and tell him I've got gangblue!" To which I replied laughingly, "You've got what?" "Gangblue . . . see," showing me his bruised finger. I guess he's heard us tell Daniel that he's going to get gangrene (I had to look up how to spell it) if he didn't keep a wound clean. So, it made sense to him . . . and to me . . . David's got gangblue!
Distractions in Worship . . .
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Sunday, 08 March 09 - 03:39 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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I must admit I'm often easily distracted. One of my sisters says I have ADD. I took a test one time and scored really high (not a good thing), but I promise I've never taken Ritalin (maybe I need it now and then). I confess I find myself easily distracted in worship. Call it ADD or blame it on the Devil, but it was really bad today. Here are a couple things I noticed this morning . . .
Someone spilled their coffee on the second row. It was not a small spill by any means. It was more like 12 oz.'s of a 14 oz. mug! I noticed a lady on the second row and other lady and her husband on the third row cleaning it up. It took a couple trips to the restroom to get enough paper towels to get it clean. Near the end of the service I noticed a guy on the front row reach under his chair and take a drink from the cup. I don't think he ever realized that he had knocked his own cup over and that three people behind him cleaned it up! It was an act of selfless service by those who cleaned it up. It also made me wonder if he thought someone behind him had drank his coffee during worship!
I also noticed a "worship invasion" on the front row. It happened during the singing of How Great is Our God. There was an elderly man on the front row who was "caught up into another realm" (I thought of Paul being taken up into the 3rd heaven as this guy worshipped). He was lifting both hands and swaying side to side, but the thing that struck me most was that his "neighbor in worship" was leaning on his wife or girlfriend. Why was he leaning, because his "worshipping neighbor" was all over him! At one point the elderly man lost his balance and bumped into his "neighbor". I'm assuming they knew each other, but it made me think about personal and corporate natures of worship and if there is anything like "worship etiquite".
The other thing that caught my eye and my thinking this morning was that two of the moving stage lights were pointing straight down making a spotlight over a couple worshippers. I'm not sure it was intentional, but it was kind of like God shining a celestial spotlight down on two individuals. One was standing there with there motionless singing and the other was raising her hands as she sang praises to God. Now I was not judging their worship by their outward actions, but it just triggered my ADD.
All in all it was a great day of worship at Bethlehem Church. The music was awesome and Pastor Dickie preached a great Gospel, salvation message and people responded outwardly to both aspects of worship. Why did I write all of this? I just needed to get it off my chest. I guess it's like going into the public confession booth! Or maybe it's like updating our facebook status with what we ate last night and how we are listening to the new U2 CD.
Who really cares that my ADD kicks in during worship and that I drank Honduran coffee this morning before church. Someone must care because we keep blogging and updating our Facebook status. Ok, I've got to stop blogging and get ready for church. My small group is meeting to discuss Tom Davis' book Fields of the Fatherless . . . why did I just tell you that?
For my non-Facebook friends
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Wednesday, 04 March 09 - 11:27 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Family |
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I know I've been a horrible blogger lately. It's probably due to my feeling like a bear. I really need to get rid of some of this winter weight. It's made me a bit lazy when it comes to keeping up my blog. For those of you who've seen these pictures on Facebook I apologize in advance. These are for my non-Facebook friends - a few shots of my girls . . . .
A little video of Mariah
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Thursday, 19 February 09 - 03:10 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Cochlear Implants |
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As many of you know, our daughter is deaf, but was implanted with cochlear implants almost a year ago. The following video is of her trying to talk (repeat) and simply "hamming it up" for the camera. At times I had the camera's viewfinder turned where she could see it. I'm sure you can pick out those parts. Enjoy . . .
Who is John Rosemond?
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Wednesday, 18 February 09 - 10:52 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Family |
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WARNING: Long post . . . but it does have a little humor along the way.
Who is John Rosemond? If you would have asked me that question on Sunday of this week I would have answered, "I have no idea, I've never heard of him!" That was before I heard him speak at Grace Anglican Church on Monday night.
The guy is a best selling author on the subject of children and parenting. He's been on GMA, 20/20, O'Reilly, The View and Focus on the Family. He travels 9 months of the year speaking all across the country . . . and he lives right here in Gastonia!
Why did we go hear him speak? We went because Amy's mother bought us tickets. What? Your mother-in-law bought you tickets to a parenting seminar? Yes, she had read his latest book, she was his kids nurse when they were little and the proceeds went to support the Crisis Pregnancy Center of Gastonia.
Was I excited about going? Not really, after all it was being held in the chapel of a local funeral home! I told Daniel before we left that we were going to this parenting conference at the funeral home so we could learn how not to kill our kids! Maybe I did need a parenting seminar after a statement like that?
I was a little more comforted when we walked in and saw one of our neighbors, but when I saw Mariah's Sunday School teacher I thought, "Oh no, is she hear to learn how to deal with my child?"
Enough of the small talk . . . the seminar was incredible! It was just common sense stuff. No tips, tricks and formulas for raising kids, just common sense stuff. Really, it could be described as "old fashioned" parenting methods. He talked a lot about how psychology had ruined parenting in the last 35-40 years. He also reminded us, more than once, that he was a psychologist.
Ok, I know I've lost most of the people who started reading this, but if you've stuck it out this far, I'll give you one of the things he shared with us. "Let your yes be yes and your no be no!" Sounds biblical? Well, it is. Jesus said it in Matthew 5:37. He asked the question, "How many of you knew that when your parents said something you knew they meant it?" I think every hand in the room went up. He then asked, "Do your children know that your yes means yes and your no means no?" ONE hand went up! We bargain with our kids way too much!
He ended the seminar with this statement, "When you walk into the house tonight call the kids together and declare, 'It's over!'" Our kids were at Amy's parents. So I walked in the door and declared, "Kids, it's over! If you don't like it, take it up with Mimi because she paid for it!"
If you want to know more about John Rosemond you can check him out at www.rosemond.com.
The Tooth Fairy and the Failing Economy
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Saturday, 07 February 09 - 09:59 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in General |
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I thought I was going to fall down the stairs I laughed so hard. As we went up for be the other night we discovered a note Daniel had left for us. He had lost a tooth and we told him he wasn't going to get anything because he'd been talking trash about the tooth fairy. I couldn't resist writing a reply.
Why would he ask for $4? Well, last week David lost a tooth and the tooth fairy left him $2. He was a little disappointed the next morning and I asked him what was wrong. He said, "I thought that was a $4 tooth!" I'm not sure even in a good economy that there are $4 teeth. Who knows, maybe with the Obama "stimulus package" even the tooth fairy will see better days?
I must confess I was a little disappointed in the spelling mistakes, but I was reminded the next day that even high school students make spelling mistakes. I saw yet another facebook status update using the word "tomarrow."
My New Car . . .
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Tuesday, 03 February 09 - 10:25 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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. . . well, it's new to me! Some of you may know that I had a tragic month of December. My computer died, my passport died, and my car died. I had to travel to DC to get a new passport and found out when I landed in DC that my car was not worth repairing. That was good and bad news. Good in that fact that it was a V-8 Suburban and was addicted to Gasoline! I called a friend from the Baltimore airport on my way back from DC and was telling him of all my tragedies and reminding myself that my faith in God was being stretched. It was a few more faith lessons that I needed to learn. 
We hung up the phone and about 30 minutes later he called me back and delivered some great news. He said that his 92 year old uncle could not drive anymore and that they were just going to donate his car. WOW!! I couldn't believe it. God had just given me a car. How does that happen? It happens when you are trusting God to provide. I tell people it's my "Jesus car". Last week one of my friends said, "It's a Holy Roller!" Why am I sharing this? One to give glory to God for his awesome provision of a 1996 Buick Century (that gets a lot better gas mileage than that 1999 Suburban)! Yea God! Two, I posted it for one of my friends in Honduras (Daniel G.). I wanted him to see pictures of my new race car. That's why I drove two miles from my house to take pictures of it at the Carolina Speedway! If you look closely you can see the "welcome race fans" banner on the fence. Three to say Thank You to my friend who was a channel of God's provision! To God be the glory!!
It's that time of year . . .
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Thursday, 22 January 09 - 11:25 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Family |
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Basketball season . . . which means we have 3 kids involved with 3 different teams! That means 3 different games each Saturday. It also means 3 different practice times each week. The good thing about that is that they are all on Thursday evening. I don't know what it's going to be like when we have 5 kids doing 5 different things.
Two weeks ago David scored 18 points in his game and Daniel scored 4. That was really good for both of them. The funny thing was I asked David when we got out of the car, "how many points are you going to score?" to which he stoically replied, "probably all of 'em." After he scored the first 8 points of the game it was like someone on drugs. He couldn't get enough. His coach kept telling him to pass, which he did, but the lure of the basket was just too much.
Now to Mackenzie . . . she's our little cheerleader. She's on the cheerleading "squad". It's not a cheerleading "team". She's quick to let you know it's a "squad". What makes it a squad rather than a team? Who knows. She's just happy to have a stage for everyone to see her!
I'm glad they are involved in sports at our church. It's good to see them interaciting with other kids their age . . . even if they're dreaming of being the next Shaq . . . or is it Okafor!
... More items are available in my News Archive
