shirts

kids sizes

XS (2-4)S (6-8)M (10-12)L (14-16)

MOVED!

hey guys! i have moved my blog...
sorry for the annoyance of updating RSS feeds, bloglines, etc...
i know, i know...

i have moved to:

www.aaronivey.wordpress.com

thanks for updating! see you there.

heading home

our stretch of summer dates has come to an end. 49 days of playing almost every night of the week. we've had a few days off here and there, but none of them count because we've either been driving or just stopping at home for a quick hello. can i please say, IM READY FOR HOME!

not whining, i promise.

i'll be home for almost 3 weeks straight with nothing but FAMILY TIME! jamie and the kids have three weeks of fun planned, including swimming, the zoo, walks, bike rides, cookouts on the patio, and building castles every day of the week. CANNOT WAIT.

it's been a good summer. a quick one, but a good one.
i hope that i get to experience a bit of recharge in the next month or so...
i honestly feel drained, overspent, and a bit monotonous.

but i trust that God has been glorified, and has brought enlightenment to people that we have been with over these 45 days. i trust that God has stirred and prodded through the words, lyrics, songs He has poured into me. i am humbled that i have been used in someone elses life. i am in awe of the fact that Almighty has used a weak, fleshly person like me to speak to someone else.

God is using you today whether you realize it or not.

crazy christians part 2

GodTube
MyPraize
Conservapedia

another series of original ideas from Christians...

trend?

for whatever reason, there's been a bit of "debating" on savethesloth.com lately over the issue of the "trend" of social justices. i'd love for you to watch the Think of Me video and read the comments that have followed that video. it's been good to have so many comments and discussions about the subject.

i am a bit ticked off at something lately. it feels like things like social justice, adoption, need awareness etc is now being labeled as a trend by cynics in the church circles. i can't tell you how many times i've heard, "well it's just really trendy right now for people to be speaking about social justice and all..." as if to be critical of the fact that people are suddenly being a bit more aware of the needs of those around us. a few have commented on the savethesloth.com site about being "concerned that Gen Xers are caught up in the social justice trend."

really? critical of people getting into campaigns to end child slavery, hunger, poverty, HIV and malaria, homelessness, and child prostitution?

sounds a bit like getting mad at Jesus for healing the sick on the Sabbath. angry that he was doing something that seemingly offended their religion, instead of seeing it as an extension of the truth and something that embellished religion...bringing life from death...bringing site from blindness...movement from staleness.

when jamie and i were thinking/talking about adoption i heard a few times stuff to the affect of: "oh sweet, you guys are jumping on that adoption bandwagon, huh?" subtle but blatant suggestions that adoption is just a fad or a trend. another example when celebrities adopt children from other countries (madonna, angelina jolie) alot of people say they are just joining a fad or trying to get media attention... REALLY? we're going to knock someone for bringing about change in the world? for taking an orphan without hope love or shelter and giving them a home and hope? really? we're going to call that a fad?

isn't it cheap to call social justice movements or adoption a FAD?!

EVEN IF a pimple-face middle school boy buys a t-shirt from the RED campaign because it's the popular thing to do... is that not at least a step in the right direction for Mr. Pimple? i mean we have people moving in the direction of caring about social issues? we can't knock them off their feet just because we think it may be rooted in being cool, popular, or trendy...

my why questions...part 4

why do we all rubberneck?
why do incredibly religious people intimidate me?
why would anyone want to live in Lousiana? (its so dang hot)
why is something that tastes so GOOD so BAD for you?
why would anyone settle for an unhappy marriage?
why is it that i dont feel comfortable with church small groups?
why do my eyes start to get really watery when i see my oldest son ride his bike?
why does most Christian music make me pissy?
why do i feel so badly for lonely people sitting in a coffee shop?
why don't i get up and sit with a lonely person in a coffee shop?
why does everyone on a small record label want to be on a big record label, while everyone on a big record label wants to be on a small record label?
why do i have no interest at all in a new iphone?
why are there 27 million people still in slavery across the world today?
why do statistics not effect me like they should?
why don't i do the things i know i should do?
why does an ambulance driving by frighten me?
why do we wait?

hot lousiana

wow, this place is hot. right now is the first time i have felt cool (temperature) since i got here yesterday. its so HOT! the restaurants are hot, the venue, the hotel lobby, the car, outside, everwhere is bleaming hot. last night we got here in Ruston Louisiana because we are playing at Lousiana Tech University.

the weekend was great...hung out with my family and loved EVERY SECOND of it. taught Cayden how to ride his new spiderman bike, helped Deacon ride his tricycle (he cant reach the peddles), and watched movies on the couch with my beautiful wife. good good times.

after friday, i'll be home for almost three weeks. can't wait! until then, i'll be sweating my face off (and wearing the same pair of shorts everyday because i only brought one pair) in HOT LOUISIANA!

different people

i think it's healthy to be around people that are different than ourselves. it's important to make sure we are allowing ourselves to commune with people that have different lives, jobs, backgrounds, ethnicities, and ideas.

today, we went to a birthday party of a little girl that is in Deacon's preschool class. i didnt know the family, but jamie did. i actually only knew a handful of people (and of those, only casually). i was excited to see there were a few different races represented at the birthday party (which you know i get frustrated at the lack of diversity i'm around typically). i thought about how important it is to NOT be around just the same people all that time. usually we are ALL most comfortable being around people "like" us. whether that means the same interests, likes, talents, social class (whatever that means, right?)... you know, people that we think are "like us" is what we tend to surround ourselves with. i'm frustrated with that in my own life, and i think it's necessary and important for us NOT to be contained to our own little bubbles and circles.

i went to a black barber shop yesterday with Deacon. i say black barber shop not because i penned it that way, but because that's what it is. i walk in with Deacon in my arms, while 6 black men cut 6 black men's hair. a guy named Greg cut Deacon's hair and we had a little bit of good conversation. it was great. i could have easily taken Deacon to a little redneck barber shop on the square, but isn't there something healthy about not just going to what's typical and "normal?" i'm sure it wasn't "normal" for a white guy with a black kid to walk in to the shop yesterday... but it should be normal for us to be around all sorts of people at all times.

sometimes i think i'm too idealistic... but NOT on this issue. we as people are in the wrong for ONLY surrounding ourselves with people that are just like us. we miss out, others miss out, and overall i think the world is a better place when we are interacting and communing with all sorts of people.

it takes a little more work to have conversation with a neonatal surgeon when you're a manager at Motel 6. it's less comfortable for the guy who is divorced and hates his life to have in depth conversation with the happily married guy who loves his life. but how much is there to be learned by both parties when we interact with people that are "different" than us.

i mean, are we really THAT different after all?