“When Autumn Leaves Start to Fall…” October 29, 2009

Man… Sometimes being on the road makes time go by so slow… but then I realize that the last time I posted something was over a week and a half ago… and then I am ashamed… and I realize that time is FLYING BY!

 

This Monday marked our 1 month anniversary of being on the road. GEEZE. Some moments I, thankfully, don’t remember life with a defined schedule ( sleep, eat, work, play) and then some moments I wake up in a hotel room and I think.. Where am I? am I late for work??

 

The funniest times (when I realize how long we have been away) are when I wake up thinking “It’s 8:30am… I wonder if the kids are up and headed to breakfast… or if I can sleep a little bit longer… I wonder if we could find a good pumpkin patch today or a good playground… the kids would really love that…” and then I realize… I am functioning on family time. And I really love that.

 

Since the last post, we spent a lot of time in Chicago. I think it was me and Ben’s favorite stop on the “big trip” so far. Being in different cities, and seeing the culture change from one place to another has really caused us to dream about what kind of life we want, what kind of places we see ourselves living, what kind of environment we see God using us in. All really fun stuff to think about. Overwhelming at times, but really fun.

Reasons Chicago is at the top of the list:

1. Amazing Public Transportation – (ability to get rid of our hoopdie cars that break down biweekly)
2. BYOB – Thats right folks… you can bring your own booze to restaurants! 
3. The Skyline – During the day or at night, the Chicago skyline can make any city lover sigh. It’s huge and breath taking.
4. H&M has 4 floors. ‘Nuff said
5. The zoo is FREE
6. Andrew explained it best as a “clean version of NYC”
7. Oh yea… don’t forget… deep dish pizza that weighs about 8 pounds per pie. YUM. 

So, Chicago, perhaps we will see you again some day. We wouldn’t mind it one bit.

 

But as for now.. we are settled in to our hotel in Indiana for about another 5 days, and fall has hit us, head on. The trees are ridiculous… the fields are amazing… and all of it reminds me daily that we are SOOO blessed to be experiencing the country the way that we are. We have witnessed fall in 3 different states now, and in each one it is more surprisingly beautiful than the last. Texas was fall on the ranch, Chicago was fall on the lake, and Indiana is fall on the farm. 

 

So cheers to leaving Chicago.

Cheers to our stay in Indiana.

Cheers to our amazing team that we get to experience it all with.

And cheers to fall… 

Peace & Love,

Ben & Maddie

LA, AK, TX – ‘Merica October 14, 2009

Well it has been quite the week. Lots of driving! From Shreveport, LA – to Texas – Back to Shreveport, LA – To Arkansas – A brave attempt to make it back to Longview, Tx (which turned out to have a few glitches, such as a busted fuel pump and a really really late evening) and then finally to Dallas, TX

 

One of the greatest highlights of the week, I think we would all agree, was our stay in Arkansas. The Sing families opened up their homes to our team and also organized an AMAZING Broken Voices official Benefit Roping. Brace yourself East Cobb, this included legitimate cowboys, real horses, and the roping of cattle as a sport. It was an amaaazing blessing to our team in so many ways, and also such a fun time to be a part of something so new and different from our every day routine!

We also got to spend an entire Saturday out on the Sing’s farm. 

1. We rode horses.
2. We played with puppies.. Well, really just this one puppy (Ben named him Booker, I call him Booger)
3. Cody the cowboy let us help him herd cattle on our horses (sooo awesome)
4. And then of course, on Sunday, We partied at the rodeo!

All in all… we couldn’t have asked for a better experience! We had such a blast. It was amazing to get a breath of cold/fresh air and to spend a few days out of the hotel environment. 

Other Maddie & Ben highlights:

• Ben is now the favorite friend for many young team members, namely Cole. He is daily learning that holding kids is not THAT scary. It is fun and beautiful to watch.
• I am on another knitting frenzy. Ample time in the van, and the crafty women I’m surrounded by, have made me craft crazy.
• Ben and I are learning daily how to pick our battles and resolve conflict when we don’t always have the luxury of having personal yell at each other time. Such a fun lesson to learn. We’ll keep you posted.

We are still so pumped every time we roll into a new city. Every one is so different, and we have so much joy as the scene changes and we are reminded, once again, that we are bringing such an important & inspiring message to more and more students each day. We are trusting that God is awakening hearts to live out their intended purpose in His huge story, and as feedback and comments roll-in after each event, we are believing more and more that it’s true. 

Peace & Love

Ben & Maddie

 

A Rainy Day in Mississippi October 4, 2009

Today is Sunday. Tomorrow we officially call it “gone for one week.” Its also the day our fast food dreams end, and we begin our healthy nightmare, Medifast.

Hold on to your seats folks, Ben and I are about to get sexy (separately, only in a “we look good” sense…).

Moving on…

We have had a small break from events over the weekend, and are really looking forward to this next week, packing up camp, and high-tailing it out of Clinton. I think we saw the whole town, on our first day. They have a college, fast food, and playgrounds galore. Awesome, but I feel like there might be more to ‘Merica.

Example of a day in Clinton MS:

Adventure #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yup, thats us. See-Sawin’.

 

 

 

Adventure #2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yup, that’s us. Monkey climbin’.

 

 

 

 

Story Time: Last night, a Saturday evening on the town, we decided to pack everyone into the family van, grab some grub, and head out to a movie in the park that we had seen advertised online. After following GPS (Trusty Dan) to multiple parks lacking in modern amenities, we finally found our winner. As we pulled in, Andrew makes one of his famous “what if” statements, “how hilarious would it be if the movie in the park was actually just a little TV screen in the clubhouse?” We all laugh, and then drop our jaws in amazement as we pass a small clubhouse in the park, where through the window we see 4 small children and 2 adults in a room with 20 chairs, watching the movie that Caleb has been excitedly screaming about for 2 hours “Big Dog! My Fav-o-wit!”

But luckily when you are with people you love, you can make a fun night out of any misfortune. We played on the playground for a long time and had a great Saturday night out on the town in Clinton, MS. 

 

Tomorrow is an editing day at the hotel, and Tuesday we hit the dusty trail again to head off to Shreveport, LA… We think??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will keep you posted!

Until then…

Peace & Love,

Ben & Maddie

 

 

Jackson, MS October 2, 2009

Well – It is day 3 in Jackson (Clinton) MS. We have had 4 events here in town so far, and have had great responses and a lot of fun. 

 

We are put up in the fabulous Holiday Inn Express and we are enjoying the life of not worrying about paying the electric bill. My AC is consistently set somewhere between 62 and 64 degrees Fahrenheit. I take unlimited showers of unlimited length (which amounts to a shower every other day because showering still takes time and effort you know?)

 

Ben is sharing his room with our lovely teammate Kevin, but I however, get a room all to myself  (thanks to the social norms of male/female cohabitation limits)

It has been a blessing and eye opener being the resident nanny for four amazing kids with energy to boot. It is really fun to figure out what their favorite things are, how to calm them down, what their danger of choice is (usually each-other). They make the day way more fun, and i think i am gaining serious upper body strength from my new role of child transportation. We are quickly learning how to live and function as a big family, and its more beautiful every day.

 

So – to sign off this edition of the adventures of Ben and Maddie (heavy on the Maddie, light on the Ben), we will introduce you to the team members under the age of 4. 

 

Caleb & Cole (Best friends & Worst enemies)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

J Baby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           Gavin – the giggler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well that’s it for now, I’ll keep you posted!

 

Peace & Love,

Ben & Maddie

The Start of Something New… September 25, 2009

Welp – We did it. Entered blogger world.

I think I like it here…

Creating this site kind of felt like those days when I was 7 and re-arranged my room for the 3rd time in a year. A new space to organize, start fresh, create from the ground up, and call my own. But like my bedroom, I’m still sharing… but this time with my fiance. Ow owww!

So quick re-cap on life..

• Ben and I got engaged on September 12, 2009!
• We both have digs in the dirty dirty (that’s what the cool kids are calling Atlanta these days)
• We are leaving on Monday, September 28th for a two month long tour with a non-profit organization called Broken Voices. There are a couple links (over to the right) to things you might want to know about them.

We are loving where we are at right now. Feels good to quit our day jobs and travel. The kind of thing we wished we would be doing at the ripe ages of 22 and 23 We are excited about  what God will reveal to us through our time with BV and we are excited to be used as part of His greater story in such a fun way over the next couple months.

With the rate of changing life these days, we figured blogging would be a great way to stay connected. So, please feel free to tune in every now and then. We promise to keep you updated on stories, pictures, events, thoughts, and any other vain attempts to type about Ourselves that we can think of.

Peace & love,

Ben and Maddie