Dixon Family Blog

[singlepic=512,400,300,,]

If you don’t know yet, I am the Youth Director at our church. One of the big events we do each year is summer camp. The goal of youth camp is to get away from all the distractions of this world and focus on Jesus through worship, prayer, and sermons. It is also a chance for me to get to know the youth and the youth to get to know me (and the AMAZING Kyle Kerby).

Answered Prayer List…

Amy did not go into labor while I was gone. Praise God for answering our prayers! AMEN!

We made it there and back safely.

Traveling….

The trip down to Zephyr Baptist Encampment took about 9 hours. We were traveling with a large youth group from another church in the area, so like any trip with 60 people and 5 vehicles it took a while to get there. My wonderful wife made snack packs for the kids and me (mmm…rice crispy treats!). Kyle brought some UNO cards for the kids to entertain themselves on the bus.

Weather…

Miserable. Hot and dry the entire time.

Food…

I will let the video speak for itself.

Worship…

The worship was lead by The Commonground Band. They were excellent worship leaders and pretty good basketball players. Tuesday afternoon me and four CGB band members mopped the floor with all the youth in basketball (ask Jay about it).

Teaching…

The theme of the week was Heroes. Each sermon was focused on a hero of the bible. We heard about the faith of Moses’ parents, Joesph, Mary Madelene, and Steven. The purpose of the heroes theme was to teach the students to persevere in their faith. In our church time sessions and we spent a lot of time in the book of Hebrews going over the doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints (XIII). All throughout the week I encouraged the youth to daily spend time reading the word, praying, memorizing scripture, and to find heroes who not only lived, but died to the glory of God.

Fun Times…

We played paintball, swam, basketball, ultimate Frisbee, tubed, blogged (not online), UNO, dodge ball, and all other sorts of weird games. We even came up with some good, “you have to be there” type of inside jokes (“YEAH!!!, and “YOU!”).

It was a great trip and I’m looking forward to next year!

Check out the Photos!

As of right now, we have (at most) 18 days, 3 hours and 25 minutes to go until baby time! We can’t wait for Sage to grace us with her presence. While we still have a lot of organizing, etc. to do, (see, we are both pretty super procrastinators) we really aren’t very stressed about it at all. We are just really excited more and more every day. And I keep accidentally buying cute baby girl clothes…I just can’t resist! Here is a picture of my latest impulse purchase:

You Are My Sunshine
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You’ll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don’t take my sunshine away.

This song is special to me because my mom used to sing it to me all the time when I was little and when I was in Tyler last week, she sang it to Sage as well. So…I saw this shirt and couldn’t resist it!

A few reflections from reading this week:

Psalm 101:3a “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.” Hello conviction…

Psalm 102:18 “Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD” I pray that I will impart to Sage how glorious the Lord is in all the earth. I want Sage and her generation to remember God’s faithfulness and “praise the LORD!”

Psalm 103:13-14 ” As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” How compassionate are we toward our (unborn) children, and God really feels that way toward us? We are so undeserving, yet he loves the dust.

Psalm 103:17-18 “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to keep his commands.” This verse made me think of when Sage will have kids! Hard to think of, but I pray that the Lord will help me teach her to fear Him and that she will keep his covenant and commands.

Deut. 14:2 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” That is a lot of people for God to choose from, and since he chose me, I dang better act holy for Him and His glory.

And…the D. A. Carson quote of the week:

“If we have everything but God’s forgiveness, we have nothing of worth; if we have God’s forgiveness, everything else of value is also promised”

Last, here is our latest picture of Sage from this week’s doctor visit, weighing in at 6lbs. 7 oz. and having a full head of hair:

Well I went to the doctor yesterday and praise the Lord for another healthy check up! The heartbeat was good and she is still measuring big big big. The doctor thought that she was already between 5 1/2 to 6 pounds! That seems really big considering she has another month to go! The doctor said that given my narrow arch and how big the baby already is that unless I have some kind of mad birthing skills, she recommends a c-section (which I am totally OK with) and she actually scheduled it! I have a date for the birth of Sage, given she stays in that long. Anyway, June 30th at 11:30 am, Sage is scheduled to be brought into the breathing air world. That gives me LESS THAN FOUR WEEKS to get ready for her to be here and learn how to be a good mom!! Less than four weeks… yikes. We are having another sonogram next week on Tuesday to get a more specific idea of how much she weighs. Bonus, more baby pics coming soon!

Cody is traveling a lot this week so keep him in your prayers!