So much has happened since Micah and Angela's wedding - it has been very busy around here. The Boomerang Express, ie vacation Bible school, was the first week of June. Dawn was there early every morning and late every night. Since it was during the day, I only got to help at family night on wednesday. The decorations were so cool! There were Australian animals everywhere including kangaroos, koalas, and even crocodiles! They weren't real of course, but were very life-like foam boards made by one of the moms. There was also a mountain scene and a train. Dawn tried to get the zoo to bring some Australian animals, but that didn't work out. During the family night, I had to play doctor when a little girl hurt her shoulder in the bounce house. She was ok, but you would have thought the arm had fallen off from everyone's reaction!
The next week Dawn went with the Youth choir from the church on their choir tour to Florida. They sang at a church and some nursing homes. They also did some service projects. One project involved the choir going to a family's house to help them pack their house to move to another state. Let's just say it wasn't the cleanest house. Also, the guys went to the local zoo for some maintenance work. They helped clean some tree limbs from the gorilla exhibit, but the gorillas were placed in lock-down while they worked - or so they thought. The gorilla exhibit was an island of land and trees surrounded by water. To get to the island they had to take a little boat across the water. The zookeeper said that if a gorilla got loose they needed to get into the water as quickly as possible. While they were working Roro (youth minister) looked up to see a gorilla walking down the ramp from the enclosure to the island! As Roro started to panic, ran behind the zookeeper and just about to dive into the water, the zookeeper pointed out that the ramp lead to another island so the gorilla couldn't get to the one they were on. Meanwhile, the girls were at the beach passing out popcicles and Gospel tracts while the boys were being taunted by the gorilla.
The weekend after Dawn got back, we met our friends Richard and Sheralyn in Gulfport, MS at the beach. It was a great day for the beach except for the wind. It seems like every time we've been to that beach it's very windy. Afterwards we went to the best all you can eat catfish restaurant ever - Catfish Charlies.
Next on the calendar was kids camp and junior camp about 50 miles from our house. The kids had a lot of fun and Dawn did too. I was able to go visit one evening but had to come back home the same evening for work the next morning. That weeekend my parents came to visit. We went to the Audubon Plantation where the famous painter first started his works. There were people dressed in period costumes and demonstrating life in the 1800's. We even got to sample some of the period's cuisine cooked oven an open hearth. The plantation had a pet turkey - that's right. A live turkey that would follow us around and puff his feathers. He was very funny and pretty.
On monday, my parents left for home and Dawn and I left for X-Camp for the middle schoolers. Dawn was going for the whole week but my vacation didn't start until wednesday so I was planning to get there the second evening (tuesday) for the rest of the camp as a helper. But, work was kind of getting to me and Roro really needed another male helper, so I called in sick on monday and tuesday *cough cough* Dawn and I were in charge of inspecting the bunk houses. We dressed up as famous detectives to present the awards for best and worst bunks as well as the occasional embarrassing item to show the group! She was Inspector Clouseau (pink panther) and I was Magnum P.I. with very short shorts. Camp was a lot of fun and a few kids got saved! And we got to know the kids a lot better.
On the last night of camp I got some pool water in my ear that wouldn't come out. I put some alcohol in it to dry it up but when I did, all of the sudden I couldn't hear from that ear! I panicked for a while thinking I had perforated by ear drum, but then I realized it probably would have hurt or bled. The good thing was that I slept really good that night because I couldn't hear any noises! Since Dawn and I were leaving for Cancun the day after we got home from camp, I wanted to get the hearing thing fixed before we left. I went to see the ENT dr I rotated with in May and he pulled out a HUGE piece of ear wax that had come loose and blocked my ear. My hearing came back immediately. It's kind of embarrassing. haha!
View from our room
That night Dawn and I stayed up late packing for Cancun and got up early enough to be at the airport for our 6.30 am flight. Our trip was amazing. We stayed at the Excellence Playa Mujeres resort just north of Cancun with three other couples from church and two of their single friends. The resort was beautiful and so relaxing. We would sleep in late every day, have a late breakfast, lounge by the pool or at the beach, eat a late lunch, lounge again, then get ready for a really later dinner. We usually finished dinner around 10.30. By that time, Dawn and I were so tired, we usually went to bed but our friends would hang out in one of their rooms - usually the room with the indoor/outdoor pool!
Most of our time was spent at the resort, but one day we all went on a "shopping tour". We went to an outdoor market where we could bargain with the store owners. Most of the stuff was silly souveneir stuff and not the authentic handmade stuff. I bought a pair of sunglasses and Dawn got a couple necklaces. We also ate some authentic tacos against the advice of our friends. Then we went to a big indoor, air conditioned store with a lot of the same stuff for about the same price as we had bargained down the store owners before! Oh well, the bargaining in Spanish was fun. At the indoor store, I bought a whole bag full of Mexican candies and an apple flavored soda - YUM YUM! Dawn bought vanilla extract. Next we went to an upscale, outdoor mall. Dawn and I had some organic frozen yogurt and she bought a Kariza wrap. It's an Indian-inspired garmet that can be worn 100 ways: as a skirt or a dress - I didn't know there were so many variations of skirts and dresses! It is very pretty but I had to help Dawn put it on - definitely a two person job.
View of our room - it came with sexy man at no charge!
Our friends!
We got back home tuesday night and had to go to work the next day. It was my first day at work as a second year resident! Then on sunday I was on call for the first time as a second year with a first year holding the pager and looking to me for answers...scary! It went smoothly but we were busy all night.
On monday, Dawn left me yet again, this time for senior camp for the high school youth. I've been watching a lot of tv and movies and I replanted some plants into larger pots. I've eaten a lot of left over food so now the refridgerator is cleaned out and I've had time to write this blog! Tonight I was prepared to teach a lesson for the elementary kids at church, but no one showed up. Maybe it was because of the weather: heavy rain and the loudest thunder I've ever heard! Tomorrow night is a meeting for the volunteers for Rock the River so I'll be heading to that and taking notes for Dawn. She will be back on Friday afternoon - Yeah!
- Jordan
P.S. Find us on facebook to see more pictures of our summer activities.
On the Back Row starting on your left : Chuck Lowman (Associate Pastor), Dawn Downing (Director of Children's Ministries), Adam Holcomb (Minister of Music)
This is a picture from ROCK THE RIVER the Franklin Graham Evangelism Concert that we just had here in Baton Rouge. Over 200 people trusted in Christ as their personal Savior. The girls in the picture with me are from our church. Laura and Brandi were in my devotion group at Senior Camp and they have helped out with several other camps this summer. They are off to LSU and Southeastern University this fall so I have been soaking up the opportunities to get to know them before they get off and get busy with college stuff. They are girls after God so I continue to pray for them. 
