Our Own "Gilligan's Island" Adventure

 I know many of you will remember the 70's show "Gilligan's Island", kind of a comedic version of the ABC hit "Lost".  The Burwells recently had a two-week adventure, sponsored and planned by our own Troy "Babe" Burwell, and at times it did feel a bit out of control and not what we expected, perhaps akin to what Gilligan sometimes felt.  95% of the trip was great.  Please don't ask about the other 5%.  Family members who attended have already been asked to sign an NDA on that one.  

Our great, big adventure started in Nairobi, Kenya, where we visited church and family friend Sheila.  Next, we were on to South Africa to see my sister Jennifer and her wonderful South African husband Graham.  Finally, we came back to Nairobi and headed to a beach resort on the Kenyan coast.

As a gift to Troy, for planning our trip and for being a great dad, I have composed a song to celebrate the trip.  As you read the lyrics, try to sing it to the tune of the theme song of "Gilligan's Island".  (As a refresher on this song, check out www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfR7qxtgCgY )

    Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale

    A tale of many sights

    It started from the A-T-L

    on the first of 8 long flights.

    The dad was a very excited man

    the mom was...not so sure

    6 passengers took off in May

    on a 16 day tour, a 16 day tour

    Flight 1 to Paris--8 hours long

    with movies, shows and naps

    And then 8 more to Nairobi

    so long, but no mishaps!

    Finally the fam set ground on this Africa foreign land

    With Superfun Dad

    the Mama too

    the high school grad and her pics

    the funny one

    the cheerleader and her gorgeous sis

    Hello, Africa!

    So this is the tale of the Burwell fam

    They're here for a long, long time

    They'll hang with Sheila and her cows

    giraffes and four wheel rides, giraffes and four wheel rides.

    Sheila and her driver too

    will do their very best

    To keep the Burwells entertained

    It is quite a Jambo test.

    The next leg of the trip, my friends

    Flight number 3

    Johannesberg, South Africa

    Jen and Graham to see.

    With Superfun Dad

    the Mama too

    the high school grad and her pics

    the funny one

    the cheerleader and her gorgeous sis

    More of Africa!

    We're introduced to Indian food

    Then drive a long, long way

    headed to the Kruger

    for an African sa-far-ray, an African sa-far-ray!

    A great big house greets us there

    and even bigger beasts.

    Ku-du, bush buck, and zebras

    We feed them delicious treats.

    Each day we head out in two cars

    And drive and drive and drive.

    Pull out those bi-nocs cause we see

    the famous Big 5, the famous Big 5.

    Kruger favorites must include

    the porch and relaxed moods,

    Time to spend with Graham and Jen,

    And scrumptious African foods.

    Finally it's time for 

    flight number four

    Joberg back to Nairobi    

    And Sheila's here for more.

    We Jambo Jet to Diani

    And stay at a fancy place

    two perfect days of beach and rest

    and monkeys in our space!  Yes, monkeys in our face!

    Flight six and seven and eight are hard

    We fly and fly and fly.

    We all just want to get back home 

    To our Johns Creek paradise.

    With Superfun Dad

    the Mama too

    the high school grad and her pics

    the funny one

    the cheerleader and her gorgeous sis

    Goodbye, Africa!

Thanks, Babe, for creating this adventure for us!  We all whined and complained at various points along the way, but you helped us make lifelong family memories!  We love you.  

But please, next time, can we do like 3 or 4 flights instead of 8?!  

Cate is Hours Away From Graduating!

 My baby girl is about to walk the stage and get her diploma.  Yes, the same one that started kindergarten just last week.  (Or so it seems.). I am so proud of her accomplishments.  She graduates something cum laude.  (It's been a long week--I am not sure on the details.). She has probably got a semester's worth of college credits under her belt already.  She is bravely moving to the freshman (freshwoman?) dorm at University of North Georgia.  This dorm sounds like the ones of yesteryear--like, say, 1990 Berry College.  She will share the room with her bestie, and share a hall bathroom with, um, many others!  Dorm life is the best, and she will love it.  I warned her, "You go to the bathroom to brush your teeth, and you are there for 30 minutes because you were catching up with four hall mates, hearing all the tea!"  It is like nothing else.  

The best thing about Cate is that God has given her a strong faith, and she lives it.  She does not just talk it, read it, and learn about it, although she does do that as well.  But she lives a life of love toward her parents, her siblings, and her friends.  Some man is going to be lucky to get her someday, and she will raise little children that change the world.  Just the predictions of a very biased, but usually right, mom.

For fun, I am including a limerick poem that I wrote for her 18th birthday.  Two important things to know so that you can enjoy this prize-winning poetry experience to the utmost: 1, her middle name is pronounced Jo-Ann.  2, "Joshua" is a reference to singer Joshua Bassett, Cate's star crush.

To My Favorite Birth Child, Catherine Joan Burwell

There once was a daughter named Cate

She was born eleven days late

Petite as could be

Fit my arms perfectly

This was the one for whom I'd prayed

There once was a girl, Catie Jo

With words she was always a pro

Cracker was her first

And many a Bible verse

My, her vocabulary did grow

There once was a girl named Joan

I swear I am her biggest fan

The girl writes SONGS

With a keyboard she belongs

And a pink ukelele in hand

There once was a Mini-me-a

But more talented than I'll ever be-a

Blond hair, blue eyes, big brain!

It's true, she's my twin

Did you see her in this year's Mamamia?

There once was a girl named Burwell

This one, I know her quite well

Her childhood's at an end

But she is becoming my friend

And good news, Joshua, she's legal!

Growing Closer to God...At Public School?! Is That Even LEGAL??

 Yes.  And Yes.

Public schools are allowed to have extracurricular clubs that relate to the faiths of the students.  At Taylor Road Middle School, we have the Jewish Club, the Muslim Club, and FCA, which is short for Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  Ironically, the most unathletic human being you know (me) is the teacher sponsor of this club.  Yes, God shows his sense of humor yet again!  

Really, if I am being honest, most of the kids who come to FCA don't even know what the acronym stands for; they just know that it is the Christian club.  A few years ago, my boss asked me to consider sponsoring this club.  I thought to myself, "You are asking me to share the love and salvation of Jesus with a host of middle school kids...twist my arm."  

Yes, people, we are talking about our Lord and Savior in room 114 of Taylor Road, two Friday mornings per month.  And we are praying.  Yep, prayer in schools.  It's ba-a-a-a-c-c-k!  

One of the values of the FCA ministry (FCA is actually an international ministry!) is raising up leaders.  Each year, I ask 8-10 of our kids to commit to being FCA leaders.  This requires two things.  One, they meet with me two Thursday mornings per month so that we can plan and pray over the Friday meetings.  Two, they serve during the Friday meetings by greeting students, welcoming new faces, leading games, and even straightening up the room when we are done.  Along with the student leaders, there are Taylor Road staff and fellow teachers that help lead the club, from set-up to coordinating breakfasts to "crowd control" during our meetings.  Thank y'all for all you do!!

Each meeting includes breakfast, games (and prizes!), and a speaker.  Our speakers come from three places mainly: the youth staff of Perimeter Church (my local church), the youth staff of North Point Community Church (the great big, Jesus-loving church just down the road from here), and fellow Christian teachers here at Taylor Road.  A shout out to these speakers who wake up way too early on a Friday morning, battle traffic and carpool, and come hang out with kids.  The speakers are the ones who bring the words of life.  They are teaching the kids about God as Creator, Provider, Listener, and Rescuer.  They are engaging, hilarious, and they work for cheap.  (Okay, free.  They work for free.  Rewards in heaven, people!)

The true and unsung FCA heroes, though, are the FCA moms!  These ladies sign up in two's to provide breakfast for the FCA meetings.  (Fun fact: the free and yummy breakfast might be the biggest reason that people of all faiths are willing to try out FCA!  Many a Jewish student has come and checked us out in hopes of scoring a Krispy Kreme or two while they are there.)  I want to give a shout-out to the FCA moms: we could not do this without you.  Having been given a budget of...wait for it...zero dollars, everything we do must be donated.  Y'all being generous means that 50-70 kids hear the gospel every other Friday with big smiles on their donut-crumb-crusted faces.  

We are at the end of our third year of FCA here at TRMS.  Thank you, Lord, for all that you have done for us.  I pray that you are changing these kids, truth by truth, so that they see the world as Yours and themselves as Yours.  Please keep doing it.  

When I first started sponsoring FCA, I thought that it was something that I was doing for God. In true God-fashion, he quickly showed me that it was something he was doing for me...giving me great joy in being able to express my faith in a public school setting, watching him work little miracles two Friday mornings per month, getting to share truth with kids during what is arguably the hardest three years of their lives thus far.  Y'all.  Can y'all believe that he lets us do fun things like this?!  He is just too good to us.