Amy & Mark’s Great Date

So Mark and I decided to spice up our date nights and do something a little different.

Thanks to Buckhead Church’s Married Life group we decided to try…The Great Date Experiment

We’ve only completed date #1, so we’re a little behind but never-the-less…We’re dating.

So date number one had us starting out with cheap appetizers (Mark gets excited about anything that has the word “cheap” or “free” in front of it, so I didn’t have to bribe too much). So of course we set out for cheap appetizers and ended up in McDonalds sharing a biggie fry (Don’t tell Granddad!)

Next we walked to a souvenir shop. (The Great Date Experiment said to go to WalMart or Target, but alas we would have to drive 45 minutes to get to one of those, so souvenir shop it was.) We had $2 to go into the store, split up and buy something for the other person. I of course asked, “Well, what if what I want to buy you is more than $2, Sweetie?” And Mark replied, after putting his wallet away, “Amy. $2 is the MAX amount you can spend…let’s see how much change both of us can bring back. The person that brings the most back, wins.”

Now, let me just tell you…Mark made his choice in like 15 seconds and he was out the door waiting on a nearby bench for me to come join him. I however, made 985,982,001 choices before I walked up to the counter to pay with my $2. When I walked up to the counter the sweet, old, Iranian man behind the counter asked me if I worked anywhere. I told him that, yes, I did have a job but my husband was a full time grad student and he needed a job. The sweet, old, Iranian man said, “We are 4 men and 1 woman here. I want YOU to work here. Not him.” Bahahahahaha!

So I went outside (holding his prize behind my back) and I asked Mark, “Sooooo, how much change did YOU bring back Mister?” He said, “$1.01, what about you Missy?” And I smiled as big as I could and said, “.71 cents and a FLIPPIN JOB OFFER!”

I got him Cheetos because they’re his favorite snack and his friends at school make fun of him for eating them in his lunch so he doesn’t take them anymore…so I bought him some! Mark bought me sunflower seeds because back when we were dating I taught him how to appropriately eat sunflower seeds. His previous method of eating them was just to chew them up, shell and all. This makes for an unpleasant experience the next morning so he was happy to be taught how to eat them the right way. Good gift babe.

Then it was off to dessert! I looooove ice cream so we walked to our nearest Italian restaurant and shared some Neapolitan ice cream with pistachio’s and cherries. MMMMMM! We answered questions like, “I look at you and say wow because _____” There were a few tears at this section, I’m not going to lie.

This was such an easy date night to do! Mark and I decided we wanted to walk everywhere…So we walked to McDonalds, walked to pizza place, walked to souvenir shop, walked to ice cream and then walked back home. It was GREAT to be outside and to have all that uninterrupted time to talk to one another.

So here’s my encouragement to you - it’s easy. Go start the GREAT DATE EXPERIMENT!

Registration is now open.  For more information and to register visit www.labordayretreat.org.

Yesterday, Jeff began a series entitled The Waiting Room and challenged us to have a heart to heart conversation with our Heavenly Father.  After all, He knows our struggles and our desires.  We handed out prayer cards to help you remember to take your fear, frustration, anxiety and worry to our God who loves us when you find yourself in the waiting room throughout the week.

If you were beaching it this weekend or didn’t get a prayer card, you can listen to the message here and download a prayer card here.

Have a great week!

Amber Blossom

My dad hates to wait.  He avoids anywhere you have to wait in a line: amusement parks, fairs, concerts, popular restaurants, doctor’s offices, highways, the Apple store.  He’ll go out of his way to avoid waiting.
I can’t blame him.  It can be downright painful to wait.  Even on a day when I’m feeling relatively patient, I can be pushed over the edge by the slowpokes around me who make a typical waiting period all the more exacerbated.

I have yet to meet someone who enjoys waiting.  We are a hurry-up-and-get-it kind of people.  You’ve heard the description before: fast food, fast cars, fast internet, fast fast and faster.  We can’t waste time here! We’ve got places to go, people to see, things to accomplish and check off the list.

The emotional angst of waiting makes for a great song, too.  There are a ton of songs about waiting…songs we find ourselves singing along to while we wait in traffic.  Do you recognize any of these:

It’s not that we don’t care,
We just know that the fight ain’t fair
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change.
–John Mayer “Waiting on the World to Change”

There has been no one brighter than you
I can’t deny these things that I do
Feels like the world’s at stake ’cause
I have been waiting
I have been waiting for you.
–Seal “Waiting for You”

But Lord knows that this world is cruel
And I ain’t the Lord, no I’m just a fool
Loving somebody don’t make them love you
Must I always be waiting waiting on you?
Must I always be playing playing your fool?
-Jack Johnson “Sitting, Wishing, Waiting”

So baby I will wait for you
Cause I don’t know what else I can do
Don’t tell me I ran out of time
If it takes the rest of my life, I’ll wait for you.
–Elliot Yamin “Wait for You”

This is obviously a common experience among us.  So here’s my question: why does it bother us so much?  Why are we frustrated to the point of avoidance, anger and busting into creative lyricism over a little time spent waiting?

Sorry, no answers here, just something to mull over for the day.
My two cents: fear.  When I am caught waiting with nothing I can do about it…I’m scared.  I’m scared that what I’m waiting for isn’t going to happen, won’t have been worth it, or will turn out to be not want I really desire after all.

How about you?  How do you feel about waiting?  Why do you think it can cause such a struggle?

Amber Blossom

Promo: “The Waiting Room” from North Point Media on Vimeo.

One of the reasons we’re doing this series is that we’ve heard so many stories of people waiting.  Waiting for the economy to turn-around. Waiting for a job.  Waiting for a spouse, a baby.  Waiting.

What are you waiting for?  How can we pray for you as we begin this series?

Jeff Henderson

Many of you probably know we have a partnership with Woodson Elementary School. Buckhead Church loves Woodson. We love the students, the principal, the dedicated teachers, and staff. We have provided shoes, food, creative services, a staff lounge, and hundreds of hours of volunteer hours there.

Some of those volunteer hours have been contributed by Tonia Hau and her community group. Tonia’s group started volunteering at Woodson as part of their desire to lend a hand in the community. As they have spent more time at Woodson, serving there has become part of the DNA of their women’s group.

Tonia’s group has loved and served the students and staff at Woodson Elementary in a number of creative ways. They have bought dozens of donuts for Friday morning treats, and read loads of books to kindergarteners. They most recently hosted an end-of-year Luau-themed Teacher Appreciation breakfast to thank the staff for all their hard work. Tonia loves the Woodson students so much that for birthday this year, she asked friends and family to donate uniforms so the students could participate in afterschool programs like dance, gymnastics and boy scouts. Even this summer, while most of us are enjoying vacation, the ladies are making plans for a back-to-school supply drive for the students so that when they walk in on the first day each child will have new pencils and notebooks.

Tonia and her group now have relationships with the students and teachers at Woodson Elementary– what started as an Intersect project has become a way of life for Tonia’s group. And instead of going just to give, they find that they leave from Woodson inspired and with a desire to do more.

It is a privilege to see love in action as Tonia and her group serve Woodson so well.

Kate Mitcham

Groups Director

Buckhead is known as a singles church since more than 65% of the folks who attend here are single. Imagine our surprise earlier this year when we quickly starting running out of room in Waumba Land, our environment for pre-schoolers. (I guess this means our singles are meeting and getting married!)

Today, we started building additional space in order to accommodate more children here at Buckhead. The construction should be done within the next few weeks, and we are working hard to make sure it doesn’t impact what happens on Sundays in Waumba. To that point, feel free to offer thanks to our Waumba staff and volunteers who work so hard to create a great experience for our pre-schoolers and their families.

Comment here and we’ll send them an email letting them read what you have to say on the blog.

Jeff Henderson

If that was not enough, the weekend will be focused around ‘dateability’ because we know you have more questions than answers when it comes to dating and healthy relationships.

Registration opens Sunday, June 28th so make sure to reserve your spot  and join us at the beach for Labor Day!  Visit labordayretreat.org for more information and to register.

Here are three quick steps to follow that will help you make the most of your family night:

1. As a family, watch the Mr. Take-Out video to get hyped about the night.
2. Download the instructions so you’ll know what to do to get ready.
3. Parents only, watch the Parent Secrets video on our Parents Page.

Even if you haven’t joined in before, this family night is for you!

Let us know what you think about the video.

More details on the way.

Jeff