I grew up in the era when the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) bracelets and T-shirts were all the craze. I had a good selection of them myself, and even bought a FROG (Forever Relying On God) bracelet, before I realized it wasn't as "cool" as the other one. I still love the concept, although I don't like how a good reminder to walk as Jesus walked became a commercialized marketing ploy. But... it is still a good reminder.

Do you have anyone in your life that you would like to model your choices after? Other than Jesus himself I mean. If you were going to design a 2nd hypothetical bracelet to remind you to be a better person, do you have another name you could throw in there?For me, I have a couple names.

WWDD. What would dad do? My dad is a quirky fellow at times, (as many kids feel about their own parents), but I respect him so much. His greatest "quirk," is his absolute inability to lie. He his unbelievable terrible at telling a joke, playing a board game, or even card game that requires him to bluff, or stretch the truth. He has difficulty selling a car without telling away all the problems with it to a potential buyer, and he once bought me a lemon car, because he trusted the seller's word. But to him, honesty matters a great deal. So for me, a WWDD bracelet would be a fantastic accessory.

WWBD. What would Bohall do? Jeremy Bohall that is. Sgt Bohall and I were in the Marine Corps together at a time when I needed a strong Christian friend near me perhaps more than at any time in my life. I was 19, and Bohall was just a year older, but he personified who I wanted to become as a Marine, and as a man. Bohall was a different kind of Marine than anyone else I served with. He wasn't loud, and he wasn't intimidating, but when he spoke people listened. When he led people followed. It was and is very refreshing.

Jeremy's been incredibly loyal to me as a friend, and has been there for me in many of the most pivotal moments in my life.... and he has done so from the other side of the globe. He and his wife Petra are missionaries in Croatia. Bohall encouraged and inspired me to become a worship leader and pastor, and he is my favorite musician to play with... on any instrument. He is a man of absolute character and resolve, and undoubtedly would have a number of guys kicking a WWBD if they could.

Do you have a "What Would [Insert Name Here] Do" person? You should. In fact, you probably already do if you think about it. Maybe you should tell them thanks. This article is one way of me doing it. How will you do it?

This is what Erin gave me for valentines day this year. It hangs in our bathroom, and we each write something on it most every day. It's right at a month now, and I can't tell you how nice it is to walk in there late at night and be surprised about something your spouse has said. I love how creative my beautiful wife is!

original video source

We almost had our house burn down last Sunday morning. I am so grateful to God that 2 men stopped and put it out even before I could get outside. Then, before we got their names or anything like that, they were gone! Angels? Maybe. Used by God. Absolutely. So thank mr silver Ford Escape driver and your friend. We are so thankful for you!

1. A possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.
2. There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 of them live in SC.
3. There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 of them live in SC.
4. If it grows, it'll stick ya. If it crawls, it'll bite ya.
5. 'Onced' and 'Twiced' are words.
6. It's not a shopping cart, it's a buggy.
7. Jaw-P means did ya'll go to the bathroom?
8. People actually eat and grow okra.
9. Fixinto is one word.
10. There is no such thing as lunch, there is only dinner and supper.
11. Sweet tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it in your sippy cup.
12. You switch from heat to AC in one day.
13. You know what a "dawg" is.
14. You carry jumper cables in your car for your own car.
15. Going to Wal-Mart is known as goin to Wally World.
16. The first day of deer season is a national holiday.
17. You understand these jokes and send them to your sc friends

Thanks to Brian for sharing this with me!

As a worship leader, one of the hardest things for me to do is to pick only 2-3 songs. Typically I plan to have 6 songs a week during the service, so honing it in to 1/2 that is hard for me. There are thousands of great hymns and praise songs, like there are thousands of great verses in scripture. How can 2-3 songs encompass everything you want to say? Well, they can't. No more than 2-3 verses can encompass the entire Bible.

So, I have to think about worship planning like a pastor preaching a 5 minute sermon. A 5 minute sermon does not allow for a long sermon outline covering an entire book. A 5 minute sermon must be direct and to the point, with life application that can be easily remembered at lunch an hour later. So the question I have to keep in mind, is: what is the one thing I want people to take away from their time of worship.

As many of you know from reading our story over at thewilsonheart.com , our beautiful son Josiah passed away at 8 months old of a rare congenital heart defect. In planning his memorial service, I felt very strongly that I needed to lead the music for the service. Why? We really wanted a time of worship and celebration that would have a lasting impact, rather than just a few good songs to move the memorial service along. I felt this would be difficult for anyone to do without having personally known Josiah. So, I needed to pick 2-3 songs.

After a ton of wrestling back and forth, the 3 songs I landed on were.

It Is Well - Horatio Spafford
Never Let Go - Matt Redman
Everything Glorious - Crowder

Can you see the 1 sermon application point I wanted to leave people with?

It Is Well
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Never Let Go
And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We'll live to know You here on the earth

Everything Glorious
The day is brighter here with You
The night is lighter than its hue
Would lead me to believe
Which leads me to believe
You make everything glorious

So, here is the one point I wanted to share in honor of Josiah, if I can put it together for you.

Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well,
And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
You make everything glorious

In all that we have been through, God has taught us to hold on to him, and He will be glorified.

Worship Leaders: Take the time to reduce your worship set to 1 statement. Pastors who are making a lasting impact do it all the time. Worship leader, what if YOU did it all the time? What if your 1 statement is the same as the 1 statement your pastor is making?

Erin's birthday 2009 will always be remembered. It is one day after Josiah's 5 month birthday, and we have spent the entire 5 months day after day by his bedside. There was however, another epic birthday in Erin's life.

It was Oct 21st 2002, and I had planned the coolest birthday ever. I woke Erin up at 4:45 on a Saturday morning, and told her to get dressed for a big day. She was obviously confused, but my excitement about the day seemed to get her moving, and by 5:30 we were on the road, headed out to an unknown destination.
My plan was pretty simple really: take Erin to Carowinds, an amusement park in Charlotte. We lived in Beaufort at the time, so it would be a 4 hr drive there , putting us at the park within 30 minutes of the park opening... However, when we arrived, the park had been bought out for a day by a large company and its employees. We couldn't get in. What a bust!

So, I did what any good man would do. We got in the car and drove the 4 hrs from Charlotte to Atlanta where the Six Flags is located. Doggonit, we were gonna ride a roller coaster! Fortunately, the park was open extra late for Halloween hours, so we stayed until midnight when the park closed... to get our money's worth of course!

Then, we drove the 4 hrs from Atlanta back to Beaufort. This was very dangerous. We were so incredibly tired! I think we began switching off drivers less than 20 minutes apart. We arrived after 5 am on Sunday morning the 22nd, exhausted after more than 12 hrs of driving, and nearly 12 hrs of roller coaster riding.

Why rush back? I had to be at Shell Point Baptist at 9:00 to run a worship run-through for the morning service. That was historic! That was when we were young and foolish!

I should have a bumper sticker that reads "I brake for trash." I can't tell you how many times I have spun the car around because I saw something cool in the ditch. I have picked up some cool stuff over the years. A tow strap, a cooler, a gas can, a Phish toboggan, a number of bungee cords, a blue flathead screwdriver, and a soggy sombrero. I lost a woman's push-mower off my trailer once... I wonder who picked that up? Anyway, here is what happened yesterday.

I was headed out of town, starting out on the 3.5 hr drive back to Charleston, when I realized I needed to stop by my friends house and pass along some mail I had been holding for him before I left the area for a week. It was a rainy weekend in Greenville, and the roads were wet and the sky was overcast. The traffic was busy as people started home from their offices, and because of the weather, everyone had their lights on. As I approached an intersection, I realized it was going to take me a few minutes to get into traffic, because of the congestion at the stop sign.

While I waited for the cars ahead of me to turn, I noticed 2 long slender boards approximately the same length laying in the grass on the shoulder of the road I was about to turn on to. It appeared that they might be loading ramps for a lawnmower, which had fallen off the back of a trailer. Maybe these were something I could use? Maybe I should just stop and look at them and see what they looked like? I couldn't take these all the way back to Charleston, but my friend had a lawnmower, maybe he could use them? I had an opening however, so without much thought I took my opportunity and pulled out and went on my way north. I only made it about 3 driveways however when I decided: I am going back for them. So, I pulled in the next large driveway, and waited for the traffic to let up so I could go back to the spot once again. I headed south.

As I came up on the intersection, I saw that a man in a pickup had stopped exactly where the boards were located. Realizing I had missed my opportunity, and someone other sly individual had had the same thought as me, I drove on past the spot and found another driveway where I turned around once again and headed back north. To my surprise, when I came back to the intersection, all I saw were two spin-out tire tracks, and the boards remained in place. Maybe the man found that the boards were cracked, broken, or rotten? Maybe he didn't want to get wet in the rain?

I slowed down quickly and pulled off onto the rough shoulder of the road. I'm not sure whether the ground was very uneven, or if I came into it too fast, but my teeth got chattered together in the maneuver. I hit the 4-way flashers and got out in the light rain to look at them. Good news! These were some good looking ramps! As cars whizzed by and sent the water spraying my way I decided to load them up.

Now this could be a problem. Because of the rain, I had put my bicycle inside the x-Terra rather than on the bike rack. Fitting the ramps inside wouldn't work. I quickly decided to put them on the roof rack, which proved to be a bit difficult alone in the rain, without swinging the end of the plank out into oncoming traffic. Still, after some effort, and some timing to avoid traffic, the planks were in place. I bungeed them down (with 2 rubber straps picked up off the side of the road earlier this summer) and jumped back in the driver seat only moderately wet from the rain.

Now I had to take it easy. The boards were heavy, the rack was wet, and the bungees were not designed to be the only thing securing down this type of cargo. I didn't want to lose my newly acquired ramps into the front of the BMW station wagon now tailgating me closely behind. I pulled over on the next church parking lot to check my load, and let the string of cars behind me pass. Everything looked secure! A few slow miles later I had arrived triumphantly at my friend Austin's house. I encouraged him to come out and see something I had "picked up" for them. (Little did that know the reality behind that statement) Fortunately he saw the value in my gift, for it would have been very disappointing if he had said. Well those are kinda lame... I beamed as Austin showed excitement for these two magnificent planks of wood, and I nearly shouted out my response when he asked: "where did you get these from?

"You gotta hear the story!"

Last Weekend, I had the pleasure of officiating my sister's wedding. Things went pretty well, but because of all the words I needed to get right I used a sermon manuscript to preach from rather than just an outline like I normally do. Because of this, I can share with everyone exactly what I said(or intended to say anyway.)

Carlos and Charity Maqueda Wedding Sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

(Opening Prayer)
Our Father, love has been Your richest and greatest gift to the world. Love between a man and woman which matures into marriage is one of Your most beautiful types of loves. Today we celebrate that love. May your blessing be on this wedding service. Protect, guide, and bless Charity and Carlos in their marriage. Surround them and us with Your love now and always. Amen.

You may be seated.


1 Corinthians 13:13 says

And now these three remain: faith, hope and Carlos. But the greatest of these is Carlos.

No, that is not what it says at all!

1 Corinthians 13:13 says

And now these three remain: faith, hope and charity. But the greatest of these is charity. (or love)

Charity, Charity, Charity. I can't believe you are getting married! I can't believe I am performing the ceremony! It's crazy! But I have been wearing out this joke all summer long... Well, I moved south from NY and now I'm gonna marry my sister!

One of my favorite childhood memories as a family happened close to this time of year... football season! When dad would get home from work, we would play 2 hand touch in the front yard. Charity, Dad and Lydia would take on and Mom, Rahel and I. Charity and Rahel would usually hike the ball and Mom or Dad would be the QB. Mom's cadence was always the same: Blue 42 set hut! Just so you know Carlos, mom and dad often wore their orange Tennessee sweatshirts they got on vacation going to see aunt Donna and uncle Roy in Chattanooga. Competition would get pretty serious, and the game would always include Dad trying to run waaay to hard in his slippery work boots, and he would fall on his face.

Well, last thanksgiving our family decided to re-live this memory, and play a game of football at aunt Donna's and see if things had changed at all. Some things hadn't changed. Dad fell again trying to make a quick cut on the slippery grass, and Mom dove into the shrubs trying to run up the sidelines. But some things had changed... those things were named "Erin" (my wife) and "Carlos." because they had not grown up in our family, they actually know how to play football. The kind of football that doesn't include self inflicted grass stains, or damaging the shrubbery.

Here is where I get to the point of my story. John 15:13 says "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Carlos, I just want you to know that I love you. That is why I chose to sacrifice our team that day, and let you and Erin win the game 64 to 16. Ladies and Gentlemen: that is love!

What is love anyway? 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." (1 Cor. 13:4-8a).

Carlos and Charity, family and friends:

Love! That's what you will promise to each other, bride and groom! That's what all husbands and wives promise each other on their wedding day.

What is this love? What can we say about it? The wedding text picked by Carlos and Charity tells us many things about love. I know all the events of today will be a blur in your memory, so there are 2 things I want you to remember.

First, love is a commitment; second, love is forever.

What do I mean when I say love is a commitment? Did you know that when the Bible describes love, it almost always speaks of a command? Husbands, for instance, are commanded to love their wives; wives are commanded to love their husbands; all people are commanded to love their neighbors. Jesus spoke of love as something that people should do. In the wedding text picked by Charity and Carlos, the Apostle Paul speaks of the presence of patience, kindness, hope and trust and a lack of envy, anger, and rudeness. Now, none of this stuff is easy. None of this comes spontaneously. Love, in other words, is not something natural. It doesn't just happen. It requires work, hard work. It requires deliberate decisions and actions. It requires commitment.

Many people today think of love as a feeling. This misleading belief is reinforced by most romantic comedies, and popular songs on the radio which make love sound like an accident, a spontaneous emotion, which can be neither controlled nor created. But love is not a feeling. You don't fall in love, nor do you fall out of love. Love is something you deliberately decide to do and to give.

That's the first thing I want to say: love is a commitment, it is a deliberate decision to do loving things. Those husbands and wives who show love to their marriage partner have made a deliberate decision to be patient and kind. Those husbands and wives who show love to their marriage partner have made a deliberate decision not to be envious, boastful, proud, rude, or self-seeking. Those husbands and wives who show love to their marriage partner have made a deliberate decision not to be easily angered, not to remember past wrongs, not to delight in evil. Those husbands and wives who show love to their marriage partner have made a deliberate decision to protect, trust, hope, and persevere.

Charity and Carlos, love is not an accident. It doesn't just happen. It requires commitment. It requires that you work at it.

First, love is a commitment; second, love is forever.

"Love never fails," says Paul. Love, true love, Charity and Carlos, never ends. It lasts and lasts and lasts. Love, true love, is forever.

We can't say that about any other element of this life. In eternity, for instance, there is no place for what we think of as the permanent fixtures in this life: there will be no morning and night, there will be no sun or moon, there will be no mountains and no sea, there will be no stomach, (full or empty) there will be no death or mourning or crying or pain, there will be no church or temple, there will be no swords or guns. But there will be love. "Love never fails." Love never ends. Love abides. Love, true love, never dies. Which means, Carlos and Charity, that if yours is love, true love, then divorce is not only unthinkable, it is not even an option.

Let me ask every married couple here and not just Carlos and Charity: do you want this love to last forever? This love in which you deliberately decide to do loving things for one another, do you want this love which abides forever? If your answer is "yes" then let me tell you the secret to love, true love: you must know and love and serve Jesus Christ.

The Apostle John says, "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). It is only when the love of God is within our heart that we are truly able to love those around us. Or, to put it another way, it is only by knowing Jesus, it is only when He lives in your heart, that yours can be a love that endures. You see, God is love. In Christ, God shows us the true nature of love. In Christ, God made a deliberate decision to love us by sending His Son to die for us. And in Christ, God loves us forever. That, is the most incredible love story ever written.

Francis Chan recently wrote a book called "Crazy Love." In it, he suggests an exercise that is very effective, even if it is a little hard to swallow. Take the phrase "love is patient," and substitute your own name for the word love. For me, it would be "Milo is patient, Milo is kind..." and so on and so on. Do this for every phrase in the passage. It will make you take a hard look at yourself in the mirror, but that is what means to love... really love someone.

Carlos and Charity, my hope and my prayer is that in Christ you will make a commitment to love each other and then because of Christ your love will last forever.

Also, because I am putting it in print I should let you know that everything here is not my original thought. I used sermons by Adrian Dieleman and John Piper, great advice from Tommy Hargrove and Larry Maio, and an awesome book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan as valuable resources. -Milo Wilson

I am sweating like a crazy man. I can't think straight. I misplell words. I have to continually press my glasses firmly up the bridge of my nose because the river of sweat pouring over my thick damp eyebrows. The office is swealtering, stifling, and parching. My back sticks to the leather of my office chair when I lean back, and the odor of sweaty feet fills my nostrils. I stumble to the sink where I suck the water from the faucet, only to feel thirsty again. I stumble over the the thermostat to see what level of purgatory I have found myself trapped in... it reads "78."

Our Dog Story

About a year and a half ago, our beloved family dog Daisy was hit by a car. It was really hard for our family to handle. But a year ago, Erin found an identical dog at the animal shelter, which was difficult to do because she was a rare breed called the Carolina Dingo. We named our new dog Java, after Erin's hometown and spent the next 9 months training her to be as good as Daisy was.



This spring however, when it became obvious that our lives would be flipped upside down on account of little Josiah Nathaniel, we realized that keeping Java would be difficult to do. We would be spending much of our time in the hospital away from home, and the additional pet hair and junk a dog brings into a house would not be good for Josiah when he did come home. Therefore, we gave our beloved dog to our friend John Mark Redwine, who has done a fantastic job with her so far. We will miss her, but we know she is in good hands and that we will get to continually see her from time to time. She is a great dog.

Because of the nature of this post, I was reminded about two of my most favorite dog stories.

Dog Story #1

We have a great nurse at MUSC who takes care a Josiah on a regular basis. Her name is Sarah, and she has a Walker Coon Hound that she found and rescued a few years back. This dog's instincts are to hunt and chase, and while Sarah says he is pretty well behaved on a normal basis, any time that he is off the leash and sees a cat, rabbit, or squirrel... the dog snaps into hunt mode, and is gone. so that's the background... here is the story.

Sarah met a friend on the beach, for what was supposed to be a low stress walk on the beach with their dogs. While strolling along the beach, with the dogs off the leash playing in the waves, Sarah's dog noticed a dolphin in the water, and immediately snapped into hunt mode. Yes, you read me correctly... the dog spotted a DOLPHIN.

Before Sarah could do anything this dog had swam out to sea, past the breaker waves into open water. Within minutes, the dog was only a barely visible speck from the shoreline and was totally oblivious to Sarah's whistling and shouting. As a crowd began to form around her, Sarah decided to call the beach's public safety phone-line and explain to them the situation. She was quickly informed that this department's purpose was to help humans not pets, and that they would not do anything to help. Sarah's friend suggested that she try to swim out to the dog, knowing that public safety would be obligated to rescue them both. When she informed the official on the other end of the line that this was her intention, he patched her through to the coast guard who might help if they chose to. Within minutes after talking to someone from the coast guard, Sarah learned that they happened to have a helicopter flying nearby, and that they would fly over to assess the situation.

Thirty seconds later, the coast guard helicopter tore across the sky overhead, barely skimming the trees. Meanwhile, Sarah's dog fortunately had been carried by the current to the beach of a small barrier island about a mile off shore. He was only just barely visible to Sarah, but now the situation was a little more stable, and much less frightening. As the helicopter hung overhead, the small crowd of spectators grew to include a man on a jet ski, a kayaker, and a small coast guard boat. Any one of these people could have gone out to retrieve the wayward hound dog.
Instead, while Sarah watched in amazement a basket dropped out of the chopper, and a man slid down the rope close behind. The moment that followed was a Hollywood type of scene, where the rescuer dropped to his knees on the beach with his arms open, and Sarah's coon hound ran to him and jumped into his open arms. A few seconds later, the dog was lifted into the basket and whisked back to the shoreline where crowd of beach goers whistled, clapped, and cheered as he was lowered back down to safety.

Sarah went home that night and baked 12 dozen cookies, which she delivered to the Coast Guard barracks early the following morning... What a dog story!

Dog story #2

I spent 4 years in the Marine Corps, marching as a saxophone player in the Parris Island Recruit Depot Marine Band. Every Friday morning, thousands of people would come on to the base to see their son or daughter graduate from boot camp, a gruelling 13 weeks of misery. The graduation ceremony was a very detailed military parade, with 500 or more recruits graduating each week. Part of the ceremony includes a portion where the band marches the length of the parade deck and back. Out in front of the band is the band drum major, a person who embodies military precision and excellence.

Also on the parade deck was the Marine's mascot, an English Bulldog. This particular dog was very young, because his predecessor had died only a few months prior of a heart attack. The dog was required to wear a doggies marine corps uniform, and has its own uniform requirements and physical appearance requirements to maintain, which is the responsibility of his handler.

As well as I can remember, this was the 1st time that the dog was allowed to be out on the parade deck in front of people. As we were rounding the halfway point, the bulldog got loose. He ran everywhere! He visited some of the recruit platoons, swung by the reviewing stand, and he even paused to take a dump to the pleasure of the roaring grandstands. His poor handler was running in all directions behind him trying to grab this rotten animal before he did any more damage.

Then it happened.... The dog saw our drum major spin the mace (the big shiny stick he carries) to cue the band to march at a very difficult step in front of the reviewing stand. The dog proceeded to attach our drum major while he attempted to strut his stuff. It jumped up and tried to bite the mace out of his hand, and proceeded to hit by it firmly in the process. Then in retaliation, the dog latched on to the drum majors trouser pant leg, who then was forced to drag the animal along while the stands erupted into laughter. It was all we could do in the band to keep playing noises. I say noises, because it was definitely not music coming out of our instruments... ...at the end of the day, that dog handler got into a great deal of trouble. Also, our drum major's trouser leg was torn to shreds... but it was a good dog story!

Yep, that's what happened. We had a big rainstorm here in Charleston and all the streets were flooded. We were trying to get our girlie's to bed, so we had already decided to wait out the storm before Erin and her mother returned over to the hospital to see our little guy in the PCICU.

I suggested they take Erin's van instead of her Mom's little Toyota, because it had a parking pass in it, and might not get stuck in the water. I also cautioned her to avoid the big puddles, because it was dark and hard to see how deep they were.

After Erin left, I went to the bathroom, took out my contacts, and opened up my laptop to see if we were able to pick up wireless in our apartment. As you might figure out, by the fact that I am typing this blog, we do have it. Then I got the phone call about 10 minutes later.

Erin frantically told me that she had avoided a number of large puddles, but had driven into this one and stalled out the car. She could tell that the water was above the bottom of the doors, and was afraid to open them and let the water in... what should she do?

What should she do? How about don't drive our van into the river. How about considering the fact that you so no-one go through this "puddle" before you tried it. How about don't call me, when I am totally helpless to do anything to help.

But I didn't say any of these things. They are not what she needed to hear when she could feel the van rock back and forth in the waves... yes, that's right. The WAVES! Erin was freaking out, and I didn't have any way to reach her, except waking the girls up and putting them in the bike trailer and floating our way over to her. (Sure we would be soaked, but I can't get flooded out on a bike.)

Fortunately, Erin stopped hyperventilating long enough to flag down 2 college students, and coax them into PUSHING her out of the swimming pool she driven into. (By the way, she did this without ever leaving the vehicle.) These poor fellas were in water over their waist, pushing my beautiful wife out of the drink, while I sat at home waiting for the next update from her. Talk about feeling helpless...

The next update: They pushed her out of the water on to dry land, but the van is still sticking out into the street. Should Erin leave it there and walk to the hospital? I asked her if the guys were still around that just helped her. She responded "no," that the left after they got her out of the water. (I can't say that I blame them.) I suggested that Erin and her Mom attempt to push the van into a driveway, even though they probably wouldn't be able to do themselves. Again, Erin found someone who was willing to help them push the car up a slight hill, while water poured out of the tailpipe. Safe at last!

Erin called me to let me know that they were walking to the hospital now, and asked me if I would help her retrieve the car later tonight, or in the morning. She then reminded me that I forgot to attach our new license plate to the van, so as of July 1st the van has expired tags, and probably should not sit for a prolonged amount of time, where a cop might run the plates on it.

Fortunately, we left my XTerra at the hospital earlier today, so Erin should have a way home tonight. And, even though I pretend to throw a fit I am very grateful that she is safe, and that the Van isn't bobbing out to sea across the Cooper River. God was watching out for them tonight. I hope Erin is able to get a normal pulse back sometime soon...

Have you, or someone you know flooded out a car before? If not, Erin could show you how to do it right!

If you have children (or plan to have children, or can imagine having children), what trait do you have that you want to make sure you don't pass on?

Here are a few I thought of...
1. Smelly Feet
2. Obsessive Compulsive Tendencies
3. Buck Teeth
4. Horrible Eyesight
5. Bad Temper
6. Rash Decision Making
7. Poor Carpentry Skills
8. Boardgame Cheatery
9. Teeth Grinding
10. Eavesdropping

Tomorrow is May 15. May 15 is the day we leave for Charleston.

If you have not been by the blog lately, I am about to have a son Josiah delivered at MUSC in Charleston with a severe heart condition requiring 2 very serious surgeries within his first 2 weeks. We have another site www.thewilsonheart.com where the bulk of the latest information will be shared. Also, on this site, updates will be placed in the upper right hand corner.

To get ready for this very big change in our house, we have been working down through a number of "to do" lists. However, with tomorrow looming above us, some of those items "to do" have been thown out the window. The list has now been reduced to the "have to do" list.
Why didn't I just start with this list in the 1st place?

What would improve for you, if your "to do" lists were reduced to "have to do" lists?

the mower on the left was given to us by the wards 5 years ago. we bought the mower on the right today from some guy Mr Dill on the side of the road. I hope it will last us another 5 years, cuz there isn't much "new" in the way of lawnmowers in our future.

we had a great day off from reality today. after an emotionally draining weekend, we were able to have an entire day to spend as a family out in the snow with some close friends. it is amazing how thereputic a day like this can be. i really needed it.

thank you God!

daylia is not happy about her future career

hazyl drivin the big bus

josh and savannah in the piggyback race

hillary and corey in the 3 legged race

On the ski trip in Niagra Falls NY. These guys were real excited about the red bench...