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Yesterday the Boswell clan made our annual trip to the Frederick County Fair. We took advantage of the “Car load special” that was for a low special rate of $50. Thank goodness of the special, imagine how much money we saved! We were shuttled from Lot D to the back of the fairground, I think this was my favorite ride of the night. We passed through the animal exhibits and talked with the 4-H kids who were diligently watching over their animals. Several of them told us it was ok for the kids to pet their animals (cows, sheep, horses, piglets, etc..), and we did. I also went through a forestry service exhibit that talked about collecting rain water runoff into a barrel for landscaping; I might look into this next summer as I am considering starting a hydroponic garden. I’m not sure how “green” our HOA is however.

Then it was time for the rides. I tried to ride as many of the rides as I could. Most of the “carnies” were cool with me doing that, but even I had to say no to the motorcycles. We rode just about every age appropriate ride and ended with chomping down on some deep fried Oreos (yeah I said Oreos, and how does a person invent this?) and a strawberry slurpie.

Isaac (our 16 month old) spent most of his time in a red wagon we took along for hauling “stuff.” I have noticed that the older the kids get the less stuff we have to haul – so this year we are down to a wagon full (half full of child, half full of stuff). Does this mean that eventually they will carry me around in a red wagon hauling my stuff?

I must say the most harrowing (fair themed word) time was the Ferris wheel. I get nervous when I think about how many times this thing has been taken apart and put back together, over who knows how many years. Then we take our whole family and load up into this thing. Then you consider a four year old, two six year olds, and a (what did I say earlier? Oh yeah) 16 month year old and their parents going hundreds of feet off the ground with no seat belts! It moves painfully slow, and the ride is forever long. But during our time Caleb said he could see California from it’s vantage point and Hannah-Grace said she could see the whole universe. I guess her seat was slightly higher than Caleb’s.

We got back to our urban assault vehicle (aka the minivan) covered in dust, some change in our pockets, and the kids were unconscious before we got out of the back 40 where we parked. It was a great experience, and next year I’m getting my own order of fried Oreos.

Friday and Saturday was our annual Children’s Retreat. The theme for the weekend was “Double Vision,” and we were encouraged to “throw off anything that entangles us” (Hebrews 12:1-2), and to keep our focus on Christ.

While this was our fourth annual retreat, it was a first for Joshua and Caleb. We had a wonderful time and the weekend was a huge success. I got about four hours sleep last night, so I’m off to bed.

As part of our Special Exception process we have been through an eight month (or more) process of developing a site plan, traffic brief, architectural plans, hiring a lawyer, dozens of meetings, lots of prayer, etc…. It all culminated into a packet of information that was presented to Frederick County on Monday. They will review the information for one month and let us know if we can build a building on the property or not. There are five requirements in order to pass a special exception for a piece of property, and we meet all five. But there is always the chance that there will be a snag because the process involves people who are subjective and given to vary in how they respond. So pray that the board approves our appeal and that everything goes smoothly.

The hard part of the process was the things that I thought we had plenty of time to think about and plan over the years of development of the property had to be planned NOW. For instance I knew that our church would eventually have a day care center, or mom-morning-out program, or something similar but I thought I had plenty of time to think about it. I just wanted to begin with our church building. But in order to eventually have a child care center we have to include it in the plans NOW. It has to be included because of traffic counts, turn lanes in the into the property, sewage treatment, etc… We had to show ball fiends, phase two and three of the building for the eventuality of our having a thousand people on the property at one time, a school, and how they would all relate together.

So yesterday I had the privilege to drive the stakes in the ground and placing Daybreak’s signage showing to the public our intention to build and develop the property. Many will drive past and never even notice it, but it represents months and months of work and thought and planning.

Each phase of our building process has had it own frustrations and challenges. It is important to celebrate the mile markers as you pass them. This project seems to grow in difficulty at each level of development, but today I celebrate a sign going in the ground and all that it represents.