"Children are indeed a heritage from the Lord..."

We have spent a wonderful week with the Bailey clan at sea!  A Disney Cruise was the celebration of choice for my parents to celebrate their 45th anniversary.  We had a fabulous time.  The boat was filled with all kinds of fun activities especially geared for children (and parents seeking an occasional break from parenting!).  We enjoyed shows, games, swimming, way too much food, but above all just being together.  Our families are spread out all over the country which makes it a rare occasion for us to all be together.  It was really great for brothers and sister-in-laws to reconnect and cousins to play and make memories all under the prideful watch of Grammy and Gramdaddy.
There is no way a few pictures could tell the whole story, but here are a few.

15 Baileys at one dinner table each night: heaven help us!

COUSINS!!!  Sarah(5), Wes(7), Hudson(7), Katherine Mae(11mo.), Charlie(4), Collin(8), Marin(6)

Happy 45th, Mom and Dad!!!

The children loved getting ready for "Pirate Night" on the ship!

The whole family got in on the action!

The rumors are true: not only have I grown a beard, I've become a pirate!!!

The whole Bailey clan!

  The Disney Cruise will certainly be a memorable week for all the Baileys!  It will be one of many summer memories for the Baileys of Morganton, though.  We leave for Scotland in the morning (I better finish packing and getting the house ready!) for our 5 week pulpit exchange adventure.  We are SO excited and wish to express once again our gratitude for the gift of this time for Sabbatical.  We are so very blessed.  Next post from me will be from Scotland - I will be writing in and you must read with a Scotish brogue! Good luck and God speed!
-MRB

“house on the sand…”

No one has had more fun at the beach than Charlie!

We have had a wonderful week at the beach! But just as the house of the foolish man in Jesus’ parable our time here has quickly washed away. Here are pictures of just some of the fun.

The queen of the beach!

The mischief maker caught in the act!

A wonderful Father’s Day: my beautiful children and a maple doughnut with bacon sprinkles!

Tomorrow we head south to catch up with the rest of the Bailey clan to celebrate my parents’ 45th anniversary on a Disney Cruise! I have been joking that this is the “spending our inheritance tour”, but there is a strong statement that is being made by my parents in treating 15 people to a cruise: more than anything else, they would wish to spend their time (and resources) bringing their family together. The Bailey’s of Morganton are truly blessed with wonderful families. Thanks be to God.

-MRB

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay…”

Some of God’s greatest gifts come in plain, common packaging. Indeed the greatest gift of God was the incarnation. The eternal majesty of God concealed in infant form. A single birth among billions which have occurred on this planet which proved to change the course of humanity’s story. The early apostles once described their knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to being like a treasure found in a common clay jar. By being found in such a common form (a couple of common men, Paul and Timothy) God proved the greatness of this Gospel did not come from their preaching, teaching, clout, or persuasiveness, it came from God and thus gave witness to His glory and majesty.

Last week was a pretty “common” week for the Bailey family with one exception. We were in town going through many of the routines of family life while also trying to prepare and pack for upcoming adventures. The exception was that Katherine Mae had to have tubes put in her ears. This is a “simple” procedure which takes 15 minutes, but it does require anesthesia, which thus requires a several trips to the doctor’s office, pre-op, post-op, drug store, etc., as well as a whole lot of unnecessary worrying by parents and loved ones! Everything thing turned out fine. Katherine did great! Thanks be to God.

Surgery, no matter how short or simple, is still anything but routine, but it is very much the routine around our house to be shuttling children around town for appointments, activities, and events. So in that way the week seemed like a very “common” one. And in this sense I was blessed to be able to see anew treasures that are concealed in the form of my family and our routines. We are so blessed to have Hudson in our family! He is so nurturing and loving to his baby sister. Charlie is so full of joy and wonder. I love watching him when he thinks no one is watching. What a joy he is to us all. Katherine has to be the world’s best baby. Even through her surgery and recovery she has amazed us with her good manner and radiant smile. Laura is such a great nurturer of our children and organizer of 5 lives! She keeps us moving forward – and does so with style and grace. What a blessed man I am. I am so grateful to have this sabbatical opportunity to see and appreciate the treasures God has concealed in these “clay jars”. I am sad to say that I don’t always see the treasure. I hope this time set aside continues to allow me to see the treasures, yet also trains me to more regularly look for them. A favored hymn might need to become an oft-uttered prayer of mine as a result of this sabbatical:

Open my eyes, that I may see

Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;

Place in my hands the wonderful key

That shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now I wait for Thee,

Ready, my God, Thy will to see;

Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!

This current week finds us at the beach in Ponte Vedra, FL with Laura’s sister, Melissa, our brother-in-law, Wade, and niece, Margaret. We love spending time with them. They are treasures too! We are enjoying playing in the water, sand castles, lazy afternoons, World Cup Soccer, and searching for shark teeth on the beach. Early morning runs on the beach have been a nice time for me to reflect and enjoy God’s natural creation. Here at the beach with favorite people and beautiful scenery, it sometimes feels like God is “showing off”! As He does so often through people, creations, and experiences that can be seen as “common” God is once again revealing His glory. All praise be unto Him!

-MRB

 
 
 

“There once was a man who had two sons…”

While this particular man also has a daughter, I have spent this last week with my two sons in Morganton while Laura and Katherine Mae have been at the beach. Hudson, Charlie and I have had a lot of fun going throughout the routines of everyday life. We’ve also had some challenges which we won’t get into at this time, but let’s just say I have grown in my appreciation for the work my wife does as a stay-at-home mom!  As Laura has said about my sabbatical, “He’s just trading one job for another!” She is right that it is a “job” to be a stay-at-home parent. I am so glad that this is the only week I’ll have to experience that without Laura by my side!!!


The Bailey boys (all 3 of us) had some good times this week and actually did o.k. in the area of personal hygiene and healthy eating. (Although I did eat at fast-food more than I would have preferred. KFC grilled chicken: thumbs up! BK fire-grilled ribs: thumbs down!). The highlight of the week came at the conclusion with a day-long adventure in the mountains. We went to Upper Creek Falls on Saturday and had a blast hiking, playing in the creek, skipping rocks, enjoying nature and a picnic lunch along the way. I particularly enjoyed Charlie’s questions throughout the day: “Why are there boulders? Why are there birds in the forest? Why is the creek so wet?” I think with the help of my first stab at answering him, Charlie is well on his way to developing a strong theology as his questions morphed into: “Why did God put that boulder there? Why did God "borned" the birds in the forest? Why did God make the water so wet?” (I’ll let you know when I come up with those answers!)  After we hiked out we decided that the day would be incomplete without a trip to Blowing Rock for Kilwin's ice cream and playing at the playground.  What a day we had!!! 

The girls are on there way home today and we can’t wait to see them - I really mean that!!! Today is also a special day for Laura and me as it is our 12th anniversary! The years have flown by! Life can get pretty crazy at times, but what I tell her still rings true after 12: I wouldn’t want to be on this roller coaster adventure with anyone else by my side but her!  I am truly a blessed man in so many ways.  I am so grateful to have this time of sabbatical to be able to enjoy these precious gifts I have so graciously been given. Thanks be to God!

-MRB

A great place for adventure was discovered - these boys will be back to Upper Creek for sure!

Goofing around in the creek!!!

The Bailey Adventurers!!!

Two exhausted boys at the end of the day.  (An exhausted Daddy slept well that night, too!)

"Whoever would save his life..."

Paradoxes.  There are so many of them in the scriptures, in life, and especially on the journey of faith.  Things that seem like they contradict each other.  And yet, they somehow defy our logic/reason/intuition and they prove to be quite true and reliable.  I have experienced through my week of flood relief work one of these paradoxes again: when you empty yourself in service of another in Christ's name, you really are filled up beyond what you give. 
I had a wonderful five days working in Nashville last week.  My final work day I joined with members of Westminster Presbyterian Church (Laura's home church) to offer a helping hand.  We had a good turn out which made our work go quick.  Later that afternoon Laura and the kids arrived in Nashville.  I had really missed my family!  Sunday morning Laura, Katherine Mae, Mama Susie (Laura's mom), Aunt Lissa, and cousin Margaret headed down to the beach for a week.  It was billed as "Mommy's Sabbatical".  All "the girls" are having a great time in the sand and surf, leaving "the boys" back here in Morganton now fending for ourselves.  We are actually doing quite well and having a lot of fun.  No baths, no teeth brushing.  No clean clothes. No underwear.  Beer and marshmallows for dinner.  We're having a ball being home alone!  Special times!                                                                                                                          -MRB