Evolution of the T-shirt gun

If you have been to a sporting event you may have seen the team mascot shooting t-shirts out of a gun to screaming fans in the stands. If you know what I am talking about, you have probably been one of those screaming fans trying to catch a t-shirt that is two sizes to big with a very small team logo and a very large advertisement. Our friends at Nike have solved this problem by updating the t-shirt gun. Nike claims that the gun "eliminates poor fitting, uncomfortable, lame-designed T-shirts on all your friends." So be on the lookout for the new and improved t-shirt gun at your next sporting event. Or you can purchase one for yourself here at the low price of $1500.

-rtp

The Priddy Family Summer Reading Program

I never was much of a reader. But I did get excited, in elementary school, when the book fair would come. I would walk away with a new book on Michael Jordan, Penny Hardaway or the latest from the Goosebumps series book by R.L. Stine. I managed to accumulate quite the library of Goosebumps but hardly read any of them (I liked the covers). I also remember the books that gave you all the stats and player profiles on lots of sports stars. Some of these even included the players address so that you could write to them. Now that I think of it those books seem some what stalkerish. My lack of reading continued throughout middle school as it consisted of the required reading for class such as, Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls and The Giver by Louis Lowry. Any outside reading was done through Sports Illustrated and ESPN the magazine, which usually meant looking at the pictures and reading an occasional article. In high school I started to take minimal interest in reading during my junior and senior years, mainly through the writing of C.S. Lewis. The sports theme also continued as I would read books about Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods. One of my most enjoyable high school reading experiences came when I was given three days of in school suspension. I would spend the first half of the day getting my assignments finished from class. Because talking and sleeping were not permitted, reading seemed like a decent option for the rest of the day. During this time I read The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, which made the time spent in ISS worth it. Once I began college I found my desire for reading starting to increase but found myself unable to balance reading for school and reading for pleasure. This made Christmas break and the Summer the only time that I would attempt to read anything outside of school. But towards the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, my senior year of college, something clicked. My desire for books began to increase and I found myself able to to balance both school work and reading outside of class. I think three things played into this equation. 1. I was a newly wed and now that I was living with Laura I no longer spent my free time watching endless hours of Sports Center reruns and playing video games. 2. I realized that when I get to choose the books, I enjoy reading much more than when I am forced to read something. and 3. I read good books that left me wanting more once I finished them. The two books that played a huge role in my life during this time were Knowing God by J.I. Packer and The Reason For God by Tim Keller. Both of these books not only got me hooked on reading but also deepened my faith in Christ. These two books helped me to know and understand more of the the just and holy character of God in ways that I never had before. My new found love for reading even inspired me to begin the Gladstone Book Club last spring, which is still up and running in Murfreesboro, TN. Reading has become a big part of my life and I only see this continuing in the years to come. These days I find my self reading three or four different books at the same time. Never would I have thought that I would come from my days of Goosebumps to the level that I now enjoy reading. So in the spirit of summer reading, I have created the Priddy Summer Reading Program for Laura and I. My plan is for this to become a tradition every summer, and when the kids come along they will have a list too. This summer we have nine different categories and with in these categories we each have different books that we have to read. Each category has a deadline for the book to be read by to keep us on track. The categories are listed below with the book that I am reading first and Laura's book second.

1. Children's Ministry (something that will benefit our children's ministry at Jacob's Well) May 18- May 24 Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware, Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp

2. Biography May 25- June 5 The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama, Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett

3. Hot-button Issue June 6- June 15 The Case for Life by Scott Klusendorf, Embryo: A Defense For Human Life by Robert P. George and Christopher Tollefsen

4. Fiction June 16- June 30 The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

5. Children's Books (We will be reading these together) July 1- July 5 Pastor Daddy by Lindsey Blair and Bobby Gilles, This is No Fairy Tale by Dale Tolmasoff, Tell Me About Heaven by Randy Alcorn, John Calvin by Simonetta Carr, Do You Want a Friend by Noel Piper, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Martin Luther by Paul L. Maier, Dangerous Journey: The Story of Pilgrim's Progress by Oliver Hunkin, The King Without A Shadow by R.C. Sproul, Sammy and His Shepherd by Susan Hunt

Break July 6- July 15

6. Theology July 16- August 5 Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton, Desiring God by John Piper, Knowing God by J.I. Packer, Systematic Theology (selected chapters) by Wayne Grudem

7. Marriage August 6- August 15 God, Marriage, and Family by Andreas J. Kostenberger, Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas,

8. New Atheists August 16- August 23 god is not Great by Christopher Hitchens, Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris

9. New Jersey August 24- August 31 The Soprano State by Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure, It Happened in New Jersey by Fran Capo.

So I encourage you to go pick up a book and start reading. Here are some thoughts and suggestions on the reading of books, that I have found helpful, from Al Mohler. My favorite suggestion is number 6. "Write in your books; mark them up and make them yours. Books are to be read and used, not collected and coddled. Invent your own system or borrow from another, but learn to have a conversation with the book, pen in hand." There is still much of summer left for reading so take some time to edify your soul through the written word.

-rtp

Under the Weather

So, it's been a while since we made a post...

After our recent trip to Tennessee we were informed by several people we are lacking in keeping our blog updated. This is such a true statement. Today in my attempt to log on to begin blogging again, I had no idea what our account name or password was. If reprimands from family weren't enough, forgetting log on information says it even more. It's been to long...

Ross and I both had terrible allergies from the moment we stepped off the plane in TN. We adjusted by the end of our week in TN and then as soon as we got back to NJ I began to feel worse. I had to jump right back into work which did not help at all. By Friday night I felt pretty bad, but it was about to be my weekend to work, and since I don't work every weekend it is looked down upon to call out on your weekend. Sunday we had a public service for Jacob's Well which means an all morning event. So I worked late Saturday night got one hour of sleep that night because I felt awful and then went straight into the Sunday set up of church. I was so excited to be able to sit through a service (most of the time I am with the WellKIDs) but I was beginning to get chills and could barely sit still. I really should have called out that night at work but once again it was my weekend. I started running a fever, coughing and sneezing constantly. I was miserable by the end of the night. Needless to say I was out of work the next two nights for a much needed recovery. I am still sleeping a ton but I feel like I am getting back to myself. We have been busy since we have been back from TN, from work, to Kids ministry, to Ross taking care of me while I was feeling crummy...

But before all the sickness....we had a wonderful trip to TN! It was great to spend time with family and friends. We spent our first three nights in Franklin with my family. And then made the trip to Jackson to spend time with Ross' family. It was a great time of fellowship and we are truly thankful we were able to make it back. We miss all of you.

So we really do hope to make this a more updated blog... Hold us to it if you have to!

In His grace- L.P.

LeFew Visit !

The beginning of March my family made their way to the northeast to stay with us for 5 days. We had such a wonderful time. It was great to spend time with them. We have not been able to spend long blocks of time together as a family in who knows how long, so it was such a sweet and refreshing time.

My family(Dad, Mom, Amber, and Dillion) flew into Philly and rented a car to drive to New Jersey. I caught the train outside our apt to meet them in Princeton and hang out there for the afternoon. Once at the Princeton Junction I then took the Dinky to the center of Princeton Campus and planned to meet up with my family. Dad had been looking for a spot to meet in Princeton prior to coming to NJ so he found some random location on his GPS and plugged it in so when they drove to Princeton they would at least have some general idea of where they were going. I hung out at Starbucks reading for awhile waiting for them to arrive. Finally my dad called and they were almost there so I had to go outside to find a location to meet them. My dad informed me he was heading to 92 Nassau street because that is what he had plugged in the GPS. To my surprise I look around and I am standing exactly at 92 Nassau Street! So we met at 92 Nassau Street!

Once they arrived, even more to my surprise, my Grandma was in the car with them. My uncle drove her to the Philly airport to meet my parents. So we were able to spend time with Grandma Shelvy as well! It was a wonderful surprise!!! We toured the Princeton campus, walked around downtown and ate at Winberries.

We live about 25 minutes north of Princeton so it is a fun day trip for us. We also have some great friends who live there who are now a part of Jacob’s Well, Scott and Sara.

Anyway… we headed back to New Brunswick where we met up with Ross. He was taking a class in NYC so he couldn't hang out in Princeton with us. My parents brought gifts from TN. And well….we ate all of them.

That Night Amber, Dillion, Ross and I went to eat at this place called “stuff yer face” It is the local college hang out for Stromboli and beer. We really enjoyed spending quality time with Amber and Dillion. We have never really spent much time together with just them. We talked about life, school, the future and God. This was one of my favorite times of the week.

The next morning was church. I am so thankful my family was able to visit Jacob’s Well and hear Reid preach. All the events around the area are great and all, there is so much to see and so much to do, but nothing compares to Jacob’s Well. It is our family as well, it is the reason we moved, it is for the Glory of God, the Good of the City, and extends Hope through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We love the church and we love our immediate family and are so glad they were able to see the reason we moved fleshed out in the community of Jacob’s Well. We will have to write another update on the church really soon. We have been so amazed at God’s faithfulness and provision….

After church we drove to Staten Island to catch the Staten Island Ferry into Manhattan.

From there we caught the Subway to Brooklyn to check out the Brooklyn Flea Market, http://www.brownstoner.com/brooklynflea/ , and ate at Grimaldi’s pizza under the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked the Brooklyn Bridge back into lower Manhattan. It was the first time Ross and I have gone at Night and it was Beautiful!!! Sometimes it can be a long walk so take bathroom breaks before starting (that was for you Grandma) And of course we had to stop by Times Square before heading back home!

The next day we decided to head back to the city and spend some time walking around Central Park. We took the train into Penn Station caught the Subway up to the park.

We live about 40 Minutes from the Jersey Shore so on our final full day together we had to go visit, even though it was freezing that day. We went to a little town called Asbury Park that once was a thriving Ocean Resort area in the late 1800's early 1900's. The town slowly died over time; However the town is coming back to life. It was beautiful with all the huge historic buildings. Some spots still felt like a ghost town especially because no one wanted to come visit on a freezing cold day.

I am so thankful my family got to come visit us. We had a great time. It made me miss living so close to them. I think I took that for granted way to often. Family truly is a gift from the Lord.

You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. Ps 4:7

The Priddy Family Reunites

Over the six days between Christmas and New Years, Laura and I had the privilege of hosting my parents and my three sisters here in New Brunswick. It was great to spend time with them and we miss them very much. We are thankful and truly blessed to have family that is willing to support us as we are away from them, for the sake of the Gospel. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story and we are looking forward to having Laura's parents visit us in March.

-rtp