The What-If Game

We made up a game several years ago.  It's a car game. If you know us, we've spent a good chunk of time riding in the car with our little ones. As soon as Brendan started with the endless questions (maybe around 3 years old) this game was born. We still play it. It's fun to play even without the kids. Ya know...like when life is hard and you're tired of talking about it and stressing about it....insert the What-If game.
It's really simple. We go around the car, taking turns coming up with the most ridiculous "what-if" scenarios you can imagine.

For example, one from last night that I loved was from Brendan. "What if.....bunches of worms fell from the sky and when they hit the ground.... they started dancing!"
..And then we all oooo and awwww about how awesome that would be.

Next person.

Wyatt: "What if the whole world was jell-o?"

oooooo, that would be so cool!

-What if the ocean was a giant bowl of cheerios and the beach was a huge doughnut!?

-What if when we got home our house was full of water and we had to swim to our room and sleep on our floating beds!?

-What if the moon was the eyeball of a giant robot!?

-What if that mountain was a giant firework!?

-What if the sun came on like a light switch!?

-What if we could run as fast as our car!?

Go ahead. Try it! It's fun. :)

Kid Quotes::Vol. 21

This one had to get written down before I forgot it!

We were driving home tonight and the boys were thirsty.

Brendan: I wish a waterfall would come through my window and wash me out of this desert all the way to Washington. And then when I get there I would hug Nana to pieces.

Wyatt: (in total agreement) Yeah. I'm going to rip her to shreds!


I laughed all the way home about that one!

Mario Super Brothers!

(they keep calling it that, and now I'm starting to forget what they are really called!)

They can't help themselves. They are constantly in pretend mode. Unfortunately, I can't brag that they are acting out scenes from books or plays they have recently read. Nope. It's video games and movies. How many crazes have they gone through?? I'm glad I've been documenting them because I just about forgot about the whole Kung-fu phase they went through. Then there was dinosaurs, Spider-man and Hulk, Secret agents and Star Wars. We have officially moved on to the world of Super Mario Brothers. They got 2 new games in the mail and now they are non-stop in character. They have taken to wearing blue jeans and long sleeved shirts (green or red depending on who is Mario and who is Luigi) and even hats, Oh! and rubber gloves. And not just in our air-conditioned house either. Nope. Out in the car and out around the pool. When we went to the library yesterday I wouldn't let them wear the get-ups because I'm sure I could get my kids taken away from me if someone saw them in these outfits in the 115 degree weather! Oh my it is endlessly entertaining. Today I made them mustaches and they use very good Italian accents. I can't believe I'm posting this....

Poor Little Lizard

My kitchen has a huge window that overlooks the back patio and pool. So while I do dishes and get dinner ready I am often lifeguarding the big boys at the same time. Yesterday they were running around the pool (not swimming) pretending to be Mario and Luigi (their latest obsession thanks to a new Nintendo game someone special sent them in the mail). They were wearing crazy get-ups including rubber gloves. I was watching, making sure no one fell and bonked their heads on their way into the pool while they were running...I mean dashing... from one mushroom to another. Well I looked up and Brendan was standing in front of the window, dripping wet, holding this:

Good thing he already had on some rubber gloves! This little guy was at the bottom of the pool. He's actually the second one we've found. I figure a bird probably dropped him in the wrong spot! Luigi to the rescue!...except he was already dead. Poor little lizard!

Kid Quotes::Vol. 20

Rand called Brendan to apologize for being grumpy in the morning before work....

Brendan: (On the phone with Rand) Did you know you have the greatest kid? Because he ALWAYS forgives his mother and dad.


He's just the greatest kid! :)

Kid Quotes::Vol. 19

This is a good one!

note: we are driving to Washington for a summer vacation in a few weeks. we've been talking a lot about it!

Brendan: Mom, I want to ride in the U-haul first when we go to Washington.

Me: Bud, we aren't taking a U-haul.

Brendan: Oh yeah. Right. We aren't moving!

Me: Nope. Not this time.

Brendan: Well, I wish we were moving, you know why? So that I could play Mario Super Brothers all. day. long.

Brendan: Author and Artist

Brendan and Wyatt still draw pictures like there is no tomorrow. I have stacks. Every once in a while I have to go through the stacks and throw away recycle most of it. Well I ran across this book that Brendan wrote several months ago. I love this book! I plan on keeping it forever.

I'll let the pictures do the talking (my scanner isn't working, so I had to take pictures of the pictures).

The Shooting Plant
by Brendan M. Wagner

One time there was a shooting plant. A boy came.

Then the boy came to the plant. He was going to touch the plant.

 

But before he could touch it, it shot him.

Then the cops came to help. They picked off the pokes one by one.

Illustration close up! Cop (notice the "C" on his cap) running with twizzers to the rescue!

Cop picking off all the pokes one by one!

Now the boy felt much better. The boy learned a lesson.

Post-Baby Sewing!

**for Wagner Family Update scroll down**

Well, I think I just used my sewing machine for the first time yesterday since Easton was born. I got it out because we just don't have enough soft flannel baby wipes. I'm always out! So I ripped out something flannel that we aren't using and got to work on more wipes. While I was sewing away, I was thinking about my friend who is in the hospital with a very sick baby. I was thinking about the little guy fighting to gain weight and praying and wishing I could help or at least send flowers or something. And then I thought, 'Why don't I make some flowers?' So I put my boring wipes to the side and started making some flowers. I had a pretty good idea in my mind what I wanted to create, but a lot of times those are the worst to make happen. Better to come across a good idea and re-create it than try and make what is in my mind come to life. (At least for me it is) But, I think these turned out pretty good. Good enough to give, if you know what I mean. I used scrap fabric, buttons, wooden skewers, an apple juice jar and lid (I just knew these would come in handy someday...I have a hard time throwing away those cute glass jars!), and some sand that I had collected who knows when, from who knows where. **I have to apologize to Rand right here for making him pack that bag of sand around for the last 3 years. My craft box was much lighter after I took it out! I found some really cute rocks that I'm still hanging on to also, they're pretty heavy. Sorry Rand!!! :)

Wagner Family Update!

It's been a while since we've updated you on our church planting efforts! A lot has happened. Rand just put together an email update and it is directing people here for the longer, uncut version of our story up to now (scroll down to "lengthier version" if you are here from the email). Not all of you out there will have recieved that email, so we wanted everyone to know what's up. We've been on a tough but exciting journey since we moved here in February. Thank you to everyone who has been helpful and supportive in a million different ways. We appreciate all your love and encouragement!
Here is the scoop, in Rand's words:

CHURCH PLANTING UPDATE

NO CHURCH TO SPEAK OF
"There is not a single church in the Desert Ridge master-planned community, and it appears highly unlikely that one will ever be established." -AZ Republic newspaper

To date there is no established church in the Desert Ridge area of north Phoenix. We are taking on the challenge and trusting God to birth a new church in this area. Why not join us in taking the risk of stepping out in faith to impact the Desert Ridge community? Just think what we could accomplish together!

PROJECT PROGRESS
Just over one month ago, God put an encouraging possibility into our journey. I received an email from a church planter (Pontus Karnsund) who had moved to Phoenix from Spain around the same time we moved to Phoenix. He had been a fully supported missionary in Spain and had heard of me through the organization which was unable to help fund our plant due to not obtaining an endowment. We connected a few times to pray and discuss what God might have for us. Over the course of a few weeks, we both came to believe that God had brought us together to plant a church in the Desert Ridge area of Phoenix- the location I had hoped to target; a master planned community of over 13,000 people with no local church.

To make a long and very exciting story short, we agreed to join forces and plant one church instead of two in the same area. In coming together, I agreed to go forward as an associate pastor of the church which would allow us to use our gifts and skills most effectively. The name for the new church is theRIDGE church. So far... we have had a few community group gatherings consisting of our two families and three other families and their kids. Already there are 19 kids among these 5 families and each of us expects many of our friends and neighbors to get involved soon. We anticipate significant growth in the next few months and have already reserved the local Pinnacle High School to meet in starting in October. Our hope is to publically launch the church in February of 2011 with a launch team of about 70 adults.

CHURCH PLANTING IS A DIFFICULT ROAD- the lengthier more detailed version

So much has transpired since we moved to Phoenix to plant a church just 5 months ago. We have actually experienced what every church planter I talked to told us...that planting a church would be 6 times harder than anticipated. One of them even said that although the church he planted had grown to over a thousand members, if he could go back and do it again, he would not because of the various burdens and struggles he had encountered along the way.

For Kaylee and I...when we first began to consider starting a new church, we had the opportunity to take a position as the senior pastor of a 10 year old church on the New Jersey atlantic coast. Though it may have been a great opportunity for our family and an upward career move for me, we decided instead to take the road less travelled and do something that involved much more risk- church planting in my home city of Phoenix, AZ.

I had researched for many years the ins and outs of planting a church and had a pretty good idea what it would take. We began to make connections with various people and churches to raise support in the forms of prayer, provision, and participation. I went to Phoenix a week before we moved in order to find a partime job, a place to live, and to meet with potential supporters. After that week was over, I had a job, a rental house, and some potential for financial support from various organizations.

Then we moved across country and for the first couple months we were in transition mode. I was working a new job that would only cover a small portion of our family budget. We also had a few months of severance from my previous job in PA. With these two income streams along with the intentions of a few families and organizations to financially support, we felt hopeful and saw the whole project as an oppotunity to trust God for our needs.

Things began to get a bit more gnarley when our third son Easton was born at the end of March. My job was turning out to be many more hours than I had hoped with much less pay than I was told when hired. I was very tired, as was Kaylee and we began to wonder if we could make it pressing forward with church planting. I had very little time to recruit people to be involved in the church. We had very little time for anything but work, sleep, and baby. In the midst of this, I had been anticipating about $2500/month from one organization which did not receive an endowment they anticipated and so we did not receive our funding. You can imagine our disappointment.

At this point, through prayer and counsel, Kaylee and I decided that I should transfer my funeral director's license from WA to AZ so that if a higher paying more stable job came up, I would be able to take it. As soon as we began the process of transferring the license, a job in a funeral home came available. The new job which I started in mid-April took a little bit of the financial burden away. However, the job requires close to 60 hours/week to make ends meet. At only 40 hours we make about half what we need and about one third what we want for our budget. The possiblity of church planting while working this many hours seemed impossible.

We didn't make any decisions to stop planting no matter how difficult it was getting. We continued to seek God's strength and pressed forward with launching a new church. I spent lots of time after the kids went to bed- planning, praying, etc. I also spent many hours talking to other dads at the park while our kids played together. I went into the neighborhood trying to make connections and to build relationships. All this activity was beginning to wear me down. But then in the midst of our stuggle, we received a renewed hope. God put an encouraging possibility into our journey...(read project progress above).


NEW NAME . NEW LOGO . NEW WEBSITE

www.theRIDGEaz.com (coming soon)


CHURCH PLANTING ORGANIZATION

theRIDGE church has a partnership with STADIA: New Church Planting Strategies


WHAT NOW?
We need supporters. I would like to encourage you to partner with our ministry financially. Currently I am overburdened with too many hours working at the funeral home for not enough money to make ends meet (see extended story). My primary passion, gifting and education is for pastoral ministry in the church- And we have committed to planting and pastoring theRIDGE church. Thus, I need to significantly cut bacat my k "tentmaking" job in order to put more time and focus into growing theRIDGE church and reaching out to the community.

Please consider your financial involvement in our missionary work to the people of Desert Ridge. We need people to partner with us for greater impact. Will you please join us in this work? Whether you are only able to do a small monthly contribution or a large one... your generosity toward us will be stewarded wisely, with accountability, and will have a wide and lasting impact.

If you have already contributed to our efforts, then please be encouraged that your resources are making a difference. If you have intended to contribute but as of yet have not committed, now is the time. And... If you have not yet committed to give, then please consider what level of financial partnership you will contribute.

TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS
Sent To:
theRIDGE church
care of Rand Wagner
PO Box 71729
Phoenix, AZ 85050.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read our update. Please pray for us and join us on this journey. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

with love in Christ,

Rand
623.824.5592
randwagner@gmail.com
rand@theRIDGEaz.com

Big Brother Brendan

This boy LOVES being a big brother. He really kind of drives me crazy how into Easton he is. "Can I hold him? Can I get him out of his bouncy chair? Can I hold him in the pool?" On and on. I find myself saying, "Um, no, just leave him. He's happy right there." And then a minute later, "Um, no, he's fussy, I'm going to hold him." Now that Easton is a little bit tougher and holding his body better, I let Brendan hold him and pick him up more. If Easton weighed 5 lbs less, it would be an easier task for Brennie-boy, but no. My 17+ pound child (I wonder if he isn't getting closer to 20# !) is a bit of a load for big brother. Brendan picks him up, carries him for about 10 seconds and then he is grunting and saying, "okay, okay, you take him." It's entertaining, except when I'm trying to get something done.

Easton loves the attention and it all keeps him quite entertained. Seriously, having three is so much easier than having 1.

Wyatt is a great big brother, too! He doesn't even try to lift Easton, though. :)

Oh, and after editing this post, I'm wondering if horizontal stripes aren't the best choice for my poor babe. :)