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Thursday night. It’s kind of nice to have a moderately free evening. I went to dinner with some friends from church, but after that it’s like, well, what should I do now? Even though I still have a ways to go yet in my sermon prep, and I had thought about doing some more tonight, I think I will just try to finish tomorrow and polish on Saturday. So why not blog Jarod? OK, great idea!

I guess I should talk first about my trip to Kansas. It was fun! The trip was long, but thanks to the generous hospitality of someone who is a relatively new friend, it wasn’t that bad. My siblings broke down in St. Louis and I was able to catch up with them and we went the rest of the way together. (While there we shopped at a store called “Steve and Barry’s”, a large clothing store with nice clothes. The great thing was this: everything in the store was only $6! From top to bottom. It was hard to stop shopping! )

The reunion was fun, and I greatly enjoyed seeing my immediate family again, and also my extended family. I saw my cousin Ronn who had been in the Army and had a tour of duty in Iraq. I am very proud of him for that. I got to see my three youngest siblings, whom I had not seen since I moved to Georgia. They are all growing up way too quickly.

Here are a couple pictures:

My brother Matt and cousin Ronn. Ronn’s the guy who went to Iraq.

Dominoes is far and away the most popular activity for my mother’s side of the family. Much fun was had by all. I rather like this picture. Kudos to Matt!

Here are the five Hinton brothers. We saw these jackets at Steve and Barry’s and could not resist. (Especially for $6.) We love basketball…

…and we are Hoosiers at heart! For those of you that have seen the movie “Hoosiers”, you will know why this is cool! The jackets are meant to be replicas. (We even got one for Dad!) *Side Note: My mother and all her sisters married guys who’s last names start with “H”, and her maiden name also starts with “H”. My father’s only sister also married an “H” guy. We pretty much only have one section we need to look at in our address book.* 

Here is a team of five cousins who have grown up together, and done a lot together.

These same five after the traditional “Old Guys vs. the Young Guys” basketball game. (They beat us every year, btw.) I’d like to think that we would still help each other out if we were in a jam. That assumption hasn’t really been tested yet. (To my knowledge.) Only one of this group is married. Any guesses as to whom?

Here is the clan. Taken in beautiful, but hot, Kansas. I really love these people!

Then my brother and I drove to Western Georgia for an HQ guys reunion. Planned months in advance, it was a very refreshing and enjoyable time with fellow brothers in the Lord. While there we finished most all of the shooting for what is becoming known as “Sam Franklin: Part 3”! Check your local theatre’s for showtimes. It’s not exactly a real sequel. It will kind of stand on it’s own. I’m excited about the project.

Now on to other things….