Trip to the Circus

Today is our son, Landon's birthday! He is four years old today. Landon is a very active little boy whose imagination is as incredible as his smiles and hugs. Landon loves movies like Cars, Toy Story and WALL-E. But, his favorite character is Larry Boy from Veggie Tales' The Fib From Outer Space. This past Saturday we took Landon and our daughter, Liana, to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus as part of his birthday celebration. Not only wa this Landon's first trip to the circus, but this was mine and Liana's first circus as well.

We parked in the Centennial Parking Deck around 10:30am and walked back up Andrew Young International Boulevard to the intersection at Peachtree Street where we had lunch at ..... the Hard Rock Cafe. The kids thought this restaurant was cool! Landon especially had his eye on the Harley Davidson in the lobby. We enjoyed lunch and had the pleasure of meeting Linda, our waitress for lunch. Linda was gracious enough to have her picture taken with the kids.

After lunch we made our way back toward Philips Arena making stops at Centennial Olympic Park and the CNN Center. The kids wanted to play in the water fountain at Centennial Olympic Park, but it was too early in the day and to cold for them to be wet all day. We'll have to go back for that another time. We watched the water "show" at the park that was choreographed to music. Landon couldn't help himself but to dance. We made one more pit stop before going to Philips Arena. We stopped in the CNN center. The place was running over with cheerleading squads from all over the Southeast United States. There was a cheerleading competition at the Georiga World Congress Center over the weekend.

We got in line and found ourselves at the front of the entrance line at Philips Arena. The doors opened an hour before the start of the show. We got to spend about 45 minutes enjoying the pre-show activities. This meant that we got to go down on the show floor and hang out with the performers, have pictures made with them, and the kids got to participate in some fun games with the clowns.

As the ringmaster said, "Welcome to the greatest show on earth."

Little Bit of Background

The picture of the covered bridge in the title banner of this blog is known as The Stovall Mill Bridge in Sautee, GA (near Helen). I chose this picture because the bridge is named after my family. Fred Stovall, owner and operator of the mill, was the first cousin to my great grandfather, Alfred Stovall. The following links will give you more information about The Stovall Mill Bridge.

http://www.dot.ga.gov/travelingingeorgia/coveredbridges/Pages/StovallMill.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stovall_Mill_Covered_Bridge
http://www.n-georgia.com/stovall-mill-bridge.htm

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Today was my mother-in-law’s birthday. We met my in-laws in Athens for a birthday dinner with MeMe and PawPaw. I have the world’s absolutely best in-laws. We stopped by the mall in Athens to pick up pictures from the Sears’ Portrait Studio of our 7 month old son, Leighton. We had a little time to pass before we were supposed to meet my in-laws, so we decided to walk around the mall. While we were walking around my three year son, Landon, said to me, “Daddy, I want to ride the step rider.” I must admit that at first I did not know what he was talking about. So, I asked him what the “step rider” is. He said, “You know, the thing that goes up and down.” I soon realized that the “step rider” is none other than an escalator. Landon and I took several rides up and down the “step rider” just for the fun of it.

Fresh Start

My name is Michael Stovall. Blogging is a recent hobby for me. This is actually a second effort at blogging on my part. My friend, Adam Reed, was the catalyst who got me involved not only with blogging but with Facebook and Twitter. Let me share a little information about myself and how I forsee this blog taking shape.

The greatest day of my life was June 7, 1988 when I made the most important decision of my life. On this night, I repented of my sins and put my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. I grew up in Elberton, Georgia as the second of four children and graduated from Elbert County Comprehensive High School. I attended Truett-McConnell College (Cleveland, GA). I met my wife, Tricia, at Truett-McConnell College. She and I both finished college at Shorter College (Rome, GA). We were married the week after I graduated and moved to Wake Forest, NC about a month later. We moved to Wake Forest for me to attend seminary at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

My wife and I have three wonderful children. My wife is my best friend and our children are our greatest earthly joy. We currently live in Elberton, GA. I enjoy spending time with my family, reading, working in the yard, eating and sleeping (and not always in that order). I am an avid Georgia Bulldogs fan and crave the college football season. I have a serious weak spot for vices such as chocolate, barbecue, chips, crackers, cheesecake, steak, sweet tea .... mostly any kind of food. I just enjoy eating. My greatest passion in life is to see people come to a personal saving relationship with Jesus Christ and then grow in that relationship to the praise and glory of God.

This blog will take on a life of its own. As the title suggests, the posts will have to do with the real events of my life. As a husband and father my life has wonderful family experiences. Some of these I will post here to share with you. As a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ I have a passion for communicating the simple truths of the Bible with others. Much of my reading is in the area of preaching and local church ministry. Many of the posts will reflect my ministry experiences and reading. As a sports fan I watch a fair amount of sports programming and try to attend a few sporting events throughout the year. I’m sure there will be ample sports posts. Bottom line …. as life goes, so go my posts. Hence the title of this blog …..Michael Stovall: Real Life. Everyday. Welcome to my journey!