Less Known...But Not Less Important

Two weeks ago we kicked off the college group for the summer. This week we kicked off our summer teaching series: "Less Known...But Not Less Important". We have 4 teaching nights planned. We are going to highlight two men and two women from the Bible who no one has really heard of, but who still play an important role in the history of our faith. (For example, last night I taught on Jehosheba. She ROCKS! Read about her story in 2 Kings 11 when you get a chance)

To introduce the series, we made a video. You are going to get to watch it in about two minutes. But let me set it up for you: The main characters are Big Rob (the match-maker/"Hitch"-type character), David (who is obsessed over Kim), and Kim (his crush). They are all college students in the group. We call Rob "Big Rob" because he is 19 but 6'9". He's so great. I'm in it, too, but very briefly. Kim and I are at a meeting at Starbucks.

Anyway, copy and paste the link below and enjoy this lovely video. A few warnings:

1) It's long (10 minutes)
2) It's very...um, non-professional. There are times when it's pretty slow. But oh well. We're just having fun, right? The whole idea behind the video was to show Rob as being less known in the David/Kim scenario, but just as important! (you'll see why)

Fun Fact: David and Kim are dating in real life! Woohoo! Love connection!!

Grown-ups can like Harry Potter, too

Sarah's Harry Potter timeline this summer:

July 11 - see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in theaters

July 21 - pick up copy of the seventh and final Harry Potter book (HP and the Deathly Hallows)

July 21-22 - read and finish book

July 23 - realize that there are no more Harry Potter books coming and weep bitterly

I didn't write this, but thought it was funny

This letter is for the 30 and under crowd,

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning...uphill BOTH ways...yadda, yadda, yadda.

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves...in the card catalog!!

There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter...with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!

We didn't have fancy Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it. And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was. It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances.

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics. We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "asteroids" and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed.

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on. You were screwed when it came to channel surfing. You had to get off the couch and walk over to the TV to change the channel. There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up. We had to use the stove or go build a friggin' fire...imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980.

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

Summer Kick-Off!!

The past few weeks my summer intern, John, and I have been getting things ready for our summer program. Errands, cleaning the house/garage where we meet, planning/brainstorming summer events and our teaching series, and other stuff like that. And then finally...it was time. Summer Kick-Off!!
We had decided to have a BBQ, because I think we all know that college students love food. I remember getting things prepped and thinking in my head about who might show up. The more I thought about it, the more I realized a ton of our "regulars" were going to be gone this summer (mostly working at camps in the area).

Me: "Hey John, I'm thinking we're going to have a small crew this summer."
John: "Oh really?"
Me: "Yeah. A lot of students are on vacation or working at camps. So we'll probably have 10-15 students tonight."
John: "Oh that's cool. Those will be the ones God wants us to minister to. And plus it gives us room to grow."

Side note: this is a perfect example of why my intern ROCKS.

So we finished getting everything set up and we spent some time in prayer. By the time seven o'clock rolled around, we were both giddy with excitement. Me because I have missed my students like crazy and John because he gets to finally meet them and start the summer!

You guys...we had 50 college students come that night!! WHAT!?!?!?

Seriously, John and I were floored. We could not believe it. We were expecting a small group and they just kept showing up. I got to meet a lot of new peeps who were coming to check out the group. The electricity in the group was overwhelming. My heart was overflowing! Wow God! Wow.

John and I met yesterday to talk about the night. And even though we were both still in shock and awe, we were praising God like crazy. It wasn't anything WE had done, no way. That was totally God. These are the students He wants us to love and challenge this summer, and we are so stoked on that.

The Chronic - WHAT - cles of Narnia!

I have been re-reading The Chronicles of Narnia the past few weeks and I'm lovin' it. I say "re-reading" because I have not sat down and read all 7 books all the way through since I was a kid. I have forgotten pretty much everything, except for the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, thanks to the recent movie. I just finished Book 5 (The Horse and his Boy) last night and started Book 6 (The Magician's Newphew).

I went online today and found out they are filming Prince Caspian right now. It is due in theaters May 2008. It will have all 4 returning Pevensie kids and they just cast who will be Caspian: Ben Barnes. Hmmm, never heard of him. Hope it's good. Cheers and Cheerio! (that's me trying to be British)

An oldie but a goodie: http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/#mea=2921

Pomp and Circumstance

Well, it is finished. The last of the 4 sisters has graduated from college. Yes, my youngest sister Emily has joined the ranks of Bachelor of Arts. I drove down to San Luis Obispo on Thursday night and spent Friday with her: running errands, buying food, cleaning her house, a little mani/pedi action (yeah!).

And then Saturday was the Big Day. The whole fam, including relatives, got up early and drove to Cal Poly to get good bleacher seats. There was the usual beach ball throwing, bubbles, happy screaming and cheering, families yelling out names to show their graduate where they're sitting, flowers, decorated graduation caps, speeches, pictures, and video.

First pix is the sisters. Then, we have a fam pix. Back row is bro-in-law David and Daddio. Front row is sister Amy, me, Emily (the grad!), Liz, and Mamacita.




Then, we had a party for her back at her house (she lives on a ranch) with family and friends.
One of my favorite things about the party was we had tons of balloons but no string or ribbon to tie them. So we ended up using the only thing we could find...dental floss. Oh yeah!! Amy and I kept joking that after we finished eating, we could grab a "balloon string" and get the food that was stuck in our teeth.

Top 40 children's books that didn't make it

1. You Are Different and That's Bad
2. The Boy Who Died From Eating All His Vegetables
3. Dad's New Wife Robert
4. Fun Four-letter Words to Know and Share
5. Hammers, Screwdrivers and Scissors: An I-Can-Do-It Book
6. The Kids' Guide to Hitchhiking
7. Kathy Was So Bad Her Mom Stopped Loving Her
8. Curious George and the High-Voltage Fence
9. All Cats Go To Hell
10. The Little Sissy Who Snitched
11. Some Kittens Can Fly
12. That's It, I'm Putting You Up For Adoption
13. Grandpa Gets a Casket
14. The Magic World Inside The Abandoned Refrigerator
15. Garfield Gets Feline Leukemia
16. The Pop-Up Book of Human Anatomy
17. How to Become the Dominant Military Power in Your Elementary School
18. Whining, Kicking and Crying to Get Your Way
19. You Were An Accident
20. Things Rich Kids Have, But you Never Will
21. Pop! Goes the Hamster... And Other Great Microwave Games
22. The Man in the Moon Is Actually Satan
23. Your Nightmares Are Real
24. Where Would You Like to Be Buried?
25. Eggs, Toilet Paper, and Your School
26. Why Can't Mr. Fork and Ms. Electrical Outlet Be Friends?
27. Places Where Mommy and Daddy Hide Neat Things
28. Daddy Drinks Because You Cry
29. Strangers Have the Best Candy
30. Getting More Chocolate on Your Face
31. The Attention Deficit Disorder Association's Book of Wild Animals of North Amer. . . Hey! Let's Go Ride Our Bikes!
32. Testing Homemade Parachutes Using Only Your Household Pets
33. The Hardy Boys, the Barbie Twins, and the Vice Squad
34. Babar Meets the Taxidermist
35. Where the F**k is Waldo?
36. Start a Real-Estate Empire with the Change from Your Mom's Purse
37. The Care Bears Maul Some Campers and Are Shot Dead
38. Controlling the Playground: Respect through Fear
39. When Mommy and Daddy Don't Know the Answer, They Say God Did It
40. What Is That Dog Doing to That Other Dog?

5 things this week

1) Last week my car was in the shop getting fixed (from my accident a few weeks ago). They had told me they would need about 4 days and it would be approx. $1300. Well, they kept finding stuff wrong with it, so it ended up being 8 days and $2400. I paid my five hundred deductible and brought Johnny home. Needless to say, I keep a good distance between myself and the cars in front of me....and my car insurance has gone up. Oh well, such is life.

2) So I've been taking a jazz class this semester which I have loved. Our "dance recital" is tomorrow. I don't know if you have ever been to a dance recital before but it can be torture. Imagine 2 hours of girls up on stage in their tutus or tap shoes (depending on what class they took) dancing to bad music and forgetting their moves. My roomates wanted to come and see me but I told them not to. First, because of the above reason. And second, they are charging $10! HUH?? They should be PAYING people to come. I mean, maybe I'm being too harsh. Parents love to come watch their kids dance for 2 minutes on stage and take pictures and video. But I'm afraid if my roomates come, they'll have to sit through the 2 hours of that before my group goes on. So I told them to save their money and I'll do my dance for them at home. And even though I am bashing dance recitals, I AM really excited. It is a thrill to dance, no matter where I am.

3) I think I have "Threequel-itis": Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, Pirates 3. Crap, crap, and crap. Come on, Ocean's 13...don't let me down.


4) At work, our summer interns are here! My intern is John from West Virginia and he is awesome! Yesterday we went out to lunch to talk about the college group this summer and then we went boogieboarding. SO FUN! The sun was out, the waves were perfect...and then to make things even better - an otter swam right by us!! I had made a joke to John how I wanted to see a dolphin or an otter come up to us, but I wasn't serious. 30 minutes later, we're out bobbing on the waves, waiting to catch one in...and this otter pops out of the water 5 feet away from us!!! We were so stoked/shocked! I have never seen an otter so close to shore or so close to ME! He was so cute! He was swimming in and out of the water, flipping, turning, chillin'. Complete and total highlight of my week.

5) I found my new favorite video. It's entitled "Mother's Day".

My Phun

I'm home and I had a great time down south. I did everything on my fake To-Do list (see previous blog) which included lots of sleeping and resting. One of my highlights was about halfway through the week. I went jogging every day which was great (how come I don't have that same motivation at home?) and one morning I decided to bring my camera with me. So, I went on a "Photo-Run" which I now affectionately call a "Phun". And boy was it phun! Here are some sights I encountered around their town.

First, I ran by a middle school and a bunch of kids were walking out to P.E. I had to smile because a) man, I sure don't miss wearing gym clothes and b) you guys are still in school, suckahs!! I'm on vacation!


Second, this picture goes to show that no matter where you live...you will always see shoes on a wire.


The rest of the pixs all have to do with dogs. This next picture was so phun. There were 2 dogs in a park. Their owner let them run around while he chatted on his cell phone. The dogs would hide behind a tree and watch birds fly down to the grass in groups. Then, they’d burst out from behind the tree, barking like mad and chasing after the birds. I loved watching them! They made me laugh. Those dumb birds kept coming down to the grass again, forgetting that 2 seconds earlier huge dogs tried to maul them to death.


Best lawn ornament ever. EVER. I want one. Sort of.


These last two are great. I passed a house on a corner and heard barking. Actually, can I call it barking? It was more like loud "yipping". Anyway, I turned around and saw the tiniest Chihuahua growling and yipping at me through a gate. "Whatever, I'm not even near your house, buddy." Just to taunt it, I started walking toward him. He FREAKED. He started jumping all over the place (in the right picture you can see him getting some sweet air).

Don't let the picture fool you. He was so small, you could hold him in your hand. I just got closer and closer to tick him off (is that wrong?). He continued to go nuts. What is WITH these chihuahua dogs that makes them think they are german shepherds or something?! Dude, I know you're all protective and keeping your house safe...but seriously? A baby could sit on you and life would be over. So chill.

I had such an enjoyable "phun". Just observing everyday life and appreciating it instead of running by without thought or care. I think you all should try it once and see what life throws your way.