Joel's First Haircut

Joel had his first haircut today! We go to a great barbershop nearby. They have toys on the side to play with if we have to wait and a tv with cartoons to distract during the haircut. The owner knows us and recognizes the boys when we come in. She was even careful to save some of Joel's hair for me. Best of all their prices are great.

We also planted Micah's vegetable garden this weekend. Tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, salad mix, onions, and peas were on the menu. We also planted strawberries in the backyard.

Jars Of Clay- Dead Man Carry Me

I have always thought this song sounded just like the OK GO song, Million Ways (posted below). What do you think?

Ok Go -Million Ways

From the guys who did the treadmill dance--this was their first video. I love the fact that they turn on the camera themselves. Try to catch the Matrix reference.

We're Back!

We just returned this week from spending 2 weeks in Hawaii! It was a great time with fun times had by all. We spent 10 days on Maui, then the boys and I went to Oahu for 4 days to visit Jodi and HER boys. =)



Highlights from the trip:

• The first day was spent in the ER because I suffered from severe dehydration. NOT fun, I would not recommend that for anyone. More on this later.


• snorkeling at Molokini, a crater off the coast of Maui and swimming with giant sea turtles


• Warren and Annabelles magic/comedy show in Lahaina


• Drive to Hana


• Swimming at "Big Beach" in Makena and Micah getting stung by bees 3 times!


• Relaxing and playing with Jodi's kids; Micah saying "I will miss Josh".


• Taking the kids on the Pineapple Express train.


• When the kids woke at 4:30 (b/c of the time change) having Grandma and Grandpa there who were already awake!!
• I got to get a Dole Whip TWICE! I love this pineapple soft-serve ice cream. The only place I've found it is in Hawaii and at the Tiki Room at Disneyland.
• Haleakala crater. At 10,000 feet, it looks like the moon up there! Its one of the steepest drives in the US going from sea level to 10,000 feet in just 2 hours.
• Dinner by ourselves (sans kids) at the beachfront restaurant, I'O in Lahaina. It was delicious food. Thai Curry Asparagus Soup---yum!
• I was so impressed with myself that I drove us from the airport to Jodi's house from memory with no wrong turns!

Here are a few pictures from Oahu. The Maui picts are on the other computer. I've done all the toursity things, so we just hung out and did mom things like take the kids on the train, McD's playland, and the park. Its so great to have a friend you haven't seen in a year and it feels like you live next door. Love you Jodi! I'm so bummed that I didn't get any picts of Daniel!! Head over here to see some cute ones.

Can you believe that Josh took this picture of us? He is quite talented!!

WOW!

If you know Daphne, you need to go here and find out the SHOCK of their lives! My jaw hit the floor!

Question of the Day

Today is a wonderful day. Why? Because today marked the official end of March Madness. WOOO HOOO! (ducking right now for pillows being thrown at me from a certain somebody) Every March my favorite shows are pre-empted or moved around for College Basketball. Basketball is a sport we have never learned to watch around here. Although Micah says he likes it. He is tall for his age....

On to the topic at hand. There is a new and much anticipated episode of The Office airing this Thursday. I thought I would throw this out there:

What is your favorite episode of The Office and why? If you mention an episode from Season 3, do Susan a favor and type SPOILER at the top for her, so she knows to skip it.

Here is my favorite:
Hands down, it is The Injury. Watching Michael wallow in self-pity is just too funny. The scene in the van when Jim drives Dwight and Michael to the hospital was hilarious!

Radical Reformission

We are reading the Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll in a small group. This week a paragraph resonated with me.

"Arguably most Christians and churches prefer the past to the present or the future, because the past is over, while the present and the future still require a lot of work. A naive romanticism in each of us desperately wants to believe there was a time after Genesis 2 when the world was a wonderful place to live, when things were better and easier than they are today. This powerful delusion enables us to excuse our laziness and failure to be about reformission because of the difficult days we live in." pg 50

Recently, this idea that things were so much better 50 years ago has become so tiresome to me. I guess its because there is nothing you can do about the past, and like the quote says, it distracts us from what God has called us to do for the present and future. We live in a fallen world and we always will until God redeems the land. How do you expect fallen people to act?

Another irritating idea out there is that, and I'm paraphrasing, "we shouldn't let the culture into church, be in the world but not of the world." Would you say this to Hudson Taylor when he went to evangelize to the Chinese? Most misisonaries will tell you that before you can be effective in reaching those for Christ, you need to learn the stories of the culture and then relate the gospel in terms they will understand. This idea applies today to our American culture. You need all three: church + gospel + culture, to be relevant.