Feed The Hunger

I helped a couple of times with Youthfront's Feed The Hunger initiative. I am proud of Youthfront for helping students serve the needy by packaging meals. This program has been in place at camp since last year, because today's students are not only interested in having a "fun time", but they want to express their faith in real ways.

When the Haiti earthquake occurred, Youthfront used their experience with this to invite students and families to Youthfront auditorium to package meals for Haiti.

The first time I went, I moved around 40 pound bags of rice and soy for a few hours.





The second time, we came with mom and dad and packaged a bunch of meals. How it works is you bring money to pay for the supplies, which Youthfront already purchased in advance, and you package the meals.









Courtney works for Youthfront and helped several times with registration.

Restaurant Review: Genghis Grill

This is downtown in the new P&L district. It is basically the same thing as all of the other brands of Mongolian grills around town. I wonder if they are all owned by the same people. You get a bowl. Fill it with your choice of meat, veggies, sauces, etc. You can follow some printed guides if you don't know what you want. And you give it to the cook who grills everything. And then they take it to your table. And you still tip a waiter.

My first and only previous experience with a Mongolian grill was a long time ago for a coworker lunch. (I'm writing this for my S1 readers) We had Dan T, Scott W, Rachel, Abby and me. It's interesting - I remember very specific things that were discussed, and where we were sitting, etc. It's kind of crazy to think of how much changed soon after that. Eventually only me and Dan T were left from that group, and we didn't replace any of the other people. A few other people came on (Jim, Brian, Benee), but didn't fill exactly the same roles as the people who left. That means that I took on a lot of the work of three other people! I like how my restaurant reviews allow me to go on tangents.

Best of 2008: Pictures

Best pictures we took in 2008.

Paul and Martha's dog, Shelby



This one of the "STAR team" is one of the first pictures taken with our camera.



Meeting Miles in September


Not sure how Courtney did this one, but it's cool

Best of 2009: Videos

I have documented my favorite videos for the first time in 2009. Now, I've tried to pick out the best. These 3 are the best. It's kind of tough to put them in order.

1. Her Morning Elegance




2. Distraxion





3. Kittens

Movie Review: Murder on the Orient Express

This was not an Oscar winner, but it was recommended by Kenny, Courtney's father.

It doesn't matter whether it's a book or TV show or movie, I can never guess who did it in a murder mystery.

This one is by Agatha Christie, the legendary author from England. She rarely gave permission to make her books into movies, but for whatever reason was positively inclined in this case.

I really enjoyed the movie, not gonna lie. It is stacked with "stars", supposedly, really the only household names were Sean Connery and Ingrid Bergman. And from my movie watching in general, I have also heard of Albert Finney and Anthony Perkins and John Gielgud and Jacqueline Bisset

Book Review: Cosmos

It's been 9 days since a post, I figure I should write one. We were on vacation.
Plus, my life has changed, and I am focused less on "get things done" mode. I feel more freedom to do what I want. Our lives upcoming will probably 90% reacting to needs that have to get done. But for now I still do have some discretion. I am getting very close to taking my SQL Server Administration certification exam, and after that I will feel better!

Anyway, I don't have the time to do this book justice. But we came across Cosmos on sale in the book store, which is at first glance a collections of pictures of outer space. But on second glance, there is a lot of text that accompanies the pictures. On third glance, this text is very scientific and difficult to read. But I tried to read it all.

The book is also like two feet tall, so it was difficult to read...physically.


This book challenged my views of creation. Because due to the way the universe is set up, objects in the universe appear to be really old. And this doesn't match a 6 Earth day creation. Sure, God could make things look old that are really new. But for me a more acceptable answer, is "I don't really know". To me it doesn't matter, and we shouldn't let faith get in the way of honest scientific discovery. Now, I believe scientists are also in the wrong, because they can be closed minded toward Creation. They do not want to admit that science will not have all of the answers.

And that is what I gathered from this book....there have been amazing discoveries, but there are more questions than answers. I am very impressed at the science of outer space. There have been many geniuses in our past that paved the way toward understanding the universe. And now we can send probes out to Pluto, and sending people into space is old news.

The most mind boggling thing is the size of the universe. There are billions of suns like ours. And billions of galaxies. There is no way for me to comprehend it, other than considering it as infinity.

The book has a lot of sweet pictures that I'll show my son or daughter.

PS Hey I've come a long way....for 9th grade science class I wrote that snakes only existed because God cursed a salamander and then it no longer had arms and legs. Shoot. Now, I am willing to venture that a snake is a literary tool to describe the way sin entered the world... There are many questions, and we need to have courage to admit that.

Book Review: Becoming a Dud

This book started out funny and relevant, and toward the middle it was becoming a dud, then it got okay at the end again.

Toward the middle, the authors, who are professional Christian counselors, decide to do a brain dump on everyone about their philosophy of life. And although it existentially had to do with becoming a father, it was a little too deep for what I need right now. I am ready for some practical stuff.

The main premise of the book is that fatherhood is a wild, exciting journey, full of joy and heartbreak. We need to be prepared to be connected with God, and enter into the risk that is inherent with being a dad, not with our own confidence, but that which comes from Him. See what I mean about wanting some practical stuff.

I really want to be there for my child, and get to know him/her. I don't want to lash out at them, but want to understand them. All you parents out there are like ha, ha, good luck understanding a 2 year old. But I'm just talking about a general attitude, one that is not confrontational, but more relational. I need to be prepared that they may like stuff that I care nothing about, and I need to enter into their life and encourage and affirm them. And I will not claim to have it all together, or force my family to think they have it together.

PS If you want a copy of Becoming a Dad, it's $4 at Mardel!