Movie Review: The Notebook

It's the end of January, and I only have another day to review these movies. Then I will do a Best Of January thing.


We watched this with our year-long youth intern Bryson and his girlfriend. That was after we tried to go bowling, and all the lanes were taken, and stopped by the movies, and all of them started at 9:40.

So we picked this one democratically. Courtney had seen it before. She had won it at a DVD gift exchange at Christmas time.

Surprisingly, this movie touched my heart. Sure, it had premarital sex which I disapproved of. But if you ignore that, it was a touching love story. Especially the factor that the story is being narrated by an old man that is reading to a lady who has a memory problem similar to Alzheimers. This is in the running for the best movie I saw in January!

I almost forgot to mention that this movie made me feel like I wasn't being romantic enough toward Courtney, and I want to be more romantic. With Valentine's Day coming, I really needed that!

network is down...what do you do?

The network went down at work today. We could not read work email, access network folders, or use the Internet. We not only ran out of productive things to do, but also struggled to find ways to waste time. I attempted to install my new car headlight, but there was a cold wind, and i ended up needing some tools. then eventually about 7 of us did team-building by playing something like Pictionary. We were laughing and were apparently high on permanent markers.

All the fun aside, imagine being the system administrator or the owner or COO. This was very serious for them, and should have been for us as well. We were more than willing to work, but did not have the capability. Eventually we had the option of going home, after hearing that it wouldn't be fixed soon.

Courtney's car wouldn't start this morning, so she got a ride home. We both were at home at 3 PM, which is very weird for a work day. With dad out of town, we are left to our own minds, and we'll try to get it to the auto shop soon.

Last weekend we saw 2 more movies. The Sting and The Notebook. We also primed our bathroom walls. So they are semi-white now instead of pink. They need one more coat, and then we will be painting light blue.

Movie Review: Rear Window

Famous people: Alfred Hitchcock - director, James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Raymond Burr

Why did I see this? This is Courtney's favorite Hitchcock movie

Review: The actors did a great job. Courtney stated that Grace Kelley is beautiful. See, I didn't say it. The movie takes place entirely from James Stewart character's apartment window. He is stuck with a cast on his leg, and spends his time looking at his neighbors. And a lot of neighbors are doing funny things.

Anyway, he suspects that someone has been murdered that he has been viewing, and the movie is about that.

It is totally suspenseful, and has a great ending.

The extra features gave us an appreciation for things that we would have otherwise taken for granted, such as the costume design, sound, and set construction. Also, this movie had to go through an intense restoration process, since the original was in a poor state.

professional picture

Here is a picture that was taken at my workplace. I cropped it and added the frame around it, as we do for all pictures on our web site. I won't be on the web site yet, but I put the frame around it anyway.

Weekend of January 20

My weekend started off well with a Happy Hour to say goodbye to 4-year employee Ashley. We met at the Fox & Hound. I enjoyed seeing a few other former employees that I really miss. Now there are 5 people at my company that have seniority over me, in a company of 20 people. At 3 years, I am a veteran.

On the way to Fox & Hound, I had seen my Uncle Tim walking at a busy intersection. I tried to u-turn and give him a ride home, but he mysteriously disappeared. So I decided that I would stop by their home afterwards. So I did. (I later found out that Tim walks through a building near the intersection to escape the nasty weather)

I decided to call Courtney (she had been at a youth worker meeting), and she came over. When I told her there were kittens, that sealed her decision. She got to play with the 3 kittens, and she also got to tell Tim and Rebekah about her ministry and life.

Then Saturday Courtney countinued her youth worker meeting, so I got a few things done around the house. Then Saturday evening, we went to a play named The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged at Shawnee Mission North. This was a play that Courntney saw and loved in college, so she wanted me to experience it. Her college friend Sharon went with us. It was snowing, so that was fun.

Sunday I played keyboards in church on the brand new keyboard. We had some guest worship leaders from Heartland Church, which inspired me to finally go to the 20-something meeting on Sunday nights. So we went to that at 7 PM. It was really long and LOUD. It was more like college than anything I've experienced (since college). These kinds of things lose their appeal when you get married, I think. It had a lot of energy. But I am glad that I went, because experiences are important, and they help you to understand yourself.

Then we went home and watched a movie (yes it was a late night). Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. Ala tradition, I will write a review of my movie watching experience. then sleep.... a good weekend.

Book Review: Black

Why? Courtney gave this book to me to read for her birthday. It's a fun exchange we will always have.

Author: Ted Dekker

Publisher's synopsis: By day's end, three million people will be carriers of the deadliest virus in history. There is no vaccine. There is no anti-virus. The world's only hope is Thomas Hunter, and he has already been killed. Twice. Enter an adrenaline-laced epic where dreams and reality collide - and the fate of two worlds hangs in the balance of one man's choices.

Web site: http://www.teddekker.com/

Did I like it? Yes. This was some of the best fiction I've read. Maybe the best. Of course, I haven't read much fiction. It was kind of like watching a 24 episode. Lots of action. It is also intellectually intriguing. And it is spiritually feeding, because there are many spiritual undertones. I say undertones, because it is never made obvious. It is all analogy. Read it. It should be in your local library. I am about to read RED.

Super Sunday and icy weather

I have scraped my car windshield about 10 times this weekend. My shoulder and hand are bruised, and I have broken my scraper. Needless to say, the icy weather did not keep us from going anywhere.

We attended 24/7 prayer at our church on Saturday from 6 to 7. Then we stopped by Courtney's aunts house.


Courtney went to church early for a meeting.
Then she taught Sunday School.
Then she ran slides for worship, and I played bass.
Then we attended the Friendship Luncheon, which had 2 things that were gluten-free, including plain salad.

Then we went home and I had lunch.

Then at 6 we left for Courtney's co-workers house, driving 40 on the highway, to watch 24. The beginning of this season was not disappointing! It was the best beginning of a 24 ever. I can't wait to see the rest.

*Everyone else who had been invited cancelled due to weather. I retain my comparison of this to Canadian weather. The roads were not great, but not bad enough to keep us from going!

Movie Review: Unbreakable

When did I see this: Friday, January 12

Why? It was raining ice outside and we needed something to do. This movie was part of Courtney's personal video collection that she brought into our marriage.

Who? I watched it with Courtney

Stars: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Review: The plot was intriguing. I felt I was pulling for both main characters. And at the end it was a "huh" moment, where I had to close myself in the office and think for 5 minutes. This movie used several creative camera angles. This is yet another movie you should see.

Movie Review: Chocolat

When did I see this: last weekend

Who did I see it with? Courtney

Occasion: I gave it to Courtney for her birthday

Year movie was made: 2000

Review: good. worth a watch. Probably not for kids. Sorry about the lazy review. It was good, go rent it.

Restaurant Review: Jade Bowl

Type of food: Chinese

Location: 75th and Antioch, across from Shawnee Mission Medical

Price: lunch for about $5

Serving size: big enough

Taste: great

Gluten-free items: Plenty, but you have to guess which ones are breaded and which aren't! I guessed right, fortunately!

Service speed: Slow, but it's tough for a mainly delivery place to cater to the inside customers as well

Service quality: Very friendly and good service

Occasion for going: Spend time with my sister Mo

Other notes: I'd go again

Next Sunday: 24 season 6

We are excited about the next season of 24, our favorite TV show.

Restaurant Review: California Pizza Kitchen

Location: Plaza

Occasion for going: Courtney's birthday

Web site: http://www.cpk.com/

Food: Not very many gluten-free items. Apparently there is a widespread problem of people thinking the Steakhouse Salad has steak meat, and that happened to me as well. Then I thought the Thai dish might have rice noodles instead of wheat noodles, and that didn't pan out. So I ended up with a great Cobb salad. If you do eat pizza, they have lots of good selections.

Price: reasonable

Service: uptight and miserly. Courtney got no free food for her birthday, they gave her the wrong type of pizza crust, and merely apologized, and did not take our coupon that had expired by 3 months. I did not set up the coupon to be received well, but still, you'd think any 3 of those things would benefit us somehow. Nope.

Other notes: I got interviewed by KCTV5 immediately after leaving this restaurant, as we walked toward Vinca.

Restaurant Review: Manny's

Location: 207 Southwest Blvd, Kansas City, MO

Occasion for going: Jon and Amanda Philgreen are back in town and went to eat with YouthFront people

WebSite: http://www.mannyskc.com/

Service: very fast, except for the end, when it took 20 minutes to pick up our payment.

Food: Good. (No one cares what I had for lunch)

Other Notes: This is the largest Mexican restaurant I've ever been in . They seated our group of 14 (in 2 different booths) within 15 minutes of arrival on a Friday at 12:30.

Dan on the news

I was on the 10:00 news last night on KCTV5. We were on the plaza celebrating Courtney's birthday, when we came across the news people. And off camera they asked what we think about the Penguins coming to town. Courtney said, "What sport?" The newspeople laughed and decided not to interview her. Then they rolled the cameras and asked me "If the Penguins moved to Kansas City, how many games would you watch on TV?". And I said "None. I'd be happy if the Penguins moved here, but hockey isn't that interesting to watch on TV." Off-camera, we discussed more with the newspeople (Ty Wilson was the interviewer), and we said we'd go to one or two games.

So at night we watched the news. they showed some survey results with 38% percent of respondents would watch No games. Then they showed a clip of me saying "hockey isn't that interesting to watch on TV". And the name "Ben Alleres" flashed on the bottom of the screen. So Courtney and I are joking that if I ever get famous, I will go by "Ben Alleres". Overall, a great thing to happen on Courtney's birthday (which is coincidentally also my dad's birthday).

Happy Birthday Courtney!!

Isn't she beautiful?

Location: Musician's Friend Warehouse

Today I took a day off. I only had one extra day off that we call the Eves holiday. We get half day off on each Eve, but typically we combine them. This year I did not take any vacation days, but only had this Eves holiday. Anyway, that was today.

Location: Musician's Friend Warehouse
Who went with me: Lara A and Danielle B from church
Purpose for going: Find a keyboard for our Progressive/Modern "Fish Tank" Service

Review: The prospect of seeing miles and miles of discount music equipment excited me. However, when we walked in, it seemed smaller than I expected. It was very messy (as discount places tend to be). There were zero keyboards that were even close to being prospects. None of them were hooked up to amplifiers or speakers, which made them even harder to work with. However, we did get some good advice to go to another store to listen to the keyboards, but to buy the keyboard new from Musician's Friend.

We also went around and looked at guitars, most of which were in bad shape. One guitar apparently was in the shape of a trailer, including a wheel. Several were in American flag style.

Anyway, we foudn some keyboards we liked eventually, but not at Musician's Friend Warehouse. I'd actually recommend not going there. I don't see what the big deal is.

Movie Review: Gone with the Wind

When did I see this: Last week (for the first time)

Who did I see it with: Courtney my wife! (She also saw it for the first time)

Review:

This movie was heart-wrenching! Scarlett was really annoying about how she treated men, yet I admired her survival skills and personality. Rhett Butler was my favorite character, but I was irritated with him at the end. Ashley Wilkes could have straightened up the situation easily, so he is irritating as well.

Love story aside, it was a good historical piece. Both Courtney and I are interested in learning more about Civil War times. The costumes were fantastic, especially the huge dresses (forget what they are called). And the interior decorating is also amazing, as you might see in the draperies in the picture above.

Overall, I was wondering why it is considered one of the best movies ever. I would watch it again.

Book Review: Cross and Crescent

Author: Colin Chapman

Publisher: IVP Press

Where/When did I get it? Urbana '03 on sale

Review:

This book does not have a practical action chapter until page 300. By the time I got there, I was ready to be done with the book.

I did, however, learn a lot about the Muslim faith.

The author is "into" non-confrontational relationships with Muslims, and trying to find common ground between the two religions. The annoying thing is that he spent 300 pages trying to establish that point. Hello, I'm not stupid!

I do appreciate the change in philosophy. And I do appreciate all that I've learned about Islam. I just can't help but think there is a better book out there. Half of this book is quotes from another author named Kenneth Cragg. I think sometimes it's annoying when an author doesn't write his own material.

Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest

We watched this movie with Courtney's parents on Christmas Day. It was so long (2 h, 30 min), that we started saying out loud, "Is this ever going to end?". When it did end, it was a non-ending, in other words, a to-be-continued type of ending.

The special effects and fight sequences were worth seeing. But there was not a great story line. Sometimes the dialogue was so quiet that it was not understandable. See this if you like special effects, and not because you're a fan of the first movie.

Please welcome Elizabeth Ann Kurtz!!!

She was born Tuesday, December 19, at 12:01 AM!! We went to visit that night.

additional Christmas thoughts

The wish list (links on the right) worked very well for me this year. I received 5 things on the list.

Also, the wheat allergy is difficult during the holidays. My relatives and co-workers do a great job year-round of providing wheat-free alternatives, but the sad fact is that the wheat-full items far outnumber the wheat-less ones. So when everyone ooohs and aaahs about the chocolate covered oreos, I'm left to feel very happy for everyone that is enjoying them. But also a true depression sometimes creeps up, especially after countless episodes like that over years. But I'll survive. I'm still pretty spoiled in terms of food.

Christmas holidays

Christmas holidays are now over, since I am going to work tomorrow. Our families were very generous, and it was fun to see everyone.

The difficult thing was that Christmas Eve was on a Sunday. We served at church with a vocal solo and sign language to "Did You Know", by Todd Agnew, and we had to be there are 8:15 AM for a sound check.

Then since we have babies in our family, we had to be at my parents at 9 AM on Christmas day. We also went to a party late Saturday night. Pretty much the whole weekend, we were on the move. So I'm not sure it was a restful weekend, or that I really spent much time in personal reflection about Christ, but still full of good times.

Tithing

What do you think about tithing?

Courtney and I believe that giving 10% to your church is not a given. This question of mine comes after a Rick Warren video we watched in our small group, where Rick Warren believed that the tithe was not debateable. Or so it seemed.

Our church recently decided not to give to the poor or to missions this year out of the budget, except for individuals who are full-time Christians workers. To justify this behavior, the church council claims that it went the extra mile in giving in previous years, which I believe we did.

Still, Courtney and I believe in giving especially to the poor and to world missions, and those ministries are part of our giving. And even if our church did give more to the poor and to missions, it wouldn't give to the ministries that are dear to our hearts. In other words, 10% of our income does not go to our church.

Here is an interesting take on this:
A tithing book

Higher MPact Adopt-a-Family

My company has adopted an inner city family to give them Christmas presents. The family is probably Muslim, and the list includes things like PS2 video games, and a game boy system. My initial reaction was wondering if a Muslim family even celebrates Christmas, and whether a poor family should have video games.

But my second thought is that we can be a light for Christ through our generosity, and pave the way for these children to have good attitudes about Christianity. We can also enhance the ministry of Higher MPact in a personal way. So I am going out and buying a Tony Hawk PS2 game for Salam, who is 13 years old.

Book Review #4 - The Greatest Thing in the World

At dinner I speed-read "The Greatest Thing in the World" by Henry Drummond (1851 - 1897). According to http://henrydrummond.wwwhubs.com/, this book was "widely read and quoted during his lifetime, it went on to sell over 12 million copies and it continues today to influence people to follow God's two great commandments: to love God and to love each other."

"The Greatest Thing in the World" - a meditation he wrote in 1874 that illuminates the importance of 1 Corinthians 13 - is the one that assured he would be remembered by later generations.

For me, I felt that I had recently gone through 2 series on 1 Corinthians 13. First, by Rick Warren in our small group, and second by our preachers at church, to supplement the small group. So that is why I speed-read the book, which I do to all books that do not interest me. I slow down when I get interested.

Plus, the writing is 132 years old, and I prefer the modern style of communicating the message.

Surprisingly, the entire book can be found here in full text.

Book Review #3 - Getting Along With People @ Work

I read this in 2 lunch hours at skimming speed, because it was really unapplicable.

I get along fine with all of my co-workers, and I genuinely like most of them. The reason I read it, is because before I ever started working, I was insecure about possible working relationships. It so happened that it never was a problem. But this is part of my goal of reading all of the books that I've acquired and have not read yet.

The person reading this that gets a lot out of it is probably really naive about how to relate to others. The entire book pretty much states the obvious.

One chapter that was good, however, was "Confronting Constructively". It helps to identify both wrong and good motives for confronting. But this is also not applicable to me at work, since most people are doing great jobs.

Book Report #2 - The Insider

I just finished a book named The Insider. Dad lent it to me. It is relevant to me, because I interact with nonChristians throughout my day as an "insider", that is, I didn't come to preach to people from the "outside". I am on the inside, as a normal part of my relational networks.




It was a refreshing book. It wasn't another one that told me how to do the Bridge diagram, or how to say just the right words to make someone a Christian. It speaks more realistically to my situation, where through prayer and the way you relate to others, you eventually get into natural conversations about Christ, without having an agenda for that conversation. Also, the purpose is not to get people into church. Also, the book says churches should Insiders more validity as a ministry, and not pressure people to give all their time to the church. There is also a segment on how to lead a small group.




The book validates the idea that as a Christian you don't want force Christ upon someone, and then make the relationship awkward from that point on. Christians should also not separate themselves from nonChristians to the point where they live socially isolated lives. I have had many experiences like that in high school and college, and I learned from them. This book was helpful, because it told me that my experience is not too uncommon, and it shows a better way.

Beyond the Sea

Courtney and I watched a movie named Beyond the Sea on Sunday night.


Here is a clip:





I've really been thinking about this movie. It is part musical, part comedy, and part drama. It is well done. For entertainment value, I give it 4 stars out of 5.

Random December post

I have the song "Let it Be" in my head. Anyone else a fan of that song? If you compare it with the chord progression of "The First Noel", they are eerily similar. I am playing the keyboard at church on "The First Noel", but on the other songs I'm playing bass.

I went to Courtney's work party Wednesday, and I took the entire day off. It was really relaxing. The party was at Dave & Busters, a place by Kansas Speedway where adults play arcade games. If you haven't been there, you should check it out. Then we went Christmas shopping sans long lines.



We are reading the "Cat Who..." series by Lillian Jackson Braun. The occasion was that I was roaming around the library for no reason, and the books caught my eye. Now we are on Book #2. - The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern.

Thanksgiving video

I've been wanting Michele to make a video like this. Here is a video to give you a better picture of the Taussig Thanksgiving celebration:

Thanksgiving Video

Other Thanksgiving highlights

I left out a few highlights...

We cut down a dead branch from Grandma and Grandpa's tree in the front yard. It was Dave, Tyson, Uncle Tim, Uncle Andrew and me.

Chinese students are usually really shy ( by the way, my grandparents invite international students over who are part of their Bible class ). One though, asked Tyson for his email and phone number.

And here is a pic that Uncle Andrew took:

big weekend #2

We went to Manhattan for Thanksgiving to my grandparents' house. Courtney's trail mix was a big hit. I'm glad because she spent about 4 hours making it. A special part of our celebration was when my cousin Derek called from Iraq. I got to talk to him over the phone, and say thanks for his service. My cousin Ben also called from West Asia.

Then Friday we went to Courtney's parents for another Thanksgiving meal. At night we hung out with some friends.

Saturday we hung Christmas lights, raked leaves, and cleaned out the gutters. I called my dad over for help, because it felt like we was going to be raking for hours. So he came over. What a guy. Then after dark we sanded our bathroom walls.

We sold a piece of music equipment on EBay. It sold for more than expected. So praise the Lord!

pic of me bearded

I have a beard that some of you have not seen yet:

Self-portrait. Behind me are wonderfully colored leaves from the tree in our backyard.

True Spirituality

I have changed my schedule around to allow for me to finish reading books. I have a huge number of books that were given to me by my parents or grandparents, or which I purchased at Urbana, or through IVP Press. And at the rate I was going, I was going to be reading these my entire life. I could just drop them, but I feel I really should read them.

Therefore, I just finished "True Spirituality" by Francis Schaeffer. I've read probably about 70 pages in the last 3 days during the lunch hour. This has been an incredibly enlightening and inspiring book. But the fact is that it is so meaty, that I think I forget what I've read about 10 minutes later.

But I would read it again. Sometime I'll post a list of all the books I've read recently, and all the ones I'm going to read.


So that I don't have a completely pictureless blog, I will post a picture below:




Francis Shaeffer is the best intellectual writing I've ever read, because the intellectual statements are not the end point, but he stresses that devotion to God is the end point. He refers to end point as integration point.

It is true that each of us has an integration point. In modern day songs, integration point is referred to as the "center", as in the song "Be the Center." Our focus and purpose is in Him.

middle school retreat

Courtney had a great time at the middle school retreat. She is writing a letter to each of the girls. Our church is really lucky to have such a wonderful volunteer youth worker.

What a weekend

Wow, what a weekend. Mo and I went to the Silent Auction for YouthFront. Courtney organized and did work for a lot of it. She was there from about 9 AM to 11 PM. The auction started at 6:30. Mo bid on about half the stuff, including $120 for a pair of $45 Jayhawks tickets. But luckily people outbid her on most of the stuff. Courtney and I won a few bids.

Then this morning before 8, Courtney packed her bag, and went to the Middle School Fall Retreat for church. she is teaching sunday school for the girls, and wanted to get to know them better.

I helped Ann and Nate Kurtz (Ann is my cousin) on their house. Part of that is showing up to play Ultimate Frisbee at 10 AM. So I went there and was surprised to see a few acquaintances for the first time since college. Raul and Sharon Morfii, Michael, and Tommy. And of course Christian and Katherine Zouein, my cousins, were there. Then I cooked some excellent brats and burgers for the workers at the house. Then I helped Christian to install Ann and Nate's wood floor. It is slow going, moving about 2 linear feet per hour. Their entire house is going to have the floor installed, so I think that will take a large number of hours...

It's not over. Then at 4:45 I headed home to mow the lawn. The battery had died, so I hooked up my new trickle charger. I had to wait 30 minutes (as I was losing daylight), and finally got the lawn mower to start and stay started.

So all this involved walking, running, throwing, bending, kneeling, pounding, standing, sweeping, sitting for over an hour because I was afraid the mower would die, and typing right now. And i'll look forward to hearing from Courtney about all she did at the retreat.

Facing the Giants

For Mo's 30's birthday we went to dinner and saw Facing the Giants. This was a very good film about Christian living. Some parts are not applicable, because the football team gets very religious. Courtney and I both went to public high schools. She did go to a Christian college and works in a Christian setting. But the idea of being "preachy" in a educational and work setting is not possible in the culture I live in. My company even has some Christian undertones, but being preachy would be inappropriate.

But besides that, it did include a guy walking down the halls of the school, praying for students. That does happen here in real life. He also dropped by the football coach's office, and said a random piece of Scripture, and said "I felt God wanted me to tell you that today". That kind of thing happens in our lives. The football coach was faced with the decision of praising God even in the very tough times. That happens to people. The student who was flunking, and then gave his life to God, then started to do very well academically. I believe in the power of Christ to change a life, and it very much affects academics. I felt it was much more applicable and inspiring to my life than any usual movie.

The other weird thing is that things ended up perfect. I don't sense in real life that things ever get easy, or that things ever come to a full happy conclusion. I don't think the movie was trying to say that things end up perfectly, but the end did feel a little fake in that way.

Halloween

We only had 8 kids stop by for Halloween (granted we took off around 8 for our small group). There are only 2 kids on our block, and they were with their mom in a different town. (Ta-Town)

In other news, I have gone approximately 137 straight business days without taking a vacation day! (Not counting "free" ones like Labor Day and July 4) (And not counting the half-day I took off for a class about trains) (And not counting the afternoon I took off to hang out with BJ)

I have not taken one since our honeymoon. We would take a vacation, but winter is not the most convenient time.

End of October

Hi,

last week was great, in the fact that we got electric work done on our house. We got a new remote-controlled ceiling fan, a sink disposal, a bathroom light, a bathroom exhaust fan, a garage light, and 2 outside decorative lights.

We also cleaned out Courtney's parents' basement. We even used their dumpster to throw away some of our old awnings.

The network went down at work. First we couldn't communicate with the outside world. Then the next day, we couldn't use even our own systems. Things are back to normal now.

I think this document is rather striking.
http://www.stemcellresearch.org/facts/treatments.htm

Serving in the community and Lowes #2

Today we got to the church at 8 AM for our service project. We were assigned to the Shawnee Community Center at 67th and Nieman, which is literally 1 minute from our house. (It is a place that provides food for poor people, and otherwise sells old stuff to pay bills). Jeff Meador provided the supplies. And Brent Ahsmus, our small group leader, assessed the situation and decided we needed a coordinator. He appointed Courtney to do that. And she did a great job. Although I managed to jokingly ask "Who made her boss?" when she wasn't around.

The first task was trying to open a 5 gallon bucket of paint. We tried to open just a small hole at the top, and we shook it. But it still came out nasty (nastily?). So then we had the idea of popping the entire top off. And then we stirred with sticks. Then the wonderful tool of an electric drill paint mixer appeared, and that did the trick.

My dad happened to be there, and he caulked some holes. We primed some spots that were especially corroded on the wall. Then we painted with a grey-ish paint. All 4 walls were painted with different colors. Due to the free paint that we recieved from Porter paints, we didn't have much choice. But they were all nice colors.

In addition, the front of the building got new panelling, and it was painted as well. It looks really great. We drove by the place this afternoon.

I also helped carry in some food from a lady's van, and some fruit from a lady's car.

Courtney also discovered another person at church who has the gluten allergy. He said he was the 3rd case of this in Kansas City (long time ago). This happened when everyone was eating bagels and donuts except for us two apparently.

------------

Our second visit to Lowe's we waited around for 20 minutes for help in the ceiling fan section. Does anyone else not get much help at hardware stores? The fan we wanted on display could not be found as a box below. It was the kind of waiting where you finally decide to sit down on the floor, and play Bejeweled on the Palm Pilot. And it was the kind of waiting where the guy from the plumbing section is trying to help in the ceiling fan section. Finally, the Carl, the real ceiling fan section guy, discovered there were not any in the store. So Carl offered the display for $15 off. So we thought that was worth the wait. He removed 3 blades for us, so it would fit in my Camry, and we were on our way. So props to Carl.

Altar

We went to the Altar at YouthFront Camp South. It's just a time to spend time with God in nature, and to also have worship times and small discussions. Bryson Rumple, our church's year-long intern was there. I beat him in ping pong.

Don Chaffer of Waterdeep led worship, surprisingly with 2 other aquaintances of mine. First, Greg LaFollette, he went to KSU and is friends with my friends Ben Deaver and James Beecher. So I said hey to him. Then UJ the incredible electric guitarist was there. He is friends with the Thiessens, and even plays in a band with Matt. So I said hey to him, and he was happy to meet me.

Then Don Chaffer gave Courtney a free CD for working the merchandise table. I chose "Enter the Worship Circle". One of my all-time favorites, but I've never owned it. I always just listened to my roommates' copies. Courtney has a similar story with the CD. I could have met Don but kind of froze. It did not make sense, but that is what happened.

KC legend, Buck O'Neil

This quote of Buck O'Neil from Wikipedia almost made me tear up.

After hearing that he had not been elected to the Hall at age 94, O'Neil spoke to about 200 well-wishers who had gathered to celebrate, but instead stood hushed and solemn, telling the crowd:

"God's been good to me. They didn't think Buck was good enough to be in the Hall of Fame. That's the way they thought about it and that's the way it is, so we're going to live with that. Now, if I'm a Hall of Famer for you, that's all right with me. Just keep loving old Buck. Don't weep for Buck. No, man, be happy, be thankful."

Re-thinking what is my purpose?

Eternity will be wonderful, but there is one thing heaven will not contain, and that is the call, the possibility, and the priviledge of living a supernatural life here and now by faith, before we see Jesus face to face.

Christians are called upon to be a demonstration at our point of history that the supernatural, the normally unseen world, does exist; and, beyound that, that God exists.

Francis Shaeffer, 1971

Christian Zouein

Katherine, Ann, Christian, me, Mo, and Nate

We had a great visit from my long-lost cousin Christian Zouein, who has been traveling the world. Also, as a bonus, Katherine, Ann and Nate, and Aunt Elizabeth were there at my parents for dinner/dessert. Above is a picture by Courtney in our house when we were doing the house tour.

Where were you a year ago on Sept 24?

Tonight we had a wonderful time at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate one year since our engagement. Since we had a $25 gift certificate that Courtney found on the ground while we were house shopping back in February, we were able to splurge on some fruit smoothies. Those reminded us of our honeymoon in Cancun, where we got free strawberry daquiris and pina coladas whenever we wanted. It was a nice break from the weekly routine. I have not taken a full vacation day since our honeymoon, so I really needed that! Thanks God for this wonderful gift, and the wonderful wife you have given me!

one year ago:

Disposable Camera 2006 #1

Master Bedroom Pre-Dan and Courtney

Here is the Best Of Pictures from Disposable Camera 2006.

The Fall Altar at YouthFront Camp South. I guess this is also Disposable Camera 2005!

We didn't like Grandma's style. All 4 layers of it had to go! This is me with a wallpaper steamer.




Courtney is having a great time discovering how every layer of wallpaper is less and less in style.

Mom tackling the South wall.






Sorry I don't know how to rotate pics, but here is dad cheating by painting with a sling on. It's just like him to do that. But the room looks better, doesn't it?




Here is us after Courtney's first vocal solo at Lynn and Devin's wedding.

The end. May the next Disposable Camera be just as great.

A favorite wedding pic

Sept weekend #2

Church things:

• Courtney and I went to a meeting to become members of our church
• played bass guitar in the service.

Entertainment things:

• Tried to rent the Sentinel, but it was out, and that means we got a free coupon to rent it within 30 days. Rented 24 Season 3 Disc 1 instead.
• Watched Simpsons Season Premiere

House things:

• removed all wallpaper from the bathroom. Tried to remove the panelling and discovered that our countertop is glued to it.
• Used a Verticutter on our lawn and applied seed
• Used our waffle maker for the first time

Labor Day Slide Show

labor day slide show attempt #1

recent happenings

We had family Labor Day get together at a bed and breakfast in Pleasant Hill, MO. Things to do were: go to Powell Gardens, attend the Big Creek Country show, and go for a run, and watching Batman Begins by myself, and seeing my two nieces, and sleeping. There was good food too, and they took special care about my wheat allergy.

Had Ben Taussig over to watch our wedding video. He's back in Uzbekistan now.

Went to Devin and Lynn's where Devin tried out his new illusionist routine for us.

Cleaned out the garage (Courtney did that while I mowed the lawn), and put the wheel barrow together.

spider and tree pics

As promised, here are spider and tree pics

This spider is outside our front door. We feed it boxelder bugs that we find in our house. In these pictures, it is feeding on one. It only comes out at night, so it was difficult to focus in on the spider.

Here are pictures of 2 Saturdays ago when Dad and I cut down limbs from my lawn. My dad was up in the tree with a chain saw like a crazy man. We even had a chain saw break down, and he went and bought a new one!

our first win

We got our first (and last) win in softball last night. Courtney hit a 2-run triple. And it wasn't one where the team made a throwing error and she ran an extra base. It was way over the outfielder's head and it was a guaranteed triple from that point on. We ended up winning by 2.

I will post some spider pics and my tree trimming adventure pics soon. But first, I want to post an article I came across today. It is written by the son of one of the martyrs speared by natives in Ecuador, and depicted in the movie "End of the Spear".

From http://natesaintlinks.blogspot.com/

If you want to read a long article bout it, please read on:




Angels, Yes, I think it was Angels
by Stephen Saint

A number of years ago Olive Fleming Liefeld and her second husband Walt visited the site in the Ecuadorian jungle where Olive’s first husband Pete had been speared to death, along with Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Jim Elliot and my father Nate Saint.

Flying into a remote jungle airstrip they were met by my father’s sister Rachel. Aunt Rachel and several members of the Waodani tribe led Olive and her husband down to the sandbar my dad named Palm Beach.

Seeing for the first time the place where her husband had been killed, brought questions back to Olive’s mind – questions that had gone unanswered for over thirty years. Answering her questions, with Aunt Rachel translating, was Dawa, wife of one of the attackers who was present during the attack. Dawa, still a teenager at the time, hid in the dense cane bordering the far side of the river, opposite Palm Beach, afraid to actually watch or take a more aggressive role.

As Dawa recognized Olive’s interest in what had happened that memorable day – a day that shocked and transfixed much of the world, both Christian and non – she began to volunteer information that she thought might be of interest.

In the middle of her commentary she pointed to a place above the jungle canopy bordering the ridge just south of Palm Beach. “That is where we heard the Cowodi (foreigners) singing,” she stated matter-of-factly. As Aunt Rachel translated, Olive stopped her, “What does she mean she heard foreigners singing above the trees?”

Dawa said they were dressed in cloth like she saw a group of Cowodi do who sang in a church she visited with Rachel in the U. S.

Olive, Walt and Aunt Rachel wondered if it could possibly have been a choir of angels. What a wonderful and humbling tribute that would have been from a gracious God who had just had five sons killed, their spear riddled bodies dumped unceremoniously in the river by the beach where they had just two days before had an exciting and completely friendly first contact with two women and one man from the same village where their killers lived.

Olive wanted to include this account of angel visitation in her book, Unfolding Destinies, so she asked me to ask the three surviving Waodani warriors who had been part of that fateful killing party for verification. The opportunity came when I flew to Ecuador to help members of the tribe bury Aunt Rachel after she died of cancer.

One by one, each of the three men told me that they saw what appeared to be lights in the same place where Dawa had said she saw the heavenly choir. They were further away, which might explain that what they saw was different. But all of them said they heard singing. Nevertheless, they were somewhat tentative in their description.

Very recently when a project was initiated to make a feature film and a docudrama about the “Auca Story”, the script writers wanted to include the “angels singing over the Palm Beach martyrs.” As I reviewed the script I felt uncomfortable including any detailed reenactment of something that I was sure had taken place but which had only been vaguely described.

In January, 2002, I was asked to take the documentary film team to Ecuador to interview the Waodani who are the other half of the story. In the interviews with four of the five remaining Waodani survivors who took part in the Palm Beach attack in which my dad and his four friends were killed, I tried to elicit more definition to what I had been told previously, but without success.

The day after wrapping up the filmed interviews with the Waodani, the film group and I were joined by two friends of ours – Kevin McAfee and Steven Curtis Chapman. They had flown out to join us to do filming for Steven’s upcoming tour which will feature the “Auca Story,” as well as to film some footage for the documentary. Steven and I were sitting in the cooking house talking while Kimo, one of the warriors I had just interviewed, was trying to communicate with a member of the film team.

I was startled to hear music coming from the thatched long-house immediately behind us. Then I realized that Kevin was just checking out the sound equipment he had brought.

Suddenly Kimo turned towards the music and listened intently. After a minute he commented, “Manami ihindabopa,” (“Just like I heard it”).

I didn’t understand what he was referring to until I put together the obvious fact he was referring to the music and remembered that I had recently asked him about what he had heard at Palm Beach.

Kimo resumed his sign language conversation. Suddenly he turned towards the music once again and very specifically affirmed, “I have heard that before, long ago. That is what I heard, just like that, when your father died.”

I explained to Steven Curtis Chapman what Kimo was saying, then called to Kevin to hold the music at that spot. It was clear that Kimo was referring especially to one motif in the music as being what he remembered.

I invited Kimo to enter the long-house with us. Unfortunately, Kevin could not tell us specifically where on the CD the music Kimo was referring to was located. Kevin started playing various pieces on the soundtrack. I couldn’t remember enough of what it sounded like to identify it. As the fifth or sixth piece started to play, Steven Curtis Chapman commented, “I think this might be it.” Almost simultaneously Kimo declared, “I saw lights like stars and that is what I heard.” Then he added, “When I heard that long ago, I didn’t know what it was. I was afraid. Hearing it I knew we had done a bad thing there. Now, no longer living angry and hating, I see it well that you have returning brought this back to us.” (They don’t have a word for instrumental music that I know of). Then he got up and left the long-house.

Kevin pulled out the CD to find the title of the piece Kimo had identified. “You won’t believe this!” Kevin exclaimed. “Look,” and he pointed at the CD; “It is cut #8.”

Jesus told us, “Go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations.” My father and his four friends joined the ranks of thousands of “God followers” who have given their lives to fulfill that commission.
The title of the soundtrack Kimo recognized as being what he heard after killing my dad and Jim, Pete, Roger and Ed – a piece written by Ron Owen especially for the documentary film (being made to tell the story of God’s plan to reach a tribe of people off in the Amazon jungle who were insignificant in almost every way except that God loved them and wanted them to know they could become His children throughout the sacrifice of Iota “God’s only child, a son.”) – is “Every Tribe, Every Nation.”

God has entrusted “His very good carvings” to us! But only the uninitiated or extremely unobservant are wont to believe that He doesn’t still have His hand in seeing that His message reaches every tribe, every nation, every tongue and every people.

I have never questioned God’s right to use my father’s life. Dad turned his life over to God as a young boy. I have never asked for an apology from the men who killed him, and I have never received one. I never hated them or held anger against them so there was no forgiveness needed. I just accepted my dad was gone and with Jesus. It never occurred to me that I should forgive them for something which, though they meant for evil, God very clearly intended for good.

But as a father, I have agonized over what I have thought must have been going through Dad’s mind as he lay dying out in the middle of nowhere, betrayed by the very people he and his friends had so carefully and methodically befriended. His failure would leave Marjorie (my sweet mom) a widow. He would never teach his two little boys to fly. His little girl would never sit on Daddy’s lap to hear another original bedtime story. He would never again fly sick Indians to the new hospital he and Roger had been working so hard to complete. His passion for sharing the message that had set him free with people who had never heard was suddenly ended.

I have imagined all these years that this must have been the pain of Dad’s last conscious minutes of life. But now I believe that I was wrong. If Dawa, Kimo, Yowe, and Mincaye heard an angelic choir from the world beyond, I have no doubt that Jim, Ed, Pete, Roger and Dad were made even more aware of their presence. They didn’t die alone. Now I do believe that God sent a reception committee to sing for them and to escort them into His presence.As I listened to music, just written, which Kimo clearly asserted he had heard at Palm Beach, my heart swelled with a sense of well-being. God took what five men could not keep and exchanged it for something they cannot lose. It’s our turn now to make the same deal and give our lives away!

good weekend

I had a great weekend.

Friday, we went to Lowes with my parents. And we bought a kitchen sink disposal, a bathroom ventilation fan, and an above-mirror light fixture. Then we got a bidet. Just kidding, that was the first time I learned about those. From Wikipedia: "Users who are unfamiliar with bidets often confuse a bidet with a urinal, toilet, or even a drinking fountain. The user should use the toilet before using the bidet; its purpose is to wash afterwards"

Then we played Skip-Bo at my parents. We saw my grandparents, before they went to bed.

On Saturday, we went to YouthFront Camp West and Courtney lifeguarded. I went down the waterslide for the first time, and then at the end Courtney and I went down together. It was a blast! Then I played disc golf with Andy Garlich. Then we spotted my sister Mo at Wal-Mart.

On Sunday, I played guitar at the worship service at Community Covenant. Lots of people liked "Sweetly Broken". It was fun to be part of the service were people thought the music was awesome. You always have to focus it back on God.

Then we went to Courtney's parents' house. We fished 4 frogs out of their pool. (Because there was a lot of rain ever since Saturday night.) We saw Courtney's brother. Overall, we saw 8 relatives. So it was a great weekend!

baby shower

My cousin Ann Zouein had a baby shower. Courtney went. Ann, I think is the youngest cousin right now having a child. You have to understand my family...i have 30 cousins on the Taussig side, so we are experiencing exponential growth right now. And there is always someone having a baby.

I am leading worship at CCC again. The guest worship leader could not make it, so I was asked to fill in on guitar. And I get to be the lead vocalist on 2 songs. Please pray that I'd put God first as I sing, and then I know everything will feel right.

Courtney's new responsibilities

• I will be the communicator to Carrie for all the jobs we are contracting her for (camp brochure, altar promos, F/S M/D retreat brochures, golden pin stuff, etc.
• I will do all print media needs here at HQ: letterhead, envelopes, business cards, forms, etc.
• help people do things if they don't know how: scanning, convert to PDFs, laminate. I will use the big cutting machine in the PMB and be in charge of ordering paper/ printed products/ Risso supplies
• Content, and functionality online registrations & the store/giving section of youthfrontorg
• Maintain and safeguard the visual Corporate Identity and Image of YouthFront and its programs throughout all of YouthFront's external communications.
• (which means protect our logos and make sure they are not being misused)
• and finally, manage snack shop stock at both camps

See her site at http://www.youthfrontzone.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=2009

trying again

Trying to post...

redeemed myself

I hit a home run at softball last night. That is the first time I've ever hit a home run. That came on the heels of me striking out looking for the 2nd time in 3 at bats. The reason I strike out is because I greatly desire the Walk. In our league, if a guy walks, he gets to go to 2nd base, and the girl behind him gets to 1st base. Last season, I got at least one walk per game. That's why I usually bat leadoff. This season, the pitchers are better, and I have only walked once.

So I decided that I need to swing. So I got the home run and the double. We haven't won a game yet, and we have one more chance next week.

Wedding pictures

As you can imagine, it takes a while to go through 1,000 wedding pictures . No, I'm not kidding. Many of those are duplicates in blank and white though.

Here are the ones of the Taussig extended family! Enjoy! This is about half of my family on my mom's side. Many more were at the wedding, but they couldn't deal with our intense two-hours before the wedding picture time.

Here is me with my grandparents. I really love them!














Here is me working my smiling muscles! My Grandma said "Just think of Jesus and you'll smile!" Very good advice that I'll never forget.





Here's my 2nd cousins Nicholas Pierce and Rebekah Joy Taussig. They did a great job, and are so photogenic!











That's all for now! Stay tuned!

i'm stuck on the toilet

This is a funny quote that came out of my mouth in a non-crude way.

We were making a list of everything we want to do to renovate the bathroom. Then Courtney put it all in sequential order. She said we'd put the toilet in, and then install tiles. I was wondering if you instead should install tiles first, and then the toilet. Then she kept reading, and she said "Does that sound good?". And I said "I'm stuck on the toilet".

Courtney lifeguarded for a retreat at camp this weekend. I was there too. I did drive up to play bass at church, then I went back.

We saw Don and Lori Chaffer at the retreat - it was their church retreat. But i don't know if they still perform with Waterdeep or not. It was just fun to see them. I yelled something at Lori Chaffer about how hard it was to paddleboat by herself while holding her son. That was before Courtney mentioned who it was. It's probably not a big deal, but I thought it was worth noting.

My Cubicle

Here are the lyrics to my favorite song right now, to the tune of "You're Beautiful", by James Blunt. You'll only get it if you know the James Blunt song.

My Cubicle

My job is stupid my day’s a bore,
Inside this office from eight to four
Nothin’ ever happens my life is pretty bland,
Pretending that I’m working, pray I don’t get canned.

My Cubicle, My cubicle
It’s One of Sixty two
It’s my small space in a crowded place
Just a six-by-six foot booth
And I hate it that’s the truth

When I give a sigh as the boss walks by,
no one ever talks to me or looks me in the eye.
And I really should work but instead I just sit here and surf the Internet.

In My Cubicle, My cubicle
It doesn’t have a view.
It’s my small space in a crowded place
I sit in solitude.
And sometimes I sit here nude.

Guss likes uss

Saturday we went on a walk. We've walked all the way from the Kansas River to Olathe. We were walking near a neighborhood when we saw a stray dog walking on the street. Cars were veering out of the way of the dog. We followed the trail and the dog followed.

He peed 10 feet. Every 10 feet that is. And it was more of the motion of peeing, because there was not any left.

Anyway I looked at his tag, and there was his name, Guss, and his address and phone numbers. We didn't have a cell phone, so we went along and Guss followed us. Once he crossed the street to bark at another dog, and he paid absolutely no attention to traffic.

He was thirsty so I poured some water into Courtney's hands, and he drank from her hands.

We were approaching a big intersection, and knowing his street smarts, we picked him up. We went to the corner gas station, and borrowed a cell phone and called the number from the tag. "I have a dog with this number on it..." "I'm out looking for him, and I'm right down the street...Thanks!" So the man came and got him and sang "Guss has been a bad boy..."

Guss had yelped when I went away to call. We think he's close to his male owner.

Guss smelled really bad by the way, and the owner seemed defensive about that. "He doesn 't usually smell this bad..." So afterwards our hands smelled, but we held hands anyway.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Royals Thursday night. We got 2 free $20 tickets and a free parking pass from one of my co-workers. It was a beautiful night, great seats and parking, and a good break from the norm. The Royals didn't play well against the Twins, who are still in the race for the playoffs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Courtney's cooking.

Courtney cooked for me every night from Tuesday to Friday. It was really good. She also made me a dessert. (wheat-free meals and desserts aren't easy to come by...) Thanks Courtney!

posting a picture, finally

Here is a picture. More to come....

Losing Teams

If you grew up around me, you'd know I've been on more losing sports teams than winning ones. My softball team right now may be the worst team I've ever been on. We can't catch or hit. We have not won one game in the worst league.

There's the Video Library team from elementary school. My cousin Christian who was on the team, graciously said later in life. "I wonder why they would sponsor a little league baseball team, they have the biggest porn section ever!" Anyway, we won 1 game all season, I think. And the team we beat was pathetic, and was my previous team, I think.

There was the championship basketball team I was on in middle school. I contributed 1 point the first season, and 2 points the second season. And they were all free throws, I think. The first season, I stepped on the foul line during a made free throw, so it got taken away.

I was also on a winning team in college. The Grace Baptist men's softball team won the E league, and then graduated to D league and got blasted.

I was on the C-team of cross-country as varsity won state every single year. I guess that could be considered a winning team.

I don't remember any other teams I was on, but we were probably losers.

last wedding of the summer

Courtney's cousin got married on Saturday, which made the 3rd straight wedding this month, and the 6th since we got married. But this is the end for the summer.

The weirdest coincidences happen all the time. A groomsman in the wedding was Kevin Schmitt, the brother of Erik Schmitt, who died earlier this year. But I've known Kevin from church for over 10 years, and he happens to be best friends with Courtney's cousins new husband. I saw him this morning, again, at a post-wedding gift-opening time.

The other thing is that the groom, Levi Brockelman, is from Grinnel Kansas, a small town in Western Kansas. This wouldn't be a big deal, except, I have been to Grinnell and know someone from there. One of the first people I met at K-State was Greg Dickman, on the 9th floor of Haymaker. One time, a bunch of us went on a road trip to Grinnell, just to say that we went there. Anyway, the Brockelman's know Greg Dickman really well, and even told me that he got married recently.

Not much going on this week. I have a life-insurance medical exam on Tuesday evening, so I am not supposed to eat anything all day. I may have lunch with big sister Mo on Wednesday. And we'll be babysitting for Sophie on Aug 5.

Oh, yeah and we saved about $17 today, by use of coupons. Courtney is really alert and resourceful like that.

Last day of camp (for us)

We have the rehearsal dinner and wedding of Courtney's cousin (Laura Isenburg) this weekend, so Courtney is taking off from camp early. Plus, she is not at camp next week. So that made last night my last night at camp.

boxelder bugs

Hi there, it's another week at camp, and that means I am challenged for time. But mostly, I didn't feel like I had anything to write about, which was ridiculous, because there is always something happening.

We have lots of boxelder bugs outside our house. They escape the heat by seeking cooler places. They are harmless except they congregate (and naturally mate) on our front screen door. And they get inside the screen door somehow. Yesterday I used tape to block off the entrances. I don't know if it worked yet, because it's been a cool day, and they don't visit on cool days. Some of them get in the house, and I kill several a day. Courtney made a concoction with water and laundry detergent that seems to kill them in two sprays.

Then I fixed Courtney's parents' computer. NAV (norton anti-virus) had a pop-up every 2 seconds. On my first try the result was that I disabled https pages. So i went again and tried a different method, and it's working now.

softball

Did I write about softball yet? Courtney got two hits with 2 RBIs, and scored a run. She also caught a high pop-up, and then threw it to me at 2nd base to complete a double-play!

Monday night, we were hydration coordinators at camp. That is also called lemonade duty. The campers come from a long game in the woods, and we had prepared hundreds of cups of lemonade for them.

Then last night, there was a Code 1. Basically, "Code 1" comes over the radio (a nice walkie-talkie) , and every staff person runs like crazy down the hill to the dock. Basically, a teen got knocked in the head while blobbing, and had to lay down. He didn't suffer any injuries.

Courtney sang well

Courtney sang well in the wedding on Saturday. (And I played well too, but no one noticed) . This is a really huge deal. Imagine if you've never sung a solo in front of people, but then you sing your first one in front of 250 people at a wedding? She got a lot of good comments afterwards.

Then we saw a bunch of friends at the reception.

Leading worship was okay. All the high schoolers were gone to CHIC, so it felt kind of empty. But I'll Fly Away went well. No one understood my little intro about clapping on the off-beat. I'm sure it made no sense though. Oh well. I didn't get to introduce the new song, because the service went 30 minutes late.

worship leading

I am the guest worship leader at Community Covenant this week. It has actually been a good experience. Last night, we started practice 15 minutes late, and we got out 15 minutes early. And everyone thanked me for having such a quick practice. We're playing "I'll Fly Away" at the end, which I had some reservations about even though I chose the song. But it will be really fun. We're also singing a song named "Beautiful", written by a friend at camp. But when I chose the song, I didn't realize that he had wrote it. So we called him at camp, and he sang it to me over the phone, since I wasn't sure of the melody.

Courtney's been into doing sign language things on the computer, ever since I installed a $1 program onto it. She also found my old diary from high school and college. It's really strange to have someone read it, but it really was reserved for my wife someday.

Later,
Dan

Courtney's not at camp this week

Courtney's not at camp, but we're still busy.

Monday, softball was rained out so we went to my parents and practiced for the wedding. Courtney is singing, and I'm playing Canon in D.

Last night, my lawn mowing was rained out, so we went for a walk. I was supposed to pick worship songs for Sunday, but for some reason time flew by and I never got around to it.

Tonight is my new lawn mowing night, and we'll be vaccuuming cushions from our couch that had been in Courtney's parents' basement. And maybe we'll pick worship songs. And we'll practice a little more for the wedding.

Thursday is worship practice. Friday is a rehearsal dinner. Saturday we have the wedding. Sunday I'm worship leading.

ups and downs

Hey all,
I thought I was going to post every day....

then I had to work a lot. which is also tough, because Courtney lives 50 minutes away. I had to stay in town 2 nights this week. The 1st to mow the lawn and work. The 2nd for worship practice last night.

anyway, even though i could say more about ups and downs, i want to jump to camp highlights.

One day i went blobbing. That is where you jump off a platform onto a big thing filled with air. If you are on the end, and someone jumps, you get catapulted in the lake.

Anyway, there was a long line, and I got bumped off right away, so blobbing was kind of overrated for me. But that isn't this story.

The story is that I pack a bag of clothes every day. I drive into the camp, and usually get out of my car and eat dinner or whatever. Well, after the blobbing, I took a shower. When I got out of the shower, I realized that my clothes were still in my car about half a mile away! the only clothes I had were wet with lake water. I had the fan blowing on my shorts, and eventually had to go commando and retrieve the rest of my clothes.

I've played ultimate frisbee two Fridays in a row. This time I played barefoot, and my feet were so dirty!

Then I went to the Friday campfire for two Fridays in a row (Courtney is working with the volunteer teenagers, so I'm not talking about campers). Last week, a girl dislocated her shoulder while swing dancing right at the campfire before it started. So the nurse came by, and then Courtney left and went to the hospital with the girl. I, meanwhile, was still at the campfire, with people I didn't know, and it went on till the wee hours of the night.

I think those are the highlights.

pool party

Other new camp developments are walking 1/4 mile to my car every morning, since I can't just park in front of the cabin. (It takes away from the rustic feel for the campers). Watching the pool party for the campers - belly flop competition, and "jump or dive". Jump or Dive was changed into "make a letter of the alphabet" or "make an animal shape". So Nick Pick and the other guy were running this, and yelling out things like 'apostrophe S', 'tab', 'backspace'. And animals like 'wooly mammoth', 'Chuck Norris', and many other funny things. I stated that night that it was a blog-worthy event.

Note: Jon Philgreen got married, and we went to his local reception on Sunday.
Note2: Wedding pictures are great! We still need time to look at all 950, and then I'll be posting some!

long stretch at home

I have spent six nights in town, and I will be heading back to camp tonight. First, we had Mo's party, then a Friday wedding, then the weekend. Monday, Courtney was supposed to have a night off, but ended up being busy. I had to stay here and mow the lawn. Then last night was Courtney's new night off, so we stayed in town.

Saturday, we had Ben and Maris Deaver over at our house, and they brought their friend Daiki. We all went to Starbucks together as well.

Last night I got 7th place in my division and age group in the Mile Run of Corporate Challenge, gaining 2 points for StrategicOne!

Seeing people we know

We went to a wedding, and we saw Jeff Beruan. He happened to be the brother of the groom, but I had no idea. Jeff was an acquantance in high school but he went to a different school. Our barbershop quartet (the 4 C's) beat out his to win a comptetion. And we got to sing at the esteemed Kansas City Music Hall and get the attention of all the ladies. And then we both went to the Summer Choral Institute at KSU as high schoolers. He has the deepest singing voice of anyone I know. He sang 3 songs in Italian, and is is going to be an opera singer. He has long hair, and he's really smooth, but he used to be tall and lanky and not smooth.

Courtney knew him from YouthFront camp, from high school. It was really strange that we both knew him from different places, and that we went to the wedding of his brother.

Then we went to Sheridan's Frozen Yogurt after that was all done. A lady saw Courtney and said "Are you Courtney?". She didn't know her, but it happened to be the parents of a teenager in Courtney's ministry. the teenager was working at Sheridan's, and her parents came and embarrassed her incidentally.

Then I saw Dean Berrens(?) from KSU, and his wife Jenny, and a couple of other acquaintances from college. That was still at Sheridan's. They are interning at Christ Church here in town.

We saw some other acquaintances, but they weren't as random.

super party and seeing my nieces

Courtney and my sisters Michele and Mary and my mom threw a surprise party/shower for my other sister Monique. She got accepted into med school, and so will be financially stressed, so these ladies had it in their hearts to have a shower to provide for some of her needs. It made me happy to see the love in this event. A cousin and cousin-in-law and aunt and pastor's wife were there.

It was a ladies only thing, so I showed up later and got to see my 2 nieces. I saw Sophie first, who is looking more and more like her dad. She has a tight grip with her fingers and a good smile. We got to see her when she was a week old, so she has progressed a lot in the last 6 months!

Then I went to down to see Avery in the crib. She didn't spend much time with her uncle, except I unknowingly broke the baby strategy when I took her out of the crib. The strategy is that you leave them there so that they sleep. I didn't get to see her smile, as she was crying very loudly. But I got to sing to her and scratch her back, which calmed her down.

Earlier, Michele and Mary went to lunch with me, and they got to see my office. They expected it to be boring with the cubicles, but they found some nice people inside, and they were impressed with it all.

starting out with a tick

I found a tick on my body Wednesday morning. That is another thing that is new about living at a camp.

Since it was pouring down rain yesterday, I got to see a rainbow on my commute home. That was wonderful - I saw both ends of it.

Courtney made some gluten-free banana bread that is excellent. I ate some last night when I got "home" and said it doesn't get much better than this.

Then since staff from both camps were over at our camp, a few long games of dodgeball were played. I watched at first from the balcony, but then I joined in.

Memorial Day

We had a good memorial day. It was one of the only days off we've had together since we've been married. So we got a lot done in the house.

We managed to mow our lawn despite all the rain earlier in the day. We are starting to see the living room floor. We plugged in our microwave after getting a tiny extension cord. Courtney found places for all of the kitchen things. And we got to sleep in. So it was a successful day.

The Altar

We are staying in cabin 18 this summer. Courtney lobbied for us to get a room that has a bathroom attached. It has a skylight, so I can wake up easily on weekday mornings. Everyone at camp gets up early Saturdays, so it's no problem that it will wake me up then too. It actually doesn't wake me up, it just helps me to stay awake once I've woken up.

This weekend is the Altar. So kids, teenagers, adults, anyone can come and camp out in tents. There are worship and prayer times. There are mini-seminars. There are free times when people can explore trails.

I ran into my cousin Jon Taussig last night. He is a youth pastor in the area, but he didn't bring his students this time. He is embarking on a 40-day journey, like the wilderness journies of Moses and Jesus. This is a time when we can pray for him. But he also offered to pray for 1 thing for me. Just 1 thing, because otherwise the list will get too long. Courtney can get 1 thing too. He also said my cousin his brother Ben Taussig is getting back to the States on June 11. He's been in Uzbekistan seems like forever, but it's probably been 2 years.

I feel like I'm mooching off of the resources here, because I'm a spouse I don't have to pay for anything, and I get all priviledges including using this computer. But I convinced myself that I need to take grace and also dish it out sometimes.

I can't wait to tell people about this experience of living at camp. If people don't seem interested, I need to remember to not take it personally.

Time of my life

I'm having the time of my life.

Yesterday I played racquetball with my co-worker Adam for about an hour. We went the YMCA, where you are allowed 3 free visits as a guest. There aren't very many racquetball courts in town.

Then I went home to YouthFront Camp South. Courtney was there to tell me to get shoes on, because we were going for an ATV ride! It was my first time riding an ATV.

Then later on I got to participate in worship and listen to a speaker talk about campers. It's training week for the camp staff - cabin leaders, lifeguards, etc, who are mostly college students. I'm the resident spouse, so I leave early and get back late. The commute is about 45-50 minutes.

hanging out at Courtney's parents

Hey, I'm just hanging out at Courtney's parents. Courtney and her mom are in the basement getting some materials for some crafts, so I'm up here at the computer wondering if I can do something productive. But it's Mother's Day as well, which is why we are over here. We had breakfast with my mom, dad and sister at LaPeep at 7:45 this morning.

I was kind of upset this afternoon about something - just a personal problem that I'd rather not write about - and Courtney was able to console me. She is my best friend ever. She loves me so much more than anyone else. It's very nice to have a worldly picture of how much God must love me. I can definitely feel that in the fact that He's provided everything I/we need. But it's hard that you can't have a back and forth conversation.

Today's our 4 week anniversary. Tomorrow is our 1 month anniversary.

Things to do:
try out my new trimmer/edger
put winter clothes away in the attic (even though it's cold sometimes still - it's better than on the floor)
buy a bible, and read it (my old favorite split in two, so we just gave it away)
manage my (our) money in Quicken.

And that's all i can think of. Since I can't do any of that here, that is why I'm writing such a long post.

Sorry I dropped off the face of the earth there. I got married to Courtney, moved into our house. Courtney is pregnant. Just joking about being pregnant. We just got married 4 weeks ago. We went to Cancun to a beautiful resort. The weather is so nice down there.