countdown is full on

we're loading the van tomorrow. are we ready?

one would think that with the amazing packing abilities demonstrated in the last post, we would be all done and packed up. not quite. back to the boxes... oh the fun.

vs. the dog carrier

after the conference at mars hill our brains were a bit overloaded, jammed full of bell-iness. which meant we needed to let things settle and to let the mental pressure bleed...

no one could have predicted it would have been like this. things started gently enough, as they usually do... with a dare. "i dare you to get in that big dog carrier over there." big carrier moved on to little carrier and one statement... "i think i can do it." the rest is youtube history.

amy (total time: >30 minutes)


shana (time: 15 minutes)


laura (time: >5 minutes)


note: carrier dimensions (26" L x 18" W x 21" H)

moral of the story: don't leave adults unsupervised?

sophi vs. the dogs

while at the "isn't she beautiful" conference in michigan we stayed with amy's good friends shana and kevin. their two little dogs kept things interesting the whole weekend. as you can see sophi can correctly identify at least one animal group now... we are so proud.

stay tuned for even more exciting video from our adventure...

new things

our friends, brad and georgie (molly too) are part of the startup team of a new church (greystones community church) outside of dublin. as if being new parents, or teaching, or working on a phd weren't enough...

i am excited to see how life/faith/community plays out in this setting. i know it will be good. we're pulling for you guys.

church and chili dogs

well, we recently returned from the "isn't she beautiful" conference at mars hill over in grand rapids. two full days of incredible teaching (narrative theology stuff, a journey through salvation using only the bible, study methods ala rob bell...).

i should really unpack a bit here, but i think i will let things "marinade" a bit longer. one thing i do know, is that it was very cool to able to go with amy's brother steve and our good friend laura who are helping us start water city it was quite refreshing to go to a big event and not have my hype meter go off even once. maybe there is hope for the western church...

on a different note, one highlight of the weekend was the discovery of yesterdog one word... fantastic. hotdogs as God meant them to be experienced. take my advice and put "eating at yesterdog" on your "list of things to do before i die"

six days until we move... i better get packing.

happy birthday (year 1)

first couple weeks

six months

one year

it seems fitting that it snowed last night here in central wisconsin... one year ago amy and i slowly made our way to the hospital, because of the snow, to have our first beautiful little girl...sophia mae.

this first year has been amazing, challenging, frightening, tiring and a myriad of other emotions. i am supposed to be writing all this sentimental stuff in her baby book, so i better not use it all up here. we sure love our little peanut.

oscar and time lost

its no secret that i would like to acquire a super power. not a first world country that can destroy it's enemies with a push of a button, a super power such as flight or super fast typing or something equally as cool. most of you did not know this but our dog has been secretly preparing a serum that would allow him to control others. hard to believe i know, especially for those of you who have spent any time with oscar...doesn't seem to be the smartest dog.

but my challenge to you is to stare deeply into his eyes and then try, just try to go about your day as if nothing were wrong. in the end he will get you to do what he wants you to do.


ever wonder where your day went? how you didn't accomplish everything you wanted to? well today you know... this has been three to four minutes you'll never get back (hope it at least made you smile)

oscar says, you will smile. now give me a treat

New Year!

let me be the first to wish you a Happy New Year...for 2008. seems i'm a bit late for '07. lot's going on, but for now just a new vid from sophi.



this was funny at first, now her food is all over the floor anytime we have that tray on the chair. live and learn.