Cold

I am enjoying listening to all of my friends in the Northwest as they enjoy/despise the snow and (perceived) cold. I can remember as a kid in Southern Oregon on more than one occasion getting lots of snow and how much fun it was. I remember wishing that it would snow more often and get us out of school more. I thought that more snow would mean more moments in time that make you love Christmas and the holidays.
Since moving to Iowa, I have a new perspective on snow. Other than at Christmas (which is when I do love having snow) I don't like having snow. Maybe it is just Iowa snow? Here in Iowa, snow lasts for about a day, then it turns to ice. The ice makes it difficult to drive in my driveway or get on my roof (to find the hole the stupid squirrels are using to abuse my attic) and causes the temperatures to to stay extremely cold. And I never, ever thought that I would own a snow blower. What fun it is to use on your driveway and sidewalks. If the wind is blowing, it blows all the snow on you and back over the spots you are trying to clear. The snow thrower is better than shoveling, though. Of that I am sure! Don't get me wrong, I do like the snow.... until about January 4th. After that, let the warm weather return.
I tell people here in Iowa that I would gladly trade two weeks of 40 degrees and rain for 5 sunny days at -5 degrees.
Yesterday, as my sister texted me pictures of the PDX snow and complained of the cold, I looked online and saw the temp in Portland was around 25 degrees. Wow, heat wave (but not by Oregon standards, I understand). We had a day that fluxuated between 3 and -3 with 30 mph winds. Now I know my Canadian friends will say... that's nothing (and I agree). Believe me, I don't want to feel your pain, that is for you to blog about.
All this to say to this to my Northwest friends. Enjoy the snow, it will be gone soon enough and it keeps the landscape beautiful. Enjoy your seeming cold, it will warm up soon. And above all, enjoy your white Christmas. This holiday is already special, snow is just the icing...
Some pics from Iowa
Emma in her igloo

Our house

Would Jesus Vote?

AS the election nears, I hear the various opinions from analysts and bloggers about why one candidate is preferred over the others. I have to admit that I am a little weary of the political season and how it feels like it has gone on for over a year... oh wait, it has.
As I look at the Christian perspective, I have seen several of my friends make the comment or ask the question of whether or not Jesus would vote? I think it may be Christian cliche to avoid the issues of governance by proclaiming that "Jesus wouldn't vote." However I am intrigued by the notion that very good people would carry this kind of a view when there is no substantial support on such an issue. To me, to make this kind of a statement is reminiscent of Job asking God why everything hit the fan in his personal life? God responded with "I will not tell you because I am not accountable to you." (my paraphrase). In other words, we may not know everything, but there are some things we can conclude based on outside circumstances. Job's friends thought they knew God and basically told Job that he must repent of some sin becsause the sin is causing the destruction. God actually held these friends in account because they did not speak accurately of the Almighty. I say all this because I think we need to be careful when representing God without a strong basis.
I am not 100% positive that Jesus wouldn't vote, but I think he would. He was very adept to the political climate of the day and even told people that they should give the Gov't what it deserves, but make sure you give God what he deserves. I once politely commented to a very well-meaning friend that I didn't believe it was my duty as a Christian to vote. I still hold to this. However, it is my right and duty as a citizen of the United States to vote. I think Jesus would, if he were allowed to, vote. I am not positive, but I think He would have.
His views on voting might have been different than what we expect, but I don't believe he would have endorsed anyone, but instead he would have called all candidates in any political arena to a life lived beyond ourselve in a way that truly serves the people we represent.
My advisor in seminary recently wrote an article entitled How to pick a President: Why virtue always trumps policy, to which the case is made to look at the candidates through the lenses of virtue first and policy second. Policies can change because they will be affected by other people. Virtue is dictated by the decisions of each individual.
All this to say... I will vote and I think Jesus would too.
If you want to read the article, it is at
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/june/17.22.html

Photos from our vacation

It has been a few weeks and I still haven't gotten these up. I figured my mom would like to see what our vacation was like after we left her house in Southern Oregon. I know she reads this because she is always telling me to put new stuff on so she can see what is going on.
Sadie and Emma arriving in Friday Harbor on the Ferry.

Sadie, Emma (in back), Raelena (Devon's girlfriend), and Devon at the Birthday Party.

Natalie and JT Greenwood with Sadie and Emma outside at Pittock Mansion

Emma running after a seagull on the beach

Sadie running on the beach

Rene' and I just chillin in Friday Harbor


As a side note.... I have not quite figured out, in my head anyway, the craze about blogging every day. I just don't believe my life or my opinions are that interesting. Maybe it is just me, but I watch a lot of people really get into blogging and then it simply dies off because it may feel like you are writing the same thing every day. I don't know... Maybe it is just me. I know that for me, I will probably not be an every day blogger (sorry mom), but I will blog as time allows to let others see what is happening in our life. It will probably continue to be as it is and I will post stuff when I get the chance. For those of you who are really into blogging every day... God bless you. I admire it a ton. I simply know that it isn't going to happen with me.

Family

I just returned from vacation in Oregon. We didn't get to see as many of you as we hoped, but we were extremely busy with family as we celebrated my mom's 75th birthday. Hopefully the next time we can catch up with some of you. Here is our family picture of my extended family. Our family groups are sort of together... kind of. At least my sisters is. The people in view are: Front Row: Emma and Sadie. Middle Row: Hannah (niece), Karen (sister), Mom, Rene', Heather (sister-in-law). Back Row: Zach (nephew), Guy (brother-in-law), Derek (nephew), Devon (nephew), me, Steve (brother). The only one missing was Jake, my sister's son who was busy in summer school at OSU.

4th of July

I think that two of my favorite holidays are becoming 4th of July and Thanksgiving (with New Year's Eve close). Obviously Christmas is a great one and a holiday I enjoy, but there always seems to be so much going on. Thanksgiving has become a holiday for us in which we simply sit on our butts, eat, and watch tv all day (reruns of the Office and football are our viewing of choice). 4th of July is just a great day that we spend with many of our best friends here in Iowa. We start out the day going to the parade in Grandview, IA. Grandview is a smaller town than Muscatine and their parade is a little better and shorter. I honestly don't like parades all that much, but the kids love getting the candy.


After the parade, we go to our friends house and spend the day listening to the greatest hits of the 70's on Sirius radio, talking, playing bocce ball, corn hole, volleyball, and whatever else we can think of. Most of the women and kids then go to the Muscatine parade (which is later in the afternoon) and the guys stay back and get the grill going. No, it doesn't take 6 of us to fire up the gas grill, but it is the only excuse we could think of to not have to go to another parade. Everyone gets back from the parade and we eat. We eat a lot! And the food is outstanding.
After we have gorged ourselves and played a few more games of ????, we head down to the riverfront and watch the fireworks show over the Mississippi. When the fireworks are over, we go home and have our own display with the kids doing lots of sparklers and the older kids doing some high explosive stuff. When the fireworks are done, we sit around a campfire until July 5th. It is a great day!!

My Hog

I recently bought a scooter. With gas prices going the way they are and the weather here in Iowa the way it is, I needed to get great gas mileage and have fun at the same time, so I bought a scooter. It isn't brand new, it is actually 23 years old, but it is big and gets great gas mileage. I filled up the tank about 2 weeks ago for $6.50 and I am still at half a tank to go. I admit that I drive it like a grandma, but that isn't because it won't go fast, it will do 70 mph, but I seriously don't think I will ever have it going that fast. I'm sure it would shake all over the place at that speed. However, I have had it up to 55mph going over the Mississippi bridge with Rene' on the back, so it will go. It better. It has a 250 cc engine on it. If your wondering, I didn't buy it brand new. It is actually about 23 years old. It is a 1985 Honda Elite... and it is lots of fun.... Sadie and Emma love it and fight for the chance to get to ride with me.

Wicked.... Good

Last week Rene' and I took the girls to Chicago to catch a performance of the musical "Wicked." It was outstanding. I would recommend seeing it if you ever get the chance. I asked Sadie what her favorite part of the musical was she replied with "don't ask me that dad, I loved all of it." Emma enjoyed it too. She sat through all of it and ate a whole bag of Twizzlers... Rene', well her love for anything theater goes without saying.
We love spending time in Chi-town. So much to do. This time we went to the field museum down by the waterfront. They were having a "severe weather exhibit" so Emma definitely wanted to see that (even though she is deathly afraid of storms). We took pictures by "Sue," the largest complete fossil of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It is enormous. The head is so large that they can't mount it on the display (they make a fake one for the body on display), so they put the head in it's own display upstairs. Here are some pictures from the museum since they don't allow any photos in the musical.....

Flood Pictures

Here are some pictures I took this morning in downtown Muscatine:


this one is looking down the main "drag" by the river with Sadie and Emma staning in the middle of the Avenue.

Crazy Weather....

A few of you have called (except members of our family:) and asked how we are doing in light of all the storms and flooding we are having here in Iowa. We are fine, but it is a mess around here. We live close (20 miles) to where many of the rivers feed into the Mississippi. Additionally we live on the Mississippi and it is rising, but we are pretty high up where we live and we are in no danger of being flooded. But.... getting around now is very interesting. Many of the roads are closed (even Interstate 80) and navigation is tricky. There is water everywhere as you get close to the rivers. I remember the flood of 1993 that effected so many here. I didn't live in Iowa then, but I remember it because Rene' and I were vacationing in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and the only English channel we could get on our tv was CNN. The coverage at the time was focused on the flooding in the Midwest. I believe that our church even sent teams to St. Louis to help rebuild after the floods. I am hearing that the floods now are worse than they were in '93. They called '93 the 150 year flood and now this one is becoming the 500 year flood.
There are additional problems with the flooding that many people don't realize unless you live here. One is that we have had such a wet spring here that the farmers still aren't done planting. It isn't uncommon to talk with a farmer and have him (or her) tell you that they still have over 200 hundred acres to plant. Second, the floods can wipe out crops. Third, with the roadways such a mess, trucks are having a difficult time navigating through the detours (some detours are over 100 miles out of the way). This in turn will mean that the truckers will pass the expenses and we can expect to pay higher prices. It feels like this will never end.
Our prayer request is obviously for the people displaced right now and the farmers. Personally for us it is for Emma. I don't know if any of you have a phobia, and I mean a true phobia (one that completely suspends you from functioning), but Emma has one and it is thunderstorms. We live in a place where we have a lot of storms and Emma is truly frightened of them. She can explain how they work and knows everything about storms and tornadoes, but she is still frightened. Last Saturday we had a tornado warning here in Muscatine (the tornado was about 5 miles away) and when the warning sirens went off, Emma was outside. She took off running into the house and grabbed her blanky, big teddy bear, and Nintendo DS and headed straight for the basement. I happened to be gone at the moment and when I got home I went to the basement to calm Emma down. She was crying and screaming that she wants to move back to Oregon cause they don't have storms there. It was crazy. She finally calmed down and was relieved when the all-clear horn sounded. Last night was a severe thunderstorm. Emma lays on our bed, fingers in her ears, and cries until it's gone. There were a couple of cracks of thunder that were so loud it makes your entire house shake like you are having an earthquake. These are not fun times for Emma and I truly feel for her. It is a true phobia. Please pray that she can continue to deal with this as she get's older.

the Girls

I have been getting a few requests lately for some pictures of the girl's. It has been a while since I have posted any and the last ones they were all bundled up for skiing. Here are the most recent pictures we have of Sadie and Emma. These were taken about one month ago in preparation for their dance recital.
Sadie

Emma

A word about dance recital....
I love being a dad. I love my kids. I love that my kids have the opportunity to be in dance. I love that they enjoy dance. I am not so fond of the recital. Why? It is very long....... 3 hours for two nights. I don't sit still very well (my mom used to tell me this every Sunday) and the three hours of recital is a bit much for me. Now for others... it is outstanding. I will admit that as my kids have gotten older, it is much more bearable because they are in more dances. When we started this, I got to watch 2 dances out of 40, now it is up to almost 10 out of 40. Please don't get me wrong, the recital is done well, only it is long. This year I heard one husband, at the conclusion of the recital, look at his wife and say "I never want to hear you complain about the length of a football game again." Well said. I simply thank God, every year, for games on my cell phone, otherwise I may not make it.

One of the best weekends...

Rene and I got to spend one of the best weekends of our marriage a few weekends ago in Oregon. Growing up and living there for so long, Oregon is always fun to go back to. This time was extra special because of all the people we were able to see and all that we were able to do. We left our house in Muscatine at 2:30 in the AM in order to make our 6 AM flight out of Des Moines. We got to Portland in the late morning and went to lunch at the Rock Creek Pub. It was Awesome!!!! Then that night, for Rene's 45th birthday, we ate at the Cascade room at Timberline Lodge. It was a great evening with Rene' and her parents.

The next day we got to go to the Wedding of Lacey McGuire. It was a blat to be with people we haven't been with in years. We spent most of the reception enjoying reunions with people who have meant the world to us over the years. Jim and Susan McGuire did a great job with Lacey, now Adam takes over the reigns. Watching Lacey get married was a little weird for me because I have literally known her her whole life. I remember her sneaking into the Toy Room that I slept in when I lived with her family, to wake me up. It seems like that was yesterday, yet it was 18 years ago.
That evening we went out to dinner with Brad, Kim, Natalie, and JT Greenwood. What a night of laughs. We love hangin out with them. I would tell you more, but most of the conversations were inappropriate.
On Sunday we were with the Moore's. It was a great time to catch up on their life and glean advice from them as they get ready to put their daughter into College. I don't look forward to that day, but it is quickly coming.
On Sunday evening we got to be with the small group I had when I was an intern at Village. They called themselves the Breakfast Club. They were students at Hil Hi and were one of the greatest groups I have ever lead. They still, 16 years after high school, get together on a monthly basis. Now it is with their families. I love watching all of them chase their kids. It does my heart good....
On Monday I was able to go fly fishing on the Deschutes River with 4 great friends. Jim (former boss), Mike (former roomate), Dean (former worship pastor), and Buddy (always a friend), got together at 6 AM and were together until 8:30 that night. We didn't catch a dang thing, but the laughs were non-stop. We are all about 10 years older than the last time we fished together, but our humor hasn't changed at all. Great friends on a great day.

Been a long time....

It has been quite a while since I last informed about what is going on with us. I apologize. I have seen many of you in the last few weeks, so you are somewhat caught up on our happenings. However here are some recent highlights.

Guatemala 08
Rene' and I lead a team of 21 High School students and 4 adults to Guatemala. It was another fantastic trip. I have been to Guatemala around 8 times (I think) and each time it is another reminder to me that we can make a difference in our world as we branch out and go where the people are. I know of no better experience for people to watch real growth in their life as when they spend their own personal time investing into others, especially when the other person is so much less fortunate (monetarily speaking only) than yourself. The high school student we took dove in to the projects we were working on and completely let their hearts go to the children we were working with. Here is a picture of our team in front of the church we worked with and painted.

Rene and I at the ancient ruins of Tikal. This is the spot where they filmed the overhead shots in Star Wars "Return of the Jedi" on the Forest moon of Endor.

If you ever get the chance, go on a missions trip. It not only will change your perspective on the world, it will change your life. A trip like this, or any other, will give you a more contextual idea of what Jesus was trying to get us to do when he challenges us in Matthew 18.

Skiing

Grandpa took us skiing over Christmas. Here are some pictures:




And.... Emma's new haircut....

Christmas...

I don't know about you, but this year didn't feel like Christmas very much to me. I think that I am finally becoming desensitized to the season and have spent some time pondering why. I think I have 2 reasons why this year seemed so non festive to me.
One reason is that the season starts soooooooooo early. When Sam's Club (Costco to my West Coast friends) puts their Christmas stuff out just as they are putting away the 4th of July fireworks, that is a little early. I remember when the Christmas season really didn't start until about December 1st. My sister, brother, and I would wait with wild anticipation for Rudolph to show on TV, with Frosty soon to follow. I can't think of any Thanksgiving while growing up that we were already thinking about Christmas. At Thanksgiving, Christmas seemed a long way away. Now it feels like Christmas is just around the corner before we even get to halloween.
Another reason is one that may be exclusive to Iowa. With the caucuses being on Jan. 3rd, it seems like instead of the old Norelco commercial with Santa riding on the head of the electric razor through the snow, we here in Iowa got to know that Barak Obama was going to lead through a colorless election. There were soooooo many politcal adds here that I feel like the season kind of got lost. My in-laws got a taste of what a "blessing" it is to be the firs state to hold a presidential caucus/primary.
I am thankful that in the midst of the craziness, we still were able to have an absolutely wonderful day on Christmas Eve and Christmas. Our world wasn't so busy that we didn't read from our Bible, the story of the seaon; the only story that matters. We went to church and made sure that we observed who deserves to be revered.
I love Christmas and look forward to our next one. I am sure that Rene' will start playing the music around, let's say, July 4:)