blogUPdate

I know it's been a while since my last entry. It may be a while until my next.

Life is pretty crazy right now, and blogging needs to take a back seat. I won't be gone long, but I won't be posting as frequently over the upcoming weeks.

Thanks for reading:)

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Our boys, Evan and Aaron, were a part of our church's christmas children's pageant this morning. They were, of course, incredibly cute and they did a great job. They also did some pretty funny things throughout the songs. Here are the highlights of the program:

Amazing Grace

I saw this on TV the other day and got super excited. I love the metaphysical and spiritual dimension to LOST and I know that the song they chose for this promo was selected very intentionally.

What's better than LOL Cats? LOL Cats re-enacting "New Moon"!

enjoy:)





































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LOST Connections

My good friend, and fellow LOST enthusiast, Adam just blogged about a book he just began to read, "Island". This novel is one of the many books referenced throughout the mythology of LOST.

Characters are frequently shown reading books which have themes/inspiration/clues connected to this intricately detailed tv universe. I've often thought about reading one of the books, but I've never gotten around to it. I can't wait to hear more about how this book relates to the show.

Have any of you read a book connected with LOST?

LOST

February 2nd marks the beginning of the end for my fave TV show, LOST. The sixth and final season has finally arrived and I am eagerly awaiting the opening and simultaneously dreading the conclusion of this engaging series.

You probably haven't seen much promotion regarding this season premiere, and that is by design. The producers have tried to remain very tight lipped about anything that happens this upcoming season, which includes not showing any of the currently filmed scenes. [source] I totally agree with this perspective, I don't like spoiling surprises (as mentioned in this previous LOST-related post). The less I know about this season, the better.

The result of ABC going Tiger Woods is that local media outlets have to develop their own promo spots. A network in Spain came up with this really cool teaser. Whoever made it must be a huge LOST fan because they put a ton of thought into the meaning of each image on the screen. A spoiler-free must watch for any LOST fan:

Bunk in the Trunk: UPDATE!

I told you that I'd try to take pictures next time... and I did! I took these last week, but I just didn't have to time to post 'em.

Notice the striping pattern across the grain? This is Tiger Oak. Yeah, nothin' but the best for my boys!

These will become part of the headboards and footboards. They used to be 8ft planks 5 inches wide. A whole lotta cuttin.

These are the corner posts. 2 and 7/8th inches square. Sweet tools in the background.

Bunk in the Trunk

Our family has been blessed with a great home, but it's starting to get tight with our growing family. To make more room for our kids, we've decided to get bunk beds for the boys; however rather than purchasing them, I've been excited about making the beds. It will save us money, we can customize it any way we want, and I think it'll be something to take pride in. But I can't do it on my own.

Fortunately, the man we rent our home from is a master carpenter. He has modified his entire garage into a woodshop with more tools than I can name; it's really impressive. Wayne has been gracious enough to allow me to help him build our beds and we started work yesterday.

Becky and I found a design on the Pottery Barn Kids website that we really like and fortunately they list most of the dimensions of the set. Armed with the measurements and several pictures, Wayne and I have began an adventuring in woodworking. We spent several hours chopping, ripping, joining, planing, and glueing. It's pretty much as close to building it from scratch as you can get without growing the tree in your own yard.

In retrospect I wish I would have taken a few pictures to document the process, I'll work on that next time I go in. What projects do you have going on?

NFL preview: Browns v. Lions

This is a big week in the NFL. You may think that last weeks Pats v. Colts was a big game, but it pales in comparison to the match-up at Ford Field on Sunday. The lowly Detroit Lions take on the deplorable Cleveland Browns to determine which football team is the biggest disaster.

Both teams have continually proved to have confused defenses, ineffective offenses, and no clue how to win football games (don't even talk about the lions special teams. They have redefined just how badly 11 men can play at the same time). Both teams have a 1-8 record so far this season, but Detroit has only won 2 of their last 33 games.

And once again, there is no chance that I'll be able to watch the game on TV. The team has announced that they are still 7,000 tickets short of a sell out. No sell out = no TV broadcast (we've already established the stupidity of that rule here).

My prediction? I think the Browns will win. Detroit has more talent, but they can't ever seem to pull it together.

Rise and Sing

I have purchased a slew of new music recently and now I'm trying to catch up on listening to all of it. One of the CDz I bought was the new release by Fee called "hope rising". Yes, I actually buy the physical disc. I know it's not as cool as downloading it, but i just prefer to have something I can touch and see.

Anyways, I haven't listened to every song yet, because I keep replaying the first 3 over and over. The first song is a rock anthem called "rise and sing". It's reminiscent of the breakout hit "we shine" from their last CD, yet fresh and new a the same time. Watch the youtube clip (not the greatest audio, but you get the idea)...

... then buy the album. Any recommendations from you?

Words of Wisdom

Yesterday, Nov 12, Tennessee native Corey Zickefoose was held up at gunpoint by 3 young men. Corey and his companion showed the robbers that they didn't have any money and the robbers made a quick getaway. In many cases that may be the end of the story, but not this time.

The 3 'alleged' robbers were found to be 3 University of Tennessee football players. Nu'Keese Richardson, Janzen Jackson and Michael Edwards allegedly held up Zickefoose with an air gun and are are being charged with attempted robbery. The University hasn't yet made any announcement as far as punishments are concerned, but poor 'ol Corey has made his opinion clear:

"I think they should still be able to play football, regardless," he said. "Tennessee is my place. It's my football team."

"Even after they put a gun in your face, you say let them play football?" 6 News asked.

"Yeah, it's Tennessee. That's the way it is sometimes," Zickefoose said. [source]

Hun?? Is this guy serious? I definitely think that our culture is too eager to sue and get revenge, but this guy needs to get his priorities straight. It's horrible to think that he would rather have them not be punished just because he doesn't want to hurt his fav football team. They are the ones who made the choice to put their egos and greed ahead of the team. They need to learn a tough lesson.

And if that's the way it is sometimes in Tennessee... yikes!

Subway Survival

I was reading my friend Adams recent blog post about a very close call when a woman fell on the tracks on a subway. It reminded me of this amazing near disaster the saw recently:

If you didn't know, a pram is a baby stroller (short for perambulator). It is a miracle that the baby was (practically) unharmed. Stroller technology and God are a pretty good combination:)

And now, the circle is complete...

Wednesday night. I get to watch one of my fave shows, Man vs. Food. [you can read my previous thoughts on MvF here and here]

The host, Adam, travels to cities around America looking for the best places to eat, as well as tackling some of the most outrageous food challenges ever conceived. Tonight's stop was... DETROIT!!

He opened up by trying out Coney Dogs at two competing Coney restaurants which are located next door to each other downtown. Then he tried a "Triple Threat" at Slows BBQ (bacon, pulled pork, and ham on a poppy seed bun). And finally, his challenge was to break a world record by eating a 190 pound hamburger. Not a typo: one hundred and ninety pounds.

Of course, he didn't attempt it on his own. He had a 40-man team eating along with him, but they had to eat it all within 2 hours. They managed to get about 160lbs. of it down, but they fell short in the end.

I was sad to see them not accomplish the task, but proud of my city. When I checked out the official website I found a vlog of Adam visiting the Heidelberg project! I was just there and just blogged about it!

Cool.

Detroit Art

This morning I took our youth group to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit. They didn't have school today because it's an election day and I thought it'd be a great way to get involved in the heart of this region that is suffering so much. We had a fantastic turn out (18 middle and high schoolers) and we hung up clothes to allow the homeless to "shop" for their clothes (much more dignifying than taking a hand-out). We also packaged food into boxed kits for a couple of hours. We ended the day by eating lunch at one of the centers where they serve warm meals to homeless and struggling folks. In between those two events we took a trip to drive through the Heidelberg Project. I've heard of this art experience but didn't really know much about it; now it know that it's really cool.

It's an entire block (both sides of the street) that has been claimed as an outdoor art exhibition/experiment to draw attention to the center of this struggling community. The project is a multitude of sculptures and art pieces all constructed from trash.

It is really hard to explain in words, so just check out the website... or visit it sometime.

Also, here's some info on the Capuchin Soup Kitchen if you'd like to support them too.

Your backyard friends the...

BACKYARDIGANS

Halloween is an awkward event. Culturally, it is a celebration of fear and horror, and while much of it may be "in good fun", it doesn't feel right to me. In my opinion devils, demons, and evil creatures shouldn't celebrated. I don't think my kids (or most people) will turn around and start worshipping that stuff, but it lessens our defenses; it turns evil into a plaything when we should be centered on Christ alone. But I love the chance to dress up and act a fool. Trick-or-treating was always a fun family event growing up. And I want, I choose, to make this a fun family event for us.

I know most of you have already seen these on my facebook page, but here are a few pictures of us from this past Halloween weekend. We were dressed as the popular children's tv characters, the Backyardigans. There are all homemade; we did alot of thrift store shopping and Becky did some amazing work on all the details.

Lady and Gentleman, I give you...

TYRONNE

UNIQUA

TASHA

PABLO

AUSTIN

THE WHOLE GANG

Danna- danna- danna-danna BATMAN!

Manu Ginobli is a phenomenal basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs. And his mythos just grew as he swatted a bat out of mid-air during a game yesterday.

Yes, he knocked a bat out of mid-flight during a basketball game on HALLOWEEN NIGHT!

You've got to see it to believe it:

Electro

My office at the church is bipolar. When it's hot, it's really hot; when it's cold, it's really cold. Our hvac system is dated and ineffective, so I use a space heater throughout the fall/winter to stay comfortable. It's my litium.

This morning I unlocked my door and bent down to plug in the heater, as is my custom upon entering the room, but the results were anything but usual. I still had my keys in my hand and I think one of the keys entered the outlet as I plugged in the heater. POP!!! A nice sized spark lit up the room and I jumped back... luckily unharmed. The plate surrounding the outlet was metal and another key grounded the shock to the plate blowing the fuse and saving me from a big buzz.

Any close calls for you lately?

Goodnight Moon

Every night we pray with our kids before they go to sleep. We invite them to pray as well, but they don't always want to participate [we don't want to force them to pray]. But tonight they both said some things that are worth sharing.

Aaron tends to say just about anything that comes to his mind. Tonight he thanked God for "golfing and Tiger Woods"; then he thanked God for "not talking and don't touch the curtains or Mommy will get mad". I almost laughed out loud at that one.

Then Evan thanked God for being strong and for helping us.

Two prayers to put a smile on your face:)

Family Archives

I finally dug out the video camera in an effort to put to some of our memories in a shareable format. It's not riveting stuff, but here are some fun clips of Evan as a 2 and a half year old:

DudePerfect

Real or Fake?

Remember those old McDonalds commercials where 23/45 and Larry Bird would play an outrageous game of 'horse' [nothin' but net]? Dude Perfect is a group of guys who actually make those ridunkulous basketball shots (check out their website). I've enjoyed their videos, but I am even a bigger fan since discovering that they're a group of Christian guys using this as a platform to share God's love.

I think the shot is real.

For all the Parents out there:

I love the blog Stuff Christians Like. Funny, funny stuff.

But every once in a while, they slip in a little truth and I found this entry to be really applicable to where I'm at as a parent: Raising dorks.

The entry can be summed up by this fantastic quote, "You can fast forward childhood, but you can’t rewind it."

Evan is in Kindergarden and I really want him to connect with his classmates. I think it's important for him to grow and learn how to make friends and adapt to new situations. I want the other kids to like him and to think that he's cool. But I don't want him to get caught up in thinking that fitting in and being cool are critical to who he is as a person. Maybe it can be cool to be a dork.

new blogroll

You may have noticed a new blog recently added to my blogroll ("what I'm reading" on the right). The Detroit Blog. I can't remember how I came across it (I think maybe on someone's tweet), but it's an online platform developed by TIME magazine. They actually bought a house in Detroit to serve as a base to discover/explore/discuss/share the stories found in America's Automotive center (and murder capitol).

The more we live here, just a couple miles from the city limits, the more I have heart for this broken city. I'm excited about any program that rallies behind this struggling community and gives a voice to the people trying to survive and make a difference around here.

Give it a look sometime.

Lions win. or so I heard

The Detroit "football team" Lions defeated the Washington Redskins today 19 to 14. But it's hard for me to celebrate because the game was blacked-out for every TV within a 75 mile radius. Why can't I watch my home football team try to win their first game in "644 losing days, 21 losing months, 18 losing Sundays, one losing Thursday, four starting quarterbacks, one fired coach", and the disaster known as Matt Millen? [source]

Lions QB, Matt Stafford, counts the number of Lions victories since December 23, 2007

The National Football League has a rule that a game can only be shown live to local markets if the stadium sells out. 100%. Every ticket. I cannot understand this outdated and obsolete rule that has been in effect since the late '70's. It seems totally backwards that any sports team would EXCLUDE people from supporting their local team. Supposedly, the reason for this rule is because TV executives don't want to show empty seats in the stadiums. Which is totally stupid. I'd much rather watch my team, no matter what the attendance was.

Why can't TV execs and advertisers realize that I'm only going to glance at the Vikings games, but I'll watch the whole Lions game?

Why aren't teams furious that they can't connect with fans who are faithful customers and potential customers. I might be enticed to attend a home game if I see what a great experience it is. How can I see what I'm missing if I can't see the game?

I'm happy that the Lions won, but somebody needs to change the blackout rules, cause one win isn't going to fix the Lions attendance issues.

wow

I thought our kids were big.

An Indonesian woman has given birth to an 8.7-kilogram (19.2-pound) baby boy, the heaviest newborn ever recorded in the country, a doctor said. The baby boy is pictured here next to a baby of average size at a hospital in Medan, North Sumatra.

(AFP/Dede)

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