Fun Date Night

We had a nice evening out yesterday. We decided to celebrate Jenetta's recent success with her blog by eating out and watching a movie outside at Stone Brewery. We had a really nice dinner - I had BBQ duck tacos and Jenetta had a buffalo burger. It was great to be able to take our time and really enjoy a meal and talking together. Dessert was a really thick chocolaty brownie, and then I ordered a black currant cider (which is really tasty) and we headed outside to the patio to watch the film.

Stone Brewery shows movies outdoors every Wednesday, and sadly, this was the last one of the year. We only found out about it last week. But at least now we know for next summer. The seating area was packed! We were glad we got there early and put out our beach chairs. Last night's movie was the RiffTrax version of Jurassic Park. We laughed a lot! Here is a clip of the film to give you a taste.

They also showed a few RiffTrax shorts. One was on not doing drugs, and it was so confusing and poorly done that I could imagine children who watched it would actually think doing drugs was a good thing! They had one about table manners and hygiene, and one about getting ready for a show and tell at school. These were from the 50's and 60's and they were absolutely terrible. It was great to laugh at them.

If you are looking for something silly to laugh at for a bit, I'd recommend downloading one of the video shorts from them. They are only 99 cents. You can get to them by clicking on the link on the right side of our blog. (Under the Good People Link).

Paying for it now...

I have had a really busy week. I already wrote about the crazy weekend. The week wasn't much better: I worked on a newsletter until 11:00 on Monday night. On Tuesday, we went for free Chipotle, went shoe shopping for me, I had snacks with Jeremy, and then played Cities & Knights with Ryan, David, and Shane. On Wednesday, I went swimming with Jeremy, had dinner with Geoff, and then Jenetta and I went with Courtney, David, and Ryan to see an outdoor showing of Almost Famous at Stone Brewery. Thursday night was our first home group, and I didn't want to to miss it. All of this was done on top of the full work week. But I was already feeling like I was getting sick by Thursday afternoon.

I left work early yesterday and rested all evening. I have a cold and I feel yucky.

I'm wondering if busy-ness is my addiction. I am finding it so hard to just sit and rest today. My mind races around a dozen things I could be doing around the house. I have to tell myself NO. I really enjoy being connected with so many awesome friends. Other than my relationship with God and with Jenetta, the friendships we have been blessed with over the past few years are the things that give me the most joy in my life. I think the greatest thing that could be said of me at the end of my life would be "he was a great friend."

But all this stuff comes at a price. Earlier in the week, Jenetta warned me that I should not do all these great and fun things at the expense of our relationship. That was sobering! I had a brief conversation with our pastor at church yesterday. I had forgotten my Bible there on Sunday and I went to go pick it up. We were trying to find it for Thursday night homegroup and realized we had left it there. He joked "it took you until Thursday to notice you were missing it?" He was only kidding, but there is a good point there. I've been having some great times of prayer and fellowship with my friends, but I spend almost no time just sitting and thinking and reading and praying by myself.

I think my cold is not only slowing me down physically (no running with Robbie this morning or hiking with Geoff and his boys this afternoon) and socially (no games with the guys tonight) but most importantly, it is slowing me down mentally. It is good to have the time to think through my priorities. Even now, as I review what I've written for this post, I can see that I've been doing way too much. I need to be still more often. I need to rest and be thankful for what I have been given. I need to say "no, thanks..." a little more frequently.

So as crummy as I feel right now, I am thankful for my cold.

Young At Heart

Ok, I know my last post was about doing less....

But seriously, I am just sitting here on the couch thinking and goofing around on the laptop. Jenetta rented a movie we had wanted to see. It is called Young At Heart. I had wanted to see it because I thought it would be cute and maybe a bit funny to watch elderly people sing the Ramones. But quite frankly, I was convicted of that attitude very early on. It was a very moving film. It was really enlightening to be able to spend a few hours in their world. I had been moved by "Fix You" by Coldplay before (especially at their show in LA this summer) but I was brought to tears by what that song meant to these people. A definite recommendation from both of us!

Here are some links you could check out:

A promo for the film on the Today show.

The trailer for the movie.

Is this the vicious face of terror???

Miranda is getting old and deaf. She is almost 12 now. We have this pillow thing for her to sleep on at night, but when it is warmer, she prefers the cooler concrete floor. In a few more weeks, she will go back to sleeping on the dog bed like she always does. Unfortunately, she puts herself to bed before we do usually, and that means that falling asleep right in the path where we walk.

This wasn't a problem when she could hear us coming in. I think she is losing her hearing now, and she does not stir when we come in the bedroom. I have adopted the "shuffle-step" method when going to bed. This is the same technique I use in the water to insure that I don't step on a sting-ray. Early last week, I shuffled right into the dog, and she was surprised and snapped at me.

On Thursday night, I wasn't feeling well, so I went to bed much earlier than Jenetta. She didn't want to turn on the light to wake me up when she came in around 11:30. Unfortunately, she stepped right on the dog. Miranda responded by biting her in the ankle. She really sunk her teeth into her skin! Jenetta shouted with pain and actually had trouble standing up afterward. Two days later, her ankle is still swollen and sore!

Our new plan is to have her sleep in the bathroom. We always turn the lights on when we go in at night, so it shouldn't be a problem anymore. But wow!

something cool about my birthday

I research words and terms for part of a video library project at work. Sometimes I come across a phrase that is new to me and is actually interesting as well. Today I learned about Cake Day. It is on my birthday! Wow! So everyone celebrates with me! (JUNE 1st)

That got me really sidetracked. Did you know there are practically 365 days of food celebrations? You can get a day for pretty much any food. Here is a fun link to stuff about that.

Too bad we missed National Date-Nut Bread Day on the 8th, but at least we're only in the middle of National Honey Month. We have 15 more days to celebrate honey.

I should get back to work now...

Awesome weekend

I've had one of the busiest, craziest, amazing weekends ever, and I am really paying for it now at work! I am soooooooo tired!!!!

The weekend started with a really challenging wedding for Jenetta on Friday. The circumstances made for a stressful beginning for both of us!

On Friday night, we celebrated David's birthday by eating at Chipotle and then going to Stone Brewery to hang out for the evening. It was really great to hang with the guys and enjoy a "guys night out..." We capped off the night by eating donuts at Peterson's (which was a huge mistake in my opinion - greasy donuts at 11:30 do not make for a healthy tummy overnight).

The next morning, I got up early to go to Big Bear to mountain bike with David and Blake. After some great conversation in the car, we made it to the ski lift around 10:00. We took a really challenging run first that rubbed huge sores on both of my thumbs. I had gloves, but they were the fingerless kind, sadly. I made it down without crashing, but it was really hard. The second run was really great! We took a wider forest road and could go really fast. I was enjoying this ride a lot until near the bottom when the derailer on my bike decided to explode and collide with the spokes. My bike was ruined. People have advised me that it is not worth fixing, and that I should just get another one. (Jessica - any good bike prospects this year?) :)





I was able to coast the bike down the rest of the hill and only had to walk it up a few small sections. We took the lift up again for lunch at the lodge at the top. After lunch, Blake and David rode two more runs, and I spent about 90 minutes just hiking around the mountain and following my nose for a while. Even though I was not riding, I still enjoyed the experience. It gave me a little time to think about the things we had talked about and pray.

Later that night, David and I went to the Padres game. We had free tickets and a parking pass, but due to car problems, we didn't make it until later in the game, but it was worth it to enjoy a little bit of the ballpark atmosphere. It was a special day - I spent 15 hours with David. For many reasons, I don't think I will ever forget that Saturday.

On Sunday, Jenetta and I helped with worship. It has been a while since she has sung with the team, so it was good to have her back with us. Doug has started a series on thinking about the nature of God. He started with "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." I have been thinking about the Shema Yisrael and what it means to declare that God is one. I think that is a very appropriate way to begin and end your day.

We left church to go to lunch together, and we had car troubles of our own. The key on the car wouldn't turn in the ignition. The steering wheel locking mechanism has frozen somehow. After jiggling for 20 minutes, we finally got it going. I drove it home and left the key in the on position, but disconnected the battery. I was able to start it this morning no problem and it is currently at our mechanic's place being repaired.

Don't get me started on the Charger's game after that! (Or the Padre's game, where they blew a 4 run lead to lose to San Francisco in 10 innings.)

That evening, Ryan Castillo and I went to the House of Blues to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I saw them last summer and enjoyed their stuff. When I got a two-for-one coupon for the show, I decided that I would like to check them out again. There were things that I really enjoyed about the show, but there were also some things that put a damper on it for me. They played a really long set - almost 2 1/2 hours! And the music got louder and louder and louder as the night went on. Near the end, the vocals were cranked so loud that you couldn't even understand what they were saying when they just talked to the audience. It was just a lot of noise. Good - bluesy, heavy guitar noise, but noise nonetheless. But the best part was just spending more time with Ryan and getting to know him more.

It's weird having a corporate job and living for the weekend. But this weekend, I think I did enough living to last me at least until the next one... I sure am tired!

Adoption meeting

We decided not to proceed with the meeting regarding the 5-year old boy. Again, there were many factors that indicated to us that this was not going to be a good match. We are not convinced he would be a permanent member of our family. We both feel that this is the right decision for us as neither of us had much peace about the whole thing. Thanks for praying for us.

Busy Saturday

I had one of those weekend days where I felt like I got a ton of stuff done. I started off by running Lake Miramar with Robbie. Finally, my foot feels normal when I run. I had really been missing it!

Then Jenetta and I went to band practice. It was really hot in Dan's garage, but it was nice to work on a new song. I also really enjoy playing with Doug, our new lead guitar player. I think we will work together nicely.

Then I came home and worked on laying the tile on the kitchen peninsula. I was thinking back - this kitchen project started in earnest again on Memorial Day weekend with the floor tile. Things sure go slowly when you have to wait to pay for them! It's not perfect, but not much about our kitchen is. I watched San Diego State lose to Notre Dame, and then I watch the Padres lose again in Milwaukee.

I cleaned up after dinner, and went to David's house to play a game of Cities and Knights with Ryan and David. David made some really smart moves and won convincingly.

Then I came home and did this. I felt like I did a lot today.

(Sorry Jessica, I know this isn't a very profound post...)

Oh, and we are planning on meeting with the social workers regarding that placement on Monday at 4:30. We'd appreciate prayers for wisdom. Right now, we don't think this would be a good placement for us, but we want to keep an open mind and inform our decision as much as possible.

One other thing. To the right, we've placed a link for RiffTrax. I used to be really into this show that was on Comedy Central called "Mystery Science Theater 3000" or MST3K. Later, it moved to the Sci-Fi Channel, and it was never really as good. I still probably have about 100 episodes on videotapes somewhere. Anyway, some of the guys from that show do the same thing to more popular movies. They are pretty funny. Check them out for a fun diversion!

Here's how the peninsula looks now:

Something to pray about

A lot of you frequently ask us for updates on the adoption situation. We got another call yesterday. Again this one is slightly outside of what we were considering (but for different reasons). Please pray for wisdom for us regarding this decision.

I can't give out a lot of the details, but a few things I can share are that it involves a 5 year old boy, and the reason why it is outside of our comfort zone is that he is on a different adoption track than we were interested in. Basically, his mother still has an opportunity to regain custody. There is a hearing with the judge in a few weeks. He could come to live with us and then be removed after only a few weeks. Or that hearing could go against the mother and she would appeal. After six months of living with us, if the appeal went through, he would return to his mother.

The uncertainty of this (based on what we've learned, 10% of these kids go back to the birth parents) makes us unsure as to whether or not this is right for us. We are praying for clear thought and direction on this. It could be very, very stressful if we went ahead. So we would greatly appreciate your prayers as well!

Farewell to Summer

We hope you all had a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend!

We said our goodbyes to summer with a busy weekend. On Saturday, I helped my Aunt Barb and Uncle Harold move into their new home in Escondido. It was hot and muggy, but we had a lot of help, so it went very smoothly. That night, Jenetta and I went to see the Star Wars cartoon movie. Jenetta liked it a bit because she was better able to accept it for what it was. I was mostly just sad and was reminded of how much Star Wars meant to me as a kid (movies 4, 5, and 6) and how much I couldn't stand the more recent films (1, 2, and 3). At least they were free movie passes that Jenetta got for us.

Yesterday, we went to church and spent a little time doing some cleaning around the house. Then we spent the later part of the afternoon and the evening at the beach visiting at Mark & Tricia's campsite in Carlsbad. The surf wasn't great, but I caught a few good rides toward the end of my session. It is definitely starting to get dark earlier! I was also glad to test out the foot. I hadn't been surfing since the accident in early August. My foot was sore, but it held up fine. Back at the campsite, the company was a lot of fun. It was good to talk music with Nick and to catch up with the Kevin and Margo, Darryl and Lori, and Mark and Trica, and all their families.

Today I went swimming with Robbie, Jason, and Jeremy at Jeremy's pool. Then we completely undid all the exercise we accomplished by eating breakfast burritos together (nice!) Then I came home and did some fall cleaning - windows, garage, etc. In the afternoon, we went to Nikki and Robbie's place for a party. We could only stay for a while, but we enjoyed the time together a lot! Here are a few photos. There were a lot more people there, but our camera battery died, so we only got a few shots. Nikki had her camera - check out their blog later - maybe she will put some photos on it.



We had to get home early because we had planned to meet with Ryan Castillo for dinner. Ryan is one of those people who you feel more and more fortunate to know the better you get to know him. Ryan is planning on going on staff with Student Venture. It was really good to hear how God is leading him in his life and to hear his heart for teenagers.

Tomorrow, I go back to work bright and early! Time to sign off...