I can’t remember the last time I actually broke a hundred in bowling, let alone beat my wife.

Just thought I’d let the blogosphere know about my bowling victory

Ever wondered how to get your blog noticed? Wonder no more! Derek Punsalan has a great post on his blog about getting your blog, and more importantly, your words noticed and read.

I’ve been meaning to write a post like this for some time now, but it appears that Derek has beat me to it.

Happy advertising!

Ever have one of those terrifying dreams that sent your heart racing, your body shaking, and your clothes drenched in sweat? I was awakened to such circumstances only it wasn’t a dream, it was a scream from my newborn niece. My body was aching and I was sweating from the humidity and heat of the Pensylvannian sun.

Oh the joys of being a parent! It’s like being a high school teenager again—up late hours, snacking all day, being trapped in the house, and going through a roller coaster of emotions. The only difference is you have responsibilities, and of course, lots of love.

I may not be the one breast feeding, but I have gone through two sleepless nights of baby crying, mom snoring, breast pumping, and sister snacking on loud Tostitos chips kind of nights. It’s a whole new world, but worth it to see Anavah (Hebrew word for humility in the feminine form) Song, 6 pounds 15.4 oz. come into this world. She is beautiful and I look forward to seeing her grow up and touch the lives of those around her, much like her parents do.

Like the Vogons of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I find myself buried under a pile of paperwork! Society has forms for everything-credit cards, returns, releases, rentals, dental, registrations, and sometimes we come up with forms for silly activities like pie-eating contests. This morning I pulled out a packet for school. The very first page says in bold 20-size font, “THESE FORMS MUST BE COMPLETED AND RETURNED NO LATER THAN JULY 31, 2006 OR YOU WILL FORFEIT YOUR POSITION IN NURSING.” Once you start filling out the forms, they tell you that you need to get other forms and make copies of them. If you don’t have the forms, you need to get an application form so you’ll have the forms requested. This is when I start banging my head against the table wishing I could shred all the papers on my desk.

I do admit that internet forms are easier to fill out, but when push comes to shove, it’s a form, it’ll take time, and it will ask for silly information more than once. However, “Resistance is useless,” and like the Vogons, I better start loving them since there’s no way around them.

About Vogons:
They wouldn’t even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without orders signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public enquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.

One of the hardest things about Christianity, I believe, is patience. We’ve all heard the phrase, “wait on God, He has the perfect plan and all will work out best in His timing.” I don’t know about you, but whenever my parents told me to wait I would just get annoyed and wonder why. Is it really that big of a deal to get things now or later?

I remember the first time I went to the Vineyard, now called Oasis Christian Church. I was about 16 years old and have been going to a reformed church all my life. The one thing that struck me was the worship. A full band worship team was leading the congregation into God’s presence. People were focusing their hearts on the Lord and were actually singing praises to Him. I was just beginning to explore the guitar and was anxious in learning worship songs, so I felt God telling me to stay with this church.

A few months after attending Oasis, I decided that I would love to be a part of the worship team. Of course I didn’t have the nerve to tell anyone, since I wasn’t that good of a musician. However, I did ask God if I could serve Him in that way. God heard my prayer and I knew that one day I would stand in front of the congregation and lead them into worship.

A few years went by and I was not leading anyone. However, God did not let the fire inside of me burn out. He opened oppertunities for me to lead or be a part of small group worship sessions. I led in small prayer groups, youth, and camps. I also attended many worship leaders conferences. During this time God was giving me time to improve my skill, and He also touched me to play percussion. “So is it time now?” I would ask God. “Could I lead the congregation?” Sometimes we think that we are good enough to serve the Lord, but we don’t see all that God sees. He still had one more thing to work in me—pride.

Long story short, my first time leading the congregation was last year during a men’s retreat. They had no muscians that weekend, and I was available. Ever since then I’ve been involved with worship almost every week. Sometimes when I get drained, I hear the Lord saying, “don’t get weary, this is what I have blessed you with.” I just smile, and look forward to receiving all the other things I have asked for.

“If you feed them, they will come.” I find it interesting that our stomachs can dictate our actions, but at the same time we do not take the time to actually enjoy what we are eating. One of the things I miss most about Italy is the dining experience. We spent about 2 hours for dinner every evening to enjoy our pasta, veal, tiramisu, and wine. Each dish came out about 20-30 minutes apart so we had time to eat, digest, and socialize. Here in the states we have this “get in get out” mentality that fills up your stomach, but leaves you with empty memories.

Today I went out and bought a bottle of Italy’s fine wines to recapture a bit of my dining experience. I was surprised to find a bottle of Chianti Classico, a wine made in a winery we visited. Due to various imitations the wine has to meet a number of requirements including color, odor, flavor, time of bottle aging, and amount of sugar (a maximum of 4 grams per liter to be exact) in order to be called a “Chianti Classico.” One thing to look for when purchasing the wine, is to locate the Black Rooster, a symbol of authenticity. As I drank my wine with dinner, I was once again filled with memories and was grateful to have enjoyed one of the simpler things in life.

Ever since I’ve been back from Italy I’ve been looking for the perfect cappuccino cup (pictured here). You see, my good friend Robbie gave us a great espresso machine as a wedding gift, and I’ve yet to use it because I didn’t have the right cups. You may think me crazy, but drinking coffee, especially a cappuccino, is no mundane act but rather an experience. I’ve learned that Italians usually enjoy a nice espresso or cappuccino at a sidewalk bistro. This was truly an experience for me, as the waiters are never pushy, and one can usually stay and enjoy the sights and sounds for hours. It was really wonderful.

Sure, a cup may be a small thing, but the right cup, with perfectly frothed milk and a well-flavored shot of espresso brings me right back to that sidewalk bistro in Italy. So, when I returned to the states I went on a quest to find an Italian/European style set of Cappuccino cups. I looked at Pier 1, Khol’s, the Gateway, Salt Lake Roasting Company, Target, and Wal-Mart and to my great dismay I found NONE! So after doing a bit of wining and taking a cold hard look at my beloved but unused espresso machine I decided to do what I should have done all along. I pulled out my laptop and logged on to amazon.com. To my great surprise, my first query found the exact cups I was looking for. So five minutes and fourteen dollars and ninety-five cents later I finally felt a sense of accomplishment; I had conquered the beast, completed the quest, killed the dragon, found and bought my cappuccino cups.

Moral of the story: Look on amazon first before running around town like a mad man in search of an item you may or may not find.

Monira and I spent a couple of hours yesterday hiking up a nice little trail at Brighton’s ski resort. During our short hike, I realized how detached I had become from God’s great creation—I can’t even remember the last time that I had been hiking. I was reminded why some people actually spend time in the great outdoors; to experience a part of God’s creativity and inherent beauty.

Romans 1:20 (NASB)
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made…

So here’s to spending time outdoors; may we discover just a bit more about God while being surrounded in the ultimate creation. Lord knows, I need to experience His creation more…

I realize it’s been quite some time since I’ve update my ever-so-dilapidated blog, but I thought I’d go ahead and share some shots from our wedding and honeymoon. I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as we enjoyed taking them!

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I was going through my pictures today in iPhoto and came across a slideshow I had put together shortly after I returned from Cambodia last year, and since I have a ton of bandwidth my hosting service affords me every month, I thought I’d go ahead and post it here for your viewing enjoyment.

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