31 Days of Blogging

I am now embarking on a literary adventure. This is my 3rd year where I have take a one-month-blog-every-day "challenge" with my dear friend Bex. I love blogging and I think this 31 day challenge is something I need to do once a year for several reasons:

1) It gets me writing and I really enjoy that.
2) It challenges and stretches me.
3) It gets my creative juices flowing. They say if you want to be a better writer you just need to write.

I will be writing about things that have been happening in my life (Christmas season is full of activity and travel. It should be easy to write about). I will be looking at other creative ideas to write about as well. Each day will lead itself as to what I write about. Perhaps there will be some things that you are challenged by and perhaps there will be things that inspire you. I hope both are true.

So off I go, onto the writing challenge.

Do you want to join me? Want to take part in this awesome blogging challenge? I would love it if you let me know and I will mention it in one of my posts and point people towards your blog as well.

Here we go bloggys!

A Weekend of Spontaneity

spon·ta·ne·i·ty

noun \ˌspän-tə-ˈnē-ə-tē, -ˈnā-\

voluntary or undetermined action or movement.

On Friday we sent a text to the Mann's and said, "Hey, wanna hang out tomorrow?" We drove up to Fox Island for the day. We finally got to meet sweet little Jude!!! We talked, played at the park and enjoyed some dinner together. This was such a needed time for our families. It's hard to spend lots of time together when you live 3 hours away from each other. Mostly it's just good to be together.

Nyah, Mercy & Haak. We tried to get all 3 to co-operate. haha.

Karston & Jude

Kynzi & Jude

We ended up staying way later than we planned and as a result we didn't get home until 1:45AM! I finished my last paper for my class in the car and uploaded it outside of a hotel on the way home. It had to be in by midnight.

Although it was extremely late night, it was so good for our souls. I am very thankful to have friends that no matter time nor distance we will always stay connected.

The next morning I slept in until 10 AM! Then Karston and I decided to go fishing. We stopped at Safeway for some delicious sandwiches and headed to our destination. After about an hour or so we arrived at Detroit lake. We decided to fish off the bank you're the bridge.

 

Although Karston only got a few bites (and I got a big fat nothing!) we shared stories and laugh a lot. In the video below, Trace Adkins was singing about his daughter but it completely applies to us.

I love my son! I do everything I can to try to hold on to the moments we have. I don't want to waste my children's childhood because I'm too busy with stuff.

On Monday I was going to go paint balling with my dgroup guys. Instead we ended up shooting airsoft guns. We went out to Wheatland Park. That was my first time shooting airsoft guns at other people. Those suckers hurt! Bryant had a sniper rifle and shot me from across the gully and hit me in my tooth. I seriously thought I lost it at first. We played for several hours and I have the welts to prove it. 

Monday night my dgroup and Kara Brown's dgroup got together for a worship night with s'mores! We asked them to all share stories of moments where God really impacted their lives in high school. And then imparted wisdom as to how to stay connected to Jesus after they leave high school. It was a very sweet time together. And evening I will remember for a long time.

 

I love casting vision and dreaming about the future and making big plans, but I absolutely love spontaneous moments that just come together. I feel like it brings a lot of spice to life. 

This weekend was extremely spicy!

An Ethiopian Welcome Home Experience

On Friday we finally got to do it. We met Mercy Mann in real life for the first time! We have skyped with her several times, but this time we saw her, we held her, we kissed her! It was awesome! But let me back up a little and then get back to here.

Josh and Bex Mann invited us to Starbucks to tell us that they were planning on adopting from Ethiopia. Jeanne-Ann and I were kicking each other under the table. You see, just that morning we were having our first major conversation about the possibility of adoption and here God was using some dear friends and their journey to move us forward on our journey too. We have walked together closely on this road of adoption and it has been truly amazing. We have walked through the joys and the sorrows of all that is adoption together. These have been some amazing friends. God has truly blessed us with a bunch of amazing friends and family to support us, encourage us and pray for us along the way. I know many of them are you my dear bloggy friends. Thank you.

We have gone back to that same Starbucks for all of our (the collective our) celebrations along the way and added Chipotle to the date as well. It has been a fun tradition. When they headed over to Ethiopia I had a deep sense inside that we were "with" them there. I felt like I was experiencing it alongside them. Bex is an incredible writer and I love how she blogs. I learn so much of what it means to be a great blogger/writer from her. (I'm working on honing my skills Bex...thanx.) Her ability to be so descriptive and detailed has made it feel like I was there. Sidenote: I would say my sister Nina has done the same as she is also an amazing writer! Both have moved me to tears and to deep laughter.

We have also been able to skype with them along the way. We got a tour of the guesthouse they stayed at (perhaps our future temporary home) and get to meet Mercy and see her in all her digital goodness. Often those skype video calls would include my sister Nina, Wes and their 2 kids Alex and Eliana. What a thrill that has been for us. Our kids are at the same orphanage as Mercy was at. That's only ONE degree of separation folks!

So when the call came last week that they were actually coming home hot tears of joy streamed down my face. It is hard to fully describe how I have been living vicariously through these 2 families as they have been over there. Nina and Wes are still over there as they have hit one issue after another. We are praying that they are able to come home this week! Would you join us in praying for that to happen? Read more about how you can help them financially get home here. They have been there since Early January!

They boarded the plane and stopped in Amsterdam and San Francisco before they finally landed at PDX. Several of us met at YoCream for some frozen yogurt yumminess before we finally go to the airport. With friends and family all in one area we anticipated their arrival with greatly. The buzz was fun to listen to. We had made a huge poster and the Unwins (I think) brought American and Ethiopian flags for the kids to wave. Bex had asked if I would take pictures when they arrived and I was quick to oblige.

Everyone waiting with baited breath.

We stared as far down the corridor as we could of concourse A, knowing that their flight had finally landed and Bex had tweeted "Home."

A simple one word tweet drenched in meaning.

After what seemed to be an eternity, we finally saw them and everyone began to cheer and shout! They were home! It was real. The friends kept their respective distances and allowed the family to be the first greeters. There was some hesitancy at first as no one wanted to overwhelm them until Liz (Bex's sister) said, "Forget this!" and charged right at them full force. Soon we all got our hugs in and I won't lie...it felt good. This is family.

The Family...all together!

When Jeanne-Ann was holding Mercy Bex said, "You are now touching someone who has touched your babies." I lost it. That surreal moment will stick with me for a long time. I was suddenly transported to a building filled with children whom, for one reason or another, don't have birth parents that can care for them, and I missed my kids. I have not held them yet, but I know I love them. Deeply! Soon my sweets, soon...Pappa and Mamma and your sister and brother are coming to bring you home. Soon.

One of my favorite pictures of the night.

Mercy meets some of her new friends.

It's official. This little one is an American!

This was a good day. A really good day.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition...in my town!

Last month my friend Daniel asked me if I was signing up to work the Extreme Makeover Home Edition site that was coming to Salem. I jumped online to register. I filled out the form, but they were really looking for professional carpenters, plumbers, painters, etc. None of these describe me. I have no marketable skills. So I said I was a youth pastor who is a hard worker, is enthusiastic, and quick learner. Daniel works tomorrow, I never heard back.

So today my good friend Bex was tweeting about seeing the bus. Her and Josh then proceeded to "stalk" the bus. She continued to tweet and then she texted me to find out what I was doing. She knows this is just the kind of thing I love! What a good friend. So on my way to go for a run downtown, I popped in at the Oregon School for the Deaf. I walked onto the campus and they were having their 100 (or 140 year) anniversary/back to school BBQ. There were tons of Deaf School students and parents.

I got there just in time for Ty Pennington and the team to get up on stage and do the reveal that they were there to help them build a new haunted house. This is something that has been a huge fundraiser for the school, as their funding is not particularly huge. They have been doing it over 20 years and the EMHE team was going to make it even better. They were also going to redo a hallway in the dorm, I think and work on someone's home from the school. They had also given out 100s of hearing aids to students that morning.

I recorded the whole thing and then went to watch it back...turns out I clicked stop when I thought I was starting and start at the very end. The good thing was that they had to come back and do the reveal over again because of some lighting issues...for the THIRD time. Josh, Bex and I had moved around to the other side of the platform and got a better spot where the team would walk by us. Sure enough, the bus honked its way up the hill and the team got out and went up to the platform. As Ty was interviewing Sharla there were these helium balloons in the way that he kept trying to knock away. No one was moving, so I went up and held them down for the rest of the time they were on the stage. That's where you can see the interaction we had on the video. Haha. We are pretty close now. ;)

Robyn, who is our main interpreter at our church, will be flying to Minnesota with about 120 others for a week of vacation and fun while the construction happens. How cool is that?

I love what this show does. I hate watching it because there is no chance I can make it through and not cry. If you want to read more about it you can check out our local newspaper's story on  it here.
Below is the video. Check out 2:03. haha.


What exciting thing has happened to you or your town?

Fun, competitive, survival...want to be a part?

From the first episode I saw of Survivor I have wanted to be on the show. As I watched this amazing sociological experiment unveiling before my eyes, I was captivated.  I took a sociology class in college and we did several fun experiments as a class. Survivor took things to a whole new level. I had never really seen anything like it. It began a love affair I have had with reality television ever since. There is something to taking a group of complete strangers and throwing them in a secluded part of the country and having them work through relationships and extreme conditions and seeing what happens.

I have a theory. Until the last few seasons they have had 16 players on the show. If you have ever taken the Meyers-Briggs personality test you know that there are ultimately 16 different personality types. (Bex talks about this a little on her blog today. I am an ENFP) I think they find people who fit all 16 types in order to cause as much tension as possible. After all, tension equals ratings. Even though there are often people we "hate" on the shows we watch, it gets boring when they are no longer on there.

They have messed with the "rules" a bunch of times recently to keep things fresh and it continues to be intriguing to me. This season they are placing the old vs. the young. They even have former Dolphins and Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson on this season. I REALLY want to be on the show. Imagine what a life experience that would be. I know  a lot of people would say, "How can you be on a show where people stab each other in the back and say you are a Christian?" My response is usually something like, "Have you ever played the card game Bull? You know, the one where you are supposed to lie about how many cards you have and try to bluff your way to victory? I think it's kind of like that. Outwit, outlast, outplay are the rules." When I honestly think about it though, I realize I love people too much to stab them in the back. The show is all about relationships and I would build strong ones out there. I am also a hard worker and I think I could hold back on being the "leader" too soon. I also have wit and charm that I would use to win people over. I do realize that all these things play against me in the end when others want to go up against someone who is not liked by the rest of the tribe so they have a better chance of winning, but oh well. 

For the last several years I have lead a group of people in a Fantasy Survivor League. It is a total blast. Each week you answer 5 questions which include "Who will get reward?", "Who will get immunity?" , "Who will be safe?" and "Who will get voted off?" For each answer you get right you get points. Points are totaled at the end of the season and the top three get gift cards for different things. The top gift card is usually worth around $50. It could be more if more people played. It only takes $5 to get in. We are starting up the season on September 15th, so there is still time to get in.

Want to join us this season? It's worth a try. It's a lot of fun. Who knows, you may get to play this when I am on the show some day. I have tried out a few times you know? This time. That time. And some others. All you need to do is to give me your email address and I will send you an invitation. Don't put it here though, send me an email here.

40 Days of Blog

Tonight we had dinner with some of our dearest friends in the world. We all decided it would be fun to do a "40 Days of Blog" together. Essentially we are committing to posting one blog per day for the next 40 days starting today! As soon as Bex mentioned this I was ALL IN! It is exactly what I need. I want to blog more and I need motivation and accountability. I love to blog, it is just one of those things that can be hard to set time aside to do. Now I am doing it! You can hold me accountable to. Interaction is a great thing (hint..feel free to comment). I love that blogging can open conversations on all sorts of topics.

I am sure there will be plenty of adoption conversation along the way, as that is what 3 out of 5 of us are doing and it consumes a lot of our thought energy. It will also have plenty of daily life mixed in, as that is what my blog tends to be about. Hopefully there will be something that will be thought-provoking and interesting to you as well. I expect that there will be some give-aways happening. I won't reveal yet, but I think someone from this team will be doing one today. So keep a look out.

Want to read along? Check out the "Team."
Bex Mann.
Michelle Unwin.
and Steve Unwin (but Steve will start his 40 days on the 1st of September)

Here we go!!!
    My beautiful bride, Jeanne-Ann is blogging, but not yet ready for 40 days. Encourage her and comment on her blog!