Back to the grind

Well, we made it back to Philly. I'm not yet sure if that is a good thing. I suppose it is. Home was good, and a much needed break and breath of fresh air. It's amazing to me how you can get in a rut, just the rut of daily life, and the only way to gain new perspective on it is to remove yourself from it for a while. You get so caught up in the day to day that after a while it doesn't even register in your mind until you can pause for a little bit and then start over.

With that perspective, I can say that though being back in Philly may not be worth throwing a party over, I feel much better being here than before we left. It's not so bad to be able to come back to sunshine and 50-60 degree weather. I like this time of year here, everything is starting to get green, but the humidity and the heat hasn't picked up yet, jeans and a sweatshirt feel great. It's that time of year you can get away with driving around with the windows down and the heat on to keep your fingers warm. Life seems to be picking up speed, daylight savings is right around the corner, and my classes are pouring on the work.

Everything seems to be happening now. Ireland is only 6 weeks away, our anniversary is while we are there, but yet there seems to be so much more that needs to happen before we can leave - Multiple research papers, exams, reading, book reports, bible study prep, throw a wedding or two in there, and Boom! - summer is here. Yikes.


Almost looks like summer doesn't it?

No place like home...

It is amazing to get on a plane and in a matter of two hours be 1000 miles from where you were two hours ago, and all you did was take a nap in an uncomfortable chair. But it is fantastic as well. As nice as it is to go someplace in two hours, it's nice to be able to get away from a place in two hours as well.
I thought I'd take the opportunity to type a little somethin' while sitting here at CFS prior to a spectacular breakfast prepared by our hosts, Larry and Laura. Even though Lauren and I are home with family, it really feels like a vacation, and I am thankful that we have family to be able to enjoy that with. This scene is a far cry from what Philly looks like right now, but it is a welcome change in scenery, even though it is a step back into winter, and not towards summer. All that said, I'm not going to waste my vacation and time with friends typing on a stinkin computer-

Saint Patty's Day

Well if you'd like to have an idea what being out on the town is like on any given Irish evening (weekend or not), take a field trip to your local pub/bar this evening. Chances are, it'll be shoulder to shoulder packed out, with pints of Guinness flowing everywhere. The only difference is that in Ireland, they have good music playing. I was actually thinking about going out this evening, just to sort of get back in shape for Ireland, but I'm not sure I can stand all of the Americans. But it is a lovely day for a Guinness! I do think it's remarkable that the Catholic Church pretty much has a saint for every day of the year, and the Irish are the only ones who got everybody to throw a big party for theirs, and a rather un-saintly party at that!

Today I got myself a haircut. I know all of you are dying to know that, but it was pretty cool because Lauren cut it for me. Now, many of you may not know this, but I have cut Lauren's hair on a fairly regular basis. I'll only cut it if she wants it short - no, not with a pair of clippers. So today, we traded and she cut mine. It looks good and I like it - not that I really have any options there.

We also filed our taxes today - yes it's been a rather thrilling day. We had somebody else do it, and it was awesome. It took us less than an hour, and we're done. He told us what we're going to get back and when to expect it, and the best part was that I didn't even have to break a sweat over it!

Happy Birthday Mom!

I suppose that means I have to apologize to my brother and to my dad for missing theirs, or at least not advertising for it, but 1 out of 3 isn't too bad is it? I guess that depends on whether you are talking about baseball or birthdays.

Today, so far, seizing the day meant beginning it with a breakfast of champions: Starbucks Guatemalan coffee and blueberry muffin chased by a thought provoking conversation regarding what "church" might have to do very differently to really connect with this current ultra-electronic generation. No conclusion drawn. Stimulating though.

I also painted my Jeep. Sort of. Krylon makes this cool spray paint that you can actually paint plastic with - it "bonds to plastic on a molecular level." That's what the can says anyway. So I bought some black to freshen up the trim on my Jeep which had faded to a sort of grayish-green.

That's sort of the before picture. You at least get the idea of the grayish-green. Someday I'll add a new picture. Not bad for $5 bucks and a couple hours work. Almost looks like new. Someday I hope to be able to do this:

Instead of this:

But it will be awhile $5 at a time.

Whoops, Wow, Woohoo!

Well, I guess I should apologize to all of my faithful few followers for my own ineptness at knowing how this blog thing works. I just figured out why all of you that submitted stuff didn't get to see it posted - I had to "approve" it. I just didn't know that. Consider it done, and I'll try not to let it happen again.

With that said, maybe we can try this all over again.

Hard to believe it is nearly the middle of March already; it's spring break at school, which I am glad for. I guess I'll just update a few "life" things, not much of it is too interesting at this point in time though - just to warn you. Patrick Saia was home to PA here for a few days, so Lauren and I, Seth and Cathy got to spend about 24 hours with him, which was about all we could take, so after that we sent him home. Seth and I did manage to get the incredible privilege not only to take a ride in The Cobra again, but we both got a chance to drive it for a short while. If you want to get an idea of what we were behind the wheel of, check out this link: http://www.factoryfive.com/table/ffrkits/roadster/roadsterkit.html Go to their homepage and check out some of the videos if you've got a good connection. It's worth it. It just kinda makes you want to drive for hours. In a sort of odd way, it reminded me a lot of my old back Jeep (my CJ7). I think it was the raw feel of a machine that communicates every feel of the road to your body. A machine that was meant for that, for driving, for the experience of the drive, not simply for the purpose of going from point A to point B.

Lauren and I will be going home to Wisco for the better part of a week, from March 22-26. It will be a busy five days, but it worked out without either of us missing any work or school stuff. We're going to make a trip up to CFS to hang out there. We'd love to be able to make the trek up to WWC, but I just don't think that is going to happen.

On another note, we're nearly finished teaching through the book of Ruth at The Porch, and looking forward to what might be coming next, but to anyone that is interested, I highly recommend studying Ruth. It has been awesome to read and study it, allowing God to define himself to me through what he has chosen to reveal about himself through that story, instead of me bringing my preconceptions about God to the story and reading them into the story itself. I've been studying through it with two other guys, Jeff and Josh, (yes, that's Josh, Jeff, and Josh) and it has been a great journey to study through the book together and share the teaching responsibilities. A book that I highly recommend as a sort of companion to the book of Ruth is a book by Larry Crabb titled "Shattered Dreams." It looks at the book a little more from Naomi's perspective, and it doesn't really stick to the book in train of thought, but it raises some very important and difficult questions. Maybe I'll post a few of them this week.

Spring has hit this weekend, Friday and Saturday were about 60-65`, Monday is supposed to be over 70. I'm not complaining. Now, if it would only stay this temperature all summer. I'd be okay with that. Well, that's all for now. If Lauren and I ever get around to either buying or borrowing a digital camera, we'll post some pictures of our new apartment now that we're all moved in and well settled. Until next time-