reading plan 2009

This year I've got a plan to read a bunch of different books and it was really exciting to put the final touches on it this morning. Ever since I was a kid I have loved to read, and it is an endeavor which still keeps me up till the early morning every now and then. What I figured is that I would share with you some of the ones I'm excited about for the next year.

-I just finished this one a few weeks ago and it examines the Puritan's view of the future and how this affected the world around them. They had an optimistic viewpoint which saw the gospel spreading through the world with great effect. God would work through a serries of revivals to spread his reing through out the world and after this Christ would return. It is very interesting to see how this view of human history played out on a variety of fronts. It is well worth the read.

-There are all sorts of books on depression that are out there, but this is one of the few you can actually give to someone who is depressed. Hillary recently finished this one and it is now on my list. She spoke very highly of the book and said it has a very balanced and helpful perspective.

-This is my "thinking book" for the year. I'm going to try and read something more scholarly so I remember the large words which I learned in seminary. I've seen some excerts from this book and am intrigued. Wright considers the centrality of the ressurection for the growth and spread of the church. He looks at the uniqueness of the idea of a man rising again from the dead and how this fits into the the cultural context of that time. I'll be able to tell you more once I read it. That is if I finish it and I can explain it lucidly.

And, just so you don't think I'm too committed to my reading or going overboard with the books, I've included my most recent aquisition...

home progress

It might be hard to get a feel for the room from this picture, but this is what our future nursery will look like. It has been a good month of home repairs as this room has undergone a radical transformation. You might notice how it no longer looks scary and forboding. I've heard that scary and forboding rooms have a detrimental effect on children. Baby A is continuing to grow and develop. I felt him or her move for the first time last week and that was pretty exciting. Hillary was just about asleep so it wasn't the best time for celebration, but it has happened a few times since. It is really neat, but also bizarre to think that there is this person growing inside your wife. Feeling him or her kick and move adds a whole new dimension to coolness/wierdness of it all.

pregnant pictures, snow Sundays, and -1 temps

So here is Hillary in all her pregnantness. In the background you'll see the nice yellow walls of our nursery. We've done a little shopping at Baby's R Us (I'm not sure who came up with that store title), and have almost completed our registry. We had our second ultra-sound last Wednesday and the baby is growing at appropriate rates. The only anomoly is the baby's head, which is a few weeks larger than normal. I was excited because I related this to our coming child's above average intelligence. Hillary was dismayed because she's going to have to give birth to the large sized head.
On another note, this was our third or fourth snowy Sunday in the past month. We, (actually I) don't like to wake up and shovel before church, but it keeps happening. It is pretty to look outside after church and see all the freshly fallen snow and I like the excitement of driving on minimally plowed roads, but it makes it hard for people to get there. I think everyone needs to get snow tires - they are amazing.
Last but not least, I got to go snowboarding in VT last week. It was super fun. The mountain was pretty deserted since we went on Thursday and the high for the day was 9 degrees. When we arrived it was -1 outside and we had a chilly chair ride to the top of the mountain. Once we got warmed up, it was a lot of fun. That's about it for me!

back in action

After two weeks sort-of off work and nomral life Hillary and I are getting back into the swing of things. We had a great Christmas as we spent six days up at Hillary's dad's in NY, and then had my parents up for a few days the following week. In NY I was able to go cross-country skiing and take the snowmobile for a short run up and down the driveway. We spent lots of time with Hillary's family and were able to see childhood friends of hers as well. When we got back into town we hit the ground running as we started to strip the wall paper from our future nursery. It has been an arduous process as we had to steam the wall paper off, spackle many holes, and repaint the trim and a built in book shelf. The project is almost done, except for a final coat of paint which I might put on tonight. With seeing family, trying to paint our future nursery, and me preaching two Sundays of the past three life has felt somewhat out of control. I'm excited for 2009, but I feel like I need to collect myself after a few scattered weeks.

Here are some of the things I'm looking forward to: (in no particular order) -having a child, building a min-rock climbing wall in our garage, spending time with family, seeing our church grow in Christ, taking teenagers on a spring retreat, going snow boarding, reading and learning, our new couch, knowing God better, being married to Hillary, and getting our house in order.

overdue but worth the wait...

So, it has been almost two weeks since I have posted and such negligence is inexcusable. Anyway, I figured I would make the wait worthwhile by posting the images from our ultrasound. This is "baby A" and we don't know whether we'll be having a boy or girl. We don't want to find out and the ultrasound tech. said she couldn't tell anyway because the baby was squirming all over the place and sitting cross legged. Our child is already rambunctious and uncooperative - Hillary thinks the baby takes after me. It was pretty exciting to see the pictures and the baby and mother are continuing to grow and develop. We're headed up to Hillary's Dad's in New York and are pretty excited. Have a wonderful Christmas.

ultra sound

This past Thursday Hillary had her 18 week ultra-sound and we got to see the kido. She or he is healthy and developing fine, but was rather squirmy and uncooperative - Hillary joked that the baby takes after me. While the technician, nurse, and doctor were trying to measure femurs and the nose bone the baby was wiggling all over the place, so it was kinda difficult for them to get accurate measurements. At other points the baby was sitting in such a manner where you could mostly just see his or her feet. It was a good thing we didn't know the sex of the baby because we wouldn't have been able to tell due to her or his position and squirminess. The ultra-sound is more fun in retrospect than it was in person. We were there for a while and it was often hard to tell what we were looking at. I accidentally dozed off for a few minutes (we were sitting in a dark and warm room - that spells trouble for me staying awake). We'll try to scan some of the pictures and put them online for you all to see.

getting on track

I find, that when I'm out of town, even for a day or two it is hard to jump back into the rhythm of things. It is like when I am backing into our driveway and accidentally run up on the logs which mark our flower beds - there is always a few seconds before you can get off. If you jerk the wheel hard and try to get right back on track you can careen into the hedge on the other side, so you just need to ease it back towards equilibrium. With coming and going for Thanksgiving, Weddings, and various other things I'm feeling like it is hard to reach equilibrium. This especially plays out in setting time apart to spend with God and doing the same with Hillary. Self-discipline and intentionality are much harder as life continues to change, but I think I will learn even more about this reality once we have kids - yikes. My mom noted that I often change the subject when she brings up us having a child and how I feel about it. I'm excited and nervous, and realize that however much or little I think about it I will continue to be nervous and excited. Oh well.