two good looking guys

Two Christmases ago Hillary's Dad gave me an extra Saab jacket that he had. This year was the first time we were caught wearing them together and who could resist such a photo opportunity. Hillary joked that we are two peas in a pod, but I prefer to think of us as two fashionable men. The next two weeks we're going to spend time with both sides of our family as we have a baby shower in NJ this weekend and NY next weekend. I think I'm going to be making room for all sorts of new stuff in our home - yikes. I'll let you know how it all goes.

fun in shushan

This Wednesday through Saturday we were in Shushan, NY spending time with her dad and the rest of her family. We had an engagement party for one of her cousins. When we were up for Christmas I started making home made meatballs and continued the trend making 63 for the party. In addition to seeing family we did some decluttering of the house. The best part for me was bringing along my .22 (same gun as the one pictured) and getting to shoot at cans. While I'm not going to be recruited by special forces any time soon, I was able to hit a few cans, which is very rewarding. I got to shoot a little with Hillary's uncle who said we could shoot skeet sometime when I'm up over the summer. It's been a while and I really enjoy skeet shooting, so that was an exciting proposition. While it was good to be up in NY it was a little hectic leaving town, as well as coming back. March is going to be an exciting month of baby showers and seeing family, but we're both a little bit wary of the busyness which will likely ensue. Cheers

rethinking Noah and learning to roll

In youth group we are going through a series on the covenants in the bible. Basically, at key points God formalizes his relationship with his people and these are called covenants. These were the contracts of the Ancient Near East and used between business partners, kings and their vassals, friends, spouses, and in similar settings. This week we looked at God's covenant with Noah and in my preparation I had a slight paradigm shift. When you are a little kid, most of your interaction with Noah comes from cute pictures where this old guy with a beard loads animals onto an ark. As I was thinking about the account of the flood God's rescue of Noah in the ark images from the various hurricanes and the tsunami in SE Asia came to mind. The idea of a world-wide flood is hard to imagine and puts God's promise to Noah to never again flood the earth in a totally different context. Another thing which surprised me is the Bible's later use of the flood to describe cleansing. While the flood brought destruction, it also brought cleansing and New Testament authors take up this theme at different places and speak of God's coming cleansing of this world. This has given me a new way to look back at the account of Noah to look forward to what God will do. And though this is only related by the theme of water, I'm going to attend an instructional session put on by the Appalachian Mountain Club of CT, this Saturday and learn how to Eskimo Roll in my kayak. I'm pretty excited.

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.