I love getting the Christmas Tree together as a family every year...
30 November 2008
29 November 2008
Breakfast Time
Cherie and I had just been talking about how we would look at the back of the cereal box while we ate breakfast as kids... and next thing we knew Miyah was getting the cereal box and asking if she could look at the pictures while she ate.
28 November 2008
Coldplay Goes Urban
At PS22 in NYC, the 5th Grade Chorus is incredible! Check out what might be my favorite YouTube video of the year. This is proof that music knows no cultural bounds:
26 November 2008
25 November 2008
Dog Grooming Day (A Little Overdue)
Our dog, Samba, is going to the groomer today. Do you think she needs it?
20 November 2008
Ben & Alex
Cherie and I have been talking lately about how we have so few photos of Ben and Alex from the past few years. A huge part of that is that 16 year old boys aren't very excited about getting their pictures taken. So I went on a mission to get 
some photos... which meant at the time that I needed to catch them off guard and snap some shots without them knowing. The best time for that was while they were playing video games (not an uncommon thing at all).
I did get a couple other photos while we were watching the Buffalo Bills lose on Monday Night... but they look very depressed in those photos (we stayed up until about Midnight hoping they
would pull it off... but no... another Bills field goal went "wide right").
In a couple weeks our friend Leah is going to take some family portraits (again... something the guys aren't too excited about) so I think we'll get some better shots of them at that time.
They would kill me if they knew I posted these... so thankfully they have no interest in reading their dad's blog.
some photos... which meant at the time that I needed to catch them off guard and snap some shots without them knowing. The best time for that was while they were playing video games (not an uncommon thing at all).I did get a couple other photos while we were watching the Buffalo Bills lose on Monday Night... but they look very depressed in those photos (we stayed up until about Midnight hoping they
would pull it off... but no... another Bills field goal went "wide right").In a couple weeks our friend Leah is going to take some family portraits (again... something the guys aren't too excited about) so I think we'll get some better shots of them at that time.
They would kill me if they knew I posted these... so thankfully they have no interest in reading their dad's blog.
17 November 2008
Lemonade Int'l Post on Emergent Village Weblog
Thanks to Steve Knight, the Emergent Village Weblog includes a post today about the work of Lemoande International in La Limonada. Please take some time to check out the post and leave a comment:http://www.emergentvillage.com/weblog/loving-and-befriending-the-poor-in-la-limonada
Thanks so much for sharing in our passion for our work among the people of La Limonada!
16 November 2008
One Upon A Time...
Miyah has been wanting us to tell her stories lately. So, sometimes we tell her stories of how we went to Nepal to get her and bring her home.
Then we ask Miyah to tell us a story.
Yesterday Cherie and I were sitting at Char-Grill having a burger with her... and she asked Cherie to tell her a story. She did... and then it was Miyah's turn. She said:
Then we ask Miyah to tell us a story.
Yesterday Cherie and I were sitting at Char-Grill having a burger with her... and she asked Cherie to tell her a story. She did... and then it was Miyah's turn. She said:
"Once upon a time there was a little girl named Miyah and when she was a little baby her mom came and got her in Nepal 'cause she loved her."
The rest of the story... a mom and a dad cried at Char-Grill yesterday.
12 November 2008
Soles4Souls
Thanks to a "heads-up" from Chris Marlow I just became aware of an incredible non-profit organization that is doing something simple but profound:
Soles4Souls has a simple mission: To impact as many lives as possible with the gift of shoes.
I have been in places in the world where the condition of people's feet are horrendous simply because they don't have shoes.
For $5 you can help Soles4Souls by Changing the World One Pair at a Time™. I just did it and it was the easiest donation I have ever given.
Soles4Souls has a simple mission: To impact as many lives as possible with the gift of shoes.
I have been in places in the world where the condition of people's feet are horrendous simply because they don't have shoes.
For $5 you can help Soles4Souls by Changing the World One Pair at a Time™. I just did it and it was the easiest donation I have ever given.
05 November 2008
President-Elect Barack Obama and Me
When I was a little kid, for some crazy reason I would tell my mom that I wanted to have a black best friend someday.
I have no idea where I got that idea because it wasn't like I was surrounded by black people in those early years. Even by the time I was finishing high school there were maybe three African Americans in my graduating class. It wasn't until college that there were a significant representation of black people in my everyday life. My first college roommate was an African American guy named Wayne Simms. It didn't take me too long to realize that Wayne used different products in his hair than I did and that he used a lot of lotion on his body every day (I later learned that was so he didn't get "ashy").
Years later I found myself as a youth pastor at a beautifully racially diverse church in Allentown, PA. I felt myself being drawn much more to the black and Latino students than I was to the white students. I made sure we played music that was culturally relevant to their lives... feeling in my heart that the white students had plenty of youth groups they could attend that would represent their culture if all they wanted was a homogeneous environment.
In those years Darian Colbert became my best friend and still is today. Is it possible that my desire for a black friend as a child was something placed in me from the heart of God?
Several years ago while in Atlanta, GA together, Darian and I watched the movie "Remember The Titans" together and cried as the movie told the true story of a white and and a black high school football player forced to play on the same team in the 1970's due to school integration.
Just a few weeks ago Darian and I spent four days together in Guatemala as he experienced his first time being out of the country.
Through our friendship and other meaningful friendships with black and Latino friends... and now from my experiences in Guatemala and having a daughter from Nepal, I feel a deep sense of gratitude for being able to say that my life experience has been multi-cultural.
By God's grace I have had the opportunity to experience relationships that truly express His heart for reconciliation among all people.
During the election coverage last night, one commentator said, "We know that racism is a stain on America's history...". I must say that racism is much more than a "stain" on our history. It is a deep and dark part of our history that I believe needs to be redeemed.
As President-Elect Obama gave his speech last night he spoke of Ann Nixon Cooper and her 106 years of life in America as an African-American woman. He talked of how she was born at a "a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin".
She voted early the other day as she "she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change".
She has experienced the redemption process through decades of American history...
The redemption process took huge steps forward as Abraham Lincoln led over three million slaves to freedom through the Emancipation Proclamation.
The redemption process took huge steps forward as Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
The redemption process took huge steps backward as protesters attempted to peacefully march from Selma to Montgomery, but were beaten by state and local police with billy clubs after they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
The redemption took huge steps forward when the third march successfully made it to Montgomery.
The redemption took huge steps forward in 1963 through the March on Washington and as the the words "I have a dream" came from the mouth of an African-American Baptist preacher from Atlanta, Georgia.
The redemption process took huge steps backward in 1968 as "early morning April 4th... a shot rang out in a Memphis Sky" and Martin Luther King Jr. was slain.
The redemption process took huge steps forward last night as we elected Barack Obama to be the 44th President of the United States.
As I was writing this, Darian called me on my cell phone and told me ab0ut how he saw hope in the eyes of his African-American neighbors as they lined up on 2nd Street in Allentown, PA to vote yesterday. He ended the conversation by saying, "I called you this morning to tell you that last night we saw history made".
Amen, Darian.
May the redemption process continue...
I have no idea where I got that idea because it wasn't like I was surrounded by black people in those early years. Even by the time I was finishing high school there were maybe three African Americans in my graduating class. It wasn't until college that there were a significant representation of black people in my everyday life. My first college roommate was an African American guy named Wayne Simms. It didn't take me too long to realize that Wayne used different products in his hair than I did and that he used a lot of lotion on his body every day (I later learned that was so he didn't get "ashy").
Years later I found myself as a youth pastor at a beautifully racially diverse church in Allentown, PA. I felt myself being drawn much more to the black and Latino students than I was to the white students. I made sure we played music that was culturally relevant to their lives... feeling in my heart that the white students had plenty of youth groups they could attend that would represent their culture if all they wanted was a homogeneous environment.
In those years Darian Colbert became my best friend and still is today. Is it possible that my desire for a black friend as a child was something placed in me from the heart of God?
Several years ago while in Atlanta, GA together, Darian and I watched the movie "Remember The Titans" together and cried as the movie told the true story of a white and and a black high school football player forced to play on the same team in the 1970's due to school integration.Just a few weeks ago Darian and I spent four days together in Guatemala as he experienced his first time being out of the country.
Through our friendship and other meaningful friendships with black and Latino friends... and now from my experiences in Guatemala and having a daughter from Nepal, I feel a deep sense of gratitude for being able to say that my life experience has been multi-cultural.
By God's grace I have had the opportunity to experience relationships that truly express His heart for reconciliation among all people.
During the election coverage last night, one commentator said, "We know that racism is a stain on America's history...". I must say that racism is much more than a "stain" on our history. It is a deep and dark part of our history that I believe needs to be redeemed.
As President-Elect Obama gave his speech last night he spoke of Ann Nixon Cooper and her 106 years of life in America as an African-American woman. He talked of how she was born at a "a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin".
She voted early the other day as she "she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change".
She has experienced the redemption process through decades of American history...
The redemption process took huge steps forward as Abraham Lincoln led over three million slaves to freedom through the Emancipation Proclamation.
The redemption process took huge steps forward as Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
The redemption process took huge steps backward as protesters attempted to peacefully march from Selma to Montgomery, but were beaten by state and local police with billy clubs after they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
The redemption took huge steps forward when the third march successfully made it to Montgomery.
The redemption took huge steps forward in 1963 through the March on Washington and as the the words "I have a dream" came from the mouth of an African-American Baptist preacher from Atlanta, Georgia.
The redemption process took huge steps backward in 1968 as "early morning April 4th... a shot rang out in a Memphis Sky" and Martin Luther King Jr. was slain.
The redemption process took huge steps forward last night as we elected Barack Obama to be the 44th President of the United States.
As I was writing this, Darian called me on my cell phone and told me ab0ut how he saw hope in the eyes of his African-American neighbors as they lined up on 2nd Street in Allentown, PA to vote yesterday. He ended the conversation by saying, "I called you this morning to tell you that last night we saw history made".
Amen, Darian.
May the redemption process continue...
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