January 2016 (25x25)

The highlight of this month was time with my family, since we didn't get together for Christmas. I had the unspeakably great pleasure of spending two whole weeks with my youngest sister visiting with (at various points) all four of our grandparents, our parents, and our middle sister and her husband.

On our drive from NC back to FL, I crossed one item off my list! We stopped in Savannah, GA, to walk and drive around a bit. It is a very pretty place, and now Savannah Sparrow has been to Savannah.

Thanks to generous friends of mine, we were able to spend a day each at both Sea World and Disney's Hollywood Studios. Both days were full of fun rides and adventures, including meeting Chewbacca and Darth Vader.

     

In other 25x25 news, I also found a very useful app (thanks to the recommendation of a friend) that has numerous free audiobook recordings of classic books. It's called Librivox. In their catalog they have a recording of an unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo, one of my three long books for this year. In 10 hours of driving on the trip I listened to the first 17 chapters...out of 117. I am now in the middle of chapter 33 so #progress. I am also nearing the end of reading The Silmarillion.

In Bible reading I have made it into the book of Daniel and past the halfway point in the year-long Bible reading plan I'm using, so that means I have also crossed off that goal!

So, goodbye January 2016 and onward goes February.

Life on Fast Forward

The Day of the Doctor

Saturday, November 23, was a very special day. It was the 50th anniversary of the BBC show, Doctor Who. Yes, indeed, and I will admit to being a Whovian. I enjoyed seeing the special 50th anniversary episode both on Saturday afternoon - I was house-sitting so I actually had cable! - and on Monday evening in a movie theater IN 3-D with a friend. I promise I try to do lots of actually useful stuff with my life.

Thanksgiving at Dowling Park

At the end of November, I was finally able to go up to visit my grandparents in Florida - the snowbirds have arrived down south! When I'm there, I'm the chef and the chauffeur and the IT guy and the Christmas decorator. 

We ate Thanksgiving dinner in the dining hall with relatives, but I there were some traditional family holiday foods that I just couldn't live without. Behold a delicious slice of Dutch Crumb Apple Pie a la mode. Trust me, once you've had this pie, a normal pie crust on top will never satisfy. 

And if you desire a more tart experience for your taste buds, then you might be interested in this Cranberry Apricot Lattice Pie. This family favorite can be found on pages 288-289 of The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook. And lucky for you, these pages are available on Google Books for free.

Santa's Marketing Elves

And then, last week, Christmas arrived in grand style. Wycliffe had a building-wide Christmas decorating competition. I work with a bunch of artistic, creative people. Together we decided, go big or go home. Behold the wonder of Santa's Marketing Workshop. 

The Elves have a countdown to Christmas, a live feed to Santa's reindeer, a fire and stockings with their names on them, snow falling on evergreen trees, lots of Christmas lights, lots of paper chains, 6 Christmas trees, a photo booth, Christmas cookies, hats, signs, and presents.

Peppermint "Peppy" Sugarplum is head of Santa's Letter Reading and Response department. She loves reading all the letters that children all over the world write to Santa, even those that are skeptical of his existence.

Merry Christmas!

A Trip to Virginia

So I didn't write a blog post last Tuesday evening because I was up in Lynchburg, Virginia, at Liberty University representing Wycliffe Bible Translators at Liberty's fall Global Focus Week. I spent Monday through Wednesday speaking with students at Wycliffe's booth. So many good conversations! This is a photo of Bob Creson, president of Wycliffe USA, and his wife, Dallas, speaking to students during our Tuesday evening 'Get to Know Wycliffe' event.

It was time for me to take a trip out of Florida - I was at the three month mark of living here and the traveler in me was getting restless. While in Virginia, I got to see mountains and experience a bit of cooler fall air before returning to the flatness, warmth, and humidity of central Florida.

Then this weekend I ran off to northern Florida to spend Saturday canoeing along part of the Suwannee River with one of my friends. We spent three hours just floating down the river, enjoying nature, and then we realized that we probably needed to start paddling if we ever wanted to make it back to civilization.

Notice the subtle Houghton College advertising...

She and I also rode around the village on my grandfather's two three-wheeled bicycles. We definitely wanted to get a picture of that - and of course, we forgot. Next time!

Way Down Upon the Suwannee River

I'm going to start this post with a promise: Next week I will write about what I've been learning at work and how my job is changing. It's all good news, so be excited.

Tonight, though, I want to write about my weekend. On Thursday after work I ran away up north...to Dowling Park. Never in my life did I think that I would live somewhere where I would travel north and be in Florida. And yet here I am.

Anyway, I left behind my big city life and traveled to the land of Florida's first retirement community on the banks of the Suwannee River. My grandparents are up - truly north - in Maine for the summer, so I actually went to spend the weekend with my grandmother's cousin.

This picture doesn't do the Suwannee River justice. It gives you an idea, though.

We had a lovely weekend. After I finished working remotely on Friday, we talked, went on adventures, and told stories. Having grown up with my grandmother (their fathers were twins), she has lots of good stories about my grandmother as well as many other relatives and long-time family friends. :-)

One of my favorites is about her great-granddaughter: While on a visit to Dowling Park a while back, this little girl was quite excited to see the Suwannee River. When everyone walked out on the dock, though, she turned around and said, "Excuse me, I have a question: Where are the swans?"

I also have a friend up there that I was able to spend some time with over the weekend. We made delicious pumpkin pie ice cream, and I helped him and his dad haul chicken manure as one step at the very beginning of his plan to start an all natural farm.

One of the evenings, he and I also had a long conversation about God, Jesus, the Bible, Christians, the Church...and all the frustrating messiness that goes along with all of that. I don't have nearly enough space or time to cover our discussion here right now, but I do pose to you this question: If I truly claim to love God and say that because of his love I am able to love the people around me - no matter who they are - why am I not living a life consistent with this truth?

This summer, my new church has been going through the Not a Fan video series (and book of the same name) by Kyle Idleman. The foundational message of this series is that God has called us to be his Followers, not just Fans who cheer from the stands but aren't willing to participate out on the field. As Followers of Jesus Christ we have been saved by God's grace, but have we really allowed God to change how we live our lives?

Ultimately, "We know that we have come to know [God] if we keep his commands. Whoever says, 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did" (1 John 2:3-6).

This is no easy task, but I've found no other calling in life worth living for. So, step by faltering step, I choose to continue living life, learning how to love the messed up people all around me (including myself), and ask the hard questions that often don't have easy answers.