What can you do?

Really, what would your reaction be if you were on a roller coaster and your five year old niece just told you that she was going to throw up?

12 Hours to Live

In late January, I decided to plant some flowers in the planter we have outside our door. I have had fair success in my previous attempts to have a garden, but figured since I was following the directions exactly, this just may work. Of course, I was very diplomatic when picking the flowers I wanted for the spring. I picked the ones I thought were the prettiest. So to my surprise and excitement I saw the signs of the new life a few weeks later. I watered them daily. I even pinned strings for the vines to grow on to so they would not attach to the building itself. Each morning I wrapped and guided the vines onto the strings. I was quite proud because all of this work seem to pay off.

Just last week, we had our first flower. I woke up one morning before we headed to church to find that a single flower bloomed and was beautiful. I couldn't wait for more. That afternoon when we returned, it was shriveling up. I started ranting and raving about the bugs and other varmints that must be attacking my hard work. Needless to say, the flower didn't make it. The next morning, my anger was subsided because I had two beautiful flowers blossoming. Late that night, they too shriveled up and died.

Now I know these flowers are called Morning Glories, but I thought that was because they bloomed in the morning, closed in the evening, only to reopen the next morning. Nope! The life span of a morning glory flower is only one morning. I had no idea. That is, until I googled Morning Glories.

This got me thinking though. Is it really worth it to put so much work into something that is only going to live for 12 hours? I was tempted to stop watering. Then I looked at these precious flowers and decided that it was essential. They only had 12 hours, but they were so beautiful for those 12 hours. Also, during that time they are being pollinated by bees, humming birds, butterflies and other insects. This is helping life beyond that little flower on my front porch.

So I continue to water, wrap on vines, and take pictures of these temporary sensations while I ponder, what am I going to do in the next 12 hours.

"Honk for Peace!"

Today I was driving home from work when I saw a man on the corner of a major intersection holding a sign that read "Honk for Peace." To be honest, I have never understood the reason for these antics. I mean first of all, do we really need more people honking at intersections. Secondly, what will holding these signs accomplish? Is that really how we will get world peace? People have been pondering this dilemma for generations. Could the solution really be that simple?

Anyways, as I sat waiting to make my right hand turn a few people drove in front of him honking their horn as he waved a peace sign and smiled. The car in front of me must have been distracted by the gentle peace maker because as she made her right turn, she mistakenly cut of the SUV coming through the intersection. This caused the SUV driver to land their hand on the horn for a good three seconds.

The peace maker across the street, hearing the horn and unaware of the near collision, turned around, smiled and gave the peace sign. I have to admit, the irony did make me chuckle. Something inside of me said that SUV driver was not wishing peace on the distracted driver in front of me. But then again, I could be wrong.

2008...so far

Okay, so for us, this year feels like it is going warp speed! You would think, busy means tons of posts, but we have neglected our family post while spending time on our other blogs. For example, Christina is loving her new job at Journey and has been spending her time blogging once a week here. Ian, on the other hand, when not working like crazy on the CORE, is blogging about his film project here. Be sure to check that out and see his January Film. It is a bizarre concept when your life can be summed up with multiple addresses in cyber space. Pretty soon we will be posting in the new abbreviation language students are using these days. JK:) Anyways, life is good, crazy, but good. Just thought we would check in and let you know how things are going...so far.

2008 is Gonna Be Great!

Happy new year everyone! We hope that you had a fantastic New Year's Eve. Ours was pretty low key: we just got some dinner and then watched a movie at home. I know...we're boring. (Although if you want to know why we were so low key, see our last post entitled, "Vacation, sickness, and parenthood, o my!")

Ok, so I know we already announced this, but as of TODAY Christina is officially the Director of Middle School Ministries at Journey Community Church! Hooray for that!

One more bit of fun: Ian just launched a new personal project called "12 Films in 12 Months". He came up with the idea about a month ago to write and produce a 3-5 minute short film each month for an entire year (and decided that 2008 would be that year). He'd been wanting to make a short film or two for a while and this seemed like a good way to get him motivated. The project isn't part of Ian's job or anything. He's still doing media and graphic design at Youth Specialties. The "12 films" project is more of a personal project he'll be working on in his spare time. He's going to be blogging the whole crazy process and you can follow along with him at 12filmsin12months.com.

Happy 2008 to all!!!

Vacation, sickness, and parenthood, o my!

During our last week of vacation, we thought it would be fun to be the coolest aunt and uncle in the world and have our five year old niece stay over for one night. We went to the Stephen Birch Aquarium, the La Jolla Tide Pools, and our favorite Italian Restaurant, Lido's for dinner. We pulled out all of the stops and it was a blast!

Who would have guessed that in that same night both of Christina's grandparents would be admitted into the hospital. Her parents and sister spent the next day making trips picking up prescriptions and driving back and forth to the hospital. When her grandpa got to come home the next day, her dad got a stomach flu and was taken to the hospital for fluids and medication. That night dad got to come home, but sent with medication. Grandpa is at home alone (Grandma still has a few days in the hospital) and Christina's mom and sister are still making the rounds between hospital and the grandparents home. Today, it looks like everyone is feeling and looking a little better which we are so thankful for! For good measure though, we kept the kid at our place for a few more nights.

Anyone who knows us well knows we are adamant about not having kids. We absolutely love middle schoolers and the return policy we have with them, but the idea of having our own is nowhere in the near future. Though if anyone stopped by our house they would beg to differ. Disney movies and "Ninja-Bread Man" on the Wii constantly buzzing in the living-room, pull-ups and princess toothpaste in our bathroom, and our office couch is stacked with Pikachu Toys and other stuffed animals.

So today (day four), we are heading off to Balboa Park to spend the afternoon at the Reuben H. Fleet. One thing this couple has learned through this is that you never know what the day will really bring, so we seize the moments as they are handed to us. Tis' the Season!

Christmas Gifts!

Well this year Christina got two very special presents. The first is shown below...

The second is what she will be using her new bike to get to...A JOB!!

As of January first, Christina will be the new director of Middle School Ministries at Journey Community Church. We are so excited about this. This has definitely been a time of figuring out where God wanted both of us. This decision was a long and prayerful one, but we can't be more excited. Journey has been so welcoming and it is just incredibly cool to work and attend the church that is literally three minutes from our house. We can see the sign from our balcony!

This past year has been a year of major change and anticipation. We are just so thankful for God's provision in our lives and are excited for the year to come.