I'm thankful for...

a beautiful home in which we can...














enjoy great food including...














a twist on the main attraction: three types of duck prepared by Ed.











Dinner was complete with party favors...











and coffee with 5 different desserts!












And we worked off our meal with a quick round of DDR (that's Dance Dance Revolution for those of you behind in the times).














All in all, it was a good day. We miss our families very much, but we will see them very soon. So for our first Thanksgiving not in NC, we are still thankful for all of our blessings.

All Quiet on the Northern Front

Yes, that's right. Today, the wonderful appliance guy, Dean, fixed our refrigerator. Gone are the sounds of a dying compressor. Yippee!!!

A guy named Erwin said...

Here's a thought from a guy that gets people's attention:
"You know how most churches are focused on excellence? When your focus is excellence, and your focus is execution—in terms of it having to be executed precisely so it’s efficient—excellence and efficiency actually are enemies of the creative process. People confuse churches that strive for excellence and efficiency for churches that are creative. At Mosaic, when we are talking about creativity, we are talking about beauty. We know that we (Mosaic) don’t always execute with excellence, and we almost never execute with efficiency. The creative process isn’t really an efficient process. This is part of the challenge for our community."

And to that I say: "Hmmm... Thanks for making me think, Erwin."

-Erwin McManus in an online article at RelevantMagazine.com. Article here. His new book Soul Cravings was released today.

Our Jewish Roots

This weekend Holly and I explored two worship services in two Messianic Jewish synagogues. Of course there are dramatic differences between Jewish believers and non-Jewish believers... the language, the songs, and the movement (and dancing). I was most enchanted by the beautiful ceremony Satuday morning when the rabbi and his assistants lead the people in singing a blessing to God, a blessing to the Torah, a blessing as the ark (or cabinet) was opened, a blessing as the curtain (*that was torn) was opened, a blessing as the scrolls were removed, a song and dance to celebrate the Torah... (whew...let me take a breath here)... a blessing upon the reader, a singing/reading of the selected reading and then the reading of the English Bible. (All of this demonstrated the intense love of the law...how beautifully exhausting!!!)

Later that night, we were hanging out with Melanie and Erin (who are in town for a conference) and we stumbled upon this Holocaust memorial across the street from the Irish pubs. Although we were shivering from the cold, we were drawn into this captivating series of quotes, facts, stories, and names. It was an appropriate and humbling end to our weekend Jewish safari. Here are some pictures of the exhibit. (Not ours.)

pickles and chicken

Ah. One of my favorite new traditions: Tuesdays and Chick-fil-a. Yes, yes...I know it's not the healthiest thing in the world (unless you get the number #5 and fruit), but we love it anyway. Economically, it works well because it is a buy one meal get one free with a student ID. I knew there were some hidden benefits to going back to school!!!

On a related note: Tekeru Kobayashi just blew the Krystal burger record away with 96 miniburgers in 8 minutes!!! (Neela came in a close second with 95 and 1/2 burgers.)

Congrats

Congratulations on your engagement Greg and Emily! We'll gladly take credit for hosting your first official "non-date" at our house watching One Tree Hill. We love you guys!










That's us on moving day with Greg, Andy, Theresa, and Emily. The future Mr. and Mrs. Greg Schutt are so cute in their matching green.
P.S. The girls aren't really that short...the guys were on the high side of the hill.

The original "LOST"

This display is literally two streets away from our house. Some people really work hard at their yard art.

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship. The mate was a mighty sailin' man, the Skipper brave and sure. Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour. A three hour tour."

Under my skin

Raise your hand if you believe that demons can possess a refridgerator.

Yes, that's what I said -- a refridgerator. Holly and I have been plagued by what began as an odd rattle whenever we opened the fridge door. However, for the past 7 days, we have been constantly distracted and frustrated by the horrible sounds of scratchy, shaky, rattling clamor*. For those home repair types, this is what we figured out: the compressor is slowly dying. If it is not repaired, we can expect to find our ice cream melted. Just for fun, I may record the sound and put it here for sympathy.

*SYNONYMS from Answers.com: noise, din, racket, uproar, pandemonium, hullabaloo, hubbub, clamor, babel.