Easter Weekend!

Easter Weekend was a great time for us. We spent Friday lunch with Karen's sister and brother-in-law, catching up, eating food prepared from a Brazilian cookbook, and chatting with Karen's parents over SKYPE, the most wonderful computer program.

After filling ourselves with good conversations and food, we left Seneca Falls and traveled to Pennsylvania to visit with Brian's recently enlarged family. Brian's sister, Christine, gave birth to Elizabeth Grace (7lb. 7oz., 20.5 in.) on Wednesday morning at 10:27 am. Aunt Karen is holding the three-day-old beautiful child in the picture below, with Big Proud Brother Seth admiring his little sister.



We enjoyed visits with most of Brian's extended family and spent much time in the outdoors, delighting in the warm (near 80's F) sunny weather. Hanna, our niece, had fun playing on the trampoline:


On Easter, we went to a "Son"rise service at Brian's Dad's church and discovered that it was an outdoor service. The service was short but beautiful with the rising sun providing an orange glow over the entire sky. Following the early service, we ate breakfast at the church and had a chance to meet Jason's girlfriend and enjoy some great conversations over some superb bacon and omelets made by Brian's dad. (The men of the church cook the breakfast.)



The cantata during the main service was simply an amazing spiritual event and a powerful evagelistic message. The songs were mostly original and the choir quite obviously practiced an incredible amount. It was entitled "Who do you say I am?" (written by Claire Cloninger & Robert Sterling). The lyrics served as a deeply meaningful reflection for Easter and the meaning and importance of Jesus's life, ministry, death, and resurrection.

It was a busy weekend, filled with late night conversations with family, games of Mexican Train (what makes it Mexican?), good food, time for worship, and no homework.

Now we are in the final stretch for Karen's degree!!!!

(more pictures: Sam's Club Shared Album: Easter 2006)

The Davises!

It was too tempting. We couldn't resist. The Davises (well, two of them) visited Houghton College on Friday and we decided to make the trip to see them. It was a two hour drive in the rain, with gas prices hovering close to $2.70 and a thesis nearing completion, but it was worthwhile. The warmth of family and friends, the joy of maintaining and updating relationships, is worth so much more than all of the logical reasons that threatened to keep us in Seneca Falls. We were able to catch up with all of the Davis clan's comings and goings and it was a delight to spend an afternoon and dinner with them. We ate several mammoth two foot long chicken finger subs from Harringtons in Belfast, NY and talked about the paths God is revealing to us. So much fun and warmth in a small video store/market/restaurant



Couldn't resist posting a picture of Becca caught tongue in cheek.



The group shot (minus cameraman Mike) with a beautiful backdrop of video rentals.

Spring Sharathon 2006!

We stopped by the FLN Headquarters on Saturday to participate in the Spring Sharathon 2006. It was great to finally see the faces that belong with the voices we hear everyday. John and Denny (below, left and right, respectively) were hilarious as usual and it was great for Karen to have a little respite from her thesis writing to laugh a little with the Morning Show gang. For stopping by at HQ, FLN gave everyone a book or CD for FREE!! Wow, just being there and participating was fun but the free CD made it all the better (that and the free coffee and doughnuts!). The entire premises were filled with wonderful smell of Chicken BBQ, northern style. We couldn't resist the temptation and our stomachs were getting pretty hungry. For the first time this year, we had chicken BBQ and it was tasty.

We enjoyed a scenic trip through the Finger Lakes, along the shores of Keuka and Seneca Lakes, as we traveled from FLN HQ to our apartment. The lakes were dazeling shades of blue under the bright springtime sunshine. All of the trees are beginning to glow with a reddish hint as the leaves begin to break from their hiding places. We spotted a few forsythia bushes beaming with their golden blossoms. It was beautiful to see the many signs of SPRING! SPRING IS HERE!!

Never Settle!!

As we begin the transitioning process once more and the questions and fears regarding housing, jobs, the future, stability, etc. arise, I have been unable to remove from my mind the following quote from Erwin Raphael McManus:

"So many of us have abdicated our passion for obligations, as if passion is a luxury for the young, and we must all grow up one day. We, even if reluctantly, fall into place to live a life of conformity that we desribe as "maturity." We made acting like an adult synonymous with living apathetic lives. ... If apathy is adulthood and passion is childish, then I understand all the more the words of Jesus when he said that to enter His kingdom we must come as little children."

Oh, may we never be found lacking for passion and zeal for the things and plans God has in store for us. If "maturity" is a guise for conformity, may we never grow up. May we continue to dream big dreams, knowing that God has a much larger imagination than we and he has the resources and power to accomplish the largest of dreams. But so often the unimaginable plans of God are restricted or obstructed by our obligations and planning.

May we live with only those obligations established by God with the knowledge that he can change our lives dramatically in an instant. Such a life may sound like it is instable but it is not. Such a life requires much more faith and trust than a life governed by obligations, commitments, plans, structure, and expectations. But it does not lack stability; it is stabilized by the underlying and overarching Lordship of Christ. This is not to imply that obligations, commitments, plans, structure, and expectations are inherently currupt or inappropriate. It is when they obstruct, block, supercede and obscure the will of God that they are misplaced and must be removed or diminished.

We live in an apartment, with a lease by the month, with this thought in mind: we are not constrained to specific location. We are not committed or obligated to a specific location, a specific job, or a specific income level. We want to daily commit ourselves to the will of God. While we reside at this location, engage in the relationships, and work at our jobs, we will do so to the best of our abilities, making a commitment to remain at this place in our lives so long as God sees fit.

Oh Lord, do not let us settle for anything less than the fullness of your will for our lives.

Posted by Brian on his stairs because a soapbox lacks direction and advancement

Zebras are beautiful

(More Pictures: Sam's Club Shared Album: Florida Trip 2006)

Florida Fun in the Sun

For Spring Break, Karen and I hopped on a plane (AirTran) and flew to Baltimore Washington International Airport. We didn't like the airport very much and we didn't know anyone in the area, so we decided to hop on another airplane (AirTran) and fly to Orlando. See, this makes more sense because Orlando is warm in March and we have loving family members who live north of Orlando, in a little town or spralling housing development called Debary. (Don't stress the "De" too hard or Paula will cringe.) Uncle Steph and Aunt Paula showed us many many beautiful sites in Central Florida, including many (hundreds of thousands) Harley Davidsons rumbling down the roads between Orlando and Daytona, probably causing the state of Florida to settle and sink another inch. They also showed us some natural springs, plenty of beautiful houses, (sub)tropical landscapes and the ocean.

Here's a picture of Steph and Paula enjoying the blooming bushes of DeLeon springs, after we ate a hearty meal of 5 grain pankakes!!

We met the emperor of the beach and Paula decided to feed the emperor some grapes.

We enjoyed the fresh fruits and vegetables.... mmm.... strawberries...

Brian was introduced to the Alliance Retirement Community, not that he is thinking about retirement, rather to show him where Karen's grandparents lived.



And he met Karen's grandfather's closest surviving relatives, who were preparing to travel to Japan

And Karen took a picture of Brian and his dream car, a LEGO Ferrari, at LEGOLand Disney!!

When we had seen and done everything in the Orlando area, we were ready to travel to West Palm Beach (Royal Palm Beach Gardens) to visit Karen's cousins and their adorable and lively (except when sick) children.

Caleb and Rachel were waiting on the sidewalk most of the afternoon for us to arrive.

We went with Jon and Aly on a double date to a Cuban Restaurant to have some Pork with Mojo Sauce and Rice and Beans. It was delicious. The next day, we went to the beach. Jon was planning to surprise everyone by taking a vacation day from school but Rachel surprised everyone when she awoke sick and couldn't go to the beach. In a selfless act, Jon stayed home with Rachel and the rest of us went to the beach. It wasn't as fun without them and we missed them as we played in the waves and Jacob chased the birds.


The final day of our trip was spent at Lion Country Safari. Caleb and Brian decided to become lions, but this didn't last too long because they missed their family members who didn't want to be lions.

The elephants were some of the most fun animals to see in the park. It seems that they are living any boy's dream, playing in water and then playing in the dirt:


Karen was asked to give the giraffe a birthday present and Brian tried to tell the 2 year old 11 foot tall toddler that the banana tastes better without the peel. But, the long purple tongue had already rapped around the fruit and it was probably being digested before he had a chance to finish the thought.


The lory was beautiful and we had fun feeding the pretty birds a tablespoon of sugar water.



We had a blast and enjoyed spending time with family. But, after a week of fun, it was time to hop on a plane and come back to Rochester, to finish our schooling and enjoy the coming signs of spring.