37459 Day 181

heal_africa


so i hear there was like a big hockey game today or something.  didn't see it.  tonight amy and i went to a fundraiser at a local church for heal africa.  the connection comes through amy's clinical instructor who is a christian and who has traveled to congo and serves as a health advisor for this organization.  we saw a wonderful and challenging film, lumo, and also got treated to a great dinner and some good conversation (got to talk a bit about sojourn too, which is always fun).  amy has been learning a lot about women's health and global issues of justice for women through this rotation and the book: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.  if you want to know more about this stuff feel free to ask her about it, she's got a lot of good stuff to share!  anyway, pretty great experience all around!

37359 Day 180

party_time


got to hang out with our friends in the neighborhood tonight and celebrate the work that some of them have done in haiti.  we also got a chance to help support the work of one young lady in particular.  good stuff.  always kind of fun to dress up too.  boston introduced to the infamous green pants tonight!

37259 Day 179

leadership_gathering


had another chance to get sojourn's student leaders together tonight.  awesome time discussing james 2 (faith and deeds), the tension of living an integrated faith, and imagining ways to do this on campus and among those we do life with on a day to day basis.  great time!


also tonight...haiti benefit concert co-sponsored by sojourn.  cool stuff!

37159 Day 178

weather


this continues to be a winter of weird weather.  in december we got bombed with a huge storm but no one seemed to care.  then dc and the central east coast started to get hit like crazy and everyone called it "snowmaggedon" or whatever and then every potential storm turned in to a major disaster waiting to happen.  which is what we were told was going to happen last week and we ended up with an inch of snow and bunch of rain.  which is also what we are experiencing now.  days and days of rain.  and now wind too.  fun.  such is life in the northeast!

37059 Day 177

pool_story


there's a fellow i keep running into at the pool named, walt.  he's an "old" guy who is an "endurance" athlete.  he does triathlons and ultra-marathons.  he was born in boston but has lived most of his life in california and is back to care for his sick father.  he's a super nice guy and we've had a few fun conversations about how much better california is than all of the other states.  

usually when i show up walt is leaving, but not today.  we arrived at the same time, exchanged our usual pro-california banter and then headed out to the deck.  "hey, this is great...we can swim together!"  walt said.  "awesome," i said, assuming he was expressing his joy over the fact that we'd be in the same pool at the same time.

false.  he thought we were going to "swim" together, as in do the same workout.  this guy does close to three thousand yards every time he swims.  i do less than that =)  

bottom line is i did not want to look like a weenie, so i swam as far and as hard as i've swam since i started up last month.  my body is in a state of rebellion.  hopefully i can get out of bed tomorrow! 

36959 Day 176

thank_you's


today i finally finished this month's thank you notes to our financial supporters.  i write them by hand and try to make them as personal as possible.  there are certainly more efficient ways to thank people, but i have made the commitment to do this by hand for as long as i possibly can.  i actually really like doing it this way...it helps me focus on each person that supports us and to be grateful for the ways they sacrifice and invest in us.  but, it does feel great when they are all done!

36859 Day 175

bar_harbor


this is where we are going on vacation!  that's right, a real, adult vacation.  woohoo...can't wait!

36759 Day 174

sunday...

good day to read the scripture with reunion (ps. i enjoy reading aloud).  tim did a great job with the text.  

also, a good day to read (quietly) and drink tea =) 

36659 Day 173

houghton's_pond


15 min drive from home and we end up here!  took a stroll around the pound, enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine, and then headed to quincy for a snack =)  good times!  

36559 Day 172

family_dinner


we had destanie, her brother dedric (acting shy even though he is not), and ben (dedric's tutor) over for dinner and then some fun at the arcade.  we (by we I mean amy and destanie) made three different kinds of homemade pizza.  my favorite moment of the night was watching dedric, who at first was not cool with eating homemade veggie pizza, scarf several pieces down!  lots of teachable moments and lots of fun.

36459 Day 171

umass_update

here's the word from the school:

"due to the unforseen snow day last Wednesday (when committees typically meet) the long holiday weekend, and a heavy volume of budget requests for SEOC, the final vote on club activations has been moved to the March 3rd General Assembly agenda."

so, we wait some more.  thanks for praying...keep up in mind!

36359 Day 170

lent

still waiting on word about whether our application has been accepted at umass.  so, i'll tell you about what amy and i are doing for lent.  this picture to the left shows a wonderful, organic, fair-trade product that was procured for us by a good, good friend.  hot chocolate.  so yummy, and so good in a cup of coffee.  naturally, yesterday, the day before we received this good gift, i gave up coffee and amy gave up chocolate...for lent.  awesome!  not that i am complaining.  i'm actually excited about this challenge and more importantly about the broader picture of lent...so often lent is about fasting, or giving up something.  actually, there are three aspects to lent: fasting, which we've already been over, and alms giving and prayer.  the three are all supposed to work together.  amy and i praying together every day, fasting from coffee and chocolate, and thinking about how we can give sacrificially to a local or relational cause.  i'm actually kind of excited about this.

36259 Day 169

doldrums


this is my fourth winter in a row with snow.  i actually enjoy the snow and love living in a place with four seasons, and this has probably been the most mild winter out of the last four.  that said, there is always a point when you (or I) hit a wall.  that point came this morning.  seeing the at&t at pebble peach this weekend didn't help either.  so, when we got the dreaded wintry mix today i found myself truly yearning for spring and summer!  hey, at least pitchers and catchers report tomorrow.

36159 Day 168

the_relational_way


i finished this book today (The Relational Way: From Small Group Structures to Holistic Life Connections).  Terrible cover, excellent content.  More of a philosophy of small group life than a how to book on small group programming.  here's one of my favorite quotes: 

"The American church has to learn not only how to do small groups but also how to do relationships...we do not need more groups that function within the cultural operating system....we need a way to help people connect with one another in meaningful ways so that they create a contrasting way of life to the environment in which society lives."

36059 Day 167

roots


to celebrate valentine's amy and i went back to our "roots"...cribbage at starbucks, where all the magic started =)

35959 Day 166

saturday


it's been a great start to the weekend.  breakfast and conversation this morning about quincy st's summer program.  then a swim and hang out time this afternoon.  now some olympic watching and wonderful homemade food for dinner.


finally, saw a clip on the news of tom brady at the AT&T.  i grew up 15-20 min from this golf course and for all of my life this has been one of the lamest sporting events in the world.  now, though, i get so excited seeing clips from the tournament...like this:

35859 Day 165

valentine_friday


i stole a page out of the old man's book and had flowers delivered to amy's place of work.  turns out this was a good page to steal.  thanks dad!

amy came home and baked a cake...a carrot cake, nonetheless!

mmmmmm =)

35759 Day 164

umass-boston


tomorrow we make sure all of our paper work is set in hopes that we get recognized as an official group on campus next week.  pray for us!

35659 Day 163

snow


this is our street in december during the last big storm.  we've been bracing ourselves all day for worse...except it hasn't really happened.  it ended up being about 35 degrees and so we were doomed to the "wintry mix."  other parts of the east coast have been getting slammed.  weird that we are getting it easy, not usually the case.  not that i am complaining =)

35559 Day 162

southie


to this day no neighborhood in boston has as much mythology and mystery surrounding it as south boston, or "southie."  from good will hunting to the dropkick murphy's, pop culture, movies, word of mouth, and books have all contributed to the fine line between myth and reality.


All Souls: A Family Story from Southie, the first in my boston history series, is a no-holds-barred attempt to rip the lid off of the jar of myth.  in the end, as honest as the author is, he still lands in a place that leaves a lot of room for the mythology to remain, and even grow.  but maybe that's the way people like it.


there are a lot of interesting things about this book.  one is that roxbury (the largely african-american neighborhood of boston) and southie (the largely irish-american neighborhood) have been intimately tied together through poverty, busing, and affordable housing initiatives.  and also drugs, gangs, and all kinds of other issues.  what is interesting about that is the city has largely wiped out the "old" southie, replacing it with a trendy, gentrified neighborhood that looks a lot like some of the nicer areas of san fransisco.  meanwhile, roxbury has not experienced the same fate.


and all the while dorchester has always been this strange middle ground between the two...never quite as "bad", never quite as "cool", always a little bit forgotten.

35459 Day 161

wins...

today was a weird day...on the one hand i spent way too much time doing laundry, cleaning, and driving around trying to find the ups pickup store.  on the other hand, it was a day full of "wins."

at the beginning of every staff meeting we share wins, things that have been going well or that we are excited about.  the big win from today: a huge, amazingly generous gift from people who heard me speak in california.  this is one of those crazy stories that only happen when you fund raise!

another win: we should be a fully registered student group at UMASS in a few weeks.  its looking like all our paperwork will go through this weekend.

finally, after all that driving, i was able to pick up this: Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ

35359 Day 160

super_bowl


we crammed 16 people in to our living room tonight for the super bowl.  we had a great night laughing and enjoying our time together.  this being boston, most people were anti-colts.  i was actually rooting for the colts...mostly out of an anti-patriots posture.  i even ended up rooting for drew brees to break one of tom brady's records at the end of the game.  he failed to come through for me.  anyway, great time with fun people!

35259 Day 159

cold...


...which means bundling up and drinking hot beverages!  at least we've avoided the huge snowstorm that hit the east coast much farther south than us.  rare we don't get hit the hardest.


also, note amy's awesome new haircut!  =)

35159 Day 158

friday_thoughts


- to the left=notes from tonight's sojourn leadership gathering.  had the chance to talk about james 1:27 and 2 ways we distort "pure religion."


- celebrated nate the great's birthday!


- received an email from someone who heard my talk at SVCC and immediately read donald miller's book (A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life).  i continue to be amazed and surprised at how relevant that talk was for people.  super encouraging!

35059 day 157

thursday_nights

amy and i have pretty busy schedules which means we don't have many nights together at home.  so we've become protective of our thursday night ritual: homemade pizza and the office.

we've tried to work on making more food from scratch and natural ingredients, and one of our favorite things is definitely pizza night.  amy's come up with some amazing creations. this one has a white sauce, spinach, and mushrooms.  mmmmmmm!

34959 Day 156

new_community


last week we multiplied our original dorchester community group and so this week began a new chapter for us.  the intention here is to create a group for UMASS students.  so far it looks like we could add two people as soon as next week.  also, our application to be a registered student organization comes up soon and the outlook is pretty positive.  i feel like we are starting to build a little moment at UMASS.  good stuff! 

34859 Day 155

broken_glass


stepped out the front door this morning and immediately noticed the car parked right in front of our house had its driver side window bashed out.  glass covered the sidewalk touching our porch.  as i walked down the street on the way to the train i observed at least two other similar piles of glass.  seems someone made their move on some cars on our block.  the glass was still there when i got home tonight so i swept it up.  window glass is quite heavy by the way.  another interesting day in the DOT.

34759 Day 154

green_lantern_pt2




my GL accessories grow!