52059 Day 333

community_groups


this is how excited people are about our new community group model (which is based on storying our way through the Bible).  i am stoked to see how this pushes discipleship forward for both sojourn and reunion.

51959 Day 332

filming


spent some time this morning with nate and jon filming scenes for our next installment of our summer leadership training.  fun stuff!

51859 Day 331

eastie


interesting article on some east boston rehab work coming up near our house.

51759 Day 330

inception


amy and i had some other plans fall through tonight, so we made a spontaneous trip to the movies where we were thoroughly entertained in the air conditioned theater for two and a half hours by christopher nolan.  i'm not much of a film critic so i will use this opportunity to once again promote my friend (and colleague in campus ministry) willie's blog...his take on this film is great.

51659 Day 329

dog_books...


will make me cry...every time...this was no exception.

51559 Day 328

studying


this book is amy's life right now.  we found out today that she will be taking the national boards on wednesday, august 3rd.  after that she will be a fully licensed DPT!!!

51459 Day 327

 

graham_fail

51359 Day 326

wedding


had a great time at bobby and christina's wedding...excited for them and the story they begin telling as a married couple now.  also loved their cake topper.

51259 Day 325

csa_bounty


now that we are settled in a bit we are able to enjoy the awesomeness of our CSA produce.  the best way to utilize it of course is to put it on a pizza =)

51159 Day 324

bobby!


my boy bobby is getting married on saturday, and amy and i couldn't be more excited for him and his fiancee, but that is in a few days...tonight: the bachelor party*.






































*i am unable to comment further or anything that did or did not happen at this party...  

51059 Day 323

airport


today i made a run to the airport to pick up some people coming in to town this weekend for our friend's (and co-sojourn workers) wedding.  all told we will have made four airport runs in the last week.  amy joked that since we only live a few minutes away maybe we should start a business!

50959 Day 322

book_update


i thought, when the summer began, that this would be a great time to catch up on my reading, which lagged at the end of the semester.  however, it hasn't gone that way at all.  nonetheless three books that i have been excited to get to and i will before the summer is out...


the seven story mountain
welcoming justice
the art of racing in the rain

50859 Day 321

good_guys


one of the things i love already about my pared down starbucks schedule (and look forward to about my no sbux schedule) is being able to have more time to just hang out with people.  today i was doing some work at the office and overheard a conversation on theology and denominations and various other topics and i was able to amble over and join in.  not only do i appreciate these moments for what they represent as far as my schedule is concerned, i also value them because i get to see how the people on our team think.  we have some great people on staff at sojourn (and reunion) and today was another reminder of that.  thank you jon and nate for the way you think about stuff and how you process your faith and relationship with Jesus!

50759 Day 320

piers_park


east boston has a number of beautiful parks and today amy and i spent several hours over at piers, which is a great place to escape the heat.  we read and enjoyed the breeze and the sea and the views of the city!

50659 Day 319

red_sox_&_rain


amy's new place of employment, marathon physical therapy, took everyone from their three clinics out last night for drinks and food at jillians and then to the red sox game.  a lot of fun until the heavens opened and the rain came down.  funny thing about the game too, benjie molina, formerly of the Giants, had a huge night...here's an interesting take on it (check out the third paragraph down).

50559 Day 318

board


sojourn's board of directors was in town today and we had a chance to eat dinner together which was great.  somebody mentioned to me that they had "board envy" because the people on our team are so great...and they are, indeed, pretty great!

50459 Day 317

more_house


in our last house i did not have a desk.  didn't seem like such a big deal at first, but it is pretty great to have space so i can be all organized and stuff. and we have so much space in this place it is a little ridiculous...too many shelves!

50359 Day 316

baseball


as much as i love baseball i have a hard time getting in to the all-star game.  so, fantasy update: my winner's league team is up by four after a recent surge to first!  my other team, in the league with my sbux friend ramon, is in third but way off the pace...at least i'm beating ramon!  big props to josh hamilton, magglio ordonez, joe mauer, buster posey, martin prado, ryan zimmerman, cliff lee, jon lester, clay buchholz, brian wilson, and matt lindstrom for great first halves!  

50259 Day 315

new_house


we made some tremendous progress today and are nearly settled in to our new house.  here's a 360 view of the living room.  


also, my teaching at reunion last week (july 4th) is now up on the podcast if you want to check that out.

50159 Day 314

birthday


amy's birthday today!  i love getting to celebrate my amazing wife!!!  ryan and i put her desk together for her, i made breakfast, and then i also gave her a day where we had nothing else to do but get our house all put together and finally settle in to our new digs...that day will be tomorrow.


(this is a pic of a hand made sign, an old family tradition)

50059 Day 313

old_orchard_beach


took students to maine today to enjoy the beach.  of course, it ended up raining...which we turned in to fun time exploring the little beach town (closest thing to santa cruz we have in our area).  we played some games, ate ice cream, and connected with new friends.


weird story of the day: we had to rent a car because of the jeep issues (see yesterday's post), and i ended up leaving my phone in the car when we dropped it off.  luckily i realized this before we got home, so we trekked back to rental office, found the car, looked inside and found nothing.  amy decided to call my phone, though, and someone actually answered!  one of the cleaners had picked it up and was hoping the owner would call.  he told us to meet him on the other side of the rental area and when we got over there i immediately recognized him as the night janitor from the nathan hale, the school i worked at last year.  what a strange, small world.  we had a good time reconnecting and i got my phone back!

49956 Day 312

broken_jeep


the jeeps is actually fine but its fan won't stop turning (cooling fan).  so, to the shop we go...ugh!!!!!!!!!!

49856 Day 311

flying


nathan took us flying and it was awesome!  check out the pics...

49759 Day 310

trivia


rocked trivia tonight at a new venue: the squealing pig.  did not win but had a great time and we busted out the lantern t-shirts.  


=)

49659 Day 309

hot


heat wave in the northeast.  had to use this clip art because my camera melted =)

49559 Day 308

seafood


the great ryan mcrae is in town and he came with a mission: eat at the barking crab.  mission accomplished!

49459 Day 307

preaching


had the opportunity and privilege to speak at Reunion, our church, today.  i had fun and i think it went well.  didn't get a picture in action because its kind of weird to be photographed by your wife when you are speaking but a friend and artist make this drawing while i was talking.  cool!


also, several new reasons to love our neighborhood: hanging out in the backyard and meeting neighbors, free basil from the community garden, and seeing the fireworks show from piers park without being surrounded by a million people.

49359 Day 306

back_to_boston


last pic from acadia...a little hard to come back after five amazing days out of the city and away from the grind.  

49259 Day 305

acadia_5

49159 Day 304

acadia_4