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http://onewildmoment.wordpress.com/

Our Car

Lately, it's felt like trouble is actually spelled "V-O-L-V-O!" We'll be taking the car into the shop for third time in two weeks tomorrow. We're trying to prayerfully discern if and how we should get rid of it and what and how we can afford to get a new (used) car. Nothing has been decided for final yet, but each day I become more convinced it needs to go.

But it's been a great car. It was Karisa's first car and we've spent many, many long hours in it together. I tried to find some photos to honor the good ol' S40, but I realized we don't really have many with in in there. So here's what I found:

The Volvo put up with somefun winters in Chicago. This picture is WAY old from Karisa's freshman or sophomore year. Let's just say, I'm sure the car loves having a garage now. Sadly, it's too little to late.

The fact that this is the only other picture I found should tell you something. We took pictures of our dog in the car. To be fair, Karisa has some pictures on the Mac that I don't have access to and SOMEwhere there's got to be some pictures of the car from the wedding, but I don't have them available at the moment.

Perhaps a miracle will happen and our car won't need to be replaced and we'll have many more years of joys with the Volvo S40. But either way, here's to you, !

Birthday Fallout

So, Karisa went the extra mile in planning my birthday and making it a great day. She baked a cake and cookies from scratch, planned the day, made waffles, made me an AMAZING birthday present and also crammed in a full day of studying. She's the best. I did laugh out loud, though, when I was helping clean up at the end of the night and saw this:

My birthday

For my birthday, we decided to go play laser tag. Unfortunately, so did 25 tweenage girls! I felt the worst for Keane and Josh who got followed around by one girl, codenamed "Voldemort," and shot repeatedly. I don't know if that should make them feel better or worse about the fact that Voldemort won the game. It was a lot of fun, but next time I'm definitely going to suggest that we rent the whole place for ourselves. :)

We had fun though. One of the best things that we did was get mustaches out of the candy like machine dispenser. Put 50 cents in and get one crazy mustache back out. We all had them on while we played. Also, that picture makes me look like I have a man boob! (Is that normal?! If so, I can't decide if I want to know or not...)

Amazing Wife

There are many things in life that are amazing, but none more than my wife, Karisa. She spent her whole night tonight making a cake, cookies and icing for my birthday. She's super busy with school and could have easily spent the whole night working on a research project. If not that, she desperately needs more relaxation time. Did she do those things? Nope! She spent the whole night doing things for me while I walked the dog and goofed off. It may be my birthday tomorrow but she deserves all the props!

Didn't get any pictures of her baking but I love it when she and Zeus take funny pictures together. I'm not sure when this one took place.

Courage to Teach

I've been reading this book for class. I don't have a lot to say about it at the moment except to say that it is a book that I highly recommend that anyone interested in teaching, preaching, or ministry read. For me, it really draws out the important of healing ministry for those going into teaching ministry. "We teach who we are," is the foundational concept. Palmer talks about being driven by fear and the negative impact that has on teaching. Ultimately, teachers and ministers need to take their brokenness to Jesus at the cross so that He can heal them. Then, and only then, will they be able to teach fully and effectively.

Karisa's Life These Days - A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words