eileen and angie threw a baby bash for beniah on friday, it was awesome! i love getting people from different backgrounds and enviornments together in a small area to see what happens...is that bad?
anyway, it was a huge success, big props to angie and eileen for all the work they put in, plus johnny and dan who braved some sivere elements for a long period of time so we all could eat!
although we never drank beer out of baby bottles, the egg game made up for it. definantly a bash, not a shower.
thanks to everyone who came and for the generous gifts, we wish we could have spent more time with everyone.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
top 5 talks
i am posting my top five talks because i realized a while ago that i never saved them to the web so when i posted links in earlier blogs...those links didn't work with out permission. i got my first request for permission to read, got overly excited, and decided if one person wants to read one maybe i'll re-post them all!
i understand that speeches/sermons/talks are always better live. honestly, if you can't hear them live, at least get the video, if you can't get the video, at least get the podcast, if you can't get the podcast...well here they are.
ok who am i trying to kid, i only really have done 6 featured talks and the one of them isn't saved to the web yet. so...my top five talks!
1. Pure Sex -
a talk i gave to intervarsity christain fellowship at the university of arizona, this is also a promo for revolution, my church, which will launch on september 13 with a series of the same name!
2. Growing Life -
my latest sermon which addressed where i felt our church was coming from, where i believed us to be currently and what i hope for us in the future.
3. 8 Goals for the Next 8 Years -
my eighth grade promotion speech for the academy of tucson (who as far as i know still doesn't have a web site!). it was exciting, delivered to the largest group i have ever spoken in front of. i think the best compliment i got for this one was a mom who said, "wow, that wasn't just for the kids was it!"
4. Should Birds of a Feather Flock Together? -
another talk to intervarsity of the u of a...they invited me back, so that's good, but from what i understand is some places wont invite you back if you are real controversial...so maybe that will be my next goal. however, i thought this talk on race was at least a little controversial.
5. A Story Like No Other -
given at revolution and from my perspective, my least effective sermon, but still a topic i see as relevant. a story like no other is based off of paul's testimony at the end of acts and it's about knowing and sharing your story.
i understand that speeches/sermons/talks are always better live. honestly, if you can't hear them live, at least get the video, if you can't get the video, at least get the podcast, if you can't get the podcast...well here they are.
ok who am i trying to kid, i only really have done 6 featured talks and the one of them isn't saved to the web yet. so...my top five talks!
1. Pure Sex -
a talk i gave to intervarsity christain fellowship at the university of arizona, this is also a promo for revolution, my church, which will launch on september 13 with a series of the same name!
2. Growing Life -
my latest sermon which addressed where i felt our church was coming from, where i believed us to be currently and what i hope for us in the future.
3. 8 Goals for the Next 8 Years -
my eighth grade promotion speech for the academy of tucson (who as far as i know still doesn't have a web site!). it was exciting, delivered to the largest group i have ever spoken in front of. i think the best compliment i got for this one was a mom who said, "wow, that wasn't just for the kids was it!"
4. Should Birds of a Feather Flock Together? -
another talk to intervarsity of the u of a...they invited me back, so that's good, but from what i understand is some places wont invite you back if you are real controversial...so maybe that will be my next goal. however, i thought this talk on race was at least a little controversial.
5. A Story Like No Other -
given at revolution and from my perspective, my least effective sermon, but still a topic i see as relevant. a story like no other is based off of paul's testimony at the end of acts and it's about knowing and sharing your story.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
still worth the drive (summer trip part 2)
last week christe and i drove to my brothers wedding in denver. if i had to sum it up in a few words i would use: family, beautiful, college, beer and still worth the drive.
family
i have, hands down, the best family in the world. its taken some of us a while to mature (myself included) but its coming together nicely.
the running joke for years has been that girls don't care which lepeau they get as long as they get one. phil has been married for over three years and christe and i celebrated our two year anniversary on the trip. at my wedding steve said, "it would have been smart to invest in me, because stock in steve just went up!" well, kristen just cashed in.
it was also good to see the extended family...they are a blast! i also got to meet some of christe's extended family in utah on the way back home which was fun.
beautiful
the wedding was amazing, held outside in estes park at the aspen lodge ranch resort, with snow-capped mountains as the back-drop.
following the wedding, the drive from denver to salt lake city was maybe the most breath taking stretch to drive in the US...or maybe my drives through new mexico, kansas, nebraska, north texas, oaklahoma and new jersey dont to the US justice. anyway, i have driven through a number of states not listed and this was definitely the best stretch i have been on.
we also got to see temple square in salt lake, an impressive area and building.
college
the fun thing about road trips is you can be random...do the unplanned. we hit up three college campuses on the drive i have never seen before, it was completely unplanned. the first was CSU in ft. collins, the campus was ok and the ft. collins was has a neat old town...kinda like a nice old chicago suburb, the best part was the beer...but ill get into that later.
the second was BYU in provo utah, we had lunch with christes family at brickoven, but needless to say...no beer. however, the campus was nice next to the mountains. as christe's cousins were giving us a tour we found out they had a testing center, now i dont know if this is common but it seemed a little strange to this U of A grad. naturally our next question was...are there camera's? wouldnt a testing room make it very easy to cheat if you can go in at your leisure? james responded, "well there are pictures of Jesus all over!"
finally, we stopped by flagstaff, az for dinner and got a look at NAU. the campus wasn't much to look at but i have to say, flag was the best college town of the three, the downtown was sweet.
beer
disclamer: if you dont like or care about beer, dont feel you have to read the following
it was my brother steves wedding we were going for, so it was no surprise to me that it was a non-stop party that started with the end of our 13 hour drive to denver when we had dinner at pf changs on thursday night, we met the family there to start the festivities. friday we had lunch at oskar blues in lyons, co, a brew-pub known for it's dales pale ale in a can, it is amazing but not quite as delectable as their old chub scottish style ale...also in a can. they seem to think the beer is less tainted when stored in a can, no sunlight.
anyway, steve was making the plans so we hit estes park brewery for dinner with the bachelor party to follow. the cards were fun, ep brewery had a tournament, but the beer was disappointing.
saturday night was the rehearsal dinner...sierra nevada, followed by the reception on sunday...also sierra nevada. did i mention that steve had a dales pale ale in his hand during the entire rehearsal?
anyway, the beer tour had already been started for me, it only seemed right that i finish it. so, on the way back to denver, we took our small detour to ft. collins to have lunch at new belgium, only to find out it was closed on monday which was mildly depressing until we found fort collins brewery. see, i love new belgium, especially fat tire, but i believe i have tried all their beer before. fort collins beer was a very nice surprise, the town and college may not be much but they sure do know their beer.
my wife is amazing, she was actually the one who suggested we stop by wasatch brew pub in park city, ut! park city was amazing, i wish i could say the same for the beer. however, that didn't stop me from picking up a party pack to try out some of the squatters brew that was paired with wasatch...also disappointing.
then our final stop was in flag, so naturally i had to ask. we found a brewery walking distance from where we had dinner. i only tried the red ale at beaver street brewery but it was worth it, i was only disappointed that they didn't have it in bottles for me to take home.
with all things considered, i only regret not hitting the coors tour which was part of the plan, but i got to do and try so many other great things.
i have to say, the highlight of my brew tour 2008 was the old chub, while the surprise of the trip was definitely fort collins brewery. much love to my wife for putting up with me and my taste buds!
still worth the drive
we put 2,500 miles on the lancer, which averaged almost 34 mpgs. the lowest cost of gas was $3.68 which we paid in tucson before we left with our frys vip discount and the most we paid was a disgusting $4.49 in san antonio, nm. despite that, gas and food for the week was less then the two plane tickets to denver...and we ate good!
family
i have, hands down, the best family in the world. its taken some of us a while to mature (myself included) but its coming together nicely.
the running joke for years has been that girls don't care which lepeau they get as long as they get one. phil has been married for over three years and christe and i celebrated our two year anniversary on the trip. at my wedding steve said, "it would have been smart to invest in me, because stock in steve just went up!" well, kristen just cashed in.
it was also good to see the extended family...they are a blast! i also got to meet some of christe's extended family in utah on the way back home which was fun.
beautiful
the wedding was amazing, held outside in estes park at the aspen lodge ranch resort, with snow-capped mountains as the back-drop.
following the wedding, the drive from denver to salt lake city was maybe the most breath taking stretch to drive in the US...or maybe my drives through new mexico, kansas, nebraska, north texas, oaklahoma and new jersey dont to the US justice. anyway, i have driven through a number of states not listed and this was definitely the best stretch i have been on.
we also got to see temple square in salt lake, an impressive area and building.
college
the fun thing about road trips is you can be random...do the unplanned. we hit up three college campuses on the drive i have never seen before, it was completely unplanned. the first was CSU in ft. collins, the campus was ok and the ft. collins was has a neat old town...kinda like a nice old chicago suburb, the best part was the beer...but ill get into that later.
the second was BYU in provo utah, we had lunch with christes family at brickoven, but needless to say...no beer. however, the campus was nice next to the mountains. as christe's cousins were giving us a tour we found out they had a testing center, now i dont know if this is common but it seemed a little strange to this U of A grad. naturally our next question was...are there camera's? wouldnt a testing room make it very easy to cheat if you can go in at your leisure? james responded, "well there are pictures of Jesus all over!"
finally, we stopped by flagstaff, az for dinner and got a look at NAU. the campus wasn't much to look at but i have to say, flag was the best college town of the three, the downtown was sweet.
beer
disclamer: if you dont like or care about beer, dont feel you have to read the following
it was my brother steves wedding we were going for, so it was no surprise to me that it was a non-stop party that started with the end of our 13 hour drive to denver when we had dinner at pf changs on thursday night, we met the family there to start the festivities. friday we had lunch at oskar blues in lyons, co, a brew-pub known for it's dales pale ale in a can, it is amazing but not quite as delectable as their old chub scottish style ale...also in a can. they seem to think the beer is less tainted when stored in a can, no sunlight.
anyway, steve was making the plans so we hit estes park brewery for dinner with the bachelor party to follow. the cards were fun, ep brewery had a tournament, but the beer was disappointing.
saturday night was the rehearsal dinner...sierra nevada, followed by the reception on sunday...also sierra nevada. did i mention that steve had a dales pale ale in his hand during the entire rehearsal?
anyway, the beer tour had already been started for me, it only seemed right that i finish it. so, on the way back to denver, we took our small detour to ft. collins to have lunch at new belgium, only to find out it was closed on monday which was mildly depressing until we found fort collins brewery. see, i love new belgium, especially fat tire, but i believe i have tried all their beer before. fort collins beer was a very nice surprise, the town and college may not be much but they sure do know their beer.
my wife is amazing, she was actually the one who suggested we stop by wasatch brew pub in park city, ut! park city was amazing, i wish i could say the same for the beer. however, that didn't stop me from picking up a party pack to try out some of the squatters brew that was paired with wasatch...also disappointing.
then our final stop was in flag, so naturally i had to ask. we found a brewery walking distance from where we had dinner. i only tried the red ale at beaver street brewery but it was worth it, i was only disappointed that they didn't have it in bottles for me to take home.
with all things considered, i only regret not hitting the coors tour which was part of the plan, but i got to do and try so many other great things.
i have to say, the highlight of my brew tour 2008 was the old chub, while the surprise of the trip was definitely fort collins brewery. much love to my wife for putting up with me and my taste buds!
still worth the drive
we put 2,500 miles on the lancer, which averaged almost 34 mpgs. the lowest cost of gas was $3.68 which we paid in tucson before we left with our frys vip discount and the most we paid was a disgusting $4.49 in san antonio, nm. despite that, gas and food for the week was less then the two plane tickets to denver...and we ate good!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
our summer trip..take one
Beautiful!! What a wonderful week spent with family in the mountains of Colorado. The weather was amazing-I actually got to wear the maternity jeans I have. I know exciting, but that means the weather was cool enough for it. I even needed a sweater one night. So this pregnant girl was happy to get away from the heat. And I’ve come back with a suntan…well, it started as a sunburn. I leave Arizona and get sun burnt in Colorado. Funny I know. I can’t even remember the last time I had a sunburn. But I guess when you’re 10,000 feet closer to the sun it is that much more extreme. I should have put sunscreen on… *sigh*
I do have to admit that I LOVE weddings. Every time I witness a marriage it reminds me of the special covenant between a man and a woman…and of course makes me cherish my marriage with Dave. I love that all those who attend your wedding are in fact supposed to walk with you in your marriage, to provide support and encouragement and even hold you accountable to the promises you make that day. I love showing my support by being a witness to friends and standing with them in the decision that they have made. I love when a couple comes together before God and their family and friends to declare the love they share.
Especially nowadays- marriage is something that seems to be taken lightly. And unfortunately I find that some people even begin guessing at the wedding how long this couple will last. “I give it 2 years…”. How sad. I think sometimes we believe the lie that we are supposed to be happy all the time and that all our needs must be met 24-7. Some of the best advice (that I’ve passed on to others) is that some days, a marriage is 50, 50. And sometimes it is 70, 30. And there are even some days where it is even 100, 0. And looking back on the two years Dave and I have been together I can pick out those days. There have even been 100, 0 days…but that’s what marriage is for!!
This trip Dave and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary..nothing glamorous, but it was nice to have an evening out with yummy Korean food and overall enjoy the whole trip together. Dave has always said in a stress-free environment we are the perfect couple (as hopefully any couple is) and the trip was a great get away for both of us from work.
So anyway, Dave and I are both thrilled for Steve & Kristen. It was a lot of fun getting to know her more and watching them two together. I’ve never seen Steve happier. I look forward to more family get together when we can really hang out and get to know them as a couple more and get to know Kristen more.
Thanks to all the friends and family we were able to see and who enabled us to travel so much without worrying about where to sleep at night! It was also great to meet (for Dave) and see family in Utah-the drive from Denver to Salt Lake City was captivating.
I do have to admit that I LOVE weddings. Every time I witness a marriage it reminds me of the special covenant between a man and a woman…and of course makes me cherish my marriage with Dave. I love that all those who attend your wedding are in fact supposed to walk with you in your marriage, to provide support and encouragement and even hold you accountable to the promises you make that day. I love showing my support by being a witness to friends and standing with them in the decision that they have made. I love when a couple comes together before God and their family and friends to declare the love they share.
Especially nowadays- marriage is something that seems to be taken lightly. And unfortunately I find that some people even begin guessing at the wedding how long this couple will last. “I give it 2 years…”. How sad. I think sometimes we believe the lie that we are supposed to be happy all the time and that all our needs must be met 24-7. Some of the best advice (that I’ve passed on to others) is that some days, a marriage is 50, 50. And sometimes it is 70, 30. And there are even some days where it is even 100, 0. And looking back on the two years Dave and I have been together I can pick out those days. There have even been 100, 0 days…but that’s what marriage is for!!
This trip Dave and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary..nothing glamorous, but it was nice to have an evening out with yummy Korean food and overall enjoy the whole trip together. Dave has always said in a stress-free environment we are the perfect couple (as hopefully any couple is) and the trip was a great get away for both of us from work.
So anyway, Dave and I are both thrilled for Steve & Kristen. It was a lot of fun getting to know her more and watching them two together. I’ve never seen Steve happier. I look forward to more family get together when we can really hang out and get to know them as a couple more and get to know Kristen more.
Thanks to all the friends and family we were able to see and who enabled us to travel so much without worrying about where to sleep at night! It was also great to meet (for Dave) and see family in Utah-the drive from Denver to Salt Lake City was captivating.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
saturday night mind dump...
- to steal a title from josh, my pastor, who i'm sure is posting under the same title as i write
- i preached tonight, i think it went well, more me than last time
- i can always count on christe to be a voice of reason for me
- it's good i didn't preach two weeks ago, i spent all day today revising
- it's time to move forward
- my brother got married last week in colorado, it was amazing, i think i'll post about our trip tomorrow
- time for volleyball, anyone want to coach jv?
- baby bash coming up, let me know if you didn't get an invite, i'll hook you up...still hard to believe i am going to be a father
- love the shorts, thanks for dinner last night!
- church picnic was good
- mmm...food
- maybe i should be lesson planning...
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
growing life
i scrapped the sermon i thought i was going to preach at revolution on july 19 @ 5pm. some more changes have occurred at my church and i plan to address some issues we have had trouble with in the past, issues i hope we can improve on and where i hope we can go in the future. i pray it goes a little smoother than my last sermon, even if it doesn't i plan to bring it none-the-less.
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