Common Day of Learning.

(Woo hoo! I hit 4 blogs last month, which accomplished my goal of one per week. We'll see how this month goes)
So the other day my wife and I went to APU's common day of learning, a day of speakers and seminars when all the classes are canceled and most of the students bail and go to the beach. A friend of mine referred to it fondly as the common day of leaving. Well one of my favorite writers was the key note speaker so I took a "development day" off work to go see him.

We left Bennett with Grammie and made our way to Azusa, eating cold pizza and drinking hot chai. For the first session we split up. I went to a (to me at least) interesting class on the theological and philosophical ramifications of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics taught by two physicists and a philosopher/theologian. (Click the link, I dare you :) We watched a pretty awesome movie with "Dr Quantum" in it that takes a slightly simpler approach to the concepts.

Sarah went to a class on Culinary Leadership that was taught by her old R.D when she was an R.A. at APU. I liked my class but hers sounded pretty cool too. They talked about food, and what passes as food for most people today, and gave tangible small steps to take towards food health and independence. Every garden starts with one plant, eat only meals you can recognize ingredients in, fast meat for one meal a week. I think this class lead to my wife's desire to start a food garden and her revelation that she would be okay living on a farm. There was an amazing Ted Talks (an amazing site if you have never been - ted.com) with Jamie Oliver (of the Naked Chef) on teaching people about food. If you don't follow any other links,  invest the 15 minutes to watch the video. Its amazingly convicting and change inspiring. At one point he goes to a school where kids cant even identify basic fruits and veggies. 




After that we went and saw Dallas Willard who talked about knowledge informing faith, and what it looks like for Christians when we give up knowledge to "just have faith"


It was hard to pay attention, not because he was boring, but rather it was, as Sarah put it, rather like reading one of his books. He speaks clearly and succinctly, and every word matters to his ultimate point. Its worth watching if you have 40 minutes or so. Its on iTunesU so if you click this link it will open up iTunes to download it.

Click here to download some D. Willard.

We then went and had lunch at The Hat. Split a pastrami and an order of fries.

Then we went to a panel on the differences and commonalities between the Catholic and Protestant views of the Sacraments. There was a Protestant English professor, a Catholic English professor, a Protestant theology professor, and a Catholic priest on hand for discussion. Pretty much every one agreed that though most Protestant churches acknowledges 2 (and some times three) sacraments and the Catholic church acknowledges seven, the Christian life is supposed to be a sacrament of constantly turning towards God. And two of them confessed to taking the Eucharist at a catholic church without being catholic (though one eventually became Catholic)

We skipped out on the last session to beat the traffic, but stopped at Kelly's for some iced chai before we left. We made it home in pretty good time. All in all a pretty nice day.

Our Life and Breath

When we got home from winter camp this is what we found on our floor! We don't know who brought it but really that doesn't matter, it's from the Lord and He deserves that credit for it anyways!

God is so good and we really do have our life and breath in Him! Large amounts of money appearing on our floor, spelling out a portion of Acts, is of course not a normal thing in our home, but the Lord providing for our every need - well that is something that is common in our home and we are so blessed to have his provision show up in such a neat and tangible way this time! Thank you Lord! Your love endures forever, your mercies are new every morning!

First Birthday Party!

So, about 4 weeks ago, we mailed out this sweet little picture along with some basic party information and that was as far as we had gone with the planning! If you want to know details about crafts and food and such feel free to click here to go to my (sarah's) personal blog and read all the the crafty glory! (I really am rather proud of all that went down in under a month and came out looking oh so cute!) But for this blog, we will keep to the big story - THE PARTY!

One major thing we didn't plan for was the rain! Bennett's party was going to be a backyard park party! Considering we have play dates back there and that it basically looks like a park - I thought it would be the perfect location! And it would have been if not for the rain!

I mean seriously - who wouldn't want to play there?!

It was going to be a glorious party with flags and balloons and little circles hanging down from the trees.... instead our next door neighbors said "Move the party into our house!" and when we looked at the weather forecast and it said "90% chance of rain" we went ahead and took them up on their offer! So we just took all the decorations to their house and it turned out to be a lovely party despite the yucky weather!

Bennett took a two hour nap just before the party so we really couldn't have asked for a happy boy either!

We try... but you know how family pictures go... sometimes this is the best you can get!

We kept the party pretty low key, not any structured games or anything (There were way too many people crammed in the Prior's house for that!) We did all manage to congregate to sing happy birthday and watch Bennett have his first cupcake!

He became very serious while we were singing and at one point I thought he might actually cry!

But with a little taste off dad's finger Bennett had no trouble diving right in to his cupcake!

But really he did manage to stay rather clean (we've had much messier dinners!)
After a little calm down time from all the cupcake excitement, we eventually made it to presents! The favorite of course being the 50 cent pinwheel! It's always that simple things! Bennett has been taking that thing everywhere ever since the party!
One present I would just like to point out - the totally home made monkey! Can you believe how cut that thing is? Some times I think, "Yeah, I'm crafty" that is until I see things like this! I could never even dream of putting something together that is that cute! Amazing!
One constant battle we had through out the party was with the drink "bucket". Seeing as we had planned for an outside party, the drink bucket was Bennett's wagon - cute, right? Well, Bennett was not very interested in his wagon being filled with stuff so he kept throwing the drinks out and trying to get in the wagon! As people started to leave, we finally just let him have his way, and his grandma gave him a wagon ride around the party with all the drinks in tow for a good 20 to 30 minutes! (I'm sure her arms were killing her the next day - those drinks are heavy and Bennett is no light weight either! Thanks Mary Beth! )
By the end of the night, we were totally picked up and out of the Prior's hair by just one hour after the scheduled end time (However I am still doing dishes from the party at my house - yuck!) Adam and I had a great time and we are so glad that we got to celebrate our sweet son with so many of our dear friends and family!

WE LOVE YOU BENNETT BOY!

HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR PARTY AS MUCH AS WE DID!

The Big Day!

So, this could be like 4 or 5 blogs if I did them all separately, but Bennett is asleep now and I don't know if I will have the chance to do 4 or 5 separate blogs over this week ... thus you should prepare yourself for a long one!

Bennett's first birthday started with me doing something a little crazy but, well... it's my first time having a child who has a birthday so I get to be a little crazy, right? Well, at exactly 12:45 am, I went into Bennett's room to snap a picture of my little one year old!

Here he is one year earlier at 12:45 am:
(or maybe 12:50'ish ... but the but the pictures taken right at 12:45 have me in them and they are just not attractive, no one wants to see those!)

After a longs night sleep, a yummy breakfast and a wagon ride we headed off to meet Grammy at the Temecula Mall for some one year old shoe shopping!

We of course settled on the Stride Rite shop and while the attendant was in the back getting his size 5 shoes (opps, sorry Bennett boy apparently your feet have been squished of a while now - hence the not walking yet - bad mom!) Bennett found the fun toys and mirror...
... and then he decided to climb on top of the table! That's my little billy goat for you!
We loved the first pair, so Bennett and Grammy took them for a spin around the store.

After moving some furniture with them, Bennett decided that the shoes were good enough and that he would take them!
And after a little lesson on socks from the Stride Rite attendant (who knew socks could be so interesting?)....
...We were ready to hit the road running ... except for the fact that Bennett hasn't taken more than 5 or so steps at a time, so we went back in the stroller - sorry big man!
After the mall we hit up Party City for some balloons and then headed home for lunch and a loooong nap (Thank you Jesus!) followed by a nice long bath to get all gussied up for one year pictures!

As we were packing up to get in the car I remembered that Bennett could be forward facing now so Adam went down to the car and made it happen! I don't think Bennett really knew what was going on but he enjoyed it!

Aside from pictures of Bennett for his one year's we also took family pictures! They turned out really well - you all will get to seem them in about a week and a half (or when ever I get around to scanning them!)

Once we got home we had a little tiny birthday party for him. We invited the grandparents, my brothers (and soon to be sister) and the next door neighbors over for chili, corn bread and girl scout cookies! Bennett slept threw the whole meal (which was nice for Adam and I to actually eat with our guests) and then when he woke up we started opening presents (which is funny because I wasn't expecting anyone to bring a present!)

Present #1, from Uncle Tim, Aunt Maggie and Cousin Elizabeth, a soccer ball!!! (of course)

Present #2, from the Prior family, a red swing! (Awesome!)

Look at that sweet face!

Present #3, from Grammy and Grandpa...

A blue swing!!!

YAY!! Two swings! (kind of funny huh?!)

So at this point Bennett switched parents so that Uncle Brian could take better pictures and Daddy could take a few little videos

Here we are opening a present from Grandma

Looking into a big bag of fun!

Showing Uncle Brian his new pull toy

Apparently we were both confused by the weird forward opening card from Grammy (notice the addition of the rice cake - the boy was hungry and it was easy, don't hate!)

(Look at the look on Bennett's face in this one! It cracks me up!)

Bennett was busy reading his card while I was opening the last (and most beloved present) from Uncle Casey...

Still eating, but starting to notice as I open the case...

Forget the rice cake! Give me that guitar!

He was over come with joy!

(This one is my favorite!)

And then, as always, there has to to be fun had with the bows!

Bennett did eventually get some dinner at like 9pm (bad parents!)

And played with his Grandma and the new magnetic gears she got him for a while too before calling it a day and heading off to bed!

It was an awesome day!

Happy Birthday Bennett boy!

Your Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENNETT!!!!

A little trip down memory lane for you all (and me)