Caught "gum eyed"

Under the cover of darkness and away from the watchful eye of Mom and Dad, Christian decided (in the backseat of the van) to do more with his gum than chew it. For some reason he thought his gum could double as sunglasses and triple as earrings.

This was quite a sight to behold when we returned from the Mall on Sunday night. Whenever you don't hear much from Christian you often have much to fear. He does more damage with his mouth shut than most can do with their mouths a flappin'.

I have to hand it to him - while he didn't enjoy the icecube removal method - he sure did learn a lesson. I think. Only the next piece of gum will tell. And that one will probably be found on the ground. It's his favorite kind: "Gum'n'dirt"

All we are going to catch today is...

Seaweed.

There are a lot of things I admire about my son, Andrew, but one of the most endearing attitudes he possesses is "never say die." For about a month he has wanted to buy a fishing pole. We have a lake right by our house and apparently there are fish in there. There's a wonderful dock for him to fish off of, and it's all within about 5 minutes walking distance.

Well, Andrew, being the venture capitalist that he is - found a way, not sure exactly how, to secure a $5 kid fishing pole from the Neighbor's garage sale early this morning. So, after untangling the line, gettting fed up untangling the line and finally cutting the line with the scissors, and reassembling the hook, bobber, and sinker - we were off. Andrew, Christian and I were off to the pier with our kiddie fishing poles. Christian has a hand-me-down Scooby Doo fishing pole that Andrew discarded a year ago - after getting the line mercilessly entangled.



And to make a long story short - we arrived at the dock (without any bait mind you or a fishing license) and as soon as Andrew attempts to cast his line into the water - SNAP! Something caught on something which got knotted up with something else and before you know off into the water flies the bobber, hook, and sinker. Bummer. The line snapped as did all of Andrew's hopes for a great fishing experience. But never to be dragged to far down in the mire of life's difficulties, Andrew bounced back.

He hoped and prayed and waited for his bobber to drift to the dock, but to no avail it was stuck in the seaweed. (It's the little red ball in the middle of the pic)


And then when that hoping and praying got old he decided to take the issue into his own hand.


He found some bait that he could tie onto the end of his line - a dead little fish that had bellied up next to the dock. (see below - that little thing Andrew is fiddling around with is the dead fish)


Somewhere along the line Christian too had lost his line and decided to join Andrew in looking for dead fish. He found one of his own, but was never able to be as resourceful as Andrew and hook it onto his fishing pole.

I think one of my favorite parts of the day was seeing the other parents with their kids take a look at Andrew and then doubletake when they realized he was using a dead fish as bait. I would just sort of shrug - so as to say "I don't know? This is his deal."

Was our fishing trip a success? Did we catch any fish? I guess it all depends on who you ask.

The Dark Knight freaked me out

Whoa! Saw The Dark Knight this past weekend. Still a little bit haunted.

Heath Ledger might have played the scariest villain ever. Or was that the devil himself? Not sure. It was a film that begged for the dawn to break and after waiting and hoping and waiting and hoping, it never came. Even as all of your pent up nerves were shot as the Joker toyed with one victim after the other, the hoped for dawn never brightened the horizon.

Having said that - Ledger certainly stole the show and his performance alone was worth the price of admission. Not only did he play this role with absolute brilliance, he was one of the first ever "believable" villains in a comic book movie. No cheese. Just a really evil bad guy with no conscience in sight. Just looking for as much mass destruction as possible.

So with this brilliant performance, a "believable" bad guy, and a decent plot - what more can you ask for? Well for me I am looking for, even expecting, that the dawn will finally break, but that never came. Maybe I am getting old or I watch too many episodes of The Berenstain Bears, but I only get the feeling that another villain is being hatched elsewhere as the Joker hangs from the rafters. Evil is never totally vanquished. That's probably how Hollywood studios like it, and to a certain degree I think this movie (in it's darkened state) was an apt portrayal and commentary on the culture of death that surrounds us. Except that in this movie people seemed to be fed up with crime and death (even wanting the vigilante Batman to be brought to justice), which, unfortunately, is a little bit more than we often see around us here in the real world.

As a Christian I now have a new picture of the devil (when I need to conjure one up) and also a greater hope to live for heaven - our promised home that is being prepared for us beyond this "valley of tears." At least I can take that away from this latest superhero movie to weasel money out of my pocket (on opening night of all nights).

Summer Minnesota Style

I started a new job

I started a new job yesterday. As most people know I have taken a new job with St. Paul's Outreach. It was somewhat surreal. Most of the day was spent in Orientation. It's been a long time since I have had a day quite like that. It was refreshing. A brand new beginning.

I am very excited about the work I will be a part of on three different campus centers in the Twin Cities area - University of St. Thomas, University of Minnesota, and Northfield, MN (St. Olaf and Carlton College). There is something significant and hope filled about a college campus and the students that populate them. I will never forget the moment that I realized, 11 years ago, that I wanted to spend the rest of my life, telling college students about "the love of God in Jesus Christ."

I was working at William Jewell College, my undergraduate alma mater, as an Admission Counselor. I was a college recruiter and in fact I loved to tell others about William Jewell and why it was an investment that they would never second guess. Over the course of a few months on the job I travelled to high schools from Western Nebraska to the the bootheel of Southern Missouri (but in the bootheel, it's pronounced Mizzurrah). I-70 was like a second home. I was always chided for having every Missouri exit, along I-70, memorized. Like Sweet Springs, exit 66.


Anyhow, it was during one of the days of the year that I wasn't on the road when I elected to participate, as a William Jewell Staff person, in a service day for the students called "Serve and Celebrate." It was an amazing day. I will never forget the joy I felt working and serving alongside this group of students, washing dishes in a soup kitchen. They (and I) were filled with joy at the opportunity to be Christ and to see Christ in others. It was a powerful day. My heart was beginning to turn, and God, in my heart and mind, made a simple proposition to me: Ryan, would you rather help people 'get into' William Jewell College, or help people 'get into' heaven?

Well, you can imagine how I answered that question. It was a no-brainer. It was but a few months later that I heard about a job opening for a Campus Minister at the University of Missouri Newman Center. The rest is history and my heart hasn't stopped beating for the university scene and all the restlessness, high hopes, potential, and intrigue that lies within. It's an incredible venue to serve God and His people. Thank you, Lord!

p.s. Kansas City's own, Waterdeep, performed that night at the 'Celebrate' part of the event listed above. If you know of Waterdeep you would think that's cool. If you don't know them, nevermind.

Reason No. 231 Why I Love Living in Minnesota

Wild blackberries. Tonight Jill made a great dessert for the boys and for me (the drooling 'hanger arounder- at the right place at the right timer'). It was strawberry shortcake with a little surprise - wild blackberries.

I'm not sure that I have ever eaten wild blackberries until a couple of nights ago when Jill and I went on a walk with the boys at the park right by our house (see picture above - we live on Kopp Dr. and the park with the berries is Thompson County Park). On the walking paths 'in the woods' there were blackberry trees lining the trail on both sides. What a treat! And whoever said there is no such thing as a free lunch. The only price you might pay is getting a little sloppy and eating something poisonous. But apart from eating those attractive little red berries, (and sticking with what could only be blackberries or your occasional raspberry), you're home free.

So, on a walk today with the boys Jill picked up a cupful of these delicious berries. And I ate them for dessert. Are we blessed or what?

Just another reason I love living in Minnesota. Wild blackberries.

All together

Jill and I have been in the parenting bizz for about three and a half years now. And, we have been in the 'goin' to Mass every Sunday' bizz for most of our lives. But not until this last Sunday did these two realities perfectly conjoin. You see our kids are like most kids - talkative, jumpy, easily distracted. And when you have four of them and each of them are boys and each are under seven years old and three are under four - going to Mass, in peace, and least of all, inside the actual sanctuary, can be somewhat difficult.

But, of course, you still have to go to Mass. And we have - just never all together AND in the Church itself. We have lived off of childcare and cry rooms for the better part of the last four years. It doesn't often feel like I have been to Mass. I know that I have been, but it something of a hazy blur with vague recollections of kneeling in vestibules and doing the sign of peace with the statues and so on. Until this last Sunday we had never had all four kids together in Church for the entire Mass. It was wonderful. Maybe we have turned a corner, maybe not. I will keep you posted.

I am simply overjoyed at the prospect of worshiping from within the Church, and not in some satellite location named "cry room" or "narthex."

p.s. I pulled the above picture off of the St. Joseph's website. It is a picture that was taken eerily close to the precise place our family sat on this memorable Sunday, July 13th, 2008

The Great Escape

Human beings, especially in situations of great desperation, are capable of things considered darn near impossible. Today I came across this interactive 'diagram' of an escape from a German POW Camp during WW II. It describes in interactive detail the perseverance, ingenuity, and courage it took to dig a hole 30 feet deep and 300 feet long, in order that 76 POW's might escape from Stalag Luft III in the 1940's. Check it out.

http://www.kerman94.com/tunnelharry.html

As a sidenote, seeing something like this reminds me of the even greater lengths God himself has gone to to save us. Our salvation must be more improbable and humanly inconceivable, even than this. If it wasn't then we wouldn't have needed God to do anything. We could have waited for some incredible men, just like the ones in this true story. True stories like this remind me of the flabbergasting truth that God, in His love, has rescue in mind for each of us. Rescue from slavery, oppression, fear, and desperation. Not unlike this (and certainly greater) than even this great escape listed above.

Pictures from Clear Lake

Grandma Marilyn and the boys

Silhouette. I see three.

A lake person is born.

Rafty.

good ole' boys.

Radical Graphic Design Thingy

This is so radical. Check it out!

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs13/f/2007/077/2/e/Animator_vs__Animation_by_alanbecker.swf