Good Medicine

"God...... is so good.......He rides upon...the wings of the wind..." I have had that song in my head as I reflected upon my amazing weekend. I went canoeing on Saturday with my bra (lingo from Dog the Bounty Hunter) Ryan Gale. He bought a brand new Wenonah canoe (see picture) and wanted to get it wet. Leaving before sunrise, we had a great drive down watching the sun come up over the horizon and catchin' up on the ole friendship.
We headed to the Niangua River around Lebanon, Missouri. (It is this river that a complete stranger spoke to me of at a gas station last summer in south, central Missouri, when he said, "You wanta see some titties..." Of course Luke Thompson and I were heading to the Eleven Points River and avoiding the Niangua because of this at all costs (being married men of course).)
Now, I have come to realize that when people say "canoeing" they get the mental image of summer time, 5,000 drunk people on the river, and general chaos. While that may be the typical canoe experience, it is one that I have not been apart of since I was a young boy and would surely never willingly partake in as a man approaching 30.
Ryan and I head there in the fall knowing that we are not likely to see anyone on the river and that the leaves are approaching peak colors. In fact, our 7 mile and 6 hour float (Ryan was fishing(see picture (rainbow trout))) involved only one other canoe and two small boats. And in all of the years of my outdoor experiences in the midwest (which come to think of it is only like 10 or so seriously), I witnessed something never before seen with my eyes (in the midwest). We saw two bald eagles soaring above the river as we floated. What an experience! It made me think of God riding upon the wings of the wind, soaring high above all of us and able to see down the river when we can only see what is just ahead. Good medicine doesn't fully explain it. It sure is awesome when He gives us just a tiny taste of who He is. We also saw deer, turkeys, ground hogs, snakes, fish, and an Osprey with a song bird in his talons. God is sovereign and omnipotent; but that day, He spoke to my heart.

taking a break from thank you notes

from william blake's "on another's sorrow":

he doth give his joy to all;
he becomes an infant small;
he becomes a man of woe;
he doth feel the sorrow too.

think not thou canst sigh a sigh,
and thy maker is not by;
think not thou canst weep a tear,
and thy maker is not near.

o! he gives to us his joy
that our grief he may destroy;
till our grief is fled & gone
he doth sit by us and moan.

-------------------------

the realization that mary had a baby inside of her like i do right now and that baby was jesus is incomprehensible. like we've been talking on friday mornings, mary had to teach her son about his own heavenly father. did jesus really not know about god the father, the creator? how humbling for both mary and jesus. how cool that the nine months she carried him she wondered, what will he look like, what will he be like? i can only imagine that anticipation. (wyatt hiccups with the wonderment of it, too)

ich bin ein berliner

my brother went to germany for the weekend and came back with some photos: the gate, reconstruction and toilets. this is such a brilliant european thing. my question is, who's the guy? and who gets to take weekend trips to berlin? only my brother. he even has the knowledge to compare the architectural recontrustion with what's happening in dublin. the last time i was in dublin...oh wait.

and speaking of german, my friend bri is going back to school. it's fun and inspiring to hear that she's going not necessarily because it will help her hugely in the business world but because she wants her brain to be stimulated. i felt like that a while ago, and it would be nice to be forced to write, but i feel so overstimulated by baby stuff i think i could explode.

and i do feel like i could explode, this belly is huge. my ankles have officially turned into cankles, and i have hobbit feet. no, they're not hairy, they're huge. i had to get two new pairs of shoes that are a size and a half larger than my usual shoe size. but i found a pediatrician, thanks to galadriel, the baby's room is 95% ready to go, and we have a car seat so we can bring wyatt home with us. that seems fairly important. four and half weeks to go...

progress and the slippery slope

there's a good side and a bad side to moving forward into the technological side of life. we finally purchased a digital camera, and it is fantastic. i think the price was rather alright, and i got what i wanted. nothing too big, something that has a good zoom and enlargement capabilities, and it's easy to use. plus, when we went to best buy (again, i'm really pleased with this large business) the sales guy (austin, at 95th & metcalf) was very knowledgable. he answered all my questions, pointed us in the right direction and then mentioned that there was an "opened" camera, which meant 10% off the original price. no defects, just returned. he went to look for it and couldn't find it, discovered it had been sold but still gave us the 10% off. now that's service.

on the flip side, i installed the software this morning onto my ancient computer (which tom likes to pretend is alright since it has a new modem) and the whole thing flipped out on me. i only have two usb ports, but i have some handy-dandy adaptors which should allow me to put my mouse in a different port (assuming that's what they're called). i try this with no success. then i try the second adaptor to no avail. now i must sacrifice either the mouse (impossible) or the printer (sorry). once i have an operable mouse and the software is loading like a dream i realize, my keyboard isn't working. i didn't even unplug the thing. but sure enough when the program asks me to title something, i can't type a single letter. control+alt+delete. nothing. control+alt+delete. nothing. i hit the restart on my tower, and here i am, finally typing away.

all the while yuma is whining to go outside and then barking to come back in two minutes later. over and over and over. and over. but now all is well. the computer is working (minus the printer) the camera is working (minus a large memory card which has yet to be purchased) and the dog is laying down (lying down?). if only i could master the english language.

Open House/ Baby Bash

So, it's kind of interesting because Leah did not want to have the normal baby shower where (I hear) women get together and sit in a circle and play strange games or something. She's not one to draw attention to herself anyway, so this didn't fly with her. Also, we have been talking about having an open house get together since we bought our house over a year ago but we have been putting it off since there are always more projects to get done. So, Leah (in Sarah like fashion) wanted to have a combo get together where people can come and go as they please. So, if you are reading this and you have not heard it is this Saturday from 12:00-5:00 and kids, dogs, and spouses are encouraged to come. On Saturday, if you start getting bored, please feel free to leave at any time without saying goodbye. We will not be offended. In fact, if you decide not to come, that is OK as well. If you do come, pretend like everything looks great because I have been spending every free moment the last few weeks getting the house ready.

tom

(and that's Yuma when we brought her home last January)

Friendship

This goes out to a dear friend of the Blakes:

You know who you are, we are sorry if any of our actions or inactions caused you harm. We love you and appreciate your friendship.

Fabio

The Final Quest

For the last 28 and a half years (Tuesday is my half birthday), I have not been into learning all about the end times and that aspect of Christianity. I figured, we should live everyday like Jesus is returning, regardless of whether we were "in the end times" or not. My brother Paul remarked that without an understanding of this age, I will not be driven to truly live my life accordingly. I have been praying that God would show me the lies that I believe so that He will reveal His truth in my life. I believe He is doing just that.

WARNING: This book is nothing short of life changing! SEARCH INSIDE!

does he look really old?