As most of you know, my mom passed away 4 years ago.  Obviously, it was a rough season.
With that came some money she left behind as an inheritance for us.  A huge blessing wrapped in an unsettling blow.
As we budgeted and sought to be wise with what we had received, we intentionally set aside some of that money and said, “Let’s do something special for our 10 year anniversary that we never could have dreamed of doing otherwise.  My mom would like that.”
Honestly, she would.  I’m not just saying that.  She’s probably a happier about that than the parts we gave to church and non-profits.

Truth be told, I really wanted to take Rachel to New Zealand. By far my favorite place I’ve ever been.  But the timing didn’t work out with seasons, jobs, and flight costs.
So as we searched for other options, Rachel came across the idea of Mombasa, Kenya.
Neither of us had ever been to Africa.  So the idea of experiencing something new together sounded appealing.
However, we had always dreamed of visiting Africa for the sake of humanitarian efforts and Christ centered missions opportunities.
By the way, part of what we tithed from my mom we also set aside for the purpose of short term missions. We really believe in them, both for the sake of the good they can do and the life-changing power they have for those who go.  Pretty sure that’s deserving of a post all of it’s own.

So we said, “Hey, let’s invite our faith community to join us on our anniversary trip!”
OK, maybe we didn’t wuite present it like that.  That’s just kind of awkward.
but we did figure we could have them join us for part and mix “business” with “pleasure” considering we were flying over.

So after all is said and done, the result has been the experience of a lifetime while my sister and her husband split kid watching duties for us with Rachel’s parents.  We have had the opportunity to relax, experience insurmountable beauty, already be challenged by the confrontation of the reality of poverty and developing countries, and breath, centering ourselves on Christ together as we get away.
And in a couple of days we get to greet 4 of our best friends to share that leg of the journey with.

So there ya go.  Now you know.
(I guess that was a little Uganda backstory too.  But there’s a little bit more to that one.)
Really hoping to find the time to share some pictures and videos here when I find the time.  Maybe before we leave.  Maybe not til after we get back.
And to follow the missions part of our trip, click here for our Missio Dei Community Uganda blog.
Thanks for sharing the journey virtually.

Part of pulling out of it has been doing some more reading the past several days which has been inspiring me.  Hoping in addition to swimming, cycling, running, tennis, games, food, talking and playing music that I’ll have some time to read and reflect as well.
Here’s the 3 books I picked up on my Kindle App for the iPod touch last week:

Jesus Manifesto and Hidden Power of the Gospels came highly recommended.
AND is basically the next installment after The Tangible Kingdom.  Didn’t think I was gonna wanna read this one, but after reading the description I decided to grab it.  Glad I did.  It’s the first one I started and parts of it resonate even more the TK for me right now.  It’s kinda right where we’re living.

So these books go on top of the pile of all the other books I still haven’t read but want to.  Although I have a theory that I’ll actually read these quicker with them on my iPod.  So far, that’s proving to be accurate.
So what books are you reading these days?
What’s really good?
Anything at all.
Well, anything except for Twilight.

SNOW!?

Is it really 2 weeks away from June?
You gotta be kiddin me.
Not gonna lie.  The tent was freezing every night.  A good portion of Sunday afternoon we just got snow and sleet.
But it made for a great time just hangin in the tent trailer and playing games together.

Luckily we did get Saturday morning at Yosemite and a good hike nearby on Sunday morning.
With the cold stickin around as ling as it has the falls at Yosemite were pretty awesome.
Yosemite in general was just stinking awesome.
My first time there.
I’ve seen plenty of pictures, but seeing half dome in the distance with towering trees and mountains on each side of you doesn’t even compare.
One day I will hike that thing!
Here are a few pics from our camera and my phone.

Amazing how all of that just “happened”.
Oh, wait…

God is an incredible artist.

Just Yosemite.
First time there.
Camping.
I’m probably taking in a view something like this right now:

Have a great weekend.
Catch ya on the flip side.

She looked beautiful as she got ready to marry my brother-in-law, Joel.

Go to his blog and congratulate him!

They were married in a beautiful setting at the Ritz Carlton in Maui.

Caleb was the ring bearer.

He walked down the aisle great.  After that, not so great.  This next pic encapsulates the wedding for me.

Wedding ended with all of us gathered around the couple to pray for them.

Very cool moment!

On a completely unrelated note, today I got to surf in Lahaina!
Small waves, but had an absolute blast nonetheless!

Had fun teaching Rachel to surf too!

Her mom, dad, and brother, Isaac, all got up at least some too!
Here’s her mom giving it a go.

Meanwhile, Caleb enjoyed the “kiddie pool” area of the beach park.

Sunday morning we worshipped at Imago Dei, which I’ll be posting more about later.  Also this weekend we were introduced to the board game Settlers of Catan.  Fun stuff.  Here’s a few pics from the past couple of days:

How was your Memorial Day weekend???

P.S. – Typepad recently changed their format for posting and I think it’s a royal pain in the behind!!  Especially for pictures!

Reason is, tomorrow at 5:45am we leave for Florida on vacation and get back on Friday.  Some great friends hooked us up with the trip.  Thanks guys!  We’ll be spending 2 nights in Ft. Lauderdale and 3 in Orlando.  Will be visiting Universal in Orlando where an old friend from Playhouse is hookin us up.  Lookin forward to reconnecting with him.  One of those guys that isn’t a Christ follower that I had several awesome spiritual discussions with.

As previously noted, I don’t own a laptop at the moment.  And I don’t know if the hotels will have computer access.  But it’s probably all for the better anyway.  I’m goin away to be with my family, and without constant internet I will be more available to them. 

It should be fun.  An adventure.  If I can post I will.  If not, I’ll throw up some pics when I get back.  Maybe I’ll throw one or two in the can to post during the week, but I’m pretty wiped, so it won’t be much.  See y’all in a week!

It’s been nice to just kinda kick back and get some rest.  We have, however, been in a 2 bedroom condo with 12 of us.  Me, Rachel, my mom, sister, brother-in-law, aunt, uncle, cousin, his wife, their 5 year old son, other cousin, and his 11 year old daughter.  I don’t come from the ginormous family deal, so that is pretty much the entire crew, and we are LOUD!…and all have pretty strong personalities, so there’s never a dull moment!  Unfortunately I didn’t think of getting a picture of everyone together until half of them had already left.  Oh well.

So now we’re up in Big Bear for some alone and relaxation time.  What’s in store for leg 2 of the vacation?  Lots of movies, reading, and of course some homework (unfortunately).  After getting to the cabin today, we stopped by the grocery store for food, and then stocked up at the local Blockbuster.  here is our current rental list to get through:

Just finished Hoodwinked.  1 down, 5 to go!  Who knows, if we get through them all, maybe we’ll even have time to grab a few more. 

Looking forward to more relaxing and enjoying my wife’s company.  Pretty slow wireless connection I’m picking up at the cabin here.  Good thing actually.  It will keep me away from here til I get home, which would be good.