Monday Update

So I have decided to do a monday update every monday. We'll see how long it lasts.  I think it will be good to keep in reflection mode and challenge me to process the things I don't care to blog about.  Here we go...

Where am I now?  I am currently at home sitting on the couch in our front living room.  I took Monday off this week because I worked 6 days last week.  I still haven't got dressed for the day. 

How was last week?  Last week was a roller coaster for me.  Last Sunday was encouraging because of Youth Sunday.  I felt filled and encouraged all the way until Wednesday night, then discouragement came.  Thursday morning I was encouraged and filled again, but the filling and encouraging kept coming and coming all the way through Sunday. (I still feel encouraged and filled for the record).

What is God teaching me right now?  I think God is challenging me with being joyful, since I am preaching through Philippians and the book is about joy.  Also, there has been a common theme of outreach and evangelism that I feel God's Spirit pushing me into. 

What am I excited for this week?  "4 Your Friends"- an outreach event on Wednesday night at our Youth Group. 

What is something random from the last week?  Kaitlin and I went on a walk to the middle school across from our house (where we both attended) and discovered that they have playground workout equipment! It's so funny and awesome!

What music have I been enjoying recently?  A random mix CD I have in my car that I titled, "Awesome LIVING!"

What books am I reading?  What books aren't I reading?!?! I really am bad a finishing books, so I am "skimming" a few: "Speaking to Teenagers," "The Vision and the Vow," "The Epic of Eden," "Sacred Marriage," and "Praying Through the Tabernacle." 

What am I reading in God's Word?  Philippians 

How can I reach others this week?  Joy conversations, lunch at Irvine high school, and pursuing reconciliation and rebuilding with someone. 

Idea Camp

I went to a conference called the Idea Camp last Friday.  It was an awesome conference on creativity, ministry, ideas, and social justice.  The coolest part about it was that is was FREE!!!  The two workshops I attended had to do with the identity of the Church and reaching the :hard to reach." I feel like I grew a lot from it and was really inspired by the speakers in the main sessions.  Adri's blog does a much better job describing the conference. Check it out!

josh, unplugged.

So yesterday was a day off for President's Day, so I thought it would be a fantastic oppurtunity to take a much-needed Sabbath.  My dear wife was sick, so most of the day was spent with her.  It was nice to do very little.  I didn't even go outside all day!  Here was my Sabbath:

1. Woke up at 10:30am, showered, and got dressed in comfy clothes.
2. Read the first chapter of Philippians and journaled.
3. Made oatmeal and fruit.
4. Read some more.
5. Acted british: Made tea in a cup and saucer with cream and sugar, read poetry
6. Made lunch for Kaitlin and I
7. Watched Bringing Up Boys by  Dr. Dobson with Kaitlin for her class
8. Made Spaghetti for dinner
9. Watched some TV and talked with Kaitlin
10. Bedtime

The entire day was computer-less, Facebook-less, and cell phone-less. I enjoyed it and look forward to the next Sabbath I have!

What God Said

God said, "Listen."

Why?

1. To "Be still and know that He is God" (Psalm 46:10).
2. To avoid being "conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of my mind" (Romans 12:2).
3. To discover "the plans He has for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11). 

My ears and heart are attentive...

hello blog that i once loved so much!

so i have not updated for a while.  kaitlin and i are trying to figure out our life schedules.  it is working out pretty, though it seems a lot tougher for her then for me.  she goes to school twice a week and works the other three days. on top of that, she helps me in youth group and leads a girls discipleship groups after a 7 hour school day.  yeah, she's awesome! i love her so much!!!  

what else?... well, we seemed to be settled into our condo quite nicely.  it is the perfect size to feel cozy and have room to stretch.  oh ya!...our bed arrived about a week ago.  we were each used to sleeping in a full before we were married. then the honeymoon tricked us with king size beds the whole time.  i say tricked because when we got home, we had to share a full! CRAZY!!! kaitlin's parents were awesome enough to buy us a bed for our wedding gift.  we ended up with a king size sleep number bed!! *heaven* 

i love cooking! i do it all the time. tonight it homemade enchiladas! mmmmmm!  i like making my own recipes, or variation on ones i read in cookbooks.

so as of right now, my beautiful wife and i are sipping tea while she works on her homework and i catch up on blogging and facebook.  i'm still trying to maintain a loose connectedness to social networking.  i find myself not obsessed, but not completely removed.  it seems appropriate. 

oh ya... GOD IS AWESOME!  more on that later. 

Honeymoon!

Here are some highlights from our honeymoon at Cap Juluca in Anguilla, British West Indies!  We loved the place sooooo much! We were so sad to leave the crystal clear water and white sand beaches.  Everything was perfect!  To see more pictures, check out Kaitlin's Facebook page!

Hitched!

Kaitlin and I are now married (and have been since January 10th)!  It was such an amazing day!  Everything felt perfect and we can't think of anything that went wrong.  We were so pleased to share the day with all of our friends and family.  I love my wife!!!

2009, Our Year

So the New Year has begun.  It was a really mellow New Year's Eve, as usual.  Mark came over to Kaitlin's house with us and we played a cool game called Liar's Dice and watched Elf and Swingers.  Last night was not too eventful, unlike the rest of the year ahead of us.  This year of 2009 will be the year of the following:

• The year I get married
• The year I move into my own place
• The year I financially support myself and my wife
• The year Kaitlin and I travel on our own
• The year I try to figure out the balancing act of marriage and full-time ministry
• The year of being able to invite friends and family over to our condo 
• The year I become amazing at my new Wii and Rockband
• The year I look back on 20, 30, 40... years down the road to remember how long ago we were married
• The year of God's blessing!

I'm sure there are more and some of them relate to each other, but I am certain this is going to be an amazing time!  I'm just sitting in our half-decorated and furnished condo, resting after my pre-wedding-workout and getting ready to see my beautiful wife-to-be and run errands for our condo today.  

Happy 2009!

(9 days and counting...)

Done and done!

I graduated on Friday from Biola University!  3 1/2 years of great professors, passionate preaching, close community, crazy adventures, 1,000's of pages read, hundreds of papers typed, and lots of money spent!  I could not have had a better college experience.  I am especially thankful for the friends and family that supported me financially, emotionally, and with many prayers!  All I got to say is "BYE-ola!!!" 

Orange County?

Update From Me

Okay, it has been so long since I have blogged (I feel like I have been saying that all semester!) so I guess I'll just do an update with all of the things I wanted to blog about in one post.  Let's start from the most recent and move backwards....

Youth Group Christmas Party!!!  We decorated gingerbread houses, made ornaments, had a white elephant gift exchange, and wore ugly sweaters!  My sweater was homemade and absolutely scrumptious! 

Earaches and Doctors...  So my earaches came back really strong this week.  I went to my regular doctor (now for the 2nd or 3rd time for the same thing) and he still didn't know what was going on, so he recommended me to an ENT specialist.  They determined that I probably have TMJ (a jaw disorder) and it's pushing up against my ear, and if there is wax in it, I experience a lot of pain and itching.  So I need to clean out my ears about once a week and rest me jaw (ear soft foods, massage it daily, and try not to yawn...is that possible?).  The craziest thing was the table with morbid instruments in the ENT office. Take a look!  

LivingSpaces!!!  This is my new favorite place.  Kaitlin and I frequent it about once a week or so.  We have already bought a loveseat for the condo and we are still looking for a couch.  However, what keeps us coming back is the free Starbucks coffee and homemade chocolate chip cookies!  Seriously!!!!  It's the best date ever!!!

Joy Joy Joy!!!  Last Saturday was Pacific Church's annual Christmas Choir Dessert Theater.  It was such a nice evening, and I decorated a table that Kaitlin and I hosted.  Watch out Marth Stewart! (I must watch too much HGTV!) 

Well, that's about it.  I can't wait for a delicious meal tonight at Mastro's with Kaitlin's family and grandparents!!!  And, oh ya... I GRADUATE TOMORROW!!!!

Desiring Silence

I read Mark Driscoll's blog today about silence and was really convicted.  I want silence so badly right now, especially after doing a paper until 3am and waking up late for a 8am meeting and rushing from there to class.  The semester is officially over for me (except a few papers I need to turn in via email) and I graduate next Friday.  I hope that I am able to enter marriage at peace and rest (I'm sure the Caribbean shores of Anguilla will help with that...YAY HONEYMOON!). Until then... 

Hang in There...

9 days until Graduation.

One month until our wedding!!!

Tree Shananagins

TOO MUCH FUN:

AS CLOSE AS WE WILL GET TO A CHRISTMAS CARD:

CREEPY/CUTE?:

I FELT BAD FOR THE SHORT ONES:

SISTERS:

JAMIE STUCK BEHIND THE TREE:

THE FINAL TOUCH:

On the list for this week...

• Finish January curriculum
• Super-staff meeting
• Guy's Group
• Kick off Christmas Revolution series at Youth Group
• Write 2 papers
• Read Speaking to Teenagers by Doug Fields 
• Obtain Marriage license 
• 3 Meetings on Thursday
• Pre-marital session
• Ministry weekend in LA with Joni and Friends (Disability ministry weekend)