The Bump starts...

 The Bump at Christmas time...

 On a date in Palos Verde, she is trying to cover the bump ;)

 Bump!

The Ultra sound!  Little Man C!

A WHole Lotta Catching Up... Fall 2011 - Winter 2012

A super highlight last fall! Julie with Brian and Sara Powers little one, Kate - in the outfit that Julie picked out for her!

Ice Skating with the High Schooler Runners in Santa Monica!  Julie didn't iceskate due to early pregnancy... Lots of fun under the sun!  (The shadow makes me look like my teeth are all mangled :(

 The Christman's - Sandy, Little B, Kathy, Bill, Julie and Mathew!  This was at Christmas in Florida

 A great memory!  Went kayaking with the nephews, Mathew with Daddy B, and Little B with me!

 Went on a short hike with Dad - this was a bridge - he just climbed it with his protective boot on, a little tired!

The white sands of Sarasota!

 Atop the climb!

 Resting after the hike

 The High School Runners before the 18 mile race!

In Julie's classroom, our friend and muscian, Jason Barrows spoke with the students about his testimony and gave them some great encouragement to live by Faith!  Julie in the back, Jason in the middle, Shalom (SRLA Coach/Mentor) on right

The Artist... Out Takes... :)

This was after dinner, Prego Momma Gem and I having some fun... Can you guess what she is saying?

...Words Remain... Symphonically!

Mason Jar Music Presents... Josh Garrels from Mason Jar Music on Vimeo.

The past two days a number of folks have posted this video. I chose to 'sit' in it. I was a giddy boy just 'drinking' it in... This is a song that I've journeyed with - off of Josh's Jacaranda Album - a beautiful song in that version, but this... this production, this sound, this collection of musicians... It is just spectacular!

The first thing that hit me was the visual 'story'. I was so drawn in that later, in the evening I had my wife, julz (aka jewels), sit down and we watched it together - she was taken by it! Kudos to the Mason video team - shot beautifully. Kudos to the musicians - vocalist to bells to strings - who ventured to work on this thru the night! There is a lot going on this video - as mentioned by other note takers, but I recognized something deeper... I knew I wanted to really 'hear' it, as the Mason Collective suggests, "Listen with Head phones", so I took the past 24 hours to do this... 5 x to be exact. When I put on the headphones,

I closed my eyes.

The music followed a center - a beautiful line - the tiny guitar - and the miraculous voice. This version begins to hop, skip and jump along this line - similar to the 'climber' culture of 'slack lining' - the music follows its line, but it begins to skip and turn along in some spectacular ways! The creativity of all involved stays incredibly cohesive... and takes this song to a spectacular place. By the second line, when Josh sings, "it was pro-phesied long ago...", the strings and flutes and the bells all start to find there place. It's a beautiful line, and the orchestra makes it hop along!

The message and the voice are the real gift in this song, thank you, Josh, for writing and risking. A small group of 'faith-walkers' met tonight near USC, in a victorian house-turned-apartment. They talked about the 'Word' and its affect in their lives. This same Word hops, skips, and follows the 'center line' in their lives, as similar as this song comes alive in this video.

Planting, Growing...

We're getting ready for Costa Rica! Yes... Julz and I have prayed and talked about doing this since we first got married (five years in August!). This will be an immersion/Mission project. We leave this coming thursday - 6am. We're very stoked. We have about half of the money raised, and are trusting the rest to come in. I hope to be posting from there, as we'll have internet.

Spring has Sprung - and Life is moving along... This is more of an update than usual... in the sense that we've been bizzy-bees... Love this photo above, at our community garden we have been harvesting our first crops, and this seems appropriate - as we are in the midst of Church planting in South Los Angeles... we have seen some first fruits... And it feels like we're always on Adventure...
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This past week I spent a day and a half hiking "the last damned river" in southern Cali - with two incredible guys; Ben and Jeff. Jeff just graduated from USC and will be taking a job in San Diego. He has been a 'groundbreaking' disciple - always serving, hosting, practicing hospitality to our incredibly diverse neighborhood - His BBQs would be a third Indian and Chinese, respectively, and the third third, a mix of anglo, latino and other minorities. He will be greatly missed. This trip was a great time to connect and was a great challenge.
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The new "Art of Living" organization moved into the neighborhood last month. Its something to note, as USC has the largest per capita population of Indians on an American campus. This building is quite historic, as well. For a number of decades it was the largest dome west of the missippi. In the neighborhood, we also have a significant Mosque in LA county, two Mormon wards, three large Catholic churches... This diversity is very rare. The place where I see the most migling? On the soccer field. It is World Cup time, and this doesn't surprise me. This is a reason for prayer and engagement on multiple levels.

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I'll leave you with PROM! Yes, Julie finished her 7th year of teaching - and we chaperoned Prom... whew... from high up in a downtown building... you can see above with some reflection of the dancers in the window. Julie loves to see the impact on her students, and she works so hard. Here I'm with Daniel, a senior. He has been a part of our mentoring program - and has really taken steps forward in leadership this past year. One being, he started volunteering with our Bread outreach to the neighborhood. He is helping bake, and is really learning a lot about what it means to engage your neighbors and share the Love of Christ!

Grandma McCarthy, in Memory

Julie got news late friday night that her Grandma McCarthy passed on. She was a dear soul. And when I say "dear", I don't mean fluffy or the like. This isn't to mean she wasn't nice - quite the contrary. What I mean by 'dear' - is that she was endearing! In the years that I knew her, she had a common reply to most requests. Grandma could you get... Would you check...? And she'd reply, slyly, "I'm retired." Everyone would laugh, as she'd have a big smile on her face.
I didn't know the Grandma McCarthy when she wasn't in a wheel chair, but Julie shared some 'endearing' stories of her working in her garden, 'out-doing' Grandpa, and always mentioning how 'the floors need to be cleaned.' As Julie shared these memories, I stopped in my tracks in amazement at how Julie takes after her! It was as though I was hearing her grandmothers voice as Julie shared. Just yesterday, I came in the kitchen to see Julie looking curious at the floors, she stated, "I gotta get down there and clean this, they need to be cleaned."
The picture above was taken at Christmas this past year. Grandma was 94 years old. She was surrounded by her family. We are flying out today, Sunday, to go visit. I was reminded of these verses in 1 Corinthians 15 by my dad yesterday... They hold so much promise and hope... and encouragement.

"For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
"O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."

My City... micro-time-lapsed wonder

This past week we've had some wonderful weather - it is changing to cool and rainy - but this time-lapse video made me think of all that is LA. Julie and I are off today to explore and find adventure with in!

The East Side of Los Angeles on a Sunny Day from clark vogeler on Vimeo.