Mr. and Mrs. Enthusiasm

Lately for our SILO (Self-Imposed Learning Organization – where we pick a topic to study for a few weeks or months), many of our evenings have consisted of watching lectures from the “Luther: Gospel, Law and Reformation” series that Graham’s mom bought him for his birthday this year.  The Teaching Company produces all kinds of different classes that you can buy on DVD.  This one has 24 half hour lessons, and they are excellent!

Professor Cary has been walking us through the history and background of Luther as well as the development over time of his theology… in his younger years, he had some really strange thinking!  He has also described a lot of the history that is relevant to his thinking by describing the politics, economics and church dynamics in Europe in the 1500’s and 1600’s.  So fascinating – my favorite tidbit was the fact that at one point there were actually 3 popes and they were all excommunicating kings and their entire countries trying to say that a whole county had to go to hell unless the king repented.  What a difference in valuing the church’s and the pope’s opinion! 

Anyways – great series – I’d highly recommend it so far and when we’re done, we’re happy to lend it out.  I think Dad has first dibs on it.  We’ll probably be blogging more about it as we continue to watch.

Check out this jawbone! (photo courtesy of www.covenanter.org/Luther/martinluther.htm)

Luther

Last night, we decided to have a more low-key date down the road.  We tried a great new restaurant - Hawthorne’s New York Pizza & Bar, which we highly recommend if you’re ever in the neighborhood.  Graham and I were playing so many games (like 20 questions and an array of made-up ones) that our waiter started laughing and came back with the kid menus with games on them and some crayons for us to use.  Needless to say it kept us occupied until our pizza came out.  The best part was that he also gave us the oreo cookies they give kids at the end of the meal, too!

Then we went across the street to a beautiful park and played a little Frisbee golf (of course, we had to determine our own course by picking objects to hit) and then layed out on a towel in the grass and read to each other.  It was so nice and relaxing.

When the bugs finally go to us, we came back home and watched a lecture in the Martin Luther series we’re doing for our latest SILO, which proved to be quite interesting!  (more on this in another post to come)

Last weekend was yet another lively weekend back home at the Forge and attendance at another wedding for us.  Despite the distance, we’ve been able to see Graham’s family quite a bit this Spring, which has been such a blessing.  We’re glad they’re close enough for a weekend trip to be so feasible. 

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One highlight of this weekend was that Graham’s best friend of all time, Theron, and his wife, Tesia, were also home in Clifton Forge so we had a great breakfast at the picnic table made by Judy and Erin and a great time of catching up.

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After Graham had a great meeting with his college advisor from UVA, we went to another AVP wedding of one of his buddies, Chris.  It was at a beautiful vineyard in Virginia and made for a lot of fun and catching up with a number of his old friends.  I’m so impressed by how bonded these guys are and how much they enjoy singing together at the various weddings – a treat for the rest of us!

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Some people seem to hold that movies are never as good as the books they are based on (on which they are based). Not true, says I. Most of the time, this is the case, as movies normally can't get into a character's head or adequately give the reader the proper context that books can. And sometimes movies stray from the original story, which upsets many who have read the book. My suspicion is that the reason for this is every bit as much that those who notice the differences can point out to other people that they have actually read the book (aren't they smart?!?!) as that they actually don't like the differences. Typical conversation:

Person 1: I LOVED that movie!
Person 2: It was OK...
Person 1: How could you not like that movie? The action, the graphics, the acting, the screenplay--it was glorious!
Person 2: It's just not as good as the book. You know, I did actually read the book. Did you read the book?
Person 1: That was based on a book?
Person 2: Books are those collections of paper that they have in places called libraries.
[And so on...]

Well, I'm here to tell you that, as one who has actually read Prince Caspian, the fourth book (in reading order, as C.S. Lewis preferred it) in the Chronicles of Narnia Series, that the new Disney film based on it is actually better than the book. Kate and I saw it last night; it is an incredible movie.

Now don't get me wrong, the book--because, you know, I did read the book--is great as well. The movie stuck mostly to Lewis' themes (Kate noticed), but even where it added or embellished the story, it was marvelous. I don't believe Lewis envisioned as much action as it contained, but as a guy who loves action, I was jazzed. Read it and see it for yourself to corroborate. Disney deserves some kind of work for this film. Check out the trailer. (No, I'm not being paid by Disney to promote this to the 4.5 people who read our blog.)

Contributing to this thought is one of my groomsmen Nick Lyndon, who says that "Last of the Mohicans" fits this bill as well. Agreed.

As y’all may know, Graham and I have made our own little tradition/habit/schedule of having a date night every week.  We started this during engagement with “Great Dates” and then have continued in marriage with “Super Dates.”  Last night was our 33rd weekly Super Date.  Graham decided to be in charge of planning it… check it out!

First he took me out to one of our favorite places to eat… Chipotle!!!  We got it to go this time though and brought it back to our apartment and went up on the community patio overlooking the pool and the woods and had a great time eating outside.  We brought our own beers, our own salsa and the chips and burrito bowls from Chipotle and had a great meal!

THEN… the big surprise.  As most times we end up watching some war or crazy action movies, Graham surprised me by bringing home some non-violent, Disney movies…  my choices were Beauty and the Beast and Robin Hood.  Since I watched Beauty and the Beast with Rayna and Strider recently, I chose Robin Hood.  So in true childhood style… we built a fort!!!  (Graham asked me not to share with this anybody, so please keep this to yourself) Here are some pictures:

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Wow!  What a cool day... actually, what a cool 2 days.  I had the opportunity to spend a whole day in prison last Friday with 28 dads as they prepared to see their children all day on Saturday.  Mom, Dad and Graham came with me Saturday as we joined over 100 other volunteers to go into prison with these kids and their dads to make as memorable of a day as possible.  I can't begin to describe how cool it was to see these men swing their kids around and hug them hundreds of times.  They played games together, sang songs together, did crafts together, watched a magic show, puppet show and clown show together...  etc. etc. etc.  It was a packed day.  Here are a couple highlights:

1.  Seeing the dads pick out and decorate picture frames for each of their kids the day before... being careful to write everything perfectly, glue on little things (like a basketball or music note) that symbolized things the kids were interested in, etc.

2.  Seeing the dads practice as a group how to share the gospel with their kids.

3.  Seeing two of the dads accept Christ!

4.  The magic show... really impressive!

5.  Watching the dads do motions to the Christian songs we sang together with their kids.

6.  To hear the kids tell their kids how much they loved them, how proud they were of them.

7.  Getting to meet and hear Perry Tuttle (former NFL player and currently chaplain of the Bobcats) speak.

8. Watching one of the dad's just hold his autistic son all day long.  The boy is probably a teenager, but has never been able to speak a word, but his dad just spent the whole day playing with him, talking to him, holding him and he couldn't stop grinning all day.  His love for his son was just incredible. 

9.  Watching one boy, Austin, who's dad is in prison for life, write on his dad's shirt, "You are the best dad in the whole world that has ever been or will ever be." 

10.  Watching the kids release their balloons when asked to release them if they felt loved by their dads that day and are confident that their dads are proud of them. 

I cried about 18 times or so - it was so awesome.  The grins on the fathers' faces were priceless - they were bubbling over with pride and love for their children.  It was a beautiful, beautiful picture. 

If you'd ever like to come along - you are always welcome - I'll bring you along!

If you'd like to pray for any of the guys... here are a couple of the names of the dads:  Joel, Richard, Billy, Panyma (that's a nickname), and Todd.  They were all in the group I led (yes, somehow I was in charge of leading a group about how to be a good dad even though I am neither a parent, nor a man) on Friday. 

Wish I had pictures, but you can't take cameras in prison...

You all may remember Carlton and Margaret from our wedding weekend.  He has been such a loyal friend over the last 5 years to me.  For those of you who may not know - I (Kate) actually met Carlton at the Mercer State Prison near Grove City while I was in college.  He and I played the piano together each week to accompany the men while they sang a variety of songs.  Carlton always plays in the key of C, but he can play any song he's ever heard in the key of C.  So I learned to play everything in that key, too and we had some fun duets come out of it... my favorite was playing "This is the Day" with him.  We had a blast! 

Well - he's been out for a couple of years now and has had the time to get the book he wrote on the inside typed, edited and published and it is now available on Amazon.com so I thought I'd shoot out the link for everyone to see it.  He is truly a man of prayer, so his book "Praying Intelligently with Results" is a good name for his book.  Here is the link:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-1069595-1042316?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=praying+intelligently+with+results

Carlton has also recently gotten a great job up in Indiana, PA.  He is really enjoying his family and pursuing ministry in many different ways, not the least of which is this book.  Anyways - just thought you'd be encouraged to hear about this.  Way to go, Carlton!

Kate's parents are awesome! We had this sweet house in Ocean Isle, N.C. with a small city of people. Believe it or not, we actually had room to spare, the house was so big!

We had a blast--beach time, ocean time, hanging out with kids, being together, catching some sun, watching movies, playing games, eating incredible food made by Kate's Mom. It was an awesome trip. In an attempt to post something different, here is the trip by the numbers:

• 145 = miles per hour it felt like the wind was blowing on Friday
• 100 = number of holes dug in the sand by children (and James)
• 60 = minutes we had to wait for a sandwich, at a random lunch place in Fair Bluff, N.C.
• 17 = people (7 children, 10 adults)
• 8.5 = number of bedrooms
• 8 = number of pool (billiard) games Dan and Pete played
• 8 = number of pool (water) games Dan and Pete played
• 7.5 = number of bathrooms
• 7 = number of omelets made on Saturday morning
• 6.5 = average number of discussions about what to do as a group every night
• 6 = number of dollars we had given to us by a stranger to pay for our ice cream when we didn't have enough cash. :)
• 2 = number of times we played poker
• 2 = number of man-dates Graham had
• 1 = number of times Graham has now been on a trip with Kate's awesome family!

For other (and perhaps better) blog posts on the trip, visit:

The Dreschers: http://dreschers.vox.com/library/post/ocean-isle-nc---beach-trip.html
The Franks: http://frankfamily.vox.com/library/post/getting-a-few-wrays-at-the-beach.html
The Deuces: http://danandamywray.blogspot.com/2008/05/wray-beach-trip.html

Our hearts sank this morning when we learned of the terrible tragedy of the accidental death of Maria Chapman, Steven Curtis Chapman's five-year-old adopted daughter from China. Having a good friend of ours, Nick Lyndon, at his adoption agency, Shoahannah's Hope, as well as having heard him speak about his children at concerts, I can't begin to imagine how traumatic this is for the entire family.

The bad news: Maria closed her eyes on earth. The incomparably better news: she has now seen the face of Jesus.

In the midst of this tragedy, I can't help but be reminded of a song Steven wrote that I once recommended to my brother Chris and his wife Erin, after they miscarried twin boys in 2005. If you've ever suffered a loss in Christ like either of these, may this song point you to the only comfort that can truly bring you peace--that of the Holy Spirit of God through Jesus Christ.

With Hope (Speechless, 1999)
This is not all how we thought it was supposed to be;
We had so many plans for you, we had so many dreams.
And now you've gone away and left us with the memories of your smile.
And nothing we can say, and nothing we can do
Can take away the pain, the pain of losing you.

But we can cry with hope, we can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no.
And we can grieve with hope cause we believe with hope
There's a place where we'll see see your face again.
We'll see your face again.

And never have I know anything so hard to understand;
And never have I questioned more the wisdom of God's plan.
But through the cloud of tears, I see the Father smile and say, "well done."
And I imagine you where you wanted most to be
Seeing all your dreams come true, 'cause now you're home and now you're free.

We have this hope as an anchor 'cause we believe that everything God promised us is true.

So we can cry with hope, we can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no.
And we can grieve with hope cause we believe with hope
There's a place, by God's grace, there's a place where we'll see see your face again.
We'll see your face again.

So we can cry with hope,
And say goodbye with hope.
We wait with hope.
We ache with hope.
We hold on with hope.
We let go with hope.

To learn more about adoption, visit www.shaohannahshope.com.

You may think he's just a boy at 7 years old, but my nephew Strider (yes, the namesake of the estimable Lord of the Rings character) sank a clutch 10-foot putt at the North Meck Young Life's Ultimate Putt Contest at Southern Pines Country Club today. Neither I nor his Dad, Pete, could not accomplish the same feat.

Cheers erupted and Strider was carried off in a celebratory procession, a triumphant acknowledgement of the skills of the tournament's youngest competitor. Here's Strider taking one of his putts today: 

Strides putting 5-12-08

Incidentally, I caught Strider in this video, taken in his backyard in Lake Park--practicing for the competition, WEEKS before it began:

One part that was not on video... I told Strider: "Practice makes perfect." Strider looked up at me with a disapproving glare: "No, Uncle Graham. Perfect practice makes perfect." Way to go, Strides.

(About 75% of this isn't true, but the 25% that is true--Strider sinking a 10-foot putt, when Pete and I missed--is pretty awesome!)