Dez' Parents Visit 1/08

In January, my parents left below zero temperatures to brave it sunny Southern California for a whole week. Our 65 degree winter weather felt glorious to them and was the talk of the trip--Minnesotans can't help themselves, they must always comment on the weather.

We introduced them to two of our beloved cheap dinner date places, Chipotle and In & Out. This might have been my dad's favorite part of the trip. Both establishments are very good at what they do: big, big burritos with the best guacamole around at one and oh-so-tasty burgers at the other.

I would say my mom's favorite part was probably the beach. We took them down to Crystal Cove, our favored beach and the Lord blessed us with an incredible sunset. The sunsets are one of the greatest things about living here. How I enjoy watching that brilliant ball of fire take it's evening dip in the great ocean.



We visited the Autry Museum of the American West, which by the way, had an exhibit about Walker Texas Ranger. You can never go wrong with Chuck Norris in my family! My dad is a big fan of "the West" and likely sees himself as a modern day John Wayne. You can find him wearing his cowboy cut Wranglers, boots, western shirt, leather vest, and cowboy hat. His duster and black Stetson are for special occasions.
http://www.autry-museum.org/

Brandon and I had been curious about what it would be like to visit Saddleback Church where Purpose Driven Rick Warren is a pastor, so we asked my parents if they were up for an adventure. The four of us knew it would be big but we were totally unprepared for the MEGAchurch. I think you could put all of my hometown of Spring Grove, MN on their campus and still have room left over. It was like a small city. The worship service was well polished and well attended. Rick Warren even happened to be preaching that night. Interestingly enough, he spoke about his views on spiritual formation and how he thinks we mature in Christ. It made for lively conversation on the way home as Brandon and I had several points of contention with his ideas, since I am studying spiritual formation and the care of souls. I won't go into all that here, but my mom called me after their return home to tell me what she learned from that experience: just because you write lots of books and pastor a huge church doesn't mean you've got it all figured out.
http://saddleback.com/flash/

Our Honeymoon Slideshow

Here at last are our honeymoon pictures. We've added little captions to them all to walk you through our adventures. Enjoy.



Here's a link to the pictures themselves:

Honeymoon Cruise Winter 2007

Christmas Day

I got up bright and early this morning. Not so much to check my stocking but to do the dishes from Brandon's extravagant meal last night. Our deal is that Brandon does most of the cooking and I do all of the dishes. [That, I must add, is an awesome deal. For me. -- Brandon] Chefs spare no dishes when they are cooking, so there is always quite a pile when he's done. Though it is really hard to complain when he makes such good meals. After I had cleaned off some counter space, I put together a big pot of chili in the crock pot. I used serrano chilies and did my hands ever burn all day long. Clearly I am a novice at handling them. If anyone has any suggestions for avoiding the chemical burn from the chilies I'd love to hear about it.

Then we snuggled up to watch Flash Gordon, one of Brandon's childhood favorite films.

[This film is great. The music is by Queen. It's really just about the best imaginative crazy little film a sci-fi loving lad could have. It's got Hawkmen! Queen did the music! Max von Sydow outside of a depressing Ingmar-Bergman-film! and Queen! Yeah! -- Brandon]

You are not alone if you never heard of it, I hadn't either, but it was probably one of Brandon's favorite Christmas presents. [My two other favorites were: The Arcade Fire album "Neon Bible" from my friend Micah, and a wireless remote controlled helicopter from my parents. -- Brandon] The soundtrack is done entirely by Queen [Yeah! -- Brandon] causing some to classify it as a rock opera. It is a campy superhero story without the superpowers. Maybe that was it's point that you don't have to have superpowers to be a superhero. Flash Gordon is the hero for the common man apparently, for those of us who can't relate to extraordinary powers [Yet can relate Hawkmen. -- Brandon] .

Next, it was off to the beach. We went to Crystal Cove, our favorite beach out here, and wandered about until it was time to watch the sunset. Beautiful!! Watching the sun set behind Catalina Island as it sent it's sparkling rays over the waters is definitely not something we could do back in the Midwest.

[Really, the only thing that would make this scene better would be a soundtrack by Queen. And Hawkmen. Spelling out words as they fly in formation across the sky. Words like the lyrics from a great Queen soundtrack. Yeah! -- Brandon]

[Dez had fun writing things in the sand, since we had no Hawkmen to write things in the sky. -- Brandon]

[And after I stopped talking about Flash Gordon, Dez came back and cuddled up for this picture. But look at that smirk on my face. I'm totally going to say "Queen" again. Yeah! -- Brandon]

Lastly, we had our neighbors Raphael and Melissa over for supper. They like us, were among the very few in grad housing who didn't disperse to their various homelands for Christmas. I served up the chili that had been simmering all day. The smell alone made your mouth water. Brandon made some excellent guacamole. He must have chosen some perfectly ripe avocados as it was so flavorful. We use the recipe we found on Chipotlefan.com. We like to add more lime for extra zing in case your were wondering what our secret is. And of course there was good conversation and lots of laughter to complete this wonderful meal.

I am truly grateful for this time of life: to be married to Brandon, making it on our own in LA, the challenge and gift of my grad program, our wonderful neighbors with whom we delight in sharing life, faithful friends, that Brandon has a good job through which he's able to provide for us, and the opportunity to go on the deeper journey with the Lord both separately and together. My heart is full.

Shakespeare and San Clemente

We were pleasantly surprised this last weekend to find that it consisted of not just two but three days. Now when one is given three days as a opposed to just two there seems to be some added pressure to have some experience, some adventure, some story to show for oneself. Admittedly, I am also more than a little excited for any opportunities to get out of the apartment and interact with the outside world as I have been spending a lot of quality time with myself since the end of last semester.

Saturday was largely spent resting. Brandon is still recovering from our big venture back to the Midwest over Christmas break. He doesn't have the luxury of mid-day naps that I have right now nor lots of extra time to process everything that went on. So we slept in and later watched a movie in bed. How I love to cuddle with my husband! I love snuggling up to him and resting my head on his chest in that perfect space between his shoulder and neck. And ladies, contain yourselves, he might actually enjoy it even more than I do.

After getting all rested up we got all dolled up to go to see The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged at the ARK Theatre. I was a little skeptical when we showed up to the place as it was obviously a small, low budget type theatre. The place only seated about 50-60 so it was a very intimate setting which ended up being perfect for the show we were going to see. The cast was a grand total of three people doing 37 plays in 90 minutes. I know it is hard to imagine how that is even possible, but we promise you it is and it is hilarious. This troupe of three was energetic and engaging. It has been said that "all the world is a stage." It certainly felt that way during the performance as they physically interacted with the audience and used the seating space as part of the stage. Included in the dialogue of the play was a particularly amusing banter between the actors. This play is fascinating, we left there wondering how the script worked exactly. Does it require a lot of improv or does it require the crew to insert current cultural references kind of like a mad libs approach to play writing? Either way, we were entertained and recommend it to you.

Sunday was off to a lazy start. I was reading the paper and Brandon was researching for his latest painting project. I was wondering what would become of the day when we got a call from Brandon's great uncle Don and his wife Connie. We had been hoping to get together for another adventure with them and here was our opportunity. They took us to San Clemente a beautiful ocean town. We walked out on the pier as we waited for a table at the Fisherman (the restaurant on the pier). What a treat!!! It was a beautiful day. The waters were serene and the sun warmed our faces as we took our meal on the deck. It was mealsharing of the best kind. The four of us do have lively conversations of love, life, and faith and the time slips by imperceptibly. After dinner we walked about the park adjacent to the beach and from our vantage point we could see dolphins playing around what someone told us was a reef.

By this time the parking meter had gobbled up our quarters. So we hopped in the car to chase down the sunset. Sunset over the ocean is a sight to behold. And you will find as that magical moment approaches, people gather, some with picnics and friends and others going solo to quietly take in the beauty. Everyone wonders, "will this be a good one? Will I get to see the sun dip into the ocean?" And its really something when you can.

dez

ps--pictures to come!

The Pier (With Iraq Tributes and a Stormtrooper)

We wanted to get out of the house last Sunday. We wanted to see something. We wanted to have fun. But what? Nothing really came to mind. Well, actually, lots of things came to mind, but nothing so great that we were able to take action upon it. Finally, throwing the proverbial dart at the proverbial globe, we hop in the car and take off towards the sun. It was about 3:30pm. The sun was going to set at 4:52pm, so we made haste in our pursuit and chased the sun as far as we could before it disappeared.

We ended up at Santa Monica State Beach. We could go no further, there was an ocean in our path, and there was no crossing it. As we began to explore the beach we came across a temporary monument to the U.S. soldiers who had fallen in the Iraq War. The beach was full of crosses, all in rows like Arlington National Cemetery. There were 2,845 of them that day, one for each of the soldiers lost. The crosses covered the full depth of the beach, marching straight into the ocean, chasing the setting sun, but never moving forwards, for their stillness robbed them of their journey. It was a moving sight.




Santa Monica State Beach has a large pier that stretches far out into the ocean. It had restaurants and shops and even a carnival on it. We walked to its end and watched the sun set. On our way, we saw many musicians setup on the pier, singing and playing away. Next to them were many merchants, selling their wares. Fisherman were everywhere, throwing their hooks and bait into the ocean and hoping for a catch. The Musicians and Merchants and Fisherman all had that in common. It was crowded, and as we walked along the wooden planks beneath our feet neither creaked nor moaned. They were used to it all.

The sunset was clear and glorious.




We went for a walk next, looking for someplace to eat. We ended up walking quite a bit, but didn't find anything. We were both surprised by this. It was getting late, and we decided to head back to our car. However, as we were pulling out of the parking lot we met a stormtrooper. He almost didn't let us pass, but after waving my hand around long enough I finally got the force to work well enough to get him to say "I don't need to see your identification, these aren't the droids we're looking for, move along". (Though Dez thinks he just got annoyed with me and my waving hand.)




In the end, we made it out without any more obnoxious fines from the Empire (that is, California). We ate at a Quizno's, which took quite a bit of exploring to find, then proceeded to church.



Currently, we attend Mosiac, which is held at multiple sites. The site we attend is in the Mayan, a nightclub in downtown Los Angeles. Erwin McManus, the lead pastor and "cultural architect" of Mosaic, has been very refreshing to us both with his talks (or sermons).

A fairly happenstance adventure, all-in-all, that turned out all right and most of all performed its greatest task--it got us both out of the house to see something beautiful. A surreal sort of beautiful, however; with the blending of the Iraq monument and the stormtrooper revealing an internal disconnect between imagined fantasy and brutal reality that I'm not entirely sure what to do about. It just strikes me odd in a way how quickly we can go from one to another.