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:
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| Honeymoon Cruise Winter 2007 |
Painting at the Artists' Retreat
The artist retreat was a wonderful time to sit down and paint. Though I was sketching what I saw in the outdoors, I find I often use my sketches (in combination with journaling) as a sort of interactive prayer, and this weekend was particularly inspiring, for a number of reasons.
First, I had to go through all my art supplies. I've done some loose sketching outdoors before, but I've (and I'm somewhat surprised to say this) never really painted outdoors. I was inspired by a few blog posts I found, including this outdoor painting tutorial and this entry by James Gurney. (I highly recommend his blog by the way.)
So I distilled my art supplies into a surprisingly small bag, and started my first endeavor into outdoor painting/drawing. (I actually chose to use a mixture of ink pens, ink wash, and watercolor, so I'm not sure if it's better described as painting or drawing. I'll use the two terms interchangeably until further advised.)
[My drawings.].jpg)
[Photo's of what I was painting from.]I'll quote from my journal here to explain what I was thinking about as I drew these:
In the morning I felt the need to climb something. Somehow my drawing required something more, something difficult. I ascended a steep hill. I walked past many things worthy of being drawn. I asked myself "at what point is it time to stop? Which scene will I paint?"
I kept moving. Something drove me on. A destination perhaps? Would fatigue stop me? I am not sure. It's as if I needed to earn or prove something. At last I settled upon a spot, a downward spiraling path. The painting went better than i would have hoped.
On the way back I thought it strange to walk uphill so much to paint a downhill scene. I thought how hard it was to ascend, but how easy it is to descend....I began thinking about how normally we think it hard to ascend up to God, how much work it is to "get to heaven", or "see God", or "be good", etc. I'm reminded of the painting "The Heavenly Ladder of Saint John Climacus" with pious souls climbing the ladder to God and flying demons knocking them off.
[The Heavenly Ladder of Saint John Climacus, 12th Century]Even Christian from the Pilgrim's Progress is reminiscent of this mountain climbing theme. But ascension is not where I am at. Like Dante, I am descending. And descent is hard. It's hard to see myself as I am, and it's hard to receive love as I am. Perhaps this mirror's Christ's pattern, his "descent" from Gethsemane to the Cross to the Belly of the Earth was hard. Clearly. But his ascent to glory at the Father's side was, in a sense, easy. Descent and death are hard. Ascent and glory are easy. I tried to paint these things, but instead only struggled with ascending. As if work ascending might make descending easier, or more meaningful, or less painful.
What I'm saying is I found this amusing flip: ascending is difficult if it's a physical mountain, but easy if it is spiritual glory. Descending is easy while hiking, but descending into the soul is perhaps the hardest work we could ever do. It amazes me how often I try to ascend on my own under my own power to try and earn acceptance and love. Or how often I sit around and pray and wait for God to raise me up with his power so I can be accepted and loved by others. But the reality is, I need to go down. I need to descend.
The funny thing is, I don't see God at the top of a ladder. I don't see God in the heavens or standing upon a mountain. I see Him in my heart, in the deep waters, and it is to these deep waters that I hear Him inviting me. It is while I descend that I have my closest most meaningful moments with God. It is as I descend that I am most terrified. I've been throwing things into the basement of my soul for a long time, and it's become somewhat of a garbage pit. I really don't know what I'm going to find down there anymore. Except, as I mentioned, a God who is waiting for me.
(A proviso: when I say "deep waters" I am referring to the more hidden portions of our hearts, as described in Proverbs 20:5, not some sort of "deep thinking" or intellectual high-ground. I say this rather sloppily, but the strict rational mind has proven to me to be quite perilous when dealing with the deep waters, which are filled with emotions and feelings and beliefs and desires and a great many things that do not necessarily follow rhyme or reason.)
Birthday Extravaganza 12/18-19/07
Wow did I ever have a great birthday! Definitely in my top three of all time. Although it didn't start out very promising:
We got back from our honeymoon cruise on the 18th. Unfortunately we came home to a bit of a disaster. Facility Services was in our apartment replacing the kitchen sink and doing some work in the bathroom while we were gone. They weren't terribly considerate of the mess they made as there was an impressive layer of industrial strength dust on EVERYTHING we have--even in the cupboards. We had to leave for a while and regroup before returning to begin the massive clean-up effort. We even had some neighbors stop by to clean our rather large book shelves while Brandon and I scrubbed out the kitchen. It was an extremely disheartening day, but it was also an excellent distraction for me.
As it turns out Brandon had been conspiring with our neighbors to throw a surprise party for me. At the last minute the party was moved to our upstairs neighbors' place instead of the original off-site plan. So they were scrambling around trying get things ready without me seeing. We had our door and windows all open, so they were so worried that I would see them sneaking around. However, I was so engrossed with the in-depth cleaning that I had absolutely no clue. So I thought nothing of it when our upstairs neighbors stopped by and asked us to come over and tell them about our trip. When it was time to go I was wearing my dirty t-shirt and track pants from cleaning and had every intention of going that way. Brandon talked me into jeans and a sweater saying that it would make me feel better. I'm glad he did. Imagine my surprise when after we started visiting with the couple upstairs all of these people jumped out and yelled, "SURPRISE!!" and it was a surprise. They had me. It was fun to hear them tell stories about all of their sneaky business in arranging this party and working hard to keep me clueless. We had pizza and played Pit. Good times! I felt blessed and loved.
The next day was my actual birthday. There was lots of talking on the phone as friends and family called to wish me a happy birthday and to hear about our cruise. I got to go shopping with my neighbor Melissa to spend my birthday money while Brandon was at work. Brandon's present to me was tickets to see Wicked at the Pantages Theatre that night. I love getting dressed up and going out to enjoy performing arts of many kinds, but this was an especially enjoyable evening. Check out the link to find out more about this musical production. http://wickedthemusical.com/#AboutWicked
Artists' Retreat 11/16-18/07
Through a series of somewhat random events I found myself googling around about Catalina Island. Catalina is an island off the coast of Southern California, and through the course of my web surfing came across an InterVarsity Camp that was hosting an Artists' Retreat. We made arrangements to attend, and became very excited about it.
Arriving at the island required no small effort, and the camp itself is only accessible by boat. We drove to the docks, parked, and then boarded a ferry that transported us to the island's main city Avalon. From there we switched from the larger ferry to a smaller motorboat, which took us to the camp. It was night by the time we approached, the boat bouncing rather strongly in the waves as we traveled around the island. The darkness, the cold salty air, the turbulent boat ride, this last leg of the journey served to strip away the city from which we came and reset our senses for the duration of our stay. It was, perhaps, the best part. When we arrived, we had already been transformed.
[On the ferry, waiting to travel to Catalina Island.]
[On the motorboat.]
[Long Beach, where we parked our car.]
[The island, as seen in the sunlight, the next day.]This "transformation" is perhaps best described by the fact that each morning we got up to watch the sunrise. This really surprised me, and for all you who know me, this should surprise you too. I am not known for being a morning person, but I couldn't keep myself away. Before I knew what had happened I was up watching the waves and the sunrise and these crazy birds dive into the water.
[Despite getting up early both mornings, the sunrises were actually pretty gray and foggy.]
[Despite getting up early both mornings, the sunrises were actually pretty gray and foggy.] We were placed in a lovely cabin beside the ocean. We had an ocean-view window. We could hear the waves at night. It was marvelous.
[We stayed on the beach.]The retreat itself was beautifully structured. We arrived Friday evening. We met for a while on Friday so we could all introduce ourselves to each other. There were about 20 or so of us in total. Saturday we met after breakfast for a short while, then had the entire day to paint or draw. In the evening we met to share what we had created. Sunday morning we met after breakfast to conclude the retreat. The free-time-to-meeting-time ratio was not something I've ever experience on any Christian retreat before. It was a wonderful way to have an artists' retreat. I'll post my sketches separately.
[Normally around this time of year I would be deer hunting with my Dad and brothers. They did quite well this year without me, and as I was hiking around I saw this guy a few times.]Tiff's Visit 11/3-5/07
Tiffany hails from La Crosse, WI and was a part of that great group of friends that Brandon and I came together in, so we were so thrilled to have another close friend from home come to see us in our corner of the world.
[At one point she had three birds sitting on her. Just like one of those princesses in one of those Disney movies. --Brandon]
Ironically, after a long day of fish watching, we decided to go out for sushi at Kabuki's, one of our favorite places out here. Brandon likes to treat our out of town guests to this experience. Tiffany was a great sport. We had an eel roll, california roll, alaska roll, scallop roll, and rainbow roll. We also tried some sake cocktails, which were much tastier than straight sake. Brandon really wishes he liked straight sake either hot or cold. He hopes every time that he tries it that it will become more palatable to him, but it never does. Bless his heart.
[This is Dez saying "Bless his heart..." -- Brandon]Sunday was the Disneyland extravaganza. One of my friends from school works at Disneyland and blessed us with some free passes to both Disneyland and California Adventure. Tickets are normally about $90 to get into both parks, so this was a real treat.
[I'm the guy in the middle. --Brandon]Tiffany and Brandon stayed up late the night before mapping out their attack plan to get the most possible out of this trip. It was cute to watch them strategizing and prioritizing (this is serious business!!), but their work payed off as we had a full and fun day--12 hours. I still love California Screaming--who thought I would like rollercoasters? I would also like to announce to the world that I beat Brandon on the Astroblasters (Buzz Lightyear) ride. Of course, he did demand a rematch and beat me soundly. All was right in his world again. Captain Jack Sparrow was entertaining crowds on Tom Sawyer's Island. He was a captivating performer. I think Tiffany has a little crush on him!
[I won't try to explain this picture, other than to say that I won. -- Brandon]Monday, Tiffany I had some time to catch up. She also came to one of my classes with me. It was fun to show her my life out here. She said she even enjoyed the lecture and meeting my classmates. She was amazed at the level of relational intimacy we enjoy as a cohort in this program--we don't waste time with small talk, we spill our guts with each other.
When Brandon got home that night we went to In & Out for supper. This is a California Institution--an absolute must do. They keep it simple and make it great. You can choose from a hamburger, cheeseburger. or a double cheeseburger and that's it. They also serve fries and tasty shakes. Everything is fresh, even the french fries (they cut the potatoes right there). So good! After supper, Tiffany's friend from Encino came to pick her up. She's a new mom and Tiff was gonna give her a hand and some company for the rest of the week.
As it turns out she returned to Minneapolis on the same flight with the entire LA Galaxy soccer team. If you know what a huge a soccer fan Tiff is, you know this was a big deal! Even David Beckham gave her a little smile. The Galaxy were traveling to play the Minnesota Thunder in an exhibition game the next day, which Tiff attended with her family.
[ This is not a picture of David Beckham. -- Brandon]
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