An Historic Election

About 2 minutes after the race was called (8:02 our time) we heard fireworks. It's all a little surreal. We both found McCain's concession speech to be very gracious. I remember seeing Randall Wallace once at an Arts Conference at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, he quoted someone else as saying "People don't remember what you say, they don't even remember so much of what you do, but what they remember is how you made them feel." While this may disappoint some to hear me say this, Obama makes me feel hopeful, which is something no other politician has done.

Dez' School Update

It is not hard to see that we've been a little behind on the blogging. We have several posts in the works and hope to get them finished soon including our trip to the Mission at San Juan Capistrano, our log cabin getaway, and our latest visit home.  For now I will take a few minutes to update you all on where I am at in my program.

This fall I will start my third and final year studying spiritual formation and soul care at the Institute for Spiritual Formation.  In January the focus of my program shifted from theoretical knowledge of how God grows souls to more practical, hands on training in the art of spiritual direction.  I had the opportunity to give spiritual direction to two Biola undergrads this semester.  I can't tell you how this encouraged my own soul.  It was incredible to watch God work through me.  As I spiritual director I am there to help facilitate the conversation between the directee and the Lord.  So I have to be fully present and able to listen to both parties at the same time.  I am learning about listening to the Holy Spirit and trusting in His work in each person.  This has been a growing experience for me.  It seems in my experience that Evangelicals (including me) aren't sure what to do with the Holy Spirit.  He is the odd man out in the Trinity replaced by the much more tangible and easier to grasp Bible.  Don't get me wrong, it is critical as Christians to know the Bible and to hide God's Word in our hearts, but I think we have long been remiss in getting acquainted with the Holy Spirit who is alive and working in each of us right this very minute.  

As a requirement in for my program, I have been in therapy since November and am in the process of finishing up this month.  It has been an incredible gift.  It has been an opportunity for me to explore some painful places in my history in a safe space.  It has given me the chance to get more honest with myself and Brandon, to grieve for things lost, and to come to terms with my own humanity.  This has opened up much more space in my heart: to love others with their foibles, to deal more kindly with myself, to forgive those who have hurt me, to ask forgiveness of those whom I have hurt, to trust others with more of myself, and to get acquainted with myself apart from other's expectations of me.  Now, don't let me give you the wrong impression, therapy is hard work.  I cried for weeks and months on end, I had angry days and very sad days, I had to look at things about myself and others that I'd tried so long and so hard to ignore.  It takes real courage to be honest and to choose to feel the feelings that I'd long suppressed.  It takes support from those closest to you to encourage you on.  They have to carry the faith for you that you will come out the other side, a healthier, more whole, and more fully alive person.  I can't express how much Brandon was this support to me.  Even when experiencing the fallout of my emotional distress, he stayed by me and loved me.  This too was an incredible gift.

In the fall I will be a full-time student again.  In addition to classes I will also have 10 directees.  This feels like quite a jump from just two!  We see directees every other week for an hour, but it also takes quite a bit of prep time to prepare oneself to open to the Lord and another person.  You have to clean up your own internal house in order to be able to offer hospitality to another.  I also receive supervision as a spiritual director in training.  We tape all of our sessions and listen to the parts we struggled in our supervision groups every week, so we can get help and grow in our skills.

It is hard to even speculate what will happen beyond graduation in May.  We are waiting for the Lord to begin to speak to us about what He has next for us.  We would love for you to join in praying for the Lord's guidance for us as we begin to wonder about what will come next.  

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/

Rose Parade

Now, the Rose Parade was back on January 1st. Some of you probably watched it on TV. You probably had better seats then we did. But what you probably didn't have was the experience of getting up early to catch the Metro up to Pasadena, fighting through crowds and climbing buildings to find a spot where you could see at least something, hearing all the Illinois people drunkenly shout at all of the USC people, and vice-versa, and seeing the sheer dedication so many people have to spending the night on the street to get the best seats around.

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The floats were, from what we could tell, transformers. (Well, this particular float was, I guess I don't know about the others.) Here is the car state. The robot transformation took place as soon as it passed out of view. (We could see the steam and smoke and flashing redish lights.)

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The Olympics will be in Bejing this year, and they are being promoted everywhere, even in the Rose Parade, which turns out to be just a big advertisement for all kinds of stuff we can't actually remember at this point.

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Balloons. Floating. Into the sky.

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